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A Simple Transaction I

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Conjured Blade said:
I expect it'd be more like those conversations Dresden periodically had with the Archangel Uriel in some of the later Dresden Files books and Short Stories.
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That would actually make me vote against Haliel, to be honest, those talks were often hot nonsense. Besides, Haliel and Uriel have some pretty stark differences personality-wise and are in completely different positions, so I don't think it would be like that at all. Just let me dream, damn it.
 
DarkSideBard said:
HEY KIDS
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I'm late to the party, but I'm finally prepared to take the challenge!

I'm tempted to just go orphan and having things be simple, but I'm also interested in seeing if I could configure a 'Myself' that I would find enjoyable.

Against my better judgement:
Myself
Break Containment- I want just about nothing to do with a Crowning curse, I'll take my lumps for Combat though. (-16)

[] I really don't want indenture, skip!
[] Affliction of Vigor, I hate time limits, sort of why I'm averse to the Geas. Pass!
[C] Doom of the Coward, Probably a yes, I don't need to fight neccessarily. If anything, perhaps I can have cohort to protect my interests. (-13)
[C] Doom of the saint.... A tentative maybe, I have a lot of curse I need to get myself acquainted with. I'm not sure how this will react with Coward, I just feel even worse that I can't do anything if violence would be neccessary? I suppose I would try and use diplomacy even in very foolish situations. Going to need some good allies or memetic hazardry. (-10)
[] Brand of the Kinslayer is sort of anti settle down, and I may want to for extended periods. Pass for now.
[] Doom of the sailor, pretty restricting, I'm a fan of way different biomes.
[] Doom of the Prick: Oh lord, who would curse someone with this? A Major disguised as a lesser SMH!
[] Doom of the Addict: I still need a lot of value, tentatively on a maybe??
[C] Affliction of the Weary: If I can attain immortality or some equivelent, I don't think I would mind so much. So long as I still can hit Rested, I'm okay with taking longer to get there. [-9]
[] Affliction of the Carnivore: I love fruit, candy, chocolate, an eternity of suffering this would be.
[] Sign of the Twin: I'd consider this more for two, it's on my Maybe list. With Coward and Saint my ability to deal with hostiles isn't fantastic. Pass for now.
[C] Brand of the Childish: LOL. Well, it almost reads as 'being a pampered noble' in some settings. Compared to some of the hell scape on offer, I'll take it! (-8)

Well, we're into Plagarism.

[] The Affliction of Slumber. I don't know if this is a match made in heaven for Weary, or if I would just have killed myself. Hopefully the Accursed would let me know how these would interact. For now, I'm going to pass?
[C] The Doom of Ineptitude: As I don't plan on doing much myself, that my attempts will be bungles are sort of to be expected. [-5]
[C] Doom of the Tyrant: A cowardly Tyrant, I suppose this would just compel me to run away from a great deal more situations before they could be resolved. I may regret this (-2) …(I regret it less with the remittances on offer)
[C] Doom of Lunacy: Should I ever be cornered and I'm forced to confront my own cowardice, woe betide. [+1]
Good lord am I cursed! I normally wouldn't consider more curses for more remittance, but at this point lets take a look...
[C]The Plenary brand? It had good synergy with Lunacy, and with childish people's contingencies for dealing with me may be trying to control me rather than out right force hostilities. (+4)
Nah, i'll scrap it.

We're free! time to scrounge up immortality and running away, if at all possible. Possibly allies if I can afford someone?
1 primary
6 3 lesser after conversion
[Primary] Twinned Soul Apex: Saint Halo - Oh wow this is perfect! truly a remittance tailored for me. Super helpful in controlling Lunacy and the consequences of unforeseen tyrant procs should be mitigated a bit.
[LR] The Hierophant, Mitigation for my obscene number of curses, and they can tell I have power to offer. I think this one is a no brainer to start with [5]
[LR] The Fool, This should get me out of a lot of sticky situations without the need to ever resort to Lunacy.[4]
[LR] Death, Should I completely ruin whatever situation I'm in, or get trapped in a hellscape, I want a way out. Re-usable too, a few times at least.[3]
[LR] The Emperor, good food, truly a reason to live.[2]
[LR] Temperance, Seems like an amazing fit with Saint Halo!

I'm hoping that between working with folks in the world, and a few backup attempts via Death, I should eventually stumble into a world I can wind up functionally immortal in with everyone loving me. I think I have a fair shot a good ending! I almost missed my favorite primary remittance since it was under Sword and I didn't gravitate towards it. Glad I checked back after combing through the lessers.

I haven't had the chance to read anyone elses yet, so this is a raw pick.

I'm not sure if I should go for Tyrant or Plenary honestly. I'm worried about the forever escalating nature of Plenary, but once I get setup Tyrant shouldn't be an issue? Not sure, depending on the day I could probably go back and forth. My thought is to pay up front though for now.

Thanks again for making this DarkSideBard! I'm curious what I could end up with doing a similar build without such a hefty entrance fee.
 
Does anybody here remember Corporal Facehuggers Luv & Hate(A Supreme Commander/Muv-Luv Alternative Crossover)? We resurrect Catherine, there's a very real possibility we're setting ourselves up for a Colonel Steele problem.

The ACU Commander protagonist, Colonel Michael Steele, found himself on Dr. Yuuko Kozuki's route. He had a girlfriend named Alina who fought alongside him in battle against the invading Seraphim and died before Steele found himself in the Muv-Luv timeline.

Later, Steele, with the help of the Esper Kasumi, entered Sumika's brain that had been separated from her body and ravaged by mental trauma to find out how she learned about a Superweapon from Steele's universe called Black Sun, only to find Sumika had made contact with the Psychic ghost of his dead girlfriend Alina who was trying to help her deal with it. They did help her, and Alina was prepared to fade away, but Sumika found the idea of Alina and Steele being separated so soon after having met again to be an utter travesty. So Sumika managed to make something weird happen from a psychic standpoint, which led to Alina and her damaged ACU showing up at Yokohama base. Considering Steele was pursuing a relationship with Yuuko at the time, this opened up a ginormous emotional clusterfark with bad practical implications for the war against the BETA if it was resolved badly.

Alina was a Strategic Asset of extreme value for her access to the Aeon Techbase, which included Paragons, which were basically energy generator YES.
Yuuko was a Transcendent Scientific Genius by the standards of the setting.

It caused a significant degree of misery in and out of character IIRC before Facehugger eventually took pity, said close enough, and opened the plural relationship route.
 
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While I would inded love to bring Catherine back, I don't see how the story thus far supports it. Hunger has grown some and changed little. What has happened inbetween his Transaction and his meeting Haliel that has changed his mind?

Is it the realization of scope, of knowing that even a High Cursebearer can't achieve his revenge?
I think not. Hunger has grown more determined, and done the seemingly impossible so regularly as to take it for granted.

I would love to see him choose happiness, but we've had that vote several times, and Hunger has chosen power.
 
Conjured Blade said:
It caused a significant degree of misery in and out of character IIRC before Facehugger eventually took pity, said close enough, and opened the plural relationship route.
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Man, what a coward. Just fucking choose; move on or not. One shouldn't let them get away with everything just because it hurts, that's just how life is sometimes. Was no-one's heart torn between two people before? Instead of making a statement about the character, the conflict just fizzled out entirely. I dearly hope that's not what happens should we revive Catherine, even if it would be painful.
 
BrainInAJar said:
Man, what a coward. Just fucking choose; move on or not. One shouldn't let them get away with everything just because it hurts, that's just how life is sometimes. Was no-one's heart torn between two people before? Instead of making a statement about the character, the conflict just fizzled out entirely. I dearly hope that's not what happens should we revive Catherine, even if it would be painful.
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So. I'm left with a conundrum. Discussion seems to have died down, leaving me to go with the write in as it stands.

On one tentacle, you guys didn't bring up one of the things Yuuko needs to hear to go along with the why not both option. She really needs Steele to give her back some agency because otherwise she won't confront her own needs; she'll just say "he left me like all the rest." Steele putting the onus on her forces her to evaluate the value of the relationship and basically makes her put her underlying concerns out in the open.

On the other tentacle, I saw some pretty good analysis there otherwise.

Ah well. Valentine's day was yesterday.
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Basically this was what happened at the Choose vote. Choosing both was foreshadowed as a possibility via Sumika remarks and the exposition on the nature of Aeon society. I'm not sure it was as much an act of Cowardice on Facehuggers part as you think but I can't completely write off your conclusion either.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Zampano on Oct 15, 2020 at 3:08 PM, finished with 333 posts and 49 votes.
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SPEND gang representing itself well, while SAVE gang is fractured
 
I wonder how much Haeliel's advice could help in setting up the realm of evening for the first time? It is supposed to be many uses before it's optimized, but we have could have someone even brighter than Gisena light the way.
 
Hirorubie said:
I wonder how much Haeliel's advice could help in setting up the realm of evening for the first time? It is supposed to be many uses before it's optimized, but we have could have someone even brighter than Gisena light the way.
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Highly debatable if there would be any unless we spent the wish on Realm of Evening Optimization? She's unlikely to know anything about it and unable to use Ordinalism to gather information.
*She may give Hunger mundane advice, though without the aid of any of her Ordinals. As she is an Ordinal Purist this would consist of assistance that is entirely non-magical. This includes relationship advice, general life advice, Curse-mitigation advice, and instruction in the Ordinal Spiral for either Hunger or one of his party members. It is recommended to select a party member with high Intelligence and Wits. Haeliel will not always be available for consultation; her duties and challenges are commensurate to her might.
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Conjured Blade said:
Highly debatable if there would be any unless we spent the wish on Realm of Evening Optimization? She's unlikely to know anything about it and unable to use Ordinalism to gather information.
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Just based on her work resume she may have knowledge of substances far beyond anything we are even dreaming of, her musings on what she would like to have available in such a place could certainly be worth something.
 
DSB CYOA: Anara and the Song of the Stars
(Combat Type Build: Soldier)
#1337 Words

Anara
Combat Type

Major Curses:
The Affliction of Vigor
Sign of the Crab

Lesser Curses:
Doom of the Sailor
Doom of Judgment

Primary Remittance:
Swords - Earthbending Apex: Wild God

Lesser Remittances: 5 available (3 default + 2 from lesser curses)
The High Priestess: Cult Quest Cult Quest Cult Quest
The Emperor: Food based empowerments
The Moon: Reaped products produce top quality output, acts as powerful weapon
The World: Stranglethorn grants improvement and vitality and terrain control
The Hierophant: Disciples grant 1 stage of mitigation per curse, but are affected by curse


With the power of a Combat type Cursebearer, Anara can just about win the war by herself. (The trick is to do so without incurring too great a burden from Doom of Judgment, which frowns on War Crimes.) Anara can not rebuild the world by herself, though. With an Avatar who was in diapers (or in hiding) for the first decade of the Fire Nation's War of Aggression, the world will need both cooperation and leadership.

Anara's curses make that a daunting task. The Sign of the Crab means that she cannot personally provide the leadership or support that her wounded nation needs. Where the Spirits take whimsical forms that somehow always indicate personhood, any form Anara adopts will be shunned by the citizens of the Four Nations. A golem shaped like a person is much more alien and much more frightening than any dark Spirit. Making matters worse, the Affliction of Vigor puts Anara on a strict timeline: in exactly 100 years her mortal form will collapse. Any avatar she creates after that point will be limited to one fifth of her physical parameters at the time of her death.

This means that Anara must defeat the Fire Nation, help the world to rebuild, and cultivate her abilities to avoid spending an eternity with one fifth her physical abilities. These goals are well within the scope of a Combat Type's capacities. Anara's primary remittance somewhat mitigates the Affliction of Vigor: mere physical discorporation will no longer be a death sentence. It also provides an emergency button should the war go poorly. In the worst case scenario, Anara could simply walk into Palace of the Fire Lord and end his life. A march through the Fire Nation's capital while burning Chi on regeneration is not the most elegant way to end the conflict, but it would be one way to solve the immediate conflict.

Anara has four lesser remittances to address the issue of unifying and rebuilding the world. The most important of these is the High Priestess, whose preindustrial colony will be happy to take up residence on any unoccupied stretch of coastline. The colony alone is a powerful, albeit nascent, base of operations due to the unique magical abilities available to clerics. Calming and negotiating with spirits is a critical ability for any new development in the Avatar universe. The cult's ability to defend itself from the Fire Nation will provide a steady stream of converts. Increasing the faith channeled by the Clerics will provide a rudimentary source of advancements moving forward.

The Hierophant allows Anara to select disciples from the faithful, which will eventually include Benders. Anara will have fast access to one stage of mitigation (each) for Vigor, Crab, Sailor, and Judgment. This practice seems like a blueprint for additional mitigation approaches, particularly if the faith spreads throughout the Earth Nation or beyond.

The combination of The World and The Moon guarantee a thriving homeland for the faithful. The World infuses the area with improved vitality, enhancing both humans and spirits alike. The Moon reaps the bounty of this enhancement and guarantees maximal quality of food and materials. Scouts will return to find their paths tangled and confused thanks to control over the land itself. This conceptual effect yields results that are much more precise than attempting the same tactic with Earthbending alone. Similarly, The Moon's confusing visions beguile any intruders with ill intent.

The final remittance is something of an indulgence, justified by Anara's limited mortal lifespan. The Emperor offers supernatural culinary opulence when considering the effects of improved crop quality and vitality, harvested by The Moon, and blessed by the Clerics of the Faithful. This conjunction of benefits unlocks the ability to provide "supernaturally positive" permanent effects that can enhance Anara's mortal form. Every such enhancement alleviates the restrictions on her avatars once the Affliction of Vigor burns out Anara's mortal coil. Augustus also offers a small amount of security to the compound when Anara is not present.


This quest begins with a choice about how to defeat the Fire Nation. Some paths are faster, while others improve the world's ability to rebound from the slaughter of the Air Nomads and more than two decades of warfare. Once those details are settled, Anara has just under a century to manage her new settlement and promulgate the Faith. This would be a low stress period of nation building and training interspersed with bouts of frustration about the diplomatic handicap that is the Sign of the Crab.

Keep in mind that the Doom of Judgment acts as a powerful limiter on your Foreign Policy options. Anara's personal actions will be discounted as the whims of a chaotic universe, so directly and immediately ending the War will forfeit potential goodwill towards your new settlement. Conflict with the Earth Nation is inevitable as you expand and positive diplomatic relations between the High Priestess and the Earth King will simplify your life.

However the war ends, there are a lot of moving parts involved in building a civilization. The temptation to channel the power of a Combat type Cursebearer against your enemies in the form of various natural disasters will be difficult to resist. Keep in mind that the Cursebearer's physical form is only available for 100 years but the Faith may last forever. Diplomatic incidents and squashing invasions will take time away from cultivating strength and luxuriating in decadent food. Luckily, control over the Chi of Nature trivializes a lot of the traditional challenges to a burgeoning civilization. Famine, pestilence, and disasters can all be avoided, for example.

Calamitous or prolonged global unrest will be a serious distraction from your research towards mitigation of your major curses. When you reach the limits of human knowledge, you may find the Spirit world contains more fertile ground. If you can avoid the dangers therein, sufficient effort towards mitigation might incline the Accursed to expand your jurisdiction beyond a single world.

Once 100 years have passed, Anara's day to day existence radically changes. Her primary remittance allows her to continue existence as a spiritual entity, but puts hard limitations on any physical manifestations of her personal avatar. Hopefully, these physical manifestations are at least as physically durable as a mortal human would be. At this point, Anara becomes a good candidate for Brand of the Champion. Translated through the Sign of the Crab, Champion invites a transactional relationship with the forces of nature itself. If Anara wants something from the Earth King, he can direct her to end a drought in his kingdom. If the Water Tribe wants a bountiful catch, they'd better find something useful enough to entice Anara to ask for their help. Champion does not improve Anara's bargaining position, but it does bring people to the negotiating table.

In the meantime, the Avatar Cycle continues amidst a burgeoning Industrial Revolution. Why hasn't the new Avatar revealed themselves yet, and is the cycle broken? (In the far future looms Harmonic Convergence...)



Shout out to runeblue360, for pointing out that the domain of "nature" includes creation of such natural wonders as the Forest of Guns, which blooms with a deafening volley every morning and evening. :V

Honestly, I might try writing an update or two of this. A combat type that suddenly has more power than the Avatar would be good practice at writing cool fights while generating noncombat challenges.
 
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