The Final Scion
[ ] Streetwalker -
[ ] Litanist (2 orbs) -
[ ] Final Scion of Water (2 orbs) -
[ ] Immortality (2 orbs) -
[ ] Somber (+1 orb, requires Streetwalker) -
[ ] Dreams of Distant Fire (+2 orbs if outside the Dominion, +1 otherwise) -
Way back when I knew nothing of the Ormulum Lethe was free points, now (where I know almost nothing) its almost unacceptable.
This was supposed to be a moderately comfy immortal Litanist build, starting with Reaping, Revelation, Repulsion. Immortality + Reaping has significant synergy, enough to keep you both pretty safe and pretty lethal to most reasonable threats. Powering your Artifacts with life-force/limbs/etc. should be enough to run anti-memetic and anti-mental influence defences against Thaumiel even when fairly far away from the Dominion. There are still fate-worse-than-death type threats on the Street, but between Revelations, prophecies, Reaping, and playing dead you should be alright.
There's just one problem. I'm an absolute sucker for lost, forgotten, abandoned, and broken things. Zoran's still around (being hyper tortured, probably) so the Shaper-Kings art is still extant, the Originator's Inheritor is guarded but might be freed, but Water? Waters fucking dead.
So, instead of a comfy sight seeing tour, this Final Scion aims for asylum under the Dominion -- probably as a strategic asset that weakens the General and Fire as a polity.
Final Scion provides tremendous stealth and evasion capabilities, which should be supported and rounded out with a Litanal artifact, ideally a cloak sung from water, which is powered by blood or something.
Then, a secondary artifact, an SOS signal, a method of contacting the nearest Dominion embassy, or something similar. Two possible designs seem obvious to me, but they depend on how the Dominion actually manages communication. Sending morse code by pulsing a revelation at a known object which is monitored for such occurrences seems an extremely basic but likely quite effective system. Alternatively, the Dominion might hand out emergency beacons/anchors whose state is monitored by revelation. Should they, for example, break, that might count as an SOS signal, triggering a contact attempt. Variants on this could also work through Reciprocity.
Should such methods fail, or simply not be possible within the limits of the Litanist purchase, scrying for "nearby" Litanists on the Street or in worlds that intersect with it, would be another place to start.
It might be necessary to attempt to make contact with the Hand. I would expect at least a few Fingers on the street, and while I doubt there would be Fingers on every world the street intersects with, the Hand seems to get around. Inducting some number of Fingers into the paradigm of Water might suffice to barter Transport to the Dominion, further services, support against the General, etc. may also need to be offered. If necessary, swearing the Oath is not out of the question, though suboptimal, given this build doesn't take the Ladder.
Even beyond that, this builds stealth and evasion capabilities are high. Since the Final Scion is on the Street they could keep walking or step off onto a world at every intersection. This drastically increases the potential search area for the General, buying more time. Awakening various travelers and random people at intersections to the paradigm of Water might further dilute the Generals focus, but might also create sympathetic connections to follow.
While the majority of this build focuses on delaying apprehension by the General, it can rely on Water for offence, defence, and healing even when its Litanies falter. This leaves it better prepared for the dangers of the Street.
Between blocking your ears with water plugs, higher attributes, and whatever defences against supernal sophistry, persuasion, etc. this build can conjure, it should be possible to resist Thaumiel. It is likely that Thaumiel will not persist in infecting you if they believe that would turn the General against them, but making this argument, or relying on it, is not recommended.
There are two worst case scenario tactics:
If capture by the General seems imminent, using reaping to destroy yourself as utterly as possible may trick or delay him once.
It may be possible to merge with Thaumiel. Depending on how territory ownership works, this could leave Thaumiel dramatically enhanced. The consequences of this are probably nightmarish for everyone.
On the whole, I think getting asylum with the Dominion should be manageable. You have various methods of reaching out to them and should be able to evade the General long enough to do so. Once you make contact you weaken a serious enemy of theirs just by existing, can provide an entire elemental paradigm to their citizens at will, and are yourself a prodigious Litanist.
While this build isn't set up to 1v1 the General, it has no trouble linking up with and supporting groups that oppose him. It should be possible to manage this threat, eventually.
Beyond that, there are a million and one things to do. In particular, I'd want to investigate any connections between the Street where the Stones Speak, Bath Kol, the Way she mentions, and the Litanies. There has to be a connection, the music imagery is too consistent!
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