Oh I am sure when we get RoB we would have 30k+ Ruin which will only grow. If we get RR in pillars (honestly your post about Ring in pillars is good) to actually get some Stats for the Armament fight. We don't have anything to spend the picks on anyway except Echoes
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Because we already have about thousand Ruin and it is not doing much. I mean, Rank backed Ruin is not terrible, but you can just get anything else.
RoP is better because it's not fully combat. Willpower actually has a lot of utility, most notably for resisting mental contamination which we have to tank for OaFs. Likewise, SJUC offers both vastly greater power increase and great deal of utility through the Blood.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
It's actually a hundred and one Willpower, because of the percentage buff - it's literally worth more than a hundred Echoes right away. Plus there's the base effects of Willpower, which probably help a lot with Praxis Training.
If we can get seven Praxis picks and a regular pick, it's worth more than a hundred Echoes. Unless we're getting Sword in the Stone, I suppose.
Yeah, Echoes will probably be the mainstay of all future Pillars vote, if only to have something to fill out the rest of a build vote. Anyway, Ruling Ring seems to be the leading EFB to get but how about Slice Fate? The reroll per day is a god send, especially for 4-5 pick challenges, but we can really abuse it with Pillars.
As of now, 1-2 picks are the limit if we don't want to risk spending a precious reroll, but a once per day reroll? And we have 21 days in the Realm of Evening? We could semi reliably get 3-pick advancements. We could also help Gisena's Grace or Adorie's Sign research. The question is can we afford it with Ruling Ring? It would be hard to get the Arete for both RR and Slice Fate.
Before the Armament fight we had (40*2.1+10*1.6)*11.25 = 1125 Ruin but that could scale pretty quickly anyway.
We really should finish up Fisher King before we hunt the next Decimator's target. And make sure we decide to go for a fish rather than another target.
Artemisinin increases the mitigation duration by 100%, meaning we go from 30 days to 60 days. Fisher King "Double the proc rate and mitigation effect of Huntress' Moon against fish-based targets" which means we either get a further +30 or +60 days free of the Decimator's Affliction. Either way, that's an enormous amount of time, up to a potential 120 days free.
Given that we spent 16 days on Empyreal Signs research, that means we have 14 days free. So... we'll have 2 weeks (well, 13 days) free in the Realm of Evening. (Plus however much easier the Realm of Evening makes the Curse. Unknown.) So that means we'll be coming out of the Realm of Evening with something like 82-112 Decimator-free days.
Every month Hunger actually spends ~51 days due to the Pillars of Creation, but with Fisher King, we'll be much safer in how much time we have. Plus, it's easier to find targets, due to both Artemisinin and Fisher King.
So... We should dedicate our first week to getting Ruling Ring. Fisher King + Fish Up A Fish in the second week. And in between, we glut on 1-pick and 2-pick fights, we practice the Praxis, we heal up Verschlengorge, we give Adorie her Surgecrafting Element, we train the kids, we transform the metric ton of normal platinum we stockpiled unto Versch into mythic platinum, we experiment with whatever other items we brought from Nilfel (pieces of the Walls of Myth? The corpus of Procyon? Clippings or seeds from some kind of White Tree of Gondor equivalent they might have? Vials of water from the rejuvenated Wells of Myth, if Tears of Winter win?) and we rest.
Well. The first few days should probably be spent on rest and recovery, darnit, as we still have strain (and -Mental Stability) from taking Cursebearer's Strain. And unleashing a Lesser Shattering Blow, in the midst of the hardest fight of our life so far in this realm.
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Getting Elixir does boost the results of our Magnitude training significantly, which means would All Stats multiplier could end up somewhere silly, especially with Silver's doubling.
I'm pretty sure this one works with OaF's general Rank boost, so that would be 8.2.
If OaF 1 is any indication, that Mental Contamination gives us cool stuff like Praxis training buffs and rate ups to rare advancements.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Do we have mundane platinum still? I think we spent that platinum already.
From Tales without Number:
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
That is the kind of thing Hunger would do without question or hesitation.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
What? Why not? That's a very good fishing trip, provided he's the one setting the pace.
- Location
- a place
I'd actually rather go for Ruling Ring plus getting tons of picks over RoB or other praxis stuff, largely because we can train praxis outside of the RoE pretty well as shown by the post temple update, whereas getting a bunch of picks has now become a lot harder, much less the specific ones neccesarry for RR. I think seeing the stuff Hunger might pull off with its new capabilities will seem a lot cooler then just the extra power from RoB and open up neat tactics like our blood domain has.
Plus I want to see what cool stuff Hunger pulls with all these other domains, I'm sure getting War and Passion will super help with the whole conquest thing, plus plus we get more ring lore, plus plus plus we might get some new rings to give to our other companions.
Plus I want to see what cool stuff Hunger pulls with all these other domains, I'm sure getting War and Passion will super help with the whole conquest thing, plus plus we get more ring lore, plus plus plus we might get some new rings to give to our other companions.
Last edited:
- Location
- 1
Hm... is this the old farts computer? lets see, passwords, passwords... what would he use... 'Cardinality0'?... no. 'ordinalsRLame'?... no. 'cardinalismiskingFUFiteme'?... nope. '123456789'?... nope. 'Seek the 361th'?... nope. Ooh, I know! 'MuscleWizardsSuck'!
[Password detected. loading...]
Yeah! I know I could get it! yet another Arcane-supremist falls before the energy and exceptionality of someone with an actually balanced spell-list! I swear, the hard-line stance the guy takes is insane... Oh, what's this? he's got a thought-logger open. Well! that's convenient.
Hey, future guys and gals and tentacled genderless abominations! I'm one of oldies' associates! Y'see, he's been reallllll grumpy lately! Talkin' about 'lack of work ethic' and 'not gonna do everything myself' and 'bunch of muscled idiots only care about weightlifting' and all that! Did you know he refuses Chi-cardinal Awakening, even though it's literally free? the will on that guy... I'd almost say he's better suited for Praxis, and we all know how difficult that is! Anyway, this elder sunufaspellbook was really excited about writing up the Cardinal Geometer guide, something to guide more wayward youths to the light of the Cardinal, but then... interest waned. Not his, you understand; He's still as gung-ho about it as he can be, considering he's practically infirm. But the guy's got principles, and he sticks to them! this is a project for the good of the entire Cardinalism community, and he refuses to let his dedication become an excuse for everyone else to slack off, so he's decided to stop writing guides to the Cardinals until everyone else combined contributes at least as much as he does. It's been making him miserable.
Especially because he's holding his writing back for no reason, since he didn't see the Meta-Cardinal got typed up.
Anyway, I feel bad for the guy, so I've decided to write up a Cardinal description myself! I think you'll all find my perspective is a lot more balanced then his is, though there are merits to dedication like that. Alright, here we go!
[Loading CardinalGeometer.Gid...]
[Open to which chapter? 1 (complete), 2(complete), 3(mine), 4(mine), 5(blank), 6(b-]
five, let's Goooooo!
[Opening CardinalGeometer.Gid/Chapter 5(blank)... file opened.]
Save file as "Chapter 5(complete)"!
[Saving file... Saved]
Sync to website!
[uploading CardinalGeometer.Gid/Chapter 5(complete) to server...]
[adding update to 'new'...]
[done.]
Phew, got it done in time- I think the old guy's set to wake up soon! I can't snooze the alarm, he'll notice if he wakes up late, so adios amigoes! hopefully this breaths some motivation into him... Anyway, I'm Taoist 'sounding elderly is lame' Tye, signing off!
I have to actually tell it to log out, don't I? Log out!
[Logging out...]
[8:48 PM]
[Saturday 28th of the Nth month]
[Archmage]
[enter password...]
[Password detected. loading...]
Yeah! I know I could get it! yet another Arcane-supremist falls before the energy and exceptionality of someone with an actually balanced spell-list! I swear, the hard-line stance the guy takes is insane... Oh, what's this? he's got a thought-logger open. Well! that's convenient.
Hey, future guys and gals and tentacled genderless abominations! I'm one of oldies' associates! Y'see, he's been reallllll grumpy lately! Talkin' about 'lack of work ethic' and 'not gonna do everything myself' and 'bunch of muscled idiots only care about weightlifting' and all that! Did you know he refuses Chi-cardinal Awakening, even though it's literally free? the will on that guy... I'd almost say he's better suited for Praxis, and we all know how difficult that is! Anyway, this elder sunufaspellbook was really excited about writing up the Cardinal Geometer guide, something to guide more wayward youths to the light of the Cardinal, but then... interest waned. Not his, you understand; He's still as gung-ho about it as he can be, considering he's practically infirm. But the guy's got principles, and he sticks to them! this is a project for the good of the entire Cardinalism community, and he refuses to let his dedication become an excuse for everyone else to slack off, so he's decided to stop writing guides to the Cardinals until everyone else combined contributes at least as much as he does. It's been making him miserable.
Especially because he's holding his writing back for no reason, since he didn't see the Meta-Cardinal got typed up.
Anyway, I feel bad for the guy, so I've decided to write up a Cardinal description myself! I think you'll all find my perspective is a lot more balanced then his is, though there are merits to dedication like that. Alright, here we go!
[Loading CardinalGeometer.Gid...]
[Open to which chapter? 1 (complete), 2(complete), 3(mine), 4(mine), 5(blank), 6(b-]
five, let's Goooooo!
[Opening CardinalGeometer.Gid/Chapter 5(blank)... file opened.]
Flame - This Cardinal is comparatively simple. It allows the user to control Conceptual Flame.
This is not as weak as it seems, however. Most instances of Conceptual Flame, for one reason or another, don't lean into the 'conceptual' part much! Surgecrafting (which has seen a recent surge, if you'll pardon the pun, in imitators) has imaginary elements with 'Flame', but these tend to be 'fire which behaves like normal fire' combined with 'but [properties from other word]'; Not so with the Flame Cardinal. Consider; What is the concept of flame? yes, the actual process is 'heat breaks the bonds on hydrocarbons in favour of dihydrogen monoxide, carbon dioxide, and carbon molecules, releasing more heat'. But the Concept is not the process. In its essence, Fire is the process of destruction bringing creation, of turning something halfway to naught and then bringing energy forth in the way you need it. Or so many practitioners of the Flame Cardinal believe, for the Conceptual Flame of this Cardinal responds to the users beliefs. Even if the user is ill-suited, beliefs can change in time... though mental magics are ineffective, and the user needs to have seen actual flame in the past.
Advanced use varies wildly, as each users beliefs regarding the nature of Flame are subtly different and unique, but anything is possible.
Choosing this Cardinal enhances all further Cardinals with the concept of Flame, with the same criteria used above.
(conceptual 'flame' effects. concept affectable by time, not by mental magic, user must know what fire actually is.)
Falsity - Completely lacking in effect, this cardinal does not allow the user to alter others beliefs regarding its truth nor the written or verbal explanations of its nature. It is furthermore incapable of affecting perception or usurping all conceptual Truth-magics by lying in their face. Since it is completely lacking in effect, it is extremely trivial to actively describe its contents to new Cardinalists, which is made easier by that describing them would only require saying three words- "it does nothing"- in order to convey that it does nothing, which is an entirely truthful statement. this has no synergies with illusion magics and is mildly antisynergistic with many forms of reality warping, primarily because choosing this cardinal requires giving up the other 3 options which would be more beneficial by way of actually doing something. This complete lack of effect has many visual manifestations which have alpha values in excess of 0 and are plainly visible to the naked eye, but impossible to detect magically.
Since the Cardinal has no effect, amateur use includes things such as narrative alteration, intensive stealth, and all-around beneficial effects by way of claiming something is more likely to occur, while advanced use consists of weak influence over everything mentioned in the earlier paragraph and becomes increasingly poor in quality with time. Anyone able to manifest the second set of effects in this paragraph, but not the first, within a day, is of somewhat below-average skill. anyone who is able to manifest the first set in this paragraph within a day has a lack of skill so intense it boggles the mind, and would be best served by taking up carpentry or underwater basket-weaving.
Choosing this Cardinal reduces the Veracity of all further Cardinals, making them appear less trustworthy and have a lower ontological weight, yet another way in which this cardinal is completely useless and effect-free. If it did not do this, it would be an excelent control-group for tests on the effects of higher Cardinality irrespective of the actual contents of taken Cardinals, but it does this, so it isn't.
Festive - often overlooked by the up-and-coming Cardinalist, this Cardinal can be invoked with a short ritual (traditionally consisting of, quite literally, burning money in a small pyre) to grant superlative festivity, along with generating a region of warped space highly optimized for it. To use an analogy from recent times, the secondary function resembles a much, much lower-effectiveness equivalent of the Realm of Evening, minus the time acceleration and ability to gain statistical benefits from the consumables. Despite this, the benefits of the Cardinal cannot be overstated... Well, they can be, but I've not seen it done. Leaving aside the social benefits of being able to party that much better, and thereby improving social capabilities in tandem with magical, the Festivity granted by the Cardinal is exceptionally beneficial for mental stability(Anyone whos been reading aST I knows how important that is!) and enjoyment of life. able to substantially improve a users Hedonic set point, the Festive Cardinal somehow almost-guarantees enjoyment and festivity within a party or the spacial region, to whatever extent the targeted desires, without compromising their subjective experience in any way- unless they Want to feel drunk, anyway! To elaborate, it doesn't matter whether the target wants a raucous festival or a calm conversational gathering, both count as Festivitys that the Cardinal will provide, to the extent it's logically consistent to.
Advanced use of the Cardinal can expand on any of its functions, some more effectively then others; the size of the Warped region, the quality of the refreshments, and the maximum duration can all be increased fairly easily, the mystical guarantee on the quality of the Festivities can only asymptotically approach a certain upper bound, that being the limit of that which can be reached without compromising subjective experience or identity. Other new properties can be gained, either through intensive effort or less-intensive attainment of specialized other Cardinals, for instance allowing the refreshments to have slight mystical benefits or providing mild time dilation to the inhabitants; It has been theorized that the Realm of Evening may simply be the product of an incredibly powerful Cardinalist who has developed the Festive Cardinal further then anyone has known, though the likelihood of that is dubious at best.
taking this Cardinal improves the Spontaneity of all the users other Cardinals, allowing for spells which normally require preperation or time to be cast more quickly. this is not an increase to overall SPS- spells per second- but rather a reduction to the time it takes to cast the first spell.
Fae - even further looked down upon then the Festive Cardinal, the Fae Cardinal is only chosen very rarely, even when a Cardinalist loops back through their selections. Its status is not-unlike that of Heterodox cultivation; while it has potential advantages, the disadvantages can be devastating. Like many other Western Cardinals, the Fae Cardinal primarily manifests within its user; Taking it will turn the user into a Fey or Fae creature, often a twisted amalgamation of the two; Though never deadly, this is disfiguring and very difficult, if not impossible, to undo. That is comparatively minor, however; the Fey powers obtained by the Cardinal are as twisty and dark as they are, simply put, powerful. Compared to other Cardinalists of the same Cardinality, a Cardinalist... afflicted... of the Fae, even at the first moments after they have taken the Cardinal, is somewhere between 0.3 and one steps further along the Infinite Singularity Husk depending on their compatibility. However, this is only an accurate measurement if you neglect the aforementioned twistyness. users of the Fae Cardinal are forced to follow the old laws of the Fae, including the rules of Hospitality and numerous others; depending on the power granted, new laws may be added wholesale which apply only to them. Even an experienced user of the Fae Cardinal will often run into new restrictions at the worst of times, and if the rules are often more symbolic suggestions then true laws, they are all the more difficult to account for because of it. For these reasons, and the social ostracization which follows and often drives the Fae-user mad, it is strongly recommended to avoid this Cardinal.
Advanced use is extremely limited due to the risks inherent in the Cardinal, but it is known that the Infinite Singularity Husk boost increases with skill, and that abilities only loosely related to the Fae can be gained, such as the ability to do almost-anything sufficiently ironic... subject to the usual restrictions. Users who gain more then 1.2 Steps on the Infinite Singularity Husk from this Cardinal are completely unmitigatably vulnerable to cold iron, and cannot affect any who hold it nor near them; before its bitter, frigid touch they may only flee.
Taking this Cardinal is suspected to improve the Retributive powers of all further Cardinals, but this is not certain as one of the Fae laws restricts communication about the Cardinals benefits. It is possible that retribution is just a particularly common scenario where the Fae laws allow for action, in which case the benefits to Cardinals may differ.
This is not as weak as it seems, however. Most instances of Conceptual Flame, for one reason or another, don't lean into the 'conceptual' part much! Surgecrafting (which has seen a recent surge, if you'll pardon the pun, in imitators) has imaginary elements with 'Flame', but these tend to be 'fire which behaves like normal fire' combined with 'but [properties from other word]'; Not so with the Flame Cardinal. Consider; What is the concept of flame? yes, the actual process is 'heat breaks the bonds on hydrocarbons in favour of dihydrogen monoxide, carbon dioxide, and carbon molecules, releasing more heat'. But the Concept is not the process. In its essence, Fire is the process of destruction bringing creation, of turning something halfway to naught and then bringing energy forth in the way you need it. Or so many practitioners of the Flame Cardinal believe, for the Conceptual Flame of this Cardinal responds to the users beliefs. Even if the user is ill-suited, beliefs can change in time... though mental magics are ineffective, and the user needs to have seen actual flame in the past.
Advanced use varies wildly, as each users beliefs regarding the nature of Flame are subtly different and unique, but anything is possible.
Choosing this Cardinal enhances all further Cardinals with the concept of Flame, with the same criteria used above.
(conceptual 'flame' effects. concept affectable by time, not by mental magic, user must know what fire actually is.)
Falsity - Completely lacking in effect, this cardinal does not allow the user to alter others beliefs regarding its truth nor the written or verbal explanations of its nature. It is furthermore incapable of affecting perception or usurping all conceptual Truth-magics by lying in their face. Since it is completely lacking in effect, it is extremely trivial to actively describe its contents to new Cardinalists, which is made easier by that describing them would only require saying three words- "it does nothing"- in order to convey that it does nothing, which is an entirely truthful statement. this has no synergies with illusion magics and is mildly antisynergistic with many forms of reality warping, primarily because choosing this cardinal requires giving up the other 3 options which would be more beneficial by way of actually doing something. This complete lack of effect has many visual manifestations which have alpha values in excess of 0 and are plainly visible to the naked eye, but impossible to detect magically.
Since the Cardinal has no effect, amateur use includes things such as narrative alteration, intensive stealth, and all-around beneficial effects by way of claiming something is more likely to occur, while advanced use consists of weak influence over everything mentioned in the earlier paragraph and becomes increasingly poor in quality with time. Anyone able to manifest the second set of effects in this paragraph, but not the first, within a day, is of somewhat below-average skill. anyone who is able to manifest the first set in this paragraph within a day has a lack of skill so intense it boggles the mind, and would be best served by taking up carpentry or underwater basket-weaving.
Choosing this Cardinal reduces the Veracity of all further Cardinals, making them appear less trustworthy and have a lower ontological weight, yet another way in which this cardinal is completely useless and effect-free. If it did not do this, it would be an excelent control-group for tests on the effects of higher Cardinality irrespective of the actual contents of taken Cardinals, but it does this, so it isn't.
Festive - often overlooked by the up-and-coming Cardinalist, this Cardinal can be invoked with a short ritual (traditionally consisting of, quite literally, burning money in a small pyre) to grant superlative festivity, along with generating a region of warped space highly optimized for it. To use an analogy from recent times, the secondary function resembles a much, much lower-effectiveness equivalent of the Realm of Evening, minus the time acceleration and ability to gain statistical benefits from the consumables. Despite this, the benefits of the Cardinal cannot be overstated... Well, they can be, but I've not seen it done. Leaving aside the social benefits of being able to party that much better, and thereby improving social capabilities in tandem with magical, the Festivity granted by the Cardinal is exceptionally beneficial for mental stability(Anyone whos been reading aST I knows how important that is!) and enjoyment of life. able to substantially improve a users Hedonic set point, the Festive Cardinal somehow almost-guarantees enjoyment and festivity within a party or the spacial region, to whatever extent the targeted desires, without compromising their subjective experience in any way- unless they Want to feel drunk, anyway! To elaborate, it doesn't matter whether the target wants a raucous festival or a calm conversational gathering, both count as Festivitys that the Cardinal will provide, to the extent it's logically consistent to.
Advanced use of the Cardinal can expand on any of its functions, some more effectively then others; the size of the Warped region, the quality of the refreshments, and the maximum duration can all be increased fairly easily, the mystical guarantee on the quality of the Festivities can only asymptotically approach a certain upper bound, that being the limit of that which can be reached without compromising subjective experience or identity. Other new properties can be gained, either through intensive effort or less-intensive attainment of specialized other Cardinals, for instance allowing the refreshments to have slight mystical benefits or providing mild time dilation to the inhabitants; It has been theorized that the Realm of Evening may simply be the product of an incredibly powerful Cardinalist who has developed the Festive Cardinal further then anyone has known, though the likelihood of that is dubious at best.
taking this Cardinal improves the Spontaneity of all the users other Cardinals, allowing for spells which normally require preperation or time to be cast more quickly. this is not an increase to overall SPS- spells per second- but rather a reduction to the time it takes to cast the first spell.
Fae - even further looked down upon then the Festive Cardinal, the Fae Cardinal is only chosen very rarely, even when a Cardinalist loops back through their selections. Its status is not-unlike that of Heterodox cultivation; while it has potential advantages, the disadvantages can be devastating. Like many other Western Cardinals, the Fae Cardinal primarily manifests within its user; Taking it will turn the user into a Fey or Fae creature, often a twisted amalgamation of the two; Though never deadly, this is disfiguring and very difficult, if not impossible, to undo. That is comparatively minor, however; the Fey powers obtained by the Cardinal are as twisty and dark as they are, simply put, powerful. Compared to other Cardinalists of the same Cardinality, a Cardinalist... afflicted... of the Fae, even at the first moments after they have taken the Cardinal, is somewhere between 0.3 and one steps further along the Infinite Singularity Husk depending on their compatibility. However, this is only an accurate measurement if you neglect the aforementioned twistyness. users of the Fae Cardinal are forced to follow the old laws of the Fae, including the rules of Hospitality and numerous others; depending on the power granted, new laws may be added wholesale which apply only to them. Even an experienced user of the Fae Cardinal will often run into new restrictions at the worst of times, and if the rules are often more symbolic suggestions then true laws, they are all the more difficult to account for because of it. For these reasons, and the social ostracization which follows and often drives the Fae-user mad, it is strongly recommended to avoid this Cardinal.
Advanced use is extremely limited due to the risks inherent in the Cardinal, but it is known that the Infinite Singularity Husk boost increases with skill, and that abilities only loosely related to the Fae can be gained, such as the ability to do almost-anything sufficiently ironic... subject to the usual restrictions. Users who gain more then 1.2 Steps on the Infinite Singularity Husk from this Cardinal are completely unmitigatably vulnerable to cold iron, and cannot affect any who hold it nor near them; before its bitter, frigid touch they may only flee.
Taking this Cardinal is suspected to improve the Retributive powers of all further Cardinals, but this is not certain as one of the Fae laws restricts communication about the Cardinals benefits. It is possible that retribution is just a particularly common scenario where the Fae laws allow for action, in which case the benefits to Cardinals may differ.
[Saving file... Saved]
Sync to website!
[uploading CardinalGeometer.Gid/Chapter 5(complete) to server...]
[adding update to 'new'...]
[done.]
Phew, got it done in time- I think the old guy's set to wake up soon! I can't snooze the alarm, he'll notice if he wakes up late, so adios amigoes! hopefully this breaths some motivation into him... Anyway, I'm Taoist 'sounding elderly is lame' Tye, signing off!
I have to actually tell it to log out, don't I? Log out!
[Logging out...]
[8:48 PM]
[Saturday 28th of the Nth month]
[Archmage]
[enter password...]
- Location
- Louisiana
We could probably take some degree of risky fights, Adorie is now capable of healing some serious injuries so as long as we don't die we should be able to heal up. Also the more I think about it the more the blood casting heroic advancement speaks to me. I think it'll have a pretty big impact on future hunger ring upgrades, skill is something we tend to lack since were powering up so insanely fast. We're not as skilled as we are powerful, so against a peer foe who's been there a while we could falter a bit. This doesn't solve that issue but it does give us some much needed versatility and I really think it would buff some already very powerful advancements.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
I shan't be left behind! Here's some Cardinals that I've been working on, too. Honestly, Angelus is kinda weird - I probably shouldn't have written it without sleeping on it first, but whatever.
Angelus - This Cardinal is a meta-Cardinal on many accounts. Rather than broaden the user's spellcasting capacity, the Angelus Cardinal offers the ability to explore magic at a more chaotic but simultaneously expanded rate. In order to be effective, the user of this Cardinal must be able to apply elementary geometry and mathematics.
In essence, picture the entire Cardinal Geometer as a grid of squares, where each square represents a 'step' taken in a particular direction. The directions are North, East, South, and West sequentially, and each Cardinal Form in any given Cardinal represents a direction in order they are presented. In other words, if a Cardinalist were to always select the first option out of any offered Cardinal and he ended his career at the 360th, he would have taken, "three-hundred and sixty steps northward." If someone were to select the first option, the second option, and the first option again, he would have taken, "a step north, a step east, a step north." And so on.
Ordinarily, a Cardinalist may only be able to learn the next Cardinal, and choose only a single magical spell out of that Cardinal, but Angelus modifies this property intrinsically and permanently. This manifests differently for each user, and can, in fact, be outright harmful to their learning. Usually, Angelus manifests in a pattern of learning that can be studied, analyzed, and predicted for each user.
An example pattern would be a sequence of Cardinal Attainments that follows as such:
1. John is at the 10th Cardinal. He chooses to take a step East as his 11th Cardinal as normal. He does so and nothing happens.
2. Angelus takes hold of John's advancement during the next Cardinal selection. Rather than move in any direction he wishes, it moves him in a direction opposite to the one he took at '1,' but it skips over one step. In other words, John attains the 13th Western Cardinal, without attaining any of the 12th Cardinal Forms.
3. Angelus continues to puppeteer John's attainment, but this time, it moves him back one step, allowing him to take any 12th Cardinal he chooses.
4. Depending on his choice in '3,' there is a random chance the next attainment will also be decided by Angelus. If John selects either East or West, the chance that Angelus takes control of his choice for this step of the sequence is 10%, and if he takes North or South, the chance is 30%. Furthermore, if Angelus takes control of John's progress at this step, it will always unfailingly advance him two steps North, skipping one step; unless John already took North in the 3rd part of this sequence, in which case Angelus has a 25% chance of sending him East, 25% chance of sending him West, or 50% chance of sending him South.
The Cardinalist may reset the pattern at any moment he wishes in order to produce a new and fresh pattern to play around with, and it does not necessarily need to hold four steps, but can have even up to a dozen or as little as two. The main demerit of doing this is that a Cardinalist has to re-learn the pattern.
The main benefit of this Cardinal is that an enterprising Angelus user may be able to plan his route in such a way that he'll be able to take multiple directions in a single Cardinal. It's more than theoretically possible to obtain Emission, Enhance, Explode, and Escort at the same time if he finds a pattern that moves him back to the very beginning, making him re-choose the 1st Cardinal.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of ontological motion and repetition. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals. This application is erratic.
Antithesis - The essence of this spell is twisted inversion, but the spell is rather simple at its core. The user focuses on a single person or identifiable object or phenomenon within range and maintains that focus for the duration of the spell - this necessity can be ameliorated with sufficient skill, eventually letting the user focus on multiple things. Abstract concepts may not be targeted without Specialist Forms or alterations from other Cardinals.
For as long as the user maintains the focus, their magic creates a spiritual projection of wrinkled virtual-matter which embodies the very antithesis of the targeted being. Usually, these creatures are significantly weaker than the target, and their effects - albeit not their second-order effects - are non-permanent, weak, and transient. Usually, the projections will manifest as humanoid elementals or servile spirits, even if an object or phenomenon was targeted. They will follow the Cardinalist's orders within reason, but won't do anything that supports the basis of their spell-focus; in fact, if left alone, they will do their best to destroy or impede it. The interpretations of what is 'antithetical' are usually broad and unusually simplistic, straightforward, and even dull.
The main benefit of this spell lies not in its power, but in the shock value and versatility it can offer to a Cardinalist who's willing to use his head, as mostly any phenomenon can be targeted with this. If the elementalist targets a body of water, the spell may create a weak fire elemental; targeting a forest may create an eager lumberjack with an axe. If a clown is the target, it might produce a horror monster.
Curiously, while this spell's understanding of ideas expands with the user's own understanding, this ceases to be so past a certain level; particularly when the matter is personal. If the target is a random wire, a shadowy mouse will be created; however, if the Cardinalist pours all of his understanding of their best friend, the spell won't create an 'anti-friend' or 'worst enemy,' as if unable to recognize that complexity. Instead, it will create something generically anti-human or otherwise applicable to the individual in question.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of hostility and adversity. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals.
Advance - Sometimes, easy and straightforward effects are the best. This is one such spell.
Upon casting, the Cardinalist and up to six companions are enshrouded in a bubble of translucent, static white light. The bubble contains its own, safe atmosphere and is virtually unpoppable to anything less than concentrated artillery fire or repeated bombardment with explosive missiles. The Cardinalist is able to mentally propel this bubble at a rate of 50kph/s, to a soft limit of Mach 10, at which point the acceleration slows down massively, and a hard limit of 1% of the speed of light.
Curiously, while this bubble mitigates inertia, g-forces, tension, friction, and other unpleasantness involved in travel at such velocities, it - as well as the beings in it - will definitely be unable to handle a fast impact with a physical object of density larger than common oil. Be careful when accelerating towards a target.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of velocity and bubbles. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals.
Abraxas - This spell channels kinetic light through appropriate objects, requiring a material component in the form of a jewel. The spell's effects change depending on the color and properties of each gem utilized for its casting, using a consistent RGB/MCY/WB scale in order to decide its manifestation. Usually, this spell is best cast using gauntlets or staves that have gem attachments.
Below are the manifestations of effects depending on the jewel color. These manifestations assume that each jewel's color is 100% pure, with no other elements from the color spectrum corrupting it.
Red - A pure red gem will fire a constant laser-like projection of force, half of which will be directed back at the user. This beam will have 0 spread.
Blue - A pure blue gem will fire once every eight seconds, emitting fifty projectiles at a spread of 180 degrees, which will alter course toward user-intuited targets up to 90 degrees.
Green - A pure green gem will project force in a cone away from the user, expanding with distance at a roughly 45-degree angle (90-degree cone) with commensurate weakening of power. This gem requires one-quarter the usual expenditure of power.
Magenta - A pure magenta (combining red and blue) gem will fire once every four seconds, emitting twenty-five projectiles at a spread of 90 degrees, which will alter course toward user-intuited targets up to 45 degrees. One-quarter of projectile force will be directed back at the user.
Cyan - A pure cyan (combining blue and green) gem will fire once every four seconds, emitting twenty-five projectiles within a 120-degree cone. Projectiles will weaken with distance from origin in accordance with half of the inverse square of distance. Projectiles will alter course toward user-intuited targets up to 90 degrees. This requires one half the usual expenditure of power.
Yellow - A pure yellow (combining green and red) gem will fire a constant projection of force in a 45 degree cone with force reduced by half of the inverse square of distance. One quarter of the force will be directed back toward the user. This requires one half the usual expenditure of power.
White - A pure white gem is special, and can be used to boost other gems when channeled. Because most gem mages can only use one gem at a time, white gems are either used through special techniques, or with a second gem mage.
Black - A pure black gem is special, and can be used for countering other gems at half the cost of what the offensive power takes.
Clarity - How clear the gem is. Clarity has a sigmoidal relationship with force per unit power; the first few points of clarity provide ever-increasing force per unit power, while the last few points of clarity provide ever-decreasing force per unit power.
Cut - How many facets the gem has, and what their arrangement is. Cut has two components: facets and symmetry. A lack of symmetry in the cuts typically results in force projection being off-balanced or warped in some way, though one axis of radial symmetry is enough that the effects are much less noticeable. The number of cuts increases the "sharpness" of the force projection.
Carat Weight - How big the gem is. Larger gems require more power to use, but have greater force per unit power at superlinear rate.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of artifacts and channeling. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals.
In essence, picture the entire Cardinal Geometer as a grid of squares, where each square represents a 'step' taken in a particular direction. The directions are North, East, South, and West sequentially, and each Cardinal Form in any given Cardinal represents a direction in order they are presented. In other words, if a Cardinalist were to always select the first option out of any offered Cardinal and he ended his career at the 360th, he would have taken, "three-hundred and sixty steps northward." If someone were to select the first option, the second option, and the first option again, he would have taken, "a step north, a step east, a step north." And so on.
Ordinarily, a Cardinalist may only be able to learn the next Cardinal, and choose only a single magical spell out of that Cardinal, but Angelus modifies this property intrinsically and permanently. This manifests differently for each user, and can, in fact, be outright harmful to their learning. Usually, Angelus manifests in a pattern of learning that can be studied, analyzed, and predicted for each user.
An example pattern would be a sequence of Cardinal Attainments that follows as such:
1. John is at the 10th Cardinal. He chooses to take a step East as his 11th Cardinal as normal. He does so and nothing happens.
2. Angelus takes hold of John's advancement during the next Cardinal selection. Rather than move in any direction he wishes, it moves him in a direction opposite to the one he took at '1,' but it skips over one step. In other words, John attains the 13th Western Cardinal, without attaining any of the 12th Cardinal Forms.
3. Angelus continues to puppeteer John's attainment, but this time, it moves him back one step, allowing him to take any 12th Cardinal he chooses.
4. Depending on his choice in '3,' there is a random chance the next attainment will also be decided by Angelus. If John selects either East or West, the chance that Angelus takes control of his choice for this step of the sequence is 10%, and if he takes North or South, the chance is 30%. Furthermore, if Angelus takes control of John's progress at this step, it will always unfailingly advance him two steps North, skipping one step; unless John already took North in the 3rd part of this sequence, in which case Angelus has a 25% chance of sending him East, 25% chance of sending him West, or 50% chance of sending him South.
The Cardinalist may reset the pattern at any moment he wishes in order to produce a new and fresh pattern to play around with, and it does not necessarily need to hold four steps, but can have even up to a dozen or as little as two. The main demerit of doing this is that a Cardinalist has to re-learn the pattern.
The main benefit of this Cardinal is that an enterprising Angelus user may be able to plan his route in such a way that he'll be able to take multiple directions in a single Cardinal. It's more than theoretically possible to obtain Emission, Enhance, Explode, and Escort at the same time if he finds a pattern that moves him back to the very beginning, making him re-choose the 1st Cardinal.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of ontological motion and repetition. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals. This application is erratic.
Antithesis - The essence of this spell is twisted inversion, but the spell is rather simple at its core. The user focuses on a single person or identifiable object or phenomenon within range and maintains that focus for the duration of the spell - this necessity can be ameliorated with sufficient skill, eventually letting the user focus on multiple things. Abstract concepts may not be targeted without Specialist Forms or alterations from other Cardinals.
For as long as the user maintains the focus, their magic creates a spiritual projection of wrinkled virtual-matter which embodies the very antithesis of the targeted being. Usually, these creatures are significantly weaker than the target, and their effects - albeit not their second-order effects - are non-permanent, weak, and transient. Usually, the projections will manifest as humanoid elementals or servile spirits, even if an object or phenomenon was targeted. They will follow the Cardinalist's orders within reason, but won't do anything that supports the basis of their spell-focus; in fact, if left alone, they will do their best to destroy or impede it. The interpretations of what is 'antithetical' are usually broad and unusually simplistic, straightforward, and even dull.
The main benefit of this spell lies not in its power, but in the shock value and versatility it can offer to a Cardinalist who's willing to use his head, as mostly any phenomenon can be targeted with this. If the elementalist targets a body of water, the spell may create a weak fire elemental; targeting a forest may create an eager lumberjack with an axe. If a clown is the target, it might produce a horror monster.
Curiously, while this spell's understanding of ideas expands with the user's own understanding, this ceases to be so past a certain level; particularly when the matter is personal. If the target is a random wire, a shadowy mouse will be created; however, if the Cardinalist pours all of his understanding of their best friend, the spell won't create an 'anti-friend' or 'worst enemy,' as if unable to recognize that complexity. Instead, it will create something generically anti-human or otherwise applicable to the individual in question.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of hostility and adversity. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals.
Advance - Sometimes, easy and straightforward effects are the best. This is one such spell.
Upon casting, the Cardinalist and up to six companions are enshrouded in a bubble of translucent, static white light. The bubble contains its own, safe atmosphere and is virtually unpoppable to anything less than concentrated artillery fire or repeated bombardment with explosive missiles. The Cardinalist is able to mentally propel this bubble at a rate of 50kph/s, to a soft limit of Mach 10, at which point the acceleration slows down massively, and a hard limit of 1% of the speed of light.
Curiously, while this bubble mitigates inertia, g-forces, tension, friction, and other unpleasantness involved in travel at such velocities, it - as well as the beings in it - will definitely be unable to handle a fast impact with a physical object of density larger than common oil. Be careful when accelerating towards a target.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of velocity and bubbles. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals.
Abraxas - This spell channels kinetic light through appropriate objects, requiring a material component in the form of a jewel. The spell's effects change depending on the color and properties of each gem utilized for its casting, using a consistent RGB/MCY/WB scale in order to decide its manifestation. Usually, this spell is best cast using gauntlets or staves that have gem attachments.
Below are the manifestations of effects depending on the jewel color. These manifestations assume that each jewel's color is 100% pure, with no other elements from the color spectrum corrupting it.
Red - A pure red gem will fire a constant laser-like projection of force, half of which will be directed back at the user. This beam will have 0 spread.
Blue - A pure blue gem will fire once every eight seconds, emitting fifty projectiles at a spread of 180 degrees, which will alter course toward user-intuited targets up to 90 degrees.
Green - A pure green gem will project force in a cone away from the user, expanding with distance at a roughly 45-degree angle (90-degree cone) with commensurate weakening of power. This gem requires one-quarter the usual expenditure of power.
Magenta - A pure magenta (combining red and blue) gem will fire once every four seconds, emitting twenty-five projectiles at a spread of 90 degrees, which will alter course toward user-intuited targets up to 45 degrees. One-quarter of projectile force will be directed back at the user.
Cyan - A pure cyan (combining blue and green) gem will fire once every four seconds, emitting twenty-five projectiles within a 120-degree cone. Projectiles will weaken with distance from origin in accordance with half of the inverse square of distance. Projectiles will alter course toward user-intuited targets up to 90 degrees. This requires one half the usual expenditure of power.
Yellow - A pure yellow (combining green and red) gem will fire a constant projection of force in a 45 degree cone with force reduced by half of the inverse square of distance. One quarter of the force will be directed back toward the user. This requires one half the usual expenditure of power.
White - A pure white gem is special, and can be used to boost other gems when channeled. Because most gem mages can only use one gem at a time, white gems are either used through special techniques, or with a second gem mage.
Black - A pure black gem is special, and can be used for countering other gems at half the cost of what the offensive power takes.
Clarity - How clear the gem is. Clarity has a sigmoidal relationship with force per unit power; the first few points of clarity provide ever-increasing force per unit power, while the last few points of clarity provide ever-decreasing force per unit power.
Cut - How many facets the gem has, and what their arrangement is. Cut has two components: facets and symmetry. A lack of symmetry in the cuts typically results in force projection being off-balanced or warped in some way, though one axis of radial symmetry is enough that the effects are much less noticeable. The number of cuts increases the "sharpness" of the force projection.
Carat Weight - How big the gem is. Larger gems require more power to use, but have greater force per unit power at superlinear rate.
Choosing this Cardinal permanently alters every Cardinal attained with the concepts of artifacts and channeling. This only applies in visible ways to some Cardinals.
Last edited:
Turns out it was too late