Null is a literary work by Coeur Al'Aran and the 24th work in syndication published on February 3, 2020. It follows the story of Jaune Arc as he was kidnapped by the Atlesian government to be used as a weapon of mass destruction for his semblance.
"In what world am I worth five million lien…?" ― Jaune Arc, Chapter 8[[source]]
Background
It is unknown when Coeur first came up with the idea for Null, but it is known that he and College Fool had been exploring the idea of semblances that were too powerful in the first installment of The Writer Games, "Weapon", in September 2015. The piece, proposed by Coeur, did not focus on identical dynamics. However, in his impression, he focuses on the idea of a powerful and indiscriminate semblance giving real consequences normally missed. In the same note, he expresses his interest in James Ironwood as a dynamic character as being "somewhat kind and fatherly" but [also] coldly efficient."[1]
Coeur and College Fool redid "Weapon" in February 2016[2], with Coeur noting that it would be useful to include an "ever-present antagonist" since the only source of conflict for most of the story would be in the form of self v. self and self v. nature with Jaune facing his inner demons and indiscriminate semblance. Coeur believes that spending too much time in the containment chamber would lead to fatigue on the reader and author, which is why an antagonist would be a useful tool for stimulation. He leaves it as a point of consideration and demonstrates his consistency with Null by having the break-out sequence happen immediately while framing Jaune's treatment.[3]
The first indication of Coeur pursuing Null appeared in July 2018 when Coeur posted a summary in his biography. In it, he describes Null as being a "thriller story" dealing with the consequences of Jaune unlocking an auraless region with his semblance. As a result of his unique semblance, he is hunted, his family is kidnapped, and his parents are murdered.[4] The piece came at the tail end of his list of upcoming stories at this point, indicating that Coeur had more reduced priority compared to other works such as The Unseen Hunt, Dating What Daddy Hates, and Headmaster Arc.
In an author note published on March 19, 2019, for chapter 13 of Dating What Daddy Hates, Coeur mentions that he would be publishing another story, but it would not be "Null" as shown on his profile. The piece that would replace the slot for Dating What Daddy Hates would be the first chapter of Arcanum on April 23 because he was trying to "perfect Null" and get an idea of where he wanted it to go.[5]
Coeur expressed his intent to replace Forged Destiny with Null on a forum post in the Future Fics discussion board on November 19, 2019.[6] It would finally be published on February 3, 2020.
Trivia
- This is the first published work where Lavender Arc's semblance, telekinesis, has been revealed.
Chapter Archives
- Chapter 1, Monday, February 3 2020: https://web.archive.org/web/20200402162620/https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13492440/1/Null
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200206042951/https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11527150/1/The-Writer-Games
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200206050227/https://www.fanfiction.net/r/11527150/60/1/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200206044841/https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11527150/60/The-Writer-Games
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20181026224359/https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6272865/Coeur-Al-Aran
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200206042951/https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13075474/13/Dating-What-Daddy-Hates
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200206050730/https://www.fanfiction.net/topic/189701/163655710/19/Coeur-Future-Fics