Note that external Rank doesn't get increased by Defining Advancement. Still, +0.55 Rank for general is more than respectable, especially since it also pushes Crimson Flare that closer to High Rank..That was before the era of Hunger responding to an arm through the gut with a "nice, guess I gotta flex" and trapping it there.
Still, while Crimson Flare does give Hunger a tremendous amount of survivability, adding that much amount of Protection would be a tremendous combat buff. "All that for a drop of blood" gets quite a different amount of flair when you can instantly regenerate you body weight twice over!
The reason I'm not voting for it is because I think that increasing Rank will make Hunger just comprehensively better at what he needs to do next update (if Rebellion wins), and that the 0.325 added to Guile and Crimson Flare are almost overkill for the current situation. And we need that overkill, because we don't know how strong the Immortals are and they surely won't kindly line-up so we can beat them one by one like the good exp-bags they should be.
Want to know what would be even more overkill? World-Defeating Stance gives 0.2 Rank, increased by Uttermost to 0.325, and I see no reason why that shouldn't contribute to Crimson Flare. Now, how many foes would we face that are able to deal with a 7.65 Chief Dominion? Avecarn was Rank 6.5, so worst-case scenario (not really, but above that and Cutting Through right now would be a suicide mission in my opinion) the Immortals will be at 7.5 and we would still out-rank them where it matters (Crimson Flare and Guile are the main reasons we managed to deal with Avecarn so easily, keeping both of them relevant is very important).
Let's say World-Defeating Stance doesn't interest the majority though, well in that case there's Mage-Defeating for covering up our vulnerabilities, or we could wait for future picks we gain from winning a social or combat challenge, or even get Vigor Incarnate soon after we have benefited from the increased Rank to recruit some rebels! I'd really like to remain flexible for the moment, and see exactly what we will need rather than committing our resources to a defensive buff already.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Brazil
Some DMC flashbacks, but yeah, our allies are actually...really competent people. Imagine if Gisena didn't get to show off her new fancy powers! That would be a shame, wouldn't it?
While rank is incredibly useful, there is something to be said about choosing powerful singular options when you are in the line to fight the final bosses.
- Location
- Italy
I'll be honest, All-Defeating doesn't interest me but if it gets efficent to pick it up I'm certainly not gonna say no. I highly doubt anyone we'll rush for the moment to pick an ESB considering the situation we're in though, and just because I think SAVING now is for the best doesn't mean I don't want to use that Arete when the need arises.
Saving for EFBs when you can allow yourself to seemed so much like common sense that I didn't even realize the existence of an "ESB faction" till now. I'm getting the impression that the people getting dissatisfied are those looking forward to Evening Sky/Mage option but never getting any, especially now that a good number (wouldn't say the majority yet) of people are advocating for getting Pillars, which would find its use mainly as a farming option to make everything else better. I personally would rather get an EFB like Silver, especially since we already have our farming option with Crimson Flare.
Last edited:
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
As far as Rebellion tactics go maybe we can get the middle temple outriders on board? Or at least some of them. Not Gondar since he hates us but given the difference in living conditions and the noise from the star forges they have to deal with we should be able to pick up some combat capable recruits. Recruiting in the Inner temple seems like it'll depend on a bunch of factors we won't know about until the next update.
How well off is the average citizen? How many people are there that are getting close to their allotted thousand years? We know there's occasional disent amongst the ranks and backstabbing from Van's interlude since that's what happened to his father, can we take advantage of that?
How well off is the average citizen? How many people are there that are getting close to their allotted thousand years? We know there's occasional disent amongst the ranks and backstabbing from Van's interlude since that's what happened to his father, can we take advantage of that?
Truly, what could be worse than battling for magic or waifus or superpowers?
Battling for all of them at once, simultaneously.
~~~
MAGIC FANTASY TERTIARY INSTITUTE DATING SIM QUEST
2391 words
~~~
~~~Rihaku-58008 said:
AN: These are all from my own OC setting that I believed to be a ticket into fantabulous financial success. My Harry Potter, my Hunger Games, my Twilight.
Anyway I personally think getting Hunger magic systems is silly. I understand the disdain of what he has; although the effects are magical, they are derived from equipment, not from the person, the difference between Harry's invisibility cloak and his wand. Secondly, when people want magic systems, what they really want is the joy of inquiry and exploration. They don't want to be users, they want to be pioneers. Which, obviously, runs counter to Hunger.
Prologue
Ten thousand schools of magic reign over the face of Earth. But of ten thousand rivals, there is only one victor, one Great School. Stonelight Academy, the Mile Spire, the Axis Needle that rides the winds and rules distant and unopposed, its admission process obfuscated, its graduates undefeatable. Within its infinite halls are taught every spell, every dwoemer, incantation and evocation, ward and way, every art and artifice known to mankind. But the promise of Stonelight is not merely power to eclipse heaven and firmament, but the promise of purpose, the wish fulfilled, the light of imagination made solid and stone-true.
Great magics will be taught. But greater still is the magic... of love.
Do you dare to discover its secrets?
---
Congratulations! You have received the scarlet invitation to enter Stonelight Academy, the premier educational institute on Earth, where you will spend eight years learning whatever you desire, and perhaps finding your true self along the way! No grimdark here, friends, only comfy; such are the efforts of your predecessors that walked the continents of antiquity, that you would never fear the altar of sacrifice, knives in the dark, midnight suns and the thunder of battle.
But before that letter appeared, you were undergoing study in one or more of Earth's magical systems available to the common man. You have achieved four Magical Potential Points; it is difficult to generate more.
Please select your field of study. Each Magical System has a Person of Interest attached; events will conspire that you will meet them at Stonelight or on missions.
Public Arts
These magical systems have spread worldwide, and receive some coverage in government-subsidised education. Each costs one point unless otherwise noted. Selecting a choice multiple times renders additional benefits.
[ ] Manacraft - The European Art, this magical system concerns the manipulation of Mana, an infinitesimal particle present in every continent that interacts only with itself. When the particles are arranged in certain spatial configurations, a corresponding effect is generated. Capable of producing calamitous multitudes of automated spellcraft within seconds. A curious property of Mana is that it abhors a vacuum: a volume bounded totally by a certain density will fill to match.
*You are trained in the Tokamak Star, the mental magic capable of corralling and generating Mana.
*You are also educated in the idiosyncratic rules that govern Mana interactions, as well as the common spellcasting forms and effects.
*Experimentally verifying a certain configuration is trivial. Programming its respective autocast array is not.
*Political opinion of Manacraft is at an all time low; the Mana Saturation Theory posits that reckless overuse of Manacraft during the 1700s has caused an irreversible cascade effect which will result in runaway Mana density with comcomitant spontaneous weather events.
*Career opportunities are drying up: outside of research into Mana Annihilation, the dwindling field is mostly occupied by maintaining obsolete Mana-based infrastructure.
Person of Interest: Elizabeth Lovelace Monterey, an aristocratic lady of peerage from the States. She has no patience for fools, but worries about her future prospects. D-don't look down on her!
*A southern belle of Dutch ancestry, she is a skilled Manacrafter.
*Especially talented at programming of Mana internally and externally.
*Has expensive tastes.
*Dislikes storms, despite her family making its fortune in lightning farms.
*Worried about the transition to novel magic systems.
*Favoured Club: Computer Science
[ ] Pranacraft - This mixed-martial art system concerns the manipulation of Prana, a particle that emits a variable-effect field defined by its relative vector and reduces in size proportionate to its velocity. By capturing and accelerating Prana within the body, one is able to augment physical motion with supernatural effect. Prana is generated naturally by certain photosynthetic reactions in the upper stratosphere.
*You are trained in the Winding Way, the optimised martial art that maximises relative velocity and proximity to opponents, and are proficient with the use of Prana in combat.
*You have memorised the codex of Prana effects.
*Political opinion of Pranacraft is middling; it looks cool, but it's outdated, kept only for cultural memory.
*Career opportunities are available: there's been promising research into Prana hyperacceleration, but even in civilised society you could, like, do demolition work.
Person of Interest: Priya Khan, a Tibetan pugilist. She loves to punch things and get sweaty. Do you even lift, nerd?
*Tomboyish and physically active. Wears tight clothing to prevent snags and Prana disintegration.
*Has a nuanced and sophisticated perspective on personal space that explains her every faux-pas.
*Inescapable hugger.
*Cannot be hugged.
*Doesn't think about the future.
*doesn't think at all, really
*what's a vocation lol
*Favoured Club: Cooking
[ ] Internalism/內國法 - (3 points) The Art of the Gentleman-Scholar. Originating in pre-Chun Dynasty times and responsible for its enduring, if tumultuous, rule, Internalism is the practice of forming and cultivating an Inner Realm. By curating and sculpting the continents within according to geomantic principles, the Internalist invokes the formation of auspicious leylines to empower themself physically and mentally.
*You were taken under the wing of a master due to your innate potential, and studied their doctrine.
*You have an Inner Realm of about ten hectares.
*You are, as an Internalist, also capable of the spatial and dimensional magics needed to transport things from within to without.
-[ ] Orthodox Internalist - You follow one of the doctrines pioneered before the advent of manacomputers, such as Wind and Storm, Fruit and Flower, or Volcanic Internalism. You are optimised to solve the problems of a pre-industrial state, especially if that problem is solved by farming or punching.
-[ ] Scientific Internalist - A much more economically viable option, if reliant on predictive supercomputing to replace ancient wisdom. Seize the reliable income streams promised in the modern day by TeraFLOPS, Server Farm, or Warehouse Internalism. Refunds one Magical Potential point due to modern efficiency.
Person of Interest: Song Lili, a fellow disciple trained in Five Elements Five Seasons Internalism. Quiet, demure, and prone to daydreaming.
*Her Inner Realm is a small province.
*Dresses in conservative outerwear consistent with high nobility of the Empire, but favours Western hairstyles.
*Spooks easily.
*Has the durability and might of the megatonnes of thaumaturgical substances inside.
*Enjoys eating food almost as much as she enjoys sleeping in.
*Her family are agrarian Internalists on retainer to the Empire.
*Favoured Club: Entertainment
[ ] Enigmatism - The system of the Labyrinth is simple: you are presented with a problem, you solve the problem, you receive magical knowledge. The greatest and most mysterious magic known to mankind, the gamut of spellcraft rewarded range from trivial to supernal.
*Your magical repertoire is as cosmopolitan as it is nonsensical.
*You are really good at sudoku, riddles, crosswords and lateral thinking.
*The rewards of Enigmatism are always relevant in some manner to your present self; it is the leading source of magical discovery.
*Rewards are scaled to rigour and insight of your efforts; cheating disqualifies your attempt and replaces your current question with another.
*Not a viable career until you've solved upward of a hundred thousand problems, then you're a spectacle.
Person of Interest: nobody, because every Enigmatist ultimately works alone.
[ ] Theoretical Magic - (0 points, exclusive with all other magics save Enigmatism) Not the sword, but the pen. Not the citadel, but the hammer. Not magic, but the making of magic. Theoretical Magic is a pure research position dedicated to discovering or crafting new magical systems for the use of mankind.
*The Modern Schools owe their existence to Theoretical Magicians, and civilisation owes itself to those selfsame arts.
*The academic workload and prerequisites of a quadruple degree to even start. Self-study only.
*The qualities of mind needed to discover magic aren't those needed to employ it.
*Learning magic for use isn't any easier. You're not locked out, but the knowledge needed to pursue Theoretical Magic consumes much of your time.
*High career prospects: every university wants to be the next originator of Chirurga or Materialism™.
Person of Interest: nobody, because Theoretical Magicians are inclined to kill each other.
Esoteric Arts
These magics are known, but admission is limited or monitored. Unless otherwise noted, each costs two Magical Potential points.
[ ] The Intercept - (1 point) The fastest magical system known to man. Where other magics amble along, the spells of the Intercept sear across vision and welkin sphere like angel's thunderbolts. The hare to the tortoise, the rocket to the bird, the darkness to the light.
*You are quickened in body and soul. Seconds become hours become days unspooled.
*The Intercept is famed for its metamagical compatibility with other Magical Schools, improving their ease and speed of casting in near all respects.
*The Intercept always strikes first, unless serious bullshit is afoot.
*The Intercept isn't strong; modest physical protection or magical apotropaics defend handily against all but its highest ranks.
*Career prospects: very few for pure Interceptors. Excellent in supplementation to a different art.
Person of Interest: Kae Suzumu, who introduced you to the school.
*Punk rock, rides a motorcycle.
*Fairly even in temperament.
*Enjoys dark chocolate truffles.
*Once fought and defeated a vulgar dragon in melee combat.
*Gets drunk and fights things.
*Loses sometimes.
[ ] Correspondence - The Relational Art. Bedrock of modern infrastructural functionality. By assembling several identical objects in a spatial configuration, an effect is generated and persists for as long as the configuration is undisturbed. Margin of acceptable error logarithmically diminishes past the personal scale; the largest Correspondence spell reasonably achievable by a modern nation is approximately forty kilometres in diameter.
*You are trained in the spatial/teleportation spellcraft needed to properly place and evaluate Correspondent Nodes.
*You are mostly up-to-date on modern Correspondence advancements and configurations.
*Career prospects are profligate. It's good money! After all, everybody needs to poop.
Person of Interest: Zhang Mingying, a top researcher of Correspondence, working in British Columbia.
*A skilled Internalist, allowing her to verify experimental Correspondence arrays with subatomic precision.
*Brilliant, even for polymagicians.
*Stunningly beautiful, yet cold of heart.
*Resents the Empire of Chun.
*Believes sincerely in true love.
*Allergic to cheese.
[ ] Mentalism - The Mind Art. Of all mind magics, Mentalism's supremacy in this era hinges on this aphorism: work hard, not smart. Mentalism allows the user to streamline their mind; the resulting excess mental cognition is accumulated into a stockpile for later use or refinement.
*You are pretty smart!
*Accrue any sort of intelligence: mathematical computing, empathy, intuition, productive introspection, poetic synthesis, even bodily coordination.
*Refinement lets you distill and combine mental resources to form qualitatively superior thoughts.
*Your mind runs faster than your brain technically allows.
*Mentalism performs with horrendous inefficiency in the analysis of magic, but is still leagues ahead of its nearest rival in cognition enhancement.
*Career prospects: pure Mentalists are always needed, though interpersonal relationships nosedive when one party has both preptime and bullet-time. Is an excellent supplemental art on your resume!
Person of Interest: nobody, because nobody can stand being around Mentalists without punching them.
Rare Arts
Admission into these Schools is unlikely. Due to the weakness of their presence in the world, each costs three points.
[ ] Reversionism - A mysterious stranger hit you on the head with a stick, and when you woke up you had the power to try again. By "Re-Versioning" events, you alter local history for a randomised outcome.
*Punishing to cast. Very unsubtle. Nobody can do anything because you can just Reversion their knowledge away.
*You have perfect memory of all histories.
*You are psychologically unstable.
*Very few career prospects that don't involve chance of death. However, there's something to be said for the gambler who always wins.
Person of Interest: Irene of York, a lady-thief. Wanted in nearly every country, commissioned for acquisitions.
*A Reversionist of skill, which isn't hard considering the system in question.
*She enjoys wearing lavish dresses and eating grapes.
*Hates laundry.
*Speaks forty languages poorly.
[ ] Dragonscale - Mankind was not the first species to achieve magic on the Earth. Long ago, a civilisation rose to its apex, inscribing their primacy into the fabric of reality itself. By careful self-mutilation, Dragonscale practitioners erroneously register to those artificial magics as heavily injured examples of that species, undergoing transformative "healing" to restore them.
*Dragonscale users are grossly superhuman in all aspects, in exchange for minor cosmetic changes from human baseline.
*You're a weirdo who chose to have a fun year with a knife and fork on the 12% chance you didn't die.
*Career prospects are nil. What are you, crazy? Who goes around turning themselves into lasersauri? Your choices are limited to the frontier work of clearing territory.
*Grants one Magical Potential point every ten years.
Person of Interest: Sophia de Lorenz, who introduced you to the school.
*Her mutations have advanced significantly; both forearms and legs have transformed. Some cosmetic scarring mars her skin. Her eyes are black and gold.
*She is unerringly focused on further transformation.
*Brash and loud. Her displays of physical affection have become rarer since she became capable of pulverising stone.
[ ] The Tribune - Magic to distort the world, sunder the paltry veil of earth and heaven to reveal the teeming madness beneath. The void of the uncaring cosmos, the hatred of the stars, the language of galaxies. All these and more, just for you.
*You are a walker of the Tribune, the top source of all transcendent magics plaguing the Earth. Cognitohazards, killwords, basilisk arrays and more are just the tip of the bloodberg.
*Spells of the Tribune are fundamentally capable of altering reality as a collateral effect.
*Information concerning the Tribune and its principles of action, mechanism, and effect, are hazardous to the mind.
*You are an [UNTRANSLATABLE] level practitioner of the Tribune. In layman terms, you are a Dot Mage.
*Poor career opportunities. Not only are you unfit for company, you can't even offload your research onto computers because they explode.
Person of Interest: Charlotte Beatrizie Dumaren, who introduced you to the school.
*A Tesseract Mage of the Tribune, her mind is filled with maddening notions and eldritch secrets.
*Socially awkward, slovenly, messy, with poor eyesight from reading books all day.
*Somewhat older than you.
*Wears a long white coat because she believes it lends her gravitas.
*It does not.
*Used Tribunal Magic to give herself ample bodily assets, succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. A beauty to drive men to insanity.
*Leaves the toilet seat up.
[/quote]
Ten thousand schools of magic reign over the face of Earth. But of ten thousand rivals, there is only one victor, one Great School. Stonelight Academy, the Mile Spire, the Axis Needle that rides the winds and rules distant and unopposed, its admission process obfuscated, its graduates undefeatable. Within its infinite halls are taught every spell, every dwoemer, incantation and evocation, ward and way, every art and artifice known to mankind. But the promise of Stonelight is not merely power to eclipse heaven and firmament, but the promise of purpose, the wish fulfilled, the light of imagination made solid and stone-true.
Great magics will be taught. But greater still is the magic... of love.
Do you dare to discover its secrets?
---
Congratulations! You have received the scarlet invitation to enter Stonelight Academy, the premier educational institute on Earth, where you will spend eight years learning whatever you desire, and perhaps finding your true self along the way! No grimdark here, friends, only comfy; such are the efforts of your predecessors that walked the continents of antiquity, that you would never fear the altar of sacrifice, knives in the dark, midnight suns and the thunder of battle.
But before that letter appeared, you were undergoing study in one or more of Earth's magical systems available to the common man. You have achieved four Magical Potential Points; it is difficult to generate more.
Please select your field of study. Each Magical System has a Person of Interest attached; events will conspire that you will meet them at Stonelight or on missions.
Public Arts
These magical systems have spread worldwide, and receive some coverage in government-subsidised education. Each costs one point unless otherwise noted. Selecting a choice multiple times renders additional benefits.
[ ] Manacraft - The European Art, this magical system concerns the manipulation of Mana, an infinitesimal particle present in every continent that interacts only with itself. When the particles are arranged in certain spatial configurations, a corresponding effect is generated. Capable of producing calamitous multitudes of automated spellcraft within seconds. A curious property of Mana is that it abhors a vacuum: a volume bounded totally by a certain density will fill to match.
*You are trained in the Tokamak Star, the mental magic capable of corralling and generating Mana.
*You are also educated in the idiosyncratic rules that govern Mana interactions, as well as the common spellcasting forms and effects.
*Experimentally verifying a certain configuration is trivial. Programming its respective autocast array is not.
*Political opinion of Manacraft is at an all time low; the Mana Saturation Theory posits that reckless overuse of Manacraft during the 1700s has caused an irreversible cascade effect which will result in runaway Mana density with comcomitant spontaneous weather events.
*Career opportunities are drying up: outside of research into Mana Annihilation, the dwindling field is mostly occupied by maintaining obsolete Mana-based infrastructure.
Person of Interest: Elizabeth Lovelace Monterey, an aristocratic lady of peerage from the States. She has no patience for fools, but worries about her future prospects. D-don't look down on her!
*A southern belle of Dutch ancestry, she is a skilled Manacrafter.
*Especially talented at programming of Mana internally and externally.
*Has expensive tastes.
*Dislikes storms, despite her family making its fortune in lightning farms.
*Worried about the transition to novel magic systems.
*Favoured Club: Computer Science
[ ] Pranacraft - This mixed-martial art system concerns the manipulation of Prana, a particle that emits a variable-effect field defined by its relative vector and reduces in size proportionate to its velocity. By capturing and accelerating Prana within the body, one is able to augment physical motion with supernatural effect. Prana is generated naturally by certain photosynthetic reactions in the upper stratosphere.
*You are trained in the Winding Way, the optimised martial art that maximises relative velocity and proximity to opponents, and are proficient with the use of Prana in combat.
*You have memorised the codex of Prana effects.
*Political opinion of Pranacraft is middling; it looks cool, but it's outdated, kept only for cultural memory.
*Career opportunities are available: there's been promising research into Prana hyperacceleration, but even in civilised society you could, like, do demolition work.
Person of Interest: Priya Khan, a Tibetan pugilist. She loves to punch things and get sweaty. Do you even lift, nerd?
*Tomboyish and physically active. Wears tight clothing to prevent snags and Prana disintegration.
*Has a nuanced and sophisticated perspective on personal space that explains her every faux-pas.
*Inescapable hugger.
*Cannot be hugged.
*Doesn't think about the future.
*doesn't think at all, really
*what's a vocation lol
*Favoured Club: Cooking
[ ] Internalism/內國法 - (3 points) The Art of the Gentleman-Scholar. Originating in pre-Chun Dynasty times and responsible for its enduring, if tumultuous, rule, Internalism is the practice of forming and cultivating an Inner Realm. By curating and sculpting the continents within according to geomantic principles, the Internalist invokes the formation of auspicious leylines to empower themself physically and mentally.
*You were taken under the wing of a master due to your innate potential, and studied their doctrine.
*You have an Inner Realm of about ten hectares.
*You are, as an Internalist, also capable of the spatial and dimensional magics needed to transport things from within to without.
-[ ] Orthodox Internalist - You follow one of the doctrines pioneered before the advent of manacomputers, such as Wind and Storm, Fruit and Flower, or Volcanic Internalism. You are optimised to solve the problems of a pre-industrial state, especially if that problem is solved by farming or punching.
-[ ] Scientific Internalist - A much more economically viable option, if reliant on predictive supercomputing to replace ancient wisdom. Seize the reliable income streams promised in the modern day by TeraFLOPS, Server Farm, or Warehouse Internalism. Refunds one Magical Potential point due to modern efficiency.
Person of Interest: Song Lili, a fellow disciple trained in Five Elements Five Seasons Internalism. Quiet, demure, and prone to daydreaming.
*Her Inner Realm is a small province.
*Dresses in conservative outerwear consistent with high nobility of the Empire, but favours Western hairstyles.
*Spooks easily.
*Has the durability and might of the megatonnes of thaumaturgical substances inside.
*Enjoys eating food almost as much as she enjoys sleeping in.
*Her family are agrarian Internalists on retainer to the Empire.
*Favoured Club: Entertainment
[ ] Enigmatism - The system of the Labyrinth is simple: you are presented with a problem, you solve the problem, you receive magical knowledge. The greatest and most mysterious magic known to mankind, the gamut of spellcraft rewarded range from trivial to supernal.
*Your magical repertoire is as cosmopolitan as it is nonsensical.
*You are really good at sudoku, riddles, crosswords and lateral thinking.
*The rewards of Enigmatism are always relevant in some manner to your present self; it is the leading source of magical discovery.
*Rewards are scaled to rigour and insight of your efforts; cheating disqualifies your attempt and replaces your current question with another.
*Not a viable career until you've solved upward of a hundred thousand problems, then you're a spectacle.
Person of Interest: nobody, because every Enigmatist ultimately works alone.
[ ] Theoretical Magic - (0 points, exclusive with all other magics save Enigmatism) Not the sword, but the pen. Not the citadel, but the hammer. Not magic, but the making of magic. Theoretical Magic is a pure research position dedicated to discovering or crafting new magical systems for the use of mankind.
*The Modern Schools owe their existence to Theoretical Magicians, and civilisation owes itself to those selfsame arts.
*The academic workload and prerequisites of a quadruple degree to even start. Self-study only.
*The qualities of mind needed to discover magic aren't those needed to employ it.
*Learning magic for use isn't any easier. You're not locked out, but the knowledge needed to pursue Theoretical Magic consumes much of your time.
*High career prospects: every university wants to be the next originator of Chirurga or Materialism™.
Person of Interest: nobody, because Theoretical Magicians are inclined to kill each other.
Esoteric Arts
These magics are known, but admission is limited or monitored. Unless otherwise noted, each costs two Magical Potential points.
[ ] The Intercept - (1 point) The fastest magical system known to man. Where other magics amble along, the spells of the Intercept sear across vision and welkin sphere like angel's thunderbolts. The hare to the tortoise, the rocket to the bird, the darkness to the light.
*You are quickened in body and soul. Seconds become hours become days unspooled.
*The Intercept is famed for its metamagical compatibility with other Magical Schools, improving their ease and speed of casting in near all respects.
*The Intercept always strikes first, unless serious bullshit is afoot.
*The Intercept isn't strong; modest physical protection or magical apotropaics defend handily against all but its highest ranks.
*Career prospects: very few for pure Interceptors. Excellent in supplementation to a different art.
Person of Interest: Kae Suzumu, who introduced you to the school.
*Punk rock, rides a motorcycle.
*Fairly even in temperament.
*Enjoys dark chocolate truffles.
*Once fought and defeated a vulgar dragon in melee combat.
*Gets drunk and fights things.
*Loses sometimes.
[ ] Correspondence - The Relational Art. Bedrock of modern infrastructural functionality. By assembling several identical objects in a spatial configuration, an effect is generated and persists for as long as the configuration is undisturbed. Margin of acceptable error logarithmically diminishes past the personal scale; the largest Correspondence spell reasonably achievable by a modern nation is approximately forty kilometres in diameter.
*You are trained in the spatial/teleportation spellcraft needed to properly place and evaluate Correspondent Nodes.
*You are mostly up-to-date on modern Correspondence advancements and configurations.
*Career prospects are profligate. It's good money! After all, everybody needs to poop.
Person of Interest: Zhang Mingying, a top researcher of Correspondence, working in British Columbia.
*A skilled Internalist, allowing her to verify experimental Correspondence arrays with subatomic precision.
*Brilliant, even for polymagicians.
*Stunningly beautiful, yet cold of heart.
*Resents the Empire of Chun.
*Believes sincerely in true love.
*Allergic to cheese.
[ ] Mentalism - The Mind Art. Of all mind magics, Mentalism's supremacy in this era hinges on this aphorism: work hard, not smart. Mentalism allows the user to streamline their mind; the resulting excess mental cognition is accumulated into a stockpile for later use or refinement.
*You are pretty smart!
*Accrue any sort of intelligence: mathematical computing, empathy, intuition, productive introspection, poetic synthesis, even bodily coordination.
*Refinement lets you distill and combine mental resources to form qualitatively superior thoughts.
*Your mind runs faster than your brain technically allows.
*Mentalism performs with horrendous inefficiency in the analysis of magic, but is still leagues ahead of its nearest rival in cognition enhancement.
*Career prospects: pure Mentalists are always needed, though interpersonal relationships nosedive when one party has both preptime and bullet-time. Is an excellent supplemental art on your resume!
Person of Interest: nobody, because nobody can stand being around Mentalists without punching them.
Rare Arts
Admission into these Schools is unlikely. Due to the weakness of their presence in the world, each costs three points.
[ ] Reversionism - A mysterious stranger hit you on the head with a stick, and when you woke up you had the power to try again. By "Re-Versioning" events, you alter local history for a randomised outcome.
*Punishing to cast. Very unsubtle. Nobody can do anything because you can just Reversion their knowledge away.
*You have perfect memory of all histories.
*You are psychologically unstable.
*Very few career prospects that don't involve chance of death. However, there's something to be said for the gambler who always wins.
Person of Interest: Irene of York, a lady-thief. Wanted in nearly every country, commissioned for acquisitions.
*A Reversionist of skill, which isn't hard considering the system in question.
*She enjoys wearing lavish dresses and eating grapes.
*Hates laundry.
*Speaks forty languages poorly.
[ ] Dragonscale - Mankind was not the first species to achieve magic on the Earth. Long ago, a civilisation rose to its apex, inscribing their primacy into the fabric of reality itself. By careful self-mutilation, Dragonscale practitioners erroneously register to those artificial magics as heavily injured examples of that species, undergoing transformative "healing" to restore them.
*Dragonscale users are grossly superhuman in all aspects, in exchange for minor cosmetic changes from human baseline.
*You're a weirdo who chose to have a fun year with a knife and fork on the 12% chance you didn't die.
*Career prospects are nil. What are you, crazy? Who goes around turning themselves into lasersauri? Your choices are limited to the frontier work of clearing territory.
*Grants one Magical Potential point every ten years.
Person of Interest: Sophia de Lorenz, who introduced you to the school.
*Her mutations have advanced significantly; both forearms and legs have transformed. Some cosmetic scarring mars her skin. Her eyes are black and gold.
*She is unerringly focused on further transformation.
*Brash and loud. Her displays of physical affection have become rarer since she became capable of pulverising stone.
[ ] The Tribune - Magic to distort the world, sunder the paltry veil of earth and heaven to reveal the teeming madness beneath. The void of the uncaring cosmos, the hatred of the stars, the language of galaxies. All these and more, just for you.
*You are a walker of the Tribune, the top source of all transcendent magics plaguing the Earth. Cognitohazards, killwords, basilisk arrays and more are just the tip of the bloodberg.
*Spells of the Tribune are fundamentally capable of altering reality as a collateral effect.
*Information concerning the Tribune and its principles of action, mechanism, and effect, are hazardous to the mind.
*You are an [UNTRANSLATABLE] level practitioner of the Tribune. In layman terms, you are a Dot Mage.
*Poor career opportunities. Not only are you unfit for company, you can't even offload your research onto computers because they explode.
Person of Interest: Charlotte Beatrizie Dumaren, who introduced you to the school.
*A Tesseract Mage of the Tribune, her mind is filled with maddening notions and eldritch secrets.
*Socially awkward, slovenly, messy, with poor eyesight from reading books all day.
*Somewhat older than you.
*Wears a long white coat because she believes it lends her gravitas.
*It does not.
*Used Tribunal Magic to give herself ample bodily assets, succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. A beauty to drive men to insanity.
*Leaves the toilet seat up.
[/quote]
Magic defeating stance provides magic/esoteric defense without having to rely constantly on Gisena. And when our plan is to attack the final bosses who are immortal magicians, I think it is prudent to take it. You want magic, fine, but at this point of time when we have limited Arete and we are in the endgame of the DLC dungeon, going for two new magic systems and upgrade to our Evening sky(with total cost of 23 Arete) that will take time to get going is inefficient. Nothing theoretical about it.
I prefer to finish the temple and get Pillars so we don`t run out of picks(they are finite), run for ADS and after that go for versatility of magic
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
We've never really had any time since the Knight Commander option but I would've loved to turn the armies of the outer rings against the inner. Subverting the knights would've given us faceless morally uncomplicated minions. Subverting the outriders would've given us mobility. Subverting the Marshall would've given us authority.
Lots of potential for politics but now we're in a more immediate riot / unrest phase of the rescue.
Lots of potential for politics but now we're in a more immediate riot / unrest phase of the rescue.
TwistedJester
Tired Lurker King
- Location
- Hell
We can make magic plagues right?
So we can basically spend time creating a super plague in some sort of a toxic fog and then throw it at them.
Expanding on that we can make it follow us basically fuck up anyone who tries to go melee with us. and to hide ourselves.
So we can basically spend time creating a super plague in some sort of a toxic fog and then throw it at them.
Expanding on that we can make it follow us basically fuck up anyone who tries to go melee with us. and to hide ourselves.
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ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Oh, this looks fun. Let's see...
[A] Internalism/內國法
-[A] Scientific Internalist
[A] The Intercept
[A] Enigmatism
I was really interested in the rare magics, but all three of them come with pretty serious downsides. Mental issues for two of them, and Dragonscale requires being the type of person that would mutilate themselves for a small chance at power, so I guess it's mental issues for all three of them!
Anyway, Cultivation but with modern technology and methodology sounds fun, and the Waifu for Internalism seems nice. Mentalism and Correspondence both sound interesting, but Enigmatism sounds fascinating and is the one I want to learn about the most. It doesn't come with a waifu, which is a downside, but it just sounds super cool and unique. You literally play life as a puzzle game and get magic from it.
Anyway, I had one point left, Manacraft seems to be this world's equivalent to fossil fuels so no, Pranacraft is degenerate muscle wizardry, which just leaves Intercept. Which is fine, Intercept is explicitly good at working with other magic systems.
Another fun thing to do would be Enigmatism+Mentalism, but I couldn't get both that and Internalism.
We take away their power source, destroying their way of life. We kill their council members and military generals(Marshalls). We gather the outer and middle residents to attack the Inner Temple, probably inciting riots and looting. We unleash a magic plague upon them and when all that is done we will try to keep what is left and try to restore some peace.
...I am sure they would welcome us with open arms after all this.
- Location
- a place
Maybe Lord Hunger learned more from the Tyrant then he's let on, eh?
Plot twist:Maybe Lord Hunger learned more from the Tyrant then he's let on, eh?
Lord Hunger is actually the Tyrant. In the final battle he felt remorse for the first time, when he killed his adopted daughter. Using the same sacrifical technique like the Hero, he burned away his memories and emerged victorious from the duel, but under self-hypnosis that he is actually the Hero.
He could not live with himself otherwise. Now armed with his ancestor blade and the Ring of blood on his finger, old habits are returning. Tremble mortals, for Lord Hunger follows the path of his ancestor and will become like him.
EDIT:
That also explains why he was to waiting to be executed in the first chapter. The others were not fooled but the Tyrant had to justify why he was imprisoned and to be executed.
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...you know, I was thinking of a serious build around Manacraft, Intercep and Mentalism to basically cast various and complicate arrays in the blink of an eye. However, the power of meme compels me otherwise:
Genius and madness aren't two sides of the same coin. They're in a Schrodinger's Box, and about to explode any second now.
[A] Manacraft -
[A] The Intercept - (1 point)
[A] Mentalism -
Edit: fiiiiiiine, I'll be serious. No world-ending solutions to riddles.
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- Location
- Brazil
[A] Manacraft -
[A] The Intercept - (1 point)
[A] Mentalism -
Two insuferable people meet each other, and might or mgiht not try to kill one another at some point. My kind of story.
Mentalism+Intercept is probably great at managing the mana automation, and Mentalism already gives some great carrer prospects. Other than making people hate you, what could go wrong?
[A] The Intercept - (1 point)
[A] Mentalism -
Two insuferable people meet each other, and might or mgiht not try to kill one another at some point. My kind of story.
Mentalism+Intercept is probably great at managing the mana automation, and Mentalism already gives some great carrer prospects. Other than making people hate you, what could go wrong?
TwistedJester
Tired Lurker King
- Location
- Hell
What if? We infect ourselves with basically one of those viruses that boosts our physical abilities, but horribly mutates anyone else?
In the middle of a fight we'll 'accidentally' let them hit a artery that will explode violently into a geyser of blood that'll infect our enemies. Then we can control the viruses to fuck them up.
In the middle of a fight we'll 'accidentally' let them hit a artery that will explode violently into a geyser of blood that'll infect our enemies. Then we can control the viruses to fuck them up.
- Location
- a place
[X] Enigmatism
[X] Reversionism
Join the world of Reversionists while taking as much time as you need to move up the chain of Enigmatism. The one true path.
- Location
- Italy
Careful, I think you're voiding your update vote like that.
[A] Correspondence
[A] Internalism
-[A] Scientific Internalist
Good career prospects, space to tinker with Relational Configurations, and enough tension between the ladies to cut it with a knife.
Edit: is this the fabled harem protagonist build?
[A] Internalism
-[A] Scientific Internalist
Good career prospects, space to tinker with Relational Configurations, and enough tension between the ladies to cut it with a knife.
Edit: is this the fabled harem protagonist build?
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If you vote with brackets and X I think the tally will think this is your vote. There is a reason the others are using [A] instead
EDIT:Ninja
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
her powerup was too little too late, she'd be in severe danger
- Location
- Canada
By word of Rihaku, Cut has a lower chance of success. In exchange, it provides one more pick. That trade is very much not worth it.
Completely outclassed by blood buffs at this point.
Not really the time for to invest into ruling ring, right now... It's not useless but there are better options.
Blood buffs are good but there is a better blood buff available...
Completely redundant, don't pick this.
Vigor Incarnate completely outclasses these options at this point.
It benefits from our +Progression to blood effects, it's perfect for our current situation and it synergize with our build. It's perfect! The only real argument against it is that it cost two Arete making it more difficult to snap-buy a Stance later.
Mostly useful over the long term, which is not what we need right now.
Not a bad option. Synergize with both Uttermost and Flare and doesn't cost Arete. It's not going to be as useful as Vigor given that it doesn't benefit from the +Progression to blood effects and cost 2 less Arete, but it cost 2 less Arete which mean an easier time snap-buying a Stance, so it's not completely crazy.
It would require us to pick Cut, which isn't the best idea, and I don't think it's the most immediate power we can get from 3 picks at this point.
Very good but we would need to both pick Cut and somehow get to 7 Arete before the end of the vote. So, probably not.
[X] Foment Rebellion
[X] Vigor Incarnate
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- Location
- a place
Oops. Anyway, flip flopping time.
[X] Foment Rebellion
[X] Feat: Shameless
Well, this is as good time as any to say that i've been thinking about how higher rank making our blood buffs better should increase the utility of our allies, which does a fair bit to help the rebellion option since we're liable to get some new ones coming up.
