[ ] Blessing of Lunar Azure
Thank you, boss, this is heartwarming. I'd document the delight of my IRL reaction - but the embarrassment might be terminal.
With that said, a build!
Aspirant
Difficulty: Hard (3 Points, 1 Seal)
Role: Hyperion (The Maiden) (-7 Points, -1 Seal)
Drawback Shoppe: Hero's Journey (+7), Wicked (+5), Paramount (+2), (+14 Points)
Allies: Qilin (Ashbird) (-5 Points)
Panoply: The Stone Rings (-5 Points)
Quests: Epic (+2 Points), Overlord
Epic Blessing: Blessing of the Phoenix
A deprecated version of this plan had Hyperion (Caroline) instead; I simply couldn't justify it with the scaling of Ordinalism as compared to any optimal build made by a 5 Seal Nemesis given my refusal to gamble. So instead I chose one of the great heroes of the Manifest Realm: The Maiden. Heretical treachery, I know, but point for point the efficiency of the choice is tough to beat. The powers available to a fully-fledged Foremost have a roughly similar cap to the Logos, a smoother growth curve than an Exalt and aren't nearly so slow to realise as Ordinalism. For something you can get without rolling Bindings, I couldn't reasonably justify anything else.
The world of my passage is one
ithilyor rule. The Men of the Manifest remain largely beneath concern save for their utility in generating
findross. As such they're herded into appropriate configurations to serve their Elven betters and kept in check by the threat of Orkhor raiders in the wastes beyond. The rare few who attain any sort of magic are kept as a useful collaborator class to administer their kind effectively - one among the few monarchs that reign over humankind for their masters. The brutality of the reign is not something I'll go into here, but it's hardly pleasant.
Above them all rules Faeliad, by sheer, overwhelming terror. The Nightslaughter has culled any notion of Elven rebellion and now marshals his kindred to a dire purpose; they marshal seas of
findross at his behest to perform some unknown ascension that he may escape this cage-Realm and claim his birthright as Foremost.
And in the middle of all this, there's an irresolute, incompetent maiden. She's been bestowed with unearned gifts and cursed to bitter ordeals. Thankfully, she has a mentor to try to make something of her. And speaking of that mentor...
Ashbird
The Ashbird is a Phoenix that has elected to not undergo rebirth as it becomes ancient, instead allowing its physical form to grow thinner and thinner till little more than the threadbare fragments of flesh remain. This particular Ashbird is a minute fragment of an entity in distant service to Haeliel. It's a mentor of prospective heroes, specializing in turning mundane dross into the orichalcum of true excellence. This isn't so trite as merely elevating their attributes or mentally influencing them, but instead making real changes to their underlying character and mettle. To facilitate this, it shucks its physical form and sends its spirit into its ward, halving their general progression so long as they remain there but providing the following benefits as a result.
Virtue - A hero's nature. The excellence of a hero is not found in mere power or skill, both of which are better considered the domains of an Overlord. No, the nature of a Hero is found in unbreakable resolve. The Ashbird, as a mentor to heroes and a hero itself in aeons past, has a resolve comparable to any of its students, unswayed by radiance and terror alike. Furthermore, it has an instinct for kindling the resolve in all those it sees. This is not just the stuff of surface will, but the mettle that lies underneath.
Cunning - A hero's methods. Every story has been spoken before. For one who has witnessed Ages pass, experience accretes as rivers flow into the sea. The mind and spirit of the Ashbird are honed to a vorpal edge, and scale with the user's own. This effect has diminishing returns; at the beginning of their journey they might find their mentor to be like sage, prophet and world-shaping politician in one, but as they grow in competence, they will find the gap closing. But even at the end of their path, the old hero will find their mentor still has a few pearls of wisdom left to share.
Final Flaring - A hero's due. In the face of a truly unacceptable outcome for its charge, the Phoenix may ignite the full measure of its essence to show their student what glory lies in the heart of a hero. This power is formless, taking whatever shape is required to best defeat their opponent in the manner they deem most optimal. In almost all circumstances, this creates a way forward, even when no way could be found.
For flavour, Hero's Journey would be a truly exceptional Nemesis. Hence, meet the newest user of the Logos - Gisena Allria:
Ascendant
Difficulty: Normal (7 Points, 2 Seal)
Role: Stategos (-7 Points, -1 Seal)
Drawback Shoppe: Impulse [Smell] (+4 Points), On The Run (+3 Points)
Bindings (+1 Seal): Arcane (+1 Seal), Perchance (+1 Seal)
Panoply: Stone Ring (-5 Points)
Self: Exponential III [The Logos] (-4 Seals)
Quests: Imperialist (-2 Points)
Given the chance to shuck the caprice of the Maidengrace for the mythril path to the
Truth, under relatively trivial conditions, well, she took it gladly and never looked back. Now, she possesses the shining brilliance of an Elder Solar atop her natural gifts and a channel by which that may be turned to power beyond reasonable measure. Arcane is only mildly annoying for her - it simply represents a moderate uptick in her typical social obfuscation and teasing, and she can trust in the wisdom of her Vizier to see her intentions.
The world chosen scarcely matters - she picks one that would be trivial to conquer before turning her attention to straightening out the Deliberative in between hunting me down. And in the unlikely event that she ever falls in battle, there will always be some brilliant spark of genius within her to spirit her away to recuperate and grow dramatically more powerful. The only thread of hope remaining to the Aspirant is to slay the Overlord swiftly and rely on a 2 Perchance difference blunting all of her Nemesis' many, many, many advantages. And perhaps the synergies between the power of
ithilyor sorcery and the True Quintessence prove far more than the sum of their parts.
That said, the primary purpose of this build is for the Aspirant to engender the strength of character to not lose herself in the sybaritic bliss available to a Foremost Maker. She'll be butchered but sufficiently extended survival should hopefully result in an individual capable of some measure of real heroism, rather than total reliance on unearned gifts. Not within a thousand orders of magnitude to the likes of Hunger or Wolber or the true Gisena - perhaps Aeira might be within reach? Maybe???? Not likely but who knows? After her inevitable demise, she'd switch to Normal Mode, make a more sensible build and call it a day.
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Although... a (hopefully) competent and resolute woman? On Normal Mode? With a strong distaste for Drawbacks and (effectively) no access to the Binding Casino?
I wonder if a position as a Nemesis is open...
