Alright, we've got a lot of details to get through this decision point, so let's get on it.
First up!
Acqusition of Sorcery
It looks like taking one of Odyssial Intimacies in exchange for XP has won overwhelmingly, so here are some options to take:
-[ ] Upgrade Sepulchral Pearl to "Defining" - Odyssial will begin to miss Pearl heavily and will be much more proactive & determined in acting to have Pearl assigned here. He will be much more amenable to her suggestions and overall seek more time with her as the most important character in his life, as he desires to make up for lost time. This may appear weird to characters besides Pearl herself, whose memories he will try to more fully recover. [Behavioral Change: High. Mental Strain: Moderate]
-[ ] Acquire Defining Tie, "Hatred of the Titans" - Uly will inherit Odyssial's full hatred of the Titans, with uncertain effects on his behavior towards Abyssal and Infernal Exalts. Though he is unlikely to turn on them, his affection for them may be diminished; if they have high social skills, they may see his hate bleed through. Alternatively he may suffer moderate internal conflict as his biases are juxtaposed with his personal relationships. [Behavioral Change: Moderate. Mental Strain: Moderate]
-[ ] Acquire Defining Tie, "The Lathe of Heaven" - Uly will seek to destroy and remake the world, as Odyssial did. Gives more information on the Lathe of Heaven. Uly will more heavily prioritize personal advancement over coalition-building, as the Lathe of Heaven requires a set locus of power: a quintillion mortals could not do it, only a single being of truly transcendent might can. [Behavioral Change: Minimal. Mental Strain: High]
This will also affect how Odyssial actually "learns" the Sorcery.
Control Spells
Your Control Spells define who you are as a Sorceror. Because you have chosen the Odyssian Shaping Rituals, your Solar Circle Control Spell is locked as [The Odyssian Horse]. As a Control Spell, rather than summoning a copy, it summons the actual Odyssian Horse - the mighty steed of the Sun's Chariot which was modified and presented to the Titan Iliom as a gift of false surrender, who devoured it and was ambushed from within himself by the Exalts hidden in their anima. During that battle, Iliom's fetich soul, the previously thought-invincible Uncrowned King, was slain, diminishing it forever and shattering its Bulwark of Unassailable Walls.
Choose your Terrestrial Circle Control Spell
-[ ] Invulnerable Skin of Bronze - Gives you a passive soak bonus even when the spell is not active; at high Essence, the bonus is substantial. Can serve as makeshift, fairly high-quality Artifact Armor in the event that you need to loan out or give away your own. Causes your skin to acquire a bronzed cast.
-[ ] Mists of Eventide - Causes insubstantial mists to swirl around you when sleeping. Generates a powerful mist of sleeping poison; when it knocks enemies unconscious, they rise as your dream-raptured servants until they are awakened. Once per day you may issue forth a breath of mist that inflicts a single dosage of the poison; against an opponent in Initiative Crash, this instantly causes them to fall asleep if they fail to resist the poison.
-[ ] Infallible Messenger - Summons a minor spirit capable of traveling at great speeds to any designated, non-warded target. As a control spell, allows you to use Awareness and Investigation Charms through the spirit, including the effects of Infallible Watchman's Eye and Better Listener.
Choose your Celestial Circle Control Spell
-[ ] Travel Without Distance - Teleports you up to [Essence x 10] miles. As a control spell, allows you to teleport [Essence + 1] willing passengers. Causes fatigue which wears off in [6 - Stamina] hours; the spell cannot be re-cast while fatigued.
-[ ] Demon of the Second Circle - No effects as a Control Spell, but spells are expensive to buy (50,000 Solar XP) and take a long time to train (1 week x circle of the spell), and Demon of the Second Circle is the most useful of the Demon Summoning tree because it provides much more power than Demon of the First Circle, but much more spammability than Demon of the Third Circle. A Second Circle Demon can be summoned once per every month, and is an Essence 5-7 Spirit, equivalent in power to an Essence ~3-4 Solar in its area of focus.
-[ ] Shadows of the Ancient Past - Allows you to view events in detail, from any time longer than one year ago, to any time shorter than 500 years ago. As a control spell, you can "save" the events to view for later, allowing you to gather information at a much faster pace or in more frenetic circumstances. You may also specify conditional events ("When this house was created"); if they occurred any time before 1 year ago and any time after 500 years ago, the scene will play out correctly.
Workings
You will have the chance to perform one or more Sorcerous Workings. These are customized effects of great power, the greatest of which can shake Creation by the pillars of Heaven and Earth!
-[ ] Beg The Lily for help (dramatically improves your Sorcerous Working rolls, but you owe her a Major Favor, as she has to live in Luseng for a month literally just cheering you on the entire time. Your Intimacy towards her will also be increased to Major, causing you to gain a point of Limit when you act against the context of the Intimacy)
-[ ] Don't Beg The Lily for help (keep your dignity, you don't really need +7 sux per roll for some of these plans)
With the Lily you average 36 successes per roll, minus the Finesse of the Working (5 - 1), so about ~32 successes net
Without the Lily you average 29 successes per roll, minus the Finesse of the Working (5 - 1), so about ~25 successes net
Those are 50% probabilities, so you do have a change to roll lower.
Ambition 2 Solar Circle Workings require 50 successes and you get 1 roll per week, so you can complete them in 2 weeks 50% of the time without The Lily, or 2 weeks almost every time with the Lily.
Ambition 3 Solar Circle Workings require 75 successes and you get 1 roll per week, so you can complete them in 3 weeks 50% of the time without The Lily, or 3 weeks almost every time with the Lily.
[ ] The Temporal Blazon [Solar Circle, Ambition 2] - This upraised hand of serrated steel seals an aquamarine central jewel; within its depths are tide and time, shifting vortices and the taint of the Wyld. Within the city walls of Luseng only, time is accelerated: two days pass for each one day in Creation, allowing massive economic productivity as long as the city can remain stable and fed. The effect extends to the docks, but not the harbor in general, and upwards into the air roughly five hundred feet in a dome shape. The city is surrounded by a rippling border of absolute distinction; humans cannot stay partially submerged in the border, but are swiftly ejected to one or the other side. There will be many administrative and logistical concerns to take care of, such as -
*The sun appearing to rise and set only once every "48" hours inside the city, damaging circadian rhythms and certain Solar Caste abilities;
*The extreme food & water requirements of the city proper will be effectively doubled, as the city itself produces little food;
*Explaining this effect to the Realm
However, the benefits are enormous and obvious. Future Workings that affect the Luseng area will benefit fully from this temporal acceleration in their creation time.
[ ] The Sundial Throne [Solar Circle, Ambition 3] - At the center of the Satrapal palace is the Throne Room, symbol of the King's authority, prestige, and the adulation of his people. By converting the throne room into a sorcerously-charged hermetic chamber, and focusing Solar light on it with a series of extremely powerful mirrors, the Solar Sorcerer creates a time-piece whose magnificence is answer to his own. So long as he rules his nation in name and in truth, time in the Throne Room (which can, of course, become a training chamber or sorcerous workshop) passes (Essence) times faster than in the outside world; five days to one, at current reckoning. The maximum size of the area thus affected is (Essence x 100) square meters.
[ ] The Knight of Jade [Solar Circle, Ambition 3] - Carved from a single immaculate block of solid jade, this construct takes the shape of a man or woman in full Lusengese battle regalia. Equal in power to a Third Circle Demon (save its subsouls), it wields immense might in the service of its twin loyalties: first to its creator, Sesus Ulyssian, and secondly to the city-state of Luseng. An epic Panoply of Creation-shaking powers avails it to this purpose. By its very existence, it binds all those who consider themselves "of Luseng" to its King, and it serves as a tireless advocate of His Majesty's ideals and policies, as well as an unsleeping sentinel for the city itself.
-[ ] Focus on Administration - the Knight of Jade will possess incredible powers to bless, uplift, and organize the populace of Luseng. It might remove from its inhabitants the need to sleep, or grant tremendous bonuses to the ability of the city's construction or prayer crews.
-[ ] Focus on Combat - the Knight of Jade will be a nigh-invincible defender of the city, equal in strength to a martially focused Third Circle Demon. Nearly peerless on the field of battle save for its creator itself, it is capable of single-handedly holding off multiple Realm Legions, and could beat a Directional War God bloody.
[ ] Write-In: Develop your own custom Working, such as buffing Moon. Please see the guidelines in the 3E material.
If you do successfully pull off one of the temporal dilation options with time to spare, you will get to perform an additional Working this update.
