Pretty sure.
Crystal Chameleon is canon, I believe, while this most certainly is not.
If we Exalt her and give her a familiar, it'll probably be a bear.
Possibly a literal bear, not just a teddy.
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Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 16: Playful Parasites Pervert Prayer, Perpetuate Plagues
- Thread starter Gromweld
- Start date
Crystal Chameleon is canon, I believe, while this most certainly is not.
Possibly a literal bear, not just a teddy.
Minor note: The ability to spend motes to ignore the need for ritual materials was errataed out of existence.
(4)(b) Essential River Channeling is a 24-hour Thaumaturgy ritual which would require Iris to channel his own Essence (or Autochthons/EOA's through the link) in order to bestow Enlightenment on a single recipient. This is rather mote-intensive for Iris since he has to eschew the Resources cost (Resources 4 for the re-usable materials, Resources 4-5 for the consumed ingredients) of the ritual via mote expenditure (at 2m per resource dot, that works out to 16~18m per ritual) in addition to however much Essence it costs to use himself as a source (the entry doesn't say. It's SotM, go figure). Failing the ritual means you and your erstwhile recipient get to deal with fun things like having to pass a Difficulty 3 Willpower roll on pain of Agg, but I really don't think that the frikkin' Fetich Soul of Autochthon is going to screw up something as simple as a thaum ritual.
How are you defining 'proper soul'? Because while Nowhere-verse humans don't have hun-po souls, in Creation there were lots of Enlightened things that didn't have those either. I'm not saying that Nowhere-verse humans will absolutely be able to Enlighten, but I don't think it's out of the question.
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
You folk are using too narrow a definition of the words in the title. Think laterally.
Though, we'll see what I mean by the end of 7.7, so work quickly!
Though, we'll see what I mean by the end of 7.7, so work quickly!
Iris does what he wants. Except when he can't, because he has no essence to spend.
And in some cases, those without souls get their souls post facto.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Curse you, errata! OTOH, this means that Iris is shit outta luck for doing any sort thaumaturgy-based enlightening since the point of ritual materials is that you're coaxing the essence out of them and Earth-Bet mats have no essence to coax.
In that case I bet it has nothing to do with First Prayer of Perfection or shards and is referring to something else entirely. Something something Exalted cult mechanics, something something robocancer. I don't know enough about Exalted.
Mechanis
Confirmed Extremely Screwed
- Location
- Absconding with Alacrity
yeah, doubly so as part of autobot's theme is "Limits? LIMITS?! FUCK LIMITS! I! AM! AUTOCHTHON! Limits happen to other people!"
anyway, MECtrooper Imp is now a high possibility, assuming we can't bullshit up some essencetech for her, or just Exalt her and skip the messy bits.
also, because it wouldn't live me alone-
[=alt=]/discontinuity/
"The fuck happened here?"
no-one in the squad was sure who said it. this had been a normal town, if isolated, but last night there's been a massive flash of light that, somehow, didn't show up on recordings.
all there was was a scattering of strange, glowing cubes, some in piles of clothing strewn haphazardly about.*
and in the very center, a black orb, suspended in the remains of some odd tinkertech device that had parts mangled by half-formed cubes. and a child-sized smock, stained with blood and other fluids, in which rested another, identical cube.
/discontiunity/
Omake: The End of Madness
or: messing with Iris get you burned if he has motes.
*See panel 3
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Some fun images to keep you all occupied:
Riley being Best Little Sister:
Enduring Order Administrator Wins at Network Security:
And some potential sub-modules for when we get to a vat:
http://plagueofhats.blogspot.ca/2010/09/fuck-you-and-house-behind-you.html
http://plagueofhats.blogspot.ca/2010/09/everybodys-jealous-of-my-lifts.html
Riley being Best Little Sister:
http://plagueofhats.blogspot.ca/2010/09/fuck-you-and-house-behind-you.html
http://plagueofhats.blogspot.ca/2010/09/everybodys-jealous-of-my-lifts.html
Anyway, in case you were still interested there's also this one, for Essence cannon users.
So, last week, on the Exalted forums, someone (I seriously don't even remember who) mentioned they kinda sorta wanted a Celestial Martial Art based around Alchemical Essence weaponry. Normally, I ignore things like that… not that it's a bad idea, mind, but I'm not generally able to conjure mechanics for a martial art off the top of my head. Vitriolic Octopus Style took, like, a year to properly formulate, and it went through three iterations. However, as soon as I read the post, this style popped, almost fully formed, into my brain.
Behold: Celestial martial arts, Mega-Man style!
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Style (Celestial Martial Art)
Originally invented by the Orichalcum Caste Luminiferous Physician, this Celestial-level martial art is focused around not only force, but also using force to shape oneself and one's surroundings to achieve total victory. It teaches the utilization of precision force in precise amounts when called for, as well as overwhelming (some might say excessive) force in overwhelming quantities when necessary. While initially designed for Essence pulse cannons, the designer of the style was quite surprised to learn that it worked equally well with other hand-held, Essence-projectile weapons, such as concussive Essence cannons and similar weapons. While Luminiferous Physician was the designer of the style, it was most famously used by Overwhelming Yeoman of Adventure to fight his gremlin-nemesis, Deceitful Surgeon. Stories of the great patropolis Oveyead wandering the Wastes are common propaganda throughout Autochthonia.
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Style treats Essence-projectile weapons (most commonly Essence pulse cannons) as form weapons. It can be practiced in armor (and often is).
Elemental Aspect
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Style is aspected to the element of electricity. As a side note, all Alchemical Exalted are automatically aspected to Autochthonian elements.
Inertial Velocity Exploitation
Cost: 2 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 1, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
By utilizing the momentum of an Essence cannon, the martial artist can propel herself upward with dizzying speed. This Charm can be activated whenever the martial artist makes a Jump action. Doing so adds (Martial Arts x4) yards to the distance of the Jump. Further, if the martial artist pays to fire a burst from an Essence-based weapon, he may add the weapon's Damage rating to the Jump distance as well.
Paramount Efficiency Enhancement
Cost: 1 mote, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The cost to fire an Essence-projection weapon is often their greatest weakness. By channeling the flow of Essence through himself and into his weapon, a skilled Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance practitioner can remove this weakness. Activating this Charm reduces the cost per shot of an Essence-projection weapon by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for the remainder of the scene.
Barricade Purgation Procedure
Cost: 4 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
While the power of an Essence blast can often directly solve a problem, a true martial artist understands that sometimes, nothing gets a point across quite like catastrophic property damage. This Charm supplements an unarmed attack against an inanimate object, doubling the attack's raw damage.
Essence Modulation Amplifier
Cost: 4 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Inertial Velocity Exploitation, Paramount Efficiency Enhancement, Barricade Purgation Procedure
A skilled martial artist can learn to focus the power of her own Essence, withholding it from her cannon until the last moment, "charging" it so to speak, in order to fire a massive burst of energy. When used to enhance an unarmed attack, for every die added to the attack roll from Aim actions, the martial artist adds one die of post-soak damage.
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Form
Cost: 6 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Essence Modulation Amplifier
The master of the Essence cannon understands its full range of uses, offensive and defensive, and has learned that thought and action are one. When this Charm is active, the martial artist moves with the speed of honed reflexes, gaining the full +3 bonus to Accuracy from a single Aim action. Successive Aim actions still cannot raise the total bonus above 3. Moreover, the martial artist can use form weapons of this style to parry attacks, firing beams of essence to knock weapons and projectiles aside. Doing so is an unarmed parry, treating the weapon's Defense bonus as being equal to its Accuracy +2. If the martial artist must pay a cost or expend ammunition to fire the weapon, he must do so each time he makes use of this defense.
Sequence Calibration Refit
Cost: 1 mote/die; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Form
By adjusting the calibration on his weapon and on his own Essence, the martial artist can narrow the pulse for a more potent (but less reliable) strike, or widen the burst, weakening its impact to aid its accuracy. This Charm supplements an attack with an Essence-projectile weapon. For each mote spent, the martial artist may subtract one die from the Damage rating of the weapon to add one die to his attack, or subtract one die from his attack roll to add 5 to the weapon's Damage. Improving the accuracy of the attack is limited by dice caps as normal, but improving the damage is limited only by the motes available to spend and the Damage rating of the weapon. Neither attack pool nor Damage can be reduced below one die.
Trajectory Correction Strategy
Cost: 5 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 5)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One Tick
Prerequisite Charms: Sequence Calibration Refit
Essence fired from an Essence-projectile weapon is still the martial artist's Essence, and with practice, he can learn to control it even once it has left his body. If one of the martial artist's unarmed attacks misses, he can activate this Charm in Step 5 to redirect it at another enemy, as though they were the original target. Redirected attacks use the same rolled successes to determine if they hit.
Expeditious Impulse Evacuation
Cost: 6 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Trajectory Correction Strategy
Attacks fueled with Essence project an enormous amount of force. With practice, the martial artist can harness this force to control his movements. This Charm may be activated in response to any close-combat attack against the martial artist. Regardless of the attack's success, the martial artist may immediately make a unarmed counterattack against his attacker, paying the usual cost if he chooses to fire an Essence-projection weapon. Regardless of whether or not this counterattack succeeds, the martial artist is propelled (Essence x5) yards directly away from his attacker by the force of the blow.
Maximum Devastation Onslaught
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sequence Calibration Refit
Precision is not a virtue to the Ordnance practitioner. Devastation is. This Charm supplements an attack with an Essence-based weapon. Streamers of glowing plasma rocket forth from his weapon, careening wildly around him, leaving contrails of burning vapor and exploding on impact with staggering force. The martial artist makes a normal attack roll and applies it to all valid targets within (Essence x2) yards.
Overwhelming Ruinous Barrage
Cost: 2 motes, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Maximum Devastation Onslaught
The martial artist can split an Essence pulse from himself into his weapon, arcing the attack into a spread of three, separate particles. This Charm allows the martial artist to make three attacks with an Essence-projectile weapon, each costing the normal firing charge, at the attacker's full pool, and ignoring Rate. The total DV penalty for this flurry is equal to the highest DV penalty of any of single attack made. Furthermore, if the first attack in this flurry benefits from an Aim action, all attacks in the flurry gain the same benefit. It is said that Luminiferous Physician sought to improve this Charm, allowing for additional attacks, but was unable to make any Essence-discharge weapon more efficient.
Luminiferous Annihilation Cannon
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Overwhelming Ruinous Barrage, Expeditious Impulse Evacuation
Understanding an Essence weapon means understanding its fundamental purpose: annihilation. This Charm consists of a single unarmed attack, which costs the usual number of motes if made with an Essence weapon. The attack, if successful, deals Aggravated damage, and automatically converts all post-soak dice of damage directly to levels dealt. Victims of this attack are most often only identified by black shadows seared onto nearby scenery or pairs of smoking boots left standing amidst ashes.
Behold: Celestial martial arts, Mega-Man style!
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Style (Celestial Martial Art)
Originally invented by the Orichalcum Caste Luminiferous Physician, this Celestial-level martial art is focused around not only force, but also using force to shape oneself and one's surroundings to achieve total victory. It teaches the utilization of precision force in precise amounts when called for, as well as overwhelming (some might say excessive) force in overwhelming quantities when necessary. While initially designed for Essence pulse cannons, the designer of the style was quite surprised to learn that it worked equally well with other hand-held, Essence-projectile weapons, such as concussive Essence cannons and similar weapons. While Luminiferous Physician was the designer of the style, it was most famously used by Overwhelming Yeoman of Adventure to fight his gremlin-nemesis, Deceitful Surgeon. Stories of the great patropolis Oveyead wandering the Wastes are common propaganda throughout Autochthonia.
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Style treats Essence-projectile weapons (most commonly Essence pulse cannons) as form weapons. It can be practiced in armor (and often is).
Elemental Aspect
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Style is aspected to the element of electricity. As a side note, all Alchemical Exalted are automatically aspected to Autochthonian elements.
Inertial Velocity Exploitation
Cost: 2 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 1, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
By utilizing the momentum of an Essence cannon, the martial artist can propel herself upward with dizzying speed. This Charm can be activated whenever the martial artist makes a Jump action. Doing so adds (Martial Arts x4) yards to the distance of the Jump. Further, if the martial artist pays to fire a burst from an Essence-based weapon, he may add the weapon's Damage rating to the Jump distance as well.
Paramount Efficiency Enhancement
Cost: 1 mote, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The cost to fire an Essence-projection weapon is often their greatest weakness. By channeling the flow of Essence through himself and into his weapon, a skilled Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance practitioner can remove this weakness. Activating this Charm reduces the cost per shot of an Essence-projection weapon by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for the remainder of the scene.
Barricade Purgation Procedure
Cost: 4 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
While the power of an Essence blast can often directly solve a problem, a true martial artist understands that sometimes, nothing gets a point across quite like catastrophic property damage. This Charm supplements an unarmed attack against an inanimate object, doubling the attack's raw damage.
Essence Modulation Amplifier
Cost: 4 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Inertial Velocity Exploitation, Paramount Efficiency Enhancement, Barricade Purgation Procedure
A skilled martial artist can learn to focus the power of her own Essence, withholding it from her cannon until the last moment, "charging" it so to speak, in order to fire a massive burst of energy. When used to enhance an unarmed attack, for every die added to the attack roll from Aim actions, the martial artist adds one die of post-soak damage.
Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Form
Cost: 6 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Essence Modulation Amplifier
The master of the Essence cannon understands its full range of uses, offensive and defensive, and has learned that thought and action are one. When this Charm is active, the martial artist moves with the speed of honed reflexes, gaining the full +3 bonus to Accuracy from a single Aim action. Successive Aim actions still cannot raise the total bonus above 3. Moreover, the martial artist can use form weapons of this style to parry attacks, firing beams of essence to knock weapons and projectiles aside. Doing so is an unarmed parry, treating the weapon's Defense bonus as being equal to its Accuracy +2. If the martial artist must pay a cost or expend ammunition to fire the weapon, he must do so each time he makes use of this defense.
Sequence Calibration Refit
Cost: 1 mote/die; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Overwhelming Ruinous Ordnance Form
By adjusting the calibration on his weapon and on his own Essence, the martial artist can narrow the pulse for a more potent (but less reliable) strike, or widen the burst, weakening its impact to aid its accuracy. This Charm supplements an attack with an Essence-projectile weapon. For each mote spent, the martial artist may subtract one die from the Damage rating of the weapon to add one die to his attack, or subtract one die from his attack roll to add 5 to the weapon's Damage. Improving the accuracy of the attack is limited by dice caps as normal, but improving the damage is limited only by the motes available to spend and the Damage rating of the weapon. Neither attack pool nor Damage can be reduced below one die.
Trajectory Correction Strategy
Cost: 5 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 5)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One Tick
Prerequisite Charms: Sequence Calibration Refit
Essence fired from an Essence-projectile weapon is still the martial artist's Essence, and with practice, he can learn to control it even once it has left his body. If one of the martial artist's unarmed attacks misses, he can activate this Charm in Step 5 to redirect it at another enemy, as though they were the original target. Redirected attacks use the same rolled successes to determine if they hit.
Expeditious Impulse Evacuation
Cost: 6 motes; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Trajectory Correction Strategy
Attacks fueled with Essence project an enormous amount of force. With practice, the martial artist can harness this force to control his movements. This Charm may be activated in response to any close-combat attack against the martial artist. Regardless of the attack's success, the martial artist may immediately make a unarmed counterattack against his attacker, paying the usual cost if he chooses to fire an Essence-projection weapon. Regardless of whether or not this counterattack succeeds, the martial artist is propelled (Essence x5) yards directly away from his attacker by the force of the blow.
Maximum Devastation Onslaught
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sequence Calibration Refit
Precision is not a virtue to the Ordnance practitioner. Devastation is. This Charm supplements an attack with an Essence-based weapon. Streamers of glowing plasma rocket forth from his weapon, careening wildly around him, leaving contrails of burning vapor and exploding on impact with staggering force. The martial artist makes a normal attack roll and applies it to all valid targets within (Essence x2) yards.
Overwhelming Ruinous Barrage
Cost: 2 motes, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Maximum Devastation Onslaught
The martial artist can split an Essence pulse from himself into his weapon, arcing the attack into a spread of three, separate particles. This Charm allows the martial artist to make three attacks with an Essence-projectile weapon, each costing the normal firing charge, at the attacker's full pool, and ignoring Rate. The total DV penalty for this flurry is equal to the highest DV penalty of any of single attack made. Furthermore, if the first attack in this flurry benefits from an Aim action, all attacks in the flurry gain the same benefit. It is said that Luminiferous Physician sought to improve this Charm, allowing for additional attacks, but was unable to make any Essence-discharge weapon more efficient.
Luminiferous Annihilation Cannon
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Overwhelming Ruinous Barrage, Expeditious Impulse Evacuation
Understanding an Essence weapon means understanding its fundamental purpose: annihilation. This Charm consists of a single unarmed attack, which costs the usual number of motes if made with an Essence weapon. The attack, if successful, deals Aggravated damage, and automatically converts all post-soak dice of damage directly to levels dealt. Victims of this attack are most often only identified by black shadows seared onto nearby scenery or pairs of smoking boots left standing amidst ashes.
http://tentacledvitriol.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/celestial-martial-arts-mega-man-style/
Now that I've gotten some sleep, I'll try and do a proper review of the last Interlude.
In a couple hours, I think.
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Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
This was great, and will only need a few minor tweaks for canonization. Looks like I'll have enough for a full Arc of canon omakes, now! +1 XP!
I did not know this existed. Thanks for sharing it.
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Woohoo! I helped!
Alright so it appears that I may not have internet on either just Monday or the entire week. Thankfully I should be able to get out 2 more Omakes for some extra XP by tomorrow if I time it right.
As promised to Grom, I decided to do a little review of the story so far. I've been meaning to do this for a while but I've either keep putting it off or forget about it completely, but not today!
Please keep in mind that this is all opinion and is subject to change as long as the story keeps going. If it feels like I'm being unnecessarily harsh on some parts, I apologize as I get very passionate about stories I like and sometimes don't catch myself in the process.
ALCHEMICAL SOLUTIONS [WORM/EXALTED]
THE PRO'S:
Plot/Story: 9/10
- I haven't read many Exalted stories or Quests and anytime I've felt the need to look into the franchise, I often come out more confused than before. @landcollector knows my pain, as his attempts at explaining certain concepts of the lore have left me scratching my head and probably feels to him like teaching a 5 year old with the attention span of a Gold-Fish. That being said, I applaud @Gromweld for making the story so approachable to someone like me who has almost to know understanding of that part of the crossover. I think it really helps that Taylor herself was just as un-knowledgeable of the subject as I was, so when she learned something, it felt like I had learned something as well. This kind of tapered off when she became closer to Autochthon but there are still parts where she needs to figure out things on her own which I enjoy greatly.
- What made it even better was that there wasn't much physical action in the beginning: it was just Taylor being socially awkward while looking like an Amazonian Super-Model and trying to have friends. It set a nice pace for the story in the beginning and when things did happen, they had a much more powerful shock-value. There are plenty of twists and revelations from both sides of the cross, which is pleasant surprise do to the fact that we think we know all the spoilers from Worm, but Gromweld proves us wrong in the most surprising of ways.
- The Marrow POV switch was surprising but I really grew to enjoy the new view points and thought processes of one the best Original Characters I've seen written.
Action: 10/10
- Like I said above, there actually isn't much Physical Action in the beginning of the story. Besides Taylor testing her powers, we don't see anything resembling a fight until Coil's assassination attempt. And then Behemoth hits. Ignoring the massive twist itself, that entire chase scene and escape of the Protectorate Base is incredible and sucks you into the dangers of fighting a monster well above your league. It only gets better from there as other characters get to shine, using their powers in creative ways and combinations with each other. There have been minor scuffles and sparring sessions after that and now recently it looks like we'll get to see some Magical Robot Girl vs Cyborg action. It'll be a challenge I think to top the Behemoth fight though.
Characters: 8/10
- To say that the characters are done well would be an understatement. Every single character is interesting in their own way, each of them having stories of their own that would love some expansion (why do you think I love doing Omakes?) and could be fics in their own right. Part of that comes from what WB has given us, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find many of Gromwelds OC's be just as, if not more interesting to read about. The interactions is what sells it though. Having Taylor become an Amazonian Super-Model while keeping her demeanor and socially awkward attitude? And then have her try to make friends and not be self-conscious the entire time? It made for some pretty great character development and interactions with others.
THE CONS:
Plot/Story:
- I'm just going to get this out of the way right now: I do not enjoy the parts where characters are caught naked or decloathed etc. I don't know if this is an Exalted thing or if it happens all the time but all I know is that it reminds me of scenes from a bad ecchi comedy. Taylor is "accidentally" seen naked or de-clothed so many times that I have to not roll my eyes and skim over that part in the story. It was amusing the first time it happened, then got really repetitive when it happened the next 3 or 4 times that I wonder why she even bothers to wear clothing, since the universe seems to be doing it's best to make it so that she doesn't. Marrow at least has the excuse that her powers destroy most clothing and reverse pleasure/pain (which Gromweld explained to be Autochthon's fault). This is especially prevalent after the Behemoth fight where Taylor just struts around most of the time and unknowingly does embarrassing things and it's just cringe-inducing.
- Speaking of the Behemoth fight, it was really jarring to suddenly have Taylor break out into Robo-Speak during the fight. Now, to be honest, I thought it was an interesting twist: Taylor surrenders most of herself to her powers and becomes less human to handle the stress of the situation.... except it goes on for what feels like forever. The characters never really questioned why she was suddenly acting like Alpha-5 in combat mode until Missy mentions it near the very end, and it really disconnected me from Taylor. Once again, I don't know much about Exalted and this probably has a logical explanation, but that doesn't mean that it felt like it was handled all that particularly well.
Action:
- No complaints, loving it.
Characters:
- As it comes to the surprise of absolutely no one, I cannot stand Aisha/Who. Which is fine! Aisha is a hard character to get right and very few authors can write her without making me wonder how the hell Brian was expecting to handle the whirl-wind of screw ups. Even in canon, I didn't like her, though that was for being a psychopathic hypocrite rather than just being intolerable. Here, I just can't like her. She rude, she's bratty, she's selfish, and treats everyone with the least amount of respect when possible. If she was handed over to Brian and spent the rest of the story with the Wyld Hunt, I would not complain one bit.
- This is sort of a miscellaneous area, in that there are times where some characters act a tad bit out of character. Here it's not nearly as bad, as it's really small parts here and there and kind of make you scratch your head and go, "What? Why would he/she do that?" or "Why isn't he/she doing something about that?" It's not a huge problem though and the rest of Gromweld's writing easily makes up for it.
OVERALL: 9.5/10
- Yes, despite what probably looks like some long-winded and annoying complaint, I really, really, really enjoy the story. I've written like 4 or 5 Omakes for it after all and I'd never do that for a story I dislike. Major props to Gromweld for getting me hooked into Quests after reading this and re-introducing me into Exalted Crossovers. I'll probably never really get into Exalted itself, but this did serve as the bridge for gaining my curiosity of the franchise. I can only hope that any story/quest he may write when this is eventually over will be just as good and eagerly await for the next update!*
*And the return of my Internet....*
Plot/Story: 9/10
- I haven't read many Exalted stories or Quests and anytime I've felt the need to look into the franchise, I often come out more confused than before. @landcollector knows my pain, as his attempts at explaining certain concepts of the lore have left me scratching my head and probably feels to him like teaching a 5 year old with the attention span of a Gold-Fish. That being said, I applaud @Gromweld for making the story so approachable to someone like me who has almost to know understanding of that part of the crossover. I think it really helps that Taylor herself was just as un-knowledgeable of the subject as I was, so when she learned something, it felt like I had learned something as well. This kind of tapered off when she became closer to Autochthon but there are still parts where she needs to figure out things on her own which I enjoy greatly.
- What made it even better was that there wasn't much physical action in the beginning: it was just Taylor being socially awkward while looking like an Amazonian Super-Model and trying to have friends. It set a nice pace for the story in the beginning and when things did happen, they had a much more powerful shock-value. There are plenty of twists and revelations from both sides of the cross, which is pleasant surprise do to the fact that we think we know all the spoilers from Worm, but Gromweld proves us wrong in the most surprising of ways.
- The Marrow POV switch was surprising but I really grew to enjoy the new view points and thought processes of one the best Original Characters I've seen written.
Action: 10/10
- Like I said above, there actually isn't much Physical Action in the beginning of the story. Besides Taylor testing her powers, we don't see anything resembling a fight until Coil's assassination attempt. And then Behemoth hits. Ignoring the massive twist itself, that entire chase scene and escape of the Protectorate Base is incredible and sucks you into the dangers of fighting a monster well above your league. It only gets better from there as other characters get to shine, using their powers in creative ways and combinations with each other. There have been minor scuffles and sparring sessions after that and now recently it looks like we'll get to see some Magical Robot Girl vs Cyborg action. It'll be a challenge I think to top the Behemoth fight though.
Characters: 8/10
- To say that the characters are done well would be an understatement. Every single character is interesting in their own way, each of them having stories of their own that would love some expansion (why do you think I love doing Omakes?) and could be fics in their own right. Part of that comes from what WB has given us, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find many of Gromwelds OC's be just as, if not more interesting to read about. The interactions is what sells it though. Having Taylor become an Amazonian Super-Model while keeping her demeanor and socially awkward attitude? And then have her try to make friends and not be self-conscious the entire time? It made for some pretty great character development and interactions with others.
THE CONS:
Plot/Story:
- I'm just going to get this out of the way right now: I do not enjoy the parts where characters are caught naked or decloathed etc. I don't know if this is an Exalted thing or if it happens all the time but all I know is that it reminds me of scenes from a bad ecchi comedy. Taylor is "accidentally" seen naked or de-clothed so many times that I have to not roll my eyes and skim over that part in the story. It was amusing the first time it happened, then got really repetitive when it happened the next 3 or 4 times that I wonder why she even bothers to wear clothing, since the universe seems to be doing it's best to make it so that she doesn't. Marrow at least has the excuse that her powers destroy most clothing and reverse pleasure/pain (which Gromweld explained to be Autochthon's fault). This is especially prevalent after the Behemoth fight where Taylor just struts around most of the time and unknowingly does embarrassing things and it's just cringe-inducing.
- Speaking of the Behemoth fight, it was really jarring to suddenly have Taylor break out into Robo-Speak during the fight. Now, to be honest, I thought it was an interesting twist: Taylor surrenders most of herself to her powers and becomes less human to handle the stress of the situation.... except it goes on for what feels like forever. The characters never really questioned why she was suddenly acting like Alpha-5 in combat mode until Missy mentions it near the very end, and it really disconnected me from Taylor. Once again, I don't know much about Exalted and this probably has a logical explanation, but that doesn't mean that it felt like it was handled all that particularly well.
Action:
- No complaints, loving it.
Characters:
- As it comes to the surprise of absolutely no one, I cannot stand Aisha/Who. Which is fine! Aisha is a hard character to get right and very few authors can write her without making me wonder how the hell Brian was expecting to handle the whirl-wind of screw ups. Even in canon, I didn't like her, though that was for being a psychopathic hypocrite rather than just being intolerable. Here, I just can't like her. She rude, she's bratty, she's selfish, and treats everyone with the least amount of respect when possible. If she was handed over to Brian and spent the rest of the story with the Wyld Hunt, I would not complain one bit.
- This is sort of a miscellaneous area, in that there are times where some characters act a tad bit out of character. Here it's not nearly as bad, as it's really small parts here and there and kind of make you scratch your head and go, "What? Why would he/she do that?" or "Why isn't he/she doing something about that?" It's not a huge problem though and the rest of Gromweld's writing easily makes up for it.
OVERALL: 9.5/10
- Yes, despite what probably looks like some long-winded and annoying complaint, I really, really, really enjoy the story. I've written like 4 or 5 Omakes for it after all and I'd never do that for a story I dislike. Major props to Gromweld for getting me hooked into Quests after reading this and re-introducing me into Exalted Crossovers. I'll probably never really get into Exalted itself, but this did serve as the bridge for gaining my curiosity of the franchise. I can only hope that any story/quest he may write when this is eventually over will be just as good and eagerly await for the next update!*
*And the return of my Internet....*
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
What do you think I'm working on right now?!
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Clearly not writing more of your Reaper story! Write more of that!What do you think I'm working on right now?!
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Does it help if I mention that I have the next chapter of it half-way done?
Stupid college, trying to make me learn good and taking all my time!
overmind
Ruler of the Swarm
...I'd play it.
As in: I'm interested and I hope that once this quest is over we get to actually get to start again as a villain.
You're welcome.
- Location
- West Michigan
I'd play it too, but there are very strong thematic reasons for why Alchemical!Taylor took the government hero route.
Abyssal!Taylor or Infernal!Taylor make much more natural villains (by Worm's political definition), but there hasn't been a long-running version of either since Skitters in Shadows or Fiend 1.0. The Skitters in Shadows reboot was high-quality, but aborted, and no Infernal quest has lasted for more than four updates.