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

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I am very surprised that the All-Thing has not ordered Keris to hit the dead of Skullthrone; she's got Kimberian charms up to her eyeballs, and more importantly, she's got the Bashi.. Ligier and the others should be filling her tanks and giving Keris her marching orders; that ship along with a suitable Coven of Prines, the right demons and proper equipment (and enough fuel for a campaign) and she and her ship could turn the tide.
 
greensun said:
I am very surprised that the All-Thing has not ordered Keris to hit the dead of Skullthrone; she's got Kimberian charms up to her eyeballs, and more importantly, she's got the Bashi.. Ligier and the others should be filling her tanks and giving Keris her marching orders; that ship along with a suitable Coven of Prines, the right demons and proper equipment (and enough fuel for a campaign) and she and her ship could turn the tide.
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Keris is in the deep South West. Skullstone is in the North West. Her area of operations is around 6000 miles away from there.

But more pertinently, Keris is assigned to the South West area of operations while that's the concern of the North West area of operations. Oh, certainly, if Keris wanted to get involved then she could totally find an Unquestionable sponsor who'd be willing to bid for her time, but as it stands the GSPs operating there can't force her and there are only 50 Infernals across Creation (well, 49 'cause a Slayer is missing, tee hee). They are literally outnumbered by the Unquestionable who want things done for them, and the Shashalme is certainly spending resources to keep Keris in the South West because they want An Teng.
 
EarthScorpion said:
Keris is in the deep South West. Skullstone is in the North West. Her area of operations is around 6000 miles away from there.

But more pertinently, Keris is assigned to the South West area of operations while that's the concern of the North West area of operations. Oh, certainly, if Keris wanted to get involved then she could totally find an Unquestionable sponsor who'd be willing to bid for her time, but as it stands the GSPs operating there can't force her and there are only 50 Infernals across Creation (well, 49 'cause a Slayer is missing, tee hee). They are literally outnumbered by the Unquestionable who want things done for them, and the Shashalme is certainly spending resources to keep Keris in the South West because they want An Teng.
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Also, let Heaven deal with Skullstone, they wanted to run Creation so fucking badly.
 
@The Phoenixian
Remember that ES isn't using canon Deathlords. The Silver Prince almost certainly doesn't have a first age battleship, and he couldn't power it if he did. Deathlord vs normal 3CD is at best an even fight for the deathlord. Will probably frequently not be even, because fucking over the dead is very common charm tech, fucking over demons using things other than Holy not so much. Plus, Deathlord is just a term for 3CD level dead. They're not a faction, they won't pool together if one of them does something that gets a horde of Infernals and 3CDs going for him.
 
((Roll 1 dice))
((... aww man. 1 die...
...
... fuck. I really hope that wasn't her attempt to keep control of herself. Um. Ummm.
... botch. Shit, I am genuinely scared now. If she breaks down now, it could knock the whole Althing off track, and... shiiiit. Please, please say that wasn't her control roll to not go crazy.))
((Congratulations!))
((You didn't succeed on your Mentor 1 (Adorjan) roll!))
((... excuse me while I whimper in terror for a moment.))
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Good news, Adorjan probably just forgot that Keris is a thing.

Bad news, she's probably going to do something special for her when she remembers.
 
pheonix89 said:
@The Phoenixian
Remember that ES isn't using canon Deathlords. The Silver Prince almost certainly doesn't have a first age battleship, and he couldn't power it if he did. Deathlord vs normal 3CD is at best an even fight for the deathlord. Will probably frequently not be even, because fucking over the dead is very common charm tech, fucking over demons using things other than Holy not so much. Plus, Deathlord is just a term for 3CD level dead. They're not a faction, they won't pool together if one of them does something that gets a horde of Infernals and 3CDs going for him.
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Some inaccuracies there.

Most notably, I'd say the Hypothetical Average Deathlord is a better combatant than the Hypothetical Average Unquestionable.

Why? It's actually quite simple. Third Circles get made in their current state, and nothing about their nature means that they have to be good combatants. Take Ululaya, who is ULTIMATE MOE WAIFU, but against someone who can stand against her crushing aura of ~uguu~ she's perhaps on par with a young Celestial, if that. By contrast, every Lord of Death went into the Supah Spoopiest part of the Underworld, survived that, remained at least a little bit sane after eating bit of a Neverborn, and basically has been selected for being a super badass ghost.

On top of that, Hell does have a social order, fucked up though it is. A lazy or slacker Third Circle can basically coast by as long as they are willing to restrict themselves to taking things from citizens and serfs and don't set themselves against other Third Circles. By contrast, Lords of Death are fully aware that they can be murdered and eaten by Greater Dead who want to steal their power. And the Greater Dead know it too. Deathlords have much more to fear from Greater Dead than Third Circles have from Second Circles, and a Deathlord who's entirely inadequate is going to get hunted down by an ambitious Greater Dead - who then becomes a much more focussed Deathlord taking their place.

Moreover, the Lords of Death do have various alliances and pacts and the like - well, at least, the ones who aren't currently at war with each other do.

(Also, gotta remember that Infernals are outnumbered 2:1 by Abyssals. A single powerful Deathlord might well have more Abyssals available to them than the All-Thing can spare/coax/bribe. And unlike the Infernals, the servants of a single Deathlord are taking their orders from one person, and there's no risk of your assets deciding to go fuck off to run personal missions for an Unquestionable who has decided that what they really want is for someone to steal the Silver Prince's mantle so they can display it in their museum. Like, there's no two ways about it, the Abyssal feudalism is much more effective at getting things done that one person wants than the Infernal cyberpunk mercenary market. Abyssals owe you their loyalty, while Infernals are expensive assets you have to bid on.)
 
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Keris no don't give the mantle to Calesco as a present for her to remake into a Panoply artifact, she is already too goth and you're making it worse.
 
... that's honestly a damn good question, because it certainly wasn't her Other Mama, and it's not like Keris has even met Erembour except in passing.
 
Maybe just simple rebellion? Calesco wasn't really great friends with Keris when she, uh, began existing, the first thing she started to do was attempt to cut herself from Keris, Calesco doesn't want to be like her, and when starting as a rebellious teenager and basically keeping the momentum up to now, all you need to do is just reverse the style of Keris and you get the kind of stuff Calesco might like.

Or perhaps just personalities, Keris is outgoing, bright, she never picks a cover as a janitor when a princess works just as well, and as mentioned before has the kind of getup you'd see if you left a Niffler from Harry Potter inside an abandoned jewellery store, Calesco, meanwhile, actually drapes herself in white lies, sequestering herself away, and trying not to act on her gut or on impulses, because that means she could hurt people, that leads to dark colours, quiet persona.

I mean, if we are talking about Calesco and not about someone else I forgot about and didn't notice some context clues I'm sorry it's nearly 2AM where I am I'm quite tired right now.
 
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From One, Many - Chapter 11
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    • From One, Many chapter 11 concludes the From One, Many arc for good. And I'm afraid the session will be lonely there for a while, because Kerisgame is going on official hiatus while ES and I put the time normally spent on it to work in forwarding some other writing projects. So, what's happened in this arc just gone? Well, Keris has advanced considerably in Unquestionable politics since her fumbling accidental blunder into Ligier's corner last Calibration - which wasn't necessarily a bad move, but it certainly cemented her as aligned with him, and she stumbled into it blind and without understanding what she was doing.

    This Calibration, on the other hand, has been quite carefully calculated. She's blown an enormous amount of political capital on getting Ligier to support her souls' freedom, and from an unCompassionate viewpoint she got almost as much out of that tactical deal to win Orabilis's support as he did. Hell's Chief Censor won't be happy when the matter of her souls comes out, but for the moment he favours her - and that may be enough to blunt the edge of his ire and reduce his arguments in favour of chaining them to a matter of policy rather than a personal grudge. And by then, Keris may well have something else to sweeten him - and a number of other Unquestionable - back over to her side of things. She's caught Noh's interest, too, and the Contrary One is a powerful - if unreliable and capricious - force in Hellish circles.

    On top of that, Keris has been making more allies at lower levels. Asarin now counts her as a friend, Lelabet is at least friendly (and will become a lot more so if Keris ever has time to help heal her scars), and she seems to have a working trade deal with Berengiere going. Of course, Orange Blossom is blackmailing her into a mission to Eshtoc - but Keris still stands to gain from that deal twice if not thrice over, so not all is lost.

    And of course... she has her Second Circle wolfpack now. And working Gales - who will be angyal-akuma with Dulmea-Gales bound to their flesh.

    On an unrelated but hilarious note, Calesco is taking advantage of Haneyl's absence to deploy a species of demon that would have her so indignantly offended and furious that she would be outright speechless if she were there to see them:
    Progeny of the Midnight Whisper
    A pelwen left long enough in a field or forest will reduce it to flat earth and stumps dotted with nests of sawdust, but if they are stopped before they finish there is an artistry to their work. Tree-fellers begin with whatever woody plant is closest, but as they hack and slash their way through its neighbours they move in circling patterns that cut strange symbols into the foliage from above. When the mood strikes them, they will jump high into the air; many times the height of a man, and alight atop the last tree in the area to scan the horizon for new fodder.

    In form, a tree-feller is an insectoid thing the height of a man that some say bears kinship to the tomescu. Certainly, its four legs are crablike - or perhaps closer to that of a scorpion - and its carapace is the deep black of a beetle; shimmering iridescent green or purple in the light. Unlike the tomescu, a pelwen has only two arms, which end immediately below the elbow in stubby, useless, grasping claws. To make up for this, they fashion cunning prosthetic limbs of wood to extend their reach and act as cunning tools. Pelwens are born with two such prosthetics; blades of lacquered wood the length of a sword and the colour of their carapace which can cleave trunk and branch like water. It is with these that they fell trees, and to lose or break their first and foremost limbs brings a grief so hideous that the demon will die of it. Their second pair of limbs is always given by another, for an infant tree-feller has only its blade-limbs and cannot carve. These gift-bonds form the closest thing to family that pelwens understand, and the nests of limb-gifter and carven-child are often found close together for many years thereafter.

    Though their main fare is trees; any plant with a woody stalk will draw a pelwen's instinct. Few bother with such paltry plants as corn or wheat, for they are compelled to cut a single plant at a time, and though they can outpace any farmer's scythe with the speed of their slashes, it both tires and wearies them to reap an entire field in such a way. Nonetheless, some among their number take to the practice, and make impossibly fine etching tools from cornstalks for their woodworking. They treasure rare woods for the cutting, the crafting and the acclaim of owning fine prostheses, and may trade fine things of carven wood or huge piles of lumber for the way to a grove of elinvar or a demesne of Sextes Jylis.

    Sorcerers summon the tree-fellers for lumber, harvest or battle. In their preferred trade, they can quickly create clearings in dense forest or reap fields of crops, cut and carve wood with demonic skill or create clever prostheses of wood for those lacking limbs - though mortals cannot use such things with the preternatural skill of the demon who made them. While they have a strong distaste for bloodletting, the neck of a man is not so different to the trunk of a tree, and they make passable killers - though their combat is not their art, and they have little knowledge of how to block or dodge the blows of others. Pelwens cannot bear the loss of their blade-limbs, and gain a point of Limit for every hour they are without them. They may sometimes slip into Creation when a tree falls in a forest with no living thing to hear it, and there proceed onto its neighbours.
    This will probably not end well, but... well, sisters. What can you do?

    Extras here. They've been added to Part 80 as well.
    Aleph: Quick question! Important one. So Berengiere. Last Calibration Keris was like "yo so mah fifth soul needs some duds, could u set me up with some mad ribbon skillz yo?" and Berengiere was like "sure brah holler summat an' I'll totes help". But was that, like, a special favour because she was feeling nice, or did she actually feel that just getting to work with an Exalt's voice was a boon for her so it was win/win. That is to say; if Keris wanted her to make more stuff, would that be mutual happy arting with no cost (like geeking out with Lilunu), or would Berengiere want something in return? I recall her being dreamy at the opportunity to weave Keris's voice, but that might just have been a first-time-glow sort of thing.
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. She loves to work with voice-cloth and hates her duty to guard a boneyard, but she is aware of the value of her skills. So, she'll certainly have things she'll want done for her - also, hmm, glorious divinity II says you're mute for a year and a day for a non-permanent voice gift.
    Aleph: Exalted are a scene.
    Aleph: (we did this last time)
    Aleph: But that's not true Artifact cloth, we decided. Just thaum material which can survive Echo.
    EarthScorpion: Mmm. But yeah, she'll want to work with the voices, but she won't offer her services for free at first offering.
    Aleph: Hmm. Right. So, mm, we can presume that Keris traded something with her offscreen for some more Echo-ribbons.
    EarthScorpion: Yes. Keris, after all, can in fact offer things like fine jewelery or the like.
    Keris: *puts Zanaran opals in the necklace*​
    Aleph: : D
    Keris: "How do you feel about silverwear?"​
    Aleph: So yeah, then we're basically doing a quick peek at "Lilunu meeting Zanara / Ligier meeting the four of them", since Zanara will also make a good impression due to being in awe of the Unquestionable's terrible beauty (or at least Ligier's and Lilunu's, since they're both beautiful), and then the meat will be "Keris finishes her Spell, demonstrates it, and learns to actually make Gales that work, also coincidentally working out how to stabilise them."

    ...

    EarthScorpion: Hee. I'm glad I managed to get Calesco and Vali's first scene together.

    ...

    <re: last two days of Calibration>
    EarthScorpion: Summarise what she got done in those two days, and who she spent it on. This may affect later things.
    Aleph: Hmm. Well, obviously she got Echo's ribbons as a side thing. Aside from that... hmm. I suspect that, yeah, she'll have been renewing and shoring up her relationships with the Unquestionable friendly to her - Ligier and Lilunu, the Shashalme, Jacinct... hmm, are there any others who Keris has made nice with?
    EarthScorpion: Well, she only has two days - and she also has GSPs to interact with, 2CDs, and keeping the babbies entertained.
    Aleph: Yes. So yeah, basically making sure to take the time to be all "hey milord, how's that fae prince doing?" and "'sup sir, remember when I killed Gen and you were really amused?" a few times. Hmm. And she'll make sure to spend some more time with Asarin, probably... sigh... sleep with Lelabet at least once, and grumble about not being able to spar with Naan.
    EarthScorpion: Does Keris have a thing for hare tails? : p

    ...

    <upon Orabilis offering her as much as she can carry from his library>
    Aleph: ... oh, hmm. Hmm. Can she find anything on, mm... basically things on the growth of demon lords and the metabiology of the souls of the Unquestionable? Or to put it another way, stuff that would inform her both about the development of her souls, and which would also be a resource for helping Lilunu's. Hmm. What would Orabilis think of that... remind me, does he know that Lilunu told Keris about the Maimed Dragons?
    EarthScorpion: Keris doesn't know if he knows. But she can guess that that topic is going to be very restricted because knowledge on the formation of the souls of the Yozis is going to have a lot of knowledge permitted only to them.
    Aleph: Hmm. Yes. Hmm. Can we end the session there and leave the exact topic she chose to take in quantum flux until I think about it some more?
    EarthScorpion: Yes, that was my intent.

    ...

    Aleph: Oh, Keris. You are learning to actually play the Unquestionable politics game now. Because from a non-Compassionate viewpoint, you got almost as much out of that as Orabilis.
    Keris: "I still feel sort of dirty for doing it, though." : (​
    EarthScorpion: Indeed. Orabilis is a very bad man. And yes, Keris is going to be responsible for a lot of very bad thing~
    Aleph: : (

    ...

    EarthScorpion: Zanara is the art nerd bit of Keris and so gets Lilunu <3 more than she does Keris, possibly. : p
    Aleph: D'awww

    ...

    EarthScorpion: But yeah, Keris isn't really giving people a coadjutor. She's making an akuma from the demon and the human who basically has the demon's Charms.
    Aleph: Heh.
    EarthScorpion: (if you made one from a farisy, you could get a horseman who possesses his horse)

    ...

    EarthScorpion: Oh, Rathan. I quite like how his laziness is making him a much more pleasant character to be around in a lot of ways. And he's almost certainly the easiest of the children to handle.
    EarthScorpion: ... honestly, he's clearly the easiest, and Echo is probably the hardest, but sorting the other four into order is non trivial. Vali is chill, but contrarian. Calesco is fairly calm, but pushy and demanding. Zanara is easy to keep happy, right until they do something deliberately to annoy you. And Haneyl actually respects Keris and listens to her, but is also aggressive, needy and thinks in ways Keris isn't comfortable with.
    EarthScorpion: And Echo really doesn't respect Keris at all.
    Aleph: She really doesn't. Hmm. What does that say about Keris? That her, hmm... her joy and fun and whimsy loves her unconditionally, but doesn't respect anything else about her.
    EarthScorpion: No wonder that everyone else is annoyed by Echo. Calesco is really the only one who tolerates her more often than not.

    ...

    Aleph: ... man. Calesco looks so cool now. Six wings, each larger than a man - eight, when her arms are wings as well. She must look like a flower; her wings cradled around one another like petals and unfurling to show the sanguine-eyed face at their centre.
    Aleph: Heh. She's totally mastered hovering now, so her ankle-wings cradle her from below and form the bottom of a "sphere", her hip-wings wrap around her torso, her shoulderblade-wings are folded back to cover her from behind and her arm-wings complete the illusion of just, like... a floating sphere of wings, gently rustling and beating softly, too slowly to be believably holding her up from any sort of physics.
    Aleph: With the eyes staring out from all angles, and sometimes one of the upper pairs will fold back to reveal her face.
    EarthScorpion: Keris: "So, uh, Calesco? Have you tried, you know, wearing a bra and undies when doing that? Maybe a nice red dress?"

    ...

    Aleph: You realise, btw, that Rathan is now EVEN MORE SAILOR MOON VILLAIN.
    Aleph: Because he can do that thing where someone launches an attack at him and he leaps waaaaaaay up into the air and lands on a building or a lamppost or something and poses elegantly.
    EarthScorpion: but alif
    EarthScorpion: he doesn't have magical balancing
    EarthScorpion: ... which means he winds his hair around the lamppost.
    Aleph: : D
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    • The Sandman said:
    Haneyl's response to the pelwens will, of course, be to create the loraxes.
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    No, what Haneyl will clearly do is empower five of her noblest followers (all of whom being former keruby of her siblings) with powers of wood, fire, smoke, sap, and hunger whose combined might will form Marshall Everglade!

    Together they will act as a mobile defense force against all who endanger the marsh and enforce the righteousness of nature*.

    *Nature as in of 'Haneylian' essence, of course.
     
    EarthScorpion said:
    Some inaccuracies there.

    Most notably, I'd say the Hypothetical Average Deathlord is a better combatant than the Hypothetical Average Unquestionable.

    Why? It's actually quite simple. Third Circles get made in their current state, and nothing about their nature means that they have to be good combatants. Take Ululaya, who is ULTIMATE MOE WAIFU, but against someone who can stand against her crushing aura of ~uguu~ she's perhaps on par with a young Celestial, if that. By contrast, every Lord of Death went into the Supah Spoopiest part of the Underworld, survived that, remained at least a little bit sane after eating bit of a Neverborn, and basically has been selected for being a super badass ghost.

    On top of that, Hell does have a social order, fucked up though it is. A lazy or slacker Third Circle can basically coast by as long as they are willing to restrict themselves to taking things from citizens and serfs and don't set themselves against other Third Circles. By contrast, Lords of Death are fully aware that they can be murdered and eaten by Greater Dead who want to steal their power. And the Greater Dead know it too. Deathlords have much more to fear from Greater Dead than Third Circles have from Second Circles, and a Deathlord who's entirely inadequate is going to get hunted down by an ambitious Greater Dead - who then becomes a much more focussed Deathlord taking their place.

    Moreover, the Lords of Death do have various alliances and pacts and the like - well, at least, the ones who aren't currently at war with each other do.

    (Also, gotta remember that Infernals are outnumbered 2:1 by Abyssals. A single powerful Deathlord might well have more Abyssals available to them than the All-Thing can spare/coax/bribe. And unlike the Infernals, the servants of a single Deathlord are taking their orders from one person, and there's no risk of your assets deciding to go fuck off to run personal missions for an Unquestionable who has decided that what they really want is for someone to steal the Silver Prince's mantle so they can display it in their museum. Like, there's no two ways about it, the Abyssal feudalism is much more effective at getting things done that one person wants than the Infernal cyberpunk mercenary market. Abyssals owe you their loyalty, while Infernals are expensive assets you have to bid on.)
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    So basically it turns out that even in the time before time, Darwin was right. Survival of the least inadequate rules.

    #GoTeamProgenitor
    #ThisIsWhyAutochthonWins
     
    So, random thought: Which of Keris' souls would be the most interesting to be inserted into Young Justice (the cartoon)?

    I'm thinking either Rathan, Calesco, or Haneyl. Echo's too slow for a supposed speedster, and too murdery and random for anything but crack. Vali's too obviously inhuman, and Zanara's too young. Dulmea's too connected to Keris, and Pekhirjira's too bestial.
     
    ManusDomine said:
    king snek is best for every occasion

    king snek rules supreme
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    But it's hard to tell a story about 'and then king snek broke into the Hall of Justice and stole shiny things. Then he broke into a museum and stole shiny things. Then he broke into the batcave and stole shiny things.' There's no character interaction, there's no real plot, it's almost pure crack!
    notanautomaton said:
    I'm thinking either Rathan, Calesco, or Haneyl.
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    Rathan would probably want to be a superhero in order to bask in the praises of the masses. He'd then go about it in a Rathany way, like by sending his army of Wave Charmers to punish evildoers in the name of the moon. Also, a lot of his powers would be looked down on by normal people, and be seen as basically mind-control.

    Calesco would immediately fall in love with Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, or some combination. She'd have an adorable crush, and would then yell at Superman when he neglects Superboy. She would then probably (because of narrative convenience and her crush/es) end up joining The Team, which is a barely functional ball of angst and lies. She'd want to rip it to shreds with her tongue, but her desire to rise above her base nature would conflict with it.

    Haneyl's 'ecology' would have to contend with the Green and it's connected things, like Swamp Thing and Poison Ivey. This is amusing. She'd also probably try to conquer, only do it in a way that won't get her literally nuked off the face of the earth, which means conquering through high society, which means (a spirit version of) self-seed infestation.
     
    Ah, that feel when you've created a wonderful new invention, but you sold the IP to a megacorp.

    Also I'm pretty sure that, on some level, Lilunu recognizes that Zanara is something like her child.

    (And by his comment about elevating her souls above him, I wonder if Ligier suspects the fullness of what is possible.)
     
    Aleph said:
    After the presentation, Orabils invites her to one of his glass libraries. Sitting on a cold blue throne, he leans down towards her. "You have pleased me, Keris Dulmeadohkt," he says. He folds his hands on his lap. "I believe you may count me as a friendly ear now. As my gift to you, you may take what you like from this library - but take only what you can carry."
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    So, does he know that Keris effectively has several kilometers worth of pocket space to put stuff in or did he mean it in a "whatever you can carry with your hands(and other grasping appendages)" sort of way?

    Because ah, one nets her significantly more than the other.
     
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