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 .
Voting is open for the next 1 day, 21 hours

Yeah, I'm really bad at coming up with names (partially why I'm having you all do it :p ) so I took a lot of ideas. There are a few other thinly-veiled references in this chapter as well.


I think this one's actually right; she's packing everything except certain items into the bag.

@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.

It does have a bit of a Green and White connotation, but yes, it does work.

Oh yeah, a question. Now that Ryza can free-cast Light, what does she get when Tablet Casting? Mend? Or something else?

Since White isn't her native element, she doesn't automatically progress through the tablet-castings, but when she does a bit more study on White magic she can get either Mend, Shine/Ellight-with-tablet, or both.

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).

It's not diced: I've set out a timeline, and certain things happen at certain numbers of things Ryza does. That's why order's important.
 
It's not diced: I've set out a timeline, and certain things happen at certain numbers of things Ryza does. That's why order's important.
Thread: This makes me think that it is absolutely critical that we investigate the Regent's plans first, before anything has a chance to happen. Ryza might just be able to do something about any dastardly plans, like Blitzbolt taking down the College's defenses so that the Regent's troops can move in, or something along those lines.
 
[X] Sunseeker

Fine, fine. I can tell the yellow magic obsession is here to stay. *Grumbles disapprovingly*

Well, at least this name doesn't directly reference lightning. It has a pleasant sound to it and seems vaguely upbeat, outgoing and optimistic, and that's way more in character for Ryza than some of the more militant-sounding variants. We are very much not talking about a violent or angry person here, after all.
 
[X] Thunderheart
sounds good enough for me.

[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.



1- The Revisionsts: Important to get a team of people on our side and make sure they know the truth.
2- Meeting with the heads: they're important people who we want to like us, best to get to them ASAP. Personally I'd probably put this first, but better to keep the votes aligned.
3- The library: There's a lot of valuable knowledge here and we won't be able to access this library in the future (unlikely we'll want/be able to travel back here any time soon). However, it should be a reasonably safe area and we can have the librarian protect us from harassment if it should come to that.
4- This one's much more questionable but it'll be good to get some grounding on what the Imperials are actually like.

As much as I'd like to do everything, I'd rather get out before the worst events happen, which 4 actions should hopefully let us do. I expect rumors about us will be flying around fairly quick but outside forces won't be able to act on them until quite a bit later. We spent the action learning the lay of the area, we might as well use that knowledge.
 
[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] Ryza Levinheart
[X] Levinheart

Levinheart rolls off the tongue better than Thunderheart and has fewer unfortunate sound-based implications.
 
Alright, I've finally come up with something.

[X] Fulgurscion

Sounds fancy enough without being completely pretentious (I think anyway), the fulgur part can refer to lightning or the flash of it and scion alludes to her heritage without literally being something dragon related.

I almost went with something like "Fulgurscale" and was like "Why does that sound familiar, is there someone else named F-something-scale oh that's right."
 
[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] 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] 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] 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.
 
Question, should this vote be a plan vote? Because I'm not sure how the current votes are going to stay organized. Especially taking into account the amount of activities that we'll do and the order of them.
 
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[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] 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…
 
Question, should this vote be a plan vote? Because I'm not sure how the current votes are going to stay organized. Especially taking into account the amount of activities that we'll do and the order of them.
When there's about 2 days l'll post a tally and ask people to choose the more popular choices. At least, that's my plan.

We could go back and have plan votes now, that would work to.


EDIT: My thought process is that, since the order matters, each of the blocks is functionally a plan vote already. For example:

Adhoc vote count started by SoaringHawk218 on Jun 4, 2023 at 4:16 PM, finished with 50 posts and 26 votes.

  • [X] Thunderheart
    [x] Levinheart
    [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.
    -[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.
    [X] Ryza 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] 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.
    [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] 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.
    -[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.)
    [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 find time to talk to Archmage Stormspeaker privately. He seems like a decent fellow, and maybe he can give you some advice.
    -[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.
    -[X] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
    -[X] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.
    [X] Stormheart
    [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.
    [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] 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.
    [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] Stormhaven
    [X] Fulgurscion
    [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] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
    [X] Havenheart


If the vote were to be called right now:

[] 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)
-[] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[] 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.
-[] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.


would win, since it has the most votes. By giving people a chance to put their ideas out and then rally with about 2 days left, I think that would work.

Let me know if I'm missing something obvious, it's quite possible.
 
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I think the reason lightning names leave me unimpressed is because her magical alignment is such a minor, unimportant part of her life overall.
Well, yes, but magical alignment is supposed to be a big part of mages' mage-names. That seems to be the point—either it's saying "My magic is such a big part of my life that I'm naming myself after it," or it's saying "FYI I'm a thunder mage, so try not to let the wind mages fight me".


[X] Sunseeker
[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] 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.
 
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[x] Stormcaller
[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] 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
[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…

Focus on the important things more than the nice to have things.
 
[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…
 
[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.

I'm a fan of these ones.
 
[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] 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.)

I honestly think that trying to check on the Regent will be too dangerous and may jeopardize Ryza in some way. And visiting Master Searedstone doesn't seem to be able to offer much that we don't know.
Battle is soon to come one way or another, so having more exp in White will be more usefull.
 
[X] Levinheart
[X] Sunseeker

I do like Fulgur- as a prefix but -scion is a poor second part. Levin- is the best prefix though, I think, as it's lightning, and light, and an attitude (by way of levity). Sun- is a bit more focused on the Energy part of Yellow, but I think it's still good for Ryza to be a bit more unconventional and nuanced about her element. Thunderheart makes it sound like she's angry, as do the Storm- suggestions. Obviously it's just a name, and it's hardly an end-all be-all, but you only get one hey?

The time-block voting is a weird and annoying format since order matters, and one of the actions I'd prefer (Smokestacks) is strongly unlikely and also is the last action for the plans that do have it, while most leading blocks care a lot about actions I think are a waste of time (Blitzbolt and Searedstone). I don't see much reason to seek out Searedstone specifically except that Apollo likes him...Also most of Ryza's mage contacts are Red! Flarestone, Skyfire, Apollo, we don't need another Fire slinger. Get a greeny in there or something. Nor is Ryza not gonna get much done about Blitzbolt, I don't think.

Instead she should spend as much time here taking advantage of the location itself while we're here. We're not going to come back soon, if ever. Of course the library or talking to powerful mages is important, given that. But Ryza primarily should be allowed to see as much of her lost culture as possible, before it decays further or is destroyed in the coming war. Human knowledge and society is important but not nearly as irreplaceable.

Five or six actions is too many. Four is pushing it but ehh tolerable...

[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] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
This block is the closest to my priorities. It's unpopular. But maybe if I toss a vote in it'll get more traction, I dunno.
 
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