This is a thread for discussing my luminous!Twilight fic, Luminosity (inferior mirror here), its sequel Radiance (inferior mirror), and related topics.
PDFs, to be updated as the fic updates, are available of Luminosity (other version) and Radiance. (PDFs courtesy of anyareine). Zack M Davis has created a mobi file of Radiance.
Initial discussion of the fic under a Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality thread is here. The first dedicated threads: Part 1, Part 2. See also the luminosity sequence which contains some of the concepts that the Luminosity fic is intended to illustrate. (Disclaimer: in the fic, the needs of the story take precedence over the needs for didactic value where the two are in tension.)
Spoilers are OK to post without ROT-13 for canon, all of Book 1, and Radiance up to the current chapter. Note which chapter (let's all use the numbering on my own webspace, rather than fanfiction.net, for consistency) you're about to spoil in your comment if it's big. People who know extra stuff (my betas and people who have requested specific spoilers) should keep mum about unpublished information they have. If you wish to join the ranks of the betas or the spoiled, contact me individually.
Miscellaneous links: TV Tropes page (I really really like it when new stuff appears there) and thread. Automatic Livejournal feed.
Allirea's aura of unimportance propagates in a way that I can best describe as "really, really weird". It's retroactive and has arbitrary range for anyone she has interacted with while faded. Observe:
1: Bella and Edward learn Allirea's name from Nahuel. Nahuel would only have been able to remember that Allirea bore mentioning if she were unfaded at T1, so this was one of the times when Allirea happened to be unfaded, so her brother could list her. However...
2: Bella and Edward continue remembering Allirea's name without any trouble, even when Allirea fades, because they do not interact with (faded) Allirea directly. Bella successfully passes on the name and description to Elspeth later on.
3: Elspeth never experiences any issues remembering Allirea's existence when she knew it only as hearsay (see Radiance ch. 1 narration).
4: Allirea and Elspeth actually meet, and Allirea spends time actively diverting Elspeth's attention by fading.
5: Thereafter, Elspeth does not consider Allirea important except at times when Allirea is unfaded. (These times are very uncommon, especially now that Allirea is not typically with her family, who were historically the only people she routinely wanted paying attention to her.)
6: This applies to her interpretation of her memories (e.g. if Elspeth were asked to repeat aloud the conversation where Bella told her for the first time that Allirea existed, she would no more reproduce Allirea's name than she would any time Bella said "um"; it's just not worth putting in).
7: However, if Elspeth transferred that memory whole cloth with her power, Allirea's name would be included. Any person she gave the memory to who's never been around a faded Allirea could notice and consider important that third name on the list Bella gave.
8: It should go without saying that Bella's just completely immune to Allirea, and will assign her importance independent of Allirea's fading.
9: If Allirea fades Bella, then this will not inhibit anyone's thoughts about Bella until and unless they interact with faded Bella.
This is fascinating, thanks.
So since Siobhan has never met Allirea, she'd be able to factor Allirea into her plans if for example she does go ahead and request the full memory-blast from Elspeth.
I understand her point about not wanting to be out of commission right now, but I expect she WILL want the memory blast sometime pretty soon, since tacticians are generally quite hungry for all the information they can get.
(I had to stop here and think about whether Siobhan's power would actually get better with access to more information--if I'm understanding it ... (read more)