The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy
Ask the others, and you'll hear stories without ending. It starts the same, no matter who or where you are.
Abducted during the usual drudgery of the daily commute. Taken into safety during a desperate escape from a mugger. Invited into an alleyway from a depressing life, as if by some celestial musical. Escaping a choking and unloving cell and tomorrow's axe by its opalescent grace.
The Street appears beneath you, as the world's stable visage falls away like melting trails of hallucinatory paint. And like that, from everyday monotony, you are transferred to a road leading beyond the horizon. Its composition is endless cobblestones, opalescent like foot-sized pearls. They ask no questions, make no explanations of why you're here: they only sing a constant soft hum, like a celestial travel ditty, to encourage you to move. You walk onward and find other locations to its sides than where you began; the Street grants you the right to travel; to experience this and every other world.
Get off, where the Street intersects a part of a world, and you'll be allowed to sample the local color for a while. Practice martial arts under the rising sun with the master cultivators. Offer your skills to an ancient kingdom fighting off an invasion of savage shadow-beasts. Zip on through starlit darkness as part of a voidcraft fighter crew on a bombing run against the evil space empire.
Eventually, you'll hear the Street's song calling you back, informing you its convergence here is about to end. You can leave it behind entirely, if you find a world to your liking; it's a road, not a prison. But always, the Street leads onward. It will never return for someone who abandons it.
According to some, the Street Where the Stones Speak delivers everyone to a destination. Others, however, choose to never arrive anywhere concrete, and travel down the causeway until the end of their days. It's often said that walking the Street changes you.
And if some are to be believed; if you listen closely, and travel long enough, you might even catch the lyrics.
But understanding the words is a matter of a distant dusk. Let's focus on your beginning for now.
Every traveler's journey starts with a single step, after all.
---
Who are you?
[ ] Litanist - A scion of the so-called First Dominion of Man, and chosen child of a realm living through its indisputable golden age over five millennia long and going strong, its cities carved from earth and sky with careless abandon, its taxes paid in spirit and strength Harvested from the citizenry. Even as one unimportant face among the teeming trillions, you were coddled from birth, promised a decently easy and agreeable life.
When the Finders' Guild analyzed your potential, with your 'remarkable' talent, you believed you were on a fast track to unparalleled greatness. It changed the moment you stepped through the academy doors and realized finally that every Litanist's road is one of arduous centuries of toil, rather than instants of fantastic glory.
As a Litanist, you are exceptionally young and callow, not even halfway into your third decade. You don't even count as an 'adolescent' on the radar of those hoary Ancients whose voices truly matter. Finding yourself disappointed with the reality of irrelevance as a voice in a vast symphony, it only makes sense you were spirited away to other realities.
Pros:
*Access to the Litanies, one of the most versatile, potent systems of magic in the multiverse - a subsequent vote will decide your specialization and scholastic efforts hitherto.
*Common Reinforcement among Litanists, either as personal work or a purchased service from specialists, grants you exceptional bodily resilience, disease immunity, and longevity. You can even further Reinforce yourself or Reap others to steal their strength.
*The Litany of Revelation can help you study the contents of each world you visit or adapt to alien cultures. With Repulsion, you can banish most outside-context problems you encounter. With Reassurance, you can attain a variety of more nuanced effects.
*With the Litanies of Reaping and Reciprocity, you can potentially integrate other magic systems you encounter into your repertoire with greater ease.
*Factors of Litanal talent are truly countless, but include musical proficiency and perfect pitch; your attunement with the Street will start deeper.
Cons:
*An average Litanist of your age doesn't know more than two or three Litanies to any level of proficiency; you'll need to unlock the other ones.
*Your Litanal connectivity depends on ontological proximity to your homeworld. The reliability of your core magic as you travel the Street is, quite literally, unpredictable.
*The widespread usage of Litanies has led the majority of Dominionborn to assume social customs and sensibilities that natives of Earth might consider questionable. You're not insane, but you may have a slightly warped perspective on life, and perhaps a cavalier attitude about superhuman power.
*All worlds you encounter seem barbaric compared to your Dominion's golden age. The locals are often even worse.
Pick This...
...If you wish to wield the power of the Litanies; not as clumsy or random as Essentialism; an elegant magic for a more civilized age.
...If you want to sneer with mild contempt at the inferior savages of every other world.
...If you desire your magic system's utility to be reliant on each individual world's WiFi coverage.
[ ] Griever - You're the child of a burial site the size of a planet. Your cities are called Barrows, as even sheltered from the deadly frost outside, the living are swift enough to die as to merit the nickname. On a dying snowy grave of a world where every year of survival is considered a celebration-worthy miracle, you were fool enough to fall in love. It was not 'love' as most of your Barrow's people defined it; simply procreating to squeeze out some final vestige of pleasure amidst suffering, or to prolong the Barrow. Rather, it was true love: dreaming and hoping for an ill-defined better future. And worse, your better half was fool enough to reciprocate.
Without exception, such hubris always has a price, and yours was paid in endless sorrow. After so long, you've no more tears left to shed, frozen as they are on your cheeks. And still, your heart continues to crack apart with grief. This, your Barrow's historians call a Griefmantle, a shroud of that choking misery that'll always remind you of everything you lost, while ironically dangling the power to have theoretically prevented it all in front of you.
One evening, you could not take the world's mockery anymore and wandered out into the stark blizzard, expecting a merciful conclusion. Instead, the Street found you soon after. It seems the world's not done with you yet.
Pros:
*The Griefmantle, although generally static in terms of standalone progression, is a diverse and dynamically powerful magic - a subsequent vote shall decide the specifics of how your true love died, thereby determining its conferred abilities.
*Furthermore, you can access a supplementary magic of one of the Mortal Orders, abilities native to your world, based on inheritance, tradition, and memory. This will also be voted on.
*Optionally, you can also become an Oathbreaker, a Barrow-traitor who strikes deals with the malicious Phantasms outside the shielded walls. This comes with prices but grants diverse abilities.
*After a lifetime, you've become adept at surviving in an inhospitable environment with spirits inimical to human life. Any other worlds you'll encounter will be a cakewalk in comparison.
*The Mortal Orders are innately transmissible to anyone you bother to tutor, and reward cooperation by multiple people with exponentially greater strength. Your students will always end up at least a little stronger than you, and they might be able to accompany you down the Street; each shoulder to carry the burden of the Barrow multiplies your strength as a collective.
*Fortunately (or unfortunately), the same's not true of Griefmantles and Oathbreaking.
Cons:
*It's no understatement to say you're suicidally depressed. You are your own worst enemy. If not given a reason to defend your life soon, you won't value it and may in fact welcome sweet oblivion.
*Your Griefmantle's insidious, a constant source of agony and painful reminders. It's an inherently parasitic magic, feeding on your worst impulses and most miserable feelings.
*You're accustomed to living in a barren hellscape with no flora and barely any fauna, full of hostile and evil spiritual entities with seemly and unseemly appearances. This is not always a good thing.
*Your people are habitually paranoid. You're a step beyond that; you're an emotional wreck and don't trust other people as second nature: basically an Atmoran Sasuke.
Pick This...
...If you like protagonists who suffer from crippling depression and you want to cure them of it.
...If you wish to never trust trees, because nothing should ever be that green.
...If you want to kick total ass as a badass grizzled survivalist with nothing left to lose (Age and Treachery included.)
[ ] Angel - It's not often you're born into a perfect world, a heaven free of suffering and evil, a realm of peace and ecstatic worship. From the moment your eyes were open, you were burdened with a glorious purpose: the administration and maintenance of Shekhinah, that divine hierarchy in which every mortal has a preordained happy ending followed by an eternal and serene afterlife; no suffering on earth, and most certainly not in the realm above. With the endless stream of prayers harnessed from the human faith and adoration, Shekhinah made you to carry out his will, to fulfill the wishes and requests of mortals, and for a time, you were content doing that.
How come that after so many years of faithful service and wholesomeness, you became so dissatisfied and disillusioned, as if there were something wrong? When you finally realized those feelings, the guilt of inherent imperfection ate away at you from within; the Street appeared soon after, offering clemency from your duties.
Pros:
*Access to Old Testament miracles, concealment among mortals, healing by laying on hands, smiting evildoers, and far more. Your angelic abilities run the full gamut of what's classic and pragmatic.
*Although you consider such an action selfish, you can reap mortal faith and employ it even without Shekhinah's say-so, and expend what you've gathered to power invocations. Alternatively, you can develop new powers, or improve current ones.
*Miracles aside, you're a numinous being of divine light. Even if you can be attributed some theoretical flaw of gaining self-awareness and excessive independence, wilfully deviating from the intended design, you were still made by a genuinely benevolent deity who crafted sole perfection and tranquil bliss in every stroke of the celestial brush. Or, in other words, you don't suffer from as many character flaws as most humans. Morally, you're pure as the driven snow, and with a highly aesthetic outer shell that accurately expresses the beauty of your inner virtue.
*Naturally, you have impressive and cutely expressive fluffy wings of snow-white feathers. Flight aside, they allow you to give incredibly comfy hugs (to offer succor to poor mortals!)
Cons:
*Although your essential capabilities are self-maintaining and automatic, more powerful invocations require prayer - or rather, faith - to carry out.
*With effort, you can devise a means of storing faith; otherwise, the excess is lost.
*For a variety of reasons, human beings are existentially advantaged. Even if you can convincingly hide your wings, you'll lack the aforementioned advantage.
*You weren't a commander of the winged legions; only one among a faceless totality. You lack the experience of your senior angels.
*For all the potential seeming warning flags, your world actually sort of
was perfect. The first time you encounter the concept of 'currency' will be a tough riddle to solve. What's scarcity? Wait, you mean to tell me when people die here, they don't go to an orderly and euphoric afterlife? Animals here aren't all cuddly, wholesome, and innocent? The worlds outside of Shekhinah are
terrifying. You don't even know about swear words, or that Santa Claus isn't real, such are the depths of your innocence. And, as they say, 'the finer the spirit, the more total ruin awaits it.'
Pick This...
...If you wish to see a clueless but kind beep-boop angel figuring out how to human feelings for the first time.
...If you want to play as a genuinely benevolent and good person in a shitty situation, trying to improve life for people.
...If you're a fan of playing as a naive idealist discovering that worlds outside their native paradise aren't that great.
[ ] Masked - On Drethir, identity's not unlike a fleeting mist. Those who bare their face in public suffer existential decay, which if allowed to progress culminates in them becoming Faceless: shifting horrors that consume masks to regain some semblance of identity - ever ravenous, never sated. All sapient beings therefore have at least one mask, which has magical properties defined by its form, materials, and wearer; even intelligent animals have evolved carapaces or osseous structures on their heads to act as natural masks. Not unlike a cork in a tub, a mask seals its wearer's identity off and prevents its incremental leakage. It's safe to remove a mask when alone, and should be done with regularity, for the other side of a mask is Fixation: mask and man becoming one, distinct entity.
As a Masked, you're an exceptional individual; a carver and designer, as well as a revolutionary. When the Drethiri Empire began a culture of monopolization and replacement of tribal masks with ones that promoted prosocial behavior, you chose to oppose them and decided to become a rebel. Now, mortally wounded after an assassination gone wrong, the Street is your rescuer.
Pros:
*A subsequent vote shall decide the nature of your mask - or masks if you have several on you as you flee - as well as your level of Fixation, which can enhance the magical effects of your masks. Facetime and significant deeds while wearing a mask develop its own identity, which can further boost its powers or unlock new ones that fit in with its mythos.
*Although your tools are back in a workshop, you possess the artisan's skills - mundane as well as supernatural - needed to craft new masks. Teaching non-natives of Drethir the carving and design aspect is difficult, if not downright impossible, but crafting masks for any potential comrades, or as a commodity for sale, is easily achievable.
*All masks you craft can be substantially empowered in a variety of ways with inclusions of rare or precious materials. Although Drethir itself didn't have that many 'supernatural materials,' the same needn't be true of other worlds you'll encounter; resource-based, nonetheless the options you'll find may astonish you.
*As a Drethirian citizen, you've heard of the tragic history of the Crestfallen Kingdom and its ominous, golden Somber Mask. If you should ever encounter him in person - a strangely probable occurrence - you'll be wise to his tricks.
*Outside of Drethir, Facelessness isn't an issue anymore; you can remove your masks as you please.
Cons:
*Outside of Drethir, Fixation can still be an issue; be careful not to meld into one being with your mask, or give a mask to someone who'll swiftly become addicted to its power. Among Fixation's symptoms, masks become more difficult to remove - physically as well as mentally. The so-called Final Fixation is irreversible and won't let you wear any other mask ever again.
*It'll take you some time to copy your world's natural metaphysical conditions, needed to craft masks. It'll be a process of making tools (masks) to make better tools (masks.) Still, it's definitely attainable; it'll only require time, the correct tools, and some basic crafting ingredients.
*Unfortunately, as a result of a mis-executed assassination attempt - which at least partially succeeded - you start the adventure off grievously wounded. Although the injuries are mostly mundane, they'll restrict your potential actions, unless you can find magical healing or have the patience to recover. Once you've recovered, you'll be much better off.
Pick This...
...If you like being a dashing, mysterious masked rogue or creepy robed mask salesman who travels the many worlds.
...If you want a dash of Persona in your original multicross story.
...If you wish to deal with your social anxiety by carving a Handsome Squidward mask.
[ ] Ex-Kratocrat - One morning, as an adolescent, you awoke to see an informational box congratulating you on accessing the System. From there, you saw similar boxes springing up practically everywhere: offering data and numbers on people, items, and events. The System offered you quests to complete, often based on your own desires, with attached rewards and informative structure. As anyone would, you decided to make the most of the insane opportunity - not knowing you weren't the sole competitor.
The adventure to accumulate strength was extreme if brief, ending with you solidly on the lower rungs of the Systematic Kratocracy's totem pole, where Administrator Sephiticus reigns supreme; ascension barred by the enemies you'd made.
As some might say, you were lucky to even still be alive. Now, you'll no longer have to worry, as the accidents of yesteryear won't bother you on the brand new road ahead. The Street offers you a new quest: venture out of the cradle and see the other worlds for yourself, and claim their strength as well.
Pros:
*Completion of Systemically incentivized quests can grant you a variety of rewards; at least a majority of them will be desirable. It can range from cash you'll be able to spend in its diverse shop to a variety of other improvements, including XP.
*The System's blue-box pop-ups and inherent ability to examine other beings can provide a lot of extradiegetic information. Under the correct circumstances, your character will be able to see their own dice rolls and realize exactly how screwed they are. This won't save them, but can definitely make their demise more amusing.
*Aside from that, you can expect to receive natural rewards for training, killing, adventuring, and similar activities of that nature. The System optimizes and quantifies everything you do, slightly increasing yields and generalizing them for convenience (your increased STR won't affect musculature such that it reduces flexibility, and so on.)
*Abilities, Skills, Classes, and more! It's almost suspiciously all as generic as it gets; if you've read the Gamer, you've practically seen it all.
*Rarely, you can also get Achievements, and other rewards, some of which can modify the System itself (or rather, its particular expression in you) and what it can do for you.
Cons:
*As System users go, you're not actually that powerful to start with: pathetically weak, barely a couple of elevations above a human baseliner.
*The System's a sapient being, not unlike a human, and it follows its own personal agendas. You're not the only System user outside of the Kratocracy, but you are among the very few who are on the Street; it'll incentivize actions that fall in line with its desires and may disincentivize others.
*And this'll only be exacerbated by the Administrators, such as Lorequist or Sephiticus, whose agendas often wander significantly outside of 'collect data on everything in visual range.' Their meddling may prove a constant nettle to your adventures.
*Your perspective's probably a little warped due to everything working more like a video game.
*You're incentivized to be a murder hobo, in a way you can precisely calculate with sufficiently high Mathematics Skill. This affects you more than you may believe at first.
Pick This...
...If you want some RPG in your Lit.
...If you're addicted to numbers going up.
...If you want to laugh when the character's eyes boggle at your blatant bad rolls (or whaling.)
