Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
If ya'll had chosen [Duty of Wood] at the beginning then you'd have a pretty solid idea of how Oath based Ethos work by now. Alas, its nearly impossible to unlock now.
It's a Girl's World -- And Lilly wants Adventure
If ya'll had chosen [Duty of Wood] at the beginning then you'd have a pretty solid idea of how Oath based Ethos work by now. Alas, its nearly impossible to unlock now.
- Location
- Who Knows Where
[X] If people want to come here, they could train with us.
-[X] But I don't want word of my talent getting out. Please. Only a few people you trust.
[X] Mum, I feel like I've barely seen you since… well, you know. (Introduction to Sarah)
[X] [Dream within the Forest]
-[X] This isn't the first time the Dream has caused physical changes in your body. What's going on there?
[X] [Cleaver of Fortune]
-[X] The thing with the ants was just the tip of what's possible. You're so close to figuring this out.
[X] In their darkest hour, with a great shout, the men rallied.
After looking it over, I think trying to expand into teamwork or sensory-related abilities might be best. As the story's shown, having Lily's father on her side has already been a major benefit to Lily, so more people on her side is going to be key.Not like betrayal is ever a thing in coming-of-age stories.
If making allies goes poorly, developing an Ethos toward detecting evil intent, or even just a rough emotion sense would give her more initiative. At the very least, she could get a head start running away.
...If the rolls for family continue, someone's going to be buying the farm soon, huh? I wonder if Cleaver of Fortune can alter memories...
-[X] But I don't want word of my talent getting out. Please. Only a few people you trust.
[X] Mum, I feel like I've barely seen you since… well, you know. (Introduction to Sarah)
[X] [Dream within the Forest]
-[X] This isn't the first time the Dream has caused physical changes in your body. What's going on there?
[X] [Cleaver of Fortune]
-[X] The thing with the ants was just the tip of what's possible. You're so close to figuring this out.
[X] In their darkest hour, with a great shout, the men rallied.
After looking it over, I think trying to expand into teamwork or sensory-related abilities might be best. As the story's shown, having Lily's father on her side has already been a major benefit to Lily, so more people on her side is going to be key.
If making allies goes poorly, developing an Ethos toward detecting evil intent, or even just a rough emotion sense would give her more initiative. At the very least, she could get a head start running away.
...If the rolls for family continue, someone's going to be buying the farm soon, huh? I wonder if Cleaver of Fortune can alter memories...
- Location
- Germany
[X] If people want to come here, they could train with us.
[X] Mum, I feel like I've barely seen you since… well, you know. (Introduction to Sarah)
[X] [Cleaver of Fortune]
-[X] The thing with the ants was just the tip of what's possible. You're so close to figuring this out.
[X] Adventure.
-[X] The Silent Sea. With your incredible speed, you could see the coast for the first time and be back by morning.
[X] In their darkest hour, with a great shout, the men rallied.
[X] When I finally saw the enemy before me, my blood quickened in anticipation.
[X] Mum, I feel like I've barely seen you since… well, you know. (Introduction to Sarah)
[X] [Cleaver of Fortune]
-[X] The thing with the ants was just the tip of what's possible. You're so close to figuring this out.
[X] Adventure.
-[X] The Silent Sea. With your incredible speed, you could see the coast for the first time and be back by morning.
[X] In their darkest hour, with a great shout, the men rallied.
[X] When I finally saw the enemy before me, my blood quickened in anticipation.
Well, at least the advice comes with somewhat of a disclaimer that it isn't entirely applicable to protagonists.
Didn't he technically say our shaping control is bad? Granted, not entirely sure how the magic lingo works there, but from what we've seen so far our healing strikes me more as perhaps overspecialised, along the lines of great at restoring stamina but bad at restoring flesh, more so than anything that could be called bad.
Honestly, the bit about how Lily's love for her brother is what let her control herself during the surge pulse bit basically sold me on the idea even harder than I was before.
Agreed. Setting aside the general problems with meta gaming, assuming that one interlude gave us all the information we need to properly assess how dangerous an eldritch influenced threat is seems unwise.
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Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
Correct. I was a bit general in my answer before, but Lilly knows there people at the Temple of Virtue in town who do some form of healing all day. You would probably knock yourself unconscious regrowing a fingernail.
This is mostly because you are not a healer, it is a secondary effect of a really good roll you got allowing you to push out into a pseudo-ability you don't actually have. Of course the fact you've done this dramatically increases the chance that true healing will come up as a level up option for [Dream Within the Forest].
As to exactly what 'shaping' is. Not telling.
As to exactly what 'shaping' is. Not telling.
Voting is now closed.
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- Location
- San Ramon, CA
Oh, so healing's the actual "Oh, that was a one-time thing. I don't think I can do it again." Heh.
Well, if Heartsworn is more about being committed to people we trust, it might be worth a second look. At any rate, if we really want to know how Oaths work, we can ask Mathew or Dad.
Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
@Silverking
Well I'll to tell you this because Mathew will next chapter anyway (because ya'll didn't reject cooperation with the Watch on some level).
Healing itself is plenty common. But that's Mana healing. It's fast, its brutal, and sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. The really impressive stuff like regrowing limbs from combat or resurrecting the dead almost invariably comes with some truly punishing tradeoffs and setbacks for caster, recipient or both. It also has increasingly complex ritual and resource requirements to be properly applied. Better than being dead, mostly.
Essence healing is none of that. It is just true simple holistic restoration of desired original state. No complications, no feedback. It is also both far less common (because Essence Ethos are super uncommon to begin with, Mathew would have had some questions if you were still pure Essence when he came to train you) and very subtle/slow compared to Mana healing. But being able to regrow the lost limb of your kingdom's greatest fighter without any permanent maladies is still very much worth it even if it takes a year.
It also lets Mana healers apply specific negative tradeoffs that they know an Essence healer can remove later.
The Lore Warden was unfair. It would be expected for Lilly to be slow and ineffective as a young Essence healer. True, she was actually below average by quite a margin, Essence healers are expected to be able to heal themselves pretty fast, but even being able to do it at all was pretty significant. Hence why they want to shuttle you away and train you in that single feature. It doesn't matter if your not very good at it, they can get you at least half decent in a few years and eventually get your Ethos to level up in that direction and gain some proper speed.
Well I'll to tell you this because Mathew will next chapter anyway (because ya'll didn't reject cooperation with the Watch on some level).
Healing itself is plenty common. But that's Mana healing. It's fast, its brutal, and sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. The really impressive stuff like regrowing limbs from combat or resurrecting the dead almost invariably comes with some truly punishing tradeoffs and setbacks for caster, recipient or both. It also has increasingly complex ritual and resource requirements to be properly applied. Better than being dead, mostly.
Essence healing is none of that. It is just true simple holistic restoration of desired original state. No complications, no feedback. It is also both far less common (because Essence Ethos are super uncommon to begin with, Mathew would have had some questions if you were still pure Essence when he came to train you) and very subtle/slow compared to Mana healing. But being able to regrow the lost limb of your kingdom's greatest fighter without any permanent maladies is still very much worth it even if it takes a year.
It also lets Mana healers apply specific negative tradeoffs that they know an Essence healer can remove later.
The Lore Warden was unfair. It would be expected for Lilly to be slow and ineffective as a young Essence healer. True, she was actually below average by quite a margin, Essence healers are expected to be able to heal themselves pretty fast, but even being able to do it at all was pretty significant. Hence why they want to shuttle you away and train you in that single feature. It doesn't matter if your not very good at it, they can get you at least half decent in a few years and eventually get your Ethos to level up in that direction and gain some proper speed.
Sounds about right. Some minor little bureaucrat who got shuffled off to a backwater because that's about the size of his ability but is convinced he's a misunderstood genius being oppressed by philistines or something, and so he takes it out on everyone else.
Well, it lines up generally.
Still, the fact that he wanted Lilly's Essence abilities to be even better tells me he would have benefited significantly from finding her. Something more than what kind of reward he might receive for the abilities he first tested.
This tells us a few things already. He is either a social climber and has plans, or he will be rewarded for finding special cases. It could be both, but for the latter we heard how those exceptional people Mathew trained all left for a bigger city. While I don't know if the Lore Master was involved in those cases, I can see a situation where notable potentates are always shipped off. It allows them to centralize power and refine their people's abilities, while simultaneously keeping the disparate population centers weak and easily controlled. Even if this guy doesn't have any specific plans, it would make sense that their home towns are compensated in some way.
Still, the fact that he wanted Lilly's Essence abilities to be even better tells me he would have benefited significantly from finding her. Something more than what kind of reward he might receive for the abilities he first tested.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
This is really counterproductive to that? The one thing Lilly was missing was control--and that's by far the easiest thing to teach, especially someone who was a relatively fresh Ethos.
And he just... Squandered it.
This is like seeing someone find a giant nugget of gold in the dirt field and then throwing it out because he needed to polish it first. And since Ethos growth tends to be apparently faster and more reliable when young--he's throwing out any opportunity to take credit for this find because... Reasons.
Like, there's no scenario here in which this looks good for him based on what we just learned. If he was here in exile and he was personally responsible for identifying and cultivating a rare and much desired talent? He'd be able to punch his own ticket. Instead he basically went "Lol you're fucking trash for anything but healing so we're shipping you out to do that in a year" because he'd need to actually do work to polish her off before delivering her and going "HEY GUYS LOOK AT THIS THING I JUST FOUND!"
The best possible outcome from this is status quo for him, there is no circumstance in which this makes his position better. Which either makes him incredibly dumb for someone called a "Lore Master", to the point where he doesn't understand how to train and direct an Ethos, or he hates us in particular and is going out of his way to push the boot down--something on the lines of "Your family is blacklisted so we're going to go out of our way to fuck you guys over, and your talent wasn't good enough to make me willing to take the risk and mentor you myself--which is why I'm going full out spite now because it was this close."
Yeah though, if we get a part time job healing for the Watch in exchange for money and training--that lets us get the training in how to use our talents that we'd otherwise be denied until we get shipped out--plus it gets us valuable connections.
And amazing, these two Ethos basically make Lilly a baby Paladin, and with Cleaver in the wings to bend fate in favor of the Heroes, we've got a really fun narrative coming together here.
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Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
...
Hmm, I think I see what you mean.
Definitely hyped to see where this goes though.
Uh, I just hope that Lilly becomes less of a hazard to herself and others though.
Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
What follows is definitely not accurate, but gets the message across.
Some Ethos are like a two handed warhammer, you sling them around in wild arcs. Some Ethos are like a finely balanced dagger, acts of deadly grace.
You can train and become better at both, but being great at using a warhammer will never give you the finesse of a dagger. You can become more skilled at wielding your Ethos, but if its a warhammer, its a warhammer.
- Location
- San Ramon, CA
The main problem is that even though the Lore Warden is seemingly throwing silver in the dirt for the sin of not being gold, he's still the one in control. As a government appointed official, he has the right to command Lilly to go be a healer's apprentice when she turns 13, and we currently don't have any method of gainsaying that. The options (at the moment) appear to be:
1. Develop and demonstrate an alternate career path that will give the Lore Warden a bigger "finder's fee" than shipping us away to Arrone.
2. Get the attention of a rich and/or powerful benefactor who is able to overrule the Lore Warden.
3. Somehow engineer a scenario where the Lore Warden making us go to Arrone is seen as so callous or incompetent that he would lose all credibility if he went through with it (i.e. the Diviner having to owe us a favor to preserve her reputation).
4. Run away from home before our 13th birthday, which would deny us citizenship and bring shame upon our family.
Hopefully, training with people that Mathew considers trustworthy will provide us with more options, but right now we have to acknowledge that the Lore Warden may be trouble for quite some time (not to mention whatever else is happening in Harmuph that makes Myah want to fake her own death in order to leave).
1. Develop and demonstrate an alternate career path that will give the Lore Warden a bigger "finder's fee" than shipping us away to Arrone.
2. Get the attention of a rich and/or powerful benefactor who is able to overrule the Lore Warden.
3. Somehow engineer a scenario where the Lore Warden making us go to Arrone is seen as so callous or incompetent that he would lose all credibility if he went through with it (i.e. the Diviner having to owe us a favor to preserve her reputation).
4. Run away from home before our 13th birthday, which would deny us citizenship and bring shame upon our family.
Hopefully, training with people that Mathew considers trustworthy will provide us with more options, but right now we have to acknowledge that the Lore Warden may be trouble for quite some time (not to mention whatever else is happening in Harmuph that makes Myah want to fake her own death in order to leave).
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Running away is a valid strategy. We might be able to gain power for a year, and then run. Also, a knife in his back is a (poor) option as well. Also, just our family, I think. We are a girl, do we have citizenship?
Maps on Onedrive
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Only done reading the update now, and I am two days late to the vote. Oh well.
Might as well suggest some corrections for the typos I noticed. I don't know if you want to be fixing them; if this is unneeded, I'll drop it.
What is the hierarchy between the Watch and the Office of Lore? It was mentioned that the wishes of the latter carry more weight, so wouldn't making our ability known result in the Office pushing even harder to take us away and make use of our talent? And they probably won't let us run away like they would've if we were just another run-of-the-mill healer.
The way we felt disturbance in theForce Fate suggests to me that trying to keep it a secret might not succeed for long.
What exactly are we offering to the Watch with the option that won? Infinite training opportunities? Something more?
Might as well suggest some corrections for the typos I noticed. I don't know if you want to be fixing them; if this is unneeded, I'll drop it.
The way we felt disturbance in the
What exactly are we offering to the Watch with the option that won? Infinite training opportunities? Something more?
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Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
The issue is that they've already made their decisions "Ship her off in a tower to be a healer in a year". Strictly speaking, what we do up until then is our own business, and in this case we'd have an argument that we're doing preliminary preparation! Since our 'Public' reason for associating will be as an apprentice Essence Healer, which is renowned for its lack of negative side effects even if its slow.
More importantly, more allies are always better, because it means the other side has to give you more face when dictating terms. Unless the Office of Lore is all powerful, they're unlikely to want to give us bad terms if it'd risk disrupting their relationship with security forces.
To just backslide on their own statement would be to suggest their initial assessment was wrong, which would hurt them more than just letting us associated for a year. And the chance exists of course that someone they don't want to fuck with decides to intervene--which isn't impossible if we can massage this connection enough (By all indications, our instructor is, in fact, a pretty big deal in the making--and he likely knows the actual big deals.)
Practically speaking, from what has been observed, Lilly is perfect for being a front line healer. She has the athleticism to be able to wear the heaviest armor, the stamina to work with it for extended periods, and even just the ability to restore stamina and slowly mend injuries is a game changer in a real fight. If important people go 'Hey! This girl's got a lot of potential to help the military forces out, make sure you're going to cultivate that potential' when we go in for training, that's going to have an influence on how we get treated there.
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Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
Lilly doesn't really know how it all shakes out. Except that the Watch is local and the Ministry of Lore (of which the local branch is referred to as the Office of Law) is connected directly to the authority of the capital. The Mayor is sort of there and Lilly doesn't really know what he does. The Temple of Virtue holds a lot of cultural influence, Lilly doesn't know how much of that is actual power. Then there is the Craftsman's Guilds and that's about it for the big organizations that she knows of. Madam Silva is likely connected to a larger organisation too, but Lilly just assumes that.
I am very much grateful for the corrections.
Your/You're is my nemsis.
Will come up in later chapters. But essentially just an agreement for Mathew to bring people out to you he deems worth the investment of both his and your time.
TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
If it helps, one way I got it through my head was to build the habit of reading 'you're' as 'you are' in my inner voice. It makes it hard to use 'you're' in the wrong place. As for 'your' it's just a matter of remembering that it's the one that isn't a contraction that's the possessive.
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Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
Yes and no. If you don't showcase anymore left-field abilities than sure.
There are far more significant things out there than being an Essence Healer, the nature of your multi-power is that you will inevitably become a walking case of "NANI!!?!!" to anyone that takes too close a look.
In fact that nearly already happened once.
Your specific iteration of [Cleaver of Fortune] was one of three likely choices, you rolled the only one not easily detectable by the Lore Warden. An Essence Healer who was also a detectable potent Concordance manipulator would not have left that Office with her father.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yikes. Would we be dead, or what? How would they force us to obey them? Wouldn't kidnapping children backfire in the worst possible way, eventually?
😨 Well, shit. This will get interesting, even just growing our current Ethea.
I mean legally it probably wouldn't be kidnapping. Given the existence of the Office in the first place, they probably have the authority to conscript sufficiently valuable/unusual/dangerous skillsets. And the fact that authoritarianism usually doesn't work out that great hasn't really stopped a lot of people.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well, yes. Still, that can't be stable for long. Eventually, we get powerful, and either refuse at the worst possible moment, or go on a rampage. It seems a lot worse to try this in a world where one person can feasibly wreck a lot of stuff, indirectly or not.
I suppose that would depend on whether they realize how powerful we are or just think we're weird and unusual. Also I suspect that if they did realize then yes, we would most likely be killed. The Lore Warden and the people that empowered him don't seem to be the type to react well to unknown and potentially paradigm-shifting threats.