[X] Might Alone
[X] War Across the Stars
Raw power is Hunger's greatest advantage against Dien, and raw Rank's the only component of that where Dien has him beat. But as Bearic's fate demonstrates, sufficiently advanced Rank can override all other considerations. He should shore up that weakness before it becomes crippling. Rank also remains really good in its own right with perks like Companions of the King and Supreme Commander. Mostly the latter, party scaling is a perennial problem, but Might Alone's still a shot of relevance to inject the others with.
I'm not exactly deviating from the thread's consensus with this vote, but War Across the Stars is very versatile. They say if you want something done right, do it yourself. Well, now Hunger can be in up to a billion places at once. Which is convenient, because boy does he have a lot of work to do. Here are a few ideas:
Propaganda Actions. They improve Rank-ups and allow for Rank gains from less notable enemies. This term hasn't cropped up in a while, so forgetting it is forgivable, but martial feats aren't actually the sole means of accumulating Astral might! Hunger's just absurd. Crafting and reputation are also part of Accretion, and neglecting the latter aspect means we're underutilizing Breaker of Suns. Trinity II didn't increase our Rank directly, only our modifier when gaining it, but Hunger's memetic appeal is through the roof.
He should consider sending some clones into Association and Empire territory, casting as wide a reputational net as possible in pursuit of Rank and maximizing Supreme Commander. Grant interviews, give accounts of Dien's atrocities. Publicly pledge that he'll pay for what he's done. Make Hungerposting a thing on every messageboard and virtual space under every sun. Can you say #WorthTheDecimation?
Care should be taken to avoid provoking other Shards, as with his current powerset a media blitz is a logical precursor to invasion, but Dien is a great justification for getting away with shit. Send an emissary to the Emissary as well, while remaining mindful of the Tyrant's Doom. It's interesting that the Doom has disappeared almost completely, subsumed into what we think of as Hunger's personality...
After the party and Dien himself, the Emissary's coalition is the preeminent power in the Sphere. Ask Gisena for tips and for a full explanation of how she arranged for its formation, along with the dispositions & idiosyncrasies of its members. If she thinks interacting with the Emissary with halved social/mental stats is a bad idea, heed her advice. Might even be worth sending Hunger's actual body here. Shards have fragments of specialist knowledge but lack power; Hunger has power, but lacks lowercase-r refinement.
The Voyaging Realm. The primary objective should be to get data on what if anything Dien is doing in the Voyaging. Have other Shards awakened within? How does the suppression of the Arcanist interact with the latest Apocryphal proc? Send a few copies back into the Voyaging to check on Nilfel and the Elixir Kingdom. Hunger's wearing a lot of hats these days: Nilfel's Champion, nominal Elixir King, Ring-Lord and Reckoner. At last he'll have force projection equal to his responsibilities.
The secondary objectives are low effort, low-medium yield if there are relevant Surgecrafters or something. Mitigate erosion of Adorie's power-base by preserving the fig leaf used to justify accompanying Hunger. Maybe also drop in on Sten? Hunger did just destroy the Azure, the Temple should know.
Miscellaneous Ideas. Wraith-clones have a tenth of an ISH level in celerity; Aobaru has fractional ISH buffs of his own, which last twenty-four hours. Try and find a way to refresh the buff at range with some combination of Essence/Spirit/Union/Space. If not, blitz the hardest targets first, though given travel time the buff'll likely lapse before they're in position. The ability to get updates from clones (Mind/Space?) should also be high-priority for coordination and info-gathering purposes.
Obviously the Feeder Suns need to go, but subversion is better than destruction. Send clones for them, see about projecting the Sophont Halo's effects through them (Space/Essence/Union?). Chase down all the bait that Dien dangled to divert Hunger from the party's reunion. Ensure the younger party members get as much training as they can handle. Ennoble the forces liberated with the Galvanic Truss and other elements hostile to Dien. Does Hunger know Asterios exists? Because that's a nice Ring he's got, it'd be a shame if some spirits happened to steal it.
I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing, a lot can be done with a clone army; Hunger should have so many plates in the air they blot out the sun. In any case, rereading recent updates reminded me of other things. Most relevantly, this:
The Azure's destruction means the clock is ticking for Gisena. Thankfully Hunger has the Artifice domain now, but he needs to stabilize the Halo or we've essentially wasted 28 Arete. Energy, Essence, and potentially Time (reverting to a stable state) could be relevant to that task as well.
There are so many ideas it's difficult to enumerate them all, much less assemble something that could be called a coherent plan. How to sift the feasible from the fanciful? Which options are pipe dreams; which merely require skill Hunger doesn't yet possess? Where do his new limits lie? Only Rihaku has the necessary knowledge and intuitions to resolve these questions, and the answers are funneled through the bottleneck of limited wordcount.
This is the problem with Archmage. It's a pleasant one, but all we can really do is throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks. A couple non-clone tactics to conclude this already lengthy post, in no particular order of viability or utility:
- Use the Mind domain to buff everyone during brainstorming sessions.
- Use Mind/Time to delve into Versch's databanks in pursuit of Foremost lore.
- Use Space to retain Adorie's Praxis buffs by transposing the properties of her 'prison' onto Hunger's surroundings.
- Use Essence/Spirit to extend the duration of or enhance Aobaru's buffs, ties into refreshing clone buffs at range.
- Use Essence/Spirit in conjunction with the Sophont Halo and/or Feeder Sun findross to make Aeira the Threnody Sorceress.
- Assess the potential of the Life/Essence/Union domains for manufacturing Satiation targets outside the Realm of Evening.
- Assuming resolution of the Halo's decay, use Time to accelerate Gisena's research.
Finally, check on the progress of her resurrection Grace. This is relevant not just for Letrizia; Aobaru's father died during the Rotbeast attack and Etrynome is Hunger's next hurdle. Dien's undoubtedly done all sorts of somatic shenanigans to upgrade it, but one weakness persists: a human pilot. If Ceathlynn remains unsubverted as Dien's PoV suggests, then she could be disarmed as a weapon by the promise of a resurrection, as Seram did to Sylvie; hopefully the Hero didn't clone Tao for Ceathlynn. Credit goes to Letrizia for this idea, since I was thinking about how the Archduke's death doesn't even enrage her anymore.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. So if we just talk Ceathlynn down we'll unlock the Subordination of War, right?! Puns aside, the question's worth considering: would
Hunger's commitment to vengeance persist in the face of the Hidden Ones offering to resurrect Catherine and his companions, making a paradise realm of his previous world where they all might dwell in eternal idyll? Perhaps now that he's awakened to the truth of his previous existence as the Forebear, but these are the perils of fighting for revenge.
1270 words.
