Going to war with the R.O.B.

[humon]

I was playing an otome game on itch.io yesterday, and when I reached the end of content it left me awake in bed for a couple hours after trying to puzzle out the right strategy I would want to take if the story continued and I had complete freedom of choice. The Random Omnipotent Being in the game had been very vague at the beginning, keeping the (female) Self-Insert on a strict need to know basis as far as her mission and even the nature of the body she reincarnated into. Later on in the story, you start to learn that the R.O.B. likes to alter people's memories to better manipulate them (sort of like ghost hacking in Ghost In The Shell), and she reveals a bit more about her agenda, making her case for what has to be done. There were red flags everywhere, and my first instinct is that whatever happens, I need to try to thwart the R.O.B.'s plans wherever I can. I don't know what she's planning, but I just know that I have to stop her.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience with a story? Where you gradually learn that the R.O.B. is malevolent or has been manipulating you? And how does one fight back against a goddess? How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?

Some further details:

In this story, the SI's original life was a miserable one where she was burned as an infant, which left her crippled and disfigured. Her mother was a harem girl and her father was not the harem lord, so she was disowned and sent to a convent to be raised by nuns. There, she got into some heresy and was blinded for it, then sent on missionary work to Siberia (or the fantasy world equivalent), and was eventually burned alive inside a church when Mongol raiders sacked the Chukchi village she was preaching in (or their fantasy world equivalents, they all have different names in-story, but these are the real world parallels I chose).

The R.O.B. is a goddess called the Weaver, who interviews the SI about her life story and then says she will craft a new body for the SI to inhabit; one that is beautiful and unscarred, how the SI would have looked if she had not been burned as a baby. The SI wakes up in the frozen ruins of the church where she died, and by the Weaver's design (being an agent of Fate), the SI is found by some kind of ancient vampire lord who was traveling nearby. The Weaver's goal is that the SI must seduce this vampire lord and become pregnant by him, with the expectation that the child will be a reincarnated god. You later find out that the body you reincarnated into is not your own but one that was selectively bred for the Weaver's purpose, and your soul was merely pushed into it by some ritual that took place a few hours before you woke up. The body is that of a vampiress, but in this world vampires are not undead but are living creatures who merely have immortality, thirst for blood, and a talent for mind control that must be learned through decades of practice.

Anyways, it comes to a head with the vampire lord recognizing that you are of a very ancient and powerful bloodline and that he intends to take you traveling with him and tutor you before he dies so that you will be strong enough to survive in the world. Being of such a powerful bloodline but without any experience as a vampire, the SI would be an easy and high value target for any other vampire who wants to drink her dry. But the vampire lord's condition for helping you is that you have to become his concubine. So, essentially, all the Weaver's objectives are dropped straight into your lap. If you don't go with him, the alternative is that he leaves you in a town under the protection of one of his vassals, but that particular lord comes off a bit creepy, like he can't be trusted.

What kept me up strategizing was... how should I go about thwarting the Weaver's plans without putting myself in a weak position by rejecting the vampire lord's help?

[ ] Try to hardball him by telling him you'll agree to all his other terms except for the sex, and hope he wants this deal too badly to insist (he will gain other benefits, like drinking your delicious holy blood)

[ ] Accept his deal, but insist he pull out each time (as if you'll be able to stop him from doing what he wants)

[ ] Accept his deal but then abort whatever bastard he puts in you (but could you really bring yourself to do it?)

[ ] Accept his deal but get yourself knocked up by some random human first (...gross, you're in the middle of Siberia)

[ ] Tell him the truth about the Weaver's plans, at the risk that it only makes him want to impregnate you even more (for what man would not want to father a god?)

[ ] Reject his deal, at the risk of being left at the mercy of his vassal or whatever other shitbag comes along next (or even the Weaver's agents whom she will surely send to 'correct' you)

[ ] Suck it up and play into the Weaver's hands for now, and look for a better opportunity to defy her later, after the god is born

(Edit: It's not like the vampire lord is such a terrible match, he's quite handsome and seems like an okay guy. But at this point in the story you've only known him for 4 or 5 days, and also he tells you that he's planning to off himself at the end of the winter, so whatever kid you have with him is gonna grow up without a father and it's gonna be a complete mess. Not an ideal situation at all.)


And more generally, does anyone else have stories about games or quests or fics where the SI tries to outwit the ROB and break the system?

 

[TFTwink]

Is... Is this a grittier Castlevania Anime (TM) plot?

I suppose if the character herself was raised a woman, it would depend on her views on promiscuity and child-raising skills. Option 3 would probably be the meta-gaming option.

 

[humon]

Nah, it's got nothing to do with Castlevania. If it was, there would be a lot more whipping and axe-throwing. And holy water burning everyone. No, it's just one of those weird tumblr-style stories I encountered on itch.io when I was bored. Written by women for women, but sometimes I like to peek into that world and try my hand as a man... see what I can make of it...

Option 3, yeah, the metagame. But as I considered it I imagined myself in her shoes, about to snuff out an innocent life, and I just couldn't do it. Spiting the ROB is not worth it. I think I would end up taking the last option, and looking for a better opportunity. That's what I always end up doing with these kinds of VNs (until I just stop playing). I'm always waiting for the option to become available to tear down everything the author intended so that the game is forced to stop and say, "What the hell, player?!". Or at least, a good option to tell all these side characters exactly what I think of them. Sadly, such options are rarely presented...

 

[Theman]

First off I probably wouldn't oppose the weaver muh atheist rebel against god trope is shit and if it is played I want a story where it is subverted and God wins and the MC is punished for ever.

Anyway if I was isekaid here I'd be annoyed at being a woman, and I would tell the vampire dude that the weaver does want him to breed me to make a demigod or whatever and ask if he still wants it.

I'd also ask him to not kill himself and take responsibility by helping raise his child. No fucking going for cigarettes or milk.

But seriously this sounds interesting what is the story called and where is it?

 

[humon]

It's called Bride of Shadows

 

[Theman]

It's called Bride of Shadows

Click to shrink...

Thanks. Also if you want to avoid people "metagaming" or doing the abortion option. You could alter stuff a bit. An example would be to basically make Buddhism true, that's why you were able to reincarnate, and why the weaver isn't the highest God so it's possible to beat them. You could have it so that you get a cheat skill(not an OP one but a very useful one) you could call it Buddha eyes. It gives you the ability to see Karma and know what is objectively moral and immoral. You can see how evil people are and how good they are, you also know how good or bad certain actions are. You know that if your karma is too bad you can be reborn into hell and there is nothing that can stop it, it's a law of physics basically. But you also know what is good and can gain good karma that will improve your life either now, or a future life. You could have it so that you see abortion and killing babies especially those that are yours gives you a massive negative karma score that would gurantee you suffer.

People may bitch about it but still. Karma is what is objectively good or bad not what you personally like or dislike.

 

[humon]

I don't have influence over the scenario, so all of that is moot. Plus, such a karma tracker would only amount to a debug variable telling you what the game developer thinks is right and wrong.

This is more of a thought experiment about what a normal person without debug powers might do in that sort of situation. The options I listed are the ones I came up with myself after I reached the end of content, and I tried to list everything that was a viable strategy (and I invite people to add strategies that I missed). But the real dilemma for me is when you realize you're being jerked around by a divine entity that does not have your best interests in mind, any more than the architect of the matrix has Neo's best interests in mind. But you have to be very careful about when and how you make your move in these kinds of situations, as you may only get one chance to exert autonomy before the ROB makes its counter-move. Take as an example, when Captain Kirk asked the big blue face why God needs a starship, and his ass got lightning bolted in response. But then Kirk called in the big guns from orbit to give the big blue face something to choke on.