Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
We haven't done a level up vote for Xor. The vote for Zherys was to determine his build, using mine or @Artemis1992's, not his level up to 16th.
A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
-
- Tags
- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
You guys did not vote for it.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
Granted!
- Location
- Mexico
Yeah, ultimately there is very little to disagree on during these votes, it's either do you take path A or B when both lead to C, as we are massively overqualified for turning minor Lords.
The interludes are great as ever, but since we don't really get much agency there, again there is not much to discuss.
I think we are all enjoying everything all the same, so don't worry too much.
- Location
- United States
Rina Cox, Relath the Roiling Tempest, Zherys, Wyla Drekelis, Xor, Mia the Inquisitor, Anya the Inquisitor, and Sharra Rogare.
In the interests of controversy, debate, and my rampant paranoia, what do you guys think about using some of Viserys' Westeros time to damage Lannister and/or Stark interests? Make a handful of fake aristocratic cabals, assassinate a few lords to start a ruthless shadow war between the different kingdoms, kill Tywin and frame the CoS, and stuff like that.
... I'm only partially joking. Getting the golden shields to fight the fey for us would be great. The only thing that could make it better is if we could find some evidence of foul play towards the faith from either of them and use it to spark a three way conflict without technically breaking our word.
... I'm only partially joking. Getting the golden shields to fight the fey for us would be great. The only thing that could make it better is if we could find some evidence of foul play towards the faith from either of them and use it to spark a three way conflict without technically breaking our word.
- Location
- florida
A peace so deep. It is like the dark. Like ... Death.
- Location
- Earth
We've already sorta sicked Lucan and Danielle on the Court of Stars by telling them their about their marriage-scheme.
Completely truthfully and openly!
The best sort of manipulation
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
We've comfortably got most people aligned against us except Hell on the backfoot. Hell is technically borderline impossible for us to shift, all killing their agents on our plane does is set them back a little bit.
On the other hand, our actions against the Brazen Throne give us resources AND distract them from more important matters, like being double-teamed by two rival empires. So not entirely without a point.
Finally, every month, we make gains against our mortal enemies. Thus far, it is hard to name one brazen action by the Lannisters that did not result in a disproportionate response from us. Probably why they've leaned off it for multiple months.
On the other hand, our actions against the Brazen Throne give us resources AND distract them from more important matters, like being double-teamed by two rival empires. So not entirely without a point.
Finally, every month, we make gains against our mortal enemies. Thus far, it is hard to name one brazen action by the Lannisters that did not result in a disproportionate response from us. Probably why they've leaned off it for multiple months.
Interlude in beta.
- Location
- Earth
My Plan to deal with the Seven "peacefully" and fulfill the "Humble the Seven"-demand of the Old Gods.
1) No religion gets to advance their Faith via violence.
This is a definite shot against the Seven, for they promote(d) such a thing.
The conclave already curtailed that a bit.
Make sure noone gets to imprison Priests for simply preaching, as long as they do not promote violence against the state.
Preaching that sacrifice is wrong is ok, telling people to take up weapons to try to enforce their view is not.
Of Course this also means that any Priests of the Seven preaching the particularist Interpretation will not get arrested.
2) Treat any destruction of a temple as a crime.
The idea here is to at least attempt to look impartial.
Any destruction of holy sites will be persecuted no matter by whom.
Of Course Heart Trees are holy sites.
3) Finance temples of religions we like. (Old Gods, Yss, Merling King, Goddess of the Silver Moon, The Weeping Lady, ...) in pretty much all of Westeros.
This ensures the populace sees the Seven are not the only Gods and will fracture them a bit or promote Polytheism.
All this is to ensure no single God or Clergy can ever meaningfully influence our Reign.
Now how might Lucan respond to this?
1) He chooses to talk and preach and hope to convert people peacefully.
I expect him to fail in this. The Gods after all are all real and offer real boons for their Faithful.
The Lantern Bearers have already learned what the Merling King offers.
2) He chooses violence.
He loses even harder there, because this gives us an excuse to commit violence ourselves.
And we are much better at that. Of Course used together with propaganda that Lucan started it and it's all his fault and he's convicted for murder of lawful citizens, etcetc...
Thoughts? Ideas?
1) No religion gets to advance their Faith via violence.
This is a definite shot against the Seven, for they promote(d) such a thing.
The conclave already curtailed that a bit.
Make sure noone gets to imprison Priests for simply preaching, as long as they do not promote violence against the state.
Preaching that sacrifice is wrong is ok, telling people to take up weapons to try to enforce their view is not.
Of Course this also means that any Priests of the Seven preaching the particularist Interpretation will not get arrested.
2) Treat any destruction of a temple as a crime.
The idea here is to at least attempt to look impartial.
Any destruction of holy sites will be persecuted no matter by whom.
Of Course Heart Trees are holy sites.
3) Finance temples of religions we like. (Old Gods, Yss, Merling King, Goddess of the Silver Moon, The Weeping Lady, ...) in pretty much all of Westeros.
This ensures the populace sees the Seven are not the only Gods and will fracture them a bit or promote Polytheism.
All this is to ensure no single God or Clergy can ever meaningfully influence our Reign.
Now how might Lucan respond to this?
1) He chooses to talk and preach and hope to convert people peacefully.
I expect him to fail in this. The Gods after all are all real and offer real boons for their Faithful.
The Lantern Bearers have already learned what the Merling King offers.
2) He chooses violence.
He loses even harder there, because this gives us an excuse to commit violence ourselves.
And we are much better at that. Of Course used together with propaganda that Lucan started it and it's all his fault and he's convicted for murder of lawful citizens, etcetc...
Thoughts? Ideas?
Thats not going to cut it for the revenge itself. As a settlement after the fact sure, but the old gods are Bronze Age about this kind of stuff. I think we're going to need to feed them a few of the chosen and a bushel or so of angels to calm them down without bleeding too many innocent mortal houses.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
We ain't got nothing on illithids yet.
Sure, we managed to off some minions of theirs and got a tentative agreement up with Gith - but so far, the only thing seemingly stopping them from tolling over everyone, had been Devils of all people.
Further, we haven't heard from Moonpale Maiden, or other branches of Daemons since Tyrosh, so that's nothing good.
Essarian Undead (the mad ones), we kinda left to simmer on their own, and I all but guarantee a shitshow exploding eventually.
Bloodstone Emps, second verse same as the first. Those few high-ranking rakshasa we offed will get (or already got) reborn with little power-loss, and he now actively seeks ways to fuck us over.
Objectively though, yes, we are good on Brazen Trone's front.
If all goes well 11th month...
We might just deal with Tiamat for near 6-12 months.
But we are quite reactive either way, and with what enemies we have...
We don't actually have many reasonable choices to be proactive :/
- Location
- Earth
We already did earn quite a bit of favour with the Old Gods.
1) All Heart Trees are Fire Immune (New and Old)
2) Lots of sacrifices in general
3) at least some mortal houses will get saved via having them do some sacrifices. Vyseris can talk them into it.
4) We did get that Nat 20 with making the Old Gods more focused on fighting the Void/Threat from the North.
Just tell them that every Seven champion we kill won't go march on the Void. Should at least lessen their Rage, or rather have some of the Void-focuses ones argue against the Seven-focused ones.
That's something that the Seven champions would do anyway.
- Location
- ?????????
The Old Gods need something a tad more physical. Or at least something far more damaging to the faith. If we are looking at the settlement Bloodraven suggested, it would have been a crippling blow to any central religious institution the Seven wanted. Since that is now out of the picture a couple gallons of blood/divine power will most likely be necessary. The ideal settlement would be for the Seven and their champions to grow every tree that was cut and to pay a huge sum of divine power directly in sacrifice to the Old Gods. Both of which are humiliating and fix the problem that they put themselves into.
1) Which was something we did to protect both our interests. Not for the Seven.
2) Which has calmed them down but as DP has said. A good meal isn't as satisfying as revenge.
3) Which we have done and we have done sacrifices mostly to have the Old Gods spare the loyalist families.
4) Which has caused them to prioritize the Void. What happens after that war? You think they will just forget a direct attack on their divine realm? No they are going to call us in to collect because they take oaths seriously.
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- Location
- United States
The Old Gods being more focused on the Void doesn't mean they aren't still furious with the Seven. At minimum they'll want reparations, but humbling the Seven is still a major goal.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
And TBH it is an arrangement that will take a long time, meaning that the Seven's followers will actively, publicly and for an extended period of time be forced to bleed their piggy bank dry with reparations thanks to their oh-so-helpful provisions against blood sacrifice.
What is it to grow a Tier 3 heart tree? 20 CL I believe?
Not an insurmountable obstacle, but let's assume the Andals cut down a thousand genuine Heart Trees, as a conservative estimate. That's at least 20,000 CL worth of magic items.
If they're pragmatic, they would capture gribblies and hand them off to an agent of the Old Gods willing to use them to plant a Heart Tree, which would vastly accelerate the rate of reparations payments, but y'know, being one stepped removed and complicit in more blood sacrifice, even more humiliating than standard reparations.
But in either case, not payments they'd have to make all at once. So long as they chipped in actively, they could pay it off in a timeline of centuries. In fact it is almost better if they're working on that debt actively for that long, since the OG can rub the Seven's nose in dogshit all the while.
What is it to grow a Tier 3 heart tree? 20 CL I believe?
Not an insurmountable obstacle, but let's assume the Andals cut down a thousand genuine Heart Trees, as a conservative estimate. That's at least 20,000 CL worth of magic items.
If they're pragmatic, they would capture gribblies and hand them off to an agent of the Old Gods willing to use them to plant a Heart Tree, which would vastly accelerate the rate of reparations payments, but y'know, being one stepped removed and complicit in more blood sacrifice, even more humiliating than standard reparations.
But in either case, not payments they'd have to make all at once. So long as they chipped in actively, they could pay it off in a timeline of centuries. In fact it is almost better if they're working on that debt actively for that long, since the OG can rub the Seven's nose in dogshit all the while.
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Interlude DLXXXV: The Measure of Wisdom
The Measure of Wisdom
Thirty-First Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC
Melisandre of Asshai made for far more interesting dinner conversation than eating with the court, Lya thought a touch guiltily as the older mage gave an account of fire magic before the Awakening over her plate of pomegranate chicken and herb salad, touching briefly on the painfully stringent limitations of ritual magic in those days. It was not really skipping out on her self-appointed duties to be eating in her chambers with only the Shadowbinder for company. She was so close to deciphering the final chapter of the Light of Creation, the verses writ in flame that shifted with the eye of the beholder.
Already she was able to better understand how those born of smokeless flame could better grasp nuances in their tongue that had escaped her before, but the final truth, the cypher for which the text itself was named, still eluded her. It was the Fire of Creation, not merely the confluence of flame after all.
"Trying to outrace the day again, Lady Lya?" the Shadowbinder asked with perhaps a spark of humor in her eyes.
"The moonturn, actually," she replied. "I pledged that I would be done with the scroll by the end of this month and I mislike overstepping the time. There is so much else to do."
"You are waiting for me to chastise you for rushing through life without taking the time to appreciate it, aren't you?" came the second question after a moment's silence.
"Something like that," Lya admitted, looking momentarily at her plate, the better to cut the piece of garlic torte.
"Old though I may be under R'hllor's light, I'm not quite so old as to look at diligence and call it folly," the Red Priestess sniffed. "If I had a means to be in two places at once, in two bodies at once thirty years ago, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Truth be told I envy you..." She trailed off into the sound of silver clinking against porcelain.
"I'm afraid synchronizing bodies has to do with the architecture of the soul..." Lya began.
The laugh startled Lya, it was loud and not the least self-conscious, full of genuine mirth. "Not that, I could no more take up your art of shaping than you would take up shadow binding. Magic is more than a tool of convenience even in this new-born world where a merchant captain can buy an enchanted box to keep himself from eating fish and hardtack through the journey, our magic is who we are, the tale we tell the world and make true."
It was then that Lya realized just what she found intriguing about the red-robed priestess. It was not merely what lore she knew of magic and stories of distant shores upon which Lya had yet to tread, it was that she understood in her own way the wonder and the terror of the world and she was not afraid. "What do you envy, then?"
"Coming into yourself and your magic, in this age, in this world." The older mage motioned to where one of Lya's ephemeral servitors was carrying in the desert tray. "That is the merest fraction, the merest spark of true sorcery, no one will know you by it, but in the glimmer of a spark might fire's tale be told. The people of this city might be wary of your power, but it does not fill them with that most pernicious dread of the unknown. An apprentice at your Scholarum can cast spells of the First Circle, you of the Eighth, a scale by which to measure is no small thing."
"I see myself in them too sometimes, myself when I was... gods, seven-and-ten, the age Viserys is now." The young sorceress shook her head. "It really does sound ridiculous to say it like that."
"Age is only a number, a measuring stick," the priestess shrugged.
"A moment's spark, the measure of eternal flame. That's it..." Lya's words trailed off as her mind turned away from the present and back to the memory of the scroll, the final piece of the puzzle slotting in place. "Were you doing that on purpose? Using just the right words to call my attention to the key?"
"Usually this would be my cue to nod sagely and play the part of mysterious Wisdom," Melisandre replied with a smile that was somehow more honest, or perhaps merely more human than any Lya had seen on her features before. "But there isn't much point in playing our parts for each other here behind the curtain, is there? No, I simply realized you were the sort to peer a little too closely at the scroll, looking for hints in every detail, and that you might need some distance before you could come upon the answer. The merit is wholly yours, Wisdom Lya..."
"Just Lya will do," the Braavosi mage said as she rushed off back to the library to read again the fateful passage... and then to speak, from a spark lit in the hand a was candle lit and from its brightness a newborn spirit, forged just this moment from the wilds of the Endless Furnace and drawn into the world under the sun.
Lya gains Mastery of the Light of Creation: -35% material cost of Conjuration (Calling) spells as long as the being called has the Fire type; +7 Insight Bonus to Diplomacy attempts with Outsiders with the Fire type;
Lya gains Sacred Pyromancy: The ability to craft and alter Spirits of Fire through Ritual
OOC: Well this was a long time coming. From the start I imagined this as a complementary ability to the Flesh-Forge since it allows the creation and modification of Outsiders. Outside of very simple elementals like the one Lya just made creating from scratch is very complex and time consuming, but making templates and other alterations is simpler and you have a growing community of Phoenixes, Azer, Ifrit, and other elemental beings of fire to draw on. Btw, Lya was by no means guaranteed to make the third DC on the first try. She rolled 1d20+ 8 (INT) +4 (Melisandre's aid/half her Wisdom Bonus)+1d6 (Mythic Surge) and had to hit DC 30.
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- Location
- ?????????
Hello there. Aren't you an interesting piece of lore.
...i just realized that I don't remember if we got any account of how Yi-Ti manages worship of Gods.
Westeros got Seven. They are shit, but they have an afterlife where they actively usher souls in.
Essoss got a bunch of minor Deities and R'hlor.
Do Yi-Tish?
Because with how close they are geographically (and metaphysically) to Bloodstone Emperor...
I got a bad feeling.
They worship the Kami (spirits of the land and various objects) and the Fortunes (spirits of more abstract things like hard work, love or courage).
- Location
- Australia
Genuinely we should make a couple hundred Children of the Briar, these things can be very effective and Cantrips are no joke.
If anyone tried to advance through woodlands inhabited by these guys they're going to have a bad time.
I want to make a bunch of Flowering Lattice and also advanced versions that generate more Goodberries, I've also had the idea of statting some out as defenders with a few well chosen Templates, the the other ones hanging off of storefronts etc as well as our general greenery they should blend in perfectly.
A few Advanced Rampant Bullettes for our breadbaskets if @DragonParadox will allow us to bump the template to a +2CR and remove or tweak Verdant Genesis so it's not so problematic.
Our farmland will be more productive and Bullettes operate as amazing ambush predators in the right environment, plains are perfect for them.
Most importantly I want to get 2-4 Wings of Plant Imbued Giant Darkenbeasts, it gives them a better chassis overall and some intelligence too, makes for a perfect Scouting/Elite Strikeforce.
The spell likes give them Freedom of Movement at Will and they can fly at top speed low to the ground and through the forest combined with Woodland stride, Tree Stride lets them budget Teleport and Sunburst will absolutely murder formations and ships.
- Location
- United States
@DragonParadox, so this was the ??? part of Light of Creation?
Very interesting. This is our first piece in figuring out how to craft full Outsiders, right?
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
Enter, Dark Souls memes.
For real though, @DragonParadox, this was everything I could have hoped for.
And so, so worth it.
Lya is really the only person worthy this "secret" in our whole roster, imo, if for how thematically appropriate it is for her.
Outsiders are just souls, after all.
Thank you for this chapter.
