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I Walk in Dreams -- An Esoteric Journey Quest

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[X][ASPIRATION] What happened at the beginning of all things

This is a really interesting question.

[X][GENDER] Male
[X][WOE] Isolation
 
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the true nature of the self.
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][ASPIRATION] To see the world as it truly is

What use would one have for gender in the Climb? Burn it with all the other kindling as fuel for your ascension. For more knowledge, more power.
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant


[X][WOE] Isolation
[X][WOE] Ailment
 
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[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the true nature of the self.
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
[X][WOE] Ailment
 
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the true nature of the self.
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
[X][WOE] Ailment
 
In Aleister Crowley's 1944 The Book of Thoth, the suit of wands is associated with the action of the Will and the element of fire. The meaning of the suit as a whole focuses on ideas or readings associated with primal energy, spirituality, inspiration, determination, strength, intuition, creativity, ambition, expansion, and original thought.

We could be a pyromaniac!
Or a gym bunny :p
 
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][WOE] Isolation
[X][GENDER] Female
 
mathymancer said:
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][WOE] Isolation

I imagine someone lonely falling into an internet rabbit hole and becoming obsessed with some mystical mystery. Seems like a pretty realistic background, except for the part where the thing they're obsessed with is actually real.
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This works for me.
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][WOE] Isolation

I also have a few off the wall ideas like
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of ambition
I'm imagining someone who feels listless and adrift in the waking world. They understand their life sucks, but don't know how to change it.

[X][ASPIRATION] become strong without becoming cruel
similar to above but more proactive. Someone who was weak and bullied their whole life learning how to stand up not just for themselves, but others also - without repeating the cycle of abuse.

[][ASPIRATION] master the power of FIRE!!!!
yes, the exclamation marks are essential (and/or use fire powers to make books fire proof)

[][ASPIRATION] make friends
combined with the isolation woe and book learning this would probably be a very depressing story. Or possibly bittersweet. Something about discussing dreams makes me melancholic so it fits for me.

Edit:
It occurs to me that we're voting to make this person pretty miserable so far. I find it less disturbing to read about miserable men then women, so...
[X][GENDER] Male
 
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AlexScribler said:
It occurs to me that we're voting to make this person pretty miserable so far.
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Quick interjection: the final character creation vote, as mentioned, will involve putting together the various factors that have heretofore been voted on and selecting from various possible descriptions of what your life is like. Some will be more actively unhappy than others. Any of the [WOE]s can contribute to being a miserable person, because, well, that's what a woe is. I'm not here to write misery porn about your Days unless the quest makes it clear that that's what they want to read. We're voting on it because, even though the Days do not have mechanical effect on your ability to "win", they are an important part of your characterization. If you leave out the Days, and the context of your character's roots within mundane reality, then the Nights have a lot less impact, and all we're left with is a somewhat randomized resource-management game.

But, at the same time, nobody who is fully content with their mundane life seeks to Ascend. This is not to say there are no happy occultists; it's not actually hard to reach the dreaming-realms and while away your nights in its lowest and gentlest reaches, if you learn the trick of it. But if there were not some unfulfilled yearning within your soul, some profound dissatisfaction with the way things are, you would not Aspire, and you would not be climbing.
 
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CedeTheBees said:
What use would one have for gender in the Climb? Burn it with all the other kindling as fuel for your ascension. For more knowledge, more power.
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
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Clarified my suggestion with a blurb. Just in case it got interpreted as "either gender is fine".
 
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[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][WOE] Isolation

I kinda like the idea of a semi-shut-in who delves into mysticism and books to escape their lack of connection to others... possibly in hope that they will find connections there they cannot find in the waking world...?
 
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][WOE] Isolation
[X][GENDER] Female
 
Throwing my hat into the ring for another archetype

The world is not as it appears to be, this much you know understand. And thus you refuse to be blinded again even as you close your eyes to climb: There is no aspiration higher than truth.
[X][AMBITION] To see the world as it truly is

And yet, there are those who would keep you in your place. They hide in the the shadows, they sit in the walls, they whisper of madness and delusion - do they?
[X][WOE] Conspiracy

What use would one have for gender in the Climb? Burn it with all the other kindling as fuel for your ascension. For more knowledge, more power.
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
 
glyph said:
Throwing my hat into the ring for another archetype

The world is not as it appears to be, this much you know understand. And thus you refuse to be blinded again even as you close your eyes to climb: There is no aspiration higher than truth.
[X][AMBITION] To see the world as it truly is

And yet, there are those who would keep you in your place. They hide in the the shadows, they sit in the walls, they whisper of madness and delusion - do they?
[X][WOE] Conspiracy

What use would one have for gender in the Climb? Burn it with all the other kindling as fuel for your ascension. For more knowledge, more power.
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
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My dreaming form has no need for genitals. Or...way way to many.

[X][AMBITION] To see the world as it truly is
[X][WOE] Conspiracy
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
 
[X][AMBITION] To see the world as it truly is
[X][WOE] Conspiracy
[X][GENDER] Yes
 
[X][ASPIRATION] To see the world as it truly is
[X][WOE] Conspiracy
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the true nature of the self.
 
[X][ASPIRATION] Understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
[X][GENDER] Irrelevant
[X][WOE] Isolation
 
Closing it up.
Scheduled vote count started by picklepikkl on Mar 20, 2024 at 7:43 AM, finished with 27 posts and 24 votes.
[aspiration] [woe] [gender] [ambition]
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Consensus is pretty clear here.

I have a busy morning at work, so expect the last character creation vote in a few hours.
 
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Character Creation -- Part Three
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    • [*][ASPIRATION] I aspire to understand the nature of the dreaming-realm
    [*][GENDER] Irrelevant
    [*][WOE] Isolation

    Tally

    Your starting Aspiration is specifically to understand the nature of the dreaming-realm. Ambitious stuff! But the entire Ascent is ambitious, so, well. Your gender identity is somewhere between a shrug, a blank look, and an upraised middle finger. (As a note, this is why I like write-ins for this: in this context, "agender" and "irrelevant" have the same denotation, but the connotations are quite different!) And the biggest problem besetting you in your life is your isolation; whatever your other issues, the one that causes you the most pain is your lack of anyone emotionally close.

    Let's put that all together.

    [][BACKGROUND] The Bad Breakup
    When you and your partner split up, it wasn't particularly gracefully handled, and in the aftermath you realized that all your friends were mostly their friends. Since then, you've been just drifting through life, until you happened across some interesting literature...

    [][BACKGROUND] The Filial Child
    You went back home to take care of your ailing parent, and that took all your energy, and in the aftermath of their passing there is no one left around you that you could call close. To cope, you dove into an old hobby of yours, with a seriousness you had lacked, and that seems to have made all the difference...

    [][BACKGROUND] The Awkward Nerd
    You were never very good at making friends, or very close with your family, and even on the Internet where you spend most of your time you just seem to always say the wrong thing. To liven up your days, you tried some stuff you found online, and to your amazement it actually worked...

    [][BACKGROUND] The Burnout
    You got a place at an elite consulting company, and you figured you were set for life. Then, after years of eighty-hour workweeks, you couldn't do it anymore and walked away, but that's all your life had been for so long that you had no one, and now, you cast about for anything that might feel meaningful...

    [][BACKGROUND] Write-in
    Your write-in should be structured similarly to the provided ones above.

    Oh, and one last thing. How do you make yourself known?

    [][NAME] Write-in

    This is the final vote of character creation. After the vote closes, I'll post your character sheet, and the next update will be the first Day, setting the stage for the start of their Ascent.
     
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