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Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)

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Asarin is now my favorite non-Kerisian demon lord. If I was an exalt she'd be my first pick for a second circle demon ally.

Also, Orablilis visiting cute little Antifasi. That makes me nervous, especially when she just found a way to communicate with the real world. Lilinu's souls have needed help for quite a while, hopefully Keris-brand chaos will in this case solve the problems without creating more problems for Lilinu and her souls (creating problems for Keris is a given).
 
ImperatorV said:
Asarin is now my favorite non-Kerisian demon lord. If I was an exalt she'd be my first pick for a second circle demon ally.
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The problem with Asarin is she's an E6 demon lord with a hair-trigger temper and an inferiority complex. Keris happens to be pretty good at handling her, because as a character Keris's social side is basically built for playing off people's pre-existing beliefs and "going with the flow" rather than setting herself in opposition - plus, Keris is more powerful than her, agreed to be her friend, does favours for her like getting her into the highest class parties that 2nd Circles don't get automatic invites to, and has promised not to bind her when she summons her.

But as a summoner, questioning her methods or criticising her is likely to set her into a rage. She's volatile, and always trying to prove herself. Even if she's bound, she'll get angry at whoever did "better" than her, or "caused her to fail" if she doesn't get angry at the summoner - and she's a tsundere. She can and will get very angry at someone she loves and wants to help out, because she hates showing her feelings if they make her feel weak.

A tsuntsun demon is going to act tsundere about the binding oaths.
 
EarthScorpion said:
The problem with Asarin is she's an E6 demon lord with a hair-trigger temper and an inferiority complex. Keris happens to be pretty good at handling her, because as a character Keris's social side is basically built for playing off people's pre-existing beliefs and "going with the flow" rather than setting herself in opposition - plus, Keris is more powerful than her, agreed to be her friend, does favours for her like getting her into the highest class parties that 2nd Circles don't get automatic invites to, and has promised not to bind her when she summons her.

But as a summoner, questioning her methods or criticising her is likely to set her into a rage. She's volatile, and always trying to prove herself. Even if she's bound, she'll get angry at whoever did "better" than her, or "caused her to fail" if she doesn't get angry at the summoner - and she's a tsundere. She can and will get very angry at someone she loves and wants to help out, because she hates showing her feelings if they make her feel weak.

A tsuntsun demon is going to act tsundere about the binding oaths.
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I see your point, but in Asarin's defense any 2CD is going to come with problems. Granted, I haven't read up on a ton of demon lords, but my impression is that summoning one is always a bit risky. Keris has had to put a ton of effort into her subsouls to make them as helpful and friendly as they are, and they by definition have a lot in common with her.
 
Clearly, Asarin needs to meet Ney for an extended period. This will doubtlessly ensure her ascension and come with no side effects whatsoever. :p

More seriously, in the interest of keeping the discord from turning this thread into a hollowed out husk, and on the subject of Asarin, I have some suspicions about how Keris will help both her and Lilunu. Spoilers as a courtesy, because several hundred words of extended speculation.

Looking at Asarin this chapter, I can't help but wonder if her ascension will be tied to helping heal Lilunu's souls, and her Ellogean soul of Vypraveni in particular.

But I'll start with the underlying theory of aiding Lilunu.

It seems pretty self-evident that the souls of Lilunu reflect the nature of their parent Yozi. Following from there, I don't think it's much of a leap to assume that if the parent Yozi changes, Lilunu's souls might well change with them, for better or for worse.

This also relates to their suffering: A lot of what Keris did to make her elements healthier was to divide and mix the essence of the Yozis. Malfeas and Szorenry were both split, and many others were mixed together.[1]

Thus, one might expect that a possible way to fix the essence of Lilunu's souls would be to either mix their essence directly or, failing that, to mix the essence of their parent Yozis and let them echo the resulting changes.

And here Asarin comes in.

ES'sprogenerative soul sidebar in the Green Cherry Demonomicon notes that to ascend Asarin would need to match up to an improvised charm tree.[2] In Kerisgame, we've seen that new heresies and improvisations are usually tied to a particular soul.[3] And it just so happens that Asarin herself... is actually pretty Hanely-ish. Enough so that Keris's understanding of Hanely served as pretty decent practice for understanding Asarin.

And Hanely favors not only Ligerian fire and Metagaoin hunger but also Szorenrian envy. Or, half of it anyways; If memory serves me well, she takes the half that builds herself up vs Rathan taking the half that tears his foes down. And this sounds a lot like Asarin: Hungering for power, filled with the flames of her rage, building herself and her empire alike, and --- per a line of OOC text[4] --- envying the works of the Shogunate as much as Hanely seems to envy her Dynastic heritage.

So I think there's a good chance that Asarin may resonate with the Hanelyian division of essences, particularly Szorenry, and as a result may one day draw power from improvised charm tree tied to Hanely.

Which, tying things back to the start, may well leave its affect affect on Vypraveni. Whether that's for the better would remain to be seen, but given that Vypraveni's illness is one of paralysis, adding something to their Ellogean nature that envies the world and rises to match it... might well do more good than bad.


So, yeah, to reiterate:
1: I think the souls of Lilunu will change as the Yozi themselves change, becoming sicker or healthier as they do so. (or at the very least, changing the nature of their illness as they do)
2: I think that once Keris cottons onto this, if she hasn't already, her natural instinct will be to solve things via essence mixing, recombining the essence of the Yozi into healthier manifestations as she does within her own souls.
3: I think Hanely will eventually gain an associated charm tree that will resonate with Asarin, leading to the latter's ascension and a measure of Szorenry, Malfeas, and Metagaos becoming part of Elloge, and that this will have knock on effects on Lilunu's escapist soul.

Of course there's explicit mention that Keris has more than one idea in mind, and something stemming from the mentioned prayer idea looks to be another potential path, but I think I'll lay my own bet on an essence mixing based path.

[1] Keris's only soul that remains pure is Eko, which speaks for itself I'd say. :p
[2] That, or just get really really mad, hence the Ney joke.
[3] The "Lilunu?" tree excepted. Possibly. There's a fair few questions up in the air there and we've yet to even see what changes taking that in has had on Keris's tiger empire.
[4] Specifically, the bolded section in this quote:
((Keris will... hmm. Judge whether Asarin would react particularly badly to her flirting with a Solar, and leave that detail out if so. If not, emphasise how she tricked him and had him fooled about what she was the entire time and then double-tricked him in the capital to accomplish everything she wanted there and then steal a massive haul from his boss and lie to his face about not having done it and run off giggling. Either way there will be lots of complaining about how insufferable he was.))
((Reaction + Politics, Diff 4))
((5+1+2 stunt+3 Kimmy ExSux=8. 3+3=6.))
((No, Keris doesn't really sense any direct hatred for the Exalted from Asarin. In fact, given the way she collects Shogunate things, it's maybe more envy than hatred.))
((Then yes, Keris shares her fling with Ney with her tsundere BFF. Sans racy details since her kids are listening.))
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I've been reading the thread in last few days to avoid asking/commenting on things already answered. Still not finished, but I think I have a question I can ask without much risk of making fool of myself. :)

I went over comments for birth of Kali and Ogin:
Aleph said:
Her po was pregnant because she was pregnant, and it gave birth because she was giving birth. Far more than any of the other souls, Pekhijira is Keris. If Keris was a lot lower-Enlightenment, Pekhijira would just look like a po-Gale. It mirrors her physical condition to some extent, which is why it's got distinguishable scars on its face in the same place as her.

Or to give absolutely clear clarification; Pekhijira was pregnant with the same two babies as Keris as a mirror to her condition.
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It made me wonder. On metaphysical level, Keris's Po soul was reflecting her pregnacy. One can say, was pregnant and gave birth. All while being both demon lord and Po soul at the same time... Could that happen literally? Is it possible for Po souls of newly born twins to be 1CD descendant souls of Pekhijira? After all, Pekhijira is Po before all else, so souls descending from her should have Po traits.

Would Keris even know if that happened?

And if it did, would it be enough to open Krisity for her children?
 
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DiceOfStupidity said:
I've been reading the thread in last few days to avoid asking/commenting on things already answered. Still not finished, but I think I have a question I can ask without much risk of making fool of myself. :)

I went over comments for birth of Kali and Ogin:

It made me wonder. On metaphysical level, Keris's Po soul was reflecting her pregnacy. One can say, was pregnant and gave birth. All while being both demon lord and Po soul at the same time... Could that happen literally? Is it possible for Po souls of newly born twins to be 1CD descendant souls of Pekhijira? After all, Pekhijira is Po before all else, so souls descending from her should have Po traits.

Would Keris even know if that happened?

And if it did, would it be enough to open Krisity for her children?
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The twins don't actually have po souls, because they're akuma rather than humans - their soul structure is entirely different, and they're probably more like single-souled gods or demons whose sole soul (heheh) is both their source of power and their self-aware consciousness.

They are as much Pekhijira's children as Keris's, though, because Pekhijira is Keris.

Whether Krisity is open to them... well. That remains to be seen.
 
Lirana said:
Well, logically speaking, they are just as much of her as any of her other kids are, right? Ogin and Rathan are full siblings even, aren't they?
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Only metaphorically.

Rathan isn't even her child at all - he's her soul-descendant, the manifestation of her core principles. Keris just cognitizes Rathan as being her son because she's got abandonment issues, and because it sort of fits. Rathan's appearance is very heavily influenced by Rat, because Keris just misses him that much, and is therefore further cognitized as her and Rat's child.

Ogin, meanwhile, was born from Keris in the traditional manner, using a sample of Rat's essence as the sperm-equivalent, making him much closer to being Rat's child than Rathan - although if you want to be perfectly accurate, he really isn't either.
 
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Bugs said:
Ogin, meanwhile, was born from Keris in the traditional manner, using a sample of Rat's essence as the sperm-equivalent, making him much closer to being Rat's child than Rathan - although if you want to be perfectly accurate, he really isn't either.
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Actually, I think he is? IIRC, the Adorjan charms Keris used do in fact make the child the descendant of the essence donor. Exalted genealogy can get really weird.
 
Aleph said:
The twins don't actually have po souls, because they're akuma rather than humans
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Oo! That is something I did not even consider. May I ask what is the reason behind that outcome? I mean, why single demon-esque soul, when Keris still have her two human souls (even if with additions) and carried her children to term like human does? Does her being newborn titan trumps the fact that she is human? Of does Keris simply have so little of human left in her essence-wise?

Anyway, a question to pact mechanic:
EarthScorpion said:
A thwarted demon gains an additional release condition appropriate to their circle that thematically relates to the default and the unpaid debt, as do demons who descend from them.
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Taken 'as written' is seem like a quite a bait for Green Sun Prices and something quite a bit more explosives than it may seen.

Sure Keris would not enter a pact due to dream and location parts - but a Green Sun Prince who does not mind that, could agree with any number of friendly Unquestionable and default on purpose just to set escape clause. In that light 'demons who descent' is rather... well. I'm imagining pact with Ligier, and billions of CD1 able to escape whenever escape condition occurs. Plus logic dictates that demon lord can have multiple pacts and multiple escape conditions for multiple defaults - which makes it even easier. Further if that Green Sun Prince agreed to pact with all reclamation's CD3's and CD2's, and was willing trigger escape condition on purpose... It would change Creation/Malfeas dynamics quite a bit.

So the question is, does it work 'as written' in quest?
 
DiceOfStupidity said:
Taken 'as written' is seem like a quite a bait for Green Sun Prices and something quite a bit more explosives than it may seen.

Sure Keris would not enter a pact due to dream and location parts - but a Green Sun Prince who does not mind that, could agree with any number of friendly Unquestionable and default on purpose just to set escape clause. In that light 'demons who descent' is rather... well. I'm imagining pact with Ligier, and billions of CD1 able to escape whenever escape condition occurs. Plus logic dictates that demon lord can have multiple pacts and multiple escape conditions for multiple defaults - which makes it even easier. Further if that Green Sun Prince agreed to pact with all reclamation's CD3's and CD2's, and was willing trigger escape condition on purpose... It would change Creation/Malfeas dynamics quite a bit.

So the question is, does it work 'as written' in quest?
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It doesn't work as written as you think it's written.

If you're making a deal to break it to try to exploit it, you're not breaking the deal when you "break" it - because the entire deal was a sham and thus invalid as you were entering into the deal with mens rea to violate it. Rules to punish a character for cheating a powerful spirit in a way that creates story (by, for example, afflicting their kingdom with demons because they cheated a demon prince) do not have cunning loopholes in them where you go "tee hee" and get to ignore you cheated a powerful spirit and now they're pissed off because you've contrived a situation where you want the punishment.
 
DiceOfStupidity said:
Oo! That is something I did not even consider. May I ask what is the reason behind that outcome? I mean, why single demon-esque soul, when Keris still have her two human souls (even if with additions) and carried her children to term like human does? Does her being newborn titan trumps the fact that she is human? Of does Keris simply have so little of human left in her essence-wise?
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Already been explained, yo.
 
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Session 120
  • Threadmarks
    • Sooo, first of all, we redid Calesco's horses because they just weren't interesting or useful enough. Keris will be much more likely to summon their rewritten versions, I think.

    Progeny of the Midnight Whisper
    A fully grown man; his back straight and his posture proud, reaches only up to the shoulder of an alomlo; its back and crest rising high above his head like a mountain of muscle. The eight insectoid eyes of a jumping spider are arrayed unblinking across its equine face, its bristly hair is dark and oily, and moonlight casts its shadow as that of a gargantuan, monstrous spider. The size of the martyr drays is no lie; for they are frighteningly strong, able to do the work of ten mortal horses with ease.

    Deeply compassionate creatures - though none too bright - alomlos see their great strength as a great responsibility. With their powerful stride they will wander from settlement to settlement, and in their deep rumbling voices ask if there is any labour they can spare the weak and fragile by taking it upon their own mighty backs. Upon finding something they can ply their muscle to, they will throw themselves into the task with a fearsome passion; hauling cartloads of stone or dragging ploughs through soil as hard as stone.

    The work ethic of a martyr dray is ardent to the point of self-destruction. Alomlos will toil without rest for days until they collapse from the pain of torn muscles and exhaustion, or apply themselves to tasks even their prodigious strength cannot stand up to. Their blood is sticky tar, and when they overwork themselves it bleeds from their skin and drips in globules from their glistening coats. Often they must be talked into pausing to eat and sleep - and the greater the need or weakness of those they work for, the more effort they will put into their labour. Those who know them well in the demonic realm from whence they hail know to tether them with ropes of spider silk for their own good; the only substance they will not strain against and tear in their haste to return to their tasks.

    Sorcerers invoke the martyr drays for their strength, and also at times for the potent adhesive that can be harvested from their flanks. They are poor warhorses compared to their farisyya cousins, but they tower above even mounted cataphracts and are unmatched in sheer brute force and stamina. While they will not resist a binding if told there is work for them that will aid those weaker, the wise sorcerer keeps a close eye on his herd - or else he will return to find they have worked themselves to debility in his absence. When the last horse of a village in desperate need of labour dies, its shadow may twist into that of a spider at the first touch of the moon's light as an alomlo steps into Creation to offer its service.

    And since this session turned out uber-long, we then split it in two just after... well, you'll see. Which was partly because we didn't want the end of the session to detract from... well, you'll see that too.

    : (

    Anyway, with that encouraging little prelude out of the way, have Part 120 to read and suffer from.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Does Keris know how much Eko cares about her sister? Even if she does know, does she understand?

    Because I have this sense that Keris doesn't, and is only going to find out when Eko reacts violently to the events of this chapter. Or even worse, reacts creatively. I don't think we've ever seen Eko truly hate anyone or anything before.

    I look forward to seeing how Keris' game with one of Szoreny's 3CDs goes. Feel like the best outcome here would be a draw, to prevent issues in the future. Only if it's an honest draw though, Yuula likely has too much pride to accept it if Keris plays for a draw when she could have won.

    Any chance of them running into the Brass Dancer while they're in the Street of Golden Lanterns? I'd be interested to see what Malfeas Himself looks like to Keris' eyes. Also would be interested in how Ligier would react to Lilunu making out (or more) with a jouten of his greater self.

    Keris' reaction to the greeter assuming she was an Unquestionable makes me wonder how she'll take it when she realizes that if anything she's closer to being a baby Primordial than she is to a mere Unquestionable. Especially when her position as the Infernal who probably has the most interaction with her component souls, the most component souls, and the deepest investigation into Heresy makes her a good candidate for being the very first Infernal to realize what all of them have the potential to become.

    Also Orabilis just keeps digging that grave deeper without even realizing he's doing it. I feel like the best chance he has of long-term survival at this point is Keris either not wanting to kill one of his 2CDs or deciding that there's too much risk his death would destroy all the knowledge kept in his library, and that just means it's more likely he'd be bound or imprisoned in such a way that he no longer has any power.
     
    The issue with Kuha is, honestly, completely unsurprising to me and probably kind of inevitable. To the point where, when Keris walked in on Kuha and the neomah, I was just like "yup, that sure is Kuha alright!"

    Still awful, though. As if Calesco didn't have enough issues before... :(
     
    Aleph said:
    Anyway, with that encouraging little prelude out of the way, have Part 120 to read and suffer from.
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    "Talk... talk to Rounen," she adds before Kuha can move. "Tell him he's your... defence. For any decisions I make on this." A brief motion of her hand - all she trusts herself with right now. "Go."
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    So, when I first read that line, I read Rounen as Rathan. To which my response was basically "If you're gonna kill her, kill her. Don't make a production out of it. No one likes Kangaroo Courts."

    Except Cecelyne. She probably likes Kangaroo Courts.

    .....

    Who else just pictured a Kangaroo Court Demon from Cecelyne?


    More seriously, this sorta came out of left field for me. Not so much Kuha sleeping around, she's been doing that ever since she got fixed. But the over all reaction to it this time.

    Part of it, to me, is that Keris never seemed particularly concerned with exclusivity. Like, her main relationship is with Sasi and then there was her brief drunken fling with Testolagh, and most recently there was her thing with Ney. Might be another one or two that I can't remember.

    None of which Keris ever seemed to regard as a betrayal of Sasi.

    Now, part of that is probably because I imagine that Sasi and Keris had a conversation about how "exclusivity" and "Realm relationships" don't spend much time around each other. Of course, that conversation probably also happened in all of the early stuff that was never posted.

    What I'm getting at is how Kuha, having seen Keris's relationships, probably never even considered that this would be a problem.

    Then there's Calesco. In hindsight, I can understand how given her various issues, she's not of mind for an open relationship. On the other hand, her.....not upbringing because she never grew up in the sense that a human does, but her....environment? Family? Also doesn't seem like one that emphasizes monogamous relationships. Like, the only member of her family I can see being in a long term monogamous relationship is Rathan and that's mostly because Oula will straight up murder anyone trying to join in.

    So yeah....I can see how, given the characters involved, this would be a problem. At the same time, the overall reaction feels off somehow to me in a way that I'm struggling to put into words.
     
    The problem is Calesco and Kuha had different expectations of what their relationship involved. Now, among reasonable, mature adults, this could have been resolved by talking out the problem and either coming to an understanding or breaking up if not amicably at least non-violently.

    ...Keris is not a mature, reasonable adult, and has a tendency to overreact to anything involving her children. Kuha is honestly still a kid in many ways. Calesco is an Adorjani demon lord and has a load of baggage besides that. Basically no one involved is equipped to handle this.

    Also, best snek continues being best by stopping Calesco from doing something she'd feel crappy about later.
     
    Keris' reaction was also affected by the fact that her intimacy towards Kuha is affect by Tragic Love Amusement, which means that her idea of loving Kuha also includes hurting her. Keris herself was horrified by how quickly she was slipping towards violence.

    Previously in Kerisgame, Keris had a bunch of personality affecting charms that never had any downsides for her because they suited the way she acted anyway. Around the time that Keris had to choose between two charm backed obligations (chasing after her parents or making sure her Baisha family got to Saata safely) there has been more effort to make the downsides of Keris' personality affecting charms into actual downsides.
     
    Nervaqus987 said:
    So, when I first read that line, I read Rounen as Rathan. To which my response was basically "If you're gonna kill her, kill her. Don't make a production out of it. No one likes Kangaroo Courts."
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    Nah, Keris basically picked Rounen as the only one of her immediate entourage who was virtually neutral in this. Xasan might also have worked, but Rounen has a better understanding of the personalities involved, has spent time with Kuha, used to live in the Meadows, and is used to advising Keris. He's honestly a pretty good choice as Kuha's advocate.
    Nervaqus987 said:
    More seriously, this sorta came out of left field for me. Not so much Kuha sleeping around, she's been doing that ever since she got fixed. But the over all reaction to it this time.

    Part of it, to me, is that Keris never seemed particularly concerned with exclusivity. Like, her main relationship is with Sasi and then there was her brief drunken fling with Testolagh, and most recently there was her thing with Ney. Might be another one or two that I can't remember.

    None of which Keris ever seemed to regard as a betrayal of Sasi.

    Now, part of that is probably because I imagine that Sasi and Keris had a conversation about how "exclusivity" and "Realm relationships" don't spend much time around each other. Of course, that conversation probably also happened in all of the early stuff that was never posted.

    What I'm getting at is how Kuha, having seen Keris's relationships, probably never even considered that this would be a problem.

    Then there's Calesco. In hindsight, I can understand how given her various issues, she's not of mind for an open relationship. On the other hand, her.....not upbringing because she never grew up in the sense that a human does, but her....environment? Family? Also doesn't seem like one that emphasizes monogamous relationships. Like, the only member of her family I can see being in a long term monogamous relationship is Rathan and that's mostly because Oula will straight up murder anyone trying to join in.

    So yeah....I can see how, given the characters involved, this would be a problem. At the same time, the overall reaction feels off somehow to me in a way that I'm struggling to put into words.
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    Mmm. Basically, as others have said; the whole thing is warped by the effects of Tragic Love Amusement. Keris honestly isn't happy about Sasi sleeping with other people, and gets jealous of Testolagh, but she recognises that Testolagh was there first and Sasi kind of hates the bits of her job that require her to sleep with mortals. And she has the memory of Rat reminding her that she has (or had) a love other than Sasi as well. So she can tolerate it, for the most part.

    Calesco, on the other hand, is still a baby gay. Kuha was her first ever time loving someone like that. As she screamed to Keris; she is love, and Keris knew from their talk that she was head-over-heels for Kuha and... well, there are a lot of parallels between the opposite-souls in Keris's hierarchy. Calesco is just as monogamous and dedicated as Rathan. So she knew how much it would hurt Calesco when she found Kuha sleeping around with a couple of neomah. Was that rational? No, not really. But Keris isn't very rational when it comes to her children.

    If she and Kuha had a normal relationship, she'd just have been angry and disappointed, but been able to talk things out with Kuha and understand her side more. But TLA is a vicious little charm. The love it fosters - the only kind Calesco has ever known - gives you bonuses to help your love, to teach them... or to hurt them. That's what welled up in Keris as soon as the thread of anger began to unspool, and magnified the already-heady protectiveness of her kids into something genuinely terrifying. Terrifying enough that she cut the feelings loose rather than let them rule her, because she did recognise somewhere under the fury that it wasn't Kuha's fault and she didn't deserve to have something horrible happen to her for it.

    There'll probably be an apology at some point. But Keris will have to rebuild her affection for and relationship with her little owlrider protégé the natural way, from scratch.
     
    Aleph said:
    Sooo, first of all, we redid Calesco's horses because they just weren't interesting or useful enough. Keris will be much more likely to summon their rewritten versions, I think.

    Progeny of the Midnight Whisper
    -snip-
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    Okay, I am greatly amused at the Animal Farm reference inherent to the revised Alomlos. Alas, their self-destructive work ethic reflects Calesco's relation to her sense of right and wrong far too well.


    As to the session... Ooof, poor Calesco. And poor Lilunu. : (

    I just hope the latter is still only facing Orabilis's threats against Antifasi rather than the judgement itself being handed down.

    ----------------

    In other news, the discord had a little chat earlier that went places.

    Starts off with a bit of sorcery and background talk that veers into something far more humorous.

    Phoenixian:
    The talk of Id 5 (and for that matter Unwoven 5) in the other channel has me wondering how viable Green Sun Princes soul backgrounds are for sorcery.

    Keris:
    Yup, Keris can anchor stuff in Id
    It sends her into Limit Break for the scene or the duration of the spell, whichever is longer

    Zeshara:
    Wow that sounds like Fuuun

    Keris:
    she's totally going to adapt her mist spell to it
    with a casting time of (Emerald) - eg five seconds
    so that she has a hide-and-bug-out mist summoning spell she can use through Id even when disarmed and caught alone

    Phoenixian:
    "It sends her into Limit Break for the scene or the duration of the spell, whichever is longer"
    *nods* I... half remember hearing that somewhere? Not sure if deja vu or not.

    Zeshara:
    She vanishes into a cloud when scared.

    Keris:
    I've mentioned it before, yeah
    : P
    people go into the cloud as BRAVE KNIGHTS TO SLAY THE WICKED DEMON

    Zeshara:
    Lol Keris are you really an octopus in disguise

    Keris:
    they come out of the cloud at head-height, moving very fast, with the general consistency of mince
    hiss hiss motherfuckers; come grapple the lamia

    Zeshara:
    I dunno that sounds like a job for Sasi
    or Ney

    Keris:
    Ney would be flirtacious under the assumption that the terrifying bestial savage snake-Kiss can probably smell fear
    Sasi would try to calm her down with music
    neither is dumb enough to try getting her into bed
    especially not in Limit Break

    Phoenixian:
    Now I can't help but imagine the whole scene narrated in the style of that one video with the the construction crew and the rogue cement buffer. "They have angered the Lunar Infernal!"
    This one, for the unfamiliar: Concrete Buffer Gone Wild

    Keris:
    um

    Phoenixian:
    Yes, it's wildly different in nature and actual tone, but I can't help but hear it.

    Keris:
    oh my god i hurt from laughing now you fucker

    Phoenixian:
    "There we go 50 dollars, to the gentleman with the antlers" So in the end, Rathan Calmed Keris down.

    Keris:
    : P
    sounds legit

    Zeshara:
    Callesco with the tarp, and Haneyl with the big stick?

    Keris:
    "it's now blinded and angry"

    Phoenixian:
    Okay, I can't help it, I'm just imagining this as the world's most utterly jaded demon (sublimati/lords/princes) making snide commentary as this whole thing plays out.

    Keris:
    ... I mean
    for one better
    it's Keris and the Unquestionable, starting with Orabilis going down

    Zeshara:
    Probably other Infernals doing the commetary

    Keris:
    "Looks like Iasestus is trying to grab her... and he's lost both his arms. Full points."

    Phoenixian:
    Oh, yeah, that definitely works. XD

    Keris:
    "Ah, now the Blue Glass Maiden is getting involved. The snake-Scourge is now... wounded and angry, aaaand there goes the mist. Welp."

    Zeshara:
    "Well, she'll run out of Essence eventually"

    meianmaru:
    "...Aaand it seems that before she could run out of Essence, she, well, ran away."

    Keris:
    : P

    Phoenixian:
    Ye Gods, what a blow to the ego though with the scenario as all described. One of the Reclamation tries to punish one of the Green Sun Princes, and not only does she kill the judge and run away but the other GSPs? Are up top, laughing it up.

    horngeek:
    Kizu: snickers

    Phoenixian:
    On that day, much Limit was gained.

    Keris:
    : P
    "Oh hey, Deveh's pursuing her, looks like he's not pleased at- oh, wow."
    "Wow, that was just nasty."
    "Well, I mean, if he is going to try and use a bare-handed martial art on a giant fucking snake monster..."

    horngeek:
    Kizu: "I mean, it isn't a totally stupid move if the martial art is backed up by Exalted power, just" Kizu: "Not when the snake is backed up by the same."
    Click to expand...
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    Aleph said:
    Mmm. Basically, as others have said; the whole thing is warped by the effects of Tragic Love Amusement. Keris honestly isn't happy about Sasi sleeping with other people, and gets jealous of Testolagh, but she recognises that Testolagh was there first and Sasi kind of hates the bits of her job that require her to sleep with mortals. And she has the memory of Rat reminding her that she has (or had) a love other than Sasi as well. So she can tolerate it, for the most part.
    Click to expand...
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    Though yes, at some point Sasi and Keris will need to have a grown-up talk about the fact that Sasi's preferred relationship baseline is considerably more open than Keris's. And compromises will likely have to be made on both sides.
     
    Session 121
  • Threadmarks
    • i am le sad at the reduced posting rate in mah thread :c

    I guess that's partly the Discord taking everyone's reactions in a more chatty format, but that just doesn't have the same satisfaction as scrolling back through the thread and quoting stuff to giggle at how wrong people were in their guesses admiring the rich and insightful tapestry we weave here.

    Well, w/e. Have the conclusion to Lilunu's Girls' Night Out with Part 121, and the reason I cut it so as not to detract from Calesco's pain. You can, uh. See why I did so.

    Honestly, I'd go into an in-depth analysis about this shit, but just... wow. Holy shit. What the fuck.

    I'll leave it to you guys, I guess.

    Extras:
    EarthScorpion: Ok, so what do you want from the interactions with Yuula? I'm thinking about how to frame this.
    Aleph: Hmm. Keris wants - well, tbh Keris mostly wants to make a good impression on her and maybe get healing tips later (also take all her money), but in pursuit of that, she wants to distinguish herself from the people who chase after her and beg for medical aid and get Yuula interested in her and inclined to like her. Which may involve either letting her win a fair fraction of what Keris has accumulated, or giving her a real challenge, or going back and forth on hands as best Keris can - depends which one she'd take best to. And I guess also, hmm, getting her to see Keris's training in a different light than requests for aid. I doubt she'll ever want to train her or take pride or pleasure in passing on medical skills - certainly not yet - but seeing them as her forfeit in a gambling game where Keris tries to win lessons from her and Yuula enjoys the game and isn't too bothered about the lessons as her stake, that would probably be a good dynamic.
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. OK. So, we can probably hold it here, as you mentioned not wanting to get to bed too late.
    EarthScorpion: But my thought is that we could probably, heh, time-jump forwards to Keris waking up with a hangover, probably to Lilunu vomiting rainbows.
    Aleph: Hee.
    EarthScorpion: And then the results of the contests are told through flashback montage bits as Oula is like "Aunty, what do you remember about what you did last night?"
    Aleph: yessss

    ...

    Aleph: Hmm.
    Aleph: if Keris keeps a significant portion of that money, I'm gonna want to make it work for me.
    Aleph: Which means, hmm, setting up something in Hell.
    EarthScorpion: Well, at the very least a bunch of it is going to pay for your house in Saata.
    Aleph: Oh, sure. But the "break economies" amount will stay in Hell where it won't break economies, unless she winds up losing it all to Yuula. In which case... hmm. An empire isn't sustainable, so I might possibly see about buying some more Hellish manses. Like that fortress manse the Shashalme offered.
    EarthScorpion: Well, one option would be, mmm. Yeah, I was literally looking for the text
    EarthScorpion: The Feasting-Wall Citadel.
    Aleph: Yes.
    Aleph: Good advance base. Hmm.
    EarthScorpion: Alternatively, that much money could get you a nice personal commission from Ligier or some other great artisan.
    Aleph: Keris miiiiight even try to set up, hmm... I wonder if she could get some sort of fast-travel link between the Feasting-Wall Citadel and the Nests of Paricehet?
    Aleph: ... ehhh. Risk of Metagaos growing down the corridor, though. Even if it was possible, which it might well not be.
    EarthScorpion: And there's always the roulette of gifting it to the Shashalme and seeing what it gives you to try to keep you in its debt.
    Aleph: : S
    EarthScorpion: Of course, there's another thing you could do with that much money.
    EarthScorpion: Hire people.
    Aleph: Indeed.
    Aleph: I shall consider my options.
    EarthScorpion: That's enough money to buy you demonic support for operations, allow you to buy temporary use of other people's cults as forwards operation bases and spies, or even maybe buy you an Infernalist DB by buying their contract off someone.
    Keris: "I can have Satanist Pepper plz?"​
    Aleph: ...
    Aleph: I am interested and listening. : D
    Aleph: Yes, heh.
    Aleph: That would work quite nicely.
    EarthScorpion: This was one of the ideas I suggested back when for getting a DB - hiring an infernalist or buying them, essentially, off their current master. Malek is certainly not an servant - she's a dubious ally. But this would let you get someone who damned themselves for power and then unleash full Kerisness to try to convert coin hire into true loyalty.
    EarthScorpion: And also obviously deal with all of the issues they probably have as someone who willingly damned themselves. :p
    EarthScorpion: (or unwillingly)
    Aleph: Yes. Especially if she found a young, skilled protege who got in over their head and made a stupid decision and is feeling both remorse and horror at what they've damned themselves to, but also pride and shame preventing them from going back.
    Aleph: Which is a pretty specific mix, but it's a specific mix that is extremely plausible among the set of "DBs who have damned themselves to Hell".
    Aleph: And which is very vulnerable for Keris swooping in, buying out their contract and going "right then, how about you work for me instead?"
    EarthScorpion: Especially, uh
    EarthScorpion: given the number of DBs who might be making bad deals in the run up to the RCW.
    Sasi: "... what do you mean, you hired my second cousin?"​
    Aleph: Yyyyup
    Aleph: And she, heh - she will go for a young prodigy who's not quite firmed up on everything but has a lot of potential over the experienced century-old DB who's great at everything but has a solid personality and set values and goals.
    Aleph: Keris likes people she can shape, and who still have room to grow so she can shape and guide and nudge that too.
    EarthScorpion: Yes. Also helps they have fewer defences. :p
    Aleph: that too, yes : D
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. Yes. Malek owns the "traditional Occultist" niche
    EarthScorpion: so this would need to be someone much less traditionally "evil sorceress with too much hubris"

    ...

    <end of session>
    EarthScorpion: ... I'm not sure I should be giving you XP when you picked up all those background dots.
    Aleph: o u
    Aleph: I will admit, that was badass as fuck and I am already super looking forward to seeing that prophecy play out.
    Aleph: goddammit, and I can see it happening, too ¬_¬
    Aleph: There really is a very genuine chance that Keris getting Atiya in as queen will result in An Teng changing enough that it's no longer An Teng.
    Aleph: Making her the last queen of the Three Golden Lands.
    EarthScorpion: The fun thing is... what if Keris takes down An Teng so Atiya can't have that doom-blessing happen? :p
    EarthScorpion: Or what if her declaration as queen causes a civil war that splits the lands apart?
    Aleph: Honestly? I think Keris knows better than to try to entirely avert a prophecy like that. She'll just try to stay hands off and do what she can to nudge it into happening in a non-cataclysmic way.
    Aleph: Because, sigh.
    Aleph: The Greek-style "doom yourself by trying to avert it" self-fulfilling prophecy stories were totally the kind that Rat loved, on the streets.
    EarthScorpion: Nah, see, if Keris tried to avert it, she'd be fulfilling it - because Atiya would be the doom of it by her mother's attempts to avert it.
    Aleph: lol
    Aleph: ... god, they were totally the kind he loved. The person we've kind of built him into being in the backstory would totally be into those.
    Aleph: And it adds an awful irony to him becoming an Abyssal.
    EarthScorpion: And yes, this does mean she has Azula-black hair.
    Aleph: Hee~
    Aleph: ... the question is; does that count as a Destiny background, and can she Anchor sorcery in it? :V
    EarthScorpion: Well, remember - demon princes don't have Loom of Fate access. Their curses and blessings are sometimes more... finessed. Or direct.
    EarthScorpion: But quite possibly. Even if it isn't Destiny, it might function as some kind of TED essence source for such things. Mentor 2 (Noh).
    Keris: "Oh, baby, I'm used to having a very powerful thing show up and 'help' me."​
    Aleph: : D
    EarthScorpion: Heh. I am surprised you thought she was there for Keris first, though. :p
    Aleph: I thought she miiiiiight have been there to lend her support to Keris's plan from an in-game day or so ago to find and break out Lela.
    Aleph: Which also seems like the kind of hilariously illegal thing that spites the Law which Noh would approve of on general principles.
    EarthScorpion: Noh: "I might have been, if you hadn't expected that on seeing me."
    Aleph: Keris: "Goddammit!"
    EarthScorpion: Also, how was that for, I think, the first time Keris has seen the Malfean night?
    Aleph: yesssss~ : D
    Aleph: Did the Ebon Dragon actually pass overhead briefly, or did Noh just bring it with her?
    EarthScorpion: Yes.
    Aleph: *eyeroll*
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. Do you think you deserve XP after such a background winning?
    Aleph: ... honestly, no. Hehehe~
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Most mothers need to baby-proof the house. Keris is going to need to Sidereal-proof the house.
     
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