notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
It's a charm from the fan Oramus charmset. See the character sheet for details.
Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)
- Thread starter Aleph
- Start date
To elaborate, the Charm is named after a title of Oramus, because he existed before all other primordials and even before existence itself.
He existed before it was popular, huh? Makes sense.
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
I'm honestly surprised it took you that long.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
So Keris has started picking up Oramus charms. It was brought up a while ago that Keris was going to go through the Wreathed In Portents tree. I wonder how creating localized earthquakes and astrological dooms whenever she recharges with an anima flare will affect Keris' sneaky approach.
If she needs to flare her anima the sneaky approach has already failed.
Not necessarily. You're thinking of sneaky as 'nobody notices you', but it also covers 'nobody realizes why you're here'. Given that, she has had two 'sneaky' missions where she has needed to flare her anima, whether for a quick top-off or simply to prove a point.
Family Matters - Chapter 6
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, here we are with chapter 6 and the end of the Baisha miniarc! I'm extremely pleased with how Family Matters is going so far - I feel like the pacing of our arcs is getting better and better as we progress - and I'm pleased with how this one turned out. There were moments of absolute terror, some incredibly good use of setpieces (see @Shyft's thoughts on those for Sunlit Sands, aka "Inksgame", which I play with him) and a pretty awesome battle that I'm glad I backed down on circumventing (which I initially tried to do, but then cancelled that stunt because I was taking way too much narrative control in doing it and playing it out properly made for more interesting play anyway). We also finally got that "so about my souls" talk that I've been wanting to have for a while (albeit devoid of some detail). No word yet on when Zany will be brought in on the demon thing, though.
I've included the battle itself in the extras, because ES took an interesting mechanical tack that I really enjoyed, and which I think (hope) is going to see a lot more use in future "cinematic" combats that Keris takes part in (eg: fights with large hordes or giant monsters or similar).
I've included the battle itself in the extras, because ES took an interesting mechanical tack that I really enjoyed, and which I think (hope) is going to see a lot more use in future "cinematic" combats that Keris takes part in (eg: fights with large hordes or giant monsters or similar).
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Frakir's brother
Goodbye.
- Location
- The Sea of Trees
Rathan: It would look better if I were there
Is there a way to do that? To get the landscape form and personal interaction form of a demon summoned?
Is there a way to do that? To get the landscape form and personal interaction form of a demon summoned?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmmmm... lots done here today, including the reason I was condemned to actually make an effort post here.
Me: "Why is mineral wealth Haneyl's favorite?"
Aleph: ...
Me: "Because it involves MINEing!"
Aleph: you are awful
Also, while she's coming at it from a completely different angle, the discussion of how Keris is getting tired of slaughtering stupid mortals who are getting in over their head just makes me think of Ligier.
Keris: "Stupid mortals, there's no joy in slaughtering them. Not like faeries! Those are always fun!"
Ligier: *quiet thumbs up* "There truly is no point in exerting yourself against such lessers. That's what minions are for."
Hmmmm... oh yes, I quite enjoyed the little forge goddess. Also, it occurs to me that she could have quite the phoenix theme if so desired. Disaster and ruin has come to the forge multiple times, but each time it has been reborn, and in this latest iteration it will be greater than ever. More than that, base materials come to the forge to "die" and be reborn as something new and grander, especially if you add in any smelting capacity to transform ore to metal. Which reminds me that you could possibly hang an Ebon Dragon craft tree off of the Doomed to Die charm from ES' Book of Ten Thousand Scorpions, by using the metaphysical "death" of a base product to craft something new. Possibly have it so that if you start with a complete product that is damaged you can gain bonuses for scavenging from it based on how close to complete scrap it is without being completely destroyed. It could have been saved, it's doom averted, but it was its fate to "die". Given that the central "craft" demon in Games of Divinity is Alvuea and she works to craft men into objects, this also seems in theme for an Ebon Dragon charmset.
This might also give Keris the charmtech to transform Little Keris into something other than a ghost, although the metaphysical continuity might be a bit iffy for Keris' tastes. Calesco would probably protest.
Me: "Why is mineral wealth Haneyl's favorite?"
Aleph: ...
Me: "Because it involves MINEing!"
Aleph: you are awful
Also, while she's coming at it from a completely different angle, the discussion of how Keris is getting tired of slaughtering stupid mortals who are getting in over their head just makes me think of Ligier.
Keris: "Stupid mortals, there's no joy in slaughtering them. Not like faeries! Those are always fun!"
Ligier: *quiet thumbs up* "There truly is no point in exerting yourself against such lessers. That's what minions are for."
Hmmmm... oh yes, I quite enjoyed the little forge goddess. Also, it occurs to me that she could have quite the phoenix theme if so desired. Disaster and ruin has come to the forge multiple times, but each time it has been reborn, and in this latest iteration it will be greater than ever. More than that, base materials come to the forge to "die" and be reborn as something new and grander, especially if you add in any smelting capacity to transform ore to metal. Which reminds me that you could possibly hang an Ebon Dragon craft tree off of the Doomed to Die charm from ES' Book of Ten Thousand Scorpions, by using the metaphysical "death" of a base product to craft something new. Possibly have it so that if you start with a complete product that is damaged you can gain bonuses for scavenging from it based on how close to complete scrap it is without being completely destroyed. It could have been saved, it's doom averted, but it was its fate to "die". Given that the central "craft" demon in Games of Divinity is Alvuea and she works to craft men into objects, this also seems in theme for an Ebon Dragon charmset.
This might also give Keris the charmtech to transform Little Keris into something other than a ghost, although the metaphysical continuity might be a bit iffy for Keris' tastes. Calesco would probably protest.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Going down that line of Charmtech would also make sense narratively in that it would culminate in whatever Keris does (should she live that long) to ensure that Krisity and her children survive her own death from old age and the subsequent loss of her Exaltation.
It was my thought (especially after reading a book on Japanese yokai) that household little gods and ones who associate closely with humans are often going to be smaller than human scale. City gods are going to be human scale, but house gods are going to be small enough to live in the fireplace and run along the rafters.
It means that yes, Creation's little house gods operate at a similar scale to household vermin. And also keep people up at night by running around when people are trying to sleep. And the reason they only need small amounts of wine or food given as offerings is that they're small enough that a thimble of wine and a carrot is a generous meal.
Would you be willing to tell us what the name of the book on Yokai was?
Undead-Spaceman
Skeleton Supreme
- Location
- Somewhere in Orbit
I really love those little moments where adorable characters who are supernatural enitities remind the audience that they are indeed supernatural monsters and are terrifying in universe.
Also, a rather appropriate and straightforward omen to the Vakotans of what is to come.
I've really enjoyed watching Keris let loose with her social charms these past few updates. She's very sneaky and usually only lets loose to kill large numbers of people, so it's easy to forget she's also a social powerhouse.
I really like the idea of minor gods being little.
I really like the idea of minor gods being little.
Frakir's brother
Goodbye.
- Location
- The Sea of Trees
Every Studio Ghibli's movie is valid inspiration for Exalted. I'd say this one is My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Arriety.
The Phoenixian
The Glacier Witch
- Location
- My own little world
Awwww, but what about the joy of searching through it to figure out where that single new line came from and the odd moments of "Wait, they added a page and a half this time?"...I should probably stop peeking at the character sheet before the actual story updates arrive. It not only gives spoiler-ish hints about what is to come, but also leads me to refreshing this thread to even more unhealthy degree than I already do.
Family Matters - Chapter 7
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mwaa haa. Oh, babies. Precious babies. I am so sorry [1]. But you are about to be very upset with me.Awwww, but what about the joy of searching through it to figure out where that single new line came from and the odd moments of "Wait, they added a page and a half this time?"...I should probably stop peeking at the character sheet before the actual story updates arrive. It not only gives spoiler-ish hints about what is to come, but also leads me to refreshing this thread to even more unhealthy degree than I already do.
You see, a week and a half ago, ES and I began the fourth Kerisgame PbP session to date. Now, there are three general lengths for Kerisgame sessions; there are the standard ones (single-night session, 6-8k), there are the extended ones (split over two nights with a pause in the middle, 10-12k), and then there are the PbP sessions, which are usually a bit longer still because they last about a week and we have more time to expand out our big paragraphs and descriptive mojo in the GDoc we use for it. So those end up about 12-15k.
This one wound up being thirty thousand fucking words. Seventy goddamn pages. I don't even know what the fuck happened here, it just kept going.
On and on I went, diligently adding things to Keris's character sheet as she got them, and those of you who like to tease yourselves in advance like dirty filthy heathens have seen how she's... developed. But @EarthScorpion and I spoke, and, well, we decided that 30k is a bit much to make you read all in one go. So we did you all a favour and split it in half for you.
You don't mind waiting another week to get to the second half, right? No? Wonderful.
In that case, enjoy yourselves with Family Matters part 7 - "In Which Keris Travels to Terema"!
I'll detail my thoughts on this ridiculous giant of a megasession - as well as all the stuff Keris has added to her sheet [2] - in the next post, so for now, here's this half of the session's extras:
[1] Disclaimer: I am not actually sorry at all. Tee hee.EarthScorpion: OK. So, with the group as it is, it's about a month's travel back to Terema with the rough terrain and the requirement to move through contested territory.
Aleph: Can Rathan help speed that up by charm and river-currents?
Aleph: ... and smuggling, actually
EarthScorpion: Well, that's the foot/cart speed, as that's the slowest part of the group. If you can get your hands on boats for such a large group, it's two weeks even before magic comes in to play.
Aleph: Excellent. Then Keris will make for the boatage.
Rathan: *nods* "A good choice, Mama."EarthScorpion: Heh. Unfortunately, you lack Well Reputed Grotto and Primordial Smuggler's trail, that would be what gives Rathan his real speed increases.
Aleph: darn
Aleph: Hmm. He's a teenager now. Does he still call her "mama" in front of others, or is that a private thing now, with a little more formal princely distance and "mother"ness?
EarthScorpion: Well, it's just been a family thing, and honestly everyone does it, apart from Vali (who uses "mum") and Zana (who calls her Keris).
Aleph: No, Haneyl sometimes uses "Mother" when she's being upset or formal. And Calesco uses "Mother" as well, especially when she's being cruel.
EarthScorpion: ... sigh, Rathan would keep to Mama then to spite Calesco.
Aleph: of course he would ¬_¬
EarthScorpion: Hmm. Floral Ferry is useless to Keris even if she learned it - it can only carry 10 people. She'd have to send people down ten at a time, and the horses are at least a person each.
Aleph: I saw a rewrite of it in Book of the Emerald Circle, but I recall you not being fond of that homebrew. Also Keris doesn't have the time or materials to learn it.
EarthScorpion: Well, I think the main advantage of that is that it doesn't need the sorcerer's concentration, it's self-steering and it's way more stealthy than Stormwind Rider.
Aleph: Want the BotEC version?
EarthScorpion: Let's see it
Aleph: Floral Ferry
Aleph: (Keris stop making a saffron-barge out of sheer spite)
EarthScorpion: I mean, I have literally no problem with being able to make mundane 2nd Age ships (or equivalent) with sorcery.
Aleph: Hmm. That upgrades its usefulness considerably, because it's useful on land as well and you can customise the size and so on. And, sigh, the Shashalme will be only too happy to share a spell like that with her - or act as a Patron-Anchor, if Keris is mad enough to ask it to.
EarthScorpion: Well, if you want to learn it, there's a chance that the DB notes you stole (and copied) from the Lookshyians might have had a version of the spell in them.
Aleph: Ooo. How long does it take to learn a spell again?
EarthScorpion: (Circle) weeks
Aleph: hmm
Aleph: I will try to find normal boats
Aleph: and also consider learning this
EarthScorpion: Honestly, you probably will struggle to find shipping for 300+ people and 200+ horses and all your plunder. Certainly at one place.
Aleph: Yeah.
Zany: "Um... Keris? You've been throwing apples into the water for the past two days. What are you doing?"EarthScorpion: The DB version will probably teach one that anchors in a jade artefact.
Keris: "Trying to make them turn into boats."
Zany: "... I see." *eyes the malformed apple-hulls slowly bobbing up and down in the water*
Keris: "I'm not perfect at everything first time, okay?"
Aleph: Hmm. She can make several and they'll all stay solid as long as she spends some time on each one every day. So what she'll probably do is find a river towards Terema, grab any boats she passes on the way and load the carts and slowest walking people into them, and use that to speed up a little.
EarthScorpion: Oh, it's pretty easy to follow the rivers, yes. And there are trails running beside all the rivers.
Aleph: That lets her move up a long-distance-travel marker by moving her limiting factor (the carts) onto downstream barges, and thus her new limiting factor is whatever the next-slowest component of her horde is. And then she'll spend a week learning this and make a big flower-barge which may or may not have a jade dragon figurehead.
EarthScorpion: If she had those two smuggling Charms, she could put them on shit barges and they'd go as fast as tireless rowers, or foot travel would go as fast as a horse relay.
Aleph: grr
EarthScorpion: Keris doesn't like having her nose rubbed into how much she relies on her own strategic mobility.
Aleph: Indeed : P
Aleph: Hmm.
Aleph: ... yeah, so a single American-size barge, comparing it roughly to a train car in terms of seats to space ratio, could sit almost six hundred people. So she'd probably only need one big barge. And European barges are even larger.
...
Aleph: ... wow.
Aleph: Saffron goes for as much as 5-10 cents per flower.
Aleph: But, sigh.
Aleph: That means that "two saffron flowers tied around the stems with a red thread (or a red /hair/)" is totally viable as a potential icon the Baishan diaspora use to worship Keris.
Aleph: Since that's pretty easy to afford while still bearing symbolic meaning.
...
<Vakotan infants and non-executed survivors>
Aleph: Aren't the infants being left with the temple?
Aleph: Or, hmm. I guess that's for Keris to decide.
EarthScorpion: Maybe, yes, but maybe she shouldn't take people's children or relatives.
Aleph: Hmm. I shall think through my choices.
Goals:
- ensure the babies are safeAleph: Hmm. Well, one option is certainly to step in now that Shamsun's judgement has been made and offer an altered sentence - they can have their hand back, in exchange for a Kindness-Expects-Repayment oath to work for the temple and give up their swords and grudges. As long as they want their hand back enough for it to be worth Res 4-5, that should keep them there, and it means the babies get raised with their families, but also as part of a peaceful temple. As long as she can sell it to the temple - and honestly, a nine-strong guard who are magically oathbound to be loyal to the temple isn't a bad deal, and lifelong service traded for healed maiming probably won't upset the mercenaries who are getting maiming healed for free - it could work.
- try not to break up families or violate compassion
- rule out the chance of kids growing up with blood-debts or Vakotan revenge on the Temple
- avoid any solutions that need her intervention or presence
- don't piss off her army or family
Aleph: This is, sigh. Very much a Kimmy option, since patronage and kindness are real, impossibly high standards, elegant practicality and demands payment.
Rathan: "Hmm. They're criminals, and losing their hands was justice."Aleph: ... it also means the debt gets reinforced every time they, uh, use their hand.
Keris: "And this way they're giving their lives to replace those they took - not in the sense of being executed, but by doing the work and contributing to the temple in place of their victims."
Aleph: ... goddammit that probably counts as stealing them from the Vakotan culture, too.
EarthScorpion: Oh Keris. Yeah, that's an option. A very Kimmy option
EarthScorpion: It's, sigh. Unknowing practice for her Lintha plans.
Aleph: Yes.
Aleph: Oh, and it also leaves them self-seeded, so she can put an auto-devour trigger in there too.
...
Aleph: Hmm. So, Keris had Rounen copy all the sorcery notes that she gave Orange Blossom. If Floral Ferry was in them, it'll be in there, so he'll probably be the one to find it. Is it there, and can I stunt him going "mum, I think I found a way to get around your boat problem!"?
EarthScorpion: Yes.
Aleph: Awesome. Hee hee.
EarthScorpion: Of course, Keris is casting it with hellish essence. So it may come out as a bit of an evil plant ship.
Aleph: Well yes. Also I think her only jade artifact is the dragon. So she may have to make it very clear to everyone that anybody who so much as touches the figurehead will be losing the limb. And that it will not be grown back.
EarthScorpion: She has the armour.
Aleph: Oh yeah.
EarthScorpion: And I think she got a jade weapon at some point.
Aleph: ... the dragon is cooler though. It would totally be the figurehead of the ship.
Aleph: Hmm. Though I guess the plants could grow up into the armour so that the figurehead is a wooden man wearing it, and pointing ahead.
EarthScorpion: The problem is getting the dragon out, or it being recognised.
Aleph: Yeah. Hmm. Armour it is.
Vali: "As long as it's still a dragon on the front of the ship, I'm happy."
...
<giving Kuha an erooltony>
Aleph: keris gud boss
Aleph: ... heh. Turquoise and gold are complimentary colours. Clearly, the erooltony Keris summons for Kuha is gold-petalled.
...
<regarding when she learns Bound by Blood-Red Strings>
EarthScorpion: Well, Keris has fucktonnes of training time on the trip. She literally has weeks. And even if she uses sorcery training for one of them, she can get other things done.
Aleph: Yeah. But the goodbye to Baisha and using it as the starting point is a nice narrative touch, so I'll have her learn the spell during the first week of the trip.
Aleph: or more accurately, in-character
Aleph: it's hard silurian math
Aleph: so she puts it off for as long as she can procrastinate
Aleph: eg: until they're moving and "fuck we're going slowly" becomes more annoying than the maths
Aleph: (oh keris)
EarthScorpion: Nah, it's not actually hardcore Silurian. It's just using Silurian notation, which is a standardised way of representing things used by all kinds of sorcerers from a lot of schools.
Aleph: you know what I mean though
EarthScorpion: Well, yes.
EarthScorpion: And unfortunately Keris can't call on her demons to help her with the language, because none of her personal demons speak it. She could summon a more classical demon to help, though.
Aleph: Hee. I'm going to have so much fun with a montage stunting Keris's frustration and Zany - who I feel like is the most overawed at her powers - watching her be... less-than-impressive.
Keris: "I hate this spell I hate this spell I hate this spell I hate this spell."EarthScorpion: So, yeah, it contains the following intact spells:
Zany: "Um."
Aleph: Keris: "GROW, you stupid fruit!"
Apple: *swells, bulges alarmingly, bursts*
Keris: *is thoroughly covered in apple-slime*
Keris: *swears fluently and at length in three languages*
Ali: "... this is reminding me of when she was three and trying to learn how to stand on one foot."
- The Rite of the Ship-Sprouting Seed (Floral Ferry variant)In addition, there are scattered and incomplete bits of a lot of other elementally-linked TCS spells that could be used as research materials.
- Fortification Number 04 (Variant of Raising the Earth's Bones)
- Flight of the Brilliant Raptor (modified variant with a rather larger blast radius)
- Mela's Breath (a weather control spell that calls a sudden and fairly localised snowstorm - notes in the spell indicate there are lost variants which call on other Dragons to get different weather)
- Dowsing Number 03 (Variant of Dragon of Smoke and Flame)
Aleph: Oooooo
Aleph: DEF USEFUL
Aleph: hmm
Aleph: Keris is, sigh, gonna have to spend a seasonal action modifying FotBR to work with the Kimmy Initiation before she can learn it, though
Aleph: but a destructive boomboom artillery spell will be very helpful
EarthScorpion: Honestly, with our sorcery stuff, we can probably just drop the Yozi Initiations as separate things (getting rid of both the benefits and the drawbacks).
Aleph: Yay!
EarthScorpion: In Keris' case, she just probably learns to refine her own essence to work with the spell since not all these backgrounds are ones easily useable for her, so she may have to re-engineer some of them.
EarthScorpion: And she might as well ask, sigh, Haneyl, Vali and Zanara to fight over who contributes the fire.
Aleph: : P
Aleph: Heh
EarthScorpion: Haneyl: "Fire. Birds. Mine."
Aleph: They will probably decide that Vali gets to contribute his aesthetics to the fortification spell, Haneyl gets to make the Flight a souped-up emberhawk, and Zanara sneaks in and lays claim to the Dowsing spell's aesthetics while nobody else is looking.
EarthScorpion: Calesco: "How about you not make a spell for dropping napalm on people?"
EarthScorpion: But yeah, FotBR isn't well done in canon.
Aleph: yeah, I think I saw
EarthScorpion: It's single target damage with a 3m blast radius of an environmental effect.
EarthScorpion: As I see it, relative to DOOB, FotBR gets you better range, but a smaller blast radius, and also damage over time.
...
Aleph: ... Illuminationists.
Aleph: As in, like
Aleph: the Cult of Illumination
Aleph: ...
Aleph: welp
Aleph: this may well lead to Fun
EarthScorpion: Well, Xasan doesn't know anything about that. As far as he knows - and he'll tell Keris - they're part of a radical Tairan sect that's basically a backlash against Perswha and its moon-worship - they're radically opposed to anyone worshipping other gods before the sun gods and deny that lesser gods are gods at all - they're just base and unenlightened spirits of nature.
Aleph: Keris: "... there's a difference?"
EarthScorpion: They teach that gods cannot sin or act improperly - by contrast, spirits are base and venal creatures more like mortals.
Aleph: ... sigh. Yeah, honestly...
Aleph: Keris tempers herself a lot around Zany (because she followed her brother's lead in hiding the demon stuff from her to start with and now it seems awkward to bring it up), and she holds back to some extent around Ali because he's cautious and a worrier and she's still scared of spooking him.
Aleph: But Xasan - bitter, laughing, avuncular Xasan who compares her to Maryam and came with her to kill the naib and had a view down from the ridge (or at least could hear) as she slaughtered the Vakotans without any of the shock or Rathan-light that overwhelmed the other two...
Aleph: I think he gets her about as unfiltered as anyone ever does, when they're in private.
Aleph: He's definitely picked up that she does not hold any real awe or fear of most little gods of Creation, and is in fact lowkey hostile towards the greater ones for doing nothing.
Aleph: (He's probably also noticed the differences in how she holds back a bit with the other two compared to him.)
Aleph: Oh, Keris. She's always so scared that the people she loves will reject her. Seeing the scary parts of her and accepting them basically wins you instant inner circle status.
EarthScorpion: Well, he's an old soldier, too. He's seen a lot of shit. He's been on demon and elemental hunts, too, and seen lots of spirits (and doesn't respect the Tairan religion, while he certainly respects the spirits back home - but, uh, there's a certain attitude that being a bitter man who's seen a lot of pretty women go to the Brides of Ahlat can acquire about the intentions of gods).
EarthScorpion: As far as he's concerned, Ahlat is just a big, powerful man who acts like a big powerful man would.
Aleph: Yeah, that's part of why she's so free with him.
Aleph: Heh. If I run into trouble this trip, I may actually have her revert briefly to "scared 22-year old who's out of her depth" and confess to him that she doesn't know what she's doing and is basically making it up as she goes.
Aleph: That's big, for Keris. He might not even realise how big. She can show that kind of vulnerability to Sasi because Sasi is a peer in power, and she told Ali something like it, but that was while he was vulnerable and doubting, and she was speaking from a position of strength. This would be baring her throat and admitting weakness to someone who all her experience of Hell tells her is a lesser.
EarthScorpion: Oh yes, and if you check the documents, I've been mentioning Illumination for a while.
Aleph: I think I've spotted it, yeah. I've just let it hang around in the background because it wasn't bothering me at the time.
Aleph: alas, no "YOU"ing this time
EarthScorpion: darn
EarthScorpion: whatever will i do?
Aleph: I'm sure you still have some ideas.
...
<while discussing a crossover where Supergirl fights her Evil Nazi Counterpart>
EarthScorpion: Sigh. Meanwhile, in similar crossovers, Keris is almost always the evil version who shows up.
Aleph: : D
Aleph: "It's Hellish Champion Keris!"
Team member: "Impossible! (Night!)Keris would never work for demons!"EarthScorpion: Her hair even lets the audience know that she's the evil version of one of the heroines come out as a twist.
Aleph: Though... : P
Keris: "Aww dammit, I got lost again?"Aleph: ... honestly, climactic battles between good and evil Kerisian counterparts tend to be a bit of a let-down, because Keris doesn't really like fighting against peer opponents when she doesn't absolutely have to, and is more likely to turn on her moe aura and ask for help getting home.
Keris: "... hey, if you're a heroic version of me who fights for the gods or the Realm or whatever, can we delay the big climactic battle between good and evil counterparts until I work out where I am? I've been trying to get back to my own Creation for weeks."
Eclipse!Rat: "... apparently not even being a demonic champion loyal to the princes of Hell can give Keris a sense of direction."
Both Kerises: "Hey!"
EarthScorpion: ... Keris, stop trying to have a threesome with those two.
Aleph: It's like that Scott vs Nega Scott thing in SPvsTW.
EarthScorpion: Well, the thing there is that Scott was an asshole so his nega version was a really nice guy.
Aleph: lol : P
...
<in Ran, considering other merchant caravans>
Aleph: hmm
Aleph: If Keris offers to let people join her group, how many does she expect will jump onboard (if she asks for a fee for escorting them)?
EarthScorpion: Probably a few smaller merchant groups, she can find out later. Like, they tend to travel in convoys here because it's so easy in the mountains for a naib to turn bandit-lord. So a big group arriving with many mercenaries is going to have everyone who's planning to travel soon piling in.
Aleph: heh
Aleph: indeed
Aleph: cool
EarthScorpion: (They'll try to phrase it as 'banding together for our own protection'.)
Aleph: Keris: "Okay. I have two hundred mercenaries. What do you bring to the table?"
Aleph: ... she would probably get quite a large number of refugees if she offered, wouldn't she?
EarthScorpion: In Ran? A fair few - but there's enough trade here that a good number of the refugees crammed in here are people who don't want to leave their places but it's too unsafe so they're waiting here until the war quiets down around here.
Aleph: Ah, fair enough. If they're not desperate to get to Terema, that's probably not a Compassion roll to offer them a place and another pain in my neck.
...
<THE TRAIL SPLITS>
Aleph: ... ah
Aleph: well
Aleph: this just got complicated
EarthScorpion: Remember, you have A&F removing options from you unless you're willing to break it.
Aleph: Yeah, I know.
EarthScorpion: Also, you also have Mother Before Daughter removing options.
Aleph: I was, amusingly, about to move onto the A&F promise and the MBD constraints
Aleph: oh keris
Aleph: : (
...
<Rathan being a teenager entering puberty>
EarthScorpion: dammit rathan
Aleph: Hmm. I'm assuming Rathan didn't announce any SUDDENLY, GIRLFRIEND things to Keris shortly after her talk with Oula?
EarthScorpion: Nah, she's not interesting in that way to him yet. She's still a child, and doesn't have boobs unlike, say, a water goddess who's only wearing pondweed.
Aleph: so unfair~
...
Aleph: snrrk
Aleph: oh haneyl
Aleph: always good for amusement
horngeek: Wat she do?
Aleph: she is engaging in aggressive political negotiation via intercontinental phone call and second-party messengers with a three-year old
horngeek: ...lol
...
EarthScorpion: yeah, now you can MAKE YOUR BOAT
EarthScorpion: discuss any mechanical details here
Aleph: mwaa haa
Aleph: hmm
Aleph: I really want to make a bitching awesome saffron-barge
Aleph: but that would probably strain that -2 external penalty to breaking point
EarthScorpion: Which penalty?
Aleph: ... to noticing anything odd about her convoy, from Haar-Hidden Dealings, under which "her means of transport" fall.
EarthScorpion: Heh.
Aleph: So instead she'll probably use wood so that it can at least be made of the right material. Yes, it'll be Swamp-wood, but it won't be a vibrantly-coloured flower-barge with brilliant saffron-stigma oars and vibrant lilac petal-sails.
Aleph: ... though she will totally save some saffron for if she ever wants a barge like that, because it sounds really cool.
EarthScorpion: Keris: "Soooooon, my pretty."
EarthScorpion: So what's the rough equivalent to the SoK thing?
EarthScorpion: Also, the draft of the ship may prove a limit
Aleph: Yeah. Hmm. What she basically wants is a barge - large, slow, shallow draft, used to transport heavy loads.
EarthScorpion: Okay, yeah, so some big river paddleboat?
Aleph: yeah
EarthScorpion: Anyway, mmm, basically I think the best you'll manage for river travel is really getting all the Baishans and the mercenaries who aren't OK with horses onto the boat, and then the horses are going to need to be herded and ridden alongside.
EarthScorpion: (at least they'll have plenty of mount changes)
Aleph: Yeah, that's what I was thinking anyway. And that bumps me up to a simple horse relay, which is faster per week than downstream travel anyway
EarthScorpion: It's probably for the best, because horses would try to eat your boat.
EarthScorpion: om nom nom plants
Aleph: : P
EarthScorpion: So the ship's probably an equivalent to a coastal trader
Cargo: Up to 100 tons. If the hold is used to transport troops instead of merchandise, it can carry 50 marines for extended journeys or double that number for short-range missions.Aleph: hmm. yes
EarthScorpion: Since you can stop every night and let people get off (which means Keris gets the boat to herself since she can't get off)
EarthScorpion: (she may find that a bit stressful, being unable to run freely)
EarthScorpion: Yeah, this kind
"Tubby little single-masted ships like this carry cargo along rivers and coasts throughout Creation, but seldom dare the high seas. Crew have a sheltered deck area for sleeping (walled in and heated as a crew cabin in colder climates). The hold runs the length of the ship and encompasses most of its volume."Aleph: yeah
Aleph: heh
Aleph: I can't verify, but...
"Cedars hold a special place among tree species in Iran. Ancient Iranians always showed respect for them. Cedar was sacred for the Persians who showed high esteem for the tree. They also believed that eating cedar's pollen, leaves and buds would lead to greater longevity. According to Persian myths, cedar had originated from the paradise, so it was called the Minoo [Paradise] tree."Aleph: Man. With the size of the Yanaze and the Grey and Yellow Rivers, and the extent of the Nexan docks, the paddlewheels possible there must have been enormous. You can afford a much deeper draft, too, and just anchor offshore if it's too shallow in the actual harbour and use smaller ferries to move goods ashore.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, that River is like a coastline.
...
<tainted armour!>
Aleph: Valiiiiiiii
Aleph: Well, I guess he's at least sharing his personal Panoply artifact.
Aleph: Presumably he means to reforge it up to A5 level, rather than starting with an A5 as Eko, Calesco and Haneyl did.
EarthScorpion: Well, he's just been wearing it.
Aleph: Yes. Much like Haneyl wore the crown - and, sigh.
EarthScorpion: Remember, Haneyl, Vali and Zanara are Keris crafting souls.
Aleph: Vali's nature is to break and reforge- yes. Just as Haneyl's is to infect and subvert, Vali's is to break and reforge.
EarthScorpion: ... Keris why is crafting linked to the Realm?
Aleph: Because the Realm built the largest superpower in Creation. Go big or go home, right?
EarthScorpion: Well, no. He needs to break and/or repair to get it. At the moment he's just tainting it. He doesn't infect like Haneyl - he's just causing aesthetic changes at the moment.
Aleph: Yes. But tainting it will probably lead to the hearthstone in it blowing up or something - and running around in it while not maintaining it will break it eventually.
Aleph: And then he'll repair it, and repeat the process until it's His.
EarthScorpion: Well, yes. That is certainly true.
Aleph: Heh. Eko and Calesco's Panoply artifacts were crafted expressly for them by a demon-titan. Haneyl's and Vali's are both treasures from a lost age that they've claimed. I rather suspect Rathan's and Zanara's will both be spirit-panoply objects that they take as trophies from defeated enemies.
Aleph: ... Zanara no don't pluck out the Heart Grace of a chaos prince or something. ¬_¬
...
Aleph: ... hee.
Aleph: There will totally be a time at some point when Rathan is social-fuing against another social-specced spirit, and then just abruptly Joins Battle and either beats them down or runs them off, before being all...
Rathan: "Why do people assume I can't fight when I have to? My sisters bully me all the time! Of course I can fight!"EarthScorpion: In some ways it's even more confusing than when people assume Haneyl and Calesco are social spec spirits.
EarthScorpion: (though not as confusing as when people assume Eko is a stupid murder hobo)
Aleph: Hahahaha. Bet that always ends painfully.
Aleph: But yes, Haneyl and Calesco at least have hints and themes that combat is a part of them - hunger and fire and archery and the danger-aura of the sash. Rathan looks like and is a socialite... until he reveals that he's been trained to fight as a mundane competence that doesn't stem much from his core nature but which he is still capable of.
EarthScorpion: Heh. Haneyl is a disgustingly generalist girl who's not the best at much in Kerisland, but is very often second best.
Aleph: And of course people occasionally think that Zanara is just an artist-diplomat until they get violently reminded about the second word in the phrase "martial arts".
EarthScorpion: Rathan really wishes Zana hasn't invented Groin Maiming Style.
[2] Points to anyone who can find everything.
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meianmaru
The Devourer of Fiction
But why? This seems to be a story/game-log update-
...You don't mind waiting another week to get to the second half, right? No? Wonderful.
...
...
Calesco: You monster.
Also, thank you, for posting this just as I was just planning to go to sleep after already staying up too late. Refreshing this thread was literally going to be the last thing I was going to do before going to sleep. Which I'm going to do now before I fall into the temptation on gorging myself upon your two's beautiful and fresh story-words.
But anyway, I like longer updates, so while not getting all of it in one package stings a bit, I can't really complain if I'm getting "only" 15k word for now. Really. I'm not bitter at all.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Surprised that Kuha hasn't seduced Rathan yet. It just seems like a natural way to make Keris's life a bit more awkward.
...assuming that she isn't presently trying, with Rounen writing a journal about Kuha and Oula's antics in re Rathan that looks suspiciously like a shoujo manga.
...assuming that she isn't presently trying, with Rounen writing a journal about Kuha and Oula's antics in re Rathan that looks suspiciously like a shoujo manga.
I really thought Keris was going to enter Torment for a moment there. Having that happen in the middle of transporting her mortal family would have been interesting.