Closure Problem

Closure Problem is an odd series. Action-wise it seems to be reminiscent of StrikerS. Though this time the magical powers come from something called an "energy cascade" The cascade is a mechanism where magic from a person's unique geometry (soul) filters down and down into smaller and smaller vortices, (shown by glowing glyphs of decreasing size).

This process is how the unique geometries can be taken down to a dissipation range, where they can be used by spells common to everyone. The process is helped by "models", the expected fairy-like cute sidekicks. Stokes the main character has a brash tomboy model called Newt.

One annoyance is the use of a level system to measure power. In this case an I2 or Internal Interference. This is the difference of a user's actual performance and their actual results. Such rigamarol is common and reminiscent of Full-Metal Alchemist in offering a veneer of explanation to magical explosions.

Indeed the vastly gas-lamp world is reminiscent of this, though with more of a Victorian English hitch. Many of the names are English and references are made to prominent Lords that are masters of the energy cascade.

Despite this, the series does have its charms. Indeed the world itself has its amusements. Sir Reynolds, a main "science" advisor to the Langarian court in his waistcoat and shaggy goatee is a menial mentor that seems obsessed with the Closure Problem. Namely the means that unique geometries can interact to become universal (perhaps a not so subtle nod to an AT field), and why only some people can bond with a Model.

Reynolds is the mentor to Stokes, who is refreshingly mundane. A classic straight man Stokes tries to simply go about his research, but is forced by duty into intrigue.

This is where the series actually gets its interest. As expected the circumscribed, ornate, and declining Langar is opposed by the up and coming Eularia, a former Langarian colony that is mostly uninhabited wilderness. The painfully obvious American, English reference can be forgiven by the charm of the characters.

Stoke's opposite is a Eularian girl named Navier. Her model is Lorenz, who most of the time is human-sized and pretends to be her guardian. Here comes the true enjoyment of the series. The dialog is crisp and fast paced and is accompanied by a unique camera work. The Eualeain scenes have a mobile camera view that follows the characters, while the Langarians have a more static presentation.

When you get past the magical battles, it comes down to situations that the rules of society (be they Eulerian or Langarian) do not address. A quite enjoyable find.


Added: Since Pale Wolf asked. Yes there is a trap. It's not spoiling because young Duchess Tensor is far too feminine to be anything other than a cross-dresser. "Her" clothing resembles a cross between a bridal dress and the matching cake, with a complex structure of hair that could only exist in animation, and the pink... god the pink.

The expected conventions are followed and the overly demure and lacy Tensor has the strongest Model. Another fairy style like Newt, Les is refreshingly unadorned, though that may just be relative to her "mistress."

Tensor rounds out the initial relationship triangle. Physiology aside, the Duchess is a prize catch due to the connections of her family in the Langarian court. Reynolds would enjoy the political benefits to his research that a marriage between his protégé and the duchess. There are very strong reasons why Tensor is well... Tensor.

Tensor's "secret" gives Stokes the potential for blackmail, but once they are engaged it would ruin him as much as her. He could flee to Euleria, but that has issues with Navier. Tensor for her part would find Stokes a perfect cover to add legitimacy to her situation, and leverage for her own dreams of power and a way to escape her family.

So Stokes rapidly gets the expected multiple suitors. Though both the gas-lamp magical-cowgirl tomboy and the elegantly coifed "lady" are after him for political reasons. The Eulerian cannot take him without starting a war, (given the extreme value and rarity of working Models), while the Langarian has to make herself seem an appealing prospect, difficult given what Stokes knows.


Edit2: Since it was asked here's Duchess Tensor Kolmolgorov's situation. It's a bit convoluted and pretty spoilery. So don't read unless you really want to know.




First the background to explain it: twenty years ago a Langarian Queen was petitioned with a problem. To many families in the court were loosing their lands, as the required dowries had been slowly concentrating lands and money to fewer and fewer hands.

The Queen, preferring a broad feuding court that she could veto, but not wanting to do away with the taxable dowries came up with a solution. Money and titles would follow along patriarchal lines, but land would follow maternal.

Tensor was the youngest at 13 and had an older sister and a much older brother, who was married to a Eulerian woman. was keen and into sport. Showed promise to be able to use a Model. Then two tragedies befell the Kolmogorov's. Duke Andre and his daughter Ivanova died in an accident. Without a male figure the family could not make another daughter.

So, after her husband's death, the elder Duchess came forward and admitted a grave sin. That they had lied about the gender of one of their children to get around the inheritance. The duke was worried that his son Pavel would defect to Eleria negating their funds, so he forced Tensor pretend to be a boy.

After her apology the elder duchess revealed Tensor to the court and queen, and begged forgiveness. The queen agreed, and declared Tensor to be a prime example of Langarian womanhood.

This is why Tensor is... Tensor. Including the curled piles of shocking pink. She is a woman because the Queen said so. The biology is just a bit of an oversight, and why she is so keen on getting Stokes. Mindful of her shameful past, she makes sure no one would mistake her for a boy again, and revels in being herself.

Blogger Bugs

"Fist of the Moon" by Penguin-sa updated with ch12

I would have updated the entry itself, but Blogger is being buggy today.


Edit: Test

Welcome Image

J St C Patrick made a little welcome gif for the blog.

So posting it here to see what people think. There are two versions, with different lettering, and the images can be sized down.

First one.

Second one.

They will probably be sized down a bit.

FYI Site status

Sorry if the site goes down, but they are doing server maintenance. Any downage should be brief and the site will restore.

Site Status: ACTIVE

Site is BACK

Thanks to Larry, Sonic, and Stacy the site is operational again. The first two got the database fixed and Stacy got the host password issue resolved.

So the site is back. Sorry for the outage.

Site down

The site is down. Larry F says that it's a problem with the server and the hosting company should have it fixed soon.

Fic Updates

The list is active, but additions have been slown. This is partially because RL has taken more of my time and I'm not as active in searching for fic updates.

This means that you guys are more important on telling me when a fukufic updates or when a new one is written.

Thanks.

We are BACK!

I'd like to thank some people for their help on this

Solara/Sollords for telling us and spearheading the backup.

Hongli Lai for providing the backups of the site.

Burger Becky of course for resetting the DNS to the new server.

DGC for getting the blog up and running so people know what's going on.

Larry F for providing hosting for us. Very nice move there. And yes, he's an admin now, so you all better be careful.

And finnaly the person that acutally set up the site and then upgraded the look. Stacy

So thanks guys. It's good to be back.

For downage we backed up at Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:30 pm and the site went down at 11AM EST 3/3/7

So that's a couple days lost. Sorry


if you can't get on try removing or adding the www the DNS was reset

Progress report

Fukufics staff has been working on setting up the new server.

The site should be up within the week.

Thank you for the patience. More information as stuff is setup.

Load Blancing and Servers

There are many servers being moved, and some load balancing is being done.

Some like animewallpapers.com have huge bandwith, others like ours have much less.

Other hosts are being looked into, so previous estimates should hold.

Minor Update

The new server is being setup.

We think the site should be online within the week. Mind you that's a very tennative date

Edit: The forum was backed up. So any loss should be minimal

Site down

As warned in that Site Annnouncement the forum is moving to a new server.


This is the downtime between moves. Server went down at 11AM EST 3/3/7

Sorry for the hassle.

Keep checking here for more updates on that and fics.

List Updated

I'd like to thank you guys for telling us about the typos, missed fics, and missed updates.

This list counts on your input to keep it running.

Sorry for having it down for so long.

Thanks for all your help.

In addition to correcting many of the existing entries there are four that have been added to the list.

Reflections of Ruin

Tough Luck

Heir to the Empire

A Phoenix Reborn

The List is live

I'd like to thank DCG for spearheading this, interim list. Also like to thank Stacy for her continued help and work on fukufics and Fan's Press. He was the one who got the blog up and running and helped on getting the fic entries in here.

Okay, so the posts of this blog are the fukufics. The date of each post is roughly when they were found or updated.

Note: Honorable Mentions have not been done yet. Expect them Soon.

Now this list is incomplete. We have missed some fics that have updated in the interim, especially new ones.

So it would be a real help to put a comment on any fic we missed or do not have up to date.

Locating Lost fics would be a great help too.

It's good to be back.

Remember same rules as the forum apply here. No spaming the posts