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The mechanics for the characterization vote are fairly straightforward. I think it is useful to compare them side by side and VBcode tables always make arguments look better!
| Never Better | Fine | Just a Moment |
|---|
| Forebear is role model for willpower in brutal circumstances | Forebear's lesson is a poor guiding light for someone w/Apocryphal Curse | Forebear was powerful but warped by tragic circumstances |
| Less worried about Forebear Mental Contamination than other sources | Equally worried about all sources of contamination: it's unfortunate, but eh | Resist Mental Contamination, leading to Psyche Conflict |
| Communication is a form of violence, it is prudent to translate into the language of martial violence | No change in Hunger's current willingness to communicate | More willing to pursue problem solving methods other than swordplay, including magic and dialogue |
| Once and Future II: 25 Arete, 2 Picks | | Harder to unlock Once and Future II, Discounts next EFB by 1 |
| Increased appearance % of rare advancements | | Avoid Advancements of the Forebear's Blade |
| Doubling down on risky characterization like Fishing / Temple | Keeps options open for redefining characterization | Actively reaches for new character interactions and kinds of update content |
The first point of comparison is how Hunger perceives the Forebear. Thread engagement has really taken off since getting that sweet Forebear Lore, so I don't want to rain on anybody's parade. The Forebear is an incredible Patron, blazing a path along the hedonic treadmill and accumulating power at a truly impressive rate. But for me sheer power is not enough to choose a role model. The snapshot we got through the memories of Once and Future I seems to reveal some points that Hunger needs to come to terms with before emulating the former owner of his blade.
Regardless of how the Forebear came to take the first step along the Procession, it was explicitly pointed out that his path was being shaped and guided for him. He was channeled exclusively towards universes where it was both necessary and sufficient to "Cut Through" any opposition or nuance. This seems like mind-control with extra steps. He was basically pointed like a weapon and sent into situations where there was no choice but to accumulate power. I would not pick this fate for myself and I would not pick this fate for Hunger.
Hunger's Geas of Indenture differs from the Procession in an important way: the Procession charts a plodding course between hellscapes, each more dystopian than the last, but the tasks from our Geas are always objectives that are within Hunger's capabilities. If Hunger emulates the Forebear and focuses on the ability to Cut Through, we will be sent to universes where that is the best or only approach. By contrast, the menu of possible Geas tasks will grow if Hunger develops a variety of abilities in multiple theaters of conflict. Hunger still has the chance to avoid walking through various hells for 937 octillion years. "Never Better" risks converting Hunger's Geas of Indenture into the Geas of Procession.
The first option, "Never Better" therefore may result in a self-fulfilling prophecy where Hunger emulates the Forebear and finds himself in situations where emulating the Forebear is more and more appropriate. Some questers might think that this is an appealing direction for the quest. However, I am troubled at the idea that Hunger's characterization is being shaped by a force other than the thread's hive-mind. It is exciting to see the way that
our choices play out in Hunger's mindset and in the options available in future votes. As a voter I don't want to give up my say in what Hunger is like!
I also want to highlight a key difference in how each option judges Forebear's methods and results. Where Never Better embraces the Forebear's hyper specialization in violence, the alternatives recognize that Hunger is guaranteed to face various kinds of conflict. The Apocryphal Curse is going to hit Hunger from every possible angle over the course of 937 octillion years; Hunger can acknowledge that he will do violence like the Forebear without committing to one particular tools. After all, we went with the Core Panoply advancement path for Trinity. Collecting diplomatic or esoteric abilities is one of the main benefits of being able to expand our Panoply. We even got the Tears of Winter, which have improved our INT and APP. Both "Fine" and "Just a Moment" are effective character beats for a character whose panoply is going to keep expanding.
To the degree that Hunger has some influence over where his Indenture tasks lead him, and how he achieves the tasks when he gets there, I think that "Never Better" is a bad character beat. Turning the Forebear's mental contamination into a self-fulfilling prophecy would be a really disappointing end for a Progression type character who has access to the Praxis. There are so many things that Hunger could do besides cutting through!
The second point of comparison is how Hunger responds to mental contamination from the Forebear, specifically. For this point we step aside from the way the character vote decides Hunger's future and think about how it sets his attitude towards the past. I think that it's a bit silly to be less worried about Forebear Mental Contamination than about contamination from any other source. The Forebear's Blade is a permanent part of our build, which will stay by our side indefinitely. It is described as "an extension of our arm" in the very first chapter of the quest. Hunger has way more exposure to Mental Contamination from the Forebear than from anybody else.
If we grab one or two +Contamination from Sten and a different +Contamination from Vanreir, no single outside influence can build up to act as a sizable minority inside Hunger's mind. But if we accumulate ++++++++++Contamination from the Forebear then it becomes much more difficult to work around. Different sources can be played against each other. Giving the Forebear such a large foothold in our brain is a risk even if there is no danger of reincarnation / body-jacking.
The third point of comparison is how Hunger approaches communication. Some of Hunger's most impressive scenes have relied on Age and Treachery. I think it would be a shame to move away from the dramatic comparison of worldviews interspersed by furious bladedwork and spell casting. We now have fine-grain control over our Charisma with the Mantle of Sky, we are not unarmed in potential battles of wit. To quote
Hari Seldon Asimov: Violence is the last refuge of fools.
Instead, Hunger should continue to undermine and attack his opponents using charisma, intelligence, and wits. I still think about
Byakuya's Rihaku's inspiration speech in Bleach Quest about how if your ideals and the world are in conflict, it is the world that must change. Don't muzzle Rihaku's protagonists!
There are some mechanical benefits that need to be considered as well. "Never Better" unlocks Once and Future II, while "Just a Moment" discounts our next EFB instead. There's not a lot to say here without reiterating the blurb notes again, except that the recent EFBs lend themselves to both Ruling Ring and Pillars of Creation. It is likely that Once and Future II is going to be put on hold for quite a while. The benefit of "Just a Moment" is likely to hit much sooner than OaF2. "Just a Moment" doesn't even lock-out OaF2, it just makes it a little less common. You know what would fix that? Pillars would fix that.
Finally, the Character implications are the most weighty part of this vote, and the most opaque. What does it mean for Hunger himself, going forward, if the Forebear's example is an ideal to chase, a predictable consequence of power, or a cautionary tale? How do these attitudes affect our own task?
Embracing the example of the Forebear, via "Never Better," is an embrace of the behavior that led to Hunger's "risky" and "greedy" characterization. Hunger raced directly for the Tower without an effective plan to contact the local powers. He ran right into a trap by the Lord Protector during his
audition for the Royalist faction. He is satisfying the Decimator's Affliction by fighting an Armament. Cutting Through is inherently a risky strategy because it involves applying direct martial force to every problem we encounter. It worked for the Forebear, for a while. Will it work for Hunger for all 937 Octillion years of his Indenture?
Observing the example of the Forebear, via "Fine," protects the Thread's ability to redefine Hunger's characterization. As the quest continues we will move forward and face new challenges. Fine allows us to pick and choose character building options that catch the thread's attention. Writing a constitution didn't generate a huge amount of thread activity, but enjoying a fishing trip likely would. I like the idea of allowing Rihaku to experiment with different kinds of plot engagement as we move out of the Voyaging Realm's fantasy setting into a more Sci-Fi tone in the Human Sphere. It would be a bummer to Cut Through the entire Sci-Fi setting instead of having the freedom to engage (or not) as much as we want.
Rejecting the example of the Forebear, via "Just a Moment" is a vote to actively chase new types of character interactions and thread content. I mentioned that the setting is changing. In-universe, Hunger is leaving the little pond of the Voyaging Realm and entering a much bigger ocean. Each setting in the VR is an individual pool where Hunger is one Omake storm away from having martial dominance. In the Human Sphere, Hunger will be facing the combined strength of an entire interstellar civilization. If he picks a fight that gets an Armament dispatched, there is no guarantee that the thread will be able to mine enough to survive. Engaging with this new setting with less immediately violent tactics might be absolutely critical.
So that's enough noodling about character choices. What I'm really here for is build vote analysis! Putting the options side-by-side invites comparison of their aesthetic, their mechanical benefits, and their cost:benefit ratio.
| Overwhelm | Pinnacle |
|---|
Overwhelming power,
both now and as we grow | Conceptual links to the season of Winter itself |
Increased Build Parameters:
- Health
- Damage and Condition Resistance
- Damage Dealt
- Attack Speed
| +++++WILL leads to:
- +++++STR
- +++++AGI
- +++++CON
|
Modifiers stack with other sources:
Powerful scaling combination with RoB, Uttermost, and ADS | +INT, +++APP |
More than doubles
potency in direct combat | Mental Stats +s are rare and hard to get |
Whiteout
7 Arete Version | Pristine
7 Arete Version |
| Bigger Damage dealt modifier | +.1 Rank (not multiplied) |
| Bigger Attack speed modifier | Praxis Exertion reduced a further 5% (to 1/5th) |
| Bigger Power of Ruin modifier w/ADS | Large boost to out of combat efficacy
...but still less powerful in direct battle than Overwhelm + ADS |
Overwhelm is really really good because it increases our rate of combat progression. The 7-Arete version does that, but more. Multiplicative boosts are really hard to find, so this is a rare offering. On the other hand, 7 Arete is a lot when we may need to buy ADS soon to keep up with the Armament Fish. This is a case where getting a slightly higher number now might not be as important as keeping our options open.
Pinnacle is invaluable because it gives us more tools for solving problems. Pinnacle brings us closest to the promises about what we can do with Accretion that were made by the Uttermost blurb. Just as a reminder, here's what we were promised:
Power enough to bring ruin to high lords and kings with a single malediction, rout armies with a single strike, overwhelm and dismember horrid beasts out of myth. The cut of your blade is the end of sorcery; cities that oppose you are reduced to rubble, fortresses to ash. You outrace the thunderclap, or your words drown it out; stand against the flood or hurricane, and by sheer majesty of spirit turn them aside.
The Tears have given us domains in everything from "overwhelming power" to "The Season of Winter." We are owed some esoteric Rank applications!! The 7-Arete version is particularly good because it adds a Praxis-based Combat boost to the utility of Rank Casting. That improves our ability to break the flow of combat to engage in some top-shelf Age and Treachery to negotiate a better ending than just murderblending every opponent that we meet.
I think I would vote for Pristine but not for Whiteout.
All of this was just an extended lead-in to the most important question: what kind of quest does each vote combination lead to? What's good or exciting about each vote?
| Overwhelm | Pinnacle | |
|---|
| Never Better | The Forebear solves problems by killing those who disagree with him. What better way to emulate him than by increasing our ability to kill everybody who gets in our way? 7-Arete Option improves RoB | The example of the Forebear, through the lens of a Progression Type Cursebearer. We have more challenges to Cut Through and more implements to Cut with. | |
| Fine | Patches the glaring vulnerability in our current build by making Rank neutralization and Exhaustion less deadly for Hunger. Theoretically makes room for non-sword advancements because Sword picks will be boosted. (Unlikely in practice.) | Age and Treachery proved decisive in our battle against Sten. Getting a "software upgrade" will let us apply our growing collection of Panoply abilities in effective ways, with- or without the 7-Arete Option. Spending makes combat- Praxis more viable with current build | |
| Just a Moment | Negotiations with equal (or lesser) combatants are opportunities where we have applied Age or Treachery; Overwhelm closes off those openings and allows us to pursue a wider range of "win" conditions for each fight. | Expanded toolkit: Just a Moment invites Hunger to look at non-martial problem solving and Pinnacle immediately improves his ability to see and apply those methods. 7-Arete blurb points out this combination explicitly. | |
Voting for Never Better + Overwhelm: This is the full Sword option, and will revive and entrench the meme of spelling it SORD. We will never be free.
Good Synergy between deciding to Cut Through everyone we meet and then getting good at killing things.
Voting for Never Better + Pinnacle: This is the full Praxis option, and will facilitate the thread's Praxis lunacy. We have gone a long time since getting in a straight up fight. We didn't fight Exposition Cat, so the last chance to use Praxis was against the Rotbeast! We even let the What Rains May Come sword advancement pass by (rip Long Voyage).
Better blurbs are always worthwhile.
Voting for Fine + Overwhelm: Good way to avoid dying. Exhaustion is still our Achilles Heel. Boosts our Sword Picks, which should mean we need fewer SORD picks to remain competent at combat while we fill in holes in our utility load out. In practice, this option probably leads to a mono focus similar to the ones in Never Better. On the other hand, sword spells have been pretty impressive: Slice Fate might come back!
Voting for Fine + Pinnacle: Age and Treachery on steroids. This option embraces the Core Panoply mechanic and lets Hunger use the right tool for every situation.
Voting for Just a Moment + Overwhelm: Hunger is willing to negotiate with enemies in the middle of battle. If they try to capitalize on an opening generated by his willingness to talk, he simply demolishes them with his high combat ability & inherently powerful stats. This option opens up a lot of tactical possibilities.
Voting for Just a Moment + Pinnacle: Hunger has to complete tasks for another 937 Octillion Years (minus one month). If the only thing we can do is cut through, then we'll be stuck on the same treadmill as the Forebear: We will only be assigned military tasks. This combination makes us the Accursed's
fixer by expanding our core competencies. This is a good fit for the Core Panoply Trinity upgrade that we got.
Ultimately I think I'm fine with all of the options. I'll approval vote Fine just to try to keep it alive in case of a big rally before consolidation.
[X] "Fine."
[X] "Just a moment."
[X] Pinnacle
[X] Pristine [7 Arete] 
