A Simple Transaction I

Current vote count?

VNodosaurus said:

The Geas of Indenture fundamentally removes most of the persistent world of the story. It is, IMO, sort of a distillation of the problem with isekai-type stories of any kind. Unless we never got out of our starting world, I mean, but.

Plenary, finally, requires work on mitigation, but that's a less immediate need. Between Slumber and Lunacy, my instinct is Champion+Slumber or Plenary+Lunacy, because Lunacy is a more severe nerf but offers less room for our enemies to exploit it, though then again Sword offers an element of progression and presumably curse-mitigation regardless and thereby is anti-synergestic with Lunacy. Or we could go Champion+Plenary and just sacrifice social.

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Mm, you're in each world for a substantial amount of time per mission, plenty of time to explore each given setting and even put down roots. Especially for conquest-type missions.

Plenary + Lunacy actually does have a real synergy in that the Plenary Brand broadcasts the truth that this isn't even your final form. Makes threats a lot more credible!

Humbaba said:

I don't get people picking [ ] The Decimator's Affliction on either the freedom or vengeance paths. It doesn't follow at all from the character introduced in the opening post and just smacks of mechanics based bullshit. At the end of the day, the hero still held to his idealistic dreams of a better world. This is at minimum a 1/2 a continent scale wide (up to solar system wide for combat types) death effect that @Rihaku literally says can kill weaker people and will shave 10% of the lifespan off of everyone else in range per year. Imagine how many dead children, elderly and just plain unwell people that is per year. The hero is actively choosing to kill hundreds of thousands or millions of people by his very presence each year. And mitigation is explicitly called out as being really hard and really unpleasant.

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All forms of mitigation are difficult, unpleasant, or come with some type of drawback. The Decimator's Affliction is actually one of the easiest to mitigate in that it offers lots of mitigation options that are at least somewhat effective. Basically you're paying a time and effort tax to reduce the damage the Curse does. Or you could live somewhere with only villainous inhabitants.

It is amusing to seeing so many votes for the art that requires self-sacrifice with the option to retire and not sacrifice anything. Don't you all think it's a bit of a conflict of attitudes?

Also, we really didn't have a "revenge" focused character since what, Wushu? It's hard to say Nameless was vengeance focused character when he basically did the things he would have done anyway. It basically didn't restrain his character at all.

formalAI said:

I really, really doubt we'll have the opportunity to powerlevel in peace if we have to deal with the Apocryphal Curse. Plus Rihaku explicitely stated that picking Vengeance and Sword together was a bad idea:

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Not a bad idea, just a "fundamental risk", and doubling down on progression necessarily implies greater payoff. Besides, even diminished the Hero is far from Seram when it comes to incompetence in combat. He did do this for over a decade.

Rihaku said:

Vengeance isn't about making the multiverse a better place!

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The drive to do so without regards for his own happiness, is my point. Although, considering their sponsorship of the Tyrant, it's likely the multiverse would be a better place without them anyway.

[X] Freedom
[X] Affliction of Slumber
[X] Plenary Brand
[X] Doom of Lunacy
[X] Three Wishes
Having time and the ability to get powers from many worlds is quite enough.
[X]Plan True Vengeance is a Life Well Lived

[X] Freedom
[X] Three Wishes
[X] Affliction of Slumber
[X] Doom of Lunacy

I'm still annoyed about people going Praxis for meta reasons, while also voting for Vengeance, with Praxis+Progression being explicitly noted as a bad idea, by the QM no less.

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BrainInAJar said:

Having all that power, and wanting to do nothing with it. After all those complaints about EFB lacking stakes and conflict. The easy path is not often the most rewarding. The easy path is not often the most rewarding. Happiness is naturally fleeting. If the Accursed advises against this path, then he is just being a hypocrite.

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Freedom doesn't mean we want to do nothing with it, it's just currently the most popular idea with Freedom among voters. Do you really think the vengeance is not fleeting? By that logic our life is naturally fleeting so might as well give up right now and let the nature take his course.

BrainInAJar said:

What is a "fulfilling" life, Maragas? We will be cursed no matter what. Hiding our head beneath the sand doesn't cause the world to disappear.

Do you all seriously want to give up? You all seem to labor under the illusion that a fulfilling life is one of abdication. Of rejection of responsibility. As a Hero, if those who caused so much suffering are still at large, isn't it our responsibility to stop them? What would have been the point of even killing the Tyrant? It's just so meaningless.

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I think you have quite the mistaken view with this logic. We don't have any power at the moment along with no responsibility, what we have at the moment is the choice between two different paths that will take us into two different routes. What you are saying is only true if we take the path of Vengeance and then decided to give up on it. After all, taking all the burdens just to fuck around? That would be the peak of irresponsibility!

Plus what decides what a Hero is? Is it in classical sense? Then it just doing glorious deeds. Is it in modern sense? Then it's saving the innocent and doing good. Our character's definition of Hero is upholding the ideals of Freedom, Justice and Truth. It is not however giving your entire existence a single meaning like vengeance which we will be doing it if we take that route. We have to do it because otherwise our choice of taking the burdens would be meaningless.

Lastly, there is a difference between being cursed and being cursed so much that it's impossible to live normally. Path of Vengeance has only two outcomes, death or vengeance. It's certainly not the most rewarding. We will kill many people, destroy systems, cause untold amounts of damage, never build something permanent. Path of Vengeance isn't the Path of True Hero. Maybe Anti Hero but not Hero. Path of Freedom gives us choices, Path of Vengeance has only one way with two outcomes.

Should use Block tally since it's plan voting.

Rihaku said:

Doom of Lunacy could work well here if you intend to rarely ever use your power. And the hero's wife might be compatible with the Geas!

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@Rihaku If we did take the safe happy option would you give us a timeskip? I have read a few of your quests and I am unsure if you can write fluffy slice of life.

Rihaku said:

All forms of mitigation are difficult, unpleasant, or come with some type of drawback. The Decimator's Affliction is actually one of the easiest to mitigate in that it offers lots of mitigation options that are at least somewhat effective. Basically you're paying a time and effort tax to reduce the damage the Curse does. Or you could live somewhere with only villainous inhabitants.

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Given you explicitly called out in the option that the mitigation options are really difficult and unpleasant I assumed that indicated that they were more so than other options.

Rihaku said:

[ ] The Decimator's Affliction - You will naturally absorb the total fundamental life force of the realm you currently inhabit at a rate of 10% per year. Area affected is exceptionally large and scales with your own power; a weak Progression-type might only affect half a continent, while a Combat-type would affect an entire solar system. In the absence of sufficient life force, you will begin to bleed essence, losing components of your powers, skills, identity, memories, and ontological veracity at a proportional rate. Though there are many paths of mitigation available, none of them are pleasant or easy.

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I would also note that we can't just live somewhere with entirely villainous inhabitants unless we specifically pick freedom, which is also specifically about nation building (presumably fixing up this world) and so will implicitly include living or at least spending large amounts of time in range of innocent people. Or we pick Vengeance and get dumped somewhere random which will almost certainly be within our half-continental range of innocent people.

So yeah. Unless you change things or let us get good mitigations really fast with how it's written I expect this option to kill a lot of innocent people no matter what.

Rihaku said:

Mm, you're in each world for a substantial amount of time per mission, plenty of time to explore each given setting and even put down roots. Especially for conquest-type missions.

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In-universe, yes, but less so out-of-universe.

BrainInAJar said:

It is amusing to seeing so many votes for the art that requires self-sacrifice with the option to retire and not sacrifice anything. Don't you all think it's a bit of a conflict of attitudes?

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Freedom does not imply retirement, it just implies not dedicating our life to this single vendetta (allowing us to i.e. focus on the problems of whatever world we wind up going to). We're going to be leaving this particular world behind either way.

fictionfan said:

@Rihaku If we did take the safe happy option would you give us a timeskip? I have read a few of your quests and I am unsure if you can write fluffy slice of life.

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A majority of EFB's story posts were slice of life, you can read over those and see whether you'd like it or not.

Humbaba said:

Given you explicitly called out in the option that the mitigation options are really difficult and unpleasant I assumed that indicated that they were more so than other options.

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That sentence is a reminder that mitigation is never easy or pleasant. That's substantially different from saying they're "really difficult."

But yes, the intent is that Decimator is easier to mitigate than other Curses. Where the character will live is, of course, to some degree up to the players. Taking Freedom does not lock one into nation-building, certainly.

VNodosaurus said:

In-universe, yes, but less so out-of-universe.

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I don't expect your character to leave the initial Geas universe for a substantial amount of time, if it is chosen. Both in-character and out. Future Geas worlds will either have a similar level of focus or be summed up quickly.

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[X] An Immodest Proposal
-[X] Freedom
-[X] Affliction of Slumber
-[X] Doom of the Tyrant
-[X] Plenary Brand
-[X] The Sword That Ends the World

As it did in the original incarnation of AST, it's come down to the incompatibility of the Praxis with the immense initial risk of Indenture. We could turn to the Regalia or Scepter, hammer out a Vengeance build compatible with the dangers the Hero faces at the outset of his second isekai-ing. We could discard knowledge of the Praxis, offer secrets dangled like cosmic carrots in front of the fanbase up as one more sacrifice on the altar of vengeance. Or, hear me out, we could not do that. We exacted bloody-handed retribution on the Heavens last time around, brought the gods themselves to a justice both belated and deserved. We've been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt. If Vengeance wins, I'll throw myself back into that breach, frantically strategize and claw for every inch of advantage all over again. But we have a chance for something different here, to set aside that burden before we take it up, craft a new narrative.

Thus, An Immodest Proposal:

Take three Curses. With the starting power of a Combat-type, we can withstand the heat that Plenary brings. Doom of the Tyrant is less detrimental to nation-building efforts than the Decimator's Affliction, especially if we linger in our native world and take advantage of our massive popularity. To the Accursed, it's basically the Doom of Accurate Self-Assessment; in the context of our starting point, it's more like the Doom of Being Done With Everyone's Shit. Hard to distinguish from snapping in the face this betrayal. It does sacrifice the dream of democracy, but in a cosmos like this its demise was likely inevitable. Nameless abdicated all the responsibility he could, so let's do the opposite. Let's lead, dispense justice from on high, rise from the ashes like an ornery, narcoleptic phoenix.

Speaking of, Slumber isn't that bad as a Combat-type and we can easily acquire servants/support staff to shave hours off of the day. The Praxis excels at protection, allowing us to ward our sleeping form, and offers us the promise of growth. Perhaps not the effulgent, unbounded splendor of Progression. But if the hour comes again in which he must exchange pain for power, the Hero is well-versed in that black alchemy, and the Praxis will provide. An extra Curse lets us go into the second stage of chargen with an additional three Lesser Remittances under our belt, which we can cash in on or bank for Accursed Favor, the literal godstat.

And though it's a secondary consideration, putting a smile on the Accursed's face does the same to mine. Someone has to break the cycle of hate. Who better than an already broken man?

Hmm, I think from a meta perspective, Freedom and Vengeance are both fun. So I'll try and make plans for both.

[ ] Freedom
[ ] Affliction of Slumber
[ ] Doom of the Tyrant OR []Doom of Lunacy OR [] Brand of the Champion

Freedom promises enough power to do whatever, and from the context of maximizing comfiness and general QoL, Geas (An eternity of work? Yikes), Decimator (Making everything we live shit? No thanks), Aprocyhral (May you live in interesting times is TERRIBLE from a QoL perspective) are right out immediately, leaving:

Affliction - Literally no minuses to QoL
Brand of the Champion - Significant minuses to QoL
Doom of the Tyrant - Have to live like a Tyrant (Note: no major minuses to QoL)
Doom of Lunacy - No minuses to QoL, major maluses to power
Plenary - Enemy attractor, no direct maluses to QoL, but likely indirectly.

Affliction is basically free pick within this context, while Plenary is pretty terrible, leaving the other 3 options. Unsure which offers the best QoL. It is probably better to pick based on power incrementation.

This leaves the Remittance Choices, but I don't think they are particularly relevent due to the sheer power of the Combat Class Cursebearer. From a QoL perspective, rezzing our dead wife and child is a massive plus, but Lesser Remittances can probably do that anyway, so *shrug*. It's basically a free choice. I would suggest either Three Wishes (fast QoL improvements) or the Praxis (since we want Build Votes or the quest will surely die, and we might want power scaling anyway.)

Remittance: Any

[ ] Vengeance

Vengeance, no matter the cost, etc, etc. Now, from a meta perspective? Endless amounts of interesting enemies and situations. QoL is less relevant than the intensity of the enemies we face. With that in mind, let's look at the curses we shall bear:

Mandatory: Geas+Apocryphal (Worth 3 Curses lol)

Hmm, since we need power pretty much constantly, it's recommended we don't take curses that compromise power. Thus:

[ ] The Decimator's Affliction
Basically a free pick

[ ] Affliction of Slumber
Absolutely not. It's also resistant to Chronomancy boosts, making it REALLY BAD.

[ ] Brand of the Champion
Endless RPG quests. Oh well.

[ ] Doom of the Tyrant
Really, really annoying, but *shrug*

[ ] Doom of Lunacy
I note we can voluntarily enter this form

[ ] Plenary Brand
Not recommended since people will try and stamp us out ASAP.

Good Interesting combinations:
Lunacy+Plenary: Lunacy's downsides are mitigated by Plenary. This means we have to deal with Plenary's downsides. Oof.
Decimator+Champion/Tyrant: This suggests that we zoom through Geas of Indenture quests ASAP. By constantly living in 'interesting times', we might be able to mitigate Aprocyhral. Somewhat.
Champion+Tyrant: Who needed diplomacy anyway lol?
Plenary+Tyrant: Plenary broadcasts power, negating the downsides of Tyrant.

Remittances: Immediate power is absolutely key. This makes King's Scepter is thus the obvious option. The Praxis is a highly risky option, and unless we can use Lesser Remittances to make up for that shortfall somehow, I wouldn't recommend it.

///

On the curses and the Accursed:

How does Plenary even negatively affect the Accursed? Compared to the Slumber, for instance, it's practically nothing.
How does Doom of the Tyrant even affect him at all? Is he not basically the ultimate power, or as closed to it as one can manage?
The Aprochyral Curse.. what even qualifies as Interesting Times for the Accursed?

Rihaku said:

But yes, the intent is that Decimator is easier to mitigate than other Curses. Where the character will live is, of course, to some degree up to the players. Taking Freedom does not lock one into nation-building, certainly.

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Decimator is the only curse that can be looked at as a superpower in it's own way. Just loads of collateral damage. I could see someone taking that curse and just always hang out in hells full of evil people.

fictionfan said:

Decimator is the only curse that can be looked at as a superpower in it's own way. Just loads of collateral damage. I could see someone taking that curse and just always hang out in hells full of evil people.

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...Where would you find those hells? I'd assume the natural thing would be to hang out somewhere where there's only non-sapient life.

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Maragas said:

I think you have quite the mistaken view with this logic. We don't have any power at the moment along with no responsibility, what we have at the moment is the choice between two different paths that will take us into two different routes. What you are saying is only true if we take the path of Vengeance and then decided to give up on it. After all, taking all the burdens just to fuck around? That would be the peak of irresponsibility!

Plus what decides what a Hero is? Is it in classical sense? Then it just doing glorious deeds. Is it in modern sense? Then it's saving the innocent and doing good. Our character's definition of Hero is upholding the ideals of Freedom, Justice and Truth. It is not however giving your entire existence a single meaning like vengeance which we will be doing it if we take that route. We have to do it because otherwise our choice of taking the burden would be meaningless.

Lastly, there is a difference between being cursed and being cursed so much that it's impossible to live normally. Path of Vengeance has only two outcomes, death or vengeance. It's certainly not the most rewarding. We will kill many people, destroy systems, cause untold amounts of damage, never build something permanent. Path of Vengeance isn't the Path of True Hero. Maybe Anti Hero but not Hero. Path of Freedom gives us choices, Path of Vengeance has only one way with two outcomes.

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???

We have already acted. We have the opportunity to seek it, therefore, we should seek it. To not choose Vengeance is to give up on responsibility. It is to relinquish it.

And doing whatever we want and forgetting about those who orchestrated this? Definitely aligns with Truth, Justice and the American way, yup.

I don't care about "living normally". What is the worth of "living normally"? If you say we can't build permanent things with Vengeance, there is nothing that says this anywhere. It simply means we will have a set goal, a singular pursuit. What happens between here and there is currently unknowable. Once we're done, presumably we can be someone else. But we won't pursue happiness, nor "live normally". Again I ask, what is the worth of such a thing?

VNodosaurus said:

Freedom does not imply retirement, it just implies not dedicating our life to this single vendetta (allowing us to i.e. focus on the problems of whatever world we wind up going to). We're going to be leaving this particular world behind either way.

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Rihaku said:

comfy quest of nation-building, adventuring & slacking off.

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High-stress environment it is not, by the option itself no less. Not to mention we won't have any inherent stake in whatever world we go to, which is not exactly conductive to self-sacrifice.

Orm Embar said:

As it did in the original incarnation of AST, it's come down to the incompatibility of the Praxis with the immense initial risk of Indenture. We could turn to the Regalia or Scepter, hammer out a Vengeance build compatible with the dangers the Hero faces at the outset of his second isekai-ing. We could sacrifice knowledge of the Praxis, offer secrets dangled like cosmic carrots in front of the fanbase up as one more sacrifice on the altar of vengeance. Or, hear me out, we could not do that. We extracted bloody-handed retribution from the Heavens last time around, brought the gods themselves to a justice both belated and deserved. We've been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt. If Vengeance wins, I'll throw myself back into that breach, frantically strategize and claw for every inch of advantage all over again. But we have a chance for something different here, to set aside that burden before we take it up. Thus, An Immodest Proposal:

Take three Curses. With the starting power of a Combat-type, we can withstand the heat that Plenary brings. Doom of the Tyrant is less detrimental to nation-building efforts than the Decimator's Affliction, especially if we linger in our native world and take advantage of our massive popularity. To the Accursed, it's basically the Doom of Accurate Self-Assessment; in the context of our starting point, it's more like the Doom of Being Done With Everyone's Shit. Hard to distinguish from snapping in the face this betrayal. It does sacrifice the dream of democracy, but in a cosmos like this its demise was likely inevitable. Nameless abdicated all the responsibility he could, so lets do the opposite. Let's lead, dispense justice from on high, rise from the ashes like an ornery, narcoleptic phoenix.

Speaking of, Slumber isn't that bad as a Combat-type and we can easily acquire servants/support staff to shave hours off of the day. The Praxis excels at protection, allowing us to ward our sleeping form, and offers us the promise of growth. Perhaps not the effulgent, unbounded splendor of Progression. But if the hour comes again in which he must exchange pain for power, the Hero is well-versed in that black alchemy, and the Praxis will provide. Doom of the Tyrant is fitting (no doubt why we were offered it)

And though it's a secondary consideration, putting a smile on the Accursed's face does the same to mine. Someone has to break the cycle of hate. Who better than an already broken man?

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Even you...

But seriously, why? If there are no grander stakes, why inflict more punishment to ourselves? If it is Freedom we want, why shackle us even more? There's no need. No burning, pressing need. Why would we need more Lesser Remittances with Freedom?

Plenary Brand is the only curse that would not be curse if an ordinary guy had it. I mean everyone you come across knowing that you are an ordinary guy would not cause you that much trouble.

BrainInAJar said:

Even you...

But seriously, why? If there are no grander stakes, why inflict more punishment to ourselves? If it is Freedom we want, why shackle us even more? There's no need. No burning, pressing need. Why would we need more Lesser Remittances with Freedom?

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I know, I'm sort of surprised myself! But The Sword That Ends the World hits a combined sweet spot of nostalgia and lore almost a decade in the making. If it's viable alongside Vengeance I'm there for it, but if not... well, I would regret passing on the Praxis again. A man can only subsist on Addio's Cursebearer omakes for so long!

Regarding the third Curse, it's a hedge against future greed. The second stage of character generation contains no Lesser Curses, so we'd do well to maximize our spending power now. Lack of Indenture doesn't mean a lack of purpose, there's the matter of our world to resolve, and whatever conflicts we get into afterward. Just from the fact that SV's steering, it's basically guaranteed that we'll get entangled in high-stakes drama. Factor in the Plenary Brand and Doom, and you have a recipe for conflict. The thing about power is that you can never have enough of it.

And if we manage to exercise restraint, it rolls over into Accursed Favor, the value of which is impossible to overstate. When combined with his reaction to Freedom, maybe it'll lead to more interactions without Three Wishes? Also, it helps the Accursed, possibly the most valuable thing the Hero can do! In the face of the mounting pile of evidence that he's Odyssial's future self, why wouldn't we want that?

I've done both by-plan and by-line vote tallies, because both might affect Rihaku's decision.

In terms of how the Apocryphal Curse could affect the Accursed - I wonder if it was the first of their Curses....

Reformatting my previous vote:
[X] Plan Invictus
- [X] Freedom
- [X] Affliction of Slumber
- [X] Brand of the Champion
- [X] The Sword That Ends The World

(I'm likely to change my mind on the Curses as voting evolves.)

BrainInAJar said:

High-stress environment it is not, by the option itself no less. Not to mention we won't have any inherent stake in whatever world we go to, which is not exactly conductive to self-sacrifice.

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You excluded 'unless you decide otherwise' from that quote. As to inherent stakes, our protagonist didn't have any in his previous isekai either. And Truth and Justice... well, the Vengeance option says it outright:

Rihaku said:

When the hour arrives at last, there will be no justice here. Only vengeance.

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Orm Embar said:

[X] An Immodest Proposal
-[X] Freedom
-[X] Affliction of Slumber
-[X] Doom of the Tyrant
-[X] Plenary Brand
-[X] The Sword That Ends the World

As it did in the original incarnation of AST, it's come down to the incompatibility of the Praxis with the immense initial risk of Indenture. We could turn to the Regalia or Scepter, hammer out a Vengeance build compatible with the dangers the Hero faces at the outset of his second isekai-ing. We could sacrifice knowledge of the Praxis, offer secrets dangled like cosmic carrots in front of the fanbase up as one more sacrifice on the altar of vengeance. Or, hear me out, we could not do that. We extracted bloody-handed retribution from the Heavens last time around, brought the gods themselves to a justice both belated and deserved. We've been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt. If Vengeance wins, I'll throw myself back into that breach, frantically strategize and claw for every inch of advantage all over again. But we have a chance for something different here, to set aside that burden before we take it up, craft a new narrative.

Thus, An Immodest Proposal:

Take three Curses. With the starting power of a Combat-type, we can withstand the heat that Plenary brings. Doom of the Tyrant is less detrimental to nation-building efforts than the Decimator's Affliction, especially if we linger in our native world and take advantage of our massive popularity. To the Accursed, it's basically the Doom of Accurate Self-Assessment; in the context of our starting point, it's more like the Doom of Being Done With Everyone's Shit. Hard to distinguish from snapping in the face this betrayal. It does sacrifice the dream of democracy, but in a cosmos like this its demise was likely inevitable. Nameless abdicated all the responsibility he could, so lets do the opposite. Let's lead, dispense justice from on high, rise from the ashes like an ornery, narcoleptic phoenix.

Speaking of, Slumber isn't that bad as a Combat-type and we can easily acquire servants/support staff to shave hours off of the day. The Praxis excels at protection, allowing us to ward our sleeping form, and offers us the promise of growth. Perhaps not the effulgent, unbounded splendor of Progression. But if the hour comes again in which he must exchange pain for power, the Hero is well-versed in that black alchemy, and the Praxis will provide. An extra Curse lets us go into the second stage of chargen with an additional three Lesser Remittances under our belt, which we can cash in on or bank for Accursed Favor, the literal godstat.

And though it's a secondary consideration, putting a smile on the Accursed's face does the same to mine. Someone has to break the cycle of hate. Who better than an already broken man?

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I like this plan, changing my vote.
[X] An Immodest Proposal

BrainInAJar said:

???

We have already acted. We have the opportunity to seek it, therefore, we should seek it. To not choose Vengeance is to give up up on responsibility. It is to relinquish it.

And doing whatever we want and forgetting about those who orchestrated this? Definitely aligns with Truth, Justice and the American way, yup.

I don't care about "living normally". What us the worth of "living normally"? If you say we can't build permanent things with Vengeance, there is nothing that says this anywhere. It simply means we will have a set goal, a singular pursuit. What happens between here and there is currently unknowable. Once we're done, presumably we can be someone else. But we won't pursue happiness, nor "live normally". Again I ask, what is the worth of such a thing?

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That...that is quite the thinking I say. Let me do it point by point.
We acted yes, we failed yes. Now we have the opportunity to get back to track, fix our world and then enjoy our Freedom. We also have a choice of abandoning our world, dooming ourselves to eventual death or at least misery for virtual eternity in search for bloody vengeance from those who are the root of this.
And you are saying because we have the opportunity we should choose it? Many people have opportunity to help people, many people also have the opportunity to ruin themselves for the sake of others and/or singular goals. Most people aren't stupid enough to do the latter.

Doing whatever we want and forgetting about the others? Our characters "doing whatever we want" is championing Truth, Justice and Freedom. The fact that he will be carefree and living well doesn't take that away from him. The ones who orchestrated this were already beyond him before this and it will not be different...Well other then the fact that he may not be directly facing them but he may face against their plans, depending on the voters I suppose but most likely as most voters are white knights.

I am not even going to comment on "Living Normally". Happiness and Life is fleeting, yes but they are the most sought after things in the world.

On the permanency, depending on the curses we take it's between "Very Hard" to "Impossible" on creating permanent things, good things in the world. Take Doom of the Tyrant and bam, any government you make is totally reliant on you and you will eventually leave. Champion and you can't run the goverment because even the most unimportant employee/servant will demand something from you personally. The Apocryphal Curse we auto have along with the Geas makes it so we will face someone or something who can challenge us...forever, even after the vengeance, even after we are thousands of times more powerful than Nameless. The Decimator's Affliction will cause us to spend even fewer years on places compared to the Geas, we already affect half of the continent in a planet at the start. What will happen when we are more powerful? We will affect entire Solar Systems and Galaxies. How could an Empire function like that? How could we function like that?

Like I said, Path of Freedom may be cursed but it's nothing compared to Path of Vengeance.

Hmm, I prefer Freedom but not with the Praxis, which seems like favored combo currently. Not really feeling that power for this guy...

Rihaku said:

[ ] Brand of the Champion - It is the champion's remit to solve problems, to answer the call of heroism wheresoever it should arise. The champion stands unconquered but alone. Everyone you interact with aside from a select few individuals will refuse to assist you, even in trivial ways, unless you perform some inane or perilous task for them first. Even if all conventions of morality, duty, or good sense would impel them otherwise, they will simply find it unthinkable to aid you without due recompense. The difficulty of tasks is usually equivalent to the degree of assistance you request, though not always.

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Dunno about y'all but I'm pretty hyped for Sidequest Quest.