#second best possible outcome to this blizzard blowing in :) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gofancyninjaworld · 5 years

Text

It’s Hard to Get Ahead

A quick look at what we know about gaining rank in the world of OPM

I was reading again through 'What can't be bought' and realised with this panel, we actually do know a bit about what it takes for heroes to improve their rankings.

Why chase rank? Well, there's the obvious reward of being paid better. There's also the very human desire to rise up a hierarchy, to gain recognition, and to feel a sense of achievement. All in all, it's well worth having and for the sort of self-motivated, self-regarding person who becomes a hero, it's powerful motivation indeed.

The question is how? Here's what we know so far:

A: The Honest Road

Do the Work

Hero rankings are decided by the number of points accrued by heroes. A committee meets weekly to review hero activity and reward (or not) as appropriate. It's not just battle ability, but a hero's day to day activities that also count. As Snek points out, it's very possible to lose points for poor comportment.

How to gain points then? Well, the most obvious way is to kill monsters!

But not all monster killings are the same. The Hero Association looks most favourably at heroes who take on the biggest monsters, which does mean that some heroes over-stretch themselves in search of glory. While others work conservatively and others still work on day-to-day good deeds that create good will and make the world a better place. All of these are valid.

Of course there are other ways still of getting points. Popularity is another part of rank, as it relates to how well heroes sell and promote the Hero Association (which is essential). However, popularity isn't a great way to rise through the rankings, at least not directly. As Smile Man explains, he and his brothers tried to win the public over as a means of gaining popularity, only to find out that people want heroes to be strong first, and then only become interested in following them.

B: The Less Honest Road

Play the Game

The thing that is broken about this world is that the points awarded are allowed to be split between multiple heroes in a fashion the heroes themselves choose.

This fact is the driving force behind the Blizzard Group and other hero factions -- it's a great way of spreading the risk to get more reliable slices of a bigger pie. And it's worthwhile to attach yourself to a more powerful hero, even if that hero takes the lion's share of the points. Hence Tank Top Tiger's accusing Saitama of hanging around Class S heroes to rank up(takes one to know one...). The fact that points don't have to be split evenly is something Fubuki takes full advantage of, when she starts negotiating with Saitama for a share of points for the Hero Hunter.

In theory, there's nothing wrong with it: these things are indeed best settled between heroes, who decide who to work with and why. However, it's meant that it's quite possible to play games in preference to working on becoming the best hero one can be.

Eliminate the Competition

The even less useful way to manage rank is not to look to send yourself forward, but rather to prevent yourself from losing ground by driving out or even crippling heroes who look to be in a position to rise rapidly. We got introduced to this right away when Snek attempted to rookie-crush Saitama. The fact that it's done enough to have a term associated with it, but isn't itself cracked down on is disgraceful.

Since then, Saitama has been subjected to a further two rounds of rookie-crushing, one from Tank Top Tiger and his brother Tank Top Black Hole, and a second one from Blizzard, who looks to stifle the development of impressive heroes to guarantee her position at the top of Class B.

C: Pulling it All Together

So, what do we know? Hero rankings are a points based system with points awarded for being seen to contribute value to society.

However, the rules as they are leave a lot of scope for manipulating the system. And the penalties for playing games rather than being as good a hero as you can be seem to be comparatively light, if applied at all.

The scummy behaviour we see, to wit, attempts to build and consolidate power bases, strategically positioning oneself to ride other hero's coat-tails, physically attacking and even slandering other heroes, they don't come from an incomprehensibly evil place. They're predictable outcome of a system where the rewards are high, the cost of being honest is also high and the penalties for cheating are low.

Edit: Sources

The links go directly to the manga they're from, but the pictures could do with some sourcing.

Special chapter "Witness"

Special chapter "One-Shot"

As in 3 above.

Special chapter "A New Wind Blows"

Chapter 16 "I Passed"

Chapter 42 "The Blizzard Bunch"

Even if you're an anime-only watcher, it is well worth your while to read the special chapters. You're missing a lot of context if you don't.

#worldbuilding #OPM #heroes #it's hard to get ahead

17 notes · View notes

capricornus-rex · 7 years

Text

Episode Prompto 3/3

Wow, this is obviously the draggiest part of the story. Sorry if some of you got annoyed because I divided it. I was torn between giving you a huge chunk of fanfiction or part it in three for easy reading. So, I had to go with the latter... hope you liked it so far :3

Prompto notices your silence as you’re usually talkative. In your current situation, you ought to be talking about the next strategy or the rooms that you have gone into that Prompto probably hasn’t gone yet.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nothing, just…” Prompto tilts his head in curiosity as you think of the next line of the excuse, “It’s just crazy to have such a massive place like this. You’d get lost in the next second.”

“Yeah, so it’s best we stick together.” his smile beams life into this dead and hollow shell of a place.

He offers you his hand and you take it. You recall your pact with Ardyn in the snowstorm.

“So, I spare his life for the price of yours. I’ll let you find him in there but when the moment comes,” he cuts himself short as he makes a gesturing of his fingertip on his left temple and make a slow sweep to his far left.

“You’re going to kill me.”

He scoffs, “You are adept in using the harsher perspective of words. I prefer the wording ‘taking you out of the picture’ as it could give out so many possible meanings and outcomes.”

His use of flowery words did not convince you an inch. His intention is clear embezzled with misleading persuasion. You cut to the chase and deduced to the fact that you have to die if you want Prompto to be spared once Ardyn intervenes.

“Alright, here’s my end of the bargain: once I find him, you are not intervening until the time your said moment has actually come.”

“Fair. And once that moment comes, I will simply finish my end of the bargain. So, do we have a deal?”

You do not answer to him while holding up your sword at him.

“Hmm, I suppose I’ll take that as a yes.”

He gave you the directions to the facility; a part of you didn’t trust him and assumed that he’s giving you the wrong ones, the other half tells you otherwise because if he didn’t he’d be cheating on the bargain.

As the blizzard dies, the silhouette of the fortress shows itself in the breaking dawn, you eagerly stomp through the calf-deep snow whilst heading to the general direction as you try to plan out your entrance. Then as you make your entry to the lab, you stalk hall after hall and room after room, you end up in that platform room swarming with MTs--realizing that it’s some sort of rectification center for defective MTs that require immediate maintenance. The same room where you and Prompto found one another.

“Hey, Prompto,” you blurt, “How far have you gone here?”

“I don’t know, Level 2 or 3, I guess. Like you said, this place is hella big.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay? You seem different.”

“Am I? It must be because I’ve been fighting MTs all day long.”

“Yeah, I guess… Are you sure you’re okay?”

You give him a reassuring nod and both of you continue through the corridors, slowing down and stopping whenever you sense an MT patrolling around, and then planning out your attack as you hide.

“You ready?” he asks.

You hold up your sword and nod, take a deep breath before going all out on the attack.

Both of you evened it out as you each took down two MTs quietly without so much as pulling a trigger. You did a takedown on the MT, it struggles while writhing away from your grip but you already have snapped its neck but another one’s coming for you--luckily, Prompto shot it down before it swings down its axe at you.

“Okay, I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“At least let me do you a solid to fair it out.”

He shrugs and purses his lips, “Alright.”

“You’re still a pretty good hotshot.”

He chuckles meekly, “Heh, thanks!”

Ah, that smile. One that you hope you could bring with you--alas, it brands into your mind like a hot iron.

More endless walking, opening doors, checking rooms, and fighting more MTs--they just don’t seem to end, do they? For some reason, you feel that you are getting closer to that moment Ardyn was talking about… and you’re running out of time.

“Do you think we’re getting close, Prompto?”

“I think so… I haven’t been in this part.”

“Me neither.”

“Hey look, an access panel!”

“Wanna try it out?”

He attempts to use the barcode on his wrist--since some of the control panels answer to the barcodes and not keycards--the door opens and right off the bat there is a team of MT Riflemen that turned their collective attention to the door.

“Prompto!!” You take a step ahead of him and begin wiping out another swarm of MTs, only this time they’re just as many as a transport would deploy out in the open.

A volley of gunshots and a swirl of melees come from both parties. You turn back to him smiling but his smile quickly melted, you turn around too late.

“NO!!!”

A fatal blow of an MT swordsman meets your chest and sends you thudding to the ground, Prompto sees red and loaded his revolver with one clean shot at the face--an instant kill to the soulless soldier. You feel your body going heavy and you start feeling cold, you wonder if this is your fulfillment of the bargain.

“Sooner than I expected, child. You’ve done your end, now it’s my turn.”

Prompto has finished releasing his rage on the remaining troopers until the coast was clear. He rushes up to you and lands to a kneel, he cradles you in his arms as his shaky hands hover over your wound--panicking over what he could do.

“Oh no… no, no! This can’t be!”

“Prompto…”

“You’re gonna be alright, look, I have a Phoenix Down here, you can use it!”

You weakly grab his wrist to stop him from reaching for his pocket.

“No… It’s alright, you need it more than I do.”

His voice sounds shaky now, “No! I can’t let you…! Stay with me, alright? There’s gotta be a medical bay in here somewhere.”

You reach for his cheek, he stops panicking and looks at you in the eyes, “You’ve gotten so strong… I’m so proud of you. I know that you’ll get through this… I know you.”

“Don’t talk to me like that!”

He feels that your grip is failing, he takes hold of your hand on his jaw, “Please… Please don’t leave me! I’ll be right here with you… just don’t leave!”

You manage a smile, “How lucky you are… to be so loved by those dearest to you. But I’m luckier as I have been loved by you,” you mutter as a tear runs down on your temple, “I’ll always be with you… even if you don’t remember me, I’m here.”

“No, please! We’re close to a medical bay, please hold on for a little bit longer!”

“Prompto… You’re a Lucian. You’re not a failure… don’t allow them to dictate who you are.”

The light in your eyes fade as the last thing you hear is Prompto’s voice shouting your name, begging you to wake up--even though he knows full well that it’s all real. He plants a final kiss on your cold dead lips as he pursues to find a medical bay to lay you on a bed.

You find yourself in an endless plane of sky, almost as if you’re walking on top of the world, then you spot Ardyn awaiting you.

“I guess your plan went as you orchestrated it.”

“Fate really is unpredictable, no?”

“I did my part, you do yours.”

“Such a waste.”

He shrugs off as if he was in a bore and does it for the sake of the chore as he walks away to nothingness.

“I may have died, but I’ve imprinted something on him that you can’t take away with your magic.”

“And what is that?”

“The one thing you’ve been estranged of: love.”

“Hmph, estranged of a fragile thing such as that is insignificant.”

You saw the change of his emotion as his eyebrows knit together in exasperation, either because he got outsmarted in one way or because of hearing that one word he dislikes. You look into the distance as Arydn returns to the physical world, you mutter to yourself.

“Please remember, Prompto… my beloved Lucian.”

#ffxv #final fantasy xv #ff15 #episode prompto #prompto argentum #oneshot #prompto x reader #please tell me honestly if my writing is lame AFFFF #prompto

7 notes · View notes