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A Simple Transaction I

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Birdsie said:
Or maybe you'll do something else, little soul? Maybe you'll find a way?
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[H] Hard Mode - If I'm not picking the red option, I can at least choose the orange option!
[H] Immortality - Amulet of Unlife (Sword of Eney)
[H] Mantle - Mantle of Kephas
[H] Mantle - Mantle of Joss
[H] Mantle - Mantle of Mobius
[H] Sorcery - Astral Sorcery
No baseline Artifact pick due to Hard Mode
Trade Empowerments for +1 Mantle
[H] Companion - Aumelia Sunsworn
[H] Scenario - Six Beasts
[H] Scenario - Archmage of Winter
[H] Drawback - Betrayer
[H] Drawback - The Gull

Augmented Sword counters The Gull to some extent, while Aumelia is the perfect party face to ensure I never need to talk to our allies. Later on I can simply befriend people too weak to meaningfully harm me with their betrayal or set up elaborate circumstantial mitigation via pre-planned scenarios.

Kephas + upgraded Sword is immense initial power, Mobius is a potent hybrid option that delays the end and Joss is a pure potential (+some power with Eney) pick that may allow me to outscale the Darkness, as per Discord he's unaware of it. Mobius also soft counters Winter both by spatially redirecting his gaze and proactively denying his inventory. If Mobius allows for time accelerated realms then Joss becomes extremely potent quickly. Otherwise the focus is on spatially protecting and augmenting my Sword by any means possible - for which we'll receive +50% Progression due to Kephas. I assume the Greater Art of Battle is capable at least somewhat of accounting for the Sword buff in calculating the optimal path. To keep it safe, I plan to wrap the sword in a dozen spatial manifolds while keeping it technically unsheathed in my off hand; my remaining limbs should more than suffice to pulverize enemies given the Mantle of Kephas.

I thought hard about picking up the Mantle of Heroes, but Slayer + Gull is too time-consuming and the other options, too risky. With both Kephas and an upgraded Sword, my staggeringly buffoonish antics should allow me to dispatch one or more beasts in relatively short order, especially with Joss to conjure appropriate props, and Mobius providing infinite space to store them!

Imagine some moron in an outrageous Kraven the Hunter getup challenging the great Tiger Beast while constantly spouting aphorisms like "There can only be one Tiger on this mountain!" and "This realm is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, you're nothing special…"

And then he somehow wins, suplexing the tiger into unconsciousness before tearing out its spine to use as his second sword, which he names Tiger Soul.

That's me.
 
Birdsie said:
[ ] Standard Mode
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[ ] Shard of Imperishable Eternity
[ ] Mantle of Heroes
[ ] Blood Sorcery
Empowerment: trade them in for another Mantle.
[ ] Mantle of Joss
[ ] Silver Pendant
[ ] Aumelia Sunsworn


So, what's the plan?

The world is doomed, no matter what. Without a greater out of context solution there's no way to fix that. But something can survive, namely the shard of imperishable eternity. The goal is to use the Mantle of Joss and the Mantle of Heroes to provide a method to draw from its eternal well spring and use that to empower Blood Sorcery.

Initiate every person into Eternal Blood Sorcery, which, at minimum, must be capable of sustaining their existence within the void.

Alternatively, use Blood Sorcery to "Archive" the beings currently alive. Then wait out the Adversary. After his suicide use your eternal recurrence as fuel to start a new universe in which you instantiate the archived persons. The Heroes Mantle may be necessary to acquire a mind capable of surviving the tortures to come.

The Silver Pendant is cool and may allow you to sacrifice blood without it harming you. But, for the purpose of saving the people of this world such effects are probably insufficient. I just had a choice left over there, so I spent it on something.
 
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qwolfs said:
[ ] Shard of Imperishable Eternity
[ ] Mantle of Heroes
[ ] Blood Sorcery
Empowerment: trade them in for another Mantle.
[ ] Mantle of Joss
[ ] Silver Pendant
[ ] Aumelia Sunsworn


So, what's the plan?

The world is doomed, no matter what. Without a greater out of context solution there's no way to fix that. But something can survive, namely the shard of imperishable eternity. The goal is to use the Mantle of Joss and the Mantle of Heroes to provide a method to draw from its eternal well spring and use that to empower Blood Sorcery.

Initiate every person into Eternal Blood Sorcery, which, at minimum, must be capable of sustaining their existence within the void.

Alternatively, use Blood Sorcery to "Archive" the beings currently alive. Then wait out the Adversary. After his suicide use your eternal recurrence as fuel to start a new universe in which you instantiate the archived persons. The Heroes Mantle may be necessary to acquire a mind capable of surviving the tortures to come.

The Silver Pendant is cool and may allow you to sacrifice blood without it harming you. But, for the purpose of saving the people of this world such effects are probably insufficient. I just had a choice left over there, so I spent it on something.
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Interesting strategy, although its feasibility is mostly theoretical. I'll note that Silver Pendant wouldn't let you sacrifice without harm (because for the conceptuality of Blood Sorcery, sacrifices don't necessarily count as 'harm;' simply 'exchange,') but it's possible to use Blood Sorcery for the purposes you outline.

It's definitely a risky strategy, regardless, as you'd have to live to the outlined age without diminishment or insanity - a considerable task, possibly surpassing even several combined Scenarios in difficulty, although requiring a different approach from raw strength and straightforward combat. It's also doubtful whether the Adversary would be willing to surrender, should he sense there's still something you're planning to do about the destruction he unleashed. Still, regardless of its risks, it's an interesting thought exercise - I left a window opened, and you leaped through like a trained acrobat. The Mantle of Heroes and Joss are your biggest saving points here.

Overall, Rihaku's build is also pretty good. Lots of discussion on Discord about it, but in summary, despite of the high difficulty, Rihaku's made a good, decently optimal set of picks for the Scenarios selected. A Thrice-Mantled Swordsman! Preparation is half the battle, isn't it?
 
Birdsie said:
+ Defeating the Darkness +
CYOA​
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[D] Standard Mode
[D] Azure Rose
[D] Mantle of Heroes
[D] Mantle of Joss
[D] Blood Sorcery
[D] Golden Ring
[D] Aldrich Elderlast

Although I'm playing in Standard Mode, I do plan to write an omake of the story here, once I've got some details confirmed by Birdsie.

Assuming everything works the way I think it does, the plan here is to take advantage of Azure Rose's illimitable vitality to A) have the Golden Ring active 100% of the time at a high rate of burn, and B) continuously sacrifice large amounts of my body via Blood Sorcery in order to build up power and fuel the growth of my mantles. Aldrich will hopefully have some useful information about the Archmage's preparations since it seems like he was alive during their era or at least not too long afterward, so with his help (which my Big Stats should help me convince him to give) I'll be able to construct countermeasures to their abilities (which are fixed and complete in nature) with Joss, afterwhich I can begin my scaling to defeat the Dark Lord himself. Even if it takes me another two centuries to finally defeat the Dark Lord, I should still have thousands of years to turn my attention towards the problem of Darkness itself, in which I will be following the advice of the introduction and preparing a conceptual construct to simply rip this world from Darkness's grip and run off with it to the other side of the multiverse (where I will continue cultivating Joss and Blood until I am able to sustain new multiverses to continue my flight through, continue the process ad infinitum until I'm powerful enough to defeat the Darkness as a whole or at least powerful enough to get the attention of the Lotus Maiden or equivalently benevolent entity who I can offer myself to in return for salvation.

-e

Now that I think about it, assuming I can create sorcerous blood from Joss, I might just use that to close the Joss-Blood cultivation circuit, and devote 100% of my Azure Rose regeneration to burning with the activated Golden Ring.

-e2

Removed all my scenarios after confirming some more things with Birdsie. He accepted 7/8 odds of success for my build and strats as approximately correct, I rolled, and I beat those odds, so my omake will be of my SI winning via gratuitous self-modification and cultivating in a cave.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by BrainInAJar on Jul 25, 2022 at 11:52 AM, finished with 232 posts and 47 votes.
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Is this the power Gisena accumulated during the timeskip?
 
Birdsie said:
+ Defeating the Darkness +
CYOA
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[ ] Greed Mode

Oh my, there's an option to be Nameless? That's a sure pick right there. Certainly the option I would go for IRL. I'm not sure how much Accursed Favor I have in order for him to have done this favor for me, but I personally assume he had a Geas or Doom of some sort compelling him to fix my problems. Certainly it's nice getting nigh-unlimited power for literally no effort whatsoever..

Anyway, more seriously, let's look at the hardest non-Accursed option:

[ ] Rihaku Must Die

Immortality: [ ] No Immortality

All In. +1 Pick, which I spend on:

[ ] Mantle of Joss

I need this to actually have a chance of stopping The Darkness (TM). The rest, well. Drawback-hogging time!

[ ] The Slayer
[ ] The Betrayer
[ ] The Gull
[ ] Apocryphal Curse

That gives +4 Picks. My drawbacks already create an inconvenient situation of having to, like, kill a lot of people in the name of saving the world. Without friends due to The Betrayer (who'd want to work with a mass-murderer anyway?) and living on the the edge of mortality. Naturally, the extra picks need to fix this problem by improving immediate safety. While providing a net increase in influence/time ratio, all things considered..

[ ] Mantle of Heroes - Joss-Related
[ ] Mantle of Kephas
[ ] Mantle of Bria
[ ] Mantle of Mobius

This is about as much raw power as I can pack in without grabbing Sensory Deprivation (largely an issue due to possibility of losing Sight, which is simply too problematic in the initial moments). Joss + Heroes for maximum potential, Kephas for raw power and Bria+Mobius to handle the remainder of issues.

Scenario:
[ ] The Fog of Ages
[ ] Six Beasts

These scenarios require minimal conversation and also among the 6 scenarios, are also the ones who have the lowest 'initiative' (and also minimal synergy possibilities). Assuming I can powerlevel my Mantles synergistically at a reasonable rate, I should be able to handle the scenarios at a sufficiently adept rate so as to start powerlevelling to outscale the nerfed Apocryphal Curse, then powerlevel Jos to hopefully deal with the Darkness at some point. Odds aren't amazing, since there's no immortality, but I think this is a fairly good go at trying to save Yoria on Impossible. Certainly, I think we've dropped the 'Im' part of Impossible, at least.
 
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Birdsie said:
+ Defeating the Darkness +
CYOA
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Birdsie said:
Or maybe you'll do something else, little soul? Maybe you'll find a way?
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Birdsie said:
There is a secret to defeating him, implicit in the structure of this and the other Scenarios, that may grant you a tremendous advantage, but can you realize it? Can you discover the Final King's hidden weakness?
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...Hmm. Hmmmm. HMMMMMMMM.

BY JOVE I THINK I'VE GOT IT

[A] Standard Mode
[H] Bet Seal: Dying-and-Rising
[E] Azure Rose
[R] Mantle of Heroes
[O] Mantle of Joss
[N] Divine Sorcery
[E] Soul Eater
[V] Blaze Star
[E] Fearsome Overlord
[R] Sword of Eney
[G] Eryc Noctazar
[I} The Dark Lord
[V] Six Beasts
[E] The Fog of Ages
[S} Archmage of Winter
[U} Archmage of Flames
[P] The Final King (requires The Dark Lord)
[!] The Gull
[!] Apocryphal Curse

Consider, this is the description of the Mantle of Heroes:
Birdsie said:
Benefits: By the will of the Goddess, a cycle has been carved into the roots of the world - the power of Heroes is one of development and self-exploration.
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Together with the other overtly tropey aspects of this setting - the isekai'd hero summoned by the Goddess to battle the Darkness, the Dark Lord (or Final King) rising on the world to oppose them, etc. - it is clear that narrative logic is written into the very metaphysics of the setting, at a level so deep that even the Darkness slaying the Goddess hasn't disrupted it!

Thus, the path to victory is clear. Claim the Mantle of the Hero to increase your narrative affinity for the role, and make the odds against you so overwhelmingly massive that the odds of your victory are a million-to-one against - nay, a billion-to-one, if not worse! And thus, it's so crazy that it just might work. Which, by the narrative logic that we have established is intrinsic to the setting, means it definitely will. It's essentially foolproof, which is fantastic since you've got to be the biggest fool in the world to go with this plan.

Therefore, the scenarios you should take are ALL OF THEM. And fuck it, stack the Apocryphal on top! Why the fuck not! It's so crazy, it just might work.

The rest of the build is chosen to maximize your heroic vibes and pave the way for your dramatic ascension to power and victory. The Bet Seal gives you deed-based Progression - perfect for a Hero! The Azure Rose makes your vitality truly illimitable so that it's extremely difficult to trigger the Bet Seal's reincarnation condition (which would strip you of its best benefits), while the Bet Seal's vitality storing means that even if the Azure Rose is overcome by every cell being annihilated at once, your stored vitality can still restore you whole and intact, no reincarnation required.

Meanwhile, in addition to the Mantle of the Hero, take the Mantle of Joss as well, held by no one other than the Goddess herself before! You see, you aren't like other Heroes - you're special. Now, you can channel the stunning metaphysical power of none other than the archetypal Mary Sue herself! As a true Mary Sue, you will also have unlimited license to acquire or suddenly reveal as many new powers as you need to turn around any fight and either escape without real harm or triumph outright! The Darkness's defeat is essentially assured, now!

The world is going to be absolutely goddamn flooded with servitor beasts and assorted minions of Darkness, so Soul Eater should pay off with record speed even as you restrict yourself to Heroically-appropriate targets. Blaze Star is powerful Heroic vibes as well, while Fearsome Overlord grants you the versatility of an on-demand Antihero Mode. Soul Eater and Bet Seal also both give you +Luck, which is very much a part of Heroic providence and noted to be key for defeating the scenarios as well.

For your Artifact, obviously you've got to take the Sword of Eney. Your Heroic role, your deed-based Progression from Bet Seal, and the drawback of the Gull all synergize wonderfully with this! The ++Charisma of Fearsome Overlord also synergizes here. Your Unlimited Stunting Works shall put all the Darkness's efforts to shame! From challenging demon lords to dance-offs mid-battle to freestyle rapping your accomplishments and then posing as a team because shit just got real, there shall be no limit to your lethal buffoonery! The Gull is truly no drawback if your enemies are too baffled by whatever the fuck you think you're doing to even consider interrupting!

For your Companion Sidekick, you can start with the Magical Boy Eryc. He's contracted with a magical outsider as a teenager and draws power from that bond, so don't even try to tell me he doesn't fit that narrative archetype. He can share his methodology with you, allowing you to further stack the power of a Magical Boy or Girl into your repertoire! And of course, you can rapidly add more members to your party!

Don't think you're limited to the Companions Sidekicks listed, either! A TRUE HERO such as yourself knows that a so-called "Lord/Lady of Darkness" is actually just a good friend who simply hasn't had the evil beaten out of them yet! That's right, you shall convert your foes into friends through the unparalleled mechanism of SHONEN FIGHT BONDING!

The Final King/Queen might seem like a truly unbeatable foe, but that only makes your victory more inevitable! True, they've killed many more experienced Heroes than yourself before - but those Heroes all made one fatal error. Their victory was merely very unlikely as opposed to virtually unthinkable, and thus it simply wasn't so crazy it just might work. And you won't make that mistake! Nobody will ever call your plans anything less than absolute madness, if you have anything to say about it!

And as the Final King/Queen is the only being on the world whose narrative weight is nearly on par with your own, perhaps in the end they are no foe at all... could it be that they are actually in fact your ONE TRUE LOVE??? Star-crossed soulmates in my isekai? It's more likely than you think!

Finally, once you've cleared every scenario by defeating and/or befriending and/or romancing them, the Darkness themself awaits as the true final foe! They may believe their victory to be utterly incontestable... but they haven't reckoned with the awesome might of the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP! Together, you and your friends/redeemed foes can overcome any odds - the steeper and crazier, the better! The Darkness will truly never know what hit it!

1025 words.
 
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I asked Birdsie on a different discord server and he said that the Azure Rose + Golden Ring synergy is worth at least ++++++++All Stats, so that's pretty good.
 


Gisena is unfortunately not very mechanically interesting in the context of MtG, even if arguably pretty overpowered.

Credits to Microwave for the art.
 
Birdsie said:
[ ] Accursed Difficulty
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Because the option is there I feel compelled to find a way. But, even theoretically, I can only think of two ways this might go acceptably well.

1. Be Rihaku.
Rihaku has intimated that, in a setting where he may intervene, the Accursed would safeguard him from at least some harm. Presumably this would apply here, since his curses exist. The Accursed likely has better things to do with his limited effort, however, so Rihaku is unlikely to pick this option and burden him without exceptional reason.

2. A Dream of Fairness
The Accursed seems driven, by his curses and/or maybe his morals, to ensure a fair deal. Accepting four of his curses, perhaps even the Apocryphal Curse, is likely to gain you significant Favor. While it is unlikely to gain a Transaction a lesser functionary might get prodded to look into things. Relying on this is dubious, of course.


However, assuming the Accursed exists in the context of this setting even if you don't chose this option, it may be the moral choice regardless. Even if you only carry the burden of your fractional curses for a short time they are still being taken off the Accursed's shoulders without him needing to expend effort. By freeing him to act a little less restrained you may in fact be doing a greater good on the large scale than by attempting a near impossible task like opposing the Adversary.

I wouldn't be surprised, in fact, if you accepting this deal would give the Accursed enough leeway to offer an actual Transaction to someone from Yoria. There are other heroes there and with your sacrifice one of them might even receive a Seram-Tier offer.
 
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Birdsie said:
+ Defeating the Darkness +
CYOA​
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​

"QUACK!"

[Q] Rihaku Must Die

[Q] No Immortality
[Q] Darkheart's Reincarnation

[Q] Mantle of Darkheart

[Q] The Dark Lord
[Q] Six Beasts
[Q] The Fog of Ages
[Q] Archmage of Winter
[Q] Archmage of Flames
[Q] The Final King

[Q] The Betrayer
[Q] Apocryphal Curse
 
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GenericName said:
Man since I've just let go and learned to cut through everything got so simple. I didn't have to think about "tactics" or "risk of death" or "reasonable chance of victory." Just… cut through it?? It's really too easy, you guys should really take the red option pill. It's basically what hungers done the entire quest, so I mean if it isn't broken, why fix it. I know, deep down, in your heart of hearts, you know the one true path.
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Of course it was there all along, the red option!

[X] 02 [30 Arete] - Who said a copy can't overcome the original? Letrizia Artriez, you may have lost your steed, but you will always be a Pilot; and a Pilot's duty is to die in service to humanity. Let the descendent now become the Archetype.
 
Tall_Garbage said:
Of course it was there all along, the red option!

[X] 02 [30 Arete] - Who said a copy can't overcome the original? Letrizia Artriez, you may have lost your steed, but you will always be a Pilot; and a Pilot's duty is to die in service to humanity. Let the descendent now become the Archetype.
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The vote is still deciding between Vendetta, Cavalry, and Close the Fist. The current leader is Vendetta.

Plus, the additional blurbs are only available if we earn enough Arete to buy them.
 
Magical_Duck said:
​

"QUACK!"

[X] Rihaku Must Die

[X] No Immortality
[X] Darkheart's Reincarnation

[X] Mantle of Darkheart

[X] The Dark Lord
[X] Six Beasts
[X] The Fog of Ages
[X] Archmage of Winter
[X] Archmage of Flames
[X] The Final King

[X] The Betrayer
[X] Apocryphal Curse
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You just overwrote your actual vote
 


The Renaissance Woman version of Gisena is somewhat more mechanically interesting, but really still boils down to a 'You can't play MtG' card. Or at least, like, 60% of cardtypes in MtG is now off-limits to you. Truly, it encapsulates Gisena's ability to Nullify all the wonder of magic..

Credit again to Microwave MKII for the art.
 
Birdsie said:
+ Defeating the Darkness +
CYOA
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So like, the powerups are cool and all, right? But like, I kinda want to do something else other than stay in a dying and doomed world, or worse, spend effort on fixing the mess. So:

Ditching Yoria

[ ] Standard Mode
[ ] No Immortality

Immortality doesn't work off Yoria, so obviously this.

[ ] Mantle of Heroes
[ ] Mantle of Kephas

I'll go for a Mantle that eventually lets me GTFO from this doomed and dying world (Mantle of 'Heroes'), off to a kinder and brighter world. Maybe I might even return centuries later, after having had a suitable amount of powerlevelling in a far grander realm. The extra pick from No Immortality goes into Kephas - Without immortality nor a clear way of attaining it through other means, a survivability boost to handle to ages to come is obviously preferred.

[ ] Natural Sorcery -

Blood Sorcery is more optimal in ability to work off Yoria, but the version of Shard that's planning to ditch Yoria is obviously not willing to give up intrinsic bits of himself for power. Arcane Sorcery is powerful, but Sorceries are significantly weakened off Yoria, and the casting time makes it's ability to improve survivability questionable. That leaves Natural Sorcery and Divine Sorcery. I somehow doubt my ability to advance Divine Sorcery when it'll be clear to any gods that I fully intend to ditch Yoria, so Natural Sorcery it is, due to the versatility of the magic.

[ ] Soul Eater
[ ] Fearsome Overlord
[ ] Sky-Tearing Bird

Empowerments work perfectly off Yoria, but aren't exactly amazing in of themselves. Soul Eater and Fearsome Overlord at least both give statboosts and some form of progression. Combined with Sky-Tearing Bird which is presumably of modest synergy with Natural Sorcery, I should be well-set to flee into the wilderness. Literally.

[ ] Golden Ring

The only artifact which actually works with my build; Silver Pendant is too finicky, Oshirah doesn't work where Fate doesn't exist (and in planes where they exist, I'm likely to offend someone), the Sword of Eney has a lack of synergy with the Mantle of Kephas. That leaves the Spirit King's Crown and the Golden Ring; Ultimate the decision is made by the utility provided by the Golden Ring: Transportation powers is excellent for a multiversal wanderer, and the AllStats boost is helpful in a pinch.

[ ] Gilen

Gilen's the only companion who natively would want to ditch Yoria - Out of the frying pan, and perhaps somewhere cooler, this time around. In him, a kindred spirit - Two Isekai heroes who understand the value of pragmatism, who are all too willing to flee to greener pastures when put upon an impossible task.
 
So I was re-reading A Winter Dynasty, and I noticed that there was a severe lack of Praxis builds. As such, here's an attempt an one.

Passage: A Quest (+1 Gift)
Patronage: The Overlord (+5 Gifts), The Seraph (+1 Heroic Favor), The Mandarin [Applied to the Princess] (-1 Gift), The Genius (-2 Gifts) The Princess (-8 Gifts).
Provision: A Debt (+2 Gifts)
Panoply: Special Dispensation

Princess Details (before Mandarin doubling):
+40 AGI, PROT
+30 Might
+10 CHA, WITS
+5 INT, LCK, WILL, WIS
Aura: Unburdened Soul. Grants a 50% reduction to burdens and drawbacks in a similar manner to the Barrister's Void ability. Also reduces the exertion cost of Praxis techniques by 50%. The user of this aura lets go of negative emotions easily (including, but not limited to, anger, sadness, guilt, and fear) and finds it nearly impossible to hold grudges. They forgive easily, although forgiving someone and allowing them to continue existing are not necessarily the same thing, and the user's reasoning is not affected.

This build is, in fact, somewhat risky. While the statline granted by being a Knight of Winter and the Genius's protection is enough for short-term survival on many of the possible landing sites, some of them could get very bad. Exalted (Age of Glory) and Forgotten Realms (Evil Plane) being some of the most notable examples. I could have gone with rerolls, but that would have meant needing to drop the Genius, which for all but the worst-case rolls is far superior protection then having three world choices. I could also have simply returned home, as the Princess-granted statline is more then enough to guarantee survival on our Earth - however, taking the Praxis as your Heroic Power specifically attracts strong opponents, making that a dangerous play for not only myself, but the rest of the world as well! When attempting to return home with a heroic power, Shimmer of Possibility or the Sword is much preferrable.

Assuming I'm able to survive the initial landing, 4 hours a day of Praxis Grinding will eventually yield dividends, and the Overlord's imposition will ensure I don't slack off, the most dangerous pitfall for a Praxis hero. Quadrupled Praxis endurance from my aura is also a major increase to combat power once I have even one Praxis technique online.

Now, time for the all-important dice roll... Google gave me an 11. The Culture. OK. Not at all familiar with the universe outside of some stuff I've read online about the Culture themselves, but reading up on it the danger levels can vary from "literally none" to "extremely" depending on where exactly you land. I guess I'm relying on my Luck score to drop in somewhere civilized.

Anyway, having thought about it some there was no need to risk the roll, I could have just gone Barrister instead of Princess. That would have been enough points saved to pick any world I wanted. I got excited about my cool aura idea and tunnel visioned onto it. *shrug*
 
[ ] Easy Mode
[ ] Advisor
[ ] Bet Seal: Dying-and-Rising
[ ] Amulet of Unlife
[ ] Mantle of Heroes
[ ] Mantle of Bria
[ ] Mantle of Mobius
[ ] Mantle of Joss
[ ] Divine Sorcery
[ ] Blood Sorcery
[ ] trade all of them in for another choice in Mantle.
[ ] Soul Eater
[ ] Scepter of Oshirah
[ ] Sword of Eney
[ ] Golden Ring
[ ] Spirit King's Crown
[ ] Aldrich Elderlast
[ ] Archmage of Winter
[ ] Archmage of Flames
[ ] The Gull
[ ] Sensory Aggravation - Mitigated
[ ] Apocryphal Curse

So. This is on Easy instead of Standard because I wasn't willing to take either Slayer or Betrayer, especially with the other Drawbacks, and I need all the Mantles and Immortalities for my plans. Divine Sorcery, Soul Eater, and the mitigation could all be given up, though.

What is that plan? To forge replacements for the failing systems of Yoria, and defeat the Adversary through outpacing his destruction. Bria let's me see the basic function of the universe all my pocket dimensions are built within, Mobius let's me make more worlds that can act as ablative protection even without any synergies boosting it, and Joss of course allows me to infuse my creations with the power of Creation. Between these three, I should be able to craft complete, self sustaining worlds that will survive Yoria collapsing outside them eventually. The problem is getting there, both in surviving the process of growing, and keeping things stable long enough that I can actually observe and understand enough of the system to make a replacement before it collapses too far to gain a functional comprehension of how it should be.

The Mantle of Heroes and the Bet Seal will both massively accelerate my growth, and can be turned specifically towards my focus of becoming The World-Shaper, but without Scenarios to force the decay into a confrontible form, this may still not be fast enough to get the knowledge I need before it falls apart. Yet all my choices so far in this explanation have been purely potential, and may not suffice to let me survive a world afflicted with such terrible entities as the Scenarios describe.

Thus, the rather overlooked combo of Advisor and Amulet. All of the Artifacts I choose are combined into one, so Amulet tripling the power provided by it's Artifact should apply to everything I give my Summoner, which is, uh, everything I choose other than Immortalities. And Bet Seal exists primarily to boost me, so the only real problem is I probably can't draw on any fame they already have. This is probably enough to handle all the problems I'll face no matter which Companion I select.

My first reason for picking Aldrich was that with his own form of Immortality even destroying both of us at once wouldn't make me lose him and all the progress he'd have made. But then I kept looking and kept finding more benefits. He already knows every form of Sorcery, so he has a useful base of knowledge for my enhancements to build on. His preexisting fame may not directly feed my Bet Seal, but it does mean he is known to not have any Mantles, so when he appears with four and starts massively improving things, it's very easy for people to recognize that the change is from his new Super-Artifact. I need to take several Drawbacks to afford the required selections, and he should both already be able to magically replace whichever sense Sensory Aggravation takes and make Apocryphal use it's inefficient scaling with his power prior to any boosts from me. Finally, two of the Scenarios are resurrections of people he had personal reason to hate and thus oppose even beyond the moral ones.

All that's left is the Artifacts themselves, and surprisingly, despite literally picking four of the five available options, none of them are strictly irrelevant. The Scepter let's me directly interact with one of the major systems I'm going to need to prop up and eventually replace, making it easier to understand. The Ring's internal pocket dimension does the same for giving me a base to build off of for my worlds the systems need to built into. The sword neuters the one Drawback Aldrich hasn't, and the spirits created by the Crown are part of me, and should give me far more freedom than would normally accrue to an advisor bound to a magical piece of equipment.
 
Commentary - Defeating the Darkness
+ Defeating the Darkness +
CYOA

Awaken, Hero of Another World.
Ye who banishes away the shades of the cosmos…

Awaken and come to deliverance, eleventh Spirit of Divinity.
Beyond the starlight conifer, beyond the radiant boughs…

Awaken, that you may Dream Not.
Ye who can save this endless world yet…

Awaken and come to me, that we may banish the Darkness.
Beyond the seven nebulae, beyond the entropy of flame…​

---

It's not clear what the Adversary, fundamentally, is- as the 'immutable flaw that comes attached to any innocent human heart', it's implied that they're a facet of human nature, but I'm not aware of any universal facets of human nature which are simultaneously better than life being good and also consist of destroying literally everything including yourself. as a 'truth', it is implied that they're not just a bullshit lie, but That we think of this Darkness as Malevolent is proof enough that they shouldn't be more enticing. Perhaps there is a fundamental flaw in the structure of this reality, then, to amplify small nonprosocial desires in mystic power and conceptual salience.

Anyway this sure sounds like a poor position to start with, yup. Honestly, the best solution is probably [Attempted Escape - but like bring everyone with you]. Just get magically swole enough to pick up the entire planet and move it somewhere the Adversary hasn't fundamentally whacked up. Simple enough, in a sense, and for all it's a monumental task it neatly sidesteps the inevitability of the end- though it does nothing for any of the drawbacks and any scenario save the Fog will be an issue. Or, you could travel elsewhere, and find a mystic power beyond this world, one self-sustaining or simply predicated on something the Adversary will not be able to trivially slay; then spread knowledge and seed of this new source to replace the fading of magic and the entropic decay of the material. Even at a snails pace, grains of sand streaming through a rift, the march of time is long and eventually all would be replaced with something stabler.
The latter solution doesn't engage with anything the CYOA has to offer aside from choosing something which allows for escape and returning and maybe choosing a generally reliable internally-fueld powerset, though, so let's leave that aside.

(And of course it goes without saying that... the aim to build towards is victory. not slow acceptance and decline. Perhaps if I found myself truly present I would choose the easier path but I'm not actually going there I'm writing arguments on the internet and the easier path is less interesting.)
Difficulty
Select your Difficulty for this CYOA!

[ ] Greed Mode - 10/10 great mode would read over again
excellent fuel for technically options-as-written cheating on lower modes I'll explain that later.

[ ] Cheat Mode - see this is kinda like greed mode but without being charged with satirical humor. I guess it serves as a middle ground but we already know ilbgar can just set pick counts to be higher at will but it's not all that interesting, particularly as Greed exists.

[ ] Easy Mode - So the ultrachad move is to pick easy mode, and then use it to pick an extra difficulty setting, specifically Accursed Difficulty.

I mean, or you could pick Greed Mode for the inverse direction memes but.

(There will be other opportunities to do this elsewhere in the CYOA.)

Another way to use this is to make an extra pick in the scenarios section after you've done all the scenarios and overflow the time estimates list to instantly destroy the world and/or make it last forever
Receive +1 pick in any section of your choice. If you choose to undertake any Scenario whatsoever, receive +1 Empowerment. Furthermore, if you choose to take on any Drawback, receive +1 Sorcery of your choice, and you can mitigate your Drawback up to 40% instead of 20%. However, this applies only to that particular Drawback, and none of the others that you might select. (The Mitigation bonus doesn't have any effect on a Drawback that states it cannot be mitigated whatsoever.)

[ ] Standard Mode - Nothing to say about this here.

[ ] Hard Mode - Really, not much to say here.

[ ] Impossible Mode - Y'know, from a certain point of view this could be easier than Hard Mode. you don't need to pick an unrewarded drawback or minimum 2 scenarios or lose access to one subset of power sources.
On net it's probably still harder but it depends a bit on your goal too.

[ ] Rihaku Must Die - hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
okay hear me out
what if you pick no immortality, and then use it to select Rihaku Must Die difficulty, forcing you to select No Immortality again and giving you another pick, which-
*ahem* anyway
Must select No Immortality, granting you a single pick as per its description. Receive no picks in any section in the CYOA otherwise, but you may still choose to receive additional picks from Drawbacks. Good luck!

[ ] Accursed Difficulty - Well, uh, technically, as written, you at least get a pick for each drawback per the Drawbacks section!
also your life is pain! 30% faster than normal! I imagine the main ways to beat this would be cheesing exact words to let you pick multiple difficulty settings at once, like Accursed Difficulty and Greed Mode. Accursed Difficulty should have a note saying you cannot, regardless of any other factors, select any other difficulty setting while in Accursed Difficulty : P

[ ] Writer Mode -hmmmm if you have enough(35k+) words in Writer Mode you can pick every difficulty mode at once, truly the dream scenario.
I don't plan to write anything in depth for this beyond this commentary and the builds, so this isn't overly relevant to my choices. except memetically.
Immortality
Immortality.

an incentive towards sticking it out, in a sense. Any build which doesn't intend to do so- whether because of a plan to escape(boring) or a plan to pick up the entire world and take it elsewhere(less boring) is likely to prefer No Immortality, unless they're worried about surviving long enough to do so, which they could be.

[ ] No Immortality - Also as-written you can use this to select additional difficulty settings. Mwahahahaha!

[ ] Advisor - In terms of raw capability, this is just better than any other option, since all magics are at minimum doubled (and you can still use them yourself), and there are at least four powerful backup people you can reconnect to. Plus the telepathic stuff. The resurrection is slower than some alternatives, but lacks their drawbacks. Picking this with Amulet of Unlife could interact interestingly. If you're an artifact, and the things you choose are given to your Summoner, and you choose yourself as the artifact to receive, your summoner should receive you, free of charge, with the 2-3x multiplier to usefulness stacking on top of Advisors already being super-artifacts and the phylacterial effect- well, mostly a minor convenience of accelerated speed, not enough to matter in combat or anything. the Mnemor leaf portion will be overtly irrelevant and can be put to other use- though if anyone knows about Advisors, you might be able to blindside them with the 10-day instead of 30-day respawn for your summoner.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this option is you can't pick up Yorian and run.

[ ] Bet Seal: Dying-and-Rising - This option gives scaling, which is a niche none of the others directly fulfil. Its immortality mechanism isn't all that good, though- a last-chance save which doesn't remove you from danger is just a bigger healthbar- it would genuinely be a better form of immortality if the resurrection occurred an hour after death. Prudence would require you to flee to far parts of Yorian and change apparent identities after each repetition of this, of course, so people don't put a trap where you'll respawn- but still.

(It's not clear how much scaling this option gives. I originally read it as a 'lesser and slower version of Progression as in the stat' but it occurs to me it probably means Progression is in the Cursebearer thing, and how valuable this is depends on how much lesser and how much slower, which is only guessable from the implicit scale of 'Progression' and the later statement 'and empower yourself greatly', but even that is very unclear. How greatly is greatly? not enough at that level to kill the Darkness or Dark Lord, presumably, but still, how much? And does it, like Progression, stack multiplicatively-in-numeric-terms with itself, such that N days of Headlines at Y Quality is a consistent Xfold multiplier, or does the scope of your legacy need to increase in proportion with power to maintain consistent growth?)
There is an advantage that you can theoretically build up arbitrary amounts of Vital Energy in this way, but it's fundamentally easier for an enemy which has defeated you to take away your energy than for you to have built it up- and for all Prep Time-> Power is a great ability, as I've mentioned in the past, that applies a lot more to cases where power growth is slow. It does handle Aging, which not all the other options per-se resolve, but... eh. And the tenfold power amplification... honestly, better as a deterrent than for actual use, I think? tenfold isn't likely to be the difference for anything truly worldshaking you're doing no matter how reduced the imitation of Progression is, and for other things you're probably way more interested in 'don't die' than in 'accomplish goal', but it would, theoretically, in cases with rational agents, slightly decrease the problem where enemies kill you over and over until you stay down. The subsequent reincarnation is good too and doesn't come with a temporary power malus, but afterwards you lose your pseudo-Progression and Immortality, which is.... unfortunate. 1 or more Luck is of course an incredible stat to gain but there's a cheaper source of it later (though seeing as there are exactly Two sources of Luck-in-generality, I expect the Caveats of Luck=Exceedingly Important (namely that if there are other people who collectively have more +Luck you cannot actually abuse it reliably) to be avoided.).

On the whole, Potent, generally useful, and with no direct downsides, but not the greatest at its purpose of Immortality.

[ ] Amulet of Unlife - I've commented a bit on this earlier in here. It's anti-synergetic- it makes its chosen Artifact more potent, but then makes it something you desire be in the quaintest out-of-the-way retreat you can find. The obvious counter-synergies would be the Fate-Scepter or the Silver Pendant, which respectively could defend themselves after the amplification. In principle, if you select the Advisor (Silver Pendant, Silver Pendant, Silver Pendant) and Amulet of Unlife (Yourself), the resulting metapendant would have the ability to ward against all categories of harm simultaneously- but it's ambiguous if Advisor can select the same item twice. What's less ambiguous is that the item sourced via Advisor is distinct from any copies of the same in the treasury is distinct from the Amulet, since their properties differ in various ways, making for the less-dubious methodology of Advisor (Silver Pendant, some other things) Amulet of Unlife (Silver Pendant) Artifact- Silver Pendant, for a total of 5/8 Harms avoided. And of the harms:

Physical harm, direct harm, indirect harm, abstract harm, social harm, environmental harm, magical harm, and supernatural harm

Social Harm can be discarded- Social Harm cannot take or destroy the pendants or weaken their bearer without crossing into another category of harm, so 5/7. and of the rest, Abstact, Supernatural, and Environmental harm are respectively ambiguous in how they differ from Indirect Harm, how a Magical Harm can be non-supernatural, and what makes a harm 'Environmental' and why that wouldn't fall under Magical, Direct, Indirect or Physical Harm. In any case I doubt Abstract Harm alone could kill the Pendant-wearer or destroy their pendant, and Physical Harm can be bypassed via the Scattered Phantom, allowing for complete coverage. True Immortality, that.

[ ] Shard of Imperishable Eternity -
This says it's an unlimited number of resurrections but, practically, it's maybe 30 proper resurrections, 600 attempts on increasingly hard difficulty and 370 sightseeing tours followed by some conversations with the Adversary, another few hours, and whatever comes after- remember, it takes 100 resurrections from weeks to 'many years', suggesting a per-100-rezzes multiplier of >100, which more or less matches up to the 500-death milestone, and makes sense of the 1000-death milestone well enough. and even if the multiplier slows, which is somewhat apparent, the duration of a life shortens as well as you grow exponentially weaker, if the Adversary is not stalling it. A Centillion is only 10^303; only 15,150 deaths; only a few hours at a death per airless breath, and the thousands stacked on the end is just another two-hundred deaths or so.
Even supposing a Vigintillion lives- each would be at the greatest the length of a moment, for even at the thousandth life that is the time to demise, and the progression of increasing weakness is not said to stop. On multiplicative decay of duration a vigintillion lives won't be long at all, and exponential the decay must be because linear decay would strike negatives.
Not that it matters. Something might come after, but it would have to be very benevolent and very powerful indeed to catch you in the quantum instant of your existence before you shatter again and hold your faded form to restore it to life.
...
It's not clear how this form of immortality interacts with Azure Rose, which seems like an external nonscaling power with a solitary unit strength- would it expand the 370 sightseeing tours into real attempts where you can at least walk, lack of magic aside? Hard to be sure. presumably most other forms of Immortality just preempt it.

[ ] Azure Rose - Overtly, this option doesn't really work out to Immortality(though it's better than the Bet Seal in that regard). It's not Quite strong enough to be inviolate, as sub-baryonic precision attacks evidently Exist. Imprisonment isn't so much of a problem- select any form of scaling and in a sense it is simply security.
Now look at the less overt. Every atom of you is a valid regeneration point. Therefore, the structure you can regenerate from is not dependant on even so much as the structure of a cell. slash a cut through your own flesh sufficient to draw blood to any degree, and just... leave the blood there. You can now regenerate from that point, even should your body elsewhere be destroyed utterly. In fact, do this all the time. destroying you would mean tracking down every drop of blood you've ever spilt; every hair you've ever shed; and so on.
With this in mind, this form of immortality becomes substantially superior, but of course, still insufficient in the event of the destruction of the world entire or, perhaps, the Final King's causality-bestriding power.

(This option obviously synergizes very well with Blood Magic and/or Golden Ring, but this was covered by someone else already! I'm not going to just repeat another person's build!)
The stat benefits exist but aren't overly important.

[ ] Darkheart's Reincarnation - I wonder if the Darkheart is the one who let the Adversary in?
Mantle
Select a Mantle of your choice. Many of these options are quite powerful and considerable! To wit:

[ ] Mantle of Heroes - Option one gives you ++Progression! Just engage in excessive self-deception and swap aesthetics regularly (but not so regularly your identity becomes 'hero of many faces'), pick up new hobbies but don't stick to them, stick to aesthetics occasionally but never as something you identify with. I'm pretty sure that lying to maintain ++Progression doesn't count as a code of rules or reason you fight or anything analogous, and if you set this plan before you even gained the Mantle it hardly qualifies as Self-discovery in any case.

++Progression is a big deal, and I'm doubtful as to the plausibility of the replacement powers being worth as much, but for completions sake- this option also gives unique supernatural abilities related to the heroic identity. The most obvious guess for what I'd end up turning to, as I've explored in past CYOAs, is a heroic identity regarding doing the so-claimed 'impossible' in the sense of- eh, I've gone into this already. I dunno what the powers it would grant would be- honestly the obvious nonconceptual thing to spring to mind is immortality, as would allow continuing to try no matter what the powers above dictate, but other Mantles include the Conceptual, so 'Conceptually Advantaged towards achieving [things which fit under the correct notion of so-claimed impossible]' is probably viable.

[ ] Mantle of Assiah - conceptual Conjoinery and seperation are both potentially very abusable. Combine your Artifacts to yourself, to keep them on resurrection! separate the functional portions of your Amulet of Unlife from the phylactery, and derive both antisynergetic benefits at once! Combine your Summoner or yourself with some nonsentient animals into a single being, guarding against death! Separate Bet Seal's life-energy-expenditure-trigger by hours from your physical death, making it into resurrection instead of a really big healthbar! Combine your left little toe's toenail, empowered by Azure Rose, with the population of an entire city (or at least one of your companions. Scale does take time.) to grant ageless immortality and benefits besides! I have other examples but they rely on things later on, suffice it to say you can use this for All The Things. Conceptual capabilities! are strong!

(If you combine a physical locket with an emotion and the consequences of losing it are grave, simply combine the fused locket with yourself such that losing it is impossible, because wherever it is, you are in some part!)

Appearance: An earthly green light shining in one's eyes.

[ ] Mantle of Kephas - Super Combat Benefits with a universal internal energy supply, +15 Phys, +Progression(combat magics), and 50% damage reduction. It probably makes you really, really good at fighting. The limited +Progression is also notable. With this and an unchosen Mantle Of Heroes, you could get +++Progression(combat magics)! But in that regard, Heroes comes first, and 50% damage reduction is outweighed by being several times stronger from growing faster. It's hard to say how much the Super Combat Benefits matter, but however much that is would have to carry the option (as the unified energy seems more like it's there as a way of saying look how much the Art Of Battle sucks). It does sound exceedingly potent... but I don't think it's Scenario-Crushing material on its own.

[ ] Mantle of Bria - I assume this option grants you the ability to use the power the Stars radiate to you,without picking Arcane Sorcery- given so, it's objectively superior to that. It sounds like a very versatile, probably partially conceptual, magical capability, and the ability to pull every other Arcane Sorcerer to grand heights is unmatched in that regard- but then, what good will a universal improvement truly do, against this foe?... still, potentially worth it. It's also decently good stats in decently good selection and the amount scales up.

[ ] Mantle of Mobius - There's only one question needed to determine whether this power is an absolute must, or just quite good. Namely, can you keep pocket-fleeing past the point at which the Scenarios section proclaims Yoria is doomed. If yes, this alone is enough for victory. If not... perhaps even still. This is power over spacetime, and not just space; power over the laws of pocket-worlds, more greatly the further divorcing from Yoria. Mobius's mantle as described is sufficient, then, to form a hyperbolic time chamber- the greater the difficulty of entry, the greater the factor of the dilation, and there is no given reason you could not simply create further dilated planes from within, nesting inwards and inwards with ever-greater factors and ever-rising skill. With that, why, even if this power fades as Yoria does, perhaps you could still cram an infinity of ascension- and of life- into that span. If this Mantle is not my choice, it would only be because there is another method greater still.

it also gives potential access to forgotten armories and such, yeah that's nice I suppose.


[ ] Mantle of Joss - The obvious solution to the Adversary's hold over the world- if ending is inevitable because the heart of the world has been lost, take the ashes and create it anew. This magic, at least, should not fade with the timelines given. And it has the versatility, both conceptual and physical, to match the other Mantles at least in time; and even its beginning capabilities apparently include the creation of artifacts to match those of the later section.
Not much more to say. Hide from the Adversary in time-dilated concealment and ascend as a rising star to purge this dark stain from the world.

Appearance: A golden-amber glow surrounding the character.

[ ] Mantle of Darkheart - The benefits of this Mantle are pretty high, and it explicitly extends the Magicspan well past its otherwise-cap, but uh. no.
Oh boy great power. Conditional on surviving to 15- with the Apocryphal Curse, balanced to crush even the possibility of you having an ordinary set of Artifacts and Empowerments, where 99% of your attempts will not have those powers unless you meditate a lot.
(It's slightly ambiguous if Artifacts will, per the 'die and resurrect' clause, come to your possession within a week into your resurrected life, or if the sheer [expletive] you of the Mantle of Darkheart overrides that.)
The sole saving grace of this option is that it does not instantly kill you, so, in principle, you could try to counter-stack the deck. Spend your first life-which can only last perhaps eighty years, as you Cannot gain immortality in it- on preparations, perhaps pockmarking the entirety of Yoria meter by meter with Mobius realms attuned to you alone that you'll fall into by sheer chance, set up with time dilation and numerous benefits and notes from your pre-death self. Or using the mantle of Bria to improve the world entire by teaching others Starspells which improve quality of life but are useless for war and hope the new dynamics are safer for you, and then while you're at it use the entire rest of your life crafting ever-more-powerful Star magics to set up a world-spanning law that those with the Darkheart's Mantle [insert benefits here] and regains all memories. or using the Scepter of Oshirah to cover, again, literally all of Yorian, with alterations to Fate which say you won't die.
If you could counterstack the deck hard enough, maybe, maybe this option would be worth considering... If the Mantle of Joss wasn't, y'know, right there.
Sorcery
one form of Sorcery (aptitude and initiation)
Sorceries

[ ] Arcane Sorcery - the only thing we actually know Arcane Sorcery can do is Pyromancy. Though from the processes described, it seems as though it wouldn't be all that much easier to make cannibalised spells using Bria-stars than using non-Bria stars. sheer trial and error is already the primary method. just replace one spell-component with random gibberish and keep trying until it clicks, a constellation of at least four stars means at least four components means components can be as short as 8 seconds at full expansion. about 27 sequential phonetic sounds with about 40 possibilities is only about 1.8e43 attempts to identify every possible audio component!1! times 8 for seconds/attempt /60(seconds per minute)/60(minutes per hour)/24(hoursPday)/365(daysPYear)/60(spareyearsPlife)/1000000000(Est. compatible people in world) gives the possibility of identifiying... 0.00000000000000000000000131% of all audio components!!!!!... I retract my difficulty objection : P.

It's really quite difficult to draw inferences on the usefulness of Arcane Sorcery since we don't know what it. Does.

[ ] Divine Sorcery - Divine Sorcery is a bit easier to reason about, though not that much. Powers within the remit of a being, with some degree of social requirement. Lesser deities have the aspect of progression at the cost of more social time and lower start power. The option notes that greater gods are more difficult to contract, but as the sorcery is chosen to both have aptitude in and initiate in, and you aren't initiated until you have a contract, that isn't a problem.
On the whole, this is the option that's most versatile as a selection though not a power- a reasonable fallback, with a well-chosen Deity, if nothing else seems worthwhile.

[ ] Natural Sorcery - I expect even if the option didn't guarantee initiation, that glide over Yoria where the hero senses the weight of history throughout the world entire rather suffices to see the world in a new light.

Natural Sorcery doesn't require much practice to begin, but its effects seem somewhat limited- yes, it says it's versatile and allows shapeshifting, but what it creates must be within nature, so it's not like you can shapeshift into whatever you want. Although it's capable of creating persistent enchantments, it's limited at this and requires resources. It also costs the mind.

[ ] Blood Sorcery - Blood sorcery's power and versatility, along with scaling to something in-principle simple to produce at greater scales (find anyone with Azure Rose, if you didn't get it yourself; acquire any kind of self-healing.) is enough to make it superior to the other options. And it does not Only accept blood as sacrifice- it accepts also bone, hair, keratin, partially-digested food. So it suffices also as a method to pierce solid obstructions. Build thyself a cavern-home, oh blood-mage, and fuel its wards with its construction! The larger the more potent. And if you wish not spend your immortality on the Azure Rose, worry not- in the Empowerment section as well is a power abusable in this wise, Blaze Star. Simply tunnel down so there is only one space of resurrection, and repeatedly sacrifice yourself for four hours. Or if neither option is desired, form a Divine Sorcery pact with a relatively minor deity, and do the blood-energy-accumulate-y thing. Or sacrifice all your enemies.

initiation also isn't a problem, since you can simply sacrifice the capacity to use other Sorceries, a capacity you wouldn't have anyway unless you want multiple.
Empowerment
Empowerment .

Select any three (3) you wish, or trade all of them in for another choice in either Artifact, Sorcery, or Mantle.

[ ] Wind Waker - Potentially valuable, if uninteresting, for the +6 Wits. Thinking faster means doing more! It also gives short-range aerokinesis. It theoretically could allow for infinite wind-strength at 0 meters from your skin, but more likely... doesn't.

[ ] Soul Eater - This option is an absolute must because it gives +Luck. It's also nice because it either works on animals just fine, or power-gained is scaled to foe-power and so most immoral kills/ immoral kills you can tactically justify wouldn't be all that helpful either. The other stats are nice too, but far less important than +Luck. As long as you're even the tiniest bit luckier than everyone who wants you to fail, you can flawlessly divine anything. if two paths diverge, take the road more fortunate. if a million paths diverge, just the same.

[ ] Blaze Star - A good supplement for Bet Seal's flaws as more healthbar than immortality. Aside from that application and blood-magic-abuse, it's... alright, but not enough of a multiplier to make you all that much safer.

[ ] Rift Opener - This option supplements Bet Seal's flaws nearly as well as Blaze Star, but with further translocationism and a shorter cooldown. At least, assuming that it and Blaze Star's 'once per time period' mean that once you use it it goes on cooldown until the next timeperiod switchover, as opposed to there's a specific time in each [time period] you can use it in.

[ ] Jade Mistress - It's hard to tell how much this healing factor is because it doesn't really say. Likewise, how valuable or magically useful these crystalline growths are is uncertain, though the ease of creating them is apparently 'quite trivial'. It's mostly relevant for someone whose immortality doesn't make them more durable, or without any other combat powers.

[ ] Fearsome Overlord - The ++++Wits is nice, but the biggest enemies aren't going to be cowed by this sort of thing; the power requires work per-person to use, and it's not exact;y going to give a good reputation.

[ ] Scattered Phantom - This ability is good for one purpose: physical-damage immunity. Otherwise, not so much- it's an ability you wouldn't want to use much and it's not like purely-physical barriers are going slow anyone with a free selection down much.

[ ] Sky-Tearing Bird - Since this '++++Luck' is effectively, I assume you can't, say, make a coin out of mushrooms, and flip it with an effective ++++Luck- the 'effective' luck is probably coming from a non-omniscient source which can't help you there. Given that, this option isn't overly important given you've got immortality or other magics of a grade that will keep you from dying in the wilderness.

[ ] Thunder Runner - In terms of sheer stats this is the best Empowerment. +24 is higher than anything else has to offer, and the selected range is decent. If I understand the domains of Agility and Wits correctly, this notedly resembles a 20% time acceleration. It also moonlights as a end-combat card with a scaling, if somewhat costly, attack (presumably it scales fast enough to make it contingently worth the -10 and -16.6% to Agi/Wits for several days, making it quite powerful indeed.). A pretty good combination of benefits; only the +Luck of Soul Eater is outright superior without a specialised build.

[ ] Astral Liege - It's substantially worse than the Mantle of Bria, but it's effectively a third of the cost so that makes sense. Arguably, it preempts the need to purchase Astral Sorcery- it'd be strange indeed to say you have a deep talent if you can't actually do it at all- but there's limited space to abuse this as it weakens your other selection anyway and removes the greatest alternate choice. It's also ambiguous if an Astral Liege Mantled Of Bria would have even greater power, or if the mantle already reaches the absolute peak. It's also not clear how much Astral Sight helps with, beyond Astral Sorcery- Blood Magic, for instance, doesn't run on Mana.
Artifact
Select one great Artifact. The Artifact shall find its way into your possession within your first week on this world, and should you ever die and resurrect, it'll find its way back to you within a week of your return to life.

Artifacts

[ ] Scepter of Oshirah - After several nights of meditation, this Scepter allows you to say no you to reality wanting to ever kill you, take your things, or cause any harm you can predict. Safety! since the wielder an eventually target themselves, simply begin by making the room you're in safe for [required training time], then train until you can do that. Just... do every change in pieces, since the Scepter has an upper limit. And leave no loopholes.
I wonder if [Amulet of Unlife - Scepter of Oshirah] is strong enough to wear away at the Adversary's fate of destruction?

[ ] Sword of Eney - Escalating combat advantage through humour. It can only go so far, since past a certain disparity you just die instantly, but if you combine it with a solution for that like Bet Seal's Ver Larg Helth Pol it scales further. It does effectively obviate the need for any Strength as long as your Constitution, Wits and Agility are high enough, but still, of limited use- not as great as the alternatives.

[ ] Silver Pendant - Absolute protection is quite considerable in value- this isn't sufficient for faultless immortality, save that you should wear five of them, but the utility is still considerable. By setting it perpetually to whatever category of harm the Decay of Yoria falls under, your powers will not decline with the years; by setting it to Abstract, its magic will protect against every harm anyone with your interests at heart would suffer, and so affect the world entire, shading all from the Adversary beneath silver aegis... well, except for you, since if the adversary attacks you personally it's not abstract harm. It's unambiguous that the protection can protect beyond the bounds of your physical form- Social Harm makes little sense otherwise. I'd like to know how the Adversary could possibly make progress towards destroying Yoria, source of the magic and immortality I would be enjoying, without Abstractly harming me! At best he might declare the harm Indirect, but there is not the slightest room to claim this effect cannot apply at least in triplicate.
(frankly, Direct+Indirect seems like it should negate everything. Either it's direct or it isn't!)

[ ] Golden Ring - Transport, a convenient pocket dimension, and a +All Stats buff which is at most +8 if synergistic... weaker than a Mantle, I think. It's not clear how much Worldlines count for... and worldline is where you've been, so if you move faster you'll accumulate more Worldline... hard to tell how much it's worth normally in that regard, but it doesn't sound like a huge amount.

[ ] Spirit King's Crown - This option, you see, gives you 26 Companions which represents facets of you and your single ordinary Companion and have notable power. It's an interesting effect, but hard to build around since the powers of the spirits are uncertain. I assume contracting all 26 resulting spirits isn't possible, though technically it's not certainly impossible.
technically, this phrasing suggests that having a sufficiently arrogant self-image or setting your sights high results in stronger spirits. For instance, if you think of anything weaker than the Adversary/Final King as 'meh', the spirits would need to be quite strong to be decently powerful by your standards, though the effectiveness of this would be limited by your own power level being not great.
Companion
Companions. for now, your Summoner. who?

All of the Companions listed below are from a Heroic lineage, probably capable of agelessness or 'lesser' immortality given prudent choices/ help. Some already possess immortality, although not all are aware of it.

[ ] Aldrich Elderlast -Aldrich is powerful, competent, and pragmatic, but apparently has a hard time considering the possibility that the summoned hero with untold magical enhancements might be smart. Though to be fair, he has hundreds of years of experience. His belief is going to be reasonably justified. He's probably a good general choice.

[ ] Bela Vista - Much less powerful, probably less wealthy than Aldrich who rules a house, and less resilient to dying. She does avoid the limited ability to consider the possibility she's wrong but she also lacks the millennia of competence that makes this limited ability reasonable so... tradeoffs. her direct combat skill may be higher, it's ambiguous.

[ ] Gilen - Gilen has a unique magical power from beyond Yoria which could, with difficulty, become a Sorcery of its own. If Joss isn't your method, he's one obvious solution to 'Adversary thinks he's won and for good reasons'.
Frankly, 'Safety' is a pretty good concept to select, but like any other Conceptual ability, the possibilities are vast!
He could focus on 'Luck' and get +++ Luck, instantly becoming substantially more valuable than most other options on the list!
He could focus on 'Progression' and that'd help with him learning to use this ability; focus on 'Quickening' for time acceleration, 'Arete' for, well, you know, and so on. And the power of this escalates over time.

[ ] Aumelia Sunsworn - Ah, politics. "I had a prophetic vision of the Adversary we should save the wo-" "expletive you, this somehow reflects badly on your family"
her code of keeping her word is good, I guess, that's a desirable trait for allies in general, but she doesn't seem... all that capable or unique overall?

[ ] Eryc Noctazar - Well that sure is a life story.
Presumably his power is only usable at a specific point each lunar month, as opposed to once, at any point each lunar month. He also has generally decent magical abilities. He's also potentially an aid for someone without Blood Sorcery to gain reliable aid in that department, allowing Azure Rose to grant such power without a further according selection. and if a mere dozen men is power of terrible scale and might, then imagine the potency of sacrificing an entire person (except a single hair) once every five seconds for a day- effectively, 17280 corpses?
[ ] Po the Pretender - hmmmmm
this guy reminds me of Johnny Buddha.
hmmmmm

anyway, if not going for Gilen's unique magic power, this is a good secondish choice. His power might originate from the Silververse, as Johnny's did, or more generally from somewhere outside of this place, and they're growing over time. In some ways this makes them better then Gilens, which are trainable but not necessarily-growing, though Gilen is more-definitely-external. The withering of the world is in major part a disease of the removal of grace-to-exist and anything external is naturally not going to be affected the same way- nor as predictable to the Adversary.
incidentally, I wonder if Po is as circumspect with an Advisor? and would an Advisor, too, observe him never seeming to actually suffer a fatal blow, throughout all the thousands of years of Yoria?
Scenario
Scenarios.

This section is 'add a problem in exchange for more time'. Frankly, Scenario Numbers past one or maybe two aren't worth it- The increased death odds from facing at least one nigh-pinnacle opponent aren't worth having more time afterwards. Either your build and the nature of Yoria allow/s for you to fully save it in 10,000 years, or it doesn't at all, likely enough.
the exception to this logic is going for all six Scenarios, then taking a drawback, then using it for an additional scenario to get seven scenarios and 1v1 the Adversary irl, just gotta recruit Gilen and have him do the punching and try like ten times yep.


[ ] The Dark Lord - leaving aside the morality of making this guy suffer an ISH4.5 horrible event, it sounds like the way to handle this guy is to use something he cannot copy as your critical advantage (Azure Rose as a source of immense Blood Magic; Bet Seal as progression; Mantle of Joss as.......... something.) or something we can by inference know he Won't copy (Mantle of Mobius for nested Time-dilation to get a bazillion years- if he was going to use that he'd be analogous to the Archmages, effectively a flat threat and not a scaling one.).
Even given that, the Dark Lord is still a very risky foe. Bloodied Azure Rose would be the surest solution, since it accumulates offensive power at a very high probably-flat rate rather than Progressing and so stands a relatively very good chance at killing the Dark Lord in a surprise attack before he can grow too far. Blood Magic can do anything you need, if you only fuel it enough... divination, annihilation... whatever else. And then you can loot the Dark Lord's armamentarium of divine Artifacts!
The Dark Lord's final note suggests the battle will take a really long time, but... He's a growing foe, a moving target. If you can't just grow faster than him- and his advantages are extreme in this regard- he has to die immediately, with extreme prejudice.

[ ] Six Beasts - Yamcho and Urrak are the biggest issues- respectively they handle insufficiently-swift progression and immediately killing the beasts. they don't seem as progressiony as the Dark Lord, though, so training up is still viable. You need simply be able to run, and able to arise swiftly enough for this to even benefit the world... Not much to say.

[ ] The Fog of Ages - This scenario is the easiest. You have literally at least five years before it does anything, and it's confirmed that Blood Sacrifice is enough to beat this. get Azure Rose, sacrifice 31,530,000 human bodies, and wipe out the entire Fog before it has any effect. If that isn't enough human bodies, you can still wipe it out in the 'barely tangible' phase if it's possible with 315,300,000. And even before you get that far, you're well into the range where, if you were using anything except Azure Rose for this, your problem would stop being 'get enough blood' and start being 'logistics to transport it'. This solution isn't as viable while facing other scenarios, though.

[ ] Archmage of Winter - the Archmage options are both pretty similar. 'very strong mage resurrected by darkness who will destroy world, has a lot of minions, artifacts, and a combative Mantle'. Interestingly, they are both 'A lone prophet of oblivion'. both of the two Archmages, yep.
There are differences- Winter uses Necromancy, and Flames uses Demons. Winter is Archmaster in the Starlit Arts, and Flames is just a master there but also mastered the Combatant's Dogma. Winters artifacts are awaiting reclamation, Flames just kinda has his. Winters Mantle is perception-limited but conceptual, Flames's mantle is 'opposing force' limited and only maybe conceptual.
But it's fundamentally the same kind of problem, so unless you're already doing for a build which is particularly good against undead/demons/starlight/combatants/ is good at stealing/ranged combat/anti-fire stuff they're the same and off the top of my head the only one of those with an obvious implication is 'go Fog Of Ages and pick Winter, then stall for a hundred years so he'll lose his Starlit Arts' which is... not a good plan, and 'go Mobius plus Luck and steal all Winters things' which is a dubious plan.

[ ] Archmage of Flames - Covered above.

[ ] The Final King (requires The Dark Lord) - the main saving grace of this option is apparently he doesn't just up and kill you outright if you don't confront him, so theoretically if you go hard enough at Progression... But even then, the Final King has a Progression of '+1 Character Generation Resource per year' and as-written can copy even the mantle of Joss if he wants to. this power level implies he can probably get himself several thousand copies of Blaze Star and just be immortal. The only reason to take this is memes- or, if you think you know his hidden weakness, but I don't have any ideas I consider particularly likely. the obvious one is 'if someone else becomes a King afterwards he dies instantly' but I doubt it. the second obvious one is that 'he doesn't need Minions' is about the same as 'Racecars don't need windows, break them in with a crowbar' and implies his weakness is being called stupid but I doubt it, and the third obvious one is that he refuses to immunise himself to suffocation
(this is also, in a sense, an unfair question, because there's a bunch of intelligence-enhancing options. If the CYOA-taker was actually taking the CYOA, they'd be several times smarter. and probably figure it out. But from where I the real person am, I don't have magic brain ups.


Incidentally, it was at this point in my commentary-writing that beowolf else commented on Amulet Of Unlife + Advisor synergy. not really important. there's probably no reason to mention it. I've mentioned it anyway. because because.
Drawbacks
Drawback
1 Drawback = +1 Pick in any section or +3 Picks (Empowerments).

[ ] The Slayer - The pragmatic costliness of this drawback depends on two point five things: Do Adversary Monsters count as 'Individuals'; is which individuals are acceptable random, or biased to be problematic ones; and can Blood Sorcery create 'individuals' potentially fitting the criteria for suitability.
If any of these three criteria is conveniently-situated, this drawback is annoying and not much of an issue until everything everywhere is solved, nor perhaps even then (it's also non-pragmatically horrible on a personal level. Powers, skills, fine. memories and identity? not so much.).
If all of these criterias are inconveniently-situated, this problem is a bigger... problem. Mitigating this doesn't fundamentally change its problem, assuming all mitigation options fundamentally have an obvious numeric analogue at 20% and there's no permissiveness mitigations or the like. It's probably manageable, but not easily or without risk and it cuts off Spacial Hermit/Bloody Rose Stockpile/similar plans.

[ ] The Betrayer - I'm not sure what happens if, say, your first line to anyone you encounter is 'I am afflicted by a metaphysical curse which makes anyone I speak to eventually see a vision of me cruelly and ruthlessly betraying them'.
For that matter, what happens after someone betrays you- are they safe? And does the definition of 'Betray' allow them to betray you when they are well aware you don't trust them at all and have countless precautions?
...
Regardless, this is a comparatively work-around-able problem. Be friends with the Companions people and have them communicate for you, or communicate only-indirectly. It's an relatively-free bonus selection.

[ ] The Gull - I have no idea what mitigating this by 20% means. Regardless, this is a notable cost if you intend to fight anyone. It's not clear if it applies to ""combat"" techniques like "cast a Blood Sorcery ritual with an excessive number of your own corpses, killing all people fitting a criteria.". Who would you even gloat to? Every bandit in the entirety of Yoria, one at a time, sequentially? Or would it be sufficient to include in your ritual a component which projects your voice to the target? For builds which intend to avoid fighting any remotely comparable foes for obvious reasons, this is either a small cost (if huge blood rituals don't trigger it or a voice component is enough) or a big one (because you will eventually need to make the Adversary's forces dead.).

or you could kidnap a bandit and tell your companions to release it (the bandit having been promised riches and freedom if it lands a hit on you) every time you start monologuing, cutting you off after about a second when you defend yourself.

It's also possibly a personality alteration, it's not totally clear, but that's undesirable if so.

[ ] Sensory Aggravation - lose 2 senses from sight, hearing, scent, touch, and taste at random. 20% chance of one sense.
I don't know how bad this drawback would be. Pragmatically, however: Scent and Taste are not overly important directly, but the others are. Scent also leads to depression if removed apparently says the internet? but taste is probably safe.
Seeing as that's one non-problematic sense to use...
on the plus side, some strategies do not require you to do anything! like Azure Rose + Eryc Noctazar! those can succeed without any senses. Losing just one sense permanently is actually better, because you can restore one sense with a Blood Sorcery ritual of scale. Which requires a ritual of 'profoundly dramatic' cost- which is either saying 'this mitigation is not dependant on the power of your blood sorcery, it is dependant on you being a bad person' or 'lemme remind you what blood sorcery is, anyway, azure rose'. Incidentally, finally a reason to take the Dark Lord contract! one innocent person is a number, and the dark lord is, officially, justified and therefore innocent!

On the whole and for most builds, I'd say not this drawback thankz.

[ ] Apocryphal Curse - It's the apocryphal curse, no thank yo- fine I'll analyse it more.

This curse is triggers half as often, is less threatening, and stops mattering past some unknown power level. We don't know what that power level is, but that's besides the point, because even with all of those reductions, the Apocryphal Curse still does at least one thing which renders it unworkable: ++Luck can no longer be used for faultless divination, because the Apocryphal curse would totally make it lie to you and cannot be warded against. Plus, as that last line conveniently reminds us, the curse can build up credibility over time- even once it stops scaling to your power, it can simply wait... and wait... and wait... until you leave it any opportunity to apply a cataclysmic buildup of circumstance directly into your unsuspecting face, should your rate of Progression ever drop below a linear scaling of credibility at the max point times the time passed times the effectiveness boost for supporting enemies of the scale you're facing already.
builds
Build 1: Heck You, Adversary, I'm immune to everything.
[N] Advisor (Silver Pendant, Sword of Eney, Custom: Crown Of Repose)
[o] Amulet of Unlife (Silver Pendant)
[Y] Mantle of Heroes
[o] Natural Sorcery
[u] Soul-Eater
[R] Scattered Phantom
[e] Wind Waker
[v] Silver Pendant
[e] Aumelia Sunsworn
[r] The Gull

The build is simple. Aumelia keeps her word goodly and is probably smart enough to see the wisdom in being immune to everything at all times. Thus, equip all three Silver Pendants set to Direct Harm, Indirect Harm, Environmental Harm, Supernatural Harm, and Magical Harm; Initiate Scattered Phantom; never stop.
(the degradation of the world may fall under abstract, rather than indirect, in which case the loadout here is to drop Environmental.)
Natural Sorcery synergises with the custom artifact which is mostly designed to handle Scattered Phantom's unpleasantness. Wind Waker's aerokinesis serves to replace having a physical form (and probably gives extreme control over Scattered Phantom, since wind strength increases exponentially as closer to the self and in scattered phantom there are target locations within you.). I'm pretty sure one of these powers will allow for monologging in Scattered Phantom. Luck from Soul-Eater makes finding anything trivial and avoiding anything also trivial, and Sword of Eney's endless scaling allows for the leveraging of 'immune to everything' into victory against foes otherwise too durable, fast, etc.
Mantle of Heroes is just a nice progression thing. And if there's a hole, it can swap to defend against it.

Crown Of Repose: How horrible are the limits of man. to strain, tire, and falter at the critical moment. How infuriating, that an optimal path may be clear, yet ever-so-unappealing, or not truly an option at all. Such is the fate this Artifact counters. So long as the crown is equipped, no course of action can be any more personally aversive than a relaxing day off- nor accrue any further mental fatigue, wariness, or the like. Even if the source of the fatigue is Natural Sorcery or perhaps Blood Magic, expenditures which would normally leave one without the werewithal to even speak will lead only to an abstract awareness that they are out of Natural Sorcery Mana, as though that fatigue was applied to some other you than the one responsible for decisionmaking- though the internal workings of the crown do Not maintain a separate sapient mind, only a sub-sentient regenerating power-battery which patterns its scale off the bearer. Some might scorn the Crown for its subtle and passive effect, or even doubt its function- but any Hero who has achieved great feats of Willpower knows better the value of such things.

Build 2: Heck you, Scenarios, I'm immune to everything
[N] Advisor (Silver Pendant, Sword of Eney, Custom: Crown Of Repose)
[o] Amulet of Unlife (Silver Pendant)
[Y] Mantle of Heroes
[o] Natural Sorcery
[u] Soul-Eater
[R] Scattered Phantom
[e] Wind Waker
[v] Silver Pendant
[e] Aumelia Sunsworn
[r] The Gull
[s] The Dark Lord
[e] Six Beasts
[c] The Fog Of Ages
[a] Archmage Of Winter
[r] Archmage of Flames
[d] The Final King
(Optional:
[ ] The Betrayer
[ ] Another pick in the Scenarios section.)

Being still immune to everything, Aumelia puts on all the Pendants, enters Scattered Phantom, and then slings insults and witticisms at the Final King (who cannot hurt her, move her, or even escape her, because all of these would harm her or her plans through a blocked method) while swirling the air dramatically or something, until she becomes so advantaged he dies to a stiff breeze. If the archmages, beasts and lords join in, that just means she doesn't need to insult them separately afterwards.

Build 3: I may not be the accursed, but I'm immune to everything
[A] Accursed Difficulty
[c] No Immortality (No Benefit)
[c] The Slayer
[u] The Betrayer
[r] The Gull
[s] Sensory Aggravation (4, 4; Touch, without possible prosthetic)
[e] Apocryphal Curse (Drawback)
[d] Brand Of The Wretched
[s] Doom Of The Tyrant
[h] Brand Of The Champion
[i] Brand Of The Fated (Summoner immune.)
[e] Advisor (Silver Pendant, Sword of Eney, Anyhome Ribbon(custom).)
[l] Amulet of Unlife (Silver Pendant)
[d] Artifact: Silver Pendant
[i] Empowerments: Scattered Phantom, Wind Walker, Soul Eater.
[n] Aumelia Sunsworn
[g] Scenarios: All of them in triplicate plus their cousin lol

Anyhome Ribbon: constantly, the environment around you counts as being your home for all environmental penalties or bonuses. This effect applies conceptually- enemies targetting you count as in your home, even if your home is not physically large enough for imposing it on the area to affect them- and prioritises affecting you over others. destroying your physical home does not impact this projection; it is determined by what you think of as your home, within limits- you cannot declare your home has an omnipotence-granting orb or artifacts with total mystic power exceeding the Anyhome Ribbon. Actively, once per hour, you can impose your home on an area, overwriting its Environmental nature with that of your home permanently(though your home-duplicate will decay abnormally quickly if not maintained); for the purposes of this effect, the maximum magical size of your home is that of a modestly-enchanted Mansion. Larger homes must be less magically potent, and smaller homes must be more.

The strategy is basically the same as for the other things except instead of spending an Artifact on mental qualities it's spent on making extra sure to be immune to everything. The permanent home-imposition is there to counter the triplicate Fog Of Ages, because the build couldn't afford Blood Magic, or a companion with Blood Magic (the others are not so clearly the sort of person to work past Wretched.), so it has to physically clear out the entire sky by deciding that really, the best home is a rectangular prism of clean air at [maxsize] dimensions (and scaling those dimensions by killing things per Soul Eater), which it can hopefully manage in five years. Killing all the other scenarios, which manifest as killable things instead ofair, consists of just flying over to them, immune to everything, and slinging insults until Eney scales up high enough.

Build 4:

I'll get to the non-Pendant builds tomorrow or something.


8129 Words pre-builds; 1036 Builds words so far.
 
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JOEbob said:
[ ] Scepter of Oshirah - After several nights of meditation, this Scepter allows you to say no you to reality wanting to ever kill you, take your things, or cause any harm you can predict. Safety! since the wielder an eventually target themselves, simply begin by making the room you're in safe for [required training time], then train until you can do that. Just... do every change in pieces, since the Scepter has an upper limit. And leave no loopholes.
I wonder if [Amulet of Unlife - Scepter of Oshirah] is strong enough to wear away at the Adversary's fate of destruction?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Personally, I'd use the scepter to learn how to see fate. Then sacrifice the scepter to Blood Magic -- losing its inherent ability to teach people to see fate to inefficient conversion -- and gain the ability to manipulate fate with blood magic. Now you just need a big enough ritual to remove the fate of destruction the Adversary has placed on Yoria. The description all but states that the only thing preventing you from that is the scepter's fragility.

Edit:
I think you are quite clever here:
JOEbob said:
[ ] Accursed Difficulty - Well, uh, technically, as written, you at least get a pick for each drawback per the Drawbacks section!
also your life is pain! 30% faster than normal! I imagine the main ways to beat this would be cheesing exact words to let you pick multiple difficulty settings at once, like Accursed Difficulty and Greed Mode. Accursed Difficulty should have a note saying you cannot, regardless of any other factors, select any other difficulty setting while in Accursed Difficulty : P
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

JOEbob said:
the exception to this logic is going for all six Scenarios, then taking a drawback, then using it for an additional scenario to get seven scenarios and 1v1 the Adversary irl, just gotta recruit Gilen and have him do the punching and try like ten times yep.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

We don't know about the limits of the Adversary's strength, but they don't seem boundless. In particular, I imagine that suddenly having three Final Kings might be conceptually incompatible or beyond their strength. It is possible, then, that the Final Kings would be weakened by being made to exist in triplicate, even without going into the other scenarios existing as well. Alternatively, they may be forced into a Highlander situation, where there can only be one. Defeating the Final King who remains after such an exertion might be possible. After the loss of so much invested strength the Adversary may, themselves, be vulnerable. Of course, Yoria is likely to be collateral damage and you have to somehow survive and thrive in this beyond-apocalyptic scenario, but if you intend to defeat the Adversary without external assistance this may be your chance to "always find a way".

With five choices you can get
[ ] Mantle of Heroes -
[ ] Mantle of Joss -
[ ] Blood Sorcery -
[ ] Silver Pendant -
Plus a companion of your choice.

Immediately sacrifice the pendant to protect against the harm that comes from being known. With a defense against scry and die tactics and the most frustrating part of the Gull you can sacrifice your life span to improve in Joss. Alternatively, there are many, many enemies who can be sacrificed for power. If the Final Kings and their minions are occupied with each other you may have a chance to work your way up.

Quality of life in this scenario would be terrible, even in the vanishingly unlikely possibility that you succeed, so I wouldn't pick this difficulty. Also, there is no garuante that triplicate scenarios would meaningfully weaken the Adversary, so you might just fuck everyone on Yoria for nothing.
 
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