What would readers prefer?

  • Pure narrative quest: no dice will be used, the author will have free reign to decide what happens.

    Votes: 25 59.5%
  • New dice system: the author will design a new, better dice system to add some randomness and risk.

    Votes: 17 40.5%

  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.


Four is as many as I really want to do; time is passing in the rest of the world as well, after all. These options let us do a mini PR tour, poke around for our heartstone replacement project, and at least make an effort to address the matter of Blitzbolt.

As for the name, jeez, everything I come up with sounds like an edgelord. I'd like something that reflects our nature as a manakete and maybe serves as a sort of memorial for our family and basically-extinct race; lightning names just seem a little generic to me. If I have any flashes of brilliance, I'll vote on that later.
 
If I have any flashes of brilliance, I'll vote on that later.
When they do they strike like lightning.

But speaking of brilliance, there's quite a bit of thematic overlap between lightning and light (not least of all the names are similar). Obviously prioritizing lightning themed names because Yellow manakete but I wonder if we can some up with something that brings both to mind somewhat.

Oh, maybe something sky related? Because lightning and light and sky blessed... but then that might be more of a wind thing.
 
Last edited:
Thankfully, since your confrontation with him yesterday, the unpleasant mage hadn't shown himself.
"Do you know what happened to Blitzbolt?"

"No idea. No one's seen him since yesterday."

"Maybe he left. I heard he really doesn't like that girl who showed up to get accredited."

"Or maybe he's been sacked. I hear he and the Archmage had a massive row yesterday."

"Or maybe he's wondering why you two are in the restricted section of the library."

You shake your head; you have more important things to worry about that him.
"than"

You nod; Apollo makes perfect sense. It'd be super frustrating if Father or Mother had done either of those things. True, their tests had been simpler and less formal, but they'd only had to deal with one of you rather than dozens.
I was actually expecting Ryza to interrupt her thoughts with something like "Wait, Apollo? When did he get here?".

"We should probably put these back first; Madam Pince gets upset if people disrespect her books."
Fixed that for you. :V

(or at least close enough.)
Unless I'm badly mistaken, the punctuation should come after the parenthesis.

"So, are you feeling ready."
This sentence should end in a question mark.

"Hey, Apollo," one said casually, as if he hadn't just been caught eavesdropping
Why is this sentence in past tense?

and the three dragonstones you carry into your bag,
"in"?

We do not ask human students do part with their hands when taking our tests.
"to"

"Are you ready to begin."
This sentence should end in a question mark.

Some of your thoughts might have appeared on your face, or maybe he just assumed them, as he narrowed his eyes at you slightly before turning and returning to the raised area.
Was this supposed to be in past tense?

"Ryza, while I understand you are in a difficult position, but while you are a guest or a member of this Hall you will act with decorum.
One of this is redundant.

Quite a few ask you who taught you before, and you honestly answer "your parents."
It might just be me, but with the way this sentence is structured, it sounds like Ryza is saying that the parents of the person asking her the question are the ones who taught her, and I know that's not right.

leaving out the part where you flew her away on dragon-back.)
Again, unless I am mistaken, the punctuation should be after the parenthesis.

[X] Stormheart

As I mentioned when the topic of Ryza getting a Mage Name first came up, I've had the name "Stormheart" rattling around in my brain for a while now.

[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon.
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[X] Try to find time to talk to Archmage Stormspeaker privately. He seems like a decent fellow, and maybe he can give you some advice.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.

Firstly, I want to be sure that Ryza is on hand when things inevitably go wrong here, so I'm voting for as many things as possible.

Secondly, meeting the Revisionists strikes me as a very high priority and something we probably won't get another chance to do, at least for a while.

Thirdly, I want to find out what the plan is and how Blitzbolt fits into it. Talking to Stormspeaker immediately after because I imagine these will synergies extremely well if we can get proof of what Blitzbolt/the regent is up to before talking to him.

Fifthly, meeting the other Heads of House the Towers to hopefully get them on board before things go wrong.

Sixthly, libraries because someone brought up that it might be helpful for advancing our long-term goal of finding a way for humans to cast magic without dragonstones.

Lastly, I don't remember who Searedstone is, but he has Apollo's seal of approval and I needed one more thing.
 
"…Okay, we were watching you, but can you blame us?!" the third girl says. "I mean, I heard from Maria who heard from Jaine who heard from Michael who overheard Fillia and Calta talking about how you're some sort of super-mage coming to visit your boyfriend…"

You blink in confusion for a second before paling as the realization hits you. "Wait, no!" you say, waving your hands. "Apollo and I just met! We're not- I don't-"
Nobody ships people harder than adolescents with a lot of questions and no answers.

You grab Apollo's hands as they start to wring, trying to give him a comforting squeeze.
Not sure if Ryza is intentionally choosing to prioritize Apollo's feelings over avoiding dumb rumors or if she hasn't grokked the connection between physical contact with a boy and rumors about dating.

Apollo nods. "A lot of what we call 'practical magic' is really some form of combat magic."
...I want to say something, but I just plucked this sentence out because it feels like a good scrap of worldbuilding, of identifying what human culture expects mages to do. They can do a lot of things, but they're expected to be warriors by default.

You take a deep breath to clear your own embarrassment. You should have heard that they were in there, your senses are better than that, but thankfully you hadn't said anything incriminating while they were listening in.
The fact that that's the only thing on Ryza's mind seems to imply that she genuinely doesn't get what fuels human rumor mills.

Quickly opening up the scroll, you scan the first question. You blink, and then read it again more slowly. Then a third time.

'Is this a joke?' you ask yourself. 'What two elements of magic do lightning magic have dominion over?' You suppose it made sense to start with the easy questions first, but they didn't even ask you to explain why yellow magic can disperse red and white magic.
Another point about priorities. Ensuring accredited mages can hit multiple moving targets in a row is apparently more important than ensuring they understand magical theory better than a manakete child. Culture clash.


Ryza's getting pretty scary now, huh? Her level's still low, but a level 4 flying Lord that can cast Arcthunder while doubling up as a Healer is no joke.
You know how a common strategy in Fire Emblem Awakening is to just use Robin and Chrom as much as possible? If this was an actual Fire Emblem game, you wouldn't need Chrom.


I have no idea about Mage Name or even what general format it should be in, besides the fact that it is going to be attached to Ryza for the entirety of her very long life so it better a good one. I'd love to reference the manakete part of our temporary secrecy wasn't an obstacle, that is her distinguishing characteristic, or maybe it's her affinity for multiple elements.
I'd suggest something referencing the fact that she's Sky-Blessed, but that would probably be more of a green mage-name.


But speaking of brilliance, there's quite a bit of thematic overlap between lightning and light (not least of all the names are similar). Obviously prioritizing lightning themed names because Yellow manakete but I wonder if we can some up with something that brings both to mind somewhat.
The names are similar enough that it's kinda hard to reference both without sounding like you're referencing only one.
@SoaringHawk218, would something like "heaven" sound associated with both light and lightning? Because it does to me, but I don't live in a Fire Emblem world.

(Another perk of a "heaven" name is that it's a sky thing that's not green-magic-ey.)


[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon.
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[X] Try to find time to talk to Archmage Stormspeaker privately. He seems like a decent fellow, and maybe he can give you some advice.
-[X] Take some time to practice your white magic. You already made some progress on White magic without focusing on it, if there's any place you can make a lot of progress it'll be here.
-[X] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
 
"I know recent FE games really stack in favor of the main characters but this is getting ridiculous!"
To be fair, it's could be somewhat balanced by the fact that Ryza would have triple weaknesses to worry about in bows, dragon-slaying weapons, and probably wind magic as well. And two out of three of those target physical defenses, which I wouldn't expect a mage lord to be too hot on.
 
[] Ryza Levinheart
[X] Levinheart

Gonna rely on the old word for lightning, levin, to see if it rolls off the tongue. Other options... i need more time.


EDIT: Crossing out Ryza Levinheart to avoid confusion, and also including votes.

[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Take some time to practice your White magic. You already made some progress on White magic without focusing on it, if there's any place you can make a lot of progress it'll be here. (Write in what color to focus on.)
 
Last edited:
We're kinda liking the sound of Stormhaven, actually. It evokes the lightning, but also what she wants to use it for: keeping people safe.
 
Considering she owns a mountain, there's some naming potential there--Peakglider, Snowcrown, Cliffsoarer, etc.

Considering that mountain has a catacomb and her dead family...Gravewarden, Stoneguard, or Shrinekeeper. Actually, something like Stoneguard would cover both her guardianship of the mountain and her determination to preserve Heartstones.

I think the reason lightning names leave me unimpressed is because her magical alignment is such a minor, unimportant part of her life overall. Everything she's suffered, the problems she has now, the goals she's set for herself...if I were to sum up Ryza as a person, "She can cast lightning!" would be nowhere near the first, most vital thing to come to mind.
 
I think the reason lightning names leave me unimpressed is because her magical alignment is such a minor, unimportant part of her life overall
Mistress Flarestone and Master Skyfire didn't let that stop them and I respect it.

if I were to sum up Ryza as a person, "She can cast lightning!" would be nowhere near the first, most vital thing to come to mind.
I'd like to posit that "She's a yellow manakete" is the very first thing that was voted on in this quest. And on a more serious note, her heritage as a member of the Yellow tribe is something she has always been proud of.

Though, so long as we're talking about problems Ryza has now and goals that she set for herself, we could try something that hints at her goals relating to the advancement of human magic. Or her wishes that manakete and humans be able to live in peace together. Though I'm currently on the Yellow/Light theme train myself. Or maybe a name that embraces her love of learning, though I wouldn't know where to start there.
 
Last edited:
How about Sunseeker? It's yellow, it's in the sky, and it's a very good ball of burning hot in the heavens.
 
Oh yeah, a question. Now that Ryza can free-cast Light, what does she get when Tablet Casting? Mend? Or something else?
 
"I guess that makes sense," Apollo says as you reach the front door. The two of you stare at each other for a minute before Apollo kicks at the ground. "Alright, well, goodnight, and good luck tomorrow, and sorry for making you uncomfortable earlier…"

"It's alright," you say. "I should have told you in advance, and it's not that bad, they're just a little ticklish. It didn't hurt or anything."

"Still, it's wrong to do something a girl isn't comfortable with when she doesn't want you to," Apollo says earnestly. "Arti would have been super mad at me."

You smile. "Oh, Artemis's hugged me plenty of time, even before she asked if she could. I didn't mind, of course, but she wouldn't really have a leg to stand on in this case."

"I guess," Apollo says. "Well, I… I had a lot of fun today, thank you."
For reference, this is the segment of the conversation that the eavesdropping (or doorsdropping?) boys heard. It's easily interpretable, by the one-track mind, to imply that Ryza let Apollo cop a feel of something other than her wings. It'd be wrong, obviously, and the hugging line makes it a very dubious interpretation, but they are preteens...
 
What is Ryza's Mage Name going to be?
[X] Weatherlight

[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
 
Thanks for the update.

[X] Levinheart

[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Try to find time to talk to Archmage Stormspeaker privately. He seems like a decent fellow, and maybe he can give you some advice.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
 
[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Try to find time to talk to Archmage Stormspeaker privately. He seems like a decent fellow, and maybe he can give you some advice.

Don't want to use the full slate of six actions if only because there's still the matter of Artemis's side of things. Revisionist and the Regent's plan strike me as the two biggest issues to investigate here.

I am the absolute worst at names so I'm just going to wish everyone good luck and stay very far away. :V

Not sure if Ryza is intentionally choosing to prioritize Apollo's feelings over avoiding dumb rumors or if she hasn't grokked the connection between physical contact with a boy and rumors about dating.
She 100% doesn't realize it AFAIK. In her defense, since she spent most of her life growing up with just her parents I'm pretty sure her grasp on relationships with peers (well relatively seeming) and how others would perceive it is lacking. And that's before any differences between socializing among manakete and humans compounded again by the fact that Ryza's understanding is probably what her parents told her/what she read rather than firsthand experience. Basically she only has what she learned on the fly at Agrithe to go on and that's influenced by most people knowing she's a manakete there looming over everything. The closest was probably that one time she was at Legerius and approached the three girls to chat (and gather intelligence so okay still not completely normal)
 
I'd say... Three ideally, four if we want to be spicy. More than that would be dangerous I think.

I also think chasing Blitzbolt is bait. I have to assume that Stormspeaker knows his shit, so leave it to him to enforce the Law. Better to network and take advantage of opportunities we won't get again once the Pact gets broken.

[X] Sunseeker

[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.


Humans aren't stupid, if there's something to be found in the Smokestack, they'd have found it by now, or the Conspiracy would have--either way, it's probably not a good choice of actions.

Talking to Stormspeaker Privately... Not necessarily a bad idea, but I have to assume he's taking the possibility of all this going down seriously, and we don't want to distract him.

Chasing Blitzbolt is a fool's game, if he's legitimately an Imperial Partisan at all costs, he's going to be watched by Stormspeaker at this point, and I don't think we'd do a better job investigating than he will. If he's not and he's just Doing a Bit, then we don't want to risk fucking that up.

So with all of that eliminated, it leaves us time to focus on what matters most. Networking.

First, we talk to the Revisionists, then the Heads of the Towers. Then we go for the Libraries. Three actions I'd say are fairly safe, and that covers all of the critical stuff we won't be able to easily access later, while getting our feels across otherwise and some solid impressions across notable people. Then we can chat with Searedstone as our fourth slot for a stretch goal. If we get an Interruption, we've got Apollo there with us for sure, which is priority one, while also not being in some isolated place when it happens. If we don't, we can do a last bit of networking before the hammer falls.

Either way, this should be a good deal of measured risk, as long as the dice gods don't decide to fuck us completely (Assuming this is diced and not narrative anyway).
 
Last edited:
[X] Sunseeker

[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.
 
[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…

[X] Sunseeker

After thinking about it, 3 actions should be safe in that we'd be gone when intercept comes.
 
Last edited:
[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[X] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[X] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.

[X] Thunderheart
 
We need to prioritize so that we are not around when Things Happen. Finding out the Regent's scheme is the most important thing, followed by getting the Revisionists on-side, followed by what time we can spare for getting whatever might be in Smokestack and making use of the libraries. Practicing magic can be done anywhere, so we don't need to do that right now.

[X] Thunderheart
[X] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[X] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[X] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[X] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
 
Back
Top