Fanwork#2670 Words
A Simple Transaction Reaction
- A Simple Transaction -
- I -
Every story spoken has been spoken before.
The boy from Earth stumbles into another realm. A world of wonder and magic, suffering beneath the Tyrant's cruel yoke. The boy becomes a man, the man becomes a hero, the hero defeats the Tyrant, and all live happily ever after. So destiny has decreed.
But the Tyrant is not so easily overcome.
He is wise to destiny's tricks, greater than destiny's stewards. He sets the world spinning to the direction of a new master. Destiny falters; only causality remains. And mere causality does not suffice a hero from coddled Earth to stand against the Tyrant.
A dark mirror to our last quest, it seems. Or maybe all isekai deconstructions seem alike after a while? That the Tyrant, who the hero fought against, opposed these 'destiny's stewards' and the shape of the original Fated path might imply benevolence on their part, but I don't think I can truly think of anything involving Fate as an allied force after our past experiences.
Still, it is always an impressive accomplishment to see a Dark Lord rise above his destined failure and grasp impossible victory, no matter how it was done. Even if he's an ass, he at least gets respect for Namelessing the Fates. That said, reading the description it's a bit confusing whether he actually usurped destiny or simply leveled the playing field.
On the one hand, it all but calls the Tyrant the new master of the world, but on the other hand it says destiny stopped supporting the Hero rather than turning against him. Lack of ability on the Tyrant's behalf or something else?
The hero fails, time and again. The people of the world suffer for his impudence. He loses an arm, an eye, half a lung, all the natural vigor of his youth. The companions with which he journeyed become a procession of the dead. His quest, prophesied as the dalliance of a season, becomes a grim slog of years.
There is no certainty of victory; barely any chance of it. But the hero's heart is full of hate, and it is much too late to stop.
And we've learned from Baenlixnaire that hate can suffice to claw one's way to victory when little else remains.
Though as others mentioned, it's quite surprising how much of a cockroach the Hero is. Everyone around him dies, he is grievously wounded time and again, yet he still survives and continues the fight? Were destiny still in play it would be understandable, but we've been told that isn't the case. The intervention of other players? Or maybe intentional action on the Tyrant's part to gather his opposition around a central figure and deal with them at one fell swoop later? Or maybe the Hero is just that capable, stranger things happened.
He learns from his enemy. Mirrors the monster's unmerciful cunning, turns to those forbidden arts his long-dead mentors warned him against. Finds in them, at last, an arena in which his talent exceeds his adversary's.
Who is the Dark Lord now? Might be hard to call yourself a Hero when you're more talented at the Dark Arts than the actual Evil Overlord. Though I guess he's long past caring about such things.
Years more of preparation, to realize the power that talent portends. Time bought dearly with the blood of his allies, a patchwork insurgency of the desperate and condemned. In sparse moments, the hero and his surviving companions carve out a life for themselves, stealing what joy they can. The long, bitter path of his journey trudges towards culmination.
At least it doesn't seem to be one of those silly 'everyone exploited/betrayed the Hero behind his back' stories. They fight and die for him - and even try to live together as much as it's possible in those circumstances. Though I can't imagine the PTSD all of that caused in the boy from Earth.
One final sally against the Tyrant. As before, their powers are unevenly matched. But for the first time, that imbalance is in the hero's favor.
And yet even that is not enough. The gap in power does not suffice to overcome the gulf of skill still between them. There is no more time. There are no more chances.
Or perhaps the Tyrant realized that the Hero has become too dangerous and decided to stop
giving him any more chances. Though is the gap in skill still so great after a decade of fighting? The Tyrant had to busy himself with the minutiae of rulership, after all, whereas the Hero used that time to fight and train.
The killing stroke descends. The hero's final companion throws herself into its path. The hero becomes a widower.
In the Tyrant's implacable guard, a momentary opening appears.
That the only one capable of throwing herself in the path of the strike was his pregnant wife is kind of ridiculous. Or maybe she was the only one willing to do so when all seemed lost? That's a bit more believable. Still reeks of outside intervention, but that's par for the course at this point.
Burning selfhood like tallow, the widower mounts one final onslaught. In his eyes there is no more victory, no dreams more of failure or success. Only the enemy which must be destroyed, no matter the cost.
The widower prevails. The Tyrant is no more. The peoples of the world celebrate their liberation. Joy and adulation rain upon their silent champion, who stares ahead unblinking.
Though, hmm. As the questers recognized, it's a bit troubling that an Overlord that defeated destiny was laid low right after killing the Hero's love interest. A story forcefully spun back onto its tracks?
Or did the Tyrant merely abandon that role? We're never told his name or anything similar, only that he was a powerful Tyrant. That the Tyrant disappeared doesn't mean the man behind the mask couldn't assume another guise and choose different means to guide the world from the shadows.
After the parade the widower buries his wife and their unborn child. It is eleven years to the day since he arrived in this world.
Crippled by the effulgence of that final strike, the widower is a pale shadow of his prior self. But in the eyes of the people, he is still the hero that was; their protector, their shining knight, their salvation, howsoever delayed though it may have been. And, with the passing of seasons, a glimmer of hope arises in the hero's heart. That, though the cost was ruinous, more than he could bear, there was good in the world still waiting to be fostered.
Hope is the most dangerous poison of them all - as it is with all medicines when taken in wrong doses. It can drive a man to continue on a path when by all rights he should stop and think very hard about his choices.
At least he isn't immediately betrayed? His heroic actions still count for something.
Freedom, Justice, Truth. In time, democracy. A society with the power and wherewithal to be organized around its highest ideals, rather than brute necessity. It is what they would have wanted - and if he no longer wields a hero's strength, still he has a hero's influence.
Is it actually what they would have wanted, or what he
thinks of their idealized versions? I don't want to be a downer, but he's the only actual Earthling there as far as I'm aware, and the rest of his allies were the products of the local society. That they fought against the Tyrant doesn't mean they thought the whole system was wrong. Though hopefully long-term interaction with the Hero let him influence them with his ideals.
...hmm. Is that why they were all killed off by the hidden masters? That they would have carried on his torch if they survived rather than let him fight alone? And the shadowy conspirators didn't want anything to change their neat and simple story.
But the world did not sit idly while he mourned. The kings and dukes who fought aside the hero have filled the vacuum of power left by the Tyrant. And they are content with the system at hand. Theirs is a society of nearly faultless structure, stably and evenly arranged. Their yoke is light, the people are fed. Is that not justice? There is no place here for the instruments of modernity, much less its frivolous ideals.
Unsurprising, to be honest. Changing a system takes more than just killing the ruler, one must change the
people themselves. And that is no simple task, even if you have supernatural means at your disposal.
The hero is not dissuaded. Too many have died for him to surrender this dream. In that resolve the nobility see the beginnings of a Tyrant by a different name. They act. Treachery achieves what all the overlord's power could not: the hero undone at last. Discarded by those who had no more use for him.
Wonder if he was too bull-headed and/or impatient for subtlety, or if they were smart enough to wise up to his tricks. I suppose fighting prowess does not convey political acumen unless all negotiations are reduced to the Bigger Fist method.
In the hero's final moments, despair and hate raging equally across his heart, comes a being with the form of a man, offering vengeance in the form of a bargain.
The being is power beyond measure, beyond the hero's wildest reckonings, the solemn steady heartbeat of all creation, the sword by which all stories would end.
Ah, the Plenary Brand at its finest. Kind of cool that he doesn't need to convince the Hero of anything thanks to the Brand and one of the reasons why I was inclined to take it up, even if it seems like a spectacularly bad idea. It's like having your own background music constantly turned on wherever you go!
Though rereading Seram's meeting with the Accursed, Seram didn't seem to describe anything similar back then, just mentioning that the Accursed seemed hateful. Did he just skip it in typical Seram fashion? He only seemed to appreciate the Accursed's capabilities when they were expressed in terms of numbers after becoming a Cursebearer instead of realizing the scope of the Accursed's powers immediately.
Or... does the Accursed acquire new Curses as he goes? That would make his awful situation even worse.
"Are you the-"
The man cuts him off with an upraised hand. "No, I'm not the Devil, nor am I associated with any that claim to be him. There will be no souls, no contracts, no signing in blood. My offer is that of a simple transaction. I am bound by countless Curses, leaving me greatly diminished, a thin figment of what I once was. Take up a portion of my burdens, and in exchange receive a fraction of my power."
"What's with these Earthlings and their Devil obsession? As if there aren't countless other malicious entities with n transfinite escalations of cardinality worth of power."
The Accursedverse is a scary place. Though that he's so used to the question is both tragic and funny.
Power enough to escape this world, or remake it. This he understands without speaking. Even knowing this, he can not help but dislike the being. If this Accursed one had deigned to act sooner, could his wife and son have been saved?
Ah, the Brand of the Wretched, how I (haven't) missed you. If there's one positive about this whole thing, it's that we don't have to worry about choosing that Curse anymore.
But it had not, and mere dislike means nothing.
How very... rational. Kind of reminds me of Jeanne, who could ignore her own feelings, even those caused by the Brand, and work past them.
What else is there to say?
"I accept."
Mournfully the being closes its eyes. "So be it."
"If you wish only to survive," it continued, "I will grant you a modest portion of my burdens, and power enough to be free of this realm and its shackles. But if you seek vengeance against the powers truly responsible for your suffering here, then you must take on a far more onerous burden. In exchange, you will receive the power of unbounded progression, growth without limit or surcease."
I don't remember the Accursed being sad about choosing Seram, so it's probably not the act of making Cursebearers itself that upsets him. Did he wish he could simply save the Hero without attaching any strings to it? Or does he dislike making Cursebearers out of less than fitting candidates? But then why make the offer in the first place.
It's also interesting that the Hero gets a choice in what kind of Cursebearer he can become, conditional on what he wants to do. The Hero only gets to become a Progression-Type Cursebearer if he's resolved to accomplish a task actually requiring that power, otherwise he gets a dollop of combat capabilities and is told to go have fun.
Are there actually other types of Cursebearers? Crafting types? Ones that specialize in fighting the Curses? Social types? Maybe we'll find out if we venture into the wider verse.
[ ] Freedom - The eyes of the Accursed open. The ghost of a smile plays across his face, almost too quickly to catch. "Perhaps the wiser choice. Be careful which burdens you undertake; they will accompany you for eons to come. Go, enjoy your freedom. You've earned it."
*Become a Combat-type Cursebearer, granted immense personal might at the cost of 2 Curses.
*Yours will be power sufficient to crack planets and shatter nations, to drown the oceans themselves in ash, blot out sun and stars, the fire and impact of a nuclear bombardment as immaterial as rain against your skin.
*Your power will include some means of travel between worlds, allowing you to depart this wretched realm.
*Unless you decide otherwise, relatively comfy quest of nation-building, adventuring & slacking off.
*Perhaps the best revenge is living well.
-Granted power will not grow naturally.
-It is unlikely you will ever discover the truth behind your suffering, much less avenge yourself upon its architects. But the strings are cut, you are a puppet no more. Forget them, and live on.
Letting go of one's past can be one of the most difficult things in the world. Especially when it had such a profound impact on the Hero. Perhaps the Accursed wishes he'd had this choice and picked it? Or is simply glad for the Hero. It's one of the rare expressions of humanity we see from the Accursed, though how much of it is real and how much an imitation we'll never know.
It would likely be a more relaxed type of gameplay. We could still go on adventures and explore, but unless we fuck up with our choice of Curses and/or enemies, we wouldn't be holding a metaphorical time-bomb in our hands and could pace things.
...Sounds a bit boring, even if it's the sane choice. Am I too used to the usual pace and pressure of Rihaku quests, uncomfortable when everything isn't at stake and we're not walking on the razor's edge? Maybe a change
is in order.
[ ] Vengeance - "...If that is what you wish."
"If you survive, no power will be beyond you. In time, there will be no blade you cannot sunder, no force you cannot rout, no foe you cannot ruin, no throne you cannot claim. Take care that you do not become that which you despise."
*Become a Progression-type Cursebearer, granted the potential to attain power beyond all reason through ingenuity and effort, at the cost of the Geas of Indenture, the Apocryphal Curse, and 2 additional Curses.
*Receive only a modest boon of power to start, but you will almost certainly grow rapidly.
*The Geas will take you away from this place, to a world more conducive to your growth, though no less dangerous.
*Should you survive the trials to come, you will almost certainly grow strong enough to plumb this realm of its secrets and overcome its true masters.
*Some say the best revenge is living well. They are lying to themselves. One can strive to live well regardless, but there is no true substitute for revenge. No substitute for doing unto them what they did unto you, for passing sentence upon their richly deserving selves. King or noble, brazen masters or hidden ones... it matters not. When the hour arrives at last, there will be no justice here. Only vengeance.
-Limited initial power
-Forced to take a large number of Curses
-Including the dreaded Apocryphal Curse
---
Ze Red Option. The reddest of them all, you could say. The Strategist would never forgive us if we picked anything else! Combat Types are the ones Progression Types laugh at behind their backs in centennial/millennial meetings - assuming they survive long enough. Which is far from a sure thing, especially when the cost is so immense. The equivalent for
five f*cking Major Curses to get there is no small thing.
It's our usual fare of 'go big or go home', which is not to say it doesn't have appeal. Rather the opposite. It wouldn't be so popular if taking big risks for big gains wasn't such an attracting thing to our questing demographic.
The choice came upon him, knowledge of the Curses appearing unbidden in his mind. All could be mitigated with time and effort, though it would take increasingly heroic efforts to overcome more than a modest fraction.
[ ] The Geas of Indenture - Mortgage your future to pay for the present? The term of your service shall be no less than 937 octillion years. Immediately you will be transported to another world and given a task to complete. Nearly every task will fall into one of two forms: you will be required either to kill a predestined 'Chosen One' of some kind, or to conquer some amount of territory.
You will be granted full discretion in the completion of your tasks and there is no penalty whatsoever to slacking off provided you complete your mission within the generous time window allotted. Assassination tasks typically have a 100 - 500 year window, while conquest tasks usually have a 1,000 - 10,000 (or greater) year window, depending on the scope of the territory in question. Should you complete your mission early, you may choose to vacation in your current world for up to 10 more years before departing to the next task. Your assigned tasks will always be within your given capabilities to achieve. Failure to complete your task within the time window will result in death. You will not be assigned tasks that are totally abhorrent; assassination of a well-meaning hero is about as bad as it gets.
And now the Curses. Starting with an old standby of ours - it's a true-blue Curse, of course, but since this duration are supremely unlikely to ever matter in the context of our quests, we're more used to taking it as a convenient excuse for questing. It's still quite inconvenient and restrictive, but when one looks at the alternatives...
[ ] The Decimator's Affliction - You will naturally absorb the total fundamental life force of the realm you currently inhabit at a rate of 10% per year. Area affected is exceptionally large and scales with your own power; a weak Progression-type might only affect half a continent, while a Combat-type would affect an entire solar system. In the absence of sufficient life force, you will begin to bleed essence, losing components of your powers, skills, identity, memories, and ontological veracity at a proportional rate. Though there are many paths of mitigation available, none of them are pleasant or easy.
Now that I've reread it and thought about it a bit more... the simplest path to Mitigation is pretty much spelled out in the description - just let the Curse bleed you dry instead of having others pay for your choices. We might even be capable of keeping ahead as a Progression-Type Cursebearer, so it may function as some kind of limiter on our advancement, a Slumber with another face? No wonder they're both called Afflictions despite one working on the Cursebearer and the other targeting the outside populace.
And we're a Hero who is so very used to exchanging selfhood for power...
[ ] Affliction of Slumber - A curse of the body. No matter how powerful your physical form becomes, you will require at least sixteen hours of sleep every twenty-four hours. Missing even a single hour will result in severe physiological consequences. If enemies consistently interrupt your sleep, you will find yourself near-constantly disoriented and enervated. Your waking hours are the very stuff of life. With this choice, you surrender half your conscious existence, your very presence in the world, upon the altar of a Curse.
As I and others mentioned both in this quest and the previous one, it's pretty bad for an Indentured Cursebearer, as it both slows advancement (maybe not
that big a deal for a Progression Type) and requires allies who would protect us during our Slumber - who the Geas makes hard to keep with us in significant numbers.
Much more manageable if we aren't on a clock and can take the time to turtle up ad look for allies.
[ ] Brand of the Champion - It is the champion's remit to solve problems, to answer the call of heroism wheresoever it should arise. The champion stands unconquered but alone. Everyone you interact with aside from a select few individuals will refuse to assist you, even in trivial ways, unless you perform some inane or perilous task for them first. Even if all conventions of morality, duty, or good sense would impel them otherwise, they will simply find it unthinkable to aid you without due recompense. The difficulty of tasks is usually equivalent to the degree of assistance you request, though not always.
There is no escaping the Brand, even the Accursed is affected by this, but if you are calling in a Primary Remittance that hinges on his intervention, such as Three Wishes, the tasks he assigns you will be moderately difficult at most.
Another new Curse! This one even seems somewhat mild at first glance - after all, what's the big deal about making the MC's life more like an RPG when it's an actual RPG? If one thinks about it some more though... yeah, it's a Brand alright, making social interaction a nightmarish slog with no reprieve in sight. Our current hero is a bit more social than the last one, so he might actually notice the downsides!
[ ] Doom of the Tyrant - You absolutely refuse to submit to, or even acknowledge the legitimacy of, any rule, custom, law or authority above your own, unless that authority is at least as powerful as a specific instruction from the Accursed himself. Your ability to operate within the context of any organization you are not unequivocally in charge of is utterly crippled. Diplomacy is a laughable dream.
Enemies that are aware of this can provoke you via reverse psychology, though this can only cause you to attack them - you aren't compelled to do the opposite of whatever they order. This Curse comes pre-mitigated in that it does not affect the Accursed, but is very difficult to mitigate further.
It's inadvisable to take this alongside any Brand effect if you intend to ever work with others. Example:
You request a subordinate do something for you -> They refuse until you collect 20 bear pelts -> You refuse to acknowledge the Brand's legitimacy, as it is not greater than the Accursed -> You are unable to ever get your 'subordinate' to do anything
Would be hilarious (if short-lived) to see a combination of this and the Doom of the Martyr - assuming it's possible in the first place.
On the one hand, it doesn't seem too restrictive on the surface: we just don't obey anyone, which we aren't inclined to do anyway. But... it's "very difficult to mitigate", so we'll be stuck with this sort of behavior for a very long time.
And if one considers just what kind of restrictions it imposes, just how far does it go? Can we trade things without going off our rocker because we consider currency part of the government's laws? What about social or moral unspoken rules? Are we forced to buck against them wherever we go, even when they're sensible? Is becoming an undisputed ruler our only acceptable modus operandi?
This Doom makes it so very easy to become the Tyrant it's named after, and we've just spent a decade fighting one. It's actually one of the Curses that goes the most against the MC's current character. Not that he couldn't change or break, but it's a not-insignificant consideration.
[ ] Doom of Lunacy - The large majority of your power (75%) is sealed within a monstrous battle-form that forcefully emerges under conditions of extreme duress. You may voluntarily enter this form, but doing so causes you to go absolutely berserk, attacking without regard to friend or foe until everything in your vicinity is destroyed. Affected area scales with your power, but is always very large. Anyone who perceives the form is afflicted by terror and hatred as if by a Brand-type Curse; all but the most stalwart of allies will turn upon you in the face of it.
This Curse can be only be effectively mitigated by one means. Very occasionally you will encounter certain individuals that are highly compatible with you in some way. It is highly likely that any such individual(s) will be substantially weaker than you in most regards. In their presence the Doom will begin to shift to the Geas of Lunacy, if you do not suppress the change. The Geas of Lunacy does not limit your power in any way, but afflicts you with an unhealthy level of devotion to the individual in question. Their happiness and safety are certainly more important than your own and you will find it difficult to refuse even their slightest whims. It is always surprisingly difficult to augment their power beyond its natural rate of progression.
Can we just skip this one and forget it ever existed? This makes the power combinations we're
addicted used to exploiting in these games so very, very difficult. That we can hulk out doesn't negate the fact that whatever additional powers we acquire to accelerate our advancement would be sealed when we aren't raging. Which is most of the time.
Much worse in that regard than Slumber... unless we find a fitting pair of dainty - or hairy - feet to submit to. I don't know about anyone else, but that doesn't sound too attractive to me, especially when the target wouldn't be chosen by us and would mostly be annoying deadweight.
[ ] Plenary Brand - Like a blazing sun, the radiance of your power is wholly unconstrained, and the shadow of your potential looms perilously, a pall over reality that is impossible to ignore. The truth of your essential nature is broadcast without concealment or pretext. Even if it would normally do so, this effect will not cause others to like you more.
You automatically attract the attention of everyone who perceives you, and your rough capabilities are made apparent to them, to whatever degree they can reasonably comprehend. Disguise is impossible, your nature is blindingly obvious, and enemies so informed of your abilities will act accordingly. Snip Progression-types in the bud with overwhelming strength, retreat and attempt to outscale Combat-types, etc. One of a Cursebearer's greatest strengths is the ability to grow in power undetected by the mighty; anonymity is very often the greatest defense. With this Curse, enemies will never overlook or forget the severity of the threat you pose. Even ostensible allies will likely foment contingency plans.
The Plenary Brand overpowers any forms of stealth or misdirection you might attempt. Furthermore, in any situation where it is remotely reasonable to do so, all enemies will focus their efforts on defeating you first.
Unlike most Curses, the strength of this Brand slowly increases with time. Unless efforts are paid towards mitigation, your mere existence will eventually sear ten billion impressions of yourself into the minds of your allies, rendering them comatose, while your enemies become monomaniacally determined to end you.
The Curse for the cool Cursebearers. Or suicidal ones, it becomes hard to distinguish them after a while. It's the very essence of Malfean Stealth - if everyone who sees you is dead, that means you've hidden yourself perfectly!
It's a bad, bad idea, but the temptation to shine so very
GLORIOUSLY is difficult to ignore.
[ ] The Apocryphal Curse - "May you live in interesting times."
The challenges this presents will usually not be beyond your ability to overcome, but very occasionally you will be forced to dig deep and discover whether you are truly worthy of the Accursed's mantle. Remember: the greater the reprieve, the more terrible the chaos that follows. "Better to be a dog in times of peace, then a man in time of war."
*Counts as 2 Curses. Don't take it unless you have to.
...Counts as two Curses. Enough said. We haven't seen that said about any other Curses previously, so even if the description doesn't sound too intimidating on the surface - once again, the whole point of the quests is to make things interesting in every sense of the word - I'm inclined to believe the GM when he tells us not to take it unless forced to.
---
But alongside those burdens came power, the Remittances of the Accursed that he had paid so dearly for:
[ ] The Regalia - A crown and throne of stars.
A combination of Remittances. While it lacks in focus, it presents its recipient with an arsenal of superior versatility. A practical choice that focuses on minimizing risk and mitigating downside.
*Fortune: Once, upon your death or suffering of an unacceptable loss, you may rewind the relevant timelines up to one hundred years, though not to any point before you became a Cursebearer. All Cursebearers will retain their memories of the period rewound. Triggers unprompted if you die unexpectedly.
*Force: You will acquire a modest but useful superpower synergistic with your existing capabilities.
*Favor: Choose one additional Lesser Remittance.
*Wild: Copy any one of the above effects, making new choices for the copy.
Any powers granted by Remittances are scaled to your current power unless otherwise noted. A Combat-type Cursebearer would receive a greater boon than a starting Progression-type, though the latter might need it more...
A jack of all trades option in the vein of its Diagrammatic theme - it offers power like the Scepter, gives us a redo, and gives us a chance for additional companions or power conveniences like the Immortal Sheath and Quantified World. Doesn't seem very attractive in the face of its competitors, tbh.
[ ] The King's Scepter - Power, plain and simple.
The scepter represents temporal power, power over the world. Shallow though it may be, immediate power represents more than just safety in the moment. Certainly you can't train if you're dead. But power in the moment is also leverage to face stronger foes, to reap greater rewards, to provide greater space for optimization, more resources with which to accelerate your training.
Taking the Scepter all but guarantees you won't be snuffed out before you get a chance to advance, and accelerates your growth curve by giving you the leverage to take risks.
*The Accursed will grant you a mighty power, broad in remit and scope of action and well-suited to your nature. If you are a Combat type, the power granted will be of formidable scale. If you are a Progression type, the power will be optimized to grow with you.
Power compounds into power, as we've learned. And all the potential in the world won't help us if we're ganked by our enemies before we truly take off. Objectively speaking probably the best option for a Progression Type to take, as Seram had showcased so decisively in the last quest. It even grows with us if we're a Progression Type...
[ ] Three Wishes - Your heart's desire.
The Accursed will grant certain of your requests. Do not squander his favor. Substantially mitigating your Curses or otherwise exceeding the Accursed's high expectations will recharge some fraction of either the Least, Lesser, or True Wishes depending on the scale and magnificence of your achievement.
Least Wish - You may wish for anything you could accomplish given a year's worth of effort, knowing what you know now. For example, "Improve my parameters as if I trained with my current methods for a year."
Lesser Wish - You may wish for most anything within reason, though it may not excessively surpass your current power level or that of the reality in which you currently reside. For example:
"Improve my parameters as if I had trained in a reasonably optimal manner for a human lifetime, without any of the negative side effects thereof."
"I wish for a superpower well-tailored to my current situation." Its general power level would be below that of the King's Scepter.
"I wish this enemy were dead beyond the possibility of recovery" would work on a greater variety of enemies than "I wish for this enemy to become my loyal servant."
Resurrection, time travel, social and political power etc are all within the realm of possibility, though each has limits.
True Wish - You may only employ the True Wish defensively unless the Accursed feels you have earned it. Earning it is very difficult. Used defensively, the Accursed will decisively resolve even the direst of situations in your favor. This is as good a guarantee of safety as exists in creation, for no entity you encounter in your travels will be even remotely capable of challenging the Accursed. The elder horrors of the omniverse could turn their unbridled might against you, but sheltering under his aegis you would not feel so much as a breeze.
Used proactively, you may wish for anything, and the Accursed will grant it if it is in your best interests.
Invoke this power with care, for the Accursed does not grant a favors of this scope for all but the most incredible of achievements. Most Cursebearers only get one.
Do you want to wish upon a star? I guess we know what that Accursed Favor is for, aside from making him and us feel good. So very tempting just for the chance of doing a Xiaoling impression in a future fight against some Elder God - "oh you poor guys, haven't you learned by now? It's not what you know, it's who".
We'd have to do something truly incredible to acquire Wishes, but if we're taking the Apocryphal Curse, we might be forced to perform such actions in the course of our journey anyway, so might as well get rewarded for it?
A strong contender for both Freedom and Vengeance, allowing us to resurrect our wife or adjust to varying circumstances in exchange for supreme effort on our part.
[ ] The Sword That Ends The World - Accursed blade.
Access the Praxis, the Accursed's personal casting style. A style of magic that emanates completely from the self, relies completely upon the self, and is developed completely by the self. Advancement in the Praxis depends little on talent, much on effort and self-sacrifice. A dream of fairness, defiant against an uncaring universe. And power enough, in time, to make the universe care.
The Praxis is renowned for its limitless potential and complete omni-dimensional reliability. Where all other magics fail, the Praxis operates with unerring consistency. It excels at inflicting and preventing harm, but struggles in matters of renewal or restoration. This Remittance only access to the Praxis, but only Combat-type Cursebearers will start with skill in its application. Unlike the other Primary Remittances, this Remittance offers no immediate power to a Progression-type Cursebearer.
The Praxis. It pains me to say it, but it doesn't seem to fit either Freedom or Vengeance too well. Too much of a potential-type for Vengeance, not enough resurrection powers for Freedom. It's this super-cool thing we've refused time and again, and I'm reluctant to do so now, but keeping the MC alive and content is kind of more important.
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Lesser Remittances will be chosen after your Primary Remittance is selected. They include choices such as companions, objects of power, slight upgrades to your Primary Remittance and so on. It would be unwise to rely on them for safety in the short or medium term.
Please first vote for your favored combination of [ ] Freedom / [ ] Vengeance, Curses, and Primary Remittance.
Example Lesser Remittances:
Companion: Gisena Allria, the Nullity Sorceress
Physical **
Social ****
Mental ****
On the brink of her execution by a mighty foe, the Nullity Sorceress employed a novel and highly risky application of her powers to tear a hole between realms. Nihilistic, cunning, and disarmingly vivacious, she is an exceptionally talented technologist and socialite. Beautiful, and fond of using her charms to tease, manipulate, and frustrate friend & foe alike.
Modestly superhuman strength, speed, constitution, appearance, and quickness of thought. Her Sorcerous Graces allow her to nullify, negate, or weaken a very broad range of supernatural effects, or, in theory, aspects of reality. Well-suited to Curse mitigation. Not immune to the Brand of the Champion, not compatible with the Doom of Lunacy.
So this is the level and competency of Companions we can expected from a Lesser Remittance. Too bad we can't get someone combat-capable to get us over the initial Progression hurdle, but I suppose having utility on our side isn't the worst thing in the world, especially when we can get Curse Mitigation from them.
Artifact: Hunger
A ring of power, two thin bands of black surrounding a band of blood-red. When worn, it merges onto the finger, unable to be removed. The user's appetite for all the visceral pleasures of life is notably sharpened, increasing motivation and drive but with the obvious side effects. Indestructible as far as you can tell.
Dramatically reduces the benefits of training, but explosively increases rate of progression during active conflict. An active Cursebearer would progress many times faster in total.
Why is it that the first question I asked myself is whether it can be cut off together with the finger? Poor Sauron, serving as an example of what
not to do with their phylacteries for liches everywhere. Not that Nameless took heed of that lesson.
A very appropriate Artifact for Vengeance, seems to me. Since we won't be getting any peace, might as well take advantage of it.
Upgrade: Accursed Favor
Forgo a Lesser Remittance. Causes the Accursed to like you slightly more. Benefits uncertain, can be taken multiple times.
By default you have one Lesser Remittance, but you can acquire more in the following ways:
*Each additional Curse you take beyond the requirements grants 3 Lesser Remittances
*The Regalia grants 1-2 Lesser Remittances
*Thread Participation (see below)
The strongest power of them all! Not so enigmatic now that we've seen wishes, but there's probably more to it than that,
