ah, good, a pre-divided update. always nice to be able to quote the whole post in nice pre-prepared chunks of text...
So, apparently we get to choose our hunter/recruiter. let's see...
Who was the individual assigned to handle the R-type calling himself "Lord Hunger?"
[ ] Gondar Hrsillimas
Gondar Hrsillimas is a man on a mission. Not only did this presumptuously-named "Lord Hunger" brutally dismember his apprentice and slay his best (and only) friend, he has all but disappeared from the Temple environs, presumably on some form of training trip. Given his demonstrated speed of advancement (or hidden powers), this can only bode poorly for the society in the Temple. The Inners have always favored a passive strategy, their well-regimented lives of luxury leaving their minds feeble and lax. For all that the administration is worthless, however, ten million innocent lives are at stake. Gondar can do nothing less than his utmost; to forsake his path would be unconscionable dereliction of duty. Now that Chief Coordinator Thran has passed the matter of the R-type to him, he will do what he does best: hunt.
Gondar is hostile, but socially inept. He could be convinced of your sincere desire to defect, but would not be happy about it. This will bias him against you; he will shoot first and ask questions later. Unlike the others, Gondar will not wait for Hunger to return to the Temple; he is actively hunting you within the Voyaging Realm, and depending on how much time you spend outside, may ambush you while you are traveling.
*Rank 4.5
*Defensive Rank
*Physical Parameters: Slightly superior AGI, vastly inferior STR and CON compared to Hunger.
*Soul Evocation: The Arrow. Gondar is an unparalleled master of the ranger arts. His skill with a bow is second to none among all ten million souls of the Temple's civilization. He is a terrifyingly proficient tracker, hunter, marksman and survivalist. His arrows can produce countless offensive exotic effects; rare is the foe he cannot fell in one shot, though none of these individual effects can match Vanreir's thrust in potency.
Enthusiasm: Fanatical. Gondar is determined to end your life.
Here is the first one.
First of all: The temple has 10 million citizens. Good to know, it's basically a small country. Also apparently their leaders live in extreme luxury, not that I expected anything else...
Well, the fact he hates us completely and utterly would make me feel better about the inevitable betrayal, and while he's strong he's far from being invincible, especially if he doesn't manage to ambush us. Also, apprentice and friend... would those be that one archer scout and the mage?
[ ] High Marshall Avecarn
The world-weary High Marshall served seven decades in the outriders before finally retiring to the Inner Ring. A mighty warrior and tactician beyond compare, he is resentful at being summoned out of his now-idyllic life to steamroll some uninteresting R-type. That the Council considers itself unquestionable does not mean it can expect the enthusiasm of its hunting hounds when it would deny them even basic knowledge of the entity they face. He suspects, perhaps rightly, that the Council's divinations were defeated by this R-type's protections and they have decided to drop the hammer, employing massive overkill in lieu of more direct solutions.
Avecarn wishes only to get this over with as soon as possible. He would much rather be tending his gardens and spoiling his grandchildren than have anything to do with you. His expansive experience and formidable Rank make him difficult to deceive, however.
*Rank 6.5
*Active Astral Rank
*Physical parameters: Generally below Hunger's. A battle would not be as suicidal as your respective Ranks would indicate, though his Soul Evocation, below, does further advantage him against beings of lower Rank.
*Soul Evocation: The Administration. While he fights best alongside a group of underlings, Avecarn has a broad and deep enough well of effects to comport himself well in personal combat. Order and hierarchy in all their forms are his weapons. Authority equals asskicking, after all.
*Enthusiasm: Minimal. If he can be convinced of your sincerity, motivated reasoning would ensure he would have no problem accepting that you've turned your coat. One does not grow to be a solider of Avecarn's age by taking undue risks in battle. Who is to say you do not have some sort of trump card that could narrow or overcome the apparent harrowing gap between you?
oh-oh! an ACTIVE Astral Rank, PLUS a soul evocation that might very well give him some level of power over us in case we go for social infiltration, as he'd be our "superior" in the hierarchy...
Hard to deceive, but at least he wouldn't be as fixated on killing us as the other one... though, then again, the other one would likely be easier to kill if it came to it.
[ ] Selune vi Tries [Cost: 4 Arete]
As you may have guessed from her name, Selune is actually a very, very distant cousin of your very own Letrizia von Artriez! She is excited to meet another member of her family, especially from Outside - and positively ecstatic to witness their family legacy, the legendary Devouring Armament, in action herself!
This is her first major assignment. She politicked herself onto the post due to going stir-crazy from the circumscribed lifestyle of an Inner Temple heiress. Though she is powerful for her age, her techniques are unrefined, having never been exposed to the fires of true battle. Surely this misunderstanding between Hunger and the Temple can be quickly resolved now that she's on the case!
Selune somewhat resembles Letrizia, though her Soul Evocation grants her superhuman Appearance and Manipulation. She thinks Hunger is totally awesome and could be convinced to escort him past all manner of security checks, waving off the concerns of her fellows by virtue of her Council-granted privilege. Selune sits the Council as a junior member and her authority cannot be countermanded by any Outrider, bureaucrat, military commander, or non-Council nobleman or woman.
If unselected, the vi Tries family does not exist on the Council of the Inner Temple. They may not exist at all...
*Rank: 3.5
*Bodyguard's Rank: 5
*Defensive Rank
*Physical parameters: vastly below Hunger's, but her bodyguard is almost a match for him.
*Soul Evocation: The Lunar. Selune possesses superhuman grace and shapeshifting capabilities, and can call upon a number of moon-based evocations to blast, banish, confuse or disorient her foes.
Enthusiasm: Friendly. Selune could care less about stuffy concerns like Temple security. She will not doubt be exceedingly distraught if her easily-proffered trust is betrayed. Should her suspicions be roused, her superhuman social instincts will ferret out deception instantly, but she is far too careless to be overmuch concerned at this juncture.
...an enemy Letrizia which we will inevitably betray and is willing to trust us without any real proof of our sincerity?
..Look, I KNOW this is probably the optimal choice (though arete expensive), but I don't think my heart can take it! It just can't!
I think I'll have to go with the Archer that hates us. At least I won't feel as bad when we end up killing him.
The winner was [X] Edeldross Adept, though this vote was very much closer than it looked. A number of good arguments & omakes were made for Shadowlord.
...rest in peace, Shadowlord. Maybe if we bring her with us we'll get a second chance before leaving the Voyaging realm? A final paycheck once we bring her back home after the temple, and whatever other boosts we can offer her to sweeten the deal?
At least by spending 5 arete fewer we're that much closer to an EFB
Long-term Planning!
You may choose one of these Advancements or Advancement Plans to unlock and deposit 1 Arete in. If 0 picks are required, Snap Purchasing is permissible.
[ ] The Ring of Power: Crimson Flare - 25 Arete. (0 picks, but requires Chief Dominion)
Call'd the ring in direst hour;
Azure's brethren faces turned.
Yet came the Lord its cause to flower;
then saw its keepers, to ruin burned.
Forgotten not, the debt of Time
when all its kind had turned their backs;
Not Hunger ring, its steed to ride,
brought Temple low, rapine and sack.
And debt unpaid shall not abide.
The crimson jewel blazes with a hallowed, piercing light, its glory to outshine sun and stars, all made abject by its presence. This is attainment of a height that disdains mere power, the Jewel of Blood unveiled in truth.
Elevates the wielder's Rank by a variable amount [Currently: to 5]
+2 Rank for purposes of wielding the Chief Dominion.
If the Azure Ring is saved:
Further increases the scope, power, and control of the Chief Dominion, beyond even the limits of the Ruling Ring.*
Obsoletes and refunds: Augment Dominion: Blood, Sublime Transfusion, Ennobling
The Azure Ring will submit to the Crimson in the next contest of primacy.
*Example effects: Individuals can be Ennobled in hours, small populations in days, large populations in months. Levels above Ennoblement can be researched and acquired, potentially without Arete expenditure. Verschlengorge can be healed to Rank 6 in hours, to Rank 7 in days, to Rank 7.5 in weeks. Enemies of Rank 4 or lower can be rendered comatose with a gesture; those of merely equivalent Rank (5) would suffer crippling disadvantage.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Riddle of Strider, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
I don't know why, but I felt some LOTR vibes from the small poem. Well, probably unavoidable with all the talk about rings.
This is a very good pick. Being a 0 pick means we can snap-buy it in case of emergency, It gives better version of the three mentioned options, we can use ennobling as bargaining chip easily with most groups, and empower any enforcer we'll ever make (and do the same to populations much faster).
Just considering the "basic" versions of the picks, they were worth a decent amount of arete AND multiple picks, so we're also saving on picks by paying arete (and getting improved versions out of it)
That's a saving of...
2 arete and 2 picks for ennobling
2 arete and 1 pick for Sublime Transfusion.
multiple picks for augment dominion... let's say 6 (1+2+3), though really this is MUCH better than 3 copies of augment dominion, but it's unlikely we'd ever take even more than 1 copy of it anyway.
So this is saving 4 arete and quite a few picks, and we also get a variable amount of rank.
Also, there's another advantage: being 0 picks, this allows us to get the "ring" efb whenever we want, making it easier to get the "1 efb per item" we want.
short term a stance might be a better crash-pick in most cases, but this gives us access to a lot of bargaining power whenever we want... as long as we have the arete, at least.
[ ] Evening Sky: Silver of Evening - 25 Arete (1 pick)
Inset in the crown of evening is a star of purest edeldross; its wearer becomes swift as nightfall after the sun's passing, beautiful as the naked stars, and sacred as midnight itself. For all spheres of magic in Evening reside: its wearer their master, and champion besides.
Double the Magnitude of present and future Edeldross enhancements.
+100% to the value of AGI and Charisma +s
+1 Defensive Rank
Once per sidereal month, perfectly defeat any one hostile effect to which the wearer would otherwise be subject. Applied against a Curse, grants two stages of mitigation for one day and one night. May apply even to the Doom of the Tyrant.
...definitely a LOT of immediate power, and some decent potential as well.
...I still like Pillars more though. What can I say, You never forget your first love
[ ] None: Do not invest Arete into long-term planning right now. You simply need every Arete you can spare.
well, there's also this, though I think 1 arete on the 0 pick at least (which we can buy whenever) is good. Even if we don't take it now or in the short-medium term, it's a good option for when we start having to manage a polity. After all good help is so
hard to find... so we might as well MAKE it good ourselves!
