The Bureau of Isekai Affairs

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

What does a world do to survive a continuous low-level influx of Isekai protagonists, each adding their own world's magic or superpowers to the mix? Whitney Ismael, software engineer, learns the answer: licensing and registration paperwork, search warrants, and special agents for the Bureau of Isekai Affairs.

[Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Vebyast

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,519
Views: 262,546

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

niffersRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Being a woman in software engineering I am completely and utterly delighted to see some representation here on royal road. Well written and an interesting and fresh premise too:) I look forward to moar!
Oh need more words too tired for more words ugh please more Whitney the entirely sane please that would be spiffy
AlysaereRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Oh my gosh, I loved this story so far, really hope the author picks it back up and is doing well! Lots of excellent meta humor and nerd talk, and I love the setting being a conglomeration of various isekai settings. Two thumbs up, and I'm adding it to my follows!
KaizukiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Imagine, for a moment, that you have a story in which the characters don't particularly grow and there's little sense of urgency. There's no foreshadowing, no ongoing background plot threads, and full chapters are spent in which nothing is at stake and the subject matter is a meeting you might find in your workplace.
How do you get five stars out of that?
How do you even get a story out of that?
The Bureau of Isekai Affairs is a first-person examination of a wildly complex world defined primarily by the regular and frequent isekai'ing of beings and material from foreign universes. In prose more descriptive than anything else you will have read on this site, Vebyast paints for the reader a dissection of this hypothetical reality, piece by carefully thought out piece. The story, such as there is, ambles at a snail's pace, and character development essentially does not happen. This is irrelevant to the experience. Each chapter exposes some new underlying facet of Vebyast's world and examines the reasons behind why that particular slice of reality is the way it is, and each time the reader is left more astounded by the carefully considered detail put into the work.
LilleneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's still early (only chapter 5), but this fiction deserves a review.
The characters are distinctive and interesting, the main character is believable, and the worldbuilding shows all the signs of being a rich, distinctive world - despite the fact that it has people from wherever appearing with no prior notice.
Oh, and it's well-written, too.
I'm looking forward to reading more. What else is there to say?
LithiumRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Pity this is on hiatus. Variation on the isekai theme, it's the start of what looks to be a great story. No noticeable issues with grammar. Main character is neither angsty not over the top sunny, but does appear to be good at making the best of things. World building is internally consistent. Really hope the author picks this up again.
Magic BeanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Part joke, part thought experiment, part legit story. The concept of a multiverse worth of magic systems colliding in one place is amazing. This fiction instantly got me hooked with the meta humor and the writing aint bad either. I like the cast of system diverse field agents. I really like the world building details. Most of all I love the rational answers to the "how does x work in magic land?". Magical economics! Magical government paperwork! The constant making fun of litRPG and fantasy! I want moooore!
Aaron Sofaer (aka Pastafarian)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is a gem, still growing and deeply delightful already. The short version is that if you're a fan of the maximally-nerdy Isekai stuff—Qi=MC^2, Dungeon I/O, Biologist in a Fantasy World, The Way Ahead, that stuff—then you will probably love this; though it's definitely more from a programmer's perspective than from, say, a chemist's or physicist's.
What can I tell you? Let's see. I can tell you that its grammar deviates from perfection only rarely and with deliberate intent, with the exception of a couple of typos on the order of "a repeated word" or "a homophone substitution error" once every couple of chapters.
I am also going to tell you that the characters are all thus far deeply different but each internally consistent and with clear motivations, both ones that might lead to conflict and ones that will lead to them getting alone.
The setting is amazing. Like, seriously, the metamagical structure of the setting is a fabulous hook and the author just absolutely sticks the landing on it.
The plot overall starts with an obvious contrivance, but it's a fair one and one which lampoons itself exactly the right amount. Past that, it (thus far) focuses on developing the world and the characters, but it does this while moving forwards rather than spinning its wheels.
Overall, vebyast's story is one I'm very much looking forward to reading more of, and you should read it too.
ResunaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've been a fan of logical magic since the Incompleat Enchanter, and this one scratches that itch nicely, starting out at least it's right up there with the Lord Darcy stories and what Wizard's Bane could have been without the creepy bits. The fluidic computing feel of the magic is pretty unique and I hope to see more of it as the story progresses.
kffsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TL;DR: If you'd like to read a fun and thorough examination of a particularly programmable magical system in a world where everyone's superpowers works differently - while at the same time equally learning about a fun new well-thought-out world - you're gonna have a good time.
Vebyast has done a really great job of putting together an introduction arc to a story where the main character's exploration of this brand new world is done with both rigour and excitement.
Every piece of world building fits in nicely - which is super fun in a world where the rules are so different, but for good reason.
Imagine learning the rules in a super flexible but fully functioning bureaucracy, all while also getting on the job training to be SWAT and help keep the peace in this new society.
The grammar and storytelling is really well done, and every character you meet is fun and engaging in different (and logical) ways - when everyone's super power works differently, it becomes really fun to learn what types of merchants there are.
The way the main character undergoes their examination of the magical system and the world around them - while getting to know their new teammates - is a super fun exploration of general investigation / troubleshooting / engineering principles.
Overall, these first 26 chapters have been a blast. Worth a read if you enjoy wikidives, high fantasy, and How Things Work.
Looking forward to more!
SolusEclipseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The reason I love this pice of art are mainly the main character and the worldbuilding.
The MC does not accept the spells as given but tries to manipulate them for greater versatility, but focuses so much on manipulating the spell that she forgets that she is reinventing another spell.
I love this genius, but scattered brain style of her.
The world is complex and explains very good why something works.
It also mentions the fact that there are spells that change the seasions or the time of day and explains there effect on the measuring of time.
Overall a good read and well worth my (and hopefully your) time.
PS: would love to see more of this author-nim