
Before anything else, since it has come up once or twice when I assumed it was implicit - I'm going to put a blanket content warning for changes in gender identity, sexual orientation, and slight personality changes. If any of those would trigger you or make you uncomfortable in any way, I would recommend not reading this series, because those elements will play relatively large roles in the series as people are converted into members of the swarm.
So, let's talk a little about this series, because it's a little different. As mentioned in the description, this is something I write while "turning my brain off". That might seem a little weird, but basically it means that nothing is thought about too hard. I just write, and whatever comes out comes out. There is rarely a concrete plan for what comes next. I have next to nothing about the world or the system until it comes up. New plot elements might be introduced randomly, or there might be minor plot holes. If that's the sort of thing that bugs you, then I just recommend not reading, because I'm not going to be making an effort to fix that. That goes against the whole point of what I'm doing in writing this. It's something that is, first and foremost, written for me, and posted here because I thought people might enjoy it.
If you have a question on how a certain part of the system works or about the world, then I most likely do not have the answer. It was not thought about. That being said, if it's clarification on something that was mentioned in-story, then feel free to ask the question, I can explain more.
A lot of people may ask, is this shared universe with my other series? (Spoilers for my other series below, minor spoilers for this one)
Nothing is set in stone, but tentatively yes. I'm thinking it takes place in the universe of the Administrator who made Levi. The only reason he's not nipping this in the bud is because these planes are quarantined and he sees a lot of potential in it. And, at the end of the day, people being converted aren't being warped beyond recognition. They are still, fundamentally, the same people they were before conversion.
And, again, as mentioned in the description, the release schedule is highly inconsistent because of that. They come when they come, and that's all I can really say about it. Well, at least after ten chapters are released. Before then it will be one a day until chapter ten.
Now, let's talk a little about the tags. Many of these are things I foresee happening but have not yet happened, some have, let's just go alphabetically:
Antihero Protagonist: Uh...antihero is really the wrong word but there's not really a right word, I feel? Lia's eventual goal is to take over the world, but she's not evil, so I hesitate to call her a villain (even though, to the world at large, that is exactly what she is), and she doesn't have a lot of the "gritty" feel that I feel accompanies antihero protagonists. That being said, she does things that are, almost without a doubt morally wrong, so calling her a hero is almost certainly wrong as well. It's a grey area for sure.
Edit: Antihero Protagonist was removed after some deliberation. I'm leaving this explanation here though so people who read the foreword are aware of that much at least, I guess.
Edit2: I have been made aware that "Antivillain" is a pretty close term to what this is going for.
Army Building: Heavily, heavily featured. Lia converts things into part of her swarm, which is essentially an army.
Beastkin: Before being reincarnated, Lia was a foxkin.
Brainwashing: Also pretty heavily featured. Turning things into part of her swarm comes with giving them undying loyalty to her and a willingness to work with other members of the swarm. Lia also had some mental alterations before the story began.
Caring Protagonist: Lia likes to keep the sapient members of her swarm safe when possible, and is quite kind to them. She's not callously throwing them away. Non-sapient members are another story altogether, though.
Comedic Undertones: Exactly what it says on the tin. It's not enough to be a full-blown comedy, but it's there, I feel.
Dungeons: Pretty heavily featured as well. Much of what is currently written takes place inside one.
Enemies Become Allies: See army building and brainwashing. Converting things into part of her swarm does this.
Evolution: Lia's a monster, and so is every member of her swarm. They evolve. It's one of the main ways of gaining strength.
Female Protagonist: Lia's a girl.
Girl's Love Subplot: The GL is not likely to take center stage for quite some time.
Heroes: Exist in the world, they are one of the few things thought about. They do not feature for a while.
Insects: This tag originally existed because Lia's 'original' form (post reincarnation) is insectoid, though she's working to get back to being a foxkin. This tag was removed because I felt people tended to get surprised/disappointed when Lia, inevitably, moves away from being insectoid. Consider yourself warned, I guess.
Kingdom Building: Comes with trying to take over the world.
Level System: Things level up.
Magic: ...Magic exists.
Monster Society: All members of the swarm are monsters. The swarm will have a society. You can see where this is going.
Monsters: Like most of the past few things, this should be obvious.
Mutations: Converting something into part of the swarm often comes with mutations.
Non-Humanoid Protagonist: Lia's trying her best to get humanoid again, but she's not for a while.
Overpowered Protagonist: Lia probably has some of the most raw potential of anything in this universe. She does not fully realize it for a while, though.
Personality Changes: Lia's personality was tweaked before the start of the story. This is mostly a duplicate to brainwashing, though.
Polygamy: Lia's eventual relationship will by polygamous. That being said, it won't be a harem - all parties will love all other parties involved.
Souls: Exist, and feature a bit.
Wars: She's going to cause wars. There is no question about it.
Yandere: The friend who reincarnated Lia is a massive yandere.
And...that's about all. Comment below if you have questions on anything here, I'll answer what I can!
So... Levi's creator is one of those guys/girls that just sits back looking at a raging inferno that used to be his neighbor's house sipping some coffee going "This. This is fine.", right? I mean sure, Lia's planes are heavily quarantined but her Admin's basically sitting back and letting his universes equivalent of Mother Mai rise to prominence.
Yes. That is exactly what he's doing. Though, in fairness, the Mai situation was worse - not only was the person in question basically bad all around, the things she was proposing would lead to stagnation at best. This, on the other hand...has serious potential. More on that later.
Honest and straight to the point, I like u, but I doubt I will like the story.
Why dont you just.. Not.. Use (anti)hero/villain tag? They are very specific tags and most characters dont have any of them.. No need to force it ya know?
Yeah, you're...probably right, now that I'm thinking about it a bit more. I'll remove them for now and then if people start complaining or something I'll put them back, but that seems...unlikely. So...yeah, thanks for the input!
@Fighterman481 is the girls love tag also for the side characters or will Lia be having seggs with females only 4ever?
For this series, you can assume that any romantic relationship the main or side characters (at least on Lia's side of things) take part in will be GL
@Fighterman481 pls no word twisting. Be blunt. Will Lia only have seggs with female? If yes great, if not and she will engage such with males then I can at least leave a 5 star for your kindness to reply and then not read cuz it's not my cup of tea👌🏻 I like my Female MC GAE ASF
Correct. She will basically only associate at all with women, because Amelia is a psychopath who does not care about the long-term consequences of making a female-only swarm. The only M/F or M/M relationships that will be featured will either A: be part of the "opposition" (I believe there's a chapter where a male scout for the kingdom Lia used to live in offhandedly mentions having a wife and kids), B: be a flashback (since Lia was formerly straight. Formerly, because, again, Amelia is a psychopath and won't let such a thing as ethics get in the way of a potential relationship. She's not bringing her unrequited love back from the dead just to leave their sexual orientations and goals incompatible), or C: be temporary before one or both members of the relationship get converted. In that last case, the MC will not be involved, she is about as gay as you can get.
Great. Tho I don't quite like the part where she was formerly straight, but I can live with that. She has 2 of my 3 favourite traits
1. Psychotic
2. Gae
3. Not Straight, Never Was, Never Will Be.
Too bad she doesn't have the 3rd or she would have been Perfection.
@Fighterman481 Just wanting to check the only thing about Lia which was influenced changed was her sexuality going from being interested in men to women. Her romantic feelings towards Amelia (who I assume is the love interest, if not then whoever Lia loves) weren’t manipulated either and her feelings towards her comes around naturally and are authentic.
Just wanting to check because I have read some yandere and mind manipulation stuff where this does happen and I don’t massively like it.
@RatedOverr I like those... If it's the MC manipulating and not being manipulated
@RatedOverr Funny you ask, I just wrote on this exact subject (I think four chapters from public release at the time of this comment?), Amelia has not influenced Lia's romantic feelings outside of sexuality, assuming things would happen naturally from there. The other main change is that Amelia has made Lia fine with the morally dubious (if we're being highly generous) aspects of converting people and taking over the world. Other than that she has left Lia as unchanged as possible.
Oh, one more thing I forgot - Amelia also made the entire swarm ok with polyamory, but only from a moral standpoint, they are not compelled to seek it out, but if it naturally comes up they're cool with it. Lia still prefers monogamy, but she's willing to go for more if and only if everyone involved loves everyone else involved equally (ie not a traditional harem, it doesn't revolve around one person, everyone is there for everyone else).
@Fighterman481 I am fine with poly and harem stuff but I usually like to know beforehand so being told this is really nice, thank you!!
Also, more questions about the romance: (includes spoilers for later chapters)
So I am at the point where Rose has gained the title of preserved soul [fragmented] and clearly from being turned into the swarm she (and everyone else) has become loyal towards Lia. In circumstances like this where members(?) of her swarm gain sapience and a soul, does romantic love (assuming it is possible to develop) get influenced by the loyalty they gain from becoming swarm or is it real and something that develops independently (idk if that makes any sense, if not I can try to explain it better)
@RatedOverr
Romantic love is explicitly not included in any conditioning- Amelia didn't want to get "too much" in the way of Lia's love life (aside from inserting herself), but she definitely didn't want all of the swarm falling head over heels for Lia, as that would get annoying fast. Loyalty may be absolute, but romantic feelings are real and completely unaffected by that. If Lia asked someone uninterested in her out, they would probably say no. Maybe if she reaaaaally pushed they would acquiesce, but even that is iffy.
@Fighterman481 Thank you for answering all my questions!
@Fighterman481 spoiler for later chap I guess
so there isn't a polyamory tag because she (technically in my opinion) isn't in a polycule yet, correct ?
@TheLord999
Correct. Lia is completely platonic with everyone except for Rose at the moment.
Minor spoilers for Patreon chapters:
As of the chapter that I am currently writing (Six chapters from the latest here on SH), the whole Amelia situation is being officially hashed out, but it's not going to be a straightforward "welcome to the relationship" since we have to get around the whole "Amelia and Rose have no affection for each other" thing. I don't know when that will be resolved, but Amelia's going to have to go through character development before she's truly ready to be a full part of things.
@Fighterman481 Yup that a fair point, just wanted to make sure
@Fighterman481 It's fine if you don't want to since it might be somewhat big spoilers but
Do you think you will take it more down the harem route where Lia is in a relationship with the two but Amelia and Rose hold no romantic feelings for each other or do you think you will turn it poly where all three have feelings for each other
@RatedOverr Note that these are "legit" spoilers (and not just my vague ideas that may change) since this is taking a concrete shape in the Patreon chapters as I type this (and by that I mean I was getting ready to post a chapter dealing exclusively with this very subject when I saw this)
Lia will not allow herself to have a harem; it's polyamory or monogamy, no in-between. How that takes shape with Amelia...well, I'll keep that under wraps for now, you'll just have to wait to find out. Suffice it to say that if Rose cannot love Amelia or vice-versa, Amelia will not be added to the relationship.