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Fine Structure: Difference between revisions
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3. ''This has been going on for ten years.'' }}
A [[Web Serial Novel]] of science fiction short stories by Sam Hughes, kept on his [http://qntm.org/?structure website], [[
It's difficult to describe the story without spoiling it, since the story was revealed in brief episodes, in [[Anachronic Order]], and with a [[Retcon]] for good measure. Hence, the examples will provide '''UNMARKED SPOILERS'''. However, here is a brief "dust jacket summary" of the three main plotlines without major spoilers.
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* [[After the End]]: [http://qntm.org/?crushed Crushed Underground] takes place in the last known refuge of humanity after the Hot Wars. Eventually Mitch and Anne restore the environment enough that people can survive in it again.
* [[Alien Geometries]]: The universes with more dimensions than ours are described like this when they are described from a human being's point of view, in [http://qntm.org/?sundown Sundown].
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Once the story was over, Sam released a few excised chapters, as well as laying out the cosmology of the ''[[
* [[Alternate Universe]]: First seen in [http://qntm.org/?ergs Last Ergs].
* [[Anachronic Order]]: The order in which the stories are presented is more-or-less chronological at first, but increasingly skips forward and back decades, centuries, and millenia.
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* [[Cape Busters]]: The first artificial Powers from the Department for Special Flight Research, later known as the United States Special Air Corps are this, putting them somewhere between [[Cape Busters]] and [[Mutant Draft Board]].
* [[Capital Letters Are Magic]]: The Powers, the Script, the Structure, The Line, Born/the Birth
* [[City in
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In [http://qntm.org/four-dimensional The Four-Dimensional Man], Seph notes to herself that Mitch could kill someone instantly by materializing his hand inside their head. In [http://qntm.org/leak There Was No Leak], he's prepared to do just that to Twelve before she's Born. In [http://qntm.org/over this is not over and I am not dead], he kills Hugh Davies that way. In a separate but related Chekhov's Gun, it's strongly implied that Mitch is also a telepath and therefore he could have read that idea from her mind at the time she thought it!
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Ching both inverse and out; he disappears for the bulk of the the final third of the novel before suddenly appearing at the end, and in story he disappeared for 20,000 years by outrunning the Imprisioning God via time travel.
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* [[Disposable Superhero Maker]]: Strongly averted.
* [[Dystopia]]: [http://qntm.org/?crushed Crushed Underground] is an example of one that is totally necessary to the survival of humanity. At least a few others rise and fall as the world develops technology and has it taken away from them by Anne Poole and the Imprisoning God.
* [[Earth Is the Center of
** Earth is also the center of the (3+1 dimensional at least, higher dimensional multiverses could care less) Multiverse; but only because the rest of the universe is dreadfully boring and also the Multiverse was created during one of Mitch's escape attempts, so civilizations center around interdimensional travel rather than exploring the rest of the universe.
* [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]: In the [[Final Battle]].
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* [[Heel Face Mind Screw]]: It is implied that Mitch/Xio uses the same [[More Than Mind Control]] powers as Zykov/Oul does, especially on John Zhang, leading to Zhang's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] below.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Five examples.
** Jim Akker kills himself while Zykov/Oul is telepathically probing his mind, in an attempt to [[Taking You
** Jason Chilton sacrifices himself to save millions of people and several named characters from the [[Unstoppable Rage]] of the Twelfth Power.
** John Zhang kills himself in an ostentatiously physics-breaking way, forcing the Imprisoning God to isolate our entire solar system from the rest of [[The Multiverse]], which locks out Oul.
** Anne Poole jumps onto a black hole to undo the results of John Zhang's actions, allowing the [[Final Battle]] to go forward.
** And finally, Ching sacrifices himself in the [[Final Battle]], [[Taking You
* [[High-Pressure Blood]]: The slaughter at the top-secret Soviet lab in [http://qntm.org/?halfway halfway homes, catacombs, twilight zones] features far too much blood for a normal gunfight. Justified by the fact that the scientists had just unleashed the [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Humans Are Special]]: Humans are (according to [[Word of God]]) only the second intelligent life to evolve in a universe at the far end of habitability (that is, 3+1 dimensional): extremophiles, like deep-sea vent dwelling archaeobacteria, and Oul killed the first already.
** Definitely in full force with Ching, who scares ''two'' functional gods and kills one of them.
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* [[Optional Canon]]: Marooned, by [[Word of God]]. See [[Retcon]] below.
* [[Precursors]]: ''Our'' civilization, and at least half a dozen that followed it [[After the End]], are this to the civilization of [http://qntm.org/?1970- 1970-].
* [[Power Levels]]: Deconstructed, as the ever-ascending power levels make the individuals in question too dangerous to be left alive, especially coupled with the [[Unstoppable Rage]] that accompanies their Birth. Power levels in ''[[
* [[Punny Name]]: Powers refers to both superpowers and the fact that every year each member of the Line's abilities increase exponentially.
* [[Recap Episode]]: "The Story So Far". See [[Hyperlink Story]].
* [[Retcon]]: [http://qntm.org/?marooned Marooned], formerly the second segment of the final chapter of ''[[
* [[Schizo-Tech]]: The societies after the crashes rise up surrounded by the [[Scavenger World|detritus of ages of technological civilizations]]. Their development is therefore quite erratic: one society develops spaceflight before antibiotics (justified by the fact that an immortal physicist guides each society’s rise, and she needed to reach Neptune real quick).
* [[Sealed Evil in
** Oul's Egg contains the local manifestation of [[Big Bad|Oul]]. Due to the actions of some Soviet scientists, Oul inhabits the body of condemned convict Mikhail Zykov.
*** When the Soviet scientists accidentally unleashed Oul into Zykov, they sealed their lab off from the rest of the world to contain him. This lasted at least a year while Zykov/Oul worked himself free.
** The Imprisoning God is a sentient prison wall keeping Oul sealed in ''our universe'', thus keeping the rest of the higher Multiverse safe from its ravages. Yes, our universe is the "can".
* [[Sealed Good in
** In the [[Optional Canon]] story "[http://qntm.org/?marooned Marooned]", something similar to Oul's Egg is described, shortly before Mitch's accidental death and subsequent possession by Xio. By parallel, this would be Xio's Egg.
* [[Shout-Out]]: To "The Elements" by [[Tom Lehrer]] (a song) in [http://qntm.org/?parable this was supposed to be a parable about the power of the imagination].
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* [[Superpower Lottery]]:
** All the standard-issue superheroes are [[Flying Brick|Flying Bricks]], most notably Arisa McClure and Jason Chilton. Later members of the Line are stronger, but few manage to live long past their Birth.
** Anne Poole has almost perfect [[Immortality]], although this is really more of [[Blessed
** Mitch Calrus/Xio can become [[Intangible Man|Intangible]], and extend the effect to things he touches. He can also [[X-Ray Vision|see through things]]. Evidently he also has [[More Than Mind Control]], but just how often he uses it is up to the reader's interpretation.
** As Zykov, Oul has [[More Than Mind Control]], as well as an unknown degree of super-strength. In the [[Final Battle]], Oul's power is [[Reality Warper|reality warping]], to an even greater degree than Ching, but less imaginatively applied.
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