[Exalted/SMT] Shard of a Broken Sun

[Baughn]

This was fucking ador- OH GOD WHAT DID WE DO WHAT IS HAPPENING OH JESUS

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Yes, that's roughly Amu's reaction. Very roughly.

Amu's mom got Ikuto alone for a serious discussion, and this is what they came up with. It "ensures" Amu's crush will come to nothing, which is important to both of them. Then again, you might also say that about Utau. Poor girl is badly broken; she needs a therapist.

Being Ikuto is suffering.

 

[Cytokinesis]

To my current understanding the choice right now is basically A.) Sacrifice Amu's personality, B.) Sacrifice Amu's capabilities, or C.) Sacrifice something from the Exaltation

Possibly merging A and B. Alectai's plan goes along with C.

I'm not sure what the options in the update corresponds to, and we'd got the hint that this victory can't be perfect, so we're going to be sacrificing something. I'm not really sure what I want to do here.

 

[Lexica]

Honestly, regardless of whether or not it's "optimal" I have to say that I really like the IDEA of alectai's plan.

 

[Durabys]

The answers are in there. I refuse to believe you didn't skim some of the update.

..snippet..

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Not irrelevant. Repairable, yes, though I'll make no promises as to how quickly.

Consequences are important, you won't get away with nothing.

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People. I think it is time to go back to the story post and start looking for that fucking loophole hint in the text that Baughn has been talking about all the damn time.

 

[pressea]

[x] Alectai's jettison cargo plan

See how we get a relationship bonus to XP? Imagine what will happen to that bonus if the exaltation sacrifices itself. We'll be raking in the big xp bucks for sure~

 

[........]

Part of her was hysterically making up analogies, trying to distract itself from the fact that everything inside her body appeared to be missing as well; she felt like a soap bubble, ready to pop at the slightest provocation. Didn't she have a charm to stop that?

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This is the only thing that came to mind for potential loopholes.

... Dream Affirming Projection the Dragon Stream?

Might be worth a try, at least.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

GM's already said Alectai's write-in won't work. The best one I;ve heard so far is hitting ourself with Dream-Affirming and then integrating ourselves deeper into Amu's soul.

*Sigh* This is going to get messy.

Yes, that's roughly Amu's reaction. Very roughly.

Amu's mom got Ikuto alone for a serious discussion, and this is what they came up with. It "ensures" Amu's crush will come to nothing, which is important to both of them. Then again, you might also say that about Utau. Poor girl is badly broken; she needs a therapist.

Being Ikuto is suffering.

Click to shrink...

I find this hilarious because one of the people she goes to for advice is us... and all of our hosts have been in Creation until now. Not that this will apply for a long time... actually that brings up something else, will Amu have aged because of this, or is Time just a complete non-factor for Amu right now, other than that you can't go back in Time?

 

[Lexica]

Hm. Amus soul is very, very malleable. As i understand it our exaltation is currently like, an add-on to Amus soul. It is kinda hanging from its back like a tick from its host. Maybe it would be possible to integrate ourselves deeper? Fuck the rules, turn of the charm that hinders her from self-shaping (dream affirming projection) enter her soul and let it shape itself around us. We will likely become something like a sub-soul or chara of hers, not a proper exaltation anymore, but i guess that would be worth it to save the world. Being methaphorically inside of her soul instead of being an add-on would allow us to form more connections into her. Instead of having a single strand connecting her with us we could project essence in every direction.

There is even sort of a precedent for that, the Infernal exaltations were somehow stuffed inside the souls of heroic demons. And we used to be an Infernal exaltation.

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Actually, yeah that's a good idea. The GM even said this:

The main problem right now is that your connection to Amu is creaking under the strain.

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So that idea does seem very good in that it addresses the root problem here.

 

[Hyacinthium]

Yes, that's roughly Amu's reaction. Very roughly.

Amu's mom got Ikuto alone for a serious discussion, and this is what they came up with. It "ensures" Amu's crush will come to nothing, which is important to both of them. Then again, you might also say that about Utau. Poor girl is badly broken; she needs a therapist.

Being Ikuto is suffering.

Click to shrink...

Poor Amu getting shot down via little sisterness. Not to mention Utau.

But yes, Ikuto is suffering. At least his bastard step father is going to probably maybe die though! Now that, that is a win-win for everyone! Especially if your name is Ikuto! Haha, I'm imagining what Ikuto must have thought when the men in black came to take away his sister. Pouncing onto the top of a car? Certainly sounds like him and Yoru.

Amu's mom is a cool gal though, would love to see what the conversation was like.

 

[Cytokinesis]

Hm. Amus soul is very, very malleable. As i understand it our exaltation is currently like, an add-on to Amus soul. It is kinda hanging from its back like a tick from its host. Maybe it would be possible to integrate ourselves deeper? Fuck the rules, turn of the charm that hinders her from self-shaping (dream affirming projection) enter her soul and let it shape itself around us. We will likely become something like a sub-soul or chara of hers, not a proper exaltation anymore, but i guess that would be worth it to save the world. Being methaphorically inside of her soul instead of being an add-on would allow us to form more connections into her. Instead of having a single strand connecting her with us we could project essence in every direction.

There is even sort of a precedent for that, the Infernal exaltations were somehow stuffed inside the souls of heroic demons. And we used to be an Infernal exaltation.

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I could support this plan. The big question is if the Exaltation thinks this is even something it is capable of doing. If it is, or at least thinks it has a decent chance, then I'd probably end up voting for this.

It'd have consequences, but everything here is supposed to.

Edit: On the other hand, Amu's soul is already pretty stuffed right now. Really starting to regret that merging plan, even beyond the limit gains. Ouch.

 

[Winged One]

People. I think it is time to go back to the story post and start looking for that fucking loophole hint in the text that Baughn has been talking about all the damn time.

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Hm, good idea.

What are the different control interfaces? The remaining one, A1, looks most important, but what is it?

Those huge reserves of Essence that we funnel to Amu instead of her regaining motes by stunting are getting depleted fast, but that's acceptable.

I think we've already lost some combat capacity.

[Maintaining peripheral essence buffers at 50% nominal] might mean that we're not flaring totemic for some unfathomable reason.

Signal to noise ratio looks ominous. We might be twisting Amu's personality already.

Our Charas have essence, but hell if I know if they can use it to contribute to this.

The weird conceptual thing that's happening to everyone's bodies... could we exploit that? Maybe make our themes of perfection and victory into as close to reality as anything else?

Amu's only got one Compassion channel left. Does she know that, or some equivalent that will have her acting as if she knew it? She might blow it on something besides the most important remaining possible use if she doesn't.

 

[Durabys]

I think we should really re-consider voting for Alectai's plan before the GM decides to lock the vote.

 

[RCa]

We started with A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, C1, C2.

C1, B2, C2, A2, A3 failed in that order. After C2 failed, secondary essence conduit #2 shut down.

So they almost certainly refer to the ability of ourself and our Charas to channel essence. And we're down to A1 and B1.

 

[........]

Eh, screw it. Feel free to dismantle this thing.

[x] Use Dream Affirming Projection on the Dragon Stream. From the looks of things Amu's getting hit from both sides, and the Stream may be suffering the same as well; the internal shaping protection it provides isn't much, but it's better than nothing.
-[x] Do what you need to do to reinforce the remaining connections. Risking personal damage to protect Amu is acceptable.

Edit: Canceling this out for now, I'll try to give it some more thought later.

 

[Alratan]

Hm. Amus soul is very, very malleable. As i understand it our exaltation is currently like, an add-on to Amus soul. It is kinda hanging from its back like a tick from its host. Maybe it would be possible to integrate ourselves deeper? Fuck the rules, turn of the charm that hinders her from self-shaping (dream affirming projection) enter her soul and let it shape itself around us. We will likely become something like a sub-soul or chara of hers, not a proper exaltation anymore, but i guess that would be worth it to save the world. Being methaphorically inside of her soul instead of being an add-on would allow us to form more connections into her. Instead of having a single strand connecting her with us we could project essence in every direction.

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Solar Exaltations are invioable. They can be temporarily changed, but not irreparably altered or destroyed. The Abyssal Exaltation, the Mirror of the Solar one, is already inherent within being a Solar. An Infernal Exaltation is just some Primordial gunk wrapped arnound it as an interface layer.

An exaltation is also not an add on to your soul, it's part of it. A living human has one soul composed of two parts, Hun and Po. A Solar Exalt has one soul composed of three parts, Hun, Po, and Exaltation, IIRC.

Now, what we may want to consider is to look back to what we were the shard of a Green Sun Prince, as they have quite a different relationship to their shard than a Solar, particularly if they go Devil Tiger.

However, let's begin with the basics. The Infernal Coadjutor. Something hacked together basd on that could allow deeper integration with the chara. If our previous host every developed the Devil Tiger Charms, we may even be able to reconfigure our anima power, or, at higher levels, play a game with the Inner World or actually turn the chara into real sub-souls.

There's also Sun-Heart Furnace Soul to consider, if we need to generate something that will grant us more motes.

We also need to consider that Amu may need us, and our skills and analysis capability, to survive the aftermath. There's no point sacrificing something to save the world now if that something would be essential to saving it tomorrow. This is a triage situation. Self-sacrifice may not be the automatic best solution.

 

[Quickshot0]

Edit: On the other hand, Amu's soul is already pretty stuffed right now. Really starting to regret that merging plan, even beyond the limit gains. Ouch.

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I suspect it might not be that bad, it seemed to have increased the internal essence pool 15%, that's 15% less over boost and damage the Exalatation took during that whole ordeal. The choices left now would probably be even less palatable with out it. Though it probably had a cost in personality influence on Amu, we already saw leak over before, but with this much pressure on the whole thing... On the plus side, the Chara are mostly still Amu, so it's probably not all to bad at this level. Though I guess one would want to think really carefully in throwing any more yet in to the mix now.

An exaltation is also not an add on to your soul, it's part of it. A living human has one soul composed of two parts, Hun and Po. A Solar Exalt has one soul composed of three parts, Hun, Po, and Exaltation, IIRC.

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That's a Creation human, would it still hold for an SMT human though? We already know Exalatation physics is not being held to as the absolute end of all things, if anything SMT physics at times seems more important now.

 

[veekie]

[x] Use Dream Affirming Projection on the Dragon Stream. From the looks of things Amu's getting hit from both ends, and the Stream may be suffering the same as well; the internal shaping protection it provides isn't much, but it's better than nothing.
-[x] If Ran and Miki aren't already doing so, try to fill them in on how to contribute their Essence to this effort. Unless that's too inefficient to bother with.
--[x] Do what you need to do to reinforce the remaining connections. Risking personal damage to protect Amu is acceptable.
-[X] Whatever bits of Alectai's write in can be still used with that. It's too good to just dump.

 

[Winged One]

[x] Use Dream Affirming Projection on the Dragon Stream. From the looks of things Amu's getting hit from both ends, and the Stream may be suffering the same as well; the internal shaping protection it provides isn't much, but it's better than nothing.​

-[x] If Ran and Miki aren't already doing so, try to fill them in on how to contribute their Essence to this effort. Unless that's too inefficient to bother with.​

--[x] Do what you need to do to reinforce the remaining connections. Risking personal damage to protect Amu is acceptable.​

-[X] Whatever bits of Alectai's write in can be still used with that. It's too good to just dump.​

I can't help but think there might be more we can come up with, though, so keep going. Also, I'd like answers to the questions I raised with my rereading of the bits I skimmed.​

 

[Quickshot0]

On a different question, might the A, B and C channels refer to Amu and the two chara who now have an essence pool?

 

[Baughn]

What are the different control interfaces? The remaining one, A1, looks most important, but what is it?

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Hardware that allows you to control the essence flow between you and Amu, moderate it, activate charms, etc.

Those huge reserves of Essence that we funnel to Amu instead of her regaining motes by stunting are getting depleted fast, but that's acceptable.

I think we've already lost some combat capacity.

Click to shrink...

Well, you lost one secondary essence link. Could be worse.

[Maintaining peripheral essence buffers at 50% nominal] might mean that we're not flaring totemic for some unfathomable reason.

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Essence buffers != essence pools. You were worried about backflow in case Amu ends up exploding, but I didn't see a way to work that into the text... it probably doesn't matter.

Signal to noise ratio looks ominous. We might be twisting Amu's personality already.

Click to shrink...

Mostly it means the connection between the two of you is incredibly noisy.

Our Charas have essence, but hell if I know if they can use it to contribute to this.

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They already do.

The weird conceptual thing that's happening to everyone's bodies... could we exploit that? Maybe make our themes of perfection and victory into as close to reality as anything else?

Click to shrink...

Only if you figure out the implications.

Amu's only got one Compassion channel left. Does she know that, or some equivalent that will have her acting as if she knew it? She might blow it on something besides the most important remaining possible use if she doesn't.

Click to shrink...

She understands that. Not consciously, but it's on the same level as understanding her own tiredness. Fortunately she won't go into bedlam if she taps them out.

Solar Exaltations are inviolable. They can be temporarily changed, but not irreparably altered or destroyed. .

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This is (effectively) correct, so long as you don't make efforts to change it. Not even Lucy could do so against your will.

On a different question, might the A, B and C channels refer to Amu and the two chara who now have an essence pool?

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No.

[x] Use Dream Affirming Projection on the Dragon Stream. From the looks of things Amu's getting hit from both ends, and the Stream may be suffering the same as well; the internal shaping protection it provides isn't much, but it's better than nothing.

Click to shrink...

-[x] If Ran and Miki aren't already doing so, try to fill them in on how to contribute their Essence to this effort. Unless that's too inefficient to bother with.

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They're already contributing. Not by means that can be readily or safely replicated, mind you.

Hm. Amus soul is very, very malleable. As i understand it our exaltation is currently like, an add-on to Amus soul. It is kinda hanging from its back like a tick from its host. Maybe it would be possible to integrate ourselves deeper? Fuck the rules, turn of the charm that hinders her from self-shaping (dream affirming projection) enter her soul and let it shape itself around us. We will likely become something like a sub-soul or chara of hers, not a proper exaltation anymore, but i guess that would be worth it to save the world. Being methaphorically inside of her soul instead of being an add-on would allow us to form more connections into her. Instead of having a single strand connecting her with us we could project essence in every direction.

There is even sort of a precedent for that, the Infernal exaltations were somehow stuffed inside the souls of heroic demons. And we used to be an Infernal exaltation.

Click to shrink...

Interesting idea. Definitely costly; just for starters, you'd be sacrificing your indestructibility. Amu would be your last host.

 

[al103]

Amu would be your last host.

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Well, it just mean that proto-primordial should ascend in primordial status for our last life not be in wain!

 

[Quickshot0]

I'm kind of confused what applying Dream Affirming Projection on the Dragon Stream is supposed to accomplish. Is this like trying to turn it in to a Chara or some such? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the exact goal here, but I can't help but wonder about the safety or perhaps even sanity of this move...

Another thing I'm wondering about is if the Dragon Stream can be used to some how gain some more motes as well? It was said it could be a source, albeit perhaps not a very good one? Still... it might reduce the amount required to come from the Exaltation. Or is this also already happening?


And any ideas on what a compassion channel can be best used for right now?

 

[Cytokinesis]

It also means if we screw up it is game over for us, and likely humanity, completely. That's not something to be considered lightly and I'm very wary of taking such an extreme step when we're hopefully doing better than average here.

We need to figure out the implications of the reality crush, because that is the biggest strain on Amu right now. We know that it is more than shaping since IPP scattered a shaping attack already, but what it is exactly remains in question. We weakened IPP so it could be simply be a much stronger shaping attack, but that seems too simple to me. Anyone have any ideas in that regard?

 

[Baughn]

Another thing I'm wondering about is if the Dragon Stream can be used to some how gain some more motes as well? It was said it could be a source, albeit perhaps not a very good one? Still... it might reduce the amount required to come from the Exaltation. Or is this also already happening?

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Also already happening. You're using your own power to supplement it, but most of the very annoying thorn in Kagutsuchi's foot is still the Dragon Stream.

 

[Giygas]

[x] Use Dream Affirming Projection on the Dragon Stream. From the looks of things Amu's getting hit from both ends, and the Stream may be suffering the same as well; the internal shaping protection it provides isn't much, but it's better than nothing.

Click to shrink...

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I like the shocked face in this context!

Interesting idea. Definitely costly; just for starters, you'd be sacrificing your indestructibility. Amu would be your last host.

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Given that we were already being destroyed by being outside the realities, becoming permanently a Piece of Amu should be that great of a problem.
Hell, in the best case we can convince Amu to learn craft charms(We already have Lore and Occult) and then craft the

indestructibility back!