Apologies to those who've seen this already, but since the Fonts of Myth Digital Waterfall's flowing once more, I figured I should post this publicly for the Arete. A couple new options have been added for returning players, along with slight clarifications to existing ones. Questions and conspiracy theories are equally welcome; the whole thing comes out to 6467 words. Without further ado, I give you:
Doesn't everyone, somewhere in their heart, wish to be a proper outside context problem? To rampage through the results of painstaking worldbuilding, like the proverbial bull in a china shop of horrors? If your answer is yes, then boy, do I have a CYOA for you! You'll be grossly overpowered, with an array of abilities and perks waiting to be purchased, a true buffet of isekai bullshit. In deference to some vestigial sense of good taste and a certain quest, we'll call the currency orbs, instead of orms. Spend them wisely, because drawbacks aside, you only have three! But first, there's the question of where you'll start...
[ ] The First Dominion - Since time immemorial, the six Lords and Ladies have presided over their Dominion from the Seats. They are foremost among the sages who wield the Litanies, secret languages that enable the speaker to reshape reality, their power beyond question. Splendid and sprawling, the Dominion embodies excellence and extravagance in equal measure. Its cities are carved from earth and sky with careless abandon; skyships ferry Litanists between them, above lush fields filled with unearthly crops spoken into existence to feed the billions who shelter beneath the Dominion's aegis. Officers of Enforcement keep the peace, guided by Revelation to prevent crimes before they happen.
This golden age is not without its sins, however. Taxes are paid in True Coin, the currency of the spirit, Reaped from citizens in Harvests that leave them diminished. Litanal nobility gamble with the proceeds on contests between gladiators who are both celebrities and slaves, trading intellect, beauty, humor, and stranger attributes in their exclusive auction houses. In enclaves run by Reassurers, residents witness inconceivable marvels, at the cost of their sanity or humanity. Those who creep into the Dominion's cracks to escape an oppressive system often suffer worst of all, crushed by the indifferent magnificence of a civilization that caters to the powerful.
[ ] A Unified Earth - The year is 2049, three decades since Unification, when a tide of Expressive power swept aside the nations of Earth like so many sandcastles. Elizabeth Rayleigh - First Councilor to some, Tyrant to others - and a handful of peers oversee the Society for Human Advancement, self-appointed custodians of the species. SHA has not been lax in fulfilling its mission: fleshcrafter-engineered crops and kinetic construction crews have rendered hunger and homelessness things of the old world. Disease is dead. War fell first, for who would dare defy the Tyrant in open combat?
Beneath the veneer of victory, trouble stirs. So-called Divisive rebels wage a shadow war, growing increasingly desperate as the memory of freedom fades. What was once Australia is now a shattered archipelago, wracked by the aftershocks of the Continent Beast's rising. The Vanishing of the Traveler has hamstrung the Society's plans for interstellar expansion and sown unease among its upper echelons, who await the Expression of their next peer with dread. More and more, it seems the power that conquered the world may be insufficient to preserve it.
[ ] The Thousand Estates - Here, there's no boot stomping on a human face forever, only a rich tapestry of nations and cultures. Colloquially called the Estates for the ubiquitous Titles that comprise its native magic, this is a world full of potential. Entitled laborers and artisans alike hone their craft through relentless Practice. Feats of heroism and exceptional accomplishments are sometimes rewarded with Acknowledgment, unique Titles which echo the deeds that spawned them, incentivizing sporting events, risk-taking, and the occasional war.
Meanwhile, military juntas empower their forces with more structured Bestowal, for ranks can be revoked… and every so often a Title will Descend from on high, seemingly unprompted, forever altering the recipient. With the Estates' industrial revolution a recent memory, the geopolitical landscape is still shifting. The woman charged with Imposing Justice has splintered the mantle of her Authority in a final edict, creating an island haven for the Untitled underclass. In the south, the champion of Unsung Heroes contemplates how best to pay his due to the dead. As ever, with chaos comes opportunity.
[ ] A Ruined Garden - The world has ended twice. Once in a cataclysm that's long since passed beyond the reach of mortal memory, and again under the depredations of the Two-Legged Locust, the thing that calls itself the Hand. The resulting desolation covers most of the planet. The wasteland is harsh and intolerant of weakness, a place where water is treasured and a stranger is just the embryonic form of an enemy. Existence is struggle; every oasis or seed of cultivated power is a prize worth spilling blood for.
But in the titanic shadow of the Walls, life goes on. Some irrepressible vitality emanates from whatever lies inside, stubbornly coaxing its surroundings to life. Despite the dangers, circling bandit chieftains who covet the land, twisted beasts, and the looming specter of the Hand, people still strive to salvage fragments of their past and build something better than the surrounding savagery. The seeds of civilization have been planted. Whether they will sprout remains to be seen.
[ ] Streetwalker - Instead of arriving on a singular world, you are spirited away by the Street Where the Stones Speak, a winding road that carries those with the dubious honor of walking it through the multiverse. The name, which you will learn from fellow travelers, is an apt one. Its opalescent stones echo with the notes of a distant song. The further you walk, the clearer it becomes. Occasionally you may pass a wayfarer moving with an easy, unhurried gait who seems to be humming along.
Not all travelers are friendly or human, and not all worlds you'll witness on your journey are inhabited by the latter. Sometimes the Street will intersect with parts of one, a market or an inn or even a city, and you'll have a chance to stop and sample the local colour for a while. You can leave it behind entirely, if you find a world to your liking; it's a road, not a prison. But always, the Street leads onward. It will never return for someone who abandons it.
For you, the road will be long indeed.
[ ] Practitioner (1 orb) - Practitioners are by far the most common Entitled in the Estates, because the act of living entails Practice. Through repeated effort and the creation of habits, a Practitioner is said to carve ruts into their spirit, giving rise to supernatural attributes and aptitude in their field. The vast majority of people have a number of low-level Practiced Titles. In addition to receiving minor Titles reflecting your habits, you are world-class in a broad field, and have earned complementary Acknowledged and Bestowed Titles as a master in the Estates would.
There are as many builds as there are areas of human endeavor, but here are a couple samples:
Soldier - You possess a savant's intuition for all forms of weaponry from trench knives to rifles, along with agility and endurance that well exceed the humanly possible. Your genius quickly ascertains the optimal tactics in human-scale skirmishes. You never miss; the same is not true of your enemies. Once per battle, reflecting the time 'you' were thought killed in action only to crawl out of a pile of dead bodies behind enemy lines, you may return to full health as a resurgent avatar of war. Numerous other abilities from medals. Effectively Big Boss, but scarier because of explicit superpowers.
Artist - Statues you sculpt can converse with viewers, offering opinions on their construction; at first glance, your paintings appear as portals into other worlds. Once, a poem 'you' read killed someone by literally breaking their heart, and now all your works inspire extreme emotions. The sheer perfection of buildings constructed according to your plans buffs any who live within. Once per year, reflecting the process of 'your' creation of a genre-defining masterpiece, you may seclude yourself for a week to create another. Effectively a superpowered Michelangelo.
Practitioners need to maintain their skills or their abilities begin to deteriorate, but most don't find the requirements onerous. It's only when attempting to juggle multiple disciplines or Practice Titles that are in direct opposition to one another that problems arise.
[ ] Labyrinthian (1 orb) - The glory of this art is long gone. The palace-planes and stelae that listed the names of the sovereigns who resided within have crumbled beneath the weight of countless centuries. Gloom and ruin rule the fractally-nested warrens that once housed their citizenry; the ever-vernal fields that fed them lie fallow. Dunes of dust choke the Liminal Catacombs, those who fled from death into their depths delivered to the embrace of a darker eternity. Nevertheless, for the price of an orb the talent of the Shaper-Kings of old will arise within you.
Labyrinth magic deals with creating and configuring planes perpendicular to reality. Though it provides no immediate power, with dedication you can carve out a world of your own. At first, an airless space no larger than a closet that must be accessed from the spot where it was created; eventually, a paradisiacal pleasure-garden never more than a quiet moment and a few gestures away. Almost all attributes of the resulting realm are amenable to alteration, if the Shaper's skill and resolve are sufficient: size, habitability, splendor, safety, even physical laws and the passage of time.
Nor is there a limit on the number of planes that can be crafted save that imposed by your patience. Invest in improving one shining citadel or specialize, creating a training area that focuses its occupants, a restorative hot spring that amplifies the qualia of pleasure, and so on. Needless to say, the potential comfiness is immense. Realms can be arranged into networks; spatial moats and mires of decelerated time girding a fortress dimension where the Shaper prepares to greet uninvited guests. Contesting an adept in their sanctum is risky, as a realm that knows its master's touch can be compelled to rise in their defense.
This magic's weaknesses are twofold: the time and toil needed to mold worlds and the Labyrinthian's powerlessness beyond their domain. Months will be required to begin to realize its potential, and even a grandmaster would struggle to open portals at speeds relevant in superhuman combat.
Travel between worlds is possible by slowly kneading the fabric of space into a passage, but this function is inferior in all respects to the Voyager's Authority. The Shaper's Art lacks the strength to alter the metrics of full realities directly, but on entering other sequestered spaces you may attempt to bend them to your will. If you can locate the Labyrinth of your predecessors, what remains of their works will be yours for the taking. Be careful that you do not court the doom that befell them as well.
[ ] A Taste of the Fruit (1 orb) - You receive a single fruit, ripe and ready for your consumption. Though no larger than the palm of your hand, it is a treasure men and women would happily kill for. In days gone by, such boons were given to members of the Royal Guard and favored scions of the Hundred Branches, to imbue them with strength to carry out their duties. Even by those standards, yours is exceptional. The powers granted can be improved with training. Pick one of two:
Slice of the Sun - This fist-sized fruit shines gold, like a peach infused with solar fire. In consuming it, you'll gain the ability to fly and incinerate enemies, flinging blasts of piercing, blinding luminosity. When struck by an attack, instead of taking damage, that part of you is temporarily transmuted into light. This prevents you from physically interacting with the world, but not projecting attacks. Skilled users may voluntarily discorporate into radiance and flit through the trees as swift as a sunbeam, untouchable and renewed on arrival.
Unraveling - Plucked from the inner grove of the Voidwood, this egg-shaped blot of darkness gives off an uncanny vibe. Eating it suffuses you with a chill that will never entirely abate, as your blood runs cold. The effects of unwelcome, external forces on your body are attenuated, to a degree that scales based your level of focus. With an exertion, you may project this effect outward, suppressing your surroundings into frozen stillness. Skilled users can summon an arsenal of distilled void energy, a conceptual imposition that deletes most matter on contact.
Both options entail comparable levels of physical enhancement, rendering the consumer superhuman. You do not have to eat whichever fruit you choose yourself, but if you save the seeds, you can attempt to grow more.
[ ] Litanist (2 orbs) - The Litanies are one of the most versatile, potent systems of magic in the multiverse, so it follows that the Dominion built and sustained by them is arguably the mightiest superpower in existence. The ability to reshape reality with words alone is the birthright of every child fortunate enough to be born under its auspices. For most, however, that potential will never be realized. Theoretical ability alone does not confer relevance, and the ephemeral egalitarianism of the Litanies proves as illusory as any Reassurance.
As a Litanist, none of these troubles will touch you. You possess preexisting knowledge of three Litanies of your choice, equivalent to decades of dedicated study, complete with the materials to further and broaden your education. Your star is ascendant, your talent prodigious: this option grants the aggregate aptitude of the Six in their Litanies. You can freely define the course your scholastic endeavors have taken up to this point, and receive the enhancements and artifacts that naturally complement it. This will also affect the texts available to you. If you can secure safety and additional tuition, the future is an endless, golden road laid out before you...
The power of the Litanies is correlated with ontological proximity to the Dominion. It is recommended, but not required, that you choose it as your insertion point.
A/N: Here's an extremely abbreviated overview of the six Litanies.
As for the Voyager's Authority, it alights on the shoulders of the explorer who is Acknowledged as the greatest of their generation, to open new horizons for their exploits. As one who has already traveled between worlds, its power can be yours for the price of two orbs.
Flight is the Voyager's foundational power. Your speed and maneuverability are unmatched, in or out of the atmosphere. When confronted with flying 'foes', you may revoke their 'permission', interrupting whatever process bears them aloft. The definition of this is permissive: airplanes, bullets, Litanists, and spaceships are all valid targets. The Voyager is also known for the ability to open rifts, slipping between dimensions and across vast distances. There are defensive and utility applications for this power, engulfing enemy attacks and storing supplies, but using it for short-range teleportation feels wrong, somehow.
Though not a focus of your Authority, you receive physical enhancements. Notably, the Voyager resists environmental hazards, particularly ones associated with the sky. Lightning strikes cannot harm you; when it rains, you get wet only if you want to. Offensively, your arsenal is varied. The Voyager commands the aurora borealis, shields and spears of haunting light, can conjure meteors to wipe battlefields clean, and even wield gamma radiation...
You also gain the ability to Practice, but without any preexisting powers.
[ ] Final Scion of Water (2 orbs) - You are the inheritor of a dead dream, the last gasp of a realm that was. Through a fog of ages, the memories come: shining seas and mist-wreathed isles, the shadows of leviathans passing beneath clear waters. Healing fountains and killing tides. A proud people, resilient and mysterious as their home.
You remember the end, too, but it does not do to dwell on that.
Water's current ethos is thus: escape what cannot be endured. Move with an attack, and you will not be harmed by it; to strike the sea is futility, for it resumes its former shape. Crush enemies that cannot be eroded or drowned, but sustain allies with your bounty. In addition to physical enhancements, you have tremendous powers of hydrokinesis, evasion, stealth, and regeneration. In territory recognized as 'yours', these abilities are heightened. Acquiring more territory improves powers, causes you to develop new ones, and alters the area in ways compatible with Water's aesthetics.
You can exert active control over territory, but Water will also look to you for interpretation of its domain and ethos. Sunken cities and lush valleys, filled with rivers and waterfalls; the crushing silence of fathomless depths and nourishing rains, even blood in the veins of its people… all of these are Water. At present, you may endow others with access to Water's paradigm through an effort of will, and rescind it with the same. Your territory stretches no further than your immediate surroundings; possession is not binary and aquatic areas are easier to claim. As the Final Scion, you'll intuitively understand the nuances of this.
Simply by existing, you weaken Him. You must take a Fire-related drawback.
[ ] Ancient (3 orbs) - Voices that drown out thunder, mountain-shattering strength, secret knowledge to yoke the world to their will… all these and more belong to the Ancients. They stand astride the Dominion, one step below the Lords and Ladies themselves, ageless and indomitable. Each could reign supreme over less majestic worlds. You are their equal now, in strength if not longevity. The transformation will be jarring, as your capabilities are exponentially improved and new senses open to you.
Once the initial acclimation is finished, however, your powers will not feel new to you. You know all six Litanies more intimately than any lover. Their hidden meanings and structure seem familiar and obvious, even poetic. Old friends, that you can converse with at any time. You have favored techniques and stratagems, reservoirs of Coin, a library of prepared Reaping attacks, supernal skills, a treasure trove of artifacts that leverage multiple Litanies, and webs of Revelation to warn you of anyone suicidal enough to risk your wrath.
Frankly, the possible builds for an Ancient are too numerous to list. Instead, choose two Litanies - three, if Exemplar is selected - to master to an even greater degree. These will be the backbone of your specialization, with the others optimized to support your primary area of focus. Describe your build in general terms: a Repulsor & Reinforcer who focuses on artifice, building wonders; a far-seeing Revelator & Reciprocator, on whose strings entire Provinces dance; or a Reaper & Reinforcer, with skills sufficient to split the skies.
As an Ancient, your immediate, personal power outstrips that of any other choice. However, your abilities are the result of thousands of years of optimization. Further improvements are likely to be incremental rather than revolutionary, or concentrated in external workings.
An Ancient benefits from proximity to the Dominion, but is more than capable of making their own way in worlds beyond it, especially with the right build.
[ ] Originator Resurgent (3 orbs) - Once upon a time, Tar-Enlil ate the fruit of a tree whose leaves were stars and roots were the foundations of the earth. It withered, passing its gifts to him, and the Originator was born. Partaking of the bounty he offered, his first allies blossomed into the noble Hundred Branches. Peace and splendor reigned for those halcyon centuries, but his time has ended. The child who stood to inherit his legacy is lost in a paradise purchased with blood and tears. Even the myth is dying, now.
You, on the other hand, are more alive than ever. Royal blood flows through your veins, an ichor rich with quintessence. Boundless vitality fills you, enormously enhancing all physical attributes. Your durability is flatly absurd, but your regeneration is even more so. For you, 'from a single cell' is more truth than metaphor. As an innate offensive power, you can also drain the life from others, or share it to heal them.
That is only the beginning. The Originator's true potential lies in cultivation, the art of growing fruits that endow the consumer with permanent supernatural abilities. For most, this requires exacting care, specially prepared plots of land, and exotic resources or environmental conditions. As the Originator, your presence alone is a reagent sufficient to allow Voidwood to grow under direct sunlight; unless suppressed, your ambient vitality will cause saplings to spring up and flowers to bloom in the dead of winter.
Your attention and blood are even more valuable, though offering the latter as nourishment will temporarily sap your stamina. Exploring the depths of cultivation is likely to be an ongoing endeavor, requiring experimentation as you create strains of different seedlines, but your advantages are many.
Fruit-derived abilities start three times as strong and there is no risk of incompatible consumption for you. In time, you will acquire a staggering array of abilities. But eventually you will also come to feel the lethargic tug that afflicts cultivators as they grow older, the urge to take root and bear fruit themselves...
[ ] Expressive (4 orbs) - Within your soul resides the potential for Expression, unconstrained by the First Principles. You can feel it building, a widening gyre within and above you, as though you are both flood and floodgates. Soon - in no more than a month - the latter will break, and everything will change. Neither you nor the world are prepared.
Both your character and the actions you take in coming days will shape the gathering power, as every rung of the Hierarchy conspires to effect your incarnation. The resulting Expression is guaranteed to be suitable, desire made divine. You will be able to improve it to heights undreamt of, though no guidelines exist for doing so, save perhaps Polonius' words:
This above all: to thine own self be true.
Carefully consider whether you wish your innermost nature wedded to limitless might before choosing this. Expression is not intended to save the world, though it has that power. The First Principles are intended to save the world, from the likes of you.
A/N: Here's a sample Unprincipled Expression to calibrate your expectations. Relative to others, the Light of Desolate Heaven is narrow in scope but benefits from consistency and easy scaling.
Selecting A Unified Earth discounts Expressive by two orbs, but changes the nature of this option. The resulting Expression will instead be subject to the First Principles; roughly fitting and relevant, even on a global scale, but one tier below the true luminaries that govern the post-Unification Earth. Though your initial power may paradoxically outstrip an unrestricted Expression, its scope is constrained and it will grow no further.
[ ] Exemplar (1 orb) - Expend an orb, and be remade. Any physical defects you wish addressed are wiped away, leaving you in peak health, with an appearance that conforms perfectly to your wishes. Exemplar offers a multitude of holistic improvements: strength, intellect, even natural charisma. This transformation also improves your compatibility with any magic you possess. You will start stronger and improve more easily; this effect is most pronounced when dealing with systems that depend on innate talent.
[ ] Naturalization (1 orb) - Manufactures an identity for you, complete with all the paperwork to prove it. This is not a forgery; your existence is retroactively insinuated into the true history of the world. You may specify the broad strokes of this new life within reason, so long as you don't ascribe yourself undue prominence. By default, Naturalization makes you a citizen of the world, not a steward of it. The memories of a life unlived will be available to you in a form of your choosing. You also receive any abilities common to all natives of your insertion point: the ability to speak the Litanies at your innate skill level in the Dominion, benefit from Practice in the Estates, etc.
[ ] Dominion Loyalist (1 orb, requires Dominion) - You are bound into a network of prophecies spanning the entire Dominion, empowering its partisans. Wealth and good fortune will naturally accrue to you, all the benefits of a civilization in its golden age. If you lack citizenship, a path to it will open for you; if Naturalization is also selected, you may choose a noble family to be part of, with an attendant Lineage. The benefits of Dominion Loyalist can be improved or lost, depending on your actions.
[ ] Beast of Hierarchy (1 orb, requires Dominion) - Once, and only once, you may call on the Gatekeeper for aid. Whatever fool forces you to employ this contingency will come to regret doing so, in the instants before their demise. Those privileged enough to know of it deem the Gatekeeper the mightiest entity ever crafted by Litanal prowess, the product of multiple Convocations between all the Lords and Ladies. It will obey you as if you were one of the Six.
[ ] High Society (1 orb, requires Unified Earth) - The Society for Human Advancement conquered the Earth, ostensibly for its own good. As old systems of governance were phased out, opportunities for a different sort of advancement opened, creating a new class combining demigods and oligarchs. One way or another, you will have the ear of the Unification's architects; if Naturalization is selected, you may have been one of them. Some might question the wisdom of spending an orb on influence alone. These people underestimate the power of Expression.
[ ] Prometheus Engine (1 orb, requires Unified Earth) - With the turn of the 21st century came Expression, which arose from nothing and changed everything, throwing our understanding of the world into disarray. But even in the face of apparent impossibility, science marched on. You receive a cube of featureless metal. At your touch and desire it will open, revealing a caged radiance that cries out to see and be seen, yet this imprisoned soul is only the tip of the heretical device's potential... Be cautious, lest you spend eternity having your liver pecked out by eagles.
[ ] Envy (2 orbs) - You feel it, do you not? A hunger not for food or flesh but acclaim, burning like a star beneath your breast. The desperate desire to bridge the gulf that separates have from have-not is incarnated in the Ring of Envy, a mercurial band set with a single emerald. The Covetous Band and Serpent Ever-Grasping has known many names but no true master in all the long ages of its existence. The granting of one wielder's wishes transforms them into an object of envy, and the next plucks it from their finger; thus is Envy's history as circular as the ouroboros the ring resembles.
It is yours now, to rule or be ruled by. Initially it bestows broad-spectrum enhancements, the ability to deflect physical and social harm, shapeshifting, a serpentine war-form, and a sense for the eponymous Sin that no contrivance of lesser crafts can blot out. The magnitude of all benefits scales with emotional compatibility; the greater your resentment, the greater the strength granted. Envy's capabilities are manifold and grow as the union of man and ring unfolds, synergizing with other magics and potentially encompassing any power centered around spite or theft... if you retain the ring long enough.
[ ] Immortality (2 orbs) - Exactly what it says on the tin. There are many methods of securing longevity and survivability, but none so reliable as this. Your immortality will be inviolable, axiomatic, proof against any catastrophe. Even the unleashed wrath of the Lord Reaper and the Priestess' extinguishing touch cannot permanently destroy you; time is ever an immortal's ally, and with it you will be fully restored. This does not protect you from pain or regret.
[ ] Word of God (2 orbs) - An emulation of the individual nominally responsible for creating the multiverse will be instantiated in your mind, altered to ensure it doesn't go mad from isolation and protected from the hazards inherent in its knowledge. You may converse with it, soliciting advice and secrets. The Word of God offers a treasure trove of information, particularly on the cosmic scale, at a steep cost in orbs and puns.
[ ] Jacob's Ladder (3 orbs) - Tremble and rejoice, for the way has opened once more. You who would climb the Ladder, look to Windward at those who have come before. Scattered and broken, their dreams with them. Prepare for a struggle more bitter than the furthest imaginings of man, for a storm rages in the vaults of heaven. Prepare, and remember:
When the world and an ideal exist in disharmony, it is not the ideal that is wrong.
It is not the ideal that has to change.
It is the world.
[ ] Lethe (+1 orb) - "Knowledge is power," they claim, but is there any wisdom to be found in an aphorism that trite? Better to say that, properly leveraged, it can lead to power. Why accept a possibility when assured strength awaits you? All preexisting knowledge of the multiverse you are about to enter will be wiped away, including any memory of these options. Not even the Litany of Revelation or the Day Tower's benediction can reverse this. You will recall only that you chose to forget.
[ ] Dissident (+1 orb, requires Dominion or Unified Earth) - Like Elisha ben Abuyah before you, whatever power metes out judgment in your world, you have declared yourself in rebellion against it. As the cracks and injustices of your chosen hegemony are laid bare, the chains begin to chafe and pretensions of moral authority ring increasingly hollow. Something must change. The tyranny you dare to defy is great, however, and the cost of such folly high. This trend is not impossible to reverse, but the combination of circumstance and emotion will exert considerable influence over you.
Incompatible with Dominion Loyalist and High Society. Alters the effects of Naturalization.
[ ] Nemesis (+1 orb) - They will hate you. Worse, they will be justified in doing so. The exact nature of the nemesis depends on your choices, both here and in the future, but you will make a powerful enemy, and they will devote themselves to your destruction. Do not underestimate the danger of a truly motivated adversary. If Naturalization is taken, their identity may already be known to you. Otherwise, circumstances will conspire to select a Nemesis from among those most capable of harming you.
[ ] Mark of Cain (+1 orb, requires Word of God) - At first glance, the Mark on your brow resembles a knife entering a back. Extended observation will see it evolve to depict theft and torture, accelerating as some mad algorithm iterates through every betrayal and horror that can possibly be perpetrated by one human against another. Witnesses are made aware that you are in some metaphysical sense responsible for every wrong in the world. The truth of this radiates outward, resisting both mundane and magical concealment.
[ ] Somber (+1 orb, requires Streetwalker) - It comes to you in quiet hours amidst the gathering dusk, when other travelers vanish and the Street grows narrow, its stones scarce. The cadence of your footfalls is broken by honeyed promises, a voice like liquid temptation creeping into your ears. Yours is a road to ruin, the gilded mask whispers. How cold and cruel, to pass through creation, but not partake of it. There are other worlds than these, if you would simply step off the path and let me show you...
[ ] Dreams of Distant Fire (+2 orbs if outside the Dominion, +1 otherwise) - Sleep brings no comfort, only crackling flames and the scent of blood and ash in the air. Shattered cinders that were once worlds haunt your dreams, and deep in the throes of nightmare you glimpse eyes like fiery maelstroms, slowly drawing closer. The General seeks you. It may take decades, but a reckoning with one of the mightiest entities in the known multiverse is in your future. His advent is nothing less than apocalypse; the champions cut down by the General's terrible swift sword are legion. Better to fall on your own than perish by its edge.
[ ] Oathbound (+2 orbs) - You have sworn the Unbroken Oath and are irrevocably committed to the purpose of the Hand. In its pursuit he has committed unthinkable atrocities, brought entire civilizations low. No cost is too great, to those who have spoken the words. The Hand is hated by his victims, but feared as well, for the power he has accumulated on his quest. Adherents of the Oath support each other unconditionally. You do not know its contents beforehand.
[ ] Into the Fire (+3 orbs, alternate insertion point) - The Transcendent Pit yawns beneath you, wide and welcoming, filled to the brim with horrors. Even at its outermost edges it echoes with the screams of the damned and prayers of the faithful, every inch of the Land of Fire bending to the Messiah's monstrous design. He will be most interested in you, the first uninvited guest of the Pit, and whether the process that delivered you to it can be reversed. Spend what time you have wisely; you will not escape the Priestess' attention for long.
Into the Ormulum CYOA
"An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop." - Iain M. Banks, ExcessionDoesn't everyone, somewhere in their heart, wish to be a proper outside context problem? To rampage through the results of painstaking worldbuilding, like the proverbial bull in a china shop of horrors? If your answer is yes, then boy, do I have a CYOA for you! You'll be grossly overpowered, with an array of abilities and perks waiting to be purchased, a true buffet of isekai bullshit. In deference to some vestigial sense of good taste and a certain quest, we'll call the currency orbs, instead of orms. Spend them wisely, because drawbacks aside, you only have three! But first, there's the question of where you'll start...
Insertion Point
Nothing necessarily binds you to this initial world, but depending on your build, leaving may present a challenge. Best pick one that interests you.
Nothing necessarily binds you to this initial world, but depending on your build, leaving may present a challenge. Best pick one that interests you.
[ ] The First Dominion - Since time immemorial, the six Lords and Ladies have presided over their Dominion from the Seats. They are foremost among the sages who wield the Litanies, secret languages that enable the speaker to reshape reality, their power beyond question. Splendid and sprawling, the Dominion embodies excellence and extravagance in equal measure. Its cities are carved from earth and sky with careless abandon; skyships ferry Litanists between them, above lush fields filled with unearthly crops spoken into existence to feed the billions who shelter beneath the Dominion's aegis. Officers of Enforcement keep the peace, guided by Revelation to prevent crimes before they happen.
This golden age is not without its sins, however. Taxes are paid in True Coin, the currency of the spirit, Reaped from citizens in Harvests that leave them diminished. Litanal nobility gamble with the proceeds on contests between gladiators who are both celebrities and slaves, trading intellect, beauty, humor, and stranger attributes in their exclusive auction houses. In enclaves run by Reassurers, residents witness inconceivable marvels, at the cost of their sanity or humanity. Those who creep into the Dominion's cracks to escape an oppressive system often suffer worst of all, crushed by the indifferent magnificence of a civilization that caters to the powerful.
[ ] A Unified Earth - The year is 2049, three decades since Unification, when a tide of Expressive power swept aside the nations of Earth like so many sandcastles. Elizabeth Rayleigh - First Councilor to some, Tyrant to others - and a handful of peers oversee the Society for Human Advancement, self-appointed custodians of the species. SHA has not been lax in fulfilling its mission: fleshcrafter-engineered crops and kinetic construction crews have rendered hunger and homelessness things of the old world. Disease is dead. War fell first, for who would dare defy the Tyrant in open combat?
Beneath the veneer of victory, trouble stirs. So-called Divisive rebels wage a shadow war, growing increasingly desperate as the memory of freedom fades. What was once Australia is now a shattered archipelago, wracked by the aftershocks of the Continent Beast's rising. The Vanishing of the Traveler has hamstrung the Society's plans for interstellar expansion and sown unease among its upper echelons, who await the Expression of their next peer with dread. More and more, it seems the power that conquered the world may be insufficient to preserve it.
[ ] The Thousand Estates - Here, there's no boot stomping on a human face forever, only a rich tapestry of nations and cultures. Colloquially called the Estates for the ubiquitous Titles that comprise its native magic, this is a world full of potential. Entitled laborers and artisans alike hone their craft through relentless Practice. Feats of heroism and exceptional accomplishments are sometimes rewarded with Acknowledgment, unique Titles which echo the deeds that spawned them, incentivizing sporting events, risk-taking, and the occasional war.
Meanwhile, military juntas empower their forces with more structured Bestowal, for ranks can be revoked… and every so often a Title will Descend from on high, seemingly unprompted, forever altering the recipient. With the Estates' industrial revolution a recent memory, the geopolitical landscape is still shifting. The woman charged with Imposing Justice has splintered the mantle of her Authority in a final edict, creating an island haven for the Untitled underclass. In the south, the champion of Unsung Heroes contemplates how best to pay his due to the dead. As ever, with chaos comes opportunity.
[ ] A Ruined Garden - The world has ended twice. Once in a cataclysm that's long since passed beyond the reach of mortal memory, and again under the depredations of the Two-Legged Locust, the thing that calls itself the Hand. The resulting desolation covers most of the planet. The wasteland is harsh and intolerant of weakness, a place where water is treasured and a stranger is just the embryonic form of an enemy. Existence is struggle; every oasis or seed of cultivated power is a prize worth spilling blood for.
But in the titanic shadow of the Walls, life goes on. Some irrepressible vitality emanates from whatever lies inside, stubbornly coaxing its surroundings to life. Despite the dangers, circling bandit chieftains who covet the land, twisted beasts, and the looming specter of the Hand, people still strive to salvage fragments of their past and build something better than the surrounding savagery. The seeds of civilization have been planted. Whether they will sprout remains to be seen.
[ ] Streetwalker - Instead of arriving on a singular world, you are spirited away by the Street Where the Stones Speak, a winding road that carries those with the dubious honor of walking it through the multiverse. The name, which you will learn from fellow travelers, is an apt one. Its opalescent stones echo with the notes of a distant song. The further you walk, the clearer it becomes. Occasionally you may pass a wayfarer moving with an easy, unhurried gait who seems to be humming along.
Not all travelers are friendly or human, and not all worlds you'll witness on your journey are inhabited by the latter. Sometimes the Street will intersect with parts of one, a market or an inn or even a city, and you'll have a chance to stop and sample the local colour for a while. You can leave it behind entirely, if you find a world to your liking; it's a road, not a prison. But always, the Street leads onward. It will never return for someone who abandons it.
For you, the road will be long indeed.
Magic
The systems offered here are a cross section of the most interesting and potent magics available in the multiverse, not an exhaustive list. If you go wandering, expect surprises.
The systems offered here are a cross section of the most interesting and potent magics available in the multiverse, not an exhaustive list. If you go wandering, expect surprises.
[ ] Practitioner (1 orb) - Practitioners are by far the most common Entitled in the Estates, because the act of living entails Practice. Through repeated effort and the creation of habits, a Practitioner is said to carve ruts into their spirit, giving rise to supernatural attributes and aptitude in their field. The vast majority of people have a number of low-level Practiced Titles. In addition to receiving minor Titles reflecting your habits, you are world-class in a broad field, and have earned complementary Acknowledged and Bestowed Titles as a master in the Estates would.
There are as many builds as there are areas of human endeavor, but here are a couple samples:
Soldier - You possess a savant's intuition for all forms of weaponry from trench knives to rifles, along with agility and endurance that well exceed the humanly possible. Your genius quickly ascertains the optimal tactics in human-scale skirmishes. You never miss; the same is not true of your enemies. Once per battle, reflecting the time 'you' were thought killed in action only to crawl out of a pile of dead bodies behind enemy lines, you may return to full health as a resurgent avatar of war. Numerous other abilities from medals. Effectively Big Boss, but scarier because of explicit superpowers.
Artist - Statues you sculpt can converse with viewers, offering opinions on their construction; at first glance, your paintings appear as portals into other worlds. Once, a poem 'you' read killed someone by literally breaking their heart, and now all your works inspire extreme emotions. The sheer perfection of buildings constructed according to your plans buffs any who live within. Once per year, reflecting the process of 'your' creation of a genre-defining masterpiece, you may seclude yourself for a week to create another. Effectively a superpowered Michelangelo.
Practitioners need to maintain their skills or their abilities begin to deteriorate, but most don't find the requirements onerous. It's only when attempting to juggle multiple disciplines or Practice Titles that are in direct opposition to one another that problems arise.
[ ] Labyrinthian (1 orb) - The glory of this art is long gone. The palace-planes and stelae that listed the names of the sovereigns who resided within have crumbled beneath the weight of countless centuries. Gloom and ruin rule the fractally-nested warrens that once housed their citizenry; the ever-vernal fields that fed them lie fallow. Dunes of dust choke the Liminal Catacombs, those who fled from death into their depths delivered to the embrace of a darker eternity. Nevertheless, for the price of an orb the talent of the Shaper-Kings of old will arise within you.
Labyrinth magic deals with creating and configuring planes perpendicular to reality. Though it provides no immediate power, with dedication you can carve out a world of your own. At first, an airless space no larger than a closet that must be accessed from the spot where it was created; eventually, a paradisiacal pleasure-garden never more than a quiet moment and a few gestures away. Almost all attributes of the resulting realm are amenable to alteration, if the Shaper's skill and resolve are sufficient: size, habitability, splendor, safety, even physical laws and the passage of time.
Nor is there a limit on the number of planes that can be crafted save that imposed by your patience. Invest in improving one shining citadel or specialize, creating a training area that focuses its occupants, a restorative hot spring that amplifies the qualia of pleasure, and so on. Needless to say, the potential comfiness is immense. Realms can be arranged into networks; spatial moats and mires of decelerated time girding a fortress dimension where the Shaper prepares to greet uninvited guests. Contesting an adept in their sanctum is risky, as a realm that knows its master's touch can be compelled to rise in their defense.
This magic's weaknesses are twofold: the time and toil needed to mold worlds and the Labyrinthian's powerlessness beyond their domain. Months will be required to begin to realize its potential, and even a grandmaster would struggle to open portals at speeds relevant in superhuman combat.
Travel between worlds is possible by slowly kneading the fabric of space into a passage, but this function is inferior in all respects to the Voyager's Authority. The Shaper's Art lacks the strength to alter the metrics of full realities directly, but on entering other sequestered spaces you may attempt to bend them to your will. If you can locate the Labyrinth of your predecessors, what remains of their works will be yours for the taking. Be careful that you do not court the doom that befell them as well.
[ ] A Taste of the Fruit (1 orb) - You receive a single fruit, ripe and ready for your consumption. Though no larger than the palm of your hand, it is a treasure men and women would happily kill for. In days gone by, such boons were given to members of the Royal Guard and favored scions of the Hundred Branches, to imbue them with strength to carry out their duties. Even by those standards, yours is exceptional. The powers granted can be improved with training. Pick one of two:
Slice of the Sun - This fist-sized fruit shines gold, like a peach infused with solar fire. In consuming it, you'll gain the ability to fly and incinerate enemies, flinging blasts of piercing, blinding luminosity. When struck by an attack, instead of taking damage, that part of you is temporarily transmuted into light. This prevents you from physically interacting with the world, but not projecting attacks. Skilled users may voluntarily discorporate into radiance and flit through the trees as swift as a sunbeam, untouchable and renewed on arrival.
Unraveling - Plucked from the inner grove of the Voidwood, this egg-shaped blot of darkness gives off an uncanny vibe. Eating it suffuses you with a chill that will never entirely abate, as your blood runs cold. The effects of unwelcome, external forces on your body are attenuated, to a degree that scales based your level of focus. With an exertion, you may project this effect outward, suppressing your surroundings into frozen stillness. Skilled users can summon an arsenal of distilled void energy, a conceptual imposition that deletes most matter on contact.
Both options entail comparable levels of physical enhancement, rendering the consumer superhuman. You do not have to eat whichever fruit you choose yourself, but if you save the seeds, you can attempt to grow more.
[ ] Litanist (2 orbs) - The Litanies are one of the most versatile, potent systems of magic in the multiverse, so it follows that the Dominion built and sustained by them is arguably the mightiest superpower in existence. The ability to reshape reality with words alone is the birthright of every child fortunate enough to be born under its auspices. For most, however, that potential will never be realized. Theoretical ability alone does not confer relevance, and the ephemeral egalitarianism of the Litanies proves as illusory as any Reassurance.
As a Litanist, none of these troubles will touch you. You possess preexisting knowledge of three Litanies of your choice, equivalent to decades of dedicated study, complete with the materials to further and broaden your education. Your star is ascendant, your talent prodigious: this option grants the aggregate aptitude of the Six in their Litanies. You can freely define the course your scholastic endeavors have taken up to this point, and receive the enhancements and artifacts that naturally complement it. This will also affect the texts available to you. If you can secure safety and additional tuition, the future is an endless, golden road laid out before you...
The power of the Litanies is correlated with ontological proximity to the Dominion. It is recommended, but not required, that you choose it as your insertion point.
A/N: Here's an extremely abbreviated overview of the six Litanies.
- Reaping. Destruction, curses, self-empowerment by diminishing victims; resource-based, attacks and stolen attributes like health/luck are quantified as Coin.
- Reinforcement. Enhancement of self/others, can create magical equipment/creatures, ranging from sharper knives and longer-lived dogs to magitech and kaiju.
- Reciprocity. Manipulation of social & physical connections, versatile and good at propagating effects, but reliant on preparation/foci; think Chevalier from Worm + Kingkiller's Sympathy.
- Reassurance. Lie-based, mind tricks/illusions that can temporarily affect reality; high potential, but advancement requires committing to a theme/changes the Litanist as much as the world.
- Revelation. Scrying, purely mental enhancements, precognition, and prophetic probability manipulation. The narrowest Litany, but contains powerful effects.
- Repulsion. Divided into banishment and warding; blunt-but-powerful offense/anti-magic and broad-spectrum fortifications/personal defenses. Banishment of a death is the only means of non-prophylactic (e.g. Reciprocal phylacteries) Litanal resurrection.
As for the Voyager's Authority, it alights on the shoulders of the explorer who is Acknowledged as the greatest of their generation, to open new horizons for their exploits. As one who has already traveled between worlds, its power can be yours for the price of two orbs.
Flight is the Voyager's foundational power. Your speed and maneuverability are unmatched, in or out of the atmosphere. When confronted with flying 'foes', you may revoke their 'permission', interrupting whatever process bears them aloft. The definition of this is permissive: airplanes, bullets, Litanists, and spaceships are all valid targets. The Voyager is also known for the ability to open rifts, slipping between dimensions and across vast distances. There are defensive and utility applications for this power, engulfing enemy attacks and storing supplies, but using it for short-range teleportation feels wrong, somehow.
Though not a focus of your Authority, you receive physical enhancements. Notably, the Voyager resists environmental hazards, particularly ones associated with the sky. Lightning strikes cannot harm you; when it rains, you get wet only if you want to. Offensively, your arsenal is varied. The Voyager commands the aurora borealis, shields and spears of haunting light, can conjure meteors to wipe battlefields clean, and even wield gamma radiation...
You also gain the ability to Practice, but without any preexisting powers.
[ ] Final Scion of Water (2 orbs) - You are the inheritor of a dead dream, the last gasp of a realm that was. Through a fog of ages, the memories come: shining seas and mist-wreathed isles, the shadows of leviathans passing beneath clear waters. Healing fountains and killing tides. A proud people, resilient and mysterious as their home.
You remember the end, too, but it does not do to dwell on that.
Water's current ethos is thus: escape what cannot be endured. Move with an attack, and you will not be harmed by it; to strike the sea is futility, for it resumes its former shape. Crush enemies that cannot be eroded or drowned, but sustain allies with your bounty. In addition to physical enhancements, you have tremendous powers of hydrokinesis, evasion, stealth, and regeneration. In territory recognized as 'yours', these abilities are heightened. Acquiring more territory improves powers, causes you to develop new ones, and alters the area in ways compatible with Water's aesthetics.
You can exert active control over territory, but Water will also look to you for interpretation of its domain and ethos. Sunken cities and lush valleys, filled with rivers and waterfalls; the crushing silence of fathomless depths and nourishing rains, even blood in the veins of its people… all of these are Water. At present, you may endow others with access to Water's paradigm through an effort of will, and rescind it with the same. Your territory stretches no further than your immediate surroundings; possession is not binary and aquatic areas are easier to claim. As the Final Scion, you'll intuitively understand the nuances of this.
Simply by existing, you weaken Him. You must take a Fire-related drawback.
[ ] Ancient (3 orbs) - Voices that drown out thunder, mountain-shattering strength, secret knowledge to yoke the world to their will… all these and more belong to the Ancients. They stand astride the Dominion, one step below the Lords and Ladies themselves, ageless and indomitable. Each could reign supreme over less majestic worlds. You are their equal now, in strength if not longevity. The transformation will be jarring, as your capabilities are exponentially improved and new senses open to you.
Once the initial acclimation is finished, however, your powers will not feel new to you. You know all six Litanies more intimately than any lover. Their hidden meanings and structure seem familiar and obvious, even poetic. Old friends, that you can converse with at any time. You have favored techniques and stratagems, reservoirs of Coin, a library of prepared Reaping attacks, supernal skills, a treasure trove of artifacts that leverage multiple Litanies, and webs of Revelation to warn you of anyone suicidal enough to risk your wrath.
Frankly, the possible builds for an Ancient are too numerous to list. Instead, choose two Litanies - three, if Exemplar is selected - to master to an even greater degree. These will be the backbone of your specialization, with the others optimized to support your primary area of focus. Describe your build in general terms: a Repulsor & Reinforcer who focuses on artifice, building wonders; a far-seeing Revelator & Reciprocator, on whose strings entire Provinces dance; or a Reaper & Reinforcer, with skills sufficient to split the skies.
As an Ancient, your immediate, personal power outstrips that of any other choice. However, your abilities are the result of thousands of years of optimization. Further improvements are likely to be incremental rather than revolutionary, or concentrated in external workings.
An Ancient benefits from proximity to the Dominion, but is more than capable of making their own way in worlds beyond it, especially with the right build.
[ ] Originator Resurgent (3 orbs) - Once upon a time, Tar-Enlil ate the fruit of a tree whose leaves were stars and roots were the foundations of the earth. It withered, passing its gifts to him, and the Originator was born. Partaking of the bounty he offered, his first allies blossomed into the noble Hundred Branches. Peace and splendor reigned for those halcyon centuries, but his time has ended. The child who stood to inherit his legacy is lost in a paradise purchased with blood and tears. Even the myth is dying, now.
You, on the other hand, are more alive than ever. Royal blood flows through your veins, an ichor rich with quintessence. Boundless vitality fills you, enormously enhancing all physical attributes. Your durability is flatly absurd, but your regeneration is even more so. For you, 'from a single cell' is more truth than metaphor. As an innate offensive power, you can also drain the life from others, or share it to heal them.
That is only the beginning. The Originator's true potential lies in cultivation, the art of growing fruits that endow the consumer with permanent supernatural abilities. For most, this requires exacting care, specially prepared plots of land, and exotic resources or environmental conditions. As the Originator, your presence alone is a reagent sufficient to allow Voidwood to grow under direct sunlight; unless suppressed, your ambient vitality will cause saplings to spring up and flowers to bloom in the dead of winter.
Your attention and blood are even more valuable, though offering the latter as nourishment will temporarily sap your stamina. Exploring the depths of cultivation is likely to be an ongoing endeavor, requiring experimentation as you create strains of different seedlines, but your advantages are many.
Fruit-derived abilities start three times as strong and there is no risk of incompatible consumption for you. In time, you will acquire a staggering array of abilities. But eventually you will also come to feel the lethargic tug that afflicts cultivators as they grow older, the urge to take root and bear fruit themselves...
[ ] Expressive (4 orbs) - Within your soul resides the potential for Expression, unconstrained by the First Principles. You can feel it building, a widening gyre within and above you, as though you are both flood and floodgates. Soon - in no more than a month - the latter will break, and everything will change. Neither you nor the world are prepared.
Both your character and the actions you take in coming days will shape the gathering power, as every rung of the Hierarchy conspires to effect your incarnation. The resulting Expression is guaranteed to be suitable, desire made divine. You will be able to improve it to heights undreamt of, though no guidelines exist for doing so, save perhaps Polonius' words:
This above all: to thine own self be true.
Carefully consider whether you wish your innermost nature wedded to limitless might before choosing this. Expression is not intended to save the world, though it has that power. The First Principles are intended to save the world, from the likes of you.
A/N: Here's a sample Unprincipled Expression to calibrate your expectations. Relative to others, the Light of Desolate Heaven is narrow in scope but benefits from consistency and easy scaling.
Selecting A Unified Earth discounts Expressive by two orbs, but changes the nature of this option. The resulting Expression will instead be subject to the First Principles; roughly fitting and relevant, even on a global scale, but one tier below the true luminaries that govern the post-Unification Earth. Though your initial power may paradoxically outstrip an unrestricted Expression, its scope is constrained and it will grow no further.
Benefits
Orbs can also be used to improve or create opportunities for yourself. Unlisted synergies exist; consider the implications of a Naturalized Ancient in the Dominion.
Orbs can also be used to improve or create opportunities for yourself. Unlisted synergies exist; consider the implications of a Naturalized Ancient in the Dominion.
[ ] Exemplar (1 orb) - Expend an orb, and be remade. Any physical defects you wish addressed are wiped away, leaving you in peak health, with an appearance that conforms perfectly to your wishes. Exemplar offers a multitude of holistic improvements: strength, intellect, even natural charisma. This transformation also improves your compatibility with any magic you possess. You will start stronger and improve more easily; this effect is most pronounced when dealing with systems that depend on innate talent.
[ ] Naturalization (1 orb) - Manufactures an identity for you, complete with all the paperwork to prove it. This is not a forgery; your existence is retroactively insinuated into the true history of the world. You may specify the broad strokes of this new life within reason, so long as you don't ascribe yourself undue prominence. By default, Naturalization makes you a citizen of the world, not a steward of it. The memories of a life unlived will be available to you in a form of your choosing. You also receive any abilities common to all natives of your insertion point: the ability to speak the Litanies at your innate skill level in the Dominion, benefit from Practice in the Estates, etc.
[ ] Dominion Loyalist (1 orb, requires Dominion) - You are bound into a network of prophecies spanning the entire Dominion, empowering its partisans. Wealth and good fortune will naturally accrue to you, all the benefits of a civilization in its golden age. If you lack citizenship, a path to it will open for you; if Naturalization is also selected, you may choose a noble family to be part of, with an attendant Lineage. The benefits of Dominion Loyalist can be improved or lost, depending on your actions.
[ ] Beast of Hierarchy (1 orb, requires Dominion) - Once, and only once, you may call on the Gatekeeper for aid. Whatever fool forces you to employ this contingency will come to regret doing so, in the instants before their demise. Those privileged enough to know of it deem the Gatekeeper the mightiest entity ever crafted by Litanal prowess, the product of multiple Convocations between all the Lords and Ladies. It will obey you as if you were one of the Six.
[ ] High Society (1 orb, requires Unified Earth) - The Society for Human Advancement conquered the Earth, ostensibly for its own good. As old systems of governance were phased out, opportunities for a different sort of advancement opened, creating a new class combining demigods and oligarchs. One way or another, you will have the ear of the Unification's architects; if Naturalization is selected, you may have been one of them. Some might question the wisdom of spending an orb on influence alone. These people underestimate the power of Expression.
[ ] Prometheus Engine (1 orb, requires Unified Earth) - With the turn of the 21st century came Expression, which arose from nothing and changed everything, throwing our understanding of the world into disarray. But even in the face of apparent impossibility, science marched on. You receive a cube of featureless metal. At your touch and desire it will open, revealing a caged radiance that cries out to see and be seen, yet this imprisoned soul is only the tip of the heretical device's potential... Be cautious, lest you spend eternity having your liver pecked out by eagles.
[ ] Envy (2 orbs) - You feel it, do you not? A hunger not for food or flesh but acclaim, burning like a star beneath your breast. The desperate desire to bridge the gulf that separates have from have-not is incarnated in the Ring of Envy, a mercurial band set with a single emerald. The Covetous Band and Serpent Ever-Grasping has known many names but no true master in all the long ages of its existence. The granting of one wielder's wishes transforms them into an object of envy, and the next plucks it from their finger; thus is Envy's history as circular as the ouroboros the ring resembles.
It is yours now, to rule or be ruled by. Initially it bestows broad-spectrum enhancements, the ability to deflect physical and social harm, shapeshifting, a serpentine war-form, and a sense for the eponymous Sin that no contrivance of lesser crafts can blot out. The magnitude of all benefits scales with emotional compatibility; the greater your resentment, the greater the strength granted. Envy's capabilities are manifold and grow as the union of man and ring unfolds, synergizing with other magics and potentially encompassing any power centered around spite or theft... if you retain the ring long enough.
[ ] Immortality (2 orbs) - Exactly what it says on the tin. There are many methods of securing longevity and survivability, but none so reliable as this. Your immortality will be inviolable, axiomatic, proof against any catastrophe. Even the unleashed wrath of the Lord Reaper and the Priestess' extinguishing touch cannot permanently destroy you; time is ever an immortal's ally, and with it you will be fully restored. This does not protect you from pain or regret.
[ ] Word of God (2 orbs) - An emulation of the individual nominally responsible for creating the multiverse will be instantiated in your mind, altered to ensure it doesn't go mad from isolation and protected from the hazards inherent in its knowledge. You may converse with it, soliciting advice and secrets. The Word of God offers a treasure trove of information, particularly on the cosmic scale, at a steep cost in orbs and puns.
[ ] Jacob's Ladder (3 orbs) - Tremble and rejoice, for the way has opened once more. You who would climb the Ladder, look to Windward at those who have come before. Scattered and broken, their dreams with them. Prepare for a struggle more bitter than the furthest imaginings of man, for a storm rages in the vaults of heaven. Prepare, and remember:
When the world and an ideal exist in disharmony, it is not the ideal that is wrong.
It is not the ideal that has to change.
It is the world.
Drawbacks
Tradition demands you be offered the opportunity to afflict yourself in exchange for greater power. A maximum of five additional orbs can be earned.
Tradition demands you be offered the opportunity to afflict yourself in exchange for greater power. A maximum of five additional orbs can be earned.
[ ] Lethe (+1 orb) - "Knowledge is power," they claim, but is there any wisdom to be found in an aphorism that trite? Better to say that, properly leveraged, it can lead to power. Why accept a possibility when assured strength awaits you? All preexisting knowledge of the multiverse you are about to enter will be wiped away, including any memory of these options. Not even the Litany of Revelation or the Day Tower's benediction can reverse this. You will recall only that you chose to forget.
[ ] Dissident (+1 orb, requires Dominion or Unified Earth) - Like Elisha ben Abuyah before you, whatever power metes out judgment in your world, you have declared yourself in rebellion against it. As the cracks and injustices of your chosen hegemony are laid bare, the chains begin to chafe and pretensions of moral authority ring increasingly hollow. Something must change. The tyranny you dare to defy is great, however, and the cost of such folly high. This trend is not impossible to reverse, but the combination of circumstance and emotion will exert considerable influence over you.
Incompatible with Dominion Loyalist and High Society. Alters the effects of Naturalization.
[ ] Nemesis (+1 orb) - They will hate you. Worse, they will be justified in doing so. The exact nature of the nemesis depends on your choices, both here and in the future, but you will make a powerful enemy, and they will devote themselves to your destruction. Do not underestimate the danger of a truly motivated adversary. If Naturalization is taken, their identity may already be known to you. Otherwise, circumstances will conspire to select a Nemesis from among those most capable of harming you.
[ ] Mark of Cain (+1 orb, requires Word of God) - At first glance, the Mark on your brow resembles a knife entering a back. Extended observation will see it evolve to depict theft and torture, accelerating as some mad algorithm iterates through every betrayal and horror that can possibly be perpetrated by one human against another. Witnesses are made aware that you are in some metaphysical sense responsible for every wrong in the world. The truth of this radiates outward, resisting both mundane and magical concealment.
[ ] Somber (+1 orb, requires Streetwalker) - It comes to you in quiet hours amidst the gathering dusk, when other travelers vanish and the Street grows narrow, its stones scarce. The cadence of your footfalls is broken by honeyed promises, a voice like liquid temptation creeping into your ears. Yours is a road to ruin, the gilded mask whispers. How cold and cruel, to pass through creation, but not partake of it. There are other worlds than these, if you would simply step off the path and let me show you...
[ ] Dreams of Distant Fire (+2 orbs if outside the Dominion, +1 otherwise) - Sleep brings no comfort, only crackling flames and the scent of blood and ash in the air. Shattered cinders that were once worlds haunt your dreams, and deep in the throes of nightmare you glimpse eyes like fiery maelstroms, slowly drawing closer. The General seeks you. It may take decades, but a reckoning with one of the mightiest entities in the known multiverse is in your future. His advent is nothing less than apocalypse; the champions cut down by the General's terrible swift sword are legion. Better to fall on your own than perish by its edge.
[ ] Oathbound (+2 orbs) - You have sworn the Unbroken Oath and are irrevocably committed to the purpose of the Hand. In its pursuit he has committed unthinkable atrocities, brought entire civilizations low. No cost is too great, to those who have spoken the words. The Hand is hated by his victims, but feared as well, for the power he has accumulated on his quest. Adherents of the Oath support each other unconditionally. You do not know its contents beforehand.
[ ] Into the Fire (+3 orbs, alternate insertion point) - The Transcendent Pit yawns beneath you, wide and welcoming, filled to the brim with horrors. Even at its outermost edges it echoes with the screams of the damned and prayers of the faithful, every inch of the Land of Fire bending to the Messiah's monstrous design. He will be most interested in you, the first uninvited guest of the Pit, and whether the process that delivered you to it can be reversed. Spend what time you have wisely; you will not escape the Priestess' attention for long.
