-if we take Woodwind Tricks and the paths it opens, we'll eventually reveal 9 nodes out of 19 unknown ones by taking 7 milestone-equivalents.
-if we continue with the paths we're on (Natural Springy Ball II and the Calcification one that was opened by version I), we'll reveal 10 out of 19 by taking 8 milestone-equivalents.
-if we take the Water Retention paths, we can eventually uncover all nodes except 4 early ones (so 15 out of 19) by taking 12 milestone-equivalents. Those excluded could be uncovered by taking 4 additional milestone equivalents: Woodwind Tricks I and II, Natural Springy Ball II and Calcification (which reveals something that for some reason wasn't completely censored, called Soil).
Not sure how useful this info is, but here it is. Generally speaking, the more we uncover, the more informed our decisions will be and the easier we'll be able to go for a synergistic build, but of course, uncovering stuff requires taking milestones, which means we're already making a build. Also with so many moving parts and unknowns from the rest of the system, there's only so much we can do, anyway, so... *shrugs*
My guess based on the shape of the tree (starting broad and slowly narrowing until you get to the capstone skill) is that you need all the pre-reqs, rather than just one. Also, it intuitively makes sense that you need both rock and water to make soil, rather than just one of them.
My guess on why Soil skill was revealed is to demonstrate that progressive skills aren't just straight upgrades but can unlock new and vastly different stuff.
Like for everything else, there seems to be a hard cap to how many Adaptations we can gain, because of the alleged limited number of milestones dictated by the system. Sure, there are Jade Chits and there might be other things of that nature revealed in the future, but getting every node seems improbable, especially if we end up getting other familiars (originally, the QM mentioned a max of 3).
Edit - The good thing is we could find out more about how the tree works as soon as next turn, if we use the Chit on Natural Springy Ball II (ideally) or even Calcification.
Edit 2 to clarify - getting Ball II would uncover 1 Adaptation and, depending on whether FriedIce is right or wrong, possibly another. Also depending on that, getting Calcification would either unlock 0 or 2.
I'm somewhat skeptical of later abilities requiring every prerequisite to be taken before they're unlocked, as that'd mean needing 23 more ranks in Care to take everything in the tree. It's possible that's intended, and you're only meant to get to the later abilities later on in Hogwarts.
As for the updates, I'll second the praise for the chit scene. Considering the individuality of cultivators, it makes sense they'd make the chits show the closest thing to an objective portrayal of the subject they can get, considering the material.
Harry seems if anything better than canon, which makes some sense? He doesn't have Hedwig (as far as I'm aware), so he might not have been expecting letters from his friends, but then even without that he's still a cultivator amongst mortals, which is a far cry from the canon wizard-child-who-can't-use-magic. Even with the bars and stuff, they likely physically can't keep him there if wants out.
I'm also curious how on the rails this is, as whilst there was some weirdness last year with the final point handouts we still don't know for sure if anything actually happened with Quirrel.
It might be he actually comes back next year.
Edit - The good thing is we could find out more about how the tree works as soon as next turn, if we use the Chit on Natural Springy Ball II (ideally) or even Calcification.
Edit 2 to clarify - getting Ball II would uncover 1 Adaptation and, depending on whether FriedIce is right or wrong, possibly another. Also depending on that, getting Calcification would either unlock 0 or 2.
The other possibility is that one pre-req will give you sight of the upgrade but you need all of them to actually take it. I assume Karf would distinguish if that were the case though. Either way it's not a huge issue for the moment as, aside from the Chit, we can't take any more Care until we hit Foundation Establishment.
I'm somewhat skeptical of later abilities requiring every prerequisite to be taken before they're unlocked, as that'd mean needing 23 more ranks in Care to take everything in the tree. It's possible that's intended, and you're only meant to get to the later abilities later on in Hogwarts
It would feel just as weird for us to hit the Capstone after only 6 levels though.
Assuming that the number of Levels in a Stage continues at the current pace we'll have 49 total Care levels before we Master it. Plus up to 14 potential free upgrades from Chits, for a theoretical max of 63. Learning spirit speech took one level, and I think we can assume that contracting with a new familiar will also take a level so that's 3/4 non-upgrade levels, depending on how many familiars we end up getting.
So in summary, I think 23 total levels to cap out Rex's tree makes sense. This would put us somewhere in 4th/5th year assuming no Chit expenditure and that we don't split our effort between two familiars.
Maybe we shouldn't think in terms of Capstones and Tiers. Calcification would technically fall under tier 2, after all, but the mechanical benefit is comparable to Naturally Springy Ball I, not II. Then, if the Adaptations tree is mostly about adding similarly-powerful effects rather than improving them, what we refer to as the Capstone would just be another one such effect (possibly positioned at the end of the tree because of how different it is from the basic traits of the familiar, and various early adaptations were needed first to properly explain/justify it).
Thank you for sharing this - knowing that Care is an interlocking Skill Tree is really important for our future picks.
Out of curiosity what's our chances of getting 750 in Arithmancy? It'd be cool to effectively get to Apprentice (even if we can't use it yet) on something we effectively picked up on a whim over the holidays.
Just caught up with the Quest, and it's absolutely wonderful, capturing the wizarding/cultivating world in such a unique way.
It's probably far, far too early for this, but I already ship it
How would Master of Death work in a world of cultivators? Also, really curious for Voldys reasons for staying in this realm rather than ascending, which most talented top years seem to be able to do when they graduate. Or maybe the demonic cultivator isn't Voldy at all? Given how immortality is a given in this setting, I wonder what's he up to now?
Also, is there a full list of all the Cultivation realms? Really looking forward to seeing what Tribulation entails, though that's probably years later.
Spiritual and Physical Cultivation stand apart as inherent aspects of the system
There are 7 consecutive stages for both branches, with both requiring completion before advancement to the next stage is possible. The stages are called as follows.
And with the first stage being broken into 4 parts for each type of cultivation, and the second into 5, a possible theory is that each stage has 1 more than the previous.
[X][Social] The central hub of immortal activity in London is Diagon Alley. Now that you're much more knowledgeable about the world of Qi, you'd like a second look at the place. Perhaps put a number to your actual wealth and do some window shopping.
[X][Social] Hermione has invited you and Dad to meet her own parents, to tell the adults comforting stories about your time at Hogwarts and set their minds at ease.
[X][Social] You've got Dad to agree to a weekend trip to the countryside for you, visiting Mandy's clan and reservation.
[X][Social] You've managed to bring a doodle or two off the page - literally, in some cases - but you'd like to strive for more. Find a model and really put your skills to the test, both artistically and in the realm of Qi animation.
[X] Dad
The summer malus is entirely counteracted by the tokens.
1. The Rainbow Brush - every set of four different aspects in a row grants one extra die to that pool.
2. Whip Shear technique - split a metal aspect result roll inclusively between 20 and 50 into two metal aspect rolls between 1 and 30.
Familiar effects
0. The Mossball - for every 400 points of progress an action grants, gain an extra wood aspect die to the next pool this turn.
1. Natural bouncy ball - for every earth aspect result roll 25 or less, add an earth aspect pool die to the next action this turn.
The Rune of Alacrity - releases in January.
Stacks: 0 > 4 (per fire aspect pool success)
Arithmancy I - threshold 13
Pool: [wood 1 , water 20, earth 15, earth 18, fire 15, earth 16, water 9]
Rolls: [metal 22 metal 21+50, metal 21+50, earth 67+50, wood 93+50, water 94+50, water 75+50] > total: 671
Transfiguration and Divination thresholds: 15 > 14
Arithmancy beginner I-II
Transfiguration and Divination thresholds: 14 > 12
2 techniques modified
Further Arithmancy benefits locked until Foundation Establishment stage
Divination basic
Knowledge of the Fire-Omen divination.
Ancient Runes threshold: 15 > 14
Divination beginner I-II
Ancient Runes threshold: 14 > 12
2 omens understood
Further Divination benefits locked until Foundation Establishment stage
Of all the elders at Hogwarts, three stand as the most feared. If you've done something wrong, broken one of the few rules there are at Hogwarts, then the stern gaze of Elder McGonagall is sure to find you. Admittedly, you've never been the source of her ire, but when even the ever-troublesome poltergeist Peeves behaves around her office, you know things must be serious.
If on the other hand you've failed to do something correctly, the exacting attention of the potionmaster Elder Snape will fall upon you. Unlike your own head of house, the man is known to have never uttered a compliment in his life, and while spiritual and magical consequences can be easy to miss, a potions accident can render a whole wing of the castle uninhabitable on account of the toxic fumes. You'd know, you had to find a new route to the library for exactly that reason last year. That the new way turned out to be more direct was just a happy coincidence.
The third elder, and the only one you've had no contact with, is Elder Septima Vector. She is feared because, unlike just about every other elder, she's very much a hands-on teacher. Or so you've been led to believe by Jason and Duncan bemoaning the limits on their time.
All the more reason to find out if you wish to pursue the discipline of Arithmancy under her now, rather than get a rude awakening in your third year. You knock on the seventh door of the seventh floor of the seventh tower seven times.
"Enter!"
Elder Vector is a woman appearing to be in her mid-forties, with long black hair and a face marred by deep thinking lines. She's evidently in the middle of something, standing with her back towards you, eyes focused on a massive blackboard, inside of which a piece of chalk is darting around. You think you recognize a few runic characters before the markings seem to recede into the flat surface and get overwritten by new ones.
"Honored Elder, I-"
"Here to study the great science of Arithmancy. Not a great leap of deductive logic, Miss Young," the Elder interrupts you, "Sit, I could do with a refresher on my opening lecture anyways. Have you eaten?"
You start to open your mouth, but once more, the woman continues before you get a word in, "Wait, you probably need nourishment a bit more often. I'll send for a house-elf at the appropriate moment. Get your quill, the ink refills on its own. And give me your return slip, we'll need a bit more time."
The portkeys exist as pages in a booklet, where tearing one out primes the artefact, bringing you to Hogsmeade if you're holding on to the slip at the designated time, and returning you to where you first tore it out at another set time. Hesitantly, you present your only way home to the elder. "How much time will we need, Honored Elder? My-"
"Ah, parents, yes," she flicks her wrist and a piece of parchment rushes out of the slightly open window, chased after by a quill. "Your father will be notified of your lateness." She marches over to her desk, retrieving her wand. With a deft twist of the stick, symbols explode around your portkey as the Elder keeps talking, almost fast enough to the point that you suspect she's using some sort of a breathing technique to have enough air. That, or the rune telling your soul that it should be faster is making things weird for you. You'll get used to it.
"You should begin taking notes. What you see here is a practical demonstration of the science of arithmancy. The location aspect transforming technique, powered mostly by a combination of fire, wood and metal Qi, entrapped in a storage medium for a novice to make use of. It is precisely arithmancy that enabled the creation of such a convenience. Originally, apparition could only be used by the individual cultivator strong enough to withstand the relatively complicated transformation of not only their physical vessel but also of their ego. While improvements have been made to the technique itself as well, rendering it simpler than ever to cast in the modern age, a portkey has still not lost its relevance. Can you tell me why that is?"
You flounder, suddenly and unexpectedly brought back to a classroom setting. You almost glance left and right to see if someone else is supposed to answer before remembering that you're alone in the room. "Uh, it lets people like me to also teleport?"
"Very good! Whilst many techniques can be created by instinct alone, to truly understand them and improve upon the crude initial attempts; that is the realm of arithmancy. You are muggleborn, yes? You can imagine a wheel - how it works, how it looks, even how to make one. Hopefully you're also aware of pistons, which can convert lateral motion into rotational motion. If not, you can probably figure them out in time. Once you do, you have over sixty percent of the most crucial components of a car. However, still no car. For that, you need arithmancy."
In the shortest form you could possibly summarize the elder's seven hour lecture, arithmancy is the underlying science of Qi, insofar as such a thing can exist. The five primal aspects of Qi you've come to understand exist as symbols both intrinsic and external - you came to call them by their elemental names by yourself, before consulting existing literature in depth, and only found your views confirmed once you did. According to Elder Vector, the elements have been shaped by cultivators since time immemorial, which leads to Qi subtly guiding and directing new disciples to pick up the legacy by subconscious thought. In actuality however, the five fundamental dimensions of Qi have nothing to do with how they're named, whether cosmically or by cultivator rhetoric.
Apparently the elder is also a quidditch fan, because she knew all about your propensity for the Humble Lightbringer Law, and gave you a series of examples. For you, most of the techniques are fire natured, because you - and most others - associate fire with light. But light could be a tool, something you need to use, which would be the domain of metal. Or light could be the change from darkness to bright, and change is water's medium. You have to admit that the full page spread of equations you dutifully copied from the elder's example on how earth could be used to replace fire in making light escapes you, but you've got time to go over it later.
At the very least, you're commended on your knowledge of Ancient Runes. If Care of Magical Creatures taught you to 'speak' Qi, and runes provide the mystical equivalent of writing it, then arithmancy is the grammar rules, and learning it without knowing about the proverbial alphabet would be even more of a headache. Then again, that's about as far as the analogy can be stretched. The actual work of the art - a term you'll make sure to never again use in the presence of the elder - is much more akin to math, and what little you know about physics. It's all about analyzing Qi and deriving formations which can make a technique more efficient or malleable, balancing a cocktail of elements in different amounts and polarities against what you might instinctively use.
The latter part of that - the polarity of Qi - is something you can't properly sense yet, placing severe limits on how far you can push your skills as you are now, but Elder Vector assured you that you can still get a few improvements out of your techniques. Improvements that she's willing to help you with, once you finish a twenty page essay on Qi field theory. When you pointed out that you've never heard of such a thing before, you only get a knowing nod. "I'm aware, which is why you're not expected to write the full seventy I usually demand. That will come later."
Over the next week, as you compile your report, you find your thoughts almost self-organizing. A lot of what you somehow knew to be true gets confirmed and explained, your knowledge of the primary five elements distilled to a neatly packaged list on top of your growing binder.
Fire is the element of action and impetus, of motion and joy, but also things like anger and destruction. It appears at, and amplifies peaks.
In many ways its inverse or perhaps the aftermath is earth - the element of stability and reliability. It smooths out the lowest lows of life, provides peace and calmness, but also creates stagnation and even death, although not in a violent sense.
From the reliability of earth rises metal. A more tempered version of fire and a less molassic version of earth, combining properties of both in some sense. It is the element of use, of utility and craft, the industrious nature of the world to strive towards complex elegance. If the peaks come from fire and the lows are of earth, then the middle ground is metal's home.
What remains is the transition from one state to the next, and that is the domain of water. It is learning and compromise, but also fear and degradation. Like its namesake, it seeps into the tiniest of gaps, filling the space between one element and the next.
Finally, there is the element of creation: wood. Qi is, near as anyone - you included - can tell, infinite, but it is created. Ex nihilo, perhaps, but created all the same, and in that moment, it is wood aspected. It is life with all of its love and all of its hate. It is the Qi that begets more of itself, whenever sufficient quantities or the right conditions are reached.
Arithmancy is the true study of the elements and their underlying rules, as it pertains to transfiguration techniques. It lets Rei combine the basic aspects to create new elements which count as both of their constituents. For example the whip shear technique currently uses metal Qi, but you could modify it to accept either metal or fire Qi, making it heaven aspected instead. Once Rei's done so, all metal and all fire dice would get split according to the effect. In case of multiple elements, the primary aspect is modified. I.e. the chroma-caller references both fire and water, but since it's a water aspect technique, the modification would apply to the water affecting bits.
Both the technique and element is up to you.
At the moment, a technique can be modified once, Rei can not yet make three-element combinations. She also can't stack the same element together.
This process has a narrative effect as well. Rei modifies her arsenal, letting her find yet more novel ways to leverage her skills. For example adding water to her currently metal flavored cutting technique would let her either keep her current clean slices or switch to a slower but more controlled cut, as if she were using a water jet cutter.
-[][Arithmancy1] Write-in transfiguration technique and element, see library
-[][Arithmancy2] Write-in transfiguration technique and element, see library
-[*][Arithmancy1] The Total Petrification Technique, fire
-[*][Arithmancy2] The Light Summoning Technique, wood
Note that Rei doesn't necessarily need to be able to cast the technique yet. As the days progress, you find yourself surprisingly at home with the numbers and equations of arithmancy. You weren't bad at math in primary school, insofar as anyone can be good or bad at basic addition and subtraction, but it certainly wasn't your favorite subject. With Qi however, you can get a sense of the answer by looking at it and listening for the clues it leaves behind. Or rather, leaves ahead?
Qi and time have a strange relationship, and at the very least until you ascend, you doubt that you'll truly understand it. Future events can affect the past, but likewise changing the present can disrupt the ordained future. Technically it can also be rekindled to reveal past mysteries, but that part at least makes sense to a human mind. Whether you could use the present to change past events, you decide to keep far away from.
Still, it's a corundum you want to pursue, and thus you find yourself drawn deeper and deeper into the field of divination.
Divination, as you come to learn, comes in two distinct forms: a clinical, almost statistical side of studying the world as it is to determine how it shall be or how it was, and an interpretative side of assigning value to and inviting the future echoes of Qi in your mind. Your arithmantic study supports the former, of taking stock of the Qi around you and how it might most likely transform into something else, and what that 'else' means for you. But the side you have more experience with is the emotional side of omens and signs.
Of course, no single real event falls neatly into a one category. An example you find that was probably meant to teach you something more, but made you laugh out loud at the simplicity instead, is divining rainfall. The best omen, a Madam Prewitt says, for predicting a drizzle is clouds.
Still, by the time you finish your assigned report, you've also compiled what you'd consider a solid basis for future divination study, and since that was something you always intended to get to during the summer, you find yourself tracking down the eccentric Elder Trelawney.
The tower you arrive at the base of is technically open all the way to the penthouse, with a single spiraling staircase winding up the wall, but you can barely catch glimpses of your target. A massive incense pyre dominates the floor, and additional sticks have replaced the usual orbs of light in wall scones. The air is thick with mystically attuned smoke, sometimes enough to display shifts of Qi in the physical realm. You're forced to cover your face with a sleeve, and by the time you reach the door on top you're out of breath and your eyes are watering.
For an elder focused on the art of seeing the future, it comes as no surprise that the door creaks open of its own accord before you have a chance to announce your presence.
The room looks like its straight from the Ottoman empire, with drapes of silk drifting on ethereal winds and wide, low sofas covered in elaborately stitched pillows. The smoke is no less thick, but somehow it no longer bothers you, more of a fog than an acrid cloud. The ceiling is vaulted, with mosaic patterns of dazzling colors inlaid with gems shining with inner light.
"Hello?" you venture, casting about for any sign of the elder. When you receive no reply, you decide to make your way deeper into the exotic lounge. After brushing past a few of the veils, you start to hear a low humming behind you. Whirling around, two things become apparent: firstly, that your way out seems to have vanished; and secondly, that you've found the elder.
Elder Sybill Trelawney is sprawled on a colossal bed, dressed in a sheer silk toga. Her eyes, which might appear comically huge on another person, seem to draw you in, despite her blonde locks leaving half her face hidden. In her hands is a ball of yarn, which she's unspooling for two knitting rods to work with, floating above her. Where the result of their work is going to, you can't say, and trying to follow the thread disappearing between the needles just leaves you even more dizzy.
"It is good you've come," the woman whispers, "Although I'm afraid it'll be too late. You will lose yourself at a crucial moment, and there's nothing left to do but fix and fix and fix."
"Fix?"
"We cannot know the future, only travel there and we cannot travel to the past, only know it," the Elder slides upright, the yarn slipping from her fingers and rolling to the floor. "Your ship has set sail already. I am so sorry. But the signs..."
Her voice warbles and you're stunned as she glides towards you and envelops you in a soft hug.
"You come to me for guidance, but all I can do is build upon your worries. At the very least, allow me to fortify your mind for the future, so you are equipped to never arrive too late again."
"I'd be honored, Elder, but can we come back to what I'm supposed to fix?"
"No, dear, it will only hurt more. My oath as an oracle prevents me from bringing excess doom on people," she finally lets you go, "Come, sit and meditate with me. The intricacies of Qi can be unfathomably complex, but I know you won't quit until you have at least the slightest edge to fight against the cruelty of this earthly realm."
She guides you to a cushion and you oblige, taking a seat and slowly steadying your breath. The Elder sinks to her knees opposite you, and a small flame appears in the air between the two of you.
"Fire is the rashest of elements, the one that rushes to act. Sometimes, even before there is anything to react to. Divining by the flames is a fickle thing, but also the simplest thing. Do you feel the flame, dear?"
No warmth reaches you in the already hot room, but when you close your eyes and open your eye, the mote of fire remains present. "I do."
"Beautiful, is it not? Then we shall begin," Elder Trelawney's voice shifts, almost as if she's joined by another, repeating her words just barely below hearing range and barely out of sync.
"Find the fire, feel the fire, feed the fire, burn."
The quivering ember swells and licks of Qi start to twist up from it. You find your attention drawn to the entirety of the flame, unable to focus on any one part of it, the sight washing over you.
"Catch the fire, hatch the fire, thatch for fire, learn," she recites. Gradually you fall deeper into trance as she repeats her mantra, occasionally falling silent, only humming some melodious song under her breath.
You're completely captivated by the dance in front of you, forms flowing into the air in what you recognize as runic script. Elder Trelawney's Qi serves as a lens between the mystic flare and your perception, showing you in unprecedented clarity how the streams of Qi slip off towards the future and occasionally bringing back... something. Omens, you suppose, that you'll need to meditate on further and perhaps consult a book or three.
It is hours later that the Elder carefully smothers the fire and awakens you with a sad smile.
"It is a simple ritual to observe, and not much more complex to conduct. It is both a strength and a weakness, as only so much can be read from the flames before they tire of your attention," she sighs, "The final bit of advice I have for you, my dear, is that omens are always self-fulfilling. If you wish to defy them, you must ignore them. One cannot work against tragedy, for that is the same as inviting it. Only the sincere belief in the freedom of your soul can go against what the augury tells you. You must either take the bad with the good, or nothing at all."
You nod and rise to your feet, the room having shifted from an Arabian fairytale to a simple cupola. A glance at your wristwatch tells you that you have less than an hour to scour the library.
"Fly now, dear. Pay this one no mind," the elder notices your panicked expression. With a quick bow and a muttered thanks, you dash for the door. Just before you step over the threshold, Elder Trelawney's voice drifts over one last time.
"Enjoy your month, Rei."
Fire-Omen rite
Number of omens: 3
Read the future from the burning of a fire. As Qi unwinds in the purifying destruction of heat, it reveals to you the mysteries of its future fate. While it is considered a beginner technique, you've shown time and again that pushing your mastery of the basics can lead to incredible results.
For each improvement past omen unlock, add a fire aspect pool die to the lowest divined roll. The die to add is selected in ascending order, with the first improvement picking the lowest possible die, the second the second lowest and so on.
So, how does Divination actually boost social actions? Why, by letting you know what you rolled ahead of time, of course. At the end of each month, Rei will perform the divinations she knows (right now, she only knows the Fire-Omen rite), and receives a pool of dice for her next month's social actions (right now, only a single die).
You can choose to use those results for your social action rolls, or discard them for random ones which you wont know ahead of time.
At every milestone of progress, she may choose to improve one of her existing rites or learn a new one. Why do one or the other? Improving a rite means it rolls more dice. Every rite starts with a single pre-determined roll, but as you improve it, more get added, up to a cap. For the Fire-Omen rite, you can't go beyond 3 pre-rolled dice, although improvements can still be made after that. When you learn a new rite, you obtain a new pool to choose. So if one pool rolls nothing but ones, another can pick up the slack.
For an example:
You currently have 2 milestones worth of choices to make. You might place both in the Fire-Omen rite, leading to it having a total of 3 dice.
At the end of August, you'll then know that 3 of your social dice will be [20, 40, 60]
If you like those numbers, you can choose to use them. If not, you can discard that pool and continue flying blind as you have been so far.
Alternatively, you might use one of your milestones to learn another rite, and only improve Fire-Omen once. At the end of August, you'll then have the choice between [1, 100] and [50], or discarding both pools, going into September with a roll of 1 and a roll of 100, a roll of 50, or completely unknown rolls respectively.
To be perfectly honest, the idea for divination as a future prediction mechanic existed before social actions were separate from the overall plan. However, it seems to me that people would rather keep the freedom to choose the socials they personally like, so we're keeping the current system. Instead, the dice get allocated in order of popularity from high to low, i.e. the most popular social gets the highest die, and so on. Hopefully the loss of fine control is a happy compromise.
If there are more social actions than there are dice in a chosen pool, the rest get rolled randomly like before.
If there are more dice in a pool than social actions... try it and find out.
-[][Divination1] Improve Fire-Omen rite
-[][Divination1] Learn of another rite
-[][Divination2] Improve Fire-Omen rite
-[][Divination2] Learn of another rite
-[][Divination2] Improve another rite
Lastly, there is the matter of your second and final jade chit. The experience of being light was... disconcerting, but not in a bad way, and certainly not so much so that you aren't excited for the second opening of the Hogwarts archives. You've gone over the pros and cons, and by the time the actual morning rolls around, you find yourself sure of heart, ready to cement your choice.
-[][Chit] Which technique? (see library informational threadmark)
[X][Social] The central hub of immortal activity in London is Diagon Alley. Now that you're much more knowledgeable about the world of Qi, you'd like a second look at the place. Perhaps put a number to your actual wealth and do some window shopping.
Roll: 96
This time, you track down the Leaky Cauldron on your own; a task that proves to be surprisingly simple. The old Christmas brochures reference an address that ends in 'and a half', but the street and surrounding houses are conveniently listed on maps of the city. Seeing as you'll be headed there for banking and shopping, you'll need to do so in the middle of a business day, which means you'll be going alone. A metro ride downtown and a few minutes' walk later sees you arriving at the wizened looking face of the entrance to the London immortal world once more.
The overcast sky promises rain, which is perhaps the reason why there are no large crowds out and about. The pub is sparsely populated, the hunched over barkeep reading a newspaper rather than serving a late breakfast for anyone and you pass him by with no more than a polite nod. Rather than rubberneck around like you did last time, you stride through with intent and purpose... if only because you do the gawking with your Qi instead. Carefully, of course, so as to not cause a scene, but you try to get a sense of the few patrons around. The innkeeper himself remains an opaque wall to your senses, but you would honestly consider most of the patrons around to be your near-peers. Given that none look younger than fifty, you feel justified in straightening your back with pride.
The little courtyard remains closed off, but the Qi in the charmed bricks is clear as day, and a quiet prod from you makes them leap to action. Diagon Alley is as welcoming as it always is, with the waterfall of nectar that covers the front of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and the tightly packed medieval streets. The crooked marble castle at the other end of the street is once more your first target.
The Gringotts Bank is a bastion of defensive formations and obfuscating swirls of Qi. Hanging out with Hermione has had you picking up a bit of cultivator history through osmosis, if nothing else, and even you've heard of the Goblin Rebellions. From what you gather, the realms of mystic Qi extend far, far deeper than the muggle understanding of various cave systems would allow. And a significant chunk of that underworld is ruled over by the Goblin Empire. You are not, however, knowledgeable enough to say which side, if either is perceived as the stronger one, seeing as there have been more 'rebellions' than you have fingers on your hands. One of the concessions made and credited with greatly helping to improve relations is the bank you're headed towards now, a show of trust by the British immortal community to allow some parts of their fortunes to be held and managed by the goblins.
Giving the teller your key has you brought to the same vault, with silvery letters above it reading "Young". Whatever thoughts you may have get washed away as the door creaks open. You always had an image in your head of the contents of the vault, but previously you assumed that in all the excitement of that first day your imagination had run a bit wild: that the neat stacks of spirit stones were probably not as vibrant as you though, or perhaps you remembered them as larger than life.
If anything, the opposite is true. You were working under the assumption that you wouldn't need to worry overly much about your finances while at Hogwarts, but you could easily tack on a few magnitudes to your current budget and still remain comfortably in the black. 'This isn't savings to live comfortably for a while, this is buy an apartment and start a small business money.'
A significantly more generous helping than you were planning on goes into your trusty sack. Unfortunately, what you were really hoping to find is absent; there are no secret diaries or scrolls, nor any mythical artefacts, the pyramids of spirit stones are the sole occupants of the vault. What you do get before leaving the depths is a promise from the goblin escorting you for a report on your finances. He says it'll take a few hours to compile and gives you a ticket with a line number on it, alongside instructions to return in the afternoon for the documents.
What you expected to be a session of staring at things you have no intention of buying has suddenly been upgraded to a full on shopping trip. The first stop gets changed from the weirdly crowded bookstore to Madam Malkin's, where you pick up a new set of uniforms in triplicate, alongside a pair of dresses, one polite and one daring. The disciple uniform is considered a perfectly adequate choice for basically any event you could possibly get invited to, but a teeny-tiny part of you is still a little vain. From a store of potions supplies you get an extra alembic and a more varied set of measuring spoons, a charm shop gets you a backup bottomless satchel just in case and the quidditch supply section sees you take a couple new rolls of training tape and handwraps. Lastly you pick up an elegant silver locket with a blank inside, for which you have plans.
All this has spent enough time that the hubbub around Flourish and Blotts had died down, so you make your way over. If the initial required book list for your second year classes at Hogwarts was anemic to say the least, then the addendum errata you received a few weeks back was anything but. Whoever this Gilderoy Lockhart fellow is, apparently he has some deep insight to offer, and a box-set of his collected works forms more than three quarters of the whole updated list. Joining your already crowded bag are some copies of the books you made more extensive use of, just in case. The Hogwarts library is more than sufficient, with undoubtedly a wider selection than any single store, but since you have the means, you may as well preemptively make sure you'll not have to wait on someone else.
Your day comes to a close where you started, with you simply trading the ticket for a nondescript binder full of typed out documentation. Although you almost go cross-eyed looking at them, you at the very least get to pretend you're a fifties era spy, perusing secret documents on the train ride back home. You'll let Dad give you a proper rundown once he's done with them, no doubt more thorough than you could compile, seeing as it's literally his profession, but at least the general gist for the source of your wealth slowly becomes clear.
[][Finance] Nameless financial advisor on mortal boards
The ethical concerns of using Qi as a substitute for insider trading tips aside, there is plenty that the immortal world imports from the mortal one, and although they don't know it, the reverse is also true. Your mother secured several such contracts for her - and by proxy, your - estate, leading to over eight years of cumulative dividends being sourced from various muggle businesses and stock funds. Should you wish it, you have a surprisingly robust and well connected network of businesses operating in the everyday markets that you could leverage in small ways.
[][Finance] Shadowy backer of immortal business
If the mortal world has perfected the art of confusing finance to make sure that telling what's going on is hard by drowning you in info, the immortal world has no watchdog organizations. All money is dark money, and apparently you finance a wide variety of small businesses from printing shops in Paris to a lowly spiritual herb plantation in Vietnam, with them being none the wiser to your involvement. However, that does not mean that you can't nudge things in... useful directions. While in many ways Hogwarts exists in a magnificent bubble under the aegis of Ancestor Dumbledore, having ephemeral connections to the wider immortal world is nice.
[][Finance] Wheeler and dealer of the spiritual kind
Spirits are to immortals what immortals are to mortals - often incomprehensible, and existing in entirely different spheres. Why a fairy mercenary outfit is willing to pay for cold steel toothpicks with wooden handles twice their equivalent weight in pure gold is a mystery, but evidently an extremely profitable one. You've unknowingly been funding several such trading operations, with you providing the initial capital and reaping the majority of the benefit, alongside some direct contracts with powerful spirits that have grown to trust and respect your stable business, if only because you haven't been mucking about for nearly a decade. It might be unclear how exactly you could leverage such a reputation, but you're a clever girl, you'll figure something out.
Wrap up training
Visit your friends Hermione and Mandy.
Paint a picture of Dad.
To avoid conflicting options, please place the arithmancy and divination votes in a plan format. The jade chit and your financial perk can remain as stand-alone categories.
Gain 2 earth aspect pool dice for every earth aspect result roll 40 or less instead. The final action (before this modifier is applied) now affects the first action.
If we decided to use one of our Arithmancy milestones to add the earth aspect to it.
I'm still thinking about what to do with the second one. I started by tackling the numbers/mechanics, but now I wanna see what I can come up with by considering the change from a flavor perspective.
Also incoming, a post about the Divination and Finance votes, but my opinion on the Jade Chit stays what it was last month (Natural Springy Ball II).
Learning an additional Divination rite is technically superior to improving upon it, because both give another social dice known in advance, but the latter only gives you the option to change them both (a package deal), rather than either/or (pick and choose), which is obviously more flexible. I expect this hint is a promise of at least balancing things out, though:
But that's not certain and far into the future, anyway, because we cannot even check that now, since even using both our milestones (2) to improve the Fire-Omen rite would only give us 3 social dice (the default 1 + 2, its maximum, by the way), which can't be more than our turn's social actions (a minimum of 3). So, all in all, I think I'd rather vote to learn an additional rite, at least. Possibly even 2.
Alternatively, you might use one of your milestones to learn another rite, and only improve Fire-Omen once. At the end of August, you'll then have the choice between [1, 100] and [50], or discarding both pools, going into September with a roll of 1 and a roll of 100, a roll of 50, or completely unknown rolls respectively.
Am I right in assuming we can only pick one pool to apply to the next turn's social actions? So if we had a pool of 2 and a pool of 1, and both roll well we can still only pick one of them (presumably we'd prefer the bigger pool)?
This would also incentivise bigger pools, though it'd only apply to normal turns if we had rites which can go bigger than 3 dice, or on turns like this summer if we failed the social fight.
I'm inclined to improve the Fire rite and get a new rite, unless we can guarantee the next rite we get will have a higher cap.
The description was giving me spiritual arms dealer vibes, which has me leery. I'm currently leaning either immortal for the rumour mill/connections, or mortal for relative uniqueness it likely gives us amongst our peers as far as connections go, though I could be convinced otherwise.
I'm on board. Considering the repeated references to Wood as the element of creation, I'm inclined to add it to Chroma-Caller, then when we can add a third element add fire (or add fire first and wood second).
Both of the elective scenes here were cool, I particularly liked the imagery of Divination, though I see Trelawny is still predicting misfortune.
Still, as ominous as that Divination of Trelawny's was, I'm sure next year will be just fine-
So I think the mortal option is the one with least use for us, and the spirit one could potentially be the best, but only if we have a lot of luck or really high modifiers, like years in the future high... so I am advocating for the middle way.
[X][Plan] Different Rites
-[X][Divination1] Learn of another rite
-[X][Divination2] Learn of another rite
-[X][Arithmancy1] The Wing Floating Technique, Metal
-[X][Arithmancy2] The Whip Shear Technique, Earth
It might even go hand-in-hand with our pledge of reducing suffering. Not that the mortal world has necessarily "more suffering" (if such a thing can be quantified) than the immortal one, but it would likely be easier for us to make a difference there, with our immortal abilities.
After some thinking, I'm not entirely sure how to approach an aspect change for a technique from a narrative standpoint. It feels like it might be best left to the QM, since I don't know what would be reasonable/appropriate. My initial thought was along the lines of Karnax', giving the wood aspect to Chroma-caller for similar reasons. Kinda the same could apply to metal, perhaps, but maybe more practical and less artistic?
As for Divination, maybe I'm misinterpreting things? Sorry, @Karf , could you clarify how it works? Do we get as many pools as we have rites, and do we have a choice to keep/discard for each? How does that interact with number of social actions? Please, let us know what you can.
And while I have you here, an unrelated question: how will progress from Meridian actions count for Sect Point gaining purposes?
Am I right in assuming we can only pick one pool to apply to the next turn's social actions? So if we had a pool of 2 and a pool of 1, and both roll well we can still only pick one of them (presumably we'd prefer the bigger pool)?
As for Divination, maybe I'm misinterpreting things? Sorry, @Karf , could you clarify how it works? Do we get as many pools as we have rites, and do we have a choice to keep/discard for each? How does that interact with number of social actions? Please, let us know what you can.
You get as many pools as you have rites. You roll all pools (there is a theoretical maximum pool amount in my mind, but you're nowhere near it at the moment). You pick at most one of those pools to apply. This is effectively independent of the amount of social actions you take.
@Karf So Wing Floating technique is "For every wood aspect result roll, all non-wood aspect rolls gain +5 bonus." If we added fire would it become "For every wood or fire aspect result roll, all non-wood aspect rolls gain +5 bonus." or would it become "For every wood or fire aspect result roll, all non-wood or fire aspect rolls gain +5 bonus."
@Karf So Wing Floating technique is "For every wood aspect result roll, all non-wood aspect rolls gain +5 bonus." If we added fire would it become "For every wood or fire aspect result roll, all non-wood aspect rolls gain +5 bonus." or would it become "For every wood or fire aspect result roll, all non-wood or fire aspect rolls gain +5 bonus."
While I could give an explanation along the lines of "non-wood is shorthand for fire, metal, earth, water, which does not involve wood", realistically there will be plenty of confusing moments, and by far the easiest way to handle every possible exception is to ask away, and I'll gladly answer as best as I am able. The general logic is going to be in favor of the players, i.e. making it stronger, but I also reserve the right to state otherwise if I feel it's necessary.
They are not. Technically you can think of them as exactly the same dice you've been getting off-screen for the social actions so far, except now they'll be coming from this site's roller instead of random.org.
Ah, okay. So the only advantage I can see for choosing to improve a rite instead of getting a new one is the promise of some kind of different improvement when it reaches its max number of dice (in case of the Fire-Omen, after 3). And the one drawback to getting a new rite instead of improving one we already have is that, while we can discard how many pools we want, we can only ever keep 1. So in a case in which we'd get pre-rolled dice for 90, 90, 90, a single pool would be better. Low chances of that, though. Am I missing anything, guys?
If not:
[][Plan] More rites
-[][Divination1] Learn of another rite
-[][Divination2] Learn of another rite x2
-[][Arithmancy1] The Chroma-caller Technique, Wood
-[][Arithmancy1] The Whip Shear Technique, Earth
Edit - It helps that more rites might mean more/longer Divination scenes and I'm all for that.
Edit 2 - I've decided to go for this slightly different plan, instead:
[X][Plan] Different Rites
As for the standalone votes:
[X][Finance] Nameless financial advisor on mortal boards
[X][Finance] Wheeler and dealer of the spiritual kind
[X][Chit] Natural springy ball II
From a quick think about the divination rolls these come into play: we can only ever keep one pool, the dice within a pool will average out given no positive bonuses are being applied, and social action bonuses only really matter on +90 rolls it kind of leads me to believing we should just get more rites. Having a best of 3d100 gives you the highest potential for a great result for the most popular option, with the other social actions being rolled afterwards out and will in general average out over time. The latter part feels pretty much exactly like it'd be when rolling three dice for the pool, as you decide whether to keep it or not as a whole so it essentially still comes down to RNG.
Taking the best of 3d100 with an option to discard, also goes well with the game play aspect of the quest as the option that is most popular with voters is most likely to do well. There's also the chance that the different divination rites have different capabilities, although that may understandably be difficult to implement so OOC they may all be the same.
