by Mad_Sadie
In March of 1850, aliens scanned Earth for new contestants in their games. They found a pirate, a cowboy, a thief, and a samurai. With little choice, these four must work together and win as many contests as possible. From the Himalayas to the Sahara, the depths of the ocean to the dark side of the moon, they must rely on each other and their unique experiences to survive. After all, there’s so much to see on this planet drifting through space… What to expect: Words. Photographs! A slow-burn story that bounces between vastly different locations. Chapters that hover in the 2000-3000 word range. Alien spy drones shaped like birds. Updates Tuesdays. Volume 1 and 2 complete! If you like… ~ Dungeon Crawler Carl ~ Cinnamon Bun ~ Howl's Moving Castle …I like them too! They have nothing to do with this story, I just wanted to say I like them. Art by @anastmeko
#8
9/14/2026
Peak #47
3d
#7
9/13/2026
Peak #49
0d
#6
9/11/2026
Peak #47
1d
#5
5/31/2026
Peak #50
0d
#4
5/31/2026
Peak #50
0d
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 03:38 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 03:38 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Coupled 14-day outlook
rs-joint-entry-copula-v1
Any eligible RS entry
49%
Two or more lists
2%
Likely threshold order: Historical → Drama → Adventure → Main.
Leading bundle: Historical (47%).
Estimated from one fitted shared story path; category probabilities are not multiplied as if lists were independent.
Separate entry forecast; this probability does not enter the ranking score.
Overall Rising Stars Shadow RS rank
#10086 of 12,407 · 10036 below RS #50
By genre
beats 37% of similar stories
beats 59% of similar stories
beats 49% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
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