Masterstroke: a new web serial about dexterity, madcap science, and a notary public
Apparently you can tell indulgent stories about people flexing how overpowered they are to each other and there's a genre where that's not only fine, but part of the selling point. I think that's neat. So I'm telling one, too, and you can read about it here.
Ruvle's enemies rewrite reality. Ruvle writes signatures. All paths to power end, well before they can touch the true citizens of the world--but she's not going to take that lying down. She'll take it balancing on two toes on the thinnest twine, via obscure, outdated training in hyperdexterity. And she'll do it while running her notary office and seething with contempt for the man who took her left eye. Modern life is busy.
Chain's enemies are rebuilding the reason the world sucks. Emergent properties are what turn politics into poverty and health into sickness, and if they take control of enough of them, the ladder will be pulled up behind them forever--or worse, those properties will reform into their original Thoughtless being. The magic from thousands of tiny symbols: tislets, only useful in ensemble, isn't a good way to subvert true citizens--but it's what he has.
Two old, dying paths to power cross in a world of M.A.D. science, city-states bunched into a crater, power-concentrating minerals, and small fluffy animals that honk at you. It's one final combination attack, one last hurrah, against the social end state of humanity: an untouchable true citizen class of unlimited wealth and power, and the rest.
Ruvle has a long way to climb from Chain's shoulders, if it's possible at all.
But she's getting good at climbing.
What to expect:
- Training scenes, more than actual fights
- A physically-focused, female lead, with a friend
- Evil MC Aspirationally Evil MC MC who wants to be evil and isn't getting it right
- Retro-cinematic science
- Urban environments
- Cool outfits
- Lots and lots of henchmen: a respected profession
- And a notary public doing their job
Masterstroke will update on Mondays and Fridays (in the UTC-5 timezone).