A Simple Transaction I

so, first of all, obviously a Comfy build takes The Nexus, an item worth an astral coin if you don't have a guaranteed inner start, and maybe arcadians heart or something for the 'jolly good fun' guarantee. and probably immersive mode, if you don't consider memory loss tantamount to death (though I guess since I've only known about the Games for like, twoish days, it's probably not to the 'tantamout to death' level even so.).

With that in mind, the following build does not make significant concessions to Comfiness and is instead optimized for something else entirely. The first version is optimized for recreating The System. The second Version (not yet written as I write this sentence) may or may not differ, and is optimized instead for Winning... The Games in Silver.
I've also decided to address every magic choice I don't take, because I want to go into why and there's nowhere else to put it unless my explanation for why I took, say, white also says 'and I didn't take [other thing] because [reasons]'.

[S] Bastion of Lost Souls - chosen because I agree with their goals! also, because they have the defenses for Turenval which I'm considering taking as a drawback.

[ ] The Eight Divisions - White.
Chosen because of its versatility and potential! sure, I can't nuke a city with it... but 'manifests as improving abilities' sounds like a decent progression booster; Furthermore, creating arbitrarily large quantities of abilities that Aren't parts of The Eight Divisions, using the eight divisions, seems to me like an obvious way to bypass that limit. as well, Turenval may be incredibly powerful, but I don't see 'immune to debuffs'; even if he's immune to debuffing him directly, I can think of a few indirect means, like autonamous division-magic constructs which search for Turenval and interfere with his mana... If I'm annoying enough, he might leave me alone :P
I also plan to obtain Yellow, but considering the progression benefits of White, my next choice, and the likely infinite (if unattacked) lifespan in the Bastion, I'll leave that to training, which it sounds like would be more like art then repetitive boring work. also as an afterthought, I like drawing so it might be a fun magic to work.
[ ] The System
You might think aiming to recreate The System is a bit incompatible with taking the System, but it's a excellent growth booster. Additionally, having an example of success sounds like the kind of thing that's helpful in a task like this. This is also helpful in case practicing my way to Yellow is incredibly boring.
[ ] Hundred Mirror Shattered
No thanks. this sounds like death to me. sure, it says it just makes me a 'more complete' person, but one- it's called Shattered. and two- my current standards are roughly the ordinary person standards, since I am an unshattered human, and it is stated those consider Shattered ones to be insane.
[ ] Rufescent Magic
I'm sure it's quite potent for combat, though nowhere near Blue Entropy, but it just doesn't... do anything for my goal? immediate survival is taken care of by the Bastion. Carmine steel is probably purchasable, but even if it isn't, if I need it for my system then it's failed to be like the system.
[ ] Sphere Magic
Due to its conceptual nature, this is quite interesting a possibility for my aim... but it seems like lots of math for temporary effects and powers, so since it doesn't seem Vital, I'm not taking it.
[ ] Reine Magd
comes with a pseudo-debt I'm not aiming to pay and costs, and it just isn't suited for progression or my goal.
[ ] Fire of the Divine
Costs too much. That's basically the reason I'm refusing it, but the lack of progressibility is also a problem; I don't think a baseline portfolio will accomplish the goal I've taken up. On the other hand, using the Orrery is potentially a priceless opportunity for my goal, since I can just ask it how I can accomplish the goal, and the cooldown is after use... but I don't know if it's on cooldown at the moment.
[ ] Suzerain of a Thousand Orisons
An excellent choice... for build number two. understand and you can manipulate! none of the powers are suited, though, except maybe Existence or Anima (for system-farming.)
[ ] Blue Entropy
really tempting! the shear anti-esoteric power can probably deal with Turenval- keeping him off of me indefinitely if nothing else, I imagine BE is smart-fire enough for me to make a thin layer around me, orbitting in extra dimensions, which kills Turenval if he enters detection. And it can get to the point of sentient-ish beings made of it... Not to mention, BE is even beyond the dark ones; the sheer fundamentality of that kind of thing is a power all to its own, especially for Build number two. If you want to outdo the Games, must you not surpass them? but it'll be hard to take with SoaTO.
It's actually so tempting that I haven't decided yet as I write this explanation.
Eventually I find it's the only option that lets me use all those orbs I got from other things, unless I want to buy extra colors or something. And it's probably strong enough to kill Turenval every time he comes close!
[ ] The Diamond Perfection
The trouble with TDP is it feels like it makes the rest of the decision less interesting? Like, if it's possible for the powers I get to accomplish this without ridiculous levels of precision, then the story that logically follows is 'one day, [name] appeared in the Bastion. within three seconds, he'd suddenly created a new System and spread it to everyone.'. I'm exagerating, of course, system creation might take over a day, but still. Logically it's a great choice for either build, but mnaughhhh.

Some comments, nonexhaustive, on the Benefits.

[ ] Immaculate is interesting! If I have a spare orb, I might spend it here for build one. for build two... I'm not inclined to pick up celestial fate. if I'm trying to subvert the Games, shouldn't I avoid their notice? that kinda tactic wasn't an option in EFB, the fates knew where nameless lived (so to speak : P), but here... if it has a rule-maintanance engine, does that engine watch everything all the time? I don't think so!
and I do have a spare orb, so I spend it here!

[ ]Drui's Blessing
Synergises with the Divisions! that's what it's here for. I guess it also helps with potential Turenval drawback, since she's strong enough to distract him for a little, letting me escape if I mess up.
[ ] Satan Shrugged
would be reasonable if I thought 'the continued nonexistence of System Administrators' was a system or group, or if 'this one specific rule in the Games' was one.
[ ] Arcadia's Heart
Unfortunately, if I take this, I'll have to drop Entropy and then have 3 orbs left over and nothing good to spend them on because I don't really feel inclined for any of the 3-Orb Options. Sure, I could drop ATE but naaaaah

[ ] The Intimation of the Pompadour
Totally a good choice in Build 2, probably also in 1, but it feels mnaugh like Diamond, y'know? the imagined story is like arguing with the hypothetical DM about what should be possible instead of actual methods. 'P: and then he used White to create a system, because true heroism can't be stopped by lack of resources, lack of skill, or inconsistency. DM: what. no. P: yes. DM: no. P: yes. DM: no. P: yes. DM: no. P: yes. DM: ...fine.'; I prefer a story where you do a bunch of things that seem individually fine, and then you explain to the DM why it's inconsistent for you to not have succeeded at your impossible goal now that you've done all those things.


Now, as to drawbacks.

[S] Stonesnout's Condemnation
I can take this at no cost. well, next to no cost. the effect doesn't really scale, and I think white is more then powerful enough to grant me 'thin telekinetic layer around skin to touch objects for me' and 'teleport my vomit like, a meter.'. Once I have those powers set up, this is even a benefit! people who try to stab me have a 10% chance to instantly lose their weapon, and this lets me double my net worth every few hours! this is the kind of benefit I could pay for! ... hm, actually ...granted, my increasing net worth would make the teleport capability need to keep rising in capacity, but white is power-granting, and there Is an upper limit to how high it could get before the valuables overlap and initiate nuclear fusion, so at some point the currency will have to just be in more valuable forms instead of more problematic ones.
for clothes I'll wear solidified manifestations of certain powers I'll grant myself, which will technically be part of me and so not turn to dust. if that doesn't work, clothes made of living, brainless animals, like sea squirts, are the backup. worst case I'll be naked after all.
[S] Last Breath of Adonis
This one isn't free/inherent benefit for me, unlike Stonesnout's Condemnation, but I don't intend to explore windy areas that much. plan is probably staying near, even in, the Bastion. I think the Orb is worth it.
[S S S] A Twisted Experiment
I've chosen a place he can't invade as my start! and I think I've got moderate odds of being able to put him down eventually, yes really. Assuming he can't cast spells until a phylactery resurrects him, at least. maybe I can even give enough benefits to the Pale Serpents in four years four months and four days for it to actually be worth it for them to stop him, and not rely on the goodness of their (possibly metaphorical)hearts. I mean, I don't think I'll be strong enough to drive off Turenval myself by that point, but maybe I'll be able to give enough learning speed boosts that they'll consider all my future help worth more then the difficulty of driving him off. He also doesn't seem purely focused on killing me, and I do have the Drui help I don't have anything else planned for.
not to mention I'll have more then 10^1200 arbitrary currency units by the time he shows up even if SC only procs 3x per day instead of 12x like RAW, if I start with one or more arbitrary units. Seriously, this 'curse' is going to make me RICH. If there's any finite amount of money which can be spent to deal with Turenval, I'll have it.
And then there's the Blue Entropy.



Now, you might think that's the end of this CYOA-build-thing. I mean, I've chosen all my drawbacks and all by benefits and all my magics! but there's one thing I haven't chosen: my Expressions.
The Eight Divisions, White. First Expression - Prestige.
White has the power of improving abilities, and shuffling them. It is in this spirit that the First Expression operates. I thought to myself, 'White is an art. what symbolizes to me progression? A ladder is cliche, a spiral is too ordinal... ', and then it occured to me- 'games'. Games have progression, extremely often. So I thought to illustrate a controller, but that isn't evocative enough. and then I thought a second thought- 'idle/incremental games'. specifically, their prestige mechanics, of which diamonds are the poster-boy, almost to the point of cliche within the genre. Hence this image. A shower of coins falling, flaring, and reforming into something greater, a diamond holding the echos of the countless fragments that created it.
another advantage of specifically incremental games is that they've got a much better exponential then, say, RPGs. I'm playing an incremental at the moment where I have more then 1E1,000,000,000 coins! that's so high that google calls it infinity in their calculator (well, actually they call 1E1200 that but still). sure, some idle/incremental games are slower, but the point is the upper limits of how good this expression is will be defined by the limits of its magic, and not the limits of its symbol.
So what does this Expression do? It resets your progress. I know, right? huh? what good is that? well, it gives you a boost to progression after the reset. symbolically a diamond, but they aren't usually physical. and idle games don't reset knowledge or achievements, so I suppose it's like... it'd reset your raw magnitude of mana, but it'll make learning in general easier including increasing mana-magnitude growth? or how much raw force you can output.

Second Expression - Captured Gaze.
The Power to Reduce abilities!... in storable form. This one's pretty simple, it's a minecraft spawn egg with a guardian inside. This may include slight cross-over with the Black color. the idea is using it gets me a stored ability-debuffing beam attack which I can unleash at any time.
Third Expression - Descended
the symbolism is complicated and stupid. the bits on the right are abilities and it's an expression to grant any sort of capability (within the bounds of whites limits), including magical ones. Like the power to teleport anything in my gullet to a pocket dimension, mentioned earlier, or a weak telekinesis so I don't actually touch anything. This power weakly crosses over with other colors in that the powers it grants can be powers other colors would grant.
Fourth Expression - Lesser Enlargement
This Expression amplifies a power a single time, instead of long term, as is represented by making an orb bigger, then having it shed all the extra mass and send it downwards. t'be honest, I've mostly run out of inspiration here. Like, there are other things I'd want expressions for, but I don't have any good ways to represent them.
Fifth Expression - Metamagic:Trigger.
shameless reference to 'apocalypse: Generic System'. modifies a specific power activation so it instead triggers from an object in touch range when a trigger activates.
Sixth Expression - Deconstruct.
Taking apart an ability into its component parts! Did you learn 'shoot firebolt'? no, you learned (apply: Fire) and (design:bolt). which is to say you learned (chaos), (increase heat by 800), (fire forwards) and (energy orb)! oh, sorry, I misspoke, what you actually got was (change), (unknown), (change heat), (scalar quantity), (accelerate), (forwards), (magical energy) and (shape: circle)! All together these skills can be used to fire a fireball, but drop the fire and it's pure kinetic energy! drop the randomness and it's heat, but not flickering flame! drop the energy and it loses some of its shape because fire is very unstable! drop the direction and it might explode, or simply heat up further due to undirected kinetic energy! drop fire forwards and it floats in your hand! and so on.

EDIT: Dec.29 Expression Expansion.
Seventh Expression - Metamagic (Factory)
This expression... is a niche meme. It's a legitimate art form! It's probably not that funny in this form, but it's reference to a person who has excelent delivery. the origin is some music software with really bad design, and he sees the factory midway through the setup and thinks 'what's this hiroglyphic? is it supposed to be a... sound wave, or something?' (this is after their symbol for an ensemble is a mecha-rainbow.). anyway his explanation is someone says 'hey guys the deadline is tomorrow and we need a factory icon, pronto!' and that this would be the low-effort outcome.
In terms of effect, this Metamagic modifies any other power activation to, instead of producing an effect, grant you the power to produce a weaker version of the same effect repeatedly. So instead of firing a fireball, it's the power to shoot a fire marble ever few seconds; instead of granting yourself telekinesis, grant yourself gradually increasing telekinetic prowess (because using factory on 'grant self telekinesis' makes it 'repeatedly grant self lesser telekinesis'.
Eighth Expression - Synergism
This expression uses the same source as First Expression - Prestige, specifically the idle-incremental game 'Synergism'. (the circle is quarks, the left shape is offerings, right shape is obtanium, triangle is Mythos, diamond in there is diamond, and oval-coin is coins.) in terms of actual effect, the Expression allows the user to use powers as if they were all components of a single ability - Deconstruct in reverse. this is useful for lightening mental strain- it's easier to think 'magic missile' then 'solidify: mana, shape:dart, propel:forwards, alter vertex (control:mind), repeat for excess'- automating spellcasting of some types, and various other effects. This Expression can be cast in combat, if I'm understanding expressions right, by ommiting the flame and hand- but that's not really necessary because of Metamagic : Trigger.

Expression Ten Nine - Twofold Expression: To Fracture Heaven.
A twofold Expression!... are those things? who knows! I mean, it makes sense to me that it would be possible to spend more then a day on a piece of art. I just spent a week and a month on an animation, after all! And for this kind of effect, you'd want to do that.
So, obviously granting To Shatter Heaven (equivalents) to my magics at will repeatedly is... one hell of an effect. a fourfold multiplier to learning speed is nothing to scoff at, plus the ability to break conceptual limits. Which is why the name of the Expression is 'to Fracture heaven', and the gate within sports a single gleaming white crack instead of lying in pieces; this is a much lower-power effect then TSH. instead of x4 progression and breaking conceptual limits, progression doesn't get boosted at all, and the user still runs into limits at the same places. only by casting this Expression at the appropriate stages can the limits be weakened; furthermore a weakened limit is still present, only lesser, and the person must master the slightly-improved magic again before the next cast. in the case of asymptotic soft caps, TFH would be usable at any point after the cap came into effect, with effectiveness proportional to the degree to which their growth has been slowed.
At least, that's the intent here. The effect is highly conceptual, hence the heavy use of the color Yellow, but does fundamentally focus on affecting Powers, hence falling partially under white. expression might be improvable by gaining Yellow as well?
I considered 'to splinter heaven' but that seemed like it had unfortunate implications in silververse : P
of course, I don't actually want to destroy real or hypothetical paradises, but To Shatter Heaven is a really evocative name.

1.2.0 Grace
"Ah, so you will be my gues- Good heavens you are covered in blood!"

He flinches, hand twitching and squishing against the hot flesh between his fingers.

A hand grips his shoulder, firm and gloved in the cool mottled brown of fallen leaves.

"Young Man, are you well? What has happened?" He looks back and sees a tall man dressed in a sharply tailored suit and vest, a jacket folded over his right arm. The cooler browns of his jacket and shoes lead down to the warmer oranges and yellows of his vest, shirt and vibrant bow tie --a progression mirrored in the mottling of his searching eyes.

A part of him wants to stammer and stutter, words pressing against the tip of his tongue desperate to press out. The other clamps down on motion, sets muscles to lock up and hold tight. [Self control improved to 1.]

Then the words come not with ease but with surety, a bone deep certainty in what he can make himself do. "Miss Arcadia gave me her heart." He wants to say more, but knows his lips will fumble and mind slip.

The tall man --the Lord of Seasons?-- looks down at his hands, frowns, then blanches. "Oh, oh my. Yes," his grip passes from firm into tight and his shoulders turn away just a hair. "I can see it now. She offered it to you I suppose?"

"Yes Sir." He replies and straightens his posture until he stands tall and deliberate as he ever has.

It feels odd to do so, a strange counterpoint to the swirl of sinking worry in his chest. But, he has an immanent awareness of what he can make himself do and it provides a trustworthy tool he can't help but make use of.

The man's lips press tight, made pale by a moment of intense thought. He turns to the dome, eyes canvasing the featureless surface that should gleam and reflect the golden light but catches it instead, somehow dulled where it should be clear.

"Well," he sighs and turns back. "I can't hold it against you that you took the chance, though I dearly wish I could. Let us go then, to a tailor first. It would be less than gracious to ask you to walk about drenched as you are."

He turns, pauses, then turns back again and holds out his left hand. "Now that I am sure you are well it is time for introductions. I am Lord of Seasons, the free-est man upon the Silvered World. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance and walk with you across my beloved home."

Ah... "The pleasure is all mine, Lord of Seasons. That I may walk the Silvered World this once, your grace is humbling."

"Ah, but your na-, I see, I understand. Your name is not from here. Do not be ashamed, it is no bother, I have much experience with naming. If you like I will offer you one at the end of our walk, a moniker well suited to our more lofty horizons."

"Thank you, I would appreciate it." He puts on a smile.

"Then come and let us clothe you, I know just the place.

1.2.1
The lord takes him by the shoulder and guides him away.

It is only as they pass through a gate of neon orange metal and he finds himself beneath an empty sky of speckless black that he comes to understand the encompassing radiance of golden light he has left behind. It engulfed and multiplied, an ever present luminosity that took the place of floor and air at once.

He had not stood, he comes to understand, on anything at all. Hadn't strode down a path or been guided through any distance at all. It was all golden light, which overwhelmed and superseded as a matter of course. Except, it seemed, the silver dome and the Lord of Seasons.

"This is the orange district." Says the lord, gesturing with his left across the sprawling expanse of a cityscape painted in every hue of its namesake. Sky scrapers, winding towers, castles, lounging bungalows, symmetrical campuses and identical suburbs stretch out before him for a distance he has trouble placing.

Opposite him rises a titanic wall. It's height is immense, no doubt, far enough it is capped by the empty sky. But it's width is greater still, kilometer after kilometer, less a city wall and more a continental shelf that shifts from orange ever closer to red the further right it goes, while tending to yellow the further left it stretches. The whole of it reminds him of a triangle, or perhaps a wedge sliced free from a sphere. Narrowing to a point and widening at the base.

"It is less than it once was, an infinitesimal fraction in truth. Still, the fall district is grander than any sight in the lower worlds. It's walls encompass all matter in existence and those that live and work here regulate every expression of it you may care to name."

The lord doesn't sound whistful. Instead there is a quiet pride to his words, a shaper looking upon a satisfactory work.

"It is magnificent." He says.

"Indeed, and we will find you a tailor here. Once dressed in our fabrics and cuts none will find your style wanting."

Already the suited man is moving, before he works up the nerve to ask a question percolating in his mind.

On empty streets of even, interlocking brick he feels comfortable enough. "Sir, if I may, is there a blue district?"

The lord looks at him, a little amused. "There is."

"Does it regulate information?"

"Just so. Young man, did Arcadia offer you access to my Eight Divisions?"

"She did."

"Do you regret turning it down, now that you can see it's antecedent?"

The young man wants to smile, but holds the impulse back, for now. "Not at all, Sir. I am grateful I accepted the offer."

The Lord of Seasons stops, blinks. "You accepted?"

"Of course, sir. I look forward to exploring it's depths." He lets the smile slip free, allows the hint of cheek.

Somehow this hits the Lord harder than the still bleeding Heart in his hands.

"You chose magic? I mean, of course you chose my magic. Yes, with the silver heart and my Eight Divisions you have made a most prudent decision. Tell me, which color most speaks to you?"

Heart and eight, for three orbs? It can be deduced, so it's happened before?

"Blue draws my interests most, but," he doesn't look at the heart in his hands, thinks around the silver footsteps he's leaving in his wake. "I suppose I have a reason to examine white and black more closely now."

"Ah, as a disciple of sorts please take my advice to heart. Focus first on blue, your passion. A human life is short and... neither silver nor gold bring happiness. Not anymore."

Could that be changed? A curse or circumstance perhaps? "Then I will seek to master Blue, in deference to your expertise."

The Lord of Seasons smiles, white teeth gleaming against his dark skin. "Your wisdom does you credit, mastery should be within your grasp in time."

"I will lead you through Blue before our walk ends, it is beautiful and you will find it most inspiring. But now, we have arrived. A tailor fit to beggar Kings and Presidents."

Somehow, in a way he couldn't quite remember, they'd ended up in a shadowed alley. An entrance was inset into one wall, dense brown and red wood made up the heavy, ornate door.

It opens with the clear ring of brass on brass.

A step inside and the sudden variety of color hits like a hammer blow. Somber blues, royal violets and cool sea greens cover floor and ceiling. Plush carpets, dark cabinets, and a riot of posing Mannequins in myriad dress fill the store almost to bursting. Arm chairs surround a raised dais, a small table next to each one, on which sit a steaming porcelain teapot and a small, porcelain and gilded, plate piled with cookies and sandwiches.

At the back of the store, behind a counter that blocks off the entrance into a shadowed catacomb of shelves laden with rolls of fabric, stands a grinning man of rust red hair and ice blue eyes. "My lord, returned at last, and with a guest this time. How wonderful."

"I had no choice, no better tailor in the world. Not for cloth at least."

"Not for cloth and not for anything else!" The tailor turns the young man's way. "I'm to make some clothes for you. On the Lord's dime of course, no worries there. What're you looking for then? A suit? A dress? A butcher's smock? I do it all."