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

[EarthScorpion]

Infernals having a variety of anima manifestations isn't exactly a special snowflake thing.

Click to shrink...

Oh, I know. I was just using that as a jumping off point to discuss how even "what is the flavour of their essence?" doesn't actually help identify GSPs as being a single phenomenon (which came up a while ago in this thread, and how Heaven doesn't know GSPs are a thing yet) - because just because you have divine reports of a massive source of Malfean essence nuking a town (dammit Testolagh) doesn't help you link that to "There's an akuma-like thing in the South West using Adorjani murderwind, but it also has Kimbery poisons and it's infected with Metagaos as well".

 

[Revlid]

Oh, I know. I was just using that as a jumping off point to discuss how even "what is the flavour of their essence?" doesn't actually help identify GSPs as being a single phenomenon (which came up a while ago in this thread, and how Heaven doesn't know GSPs are a thing yet) - because just because you have divine reports of a massive source of Malfean essence nuking a town (dammit Testolagh) doesn't help you link that to "There's an akuma-like thing in the South West using Adorjani murderwind, but it also has Kimbery poisons and it's infected with Metagaos as well".

Click to shrink...

Yes, but we know from existing mechanics that the Yozis have a distinct aesthetic that can be traced to Hell, and there are a sufficient number of common traits between demons, deva, et al that "demonic Essence" is a coherent concept. So while the means, methods, manifestations and motives of different Infernals are likely to be utterly disparate, they can be generally identified as "horrible new demon things" by anyone with the tools for that assessment – i.e. gods, Sidereals, occultists. Of course, most of the latter will have their judgement tainted by the Immaculate Cult's assertion that all Exalts are horrible demon things... but that's likely to lead them to the right conclusion for all the wrong reasons.

 

[Aleph]

It's also pretty unlikely that the goddess's report will make it to anyone important - or even that she'll file one at all. And given that what she actually saw was mostly just Keris's red anima banner, silver armour, a Sorcerous ritual and a fair amount of setting things on fire (admittedly green fire, but the water is pink and she doesn't really trust her senses), it'll probably be put down as a wandering Solar if anyone does pay any attention to it.

I dunno if she'll show up again - Keris certainly hasn't semi-adopted her in the way she did Tear or the Nexan siblings. She just helped the old lady out because she was going out anyway (which gave her plus-points from Calesco and Vali, though she lost a few of the latter for chaining the raksha up).

 

[EarthScorpion]

It's also pretty unlikely that the goddess's report will make it to anyone important - or even that she'll file one at all. And given that what she actually saw was mostly just Keris's red anima banner, silver armour, a Sorcerous ritual and a fair amount of setting things on fire (admittedly green fire, but the water is pink and she doesn't really trust her senses), it'll probably be put down as a wandering Solar if anyone does pay any attention to it.

Click to shrink...

More likely a wandering Lunar, actually. I mean, "red" is totally a valid Lunar anima banner colour as we actually get them IRL in lunar eclipses. And she was wearing moonsilver armour.

 

[mothematics]

CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP

(the liveblog)

Have a double feature! and send help @Aleph won't let me OUT OF THE BASEMENT I CAN'T STOP THE BLOGGIN-​

Spoiler: Parts 4/5

[8/16/2016 3:10:34 PM] Rook: but
[8/16/2016 3:10:34 PM] Rook: yes
[8/16/2016 3:10:36 PM] Rook: you are the right
[8/16/2016 3:10:38 PM] Rook: PART THE THREE
[8/16/2016 3:10:54 PM] Aleph: ... or did you do this?
[8/16/2016 3:10:57 PM] Aleph: I think you did this
[8/16/2016 3:10:58 PM] Rook: ... I gotta turn this music off or else I'll get distracte-
[8/16/2016 3:11:01 PM] Rook: oohhh yes you're right
[8/16/2016 3:11:02 PM] Aleph: PART THE FOUR
[8/16/2016 3:11:04 PM] Rook: PART THE FOUR YES
[8/16/2016 3:11:12 PM] Aleph: (leave that bit in)
[8/16/2016 3:11:13 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:11:15 PM] Rook: ;_;
[8/16/2016 3:11:20 PM] Rook: aleph y u do dis
[8/16/2016 3:11:23 PM] Rook: u mak me seem stoopid
[8/16/2016 3:11:31 PM] Aleph: in fairness I was the one who said part 3
[8/16/2016 3:11:37 PM] Rook:
[8/16/2016 3:11:42 PM] Rook: Anyway!
[8/16/2016 3:11:44 PM] Rook: PART THE FOUR
[8/16/2016 3:11:59 PM] Rook: Keris has come to spread the word of god!
[8/16/2016 3:12:08 PM] Aleph: Or rather, "god"
[8/16/2016 3:12:11 PM] Rook: She's like, a marginally less psychotic Born-Again Betty!
[8/16/2016 3:12:14 PM] Rook: :U
[8/16/2016 3:12:35 PM] Rook: (props if you get that reference; if you don't off to THE CAMPS WITH YOU)
[8/16/2016 3:12:51 PM] Rook: Keris sizes things up, and finds it to be disappointingly smol.
[8/16/2016 3:13:08 PM] Rook: Pagoda castle thing at the bridge, next to tempkle
[8/16/2016 3:13:15 PM] Aleph: She's a city girl at heart.
[8/16/2016 3:13:15 PM] Rook: state of disrepair, hm
[8/16/2016 3:13:19 PM] Aleph: A big city girl
[8/16/2016 3:13:33 PM] Rook: Golden Lord may not likey
[8/16/2016 3:13:41 PM] Aleph: There was a time when she considered anything without cobblestones to be unnatural savagery.
[8/16/2016 3:13:41 PM] Rook: Is that supposed to be Sol Invictus?
[8/16/2016 3:13:41 PM] Rook: or
[8/16/2016 3:13:43 PM] Aleph: No
[8/16/2016 3:13:46 PM] Rook: Aha.
[8/16/2016 3:13:56 PM] Aleph: Boss god of An Teng.
[8/16/2016 3:14:01 PM] Rook: I see.
[8/16/2016 3:14:09 PM] *** Rook needs to finish Blood and Sat ***
[8/16/2016 3:14:13 PM] Rook: salt, even
[8/16/2016 3:14:16 PM] Aleph: If Sol was a Third Circle, Golden Lord would probably be one of his powerful Second Circles.
[8/16/2016 3:14:18 PM] Aleph: They're tight, yo
[8/16/2016 3:14:24 PM] Aleph: Been investigated for corruption about a dozen times.
[8/16/2016 3:14:29 PM] Aleph: By request.
[8/16/2016 3:14:31 PM] Aleph: His own request.
[8/16/2016 3:14:37 PM] Rook: Keris finds a wall, plops down aaaaaaaaaaand PREACH
[8/16/2016 3:14:37 PM] Aleph: Squeaky clean every time, and they looked /hard/.
[8/16/2016 3:14:38 PM] Rook: and oh wow
[8/16/2016 3:14:40 PM] Rook: oh wow
[8/16/2016 3:14:43 PM] Aleph: ikr
[8/16/2016 3:14:47 PM] Aleph: He's a pretty cool dude.
[8/16/2016 3:14:53 PM] Rook: Sounds like it.
[8/16/2016 3:15:00 PM] Aleph: Might challenge Keris in a fight, too.
[8/16/2016 3:15:06 PM] Rook: And folks like Keris' music~ (surprising nobody)
[8/16/2016 3:15:10 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:15:15 PM] Aleph: Keris's music is /obnoxiously/ good.
[8/16/2016 3:15:16 PM] Rook: Keris needs ATTENTION
[8/16/2016 3:15:20 PM | Edited 3:15:48 PM] Aleph: She can casually throw 14 dice at it.
[8/16/2016 3:15:30 PM] Aleph: That's the mortal dicecap /when using a three-dot stunt/.
[8/16/2016 3:15:34 PM] Rook: ... oh hello important person
[8/16/2016 3:15:57 PM] Rook: "keris is nothing if not shameless" noooooooooooooooooooo
[8/16/2016 3:15:58 PM] Rook: reaaaaaaaaaally
[8/16/2016 3:15:59 PM] Rook: also lel
[8/16/2016 3:16:05 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:16:22 PM] Aleph: "at least as long as one politely ignores the early stages of her relationship with Sasi"
[8/16/2016 3:16:28 PM] Aleph: she was such a dork
[8/16/2016 3:16:31 PM] Rook: lol
[8/16/2016 3:16:33 PM] Aleph: a blushing, stammering, awkward dork
[8/16/2016 3:16:37 PM] Rook: also nice little trick about biting her cheeks
[8/16/2016 3:16:40 PM] Rook: Most people don't know that one
[8/16/2016 3:16:44 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:16:53 PM] Aleph: Keris was a Nexan street rat.
[8/16/2016 3:17:07 PM] Aleph: She knows /all about/ begging and looking pitiable and garnering sympathy.
[8/16/2016 3:17:14 PM] Rook: Joyous Raven of Red Mountain.
[8/16/2016 3:17:19 PM] Rook: That's a pretty name
[8/16/2016 3:17:22 PM] Aleph: ^_^
[8/16/2016 3:17:53 PM] Rook: keris spouting bullshit like breath
[8/16/2016 3:17:57 PM] Rook: street rat, as you said
[8/16/2016 3:18:05 PM] Rook: ... Keris pls
[8/16/2016 3:18:08 PM] Rook: the DICE
[8/16/2016 3:18:11 PM] Aleph: ikr
[8/16/2016 3:19:02 PM] Rook: "but Keris is obviously a stupid, earnest foreigner" lel
[8/16/2016 3:19:26 PM] Aleph: This is... not technically untrue.
[8/16/2016 3:19:32 PM] Rook: It's not!
[8/16/2016 3:19:34 PM] Rook: That's why I giggled.
[8/16/2016 3:19:49 PM] Aleph: Keris has a complicated relationship with the truth.
[8/16/2016 3:19:51 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:20:42 PM] Rook: theeeere's the goooooooold
[8/16/2016 3:21:02 PM] Aleph: If it were slightly later in the game, she would be a lot less willing to part with that much money
[8/16/2016 3:21:21 PM] Rook: >Keris chuckles wryly. "I am not surprised. I have travelled a long way from where I learned of them. They gave me many things, and eventually I asked to bring word of them back here, to my homeland."
[8/16/2016 3:21:22 PM] Rook: well
[8/16/2016 3:21:24 PM] Rook: you know
[8/16/2016 3:21:27 PM] Rook: she's not lying
[8/16/2016 3:21:27 PM] Aleph: : V
[8/16/2016 3:21:34 PM] Aleph: Mendaciloquent Maveriiiiiick~
[8/16/2016 3:21:45 PM] Aleph: I get so much use out of that style
[8/16/2016 3:22:28 PM] Rook: Poor, poor people.
[8/16/2016 3:22:32 PM] Rook: They seem like decent folks!
[8/16/2016 3:22:39 PM] Rook: And now they're on the path to worshiping a demon~
[8/16/2016 3:22:56 PM] Aleph: Well, you know
[8/16/2016 3:23:07 PM] Aleph: They may not do too badly out of it, if they're careful
[8/16/2016 3:23:18 PM] Aleph: That just paid off about a fifth of their debt in one go, fr'x.
[8/16/2016 3:23:28 PM] Rook: omg Dulmea and Echo
[8/16/2016 3:23:34 PM] Aleph: : D
[8/16/2016 3:24:40 PM] Aleph: Hmm. Have I already talked about Keris and travel?
[8/16/2016 3:24:41 PM] Rook: >

She wakes early, does half an hour of praying - well, okay, reading a Malfean folktale to Echo, who appears to find it hilarious for tiny murderwindy reasons of her own,
[8/16/2016 3:24:46 PM] Rook: "tiny murderwindy reasons"
[8/16/2016 3:24:48 PM] Rook: 10/10
[8/16/2016 3:24:50 PM] Rook: and you have!
[8/16/2016 3:24:50 PM] Aleph: : D
[8/16/2016 3:25:06 PM] Aleph: Thirty miles overland through thick jungle is "about an hour" to her.
[8/16/2016 3:25:15 PM] Aleph: ridiculous
[8/16/2016 3:25:41 PM] Aleph: also lawl
[8/16/2016 3:25:51 PM] Aleph: malfean version of the little mermaid
[8/16/2016 3:25:51 PM] Aleph: : V
[8/16/2016 3:25:55 PM] Rook: yeah I noticed
[8/16/2016 3:25:57 PM] Rook: I kek'd
[8/16/2016 3:25:58 PM] Rook: also
[8/16/2016 3:25:59 PM] Rook: >"I do not wish to offend your god - or gods. What might I do to thank them for such an uncountably generous gift?"
[8/16/2016 3:26:01 PM] Rook: ahahahahaha
[8/16/2016 3:26:04 PM] Rook: YOU ASKED FOR IT
[8/16/2016 3:26:05 PM] Aleph: : 3
[8/16/2016 3:27:47 PM] Aleph: and /hah/.
[8/16/2016 3:27:54 PM] Aleph: I just worked out the theme for Keris's flute style
[8/16/2016 3:27:55 PM] Rook: Skype pls.
[8/16/2016 3:27:57 PM] Aleph: but yes, onward
[8/16/2016 3:27:59 PM] Rook: Pied piper?
[8/16/2016 3:28:02 PM] Aleph: no
[8/16/2016 3:28:08 PM] Aleph: I was considering it, but that didn't work
[8/16/2016 3:28:34 PM] Aleph: No, hah. It's a marching-band style for wind instruments. Fast-paced and energetic. Soldier morale.
[8/16/2016 3:28:37 PM] Rook: Well, classical musician here, so if you have any questions about musicianship of stringed instruments feel free to ask me, and I'll try and answer though it might not be that applicable because Creation is so hodgepodge ^_^ and nice
[8/16/2016 3:28:38 PM] Rook: But yes.
[8/16/2016 3:28:40 PM] Rook: ONWARD!
[8/16/2016 3:28:46 PM] Aleph: indeed; diversion over
[8/16/2016 3:29:04 PM] Rook: Keris begins spreadingthewordofJesusChristto--
[8/16/2016 3:29:05 PM] Rook: shot
[8/16/2016 3:29:09 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:29:11 PM] Rook: no, she keeps it simple
[8/16/2016 3:29:12 PM] Rook: hee
[8/16/2016 3:29:18 PM] Rook: I like her descriptions
[8/16/2016 3:29:22 PM] Aleph: Hmm?
[8/16/2016 3:29:37 PM] Rook: or, rather, >Rich and generous; a tender and farmer of men who sows seeds of prosperity in the soil of virtue and piety.
[8/16/2016 3:29:48 PM] Aleph: : 3
[8/16/2016 3:30:03 PM] Aleph: This was sort of what started the direction of Keris being an artist, really.
[8/16/2016 3:30:07 PM] Rook: 3 dot principle, hm
[8/16/2016 3:30:13 PM] Aleph: This and one other thing later.
[8/16/2016 3:30:16 PM] Aleph: Hmm?
[8/16/2016 3:30:21 PM] Rook: Raven.
[8/16/2016 3:30:30 PM] Rook: I take it that she has one and that's what the text from ES is?
[8/16/2016 3:30:35 PM] Rook:
[8/16/2016 3:30:36 PM] Aleph: Principles replace Virtues, Intimacies and Motivation, fusing them together into a group of concepts a character cares about, rated from 1-5.
1 "Brief, fleeting urge or emotion"
2 "Minor ongoing like, dislike or feeling"
3 "Major ongoing desire, hatred or occupation"
4 "True love, heroic motivation, lifelong nemesis"
5 "The will to survive"
[8/16/2016 3:30:37 PM] Aleph: Yes
[8/16/2016 3:31:05 PM] Aleph: Take a look at Keris's at some point. Though that's current-Keris, who is different from this Keris.
[8/16/2016 3:31:17 PM] Aleph: actually no don't
[8/16/2016 3:31:19 PM] Rook: IIRC Keris is something like 5 dots in LOVE MEEEEEE
[8/16/2016 3:31:19 PM] Aleph: spoilers
[8/16/2016 3:31:23 PM] Aleph: Yes, Be Loved 5
[8/16/2016 3:31:29 PM] Aleph: And Get Revenge 4
[8/16/2016 3:31:34 PM] Aleph: And Possessiveness 4.
[8/16/2016 3:31:38 PM] Aleph: Keris is a scary person
[8/16/2016 3:32:02 PM] Rook: And Keris has a hook in Joyous Raven, it seems.
[8/16/2016 3:32:05 PM] Rook: And that is Part the four!
[8/16/2016 3:32:28 PM] Aleph: Part the 5?
[8/16/2016 3:32:33 PM] Aleph: Ooo
[8/16/2016 3:32:34 PM] Aleph: yes
[8/16/2016 3:32:38 PM] Aleph: plz part the 5
[8/16/2016 3:32:40 PM] Aleph: /plz/
[8/16/2016 3:32:43 PM] Aleph: : D
[8/16/2016 3:32:54 PM] Rook: Part the 5 will come later because I have to be a functional human beeeinnnnnnnnnnnnnnngfuck fine
[8/16/2016 3:33:02 PM] Aleph: : D : D : D
[8/16/2016 3:33:11 PM] Rook: I am too nice to you *grumble grumble*
[8/16/2016 3:33:25 PM] Aleph: ^_^
[8/16/2016 3:33:32 PM] Rook: PART THE FIVE
[8/16/2016 3:34:59 PM] Rook: ...
[8/16/2016 3:35:03 PM] *** Rook zoned out listening to Nujabes ***
[8/16/2016 3:35:05 PM] Rook: cough cough
[8/16/2016 3:35:08 PM] *** Aleph prods ***
[8/16/2016 3:35:11 PM] Rook: MEEEEEH
[8/16/2016 3:35:12 PM] Rook: I'M GOING
[8/16/2016 3:35:14 PM] Rook: ._.
[8/16/2016 3:35:19 PM] Aleph: You're gonna wanna read this session : 3
[8/16/2016 3:35:21 PM] Rook: Anyway!
[8/16/2016 3:35:36 PM] Rook: it's hot and muggy, and is stultifying even a real word
[8/16/2016 3:35:39 PM] Rook: Is that a word
[8/16/2016 3:35:41 PM] Aleph: yes
[8/16/2016 3:35:42 PM] Rook: I have never heard that word before
[8/16/2016 3:35:52 PM] Rook:
[8/16/2016 3:36:02 PM] Rook: well ok then!
[8/16/2016 3:36:06 PM] Aleph: stultify (ˈstʌltɪfʌɪ)
verb
gerund or present participle: stultifying
1. cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine.
[8/16/2016 3:36:10 PM] Aleph: ES is a showoff
[8/16/2016 3:36:20 PM] Rook: Keris finishes --meeeeh--her FOOD and then heads off
[8/16/2016 3:36:30 PM] Rook: Catalyst of the Red Sunrise, SPOOK CENTRAL
[8/16/2016 3:36:37 PM] Rook: and rivertime!
[8/16/2016 3:36:48 PM] Rook: northern Middle Lands
[8/16/2016 3:36:49 PM] Rook: hmm
[8/16/2016 3:36:50 PM] Aleph: Keris is actually more comfortable in a river than on a feather bed
[8/16/2016 3:36:53 PM] Aleph: due to her Charm loadout
[8/16/2016 3:37:09 PM] Rook: aaaand she's about there!
[8/16/2016 3:37:12 PM] Rook: shallow laaaake
[8/16/2016 3:37:14 PM] Rook: and yeah I know lol
[8/16/2016 3:37:22 PM] Rook: a few ruins; monkeys!
[8/16/2016 3:37:23 PM] Aleph: And gets a better night's sleep from four hours in a frozen-over ditch than eight under silk sheets
[8/16/2016 3:37:25 PM] Rook: I like all the description.
[8/16/2016 3:37:29 PM] Aleph: ^_^
[8/16/2016 3:37:52 PM] Rook: so I'm imagining Keris throws that gravel with her hair
[8/16/2016 3:37:55 PM] Rook: even though it doesn't specify
[8/16/2016 3:38:15 PM] Aleph: Probably, yes
[8/16/2016 3:38:28 PM] Aleph: Her Ranged Style is an angyalkae sling style used with the hair
[8/16/2016 3:38:47 PM] Rook: ... oho.
[8/16/2016 3:38:48 PM] Rook: Echo.
[8/16/2016 3:39:00 PM] Aleph: : D
[8/16/2016 3:39:20 PM] Aleph: One of those *dashslicesliceslice* *beat* *collapse* things
[8/16/2016 3:39:27 PM] Rook: Echo!
[8/16/2016 3:39:44 PM] Rook: CAVE!
[8/16/2016 3:39:49 PM] Aleph: Oh, /that/ Echo
[8/16/2016 3:40:03 PM] Aleph: Not the murderwaif one
[8/16/2016 3:40:05 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:40:07 PM] Rook: lol
[8/16/2016 3:40:53 PM] Rook: Keris the gymnast almost sticks the landing
[8/16/2016 3:41:04 PM] Rook: 2/10 would not put on Olympic team
[8/16/2016 3:41:08 PM] Aleph: well no
[8/16/2016 3:41:10 PM] Aleph: she would cheat
[8/16/2016 3:41:15 PM] Aleph: and also self-seed the competition
[8/16/2016 3:41:56 PM] Rook: ... oh, /Keris/
[8/16/2016 3:42:09 PM] Aleph: I can guess what prompted that
[8/16/2016 3:42:22 PM] Aleph: "it isn't until she's mostly cleared out the first tunnel that it occurs to Keris to consider whether opening a possibly-non-flooded tunnel at the bottom of her newfound lake is a good idea or not."
[8/16/2016 3:42:26 PM] Rook: yeeeeeep
[8/16/2016 3:42:36 PM] Rook: Dulmea and I sighed at about the same time methinks
[8/16/2016 3:43:18 PM] Rook: Alabaster!
[8/16/2016 3:43:24 PM] Rook: She remember by taste!
[8/16/2016 3:43:28 PM] Rook: *remembers
[8/16/2016 3:43:32 PM] Aleph: Her taste is as good as her hearing
[8/16/2016 3:43:39 PM] Rook: >it's gypsum
[8/16/2016 3:43:41 PM] Aleph: she can taste what colour your eyes are by licking your cheek
[8/16/2016 3:43:44 PM] Rook: ...
[8/16/2016 3:43:47 PM] Rook: you're fucking with me
[8/16/2016 3:43:51 PM] Rook: Really?
[8/16/2016 3:43:53 PM] Aleph: magic lol
[8/16/2016 3:44:01 PM] Rook: I don't know why I'm surprised at this point
[8/16/2016 3:44:03 PM] Aleph: remind me to quote you her first experience with it
[8/16/2016 3:44:11 PM] Rook: will do
[8/16/2016 3:44:13 PM] Aleph: she got overwhelmed by the sudden explosion of taste and fell over
[8/16/2016 3:44:21 PM] Aleph: which brought her lips into contact with the floor
[8/16/2016 3:44:29 PM] Aleph: she then proceeded to roll 26 successes
[8/16/2016 3:44:32 PM] Rook: ahahahahahaha
[8/16/2016 3:44:37 PM] Aleph: She was still twitching when Sasi found her
[8/16/2016 3:44:43 PM] Rook: amazing
[8/16/2016 3:44:45 PM] Aleph: And alabaster does contain gypsum
[8/16/2016 3:44:48 PM] Aleph: Alabaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[8/16/2016 3:44:52 PM] Rook: I did not know this.
[8/16/2016 3:44:57 PM] Rook: I learned something today!
[8/16/2016 3:45:02 PM] Rook: Thank you future EarthScorpion!
[8/16/2016 3:45:10 PM | Edited 3:45:19 PM] Aleph: Or more accurately, it is gypsum, and also another type of mineral
[8/16/2016 3:45:36 PM] Rook: dead monkeeeeey
[8/16/2016 3:45:39 PM] Aleph: : D
[8/16/2016 3:45:47 PM] Rook: ...
[8/16/2016 3:45:51 PM] Rook: "mmm, monkey, yum"
[8/16/2016 3:45:52 PM] Rook: KERIS
[8/16/2016 3:45:52 PM] Rook: PLS
[8/16/2016 3:45:55 PM] Aleph: : P
[8/16/2016 3:46:20 PM] Rook: IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE
[8/16/2016 3:46:26 PM] Aleph: Yup!
[8/16/2016 3:46:29 PM] Aleph: Keris's first demon.
[8/16/2016 3:46:32 PM] Aleph: She can /create life/.
[8/16/2016 3:47:12 PM] Rook: Dulmea pls
[8/16/2016 3:47:14 PM] Rook: Keris pls
[8/16/2016 3:47:18 PM] Rook: Jesus wept
[8/16/2016 3:47:18 PM] Aleph: Hmm?
[8/16/2016 3:47:30 PM] Rook: Mavaroska, hm?
[8/16/2016 3:47:35 PM] Aleph: Jesus wept?
[8/16/2016 3:47:38 PM] Aleph: At what?
[8/16/2016 3:47:47 PM] Rook: More of a general exclamation
[8/16/2016 3:47:53 PM] Aleph: tell me what you're commenting ooooooon~
[8/16/2016 3:48:00 PM] Rook: It was more of a "oh my God you /guys/" at the interplay and the reactions of the two
[8/16/2016 3:48:10 PM] Aleph: Ah, them throwing shade at the neomah?
[8/16/2016 3:48:11 PM] Rook: .. she spent a good few hours on it, eh?
[8/16/2016 3:48:12 PM] Rook: yeah
[8/16/2016 3:48:14 PM] Aleph: : V
[8/16/2016 3:48:23 PM] Rook: Firisutu.
[8/16/2016 3:48:23 PM] Aleph: Dulmea is a Proper Lady
[8/16/2016 3:48:25 PM] Rook: ... omg
[8/16/2016 3:48:26 PM] Aleph: ^_^
[8/16/2016 3:48:29 PM] Rook: it's holding her hair
[8/16/2016 3:48:31 PM] Rook: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
[8/16/2016 3:48:32 PM] Aleph: so cute~
[8/16/2016 3:48:35 PM] Rook: CUTE!
[8/16/2016 3:49:08 PM] Rook: ...
[8/16/2016 3:49:09 PM] Rook: oh dear
[8/16/2016 3:49:13 PM] Aleph: THOSE DICE
[8/16/2016 3:49:19 PM] Rook: Firisutu is scared and SO AM I
[8/16/2016 3:49:27 PM] Rook: also AAAAAAA
[8/16/2016 3:49:28 PM] Rook: DICE
[8/16/2016 3:50:01 PM] Rook: HUEG CENTIPEDE
[8/16/2016 3:50:13 PM] Rook: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[8/16/2016 3:50:14 PM] Aleph: IT R GIANTGANTIC
[8/16/2016 3:50:18 PM] Rook: YES IT R
[8/16/2016 3:50:23 PM] Rook: IT BE HUEG
[8/16/2016 3:50:27 PM] Rook: and that be part the five!

 

[Aleph]

Okay, somewhat late (due to it being split across two weeks by inconvenient timing), but here, finally, is the next Kerisgame story; From One, Many. In which Keris makes up with Haneyl, says goodbye to Sasi and has a short but terrifying meeting with the Shashalme. And yes, both she and I are aware that she said she'd ask for a Res 4-5 trinket for Haneyl, but with the Shashalme in that mood she made the executive decision that no fucking way was she letting Haneyl touch anything it gave her and opted to instead either ask Lilunu for something or craft a present herself - possible a pair of gold leaf or flower earrings painted with Wood and Fire.

Sigh. If she tells Lilunu about Haneyl's art room, she'll find it adorable.

In other news; Vali has been written up! He is part rambunctious little boy who runs around skinning his knees, part stubborn rebellious brat who's contrary just to be contrary, part Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh (especially his attitude towards nobility and the upper class), and part cute kid who's very protective of his mum and will fight you if you badmouth her, bruv (sometimes he jumps around on the furniture having pretend swordfights with invisible Dragonblooded ninjas who've snuck in through the upstairs windows to kidnap her).

Unsurprisingly, he and Haneyl are not off to a good start.

I also, somewhat belatedly, have writeups of those two Artifacts Adorjan gave to Echo and Calesco back in Part 55. Actually, technically I've had Örömi written up for months, but I recently shifted a bunch of stuff from my Kerisgame Notepad file into my Kerisgame GSheet character doc (not the published one; the one I use for planning) and dug it up again and quickly wrote up the mechanics of the sash. So yeah; with the acknowledgement that obviously these are shakily balanced, being as they are 5-dot Artifacts whose forging involved a Primordial and which are integral Panoply items of a pair of infant Third Circles...

Spoiler: Örömi Windcutter

Artifact 5 Knife
Echo's knife was given to her by the Silent Wind herself; born from Her coupling with Keris and returned as a gift. It is a slender, tapered blade elegant in its simplicity - black-handled, with a red ribbon-tassel and a blade of white jade that makes no sound as it moves through the air.

A gift of love to let its owner go where she wishes and be happy; Örömi allows Echo to pass through doors closed to her, cutting a passage open through attempts to deny her entry. She may simply ignore thaumaturgic wards and mundane barriers, stepping past them with a subtle flicker of the Windcutter's blade.

Against magically barred portals like a manse's doors or the entrance to a divine sanctum, she first compares her Enlightenment against that of the portal - sanctums use their owner's, Manses use their (rating+2) and other obstacles should be arbitrated as seems appropriate. If her own Enlightenment is lower, she cannot enter.

If it is higher, she may roll (Reaction+Melee) to get in, adding successes equal to the difference in Enlightenment to any opposed roll to stop her. The world of dreams is open to her in this way - she can cut her way into a sleeping person's mind and interact with them there. Should she kill the dreamer, they wake with 0wp from psychic shock - should they kill her, it is as though she were slain the same way in the waking world.

Speed 4, Accuracy 4, Damage: +6A (1)(2), Defence +1, Rate 2, Mins: Physique 1
(1) Örömi deals bashing damage to targets with no negative Principles, never wrapping around to lethal.
(2) The white blade of the Windcutter parts emotion along with flesh. Whenever a target loses a health level from raw damage or bleeding caused by this weapon, a negative Principle is lost with it as an Illusion effect.

Spoiler: Szánalome

Artifact 5 Sash
Calesco's sash was given to her by the Silent Wind herself; made from Keris's tongue after She cut it out. A skein of bloody red muscle-fabric; it can be reshaped into many forms by its owner - scarfs, veils, cloaks and more - and fits comfortably no matter the climate or temperature.

A gift of love to let its owner go where she must and be safe there; Szánalome communicates a message to all who see Calesco acting as a messenger. None can look upon it without knowing in their bones that to harm her is to attract the wrath of a mighty being and bring doom down upon them.

This functions as a Compulsion not to harm or imprison Calesco as long as she is acting as a messenger and has not initiated hostilities or violated hospitality. Resisting this terrible foreboding is impossible for demons, natives of Malfeas or others with a Principle of Fear towards Adorjan. For all others it costs Willpower equal to Calesco's Enlightenment (maximum 5).

As well as alerting her Primordial mother to her assailant's actions, the first blow that lands upon Calesco when Szánalome's warning is disregarded transforms the veil into a protective aura of Adorjan's Winds; forming a natural hazard (Enlightenment) yards across that leaves her unveiled and unaffected at its centre. This flensing wind dies down at the end of the scene should she escape, or when her assailants are dead should that come first.

Damage: 6A/action (1), Trauma 5L, Area: (Enlightenment) yards across
(1) While powerful and protective, Szánalome only shields Calesco as long as she is acting in her capacity as a messenger and official envoy. Should she fight offensively or break the rules of diplomacy - refusing to leave a court when ordered, for example - it will not defend her.

Now, a question to those who follow Kerisgame. Given that it's now been 71 sessions and five arcs, whoa and that people still seem to be following Kerisgame, is it worth giving it its own thread? Do you have stuff to say and/or discuss about it, or are you happy just reading? Is it cluttering up the Exalted General thread and reducing more specific discussion? I'm happy to shift notifications and so on over to another thread if readers want to talk about it, and people who don't read Kerisgame might appreciate me doing so.

Anywho, extras as usual:

Aleph: Hmm. You know, having sketched it out, Krisity is actually split into half-water-based and half not-water-based, I think. Rathan's Sea is obviously where it's deepest, but the border with the Swamp is still all shallow water and islands. And of course the Swamp is a swamp; it's wetland. And then you have the rolling hills of the Meadows and the looming peaks of the Spires forming the rise onto dry land, and the Ruin, which may actually be elevated compared to the Sea. Like, the Empire slopes upward in that direction.
EarthScorpion: Well, yes. The Spires-Ruin highlands is the highest area. And Echo likes mountains. She misses the salt flats, though.
Aleph: Hmm. I may get a little stylised map drawn. Not the detailed location kind, just the sort of thing that shows terrain types with, you know, the pictures of mountains or icebergs that look like they're jutting up off the page and so on. Though, uh... which orientation are most maps drawn in? Which Direction is generally put at the top?
EarthScorpion: North. : V
Aleph: ¬_¬
EarthScorpion: So how does the water cycle of Krisity go?
Aleph: Well, remember, waterfalls in Krisity fall upwards - a lot of rivers terminate at pools where they suddenly go vertical. So water gets up to the moon like that, then falls again as rain.
EarthScorpion: Yes, but I was thinking about what happened to the rivers of the Ruin when the Spires emerged and the entire coastline rose up
Aleph: Well, hmm. The Ruin has very little water, actually. It has two types of river; blood and dust, and I'm... not sure how they interact with the rest of the water cycle. Hmm. Well, the dust probably terminates in dust-falls that get blown up on thermals and drift back into the Ruin.
EarthScorpion: ... heh. A bunch of the ash from the Swamp probably falls on the Ruin.
Aleph: Lol. But yes, the Spires are probably going to have quite a few high waterfalls as blood rivers pile up against mountains and go upwards.
EarthScorpion: Heh. Honestly, the Swamp is possibly made up of several large islands
EarthScorpion: ... but where does its water come from? Run off from the Meadows?
Aleph: Well, hmm. The Sea is the lowest elevation. The Isles are slightly higher, so the water base there is shallower. But I think the Swamp is fairly low - especially on the Isleward side, a lot of it is standing water rather than rivers, and may be tidal. The rest, yeah, is rainwater and river sources.
EarthScorpion: ... sigh. No, I know how it works. The rivers in the Swamp don't flow to the Sea. They flow in the other direction.
Aleph: Up into the Meadows?
EarthScorpion: Because the flows are produced by the trees drinking.
Aleph: ... ohhhhh. Hah. Yes. Yes, that does work. So you get rivermouths in the Isles. And the, heh. The rivers become streams and then streamlets as the trees drink away at them.
EarthScorpion: And when the osmotic pressure can't hold it anymore, the trees thin out and become scrub and things decay down to tar and honey. And then the ash from the Swamp is carried across the Meadows to the Ruin.
Aleph: Hmm. Yes. The Meadows and the Ruin have very little water or rainfall. And then it's always stormy over the Spires, the Sea gets a lot and the Isles and Swamp get a fair amount.
...
EarthScorpion: so, uh
EarthScorpion: chell and vali
EarthScorpion: what do
Aleph: In what sense?
EarthScorpion: They're slave-beings that obey every command from a soul of Keris.
Aleph: Well, hmm. No, not quite. It's a little more complex than that.
Aleph: Chell are beasts, technically - they're not sapient - and it's less that they're slaves who obey commands and more that, hmm. Honestly, they're probably closer to automata than anything? Because they don't just obey commands from Keris's souls. It's more that a chell in isolation won't really do anything. They follow suggestions and orders and keep peacefully doing them until someone tells them differently. That's why, for instance, the one where Orobeneta used to live just gathered firewood and mushrooms.
Aleph: So in Vali's case, hmm. Let me think for a mo.
Aleph: ... yeah, I think he doesn't like them. Because he can tell that they're not the sort of thing he'd fight for - they can't be "free" any more than, say, rocks. So they mostly sort of offend him on principle. They're... hah, yes, that's it. He'd view them in the same way as pro-slavery propaganda and "kind master" narratives; with distaste and annoyance.
Aleph: Also with his keruby evolutions they're not really needed in the Spires.
EarthScorpion: *Vali scowls*

Vali: "Act like you're free."
Haneyl: "You're dumb."​

Aleph: Heh. Yes, they just sort of offend him on general principle, in the same way that Vimes doesn't like being a nob. And at the same time, they annoy him in an entirely different direction because they do actually remove some of the need for slaves, so they're useful for his goals... but he doesn't like them, so he's left in the annoying position of having something he finds distasteful doing something positive for his beliefs and values. The practical upshot of this is that they are very rare in the Spires, and the few that do exist there (with clunky metal and stone bits) are generally kept in places where they won't be noticed.
Aleph: Hmm. Though the ones in the Inner City he just treats like they're all Dulmea.
EarthScorpion: Actually, they're all Dulmea, Echo points out happily. You just have to kill enough of them so she actually notices.
Aleph: ¬_¬
...
EarthScorpion: Dark Souls pic

Haneyl: "I really like that crown. It's gold, and it has seven prongs."
Calesco: "That's a boy, not a girl."
Haneyl: "Are you sure?"
Calesco: "Yes. He was raised as a girl because he was a moon-god."
Haneyl: "... oh, so like Rathan."
Calesco: "Exactly. Although he's not as girly as Rathan."
Rathan: "... why do you two feel the need to do this?"​

...
Aleph: Oh, Haneyl. You are going to go through DEEP EXISTENTIAL CONFLICT when you start budding souls. Because on the one hand they display how wonderful you are and they're part of you (and so by extension anything they control or own is really yours too, when you think about it). But on the other hand they're clearly NOT you, and sometimes... sometimes they even argue with you! And that means that parts of you are taking things that you you can't have!
Aleph: ... also you think your Defining and Expressive souls are very handsome, because you are an egotistical brat.
EarthScorpion: Haneyl: "It's like if my hair started eating for me!"

Calesco: "It does."
Haneyl: "No, that's me doing it. I get my stomach more full either way. It's like if my hair had its own stomach."​

EarthScorpion: ... sigh. Haneyl and Calesco do just naturally work as "preppy, bossy elder sister" and "snarky younger sister".
EarthScorpion: Just like Rathan and Vali are falling into "soft, pretty, nerdy elder brother" and "rough and tumble sporty younger brother".
EarthScorpion: And Echo is the super-annoying eldest sister who's really smart but has some kind of ADHD.
Aleph: Haneyl: "More like every kind."
Aleph: ...
Aleph: ... you realise Rathan has to get glasses now. Very elegant pretty ones that may be an artifact that gives him essence sight.
Aleph: Heh. It is a little-known fact that Rathan is also the patron of bishie pretty boys who are less combat-focused than the women they travel with and who are often put-upon for their appearance or skills.

Rathan: *blesses Overlady!Guiche*​

...
Aleph: oh man
Aleph: BEST ECHO WRITEUP
Aleph: Yeah, you know how you worked out the "joke" with Octavian? I think I just worked out Echo's. And it just requires a very slight evolution of her Urge.
Aleph: So she's the GMPC who's smarter than Keris, loves to follow her and who represents her Be Loved, yes? And we've said that she probably works towards Keris's goals (and what she thinks would be good for Keris and fill her need for love and positive attachment) while trailing behind her in places she's been?
Aleph: Well if you put that together and shift her Urge from "follow Keris" to "lead Keris from behind" or something...
Aleph: ... we basically have someone who is always behind Keris and goes wherever she goes, but who constantly tries to influence their route and ultimate destination.
Aleph: Or in other words
Aleph: she's a backseat driver.
Aleph: : V
EarthScorpion: Goddamnit echo
Aleph: Keris: "I will stop this warship, young lady!"
Aleph: Dammit Echo. Much like the Shashalme, you are of the opinion that your Greater Self basically exists so that you get to do things. And I think your Principle towards her is "Keris", not "Mother". You still have holdovers from when you were her bratty little sister.
EarthScorpion: Sigh. So Keris has Echo behind her pushing her along and Calesco and Haneyl each latched onto an arm, trying to pull her in a direction that is sometimes the same but often different.
Aleph: Plus Dulmea holding her back.
Aleph: Rathan: "See, mama, this is why you should have had more boy souls. Me and Vali are much better behaved. You should ask us for advice more."
EarthScorpion: Huh. How much is Vali Keris' contrary streak against the bullying of her own souls?
Aleph: Oooo. That's true. She does not-infrequently lay down the law and refuse to listen to them, and she's telling them "no" more.
EarthScorpion: ... oh, Keris. It says a lot that your male souls are there to stop your female souls running off and getting you into trouble.
Aleph: Sometimes Vali will work against his siblings just 'cause.
Aleph: I wonder how Sasi will react to him?
EarthScorpion: Heh. That actually means Vali has more Ted in him that even Keris knows.
...
<On entering the Swamp>
EarthScorpion: So what's her plan to get there, and what Charms is she using? That'll determine the role I ask for.
Aleph: Hmm. Is the Shashalme's garden actually in the body of Metagaos at the moment, rather than on an iceberg or something like it was the last couple of times?
EarthScorpion: Yep, it's in the hungry grey jungle. It's possible they're communing with their greater self. Possibly they just wanted to relax. Perhaps the reasons are only known to the Yozis.
Aleph: Yeah, then Keris is going to armour up and go high, using Adorjani running and Sprawling Marsh Indulgence to avoid the worst of the tangle until she's well within the comparatively 'safe' region of the Shashalme's garden.
...
<On the Shashalme's offers>
EarthScorpion: What's the current debt balance before this gift?
Aleph: 3 dot Principle in the Shashalme's favour.
EarthScorpion: Well, they're going to try to get Keris to accept something. Ideally, they'd like to give her something 3 dot rated.
Aleph: What's her debt balance at now? Has this cleared it?
EarthScorpion: No, it's a 2 dot thing, taking it to 1 dot owed.
Aleph: Hmm. Then Keris will probably try to get away with just a 1-dot thing. Hmm. Ooo. Possibly non-Artifact high-Resources stuff she can use for art; exceptional-quality bolts of cloth and particularly fine gems she can use for jewellery-making and the like. Which, heh. May amuse it again. Keris asking for things she can make more valuable things out of, with the vague implication that she'll give some of the more valuable things back as tribute gifts.
...
EarthScorpion: So, there are 12 brushes. Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Wood, Journeys, Serenity, Battles, Secrets, Endings, Sunlight, Moonlight. Each lets you paint with the respective thing. Finding the more esoteric paints is left as an exercise to the user
Aleph: Hee!
Aleph: wait
Aleph: yessssss
Aleph: Keris's moonlight distilling mirrors : D : D : D
Aleph: ... painting with Secrets, though. Hmm. That's gonna be tricky.
EarthScorpion: They're very much tools.
Aleph: Oh, the Shashalme. It considers Keris to be an amusing and surprisingly brave little sapling who produces very pretty fruits for its pleasure. And who sometimes comes out with very entertaining surprises.
EarthScorpion: The fortress manse was something I wasn't sure if you were going to go for~
Aleph: Haha, yeah, no. One manse is enough for now.
EarthScorpion: Even a Metagaos fortress manse that's set up as a deathtrap right on the edge of Malfeas, and which with the right path you can set a path from entering Cecelyne to it? : p
Aleph: I didn't say it wasn't tempting. : P
Aleph: Was it basically haggling with lower bids until it found something Keris would go for?
EarthScorpion: Yeeeeeeeeeep
Aleph: lol

Keris: "I will at most get 1 dot worth."
Shashalme: "Look at these pretty A2 art brushes."
Keris: "OOO MINE!"​

EarthScorpion: And yes, painting in fire involves dipping your brush in a flame.

Keris: "... what would happen if I painted someone with Serenity?"
Keris: "... how would I make paint from Serenity?"
Keris: "... can I paint my ships' sails with Journeys?"​

Aleph: Sigh. Lilunu is going to find these things wonderfully interesting. She may try to make her own set. Adapted to the Demon Realm, of course.
Aleph: Hmm. Maiden paint would be Fate, I think. You'd need a way to distill a particularly strong single-Maiden-aspected Fate.
Aleph: oh man fuck yes
Aleph: that would be awesome
Aleph: Artifact ship with a Journeys sail and a hull painted with Secrets yesssss go go go
Aleph: But yeah, find a person whose Fate is strongly aspected to a single Maiden. Then... hmm. Were Keris a Sidereal I'd basically say "take their thread from the Loom and dissolve it in a neutral medium". As an Infernal... maybe rip them out of Fate and grab the snapped thread somehow as it goes? She'll need another tool, then. A really esoteric one.
EarthScorpion: And so Keris gets distracted looking for High First Age paint recipes.
Aleph: : P
Aleph: In fairness, these allow her to make some really cool artifacts for sale or trade. A war banner literally painted with Battles, lol.
EarthScorpion: And yes, the elemental ones are the easiest ones to do.
Aleph: Oh, huh. Not just people; places. If she steals them or terraforms an area with a strong Destiny...
EarthScorpion: As a lower-level artefact sail, you can paint them with Air for winds.
Aleph: Yeah. Sigh. And that means that to make the esoteric Sidereal paints, she has to go around yanking things out of Fate.
EarthScorpion: Haneyl: "MAMA! PAINT WITH WOOD AND FIRE NOW!"
Aleph: ... Keris, stop giving Kali and Ogin sunlight and moonlight facepaint.
Aleph: ... Kali, stop eating the sunlight paint.
...
Aleph: I was very clear going in that I was not going to accept anything more than a 1-dot debt.
Aleph: And then it offered me an A2 set of High First Age paintbrushes and Keris went FUCK YES GIMME before I could get a word in edgeways.
Aleph: Dammit, Keris.

Click to shrink...

Plus an amusing plotbunny:

Aleph: Heh. I do occasionally daydream about an nWoDish setup with a Gauntlet that has Krisity on the other side of the modern world. Just for the idea of Krisity-based things occasionally brushing the real world (and the lower-power, more human-passing members of the family quietly living here and there and being very quiet about exactly what their family reunions entail).
EarthScorpion: Yeah, but... that just looks pretty classically demonic.
Aleph: Not entirely!
Aleph: ... okay yeah, it kinda does
Aleph: Lol south china sea pirates trying to summon one of Rathan's children via some old grimoire. And 3CD!Keris bitching about the stupid Gauntlet stopping her from messing around in modern cities and trying to get her great-great-grandkids to summon her into Chicago.
Aleph: ... *snrrk*
Aleph: soooo
Aleph: lily evans, huh?

• red hair
• vivid green eyes
• hot temper
• strong magic suddenly showing up in a muggle family
• flower-themed name

Aleph: harry no stop accidentally growing seven-petalled flowers in the dursley's garden
EarthScorpion: He has disobedient hair, eh?
Aleph: Also hopefully Ollivander remembers what happened the first time his mother touched a wand - that is to say, a powerful wooden magical implement - and has the forethought to not give him one.
Aleph: (It started growing. Rapidly. As in, "she dropped it and it put roots through the floor in under ten seconds" rapidly.)
Aleph: (An anonymous donor gave him some greyish wood that would work for her a couple of days later. And advised him not to bother with a core.)
Aleph: ... actually, as a harvester of magical wood, Ollivander probably already knows her. And may have recognised the signs (though alas; slightly too late to save the 7 inch oak-and-dragon-heartstrings wand or his floorboards.)

Ollivander: "Ah, Mr Potter. I believe I have just the wand for you, please wait a moment..."
Ollivander: "Your grandmother donated the wood for this wand."
Hagrid: "What, Dorea Potter?"
Ollivander: *surelet'sgowiththat.jpg* "... yes."​

EarthScorpion: The Forbidden Forest has burning green witch-fires deep within it.

Haneyl: "Ah, I remember the founders of Hogwarts. Salazar was such an... interesting man. I think I left quite an impact on him."
Echo indicates she also remembers them, and had some very interesting conversations about ribbons when Ravenclaw summoned her. She told Echo she'd never thought about ribbons the same way after Echo explained them to her.​

Aleph: Hopefully this doesn't end with Harry deciding "you know what? Fuck hunting Horcruxes" and just getting his hands on Örömi Windcutter and stabbing Voldemort with it repeatedly to make him stay dead this time.

Dumbledore: "Where did you get that weapon, my boy?"
Echo spins happily, gleeful about the seven favours he owes her (one for each Horcrux he'd have had to track down).
Haneyl: "Hey! Quit trying to steal my grandson! And also my number!"​

EarthScorpion: That, or...

Harry: "... can you help me with this mass-murdering sociopath, Great-Aunt Calesco?"​

Aleph: Heh. Honestly, stabbing him to permadeath would probably be kinder than giving him to Calesco. Who would probably lock him in the Birdcage.
Aleph: ... *pained expression*

Echo gestures that for her first favour, she's heard lots about this famous invisibility cloak that she's worked out is one of the Hallows and belongs to the Potter family, obviously, so she'd like to have a go with it.
Harry: "Wait. One of the what now?"​

Aleph: Heh. The first hint would be how the narrative describes Harry's eyes (so bright and vivid), and his appetite. Oh, he thinks the Dursleys starve him, because he's always so hungry. But take a step back and they actually don't like him because holy shit the amount of food he goes through. Politely, discretely, with manners - not like what Ron learned from the daily Weasley free-for-all. But his calorie intake is something like twice what it should be for someone his size, and that's when he's not having a growth spurt.
Aleph: ... also the way he has instituted TOTAL CONTROL of the garden and there isn't so much as a blade of grass or a single petal out of place (though some of the plants do tend to shy away in fear when he comes over to work on them).
Aleph: Oh god, Sprout would either love him or be unnerved by him. The boy can make Devil's Snare flinch away from him just by glaring at it.
EarthScorpion: ... so, uh, mandrakes?
Aleph: I'm not sure. I mean, I'd say they'd scream bloody murder on sight, but, well...
EarthScorpion: Well, I mean, "are they relatives"?
Aleph: Oh, right. Eh, I don't think so, no. There are more weird magical plants in the Potterverse than Haneyl. That said, if Sprout doesn't know of her, she's not fit for her position, so she'll probably be the first to clue in.
Aleph: ... actually given Lily she probably already knows.
EarthScorpion: Sprout: "... with luck, that boy'll end up in Hufflepuff. He's going to have a hard time of it."

Sprout: "I met his grandmother once. Utterly terrifying... woman."
Snape: "You paused before woman."
Sprout: "Oh, she's definitely a woman."​

Click to shrink...

 

[Morphic Tide]

Okay, somewhat late (due to it being split across two weeks by inconvenient timing), but here, finally, is Kerisgame 71. In which Keris makes up with Haneyl, says goodbye to Sasi and has a short but terrifying meeting with the Shashalme. And yes, both she and I are aware that she said she'd ask for a Res 4-5 trinket for Haneyl, but with the Shashalme in that mood she made the executive decision that no fucking way was she letting Haneyl touch anything it gave her and opted to instead either ask Lilunu for something or craft a present herself - possible a pair of gold leaf or flower earrings painted with Wood and Fire.

Sigh. If she tells Lilunu about Haneyl's art room, she'll find it adorable.

In other news; Vali has been written up! He is part rambunctious little boy who runs around skinning his knees, part stubborn rebellious brat who's contrary just to be contrary, part Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh (especially his attitude towards nobility and the upper class), and part cute kid who's very protective of his mum and will fight you if you badmouth her, bruv (sometimes he jumps around on the furniture having pretend swordfights with invisible Dragonblooded ninjas who've snuck in through the upstairs windows to kidnap her).

Unsurprisingly, he and Haneyl are not off to a good start.

I also, somewhat belatedly, have writeups of those two Artifacts Adorjan gave to Echo and Calesco back in Part 55. Actually, technically I've had Örömi written up for months, but I recently shifted a bunch of stuff from my Kerisgame Notepad file into my Kerisgame GSheet character doc (not the published one; the one I use for planning) and dug it up again and quickly wrote up the mechanics of the sash. So yeah; with the acknowledgement that obviously these are shakily balanced, being as they are 5-dot Artifacts whose forging involved a Primordial and which are integral Panoply items of a pair of infant Third Circles...

Spoiler: Örömi Windcutter

Artifact 5 Knife
Echo's knife was given to her by the Silent Wind herself; born from Her coupling with Keris and returned as a gift. It is a slender, tapered blade elegant in its simplicity - black-handled, with a red ribbon-tassel and a blade of white jade that makes no sound as it moves through the air.

A gift of love to let its owner go where she wishes and be happy; Örömi allows Echo to pass through doors closed to her, cutting a passage open through attempts to deny her entry. She may simply ignore thaumaturgic wards and mundane barriers, stepping past them with a subtle flicker of the Windcutter's blade.

Against magically barred portals like a manse's doors or the entrance to a divine sanctum, she first compares her Enlightenment against that of the portal - sanctums use their owner's, Manses use their (rating+2) and other obstacles should be arbitrated as seems appropriate. If her own Enlightenment is lower, she cannot enter.

If it is higher, she may roll (Reaction+Melee) to get in, adding successes equal to the difference in Enlightenment to any opposed roll to stop her. The world of dreams is open to her in this way - she can cut her way into a sleeping person's mind and interact with them there. Should she kill the dreamer, they wake with 0wp from psychic shock - should they kill her, it is as though she were slain the same way in the waking world.

Speed 4, Accuracy 4, Damage: +6A (1)(2), Defence +1, Rate 2, Mins: Physique 1
(1) Örömi deals bashing damage to targets with no negative Principles, never wrapping around to lethal.
(2) The white blade of the Windcutter parts emotion along with flesh. Whenever a target loses a health level from raw damage or bleeding caused by this weapon, a negative Principle is lost with it as an Illusion effect.

Spoiler: Szánalome

Artifact 5 Sash
Calesco's sash was given to her by the Silent Wind herself; made from Keris's tongue after She cut it out. A skein of bloody red muscle-fabric; it can be reshaped into many forms by its owner - scarfs, veils, cloaks and more - and fits comfortably no matter the climate or temperature.

A gift of love to let its owner go where she must and be safe there; Szánalome communicates a message to all who see Calesco acting as a messenger. None can look upon it without knowing in their bones that to harm her is to attract the wrath of a mighty being and bring doom down upon them.

This functions as a Compulsion not to harm or imprison Calesco as long as she is acting as a messenger and has not initiated hostilities or violated hospitality. Resisting this terrible foreboding is impossible for demons, natives of Malfeas or others with a Principle of Fear towards Adorjan. For all others it costs Willpower equal to Calesco's Enlightenment (maximum 5).

As well as alerting her Primordial mother to her assailant's actions, the first blow that lands upon Calesco when Szánalome's warning is disregarded transforms the veil into a protective aura of Adorjan's Winds; forming a natural hazard (Enlightenment) yards across that leaves her unveiled and unaffected at its centre. This flensing wind dies down at the end of the scene should she escape, or when her assailants are dead should that come first.

Damage: 6A/action (1), Trauma 5L, Area: (Enlightenment) yards across
(1) While powerful and protective, Szánalome only shields Calesco as long as she is acting in her capacity as a messenger and official envoy. Should she fight offensively or break the rules of diplomacy - refusing to leave a court when ordered, for example - it will not defend her.

Now, a question to those who follow Kerisgame. Given that it's now been 71 sessions and five arcs, whoa and that people still seem to be following Kerisgame, is it worth giving it its own thread? Do you have stuff to say and/or discuss about it, or are you happy just reading? Is it cluttering up the Exalted General thread and reducing more specific discussion? I'm happy to shift notifications and so on over to another thread if readers want to talk about it, and people who don't read Kerisgame might appreciate me doing so.

Anywho, extras as usual:

Plus an amusing plotbunny:

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Either give it it's own thread or threadmark posts like that, as well as world building posts.

 

[Chehrazad]

Now, a question to those who follow Kerisgame. Given that it's now been 71 sessions and five arcs, whoa and that people still seem to be following Kerisgame, is it worth giving it its own thread? Do you have stuff to say and/or discuss about it, or are you happy just reading? Is it cluttering up the Exalted General thread and reducing more specific discussion? I'm happy to shift notifications and so on over to another thread if readers want to talk about it, and people who don't read Kerisgame might appreciate me doing so.

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Noooooo! We need Kerisgame in the Exalted thread as a weapon against flamewars Aleph! You are the chosen one, who will bring balance[1] to the Exalted thread!

[1]Okay balance might be too much, but relative stability.

 

[Kuciwalker]

I don't think Kerisgame needs its own thread really. Threadmarks aren't as important since all of it is in the google doc anyway.

It certainly could have its own thread. But it's not really cluttering up this one.

 

[Noctum]

Plus an amusing plotbunny:

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Yeeeeeeessssssssss, this is pleasing to me. If you start writing another fanfic, please let it be this. Just the idea that the Wizarding World is keeping one eye over their shoulder at the wondrous horrors that they know are just a metaphorical stone's throw away.

....And now the WW bipolar attitude towards Harry makes sense in this fanfic. Once the news about who Harry's grandmother is (and who's to say that Lily only has two parents?), which it will, rumours are a bitch to contain, those in power or aware of Kiristy will be wary of what Harry might actually be. Hence why the constant flip-flopping between loving the Boy-Who-Lived and media attacks on the Grandson-of-the-Swamp-Queen.

 

[Nervaqus987]

What... what a little brat! I... I don't accept we're related! I refuse!"

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Oh wow.

I remember my sister saying exactly the same thing about me more than once.

The nostalgia there.

 

[Leetsepeak]

I have only intermittently read the stuff about Kerisgame, but I do enjoy it breaking things up in this thread, I don't see a reason to change that.

 

[notanautomaton]

This functions as a Compulsion not to harm or imprison Calesco as long as she is acting as a messenger and has not initiated hostilities or violated hospitality. Resisting this terrible foreboding is impossible for demons, natives of Malfeas or others with a Principle of Fear towards Adorjan. For all others it costs Willpower equal to Calesco's Enlightenment (maximum 5).

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I like how this implies that all demons and natives of Malfeas have a Principle of Fear towards Adorjan.

Also, please keep Kerisgame in this thread.

 

[vali]

Post it wherever you feel like posting it; I'll read it wherever.

I will say that Kerisgame is a welcome relief from certain pointless, endlessly rehashed arguments.

 

[Aleph]

Yeeeeeeessssssssss, this is pleasing to me. If you start writing another fanfic, please let it be this. Just the idea that the Wizarding World is keeping one eye over their shoulder at the wondrous horrors that they know are just a metaphorical stone's throw away.

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It just barely beat out the other idea, which was "something goes hilariously right horribly wrong in the Magician's Nephew, and Digory and Polly end up in Krisity instead of Charn". But honestly, Jadis is already totes valid Exalted inspiration. The Deplorable Word is exactly the kind of thing you should be doing with Adamant Sorcery - "I refuse to lose my throne, so I will speak an unutterable incantation that will doom every living thing in the city save me to a slow and painful death".

....And now the WW bipolar attitude towards Harry makes sense in this fanfic. Once the news about who Harry's grandmother is (and who's to say that Lily only has two parents?), which it will, rumours are a bitch to contain, those in power or aware of Kiristy will be wary of what Harry might actually be. Hence why the constant flip-flopping between loving the Boy-Who-Lived and media attacks on the Grandson-of-the-Swamp-Queen.

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I'm not sure how much knowledge the Wizarding World would have of Krisity, though you'd probably see First Circle familiar-spirits as a common thing (the only ones students are allowed are keruby, and they have to keep them controlled).

I like how this implies that all demons and natives of Malfeas have a Principle of Fear towards Adorjan.

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Well, all save Keris, who is a besotted idiot. (Dulmea's words, not mine. )

 

[Bursting Eagerness Soul]

@Aleph, since there are seven of each, will each of Haneyl's Second Circles end up being attuned to one of her Aspects?

 

[Aleph]

@Aleph, since there are seven of each, will each of Haneyl's Second Circles end up being attuned to one of her Aspects?

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No, though I do actually have all of Haneyl's Second Circles worked out, at least in concept. Some of them are rather amusing.

(Yes, her Indulgent soul is - among other things - a peerless gourmet chef. Obviously. And her Wisdom soul runs a gardening business.)

 

[Chehrazad]

(Yes, her Indulgent soul is - among other things - a peerless gourmet chef. Obviously. And her Wisdom soul runs a gardening business.)

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Obviously, that's natural.

Get it.

Gardening, natural.

Please don't hurt me.

 

[Aleph]

Obviously, that's natural.

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Well it is, amusingly enough (and ignoring the bad pun). Her Wisdom soul is a manifestation of how Haneyl understands her essential nature (of "cultural imperialism as a fire ecology"). Which is why it fairly naturally forms as a trader-gardener who displays the way she sees running a business or leading a country as being basically the same thing as tending to a garden or growing an orchard. And it's therefore a trader-gardener who's all about controlling cultures through their economies by way of money and goods (light and water), trade and trade routes (good soil and room to grow), necessities and luxuries (pruning and primping), supply and demand (roots and nutrients), etcetera.

I quite like all of Haneyl's souls for different reasons, but her Wisdom soul is probably my favourite in what it says about her worldview.

 

[Chehrazad]

Well it is, amusingly enough (and ignoring the bad pun).

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Fuck you, I'm hilarious.

Her Wisdom soul is a manifestation of how Haneyl understands her essential nature (of "cultural imperialism as a fire ecology"). Which is why it fairly naturally forms as a trader-gardener who displays the way she sees running a business or leading a country as being basically the same thing as tending to a garden or growing an orchard.

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Oh that sounds interesting. I'm excited for seeing how it'll look and behave.

And it's therefore a trader-gardener who's all about controlling cultures through their economies by way of money and goods (light and water), trade and trade routes (good soil and room to grow), necessities and luxuries (pruning and primping), supply and demand (roots and nutrients), etcetera.

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Is he/she/it up for marriage, because I'm in love with that concept.

I quite like all of Haneyl's souls for different reasons, but her Wisdom soul is probably my favourite in what it says about her worldview.

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I can't wait to see them.

 

[Aleph]

The second chapter of From One, Many! In which Keris deals with some inter-soul squabbling, gives Vali dreadlocks, does something deeply stupid and shares shameful secrets with her Mentor.

Extras:

Aleph: So, useful time to ask some further questions on the brushes - how well can, say, the Fire one deal with things like Malfean metal-wood fire? Or the Water one deal with Kimberian water? Keris will be very careful with them and start with pure Creation elements before diluting them a little with Hellish materials, since she doesn't want to break her gorgeous new toys.
EarthScorpion: It does things specifically with that essence type. Fire essence is for painting with fire essence, not Malfean essence or anything else.
Aleph: Yeah, thought as much. Worth a shot.
...
Aleph: Oh, Keris. She's been hanging onto that particular secret for a while.
Aleph: ... also hee. Possibly next session we get to see Lilunu's keruby pages eeeee~
...
EarthScorpion: Oh, Bruleuse
Aleph: Yes, I rather liked him. Hmm. I am now buzzing with ideas on how to help the Maimed Dragons.
Aleph: It depends what's wrong with them, partly.
EarthScorpion: Well, you know, dealing with Divisa is sort of like dealing with a Louise who's in pain. : p
Aleph: [IDEAS REDACTED BY ORDER OF ORABILIS]
...
Aleph: Sigh. This has also given Keris a really good reason to suddenly become interested in developing Sapphire Sorcery. She wants to summon her compound souls, compare them to Lilunu's and get an expert's opinion - more than just her.
EarthScorpion: Uh... I would point out that you can summon your souls with Titanic Heart Overweening.
Aleph: Yes, but she doesn't know that. It's going to lead to her developing that Charm, obviously. But at the moment she's tried summoning them with Emerald and it failed, so she's assuming she needs Sapphire.
Aleph: ... it's probably for the best that she'll get Titanic Heart Overweening before she gets 2CD summoning, or she might come to some very scary conclusions.
...
EarthScorpion: Heh. Keris, your girls are troublemakers because the three of them have the capacity to, at the drop of a hat, decide to get along and gang up on one of the other three.
...
Aleph: ... heh. Keris still didn't specify which Exalted the fathers were, or that one of them was a First Age Solar (and her past life). She also hasn't come clean about her Devil Domain, though she probably will now - to Lilunu at least.
Aleph: ... oh dear. Hah. I just put words - and Keris may soon put words - to what's bugging her about it and why she's instinctively kept silent.
Aleph: Because a baby Unquestionable having a landscape form; that's nothing new or eyebrow-raising, even if it is folded Elsewhere within herself. But her souls having landscape-forms within that landscape-form...
Aleph: ... that's not meant to happen.
Aleph: That raises several very uncomfortable notions - especially in concert with their "older cousins" - that she's not willing to think too hard about.
...
EarthScorpion: Oh, Vali. He's sort of a lump. And possibly even less social than Echo. Echo needs social things, because she wants people watching her and cronies. She'd be dreadfully lonely if she didn't have her szelkeruby.
Aleph: Heh. Did I mention that I love the fact that he apparently considers "gender norms" to be one of those annoying constrictions that try to tell him what he can and can't do?
EarthScorpion: Plus, he wouldn't have found out how good having his hair braided felt if he'd listened to Rathan!
Aleph: ... oh Vali. How is it that you are the patron of the transgendered in Krisity? Calesco sympathises with the truth beneath the lie of one's flesh, and Haneyl can reshape one's body to a form that better suits their desires, but you're the one people pray to when they want to free themselves.
Aleph: And yes, heh. He now has ze dreadlocks~
EarthScorpion: Which was the entire point of the scene~
EarthScorpion: Sasi: "... Keris, how is it that you managed to make demons who are not content with the way they were made and their sex?"
Aleph: Keris: "Well I wasn't content with where I started out in life. I don't see why all demons automatically would be. Look at sublimati!"

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[Chehrazad]

Kerisgame 72! In which Keris deals with some inter-soul squabbling, gives Vali dreadlocks, does something deeply stupid and shares shameful secrets with her Mentor.

Extras:

Click to shrink...

That bit with Lilunu and Bruleuse really stung.

I especially really felt it at the following line:

It is something the greatest courts of Creation would weep to hear, but only three ever do, down in this hidden grotto in the Demon City.

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I did not want these feels Aleph.

Why must I feel them?

 

[EarthScorpion]

does something deeply stupid

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And this is why, honestly, we basically ignore Limit in Kerisgame for her.

Limit as a mechanic exists to ensure that your PCs are not perfectly optimised logical characters, but are instead epic heroes driven by their passions and foolish desires.

Aleph frequently goes "Okay, let's roll Temperance and see if Keris does X impulsive thing". And since Keris is Temperance 2, that means that, frequently, the answer is "Yes".

(Of course, if she'd taken any of the Malfeas Charms which use Limit as a mechanic, things would be different. But she hasn't.)

 

[Chehrazad]

And this is why, honestly, we basically ignore Limit in Kerisgame for her.

Limit as a mechanic exists to ensure that your PCs are not perfectly optimised logical characters, but are instead epic heroes driven by their passions and foolish desires.

Aleph frequently goes "Okay, let's roll Temperance and see if Keris does X impulsive thing". And since Keris is Temperance 2, that means that, frequently, the answer is "Yes".

(Of course, if she'd taken any of the Malfeas Charms which use Limit as a mechanic, things would be different. But she hasn't.)

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EarthScorpion: "Okay, here's something you shouldn't do."

Aleph: "Rolls Temperance in silence while looking EarthScorpion in the eyes."

EarthScorpion: "Aleph what are you doi-"

Aleph: [KERIS INTENSIFIES.]

EarthScorpion: "why me?"

Aleph: [KERIS INTENSIFIES.]

EarthScorpion: "Fine! I'll throw this annoying thing in your head though!"

Aleph:

 

[pheonix89]

Oh, Keris.

God, she's going announce her resignation from the Reclamation by stealing Lilunu, isn't she?