A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
... That's actually a good point. If we could get 40 picks then we could just outscale everything by getting RR and putting the rest towards echoes. There would be no point to anything after that sort of boost.
- Location
- Earth
[X] Cursebearer's Strain
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
I would imagine that as we get picks in the Realm it would lessen the worth of any future fights like normal. Unless we are willing to seed our realm with monstrous forces far outstripping our power level and hoping to somehow escelator fight our way to the top, I imagine a lot less picks.
In reality I imagine Realm works something like: we seed our realm with 2, 3, and 4 pick fights and hope to hit the 2 or 3 picks first. If we run into the 4 pick first we are in for a bad time. If we manage to hit them all in order they might be 2 pick into 2 pick into 3 pick when all is said and done and we come out with 7+ whatever scraps are left.
With more on the table if we seed the realm with 5, and higher picks and pray to avoid them at the start.
In reality I imagine Realm works something like: we seed our realm with 2, 3, and 4 pick fights and hope to hit the 2 or 3 picks first. If we run into the 4 pick first we are in for a bad time. If we manage to hit them all in order they might be 2 pick into 2 pick into 3 pick when all is said and done and we come out with 7+ whatever scraps are left.
With more on the table if we seed the realm with 5, and higher picks and pray to avoid them at the start.
Why would we have to make opponents before we're ready to fight them?
That being said, I think that this is a good Pillars priority list for Strain:
1. Hunger Sated
2. 1 pick for EFB/Arete Expenditure
3. Resting/Chilling out
4. Fisher King
5. Picks/Praxis
Note that this is order of value, not order of getting - for example, we'd want FK before Hunger Sated and RR before FK, if we can accomplish that. Likewise, if we manage to get another pick before Pillars, we can spend our Arete there instead of having to find a pick to convert Arete into value.
For comparison, non-Strain build would look something like this
1. 1 pick for EFB/Arete Expenditure
2. Hunger Sated
3. Fisher King
4. Picks/Praxis
5. Resting/Chilling out
The question, of course, is how many of these we can accomplish in three procs of Pillars, given that we are given 3x7 right now. Unless we can't chill and get Hunger Sated, there's no reason not to get Strain. While Pillars is good, I'm not sure it can't get us enough stuff to contest Strain's value, and that's before taking in consideration that Strain-related activities accomplish stuff while Pillars is just power grinding.
1. Hunger Sated
2. 1 pick for EFB/Arete Expenditure
3. Resting/Chilling out
4. Fisher King
5. Picks/Praxis
Note that this is order of value, not order of getting - for example, we'd want FK before Hunger Sated and RR before FK, if we can accomplish that. Likewise, if we manage to get another pick before Pillars, we can spend our Arete there instead of having to find a pick to convert Arete into value.
For comparison, non-Strain build would look something like this
1. 1 pick for EFB/Arete Expenditure
2. Hunger Sated
3. Fisher King
4. Picks/Praxis
5. Resting/Chilling out
The question, of course, is how many of these we can accomplish in three procs of Pillars, given that we are given 3x7 right now. Unless we can't chill and get Hunger Sated, there's no reason not to get Strain. While Pillars is good, I'm not sure it can't get us enough stuff to contest Strain's value, and that's before taking in consideration that Strain-related activities accomplish stuff while Pillars is just power grinding.
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
I see that while I was gone, the claim about 42 picks has been abandoned. For what it's worth, I skimmed through readermode during my lunch break and wrote down the picks that we earned from xp. If each pillars proc gave 42 picks, the game would be over. Pillars would completely trivialize the plot.
Here are our XP points so far:
3 picks from dragon (2 xp +1 from thread participation)
2 picks from pirate
2 picks from Ber
3 picks from Scenic Route
2 picks from craven giant (clockwork knight)
3 picks from Tiller Wurm
3 picks from Magus
4 picks from Outriders + Archer
1 pick from the Green Knight
4 picks from Vanreir
1 pick from Outriders after Vanreir
1 pick from Astral Monsters on the way to the Spa
3 picks from prime Rotspawn
2 picks from awakening Letrizia's element
1 pick from sparring with high schoolers
2 picks from Avecarn
3 picks from hunt for allies in Temple
3 picks from Evangeline
3 picks from Sten
1 pick from astral beasts on the way to save Sovereignty
1 pick from Mizuku
3? picks from Rotbeast
2 picks from astral beasts between rotbeast & Be the change
2? picks from making it through the Opalescent Tower
1 pick from negotiating with Adorie
3 picks from the Armament Fish
2 picks from Augustine, the Lady Protector
In total, that's 61 picks.
Oh, also:
? Picks from successfully eradicating latent political opposition to Adorie of the same kind that led to Hunger getting assassinated by the old guard when he started trying to do reforms after his victory against the Tyrant.
if the vote is still open in a couple hours i will have another break and try to grind something out
Basically, we're setting Adorie up to get ganked by her own traitorous Nobles if we abandon politics to take a walking tour with the teenagers
She's in exactly the same position as Hunger was!
Basically, we're setting Adorie up to get ganked by her own traitorous Nobles if we abandon politics to take a walking tour with the teenagers
She's in exactly the same position as Hunger was!
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I've always thought we create the world and then enter, I didn't think we had admin controls in the midst of things.
[X] Cursebearer's Strain
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
Righto, postpone the vacation. Lean in to the power curve. Cut Through. Etc Etc.
At least this way we get a build vote!
Edit:
Re: Realm Picks, just put in an opponent which becomes more powerful when you defeat things like it, then make lots of them. Like the baboons from One Piece, or the Borg, or something of that sort.
(what could go wrong!?)
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
Righto, postpone the vacation. Lean in to the power curve. Cut Through. Etc Etc.
At least this way we get a build vote!
Edit:
Re: Realm Picks, just put in an opponent which becomes more powerful when you defeat things like it, then make lots of them. Like the baboons from One Piece, or the Borg, or something of that sort.
(what could go wrong!?)
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
she absolutely isn't; she's stronger, has the royal bloodline, has a network of royalists, isn't trying to reform as radically, and can call on Hunger if things go badly.
- Location
- Pindorama
It would be really useful if we get >50% of people to support Strain, as that basically means we could skip the need for consolidation and just go for the MAX synergy plan. Considering how slow the update rate is nowadays I think it's in our sincere interest.
I thought I didn't need to clarify I was talking about a single proc of Pillars; especially true during its very first proc because apparently we'd have nothing unlocked! Call me very skeptical of 2 picks per day per Pillars proc until quite a while.
- Location
- US
[X] Cursebearer's Strain
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
... Fine. I give up. I see there's no way relaxing can win anymore. Again.
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Intensive Research
[X] Cursebearer's Strain
But I swear if we don't relax at least a little during pillars or get ganked by apoc before then I will be beyond salty.
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Intensive Research
[X] Cursebearer's Strain
But I swear if we don't relax at least a little during pillars or get ganked by apoc before then I will be beyond salty.
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Regency
Hunger doesn't shape the realm of evening, it shapes itself in response to his desires.
- Location
- Pindorama
Seems pretty decisive to me, with the max synergy plan having as many votes as all the other options combined. It's very likely we don't need consolidation as things currently stand.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
people giving up is why it can't win; also, why flip all the way to the other extreme of Cursebearer's Strain if you wanted to relax?
I believe that consolidation is worse than getting my way at this point, and I think it likely the plan would win anyway if it went to consolidation. I'd rather move on and hope people are sincere in their pillars resting.
Fanwork##4342 Words
Reaction: "An Age of Dreams"
Everything is nice and dandy until I remember where else such an Age came up. The Solar Exalts had a grand time after the defeat of the Primordials too, with that Age being rightfully called the Age of Dreams. Being awesome by definition and having perfect rulership powers does that to people, and to be fair they had created wonders the likes of which wouldn't see the light of the day again later. It was all good, except for the tiny fact that they were Cursed to be assholes at times, which inevitably caused their downfall.
...Right, that surely has no bearing on our situation. Any similarities are incidental and we shouldn't be expect Hunger to engage in "unstoppable and self-destructive" behavior as a result of pushing himself too hard, no way something like that will ever happen to him. We even had a vacation not too long ago! Mind, that vacation mostly involved learning how to Cut Through and training Edeldross, with only brief times taken out for relaxation, but we did have a hotspring scene! Some people just find different ways to unwind, and it's not like repeatedly risking life and limb is stressful, right?
Hmm, but what did Hunger do afterwards? Surely he made sure to take time off from his daily job as a hero? Well, he conquered the Temple, engaging in incredibly difficult Praxis training, raced to save the Sovereignty, freed Mizuku from the Armor and defeated the Rotbeast by learning another Praxis technique... ah ha! He visited the hotsprings again afterwards. Once. Then it was back to creating a new government in less than a week, traveling to Nilfel and all the clusterfucks that followed that, including the Tower debacle, the Armament-Fish fight and the brief but very tense war against Augustine...
Well. It's starting to sound like we have a problem. We had taken an explicit Mental Stability + exactly once, when we Focused on Gisena in Subtle and Quick IIRC, and Hunegr hadn't been the epitome of stability to begin with. Determined, yes, sometimes suicidally so, but he rarely allowed himself to relax. And as some people mentioned, we have additional mental influences clogging up Hunger's noggin, including and hopefully limited to the Doom of the Tyrant, Sten's Soul Evocation and the Mental Contamination of the venerable Forebear. I can only hope that we'll get lucky and this volatile mix won't explode in our faces.
Maybe I'm being excessively paranoid as usual and seeing Limit Breaks where there are none. Maybe we'll get the good without the bad. The concept of Ages also has other connotations, like the ones taken in the EFB quests, where they were governed by cycles of Fate and could be made into Rings of Power. Speaking of that, Gisena also takes up a significant part of this chapter, and she's an Artificer of no small power that just got a ridiculous boost to her everything.
She has access to two Rings, one of which is the Ring of Artifice, findross, which could be said to be the stuff of dreams, making things "as they should be", and her Advancement basically gave her the cliff notes on how to make an Exaltation Spark, which she promptly used on herself. Who is to say that she couldn't cook up another Ring for our kiddies with all that? Or for Adorie, unlikely as a sudden bout of compassion for the Princess we're leaving behind is. Well, I'm probably being overly optimistic and she still needs to consolidate her powers, but it's a nice thought and something to talk about once she is ready to make some neat Artifacts again.
Let's just hope this Age of Dreams won't be swiftly followed by an Age of Sorrows.
I like to think that Hunger and Gisena would have noticed something wrong, but it's entirely possible they would have been too exhausted to pay attention. If so, it makes me almost glad Hunger bungled the fight up and made Gisena reveal her trap own card. It would have sucked to leave Nilfel in Adorie's capable hands, only to find out later that Augustine made a comeback and ruined all our efforts. Why can I easily see Apo-chan doing something like that?..
Hmm, but maybe I've been too swept up by Gisena's Arete-free acquisition to consider the possibility of someone else acquiring something similar. It said that 'a greatness of mind and spirit that arises perhaps only once in the lifetime of a species' was required to look at the part of Heaven's Lathe a mortal mind can comprehend, but there are countless species across various dimensions, and some of its geniuses should have encountered Progression-type Cursebearers. Meeting normal Cursebearers is even more likely! We've already speculated that the Foremost collaborated with a Cursebearer to create Armaments, but maybe they just saw one and were so amazed that they tried to imitate one's power through giant robots? Can't blame them if they did.
Speaking of another likely candidate for cribbing Progression, couldn't the Forebear have done it too if he encountered a Cursebearer on his journey? He developed the Sword Praxis on his own, had powers that allowed him to climb the ISH, and traveled through various worlds unceasingly. It wouldn't surprise me if he had a similar EFB that gave him Progression-lite. Heck, the Accursed doesn't have exclusive claim over Progression, as can be seen from Ber's Gamer system and our Hunger Ring, he just has the best version of it. And if the Forebear could independently develop the Praxis, then I can see him doing the same for Progression or other aspects of Accursed's power.
Makes me even more curious just how he had 'died'.
Interesting that Gisena finally let Hunger know some of her theories, though I'm sad she hasn't told him everything she suspects yet. Surely Hunger wouldn't break down if he learned the details of the Tyrant's Doom, nor would her misgivings about House Artriez politics be useless if we're about to bring Letrizia back to the Human Sphere. Just to make sure: by the 'identity of the Maiden' she means that the Maiden could have been a Builder?
By the way, he doesn't mention who had taught him meditation, another memory burned away in his moment of self-sacrifice? Or maybe it had been Catherine's lessons, since someone adopted into the Forebear's lineage teaching about absolute clarity and focus strikes me as all too fitting, and thinking of her directly is still too painful for Hunger.
To be honest, I'm quite glad we hadn't bought Renaissance Woman back when it was first offered if this is how she (ab)uses her newly acquired charisma, because Hunger would have been utterly fucked back then. I don't think it would have turned into Imperia quest, Gisena just isn't the type and Hunger would have Progressed past those hurdles sooner or later, but it would have made for some veryamusing painful episodes.
I think Adorie regrets this outcome even now. What a stereotypical fantasy princess, feeling compassion for her half-sister despite everything she and her kingdom had been subjected to! Well, it's not like Augustine was completely heartless either, she had preserved Adorie's life too instead of killing the princess like the rest of her family. I think not making an attempt to bring her to our side will remain one of my regrets going forward.
'First things first, you need Sword Graces'
'An Attack Speed Grace will be a crucial component of our success going forward'
'Remember to get ones that prevent you from dying when you're killed, they're good for training'
Well, I'm glad that she's having fun and living her dream. Gisena more than deserves it. We can do something about setting specific goals for her later, for now she can just do whatever she wants with her ascended Sorcery.
Mm, I guess I'll just have to content myself with watching Gisena sweeping the political arena away like the natural disaster she has become.
free cake or letting Gisena negotiate, we tried to do it ourselves for some godforsaken reason. And we'd almost messed that up too, only rescued by the fact that Adorie rolled even worse. That embarrassment is going to follow us for a while, though hopefully Hunger learned something from the experience and will do better in the Human Sphere.
...uh, maybe we should go with the mercenary definition.
There's still the minor problem of Aobaru possibly being attacked by his destined enemy while we're away, or of us getting tangled up in other quest in the course of stealing the info from the Republic, but there's no way we're that unlucky, right?
I wonder how the acquisition of Pillars is explained in-game. Often Hunger draws parallels between the enemies he defeats and the powers he gets, and only rarely are they completely unrelated. Did Augustine have a parallel dimension of her own, or did she have some territory magics? Hunger will probably remark on any connections during the Pillars activation if they exist.
As for the Maiden, I think Orm has the right of it. She pretended to be blind and deaf, so avoiding undue influence was easy! Maybe Gisena should try it out?
What do you mean there aren't enough hours in a day? Gisena isn't the one saddled with Decimator, so she can exploit any time acceleration in full without having to worry about anything. In fact, her Ring even has a Time domain, so any Time Acceleration Graces should be even more effective. Maybe that should be her first priority if we ever want her to get started on all those projects...
We believe in you, Gisena!
Also, changing my vote:
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power
On further thought, while I approve of tying up loose ends before our departure from the Voyaging Realm, it seems silly to overexert Hunger and research Signs outside of Pillars when the Realm of Evening would provide a much better environment for such an endeavor. We'll presumably still be in the Voyaging Realm in two weeks, so Adorie will be able to join us.
Reaction: "An Age of Dreams"
You know, on the surface this seems like a pretty hopeful title, as befitting of the chapter that follows Augustine's defeat and the reinstatement of the authentic Mirellyian dynasty as the supreme power in these lands. The Nilfelian conquest of the surrounding kingdoms stops for now, though it's possible we'll continue Augustine's endeavor when we get back from the Human Sphere. After all, we already have some holdings in the Voyaging Realm, why not finish the job when we have some free time?
Everything is nice and dandy until I remember where else such an Age came up. The Solar Exalts had a grand time after the defeat of the Primordials too, with that Age being rightfully called the Age of Dreams. Being awesome by definition and having perfect rulership powers does that to people, and to be fair they had created wonders the likes of which wouldn't see the light of the day again later. It was all good, except for the tiny fact that they were Cursed to be assholes at times, which inevitably caused their downfall.
...Right, that surely has no bearing on our situation. Any similarities are incidental and we shouldn't be expect Hunger to engage in "unstoppable and self-destructive" behavior as a result of pushing himself too hard, no way something like that will ever happen to him. We even had a vacation not too long ago! Mind, that vacation mostly involved learning how to Cut Through and training Edeldross, with only brief times taken out for relaxation, but we did have a hotspring scene! Some people just find different ways to unwind, and it's not like repeatedly risking life and limb is stressful, right?
Hmm, but what did Hunger do afterwards? Surely he made sure to take time off from his daily job as a hero? Well, he conquered the Temple, engaging in incredibly difficult Praxis training, raced to save the Sovereignty, freed Mizuku from the Armor and defeated the Rotbeast by learning another Praxis technique... ah ha! He visited the hotsprings again afterwards. Once. Then it was back to creating a new government in less than a week, traveling to Nilfel and all the clusterfucks that followed that, including the Tower debacle, the Armament-Fish fight and the brief but very tense war against Augustine...
Well. It's starting to sound like we have a problem. We had taken an explicit Mental Stability + exactly once, when we Focused on Gisena in Subtle and Quick IIRC, and Hunegr hadn't been the epitome of stability to begin with. Determined, yes, sometimes suicidally so, but he rarely allowed himself to relax. And as some people mentioned, we have additional mental influences clogging up Hunger's noggin, including and hopefully limited to the Doom of the Tyrant, Sten's Soul Evocation and the Mental Contamination of the venerable Forebear. I can only hope that we'll get lucky and this volatile mix won't explode in our faces.
Maybe I'm being excessively paranoid as usual and seeing Limit Breaks where there are none. Maybe we'll get the good without the bad. The concept of Ages also has other connotations, like the ones taken in the EFB quests, where they were governed by cycles of Fate and could be made into Rings of Power. Speaking of that, Gisena also takes up a significant part of this chapter, and she's an Artificer of no small power that just got a ridiculous boost to her everything.
She has access to two Rings, one of which is the Ring of Artifice, findross, which could be said to be the stuff of dreams, making things "as they should be", and her Advancement basically gave her the cliff notes on how to make an Exaltation Spark, which she promptly used on herself. Who is to say that she couldn't cook up another Ring for our kiddies with all that? Or for Adorie, unlikely as a sudden bout of compassion for the Princess we're leaving behind is. Well, I'm probably being overly optimistic and she still needs to consolidate her powers, but it's a nice thought and something to talk about once she is ready to make some neat Artifacts again.
Let's just hope this Age of Dreams won't be swiftly followed by an Age of Sorrows.
Hoh, so Hunger dealt the felling blow after all. I almost thought Gisena did everything on her own, Nullifying Augustine straight out of existence after emerging from the blaze of her ascension. She still did most of the heavy lifting, of course, having disabled the Astral barrier and destroyed Lady Protector's myriad contingencies for death. Huh, now that I think about it, would Augustine have successfully 'escaped' by feigning death if Hunger had managed to evade her trap and Gisena hadn't ascended at just the right time?
I like to think that Hunger and Gisena would have noticed something wrong, but it's entirely possible they would have been too exhausted to pay attention. If so, it makes me almost glad Hunger bungled the fight up and made Gisena reveal her trap own card. It would have sucked to leave Nilfel in Adorie's capable hands, only to find out later that Augustine made a comeback and ruined all our efforts. Why can I easily see Apo-chan doing something like that?..
Kek, I know Hunger doesn't mean it like that, but it sounds like he suspects Gisena of being the Shard's agent or avatar in that moment. More likely he means that the Shard of the Arcanist had influenced the events subtly, though while I feel that it's not completely impossible, it seems pretty unlikely to me. Everything else aside, I don't think Gisena's ascension is something she could have influenced. I like to imagine that it's a unique occurrence enabled by Gisena's pure genius. Augustine's defeat was all but inevitable the moment we took the Opalescent Tower for our own anyway, even without her mother's intervention. The only question was the form it would take.
Hmm, but maybe I've been too swept up by Gisena's Arete-free acquisition to consider the possibility of someone else acquiring something similar. It said that 'a greatness of mind and spirit that arises perhaps only once in the lifetime of a species' was required to look at the part of Heaven's Lathe a mortal mind can comprehend, but there are countless species across various dimensions, and some of its geniuses should have encountered Progression-type Cursebearers. Meeting normal Cursebearers is even more likely! We've already speculated that the Foremost collaborated with a Cursebearer to create Armaments, but maybe they just saw one and were so amazed that they tried to imitate one's power through giant robots? Can't blame them if they did.
Speaking of another likely candidate for cribbing Progression, couldn't the Forebear have done it too if he encountered a Cursebearer on his journey? He developed the Sword Praxis on his own, had powers that allowed him to climb the ISH, and traveled through various worlds unceasingly. It wouldn't surprise me if he had a similar EFB that gave him Progression-lite. Heck, the Accursed doesn't have exclusive claim over Progression, as can be seen from Ber's Gamer system and our Hunger Ring, he just has the best version of it. And if the Forebear could independently develop the Praxis, then I can see him doing the same for Progression or other aspects of Accursed's power.
Makes me even more curious just how he had 'died'.
Just sleep, my guy, you deserve it after everything that happened. Luckily it wasn't a major complication, because we've got enough of those as is. Thankfully Punctured Soul finishes before the next Pillars activation and True Maiming likely gets cured in the Realm of Evening too, but it wouldn't have been fun to juggle yet another wound to Hunger's soul.
Interesting that Gisena finally let Hunger know some of her theories, though I'm sad she hasn't told him everything she suspects yet. Surely Hunger wouldn't break down if he learned the details of the Tyrant's Doom, nor would her misgivings about House Artriez politics be useless if we're about to bring Letrizia back to the Human Sphere. Just to make sure: by the 'identity of the Maiden' she means that the Maiden could have been a Builder?
Always so eager to blame himself for any failings, it's one of Hunger's best and worst characteristics. He only expects the best out of himself, which means that he gives maximum effort in pursuit of his goals, but also means that he sometimes blames himself for things that are simply beyond his control. I don't think there were any really good resolutions for our conflict with the Apocrypha-empowered Augustine that didn't involve sacrifices of some sort, so Hunger shouldn't be too hard on himself for falling into her trap.
By the way, he doesn't mention who had taught him meditation, another memory burned away in his moment of self-sacrifice? Or maybe it had been Catherine's lessons, since someone adopted into the Forebear's lineage teaching about absolute clarity and focus strikes me as all too fitting, and thinking of her directly is still too painful for Hunger.
Does the Ring have any special spirit-recovery powers, or is it just fluff? I know it is Hunger's anchor (or even container?) to some extent, but I don't recall any specific soul-healing-related powers unless it's a creative application of Blood Magic or Might's Repose. Maybe at 9.675 Blood Rank it can already reach beyond the physical and affect the spirit through the medium of Blood.
I'm really glad she won't come back as a ghost if these are just the aftereffects of her magic. Since it's still there and hadn't been erased by Gisena's Nullity, I'm assuming it will be kept as a memorial for future Nilfelian generations. Despite everything I think Augustine deserves to be remembered.
Well, I'd say seeking the answers to that question after a hard-won victory is far more enjoyable than doing so after a bitter defeat. Perhaps defeats are better at teaching us lessons and motivating us to do better, but Hunger isn't really in a good position to lose often. Every loss means giving Apocrypha more ground and risking entering a death spiral into oblivion, so we have to be doubly careful not to mess up too much. So far we'd been mostly successful, and I'm hoping we'll keep that state of affairs.
I don't think Hunger suffers from a lack of problems he needs to solve? There's the ever looming threat of his Curses, the Geas task, the hostile Cursebearer, his responsibility to his conquered kingdoms and his heroic inclinations... it's quite strange to see him so adrift when there's so much that needs to be done. Perhaps it's a sign of exhaustion, that he doesn't want to think about those issues? Or maybe he's thinking about Nilfel specifically and doesn't know how exactly he should handle the Realm of Myth after dethroning its prior ruler.
Does she get a special Builder title too? She Who Was The Maiden, She Who Was The Arcanist... She Who Was The Banter-Bot? Jokes aside, it seems to me that the Builders had themes too, though not necessarily pertaining to their powers. Reinaissance Woman sounds too long-winded and Genius too pretentious, but I find myself hard-pressed to summarize Gisena in a word otherwise. I don't think Nullity is really at the core of who she is, so maybe just... Sorceress? She loves magic after all, even if that love had been mostly one-sided until recently.
Ah, right, why did I ever think Gisena could be trusted to be responsible with memetic hazard powers? Maybe her brief moments of seriousness and the times when she'd consoled Hunger fooled me into thinking that she cared about the side-effects of being mind-numbingly beautiful and persuasive, but clearly I need to remember just who we're talking about. She's had these abilities for a while, just on a much lesser scale, and Gisena had never bothered to hold back before, so why would she now? Maybe Sorceresses in general just don't see it as a problem.
To be honest, I'm quite glad we hadn't bought Renaissance Woman back when it was first offered if this is how she (ab)uses her newly acquired charisma, because Hunger would have been utterly fucked back then. I don't think it would have turned into Imperia quest, Gisena just isn't the type and Hunger would have Progressed past those hurdles sooner or later, but it would have made for some very
Uh oh, I hadn't even thought about this possibility. If she's the ruler of Nilfel, then she has authority over all its lands to some extent. If she could cast all those ridiculous spells by sacrificing the site of the battle, - which would explain why Gisena can't just Nullify the aftermath, she can't just erase the lack of something without much more work, - then I dare not imagine what she could have done with a much more potent sacrifice like the whole of Nilfel. I... don't think Rihaku would have just fucked us over for taking our time, but some punishment for giving a wizard prep time would have likely been in order.
Yes, she was one of the worthiest so far, on par with the likes of Vanreir. Maybe not as dangerous overall, but she had provided a number of thrilling and memorable moments nonetheless.
I think Adorie regrets this outcome even now. What a stereotypical fantasy princess, feeling compassion for her half-sister despite everything she and her kingdom had been subjected to! Well, it's not like Augustine was completely heartless either, she had preserved Adorie's life too instead of killing the princess like the rest of her family. I think not making an attempt to bring her to our side will remain one of my regrets going forward.
Heh, yeah, it must have been infuriating to have all her hard work torn down by the look-alike of her mother so easily. She wouldn't have fared much better against the real deal either, which kind of makes me feel sorry for her. She was good, incredibly so to momentarily defeat Hunger despite all his advantages, but her opposition was simply beyond her. What a bitter pill to swallow. Maybe it's for the best she doesn't have to live with the knowledge that her preparations against her mother had been pointless since the very beginning.
Ugh, she's going to brainwash the kiddos at this rate. And we worked so hard to preserve their minds mostly intact, even sacrificing 7 Arete on the altar of necessity. I don't think she's malicious, nor do I reckon that she can't guess the outcome of exposure to reality-bending levels of beauty, so I'm forced to assume she either doesn't think the results would be bad for them or believes that they'll overcome this problem in time.
Too late for that, Gisena's bragging about her genius is only going to get worse after this. I'm afraid we're going to be hearing about it regularly for a while! With every new Grace she can now find more things to show off, as if Artifice wasn't bad enough. Thankfully I'm not subject to Apocrypha like Hunger, so I can freely say that it would be hard to make things worse without worrying about the consequences.
She should ask Hunger for advice, he's an expert on creating synergetic power sets and would set her straight right away.
'First things first, you need Sword Graces'
'An Attack Speed Grace will be a crucial component of our success going forward'
'Remember to get ones that prevent you from dying when you're killed, they're good for training'
Well, I'm glad that she's having fun and living her dream. Gisena more than deserves it. We can do something about setting specific goals for her later, for now she can just do whatever she wants with her ascended Sorcery.
Oh ho, how daring! Almost makes me regret that we aren't taking Adorie with us, that would have been a delightful rivalry to follow and a nice distraction from the drudgery of Human Sphere politics. Not to mention how hilarious it would have been to watch their politicians trying to comprehend the existence of a literal Disney Princess.
Mm, I guess I'll just have to content myself with watching Gisena sweeping the political arena away like the natural disaster she has become.
Just look at Augustine, even pretending that she's a guy and taking up the title of a 'Lord' didn't help. Something to keep in mind in the future if we're up against the Emperor, just let Gisena aim for his wife first and work from there!
With how friendly and almost bubbly she is, it's easy to forget that Adorie had lived her whole life in captivity, forever confined to a single Tower. It's a wonder that this upbringing hadn't caused Adorie any psychological problems, unless one counts excessive trust in complete strangers among those. It seems that she's comporting herself quite well despite everything. Even if she lacks experience, I think she's going to be a good regent for our Kingdoms. Just the 'Spare the Innocent' trait alone is enough to make up for any deficits, and her high Rank can do the rest.
God, don't remind me of that. Instead of taking the Princess at face value and just helping her for
An honest politician, will wonders never cease? I'll even go so far as to say that I believe her, she's just too nice for her own good. Wait, should I start worrying that someone is going to take advantage of her naivete while we're away? Or worse, what if she meets a Prince of Myth and fantasy tropes ensue? I'm not sure I'm ready for that sort of drama...
We still don't know what the mythical magics of their Realm even are, other than that they draw on Rank and are diminished out outside of the Walls. We should really take time to visit them and find out what it's all about.
She says it in a joking tone, but it's the sad truth that the Temple and Elixir don't really have much to offer. Maybe the Temple still has some leftover knowledge and can teach other people Soul Evocation, and Elixir has some Empire technology and those Springs for healing and Elementalist production, but on the whole they're a much weaker party in this relationship. Things might change in the future, but for now they're going to rely on Nilfel's support in many things.
Hunger is your guy if you need an evil Tyrant or a giant monster dealt with, but government reforms are a much more tricky problem to deal with. Thankfully we've learned the power of delegation and can leave all that boring stuff to our capable subordinates.
We'll start preparing funeral arrangements as soon as we receive the letter! Maybe there will be something left of the Kingdoms by the time we get back?
Why oh why couldn't every problem be solved with Augustine's death? Surely she was at fault for every bad thing happening around this place and things would be resolved by removing her from the equation! Well, it looks like there's still work to be done till they learn that indiscriminate conquest is evil. When we aren't the ones ordering it of course...
I'm sure reality-bending charisma and cheaty soul powers played no part in convincing them of her cause's rightness. And 'mercenaries' is such a strong word, we were just foreign dignitaries that promised military support in exchange for a bribe!
...uh, maybe we should go with the mercenary definition.
Might makes right sounds like a cool principle to live by as long as might is on your side. When you're the weaker party, it suddenly stops being as fun, eh? They should have remembered that there's always a sky above a sky. Maybe we should start thinking about the justifications we're going to use for our conquest in the Human Sphere. Of course it's possible that the reasons are just going to fall into our lap like they did in the Temple, Elixir and Nilfel, but it's also possible we might have to explain why we should be the ones in charge of things.
Which we're naturally going to use to train more, because Hunger wouldn't know what to do with free time if it hit him over the head. Maybe Pillars will provide enough comfy to offset his self-destructive habits, but for now it's work, work, work. And then some more work. It's a good thing our ridiculous Rank made the impossible job into something relatively straightforward.
We don't have to immediately extract them, do we? We can leave Aeira and Aobaru in Nilfel while we raid the secret Republic data-banks for solutions. They can join Adorie and call themselves the A-Team!
There's still the minor problem of Aobaru possibly being attacked by his destined enemy while we're away, or of us getting tangled up in other quest in the course of stealing the info from the Republic, but there's no way we're that unlucky, right?
It doubles its price with every summon, right? 4 Arete is still an acceptable price, but it's going to get worse after that, costing more than a FB on the call after that. So I can understand why Hunger is reluctant to rely on it too heavily, it's more of a panic button when we're out of time and need accurate info right that moment. For now we can afford to explore other possibilities, be it having Gisena develop a suitable Artifact or Grace, finding an appropriate Sign together with Adorie, or using the Praxis to Cut Through the problem.
Not the best purchase in hindsight, to acquire Pillars two weeks before we're going to use it. Maybe we could have stormed Shard's Dungeon or avoided the Strain if we had OaFII. Still, if the timeskip was inevitable we might not have managed to gather the necessary Arete again in time for the next activation, so perhaps it's for the best.
I wonder how the acquisition of Pillars is explained in-game. Often Hunger draws parallels between the enemies he defeats and the powers he gets, and only rarely are they completely unrelated. Did Augustine have a parallel dimension of her own, or did she have some territory magics? Hunger will probably remark on any connections during the Pillars activation if they exist.
Huh, another thing that didn't occur to me, that some of Verschlengorge's technology can be replaced with magics. Not a perfect solution, since it doesn't do anything for his Rank, but at least he'll have additional defenses and at least be able to do appreciable damage? Maybe some of these alternatives will even prove superior to normal technology!
That's right, tell Gisena we're the only ones allowed to behold her unrestricted glory. A-and we're not jealous, just worried about the kids!
We had argued long and hard about the merits of both approaches, though we didn't have the luxury of Gisena's choice to both have the cake and eat it. Have we ever actually exposed our companions to prolonged influence of our Charisma? Perhaps we should try it out on Gisena to let her know how dangerous such irresponsible behavior can be. No ulterior motives behind it, pinky promise!
As for the Maiden, I think Orm has the right of it. She pretended to be blind and deaf, so avoiding undue influence was easy! Maybe Gisena should try it out?
I get the feeling whatever leftover resentment she had for saddling her solely with Nullity Graces disappeared after her latest Advancements and she's now firmly in the pro-Maiden camp. Thankfully it doesn't sound like she has become a fanatical believer in the Implicate Duty, that would have been an awkward change to navigate.
And make us a space bag while you're at it, woman, it's embarrassing that even a scrub like Ber had an inventory while we have to cart all our loot around. Worse, we even had it briefly stolen when Augustine took Versch away! How embarrassing. She also need to continue improving her Nullity to better Mitigate our Curses, make us Graces so that we can finally take advantage of Edeldross, create some one-time weapons in case of a sudden Apocryphal attack, make us another Artifact for our Panoply-
What do you mean there aren't enough hours in a day? Gisena isn't the one saddled with Decimator, so she can exploit any time acceleration in full without having to worry about anything. In fact, her Ring even has a Time domain, so any Time Acceleration Graces should be even more effective. Maybe that should be her first priority if we ever want her to get started on all those projects...
We didn't expect her to do much against Augustine either, yet here we are. You know what they say about the reward for work well done, and Gisena has the dubious honor of getting saddled with more work after going above and beyond what was expected of her.
We believe in you, Gisena!
Now if only we could find some way to make Gisena train the Praxis for us...
Also, changing my vote:
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power
On further thought, while I approve of tying up loose ends before our departure from the Voyaging Realm, it seems silly to overexert Hunger and research Signs outside of Pillars when the Realm of Evening would provide a much better environment for such an endeavor. We'll presumably still be in the Voyaging Realm in two weeks, so Adorie will be able to join us.
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Consolidate Power
- Location
- Earth
florp
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Consolidate Power