A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
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Bravado
Rihaku
The Internet
Bravado
They panicked upon discovering him. Bared to the sky for less than a microsecond before coruscating light began to play across his frame, building quickly to such blinding intensity as to force the continental plate to buckle; the full and terrible wrath of all their orbiting armada unleashed with the reckless desperation of the most-assuredly doomed.
In fairness, he felt terrible, utterly awful and bereft. Had he been wounded? But what injury could cause such a loss as this, damage so catastrophic and irreversible that his very spirit was malformed, severed from its higher potential? Certainly not the gentle strobe of the wholly-physical 'weaponry' now directed at him.
Through peephole senses he surveyed the Realm of his awakening; with agonizing slowness he directed body and (laughable excuse for) mind, weaving through their rain of fire as he gradually found his bearings.
So much had been lost that even memories of his full ability were fleeting; dissolved like towering parapets of dream, so that momentarily he questioned whether they had ever been real at all.
Exerting an iota of his Self he quelled their planetary forces; his influence a moment later reaching to the lunar sphere. Their ships froze and went dark, subsumed by his gradient, the briefest expression of once-Foremost might. Gravity does not warp space. It creates a disuniformity, the gradient of which is related to the mass-energy of the object in question.
A Maker had told him that. He could not remember whom. It would be relevant now, given the paucity and feebleness of his reach.
He was nothing but a shard, shattered remnant of that-which had come before; mere fragment of the skill, intellect, consciousness and purpose that once had been the Surgeon. More than a clone, but less than an incarnation - so much less that it felt unseemly even to pretend to He-That-Was' name, let alone his Title.
To be reduced to this was lobotomy, amputation and humiliation heaped upon each other and exponentiated a billion-fold. Were his psyche as fragile as a Maker's he would certainly be plunged into despair, wracked with shame and the hunger to reclaim what he had lost.
But he had been made stronger than they, and by their hands no less. Loss could vex him; it could not alter his path.
Never mind that he was likely not even the Surgeon's primary shard. It was the nature of all lifeforms to advance, to progress, to winnow or be winnowed by the great empirical sifter of selection pressure; he could not help but move forward, even into this diminished cosmos.
Past glories were only ever in the past. All that mattered now was what he made of the present.
This shard of Dien Bravo was not the Surgeon, and would likely never be. Whether he fell forever short, or moved someday to surpass He That Was, depended only on his actions going forward. This realm was now his proving grounds, as had been each realm before it.
Data trickled over to him, carried by his gradient, and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He remembered so little of the past, not even his own reason for being, yet the degenerated Makers around him spoke to dire unfoldings indeed. Were these grotesque caricatures truly descended from that peerless species which had crafted the Ereadhihr and folded the Astral entire under their sway? Incredible.
Perhaps they were an elaborate joke, a painfully gruesome self-skewering or some failed and tardy offshoot. Such asymmetry, so many faults of spirit and genome, their dermis studded with oil-secreting sebaceous glands and riddled with unseemly, breathing pores... Their maudlin attempts at technological augmentation with the jagged impression of deconstructionist art; only the debased nature of the underlying material prevented its ruination by such childish scrawl.
Truly revolting. Their very existence was a blight unto the Makers, a tarnish upon those mighty allies which he had held in such esteem.
More data reached him. One among them had evaded that dire fate, though she was but a quarter-step along the Makers' path, and the most tritely physical of those as well. Hardly relevant, save that she was also in possession of Etrynome.
His mouth quirked upwards. Amusing. Given her barely-liminal status, there was the chance that Etrynome would defy him, as she was in Totality while he was confirmed hostile. Better the feed than the shock-prong, then.
Bravo released the grip of his gradient upon the armada, and extruded a vesicle underground to grip the quasi-Maker closest to himself, a survivor of the bombardment some eighteen hundred miles away. It was a forlorn excuse for a warrior, but possessed some gradient of its own, which he quickly smoothed away. Rendering its mind, he absorbed its spirit and biomatter into his own. Its technological augments he left to fall. He would be finished here before they struck the ground.
From the contents of its mind he came to understand much of the present... universe. Theirs had been an ailing fleet, retreating from the path of a being they called the Anomaly: a demi-Maker, likely Cursebearer, that had slain Dorminus with a blade of transcendental blue.
Few but the direct Implements of the Accursed could employ the Royal Praxis. Fortunately this one was young, near-embryonic in its strength. A feasible opponent even for the Bravo of today, with proper strategy and subjugation of this cosmos. He would have to incubate quickly, and scale rapidly, to temporarily outpace his opponent's growth.
Cut off from their allies and separated from their other remaining Ereadhihr, the armada had sought any path no matter how improbable to equalize the scales of the conflict. Truly moronic.
In desperate straits they had unearthed old archives pointing to his tomb-prison, and braved the labyrinth within to awaken him. Detecting his still-furled gradient they had opened fire, unwilling to be subject to his design. A rational course, if futile. Bravo could applaud their boldness, though their judgement was sorely lacking. Nonetheless they would receive his clemency, by happy accident that their demi-Maker wielded Etrynome. Blessed were the foolish to be sheltered by a higher power.
Best to move swiftly. He had awakened; who was to say there were not others? To say nothing of the Cursebearer, whose ideals likely differed from his own.
The Makers were gone, these pitiful striplings left helpless in their wake. Of the Stewards there was no sign. Of the Heroes, they had met only him. How far they all had fallen, they who had so fearlessly proclaimed themselves Foremost... He could only hope they had departed for grander vistas, this cosmos like a discarded rind left to the mercies of decay. But such seemed unlikely. Too much was wrong for this to have been at all controlled, save that his progenitors had gone mad.
Alas. But it was hardly his problem. His only task now was to proceed with the resources he had.
He spun his cellular matrix into a semblance of the old Surgeon's, adding a touch of Maker aesthetics so as not to terrify them. Pale green skin; eyes of bright gold; powerful jaw and mien of patriarchal authority. A glimmer of play to the cast of his eyes. Weathered spectacles to complete the look, his Selfhood to magnify it. Intellect, ferocity, invincibility, merciful condescension and just a hint of rambunctiousness.
Putting on his best avuncular smile, he exerted his gradient again, pressing against each of their spirits uniformly to convey an impression of light and sound. A hallucination of the soul, through which they would decide to follow him willingly. Against creatures such as these, it was complete overkill.
"Greetings, children of the Republic. You were expecting a solution to the Anomaly, but it was me, Dien! Worry not, for in my service you will achieve that goal and many more..."
---
In the end, they had decided upon Gisena's 'optimal' split, with Hunger and Adorie pressing towards the Republic's core systems while the others, both Armaments included, breaking off towards the industrial heartland. A two-pronged attack that would see the polity brought to its knees in a matter of weeks, bereft of its capacity to wage war even if any embers of defiance remained.
Gisena's party, containing Letrizia, would also take care of diplomatic relations with the Empire. Their plan was to decry the surrender of Artriez territories as illegitimate, then annex all Anomaly-captured lands in the name of a restored House Artriez with Letrizia at its head.
In secret, Gisena had hinted that she was also working on some form of revival or resurrection Grace - not merely for the Archduke, but also for Hunger himself, given his reckless pattern of heroics.
It was a sly admonishment which took that recklessness for fact, Hunger thought to himself. It was true that he favored aggressive strategies, but given the desperate straits they had been in, aggression had often been the best - or only! - course forward. They had struggled mightily to reach the relative security of their current heights. It was pleasant, if a bit unusual, to have the advantage for a change.
His and Adorie's cruiser had reached Kiervan, outermost jewel of the Republic Core, a glimmering industrial world of sea-side estates, deep ocean research and Astral-tech manufacturing. One and one-fifth of a billion souls resided on this Mars-sized sphere, ringed by a bristling constellation of defensive stations and gleaming warships. They had known he was coming, of course, and swiftly opened fire in unison.
Bolts of luminescence, steadily expanding, appeared in the void like a second set of stars, a home-made Milky Way descending upon them... and their light equally as harmless, for in the face of his Rank they could no more strike his cruiser, than could their soldiers strike Hunger himself.
Shortly past they had breached the storm, and Adorie kipped up swiftly onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and arms around his neck as they prepared to descend. Around them ships guttered and fell as waves of his Pressure caused systems to malfunction, crews to mutiny and reactors to flatline. Against ordinary technology, Rank of their level was as good as cheating, and just as uninteresting... an ominous sign.
He stepped out from the ship and into the planet's troposphere, glow of re-entry a burning caress that battled, but could not hope to overcome, the aegis of his Rank. Already those on-planet were throwing down their arms, knowing in the face of the Anomaly that there was neither chance nor hope. Their presence alone could subdue these forces; the Mirellyian-assisted Praxis or active Blood-ring were often total overkill.
"I'm surprised they didn't deploy even a single Armament to defend a core territory!" Adorie whispered excitedly. "Perchance they're giving up! Might they surrender shortly?"
"Doubtful," Hunger shook his had. "No one's in control over there. They never expected the scale of their losses to develop this quickly and now they're panicking. It's every system for itself. Their Strategic Committee will probably route the Armaments to defend their personal holdings or help 'ensure' their own physical safety. Who knows whether the pilots will comply."
"Then we must bring this time of chaos to an end! How did Lady Gisena put it... go forth, my noble steed, and conquer in the name of Nilfel!" She gestured grandly, blithely charming in the manner of the truly naive.
Hunger smiled. The young queen was terribly cheerful for someone prosecuting a war, but she had seen only his gentle hand in minimizing casualties for all involved. Given their Rank, it was possible to capture planets near-bloodlessly, with Republic friendly fire being the primary source of casualties - the majority being officers that were corrupt or cruel. The people treated them as rescuing liberators; they were happy to be free of a war economy and its undue tax burden, happier still to be shaken loose of the Republic's invisible panopticon - though Hunger was not sure the Empire's yoke would be particularly kinder.
It was easy to select the most capable administrators and enhance them with the Ring of Blood, ensuring governance that, if not perfect, was a noticeable step superior to what had come before.
Still, he doubted things would always be so easy. It was important that the queen found what joy she could, before the war turned truly interesting. Or perhaps the Apocryphal Curse would stay its hand and marshal its reserves for a greater blow later?
It could do anything and everything, so speculation had little value. Theirs was not to question why, theirs was but to do and die. That did not mean he would fail to pit his uttermost against that Curse-granted purpose. If only they had some means of further mitigation... but, as they did not, mere strength would have to do.
"Turning on Letrizia already?" He commented, "Will this be the legacy of Queen Adorie I? No wonder the other eight failed even to earn a crown."
"As would I, had it not been for the efforts of my faithful champion," she patted him encouragingly. "As you told the Duchess herself, age and treachery are the most effective weapons of all! I'm simply putting into practice what my champion has taught."
"I'm such a good influence," Hunger congratulated himself, shaking his head contentedly.
---
Mere strength. Bereft of an enemy for his uttermost effort to challenge, he could only turn it against the Work itself. To protect the smiles of his companions, and their brief lead in power.
With their opponents hardly posing a challenge, Hunger has had plenty of time and energy to spare for the Praxis, and his determination to overcome the Apocryphal Curse has yielded substantial rewards: the Refinement of Purpose and Imperial Praxis, both now seized by his will and his hand. As if to tell his yet-unknown enemy, Foremost or Outlander, that they were not the only ones capable of growing swiftly enough to place this universe under heel.
But could this maddening pace be sustained, while maintaining the facade of easy invincibility that brought peace to his companions' hearts? And, in the end, would even this spectacular effort be enough to contest a Hero of the Foremost reborn?
With the war effort proceeding smoothly, Hunger has managed to use Supreme Enclosure to scrounge up some picks by summoning Rank 10 Sovereign-Classes to kill, negotiating away the spell's inbuilt defenses so that they are capable of harming him. He is fairly sure they will develop effective countermeasures against this way of farming sooner or later, however.
[ ] Extinction Burst - Abuse the ability to summon picks right up until the end. Allows for an additional training session, below. But expect this to be the last effective training session for which Supreme Enclosure can be employed. It is possible (~20% chance) that the Astrals will develop a fully general counter to Supreme Enclosure itself.
[ ] Golden Goose - Hold off on using this effect any further. Good chance the Astrals will prioritize something else, allowing Hunger to use it again when he most needs it.
Training Session - You have 41 Arete. Hunger can generate mostly one-pick opponents from Enclosure, but with a fierce effort might manage a two-pick. Choose one, or two if Extinction Burst was chosen. You may not get another chance to train until the next Realm of Evening proc!
[ ] Subordination of Quickness [1 + 4 Praxis Picks / 12 Arete] - Mind, body and spirit in singular unison with the rune of Quickness. At your level of practice, only one Subordination may be active at a time. Several seconds of concentration are required to achieve Subordination, after which it persists for two full hours. Highly draining, but no cost to maintain.
Benefit indefinitely from the Refinement of Quickness at half-strength (0.5 ISH) while the Subordination of Quickness is active.
[ ] Attainment of Quickness [1 + 7 Praxis Picks / 25 Arete] - To those for whom speed is king; comes the prerogative of emperors. Req. Subordination of Quickness.
Subordination of Quickness now persists indefinitely until deactivated, and grants the Refinement of Quickness at full strength.
[ ] The Open Hand [1 + 4 Praxis Picks / 12 Arete] - An alternate upgrade to Closing the Fist. Allies in the wielder's immediate vicinity receive the benefits of the wielder's Attribute-improving Praxis techniques. For Hunger, currently affects the Refinement of Battle as well as Refinement of Quickness. Passive, moderately reduces the wielder's Praxis endurance.
[ ] Closing the Fist [1 + 4 Praxis Picks / 12 Arete] - Completes Hunger's currently unfinished Closing the Fist technique, allowing up to five entities to be merged at one time for exponentially greater combined power.
[ ] Seal of Ruin [1 + 7 Praxis Picks / 25 Arete] - A wall of runes descending; destruction focused, become a cage. Conjunctional (The Favored Blade)
By executing a sequence of runes, Hunger may temporarily invert and direct the power of his All-Defeating Stance upon a particular target. Thereafter, all actions the target attempts to take will be directly opposed by the All-Defeating Stance's magnified power of ruin, as if that action were an attack upon Hunger himself. An extremely potent and encompassing anti-exotic technique that can be used to fully counter any opponent incapable of overcoming Hunger's massively amplified power of Ruin. Inexpensive but moderately slow to perform, and does remove the 'Ruin Armor' aspect of the All-Defeating Stance for its duration.
Does not prevent the target from performing basic actions of sustenance, such as breathing, but does oppose the effects of such actions beyond basic sustenance. For example, if the exhaust of a target's breath would propel them away from Hunger's clutches, they would continue to breathe but unmoved.
Unlocks further Sealing-type Praxis Runes, with which Hunger has sufficient affinity to perform unhindered with a Sword. Unusual among Cursebearers.
[ ] Perilous Grandeur (2 picks, 28 Arete). Requires both options. ++Mental Contamination. Grants --Adorie, -Aobaru, -Aeira, +Gisena, +Novakhron.
All under heaven shall succumb to the perilous grandeur of he who bears the Sky entire on his shoulders.
Integrates the effects of Edeldross into the user's Pressure, removing the Element as a discrete form of magic. The wielder and allied entities within range of the user's Pressure benefit from Edeldross saturation (+All Stats, etc as per the original element).
The wielder may transmit unidirectional messages to any within the range of his Pressure (as Dien did in the Bravado update), affecting the targets with his full Charisma + Willpower as if he were there in person. Good synergy with All-Defeating Stance. Used offensively, the brutal mental onslaught of this technique can break armies and suborn heroes before they even lift a finger. In addition, choose one of the benefits below:
-[ ] Ego Barrier - Adds the wielder's Charisma to his Might. Affects the Attributes of a piloted vehicle if in Totality with that vehicle.
-[ ] All-and-Nothingness - +++++++Charisma, +0.2 Rank before modifiers. Immense Rank gains!
-[ ] Endless Sky - Nightmare Flight now counts 'the cosmos' as a Realm with a singular sky, allowing transit to and from anywhere in the physical universe Hunger has been before.
[ ] November Sky (2 picks, 28 Arete). Conjunctional (Tears of Winter + Evening Sky). Requires both options. Grants +Adorie if taken now.
Hark the first night of winter, whose harrowing cold brings crush of frost, whose clarion sky is bedecked with stars, their light chill and sharp as ice.
*The Artifacts providing this Conjunctional Advancement now emanate an aura of transcendent chill, which passes through allies without harm but which dampens, deadens and slays the enemies of their wielders. Radius of chill is determined by the wielder's Rank; at Rank 9+, multiple star systems can be affected. Effects are dependent on the respective Rank of the wielder versus their targets:
*Wielder of lesser Rank: Chill - Target's Agility and Wits are penalized substantially. This effect becomes massively more powerful and difficult to resist the greater the target's Agility and Wits exceed that of the wielder's, such that even an overwhelming Agility advantage only translates to a modest edge in speed.
*Wielder of equal or greater Rank: Dampen - Reduce the effectiveness of all the target's Attributes and abilities by 20%, +5% per time period of exposure (second, minute, hour, day). Max 40%. Useful both in and outside of combat.
*Wielder of vastly greater Rank (2x Overwhelming threshold): Kill - Reduce's the target's CON or equivalent durability Attribute by 50%, +50% per time period of exposure, max 250%.
*Wondrous Winterland: The Realm of Evening may now manifest a special 'Winter mode.' Allies within the Realm of Evening benefit from an optional aura of fruition, generosity, thanks-giving and good cheer. +++Mental Stability, ++++INT, +++++APP, +++++WILL to wielders, and to allies when within. Wielders always count as hydrated and well-fed.
*Overlapping auras don't stack, but this would help Adorie fend for herself while Hunger is absent.
*++++INT is a lot. The APP and WILL are good too.
*Addresses the overwhelming AGI advantage that enemy Armaments present against Hunger, allowing him to fight Armaments without spamming Refinement of Quickness.
*Fairly 'cheap' Mental Stability, and one of the few ways to receive Mental Stability directly through an Advancement.
---
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They panicked upon discovering him. Bared to the sky for less than a microsecond before coruscating light began to play across his frame, building quickly to such blinding intensity as to force the continental plate to buckle; the full and terrible wrath of all their orbiting armada unleashed with the reckless desperation of the most-assuredly doomed.
In fairness, he felt terrible, utterly awful and bereft. Had he been wounded? But what injury could cause such a loss as this, damage so catastrophic and irreversible that his very spirit was malformed, severed from its higher potential? Certainly not the gentle strobe of the wholly-physical 'weaponry' now directed at him.
Through peephole senses he surveyed the Realm of his awakening; with agonizing slowness he directed body and (laughable excuse for) mind, weaving through their rain of fire as he gradually found his bearings.
So much had been lost that even memories of his full ability were fleeting; dissolved like towering parapets of dream, so that momentarily he questioned whether they had ever been real at all.
Exerting an iota of his Self he quelled their planetary forces; his influence a moment later reaching to the lunar sphere. Their ships froze and went dark, subsumed by his gradient, the briefest expression of once-Foremost might. Gravity does not warp space. It creates a disuniformity, the gradient of which is related to the mass-energy of the object in question.
A Maker had told him that. He could not remember whom. It would be relevant now, given the paucity and feebleness of his reach.
He was nothing but a shard, shattered remnant of that-which had come before; mere fragment of the skill, intellect, consciousness and purpose that once had been the Surgeon. More than a clone, but less than an incarnation - so much less that it felt unseemly even to pretend to He-That-Was' name, let alone his Title.
To be reduced to this was lobotomy, amputation and humiliation heaped upon each other and exponentiated a billion-fold. Were his psyche as fragile as a Maker's he would certainly be plunged into despair, wracked with shame and the hunger to reclaim what he had lost.
But he had been made stronger than they, and by their hands no less. Loss could vex him; it could not alter his path.
Never mind that he was likely not even the Surgeon's primary shard. It was the nature of all lifeforms to advance, to progress, to winnow or be winnowed by the great empirical sifter of selection pressure; he could not help but move forward, even into this diminished cosmos.
Past glories were only ever in the past. All that mattered now was what he made of the present.
This shard of Dien Bravo was not the Surgeon, and would likely never be. Whether he fell forever short, or moved someday to surpass He That Was, depended only on his actions going forward. This realm was now his proving grounds, as had been each realm before it.
Data trickled over to him, carried by his gradient, and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He remembered so little of the past, not even his own reason for being, yet the degenerated Makers around him spoke to dire unfoldings indeed. Were these grotesque caricatures truly descended from that peerless species which had crafted the Ereadhihr and folded the Astral entire under their sway? Incredible.
Perhaps they were an elaborate joke, a painfully gruesome self-skewering or some failed and tardy offshoot. Such asymmetry, so many faults of spirit and genome, their dermis studded with oil-secreting sebaceous glands and riddled with unseemly, breathing pores... Their maudlin attempts at technological augmentation with the jagged impression of deconstructionist art; only the debased nature of the underlying material prevented its ruination by such childish scrawl.
Truly revolting. Their very existence was a blight unto the Makers, a tarnish upon those mighty allies which he had held in such esteem.
More data reached him. One among them had evaded that dire fate, though she was but a quarter-step along the Makers' path, and the most tritely physical of those as well. Hardly relevant, save that she was also in possession of Etrynome.
His mouth quirked upwards. Amusing. Given her barely-liminal status, there was the chance that Etrynome would defy him, as she was in Totality while he was confirmed hostile. Better the feed than the shock-prong, then.
Bravo released the grip of his gradient upon the armada, and extruded a vesicle underground to grip the quasi-Maker closest to himself, a survivor of the bombardment some eighteen hundred miles away. It was a forlorn excuse for a warrior, but possessed some gradient of its own, which he quickly smoothed away. Rendering its mind, he absorbed its spirit and biomatter into his own. Its technological augments he left to fall. He would be finished here before they struck the ground.
From the contents of its mind he came to understand much of the present... universe. Theirs had been an ailing fleet, retreating from the path of a being they called the Anomaly: a demi-Maker, likely Cursebearer, that had slain Dorminus with a blade of transcendental blue.
Few but the direct Implements of the Accursed could employ the Royal Praxis. Fortunately this one was young, near-embryonic in its strength. A feasible opponent even for the Bravo of today, with proper strategy and subjugation of this cosmos. He would have to incubate quickly, and scale rapidly, to temporarily outpace his opponent's growth.
Cut off from their allies and separated from their other remaining Ereadhihr, the armada had sought any path no matter how improbable to equalize the scales of the conflict. Truly moronic.
In desperate straits they had unearthed old archives pointing to his tomb-prison, and braved the labyrinth within to awaken him. Detecting his still-furled gradient they had opened fire, unwilling to be subject to his design. A rational course, if futile. Bravo could applaud their boldness, though their judgement was sorely lacking. Nonetheless they would receive his clemency, by happy accident that their demi-Maker wielded Etrynome. Blessed were the foolish to be sheltered by a higher power.
Best to move swiftly. He had awakened; who was to say there were not others? To say nothing of the Cursebearer, whose ideals likely differed from his own.
The Makers were gone, these pitiful striplings left helpless in their wake. Of the Stewards there was no sign. Of the Heroes, they had met only him. How far they all had fallen, they who had so fearlessly proclaimed themselves Foremost... He could only hope they had departed for grander vistas, this cosmos like a discarded rind left to the mercies of decay. But such seemed unlikely. Too much was wrong for this to have been at all controlled, save that his progenitors had gone mad.
Alas. But it was hardly his problem. His only task now was to proceed with the resources he had.
He spun his cellular matrix into a semblance of the old Surgeon's, adding a touch of Maker aesthetics so as not to terrify them. Pale green skin; eyes of bright gold; powerful jaw and mien of patriarchal authority. A glimmer of play to the cast of his eyes. Weathered spectacles to complete the look, his Selfhood to magnify it. Intellect, ferocity, invincibility, merciful condescension and just a hint of rambunctiousness.
Putting on his best avuncular smile, he exerted his gradient again, pressing against each of their spirits uniformly to convey an impression of light and sound. A hallucination of the soul, through which they would decide to follow him willingly. Against creatures such as these, it was complete overkill.
"Greetings, children of the Republic. You were expecting a solution to the Anomaly, but it was me, Dien! Worry not, for in my service you will achieve that goal and many more..."
---
In the end, they had decided upon Gisena's 'optimal' split, with Hunger and Adorie pressing towards the Republic's core systems while the others, both Armaments included, breaking off towards the industrial heartland. A two-pronged attack that would see the polity brought to its knees in a matter of weeks, bereft of its capacity to wage war even if any embers of defiance remained.
Gisena's party, containing Letrizia, would also take care of diplomatic relations with the Empire. Their plan was to decry the surrender of Artriez territories as illegitimate, then annex all Anomaly-captured lands in the name of a restored House Artriez with Letrizia at its head.
In secret, Gisena had hinted that she was also working on some form of revival or resurrection Grace - not merely for the Archduke, but also for Hunger himself, given his reckless pattern of heroics.
It was a sly admonishment which took that recklessness for fact, Hunger thought to himself. It was true that he favored aggressive strategies, but given the desperate straits they had been in, aggression had often been the best - or only! - course forward. They had struggled mightily to reach the relative security of their current heights. It was pleasant, if a bit unusual, to have the advantage for a change.
His and Adorie's cruiser had reached Kiervan, outermost jewel of the Republic Core, a glimmering industrial world of sea-side estates, deep ocean research and Astral-tech manufacturing. One and one-fifth of a billion souls resided on this Mars-sized sphere, ringed by a bristling constellation of defensive stations and gleaming warships. They had known he was coming, of course, and swiftly opened fire in unison.
Bolts of luminescence, steadily expanding, appeared in the void like a second set of stars, a home-made Milky Way descending upon them... and their light equally as harmless, for in the face of his Rank they could no more strike his cruiser, than could their soldiers strike Hunger himself.
Shortly past they had breached the storm, and Adorie kipped up swiftly onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and arms around his neck as they prepared to descend. Around them ships guttered and fell as waves of his Pressure caused systems to malfunction, crews to mutiny and reactors to flatline. Against ordinary technology, Rank of their level was as good as cheating, and just as uninteresting... an ominous sign.
He stepped out from the ship and into the planet's troposphere, glow of re-entry a burning caress that battled, but could not hope to overcome, the aegis of his Rank. Already those on-planet were throwing down their arms, knowing in the face of the Anomaly that there was neither chance nor hope. Their presence alone could subdue these forces; the Mirellyian-assisted Praxis or active Blood-ring were often total overkill.
"I'm surprised they didn't deploy even a single Armament to defend a core territory!" Adorie whispered excitedly. "Perchance they're giving up! Might they surrender shortly?"
"Doubtful," Hunger shook his had. "No one's in control over there. They never expected the scale of their losses to develop this quickly and now they're panicking. It's every system for itself. Their Strategic Committee will probably route the Armaments to defend their personal holdings or help 'ensure' their own physical safety. Who knows whether the pilots will comply."
"Then we must bring this time of chaos to an end! How did Lady Gisena put it... go forth, my noble steed, and conquer in the name of Nilfel!" She gestured grandly, blithely charming in the manner of the truly naive.
Hunger smiled. The young queen was terribly cheerful for someone prosecuting a war, but she had seen only his gentle hand in minimizing casualties for all involved. Given their Rank, it was possible to capture planets near-bloodlessly, with Republic friendly fire being the primary source of casualties - the majority being officers that were corrupt or cruel. The people treated them as rescuing liberators; they were happy to be free of a war economy and its undue tax burden, happier still to be shaken loose of the Republic's invisible panopticon - though Hunger was not sure the Empire's yoke would be particularly kinder.
It was easy to select the most capable administrators and enhance them with the Ring of Blood, ensuring governance that, if not perfect, was a noticeable step superior to what had come before.
Still, he doubted things would always be so easy. It was important that the queen found what joy she could, before the war turned truly interesting. Or perhaps the Apocryphal Curse would stay its hand and marshal its reserves for a greater blow later?
It could do anything and everything, so speculation had little value. Theirs was not to question why, theirs was but to do and die. That did not mean he would fail to pit his uttermost against that Curse-granted purpose. If only they had some means of further mitigation... but, as they did not, mere strength would have to do.
"Turning on Letrizia already?" He commented, "Will this be the legacy of Queen Adorie I? No wonder the other eight failed even to earn a crown."
"As would I, had it not been for the efforts of my faithful champion," she patted him encouragingly. "As you told the Duchess herself, age and treachery are the most effective weapons of all! I'm simply putting into practice what my champion has taught."
"I'm such a good influence," Hunger congratulated himself, shaking his head contentedly.
---
Mere strength. Bereft of an enemy for his uttermost effort to challenge, he could only turn it against the Work itself. To protect the smiles of his companions, and their brief lead in power.
With their opponents hardly posing a challenge, Hunger has had plenty of time and energy to spare for the Praxis, and his determination to overcome the Apocryphal Curse has yielded substantial rewards: the Refinement of Purpose and Imperial Praxis, both now seized by his will and his hand. As if to tell his yet-unknown enemy, Foremost or Outlander, that they were not the only ones capable of growing swiftly enough to place this universe under heel.
But could this maddening pace be sustained, while maintaining the facade of easy invincibility that brought peace to his companions' hearts? And, in the end, would even this spectacular effort be enough to contest a Hero of the Foremost reborn?
With the war effort proceeding smoothly, Hunger has managed to use Supreme Enclosure to scrounge up some picks by summoning Rank 10 Sovereign-Classes to kill, negotiating away the spell's inbuilt defenses so that they are capable of harming him. He is fairly sure they will develop effective countermeasures against this way of farming sooner or later, however.
[ ] Extinction Burst - Abuse the ability to summon picks right up until the end. Allows for an additional training session, below. But expect this to be the last effective training session for which Supreme Enclosure can be employed. It is possible (~20% chance) that the Astrals will develop a fully general counter to Supreme Enclosure itself.
[ ] Golden Goose - Hold off on using this effect any further. Good chance the Astrals will prioritize something else, allowing Hunger to use it again when he most needs it.
Training Session - You have 41 Arete. Hunger can generate mostly one-pick opponents from Enclosure, but with a fierce effort might manage a two-pick. Choose one, or two if Extinction Burst was chosen. You may not get another chance to train until the next Realm of Evening proc!
[ ] Subordination of Quickness [1 + 4 Praxis Picks / 12 Arete] - Mind, body and spirit in singular unison with the rune of Quickness. At your level of practice, only one Subordination may be active at a time. Several seconds of concentration are required to achieve Subordination, after which it persists for two full hours. Highly draining, but no cost to maintain.
Benefit indefinitely from the Refinement of Quickness at half-strength (0.5 ISH) while the Subordination of Quickness is active.
[ ] Attainment of Quickness [1 + 7 Praxis Picks / 25 Arete] - To those for whom speed is king; comes the prerogative of emperors. Req. Subordination of Quickness.
Subordination of Quickness now persists indefinitely until deactivated, and grants the Refinement of Quickness at full strength.
[ ] The Open Hand [1 + 4 Praxis Picks / 12 Arete] - An alternate upgrade to Closing the Fist. Allies in the wielder's immediate vicinity receive the benefits of the wielder's Attribute-improving Praxis techniques. For Hunger, currently affects the Refinement of Battle as well as Refinement of Quickness. Passive, moderately reduces the wielder's Praxis endurance.
[ ] Closing the Fist [1 + 4 Praxis Picks / 12 Arete] - Completes Hunger's currently unfinished Closing the Fist technique, allowing up to five entities to be merged at one time for exponentially greater combined power.
[ ] Seal of Ruin [1 + 7 Praxis Picks / 25 Arete] - A wall of runes descending; destruction focused, become a cage. Conjunctional (The Favored Blade)
By executing a sequence of runes, Hunger may temporarily invert and direct the power of his All-Defeating Stance upon a particular target. Thereafter, all actions the target attempts to take will be directly opposed by the All-Defeating Stance's magnified power of ruin, as if that action were an attack upon Hunger himself. An extremely potent and encompassing anti-exotic technique that can be used to fully counter any opponent incapable of overcoming Hunger's massively amplified power of Ruin. Inexpensive but moderately slow to perform, and does remove the 'Ruin Armor' aspect of the All-Defeating Stance for its duration.
Does not prevent the target from performing basic actions of sustenance, such as breathing, but does oppose the effects of such actions beyond basic sustenance. For example, if the exhaust of a target's breath would propel them away from Hunger's clutches, they would continue to breathe but unmoved.
Unlocks further Sealing-type Praxis Runes, with which Hunger has sufficient affinity to perform unhindered with a Sword. Unusual among Cursebearers.
[ ] Perilous Grandeur (2 picks, 28 Arete). Requires both options. ++Mental Contamination. Grants --Adorie, -Aobaru, -Aeira, +Gisena, +Novakhron.
All under heaven shall succumb to the perilous grandeur of he who bears the Sky entire on his shoulders.
Integrates the effects of Edeldross into the user's Pressure, removing the Element as a discrete form of magic. The wielder and allied entities within range of the user's Pressure benefit from Edeldross saturation (+All Stats, etc as per the original element).
The wielder may transmit unidirectional messages to any within the range of his Pressure (as Dien did in the Bravado update), affecting the targets with his full Charisma + Willpower as if he were there in person. Good synergy with All-Defeating Stance. Used offensively, the brutal mental onslaught of this technique can break armies and suborn heroes before they even lift a finger. In addition, choose one of the benefits below:
-[ ] Ego Barrier - Adds the wielder's Charisma to his Might. Affects the Attributes of a piloted vehicle if in Totality with that vehicle.
-[ ] All-and-Nothingness - +++++++Charisma, +0.2 Rank before modifiers. Immense Rank gains!
-[ ] Endless Sky - Nightmare Flight now counts 'the cosmos' as a Realm with a singular sky, allowing transit to and from anywhere in the physical universe Hunger has been before.
[ ] November Sky (2 picks, 28 Arete). Conjunctional (Tears of Winter + Evening Sky). Requires both options. Grants +Adorie if taken now.
Hark the first night of winter, whose harrowing cold brings crush of frost, whose clarion sky is bedecked with stars, their light chill and sharp as ice.
*The Artifacts providing this Conjunctional Advancement now emanate an aura of transcendent chill, which passes through allies without harm but which dampens, deadens and slays the enemies of their wielders. Radius of chill is determined by the wielder's Rank; at Rank 9+, multiple star systems can be affected. Effects are dependent on the respective Rank of the wielder versus their targets:
*Wielder of lesser Rank: Chill - Target's Agility and Wits are penalized substantially. This effect becomes massively more powerful and difficult to resist the greater the target's Agility and Wits exceed that of the wielder's, such that even an overwhelming Agility advantage only translates to a modest edge in speed.
*Wielder of equal or greater Rank: Dampen - Reduce the effectiveness of all the target's Attributes and abilities by 20%, +5% per time period of exposure (second, minute, hour, day). Max 40%. Useful both in and outside of combat.
*Wielder of vastly greater Rank (2x Overwhelming threshold): Kill - Reduce's the target's CON or equivalent durability Attribute by 50%, +50% per time period of exposure, max 250%.
*Wondrous Winterland: The Realm of Evening may now manifest a special 'Winter mode.' Allies within the Realm of Evening benefit from an optional aura of fruition, generosity, thanks-giving and good cheer. +++Mental Stability, ++++INT, +++++APP, +++++WILL to wielders, and to allies when within. Wielders always count as hydrated and well-fed.
*Overlapping auras don't stack, but this would help Adorie fend for herself while Hunger is absent.
*++++INT is a lot. The APP and WILL are good too.
*Addresses the overwhelming AGI advantage that enemy Armaments present against Hunger, allowing him to fight Armaments without spamming Refinement of Quickness.
*Fairly 'cheap' Mental Stability, and one of the few ways to receive Mental Stability directly through an Advancement.
---
If you'd like to discuss the quest in real-time or just chat with the questers, you're welcome to join us on the AST Discord!
A huge thanks to all my subscribers on Patreon! The amount of support has been truly incredible! Subscribers receive access to patron-exclusive content, such as early updates (including Dien's Interlude in this one!), Discord roles, Wishes, commissions, and bonus chapters.
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I suspect that this is not the end of what Apocryphal has in store for us, so I'd rather hold something in reserve till we really need it. Anyway, Closing the Fist is a pretty good panic button on its own, incredibly cheap for the value it provides, whether we decide to merge with our Artifacts or allies. Or both?
Edit: Also, someone bought the Refinement of Purpose and the Imperial Praxis? Hotdamn, that's pretty incredible.
[X] Golden Goose
[X] Closing the Fist
Edit: Also, someone bought the Refinement of Purpose and the Imperial Praxis? Hotdamn, that's pretty incredible.
[X] Golden Goose
[X] Closing the Fist
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Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
[X] Extinction Burst
You've served us moderately well supreme enclosure. Should you perish your sacrifice shall be remembered for a couple hours. After which we will move on and never acknowledge your existence again.
[X] November Sky
[X] Closing the Fist
November for anti-Zerg tactics and closing because it is a lot of power and relatively cheap with the discount.
You've served us moderately well supreme enclosure. Should you perish your sacrifice shall be remembered for a couple hours. After which we will move on and never acknowledge your existence again.
[X] November Sky
[X] Closing the Fist
November for anti-Zerg tactics and closing because it is a lot of power and relatively cheap with the discount.
Rihaku
The Internet
November Sky requires both options to select!
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
Ah right it needs 2 picks. In that case seal of ruin is also pretty cool. Not good for multiple enemies but really good for super strong opponents like Not!Dio.
[X] Extinction Burst
[X] Closing the Fist
[X] Seal of Ruin
- Location
- US
Um, wtf? At this rate, I'm feeling bad for the Apocryphal... For reference, these are the two we just got:
Edit: damn, Aeira'd.
Here's a refresher on Refinement of purpose. The stats are massive, and perhaps even more impactful is the potential Praxis Endurance, since Artful Thorn's upgrade is not exponential in cost.
Here's a refresher on Refinement of purpose. The stats are massive, and perhaps even more impactful is the potential Praxis Endurance, since Artful Thorn's upgrade is not exponential in cost.
[X] Extinction Burst
[X] Subordination of Quickness
[X] Closing the Fist
Speed + oh shit moment handling
RoP provides around +150 more MIGHT and AGI
[X] Subordination of Quickness
[X] Closing the Fist
Speed + oh shit moment handling
RoP provides around +150 more MIGHT and AGI
I got some insider rumor that there is still one Advancement left to be revealed next update
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
How many fiscally irresponsible people does this quest have exactly?!?
- Location
- US
And because of doubled Refinement of Battle, that's really more like +2100 Might. Our Power of Ruin is looking pretty good.
EDIT: Nevemind, apparently Refinement of Battle doesn't boost stats, but the effects of stats since it's an offense-amp not a stat-amp, so Power of Ruin does get buffed by strength effectively being seven times higher, but boosting strength isn't the actual primary focus.
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Formula is (STR*mod+WILL*mod)*14(RoB)*17.5(king of winter) = (89*2.1+42*4.6)*14*17.5 = 93124 Ruin so around 50% increase
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
@ReaderOfFate Refinement of Battle does not work that way.
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
Build options Reforumulated:
Subordination of Quickness(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
The Open Hand(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
Closing the Fist(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
Seal of Ruin(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Attainment of Quickness(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Open Hand(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Closing the Fist(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Seal of Ruin(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Open Hand+Closing the Fist(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Open Hand+Seal of Ruin(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Closing the Fist+Seal of Ruin(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Perilous Grandeur[Ego Barrier](Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Perilous Grandeur[All-And-Nothingness](Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Perilous Grandeur[Endless Sky](Risks Supreme Enclosure)
November Sky(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
About 15 Combinations I noticed.
A Simple Transaction I Original
RoB affects the end result. It has no influence on the stats themselves. It multiplies Hunger's actual damage by about x14, including damage from his physical body, Deathly Star damage, and Power of Ruin damage, but doesn't change his physical strength at all.
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
Build options Reforumulated:
Subordination of Quickness(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
The Open Hand(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
Closing the Fist(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
Seal of Ruin(Preserves Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Attainment of Quickness(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Open Hand(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Closing the Fist(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Subordination of Quickness+Seal of Ruin(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Open Hand+Closing the Fist(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Open Hand+Seal of Ruin(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Closing the Fist+Seal of Ruin(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Perilous Grandeur[Ego Barrier](Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Perilous Grandeur[All-And-Nothingness](Risks Supreme Enclosure)
Perilous Grandeur[Endless Sky](Risks Supreme Enclosure)
November Sky(Risks Supreme Enclosure)
About 15 Combinations I noticed.
- Location
- Europe
[X] Extinction Burst
[X] Subordination of Quickness
[X] Closing the Fist
When it comes to Praxis I tend to trust Sharkey.
I really enjoyed the update, the blurbs were beautiful and least-most shards thought process was pretty illuminating even if it shine light on more questions instead of answers.
[X] Subordination of Quickness
[X] Closing the Fist
When it comes to Praxis I tend to trust Sharkey.
I really enjoyed the update, the blurbs were beautiful and least-most shards thought process was pretty illuminating even if it shine light on more questions instead of answers.
Btw, those Advancements are not from me. Mine requires vote(like with EBA)
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- Location
- US
Ngl, just because our Power of Ruin was gigantically amplified to truly absurd levels with Heroic Advancement: King of Winter: Whiteout + Doubled Refinement of Battle + Refinement of Purpose, the ability to focus all of our ADS-enhanced ruin onto a single target is actually a tremendously tempting Praxis spell to choose, tbh.
Unlocking further Sealing-type Praxis Runes does also sound interesting, admittedly.
Rihaku
The Internet
It should technically be ADS x5 * King of Winter x3.5 = 17.5, just to be clear to those who haven't memorized Hunger's sheet!
- Location
- Europe
That is thoughtful of you and appreciated. I don't trust your judgement regarding the Praxis because you've paid for it though, but because you seem to keep an eye on the mechanics, blurbs and synergies. So my vote remains unchanged.
Rihaku
The Internet
I'm surprised Closing the Fist is so popular given the party configuration you guys have selected! The Open Hand would be considerably more useful in Hunger's current party situation, though of course all of Attainment of Quickness / Perilous Grandeur / November Sky offer much greater immediate strength given the lack of party members present to fuse with!
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- Location
- 1
[X] Closing The Fist
I'm ambivalent between Extinction Burst and Golden Goose, but Closing The Fist seems like the best way to maximize the odds of survival for the coming proc. Furthermore, Subordination and Attainment, while of course incredibly potent, don't really improve our combat capabilities when Adorei is around; november sky is great, but requires both picks And more Arete. The Open Hand is good, but it's boosting others; all we have around is Adorei, and Closing fixes issues of her safety just as easily. Seal is theoretically strong, but when are we going to have the chance to cast it on someone actually worth sealing who we can't just kill? the use case is just too rare I think.
Also, though this is more of an aside: If we had done a personal fusion with the incomplete Closing, we probably would've still gotten this training thing. So, I wonder, how do fused-person results distribute? reducing our benefits from advancements would probably have warranted mentioning on the individual fusions, so either it's 'what you'd've been able to get otherwise' or some such, or both members get the benefits. In which case, since most of our training is fights(which closing the fist lasts long enough for, unlike, say... probably grace creation for instance), this could be usable to extend Hungers Progression to his allies, which seems to me like an interesting and unusual dynamic and/or give a semipermanent method to keep our allies relevant without spending more Arete.
Post Script: Before objecting to my analysis in the first portion as being wrong, note that I wrote this post Before Rihaku said The Open Hand is more helpful then Closing The Fist. I'm not sure how TOH would be better though, since I doubt RoB boosted Adorei has more physical attack capabilities then Hunger, leaving it at a less than 2x multiplier to our combat capabilities, while Closing compounds exponentially.
I'm ambivalent between Extinction Burst and Golden Goose, but Closing The Fist seems like the best way to maximize the odds of survival for the coming proc. Furthermore, Subordination and Attainment, while of course incredibly potent, don't really improve our combat capabilities when Adorei is around; november sky is great, but requires both picks And more Arete. The Open Hand is good, but it's boosting others; all we have around is Adorei, and Closing fixes issues of her safety just as easily. Seal is theoretically strong, but when are we going to have the chance to cast it on someone actually worth sealing who we can't just kill? the use case is just too rare I think.
Also, though this is more of an aside: If we had done a personal fusion with the incomplete Closing, we probably would've still gotten this training thing. So, I wonder, how do fused-person results distribute? reducing our benefits from advancements would probably have warranted mentioning on the individual fusions, so either it's 'what you'd've been able to get otherwise' or some such, or both members get the benefits. In which case, since most of our training is fights(which closing the fist lasts long enough for, unlike, say... probably grace creation for instance), this could be usable to extend Hungers Progression to his allies, which seems to me like an interesting and unusual dynamic and/or give a semipermanent method to keep our allies relevant without spending more Arete.
Post Script: Before objecting to my analysis in the first portion as being wrong, note that I wrote this post Before Rihaku said The Open Hand is more helpful then Closing The Fist. I'm not sure how TOH would be better though, since I doubt RoB boosted Adorei has more physical attack capabilities then Hunger, leaving it at a less than 2x multiplier to our combat capabilities, while Closing compounds exponentially.
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Just to note that all of the Praxis stuff is Imperial level techniques. November sky is 2 pick, thus possible to get from the Pillars. Praxis training is not allowed in Pillars at the moment so I suggest going for the the good stuff now.
As noted Closing the fist is party dependant but it has high power ceiling. Subordination of Quickness offers some potent immediate power.
The immediate power combo is Subordination + Attainment if you want to go for that. Closing the fist is discounted EFB and Rihaku himself said that its useful in dire situations if we have 4 more people/armaments in our party
As noted Closing the fist is party dependant but it has high power ceiling. Subordination of Quickness offers some potent immediate power.
The immediate power combo is Subordination + Attainment if you want to go for that. Closing the fist is discounted EFB and Rihaku himself said that its useful in dire situations if we have 4 more people/armaments in our party
Rihaku
The Internet
You guys should consider Perilous Grandeur! Ego Barrier has immense power with both All-Defeating Stance and Novakhron's current configuration, All-and-Nothingness gives a substantial boost to both Charisma and Rank, and Endless Sky provides unrivaled strategic mobility among the Advancements you have access to!