Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
He's looking pretty fly for a dead guy, though.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Earth
Saving just seems more practical right now? I can probably be convinced to switch because Wreath isn't that far behind in my head as something reasonable to pick, but as I understand things right now, this appears safer/practical/etc.
edit: also, I rarely actually trust my own judgment/"true preferences" anyway because BOY am I bad at logic sometimes
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- Location
- Canada
I might have gone a little overboard with this one...(1616 Words)
Let's go with this:
{X} Don't take Lesser Remmitances
{X} Combat
-{X} The Body
{X} A Farm
As much as I like Crafting I just don't think it's the right call to invest this much power into one equipment when one suffer from the Doom of the Martyr. Muscle Wizard is not generally my favorite aesthetic but it's not like we won't be able to do anything else, I didn't pick Intensify after all! Plus, Hunger is mostly focused on swording and that's still very entertaining to read, so what's wrong with focusing on punching? Training our body is also probably easier to do as a farm boy than training with a sword or spear or especially practicing medicine.
The overall gameplan would be: train our body as much as possible with Progression until we see the Sun (possibly trying to accelerate the point at which we do see it, if that's possible at all? I'm not clear on the mechanics involved...) then, once we've seen it, desert our starting area as soon as feasible to go find better opportunities for growth and multipliers.
On paper, taking Lesser Remittances at this cost seems pretty terrible. Seram started at 0 lesser remittances, rather than -1, got the same deal of 2 LR per major curses and 1 LR par minor, but he also got a bonus of 1 LR if he picked at least one extra major curse and another bonus of 1 LR if he picked at least one lesser curse! So picking a single lesser curse wouldn't give us any benefits while it would have given Seram 2 LR, picking an additional major curse would give us 1 LR while it gave Seram 3 and a major and a lesser curse would have given Seram a full 5 LR and would give us 2... Hunger, meanwhile, got offered 3 LR for each additional curse he took. The rates we're offered are in no way favorable, particularly given this statement by Rihaku:
That said, maybe that's not the right way to look at the problem? The hero is on a clock, the Conquering King is coming and catching up to his power level is implied to be very difficult even for a Progression-type Cursebearer, so maybe we're in a similar position to Nameless were we have to make sacrifices if we want to have the power we need. But the drawbacks offered to Nameless were so much less awful than curses... I don't think I'm going to go for Lesser Remittances but let's still take a look at the options we would have if we decided to go that way.
I still don't like it. Sure it's relatively easy to mitigate, so we can probably arrange for it not to apply to the confrontation against the Conquering King but in the meantime it's going to make everything we try to accomplish, to get strong enough to get there, massively more dangerous.
Has some synergy with the Doom of the Martyr in the sense that, if we have a terrible reputation, pure hearted people are probably less likely to ask us for help. It's still likely to put us in a great amount of danger and get in the way of pretty much all we are going to try to accomplish. We could try always acting under the cover of secrecy, but that's likely to restrict our options and stop us from getting outside help.
Maybe? Has a high chance of getting us killed over the long term and our nemesis allying with the Conquering King would be a complete disaster, but it is mentioned that it's possible to cooperate with our nemesis for a time, which would be absolutely incredible if we could make it work, and we already a powerful nemesis we need to grow very fast to deal with anyway, in the form of the Conquering King.
Excellent synergy with the First Kingdom, as a prince has not much to fear from the law. Even without that, it's probably one of the least debilitating curse.
Very bad with The Streets. Synergy with being a prince, but would probably be very bad if we became king, as we would lose access to the royal coffers. Hard to pay for the administration of a kingdom when you can't own any money...
Not too bad? Doom of the Martyr will probably be sending us on quests anyway and a source of XP is always appreciated for a Progression-type. We can even refuse these quests if necessary, though there is cost associated. Some synergy with A Farm, in that it provide us with non-training advancements. That said, it's still a curse, even if a lesser one, so I feel like these quests are likely to come at inconvenient times.
No. I don't feel like someone who picked the Doom of the Martyr would chose to inflict that on everyone around him. Can be mitigated by never interacting with anyone that isn't either powerful or a bad person, but still no.
No. Terrible quality of life and permanent debuff to any physical activity.
The only option that provides immediate power, making The Streets a lot safer and can also increase speed of progression until the Hero returns to the level he originally was at. Potentially very expensive, though.
Better recall of future knowledge is an advantage that should not be underestimated. That said, you know what they say about butterflies...
TSH is always good. The conceptual limit breaking probably isn't that useful with the Exalted Sun though it becomes very good if we chose Twice-Great but that would require 3 LR...
Never particularly liked Intensify. Versatility is important! That said, the fact that the combination of Intensify and TSH eventually unlocks techniques equivalent to those of the Praxis, something which required us to get an EFB to get, make that combination pretty tempting if you can find a way to get 2 LR.
Very tempting. We know how powerful having multiple synergistic magic systems is and if you can get TSH on top the benefits are incredible. The price is also incredible, though...
Synergy with A Farm. It seems like it would lead to less interesting gameplay, until the time of confronting the Conquering King come, but EFB also didn't really feature much conflict putting Nameless at any significant risk and it was still really fun, so that might not be too much of a problem. Also, Doom of the Martyr will probably throw us into danger sooner or later...
So, it's Retinue, except it only applies to one target and, from the description, it seems to allow them to progress in everything instead of just their area of specialization. That said, there is no companions on offer so we'd need to find a worthwhile target ourself. I don't think it's worth it.
Monofocusing on combat has it's disadvantages but it still provides some non-combat utility in the form of fast-travel and ultimately the goal is to defeat the Conquering King, which is a combat task.
Those two seems pretty similar. There is a subtle distinction between them but it mostly seems to be flavor? They seem to provide more esoteric effects than The Body, at the price of worse defense.
The muscle wizard choice. Less esoteric effects than the two other combat choices but better defense. Also as the advantage of not needing any tools to function.
I love this, the versatility it provides is simply incredible. We can even give those objects to other people! On the other hand... we can give those objects to other people and given that we have the Doom of the Martyr we could potentially have to donate our property to some cause when such a large part of our power is invested into our property which is really really bad. Also, our objects don't automatically get better as we get better so we'd have to create new improved versions or possibly reforge the old ones regularly which means we'd probably be spending a lot of time struggling to keep our gear up to date. Also, probably dependent on access to appropriate materials.
The enhancement to the body is probably less good than the one provided by The Body as I doubt this is strictly better. I don't know if trading power for better healing is necessarily the right call in our situation... It's also probably dependent on having appropriate materials.
The safest option, the Hero is said to be especially talented if we pick this option and it provides the most time before we have to confront the Conquering King. On the down side we lack much future knowledge and our starting area is lacking in high xp opportunities. I don't consider that second problem to be that important because we can just exit the starting area when we're ready to do so.
Stated to be somewhat dangerous without some measure of immediate power. I mean the Hero survived it the first time and he didn't have Progression back then, but he also didn't have the Doom of the Martyr...
This is probably the option that forces us to pick a bunch of curses to load up on enough Lesser Remittances to stand a chance. Highly anti-synergistic with the Doom. The upsides are real: access to greater resources and opportunities and better future knowledge and you could even argue that being there for the first attack of the Conquering King means that you can reduce the damage he'll inflict to a greater extent, though as a Progression-type Cursebearer we'll be able to repair all of that damage eventually if we survive that long, but I don't think this is worth it.
Let's go with this:
{X} Don't take Lesser Remmitances
{X} Combat
-{X} The Body
{X} A Farm
As much as I like Crafting I just don't think it's the right call to invest this much power into one equipment when one suffer from the Doom of the Martyr. Muscle Wizard is not generally my favorite aesthetic but it's not like we won't be able to do anything else, I didn't pick Intensify after all! Plus, Hunger is mostly focused on swording and that's still very entertaining to read, so what's wrong with focusing on punching? Training our body is also probably easier to do as a farm boy than training with a sword or spear or especially practicing medicine.
The overall gameplan would be: train our body as much as possible with Progression until we see the Sun (possibly trying to accelerate the point at which we do see it, if that's possible at all? I'm not clear on the mechanics involved...) then, once we've seen it, desert our starting area as soon as feasible to go find better opportunities for growth and multipliers.
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
As we get more powerful the buffs we can provide to our allies also increase in power. It only took a 2 arete buff for Gisena to pretty much equal our stat gains up till the point we buffed her.
[X] Evening Sky - Philosopher's Wreath
[X] Experimentation
[X] Wreath
I don't want to take a boring pure stats option dammit.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
As an aside at this point the only thing in the way of completing the Ring are the 4 picks needed (greedy thing!) and to get the passion drop. Consequently if passion is an option for the first pair and we don't have 4 options we should finish pashion first. Its suboptimal power wise but saves us a lot of possible frustration.
I'm surprised this social challenge didn't even net hunger any of the ring dominions. I suspect that would be a strong contender if it had.
I'm surprised this social challenge didn't even net hunger any of the ring dominions. I suspect that would be a strong contender if it had.
It's really the "finish the ring asap" option, which comes with major bonuses for our allies, given the Ruling Ring is an even more powerful booster than the Ring of Blood.
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's only a major bonus for our allies if that proceeds to actually win votes, fewer of which will be offered since the Ruling Ring has broad capabilities while the Blood Ring is suited to enhancing people.
Ah, but consider this: Curse of the Martyr + Curse of the Call + either Prince or Farmboy = The pure-hearted hero and do-gooder, going around helping everyone whether that be rescuing cats from trees or helping old ladies cross the street or fighting off an entire army or slaying a dragon!
Theming!
It's not the best tactical or strategic idea, but it is something that comes together in a very neat way.
- Location
- Pindorama
Ruling Ring already boosts its reality-warping powers significantly by itself though; without any additional investment. I don't think we will actually lose any powers when we upgrade; in fact I expect us to be able to buff a lot more than just their blood if we get it.
Realistically speaking, not every build vote can - or should - be exciting. Imagine the salt that'd result if every decision point was radically transformative! It's okay to make incremental progress toward our goals and save up for cooler stuff down the road; we didn't even know this would give us picks in the first place.
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
I love how Gisena looks like she's scolding Zea for jumping on the bed.
We'd certainly generate a lot of arete if that happened! Besides isn't making every vote exciting the end goal of the Rihaku system?
Yeah but to get to the ring we first have to take a bunch of boring precursor options that don't really do much and find a rare fight for preeminence passion. I'd prefer to get the cool thing right in front of us especially when it buffs both our allies and our own capabilities.
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Omake 'Lord of the fish' 1055 words. Put the omake power towards Vigor
[X] SAVE [Vigor Itself x2] - Some combat, some diplomatic proficiency
[X] Vigor Itself
[X] Vigor Itself x2
[X] Magnitude
Hunger was on the balcony looking at the majestic springs. Behind him Letrizia and Gisena were still soaking in order to transform the duchess into a mage. Even in this luxurious resort he was still thinking of his passion – fishing. The staff has informed him that there are no fish in their opulent spa and if he finds any to contact them immediately.
Suddenly a thought struck him and he looked at the ring on his hand. The Ring has given him control over blood but no hemokinesis. But he was a Cursebearer, beings for which things like limits and impossibility was just things that they have not spent some time working on.
He will fish in this place. He will make sure of it.
"I am going to the store. Don`t worry, I am still maintaining the blood enhancements on Letrizia" he shouted at the girls who were still in the bathtub.
"Get me some chocolate. I don`t feel the affection when I order if from the room service here" Gisena showed her head briefly just to ask something and was back in the bathroom. There was a lot of giggling coming from inside.
"Women" muttered Hunger
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
He entered the 24 hours supermarket and started looking for the ingredients. Fish, blood, ice and syringes. Seemed simple enough.
Unfortunately the security guard was ghostphobic. When he entered the guard started shoving some weird symbol at his face and shouting.
"Out of this store, out of this store. You will not haunt this store like the last one"
Hunger just ignored him, his instincts were telling him that the fish was near. He took a shopping cart and followed the scent of fish.
He found the treasure on isle seventeen but he could not just take a fish like that. He needed to catch it. He beckoned one of the store assistants.
"Throw me these four fishes"
"But sir, you can just take them"
"Do not argue with me son, I want to catch them"
The assistant shrugged and did what he asked. Hunger smiled, at least he would not been forced to kill everybody here.
On his way he met the guard again. He was burning some weird wood and had a candle with him.
"Spirits begone from this store. Spirits begone from…"
Hunger just ignored him and moved forward. Calling somebody else a weirdo will be hypocritical. The same procedure repeated with the ice and the syringes – asking the shop assistant to throw the product so he can catch it. At least they were accommodating.
Finally he was in front of the butcher aisle and there were a lot of bags of blood. The perfect training spot. He willed the ring of blood to make the blood bags move. There was a lot of resistance because the purview of the Ring was more subtle, not something so apparent. But Hunger gritted his teeth and willed it so. It is said that if there is will, there is a way. Soon the blood bags were moving and jumping on their own. The ghost only had to move his shopping cart and the blood bag would jump right in. Suddenly two laser pointers were on his chest.
"Charlie, do not cross the streams or total photonic reversal will occur"
Hmm, these morons present an opportunity. Hunger looked at the two guards and addressed the older and more senior one.
"I am the ghost of a store customer that wants to finish his grocery list. I have almost finished it but now I must check-in. In life I was unfairly accused of not paying for my products, now as a ghost I want to make it true. Let me keep those products without paying and I will never bother you again."
"Of course Mr. Ghost. See Charlie, there a lot of things you can accomplish if you just talk to people"
The security escorted him outside and even payed for his products
"Suckers" muttered Hunger on the way back to the resort. When he came back to his room Letrizia and Gisena were already sleeping. He pulled out the fish, syringe and blood bag and got to work. He was finally going to fish tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lady Gisena, the springs are wonderful. They even rival some of the best imperial ones. Come and join me, what are you doing?"
"I am looking Hunger. He entered the male section of the springs but according to my calculations he should be on the other side of this wall" Gisena pointed on a three meter high wall
"W-we should not i-invade his p-privacy like that, it is wrong"
"You would have been more convincing if you were not blushing and stuttering, now come on. I will give you a lift. Your moving pictures for kids always showed this kind of situation"
"First, it is called anime and it is not for kids. Second I am doing it only to indulge you so you can come into the spring"
"Sure thing Z" Gisena winked at her.
Gisena easily managed to get Letrizia to the top of the wall due to her superhuman stats and joined her swiftly after that. But what they saw was not what they expected.
Hunger was almost naked, just the evening sky serving a loincloth. His right hand was outstretched and the ring was glowing in a crimson light. His left hand held a fishing rod that was thrown in the spa. Surprisingly there were fishes in the spa waters, but they behaved all the same as if following a preprogrammed input.
"He is manipulating the blood of the fishes to simulate fishing"
"I did not know his mania was this deep"
Hunger hooked one of the fish and after a struggle where both parties were actually him, he managed to get it outside the water. Hunger looked at the fish lovingly and caressed it.
"My precioussss"
Suddenly as if sensing something he turned towards Gisena and Letrizia. In his eyes there was only madness and the inescapable Doom of the Tyrant.
"Nasty little thieves, you want to steal my precioussss. Hunger does not share catch. Catch your own"
Gisena managed to snatch Letrizia and hide on their side of the spa. The situation was burned into their minds and was a source for many nightmares.
Suddenly a thought struck him and he looked at the ring on his hand. The Ring has given him control over blood but no hemokinesis. But he was a Cursebearer, beings for which things like limits and impossibility was just things that they have not spent some time working on.
He will fish in this place. He will make sure of it.
"I am going to the store. Don`t worry, I am still maintaining the blood enhancements on Letrizia" he shouted at the girls who were still in the bathtub.
"Get me some chocolate. I don`t feel the affection when I order if from the room service here" Gisena showed her head briefly just to ask something and was back in the bathroom. There was a lot of giggling coming from inside.
"Women" muttered Hunger
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
He entered the 24 hours supermarket and started looking for the ingredients. Fish, blood, ice and syringes. Seemed simple enough.
Unfortunately the security guard was ghostphobic. When he entered the guard started shoving some weird symbol at his face and shouting.
"Out of this store, out of this store. You will not haunt this store like the last one"
Hunger just ignored him, his instincts were telling him that the fish was near. He took a shopping cart and followed the scent of fish.
He found the treasure on isle seventeen but he could not just take a fish like that. He needed to catch it. He beckoned one of the store assistants.
"Throw me these four fishes"
"But sir, you can just take them"
"Do not argue with me son, I want to catch them"
The assistant shrugged and did what he asked. Hunger smiled, at least he would not been forced to kill everybody here.
On his way he met the guard again. He was burning some weird wood and had a candle with him.
"Spirits begone from this store. Spirits begone from…"
Hunger just ignored him and moved forward. Calling somebody else a weirdo will be hypocritical. The same procedure repeated with the ice and the syringes – asking the shop assistant to throw the product so he can catch it. At least they were accommodating.
Finally he was in front of the butcher aisle and there were a lot of bags of blood. The perfect training spot. He willed the ring of blood to make the blood bags move. There was a lot of resistance because the purview of the Ring was more subtle, not something so apparent. But Hunger gritted his teeth and willed it so. It is said that if there is will, there is a way. Soon the blood bags were moving and jumping on their own. The ghost only had to move his shopping cart and the blood bag would jump right in. Suddenly two laser pointers were on his chest.
"Charlie, do not cross the streams or total photonic reversal will occur"
Hmm, these morons present an opportunity. Hunger looked at the two guards and addressed the older and more senior one.
"I am the ghost of a store customer that wants to finish his grocery list. I have almost finished it but now I must check-in. In life I was unfairly accused of not paying for my products, now as a ghost I want to make it true. Let me keep those products without paying and I will never bother you again."
"Of course Mr. Ghost. See Charlie, there a lot of things you can accomplish if you just talk to people"
The security escorted him outside and even payed for his products
"Suckers" muttered Hunger on the way back to the resort. When he came back to his room Letrizia and Gisena were already sleeping. He pulled out the fish, syringe and blood bag and got to work. He was finally going to fish tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lady Gisena, the springs are wonderful. They even rival some of the best imperial ones. Come and join me, what are you doing?"
"I am looking Hunger. He entered the male section of the springs but according to my calculations he should be on the other side of this wall" Gisena pointed on a three meter high wall
"W-we should not i-invade his p-privacy like that, it is wrong"
"You would have been more convincing if you were not blushing and stuttering, now come on. I will give you a lift. Your moving pictures for kids always showed this kind of situation"
"First, it is called anime and it is not for kids. Second I am doing it only to indulge you so you can come into the spring"
"Sure thing Z" Gisena winked at her.
Gisena easily managed to get Letrizia to the top of the wall due to her superhuman stats and joined her swiftly after that. But what they saw was not what they expected.
Hunger was almost naked, just the evening sky serving a loincloth. His right hand was outstretched and the ring was glowing in a crimson light. His left hand held a fishing rod that was thrown in the spa. Surprisingly there were fishes in the spa waters, but they behaved all the same as if following a preprogrammed input.
"He is manipulating the blood of the fishes to simulate fishing"
"I did not know his mania was this deep"
Hunger hooked one of the fish and after a struggle where both parties were actually him, he managed to get it outside the water. Hunger looked at the fish lovingly and caressed it.
"My precioussss"
Suddenly as if sensing something he turned towards Gisena and Letrizia. In his eyes there was only madness and the inescapable Doom of the Tyrant.
"Nasty little thieves, you want to steal my precioussss. Hunger does not share catch. Catch your own"
Gisena managed to snatch Letrizia and hide on their side of the spa. The situation was burned into their minds and was a source for many nightmares.
[X] SAVE [Vigor Itself x2] - Some combat, some diplomatic proficiency
[X] Vigor Itself
[X] Vigor Itself x2
[X] Magnitude
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
We're even voting for the boring Edeldross options! Vote Experimentation! I want to see some cool graces!
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I agree we'll have the capabilities, but we'll also have a wide range of other capabilities and I expect people to choose other stuff
Engagement's good, but has to be weighed against the need to create a consistent, compelling character and the risk of audience burnout. Besides, EFB purchases create epic, memorable moments to be referenced in future quests!
RIP the dignity of House Artriez, her expression's a solid decade of blackmail material.
...adorable, though.
Fanwork#3650 Words
I'll let you in on a secret:
There are worlds
Where Hunger doesn't need
Arete to survive.
This isn't one of them.
...man, that sounds so chuuni. I dearly hope Hunger doesn't start actually enjoying all the Tyrant stuff. Or if he does, that he channels it in productive and healthy ways at least. Not sure Mister Tyrannical Age and Treachery can still spread the ideas of Freedom, Justice and Truth while keeping a straight face on, but improving the people's livelihood doesn't require strict adherence to an ideal. Just not being a complete dick and competence. Nameless managed it, even if it was mostly by accident and accompanied by some side-effects!
Not that money is a big deal for him. I think most of what he earned came from the Rotspawn, though the Pearl of the King Fish might have represented some value too. The fish was pretty weak compared to the current Hunger, but the Pearl might have had novelty, appearance and some useful magics on its side to drive up the price. Hmm, things like it and the Elixir water could be a reason to stay in the Voyaging Realm for a while after finishing the Temple despite any worries about the Empire situation destabilizing. It doesn't just contain mages with unique magic systems, there are also a lot of rare resources hidden here that we could find and acquire. Money talks, as they say, and people are a lot more accepting of eccentric people if they're rich.
It's not a problem-free idea, of course. There are the aforementioned danger to the Empire, for one. I don't think things have gotten truly bad there yet, since someone would have been sent after Letrizia to recover Verschlengorge if there was a war brewing, for example. But Apocrypha can't be underestimated no matter how much we Mitigate it and how strong we grow, because it doesn't really follow any rules, it just plays along most of the time. And it doesn't even need to exceed our threat level to make things difficult for us, we have plenty of vulnerabilities that can't be easily dealt with through strength alone. Letrizia is one such connection, since we don't want to make her unhappy, but she's pretty attached to the Empire, though how much is still unclear to me. So if the Empire has problems, we're very likely to get involved.
Another question is how much we can extract before the Voyaging Realm starts retaliating. Maybe we possess some higher privileges as a Praehihr, wouldn't surprise me after everything we've learned, and I doubt we'll be able to gather resources on a large enough scale to make the Realm notice, but we're associated with Letrizia, so the Voyaging Realm might count us as part of their efforts and apply larger restrictions because of that.
Guess we'll have to play it by the ear. Too bad we didn't encounter the Kill-Team, though I can't truly regret visiting the Colony since it left us with more Arete and Vacation time, thus allowing us to pursue Cut Through and maybe even the Ring.
I get the feeling that Hunger would have been much more content to lead a peaceful life if things had been different. He's quite talented and experienced when it comes to the more violent side of life, and isn't afraid of taking risks (sometimes too unafraid), but I think his inclinations don't lie in this field. Not that it means much when the call of vengeance is so strong and his Curses so terribly life-threatening, but it's no wonder the Freedom option mentioned he would likely slack off and lead a comfy life.
Of course that isn't absolute, he still held the desire to improve the people's lives dear to his heart even after losing everything, so I don't think he would have ignored suffering if there was something he could have done about it. Don't know how he would have felt about getting heavily involved in politics, but he might have become an activist.
Would have been an interesting experiment to see if we could have absorbed the water's magic after taking Bloodwraith and how different the results would have been. Alas, we didn't want to make our daughteru sad, so the option of blood adopting Versch (or being blood adopted by the Armament?) didn't get much traction.
...Gisena knows us well. I don't think the promise of a bath is enough to awaken Hunger's self-preservation instincts, but maybe that's why she is mentioning communal baths. What a devious woman!
Or was she? We know Catherine was the adopted daughter of the Tyrant, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same as with normal royalty. Getting adopted by that guy could just mean he wanted to personally train her as his assassin or something, and she might not have experienced a particularly wealthy life if he didn't intend to be soft on her.
Apocrypha: Stay on this wild ride for some time and you'll learn to be prepared for anything.
Apocrypha: Apocalypses, strange cults, random nemeses, biological horrors, memetic hazards, invasions from otherworldly dimensions, evil clones...
Apocrypha: We're going to have so much fun.
Did they need Cursebearers that had a certain level of power? With the Armaments as insurance that the Cursebearers still be controlled afterward. Verschlengorge's reverence for Cursebearers kind of contradicts that, but maybe avoiding any and all conflict until a specified time was intentional design so that the Cursebearers couldn't get XP from a diplomatic victory over them.
Or maybe I'm just sleep-deprived and seeing conspiracies in the wrong places.
Maybe that's where her fascination with technology comes from. It might not be magic, but it's the closest she'll ever be able to come to it, and something she excels at besides.
Not sure we can help her with that. We're a Progression-type, so my instinctive answer would be yes, but it's a question of how much effort it would take to let her overcome her limitations. Still, she deserves it that we at least try, I think.
Infusing a subset of the populace that possesses certain traits with a lot of specific magical energy until they undergo a drastic change and get superpowers... truly reminiscent of Coalescence in some ways. I don't think it's really findross, or one of them would have noticed and said something. But it closely resembles her own achievements in High Sorcery, where she merges the Graces together and infuses her spirit with her Sorcery. Hmm, will we be able to initiate others into Surgecraft without access to apex waters after improving our control over Edeldross?
Apropos Edeldross, I wonder what other precursor components findross has. Edeldross is mainly the 'good' part of findross, seems to me, but the Maiden and her Sorceresses had plenty of powers that were much more negatively inclined. Morgiana with her wraiths comes to mind, though there were certainly plenty of others. Was there some kind of mortedross? Kenndross? Sangdross? It's too bad we didn't have the opportunity to pick the elves' brains for this information back then.
It's interesting just how many such potential magical systems simply go undiscovered in the Voyaging Realm because no one has hit the requirements. Or does the Realm intentionally help humans (and sapients in general) acquire magics? We would need to research the different magic systems that had arisen in this dimension before and how they were discovered to say for sure.
Hunger: You didn't think I won't take my advance payment, did you?
Letrizia: I-I'm a serious pilot and don't care about s-stuff like that!
Letrizia: You can p-pat my head for as long as necessary.
Letrizia: E-even if I don't like it!
Gisena: What wondrous discipline!
Stuff: Sir-
Hunger: Just to head you off, I'm laboring under a Curse that makes me an insufferable asshole.
Staff: ...Of course.
Hunger: Seriously, negotiating with me is basically impossible.
Staff: *How is that different form normal customers?*
Staff: Ahem. But dear customer, we're simply asking you to stop wasting precious village resources, I'm sure we can come to an agreement-
Hunger: Let me think.
Hunger: No. I don't care about your petty rules.
Hunger: I am the rules.
Staff: ...
Hunger: Always wanted to say that, now I can legit blame it on a Curse, how convenient!
Oh right, ghost. No body, no hormones, no physical reaction.
...Can we actually forge an artifact for someone else? I mean, we were told that crafting is part of developing Accretion, so perhaps Hunger has experience there, but he never even mentioned the possibility before. Of course, he might just mean he'll learn how to do it with Surgecraft or another magic he'll acquire.
And either Letrizia was confused about her gender identity or she was a fan of Terry Pratchett. Not that I'm judging either way!
It's a neat addition regardless. While I'm not sure which is better, getting a growing Int bonus to an existing magic system or being able to acquire any new magic with stringent requirements, it's overall a very attractive option for improving Hunger as a mage. If only it wasn't so expensive...
Still taking Magnitude though, because I can't resist more +AllStats.
I'll let you in on a secret:
There are worlds
Where Hunger doesn't need
Arete to survive.
This isn't one of them.
Unless this is truly a reference to Redshirt Army, I believe this title might foreshadow the future name of our followers. The Artifact most connection with rulership in our possession is the Ring, which has strong associations with the color red and gives us blood powers to boot. Blood powers we've used before and are using this chapter to elevate our first friends in this world to new heights. Will the blood tide one day subsume the whole world, its new supplicants kneeling in adoration of their supreme overlord? Maybe we'll even leave some descendants around here, imitating not just the Forebear's powers but his true essence es well. Will they hold his banners high and still continue to spread his name even after he moves on to the next world, whispering of him in reverential awe much like people told tales of the Forebear in Hunger's previous world?
...man, that sounds so chuuni. I dearly hope Hunger doesn't start actually enjoying all the Tyrant stuff. Or if he does, that he channels it in productive and healthy ways at least. Not sure Mister Tyrannical Age and Treachery can still spread the ideas of Freedom, Justice and Truth while keeping a straight face on, but improving the people's livelihood doesn't require strict adherence to an ideal. Just not being a complete dick and competence. Nameless managed it, even if it was mostly by accident and accompanied by some side-effects!
Well, we got what we paid for. It was worth 8 units of currency, which (after checking again) represents 2 years worth of wages for a middle-class Empire worker. We spent as much in a night as they earn in a year. I think I died a little inside after realizing this. The bittersweet feeling must surely be happiness for Hunger!
Not that money is a big deal for him. I think most of what he earned came from the Rotspawn, though the Pearl of the King Fish might have represented some value too. The fish was pretty weak compared to the current Hunger, but the Pearl might have had novelty, appearance and some useful magics on its side to drive up the price. Hmm, things like it and the Elixir water could be a reason to stay in the Voyaging Realm for a while after finishing the Temple despite any worries about the Empire situation destabilizing. It doesn't just contain mages with unique magic systems, there are also a lot of rare resources hidden here that we could find and acquire. Money talks, as they say, and people are a lot more accepting of eccentric people if they're rich.
It's not a problem-free idea, of course. There are the aforementioned danger to the Empire, for one. I don't think things have gotten truly bad there yet, since someone would have been sent after Letrizia to recover Verschlengorge if there was a war brewing, for example. But Apocrypha can't be underestimated no matter how much we Mitigate it and how strong we grow, because it doesn't really follow any rules, it just plays along most of the time. And it doesn't even need to exceed our threat level to make things difficult for us, we have plenty of vulnerabilities that can't be easily dealt with through strength alone. Letrizia is one such connection, since we don't want to make her unhappy, but she's pretty attached to the Empire, though how much is still unclear to me. So if the Empire has problems, we're very likely to get involved.
Another question is how much we can extract before the Voyaging Realm starts retaliating. Maybe we possess some higher privileges as a Praehihr, wouldn't surprise me after everything we've learned, and I doubt we'll be able to gather resources on a large enough scale to make the Realm notice, but we're associated with Letrizia, so the Voyaging Realm might count us as part of their efforts and apply larger restrictions because of that.
Guess we'll have to play it by the ear. Too bad we didn't encounter the Kill-Team, though I can't truly regret visiting the Colony since it left us with more Arete and Vacation time, thus allowing us to pursue Cut Through and maybe even the Ring.
Fishing, gardening, his relationships...
I get the feeling that Hunger would have been much more content to lead a peaceful life if things had been different. He's quite talented and experienced when it comes to the more violent side of life, and isn't afraid of taking risks (sometimes too unafraid), but I think his inclinations don't lie in this field. Not that it means much when the call of vengeance is so strong and his Curses so terribly life-threatening, but it's no wonder the Freedom option mentioned he would likely slack off and lead a comfy life.
Of course that isn't absolute, he still held the desire to improve the people's lives dear to his heart even after losing everything, so I don't think he would have ignored suffering if there was something he could have done about it. Don't know how he would have felt about getting heavily involved in politics, but he might have become an activist.
Wait, are they saying Gisena wants to take a bath together with Hunger? How daring! I suppose after their hand-holding sessions this is small potatoes. Hmm, couldn't we actually take a bath as a ghost? There would be little point as we don't have any dirt on us due to not having a body, and our sensations are probably muted to some extent, but we do have a physical presence.
Would have been an interesting experiment to see if we could have absorbed the water's magic after taking Bloodwraith and how different the results would have been. Alas, we didn't want to make our daughteru sad, so the option of blood adopting Versch (or being blood adopted by the Armament?) didn't get much traction.
Gisena doesn't show any signs of being a mad scientist, but she is a genius... and the line between genius and insanity can be awfully thin. E.g. her decision to blow a hole through reality, much as I appreciate what it led to and what it represents in terms of her character. What I'm leading towards is that I'm suddenly a bit nervous we'll one day wake up and find her experimenting with our body, or even worse - magics! I still haven't forgotten that time she killed Seram's Amplitude!
What an interesting contrast. He doesn't mind spending all that money for luxury, but Hunger also wants to get his money's worth once he does that. He doesn't seem to value their money all that much, but it's still payback for risking his neck, so he dislikes wasting that effort.
She's talking as if we're going to run off to get killed the very next day.
...Gisena knows us well. I don't think the promise of a bath is enough to awaken Hunger's self-preservation instincts, but maybe that's why she is mentioning communal baths. What a devious woman!
I honestly laughed at that, especially because it's so hard to tell just how much of it is him doubling down on dry humor to tease Letrizia and how much is him simply being open about the facts. After all, if you don't die when you get killed, what's the point of stopping beforehand? Training is supposed to push you to your limits, but if they extend beyond your physical body, surviving might be seen as slacking off from a certain point of view. Not the most healthy mindset, but I think we've long passed the point where we can worry about that.
Doubtlessly the accommodations over there are no less lavish. Are we perhaps corrupting our innocent boy Hunger? While it's supremely unlikely we'll get another Nameless and Hunger didn't show any interest in spirit cocaine, we might want to dial back a bit on needlessly wasting our wealth. I don't think he had a chance to get much personal experience with such things in the previous world while on the run from the Tyrant, though Catherine was a different matter.
Or was she? We know Catherine was the adopted daughter of the Tyrant, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same as with normal royalty. Getting adopted by that guy could just mean he wanted to personally train her as his assassin or something, and she might not have experienced a particularly wealthy life if he didn't intend to be soft on her.
I would say she might not have had access to that type of literature, but Letrizia is a Duchess and an Armament pilot, I doubt there was anything she couldn't learn if she put her mind to it, and anything related to magic seems like it would be of great interest to her. Did the Empire really hide this information for some reason, or was there not enough experimental data? After seeing Slice Fate there was already speculation that something might be preventing people from outside the Voyaging Realm from learning its magics. It would still require an explanation for why we could let her learn Surgecraft or Vertex so easily, but maybe it's because we're a Cursebearer and thus not subject to the rules.
Apocrypha: Don't worry, I've got you fam.
Apocrypha: Stay on this wild ride for some time and you'll learn to be prepared for anything.
Apocrypha: Apocalypses, strange cults, random nemeses, biological horrors, memetic hazards, invasions from otherworldly dimensions, evil clones...
Apocrypha: We're going to have so much fun.
Not sure just how aware Letrizia is of our insane growth, but yes, overpowering the whole Voyaging Realm might be possible in time. Hell, that might be its purpose, leaving a playground for training a Progression-type Cursebearer up to a certain standard. Kind of deadly, but then nobody said this job was safe.
At first I'd thought charging them for the job is pointless when we'll conquer them sooner or later anyway, but they do have Armaments, which might not have equivalents in the Voyaging Realm, so overcoming the Realm might not be indicative of being stronger than the Empire. Hmm, continuing the thought from before, if the Foremost designed the Voyaging Realm as a training place for Cursebearers but specifically placed an upper limit on power levels somehow, while at the same time leaving behind Armaments that are head and shoulders above Voyaging Realm threats...
Did they need Cursebearers that had a certain level of power? With the Armaments as insurance that the Cursebearers still be controlled afterward. Verschlengorge's reverence for Cursebearers kind of contradicts that, but maybe avoiding any and all conflict until a specified time was intentional design so that the Cursebearers couldn't get XP from a diplomatic victory over them.
Or maybe I'm just sleep-deprived and seeing conspiracies in the wrong places.
Huh, that's an idea. We've been so focused on healing Versch by ourselves that we didn't truly consider the possibility of hiring some mage to do it for us. Not sure how rare people capable of that are, but we probably would have found someone at the Encampment. That might have been a good argument for visiting the place when we were strong enough not to fear revealing Verschlengorge to them.
What I'm reading from this is that there are either so many larger rebellions they're too busy holding the Empire together to pay attention to such small fry, or that dealing with the Republic ties up too many of the Empire's resources to afford diverting their attention towards this small place. Maybe them settling down in the Voyaging Realm was also a reason if the Empire didn't want to stir the hornet's nest.
Hunger likely didn't have the best opinion of nobility at the start of this journey, especially after being betrayed by them previously, but I think Gisena and Letrizia seem to have mellowed his opinion on the topic some. They're good examples of benevolent nobility, though they aren't typical nobles by any means.
Ouch, that hit me right in the heart. We joke about Gisena's inability to learn magic and she never seemed to be resentful of her Nullity, but then she's good at hiding her true thoughts behind a smile. It's impossible not to feel envy when you're surrounded by peers that are Graced with all sorts of incredible abilities and all you can do is shut them down. Of course that's a simplistic view of her Graces, she can wield them with far more finesse than one would expect and produce interesting effects through interaction with other magics, but the point remains that she can't perform true magic on her own.
Maybe that's where her fascination with technology comes from. It might not be magic, but it's the closest she'll ever be able to come to it, and something she excels at besides.
Not sure we can help her with that. We're a Progression-type, so my instinctive answer would be yes, but it's a question of how much effort it would take to let her overcome her limitations. Still, she deserves it that we at least try, I think.
Surgecraft is pretty interesting. It's unclear just where it draws its immense power from, for one. Accretion derives its power from Rank, Soul Evocation seems to rely on the soul's strength too, Sorcery is a self-contained system relying on a substance Sorceresses produce naturally after undergoing Coalescence, but where does the Imaginary Element come from? It kind of reminds me of findross too now that I think about it, especially after Rihaku told us just how reliable it is.
Infusing a subset of the populace that possesses certain traits with a lot of specific magical energy until they undergo a drastic change and get superpowers... truly reminiscent of Coalescence in some ways. I don't think it's really findross, or one of them would have noticed and said something. But it closely resembles her own achievements in High Sorcery, where she merges the Graces together and infuses her spirit with her Sorcery. Hmm, will we be able to initiate others into Surgecraft without access to apex waters after improving our control over Edeldross?
Apropos Edeldross, I wonder what other precursor components findross has. Edeldross is mainly the 'good' part of findross, seems to me, but the Maiden and her Sorceresses had plenty of powers that were much more negatively inclined. Morgiana with her wraiths comes to mind, though there were certainly plenty of others. Was there some kind of mortedross? Kenndross? Sangdross? It's too bad we didn't have the opportunity to pick the elves' brains for this information back then.
Not sure whether I'm not understanding right or it's a typo. 'Some agent had not caused them to stumble upon the springs?' I thought it was originally meant that someone might have guided them towards discovering the spring, but maybe I'm missing something at this late hour.
It's interesting just how many such potential magical systems simply go undiscovered in the Voyaging Realm because no one has hit the requirements. Or does the Realm intentionally help humans (and sapients in general) acquire magics? We would need to research the different magic systems that had arisen in this dimension before and how they were discovered to say for sure.
We're lucky we have potent blood powers that let us perform such a delicate operation then. I suspect quite a few magic systems are reliant on their users having certain blood properties or bloodlines, as inheritance is often a theme when it comes to magic. An unexpected benefit of getting the Chief Dominion?
Hunger: That's right, I'm giving out empowerments through headpats.
Hunger: You didn't think I won't take my advance payment, did you?
Letrizia: I-I'm a serious pilot and don't care about s-stuff like that!
Letrizia: You can p-pat my head for as long as necessary.
Letrizia: E-even if I don't like it!
Gisena: What wondrous discipline!
Necessary? Maybe not. But it's surely funny, and what other reason does Gisena need?
Someone isn't bitter at all. Nothing is going to happen to the findross-infused dress, and her own constitution is literally superhuman.
It's a uniform she decided to appropriate, thus it's an Imperial uniform now. Get with the times, Gisena, I thought you were a genius!
She better absorb the heck out of those waters, we spent a whole bonus on improving her Surgecrafting talent that we could have gotten a reroll or a pick for instead! I'm curious if we'll be able to improve on the process in time or even enhance someone's talent with some research.
Letty, you're getting magic. What's a bit of discomfort compared to that?
And explaining the Doom to them probably won't make things better.
Stuff: Sir-
Hunger: Just to head you off, I'm laboring under a Curse that makes me an insufferable asshole.
Staff: ...Of course.
Hunger: Seriously, negotiating with me is basically impossible.
Staff: *How is that different form normal customers?*
Staff: Ahem. But dear customer, we're simply asking you to stop wasting precious village resources, I'm sure we can come to an agreement-
Hunger: Let me think.
Hunger: No. I don't care about your petty rules.
Hunger: I am the rules.
Staff: ...
Hunger: Always wanted to say that, now I can legit blame it on a Curse, how convenient!
That's all very interesting, but I'm still getting over the fact that Gisena was standing in a wet dress in front of Hunger and he hardly even noticed. What kind of red-blooded male-
Oh right, ghost. No body, no hormones, no physical reaction.
That's right. A rhino might have poor eyesight, but it's typically not his problem. We're probably at the point where we could deal with the whole Colony, especially if we start getting picks in the middle of fighing our way out. The psychological consequences of murdering people over magic water is a different matter, of course.
Gisena is such a nice girl, navigating the Tyrant's Doom and cleaning up Hunger's messes after him. Not that we didn't do our own share for her already, we even gave her two whole Arete points! That could have been a useful blood advancement, but we spent it entirely on her, so she better be grateful.
Maybe you need to go on a journey of self-discovery and rediscover your inner child first, Letrizia. Don't take too long though, we are leaving soon!
Yes, hosing himself down is surely bound to be great fun. Is that schadenfreude I hear in your voice, Gisena? Or did you just want to see a wet Hunger?
I don't think power can be redundant, even if it's more of the same Nullity, but it's her choice. And while the Maidengrace might be powerful, one day we'll exceed it. Perhaps that day isn't even that far off.
Hey! No need to exaggerate, Hunger will at most almost die three or four times, he's a professional hero.
...Can we actually forge an artifact for someone else? I mean, we were told that crafting is part of developing Accretion, so perhaps Hunger has experience there, but he never even mentioned the possibility before. Of course, he might just mean he'll learn how to do it with Surgecraft or another magic he'll acquire.
Now who's optimistic, thinking we'll stop at nine near-death situations in the Temple?
Some things last through the ages. Evangelion, now Harry Potter...
And either Letrizia was confused about her gender identity or she was a fan of Terry Pratchett. Not that I'm judging either way!
I'd almost forgotten intellectual challenges could give us XP too. Hunger is such a madlad that it never came up!
Ah, the old crowd favorites, blood advancements. I'm really curious just what lies beyond in the next tier and what exactly is necessary to reach it. We're guessing it's taking the max of Vigor or Quickening or perhaps both together, but maybe taking some other option is necessary too. Hopefully blood advancements continue to surprise us pleasantly at the next tier and don't cost Arete.
This is a pretty amazing ability, growing with our own regenerative powers and applying to targets of pretty high Rank. Healing Versch is one example, but we could surely offer such healing to others as well. Just gotta make sure they aren't too squeamish about being fed blood...
So this is the opening power that would lead to uplifting whole races as we were promised when we took the Ring. I don't think Hunger would be very comfortable elevating a select few above the masses, so he would probably try to spread the enhancements as broadly as he can mange. Though reading up on his ideals again, he doesn't have excessive demands and just wants a good life for the common folk, so maybe I'm off-base here.
A new addition to Philosopher Wreath! Maybe Evening Sky has realized that its existence is hanging by a thin thread and learned the art of shilling?
It's a neat addition regardless. While I'm not sure which is better, getting a growing Int bonus to an existing magic system or being able to acquire any new magic with stringent requirements, it's overall a very attractive option for improving Hunger as a mage. If only it wasn't so expensive...
Not much to say about Magnitude and Experimentation, as they're pretty obvious about what they do. Control, on the other hand, mentions mysterious 'more complex applications' of our Surgecraft. It could be anything. Maybe it's healing powers, seeing how its concepts revolve around renewal, restoration, etc. Or maybe we would just improve our battlefield control, that isn't anything to sniff at either. or we learn to combine it with Pressure somehow?
Still taking Magnitude though, because I can't resist more +AllStats.
I'm sad to hear about the first! But I'm glad to hear the second! Can't wait for that additional content.
- Location
- Pindorama
We are always going to have a cool thing right in front of us though. In fact, the Blood Advancements might have been a blessing in disguise since they are such an efficient Arete-less way of getting stronger they've allowed us to save far more Arete than we otherwise would; in retrospect, Quickening has already paid for itself may times over.
Since EFBs are by far the most powerful and efficient way of spending Arete, a fair way to view any Arete expenditure is how closer it makes us to any future EFB, either through discounts or with how much Arete they'd save by making future expenditures needless due to increased capabilities. I don't think Wreath actually clears this bar satisfactorily compared to Ruling Ring; simply because the latter improves our progression by 1~2 orders of magnitude; thus making our picks much more valuable and thus letting us save even more Arete.
Wreath is the greater immediate boost; but we won't train much while still braving the Temple. Thus, even if you argue Wreath would have a similar effect to Quickening; it just doesn't have the time to get us decent returns in saving Arete compared to the power of getting the Ruling Ring just a short while later.
We are still trucking with the "basic" Blood buff though. Ruling Ring does make that better. So it would provide better buffing immediately, basically.
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- Location
- Canada
Given that nobody chose to purchase my vote, might as well vote at this point.
Even though the Ring is too focused on potential over immediate power given our current situation and I fear the potential danger of the contest of primacy, saving is probably wiser than Wreath, given that it allows us to flash buy Magic-Defeating Stance if we need it or potentially save for an EFB which provide more immediate power. The ring gang would probably fight to the death to prevent either of these things from happening but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Otherwise, I'll go with the general philosophy that stats are good and go for Magnitude.
[X] Vigor Itself
[X] Vigor Itself x2
[X] Magnitude
Even though the Ring is too focused on potential over immediate power given our current situation and I fear the potential danger of the contest of primacy, saving is probably wiser than Wreath, given that it allows us to flash buy Magic-Defeating Stance if we need it or potentially save for an EFB which provide more immediate power. The ring gang would probably fight to the death to prevent either of these things from happening but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Otherwise, I'll go with the general philosophy that stats are good and go for Magnitude.
[X] Vigor Itself
[X] Vigor Itself x2
[X] Magnitude
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Wait wait wait hold up, in that case, shouldn't the Ruling Ring-wanting faction be voting for Augment Dominion: Blood? 😅
"*You can trade all three Dominions, both Pre-eminencies, and Chief Dominion for [Ruling Ring]"
In order to pick up Ruling Ring, you need to get all 3 Dominions, 2 Pre-eminencies, and Chief Dominion. And while saving up on Arete is one thing, it also requires Picks in order to grab.
If the current timeframe is viewed by people as the perfect time to marshal our resources and that there is nothing we really want or need to grab out of the current presented list of stuff... Then shouldn't now be the perfect time to grab Augment Dominion? When we have single-picks to spare, and it is not seen as competing with any other really-must-get-this choices?
Because as soon as we leave the resort, and get back to the temple, we will start being presented with juicy options or rare advancements or the like, and we also might be in the situation of needing or wanting to pick something up in order to progress or defend ourselves or round out or whatever.
Or did I misunderstand it, and "Augment Dominion" is different from "Dominion"?
@Rihaku do we need to get Augment Dominion to make our way to Ruling Ring? And in general, what do we need to pick up -- what do we have, and what do we still need to get -- in order to achieve Ruling Ring? Do we just need Pre-eminence x2 or do we need multiple Augment Dominions?
- Location
- Brazil
None of them are a bad pick, i think, but experimentation has synergy with Philosoper's, increasing it's effect and odds of succeding, as Conjured Blade stated. And while +all stats is great, i'm of the belief that we need the most personal power we can get.
Also, holy shit the omake reaction ended up larger than my omake.
It's not this Augmented Dominion, it's the War and Passion Dominions and Preeminences.Wait wait wait hold up, in that case, shouldn't the Ruling Ring-wanting faction be voting for Augment Dominion: Blood? 😅
"*You can trade all three Dominions, both Pre-eminencies, and Chief Dominion for [Ruling Ring]"
In order to pick up Ruling Ring, you need to get all 3 Dominions, 2 Pre-eminencies, and Chief Dominion. And while saving up on Arete is one thing, it also requires Picks in order to grab.
If the current timeframe is viewed by people as the perfect time to marshal our resources and that there is nothing we really want or need to grab out of the current presented list of stuff... Then shouldn't now be the perfect time to grab Augment Dominion? When we have single-picks to spare, and it is not seen as competing with any other really-must-get-this choices?
Because as soon as we leave the resort, and get back to the temple, we will start being presented with juicy options or rare advancements or the like, and we also might be in the situation of needing or wanting to pick something up in order to progress or defend ourselves or round out or whatever.
Or did I misunderstand it, and "Augment Dominion" is different from "Dominion"?
Thanatanos
PvP Lover, Assasin Player
[X] Ennobling
[X] Experimentation
[X] Ennobling Option [Ennobling] - The power to raise up armies of the mighty and turn the houses of the Temple civ against one another, but no immediate buffs for yourself.
[X] Experimentation
[X] Ennobling Option [Ennobling] - The power to raise up armies of the mighty and turn the houses of the Temple civ against one another, but no immediate buffs for yourself.
Rihaku
The Internet
You need Preeminence: Passion, Preeminence: War, and Chief Dominion, nothing else!