/lit/ - Literature

>I'm writing a short story about a teenage mercenary-in-training

Stopped reading there, sit and spin

9/10

reallt brillian troll

inb4 120 replies 3 images

some sort of polymer body suit perhaps?

>>452262
>The character is terrified of being shot
>Any ideas?

Different career perhaps?

If he is terrified of being shot, WHY IS HE A FUCKING MERCENARY? Why not pick a job that doesn't involve being shot?

>>452262

maybe he could wear a jumpsuit of crocodile (or alligator) skin with ceramic plates underneath. that would be cool.

>teenager
>mercenary
>afraid of being shot
>fights with sword

Maybe he could move at super annie may speeds and chop a tank in half!

It seems to me that he might want an emphasis on stealth and agility - something that allows him to remain undetected while he closes the distance to make use of his blade.

So, his armour should be lightweight and flexible, with a lot of mobility around his joints. It would be in camoflague, and given that this is the future perhaps this camoflague is adaptive? Not invisibility-cloak style, but able to switch paint jobs from jungle camo to urban camo, say.

Blades versus guns... Have you considered going to Japan and writing original anime scripts?

>>452288
The OP says the character can't afford fancy items, so I'm afraid he'll have to stick with cardboard.

Here's your armor.

>>452281

That would be a good aesthetic, although I think if the ceramic plates were over a crocodile-skin underlay, that would be more restrained.

WHY WOULD SOMEONE USE A SWORD IN A MODERN SETTING?

Justify this decision OP, do it!

OP, If your answer to this question is "Because it's cool"
then go fuck yourself!

OP here. Just so we're clear, there'll be no saving the world in this story and the armour is a response to his first field test. The fear dies down eventually, but the guy's a hypochondriac.

Pic related, his weapon. (He already has armour for his arms and hands, and the weapon isn't used like normal nunchucks.)

>>452299

He made the first version of the weapon in his early teens, but seeing how inefficient it is against guns he does actually switch to a gun.

>>452299
Not the OP, but I actually have an explanation for people using swords in the future. I don't have a story to use it in, but maybe I some day will.

Basically, radar scanners are everywhere in modern cities, and on radar, steel objects, such as guns, show up very well indeed. If one of the hovvering police drones detects you wearing a concealed gun, it simply shoots you out of hand.

Which is why criminals have started using melee weapons without any iron in them. Old swords aren't useful, but they're making all sorts of crazy plastic ones that work just as well and can pass through any sort of metal detector.

So basically gangs have gone back to a "yakuza" flavor of swords being favored over guns, which the police doesn't mind at all, since drive-by swordings are rare.

>>452304
Are those... Sword-chucks?..

>>452308

OP here. Fuck yeah they are.

>>452307

Question: why not make guns out of plastics if that was the case?

We already do this in modern times. Why is the future different?

this thread made me chuckle

>>452313

lol you IDIOT! if the future wasn't different it would still be the present lololollol

>>452309
Finally, someone who has noticed my genius!

>>452307

It's also a lot rarer to have collateral damage in a sword fight.

>>452313
They're illegal to manufacture, not just own. Also they're expensive compared to making a simple length of plastic with one end you can hold and a length sharpened on one or both sides. The police, for obvious reasons, don't need plastic guns. So any factory making plastic weapons could only have criminals for customers, which would mean the government would have no reason to let them operate.

And the materials science involved is a bit too complex for underground, "cook meth in your own bath-tub!" sort of production.

The swords are mostly the domain of criminals, yes, but the police don't MIND criminals all carrying swords. It's a sort of mutually beneficent unspoken agreement where the cops are assured they can take down the criminals if they need to, and in exchange, they don't take down the criminals unless they really, really need to.

Call it a sort of truce between those who uphold the law and those who break it. Swords greatly cut down on the random bystander casualty count, so law enforcement is quite happy the way the general public dismisses anyone found killed with a sword as having underworld connections and therefore not being worth outrage.

Before, you had kids being cut down by stray bullets, but nobody weeps if some asshole with his ass all covered in tattoos has his belly opened.

>>452326
and the world is all one governement and can enforce its laws globally or what?

>>452326

>not only the possession but manufacture of weapons is illegal
Good luck trying to set this in America.
>police don't mind violent criminals carrying bladed weapons
Check in with the UK where the police are all about trying to kick the fuck out of knife crime.

>>452304
>>452304
>He already has armour for his arms and hands

oh good that will help if someone shoots him in his head or torso...oh wait

>>452332
why would there be underage-mercenaries then?

the whole premise is kind of ridiculous, since the cool concept seemingly comes before any interesting insight

>>452326

>the police dont need plastic guns
So, the police have superior weapons. What is to stop the criminals getting their hands on these weapons?
>a plastic weapon factory could only sell to criminals
Kind of like how drug dealers dont make any cash because they can only sell to criminals?
People would want weapons for reasons other than to commit crimes. Personal safety for one thing. The criminals carry swords so YOU carry a gun.

>>452332
Like I said, plastic guns are expensive to make, and there isn't a sufficiently large market for them to be economically viable.

The third world hellholes that have low-burning warfare and genocide going on all the time don't need them, because they can use ordinary, cheap as hell, metal weapons just fine. The only people with a use for plastic guns are criminals in the first world. And there's not enough of them to justify the expense of building a factory somewhere else on the planet, and then shipping and smuggling the guns all the way to the target.

Basically, it comes down to the fact that it's a lot easier to shape a sword than a gun out of the new material, because it doesn't involve forging or folding or anything, just making one length of plastic that's sharp at one end.

>>452337

Actually the armour for his forearms and hands is to avoid injuries from using his weapon.

I'd just like to establish that I'm not the OP, and the plastic-swords concept has no connection to the OP's mercenary concept. Are we clear on that? Thank you.

>>452352

OP here. Good concept though, just hope nobody steals it.

>>452354
I really worry about it.

>>452305
How about this, how about he goes on a mission, stabs a few fuckers and then gets shot in the fucking chest.

Than when hes in the hospital he thinks "WOW Guns are pretty cool I should get one"

You see, its called, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

>>452345
Police weapons have locator beacons and a whole host of other anti-tampering shit, like only being useful if it's being gripped in an authorized armored glove keyed to its owner, and so on.

Drugs can be manufactured by uneducated peasants and manual labor in sweatshops. The plastic guns require a significant industrial infrastructure, and besides, the cops leave you alone if you stick to swords, and there's nothing guns can get you that's half as precious as being left alone.

>>452346

>no market for weapons
Bullshit. You make something illegal, you make a market for it. A black market.
Plus, one guy is always going to want to kill another guy and will want something to do that with. And will be willing to buy something to do just that, even if it's illegal.

>>452361
swords are still useless, because you can easily manufacture small plastic crossbows or just use knifes, which are easier to conceal, or batons, which will fuck you up more severely than a sword (especially a plastic sword) while being very easily concealable. Simple duraplex-rods would be enough to fuck someone up.
Only way you could explain the backwards move for swords would be cultural stuff.

>>452361
Any writer can make up a whole bunch of bullshit to make his "future" make sense. It is the whole making it plausible part that makes the book good though, might want to keep that in mind.

He skins the bark of a Calibry tree, and wears it
obviously

>>452262
Wears the skin of his enemies. Either that or he goes into battle naked with a raging hard-on, you decide.

>>452361

>only if used with a glove
Then they steal the glove too.
You're eventually going to have to have the weapon DNA-keyed so only authorised personnel can use it. And even then there's a decent chance the crooks'll find a way around that.
>drugs can be made by peasants, guns can't
Again I cry bullshit. What's to stop someone setting up a sweatshop for plastic guns in Thirdworldistan using the same factories that make cheap shitty plastic toys? Then they smuggle the guns in - and have a pretty easy time of it since apparently the police can't scan for them - and flood the market with cheap, easy to hide firearms.
Plus, unless they plan to make plastic mechanisms of any sort illegal, it would be fairly easy for someone to maintain their weapon or even make their own at home.

>>452365
Why would you have knife when there is no *need* to conceal a sword? The whole reason they went to swords is that the cops won't bother you if you have a sword, the same way they wouldn't bother you about drinking alcohol on the street so long as you made the token gesture of respect for their power by hiding it in a brown paper bag.

>>452369
You'd need to be a very desperate criminal to use a weapon that's constantly reporting its location. The weapons are keyed, but not directly - the gun is keyed to the glove, and the glove is keyed to the user along with the rest of the armor.

The whole point is that cheap shitty plastics aren't good enough, and the swords I'm talking about aren't made from them, they're made from new plastics that require a first world industrial base. So no, you can't make them in Thirdworldistan. In Firstworldia, however, the factory is quite easy to detect, however, because again it's not something you can whip up in a kitchen sink, unlike a bag of meth.

>>452385
Why not carry around bows and arrows then?

>>452345
exactly, laws like this are ridiculous
They turn honest citizens into criminals and criminals into a threat to everyone else.

The crooks WILL find a way to get firearms

>>452387
No reason not to, I suppose, other than that a bow and arrows isn't a status symbol. You pack your sword when you go out strutting so everyone sees you carrying a sword.

>>452385

>cheap shitty plastic isn't good enough
Neither is shitty bathtub meth but people still make and take it. Criminals aren't choosy.

>>452389
Only if the effort of getting firearms is worth the benefit of having firearms as opposed to the benefit of having swords.

Which it doesn't, because guns make cops go gestapo on your ass, and swords make them look the other way.

>>452304
>>452348
you bastard

you are indeed a clever troll...

ITT: Not suspension of disbelief.

>>452399
Eh, I quite like people pointing out the weaknesses of my premise, so that I can think of how I'm going to handwave it away. Then, once I actually present the idea in a story, I look like a smart motherfucker for having already thought of every possible objection in advance.

why would the cops tolerate swords?
They could easily crack down on them, because they could just shoot the criminals if they don't surrender.

you only want there to be swords because you think its cool! I see that criminals would stick with melee weapons if firearms are severely controlled, but them allowing people to carry swords at the same time is just ridiculous. Just look at Japan and their making it subsequentially illegal to carry swords to break down the feudal-society.

>>452395

OP here. Armour for his hands and forearms is necessary with a weapon like swordchucks. Imagine trying to catch the handle and having the blade overshoot.

>>452391
...actually, I've wondered, what sort of bullet do plastic guns fire? Do we have actual plastic bullets to go with plastic guns, or are they ordinary bullets that ordinary guns use? Because if they're ordinary bullets, then the radar can detect those, too. So now you need a specialized and easy to detect factory to make your guns, and another to make your bullets.

I can make this even harder and make up some sort of sensor that detects gunpowder, but I'd like to avoid that.

>>452361
>I've never heard of a Zip Gun

FTFY

>>452408
trounds were made of plastic, and though they never caught on, they were effective cartridges.

>>452403
Of course I think it's cool. If I didn't think it was cool, I'd be thinking about something else. I don't understand what you're trying to say, though.

How does "Just look at Japan and their making it subsequentially illegal to carry swords to break down the feudal-society" in any way follow from "them allowing people to carry swords at the same time is just ridiculous"?

Oh, and the reason swords are allowed and guns aren't is that the sword cuts what you intend it to cut. The gun hits what you intend it to hit...or doesn't, and the bullet goes through the paper thin wall behind the target and kills the person in the next apartment.

>>452408
you can make a projectile out of various materials: Rubber, ceramics, polymers...
some of those non-metallics can even be more durable than projectiles today. In regard of what accelerates them, you could come up with explosives that are not gunpowder.
But you do not need all that crap anyways, just use a small plastic crossbow.
Oh, and this infamous Glock made out of ceramics that is not detectable by sensors is a myth introduced by Die Hard 2 btw.

>>452410
What the fuck is a Zip Gun?

>>452426
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm

go to /k/.

>>452421
Well, then. Criminals use swords, compound bows and plastic crossbows, but cops only tolerate swords carried openly in their presence.

I just love this mental image.

>>452430
right and that's a gun someone made in FUCKING PRISON.
The populace WILL find a way to arm themselves.
And the criminals will definately have them

>>452418
Legislation that allows criminals to carry weapons like swords but not guns is stupid. Banning firearms only because of the bystanders and not because of them just being used to kill people is just as stupid. Why ban firearms and not other weapons? This bystander stuff is not as much of a problem than thugs killing/hurting/intimidating innocents (because, thats what they do. Most violence is not amongst gangs, but criminals threatening or killing non-criminals).
And I pointed to Japan because they could only enforce the abandonment of certain social strata carrying swords with the help of firearms. And it was important to ban it to establish a state monopoly of violence. Which is a key-factor in any functioning state.

>>452433
>cops only tolerate swords carried openly in their presence.

...because why?

If I was a future cop sitting in my hover squad car, and I saw some douche bag gang banger walking down the street carrying a sword.
I'd take out my magic ultra rare-shiny-super-haxxor gun and blow his head off. The motivation being that the perp was openly admitting to committing crime

>>452434
>>452430
I see metal parts and bullets. You get found out. Again, understand that the cops aren't limited to simply looking at you with a Mark I Eyeball.

>>452443
same thing, if they crack down on metal so hard, why do they tolerate FUCKING SWORDS?
hey, you! you are showing an awful lot of metals on my scanner! Nah, i don't care about your sword, but you gotta loose those buttons! They could be guns, you know.

you should read a manga called "battle angle alita" it has your whole no guns ever concept, only it handles it very well. the manga i about cyborg mercenarys, so it might help you out with that too.

>>452441
exactly. THats why perps would resort to carry concealable weapons, not swords.

>>452441
It could be because people still need some way of defending themselfs.
Ordinary people have knives and criminals have swords.

>>452438
Firearms aren't banned, as such. It's possible to own a gun legally without being a cop, it's just a lot more controlled. Basically, a legally owned gun has to be constantly in contact with police servers telling them where it is and what it's doing, inasmuch as a gun can know what it's doing.

The monopoly on firearms is enforced electronically.

How about this, the scanners dont search for metal they look for a chemical reaction. By law all bullets have to be manufactured with a special chemical in their powder that when ignited makes it visible on police sensors.

So any place you fire a gun the police will know, that would give a reason for gangsters using swords while ordinary people still own guns for self defense.

There could also be a big market for poor quality "clean" ammunition which would allow higher ranking criminals to own illegal guns.

>>452448
Guns are no longer concealable weapons unless they're made in incredibly specialized ways with materials that don't respond well to highschool machine shop methods of working on them, but instead require complex laboratories and shit.

The sensors also reveal the internal composition of objects, so you can see which metal buttons are just metal through and through and which have springs and odd cylindrical objects in them.

t-t-t-trolololollololololololol

considering he's such a wimp, give'em a gigantic M1A1 Abrahams tank he rolls around in

>>452465
Ordinary people who don't mind their guns broadcasting their location at all times to the government carry guns. The ones that like a little privacy have swords of their own.

>>452465
Wouldn't it be simpler for high ranking criminals to combine ordinary people guns with expensive lawyers that retroactively make the use of the gun justified?

>this thread

>>452476
thats a better Idea.

>>452466
yeah, but knives, bats and so on are concealable. Instead of fucking swords.

THe whole point is this:
There is an elaborate system of preventing the criminal abuse of weapons, but at the same time it is tolerated to carry swords openly in public. Swords that are made out of highly durable plastic so they do not come up on the scanners and are highly effective at the same time.
How can this make any sense?

>>452476
then again, as was stated earlier, if you ban something your only creating a market for it on the street.

This is why swords are bullshit

Spider-Silk based fabric.

>>452482
They come up on scanners, sort of. The scanners don't just show metal objects floating in mid-air. It's more like an X-ray photo where the flesh is this ghostly and vague and the bone is sharply defined and very visible.

The sword thing is essentially a compromise. It's not a legal one. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it's like when they made drinking alcohol on the street illegal, so the winos all put their drinks in brown paper bags, which showed a token amount of respect for the cops' authority, so the cops left them alone even though they knew the law was being broken in front of their faces.

Equally, the return to swords is a compromise which officially does not exist (although it's so prevalent in popular culture by now that the majority of people don't KNOW it's not actually a legal loophole) but which endures because it allows cops and criminals to exist side by side without either side making too much trouble for the other.

>>452498 all put their drinks in brown paper bags

Unless your swords are in paper bags as well, you've yet to draw an actual parallel.

>>452489
I love that scene: best word-less movie humor.

>>452502
A gun, or an alcoholic drink carried openly, is a challenge to the cop's authority, and is met with extreme retribution.

But if you essentially keep doing the same thing, but modify your behavior slightly as a show of deference to the cop (but a paper bag on your drink, replace your gun with a sword) then you acknowledge the cop's authority, and he is satisfied and will let you go about your business even though your business is technically illegal.

>>452510

It wasn't actually scripted. Indy originally fought the guy in close combat but that day Harrison Ford was dehydrated, tired and had a stomach bug so he wearily did the 'pow' thing on a run-through to save time. Lucas liked it and kept it.

>>452516
how about we do the whole guns with sensors and/or ammo with sensors idea just for the sake of being logical?

No matter what way you look at it a society that looks down on guns but not on swords carried openly in public by known crimnals is fucking retarded.

>>452516
also,

Why dont they just put their guns in brown bags

>>452516 then you acknowledge the cop's authority

No, your gangbangers are still openly displaying weaponry. You've drawn an arbitrary line that's impossible to believably justify.

Think of how our police forces would respond to a One Percenter carrying an obvious sword relative their customary Maglites? There's a logical distinction between an improvised weapon and a tool of warfare.

>>452498
you are still evading the point that they tolerate swords while having incredible means of enforcing the laws.
Drinking in public is tolerated because it would take too much for too little to enforce it.
Weapons are not really similar to that, because alcohol CAN make you violent and unruly (actually, banning public drinking is stupid IMO), swords can ONLY be used for violence, because they are not really practical for cutting apples or opening cans.
You have a whole sophistaced system in place to make sense of use of archaic weapons on a future setting. Because swords are more archaic than most other forms of melee weapons, exactly because they require mastership, are not concealable and can not be justified as defense weapons in a society that has guns or non-lethal weapons available.

>>452527
The idea is that they're using swords BECAUSE the guns and the ammo are constantly screaming to the government, "HERE I AM!" and you really don't want the government having GPS records of all your movements when you're engaged in a criminal fucking enterprise.

Swords, besides not getting your face pounded in by the boot of Authority, have the benefit of not tracking your location.

>>452521
Oh wow, that's even more awesome. And even further proves the "swords suck" anon as Indy thought about it on the spot.

>>452521
really? how awesome is that... I am glad I posted this picture for getting to know this fact.

>>452540
all other forms of weapons still make more sense, because walking about with a sword is still conspicious if you do not conceal it in some way (putting it in a bunch of flowers or wearing really long coats).

>>452262
ever play metal gear?

in the second one, theres a chick who everyone tihnks is immortal. in the end it turns out she has a devices that repels bullet, duds grenades, and bends the trajectory of missles using some weird complex magnetic charges you could always give him something like that, and to solve to immortalityness of it, just give it a charge time.

>>452540
>the guns and the ammo are constantly screaming to the government, "HERE I AM!"
And having a three foot blade strapped to your hip or back doesn't?

>not getting your face pounded in by the boot of Authority
For no believable reason.

Make the swords invisible, that will solve the problem of having the cops see them!

>>452538
The legal excuse for swords being carried is that they're sports implements and the guy is just a kendo enthusiast or whatnot.

>>452537
The gangbanger displays a sword. The cop displays a submachinegun. All's right with the world.

Oh my god, this has almost 100 posts.
5 people trying to point out why the logic of an obviously laughable premise is flawed.
Here is the tldr version:
- swords are cool! and here is how it makes all sense!
- That does not make sense at all!
- Yes it does!
- No it doesn't!
repeat ad nauseam

>>452562
>sports implements
Unless it's a blood sport, and these people are celebrities, there's still no believable reason for it to be tolerated.

>The gangbanger displays a sword. The cop displays a submachinegun.
If there's no intention in protecting civilians, there's no actual point to banning side-arms and hunting firearms.

If there's an intention to protecting civilians, your back to square one: an obvious weapon would draw law enforcement like shit would draw flies.

>>452554
I don't think you quite get what I'm saying. If you were all alone in the middle of a forest with your sword, no one would know. If you were all alone in the middle of a forest with your gun, the cops would have a record of all your movements because the gun would constantly be screaming "I AM AT THESE COORDINATES, NOBODY IS YET TOUCHING THE HANDLE, THE CURRENT PRESSURE ON THE TRIGGER IS THIS MANY POUNDS" to the government databases.

Yes, the sword makes you readily identifiable as a criminal, but so do gang tattoos, and people wear them anyway. The point of the sword is that both the cop and the criminal acknowledge that the cop could take the criminal at any moment if he so chose, and because they both acknowledge it, the cop doesn't NEED to take the criminal.

>>452580
"Hello Police Officer, I am wearing this Claymore for fun, I don't actually plan to hurt anyone with it"
"Okay, just remember I have a gun"
"Alright, at least we have an agreement between us"
"Yes, it is good that criminals show such respect for police officers"
"Indeed"

>>452575
Are you actually telling me that the only two states a legal system can have is either all weapons are legal, or none are? Because I think reality disagrees with you, and the line of which weapons are legal and which aren't is more arbitrary than the one I present here.

>>452586
Don't think there are many first-world countries that allow people to walk around carrying razor-sharp swords.

>>452588
MY GOD, IT'S ALMOST AS IF THIS ISN'T SET IN THE PRESENT TIME

>>452593
Yeah, this totally seems set in unbelievableland

>>452580
no! the point of the sword is, its cool because you are into Japanese gang-culture.

There is no reason for swords to come back, if you can manufacture distance weapons like crossbows or single shot improvised guns, effective melee weapons like bats, batons, staffs, knives, handmade electro-shock devices, quartz-gloves etc. which enable you to get to this misterious forrest without being harrassed by a cop who is not a complete retard.

Anyway, thanks to the guys who helped me out by pointing out the obvious problems, fuck you to the guys who couldn't do anything but try to threadcrap.

It's been fun, but now I've got shit to do.

>>452599
Your idea is terrible, I hope you die in a fire.

>>452586
You may need to actually read your local laws before you go off declaring that it's okay to run around in public brandishing weapons.

how about we just end this and give them all lasers

>I'm writing a short story about a teenage mercenary-in-training

No PDC in the world would hire an untrained teenager.

0/10

>>452927

It's a mercenary school that he's joined. They train mercenaries from when they're little children, amongst a general education.

>>453072
what books are in their english curriculum?

>>453079
lol, great, just great

>>453079

It's not set on Earth, and I'm not about to make that kind of unnecessary detail up.

>>452927

Google "child warriors".

If OP would reorient his sights a little, there could be a helluva story there.

The anti-Ender's Game.

>>453105

>not set on Earth
>not about to make that kind of unnecessary detail up

Durr durr durr

>>453233

I don't understand what the problem is, the academy's english curriculum isn't relevant to the plot, so I'm not going to make up a bunch of authors and titles for no reason.

>>453207

OP here. This is interesting stuff, to say the least.

>>452927
Many of them kidnap children to train so... you're a fucking idiot!

thats a nice story OP, too bad I already read the comic book

Make it a deconstruction

The hero suffers from PTSD and desentisezed to the point where he's social weird. Not like HAHA OH SOSUKE way in Full Metal Panic to the point where he's fucking flipped and fucked up. Make him have flash backs and all this other shit and make his adoptive parents religious folk who try and save him from the war torn region of Switzerland (it's the future so Switzerland got bad) set it in Australia. Have him met an aboriginal that does drugs and talks about wars that never happened.

>>452262
Oh and give him a reason for his fear. Like they were fucked up child soldiers who thought they were invincible cause they were doped up and what not but then he got shot and almost died and "Saw the other side" or what he thinks was the other side and it scares the shit out of him so everytime he gets shot he's reminded of the freaky deeky thing (Grim Reaper?) that he saw when he got shot for the first time.

>>452304
>>452308
i lol'd

>>452262
How about a bullet proof jacket?