Even Further Beyond [Complete]

I like the idea myself, and if it was a choice I would probably take it. The question is what?
Hedonistic?

Really, what i wonder is if we make progression towards reducing spoiled either way, and that option is just making it much more likely?

Hedonistic still isn't good, it's functionally just the mature version of Spoiled--still incredibly shitty, just a slightly more polite way of saying it.
 
Hedonistic still isn't good, it's functionally just the mature version of Spoiled--still incredibly shitty, just a slightly more polite way of saying it.
If we want a replacement for Spoiled... Maybe Appreciative? It's the closest I can come as a mature and reasonable emotion, off the top of my head. Alternatively, Thoughtful (Considerate, maybe?) would have some of the benefits we want, and would be in theme given the Veil's boost to intellectual pleasure.

Also, why no True Deliberation to boost our ability to learn the Scepter? Why? WHYYYYYY? (Not that it would win, but so I could vote for it anyway!)
 
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[X] Strategic Complexion
[X] I'll Face Myself

[X] Open the Way
[X] Amplification

I reallly wanna finally talk to Gramps. Besides, we haven't yet visited home! How unfilial!
(I also really think that we should get cultivation multipliers here. Absent the overgrowth consumption strategy, we need more multipliers to hit IA, which should have major synergies with everything we do).
 
Well, if Spoiled is nothing but the negative need for good things, Hedonistic is enjoying all the new things, a positive version of that would be Adventurous?
That being said, with how effective the intellectual joy of discovery compounded by the Veil is, we can almost just go straight for Curious or something
 
[X] Pursuit of the Truth
[X] I'll Face Myself


To be honest, I'm happy with all options except [ ] Strategic Complexion.

[X] Open the Way
[X] Prodigious Might
 
Well, if Spoiled is nothing but the negative need for good things, Hedonistic is enjoying all the new things, a positive version of that would be Adventurous?
That being said, with how effective the intellectual joy of discovery compounded by the Veil is, we can almost just go straight for Curious or something

Tempering Spoiled into Curious--or hell, Inquisitive might work, if we can temper the delight for new discoveries to replace the desire for physical stimulation.
 
Tempering Spoiled into Curious--or hell, Inquisitive might work, if we can temper the delight for new discoveries to replace the desire for physical stimulation.
Alternatively, on a similarly mental note, perhaps Introspective, with the passion meaning we actually think on our impulsive actions, slowing down immediate Vengeance procs? It would also let us turn on Vengeful in specified ways to deal with social, and even be in theme with the whole meeting your shadow and learning to be a better person thing.
 
[X] Pursuit of the Truth
[X] Extra Diligent
[X] Open the Way
[X] Amplification


Pursuit of the Truth is a no-brainer for me, we've seen how massive the benefits are. Immunity to Fated Love, a stage-booster, more Truespells, and Immortal synergy... or the ability to semi-reliably kill the Heroine. Extra Diligent motivates the Extrusion, which was a huge part of why we wanted Spoiled gone in the first place, so I'd rather just go for the prize than expose Nameless' personality to the sandblaster of Aurelia's charisma. The Veil of Maya is part of the reason we've learned to enjoy practicing with the Necromancer anyway, so not only does changing our Emanation impose an additional effort tax on Rihaku, we sacrifice that benefit.

If we pick up True Incarnation from Pursuit of the Truth, we can focus our efforts on offensive applications of the Necromancer. Otherwise, the Overgrowth Beast Cultivation Extraction requires extensive development of its powers for Cultivation transfer. Open the Way helps with that, making it relevant against both Kong and the Fates. Amplification I'm less sure of; Prodigious Might is another esoteric offensive vector and both Forms of Palimpsest have their appeal, but for now I'm going to go with the Cultivation multiplier that doesn't eat up Beyond Points. There are only so many boosts to our progression we can afford to pass up.
 
Worth noting: if we got something like Veil of Maya but for a more cerebral desire, it would actually be really neat. I could see, say, something which boosted research speed and gave us a mental boost based on the number of people researching in the area, or something those lines. (On the other hand, I kind of dislike Veil, so I'm probably not the best judge.) Now, doing to sleep. Really this time.
 
Huh.
Thats not a bad point - working extra diligently is actually working to counter Spoiled as well, but all self driven.
However, if we are taking that path i very very much still think the True form of Balance's multipliers will be even more essential.
[X] Pursuit of the Truth
[X] Extra Diligent
[X] Open the Way
[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point]
 
Actually, I will change:
[X] Extra Diligent
[X] I'll Face Myself
[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point]
[X] Amplification

Diligence and facing ourself seem to work well together, as do Amplification and Form of Balance.
 
[X] Extra Diligent
[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point]
[X] Open the Way


Don't really care about the second action. Fair points that Extra Diligent is probably more progress against Spoiled regardless.
 
I'm strongly against face myself. The current amount of diligence Nameless is showing is sufficient. Also, I like lazy asshole Nameless. Like he himself says, he just needs to keep the laziness under control.

[X] Pursuit of the Truth
Love remains our greatest weakness, so best we block off that weak spot now.

[X] Extra Diligent
The abilities we've seen so far are really cool, so I'd like to see where this ends.

[X] Open the Way

I really want to explore the setting more. Or other settings, for that matter.

[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point]
No strong opinions here, so I just went with something cool. If anyone has a good argument I'm listening.
 
[X] Pursuit of the Truth
[X] I'll Face Myself
[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point]
[X] Open the Way
 
[X] Pursuit of the Truth (with Suizhen) - Suizhen has further developed her eyes to help Nameless discover the other Truth Diagrams. Has a fairly good chance of resulting in successful acquisition of True Incarnation or Azure Flare.

[X] Strategic Complexion (with Xiaoling, Yong Shen) - The Empire seems to be experiencing a bout of instability. Yong Shen hasn't acted, but why? Perhaps it would be wise to pay grandpa a visit; and, if necessary, forcibly smooth out the ripples that have disturbed the previously tranquil pond of the Labyrinth.

[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point] - These forms are different enough that I'm comfortable splitting the Palimpsest vote. Truespelling this isn't likely to improve Cultivation speed much over the baseline spell, but the magnitude of the bonus to bodily actions could rise significantly.

[X] Prodigious Might - Heavy esoteric offense and defense.

First off, I want to see our Lackies - we haven't seen them since the marriage, I especially want to interact with Xialong before our common trait (both being Spoiled) is lost. Secondly, I want to speak to our grandfather - both about the current state of the Empire and the revelations we had about him, Kong, and the Elves.
 
[ ] Essence Diagram Research
This option isn't optimal right now. Both Necromancy and Truth have the potential to perma-kill the Heroine. The Essence Diagram might be a Cultivation booster too, but with Necromancy's option to devour the Overgrowth beasts for progress, this multiplier isn't necessary right now. In fact, it may be strategically better to save the Essence Grand Diagram for later in case we need it to address a specific problem.

[X] Pursuit of the Truth
This synergizes with our Immortal Awakening path and with dealing with the Heroine.

[ ] Extra Diligent
A viable option, but it might be straying from the path we chose in the previous vote. There's a possibility that being diligent could contribute towards getting rid of Spoiled, but it's not a certain thing.

[ ] Strategic Complexion
This is tempting mainly due to the fact that we'll get to interact with the family again. We will probably be hunting and devouring Overgrowth beasts in the future anyway, so Grandpa's inaction means more tasty morsels for us.

[X] I'll Face Myself
The long-sought opportunity to get rid of Spoiled. What we voted for in the previous vote. This will lessen the negative impact Veil of Maya has on society, too - valuable for the long-term safety of the empires.

[X] Open the Way
Cultivation aid (beast-hunting tool), strategic anti-Fate asset (access to Heaven), and counter to Zang Kong. I believe we need this one.

[X] Amplification
One of the two dedicated Cultivation tools in this vote. I'm leaning towards this one since we shoud be able to reach IA with an Overgrowth safari, and supercharging previous Stages does sound like a Stage booster, which brings us that much closer to being stronger than Zang Kong. Also, it saves us one BP.

[ ] Prodigious Might
Doesn't help us grow, is slightly redundant with Necromancy. Right now, it's the least attractive spell choice in my opinion.

[ ] Palimpsest - Form of the Elder Beast
A good Cultivation multiplier, but it costs a BP and we can go hunt beasts instead. We will also get more Truespell slots later with True Incarnation (essential part of the IA path), so we don't have to turn ourselves into a freak for further progress just yet.

[ ] Palimpsest - Form of Balance
It's not a particularly good Cultivation multiplier. Physical perfection is nice, but it probably doesn't address our immediate needs as directly as the other choices.
 
[X] Open the Way
[X] Prodigious Might
[X] Extra Diligent
[X] Essence Diagram Research

Diligence and developing sincere interest in magical research is sufficient personal change for me, and our combat power is sufficient for this point in time, so I'm voting in all cases to expand our range of options against both the Heroine and Zang Kong. The time has come to secure breadth of capability.
 
[X] Pursuit of the Truth
[X] Strategic Complexion
[X] Open the Way
[X] Amplification

Open the Way is an important tool to have available and I'd rather pick it sooner than later. I prefer Amplification to the other options. Even if we eventually pick up Palimpsest, it would be better to FB it.

Continuing the pursuit of Truth to hopefully pick up True Incarnation seems like the best option. Strategic Complexion is necessary to build a more complete understanding of how urgent the fires are.
 
[ ] Essence Diagram Research - Time to remove Tyranshal's Extirpation (after carefully archiving its formulae) and develop a Grand Diagram of Essence that's actually useful against either Zang Kong or the Heroine!
This is an option with a lot of potential Oomph, and something that has been considered heavily in the past as a powerful path to follow. That being said, Rihaku has already that we would not save a True slot for it, so I feel like it is a case of either take it with Persuit of Truth and hope for True Incarnation being discovered just before creating out new Diagram, or not taking it at all. Would probably be more tempting with extra BP spare to upgrade the diagram. Would have positive feedback with Veil due to intellectual stimulation, though lesser than future choices as half the time is removing an old diagram.
[ ] Pursuit of the Truth (with Suizhen) - Suizhen has further developed her eyes to help Nameless discover the other Truth Diagrams. Has a fairly good chance of resulting in successful acquisition of True Incarnation or Azure Flare.
I consider this an utter necessity. I only want True Incarnation however. Not only would it allow us to get at least one extra true spell (and we know exactly how amazing they are) but give us a bunch of other options. With the Veil up, discovering breakthroughs in Truth will help set up beneficial positive reinforcement, and we know that Nameless loves diagram research as well. I feel like this would help improve our character.
[ ] Extra Diligent - Work exceptionally hard to master Necromancy, causing the lich to work somewhat harder as well. Results unpredictable but potentially massive.
I actually consider this the True Path towards removing spoiled. As opposed to the near certainty of Aurelia removing our trait, we instead develop our own resolve. Internal change and motivation rather than external is vastly better, even if slower. As well as that, we are working diligently on pure intellectual tasks, once again getting synergy from Veil. Further, our Extrusion would also be working harder throughout the entire time skip. I very much doubt we are going to get Incarnation even with this, but it is a possibility and it is certainly the path forwards to get it.

[ ] Strategic Complexion (with Xiaoling, Yong Shen) - The Empire seems to be experiencing a bout of instability. Yong Shen hasn't acted, but why? Perhaps it would be wise to pay grandpa a visit; and, if necessary, forcibly smooth out the ripples that have disturbed the previously tranquil pond of the Labyrinth.
Even though this offers the least benefit to us, it offers the most to our overall goals. Stability of the Empire for example is our technical goal. Xiaoling has also been somewhat neglected of late with her choices recently, such as us skipping her actual loyalty event. This may also let us see Yong Shen's point of view, and is a good chance to both stabilize the Empire and learn more information. I could very easily be tempted to take this over any option but Truth.

[ ] I'll Face Myself (with Aurelia) - It is touching that Aurelia does not wish to unduly influence Nameless with her supernaturally persuasive presence, but this is simply a case of "the mind is willing but the spirit is weak." Request Aurelia go all-out (within the bounds of her ethics) to convince Nameless not to be Spoiled anymore. High chance of removing Spoiled, which may alter your Emanation and will seriously change the Extrusion's personality. But as she herself asked, is it worth removing a defining feature of oneself for mere power? When you've come this far, isn't this precisely the type of choice that power should liberate you to discard?
My first reaction was to take this instantly. It is afterall, what i voted so hard for in the previous update. However, with the option of Extra Diligent and Pursuit of the Truth to work on instead, I would rather not take this. Change through external means is not as good as Internal. Further, this is mostly the brute force removal of a negative trait leaving nothing to balance Vengeful, as opposed to us developing an increasing interest in research and working diligently. Because of that I would rather skip this option in favour of Extra Diligent.



In short, going to go with
[X] Pursuit of the Truth
[X] Extra Diligent
[X] Open the Way
[X] Palimpsest - Form of Balance [1 Beyond Point]
 
tallying

Wait what you guys Grand Essence Diagram is great! Getting True Incarnation before it means forgoing the strongest possible Diagram, a True Grand Essence Diagram!
Adhoc vote count started by George on May 8, 2018 at 2:49 AM, finished with 29217 posts and 21 votes.
 
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Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Skelm on May 8, 2018 at 2:51 AM, finished with 29217 posts and 21 votes.
 
So this is the difference between a Lackey and a major NPC...

I'm not really buying into the Transmute Spoiled to ??? write-in. No personality trait is immaculate. Hedonism could make us less cynical but also less focused. Inquisitiveness could make it hard to care about non-intellectual pursuits. I don't expect force-correction will lead to less severe traits, which from what I can gather was our primary complaint IC and OOC.
 
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