Eclipse Arc, or: I'm getting paid to be alone on a space station, so I'm playing VRMMOs

(Manual tally in progress)

Eternal_0bserver said:

After going through the count, it looks like the result is the following:

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

That's not how IRV works, which is the method the forum software uses for ranked choice voting.

IRV results:

Round 1
Gun Orphan (Custom): 6
Gun Orphan: 0
Gun Noble: 2
Gun Hick: 1
Mage Orphan: 1
Noble Mage: 5
Mage Hick: 0
Elf Hick: 5

Results: 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 + 2 < 5: bottom 5 eliminated

Round 2
Gun Orphan (Custom): 8
Noble Mage: 6
Elf Hick: 6

Results: 2 way tie. Split round three to see if which one was eliminated changed the end result; if results are the same either way tie doesn't need to be resolved

Round 3

Result: Tiebreaking unnecessary; Gun Orphan (Custom) wins

Vote tallied. Felixar / Eclipsed Orphan (Custom) / Gun Archivist wins.

You flick through the choices once again, and this time find an option to dismiss choices you'd ruled out.

Tortolan and Human go into the bin immediately; Humans were boring (been there, done that, have some game-breaking bugs to report), and while there is probably a way to make the Tortolan downsides into nonissues (or strengths), you aren't going to bet your first character on finding it. Even if you could, though, you doubt you would. Why be slow and plodding when you could be nimble and free?

Backgrounds are easy to whittle down as well. Station rat is… no. You shake your head. Not happening. The religious orphan choice seems pretty niche; are there really that many religious texts to translate? Maybe there are, or maybe its Core Nodes are great, but it just doesn't call to you.

Specialties prove to be more complex choices. Protector is almost certainly good, but you're not really in the mood to sword-and-board… though blocking a boss hit does feel awesome. Something to keep in mind for later, maybe.

Arcane Alchemist is admittedly intriguing, but it really wants a mage companion, and a lot of time for experimentation. You'd almost be a dedicated crafter, it sounds like, and that's pretty limiting. It could be an interesting limitation, and you do have a lot of time to work with, but it just doesn't quite make the cut. You want to be able to farm for materials, and that can be tricky for non-combat setups. Unless you get combat Nodes from your species – plausible, since Felixar has natural weapons, and Bhomon and Hicys both have magic as a species schtick – or background – unlikely, except for the random rolls on the Eclipsed one – you'd risk needing someone else to hard carry you for a while.

Not your style.

You have to think a bit on the Angelic Apostate. It is, no question, very cool. Likely an extremely rare roll. You take a second, pulling open up the main wiki, and nod. It has a page, so it's not fully unheard of… but the page is empty. Helpful. If you're reading it correctly, you'll get powerful divine magic – cleric-type, you imagine – with a stark cast-from-health downside, but your former god and their friends will hate you, and get bonuses against you. Combine that with the sharp penalty against smiting, and you suspect you'd get turned into red mist by an enemy paladin sooner rather than later.

Cool idea, though.

Scanning back over the list, you discard Bhomon; that Delicious perk, while admittedly funny, looked like it made you a obligate tank. With reduced health. No thank you.

You take a long look at the Hicys. You do love elves, and space-dryad-elves certainly fit the bill. You'll like the avatar you end up making if you pick Hicys, it's a sure bet.

But in the end, the winner was decided the moment you saw it. You could be a giant space cat. Fox. Thing. Sure, clumsy thumbs, but… wait.

"Hey," you ask the assistant VI, still standing peacefully by your side. "What happens if I pick Felixar and Gun Archivist or Arcane Alchemist? Won't the dexterity issues fuck with my crafting?"

"No choices at character generation will leave you unable to perform the primary function of another, unless explicitly stated as such."

"Like in the case of a mage from a non-magical species?"

"That would be such an example, yes."

"And this trait," you bring up the Felixar trait description, "doesn't qualify as an explicit statement?"

"It does not. You would receive a warning similar in appearance to the dysmorphia warning."

Okay. You weren't gonna get screwed for picking the cool cat. Unless the dysmorphia kicked in, but… eh. Worst case, you have a real unpleasant start and get brought back to pick the space elf. Nothing you haven't handled before.

In the end, it's curiosity that wins the day for the specialty choice. Astral Mage is cool, genuinely fascinating, and you can already think of edge cases you'd love to test out, but in the end you have a simple question. One that only Gun Archivist can answer.

How does a giant cat build and shoot a gun?

The world wants to know!

You swipe the other options away, and shrug at the backgrounds. Honestly they could all be good, but the mystery box fits the theme of the look.

You go to move onward, then pause. "Wait, where's the visual customization stage?"

"After the beta it was moved to occur after Core Node generation. We received feedback that some players wanted to tailor their appearance to their received Nodes, and it allowed players further customization with regard to nonstandard species features.

Huh. You're not sure what that last bit is about, but sure. "Alright."



You tap 'Enter,' and the world dissolves around you.

---

I'll cover the actual in-narrative bits after Luck is handled. So, here's what you have!

Felixar




Eclipsed Orphan
Ability:

Core Nodes:



Gun Archivist:



Personal

---

Mechanic: Luck


Current Luck: 5

In the current context, you can spend one Luck to reroll a given pair of Core Nodes, or the trait provided by Eclipsed Orphan.

You can spend any amount of Luck (to a maximum of five, as there are only three things to reroll), and will gain another chance to reroll the new results once you see them.

Note: Certain elements are [LOCKED], and will not reroll even when others within the category are rerolled.

The Legendary Core Node for Felixar is [LOCKED] to one of the Felixar Legendary Core Nodes, and will never produce an upgraded version of another Felixar Core node. All Felixar Legendary Core Nodes provide distinct visual aesthetics.

The Steel Halo Core Node is [LOCKED], and will not be rerolled. The two starting skill trees within it will be rerolled if Gun Archivist is selected for a reroll.

So, before you begin voting on individual choices:

[ ] [LUCK] Spend Luck on something (write in specifics)
[ ] [LUCK] Do not spend Luck.

This vote will last 24 hours, at which point I will close it and either move forward or do another round of Luck.