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Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust (RWBY AU/CKII Villain Quest)

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Well we are trying to overcome death itself, we have officially gone full mad scientist... I have no problem with this, frankly this is freaking awesome.

I don't know how else to put it but that, its god awesome and fits our character perfectly.

Plus I have a reason to link to this song. Which like all RWBY songs is badass.
 
I wonder the reaction of the Nega-verses would be, If they learnt that Queen Wrachïod Krom is now up to 80 Piety [The Limit for all Human characters] and is starting on the path to gain true power over Life and Death?
 
Hopefully CC: Advanced Thaumic Research opens up the possibility to artificially strengthen our soul to break through the human limits we have on piety.
 
Night_stalker said:
What kinda sacrifices we talking here? Not like we got loved ones or anything....
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The various Sacrifice of Heart, Body, and Soul that we unlocked earlier.

Heart removes our ability to feel positive emotion but gives us infinite Aura that we draw from the Void.
Redshirt Army said:
Ascension: Sacrifice of Heart
What has your heart, pitiful and soft, availed you? You've tried to turn it cold and hard as ice, but your oh-so-human frailty is still there, hidden beneath the surface. Take that weak point, smite it from existence, and tie yourself to the infinite, unending, void.

Lose: All capacity to feel any positive emotions.
Gain: All Semblance Stages locked at "Inhuman" rank. All dice rolls dependant on precise control of yourself treated as "100". Aura reserves constantly replenish themselves from the Hungering Void, and will never run out.


AN: This is not, in my interpretation of the RWBY universe, a sacrifice Canon!Salem chose to make.
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Soul removes our Semblance and replaces it with an Aura of Obedience and doubles our Piety stat.

Redshirt Army said:
Ascension: Sacrifice of Soul
The Light of the Soul is a potent tool indeed, but the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows. Throw aside the childish flailing of a species that cannot grasp true power, and claim the might to enforce your will forevermore.

Lose: Your Aura. All Derivative Traits, including your Semblance.
Gain: Constantly Active Auroura of Obedience. Base Piety is set to total pre-sacrifice Piety, times two. Dark Reflections of various Aura based traits can be refined with practice, usually being more powerful but at a greater cost. Glowing red eyes.


AN: This is, in my interpretation of the RWBY universe, a sacrifice Canon!Salem chose to make.
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Body means we become a formless entity within the Creatures of Grimm gestalt but now can form a Grimm-Avatar of ourselves making us Immortal so long as the Grimm exist.

Redshirt Army said:
@Muer'ci

Pick One:
-Sacrifice of Body

... :V

Ascension: Sacrifice of Body
The flesh is fallible, it is weak, it is a prison for the soul, a constraint for its magnificence. But to affect the world, a soul needs an anchor in the material realm. And there is a channel that is far, far more than mere humanity could ever provide...

Lose: Your physical existence.
Gain: The ability to direct the actions and formation of Grimm within a massive geographic region (with practice, eventually worldwide), with power and control scaling off of your Piety statistic. With practice, form an Avatar Grimm to serve as a discrete physical anchor. A persistent, distributed existence, rendering you immortal as long as even a single Grimm remains in existence anywhere on Remnant.


AN: This is, in my interpretation of the RWBY universe, a sacrifice Canon!Salem chose to make.
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Fuerit Vivet
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'Shall live', specifically from the Latin Vulgate John 11:25.
Redshirt Army said:

The apartment is small, located in a ramshackle part of a smaller town on the southwestern shores of Solitas. Nevertheless, the balcony looks to be well kept, and as the tired looking woman opens the door, you can see that she's kept the apartment neat and tidy. She clearly doesn't recognize you as Cherise Cheshire, which is just as well - you'd make quite a stir amongst the inhabitants of this district if you were recognizable, you imagine.

"Ms. Kyle? May I step inside? I have some information you should know."
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Kyle, Selina Kyle, Catwoman, this woman is a cat-faunus, family goes on to birth Blake.
Duh.:V
Redshirt Army said:
She swallows. "Thank you. For letting me know. I... I'm in your debt. But... " You wait for her to continue. "Was it on the Crown Theft, for the Princess?" Your eyes sharpen. "...he told me he'd be back in Mantle, for a week or so, in a letter. But he never arrived, and he always made time to visit whenever he was on the continent. And it was..." She trails off.

You'd intermittently checked his mail initially, to ensure his loyalty. Apparently you should have been more stringent, if he still shared information of that sort later. You'll need to check that Usagi hasn't done anything unfortunate while left to her own devices either.

"I believe it would be better for both of us if more details weren't spread, Miss Kyle." Her face pales slightly, and she sets her cup down with a shaking hand. "...Yes. Of course. It's just... the Royal Family." She stands up, going towards one of the bookshelves. Among the other books, you quickly pick out what she must be looking for - a copy of Mantelum Conditus. A rare book, especially in these times. A mythological account of the founding of Mantle in the winter land, millennia ago, by the "gods garbed in human flesh" from whom the royal lineage supposedly descended.

There were only a few hundred surviving copies when you left Mantle, and given the topic... you weren't certain that any other than your own lasted through the war at all. "You took this from Tyronious' library," you note, as she hastily flips the book to a section you know has a print of the full Royal Sigil, from which Mantle's coat of arms derived. It's a reminder of your failure. It's something you see every time you call forth a glyph.
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1. OK @Redshirt Army, since apparently I'm the only one interested, what's in the book of 'Mantle buried'? Tell me about those 'Gods garbed in human flesh'.
2. Bit of spellchecking.
Redshirt Army said:
She lets out a shuddering breath as she reaches that chapter, but barrels onwards, her emotions becoming more and more apparent. "They said... they said that the Royals could control Death and Time itself. That they could call forth an echo, so great as to bring the past to the present." Her eyes are pleading, as she looks up at you. She apparently sees something there, because she continues. "It was true. She can. I... I don't have much. Not to her. But if I can say goodbye, if I can see him just one more time, if I can... I'll do anything, anything she asks! Just... tell her. Please!"

You absently trace the wound that the Silver Eyed Warrior made when she escaped your control, as you shut down your Dust enchantment, heading towards the door. You look back at the woman, collapsed on the ground, clutching the book and crying, as you leave. "I suspect I'll be in touch with you again, Ms. Kyle."
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So Selina didn't conclude we're Wrachïod Krom, but that we worked for her. Still, if this is how fanatical she is... guess we're well on the path to having our clan of loyal ninjas.
Redshirt Army said:
Control over death itself. The phrase comes to mind, as you call Gervain forth, and examine his posture, his expression. By default, they're nonexistent. He smiles when you express to him your desire for him to act happy, he vanishes out of sight when you want him to hide. But he's an empty shell, nothing more - the information you get from him has no emotion behind it, regardless of the content.

It's useful, no doubt. Proud Aurelion would likely never have bowed to another, and every day you receive priceless information and control from Schnee's facsimile. And yet... this isn't control over death. They're just copies, or so your father taught you as you learned your Semblance.

You'd be tempted to agree, tempted to dismiss the stories as mere mythology and misunderstanding of those beneath the first King's rule... except that not that long ago, you brought a vengeful spirit back to this world, complete with emotions. That it tried to kill you is a mere technicality.

Perhaps an aspect of the Silver Eyes, that they maintain greater life after death? But... hmm.

You close your eyes, focusing on the feeling of maintaining the construct. In your mind's eye, waves of Aura come and go like the tides, and you feel... you feel...

48 (Rolled) + 32 (Piety) + 20 (Critical Success: "Family Matters") = 100

Threshold Reached. Special Event.
It's endless.
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This music's a bit harder to interpret. It's a translation of a russian video game, so the english I'm a bit hesitant on.
The titles are 'The Void' and specific theme is 'turgor'. It refers to water pressure inside a plant cell pushing out on its walls, making it rigid. Combined with 'The Void' I can only guess that it's referring to Wrachïod Krom having the strength to see something.
Or it's just haunting music from a haunting game and I'm grasping at straws.
Redshirt Army said:
Darkness without end, without mercy, without pity. It's unfathomable, it's impossible, it is the end of every life, in every time, in every place. It has shaped men, it has shaped nations. It has shaped destinies, it has shaped civilizations. It is. It it all that once was, and it is the fate of all that will be.

And you're connected to it, the thinnest line of thread stretching from your heart deep, deep down into that abyss, beyond sight. To bring a life back in truth, is nothing less than to pull an existence, a reality in and of itself, back out of that gibbering void.

It's undoubtedly difficult. Very, very difficult.

The moment breaks, and you snap back to reality.

You smirk.

But it isn't impossible.
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So rather than a Lovecraftian entity, we are looking at Entropy and the old-fashioned 'death claims all'. And what we do, when life is fully recreated, is taking Entropy over the desk with no lube.
The more natural laws Krom dominates, the likelihood something... special happens increases.
Redshirt Army said:
「 」
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OK, I'm completely lost on what the significance of the brackets is. There's nothing in it.
Night_stalker said:
Are we certain it has to be OUR soul? We can't just abduct some schmuck and use his?
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Given the description of the ritual was an asshole taunting the reader for not throwing away all of their humanity and staying weak, I'd guess we'd have to roll pretty high to make that work.
 
Night_stalker said:
Damn, so much for the easy way out.

Ah well, if gingers can manage with no souls, we can do the same.
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But our soul lets us literally no-sell death. And fish people out of the Stygian abyss if we miss them the first time. Given time and motivation, we can truly reverse every death that has ever occurred.

We're basically at goddess level, right now. And you want to give that up for better shadow-monster controlling powers?
 
Actually, with our semblance and sacrifice of the heart, we're pretty much unstoppable, right? The weakness of our semblance is that the people we spawn with it need to use our aura reserves to use any powers, but the sacrifice of the heart gives us unlimited power to provide them. Am I missing something here, or are we pretty much just one ritual away from good bad successful end?
 
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