A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
honestly hell yeah
Gauntlet Thrown
Rihaku
The Internet
Gauntlet Thrown
Doreia was the penultimate citadel-world of the Republic Core, a bristling monument to military might and the polity's decaying-but-potent reserves of industrial and bellicose vigor. It was a glistening bastion of steel and gunnery capable of dominating its entire Inner System - four populated worlds and seven gas giants - through the sky-rivaling spires of its weapons-enclosure and swarm of Republic Fleet cruisers. Its stately guiding star, a sun whose reliable 1.25 sols of output blanketed the system in steady warmth, was the site of their prototypical Star Mining operation, Astral technology pushed to the bleeding edge of current engineering in the ever-increasing search for exploitable negentropy.
That was what Hunger's stolen intelligence had told them, secured by countless eyewitness accounts and the Pressure-decrypted software banks of their hijacked Special Operations warship.
And yet that Doreia was nowhere in sight. What sprawled before them was a ring of immense vastness, a band of flesh and greenery that circumnavigated the whole of the system, a single monumental... creature in lazy orbit around a perpetually-dimming sun, whose yellow-bright fusion fires were being slowly transfixed into an unchanging rust-green. Of the planets and their moons that were their ostensible destination, there was no sign, not even the gas giants which dominated the outer band. He double-checked their navigational data. They had not gotten lost; with such Rank as theirs it was virtually a certainty.
Hunger blinked. "What the fuck is going on here."
The Apocryphal Curse, obviously, but this specific manifestation was of a scale and power nearly unprecedented to Hunger's previous experience. The Armament-Fish had leveled continents by the day, but the sheer quantity of matter required to construct this rotating organism - biomass, elements frequently present in no more than trace quantities on the cosmic scale - was stupendous beyond the scale of mere moons and asteroids. Even the planets themselves, rendered into component atoms, ought not have produced even a tenth, or a hundredth of the material plainly present before them. And what was it doing to its sun?
Adorie bit her lip. "What should we do, Lord Hunger? I've... never read anything about a monster like this. If only Lady Gisena were here, I'm sure she could provide some insight..."
"No point dwelling on maybes," Hunger replied, focusing himself. "We have the Praxis. There is no enemy we can conceive of that it cannot overcome. So long as we use it properly."
In the Realm of Forms, it mattered little whether his enemy was the size of a mountain, or a galaxy. His Artful Thorn would sting nonetheless. And yet, even if he slew this thing - presuming it was in his interests to destroy - they still had little idea of what had created it, or whether there were more. He hoped that Verschlengorge and Novakhron would provide shelter enough for Gisena's party to withstand whatever storm was brewing.
As they drew closer, Hunger marshaled his energies, the Forebear's Blade snapping preemptively upwards into a guard position as the shadow of a hostile Pressure fell upon them. From the strength of its distortion it was rather distant, likely absent from their current system, but potent enough at least to rival his own. Like opposing currents the fury of their respective Pressures raged wildly and silently at the border of their confluence, his opponent's like an upwelling tide battering futilely but relentlessly at his own unyielding thicket.
He frowned. From this intimation of presence he could sense something of their enemy's nature. The foe was doing nothing to hide it, in fact seemed to be broadcasting his spirit over the full expanse of his influence. There was a jocularity to this enemy, an un-seriousness born of absolute confidence in their abilities and mission; savagery unmerciful like a wild beast, yet a keen-ness of intellect like a vivisecting stare, and amusement - that Hunger would so broodingly hide behind the walls of his own Rank, failing to reveal the same.
Hunger scoffed. Was it trying to shame him into giving away a tactical advantage? He had done more and far greater deplorable things in his campaign against the Tyrant.
Letrizia had likened Pressure to the Astral version of gravity. If he and this foe were mighty singularities of Pressure, would their fate be that of those physical singularities that met in ordinary space - drawn ceaselessly into each other's orbit until collision was inevitable, their mutual stories inexorably become one? Triumph or subjugation, compromise or annihilation: the only option closed-off would be retreat.
Of course, this assumed that Letrizia's metaphor was truly accurate even to such implicit details, and his impression of the Human Sphere's Astral science was that its conclusions were far from that level of precision. But it would not be wise to disregard the possibility, if the two were truly analogous.
Beside him, a frowning Adorie drew unconsciously closer. "The Oath of Winter should provide an overwhelming penalty against any who oppose our Rank, and yet this enemy not only withstands us but seems to hold the slight initiative in our contest! And at such range, too..."
"He may be more skilled in using what he has," Hunger mused. "We employ our Rank passively, allowing it to warp the world around us. Even if we can't control it directly, there are likely nuances of interaction we haven't fully considered. If planets did battle, they would seek to exploit their gravitational fields, even if they could not actively reshape them."
Adorie nodded. "It's a good thing we have tools beyond Pressure alone! In times like this, the best option is simply to cut through."
"You're learning."
"I have a good teacher. He doesn't talk very much, though."
"I'm an open book, perfectly suited for a shut-in like you. Are you beginning to recognize the genius of my teaching style?"
She pouted. "Lady Gisena is rubbing off on you..."
Cut through they did, orienting the cruiser towards a direct collision with the ring-creature. Once more Hunger leapt from the ship with the queen on his back, plummeting down into the endless verdure of the monster's sun-facing surface. They landed without incident, encountering only cursory resistance - lance-like blooms that pulsed forth skewers at speeds capable of stripping fleets from the skies, but hardly sufficient to inconvenience him or the ship they sheltered.
Beneath, the world was strange, oddly twisted and yet verdantly beautiful. Monstrous blooms of vegetation pushed endlessly heavenward: trees with leaves of lucent crystal, mottled-crimson disks like a cross between flower and mushroom; trellised-tendon vines overflowing with what appeared to be wholly ordinary grapes. A four-legged grazing creature with soft pale fur wandered over to them, craning its head in brief interest before turning to the vines. There was a sprightliness and wonder to the air, each blush of color shockingly vivid, and the wind's caress almost intoxicating.
"Findross," Adorie said immediately. "I have read about this! Lady Gisena penned some notes at my request earlier. The concentration here is fairly low, and seems to be declining... Oh! There are columns of higher concentration, streaming upwards towards the sun! But what is it all for?"
Hunger was no magus. Even the mystical arts he'd learned were all in service to his combat skills, or to supplement those areas where the blade was insufficient. The basic scholarly urge, the drive to accumulate and analyze, the fullness of capability that had allowed Augustine to foil and frustrate them at every turn... he had left all that to Gisena, choosing to focus on his own present strengths.
An enemy like this, fundamentally esoteric in nature, pursuing a goal whose contours he couldn't intuit, was dangerously unpredictable, and he lacked the advantage in Rank to blunt that edge. This ring was clearly some form of asset for the enemy - or an obsequiously-designed trap - but his bloodsense had already discerned that it was not a single organism but countless, bound together in interlocking array and interfacing with the Astral in ways imperceptible to the domain of Blood alone. The Artful Thorn would not avail him in its current state, even in simplistically destroying the asset wholesale.
And, though they hardly had time for the thought, he speculated grimly on the fate of the Republic citizens who had previously inhabited Doreia. The intellect he'd felt behind their enemy's Pressure was not that of a being even remotely concerned with collateral damage. That man, Hunger believed, was as wholly indifferent to human life as humans were unconcerned with the fates of livestock or wild animals. Unlikely to exert any effort to torment them specifically, but neither would he inconvenience himself by preserving them against the consequences of his ambition.
How many billions had he simply overwritten in the course of terraforming this system?
For a moment, the despair of his war against the Tyrant threatened to submerge Hunger, sheer helplessness of a battle in which he was wholly outmatched and ignorant, but he was used to bleak realities and quelled himself quickly. He was not the powerless boy wholly reliant on the Fates to shelter him any longer, nor the failed hero betrayed by powers beyond his reckoning.
The Accursed had seen to that. Had made him a being who could seize destiny in his own hands.
In time, there will be no blade you cannot sunder, no force you cannot rout, no foe you cannot ruin, no throne you cannot claim.
The power of Progression was his remit, unlimited potential in every aspect of ability or skill, power with no ceiling or bottleneck. So he was not a magus? Then he would become one. With Ruin alone the Forebear had mastered whole realities and universes. Hunger would shame himself if, with his advantages, he could not do more. Still, it would take time.
The ring on his finger pulsed.
Time, or a worthy challenge. Hunger stared upwards at the dull-green sun, its light like copper flaking, seafoam flecks like a comet-trail in the ocean of void. He was ignorant of his foe's intentions, but that did not mean he was bereft of options here. Whatever the foe was doing here likely involved both ring and star, the one feeding or enabling the other. This ring-beast was no single being... but was its sun a single object?
"We're departing," he decided, sheathing his blade.
Adorie faithfully climbed on. "What are we going to do, Lord Hunger?"
"The same thing we always do, Queen of Winter. Cut through. Even if it cannot be cut."
The heat of the solar surface was perilous indeed, and actinic bolts of viridian lightning lashed them with surreal force, but before the Armor of Midnight such efforts were as tiny and fruitless as the raging of pulsars before the universal void. Each stroke of his Blade cleaved away at its Form, and when it was reduced to a shadow of itself he introduced that emerald star to its Deathly nemesis.
Findross in titanic arcs blasted away from them as the sun ruptured and shattered into ash, convulsion of the universe as that unthinkable surfeit of energy flew into the void - only to swiftly reverse direction, consumed by crimson fit to outshine any sun, as they were devoured by his Ring.
---
Dien forged a ring of not-insubstantial power; but Hunger wields one of his own, and tied more intimately to his form and his nature than any the Surgeon could design. Though the Surgeon's general Rank is beyond Hunger's, the Bastion of Myth, alongside the benefits of the Oath of Winter, have thoroughly minimized that advantage for now. Still, who knows how quickly this cruelly unmerciful Foremost could grow if allowed to scale uninterrupted... who is to say how many projects Dien has already sown, needing only to await their ripening?
In a rather literal culmination of its namesake, Hunger has acquired the Feat: Orb by destroying Dien's Green Sun Incubator. This has yielded a formidable .3125 Rank after multipliers, completing his second Special Advancement in the form of Trinity!
Special Advancement: Trinity II. Select one.
[ ] Breaker of Suns - Fear will keep the other systems in line. Fear of this battle, and of the terrible force at its victor's command. For he who can extinguish the very stars, lamp-lights of the universe, who dares chance his fury and see their own light snuffed out?
*The Advancement of the Saber, which above all else prizes power. An incredibly potent advancement, by far the greatest among these in strength both abstract and temporal. But take care, for he who lives by the sword...
Gain 50 base +s in Strength, Willpower and Wisdom, and upgrade Triumphal Gleam to Conquerer's Nimbus:
+++++++++Charisma, +++++AGI and Might, +150% Rank gain
*Apply the character's full military Rank to all actions taken while on a campaign of conquest or defense, including social interaction or the use of Empyreal Signs.
*Note that Rank becomes increasingly difficult to improve naturally as it increases.
*Vastly increases the wielder's innate memetic appeal, and reframes all acts he performs into their most positive interpretations - even his minor exploits will blaze with adulation unending, while his disappointments and shames are charming foibles or relatable tragedies that inspire sympathy and aid.
*Such a power can justify even tyrannical behavior, and insulate one from the consequences of tyranny. Charisma improves your personal presence, but this Advancement helps people know of you beforehand, and ensures your reputation is one you would be proud of.
*The reputation-burnishing power can be de-activated if the character wishes to fall on their sword for some particular event.
*Take care that you do not become what you despise. An unlikely prospect for Hunger, but the allure is greater when the consequences of overreach are so easily dispersed.
[ ] Tower Above - Trismegistus! three times greatest! / How thy name sublime / Has descended to this latest / progeny of time!
It is said, that to be a magus is to walk with death. Who then could be more suited to the calling than the heir to the Forebear himself?
*The Advancement of the Orb, by which Hunger commits to the magus' path. No lukewarm road of muscle wizardry, but a full and earnest commitment to the arcane to match his martial prowess.
Gain +0.3 Rank before modifiers (+.75 after modifiers), triple the character's Intelligence for purposes of spellcasting and magic-related discernment, and discount the character's next major magic-related Advancement by 12 Arete or the equivalent. Praxis techniques count as magic if it would be favorable to the caster.
[ ] The Shoguness - You do not prosecute this war alone. The Surgeon, foiled, draws out his rivals and interlocutors. And while the enemy of my enemy is an ally of convenience, in time they may become something more...
*The Advancement of the Crown, whose splendor refracted draws defenders from the furthermost reaches of space and time.
Once per Geas task for every Geas task the present onwards, Hunger or a loyal companion will receive an offer of alliance from an exceptionally powerful or influential entity. This is most likely to manifest in situations where Hunger is out of his depth or otherwise contending with factors he is ill-suited for.
In this task, his stymieing the Surgeon's plans has brought forth the Shard of the Shogun, who sees Dien's untrammeled ascent as unconscionable. They will agree to impart the status of a Primary Avatar upon either Gisena Allria or Adorie Mirellyian, granting them the rank of Foremost Maker and nigh-unbelievable martial ability. Given their diminished position, they will consent to exerting the lesser influence in such a merger, causing only a minor modification of the chosen character's personality and nature.
++Gisena or ++Adorie, either would certainly leap at the opportunity to become a Foremost Maker, even a diminished one, under such favorable conditions. While not as perfectly suited in essential nature as Catherine of Amarlt, they would still represent composite fighting strength only a sliver behind Hunger himself, as well as some fraction of the Shogun's preternatural strategic acumen. Gisena would be more individually potent, while Adorie would become a pre-eminent military commander. There are still logistical issues with reaching Gisena swiftly, but the benefits of the alliance should well outweigh the cost in time.
The winner last time was [X] Golden Goose with [X] Seal of Ruin, Hunger's first foray onto the magus' path!
---
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 this one!), Discord roles, Wishes, commissions, and bonus chapters.
Doreia was the penultimate citadel-world of the Republic Core, a bristling monument to military might and the polity's decaying-but-potent reserves of industrial and bellicose vigor. It was a glistening bastion of steel and gunnery capable of dominating its entire Inner System - four populated worlds and seven gas giants - through the sky-rivaling spires of its weapons-enclosure and swarm of Republic Fleet cruisers. Its stately guiding star, a sun whose reliable 1.25 sols of output blanketed the system in steady warmth, was the site of their prototypical Star Mining operation, Astral technology pushed to the bleeding edge of current engineering in the ever-increasing search for exploitable negentropy.
That was what Hunger's stolen intelligence had told them, secured by countless eyewitness accounts and the Pressure-decrypted software banks of their hijacked Special Operations warship.
And yet that Doreia was nowhere in sight. What sprawled before them was a ring of immense vastness, a band of flesh and greenery that circumnavigated the whole of the system, a single monumental... creature in lazy orbit around a perpetually-dimming sun, whose yellow-bright fusion fires were being slowly transfixed into an unchanging rust-green. Of the planets and their moons that were their ostensible destination, there was no sign, not even the gas giants which dominated the outer band. He double-checked their navigational data. They had not gotten lost; with such Rank as theirs it was virtually a certainty.
Hunger blinked. "What the fuck is going on here."
The Apocryphal Curse, obviously, but this specific manifestation was of a scale and power nearly unprecedented to Hunger's previous experience. The Armament-Fish had leveled continents by the day, but the sheer quantity of matter required to construct this rotating organism - biomass, elements frequently present in no more than trace quantities on the cosmic scale - was stupendous beyond the scale of mere moons and asteroids. Even the planets themselves, rendered into component atoms, ought not have produced even a tenth, or a hundredth of the material plainly present before them. And what was it doing to its sun?
Adorie bit her lip. "What should we do, Lord Hunger? I've... never read anything about a monster like this. If only Lady Gisena were here, I'm sure she could provide some insight..."
"No point dwelling on maybes," Hunger replied, focusing himself. "We have the Praxis. There is no enemy we can conceive of that it cannot overcome. So long as we use it properly."
In the Realm of Forms, it mattered little whether his enemy was the size of a mountain, or a galaxy. His Artful Thorn would sting nonetheless. And yet, even if he slew this thing - presuming it was in his interests to destroy - they still had little idea of what had created it, or whether there were more. He hoped that Verschlengorge and Novakhron would provide shelter enough for Gisena's party to withstand whatever storm was brewing.
As they drew closer, Hunger marshaled his energies, the Forebear's Blade snapping preemptively upwards into a guard position as the shadow of a hostile Pressure fell upon them. From the strength of its distortion it was rather distant, likely absent from their current system, but potent enough at least to rival his own. Like opposing currents the fury of their respective Pressures raged wildly and silently at the border of their confluence, his opponent's like an upwelling tide battering futilely but relentlessly at his own unyielding thicket.
He frowned. From this intimation of presence he could sense something of their enemy's nature. The foe was doing nothing to hide it, in fact seemed to be broadcasting his spirit over the full expanse of his influence. There was a jocularity to this enemy, an un-seriousness born of absolute confidence in their abilities and mission; savagery unmerciful like a wild beast, yet a keen-ness of intellect like a vivisecting stare, and amusement - that Hunger would so broodingly hide behind the walls of his own Rank, failing to reveal the same.
Hunger scoffed. Was it trying to shame him into giving away a tactical advantage? He had done more and far greater deplorable things in his campaign against the Tyrant.
Letrizia had likened Pressure to the Astral version of gravity. If he and this foe were mighty singularities of Pressure, would their fate be that of those physical singularities that met in ordinary space - drawn ceaselessly into each other's orbit until collision was inevitable, their mutual stories inexorably become one? Triumph or subjugation, compromise or annihilation: the only option closed-off would be retreat.
Of course, this assumed that Letrizia's metaphor was truly accurate even to such implicit details, and his impression of the Human Sphere's Astral science was that its conclusions were far from that level of precision. But it would not be wise to disregard the possibility, if the two were truly analogous.
Beside him, a frowning Adorie drew unconsciously closer. "The Oath of Winter should provide an overwhelming penalty against any who oppose our Rank, and yet this enemy not only withstands us but seems to hold the slight initiative in our contest! And at such range, too..."
"He may be more skilled in using what he has," Hunger mused. "We employ our Rank passively, allowing it to warp the world around us. Even if we can't control it directly, there are likely nuances of interaction we haven't fully considered. If planets did battle, they would seek to exploit their gravitational fields, even if they could not actively reshape them."
Adorie nodded. "It's a good thing we have tools beyond Pressure alone! In times like this, the best option is simply to cut through."
"You're learning."
"I have a good teacher. He doesn't talk very much, though."
"I'm an open book, perfectly suited for a shut-in like you. Are you beginning to recognize the genius of my teaching style?"
She pouted. "Lady Gisena is rubbing off on you..."
Cut through they did, orienting the cruiser towards a direct collision with the ring-creature. Once more Hunger leapt from the ship with the queen on his back, plummeting down into the endless verdure of the monster's sun-facing surface. They landed without incident, encountering only cursory resistance - lance-like blooms that pulsed forth skewers at speeds capable of stripping fleets from the skies, but hardly sufficient to inconvenience him or the ship they sheltered.
Beneath, the world was strange, oddly twisted and yet verdantly beautiful. Monstrous blooms of vegetation pushed endlessly heavenward: trees with leaves of lucent crystal, mottled-crimson disks like a cross between flower and mushroom; trellised-tendon vines overflowing with what appeared to be wholly ordinary grapes. A four-legged grazing creature with soft pale fur wandered over to them, craning its head in brief interest before turning to the vines. There was a sprightliness and wonder to the air, each blush of color shockingly vivid, and the wind's caress almost intoxicating.
"Findross," Adorie said immediately. "I have read about this! Lady Gisena penned some notes at my request earlier. The concentration here is fairly low, and seems to be declining... Oh! There are columns of higher concentration, streaming upwards towards the sun! But what is it all for?"
Hunger was no magus. Even the mystical arts he'd learned were all in service to his combat skills, or to supplement those areas where the blade was insufficient. The basic scholarly urge, the drive to accumulate and analyze, the fullness of capability that had allowed Augustine to foil and frustrate them at every turn... he had left all that to Gisena, choosing to focus on his own present strengths.
An enemy like this, fundamentally esoteric in nature, pursuing a goal whose contours he couldn't intuit, was dangerously unpredictable, and he lacked the advantage in Rank to blunt that edge. This ring was clearly some form of asset for the enemy - or an obsequiously-designed trap - but his bloodsense had already discerned that it was not a single organism but countless, bound together in interlocking array and interfacing with the Astral in ways imperceptible to the domain of Blood alone. The Artful Thorn would not avail him in its current state, even in simplistically destroying the asset wholesale.
And, though they hardly had time for the thought, he speculated grimly on the fate of the Republic citizens who had previously inhabited Doreia. The intellect he'd felt behind their enemy's Pressure was not that of a being even remotely concerned with collateral damage. That man, Hunger believed, was as wholly indifferent to human life as humans were unconcerned with the fates of livestock or wild animals. Unlikely to exert any effort to torment them specifically, but neither would he inconvenience himself by preserving them against the consequences of his ambition.
How many billions had he simply overwritten in the course of terraforming this system?
For a moment, the despair of his war against the Tyrant threatened to submerge Hunger, sheer helplessness of a battle in which he was wholly outmatched and ignorant, but he was used to bleak realities and quelled himself quickly. He was not the powerless boy wholly reliant on the Fates to shelter him any longer, nor the failed hero betrayed by powers beyond his reckoning.
The Accursed had seen to that. Had made him a being who could seize destiny in his own hands.
In time, there will be no blade you cannot sunder, no force you cannot rout, no foe you cannot ruin, no throne you cannot claim.
The power of Progression was his remit, unlimited potential in every aspect of ability or skill, power with no ceiling or bottleneck. So he was not a magus? Then he would become one. With Ruin alone the Forebear had mastered whole realities and universes. Hunger would shame himself if, with his advantages, he could not do more. Still, it would take time.
The ring on his finger pulsed.
Time, or a worthy challenge. Hunger stared upwards at the dull-green sun, its light like copper flaking, seafoam flecks like a comet-trail in the ocean of void. He was ignorant of his foe's intentions, but that did not mean he was bereft of options here. Whatever the foe was doing here likely involved both ring and star, the one feeding or enabling the other. This ring-beast was no single being... but was its sun a single object?
"We're departing," he decided, sheathing his blade.
Adorie faithfully climbed on. "What are we going to do, Lord Hunger?"
"The same thing we always do, Queen of Winter. Cut through. Even if it cannot be cut."
The heat of the solar surface was perilous indeed, and actinic bolts of viridian lightning lashed them with surreal force, but before the Armor of Midnight such efforts were as tiny and fruitless as the raging of pulsars before the universal void. Each stroke of his Blade cleaved away at its Form, and when it was reduced to a shadow of itself he introduced that emerald star to its Deathly nemesis.
Findross in titanic arcs blasted away from them as the sun ruptured and shattered into ash, convulsion of the universe as that unthinkable surfeit of energy flew into the void - only to swiftly reverse direction, consumed by crimson fit to outshine any sun, as they were devoured by his Ring.
---
Dien forged a ring of not-insubstantial power; but Hunger wields one of his own, and tied more intimately to his form and his nature than any the Surgeon could design. Though the Surgeon's general Rank is beyond Hunger's, the Bastion of Myth, alongside the benefits of the Oath of Winter, have thoroughly minimized that advantage for now. Still, who knows how quickly this cruelly unmerciful Foremost could grow if allowed to scale uninterrupted... who is to say how many projects Dien has already sown, needing only to await their ripening?
In a rather literal culmination of its namesake, Hunger has acquired the Feat: Orb by destroying Dien's Green Sun Incubator. This has yielded a formidable .3125 Rank after multipliers, completing his second Special Advancement in the form of Trinity!
Special Advancement: Trinity II. Select one.
[ ] Breaker of Suns - Fear will keep the other systems in line. Fear of this battle, and of the terrible force at its victor's command. For he who can extinguish the very stars, lamp-lights of the universe, who dares chance his fury and see their own light snuffed out?
*The Advancement of the Saber, which above all else prizes power. An incredibly potent advancement, by far the greatest among these in strength both abstract and temporal. But take care, for he who lives by the sword...
Gain 50 base +s in Strength, Willpower and Wisdom, and upgrade Triumphal Gleam to Conquerer's Nimbus:
+++++++++Charisma, +++++AGI and Might, +150% Rank gain
*Apply the character's full military Rank to all actions taken while on a campaign of conquest or defense, including social interaction or the use of Empyreal Signs.
*Note that Rank becomes increasingly difficult to improve naturally as it increases.
*Vastly increases the wielder's innate memetic appeal, and reframes all acts he performs into their most positive interpretations - even his minor exploits will blaze with adulation unending, while his disappointments and shames are charming foibles or relatable tragedies that inspire sympathy and aid.
*Such a power can justify even tyrannical behavior, and insulate one from the consequences of tyranny. Charisma improves your personal presence, but this Advancement helps people know of you beforehand, and ensures your reputation is one you would be proud of.
*The reputation-burnishing power can be de-activated if the character wishes to fall on their sword for some particular event.
*Take care that you do not become what you despise. An unlikely prospect for Hunger, but the allure is greater when the consequences of overreach are so easily dispersed.
[ ] Tower Above - Trismegistus! three times greatest! / How thy name sublime / Has descended to this latest / progeny of time!
It is said, that to be a magus is to walk with death. Who then could be more suited to the calling than the heir to the Forebear himself?
*The Advancement of the Orb, by which Hunger commits to the magus' path. No lukewarm road of muscle wizardry, but a full and earnest commitment to the arcane to match his martial prowess.
Gain +0.3 Rank before modifiers (+.75 after modifiers), triple the character's Intelligence for purposes of spellcasting and magic-related discernment, and discount the character's next major magic-related Advancement by 12 Arete or the equivalent. Praxis techniques count as magic if it would be favorable to the caster.
[ ] The Shoguness - You do not prosecute this war alone. The Surgeon, foiled, draws out his rivals and interlocutors. And while the enemy of my enemy is an ally of convenience, in time they may become something more...
*The Advancement of the Crown, whose splendor refracted draws defenders from the furthermost reaches of space and time.
Once per Geas task for every Geas task the present onwards, Hunger or a loyal companion will receive an offer of alliance from an exceptionally powerful or influential entity. This is most likely to manifest in situations where Hunger is out of his depth or otherwise contending with factors he is ill-suited for.
In this task, his stymieing the Surgeon's plans has brought forth the Shard of the Shogun, who sees Dien's untrammeled ascent as unconscionable. They will agree to impart the status of a Primary Avatar upon either Gisena Allria or Adorie Mirellyian, granting them the rank of Foremost Maker and nigh-unbelievable martial ability. Given their diminished position, they will consent to exerting the lesser influence in such a merger, causing only a minor modification of the chosen character's personality and nature.
++Gisena or ++Adorie, either would certainly leap at the opportunity to become a Foremost Maker, even a diminished one, under such favorable conditions. While not as perfectly suited in essential nature as Catherine of Amarlt, they would still represent composite fighting strength only a sliver behind Hunger himself, as well as some fraction of the Shogun's preternatural strategic acumen. Gisena would be more individually potent, while Adorie would become a pre-eminent military commander. There are still logistical issues with reaching Gisena swiftly, but the benefits of the alliance should well outweigh the cost in time.
The winner last time was [X] Golden Goose with [X] Seal of Ruin, Hunger's first foray onto the magus' path!
---
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 this one!), Discord roles, Wishes, commissions, and bonus chapters.
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[X] Tower Above
I want my +Rank
I want my +Rank
Well, if, as Sharkey supposes, we're going to buy SJUC next, higher base Rank is our top priority.
[X] Tower Above
Edit:
[X] Tower Above
Edit:
That said, I feel like I should vote against this option on sheer principle after reading such blasphemy.
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This is to lure the thread into a false sense of security and while they are distracted, slip them the magical steroid needle.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
There is only one path.
[X] Tower Above
+0.75 Rank is a pretty impressive amount at the stage we are at. It's almost equivalent to Breaker of Suns Military Rank applying to everything for out-of-combat purposes - and, in a direct battle Tower Above has more rank then Breaker of Suns!
Triple INT for the purposes of magic is incredible, IIRC quickening Empyrean Signs is discounted if Hunger has high INT.
We also get a nice free 12 Arete to play with - for Praxis or Signs, or perhaps something new entirely? Very exciting!
Finally, Hunger himself noted in this update that being a Magus would be very valuable right now. We should listen to his insight. Neither of the other options really solves the problem Hunger noted of personally lacking in the esoteric department.
[X] Tower Above
+0.75 Rank is a pretty impressive amount at the stage we are at. It's almost equivalent to Breaker of Suns Military Rank applying to everything for out-of-combat purposes - and, in a direct battle Tower Above has more rank then Breaker of Suns!
Triple INT for the purposes of magic is incredible, IIRC quickening Empyrean Signs is discounted if Hunger has high INT.
We also get a nice free 12 Arete to play with - for Praxis or Signs, or perhaps something new entirely? Very exciting!
Finally, Hunger himself noted in this update that being a Magus would be very valuable right now. We should listen to his insight. Neither of the other options really solves the problem Hunger noted of personally lacking in the esoteric department.
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- Location
- US
50 base pluses in Wisdom... Holy shit. Just because of that one factor, Breaker of Suns becomes incredibly appealing, tbh. Wisdom isn't something nearly as easily raised as our other stats, after all.
Also, RoP means that +50 Will is effectively four times as much, by the way, and Cut Through means each plus to Will is a plus to Might/Agility, so it's really more like +250 base pluses to Strength/+200 base pluses to Agility and Endurance.
[X] Breaker of Suns
(Also, in the long-term, this is the best for rank gain, since it raises our multiplier for rank gain from x2.2 to x3.2.)
Also, RoP means that +50 Will is effectively four times as much, by the way, and Cut Through means each plus to Will is a plus to Might/Agility, so it's really more like +250 base pluses to Strength/+200 base pluses to Agility and Endurance.
[X] Breaker of Suns
(Also, in the long-term, this is the best for rank gain, since it raises our multiplier for rank gain from x2.2 to x3.2.)
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[X] The Shoguness
Rank can be gained, Arete can be mined, but (indirect) Apo mitigation is forever. This would vastly improve our overall odds of surviving Apo, acting as baby-Defensive Wish we can proc once every Geas task when we find ourselves facing especially powerful proc. Not only that, but this also helps with short term by empowering Adorie or Gisena. Whats not to like?
Rank can be gained, Arete can be mined, but (indirect) Apo mitigation is forever. This would vastly improve our overall odds of surviving Apo, acting as baby-Defensive Wish we can proc once every Geas task when we find ourselves facing especially powerful proc. Not only that, but this also helps with short term by empowering Adorie or Gisena. Whats not to like?
The stats here are ludicrous. The recently-acquired Refinement of Purpose gives +300% to all Willpower gains and allows Praxis endurance to scale with it; Will converts to Might & Agi with Cut Through. We just invested in an Advancement that lets us seal people with Ruin, and Breaker of Suns grants fifty Strength and Will, both of which feed into that power. Fifty Wisdom's also a huge benefit for strategizing, and that's not even factoring in the Triumphal Gleam upgrade! We accumulated so much Rank because we stacked multipliers to its growth early on. All of these choices are incredibly juicy, but there's something to be said for raw power.
[X] Tower Above
Swapped to Sharkey's preference in accordance with last-minute misgivings.
[X] Tower Above
Swapped to Sharkey's preference in accordance with last-minute misgivings.
- Location
- US
Sidenote, but for those curious about our current Rank...
Rank (before Feat: Orb): 9.075 General (effective 10 due to Champion of Winter), 10.075 Military, 11.075 Blood.
Rank (after Feat: Orb): 9.3875 General (effective 10 due to Champion of Winter), 10.3875 Military, 11.3875 Blood.
Rank (before Feat: Orb): 9.075 General (effective 10 due to Champion of Winter), 10.075 Military, 11.075 Blood.
Rank (after Feat: Orb): 9.3875 General (effective 10 due to Champion of Winter), 10.3875 Military, 11.3875 Blood.
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Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
I'll be honest I'm torn between breaker and tower. They both have tons of initial power and potential. Shogun is cool too and powerful help each geas task is useful but I'd rather directly strengthen Hunger. As for what Breaker and Tower give us:
Breaker gives us 50 pluses in Willpower Strength and Wisdom for immediate power. Willpower is easily our most important stat. Not only does it make us stronger, faster, and tougher but it also increases our praxis pool and power of ruin. RoP gave us effectively over 100 pluses in might and agility and doubled our praxis pool. So the 50 will alone probably give us at least 200-300 effective pluses and double our pool again. Ridiculous doesn't even begin to cover that. Strength is our second most important on account of ruin. I'll leave the calculations to someone else but it is safe to say our ruin should almost double in power if not more so. With Seal of Ruin as our new "fuck that particular thing" button these are very good boosts. Wisdom is also a very powerful stat. It doesn't make us smarter or help us get new knowledge like intelligence but it does make us better at applying what knowledge we do have. Then of course our military might now applies to everything while we are at war. This is a very powerful boost. As for potential an extra 100% future Rank gain is nothing to scoff at.
Now Tower is a lot simpler in what immediate power it gives but this doesn't make it any less than Breaker. Thus should give us Rank greater than Nova's. Rank 11. That is frankly insane. As for tripled intelligence it is good but not great at the moment. Personally I believe triple wits would have been more useful to us at the moment. I think applying what we already have is better than being smarter. This boost is more of an investment into the future than a significant boost to our current strength so I'm classifying it as potential. The main source of potential though is the 12 Arete discount on magic. Being able to get November sky for only 16 Arete or closing the fist for free is really good. Other magics like Elixir or even new ones may be put on offer if we take this.
Personally I want to increase our current ruin and praxis more than our Rank because I believe them to be superior to Rank. Besides we do have ways to limit the strength of our enemies Rank so not investing into immediate Rank won't hurt us that badly. For now though I'm going to wait and see what arguments pop up before I vote.
Breaker gives us 50 pluses in Willpower Strength and Wisdom for immediate power. Willpower is easily our most important stat. Not only does it make us stronger, faster, and tougher but it also increases our praxis pool and power of ruin. RoP gave us effectively over 100 pluses in might and agility and doubled our praxis pool. So the 50 will alone probably give us at least 200-300 effective pluses and double our pool again. Ridiculous doesn't even begin to cover that. Strength is our second most important on account of ruin. I'll leave the calculations to someone else but it is safe to say our ruin should almost double in power if not more so. With Seal of Ruin as our new "fuck that particular thing" button these are very good boosts. Wisdom is also a very powerful stat. It doesn't make us smarter or help us get new knowledge like intelligence but it does make us better at applying what knowledge we do have. Then of course our military might now applies to everything while we are at war. This is a very powerful boost. As for potential an extra 100% future Rank gain is nothing to scoff at.
Now Tower is a lot simpler in what immediate power it gives but this doesn't make it any less than Breaker. Thus should give us Rank greater than Nova's. Rank 11. That is frankly insane. As for tripled intelligence it is good but not great at the moment. Personally I believe triple wits would have been more useful to us at the moment. I think applying what we already have is better than being smarter. This boost is more of an investment into the future than a significant boost to our current strength so I'm classifying it as potential. The main source of potential though is the 12 Arete discount on magic. Being able to get November sky for only 16 Arete or closing the fist for free is really good. Other magics like Elixir or even new ones may be put on offer if we take this.
Personally I want to increase our current ruin and praxis more than our Rank because I believe them to be superior to Rank. Besides we do have ways to limit the strength of our enemies Rank so not investing into immediate Rank won't hurt us that badly. For now though I'm going to wait and see what arguments pop up before I vote.
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ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Breaker of Suns is not great for our current situation. If we were up against the Shogun or Spider, then the Wisdom +s would be invaluable for countering the former's strategic insight and the latter's plotting.
However, against the Surgeon our primary weakness is, as Hunger noted, a lack of broad-spectrum magical learning which can counter the Surgeon's mad science. Tower Above is the only option that directly addresses that problem, unless ya'll want to run to Gisena again. Which is valid, but increasingly relying on Gisena for our esoteric capability is going to result in the Apocryphal targeting that clear overinvestment.
However, against the Surgeon our primary weakness is, as Hunger noted, a lack of broad-spectrum magical learning which can counter the Surgeon's mad science. Tower Above is the only option that directly addresses that problem, unless ya'll want to run to Gisena again. Which is valid, but increasingly relying on Gisena for our esoteric capability is going to result in the Apocryphal targeting that clear overinvestment.
Imagine talking such a big game and after that getting the pussy way out of making somebody else take care of your problems. When we deal with the Surgeon, guess who is the next target of the Apoc Curse - the Shogun decides he wants to be in control and start attacking us.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Options:
50 base pluses(Whatever that means mathematically) to Str/Willpower/Wisdom. Triumphal Gleam Upgraded(7 Charisma pluses of net gain from baseline, 2 agility pluses of net gain from baseline, 5 Strength pluses(Total Gain 55 Strength?) and 5 constitution pluses gained from baseline. 100% Boosted Rank Gain from baseline. Broadens the Remit of Military Rank. Upgrades power of Triumphal Gleam's social benefit and lets one turn it off.
.75 Rank, Discount to next major magic related advancement(Praxis Advancements like presumably Imprisoners Refinement are an option), Intelligence goes from 9.4144 after Edeldross buffs with Rihakumath3 to 28.2432 for Spellcasting and Research purposes. Alternatively, under a flat pluses model, 24*1.6 = 38.4*3 = 115.2 intelligence for a flat all pluses are equivalent value model for Spellcasting and research purposes. It's good Ordinalism groundwork for when Haeliel shows up again. Plus we might be able to see something like the Opalescent Tower upgraded Total Eclipse or something.
Adorie or Gisena becomes Shogun Adorie or Shogun Gisena on terms where they're willing to work with us/the Shogun exerts little influence on the merger(They aren't as powerful as Shoguncat but they'd still be only mildly behind us). Once per Geas task offer of aid from a being of power when we're out of our depth in future tasks.
Everything is Hax.
50 base pluses(Whatever that means mathematically) to Str/Willpower/Wisdom. Triumphal Gleam Upgraded(7 Charisma pluses of net gain from baseline, 2 agility pluses of net gain from baseline, 5 Strength pluses(Total Gain 55 Strength?) and 5 constitution pluses gained from baseline. 100% Boosted Rank Gain from baseline. Broadens the Remit of Military Rank. Upgrades power of Triumphal Gleam's social benefit and lets one turn it off.
.75 Rank, Discount to next major magic related advancement(Praxis Advancements like presumably Imprisoners Refinement are an option), Intelligence goes from 9.4144 after Edeldross buffs with Rihakumath3 to 28.2432 for Spellcasting and Research purposes. Alternatively, under a flat pluses model, 24*1.6 = 38.4*3 = 115.2 intelligence for a flat all pluses are equivalent value model for Spellcasting and research purposes. It's good Ordinalism groundwork for when Haeliel shows up again. Plus we might be able to see something like the Opalescent Tower upgraded Total Eclipse or something.
Adorie or Gisena becomes Shogun Adorie or Shogun Gisena on terms where they're willing to work with us/the Shogun exerts little influence on the merger(They aren't as powerful as Shoguncat but they'd still be only mildly behind us). Once per Geas task offer of aid from a being of power when we're out of our depth in future tasks.
Everything is Hax.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Hm. 50+'s in Wisdom does sound awfully like "Never skip brain day."
I think it should be 9.175 General (at least according to the Char Sheet) + .3125 = 9.4875
If we go Tower = 10.2375 Rank General
If we get SJUC after that with 17.5% = 11.8475 General, 12.84 Combat, 13.84 Blood
Shoguness is such an improvement to Hunger's long-term odds of survival, though. I'm really torn here; Breaker of Suns has a metal name and a Malfean color scheme, but the last option is probably the most value overall. Getting an allied Avatar would be a nice carrot to those who lost the vote before last.
Hunger, after becoming the Breaker of Suns and reviewing his decision-making: "Should've picked Shoguness."
Hunger, after becoming the Breaker of Suns and reviewing his decision-making: "Should've picked Shoguness."
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
So does triple intelligence for spellcasting. Ordinalism also cultivates Wits by training it. Do people want to learn what the 12th Ordinal did(Radiance/Revenant)? We might have a chance with Tower Above.