Rational Fiction

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A community for discussing works of fiction where the characters think and act rationally (i.e. for good reasons) according to their understanding of their situation, rather than their actions feeling forced by the author to forward the plot. Inspired by r/rational and r/hpmor.

Rules:

Be polite and respectful to everyone, including people who disagree with you. Attacking an idea is fair game though.
No spoilers in titles! Use the spoiler tags in posts and comments to discuss sensitive topics.
Have fun!

Places to start:

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Wrapped up in 2015 at 122 chapters, ~660k words.
- Note: The main character is insufferable for the first few chapters, but he learns. If you get to Ch. 10 and you're not yet into it, it's okay to skip.
Pokemon: The Origin of Species by DaystarEld. Ongoing, 121 chapters as of October 2023.

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OutOfMemory

Introducing - Pokemon: The Origin of Species (www.fanfiction.net)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by OutOfMemory to c/rationalfic

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Empty communities are boring, so I've decided to get things bootstrapped with a regular series of posts from the world of Pokemon. This story by DaystarEld is one of my favorite stories, fan fiction or no, and it gave me a reason to revisit my childhood obsession which I always enjoy. Here's the premise:

Enter the world of Pokémon from a rational perspective. Instead of starting his journey in ignorance, Red has spent his years studying the creatures so central to his world... and he doesn't quite agree with all the information in his books. No time for rookie mistakes here: he's on a quest to discover the true nature of Pokémon, and maybe even find out where they really come from.

The series is ongoing, but was first published in 2013 so we'll start at the beginning. I plan to post next chapters on Tuesdays and Fridays. Enjoy!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I've tried to start writing comments for these posts several times now, but I keep getting stuck trying to figure out what to write. So, I'm setting a timer for 30 minutes and whatever I write in that time is what I'm going to post. I don't think I'm ever going to get started otherwise...

My background: Played the Gen 1 games (a lot!) and Gen 2 (less, but still a fair amount) back when they were new. I was into some of the tie-in stuff (e.g. the anime, the TCG) back in the Gen 1~2 era as well, but haven't really kept up with much of anything from Pokemon since then. Never played Ruby/Sapphire or most of the games after that. I did a quick playthrough of Black over a couple of days at some point years ago -- basically main story only, but little to no postgame. I didn't know the game had changing seasons when I started, and was surprised by it right as I was wrapping up my playthrough... if that gives those of you who've played it any idea how quickly I went through it. So, I know some things from that generation of games, but don't remember them very well. I watched part of a Let's Play of one of the other games at some point out of curiosity -- Y, maybe? -- but barely remember anything except that mega-evolutions were introduced.

TLDR: I remember Gen1 decently from playing the hell out of it back in the day, but have no idea what most of the Pokemon from newer games in this story are.

I found this list on Bulbapedia helpful for looking up names I didn't know.

I've read all the chapters posted up to (and including) chapter 134 once. 135 just came out, I think, and I will read it soon. On my first read, I went at my own pace (i.e. somewhat quickly), and I'm going back and re-reading it more slowly now as I write these comments.

I did not really like the first chapter when I read it, and I still don't particularly like it on re-read -- but intro chapters are hard and I know sometimes you have to give a story a few chapters. This story does pick up dramatically, and reminded me of Worm -- both in good ways and bad ways. (The other obvious influence, HPMoR, of course, jumps out from the first sentence...)

I guess what I want to say is, if the premise sounds interesting but the first chapter didn't hook you, keep going a bit longer.

[–] OutOfMemory 2 points 1 month ago

Thanks for the thought-out reply! Beginnings are hard, and introducing characters too. Still, decent.