[X] Make it an official meeting of your allied groups and gather everyone from Remnant who matters to the Schnee manor; the Dallons, Blake as Louise's friend and to represent the Belladonnas, RHPL, DASY, and Sienna.
-[X] No Ironwood, let it be a surprise.
@PieceThruWar I have just realised something amusing, if it would work due to the metaphysics of elder scrolls. The form of a Khajiit is based on the phase of the moon they are born under, going from housecat to man form to sabretooth, so what would happen to a Khajiit born on remnant under the broken moon? Some sort of abomination or mutant?
@PieceThruWar I have just realised something amusing, if it would work due to the metaphysics of elder scrolls. The form of a Khajiit is based on the phase of the moon they are born under, going from housecat to man form to sabretooth, so what would happen to a Khajiit born on remnant under the broken moon? Some sort of abomination or mutant?
Well, their form is dependent on Masser and Secunda specifically, so other moons shouldn't influence them. Rather they would not be conceived in the first place due to not being under the effect of those two moons... but suppose they had already been conceived and were just waiting to be born when summoned to Remnant, it might do something odd. The best example we have of that type of thing is the Void Nights, which are stated to have thrown the Khajiit into chaos, but no real details on how it influenced newborns. I'd say the resulting child would be something like what the Bosmer/Khajiit used to be; an amorphous, shapeshifting beast of mouths and limbs, presumably crying out "Tekeli-li".
As an aside if any you guys are wondering about the next update when Shaping Up has had several since this did, it's much harder to make an update to this without being able to sit down for a while and go through everything that happened already. There's so much in the story and behind the scenes that my current schedule makes it near impossible to do so unfortunately. More traditional stories have the benefit of being much simpler in layout and can be planned ahead. Hopefully it isn't so long that everyone loses interest in this by the time it updates, but if so, at least we've come a long way since telefraging Saito and kidnapping an angry noble.
Well, their form is dependent on Masser and Secunda specifically, so other moons shouldn't influence them. Rather they would not be conceived in the first place due to not being under the effect of those two moons... but suppose they had already been conceived and were just waiting to be born when summoned to Remnant, it might do something odd. The best example we have of that type of thing is the Void Nights, which are stated to have thrown the Khajiit into chaos, but no real details on how it influenced newborns. I'd say the resulting child would be something like what the Bosmer/Khajiit used to be; an amorphous, shapeshifting beast of mouths and limbs, presumably crying out "Tekeli-li".
As an aside if any you guys are wondering about the next update when Shaping Up has had several since this did, it's much harder to make an update to this without being able to sit down for a while and go through everything that happened already. There's so much in the story and behind the scenes that my current schedule makes it near impossible to do so unfortunately. More traditional stories have the benefit of being much simpler in layout and can be planned ahead. Hopefully it isn't so long that everyone loses interest in this by the time it updates, but if so, at least we've come a long way since telefraging Saito and kidnapping an angry noble.
That sounds terrifying, and something we could potentially exploit but rather difficult to achieve. Can you think of any similar magical moons that might have interesting effects? And in an unrelated question, would it be possible for Cynric to learn the runes that our murder monster has been using, as they'd provide him a rather powerful boost.
That sounds terrifying, and something we could potentially exploit but rather difficult to achieve. Can you think of any similar magical moons that might have interesting effects? And in an unrelated question, would it be possible for Cynric to learn the runes that our murder monster has been using, as they'd provide him a rather powerful boost.
Majora's mask has a pretty magical moon, as does Naruto, but like I said, the Khajiit need Masser and Secunda. Azura made it so, meaning other moons, no matter how magical or odd, wouldn't really change their birth forms.
As for the runes, he could learn the mechanics behind them and work to try to recreate the effects to some degree, but the Void Mage Familiar runes themselves need a Void-tainted soul to use them. I know I've made options to study them before, so you could technically have already started on at least the Gandalfr and Mjöðvitnir runes if you'd so chosen.
What if another Moon God played around with the Khajiit? This is completely hypothetical, since we don't know where we would end up if we ever return to Dark Souls but it seems like out of all those Moons and Realms, Gwyndolin's would be the only one to actually affect the Khajiit, though it would require his direct input and influence and might lead to him being eaten by Azura.
Though to be honest, at that point, it seems like Gwyndolin would be basically creating a whole other race. Still, it might be fun to do, especially considering Dark Souls' already existing Cat People, the Lion Clan
What if another Moon God played around with the Khajiit? This is completely hypothetical, since we don't know where we would end up if we ever return to Dark Souls but it seems like out of all those Moons and Realms, Gwyndolin's would be the only one to actually affect the Khajiit, though it would require his direct input and influence and might lead to him being eaten by Azura.
Being a moon deity isn't necessarily important if you have the power or influence to make the change. Majora, Ganon/Demise, and Farore could do it without fear of reprisal from Azura. Salem could corrupt individuals, but not make a viable race. Ug-Qualtoth... well, he is there... watching, waiting, commiserating. Gwyndolin is god of the moon in DS, but is also frail and vulnerable and isn't a real god by TES standards even if he could potentially do what you're asking. Hestia could manage it in Danmachi should you remove her limitations somehow given her sphere includes family, though I'm still iffy on adding danmachi at this point. There are others too, I'm sure, but you get the point.
All of these would still end at best with a new race being born from the khajiit in the same way the khajiit came from the protobosmer.
but suppose they had already been conceived and were just waiting to be born when summoned to Remnant, it might do something odd. The best example we have of that type of thing is the Void Nights, which are stated to have thrown the Khajiit into chaos, but no real details on how it influenced newborns. I'd say the resulting child would be something like what the Bosmer/Khajiit used to be; an amorphous, shapeshifting beast of mouths and limbs, presumably crying out "Tekeli-li".
Well, are they an amorphous mass of flesh hours or days before birth? What if a Khajet is delivered via C-section, miscarried, or aborted? Does a Lovecraftian abomination start attacking evryone in sight with absurdly extendable pseudopods?
What would be the main reasons against going to danmachi for you? I can imagine that it could upset the balancing as the falna can get pretty strong. I can also imagine that the metaphysics of there being so many gods around could be problematic. It could be really fun though. I imagine that most gods would be pretty excited to travel the realms of oblivion considering how bored they all are.
Well, are they an amorphous mass of flesh hours or days before birth? What if a Khajet is delivered via C-section, miscarried, or aborted? Does a Lovecraftian abomination start attacking evryone in sight with absurdly extendable pseudopods?
What would be the main reasons against going to danmachi for you? I can imagine that it could upset the balancing as the falna can get pretty strong. I can also imagine that the metaphysics of there being so many gods around could be problematic. It could be really fun though. I imagine that most gods would be pretty excited to travel the realms of oblivion considering how bored they all are.
Mostly just figuring out how to scale things appropriately. I'm not concerned with anyone being overpowered per se, since I made it clear early on that you guys can achieve godlike power and we've seen Louise doing Louise things, but figuring out how falana bs compares to the other bs already implemented.
It'll probably join the list at some point, just maybe more in the manner of how you guys did Worm rather than full on migration ala Remnant.
I'm going with that it's a Schrodinger's khajiit sort of situation.
Mostly just figuring out how to scale things appropriately. I'm not concerned with anyone being overpowered per se, since I made it clear early on that you guys can achieve godlike power and we've seen Louise doing Louise things, but figuring out how falana bs compares to the other bs already implemented.
It'll probably join the list at some point, just maybe more in the manner of how you guys did Worm rather than full on migration ala Remnant.
I for one would be interested how you handle the metaphysics of the situation. And if it was a shorter stopover then how would the falna work? Take a God with us? Not really expecting an answer, but it is interesting.
Most likely, yes, you would have to kidnap persuade a god to join the crew. Assuming that doesn't work out, usurping the falna is unlikely without some higher being to do it for you, so Cynric can't exactly just study it and call it good.... now where would you find one of those?
How is Karin doing, and how soon should we expect her to wreck our shit?
What ever happened to Vista? I seem to recall us bludgeoning her unconscious (or while she was already unconscious, one of the two), force-feeding her alcohol (again, while unconscious), and then dumping her somewhere in Brockton Bay (presumably not a good part of town).
Actually, speaking of Brockton Bay, how are the Undersiders doing?
And did Danny die? I vaguely remember some random civilian getting blown up, and it may or may not have been implied to be Danny, but I can't remember if there was ever confirmation.
Finally, when's the Pikachu Interlude!? And will it be written entirely in "Pikachu," "Pika," "Chu," and other such variations on the name?
What ever happened to Vista? I seem to recall us bludgeoning her unconscious (or while she was already unconscious, one of the two), force-feeding her alcohol (again, while unconscious), and then dumping her somewhere in Brockton Bay (presumably not a good part of town).
You forget the fact that we also dumped her along with a zombie Empire 88 goon, who totally 'killed' her friend and comrade Clockblocker, popping his head from the inside out like an overripe melon.
You know, fun, wholesome activities all that build up character.
How is Karin doing, and how soon should we expect her to wreck our shit?
What ever happened to Vista? I seem to recall us bludgeoning her unconscious (or while she was already unconscious, one of the two), force-feeding her alcohol (again, while unconscious), and then dumping her somewhere in Brockton Bay (presumably not a good part of town).
Actually, speaking of Brockton Bay, how are the Undersiders doing?
And did Danny die? I vaguely remember some random civilian getting blown up, and it may or may not have been implied to be Danny, but I can't remember if there was ever confirmation.
Finally, when's the Pikachu Interlude!? And will it be written entirely in "Pikachu," "Pika," "Chu," and other such variations on the name?
It'd be too much of a spoiler to answer about Karin, but know that she is doing well.... from a certain point of view.
Vista is under observation. Understandable given that she no doubt feels responsible for her teammate's totally preventable death to that murderous skinhead, being concussed and forcibly inebriated apparently not a good enough excuse.
The undersiders... are not doing well by any point of view.
Danny? If you're talking about the car that was blown up early ok in Louise's Brockton adventure, no. That would have been too much of a coincidence.
If you or anyone wants to write a pikachu interlude like that, I'll threadmark it.
Whatever happened to that lizard monster we summoned that turned invisible and escaped us? Did Trobror ever manage to deal with that?
Also, how much time has passed for Earth Bet since we've been gone? If I remember correctly, Earth-based planes move at. . . I want to say four-ish times the speed of Remnant's plane. And we've been here for months, so at least the better part of a year for Bet, I'd think.
Actually, how long has it been for Cynric since the quest began? I want to say at least two years, but Cynric doesn't seem to care much for keeping track (especially now with a viable method of immortality), so Louise is the only real measuring stick we've got, and she's usually too busy being traumatized, being traumatizing, or both to effectively reflect on the passage of time.
And should Weiss be added to the Character Sheet now? Tsun is there, so I'd assume that Weiss would also be added now that she's a Familiar, too.
, how much time has passed for Earth Bet since we've been gone? If I remember correctly, Earth-based planes move at. . . I want to say four-ish times the speed of Remnant's plane. And we've been here for months, so at least the better part of a year for Bet, I'd think.
There's a bit of time-fuckery going on there, but without looking at exactly how long you've been on Remnant, at the moment it has been roughly a year and four months... maybe more, I'd have to check.
Actually, how long has it been for Cynric since the quest began? I want to say at least two years, but Cynric doesn't seem to care much for keeping track (especially now with a viable method of immortality), so Louise is the only real measuring stick we've got, and she's usually too busy being traumatized, being traumatizing, or both to effectively reflect on the passage of time.
Without looking at my timeline, I can say it has been around 2 to 2&1/2 years. I'll have to double check though. It has definitely been long enough that despite being a minor at the quest start, Louise is now an adult and the eldest in her peer group.
Weiss will be added, I just haven't gotten around to doing the stats and such for her so I haven't given her a page yet. Rest assured, she and her father are now part of the party whether they want to be or not.
Don't know if this has been asked already but do you have any plans for cynrics semblance or are we gonna go a different route like a zanpakuto or stand?
Don't know if this has been asked already but do you have any plans for cynrics semblance or are we gonna go a different route like a zanpakuto or stand?
[X] You know what? You'd rather just invite Ruby to Salem's visit tomorrow so she, Louise, Weiss, and Amy can do the explaining to the others.
[X] Get a tour of the manor and take a look at Louise's two newly bound Schnee servants.
Inviting other more would just make the situation more chaotic and higher chance of failed diplomacy. Lets not do that ya?
Of all the strange events that transpired recently, Sienna had to admit that sitting opposite Jacques Schnee in a less than hostile meeting still felt the most surreal.
A parasite? Grimm were always horrifying, this was just another form of the same. An attempted coup? Expected to happen to any leader eventually, even if she hadn't thought it would be Adam of all people... Gods, when had they gone so wrong?
The intent behind the meeting wasn't as surprising as the event itself. Oh, the Grimm have a leader who wants an alliance? All this meant was that that insane serial killer, Callows, hadn't been quite as insane as she'd assumed. It wasn't as if it was hard to believe that there was an intelligence guiding the creatures of Grimm, even coming from an endless source, their numbers were routinely beaten down. On their own, civilization wouldn't be relegated to less than two dozen cities and a fluctuating number of smaller settlements.
No, having the enemy of her people pouring her drink with out a flicker of recognition in his empty eyes was much less believable. More so than if he hadn't been affected by... whatever had evidently happened, but still hard to accept as real.
Of course, the rest of the gathered people weren't necessarily of the same opinion.
"Salem controls those Grimm things?" The blonde human, Victoria something-or-other, sounded like she'd been punched in the gut. "But she seemed so nice!"
"So does Cynric most of the time, but the guy's a literal necromancer straight out of a fantasy book." The other blonde, who happened to look exactly like a larger version of the first if you ignored the giant burning spider that replaced her legs.
If Sienna remembered their introductions correctly, the girl, also Victoria, had somehow passed herself off as a spider-faunus. How anyone fell for that, she had no idea. No faunus had traits that unbalanced toward the animal side. The most Sienna herself had ever seen were fish-faunus who had their legs replaced with fins, not an entire monstrous spider! It was unthinkable and clearly showed how ignorant the humans were that they actually believed the girl's blatant lie.
Maybe it wasn't just the humans, since Blake had apparently fallen for it too. Shifting her eyes to Belladonna, she sighed. "Ridiculous."
"You got something to say, Kitty?" Amy, the brunette sister asked defensively, misunderstanding her statement.
Rolling her eyes, Sienna ignored the misled hostility as the Schnee girl asked, "Straight to racism? Very mature, it's a shame you and father can't discuss ideologies."
"I'm not-"
Interrupting her sister's denials, the human Victoria asked, "Can we talk about that? I mean, I can't be the only one concerned by him doing his best Tsun impression, right?"
"That's a bit rude to Tsun, don't you think?" The lone boy spoke, needing no introduction for Sienna to recognize him as the Arc scion. The hair and emblem made it rather obvious.
"Yeah, he's a bit... reserved, but not a brain-dead zombie like this dude." The other blonde, Yang, said and Blake nodded in agreement. "No offense, Weiss-cream."
Something about what the girl said made Tyne, his apprentice, the Dallons, and Schnee's daughter display various degrees of amusement and disgust. Hinata, the white pupilless-eyed child who radiated danger just smiled nervously.
"The nauseating infatuation you two have with my servant aside, I... might have put too much magic into binding Weiss' father." The pink haired girl admitted, sounding more like a child who knocked over a vase than someone who destroyed a man's mind. "I didn't mean to, but he brought it on himself for threatening Cattleya."
Jaques Schnee threatening the shapeshifting Ursa Major that could create giant golems? That made her snort in amusement. And here she'd thought the man intelligent despite their enmity... clearly he had just been extraordinarily lucky until now.
For whatever reason, Tyne seemed to have surrounded himself with children. Why, Sienna could only guess, probably because they were powerful in some way while still being easier to influence than adults. It hardly mattered to her. She couldn't care less if he liked listening to their squabbling, it was a waste of her valuable time to sit and hear them drag the conversation through tangents.
---------------------------
"Kill him, torture his family, or enslave him like he's so fond of doing to my people, I don't care. We're not here for any of that!" Sienna's growl cut through the conversation with ease.
You'd wondered how long she would last. A people person, Sienna is not.
"Sienna..." Blake warned too quietly for most in the room to hear, but by Sienna's ear's twitching and Hinata's flickering gaze, you weren't the only one to catch it.
Having caught everyone's attention, the tigress ignored her. "I want to know what this 'Salem' intends."
"She's kind of, y'know, the queen of all the monsters that have been at war with humanity since forever." Yang made sure to point out. "I'm pretty sure we know what she wants."
Shaking your head, you tell them, "Salem claims to only control what Grimm are near her. Anything beyond roughly fifty miles either follows general orders if given previously or acts on their own."
"And we're supposed to take her at her word? I've fought coordinated hordes across Remnant and I highly doubt she was there for every one of those battles."
Trying to mollify Sienna, who was losing her composure, you reply, "Having left what could reasonably be assumed her maximum range, I am inclined to believe her. The Grimm outside of Remnant's atmosphere all acted like mindless beasts and she has given me no reason to doubt her sincerity."
"One of her creatures invaded my body!"
Right, that. Well, Sienna might have good reason for her reservations... though she perhaps hadn't thought through her declaration. Now the gathered teens were staring at her.
Coughing into her fist with a blush, Weiss speaks up, "M-my condolences, that must have been unpleasant. Regardless, we have an opportunity to bring about the first real peace in recorded history. I think a little... forgiveness might be warranted."
"Um..." A voice starts, drawing all eyes to Pyrrha. The redhead's apparent ostracization over the Arc boy's near murder meant she rarely spoke up the few times you've seen her. "I understand my input might not be welcome..."
Whatever their differences, perhaps they'd been working on resolving them, because Jaune exchanged looks with Yang before telling her, "We're all friends here, Pyrrha. Go on."
"Yeah..." She doesn't sound convinced, looking down at the table. "I- I was just going to say... maybe we shouldn't team up with the Queen of the Grimm? We're Huntsmen and Huntresses. We should be working to defeat the Grimm, not-"
A giggle broke out to her left.
Grinning, Ruby chirps, "Yeah, you're right! We just need to beat them, why didn't I think of that?!"
Your eyes meet Louise's and she gives a helpless shrug as you both know what's happening. By the expression on Yang's face, she does too.
"Oh, right." She continues, slapping a hand to her forehead. "Because that's impossible!"
"Ruby, calm down." Her sister tries, visibly regretting the table between them, but is brushed off.
'Telling people to calm down always works. Good idea, child.' You think, marveling at the girl's idiocy.
"Why? Because I'm supposed to cheer up and go back to normal? So we can throw our lives away fighting a pointless war for no reason?"
Arc apparently cannot help himself, asking, "Isn't protecting people a good enough reason?"
"Oh, grow up, Jaune." Ruby scoffs, causing him to recoil. This... is not the same bright and cheerful girl you recall meeting a while back, so you can only imagine how her peers must feel. "We could kill thousands of Grimm and rescue a hundred villages and it wouldn't matter. The longer we fight, the more people die because we can't actually protect them all. We can't be everywhere, we can't kill all the Grimm, and even if Salem's lying about being immortal, killing her just means we lose any chance at ever stopping the Grimm. In case you didn't hear, the Grimm are on other planets too."
Nikos stepped in to argue for the blonde boy, "Yes, b-"
A wasted effort.
"Giant ones. Like, 'could bite an Atlas cruiser in half' giant and that's just what we saw from the moon!" Pushing herself away from the table, the girl threw her hood over her head and made for the door, pausing long enough to add, "We either take her offer and make peace, or every death from here on out is on our hands. I know what side I'm on."
As the doors swung back and forth on their hinges, Weiss gracefully stood to speak. "Well, if we're all agreed?"
Yang's burning fist met the table, scattering pieces everywhere.
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A/N:
So, I realize that it's been a long while... almost five months really, but I got sick and some free time to do some review of the story and type, so I thought I should at least let you guys see the results of the last vote. Now we come to a dilemma; do we continue on from this point in spite of the slower update rate or do we let it die? As I've said, this is much harder to do a quick update for than my other stories due to just how much has happened in the 3 years it's been running (did a double-take at that) and needs to be accounted for.
I enjoy the shenanigans, don't get me wrong, but the chaos really hasn't made it easier to track and I lost some of my notes to corrupted files. I figure we can continue from this chapter and I can put in a vote option, we can leave it as is, or we can do something... different.
You see, I had several outcomes pre-planned for the eventual confrontation with the Two Brothers at the end of this Arc... assuming you guys didn't go off and do some random shit to destroy any semblance of order that was building up. Again.
Anyway, if agreed upon, we could go for Outcome 3 of 5: Goodish Bad, But Not Completely Terrible And Actually Kind Of Useful. This one was honestly the most likely to happen so long as you were moderately prepared for the confrontation (meaning at least having all of the relics) and was specifically going to change things up quite a bit in regards to how much I would need to manage. The Note Corruption hit me like a sack of bricks and had me scheming against it for a bit. I think you guys would enjoy it and I would make a new thread to clear things up.