TELUTT

Disaster Area by sarahowen97, commissioned by Anomnomnomymus

The Events Leading Up To That Thursday, also known as TELUTT, was one of the recurring titles for what would become Worm. TELUTT had roughly four concrete versions.

'The events leading up to that Thursday' is one of the recurring titles for drafts of Worm. They usually featured rotating viewpoints between Faultline, here called Disaster, The Triumvirate and Guts & Glory, It was an attempt by the author to incorporate every character then created into up to that point in one overarching story. As well as finding sympathetic characters as protagonists and using comparatively weak powers in new and interesting ways trying to break form standard baseline powers seen throughout superhero fiction.<ref name="S:BW">Snippets: Before Worm</ref>

Synopsis

Melanie Fitts AKA Disaster, is a boss beating up Dauntless and Bastion then lecturing easily duped supervillans in proper costuming and preparedness.

Siberian has a physical disagreement with Alexandria.

Introduced Concepts

The Birdcage is mentioned,
Mary Sue who would become Eidolon
Scion and the "Progenitor Theory" that he is the source of all superheroes
The end point of Thursday, which was essentially Gold Morning.<ref name="R4">In the comment section I talk about how the story evolved. At the very beginning I wrote from the perspective of 'Runechild', my aim to write a 'is it magic or is it something else' story with a novice 'magic' superhero. Runechild fights a serial killer who is visited by an alien spirit that communicates with him directly and gives him superpowers.
After that, however, I wrote 'The Events Leading Up To That Thursday' - TELUTTT for short. 'That Thursday' was essentially Golden Morning. I wrote from alternating perspectives, aiming to build up to a crescendo before the event in question unfolded.
I ended up writing for a while, choosing different perspectives (Guts & Glory, Aegis, Heartbeaker, Regent, Circus, the Travelers), then I'd to a TELUTTT version and try to tie it in together, refining ideas and deciding what to drop.
Yes. Before the vast majority of the characters you know were even conceptualized, Scion was to be the bad guy. - Wildbow on reddit</ref>

Groups

Cauldron-A group of rogues and solo villains try to hold out against recruitment by a much larger cape group. The Elite in this story resembles a cross between the Slaughterhouse Nine, the canon Elite and Cauldron.<ref>TELUTTT: Each draft featured rotating viewpoints attempting to incorporate everyone I’d added into the story by that point in one overarching story. First draft focused heavily on Faultline, introduced Scion, Legend, Narwhal, Hero, Alexandria and a major heroine named Mary Sue. Introduced Faultline’s crew, which was composed of Newter, Slug (Gregor), Spitfire and a scandanavian girl with Genesis’ power. Later drafts introduced Endbringers, Dauntless, and Cauldron. - another comment by wildbow on Prey 14.8</ref>

Characters

Disaster Area's Crew

Disaster Area, Disaster for short, was more of a Blaster then a Striker
Newter, the same but with different hair.
Spitfire, Disater gives her shopping advice.
Slug, a short tempered bully, not the itinerant philosopher that Gragor would become.

Protectorate

Alexandria (first appearance in drafting process)
Legend (first appearance)
Exalt, an early version, here the tinker is filled with doubt. The name Exalt would be used elsewhere.

Others

Dauntless - Jetpack and spandex wearing newby, the jetpack is mostly for show however.
Bastion - Local hero who tries to set up local villains for capture, forcefield weilder.
Siberian - A nominally clothed version, still deadly but seemingly her own person.

Trivia

According to the website, "[t]he nature of Faultline’s meeting with her ‘crew’ is essentially what happened in canon."<ref name="S:BW" />

References