Stormbringer War: Part-by-Part Breakdown! (Patreon)

Hey, guys. For the next few months, now that I've finished Stormbringer, I'll be taking a break from The Cryopod to Hell to focus on finishing The Last Precursor. Once I finish TLP, I'll be switching back to TCTH full time, until I start the rewrite for TLP a few months down the line.

Today, however, I wanted to talk about Cryopod's Stormbringer War. In my previous chapter-sized mega post, I talked about the Ancient Era and my thoughts regarding it.

TL:DR, the Ancient Era was long and unwieldy. Even though I accomplished what I wanted relatively effectively, it dragged on a bit too long.

This post will be the first of several in a series talking about Stormbringer's good and bad parts. I'll discuss the characters, the plot, my failings and the parts I'm happiest about.

For now, we'll start with a part-by-part breakdown of my thoughts on Stormbringer. In the follow-up posts, I'll discuss more nuanced takes in greater detail. 

Oh, and if you aren't fully caught up to Cryopod Part 291, turn away now. There will be SPOILERS.

Before I get into my opinions regarding Stormbringer, I want to use this post to establish the flow of Stormbringer. In what order did events occur? How confident was I in how I executed those events at the time I wrote them?

Stormbringer technically started with Ose signaling its beginning in Part 225. Depending on how you choose to frame the 'beginning', I like to think it actually started when Jason confronted Ose in Part 213. This is because his actions accelerated Ose's plans. She originally intended to start Stormbringer a few weeks later. Perhaps that extra bit of planning might have allowed her to ultimately prevail! Rush jobs often lead to failure, as we all know.

Anyway, I'll start under the assumption that 213 is the 'real' start to Stormbringer.

.....

Cryopod Refresh 213: Confronting Ose - Jason invokes his mind-wife, which momentarily causes Ose to lose her wits. This is because Phoebe recognizes Ose from their interaction in Part 57. This ultimately riles up Ose and leads to her expelling the Wordsmith. Had Kar and Blinker not been there as additional deterrents, Ose and Beelzebub might have attacked Jason and tried to capture him on the spot. Overall, I love this part. It's just great, with no downsides. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 214: The Swelling Storm - The first half of this part is just Jason, Kar, and Blinker splitting up. It's not that important. The real importance comes from the second half, where Ose and Beelzebub have a 'friendly chat.' You see, Beelzebub undermined Ose a lot in 213, and she did not like that. As such, she calmly uses her tens of millennia of mental experience to outwit her junior and turn him more to her side of the issues. Despite this fact, Ose likely engenders more than a fair bit of hostility from Beelzebub, because he does not like it when people toy with him. A great part overall, 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 215: Let's Go To Space! - This part has two halves. In the first half, Jason uses his Wordsmithing creatively to search the Hell Harbor star system. This is especially neat because in Refresh, we rarely get to see Jason going all-out with his Wordsmithing. That's a big plus. The best aspect of this part though is the second half. I am very happy with what I've done with the Volgrim in Refresh. All of the five factions feel dynamic and fleshed out, and the Changelings pinging Jason's heroic energy is just... it's so cool, man. I love things like that. As an author, I love when I get to explore alien societies and viewpoints, especially when they analyze the protagonist from a distance. The sense of foreboding is real. 9/10.

Cryopod Refresh 216: An Anomaly Among Anomalies - I love a good chase scene, and sometimes a misunderstanding or an assumption can result in clever storytelling. I chose to have the Psions and Technopaths regard Jason's body as a ship because, otherwise, how else would they explain him? At this point, they have no knowledge of the Wordsmith's existence. They don't know who he is, or what he's capable of. All they know is that a Heroic Energy signature has appeared and that it is clearly moving in the way a ship or spacecraft would. It might be some errant heroic artifact, but more likely, a human has arisen and is flying through the demonic system in a craft looking to investigate something. I also foretell Jason's 'disappearance' in the next part, which adds to the chase/mystery. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 217: It's a Trap! - Existential crises are great. Jason musing about the size of the universe often echoes my own viewpoint. Humans are so stuck in stupid territorial disputes that they often can't set aside their differences to think about the bigger picture. It's possible that we are the only civilization in the whole universe, and if so, one asteroid could wipe us out, along with all the other life on Earth. Anyway, those musings aside, this is really just a transition part to Camael's Cube's special dimension, with some worldbuilding thrown in. 5/10.

Note that my rating revolve around other Cryopod parts. I do not mean this part is a boring 5/10 part to read, but that compared to the best Cryopod parts, it's merely average. A rating of 1/10 would mean that I thought the part flopped hard and I was not pleased with my execution of its premises.

Cryopod Refresh 218: The Mystical Cube - This part is a lot of fun. Tons of stuff happens. It's really an exercise in my creativity. I've never been good at imagining world spaces, places, etc. I often have to google images of interiors to come up with decent visual templates. In the case of the Cube, I just tried to envision a Jupiter-sized cube with a hollow interior filled with all sorts of strange phenomena. I think I pulled it off pretty well, but I could have done better. I do love the bouncy, fun little Phoenix though. She's great. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 219: The Cube's Secret - One of my favorite Chapter 3 parts. We learn a LOT in this part. We get a lot of hints. We also get to know the Phoenix better. The reveal with the Container, in my eyes, is especially chilling. Who knows what once lay inside the Cube and why it has escaped? 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 220: The Phoenix's Power - This part is basically a continuation of the previous part. As such, it has all the same qualities. That being said, I find the Phoenix's emotional outpouring of grief and loneliness to be this part's strongest aspect. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 221: An Unlikely Hero - Amelia is a great character. Even in Cryopod Classic, when she was a lot more one-dimensional, she was still somewhat interesting. Her backstory in Refresh is way more intense and intertwined with the world. Any time she appears onscreen, you're going to have a good time. I also like the title for this part, because Amelia hates Heroes, yet she herself has to sort of become one. That's badass. I also find the interactions between Centurion and Amelia to be pretty funny. 9/10.

(Note: On a re-read, Amelia talks about not killing anyone, but when she reappears in a later part, she brutally murders without using her code word. I think this was an oversight on my part. Whoopsies!)

Cryopod Refresh 222: Preparing For War - Jason's foresight in sending Kar and Blinker back to the Labyrinth pays off by giving humanity advance warning that the demons might attack. He doesn't know for sure, but Jason does assume it's better to be safe than sorry.

Cryopod Refresh 223: Insurance - Neil is one of the better limited-screen-time characters. Whenever he's onscreen, his presence commands attention. This part continues to establish him as a thoughtful and well-prepared leader. His intentions remain uncertain. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 224: Gressil's Children - On a re-read, I don't love this part. It's perfectly fine, and it helps to explain the Grez, but it feels like it's missing something and I'm not sure what. For one thing, Gressil seems almost a bit too casual, as if he isn't quite as frightening in this part as his other incarnations. Still, it's also interesting seeing Gressil and Mephisto interact. I wonder how many readers noticed that Mephisto had to materialize in the mortal realm because Gressil's aura neutralized his mist-body? Hmmm... 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 225: Stormbringer Begins - The Grez arrive. For Classic readers, this part was probably super awesome. I thought it was pretty clever on my part to make the Grez into Gressil's "children" by using his mother's 'mutation' abilities. The battle is super intense, and the Grez appear frightening beyond belief. I mean, an army of monsters, all at the level of Baron? I'm very proud of this intro to Stormbringer. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 226: Humanity's Might - Trying to explain what the Grez are and how they function, where they originated, all without feeling exposition-y, that was a big challenge with this part. I think I mostly succeeded, but on a re-read, this part was a tad clunky. I think one of the more interesting choices I made was to expand a lot on Henry, since he was always a background human, but I made him a little bit badass in this part and the previous one. Kar's appearance at the end was cool, too. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 227: Ose's Plan - So. This is one of those parts. Stormbringer was written as a first draft. That means, unlike Chapter 1 of Refresh, which was heavily based off Chapter 1 of Classic, I had nothing to draw from Classic for Stormbringer. This led to a lot of speculations on my end as I struggled to figure out the shape of what Stormbringer would look like. 

Part 227 is very much a problem, because it, in addition to other 'leaders making plans' parts, often forced me to make choices I wasn't certain about. In a real war, the situation changes rapidly and often assets have to get moved around between different battlefields to keep people guessing. In most fantasy fiction, you only have maybe a handful of important, named characters, all with their own roles and story arcs. But in Cryopod, there are like fifty characters all fighting and struggling in Stormbringer at the same time. One misstep with one of them could mean that character's arc gets totally fucked up.

That being said, Part 227 is pretty good. I mostly wanted to focus on the tension between Ose and her fellow demons, especially Beelzebub. Stuff like the Trifrancium subplot, though, that was intended to be a side-motivator to get Ose to look around Tarus II and get in the thick of the action, as well as to give Mara/Vepar and some others side goals. I also added it as a reason for Ose and the big demons to not storm in and just blast the humans to kingdom come; it's effectively a deterrent. I don't love what I did with some side plots, especially the Trifrancium one... so... overall, 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 228: Casual Domination - Kar kicks a lot of ass. He beats the fucking shit out of Beelzebub and flattens the poor punk. Neil gets a scene where he talks about the Trifrancium, which, as I previously stated, I don't love but was the best thing I could come up with to explain why the demons didn't just all charge their leaders in and slaughter the humans. Oh, and then Kar beats the shit out of Beelzebub some more and captures him alive. Right, yeah, that happened too. Kar is awesome. 9/10.

Cryopod Refresh 229: Gressil's Regret - When I initially started writing the Stormbringer arc, I wasn't sure what to do with Daisy. For much of my outlining, I planned to barely have Daisy use any abilities before she died. And yes, her death was mostly always going to happen, though even then I also considered having Yama's shades capture her and take her offscreen. I also considered having Daisy survive the Stormbringer war and help out daddy a bit, because I felt she hadn't had enough time to properly develop.

Ultimately, I decided to make Daisy use her magic more and more as Stormbringer progressed. She even swayed several major events in humanity's favor, mostly by summoning the Titans and Hydra. She beat Yama's shades, and she healed a lot of soldiers (even though they died to the Shades afterward). Overall, I'm pretty happy with Daisy's character development during Stormbringer.

The second half of this part is also really impactful. Gressil, in Classic, was a literal nobody. He was a prison guard who acted kinda scary but died like a bitch. In Refresh, he's technically the second character we ever meet, and his importance will only increase as time passes. Make no mistake, Gressil is a major villain, and one who will persist for a very long time. This part really digs into the trauma he's suffered, and on a re-read, I think I executed well on developing his history. 9/10.

Cryopod Refresh 230: Neil's Investigation - This part finally certifies Neil as a grade-A badass. There's something about an intelligent villain/anti-hero that really makes you respect them, even if they're dirty. Neil's questioning might lead the reader to think he's going to find out about Henry's secret antics with Ose's astral body, but he doesn't. Instead, he picks up on Caddis's betrayal and sends him to the prisons. However, after everyone leaves, Neil reveals that he has, in fact, noticed Henry's suspicious actions. This shows that Neil is an extremely perceptive leader, and makes him a lot more likeable, in my eyes. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 231: One Punch Monster - This is the quintessential Kar Part. Aside from making Kar look like a badass, it also serves to flesh out the character of Laharl, who, until this point, was only a random demoness. I also did double-duty by explaining the difference between illusions and projections, the former of which can only deceive one's eyes/mind/soul, while the latter can interact with the physical world. This is useful for Blinker when she fights later on. Overall, 9/10. 

Cryopod Refresh 232: The Sphinx's Game - Another Kar Part. These are seriously some of my favorites to re-read. This part is even better than the last one because it not only features Kar, but Mara, too. Mara is absolutely one of my favorite demons, despite only being a Baron. She and Orias have such cool and unique powers that they really stand out from the crowd. I relish any chance I get to write about either of them, because they're just so damned awesome. This part is extra interesting because for Mara, this is the first time she's interacted with Kar, as Jason erased her memory. However, Kar still remembers her. So, if a reader wonders why Kar might spare her in the end, it's because of his previous talks with her in the early part of Chapter 3. 

This part is also one where I put a bit of foreshadowing into Mephisto, Zamiel, Duriel, and the Hell of Blood. All these facotrs combined make it a 10/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 233: The Dukes' Onslaught - This is maybe my most favorite part of the entire Stormbringer Arc. The way Kar and Blinker work together, using illusions to taunt and confuse their enemies, the way Bael falls for the illusions every time and can't tell which Artorias is the right one. If I had to pick only one part for people to read, it would be this one. It goes above and beyond my usual writing capabilities, so, it deserves an 11/10.

Cryopod Refresh 234: A Shocking Development - This part is just as good as the previous part. I consider 233 and 234 one contiguous part, all mashed together for a single battle. The way Bael gets so confused that he beats the shit out of Artorias, I don't want to pat my own back here, but I'm very proud of moments like that. When Cryopod's characters come together perfectly, you get sequences like the Kar VS Demons battles, and that is awesome. Ose's appearance at the end, where she beats Kar with two punches but shatters her arms, also establishes her as a grade-A badass. 

One important note: I wanted to make sure that, before Kar went down, I didn't have him suffer from the Worf Effect. I didn't want him to act like and get hyped up as a Grade-A badass, but then get beaten quickly to establish Ose's dominance. That is why I spent so much time having him destroy demonkind's forces. It shows that Ose beating Kar is well deserved and she earns her badass rating. Overall, another 11/10 part.

Cryopod Refresh 235: Preparing for Round Two - This is a simple transition part. It suffers from similar issues as 227 and 229. I didn't know how Stormbringer would play out. Up to this point, I had a solid plan involving Kar being a badass, but beyond this, I simply didn't know what would work best. Should Jason return early or show up late? Where should the demons attack? How much time would I spend writing this arc overall? Etc.

This confusion led to me having to be fairly vague about Neil's plans, Ose's plans, and other such things. I would sometimes have Ose say something like "It will take me a full week to heal my arms!" but then it only took her like two days? These confusing moments led to a lot of disjointed arcs throughout the whole Stormbringer arc, and as such, I'm not fond of most 'planning' Parts. 

The only really good thing I like about this part is that it was the one where I decisively decided to start having Daisy heal people, slowly revealing her magical abilities. 5/10 overall.

Cryopod Refresh 236: Bael the Negotiator - Bael is so funny. I love him. Best Cryopod character. The way he says, "Uh... hi!" to the humans is just... so classic. So great. This part is also sort of another Worf Moment, where the humans actually manage to badly injure Bael, which shows that they have real promise. Not even the Energy War humans managed to do that, as afar as we know. Anyway, this part is fun and I love it a lot. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 237: The Balrog's Only Weakness - Bael becomes the Balrog. Chaos ensues. What can I say, other than that this is a solid part? I like it a lot, though on a re-read... it's a bit clumsy. Does Bael have both arms broken, or just one? It's also not clear whether the nanite helmet is working properly or not. I find this part relatively messy, so, overall I'm rating it a 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 238: Phoebe, Humanity's Leader - One of my biggest goals with Stormbringer was to show that Jason is not the be-all, end-all for humanity. See, the thing is, I read a lot of stories where the overpowered protagonist roflstomps his enemies, and I hate those stories. The side characters feel inconsequential, and you always end up asking why the MC doesn't just do everything himself. As such, Stormbringer is my way of showing that even without Jason around, the humans are still really competent and almost good enough to take on Ose and the other demons. With Belial, Kar, and Blinker on their sides, they can accomplish a lot of things.

This part isn't just about Phoebe, though she is its primary protagonist. It's also about introducing several interesting humans, as I found that until Stormbringer, there were very few named humans without any powers who the reader could actually identify. Who did we have? Neil, Makoto, Hans, Saul, Phoebe, Henry. That was about it. Via Stormbringer, I also introduced Chadwick, Samuel, Hurent, Elder Skarde, Brunhilda, and a couple of others. The reason why I introduced so many was to show that there are ordinary humans capable of performing extraordinary feats. Relying on the Wordsmith too much weakens them in the eyes of the reader.

Overall, this is another 'Planning Part,' so it suffers from the same issues as other Planning Parts. Even so, I think I did an effective job introducing new characters while also improving on Phoebe, Henry, and some of the other humans. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 239: Bael's Brain Spiders - This part juggles a lot of things. Not only do we get to see Mephisto's resentment toward Ose, but even more of Ose's planning capabilities. The appearance of Confessor Vulpanix, one of the high-ranking Psions we met earlier in the story, adds a lot of motivation to Ose's actions. We realize she's dealing with a strict time limit and hasn't any time to waste. Overall, as a transition part, this one nets a solid 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 240: Commander Phoebe's Strategy - This part suffers, like all the other Planning Parts, from me not knowing exactly what will happen during Stormbringer. And so, it's a bit vague overall. I don't love it. We get to see how the anti-demon sentiments are building up in how some people treat Belial. Otherwise, this part is perfectly fine. 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 241: Invasion! - With this part, I really wanted to reinforce the idea that there were lots of hidden traitors among humanity's ranks. Not only do we have Henry and Caddis, but also 'John' who dies at the start of this part. Later in Stormbringer, we'd also have traitors aboard the Atlas Cannon, as well as traitors who killed Elder Skarde.

This part also serves to give Samuel, one of the new human characters, a chance at showing off his courage and badassery. It allowed me to demonstrate the power of humanity's many different T-REX models, something I wanted to do sooner but never had the chance, and plenty of other things, as well. Overall, this part serves as an excellent start to the Stormbringer war's main thrust. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 242: Pandemonium - A lot of stuff happens. Like this part's title implies, a ton of chaos and pandemonium ensues. Overall, I like it a lot and really wanted to focus on humanity's exosuits, as well as Mephisto's arsenal. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 243: Mephisto's Counterattack - A direct continuation of the previous part. I really put a lot of emphasis on Mephisto's necromantic abilities, showing exactly why necromancers are so scary. Turning the dead into your thralls will make any demon a terrifying foe. The Frost Giants, especially, show he has a lot of tools in his arsenal. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 244: Darkness - One really interesting factoid about this part: Early on, I planned for Bael to act as comic relief throughout the whole Stormbringer war. I intended to have him show up in random battles, drooling while saying dumb things. I also intended for him to see visions of purple dinosaurs and fluffy bunnies. Instead, I had no time to write him into any scenes and his impact on the war from this point forward was practically zilch. I also later ended up having him see Shax instead, which was 100% NOT my original intention. I actually am glad I made him see Shax, it's just that during parts like 244, I wish I'd had that planned out ahead of time.

Anyway, this part is another solid transition part. A lot of micro-scenes occur, and a lot of stuff happens. I think of it as an average "wow, a lot of stuff is happening" action part, but overall it could have been better, could have been worse. 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 245: Prison Break! - This part has three sections. The first one is just a transition for Phoebe, who got shot down and has to make her way back to the battlefield. The second section mostly focuses on Orias and a few other newcomers, showing their attitudes to the war. I always made a big point about showing Orias's reluctance to engage in battle. Sure, he'll do it if ordered, but he's not a battle maniac by any means. We also get to see Yama's shades move out to capture Daisy, which I found worked well.

It's the third section, with Mara breaking out of the prison, that really shines for me. As I said before, Mara is one of my favorite demons, so anything where she's using her abilities is great. The fact she, a mere woman, has to bail out Beelzebub, is just hilarious to me. Poor Beelzeboob, always getting rescued like a damsel in distress. This part nets a 9/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 246: The Wordsmith Returns - Not only is this a Kar part and a Jason Returns part... but it isn't at all! It turns out Blinker, alone, goes out to fight the Battle Brothers. This is, as always, part of my deliberate efforts to keep the side cast and female characters relevant. I always try to find ways to make the female characters in Cryopod achieve great things, and this part adds a bit of comedy to Blinker by making her projections of Jason and Kar hilariously biased. Blinker just can't help but envision Kar as much more handsome and cool than he already is, while her ideal version of Jason always praises Kar. It's cute! Overall, 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 247: Jason's Attack! - This part serves to offset the misdirection in the previous part. Truthfully, I expected something like 40% of readers to figure out that Jason and Kar from the previous part were only Blinker's projections, but I also happen to know/think many readers wouldn't figure that out. Therefore, I set up this part as if it were an 'explanation' for 'how Jason arrived back on the battlefield,' even though that didn't happen. It's fine if not all readers fall for my misdirection, as per my posts about 'Reader Levels.' Some people get to feel smart for seeing through my tricks, while others get to feel awed by my 'cool and sneaky misdirection.' Everyone wins! 

Don't forget, too, that this part features Jason SHREDDING the Volgrim ships. This part makes Jason look so badass, it might actually be his best part in all of Refresh up to this point. Overall, this part nets an easy 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 248: Wordsmith.exe - Jason's badassery continues, which is always fun from a reader perspective. I knew that after nearly 250 parts, readers (and myself!) were itching to FINALLY see Jason be productive and act smart. Even so, with Jason's incredible powers, the Psions nearly manage to incapacitate him. That happens not because Jason is an idiot, but because his enemies are actually quite powerful. This part is a thrill-ride, and I love it. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 249: Mara's Great Escape! - This part features Mara and Beelzebub, two of my favorite characters. Her prison escape is badass. Beelzebub's arrogance is unstoppable. Everything ties together nicely. I haven't much to say, so, 10/10. It's great!

Cryopod Refresh 250: The Battle Brothers' Resurgence! - I like this part because Blinker continues to beat back the Battle Brothers alone. However, as part of my goal to make the BB's tricky opponents, they do manage to see through her illusions, and they reveal just how strong they actually are. Despite only being Barons, the BB's are secretly as strong as Demon Dukes, though only in the sense of their bodies. This allows them to hoodwink other demons and their enemies, as well. A solid part, overall 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 251: Swift Soul Searching - As part of my continued quest to make Jason more of a badass, I decided to have him return to Tarus II, albeit in a soul-form. Now, here's where things get tricky.

By this point in Refresh and Stormbringer, I had a problem. Jason, now possessing the Cube, should possess enough power to wipe out demonkind. He's also smart enough to do so. The only thing really holding him back from killing all the demons was his dislike toward killing. I intended from the very beginning of Stormbringer for Kar to die, and I also waffled between Daisy dying or not dying. As such, having Jason solve Stormbringer, either by killing all of the demons, instantly teleporting them back to the Labyrinth, or using any of his other powers, would effectively end Stormbringer before it could get interesting.

When I first wrote Stormbringer's outline, I planned for Jason to absorb the Phoenix and then fall comatose until the very end of Stormbringer, where he would awaken and fly down to save everyone, but not until right after Beelzebub exploded. Thus, Jason would arrive, find out that Daisy and Kar had died, and then he would explode in rage and kill all of the demons. That was my original plan, but in Part 247, I decided to wake Jason up early. This is the biggest issue with Stormbringer; that the Wordsmith could have easily solved all of its problems.

What was my solution? I decided to take some measures to limit Jason's power. For example, I made it so the Cube lacked an Autopilot. Therefore, Jason, or at least his body (controlled by his mind-wife) would have to stay behind to guide the Cube to Tarus II. Additionally, Jason couldn't just tap into the Cube's power to help the humans remotely, or to just solve the problems from a distance. 

I'm not going to lie to you guys. This is basically... a story contrivance. I hate story contrivances. I despise them. Even so, if I wanted Jason to not just sit out the entire war and to be a badass, I had to make up some contrivances so that he couldn't just save everyone. Once you get past those rather stupid limitations, these parts where he's in his soul-form are actually really fucking interesting. Yes, they're contrived, but they tie into my near-future goal to finally reveal my planned Soul Power System, where we learn about the differences between astral bodies, souls, and other such things. In truth, I never had this system planned out until Stormbringer, but I always planned to elaborate on it once I hit gold.

If you ignore this part's story contrivances and focus on what I did, it works great. However, as an author, I completely despise story contrivances and only used them out of necessity. Therefore, for that reason, I'm rating this part 3/10. In a future rewrite, I might be able to make Stormbringer much less retarded. For now, Part 251 is still a 3/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 252: Astral Soul-Eater - This part is good. Really good. I love the idea of Jason battling Ose for the first time in the soul realm. This goes to show just how versatile souls will be in my future Soul Power System expansion to Cryopod's mechanics. We've always heard that soul manipulation is bad, but we never really found out why. Well, this part starts to very slightly tap into some reasons why. The scare with Mephisto at the end is a real delight, too. Seeing Valac's Lantern, at least to me, felt properly chilling. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 253: Lazarus Tower - Jason may have lost to Ose and Mephisto's soul-machinations, but this part serves to offset his loss by showing us Jason's intelligence. He sees through many of Ose's schemes and starts preparing counter-measures to the best of his abilities. We finally learn about the Lazarus Tower in great detail, and this is not a minor event, but something really important which will come up many times in future parts. The Lazarus Tower is extremely significant to the Cryopod canon, so I wanted to ensure it got a proper explanation. Overall, a 9/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 254: Shady Skulduggery - I wanted to focus on building up the characters of Yama's shades. As I'm sure you know, all but three of them die, though that wasn't originally my goal. In fact, I even imagined a possible storyline outcome where the Shades successfully captured Daisy and took her away. In the end, she kicked their asses and only Vicious(?) survived. Still, I wanted to make sure each of the four Shades felt unique and interesting, so I gave them all very different characters. The fact they were different species also goes to show how... 'open-minded' Yama is. What a creep. 9/10.

Cryopod Refresh 255: Two Mommies! - Belial and Phoebe are in lesbians?! Le gasp! This part mostly focuses on the Shades arriving to try and capture Daisy. It's a great transition part, and I'm happy with how it came out. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 256: Belial's Demise - Heh, this part's title is a pun, because it implies Belial dies, while really, she just fights Demise. I crack myself up sometimes. Anyway, I ran into an issue wherein I realized Belial has practically zero missile-type abilities. All of her combat potential comes from physical attacks, which should theoretically be useless when fighting Shades. So, I had her use 'crude' mana bursts to fight them and barely functional mana shields to protect Daisy and Rosalia. As far as story contrivances go, I'm not a fan. Overall, as far as my authorial execution went, I'd give this a 5/10, but as far as emotional resonance goes, I'd say it's an 8/10. Let's just say 7/10 to be fair.

Cryopod Refresh 257: Daisy's Fate - Yama in Cryopod Classic was a fairly boring plot-driven character. Once I took him out of his designated plot position and put him elsewhere, his lack of personality kind of screwed him over. In Refresh, my goal is to slowly build him up by showing off his weird, perverted tendencies and his rapey-vibes. The dude captures women and turns them into his servants. He pays little attention to men, and his Shades often mindlessly extol the virtues of his 'harem.' This shows just what a creep he is.

This part is most notable for finally revealing even more of Daisy's power. Up to now, we'd only seen hints of telepathy, some sort of 'foresight' power, and healing, but once she reveals her telekinesis, the poor shades don't stand a chance.

Some people might wonder what Daisy's powers are. Well, as the author, I can confidently state there's a reason I was ambiguous about them, because... she's actually a dedicated Mary Sue! That's right, Daisy is a character whose entire existence turns her into a deliberate Mary Sue. But will she turn out to be a good character? I think so! But only time will tell! Anyway, 8/10 for watching Daisy spank a Shade's butt. Literally.

Cryopod Refresh 258: War Recap - By this point in Stormbringer, I'd received many complaints about the pacing of the story and some questionable flow-decisions. I decided to write this part to sort of explain what was going on, the demonic movements, the state of both sides, etc. It's an interim part made for one purpose, and it serves that purpose well. It's a bit boring though, so, 5/10. Not all parts are godly.

Cryopod Refresh 259: Beelzebub's Prison Break - One of my favorite Stormbringer parts. Not only do we have Beelzebub toying with the weak, pathetic humans, but he even starts to suffer from momentary existential crises. I always think it's important to highlight just how insanely strong even Demon Dukes are, let alone Emperors. These characters are completely ridiculous. Beelzebub is actually so much more powerful than the humans that even when his arrogance gets the better of him, the humans can only momentarily stun and disorient him. He still breaks free and nearly kills everyone, at least until Jason notices his movements and teleports him to the other side of the planet, deep underground.

Here's something important I want to mention. From the very beginning of Stormbringer, I intended for Beelzebub to blow himself up among the humans' main city. His explosion was to be the sequel to the explosion in Chapter 1. This is a direct continuation of his character arc, and thus was non-negotiable. I always intended for him to wipe out the city and kill millions of humans. I wasn't sure how I'd get him out of the planet's crust until several parts after this one, but I hoped people would forget Beelzebub even existed, allowing his appearance to surprise not only Jason and the other humans, but the reader as well.

I think I succeeded. His reappearance and detonation seemed to work really well, in my view. Overall, I rate Beelzebub's Stormbringer appearance, and this part, as a 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 260: Battlefield Interference - Ugh. Story contrivances. If Jason can solve Stormbringer from the Cube, it makes Stormbringer's premise nonsensical. So, I added a new limitation to Wordsmithing in that Jason's abilities weaken over intergalactic distances. Still, if you ignore that contrivance, this part shows Jason being smart, though his decision not to kill demons also makes him somewhat frustrating. Overall though, I feel that parts like this help make Jason's heel-turn at the end of the war, where he becomes a mass-murderer, much more impactful. So, with all that said, 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 261: Tactical Wordsmithing - Jason tries really hard to explain why he refuses to kill the demons. Not gonna lie, this is just me, the author, saying "Yeah I know it looks dumb that Jason isn't killing his enemies, but he has reasons! Dumb reasons, but reasons nonetheless!"

I don't love it, but what are you gonna do? Once you get past the contrivances, it's a good part. 7/10.

I'll just leave this post I made in this part's comment section.

Yeah. Writing with an OP protagonist is... challenging.

Cryopod Refresh 262: Wordsmith's Omnipresence - At this point, it had taken me 6 months to get this far into Stormbringer and it was only half over, so I linked a Refresher Post.

This part is a bit chaotic. With Jason shutting down Warper portals left and right, the demons enact countermeasures to slow him down. This part is what I call an 'Inevitable Consequence Part,' where my decision to do one thing forces me to do another. Since I chose to have Jason present, his appearance means he has to be doing something useful, which means the demons have to respond to him. Frankly, if Jason was asleep and absorbing the Phoenix during the entire Stormbringer War, it would have made the war a lot easier to write, and probably shorter, too.

But, well, he wasn't. So, since I had to make stuff happen, I used this part as a vehicle to improve Mara and Ying-Ying's characters. Not a bad compromise. 

I also advanced the B-plot with Daisy and Belial and the Shades, having Jason heal Belial back to perfection. This is actually a significant action that heavily tilted the balance in favor of humanity, so a smart reader can see Jason's isn't just dicking around. He -is- helping, but just not as much as he could be if he atomized all his enemies. Oh well! 6/10.

Cryopod Refresh 263: Jason's Brain Drain - Jason exhausts himself by doing things the hard way. It might not be an endearing trait, but Jason's decision to commit to never directly killing demons is, if nothing else, a little bit admirable. Too bad, he wipes himself out and gets one-upped by Ose. What is that strange power she uses to nearly paralyze Jason though? Something she took from Gressil? I wonder what that means. Probably not important to the future of the story or anything. 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 264: Orias's Origins - I bloody goddamn well love this part. As stated previously, Orias is one of my favorite demons. Taking a part to explore his backstory technically extends Stormbringer, but I found it important to do, since his character arc will be really important for Cryopod moving forward. This part is all sorts of epic, theatrical, and emotional. I love writing parts like these, and IMO, it came out perfectly. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 265: Humanity, Encircled - One of the many issues with the Stormbringer War: I wasn't sure from beginning to end how 'long' it would take to complete in-universe. A day? A week? A month?? In the end, it only ended up being like 2-3 days long, which is so weird. Wars don't typically happen that quickly in real life. Oh well.

This part continues Belial's character development by finally having her start killing other demons en-masse. Her rage and actions foretell what will happen to Jason, showing that in the end, pain causes some people to discard their beliefs and move toward toxicity and hatred. This is sort of a running theme in Cryopod, among others. Remember too, that Hope turned to that same toxic rage after losing everything to Jason. Hope lost his wife, his friends, and his family because he was 'only a clone,' and this drove him to commit genocide on Neil's orders.

It's kind of neat we get a glimpse of Solomon's nephew, Saul, in this part. Like many other minor characters, he mostly got sidelined during Stormbringer. Still, I wanted to at least show him doing stuff. This part mostly focuses on the little guys, the human and monster grunts fighting against the demons. I wanted to take a step back to show how the War affects these normal soldiers lacking extraordinary powers. Overall, an effective part. 7/10.

Cryopod Refresh 266: Belial's Rage - Belial is strong. Like. Really fucking strong. In my notes, she is the strongest demon in terms of raw physical power. Her body can morph into nearly any shape. She possesses formidable healing skills. She can also seduce males thanks to her succubus biology. Even so, Belial has two big weaknesses. First, she isn't much of a fighter. She might be capable of kicking ass, but she doesn't practice much. Secondly, she lacks strong offensive magical abilities.

In this part, we see Belial at her strongest. She becomes a literal monster and tears ass through the demon's ranks. This shows her at her best, in term of fighting capability. It also shows her at her worst, her most pained in body and soul. Belial suffers because she draws no pleasure in killing all her fellow demons. She only wishes to vent her anger and grief.

As far as Belial parts go, this one is a 9/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 267: Brightest Cave, Darkest Dawn - This part is weird. I like it a lot, but it clashes with Part 221, where Amelia said she shouldn't kill. I'm gonna chalk that oversight up to me having to write TLP and TCTH simultaneously. There's just too much information for me to remember. I'll probably edit 221 at some point so it syncs up with Amelia's actions later.

Anyway, this part sis great because we get some serious character development for Amelia. We also meet Dawn, a character who some of my readers don't like because she's annoying. I love Dawn though! She's so quirky! I personally find it interesting that Amelia loves Hope so much that she will do anything to save him, even if it means venturing into the Labyrinth alone and powerless. Overall, a 9/10 part for me.

Cryopod Refresh 268: Kar's Vengeance - I didn't know what to do with Phoebe by this point. See, when two full days have passed in the story, yet Phoebe hasn't slept at all, I think it bears mentioning that she must be tired as hell. Therefore, this part serves to show how her condition has deteriorated. For those of you paying attention, I also had Sandy, the Felaris lady from much earlier in Cryopod, make a small appearance. She's the one Hans Wagner shooed off a bench in chapter 1.

More importantly, this part starts the battle between Kar and the Battle Brothers, in earnest. To be honest... I am not happy with how the Kar and BB fights went. I had totally different plans, but TLP took a lot of my attention away and made me skimp on details. Of all the aspects of Stormbringer, everything relating to Kar and the BB's was the worst. There were lots of good moments, but also a lot of forced contrivances. I rate this part a 7/10 as a result.

Cryopod Refresh 269: Visiting the Oracles - Neil is still a badass. Ose is sneaky. We meet another cutesy new character named Abby, and most importantly, we finally learn some crucial information about the oft-mentioned Oracles. We learn about their powers and abilities, and we learn what they can do.

I'm pretty damn pleased with this part. I found Abby and Ose's fire and ice personalities to clash in a pretty funny way. I also liked how Ose alluded to Beelzebub and Rosalia at the end, showing she has some self-awareness. Overall, it's a 9/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 270: Amelia's Quest for Hope - A continuation of 267. Dawn and Amelia travel together and we learn a lot about the Hell of Blood, as well as the names of the other Hidden Hells. Considering my future plans for the Hidden Hell arc, I thought it was important I included this information here. Dawn is as much an exposition device as a cutesy girl trying to win Amelia's affections.

More importantly, this part... hides a lot of really important hints. But to what? Only time will tell. Smart readers will definitely be able to read through the lines. I rate it a 10/10, because Gressil is always a winner in my book.

Cryopod Refresh 271: Ose's Exasperation - Poor Ose. She's surrounded by idiots, chief among them being Bael. Bael nearly beats the crap out of Ose before she leaves. I originally intended for Bael to become comic relief during Stormbringer, even up to this point, but it just never panned out. He kinda just falls off the radar after this part and only reappears some 12+ parts later, where he kills Ose. I never intended for that to happen, but it did. Weird.

This part also serves to exposit the reason why Jason can't come back to help humanity for a while. It's a bit contrived, but I think it works. Jason has chaotic energy running through his veins, so he can't Wordsmith. Simple. Solid 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 272: Zamiel's Siren Song - A solid Kar VS Battle Brothers part. Lots of stuff happens. Kar does a badass killing move and slays Duriel, which is awesome. Not much to say, 9/10. I accomplished my goals with it.

Cryopod Refresh 273: Sphinx-Slayer - An epic part with epic music. As a newly arisen Duke possessing an Emperor's body, Zamiel finally becomes capable of fighting Kar on mostly-equal terms. The problem is, it wasn't clear to me at this point how Zamiel would kill Kar. This came back to bite me in the ass when I later didn't know how to kill Kar and kinda just pulled 'Sword Qi' out of my ass. Still, this part itself is good and I enjoyed writing it. 9/10.

Cryopod Refresh 274: Battle Against Belial - Belial fights Ose. Ose reveals the truth, after all these years: Lucifer led Satan to his death at Amelia's hands. This truth changes a lot of things, most notably including Artorias's convictions. See, Artorias is a demon who values stability and order. He follows orders even if he doesn't agree with them, because to him, those orders are the glue which holds demon society together. 

By revealing her mother's treachery in an attempt to gloat and demoralize Belial, Ose inadvertently stabs herself in the back. Much like Beelzebub, one of Ose's biggest weaknesses is her arrogance and inability to fathom that her lessers might somehow upend her brilliantly thought-out plans. This bites her in the ass, causing one of her strongest knights to turn against her.

Funnily, I always had it in my notes that at some point Artorias might turn against demonkind, and that Uriel might appear. I wasn't sure when I would use that card, only that it would happen eventually. I guess doing it during Stormbringer was an effective use of time. This part nets a 9/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 275: Lightning and Fire - Ose's ultimate transformation, her trump card, finally comes into play. For a long time now, we've known that many demons have 'Ultimate Transformations' they can use. It was also a part of the lore that Lucifer was the one who created those forms. Therefore, it stands to reason that her precious daughter would certainly have one of those forms, and that it would empower her if the going ever became too tough.

This part demonstrates Ose's true power. Facing another Emperor, as well as a turncoat Duke, Ose brings out her most powerful ability and stomps Belial into the fucking dirt. She takes out Artorias and even heals her arms thanks to the potency of her Thunder God form. Unfortunately, Ose once again fails to anticipate another unexpected development when, just before she can kill Belial, Uriel appears! This is another of my favorite parts, and the dynamic between all these ladies is lots of fun. I rate it 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 276: Stealing the Archangel's Thunder - Ose fights Uriel, and it's awesome. A problem I encountered with this part is that... I wasn't sure how to transition into Daisy awakening the Titans/Hydra. I know that sounds odd, but I wanted Ose to eventually discover and try to capture Daisy, only for Daisy to awaken and scare the bejeezus out of Ose. It was a bit of a stretch, but by changing the rules of this fight and allowing Ose to eventually summon a thunderstorm, I did eventually give Ose the leg-up that she needed.

Fun fact, I intended for Bael to stumble through the fighting zone, but couldn't find a way to do so without him ruining the tension, so I just didn't do it. Poor Bael. This part gets an 8/10 from me for being a fun fight and a solid transition part.

Also... You fell for it, fool! THUNDER CROSS ULTIMATE DEFENSE!

I wanted to use that with Ose for ages. Glad I finally got it implemented in this part, lmao.

Cryopod Refresh 277: Killer in the Shadows - As always, I love writing Mara Parts. It's too bad that after 277, Mara kind of just falls off the face of the planet. I literally overlooked her existence because I was so busy trying to manage the Daisy/Kar/Ose battles. Holy shit, this part of the story was beginning to become nerve-wracking for me, leading up to the Kar death scene. Mixed in with all the TLP parts, I was getting super foggy brained and exhausted. Balancing an incredibly complex war arc with a whole other story is HARD, guys. It's REALLY HARD.

Anyway, this part was great. I thought I executed it well, it's just that I was feeling so drained and had to consider so many things, it started sapping my will to live. 

Cryopod Refresh 278: Sphinx VS Duke Finale - Here it is. My least favorite part of the entire Stormbringer War. Ironically, it was also my most anticipated part. Of all the different aspects regarding Stormbringer which I changed or modified, Kar's Death and the transfer of his abilities to Blinker were always present. I always intended for this to happen.

But then I actually did it, and it felt so forced, and so bad, and so wrong. This part did not flow well. Zamiel killed Kar with Sword Qi, which wasn't explained well, and felt like a complete Deus Ex Machina. I had returned to this part after two weeks of TLP, and thus, I had to try and remember so many details... so many little things. It resulted in what I think was one of, if not the worst part in all of Stormbringer.

I'm being pretty hard on myself, but the thing is, I only had one chance to get this part right, and I had so many regrets about it. I can't just rewrite Stormbringer and expect to surprise anyone with Kar's death again. Once you know he's going to die, the shock value vanishes, leaving behind all sorts of dumb questions.

I don't like this part. I actually even kind of loathe it. It served its purpose, and that's the best I can say. 2/10.

Cryopod Refresh 279: Blinker's Gain, Blinker's Loss - Once you get over the badness of the previous part, at least Blinker's powerup and her rage, her total loss of humor, is emotionally resonant and heartwrenching. This part is kickass in how Blinker annihilates Zamiel, but also sad in that Mephisto ultimately steals Kar's corpse. It's bittersweet.

I also took some time to add in another bit at the end humanizing the demons. I think it worked well, maybe making readers feel a touch of pity for Skitch and Vex, once Blinker erases them from the mortal plane. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 280: Best Friends Forever? - One of the fun aspects of this part that I explored is the idea that not only has Ose obtained new abilities by virtue of becoming a Demon Emperor, but her comprehension of advanced science also improves her powers. Knowledge of gravity and mass is something which the demons and angels typically don't understand, but as a genius, Ose does!

This part also represents an important milestone in Uriel's arc, when she decides to seek assistance from Belial. Previously, she bore a terrible hatred toward Belial, yet after this part, she held off on that hatred, opting instead to work with the lesser of two evils. This is a very important mentality shift for Uriel, one which I use to great effect for the remaining parts of Stormbringer. Overall, a 9/10 part.

Cryopod Refresh 281: Friendship Is Magic - Uriel and Belial work together to trounce Ose. Unfortunately for them, the electric Emperor is sneaky like a snake. She escapes their unified palms and flies into the sky, where she summons a gigantic stormcloud to attack the humans. This part also slightly hints at Jason's turn, when Uriel mentions the Hero has a timid heart. Foreshadowing, woo!

More importantly, this part is where I reveal Ose's other hidden trump card. Her spies occupy several important positions among humanity's ranks, and true to Ose's meticulous knowledge of humans, she has intimidated, coerced, and bribed them into serving her through many different means. This allows her to kill Elder Skarde and take out humanity's communications relay, as well as seize control of the Atlas Cannon.

I really like how this part plays out, and I remember feeling super satisfied once I finished writing it. It's a 9/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 282: Ose's Checkmate - This part gives a one-sentence hint at Beelzebub's return, something I did intentionally just so it wouldn't be a Deus Ex Machina. I always planned for Beelzebub to return, but I wanted to make sure readers didn't think his arrival would be bullshit.

This part serves as a momentary recap, as well as more proof of Ose's quick thinking, her intelligence, and how far ahead she's planned. Ultimately, the reason Ose loses during Stormbringer comes down to a few factors outside of her control; elements she didn't anticipate. I wanted to make sure she didn't look like an idiot when she lost, and parts like this help with that perception. Ose isn't stupid, she's just arrogant and constantly underestimates the intelligence of other beings as a result.

This part is really cool. Another one of my favorites, especially when Ose gets that moment of blood-curdling fear when Daisy wakes up. It's so good. 10/10.

Cryopod Refresh 283: Ose's Final Gambit - Ose gets the shit beaten out of her, and Bael appears.

I don't know how I feel about this part. Up to this point, I kept wanting to put Bael in. I was debating having Jason kill Bael, but I could not imagine a way to make it happen. Eventually, through a series of decisions, I decided to have Bael kill Ose, and for him to start seeing Shax instead of purple dinosaurs.

I... don't love the idea that Bael killed Ose. It's fine. It works. The problem is, Phoebe, Uriel, and Blinker, along with Daisy's summons, were more than capable of killing Ose. It was essentially a ladies-moment, until a guy walked in and stole the spotlight. I've always been someone who doesn't like when female characters don't get their time to shine, and it feels kind of wrong that Bael would just swagger in and kill Ose, but at the same time, it also makes sense. I wanted to reveal even more of Ose's horrible deeds by showing what happened to Shax, so... if I wanted Bael to have a big moment, this was his last chance.

Overall, I'm mixed on this part. It's a 5/10 for me. It's not a badly written part, but I just wish I had a better way of dealing with things. Ose's ultimate end felt a bit stupid because of my decisions up to this point.

Cryopod Refresh 284: Bael's Bestest Buddy - I love Bael. You love Bael. We all love Bael. Throw in a cool rockstar best friend and some buddy-cop antics, you've got a winning story. This part is great, like all Bael parts. Overall, 9/10.

Cryopod Refresh 285: Clumsy Bael! - This part ended up a lot darker than I originally intended and forehsadowed. Frankly, it's downright sloppy how I was going to have Bael pull pranks, but then this part was just him being a real downer with Shax. I figured at the time that with Bael's death on the horizon, he needed some serious character introspection so his loss would hit the reader harder.

Still, I don't love the execution of this part. It's a 7/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 286: Bael's Decision - Bael, as the head of the First Hell following Ose's death, orders a retreat. Sadly, with Mephisto casting a spell on the demons, Bael loses his authority. The demons attack anyway.

This part marks the end of Ose, and the rise of Mephisto. Until now, he's always just been a shadowy, giggling, cackling evildoer. But now, we truly see the depths to which Mephisto will seek so long as it allows him to gain power.

While everyone else suffered during the war, Mephisto made great gains! He may have lost a pair of Barons, but he obtained the bodies of two Emperors and later, Bael's body, too! Mephisto truly is the ultimate winner of Stormbringer. 

Of course, when Jason appears, Mephisto's impotent rage ends up falling flat. Jason easily takes care of the Duke's machinations, leaving me to rate this part as an 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 287: Powderkeg - This is a transition part, one where Jason finally protects humanity using the full power of the Cube. With his appearance, the war effectively ends. To most readers, my hope was that they would have forgotten about Beelzebub. That way, the ending of this part would hit incredibly hard.

Overall, this is an effective transition. 8/10.

Cryopod Refresh 288: Unyielding Rage - Danger! Terror! Fear! With only one and a half minutes before Beelzebub explodes, Jason has to quickly think up countermeasures. Ultimately, he fails. He nearly dies, and only Daisy's sacrifice allows him to live.

This part is a mixed bag for me. I feel as if I could have written it a lot better and had Daisy's death feel way more impactful. Her decision to protect Jason came mostly as a consequence of Jason even being there. Initially, at the start of Stormbringer, I intended for Jason to not be in the area when Beelzebub exploded. I wanted him to come in immediately after, too late to save everyone. By putting him on the planet, that meant I had to come up with reasons why he couldn't just teleport everyone away including his daughter and engulf Beelzebub with a Cube-empowered shield, preventing his explosion from spreading.

Luckily, I came up with a pretty good explanation for these contrivances. We haven't yet seen said explanation, but it does exist, and it actually makes the story more interesting. Anyway, this part gets a 7/10 for me.

Cryopod Refresh 289: Fallen Father - Jason kills a lot of demons.

Like. A lot of them.

This part is great. It hits all the right emotional notes. I love it. 10/10.

I did not anticipate writing literally 10,000 words for this Patreon post. I also did not realize I would write all of these reviews in a single night. I wanted to talk all about my thoughts on Stormbringer. 

But, instead, for now, I will leave this as the first of several posts to come. I have a lot more to talk about when it comes to Stormbringer, so in the upcoming posts, I'll be talking about all of the following points:

- Stormbringer was a mostly effective tool to advance the story and characters. I competently changed Jason's character to become a lot more interesting, though I'm not particularly happy about the roundabout way in which I did so. Not having the protagonist present for 70% of the war (if not more) was a bit of a misstep, though I did bring him into it somewhere in the middle and he made some effective plays.

- Stormbringer's biggest failing comes from how, as a war arc, I wasn't sure where the 'pieces' would be at specific points, leading to random bits of weirdness where I had to force characters into more effective spots. If you found it weird Mara sort of just disappeared from the finale after waking up Daisy, yeah, me too. That was weird. It's hard to remember which characters are where.

- Stormbringer took a full year to write. However, this metric isn't really effective as a counter, because I've been writing Cryopod alongside TLP, which halves my writing speed for both stories. I really can't help this. So long as I have to write two stories to (barely) make ends meet, Cryopod will always take a hit to its progress speed. If you factor in TLP's influence, Stormbringer only took 6 months to write, which is much more moderate, considering the amount of 'things' happening.

- Writing two stories caused me to whiff several parts of Stormbringer. Trying to remember a hugely interconnected war is hard enough when you're not also writing a second story with its own complicated set of characters and conflicts.

- All things considered, I give Stormbringer a solid 7/10, mostly for effectively advancing the story and characters, though I do subtract points for several botched story moments. More on those at the end.

If you have thoughts on Stormbringer, feel free to post them in the related Reddit thread, or in the comments below. I won't be surprised if nobody reads this post in its entirety, since it is extremely long.

Thank you for reading. More to come in a few weeks!