A Simple Transaction I

[Lealope]

No more posts now, not until the CYOA itself.

 

[Rihaku]

Epic of the Foremost Realms I​

One day, going about your ordinary affairs, you stumble into an inexplicable moment of grace. As if the world entire stills to catch breath, exhalation halted like the flush of chill upon newly-frosted glass. An impossible portent divides you from physicality. The world beside remains, but… not so relevant. How small, you realize; and how fleeting, were those mortal affairs -

- As if you could dismiss the entirety of your prior experience with the same ease your ordinary self could adapt to color-blindness. No trivial blow, yet far from earth-shattering.

What shatters you comes after. Turning to observe the fullness of the moment you find yourself immersed in, you

Know.

All of a sudden you know. Like a dream whose fleeting vagaries you had struggled desperately to grasp, revisited wholly in the unblinking clarity of day. A memory, a paradigm, <a way reality could be> - lost so irretrievably you hadn't even realized you'd forgotten. Thunderstruck and fallen to your knees, nonetheless you smile.

For the knowledge of your forebears has returned to you at last.

[ ] Remain Here - Here, in the expanse of the blind, where the one-eyed man may be king. Or perhaps you cannot bear to be separated from those you yet care for. There is no shame in a simpler existence; many might consider it the wiser path. Glorious as the Foremost are, their Fate is frozen and inevitable, an inescapable consequence of their chosen allegiance.

Your budget: 5 Recollection Tokens and 1 Transcendent Insight. You may purchase higher-tier attainments without their preceding levels.

*Sharply limits the effects of the powers you may obtain, at least compared to the next option. Though against mortal armies your capabilities will be formidable still. Better a frog in a well than a comet hurtling endlessly through unfamiliar skies.
*Far safer and more familiar, and you'll still be able to interact with everyone you know!

[ ] Take the Plunge - Embrace the reality of your impossible predecessors. Grasp wholly this conjunction which is orthogonal to time, untethered from destiny - this fractal unwinding deeper than meaning and farther than eons, Count yourself among those numberless worthies who in their hubris and majesty declared themselves, Foremost.

Your budget: 15 Recollection Tokens and 10 Transcendent Insights. A solid foundation is necessary to ascend higher: you must purchase every level of an attainment in sequence, starting from the lowest.

*Adventure and peril await in equal measure. And, of course - power beyond the reckoning of mortal minds.
*You shall never visit this realm again. Even if you could, the presence of your merest embryonic shell would shatter this reality beyond the vaguest hint of recovery.

Attributes
​

This CYOA uses a scaled Attribute system to concisely outline the differences between options. All Attribute +s improve upon your existing baseline. This system is different from Hunger's own.

*At low levels, a single + represents a moderate improvement, similar to "+2 Dexterity" in D&D or an "Attribute Dot" in Exalted.
*Five +s, or +++++, suffices to elevate a helpless infant into a peak human within that Attribute's purview.
*Ten +s is solidly within the superhuman range: the strength of a giant, tenfold human swiftness, the optimized collective wisdom of a hundred generations. Most street-level superheroes and veteran adventurers operate at or below this level.

-- Above 10 +s, Attributes scale rapidly. --​

*Fifteen +s is massively superhuman: city-rupturing strength, hundredfold human swiftness, manipulation so prescient it substitutes for mind control. A few such Attributes would allow one to serve as an epic adventurer or moderately powerful member of the Justice League.
*Twenty-five +s borders on the iconic and mythical: The strength of Doomsday, the swiftness of the Flash, the genius of Brainiac. Wisdom sufficient to master any domain of human endeavor to perfection within physical constraints. Reflexes so sharp that, when focused, time appears to stand utterly still. Beauty sufficient to slay mortals - or wholly overwrite their sense of meaning and value - in a single glance. Several such Attributes would allow one to overturn entire pantheons - classical ones such as the Aesir, or modern ones like the (average showing) Avengers - without much chance of failure. Embryonic Foremost operate at or somewhat below this level.
*Fifty +s is the level of an adolescent Foremost and near the limit of what can be sanely acquired here. Conceptually infinite might, limitless and perfect invulnerability, willpower sufficient to replicate or nullify the effects of Astral Rank 15, quickness that outruns logic and consequence. The greatest outlier feats of superheroes and villains are casual efforts for one with such Attributes, and the breadth of their remit may allow them to obsolete a few other Attributes of lower level.
*One hundred +s represents a mature Foremost. A being with every such Attribute could operate as peer to Lord Hunger or The Maiden - unmaking or creating infinite multiverses with trivial ease is the least of their unopposed capabilities. When such beings war, entire continuums of conceptual and dimensional space spanning countless layers of abstraction and elevation in all ontological directions do perish. Their incidental attacks may annihilate a greater swath of reality-space than the sum total of all realities even theoretically conceivable by human minds, and the fruit of their concerted efforts almost literally unthinkable.

Patrons ​

Here, spend your Tokens and Insights on attainments, steps on the stairway towards Foremost maturity.

I. The Shogun
The attainments of the Shogun reflect talent untamed; in the crucible of discipline they become true strength.

[ ] Shogun: Harm Cognition [First, 1 Token] - Gain a instinctive sense for incoming harm; at first nothing but a vague directional impulse of imminent physical injury, but with long practice the nuances of the impression can be carefully teased-out with greater range and fidelity.

At its apex this is a nigh-infallible intuition capable of perceiving all forms of negative influence: their origins, their headings; down to the very details of their methodologies.

[ ] Shogun: Honing the Mind [Second, 2 Tokens] - The acuity of all your senses, ordinary and supernatural, is improved five-fold. This carries no risk of disorientation or inconvenience from excessive sensory inputs, but holistically expands your capacity to enjoy and experience the world. You may choose not to feel pain as an aversive stimulus, merely an intense but valence-neutral indicator of injury that informs without distracting unduly.

*Furthermore, you may via diligent training exceed the current limits of your mind, improving Intelligence by up to ++, and Wits and Wisdom by up to +++++. This process takes years to decades of great effort.
*Competent mentorship by a being of vastly greater ability can improve these limits by ++ each.

[ ] Shogun: Honing the Form [Third, 5 Tokens or 1 Insight] - Your body is elevated to the theoretical apex of human martial ability; you are as strong, as fast, as durable, as kinesthetically gifted, etc as an unaugmented human can be.

You may slowly shapeshift as you please within the bounds of humanity; complete revision may take as long as three months, while modest alterations to one's face or bone structure can be achieved within a day. You heal rapidly and flawlessly from even a single intact atom, recovering even from complete incineration within half an hour; this grants nigh-immunity to pathogens, toxins and aging.

*Grants +++++Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wits, and Appearance (optional).
*Regeneration operates independently of your Constitution stat.

[ ] Shogun: The Blade [Fourth, 3+ Insights] - What legendary warrior would be complete without a weapon of equal distinction?

You acquire a jian, saber, katana, wakizashi, or nodachi forged of your own blood, marrow and supernal essence. It possesses one of the Titles below, plus one for each additional Insight spent on this Attainment, up to 5 Titles total.

[Faultless] - Indestructible, perfectly balanced, effectively weightless in motion yet with substantial heft upon collision, capable of parting any physical material without resistance, and of harming supernal existences just as easily.

Training with the weapon, one may learn to sever instances within the Realm of Forms; ten million repetitions might allow one to cut wounds out of one's body, leaving the physique unharmed; ten trillion and one might sever one's identity from form to become unrecognizable no matter the infamy of one's deeds.

*Qualities of the Blade are ISH 3.9 if contested.
*The faultless path is arduous. Each conceptual severing must be practiced separately, and requires a small degree of upkeep to maintain.

[Fearless] - Only those possessed of power and skill may stride forth without fear. Distribute 20 +s among your Strength, Constitution, Agility and Wits. Distribute 5 +s among your Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Willpower.

*It is advisable not to allow your Strength to substantially exceed your Constitution. Imbalance in such a direction can easily lead to self-destruction. Similarly, your Agility and Wits.
*You don't need to wield the blade, merely have it on your person, in order to benefit from these Attributes.

[Fortress] - Your blade is a nascent Armament, flawless core around which an elysian shell of star-spun blood and findross will someday accumulate into a juggernaut capable of godlike destruction. At present it possesses Rank 7.5 and one power unique to its burgeoning Shroud on the level of a high-tier Sorcerous Grace. At this stage, employing its Shroud is an immensely exhausting act.

*You may use one of Seram's real or theoretical Graces (save Hyper Reactor) as your Shroud effect, or design a custom effect that is moderately weaker.
*Unaided your Blade will emerge as a fully realized Armament within a millennium, but your active participation in its construction can hasten that to years or even months. As it grows its Rank and Shroud efficacy will improve.

[Fulcrum] - When placed properly, your blade is the lever by which worlds and empires are overturned.

*If you possess Shogun: Harm Cognition, receive ++Mental Attributes and massively upgrade your initial speed of attunement to your danger sense; even as a baseline human you would reach Tetsu Shinichiro's level within minutes of sustained combat. This similarly advances your speed of progression in the art of the Faultless Blade; adept Severing is a matter of a single war to the knife.
*If you possess Shogun: Honing the Mind, receive +++++Wits and Willpower and upgrade the Fortress Title: its Shroud effect now equals one of Seram's Graces even customized, or combines two of his Graces in synergistic fashion.
For example, fusing Archsmith's Hammer and Evoker's Panoply would allow for the creation of utility objects the Hammer alone would struggle to fashion, while Inner Sanctum and Auspice Temporal would permit a weak but general form of spacetime manipulation on top of their existing benefits.
*If you possess Shogun: Honing the Form, receive an additional ++ to each of the Attributes it affects, and upgrade the Fearless Title: you may now merge Strength and Constitution into Might, or Agility and Wits into Grace. Use the higher of the component Attributes to determine the + value of the merged one.

[Foremost] - Your blade is forged of pure crystallized findross mated to your essential nature. It is considered part of your person whenever that would be convenient: it benefits from your regeneration, can be regrown from out of your palm, confers full benefits of its Rank, etc. Furthermore, this enormously amplifies the other powers available to it.

*A Faultless blade may advance a general skill of Severing that at its highest rivals freeform conceptual deletion. A Faultless blade's ISH elevation may now be slowly improved with training.
*A Fearless blade now distributes 50 +s in total, but no more than 10 to any single Attribute.
*A Fortress blade now starts at Rank 9 and may use its Shroud effect with only moderate exertion. Its power when fully mature approaches that of Novakhron himself.

[ ] Shogun: Unsetting Sun [Fifth, 5 Insights] - You are peer to the Shogun, at least in the martial realm - invincible and undefeated in war.

It is absurdly, almost inconceivably difficult to harm you within any context that might even remotely be considered a conflict; or by any physical means whatsoever. If you suffer any sort of internal conflict at all, this is active essentially all of the time. What cannot be withstood you will evade; what cannot be avoided you can endure. Fate, your attributes, your skills and strategies, and all other conceivable factors converge towards a brute and overwhelming unassailability without weakness or flaw.

When this effect intercepts an attack of significant strength, the Emblem of the Shogun appears behind you for several seconds: A blood-crimson sun tasseled by ribbons of heat-haze, rippling like a battle-standard in the eastern wind. During this time, all forces under your command share in your invincibility: those present made impervious, the maimed restored, and even the slain revivified for precious moments to share in the valor of your counter-charge.

*An ordinary human with this attainment could withstand a supernova point-blank with only minor burns and bruising.
*This protection scales to you. As an embryonic Foremost, you would be as difficult to harm as an adolescent; as an adolescent, one fully mature. Any assault which is not ludicrously greater than you will fail in the face of the Unsetting Sun.
*If you one day become a mature Foremost, the strength of this effect will be comparable to the Maiden's Flower of Victory.

Essentially you possess the inverse of the Forebidding drawback - see A Simple Transaction I Original

II. The Arcanist
The attainments of the Arcanist reflect power at a price. Her means are vast and her ways inscrutable, but the unfurling of her art is inherently bound by constraint; by scribing a Rune, one also defines what it is not.

[ ] Arcanist: Imago [First, 2 Tokens] - Perfection in mind and in form, with the hubris to match. To some, the Rune of the Mantle may be a poison chalice; to others, a holy grail.

You may alter your natural hair color to any hue, so long as it is neon or pastel. You may alter your natural eye color to any hue, so long as it is bright emerald green.

*Gain ++Intelligence, Wits, Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance: an infusion of talent sufficient to turn the average human into a respectable polymath; or the already gifted, an epochal genius.
*Suffer -Wisdom, and a 50% penalty to all Wisdom +s applied after other factors. For example, if you received fifty Wisdom +s from all sources combined, then your Wisdom would operate at the twenty-five + level.
*Receive the Imago Bonus to further Attainments of the Arcanist.

[ ] Arcanist: Servitor Call [Second, 3 Tokens] - The dreary labor of eons need not muddle your focus; that is the province of lesser minds. Via the invocation of the Summoning Rune, you may call forth a potent singular ally, one who is devotedly loyal and tirelessly obedient.

*Your servitor has the physical, mental and social parameters you specify, up to the +++++ level in all Attributes. Human or near-human forms are acceptable.
*You may specify in great detail or simply outline the generalities; the Rune will perfectly interpret your intent to the limits of its power - "A buff master musician," "A gunslinging gyaru elf," "As close a copy of <fictional character> as can be made."
*You may dismiss and re-summon your Servitor once per week. The Rune will not summon allies that are less than devotedly loyal, even should you wish their disposition to be otherwise.
*If you chose to enter the Foremost realms, you may use this to bring along one individual from your mundane world, and optionally elevate them to the +++++ level in all Attributes. If they were not already devotedly loyal to you, this will make them so, for better or worse.
*Imago Bonus: Your Servitor gains ++ Intelligence, Wits, Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance. This may break their normal Attribute cap.

[ ] Arcanist: Lower Arcana [Third, 2 Insights] - A collection of Runic cantrips; to the Arcanist, they are little more than curiosities more valuable for instructional purposes than any serious venture. Yet they form a solid and elegant foundation for greater magics. Unopposed, they may well suffice to shape the direction of entire worlds.

*Receive access to the following Runes. You may use each only once per day.
*Imago Bonus: You instead have an innate sorcerous well from which you may deploy these Runes at will. Each use consumes 1 Capacity; the well has 10 Capacity total and regenerates 1 every two hours.

*Empyreal Rune: Summons devastating bolts of fantastical lightning and fire to scour the battlefield. Capable of razing a city block, or reducing a dozen Abrams tanks to ash. Knowledge of this Rune renders you immune to thermal and electromagnetic sources of harm.
*Command Rune: Making eye contact with an individual whose Intelligence does not greatly exceed yours, alter their memories of the last month in any way you wish. Even outrageous and incongruous events will be rationalized and incorporated into their identity.
*Permeation Rune: Become selectively invisible and intangible, phasing through and unharmed by any form of matter or energy that would inconvenience you to interact with. Fly at mach speeds with hummingbird maneuverability. Duration: one hour.
*Warding Rune: Creates a man-sized seal of pulsating sigils which repels entities, forces, materials and attention. Mortals will blot the general area from memory and instinctively avoid it; artillery rounds will bounce off. You may selectively permit entities to perceive and bypass it. Wholly effective against effects on the level of the Empyreal Rune or below; proportionally less so against greater powers. Duration: Twenty-four hours or until dismissed.
*Mentation Rune: Allows perfect eight-way multitasking, grants +++Mental Attributes, and nullifies any %-based penalties to your mental Attributes. Exhausts you after use. Duration: one hour.

[ ] Arcanist: High Arcana [Fourth, 3 Insights] - The core of the Arcanist's art: that which compresses intent and ability into structure; structure so elegant that reality reshapes to accommodate it, and thereby yields to one's envisioned intent. Speak ill of the Arcanist if you must; yet at its core her profession is the creation of beauty: beauty so sublime one could almost mistake it for Grace.

*Receive access to three of the higher-order Runes, which may be used to alter and enhance your existing array.
*Imago Bonus: Treat your Intelligence as ten +s higher for purposes of employing, studying, or discovering Foremost Runes.

*Augmentation Rune: May be freely applied to increase the power and conceptual elevation of a Rune (or Sequence) to a level commensurate with your overall Intelligence. Doesn't work on Runes that themselves improve your Attributes.

For example, if you had 25 Intelligence +s:
-The Rune of the Mantle and Mentation Rune wouldn't be affected.
-The Summoning Rune might conjure a being with All Attributes save Luck and Protection at 20 +s, or a specialist with Physical Attributes at 25 +s, Mental Attributes at 20 +s, and Social Attributes at 15 +s… etc.
-The Empyreal Rune might unleash world-ravaging destruction on the level of Ragnarok.
-The Command Rune might alter up to seven decade's worth of memories for every mortal in South America.
-The Permeation Rune might grant relativistic flight and immunity to low- and mid-tier supernatural and conceptual attacks.

*Conjunction Rune: Basic Runes are the buildings blocks of higher arcana. By applying the Conjunction Rune to a sequence of Runic invocations, one can access a myriad of conceptually interlinked effects. Conjunctional Arrays consume an amount of Capacity equal to the square of the number of underlying runes in the sequence: 4 Capacity for a 2-Rune Sequence, 9 for a 3-Rune, etc. If you lack Capacity, they are proportionally exhausting in a way that magic cannot alleviate: moderately for a 2-Rune; incredibly for a 3-Rune.

Examples:
-Sequence of Empyreal Command: A torrent of galvanic energies that ravage the mind (and Astral entities) while leaving the corpus unharmed. Massively lowers targets' resistance to mental effects for several minutes.
-Sequence of Commanding Mentation: Allows one to arbitrarily adjust the memories, personality and Mental Attributes of the target by up to three +++s in any direction, but said Attributes may not exceed your own.
-Sequence of Warding Permeation: Seals a room-sized area into a pocket dimension.
-Sequence of Empyreal Permeation: Teleports the caster and up five targets to any location within a light-year.
-Sequence of Empyreal Summons: The summoned entity may unleash attacks on par with the Empyreal Rune, and defend from attacks of that power, with moderate exertion.

*Harmonics Rune: Opens the mind to higher-level resonances, allowing for the independent discovery of new Runes and the creation of Sequences thereof. With fifteen Intelligence and five Wits +s, a custom cantrip-level Rune can be discovered in about a year, and a higher-level Rune in three millennia. Specifying the broad purpose of a Rune (crop growth, metal manipulation, +APP boost) is much easier than delineating exact effects (A Rune that creates golem-statues of famous Presidents), and Runes that directly improve Attributes tend to hard cap around the +25 - +40 level. Should you lack Capacity, you may only use each Rune once per day.

Examples:
-Elemental Rune: Create and/or command a large (forest fire, 50-foot tidal wave) volume of one of the five classical elements, moulding and moving it as if it were a body under your control with Physical Attributes equal to your [Intelligence - 2], and altering its intensity by up to 100% in either direction. Duration: Fifteen minutes.
-Temporal Rune: You or a person you touch gains +++++Agility and Wits. No effect past 35 +s for either. Duration: One hour.
-Dream Rune: Create photorealistic illusions commanding up to four of the five senses (you decide) in an area the size of a stadium. Duration: Eight hours.
-Aberrant Rune (High): Infuse lesser Runes permanently into another individual, wiping said Runes from your essence and memory, to transform that individual into a unique monstrosity with fantastical abilities and great potential for advancement. Monstrosities are instinctually bound to protect and obey you and tend to possess powers that are resistant to dispellation or wholly orthogonal to magic. When mature they can be harvested for a wealth of specially attuned findross, granting the Capacity for truly epic Sequences. (Ex. A Simple Transaction Original)
-Disjunction Rune (High): Splits a Rune into more foundational elements (Elemental -> Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Void) with greater, more focused effect and more granularity in Conjunction. Can also be used to counter almost any magics of lesser power than the caster's.

[ ] Arcanist: Glory Unto the Maker [Fifth, 10 Tokens and 5 Insights] - The hammerblow of dearly-bought power that forges numismatic Art into unyielding Science; the crowning and pitiless surety of self that sculpts man into Maker at last.

For each sacrifice selected, choose one Emblem Rune.
Imago Bonus: Choose an additional Emblem Rune for free.

*Sacrifice: Camaraderie - Your Wisdom penalty and associated effects now apply to your Charisma; you may have puppets or slaves, but equals will rarely consort with you.
*Sacrifice: Restraint - You employ and explore your magics with reckless disregard for temporal affairs. What does it matter that a thousand peons die to fuel the maturation of your abattoir engine? Do these ingrates lack the vision to understand the meagerness of their sacrifice in the face of your research... You may instead courageously disregard your own safety and take these costs upon your own body; surely bleeding yourself to the very precipice is a small price to pay for that nugget of data! In this case, only an enormously potent defensive Emblem or similar will reliably safeguard you in the face of your own mad ambition. Regardless, your Wisdom penalty is now -90% and your total +Wisdom after all factors is capped at +++

*Emblem: Perfection - You receive +++++++All Attributes, and increase the Attribute caps on buffing Runes by that amount. For example, the Temporal Rune now provides benefits up to 42 Agility +s instead of capping at 35 +s.
*Emblem: Exalted - You receive fifteen Intelligence, Wits, and Agility +s. You may use your Intelligence in place of your Charisma when intimidating others.
*Emblem: Mastery - Your Capacity increases by 50, with proportionally greater regeneration, and may be improved with training. You receive deep expertise and familiarity with all your powers on both an instinctual and theoretical level, as if you had spent ten years of diligent, focused and productive effort exploring each Attainment and any notable interactions thereof. Should you possess the Harmonics Rune, you may begin with any of the example cantrips listed within. This counts as real training for purposes of effects like Honing the Mind, etc; you are just that good.
*Emblem: Savant - Select one Rune to act as your Signature; its magnitude and versatility are amplified to incredible heights. May be taken multiple times. Examples:

-Temporal Rune: With a single casting, you may stop time for up to a day (you may move, act and interact with objects and people; sufficiently powerful entities may do the same), create a temporal chamber the size of a small city with acceleration factor up to 100x, age any mortal object into ruin or oblivion, counter the effects of enemy time travel or temporal manipulation, or bind an atemporal being (or set of beings whose total power does not exceed yours) to conventional spacetime. Attribute bonus tripled, cap increased to <Your Intelligence>.
-Summoning Rune: Your Servitor gains a host of supernatural abilities of breadth and power only modestly lower than yours, which amplify your strengths and cover for your weaknesses when used intelligently.
-Augmentation Rune: Such is your economy of power and fineness of control that you may cast at only 1/10,000th the cost of your peers. Cantrips now cost .0001 Capacity or may be deployed up to 10,000 times a day. 2- and 3-Rune Sequences are likewise discounted.

III. The Surgeon
Boldness in demeanor and action is the nature of the Surgeon; he who dares not, will never muster the wherewithal to cut! This is not the nuanced, harm-minimizing gentility of contemporary medicine, but the absinthe-and-hacksaw heroism of a man-carving, blood-splattered, bygone age. Take heart, you cigar-chomping intrepids, you monsters of nostalgia and toxic flame, for all along your Hero was none less than Dien Bravo!

[ ] Surgeon: Away! [First, 2 Tokens] - Better to carve off the limb than let a wound fester and succumb to gangrene! So it is as well with matters of the spirit.

*Gain +++Strength and Constitution. If desired, the efficacy of your in-person medical interventions now scales solely to your Strength.
*Your physical attacks may now carve away mental and spiritual aspects of the target proportional to the volume of their body removed.
*Now your badly beaten opponents can be made literally to see the righteousness of your obviously superior ideology. Let defeat at your hands equal friendship everlasting, as you excise every part of your foe you might find wanting!
*This may be applied to yourself in order to temporarily or permanently remove mental patterns Dien Bravo would disapprove of: cowardice, weakness, hesitation and so on. If you permanently excise at least half of all mental patterns the Surgeon would disapprove of, gain +All Attributes as your underlying heroic nature shines forth!

[ ] Surgeon: Engineer [Second, 5 Tokens] - Only a master of his Science could be entrusted to split open the living proto-carcasses of his peers to perform arbitrary interventions within! And so, you are.

*Choose a domain of breadth similar to Biology, Robotics or Chemistry. You are a true master of your domain; boundless in knowledge and dextrous in practice, capable of feats bordering on the superhuman and absurd.
*If you chose Biology, you would be able to successfully perform operations on the level of a whole-brain transfer with great safety, materially raise the IQ of a test subject by one standard deviation, or make actually functional penis- and breast-enlargement pills. You could give yourself a heart transplant, or transfer someone's erogenous zones to their spleen! Once on the operating table, there's almost no mortal you could not save, or bend to your designs.
*This effect scales slowly to your overall Attributes; a being on the level of an adolescent Foremost would, given a few years, be able to perform feats of biological augmentation that are boundary-pushing even for entities of that tier.

[ ] Surgeon: Seize the Day [Third, 1 Insight] - And yet the dross of mere technical mastery is but a means to an end, fuel for the fire that is GREATNESS!

*Gain Rank commensurate to your abilities and station. If you possess the first two Attainments of the Surgeon, this will grant you at least Rank 3.5, sufficient to overpower most worldly objections by sheer force of selfhood, and grant you a significant edge in contests of true import. This effect automatically updates as your Attributes and capabilities improve.
*You may also improve your Rank over time by performing acts of worthy endeavor, vast notoriety, or both. There's no theoretical upper limit, just as there's no limit to greatness itself!

[ ] Surgeon: Brains & Brawn [Fourth, 3 Insights] - Only the irresolute settle for an incomplete self, partial attainment of one's potential. The truly wise Hero understands that boundless vigor and avarice for life arises from the pursuit of excellence in every endeavor! While one's talents may be uneven, and efforts expended justifiably so, it does not do to wholly neglect even a single arena where life offers up its smorgasboard of joyful and bitter experiences!

Gain +++++Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wits, Wisdom, Willpower and Intelligence. Choose one of three Attributes to favor:

*Favored Strength: Raw power in main strength and medical aptitude. Gain 10 additional Strength and Constitution +s. Your refined butchery shall be the stuff of legends! This is not the shameful path of muscle wizardry, but the broad unflinching boulevard of muscle science!

*Favored Dexterity: A sub-set of Agility dealing with fine control and coordination but not raw speed or reflexes. Gain 10 additional Dexterity +s, which stack atop your Agility as baseline. You may choose to narrow your Engineer domain into a specific Specialization. This lessens its breadth but greatly improves its scaling speed and efficiency.

For example, you could narrow the Biology domain into the Surgery Specialization, or the Physics Domain into the Energy Weapons specialization. By doing so, your skills therein will scale to your Dexterity instead of your composite Attributes, and require mere instants (rather than years) of study to reach their new potential. The sheer prowess of your craft suffices to overcome any and all hurdles of ignorance, weakness or insufficient material!

*Favored Willpower: When all else falters, sheer determination wins through. Gain 10 additional Willpower +s and +1.5 Rank as a final modifier after all others. For example, if Seize the Day judged that your Rank based on Attributes alone was 7, and you earned an additional 0.5 Rank through heroic feats, your final Rank would be treated as 7 + 0.5 + 1.5 = 9. Given how Rank scales, this could elevate a planet-conquering maverick to a galaxy-toppling scourge!

[ ] Surgeon: Bravado [Fifth, 5 Insights] - Dien Bravo never gives up. And now, neither will you.

The Emblem of Courage flares to life atop your breast, heroic resolve that burns undimming even before darkness illimitable. Should you possess the fourth Attainment of the Surgeon, the mechanical benefits of your Favored Attribute are doubled. For example, if you Favored Willpower, you would receive 20 Willpower +s and +3.0 Rank instead. You may also choose one of the following:

*The Emblem of Wisdom glows upon your palm, granting keen perspicacity, omnipresent awareness, and surpassing finesse in all your endeavors. Should you wield Astral Rank, you would attain a sublime and pioneering mastery over its gradients - capable of forcing specific actions so long as they would be appropriate to your level of Pressure; communicating with any and all beings touched by its presence, and wholly aware of the identities and parameters of those enveloped by it. Should you command biological hypertechnology, you would possess swift and adroit judgement on how best to apply that lever to maximize your chances against any foe. You may steadily improve the versatility, and decrease the costs, of any of your abilities through meditation, diligent training, and broad-ranging philosophical study. +10 Wits, +10 Dexterity, +20 Wisdom.

*The Emblem of Power erupts into being behind you, promising untrammeled might should you only feed its hunger. Once per day you may become All-Conquering, causing all your Attributes to rise to the level of your [Highest Permanent Attribute +1]. This effect overrides all penalties that are not intrinsic to your Attainments. Unless you face stupefyingly terrible odds, an activation will suffice to pull you out of any trouble as your sudden surge of Luck, Charisma, Appearance, Intelligence, Protection (and so on) exerts tremendous influence on the situation by almost every vector imaginable. Used proactively, it also suffices to conceive of and craft masterpieces far beyond your standard remit of elegance and potency.

This herculean act can be sustained for five minutes in pitched conflict, up to fifty minutes if wholly focused and unopposed. But the cost is as precipitous as the heights of power it grants: each use permanently burns an Attribute + of your choice, but said Attribute is still treated as if at its prior level for purposes of training difficulty. Should you fall in battle, suffer identity death, or simply succumb to despair, this ability will flare each and every time you are defeated, overcoming its temporal limits but increasing in cost by one additional + each time.

You may instead fuel activations with a monumental sum of findross scaling to your highest Attribute, but short of a favor from the Arcanist herself this is an impractical requirement.

Should you perform a feat that is truly extraordinary even by Heroic standards, such as defeating the Forebear Reborn with only the capabilities of an infinitely-diminished shard of your true self, you may find the un-chosen Emblem also welling up from within, having deemed you worthy at last.

IV. The Egotist
Through unceasing inward focus, the Egotist attains mastery of the self - which emanates outwards to command mastery of the group, mastery of the world, and ever-greater masteries unceasing. Immense versatility and potential unbound would be at his fingertips, if he ever got over himself. The course of these Advancements reflect his path of growth.

[ ] Egotist: Strive [First, 2 Tokens] - The masterful finesse and stalwart reserve of the ithilyor propel great initial results: that low-hanging fruit which intentionality alone suffices to pluck.

*Distribute five +s among the Attributes of your choice, save for Intelligence, Charisma or Strength.

[ ] Egotist: Unblinking Tempest [Second, 2 Tokens] - Sheer solipsistic selfhood by which 'is' yields to 'ought.' Deny reality to neutralize such inconveniences as 'an enemy being too fast to interact with.'

*For each of your opponents, the efficacy of their most relevant superior Attribute is greatly reduced. Should they possess overwhelming speed, it would only grant a moderate rather than decisive advantage; similarly for mind-shattering beauty, keen perspicacity or outrageous fortune.
*This applies to any contest of significant stakes.
*Might alone can contravene the Egotist's symmetrical delusion. This advancement has severely reduced efficacy against an enemy's Strength, Intelligence or Charisma.
*This is useless if one possesses overwhelming strength in every arena, such as by the Emblem of Power. A specialist's provenance, not a hero's.

[ ] Egotist: Duality [Third, 5 Tokens and 1 Insight] - Perfection of the self requires perfection of circumstance, which requires perfection of the world. Do not allow the dream of perfection to impede your path today; embrace wholeheartedly your current means with all their flaws, and push as far as you can go thereby. For your flaws, too, are part of you.

Choose one:
*Yang Path: The path of expansion like an unstinting sun; great power unfocused. After you finish your build, set all your Attributes which are lower than 10 +s to the 10+ level. This does not override drawbacks.
*Yin Path: The path of shadows which retreats from life to focus on attainment solely. Add 14 +s to any one Attribute and 7 +s to another, save for the Egotist's banned Attributes (Strength, Charisma, Intelligence). You must pay for this Advancement with Tokens from Drawbacks.
*Taiji Path: Receive the benefits of both paths. You must take the Fool's Gambit Drawback.

[ ] Egotist: Crowned Halo [Fourth, 3+ Insights] - A Halo-type Advancement. Your sublime philosophy ought not limited to yourself alone. This advancement manifests or summons an entire city-state congruent with your values, desires and methodologies; your greatness refracted now through a civilizational lens!

*The city-state is deployed around you, harmlessly (if desired) displacing those within its volume.
*Its aesthetics, governance, and particulars may be specified by you, or simply allowed to intuitively fit your personal preferences. You may rule the city-state or wield great influence in its decision-making if desired.
*This polity contains three tiers of individuals: a few elites, a standing army of experts roughly ten thousand strong, and a general population of citizens numbering in the millions.
*Elites scale to you; their top Attributes are generally 5 +s lower than yours, or 10 +s lower if their specialization is distant from yours (ex. warriors or politicians if you are a mage). Non-primary Attributes are ++ higher than the civilization's Experts. Capable lieutenants, though not your match in any direct conflict. The Superboy to your Superman, the Ebony Maw to your Thanos.
*Experts are much weaker and less capable than Elites, though still well above modern humanity; each has half your Attributes, rounded down.
*The general populace is roughly human-level to begin with, but may be uplifted with time and effort. Additionally, the civilization wields magic or technology sufficient to place them roughly on par with you in most fields of endeavour, should all its components work harmoniously.
*By default you have three elites and ten thousand experts. For each additional Insight you spend, you may choose one of the following:
-Grant all your Elites the benefits of the Highborn Advancement (++Attributes, slow but uncapped scaling), substantially reducing the gap between them and you. The civilization's combined efforts may now qualitatively exceed yours to a moderate degree.
-Increase the polity's scale by one tier (city-state -> nation state -> great empire -> planetary empire). Each purchase triples the population of elites and experts, and increases the general population by an order of magnitude. This may be taken up to three times, each time augmenting the civilization's scale of action and multitasking ability.

[ ] Egotist: Uttermost [Fifth, 5 Insights] - The Emblem of Tyranny brooks no opposition. The day may come when your hubris sees you cast down, your throne shattered, your kingdom and armies toppled, all your works returned to ash… indeed, it is very nearly inevitable given the monumental arrogance that this accession requires.

Until that day, however, you will reign. And in doing so, you will be of service to greater powers which are as-yet inestimable to you.

*You may double the benefits of either Yang or Yin Path. The former would set your Attribute minimum to the 20 +s level; the latter would grant +28/+14 in the two Attributes of your choice. You are immune to mind control and unwanted mental alterations of all kinds, including from superhuman levels of social Attributes.
*Craft a metaphysical paradigm of your liking such as magic, super-science, or psionics. You stand as font and embodiment of this system, archmaster of its every discipline with nigh-limitless energies at your command. The feats this system can accomplish at its highest levels are congruent with those of your mightiest Attributes, but may be expressed with markedly greater breadth and possess exotic or advantageous alterations within reason. This may create paradigms as diverse as Astral Rank, Exalted Charms, or the Maidengrace. Very broad and logistically convenient paradigms are typically less potent, expressed as an effective penalty to the Attributes in question. A system that attempts to encompass every humanly conceivable feat might suffer as many as seven Attributes -s, whereas there would be no penalty for one that constrains itself to the domains of Life or Space. Systems that augment existing attributes tend to be subject to the same limits, and cap out at the same thresholds, as the Foremost Runes of the Arcanist.

Utter Binding: If you possess the Doom of the Martyr, the Doom of the Tyrant, the Curse of Hubris, or the Fate of the Foremost (either version), you may triple the benefits of Yang Path instead of doubling them - set your Attribute minimum to the 30 +s level.

Example System: Cerulean Psionics
*The power level of this system is representative of a character with 20 +s in All Attributes save for Intelligence, where they possess 35 +s.
*With an exertion of mental stamina, users may substitute their Intelligence for their Strength and Constitution, and their Wits for their Agility, to perform telekinetic feats at a range scaling with their Intelligence. A novice could do so a few times per hour; a grandmaster could do so continuously for weeks.
*Users may create semi-permanent constructs of cerulean energy to serve as animate materials for the construction of a near-arbitrary range of physical structures.
*Users may permit those in contact with a Cerulean construct to establish telepathic links with each other - or with greater effort, forcibly perform feats of telepathy (mind reading, hypnosis, memory weaving and direct control) on them. More expansive control requires greater levels of mastery, with the greatest capable of full-on mental reprogramming, mind & consciousness transfer, and survival as a disembodied mind.
*By trawling the Astral Sea (or equivalent in-universe realm; the paradigm will create one if none exists), masters may reassemble the bodies and spirits of the deceased, returning them to consciousness as incorporeal minds or anchoring them to a body for full revivification.

V. The Emissary
The path of the Emissary is the path of cooperation and mutual benefit. The open palm is her sigil of choice - the greater good, her byword. In the pursuit of the latter she can be almost unreasonably charitable, yet when it is impeded her ruthlessness is as sudden as it is decisive. Still, compatriots may rest assured that, no matter the breadth of her calculus, she will never ask of them any sacrifice she would not perform herself.

[ ] Emissary: Pathos [First, 1 Tokens] - You become an empath, capable of feeling the emotions of those around you. Sufficient Willpower will be required to avoid being overtaken by such, and Wisdom to maintain your own perspective, yet this remains a potent and startlingly accurate means of social information-gathering.

*Much like the Shogun's sense for danger, this new form of perception can be trained to improve its range and fineness of discernment. In time, you could measure the populace of a city by this empathic sense alone, and unerringly track specific individuals without ever laying eyes on them.
*The Emissary will not see you ill-equipped to wield her boons. +Willpower, ++Wisdom

[ ] Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [Second, 2 Tokens] - The reasonable are disinclined to attack you without provocation, and you are empowered to make binding compacts.

*++Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance.
*You may use the higher of your Charisma and Manipulation to defend against physical harm as though it were your Agility.
*Note that, in some realms, extremely (35+) high levels of Charisma and Appearance may achieve this innately as reality warps to defend them.
*You may seal agreements between two or more parties. Should all parties consent AND the agreement is, in your view, at least reasonably fair, then each party shall be held to the spirit of the agreement.
*Those whose total Attributes are overwhelmingly higher than yours might flout or even shatter this binding given effort.

[ ] Emissary: Highborn [Third, 5 Tokens] - The nature of the ithilyor is melded to your own, creating a being with the best qualities of Maker and Steward combined.

*++All Attributes, and you may slowly improve any mental, social or physical Attribute even in the absence of worthy challenges through focused training. This takes geometrically longer the higher said Attribute is; a few weeks from + to ++, but eons raising 50 +s to 51.
*Your cognition occurs in the Astral Realm and is unimpeded by injury to your physical form. You cease to age and never weaken from hunger, thirst or deprivation.

[ ] Emissary: The Gift [Fourth, 3 Insights] - That which is offered freely may flower into potential unbound.

*Select another Attainment you possess. Upgrade it to the Fourth-Attainment level. Attainments so upgraded won't offer more than 7 +s to any single Attribute. Substantial customization is possible as long as a thematic link exists to the original attainment. Examples:

Emissary - Pathos [Gift]
*Continent-range emotion detection with perfect multitasking and precise perception
*Total control over the emotions of those in your sensory range. This power is perfectly intuitive and won't trigger without intent. Works on non-material or purely magical beings as well.
*Accelerate the growth rate of Highborn when positive emotions are directed your way; the combined adoration of a planet could see your progress hastened a hundredfold. Past that point this effect hits sharply diminishing returns.
*Receive seven Willpower, Wits, Wisdom and Manipulation +s.

Shogun - Honing the Form [Gift]
*You are a near-perfect shapeshifter capable of swiftly assuming any physical form you could reasonably conceptualize, so long as it is no smaller than a termite and no larger than Mt. Everest. These forms do not of themselves offer supernatural capabilities beyond their raw Attributes. In the span of a second you could switch between an apex human, a mile-long dragon, an anthropomorphic bulldozer, an alligator-eagle hybrid with functional wings, and a sentient cloud of chlorine trifluoride.
*You don't require detailed knowledge of the underlying biology, mechanics, or even appearance of your form; sufficiently coherent intent suffices for this ability to fill in the blanks.
*You heal rapidly and flawlessly from all physical insult, recovering from complete incineration within a microsecond; this grants effective immunity to pathogens, toxins and aging. You require no form of sustenance or rest. Subatomic annihilation of your entire body would barely suffice to kill you.
*Gain +++++++STR, CON, AGI, Wits, and Appearance. So long as you don't intend otherwise, you're assumed to always possess a minimum of 15 +s in these Attributes.

[ ] Emissary: Greater Good [Fifth, 5 Insights]

The Emblem of the Emissary is no sign but pattern - apparent not by gross proclamation but only in action itself. Its power is as simple as it is mighty; as subtle, as it is all-pervading:

Your works redound to the good of all.

Even as a mortal human, a single donated dollar could unleash a chain of events that solves hunger and homelessness in your entire metropolis; an offhand comment could redeem a psychopathic mass murderer and permanently turn his talents to prosocial ends.

The magnitude of this effect, already enormous at baseline, is amplified tremendously for charitable causes you directly intend to support, and especially so if you give of yourself in the doing. A deliberately prepared speech can topple galaxy-spanning tyranny to usher in an actually capable bloodless revolution; a lone act of defiance can break the vilest and most despicable legions. And, were you nothing more than mortal fragment of fallen greatness, still a calamity sufficient to devour the entire universe could be waylaid at the cost of your own life.

The Emblem of the Greater Good scales in power as you do; your charitable labors echo with spectacular efficacy, vastly outstripping your other capabilities. While this provides no direct defensive or utility benefits, it is likely that many powerful entities will have an interest in your continued survival and liberty, to say nothing of the gratitude you might accrue. With you at the helm, technological progress across an entire society could advance with thousandfold speed, so long as its inventions individually and together served the general welfare.

The Emblem functions so long as your values do not stray too egregiously from the Emissary's broadly compassionate own; its leeway is vast but not unlimited. It will never directly perpetuate outcomes that have dire or punishing side effects - it is, of itself, entirely free of 'monkey's paw' fulfillments and unintended negative consequences - but neither is it wholly omniscient, especially in interactions with greater beings. Thus if necessary it may be temporarily disabled to minimize spontaneity when absolute order is desired.

Drawbacks
​

These baseline budgets are so stiflingly low, especially if you have chosen to Remain; why not take some Drawbacks to expand your purview? After all, when was greatness ever seized without risk?

General
Drawbacks available to all. You may receive no more than +10 Tokens from these.

[ ] Falter [+1-5 Tokens] - After you build is complete, you are slightly diminished, your present and all future Attributes roughly 10% lower than they would otherwise be. This may be taken up to five times, each time reducing your Attributes by a further 10%. For example, if you had Strength +++++++ you would now have 6.3 +s worth of Strength; with Falter V, you would have 3.5 +s of Strength.

This may indirectly affect the strength of Emblems such as Greater Good and Unsetting Sun. If you take Falter X, you are considered to possess all levels of Falter less than X for Drawback modifications. Ex. with Falter III you are considered to possess Falter I, II, and III.

[ ] Gambit [+1-5 Tokens] - You suffer a specific ailment related to the Foremost of your choice. You may only choose one gambit.

Emissary: Diplomatic Gambit [+1 Token] - You are sent far afield. After finishing your build, enter a fictional world of your choice whose danger level is roughly comparable to that of your post-Drawback circumstances. For example, if you Remained and took Sunder the Veil [Lesser], you could travel to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. If you Took the Plunge, you could travel to (high-interpretation versions of) Gunstar Autochthonia or the Cthulhu Mythos.

If you took Falter I, you may broadly specify the time, place and general conditions of your entry so long as they do not substantially decrease the danger level of the setting.

Surgeon: Disfiguring Gambit [+2 Token] - You are ugly. Your Appearance is capped at + and may never rise above that, save by the direct exercise of the Emblem of Power.

Shogun: Arrogant Gambit [+3 Tokens] - You aren't left-handed, but you'll fight as such anyway. In any martial conflict except against a foe who obviously outmatches you, you'll utilize a minuscule fraction of your full power at first, escalating to moderately exceed them if they prove capable. Foes are only considered capable if they overcome you in some meaningful fashion - a telling blow, a significant humiliation, etc. In your mind, to draw forth even 1% of your full power is a great honor, to be earned only by the worthy.

Arcanist: Mutative Gambit [+4 Tokens] - Your very presence induces a variety of powerful supernatural plagues to sweep the realm in which you reside. Within months half the native populace will die unless extraordinary measures are implemented to save them. Of the survivors, local flora and fauna will mutate into hyper-apex versions of themselves exalted by Foremost might; half of all surviving humans and other sapients will be transmuted into a dizzying variety of somewhat less capable supernatural species. These beings scale to you: in great numbers the fauna are an enormous threat; similar numbers of transformed humans are a significant threat.

If you took Falter II, you may specify the details of these transformations within reason, but may not reduce the threat they pose to you. If you took Falter III, you may halve the rate and potency of their scaling, granting considerable leeway against a hostile environment if you advance rapidly.

Egotist: Fool's Gambit [+5 Tokens] - You are afflicted with a random canonical non-Geas Major or Crowning Curse. Roll from among the following: The Brand of the Wretched, the Brand of the Champion, Winter's Brand, the Plenary Brand, the Doom of the Martyr, the Doom of Tyranny, the Doom of Lunacy, the Affliction of Slumber, the Decimator's Affliction, the Curse of Hubris, the Apocryphal Curse. You will never exceed Stage V mitigation of this Curse.

[ ] Foresworn [+2 Tokens] - You must pick a side: the League of Adventure (Surgeon, Egotist, Shogun) or the Arcanist's Dominion (Arcanist, Emissary). You may only select Advancements possessed by the Foremost on your side.

[ ] Epochal Nemesis [+3 Tokens] - A civilization appears which seeks to stymie and oppose you at every turn. They are formidable enough to be a major power, with capabilities rivaling those of a polity created by Egotist: Crowned Halo. The combined efforts of their great generals and statesmen suffice to equal your power. While they are steadfastly opposed to both your interests and values, they are neither suicidal nor fanatical. They are the Carthage to your Rome, not a homogenizing swarm.

There is nothing stopping you from outscaling or destroying them, save that they are overall your equal in power and potential both.

If you took Falter IV, instead they are only as opposed as a political nemesis. The Tories to your Labour, the Federalists to your Democratic-Republicans. They may work to undermine you and implement grossly misguided policies, but will not resort to violence without significant provocation and may even cooperate with you on matters of mutual interest.

[ ] Fate of the Foremost [+5 or +10 Tokens] - It is said, in the annals of the Hidden, that no good deed goes unpunished. To hurry along the Victorious World, invite upon yourself the fate of the Foremost: a halting and haphazard diminishment, yet so dire it might as well be annihilation. Witness now the spoils of selfless ambition.

Henceforth you will encounter Cursebearers in number, and volunteer wholeheartedly to aid in their cause. Failure likely presages ruin or obliteration upon the altar of their trials; success means prolonged exposure to the effects of their Curses. Be it a straightforward Decimation, unrelenting Winter, collateral damage from Cullings; the unreasonable demands of Tyranny, or the naked chaos of Interesting Times - the only certain factor is your doom. When gods war, men die: and in the face of the true powers that be, you are but human yet, no matter how Foremost.

Be it spent prudently or with meaningless frivolity, still you will see your life spent, footsoldier in an infinite war with neither mercy no surcease. The Victorious World beckons, yet its golden path is strewn endlessly with blood.

*For +5 Tokens, the Fate of the Foremost will not trigger in earnest until you have reached the level of a mature Foremost or 1 billion years have passed, whichever comes first. You may encounter Cursebearers very occasionally, but they are unlikely to be so mighty or grievously Curse-laden as to dominate your life.
*For +10 Tokens, the Fate of the Foremost will apply immediately.

Take the Plunge
These Drawbacks are available to those who Took the Plunge. Unless explicitly noted, you may take each only once, and in total may not receive more than +20 Tokens and +10 Insights from Drawbacks.

Drawbacks specific to this setting may not be taken with the Diplomatic Gambit.

[ ] Far Delve I - IV - Rather than retaining your freedom of action, you are bound by lesser geas to venture forth into the primordial dungeons beneath the world-substrate of this traveling Realm. Carve the pillars of metacontextual stability into that unending expanse, that it might serve as foundation and curtain wall for the Foremost settlements to come. You must attend to this task with reasonable diligence, but are entirely capable of making extensive preparations beforehand and between delves, and are further allotted numerous breaks of satisfying length.

Level One [+1 Token]: Your geas only requires you to venture into the shallowest depths Beneath; here you will find quotidian monstrosities and beasts of moderate arcane puissance.

Horrid Giant: Strength 20 +s, Constitution 20 +s, Agility 5 +s, Mental Attributes 1-3 +s, Social Attributes 0-3 +s. Terrible deformed, hulking creatures of moss, lichen, bone, rust, and stone, interspersed with pulsing veins of violet aether.

While boasting comparatively immense strength and durability, these simpleton abominations are easily outmaneuvered, out-strategized, and misled. A capable manipulator could have them dancing in the palm of his hand.

Rebel Magus: Physical Attributes 2-4 +s, Mental Attributes 4-6 +s, Social Attributes 1-5 +s, varying magics comparable in power, if not in function, to the lower Arcana. This transient from another dimension, having been forcibly moved here through no fault of their own, now seeks to lash out at the bastions of reality in uncomprehending rage. Their confusion is pitiable, but such tantrums ought not be tolerated lest in their flailing they stumble upon unshorn truths sufficient to catalyze Accession.

Level Two [+2 Tokens]: Your geas requires you to delve somewhat far Beneath; here are dangers of not insubstantial ability and breath.

Dreamwrought: Attributes 1 - 20 +s, varying Special Abilities on par with Augmented Lower Arcana. Phantasmal illusions projected from the Everdeep Lens. Lacking substance or any semblance of true reality, nonetheless within the depths they can be a lethal threat. Among the broadest range of foes can be found under this categorization: dragons with scales of encrusted rainbow-seafoam; vampires moths with miens of bloody oak; sophont-ghosts wailing ceaselessly in futile pursuit of existence. Though extremely rare, it's not wholly unheard-of to encounter Dreamwrought with All Attributes at the uppermost end of their range; such foes are assuredly deadly for the careless or underprepared.

Axiom: Agility 40 +s, Strength 25 +s, Other Attributes Special. A stillborn concept fashioned into a weaponized cosmic string, these faltering Axioms streak through the lower Depths dancing to the unknowable music of the Reverse Arcana. Though physically destructive and swift beyond measuring, any possessed of supergenius musicality (or the Harmonics Rune) can easily predict the movements of their dance, and plan accordingly.

For the truth is these are not tools of destruction at all, but simply the chords of a lyre transfixed perpendicular to the surreality of these Depths. They mean you no harm; but you are occupying the space through which they vibrate.

Level Three [+1 Insight]: The far Beneath through which the molten torus of this Realm cauterizes raw Form into incarnate material. Here, there is only shadow and terror, for all radiance and warmth have been subsumed by the refining-core.

Banished One: Mental Attributes 10 - 35 +s, Social Attributes 10 - 25 +s, Physical Attributes 0 - 25 +s. Wield magics of immense potency, typically falling into one of three categories:

*Nigh-total dominion of a single concept on the level of Time, Life, Order, etc.
*Lesser but numerous (7-10) magics on par with the Third and Fourth Attainments of the Foremost, already accounted for in the Attribute totals above.
*Some other effect comparable to a single Foremost Emblem, through always with substantial versatility in both offense and defense.

Former Archons, nigh-"omnipotent" rulers of lesser spheres now being drawn irresistibly by the crushing gravitation of the torus. In their desperate berserk terror to escape, they will countenance any means, including spiritual possession and forcible transmigration.

Titan: Physical Attributes 65/55/45 +s, Mental Attributes 20 +s, Social Attributes 30 +s. The guardians of the torus are as unrelenting as they are fearsome, but their favored prey is the banished, and not Foremost interlopers. With arms and armor of ossified Form and bodies ranging from world-sized to inconceivable, Titans are fair but harsh negotiators vulnerable only to similarly Brobdingnagian bribes. They especially enjoy supping upon findross. Take care that in appeasing them you do not raise up an extortionist capable of extracting any and all value from your selves present and future.

The Titans are divided into three primary sects; the Calibrators of the Everdeep Lens and Forgehand Purists are locked in a grim and exhausting cold war, while the Sleepers, mighty but few in number, consider themselves above the fray - for those brief moments each aeon they bother to consider at all.

Level Four [+2 Tokens, +1 Insight]: Too greedily you delved, and too deep. Here lies the Arcanist's Cistern, secret source of the pandemonious well upsurging, for which the torus was but perfunctory vault-keeper. Stabilize according to the letter of your geas and no more, lest you draw her irate attentions.

Praetorian: 40 +s in All Attributes

The seed of rebellion might at times bloom into the flower of Accession, for those worthiest and most fortunate. Such are inducted into the ranks of the Praetorians. The penultimate emissaries and stalwart guardians of the Beneath, the elite guard of the embodied Cistern and its most trusted advisors. Fear the Praetorians, for what they cannot conquer by force of arms they will entrap in skeins of pitiless calculation, or bend to their will by beauty enthralling, or outmaneuver with invincible sagacity; if they do not stumble into victory by arrant fortune.

[ ] To War [+5 Tokens] - Despite your youth and relative inexperience, you must deliberately and sincerely involve yourself in the semi-serious conflict between the League of Adventure and the Arcanist's Dominion, with an eye towards resolving that conflict in a manner consistent with your values and/or interests. You will be expected to contribute as a full if junior member to the side you choose.

If Foresworn was taken alongside To War, you must select that side - though now in the role of actual 'officer' rather than a civilian supported by only those Patrons. Neither side is particularly interested in permanently killing a fellow Foremost (unless you took Kid Gloves Off), but accidents do happen, especially on the frontier.

-[ ] Kid Gloves Off [+2 Insights] - The other Foremost will not hold back against you; their attacks will be serious rather than didactic. The Arcanist will still reserve only a minute fraction of her attention for hostilities. Immense personal power is recommended if you desire to survive this option regardless of faction.

The League of Adventure is primarily concerned with wresting control of the Arcanist's territory from her, that they might set up their own fiefdoms in this conceptually burgeoning Realm. They also mount expeditions of jolly exploration into the uncharted vastness of the Realm itself, in the hopes of discovering an essential font at least somewhat competitive with the well the Arcanist has claimed for herself. The Shogun, Surgeon, and Egotist are adolescent Foremost with primary Attributes from 55 to 62 +s, and other Attributes from 30 to 50 +s, plus the utility effects of their Attainments and Emblems.

The Arcanist's Dominion is primarily concerned with supporting her experiments, and in manipulating the incursions of the League of Adventure to gain indirect Foremost support for the most exotic and dangerous permutations thereof. The Emissary is an adolescent Foremost of comparable power to the Surgeon. The Arcanist is an elder adolescent with 79 Intelligence +s and supporting Attributes in the 50 +s range, and is a grandmaster of Foremost Runes.

If you did not take Foresworn, you could also create your own faction, though its goals must be vigorously and zealously pursued and must invite some form of meaningful conflict from one side or the other. For example, you could head a humanitarian faction that wishes to preserve the well-being of all (and thus naturally opposed to the Arcanist's Dominion and certain members of the League), or a mining guild that wishes to break into the Arcanist's Cistern and extract the absurdly immense quantities of findross within.

If you take at least Far Delve III+ and To War, receive +All Attributes upon arrival as the Surgeon recognizes your valor, regardless of which side you pick. This is as onerous as holding down two full-time jobs simultaneously; hopefully your Attainments have at least mitigated your need for sleep.

If you take Far Delve IV, To War, and head a faction that is aggressively and proactively hostile to both sides of the war, receive ++All Attributes instead.

[ ] Maker's Bane [+2 Tokens] - You are easily distracted by lewd suggestions and markedly more amenable to those with high Appearance scores, even if said beings are inimical to your values and interests. Like many adolescent Makers, your libido is off-the-charts active and very likely to lead you into trouble one way or another. Great Wisdom and Willpower may mitigate this to a degree.

OR

[ ] Steward's Bane [+2 Tokens] - You seek to avoid the spotlight and place yourself in a supporting role regardless of your personal power. Given immense esoteric might, you would use it to elevate another and relegate yourself to, at best, the power behind the throne. You are more easily swayed by those you empower and tend to see the best in them, even when doing so would be foolish, and will over-commit to their defense far beyond the point when you ought to have cut your losses.

OR

[ ] Hero's Bane [+5 Insights] - You will live in interesting times.

[ ] Wrack and Ruin [+3 Tokens, +2 Insights] - Your Foremost shell prioritizes immediate might over greater potential to an unhealthy degree. But the pyre of your future growth fuels a present incandescence that can buy much safety, or utility, for the prudent spender.

*All future improvements to your Attributes or supernatural capabilities are decreased by 90%; this applies separately for each source of advancement involved.
*Your form is wreathed in smog and choked with the ash of dying stars. All wonder, grace and magic in the Realms slowly but inexorably declines due to you. This can be reversed with effortful gains, though is unlikely to occur by your hand. You emit a twenty-meter aura of melancholy that drives lesser beings to fatalistic despair. Entities one 'tier' (or more) of power below you are affected, swiftly suffering dysfunctional levels of apathy and psychological corrosion. For example, a mature Foremost would affect adolescent Foremost with this.
*The latter may be mitigated as though it were a Curse. Fully overcoming the Power of Ruin is functionally impossible, though mostly-cosmetic improvements such as removing the ash and smog are easy.

[ ] Refine the Dross [-5 Tokens, +1 Insight] - Sacrifice some portion of the memories that only hold you back to grasp for insights of true worth; exchange the facile sentimentality of experience for the realized purpose of ability. May be taken a total of three times. Each step reduces your memories of your prior Foremost life.

[ ] Artifice Bound [+2 Insights] - You number among those unfortunate Foremost whose essence and identity are bound to a material thing. All your powers emanate from, and are tied to, this object. Should this be removed from your ownership, you will temporarily bleed -All Attributes each day it is not recovered. If it's destroyed, you lose all Attainments gained herein. May choose the object in question within reason, so long as you own it, or create an otherwise-mundane vestment, accessory, or implement to invest your essence in. Regardless the object will blaze with your identity, making known to potential thieves the bounty that awaits them.

This object is as difficult to harm as you are, and has defenses against theft or separation commensurate with your total power level - like a loyal symbiote or the One Ring of Sauron, it knows only one master and will proactively work to return to him. Nonetheless, would-be usurpers in possession of it may wield your active abilities, thence depriving you of them, and receive a bonus to their Attributes commensurate with your overall power level.

[ ] Leal [+1 or +2 Insights] - Select one Patron as your Primary; if you have chosen a Faction they must be a member of that Faction. You are personally loyal to your Primary Patron (though not obligated to take their Attainments) and will generally seek to fulfill their wishes, if not necessarily the letter of their commands.

For +1 Insight, your Primary Patron views you as a valued companion and will take pains not to endanger your life unduly or occupy too much of your time and energy; you reciprocate with your loyalty and earnest service. They will offer aid, mentorship, and companionship within reason if your ethos is at least moderately aligned with theirs.

For +2 Insights, while their amiable regard for you has not changed (save for a willingness to accept the totality of your time), you now are fanatically devoted to your Primary Patron; their goals and objectives are the most important priorities in your life by far and you would certainly be willing to sacrifice your time, relationships and even existence if the payoff to them were spectacular enough.

Regardless, primaries that are less pleasant (such as the Arcanist) will offer greater amounts of aid and mentorship to compensate.

[ ] Hierarch [+1, 2 or 3 Insights] - You are hunted by a Hierarch, one of those Banished who has escaped the torus' gravity well and now seeks a Foremost container from which to usurp title and existence. They will assail you only after utmost preparation, and hold no ethical strictures in the lengths they are willing to pursue to enact their dreamt-of regicide. Should they prevail, your flesh and essence shall be worn as the metaphysical equivalent of a skinsuit as they cavort across helpless lesser realities. Your mentors and allies will not shield you from its attentions; this travail falls to you alone. This Drawback may be taken with the Diplomatic Gambit.

For +1 Insight, the Hierarch is freshly escaped and 'merely' possesses top-end Attributes for a Banished One alongside two of the potential magic systems given in the example. For example, your hunter could possess 30-35 +s in all Mental Attributes, similarly top-range sums in their Physical and Social Attributes, and likely a good deal of Luck and Protection in additional to total mastery of Life and generalized reality manipulation on par with a Foremost Emblem.

For +2 Insights, the Hierarch is a true exemplar possessing maximal Attributes for a Banished One alongside all three potential magic systems; it has divined the hour of your arrival and prepared for a full decade in advance. Its magic systems are strong if imperfect counters to your own abilities.

For +3 Insights, the Hierarch is a rogue Praetorian set loose by the Arcanist in a fit of carelessness, or to test you. It possess Praetorian Attributes and all three potential magic systems, all of which are specifically designed to counter you. It additionally possesses a unique augmentation from the Arcanist's hands which is equivalent in value, if not in nature, to the Perfection Rune (+7 All Attributes). It will lie in wait, preparing for several years more, before it strikes - but when it does, be assured its stroke will fall the moment of your maximum vulnerability; and if its talents lend themselves to proxy warfare, you may search for eons without ever cornering it yourself.

Remain
These Drawbacks are only available to those who Remain. You may take each only once. Effects targeting your world transfer under the Diplomatic Gambit.

[ ] Worldwide [+1 Token] - Everyone in your world knows of you and your build. This might occasionally be advantageous, but be prepared to deal with countless self-interested parties clamoring for your attention, and the hatred of the masses if you took certain Drawbacks.

[ ] Myriad [+2 Tokens, requires Falter II+] - The curse of the dilettante is weakness. You may take no more than one Advancement per Patron.

[ ] Sibling Rivalry [+2 Tokens] - Roll 1d2.

1: Slavering hordes of diminished Orcs appear in your world, and you find them as repugnant as Dien found humanity after his re-awakening. While they are unlikely to threaten you by force of arms (unless you are incredibly weak), they will surely cause much havoc and harm to innocent civilians without a global countermeasure. Individually mediocre, they are nonetheless lead by a Warlord who scales to your world as Jotarun of Yor did to the Manifest Realm - an empire-toppling threat, if he cared to move personally.

2: A small enclave of diminished ithilyor appears in your world, hidden from the general populace. Condescending, punctilious and wildly arrogant, in their cold calculus humans factor even less than beasts. Unopposed they will manipulate the populace towards baffling and humiliating ends. They are especially interested in antagonizing you. Individually competent but few in number, their combined power does not quite match the Orcish Warlord's. Yet they are far more adroit at using it...

If you took Falter V, these races instead treat humanity as good siblings would - they might tease and bully, but will aid you when it truly matters.

[ ] Inheritor's Bane [+1 Insight] - You suffer a specific ban related to the Foremost whose attainments you spent this Insight on.

*Ban of the Emissary - Before participating in violent conflict you must make generous, wholehearted, and sincere efforts to come to an agreement or broker peace, even if you are the one attacked.
*Ban of the Surgeon - You need worthy enemies. Every so often you will seek out opposition that promises to bring you at least near the limits of your competence and power; if none exists you will seek to create it. This conflict needn't be lethal, so long as the stakes are high; gambling your life's savings on a card game tournament is viable enough, if those savings were actually hard-won.
*Ban of the Shogun - You must rule. You seek military and political power and will not stop until you are hegemon of all you survey. Rivals must be cut down, never appeased. This doesn't of itself impel you to seek dominion over higher realms or entities whose province is not inherently military or political: a devout king would be willing to remain subject to God, just not the Pope.
*Ban of the Arcanist - You care not. You are majestically indifferent to moral and ethical concerns. Still, you certainly won't go out of your way to antagonize the plebians by committing atrocities in plain view or without purpose. May retain a few personal lines you won't cross, but monstrous acts are generally fair game in the advancement of your Art.
*Weekend Ban - May be spent on any Foremost. You suffer an unstoppable malaise that incapacitates you, though it's only active 25% of the time. While active it's somewhat unpleasant on the order of a moderate fever. You control which days of the week it strikes.

[ ] Sunder the Veil, Lesser or Greater [+1 or 5 Insights] - Invite supernatural incursion or equivalent forces into your world. (You may roll to see which version you get, or choose in exchange for a +30% buff to the overall capabilities of your enemies)

For 1 Insight, supernatural interference will be relatively light and contained -

*Street-level superheroes and supervillains will emerge over the course of weeks, with the very strongest taking years to approach city-destroying levels.
*World of Darkness-level vampires, werewolves and changelings are retroactively added to your realm. Even their elders will struggle to match modern armed forces in a direct conflict, but their powers of mental influence over the unshielded are substantial.
*Nineteen other humans with a diverse range of backgrounds and ethical dispositions will also receive the benefits of Remaining, but they receive no access to Drawbacks save this one.

For 5 Insights, said interference will be intrusive and extremely dangerous. Grasp greedily for power, wholly shredding the veil of mundanity that sheltered your unripe world from intercession. For your hubris you are forever barred from acquiring Emblems, though other paths to power do exist.

*Aliens emerge whose technology is billions of years more advanced than humanity's own. While their values are not wholly antithetical to yours, they are sufficiently different to invite armed conflict given time. Expect them to possess reliable and quick FTL, casual sun-busting firepower, materially perfect nanotechnology and strong aligned AIs at minimum. However they have no access to magic or ability to reliably detect it.
*A System Apocalypse descends upon the world: humanity is butchered by the millions as dungeons erupt, spewing forth hordes of supernaturally-empowered warriors. These are little threat to one with 5+ Insights spent wisely, but a few of the largest dungeons must be semi-regularly cleared lest they spawn Uber monsters capable of confronting even you. All the standard tropes of System Apocalypse dungeon delving will be present without any conveniently mitigating plot armor for humanity as a species. While not as imminently dangerous as the other options, you must advance quickly or be outscaled by ever-evolving foes with a full arsenal of magics - monster and System-empowered human alike.
*One of the Lesser scenarios fearsomely augmented: your world swiftly becomes as dangerous as mainline Marvel / DC; you must contend with Antediluvians and Archmasters as the End Times cometh; or four other humans with complete and very optimized Remain builds (including this Drawback) become present on your planet, with at least two of them holding values you find to be intolerable or abhorrent.

If you Remain and possess Tokens from Falter, Fool's Gambit, or Fate of the Foremost, you may sacrifice ten of those Tokens to acquire one of the following Emblems:
*Shogun: Unsetting Sun
*Arcanist: Perfection
*Surgeon: Courage
*Egotist: Uttermost
*Emissary: Greater Good

Obviously, this yields no benefit if you are barred from acquiring Emblems.

 

[Rihaku]

And now for some builds!

A Box of Scraps
Remain
Drawbacks: Disfiguring Gambit, Worldwide, Sibling Rivalry, Weekend Ban, Sunder the Veil Greater: System Apocalypse (+5T, +6I)
Total Budget: 10 Tokens, 7 Insights

Surgeon: Engineer, Brains and Brawn (Dexterity) (-5 Tokens, -3 Insights)
Emissary: Highborn, Gift (Engineer -> Maker) (-5 Tokens, -3 Insights)
Shogun: Honing the Form (-1 Token)

Maker
Rather than diluting his focus with a domain, the prospective Maker directs his efforts utterly to the creation and continuous improvement of a single class of item. Typically these are implements of broad usefulness or great underlying utility: symbiotic armor with a myriad of potential applications, rings of power that can influence countless domains, swords of legend with variegated stories attached.

In doing so, paradoxically the Maker may access effects of scope and rarity far beyond even the Surgeon's science; in both ease of creation and actual output they are subject to an effectively unlimited paradigm within the broad thematic bounds of their item class, rather than the underlying physics of the universe in which they reside.

+7 Intelligence, Wits, Agility and Constitution. May imbue virtually any effect into the item class so long as there is some historical, mythical, or cultural precedent (which may be as a threadbare as a single Noble Phantasm or Iron Man suit) for that connection, with the actual strength of said effects commensurate to one's total Attributes.

Brains and Brawn (Dexterity) grants the same scaling and potency benefits as before, but narrows this purview to a single item which may be endlessly rebuilt and improved upon: for the loremaster who has crafted a thousand paltry rings of power, is less than a whisper before the Lord of the Rings who forged the One.

A fairly simple but powerful build, which I'd probably actually take. While only possessing a relatively modest +29 Dexterity, this build doesn't take any crippling flaws and has very good initial safety due to Highborn and Honing the Form. Once I forge my Cosmic Symbiote Armor out of a box of scraps I will be well capable of resolving the system apocalypse nigh-singlehandedly, and my future scaling suffices to keep me well ahead of any arrogant gamers that may emerge. It's nowhere near the 40 - 50 Dexterity +s that a dedicated monofocus build could achieve, but the effectively unlimited breadth of my purview and relative lack of pressing challenges means that in time I will be able to get pretty much everything I want with exceptional odds of success.

The Maker attainment is also quite useful if you happen to be Artifice Bound!

Sweeper
Take the Plunge

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment..."

Drawbacks: Leal I (Surgeon), Hierarch I, Far Delve IV, Artifice Bound (Prayer Beads), Refine the Dross II
To War, Maker's Bane, Disfiguring Gambit, Epochal Nemesis [Net +7 Tokens, +8 Insights, +1 All Attributes]

Total Budget: 22 Tokens, 18 Insights

Surgeon - All Attainments: 7 Tokens 9 Insights
*Engineer: Smithing
*Brains and Brawn: Willpower
*Bravado: Emblem of Courage, Emblem of Wisdom
Egotist - All Attainments: 9 Tokens 9 Insights
*Strive: Wisdom
*Duality: Yin Path (+28 Wisdom, + 14 Willpower)
*Uttermost: Transcendental Meditation (Life, Mind, Spirit, Essence - Very Broad, -4 casting Attribute penalty. Scales off Wisdom)
Emissary - Pathos, Diplomatic Immunity: 3 Tokens

This build is also very simple: take all the Surgeon and Egotist attainments. If I were willing to go to Arrogant Gambit, I could also take the second Shogun Attainment for an easy +5 eventual Wisdom, but my existing total of 61 Wisdom +s (20 Emblem + 5 Brains/Brawn + 5 Strive + 28 Uttermost + 2 Pathos + 1 All Attributes) is very formidable already, and I can get to 62 via Away if necessary. Seize the Day from the Surgeon weaponizes that Wisdom into immediate safety via a colossal Rank score (helped along by 39 Willpower +s and +3.0 raw Rank from Bravado). My Crowned Halo elites boast 51 +s in their primary Attribute, shoring up further weaknesses, and Transcendental Meditation (which at this level basically encompasses feats in the vein of the post-ascension Buddha) is a fitting capstone to further capitalize on my Wisdom focus. A one-insight Heirarch is no match for the combination of my Rank and Transcendental Meditation with a 57 +s casting stat, so immediate ambush is not in the cards.

A life of jolly adventure as the inverse Sanzhang to Dien's Wukong awaits. Given Diplomatic Immunity and my absurd stats, I might even be able to eventually convince Dien to wear that headband!

 

[Orm Embar]

El Stat

Choice: Take the Plunge +15T & 10I
Shogun: Harm Cognition -1T, Honing the Mind -2T, Honing the Form -1I
Arcanist: N/A
Surgeon: Away! -2T, Engineer (Biology: Augmentation) -5T, Seize the Day -1I, Brains & Brawn (Dexterity) -3I, Bravado (Wisdom) -5I
Egotist: Strive (Agility) -2T, Unblinking Tempest -2T, Duality (Yin: Agility, Wits) -5T & 1I, Crowned Halo -3I, Uttermost (Yin) -5I
Emissary: N/A
Drawbacks: Disfiguring Gambit +2T, Foresworn (League of Adventure) +2T, Epochal Nemesis +3T / Refine the Dross x3 -15T & +3I, Steward's Bane +2T, To War +5T, Far Delve IV +5T & 2I, Leal (Surgeon) +1I, Artifice Bound (Scalpel) +2I, Hierarch +1I

Chief among the determinants of victory is speed. Specifically, the fine motor coordination that's correlated with engineering proficiency. Behold, one stat to rule them all: not Intelligence, but Dexterity!

75 Dexterity is a frankly terrifying number. It's not even the maximum possible, since El Stat is Foresworn and can't claim the Surgeon's second All Attributes bounty for leading a faction opposed to both sides! There's no longer any need to take a Curse with Uttermost, so I can pick up an Insight from Leal without having to elect Martyrdom over Tyranny.

Driven by the Steward's Bane and my own Disfigured countenance, as El Stat I'll sequester myself within my laboratories to churn out enhancements for my Halo civilization. As the Hierarch's only T1 and lacks a decade's prep time, it'll be obliterated in short order once the build's up and running. From there, I can delegate Far Delve's stabilization to minions and focus on augmenting the League's forces.

My Uttermost magic is either some kind of 'Speed Force,' improving the quality of craft based on the alacrity of its completion, or the Incarnadine Marrow, the stuff of life which amplifies my creations when working alongside others of their kind. No doubt Dien will be happy to offer tips to optimize their performance.

Edit: Swapped FotF for Epochal Nemesis, since Far Delve IV gives 2 Tokens now and there's no risk of infiltrators triggering Martyr. Higher difficulty in the medium term in exchange for not being doomed in the long term, but this is not a risk-averse build. And unlike the Hierarch, mentors can help against Nemeses.

 

[Rihaku]

75 Dexterity is a frankly terrifying number. It's not even the maximum possible, since El Stat is Foresworn and can't claim the Surgeon's second All Attributes bounty for leading a faction opposed to both sides! As I'm affiliated with the League of Adventure, I have to take the Martyr's Doom instead of the Tyrant's, but at least I can pick up an Insight from Leal as a consolation prize.

Click to shrink...

You will be happy to discover that Uttermost Path and Far Delve IV have been buffed in the final version!

 

[Robotninja]

Select another Attainment you possess. Upgrade it to the Fourth-Attainment level.

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Could this upgrade Servitor Call so that it summons a team of 5 servitors instead of just one?

 

[Fumbles]

Build: I can't believe it's not Messiah!

I believe my Gift upgrade for Diplomatic Immunity was fairly modest, I noted the changes. The build is tremendously straightforward, I keep living my life as is with superpowers, train and prepare to enter politics with my tremendous personal ability in that vein, and try to steer the world towards peace and prosperity while this god damned worm reference of a drawback kicks off.
I'd add in some Changeling-the-Lost style Pledge powers that let me give more carrots and sticks to my agreements, but I'm not sure that's in bounds or in keeping with the emissary's themes.

[F] Remain Here
[F] Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [Gift] [Second, 2 Tokens] - The reasonable are disinclined to attack you without provocation, and you are empowered to make binding compacts.

*++Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance.
*+++++++Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance. +++Intelligence, Willpower, and Endurance.
*You may use the higher of your Charisma and Manipulation to defend against physical harm as though it were your Agility.
*Note that, in some realms, extremely (35+) high levels of Charisma and Appearance may achieve this innately as reality warps to defend them.
*You may seal agreements between two or more parties. Should all parties consent AND OR the agreement is, in your view, at least reasonably fair, then each party shall be held to the spirit of the agreement.
*Those whose total Attributes are overwhelmingly higher than yours might flout or even shatter this binding given effort.

[F] Emissary: Highborn [Third, 5 Tokens]
[F] Emissary: The Gift [Fourth, 3 Insights]
[F] Foresworn [+2 Tokens] - You must pick a side (Arcanist, Emissary)
[F] Inheritor's Bane [+1 Insight] - You suffer a specific ban related to the Foremost whose attainments you spent this Insight on.
*Ban of the Emissary - Before participating in violent conflict you must make generous, wholehearted, and sincere efforts to come to an agreement or broker peace, even if you are the one attacked.
[F] Sunder the Veil, Lesser [+1 Insights] - Invite supernatural incursion or equivalent forces into your world.
*Street-level superheroes and supervillains will emerge over the course of weeks, with the very strongest taking years to approach city-destroying levels.

Fumbles threw 1 3-faced dice. Reason: Supernatural Interference Total: 1

 

[Rihaku]

Could this upgrade Servitor Call so that it summons a team of 5 servitors instead of just one?

Click to shrink...

Sure. Doing that alone would be a small fraction of the Gift's buff. It could also improve your INT by 7 +s for purposes of casting Servitor Call and give each Servitor a superpower scaling to the average of its Attributes and suited to its intended purpose.

 

[Robotninja]

Sure. Doing that alone would be a small fraction of the Gift's buff. It could also improve your INT by 7 +s for purposes of casting Servitor Call and give each Servitor a superpower scaling to the average of its Attributes and suited to its intended purpose.

Click to shrink...

Excellent. Then take it with Specialization in Servitor Call to summon an entire team of minions who are just as capable as us.

 

[Rihaku]

Dien is a surprisingly popular patron!

[F] Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity Gift] [Second, 2 Tokens] - The reasonable are disinclined to attack you without provocation, and you are empowered to make binding compacts.

*++Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance.
*+++++++Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance. +++Intelligence, Willpower, and Endurance.
*You may use the higher of your Charisma and Manipulation to defend against physical harm as though it were your Agility.
*Note that, in some realms, extremely (35+) high levels of Charisma and Appearance may achieve this innately as reality warps to defend them.
*You may seal agreements between two or more parties. Should all parties consent AND OR the agreement is, in your view, at least reasonably fair, then each party shall be held to the spirit of the agreement.
*Those whose total Attributes are overwhelmingly higher than yours might flout or even shatter this binding given effort.

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That OR takes up a lot of power budget, given that it lets you unilaterally impose agreements on two parties without their consent as long as you think the agreement is 'reasonably fair,' but you could probably still buff this a bit more. Take the stat +s up to 35 total, and allow your Appearance to act as Protection +s, for example. After all, this is competing with the likes of Brains & Brawn or High Arcana!

 

[HoratioVonBecker]

The First Aspect is what you might label a being's true soul. It reincarnates and holds stored memories of each incarnation. It's what Daylight shines on to make you remember your past. To a large extent, it's the Aspect from which Expression extrudes outwards to affect reality. It's what you burn as fuel to become an Arrant Incarnation.

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You burn it? Is it an infinite fuel source?

The Second Aspect is the seat of the mind and spirit. It's what holds about ninety-nine percent of your magics. It's what holds your true consciousness. It's what decides Primacy. When you wear a Ring of Power, the process of clarifying its domain causes the Second Aspect to swell and leak down to your Third, enhancing it.

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'True consciousness'. So it's the thing that is normally meant by the English word 'soul'? And it doesn't reincarnate. Is Fortification one of those one-in-a-hundred exceptions? Xianxia tropes say 'maybe, but only if you're specifically a Body Cultivator'.

And the Third is your material body in this material world. Hence Third Impact being a huge explosion.

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Ahah.

So I guess the basic idea of Corpse Splicing is to copy Second Aspects (specifically the magical bits) by splicing Third ones, producing a hyperdimensional chimera which sort of resembles a parasite cleric. Is that the sort of thing you'd expect to exist somewhere in the Ormulum, and for the Traveler to have picked up?

 

[Robotninja]

Plan Summon Lord
Take the Plunge

All Arcanist picks 15 tokens, 10 insights
Savant- Summoning Rune
Emblem- Mastery
Emblem Exalted

Emissary up to the Gift 8 tokens, 3 insights
The Gift- Focus on buffing the summon quantity. Gives 72 Summons for that Goetia refrence. Perhaps less.

Arcanist's Gambit +4
Foresworn +2
Epochal Nemesis +3

Far Delve II +2
To War +5
Stewards Bane +2
Refine the Dross II -10 tokens, +2 insights
Leal (Arcanist) I +1 insight

The plan for this is simple. Why do things myself when I can summon absurdly powerful and competent minions to do it for me? Each of them has their own unique supernatural abilities that are only slightly weaker than I am. The arcanist is the best mentor for me by far given my picks.

 

[Birdsie]

You burn it? Is it an infinite fuel source?

Click to shrink...

No, you're converting your Aspect. No more reincarnations for you.

I've already made a lot of builds for Foremost, but I'll see if I have anything left in my tank later...

 

[Rihaku]

The Best Defense
Take the Plunge
Drawbacks: Leal I (Emissary), Hierarch II, Far Delve IV, Artifice Bound (Blade), Refine the Dross I, To War - Kid Gloves Off, Maker's Bane, Disfiguring Gambit, Epochal Nemesis [Net +11 Tokens, +10 Insights, +1 All Attributes]

All Shogun Attainments (3T, 10I*)
*Foremost, Fearless Blade: +10 Int, Wits, Will, Agi, Con
All Arcanist Attainments (15T, 10I)
*Glory Unto the Maker: Sacrifice Camaraderie, Sacrifice Restraint (self). Emblem: Perfection; Emblem: Exalted; Emblem: Savant (Summoning Rune)
Emissary to Highborn (8T)

This build hits 50 Int +s, which means a Servitor with 45 +s in All Stats besides Luck and Protection. Its moment of greatest challenge is the initial Hierarch fight, but Unsetting Sun and my surprisingly high quickness (Wits and Agi 10 Blade + 15 Exalted + 7 Perfection + 5 Honing + 2 Highborn + 1 All Attributes = 40 +s each) means I should be able to cast multiple Augmented Runes before the Hierarch, with its mere 35 Wits +s and 25 Agi +s, can ever have a realistic chance of downing me - even assuming its magics can somewhat pierce the Unsetting Sun, which is not unreasonable if it has an Emblem-level effect that naturally counters mine. Ten years' prep is a powerful trump, but unlikely to cross a gulf of sheer superiority represented by 15 Int +s, 5 Wits +s, and 15 Agi +s married to the top-tier magic of Foremost Runes. And once my Servitor is out, the Hierarch's build is probably just not broad enough to handle all our combined capabilities.

In the mid term this build gets to 54 +s from Honing the Mind. More powerful pure casters certainly exist if one drops Unsetting Sun for Emissary - Gift or Surgeon - Brains & Brawn, but they lose the nearly all-powerful defensive emblem that makes sacrificing Restraint feasible.

 

[HoratioVonBecker]

It's quite alright! Posting blurbs is a long and storied tradition in this quest. Your choice would significantly narrow down the scope of the Litanies, but that's hardly the worst choice when you have the full fruits of the multiverse on offer. Having them progress intuitively may well be worthwhile.

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I thought Sublime Fusions specifically couldn't be weaker than their constituent parts?

No, you're converting your Aspect. No more reincarnations for you.

Click to shrink...

In that case I don't want it. Full resurrection of my past selves shouldn't have to come with much greater risk of truedeath.

General
General Drawbacks that anyone can take. You may receive no more than 10 Tokens from Drawbacks.

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From these drawbacks, or from any drawbacks?

Take the Plunge
These Drawbacks are available to those who Took the Plunge. Unless explicitly noted, you may take each only once, and in total may not receive more than +20 Tokens and +10 Insights from Drawbacks.

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So if I got ten tokens from the General Drawbacks and twenty from these, I could have thirty tokens? What if I took ten tokens from General Drawbacks and all the Remain drawbacks?

Rebel Magus: Physical Attributes 2-4 +s, Mental Attributes 4-6 +s, Social Attributes 1-5 +s, varying magics comparable in power, if not in function, to the lower Arcana. This transient from another dimension, having been forcibly moved here through no fault of their own, now seeks to lash out at the bastions of reality in uncomprehending rage. Their confusion is pitiable, but such tantrums ought not be tolerated lest in their flailing they stumble upon unshorn truths sufficient to catalyze Accession.

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Okay, a reminder that the Foremost are Bad People.

Titan: Physical Attributes 65/55/45 +s,

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What order does that go in? I don't believe Which Stats Exist is actually listed in the Attribute section.

[ ] Leal [+1 or +2 Insights] - Select one Patron as your Primary; if you have chosen a Faction they must be a member of that Faction. You are personally loyal to your Primary Patron (though not obligated to take their Attainments) and will generally seek to fulfill their wishes, if not necessarily the letter of their commands.

For +1 Insight, your Primary Patron views you as a valued companion and will take pains not to endanger your life unduly or occupy too much of your time and energy; you reciprocate with your loyalty and earnest service. They will offer aid, mentorship, and companionship within reason if your ethos is at least moderately aligned with theirs.

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Can this mitigate the Arcanist's Wisdom problem?

+7 Intelligence, Wits, Agility and Constitution. May imbue virtually any effect into the item class so long as there is some historical, mythical, or cultural precedent (which may be as a threadbare as a single Noble Phantasm or Iron Man suit) for that connection, with the actual strength of said effects commensurate to one's total Attributes.

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Does this actually limit you at all, given the ability to just make even mildly popular new stories? Even if your own cultural engineering doesn't count, picking "CYOA documents" as your item class should give you Archon+ omnipotence.

If I were willing to go to Arrogant Gambit, I could also take the second Shogun Attainment for an easy +5 eventual Wisdom

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Why not the Maker's or Steward's Bane, given your WIS focus?

 

[Questionable]

In that case I don't want it. Full resurrection of my past selves shouldn't have to come with much greater risk of truedeath.

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We are very sorry to hear that, would you like to fill a complaint form to HR?

 

[OctarineShrike]

@HoratioVonBecker

I asked about drawback benefit caps in Discord.

If you take the plunge you can get +20 Tokens and +10 Insights from Drawbacks.

If you remain you can get 7 insights total(Starting, Inheritors Bane, and Greater Sunder the Veil) and as many tokens from the General and Remain drawbacks as you can take. Which means a theoretical maximum of 35 tokens(5 starting tokens+5 Falter+5 Fools Gambit+2 Foresworn+3 Epochal Nemesis+10 Fate of the FOremost+1 Worldwide+2 Myriad+2 Sibling Rivalry) if you remain assuming I understood Rihaku correctly. Though it could also be interpreted as 20 tokens if you cap the general category at 10 tokens gained(5 Starting Tokens+10 Fate of the Foremost+1 Worldwide+2 Myriad+2 Sibling Rivalry)

 

[Zampano]

im gonna take fool's gambit.
im gonna do it.

Zampano threw 1 11-faced dice. Reason: I am a fool Total: 2

 

[qwolfs]

Chill Bravo​

[ ] Take the Plunge -
[ ] Shogun: Harm Cognition [First, 1 Token] -
[ ] Shogun: Honing the Mind [Second, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Surgeon: Away! [First, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Surgeon: Engineer [Second, 5 Tokens] - Gravity
[ ] Surgeon: Seize the Day [Third, 1 Insight] -
[ ] Surgeon: Brains & Brawn [Fourth, 3 Insights] - Will
[ ] Surgeon: Bravado [Fifth, 5 Insights] - Wisdom
[ ] Egotist: Strive [First, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Egotist: Unblinking Tempest [Second, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Egotist: Duality [Third, 5 Tokens and 1 Insight] - Yin
[ ] Emissary: Pathos [First, 1 Tokens] -
[ ] Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [Second, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Emissary: Highborn [Third, 5 Tokens] -
[ ] Gambit [+5 Tokens] - Egotist: Decimator
[ ] Far Delve II - Level Two [+2 Tokens]:
[ ] To War [+5 Tokens] -
Credit: 27T 10I
Debit: 27T 10I

Noteworthy Attributes: 22 Wits, 35 Willpower, 53 Wisdom
This should place base Rank at 10+ and full rank at 13+.

Not as impressive as the other builds, but, given a gentle Fools Gambit, a pretty comfy one instead. Become, in essence, some guy, who happens to have a moderately high rank even in this Foremost realm.

Your primary dangers, excepting a potential Apocryphal or Hubris roll, are the weird music notes, whose massive agility is ameliorated by Unblinking Tempest, and the War, where your Rank and Wisdom will have to do the heavy lifting of keeping you safe.

If possible, take advantage of some deep lore and pick a gravity domain for Engineer, see about creating an Astral singularity to catalyze infinite Rank in yourself. It probably won't work, you aren't Hunger and don't have a Lathe of Heaven on top, but it's worth looking into. For a more comfy domain, pick architecture or something, become the go to guy for shallow Delving.

Just Leave​

[ ] Take the Plunge -
[ ] Arcanist: Imago [First, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Arcanist: Servitor Call [Second, 3 Tokens] -
[ ] Arcanist: Lower Arcana [Third, 2 Insights] -
[ ] Arcanist: High Arcana [Fourth, 3 Insights] -
[ ] Arcanist: Glory Unto the Maker [Fifth, 10 Tokens and 5 Insights] - *Emblem: Mastery -
[ ] Emissary: Pathos [First, 1 Tokens] -
[ ] Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [Second, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Emissary: Highborn [Third, 5 Tokens] -
[ ] Gambit [+1 Tokens] - Emissary: Cthuhlutech (Hi)
[ ] Foresworn [+2 Tokens] - Dominion
[ ] Epochal Nemesis [+3 Tokens] -
[ ] Steward's Bane [+2 Tokens] -

Credit: 16T 10I
Debit: 16T 10I

A very simple, and pretty weak, build. You have less than peak human attributes, and can barely manage an enhanced casting int of 17. That's not terrible, but in a world where the rapine storm is led by an avatar of a hi-King in Yellow that's more useful for escaping than serious combat.

Unfortunately for your Epochal Nemesis, what a single person can escape with a few spells, is much harder to escape with a civilization. This setting is particularly hostile to civilization, and your skill set simply doesn't allow for easy answers. If your Nemesis wants to keep its people alive, and they aren't fanatics so they do, a significant amount of their time and effort will have to go to surviving and establishing themselves in this world. Because they only match you when united they are also vulnerable to being subverted, split off, or otherwise taken apart piece meal, which is what this world is also good at.

While certainly not easy, it should be possible to overcome your Nemesis reliably. Well, so long as you fall victim to this world as well.

For this build Stewards Bane isn't too bad, your Servitor was always going to be a solid target for empowerment and their loyalty is reasonably secure.

Glory unto the Maker provides a bonus Emblem, which means you don't actually have to make a sacrifice if you take Imago. You use that to pick Mastery, which let's you train up your Findross reserves, increases your regeneration enough to constantly maintain Mentation, and let's you cheat 10 years of Harmonic practice.

There are settings you could go to, extremely misanthropic xianxia settings for example, where a single moderately strong individual might be alright, but a civilization of similar calibre is a target for subjugation. In a similar vein, if you were making a Remain build, going to Subnautica would infect everyone with the virus. If you have Diplomatic Immunity you might be able to sue for peace, in return for helping them create the cure.

Epochal Nemesis is a tricky drawback to work around, if you don't pick up a civ of your own, but I wanted to give it a try.

qwolfs threw 1 11-faced dice. Reason: Apocryphal? Total: 9

 

[Lealope]

I thought Sublime Fusions specifically couldn't be weaker than their constituent parts?

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Weaken them? No. focus them? Sure, if you roll with it that way.

Why not the Maker's or Steward's Bane, given your WIS focus?

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The build you're talking about is already the Maker's Bane build.

 

[Rihaku]

The Greatest Number
Take the Plunge

Hierarch I, Far Delve IV, Artifice Bound (Blade), Refine the Dross III, To War: Doubly Hostile Faction (Humanitarian Society), Fate of the Foremost I, Maker's Bane, Epochal Nemesis [Net +5 Tokens, +8 Insights]

All Egotist Attainments (9 Tokens, 10* Insights)
*Duality: Yang Path
*Crowned Halo: Highborn
*Uttermost: Utter Binding (Triple Yang Path), High Vitalism (it's Vitalism with the limits removed. Versatile, but requires prep time and dependent on multiple Attributes - Int, Wis, Dex, Con - to use to its potential)
Surgeon: Away (2 Tokens)
Shogun: Harm Cognition (1 Token)
All Emissary Attainments (8 Tokens, 8 Insights)
*Gift: Away! -> Defeat Equals Friendship

Defeat Equals Friendship
*Receive two floating +7 bonuses that apply to the two Attributes most relevant to your present situation.
*When you land a physical strike or inflict physical damage on a being, you may choose to substitute a commensurate direct modification of their disposition towards you instead. For example, by landing a blow that would completely overcome a foe, you may instead leave them unharmed and completely overcome with friendliness towards you. This allows for broadly more functional allies and servants than the baseline Away. Blows of lethal power pulled this way pierce resistances to mental influence appropriate to the degree of overkill damage.
*Your stalwart friends and allies find it easier to keep up with your own growth in any area; their limits more pliant, their potential enhanced. This effect is stronger the further beneath your present capabilities they are.
*No longer need to carve away components of yourself for Away's +All Attributes. Instead, in the spirit of jolly camaraderie you will receive said boon immediately if the Surgeon judges you to have undertaken a quest congruent with his ideals. The default challenge (To War + Far Delve III+) qualifies.

---

A build with less focus on relentlessly raising a singular stat. With triple Yang Path and 2x the Surgeon's boon of Courage plus Defeat Equals Friendship we have +33 (+40) All Attributes, and our elites +30. Even our experts sit at an impressive +17 All Attributes.

Though our faction is ostensibly hostile to both sides, the Arcanist's Dominion never takes such things seriously and our Emblem and purpose ensure that the Emissary will aid us subtly when it is ethical for her to do so. Mid term, our plan is to travel the Beneath and rescue + recruit Banished Ones to our cause - most will have to live in semi-stabilized outposts in the far Beneath but the most compatible with us can see a new lease on existence as the spiritual component of Vitalist organs, cementing their presence in reality and granting our faction access to their Emblem-level powers.

Our ultimate goal is to overturn the casual horror of the Arcanist's many projects and find a way for her genius to coexist with others - then it's onwards to improve the greater multiverse until the Fate of the Foremost kicks in. Hopefully by that time we'll have scaled enough to survive a few billion more years, but even our allotted span of a billion allows us to get much done with 33 Wits and Agi +s... in even one year we could experience more acts and occasions than a thousand mortal lifetimes!

 

[Robotninja]

If your Nemesis wants to keep its people alive, and they aren't fanatics so they do, a significant amount of their time and effort will have to go to surviving and establishing themselves in this world.

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Or they could be a society of eldritch horrors.

 

[qwolfs]

Or they could be a society of eldritch horrors.

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Unless they "happen" to be Eldritch horrors who are, somehow, at peace with every other major power on or near earth this won't change much.

qwolfs threw 1 11-faced dice. Reason: Fools Gambit: Total: 2

 

[Robotninja]

Unless they "happen" to be Eldritch horrors who are, somehow, at peace with every other major power on or near earth this won't change much.

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Maybe, maybe not. They could have advantages from feeding on people, or whatever.

 

[Zampano]

Nepo Baby

Take the Plunge
Foresworn, Fool's Gambit (Brand of the Champion), Fate of the Foremost (minor), Far Delve 3, Artifice Bound, Leal (major), Hierarch 2, Refine the Dross 3
Budget: 12 tokens, 20 Insights

Purchases:
All Shogun Advancements
Blade: Faultless, Fortress (Shroud: Evoker's Panoply)
All Egotist Advancements
Duality: Taiji Path
Crowned Halo: City State (default)
Uttermost: Tripled Yang Path, immunity to mind affecting, Alchemy
Magic system: God-King: Providence provides +Luck to self and equivalent -Luck to enemies, scaled to my Wits. Effect is amplified by # of worshippers

Statline at start: 30, All Stats
With Shogun training over time, INT-> 34, WIT/WIL-> 37.

Problems:
My soul and power-system is a detatchable magic item. I've got an escalating crush on the Shogun, who is basically just polite to me when we pass in the hallway. I burned all of my memories and personality to pay for a cool robot sword, but it hasn't hatched into an Armament yet and I couldn't even afford the ISH upgrade or Nova-equivalent stats. Nobody will talk to me until after I've resolved their quest hook. I have to clear out all the Hierarchs and Titans from the local ontology's basement. One of those Hierarchs is stalking me and wants to wear me like a skinsuit. And the Praehihr are coming back.


Perks:
I am incarnated as an embryonic Foremost (statline 30) with the defenses of an adolescent (statline 50). The Hierarch stalking me is only a little smarter than me, and has decisively lower physical stats at quest start. My unbreakable sword is going to grow into a giant unbreakable space robot that I can use to terraform a dyson sphere to hold my dystopic battery of human faith-batteries worshiping the robot. End of list.


I rolled Fool's Gambit hoping to unlock Utter binding, but ended up buying FotJ to make that happen. Even though I start with +14/+7 from Taiji path, the stat bonus is fully overpowered by the tripled Yang Path. My statline starts at 30, but with few of the esoteric capabilities that a 20-insight build would normally have. I don't exactly have the scaling curve necessary to evict the Titans from the far Beneath, but they're unlikely to be able to kill me while I'm exploring. So my guess is that I survive long enough to be moderately useful for early-stage Curse Mitigation before getting killed in the first round of Apocryphal procs at time T+1Billion years.