- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)
- Thread starter Aleph
- Start date
Qué?
What is that supposed to mean?
- Location
- Canada
Pantheon charms are all based off of 3CDs, and in some cases Keris's souls consider the 3CDs that they share Pantheon charms with to be their siblings.
EDIT:
I think it's mostly just Eko who thinks that way though.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
When combined with Self-As-Cyclone Stance, you can get off 4 attacks without penalty, and all others you make at an increasing -1 penalty.
4 (Shintai+Stance) + 5 Attribute + 5 Ability + 3 Style + 1 Style bonus + 1-3 equipment bonus + 1-3 Stunt bonus = 20-24 attacks.
When you consider that each attack you make reduces your target's DV by one if it was defended against successfully, is a fuck you to anyone without a flurry breaker/onslaught penalty negater.
Are you allowed to change your location in the middle of a flurry? Is it appropriate Adorjan Charmtech that enhances an attack to move you closer to your target?
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Calesco's Pantheon Charm lets her (and by extension, Keris) shoot dreams at people.
Adorjan's version of this is Calesco's big brother, and when he shoots Adorjan dreams at Keris (like last session), Eko doesn't have to interact with her big sis, Csend. You know, the terrifying fetich of the Silent Wind who embodies the Silence in Her Wake and wants to kill Keris for being her greater self's attachment.
That was Racing Vitaris, when she had her anima disguised with Eldritch Secrets Mastery. As a result, rather than her usual red anima she had a fake black Abyssal anima and thus left a flash of black light when she used it.
Is Keris's penalty to Cognition (-1 outside of lab conditions/ unusually focused) a roleplaying choice or a possible future keris!hack mechanic?
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Roleplaying choice. The thing about Keris is, her concept isn't actually that smart in terms of pure cognitive ability - she's blindingly quick, as evidenced by Reaction 5, but she's only a little above average in terms of intellect. But since crafting relies on Cog, that was hurting my pools - and I did want her to be a sort of savant at working with vitriol-silver and alchemy and the like. So after some talking with ES, I decided to get Cog 4 as an oWoD-esque "Lab Sphere" that she usually can't access - which also handily represents her occasional Ekoan flashes of brilliance.
She may someday get Cog 5 with a -2 penalty in the same way, and I hope at some point to explore the insecurities she kind of has about her intelligence - which are largely there as a result of measuring herself against inhuman geniuses like Sasi and explaining away her occult successes as "it just comes easily to me is all". Sasi has a much better view of how smart Keris is and how far she's come from the illiterate street rat she was when they first met, but of course Sasi has trouble expressing herself honestly and openly, so she never says it (and may not be aware of Keris's views on the matter).
Thanks for the answer. It does provide a solid bit of characterization for Keris
I was thinking on how to explain a boost to abilities so its more tightly focused if used in other games: instead of penalizing of the ability outside of certain circumstances, it would read instead as
Savant: 4xp, add +1 to an ability for any actions within in a single tight theme for Projects. Examples of this include +1 to Cognition for projects in a laboratory, +1 to Endurance for martial arts training, +1 to Persuasion for writing novels
Stephen King has Persuasion 2; however he has Savant 2 (writing) thus when Stephen decides to write a novel over a season he roles Persuasion 4 + Expression 2 + King Horror Novel Style 3 . If Stephen instead decides he wants to paint a water colour landscape of Maine he will be rolling Persuasion 2 + Expression 2
So it's basically a secondary Specialty, but keyed to an Attribute instead of an Ability? I think you ought to soft-cap Savant + (Attribute) at (Attribute)'s current hard-cap.
That would avoid shenagins like Shirou Emiya going Cog 2 + Savant 10 (Swords).
Really its just me going 'how would I want this roughed out in a game I'm running' and my HERO system preference of specified adders vs penalities
Part of its me struggling to find the right words to describe a boost meant for larger scale actions. As for attribute instead of ability....
Shirou is searching for a legendary sword that had the ability to harm the undead more than usual(cog + lore). Being a sword savant Shirou knowd of several blades that fit the description but which ones are a- nearby b- not going to require stealing from the Wyld Hunt (cog + investigate). Having found the resting place of the legendary daiklaive now Shirou needs to spend a week figuring out what he needs to release the daiklaive and unleash its holy power (cog + occult).
Sadly the 3 Celeatial hearthstones are going to be a greater challenge since Savant (swords) doesnt apply. Good luck Shirou in acquiring your Mastersword clone.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Drifting a liiiiiittle off-topic again, and also into Nasu-chat, which I am known to not be a fan of.
Family Matters - Chapter 1
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So! I decided to spoiler-quote the commentary for the first chapter of Family Matters. Why? Oh, no reason. Just, you know. Thought it might be nice. Look pretty. That sort of thing. You should probably just read the session and think little of it.
Have you read it yet?
... liar. No you haven't. Go back and read the log before trying to sneak peeks at the commentary. It's right there! You don't need spoilers!
Okay. So.
Have you read it yet?
... liar. No you haven't. Go back and read the log before trying to sneak peeks at the commentary. It's right there! You don't need spoilers!
Okay. So.
Well then.
... will it sound especially silly if I say that, despite starting this quest with the intention of tracking down Keris's birthplace and family, I didn't really think through what I'd do once I'd found them?
Bah. This would have been a lot simpler if Baisha had been a burnt-out ruin.
Ali, then. And Zany and Hany - and yes, that was quite the gutpunch. Hanilyia, Kallash, Ali, Zanyira. Grandmother, father, brother, cousin. Haneyl, Calesco, Vali, Zanara. Keris named her children for her long-lost family. It remains to be seen how well they take the whole "bee tee dubs I work for the princes of Hell" thing – perhaps they'll want nothing to do with her, in which case Keris has a choice (and possibly a Choice) to make. Or perhaps they'll welcome her back, in which case she's got a minimum of three very vulnerable (by her standards) new dependents to look after, who probably won't want to uproot their entire lives to come back to the Southwest where she can coil round them possessively and make angry hissing sounds at anyone who comes near them.
... Hanilyia really does have one of the world's most terrifying aunties. If we look at "gulf between adult and child" (random mortal commoner from a backwater mountain village who might at most have a tiny bit more sensitivity to the occult than normal due to being descended from several generations of blacksmiths vs titan-empowered godslayer and Princess of Hell whose mentors include a First Age Solar, the Voice of the Yozis and a fucking Primordial), she may even take the top spot. Sasi's kids from her previous marriage at least boast the Scarlet Empress somewhere in their recent family tree.
But yeah, this is the first time Keris has really had super-vulnerable dependants. She won't want to leave them in this land - she'll be terrified of taking her eyes off them for five minutes and coming back to another burnt-out village or a story of the Vakotans killing them. But if they don't want to move... what can she do, really?
Hard choices. We'll have to wait and see which way the dice fall. :S
Taking that line of thought from another angle; one thing that the session mentioned but didn't really explore much in detail was how... well, how scared Keris is right now. Back when we started playing, Keris considered the idea that she was an Anathema and basically shrugged it off, but I've come to realise that in some ways she had almost as bad a reaction as Sasi. It's just that where Sasi reacted to the definition by going "... and so it's right that I work for the demon princes and strive to put them in control of the world once more", Keris... Keris kind of went Rathanite on the issue. She refused to define herself as bad, but she's a lot more paranoid than she really needs to be about other people defining her so.
Or to put it another way, Keris's default assumption is that people will be against Anathema in general and Infernals in particular and that the world as a whole is Out To Get Her, or would be if it knew what she was. She's basically denied the truth of all the Immaculate propaganda but projected it into the minds of everyone around her to form a relentless paranoia of what will happen if she reveals herself.
And that means she's vulnerable right now. I doubt Ali appreciates just how vulnerable – he could certainly hurt her far worse right now than the entire Lookshyian strike force in Saha could have done, because if he rejects her she'll sit there and take it. And then close up and retreat and lick her emotional wounds while still trying to look out for them without them knowing she's there, in all likelihood. In coming clean to him she's put herself in an almost uniquely precarious position, and his reaction will count for a hell of a lot, because she dreads but also at some level expects her big brother to reject her.
Poor Keris. The interaction of Be Loved, Innocence/Martyrdom and more Immaculate indoctrination than she thought she'd absorbed makes for a nasty psychological undertow. It's a documented habit, too – she compulsively hides things from her loved ones that she's worried will make them turn on her. Even Sasi. From a PQ Virtue/Vice perspective, she's probably Chameleon/Charmer, which... well, small wonder that a Night Exaltation chose her and she climbed out of the Chrysalis with LSD already in her repertoire.
Extras:
... will it sound especially silly if I say that, despite starting this quest with the intention of tracking down Keris's birthplace and family, I didn't really think through what I'd do once I'd found them?
Bah. This would have been a lot simpler if Baisha had been a burnt-out ruin.
Ali, then. And Zany and Hany - and yes, that was quite the gutpunch. Hanilyia, Kallash, Ali, Zanyira. Grandmother, father, brother, cousin. Haneyl, Calesco, Vali, Zanara. Keris named her children for her long-lost family. It remains to be seen how well they take the whole "bee tee dubs I work for the princes of Hell" thing – perhaps they'll want nothing to do with her, in which case Keris has a choice (and possibly a Choice) to make. Or perhaps they'll welcome her back, in which case she's got a minimum of three very vulnerable (by her standards) new dependents to look after, who probably won't want to uproot their entire lives to come back to the Southwest where she can coil round them possessively and make angry hissing sounds at anyone who comes near them.
... Hanilyia really does have one of the world's most terrifying aunties. If we look at "gulf between adult and child" (random mortal commoner from a backwater mountain village who might at most have a tiny bit more sensitivity to the occult than normal due to being descended from several generations of blacksmiths vs titan-empowered godslayer and Princess of Hell whose mentors include a First Age Solar, the Voice of the Yozis and a fucking Primordial), she may even take the top spot. Sasi's kids from her previous marriage at least boast the Scarlet Empress somewhere in their recent family tree.
But yeah, this is the first time Keris has really had super-vulnerable dependants. She won't want to leave them in this land - she'll be terrified of taking her eyes off them for five minutes and coming back to another burnt-out village or a story of the Vakotans killing them. But if they don't want to move... what can she do, really?
Hard choices. We'll have to wait and see which way the dice fall. :S
Taking that line of thought from another angle; one thing that the session mentioned but didn't really explore much in detail was how... well, how scared Keris is right now. Back when we started playing, Keris considered the idea that she was an Anathema and basically shrugged it off, but I've come to realise that in some ways she had almost as bad a reaction as Sasi. It's just that where Sasi reacted to the definition by going "... and so it's right that I work for the demon princes and strive to put them in control of the world once more", Keris... Keris kind of went Rathanite on the issue. She refused to define herself as bad, but she's a lot more paranoid than she really needs to be about other people defining her so.
Or to put it another way, Keris's default assumption is that people will be against Anathema in general and Infernals in particular and that the world as a whole is Out To Get Her, or would be if it knew what she was. She's basically denied the truth of all the Immaculate propaganda but projected it into the minds of everyone around her to form a relentless paranoia of what will happen if she reveals herself.
And that means she's vulnerable right now. I doubt Ali appreciates just how vulnerable – he could certainly hurt her far worse right now than the entire Lookshyian strike force in Saha could have done, because if he rejects her she'll sit there and take it. And then close up and retreat and lick her emotional wounds while still trying to look out for them without them knowing she's there, in all likelihood. In coming clean to him she's put herself in an almost uniquely precarious position, and his reaction will count for a hell of a lot, because she dreads but also at some level expects her big brother to reject her.
Poor Keris. The interaction of Be Loved, Innocence/Martyrdom and more Immaculate indoctrination than she thought she'd absorbed makes for a nasty psychological undertow. It's a documented habit, too – she compulsively hides things from her loved ones that she's worried will make them turn on her. Even Sasi. From a PQ Virtue/Vice perspective, she's probably Chameleon/Charmer, which... well, small wonder that a Night Exaltation chose her and she climbed out of the Chrysalis with LSD already in her repertoire.
Extras:
Aleph: Honestly, if Keris starts at age 5
Aleph: And takes him through fourteen years of... well, her life in fairly brutal detail
Aleph: He'll probably be sympathising with her enough that "and then a demon came to me in the cell and offered me power and I took it" will seem a semi-reasonable decision.
Aleph: Same as how if you read a story about a villain where they're the protagonist you can't help but wind up a bit on their side.
Aleph: (At the very least, he'll probably be happy to hear about Kasseni dying.)
...
EarthScorpion: And yeah. That was most of the stuff I'd planned for last session.
Aleph: Yay!
Aleph: ^_^
EarthScorpion: Now do you feel more directed and driven?
Aleph: Very much so.
EarthScorpion: (the thing I am moderately annoyed about is that you went and asked for directions from a local, rather than walking to the house and getting the shock out of the blue)
Aleph: In fairness
Aleph: It was still pretty fucking shocking.
EarthScorpion: nooooo asking for directions is against Keris' religion.
Aleph: Lawl
...
Aleph: Also wow.
Aleph: When was the last time even five out of six of Keris's children were aligned under one banner?
EarthScorpion:
Aleph: And frankly, Haneyl might well have come down on the same side as the others there.
Aleph: She's possessiveness, after all.
"My family! Mine!"EarthScorpion: I was looking at her Principles when working out who'd support it and was like:
Be LovedEarthScorpion: huh
Compassion
Never Be Chained Again
Pay Each Man Back In Kind
Possessiveness
The Love of Art
EarthScorpion: The Love of Art doesn't care either way, but Zana is for it because FUCK DA RULES AND FUCK DULMEA, MAN
Aleph: poor dulmea
EarthScorpion: she has just found that they can steal the link if enough of them are working together.
Aleph: Hahahaha
"This must be how Sasimana's coadjutor feels"EarthScorpion: And, hmm, Haneyl would have probably been urge-neutral, but probably come down on Dulmea's side because of proprietry - unless she was in another form in which case she would've been too erratic.
EarthScorpion: Actually, heh, Keris' Coadjutor rating probably just dropped to 4.
EarthScorpion: (knocking down quite a few things and also Dulmea's wall)
Aleph: : (
Aleph: She will have to make many apologies.
Aleph: ...
Aleph: Well, more accurately
Aleph: She will have to do something else nice for Dulmea.
Aleph: Because she's not really going to be very sorry about this.
Aleph: ...
Aleph: Actually, heh
Aleph: I suspect it's more that the inner wall - the one marked in blood - contracted.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, but the Tiger Empire also got shaken up.
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Panopticon Quest, a Mage quest on this site, uses modified World of Dark rules. One of the things in wod is the Virtue/Vice rules, where you can gain Willpower for roleplaying the first, and be forced to spend it if you don't roleplay the second. Canon World of Darkness uses the Christian system of seven sins and seven virtues, which does not come close to representing real people, so PQ modified it so that they can each be descriptors of your character that you can create yourself. Chameleon means you blend in and make people ignore you, but in the fading into the crowd sense, rather than actual Stealth. It means you act like an Extra, essentially. Charmer means you try to make everyone like you.
In Panopticon Quest terms (and Aberrant 2.0 terms) your Virtue is something that you do a lot that you've made work for you. You're absolutely in control of your Virtue behavior, but you do it because doing it it affirms yourself and your nature and that you're right about the world and who you are (and you regain Willpower). Your Vice on the other hand is your compulsive behavior, what you revert to when you don't have the ability to resist your impulses. It's generally a self-destructive form of the Virtue. As such, a nature says something about your character and what he or she values, but it says different things dependent on whether it's their virtue or vice.
Chameleon/Chamer is a very interesting combination.
Chameleon as a Virtue means that Keris is proud of her adaptability, her ability to be many things to many people. She's proud of being able to put on different masks.
Chamer as a Vice means that Keris doesn't like making people feel bad. She wants people to like her, and she likes to avoid telling people things, or doing things, which might make them cross at her.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
I can't help but wonder if Dulmea is running into a block hard-coded into a Coadjutor here, or if this will finally force her to confront the fact that she no longer needs to be quite so existentially terrified of the Unquestionables.
Or, alternatively, if the turmoil from a disagreement with Keris sufficient to drop Keris' Coadjutor rating is what finally pushes Dulmea over into becoming a 3CD-alike.
Or, alternatively, if the turmoil from a disagreement with Keris sufficient to drop Keris' Coadjutor rating is what finally pushes Dulmea over into becoming a 3CD-alike.
Remember, Dulmea was an exceptional demon, but she was still the direct servant of a Second Circle for all that she was the leader of a house of angyalka assassins. She's not like, say, Marisalon from AGSITV who was a decadent, independent merchant princess whose relationship with the Second Circles was much more "paying them protection money" and much less "serving them as a loyal servant".
Think of her as the chief ninja servant of a demonic daimyo, and you might get a good insight into her role.
The Phoenixian
The Glacier Witch
- Location
- My own little world
So... With the end of this update it occurs to me that, IIRC, there's mention of a "road demon" appearing as a what would later be deemed a psyche soul somewhere in the thread. Possibly stemming from "I love my family." Because a road connecting the domains seems like a fitting metaphor for the ties that bind family, when those domains and lands are people in their own right.
And right now it looks like we're seeing, in fact, ties of family binding Keris's progeny in unison.
Between that and the whole "parenthood" arc, I'm getting the feeling that that the first signs of that thing may be showing up soon.
(While "I love my family" is the odd one out among the itself and the three TLA relationship principles, something makes me doubt this particular one is the "Redacted" soul. I... have other suspicions there.)
And right now it looks like we're seeing, in fact, ties of family binding Keris's progeny in unison.
Between that and the whole "parenthood" arc, I'm getting the feeling that that the first signs of that thing may be showing up soon.
(While "I love my family" is the odd one out among the itself and the three TLA relationship principles, something makes me doubt this particular one is the "Redacted" soul. I... have other suspicions there.)
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh ho? Do tell~
The Phoenixian
The Glacier Witch
- Location
- My own little world
Well...
I'm starting to wonder whether or not that soul is Lilunu.
There's not much research behind this so the basis for my suspicions is pretty insubstantial at the moment, but it occurs to me that redaction isn't for things people wouldn't get but for things they would.
It also occurs to me that with someone like Lilunu, one could draw the conclusion that her problem is in part that her various Yozi parts are too pure and that the proper answer is to mix in something that can and does mix and match things to produce healthier souls. Or, alternatively, that she needs something that hasn't been crippled and scarred beyond belief and is still capable of change and growth. A green sun prince fits both cases.
And I noticed that, if need be, there was an empty TLA slot for Keris to make a four dot principle for Lilunu with. (Although I suppose it's possible that Lilunu's own character and drives might be close enough for her to take the place of familial love instead. Kinda thinking that it would have to happen by sheer accident before another third circle took that slot though and I'm not sure Zanara and the painting of Keris are enough of a link to Lilunu to start it off.)
So, yeah. Presently looking very pointedly at and for things that might get Lilunu to become part of Keris, or inspire a decision for the same.
Beyond that, It also occurs to me that a Green Sun Prince's exaltation, especially one with strong themes of internal harmony and small things growing to greatness, might kickstart Lilunu growing to full primordialhood. And that if so, that Keris would be doing exactly what Adorjan suggested, in a way that would make Adorjan facepalm for missing the spirit of the whole "attachments are bad" thing entirely.
After all, the earlier mentions of "unconsidered variable, shreds the best-laid plans of Yozi and Exalt alike, purposeful chaos, exposes the flaws in systems, lays low the proud, no-one expects her and refuses to be understood" can be applied to Adorjan's dictates just as much as Adorjan can apply them to anyone else.
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Family Matters - Chapter 2
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, Family Matters 2. In which Keris admits her nature. A nerve-wracking session, especially some of the dice-fairy hate, but good. I'm a lot more comfortable with where she is now that the Ali-reaction cliffhangar isn't still... hanging. What to do about Baisha, however, remains... an issue. Amusingly, Keris isn't actually that practiced at hiding the fact she has soul-children. They're a major part of her life. She casually talks about them to Sasi, and while she's gone to efforts to hide that she can summon them she's been pretty upfront about their existence to people like Lilunu or Ligier. When she hides that they're there at all, it's because she's hiding everything demonic about herself. She's barely short of showing off baby pictures of them, and has probably indeed painted little portraits of each of them so she can show them to people. So it's perhaps not too surprising she didn't think twice about mentioning them to Ali and Xasan.
And Xasan is proving fun. He is smart enough (and has probably had enough experience with Exalts) that while he dismissed it as arrogance at first, when Keris went "look, I appreciate that I'm tiny and pregnant, but hypothetically if I could kill every Vakotan in this town...", he concluded that she was probably serious. Rash plans of "I'll just kill my way up the chain" might be arrogance, obviously-not-very-hypothetical questions like that probably aren't. Rathan will probably like him; he's old, very bitter, and nurses his grudges like a fine wine. And his comments on Maryam are hilarious. It is beautifully appropriate that Keris takes after her mother, when put in that context. I really hope she's still alive, because I am looking forward to meeting this woman.
No real extras for this session, alas.
And Xasan is proving fun. He is smart enough (and has probably had enough experience with Exalts) that while he dismissed it as arrogance at first, when Keris went "look, I appreciate that I'm tiny and pregnant, but hypothetically if I could kill every Vakotan in this town...", he concluded that she was probably serious. Rash plans of "I'll just kill my way up the chain" might be arrogance, obviously-not-very-hypothetical questions like that probably aren't. Rathan will probably like him; he's old, very bitter, and nurses his grudges like a fine wine. And his comments on Maryam are hilarious. It is beautifully appropriate that Keris takes after her mother, when put in that context. I really hope she's still alive, because I am looking forward to meeting this woman.
No real extras for this session, alas.
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