but what about the chance of ntr
The pact is sealed, tag me when you'd like to call your marker in.
Have you considered that Arthur demonstrated the prototype of not only Slumber but also Lunacy? We've already read a quest in which, 'their happiness and safety are certainly more important than your own and you will find it difficult to refuse even their slightest whims.' IIRC Imperia wasn't your favourite taskmaster.
Yeah, that's the primary reason Forsaken Mask's last in my preference ordering despite it being - from a standpoint that prioritizes IC decisions and the protagonist's happiness - a frontrunner. Black box waifu, horrible drama or weakness if incompatible with Lunacy, and a lack of agency if she is. Every option implies a certain sort of person, and someone who would choose the Mask is unlikely to earn further Wishes. I'm just pointing out silver linings.
Isn't it likely to happen anyway regardless of how you avoid it? We got an Elven Waifu in EFB, had Jeanne in AST, etc.
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There's an incentive to grind for wishes, because he can bring back more of his companions, because he could gain a power system designed to help mitigate one of the every growing dangers to his wife (the brand), to hyper optomize a Geas of Lunacy canidate so he can ensure we're not screwed over, a safety net in case they die (time travel instead of re-raising them, so as to kill multiple birds with one stone), and so much more.
Conveniently, keeping Plenary gives us a tremendous number of those. We start with 1, are almost at 2 more after accounting for participation bonuses, and gain a final 3 for a grand total of 6 Lesser Remittances. What a decadent bounty of power... or Accursed Favor, should we forgo it. Seriously, that's the hidden benefit of Dread but Dreaming; not having to ration at the next spending point. Just because the shiny blurbs aren't sitting in front of us right this second doesn't mean they don't exist! Delayed gratification's the name of the game.
Well, first, none of that gives us the Imperial Praxis.
)
I admit, this tempted me more than it should. Build Votes are fun. I still haven't decided on my second vote but it will either go to Dread because it's the second Freedom choice or Vendetta: The King's Scepter because if Vendetta is going to win, might as well choose the one with best survival plan.Hmm.
[X] Accretion
[X] Balance
[X] Vendetta
-[X]Remittance: The King's
(Insert the top 10 anime betrayals meme here, since I probably have an argument value of 0 with my rampant vote swapping
Accretion, of course, is an aesthetic vote. I'm not going to justify it seriously beyond 'I like it', and it's hardly relevant in the long run.
But Vendetta.. it's a playstyle of Exalted, Most High, which seems thematically appropriate in us followingthe AccursedOddysial's footsteps, and well, who doesn't find that interesting? And then there is the deeper looking into what a quest really is. It's struggle, that reach to go ever higher, even further beyond. And perhaps in going for an idyllic lifestyle, there might a missing of point involved. Build votes, so often lambasted as 'build vote hell', aren't. If they were really were hell, would we be so involved, so invested in the outcome of a Build Vote?
I think not.
Rather, build votes are the quintessential distillation of progression, that all-critical component of a quest. Without it a quest would be hamstrung, the blacksmith without a hammer, then bowman with no bow. Indeed, that very progression and suffering is perhaps far more important than any start or endpoint of the quest or journey. Would EFB's ending of Baenlixnaier's return hold any weight if posted right after the beginning plot of an unnamed character brought from Earth to play a part in the games of the Cruel Fates? I highly doubt it.
So within Vendetta, that leaves Sword and The King. Well, The Sword is more power, has better potential, so on and so forth. The King has safety, the better guarantee of an existent quest, the Hero's journey. Personally, I expect my utility from either of them assuming a surviving first world to be about identical. So, The King it this. Plus, it feels ethically dubious to compel all the content creators on this quest to create endless amounts of content.
So I say, embrace the engine of progression. Build votes forever.
