So this is a conversation that happened elsewhere, that developed from the question - what if the Silver were us, but opposite?
Essentially, this boils down to what kind of person might join a pretty clearly twisted group like the Silver. If people were ‘turned’ into a Silver lackey, what kinds of traits might manifest and how might their personality shift? At least in our magiqal corner of the interwebs, we’ve always pushed for being positive in our endeavors, of being creative and kind and thoughtful. But we’ve seen that magiq doesn’t always have a positive connotation. So how do the Silver operate? How do they make magiq come to life?
Although this is more of a fun thought exercise, I do think there could be some usefulness to thinking about it. I mean, what kind of people are being recruited by the Silver? If we can get in their heads in that way, it’ll bring us that closer to understanding them. Also, isn’t it funny to think of what the anti-Endri or anti-Bash might be like?
I think there are two ways that a Silver ‘shadow self’ might develop:
First, the silver!self is quite literally a mirror image - the polar opposite of the individual in question. So a person who likes dogs has a silver!self who hates them, or who likes cats instead (or both). Maybe not everything ,but the core concept of the person is in opposition to the silver!self. The healer is now someone who harms others, the person who creates is now a destroyer. Might be a bit tricky to decide what is the “opposite” of some things (What’s the opposite of a writer, for instance? Or, say, an engineer? Do those things have clear counterparts?)
Second, the silver!self maintains the same traits as the original self, but the image is distorted. For example, say someone is a writer who loves sharing joy and happiness with their readers, who delights in writing whimsical fantasies. Maybe the silver!self in that instance is a writer who aims to traumatize their readers, to write horrific fiction that will make even readers with the sturdiest of constitutions feel ill from reading their words. Or an artist who loves painting realistic portraits, maybe the silver!self likes painting painfully abstract pieces that serve to distort and make the viewer uncomfortable.
So my question for you all is - what do you think a silver!self would be conjured as? What do you think your silver!self would be like? And how do you think that person looks, what’s their aesthetic?
Something I thought of when reading your theory is, what if your silver!self is still you, but the Silver changed something in your past that made that way? Killed your parents, got rid of an opportunity at a job, ruined your education, etc.
A Silver Thornmouth would horde knowledge and not let it be shared. Everything from magiqal artifacts, books, paintings and inventions would be collected, catalogued and stored. They’d be so obsessed with that one goal that very single person who’d ever lived would have their life documented and monitored. Their objective here would be to know everything and also control what knowledge people have and can access. They wouldn’t just physical means of harm, more preferring to use phycological means to extract information and destroy their enemies.
I think my silver twin would have my best qualities minimized (thoughtfulness, compassion) and my worst qualities maximized (lust for power, draconian authoritarianism). I have these virtues and vices in me, but I’m the healthy, successful man I am in part because I’ve nurtured the virtues and have been able to keep the vices in check. The silver version of me would be nagged by his conscience, but largely able to ignore it, pursuing blind ambition and success at any cost.
I’m similar to Augo in that I believe it would open the floodgates of my worst qualities. Compassion would give way to temper, empathy to immaturity, creativity would be overrun by self doubt. I think Silver Oracle would be twisted by sadness and anger and hopelessness, the very thing Wool Oracle works so hard to keep away.
I would say I’m much the same, I’m already very calculating and apathetic, so I believe my Silver would be caring and obtuse, not really the villain type.
I think I would be of the twisted variety instead of completely inverted. My love of control would be forefront instead of carefully buried and my usual unemotional tendencies could turn cold and harsh without too much of a push. My “Silver” self is what I fear becoming, because I know I have the potential for it. If a friend were to betray me or times became desperate, I really could become this manipulative, calculating monster and the thought disgusts me.
I mean, I primarily think of the Silver’s lackeys as brainwashed zombies (thanks, Kemetic Solutions), but if we’re talking about their upper management…hmm.
As interesting as I find the dark doppelganger idea, I think if some twisted version of me were working for the Silver, it wouldn’t be that different or that interesting. Full disclosure, since y’all are basically my family now: my biggest weakness is a desire for approval, for people to see my work and my skills and tell me I’m useful and unique and wanted. And also, I’ve always wanted to believe in magic. I don’t wanna freak anyone out, but chances are, if someone had come along before I found Basecamp and told me that magic was real, and that I could have a little for myself if I helped “protect” it from others…well. I don’t know how that would have gone down, but I’m glad it didn’t.
Since the normal me tends to have reservations about killing, and actually nearly faints at the sight of blood, the silver me would probably end up with a serial killer personality. To be honest, fighting me with no reservations or fear scares the hell outta me. He probably would have 20/20 vision, be a complete lone wolf, cold, prone to waves of aggressive behavior, super stubborn and reckless. He’d probably be a total flirt, though. Thats probably a way we could fight him, just use women. Ugh, that honestly sounds gross coming outta my own mouth, but… i dont see an easy way to fight an impassioned bad tempered killer.
I’m not sure that the Silver versions of ourselves would be mirrored opposites of us. I have the capacity to be cruel, calculating, and disconnected from my emotions. These are the things that my Silver self would be built around, and these are things have been from time to time. And that’s the scariest part: that parts of my “Wool self” are what would power my dark doppelganger (as @Viviane so wonderfully put it). They would embody the traits that I know I have which I normally keep in control. My Silver self, in a different set of circumstances, is something I could have very easily become.
I’m not sure my Silver-self would be very different at all. I think the main difference between us would be confidence. I would not like to come across a highly confident me, it would probably involve a lot of sass. Pair that with an introvert nature, a fear of failure, a know-it-all side, and some surpressed anger and you’ve got a people hating, extreamly driven, highly intelligent… my Silver-self is starting to sound like a dark Sherlock or just plain Moriarty.
