So, now might be a good time to mention the main reason why Wildbow gave up on his Guts & Glory drafts: they were just too dark. Imagine if this had been the main plotline of Worm, instead of just a subplot.
too dark
for Wildbow
(Okay but seriously, it’s true that the main plot is a lot less dark than some of the… adjacent plots. With the Undersiders there’s hope even in the darkest of situations. Most of the time.)