I think it's just a reminder that the purpose of placing that dungeon is to redistribute power across an area to place it back into balance and not to kill off the group you placed it for. ....Maybe added after some accident(s?) in previous placements where it ended up doing just that because of poor settings by the one placing it?
It's a Girl's World -- And Lilly wants Adventure
Not Ethos just powers. [Rapid Iterator] seems to be able to imbue creatures with powers.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
yeah, that was my first thought as well, but the way that "the goal is redistribution, not eradication" is phrased sounds like it's talking about populations rather than powers, but who knows!
Lilly doesn't have the factory standard version of [Towering Edifice to Heaven], Evie made sure that a bunch of limitations were removed when she implanted it in us, so I'd expect that as we develop it we will be able to do significantly more than what [Towering Edifice to Heaven] was intended for, and probably already have applications that the Dungeon normally wouldn't have (for example because Dungeons presumably don't have access to Integration Vectors of their own). So that's just me parsing what the Tower was meant for and how Relations would fit into that.
- Location
- Dragyxx
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I think that we're using {Tower} in a distinctly different fashion that what it was intended for, and in fact a fashion that is specifically *not* supposed to be used in.
Implies that {Tower} was never meant to be attached to a person, only landscape features. It was supposed to create a Dungeon. Evie subverted the process so that it has instead turned Lilly into a Demigoddess. Presumably, Domain would normally constitute the inside of the Dungeon, rather than being a projection around a person. And the Dungeon, not being a person, would behave in a roughly mechanical manner intended to fulfill its purpose... but Lilly is instead using it as a tool of a sentient, emotional organism. Figuring out how to utilize its powers in ways they were never intended is likely why Foundational Ethea are apparently normally restricted to 'Geological Integration'. Specifically because an actually clever person can use and abuse their powers in ways that are incredibly powerful and disruptive, ruining what was apparently a carefully organized plan to manipulate society before the Maw arrived.
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- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
Tower is little hard to figure out since most of its blurb was spent on talking about how and what it should be used for with little talk about what it actually does.
Like from the recent update and Sly's talk apparently Tower is really good at understanding systems and Ethea which is very helpful for Lily and probably means that Tower operates at least partially by messing with ethea
Like from the recent update and Sly's talk apparently Tower is really good at understanding systems and Ethea which is very helpful for Lily and probably means that Tower operates at least partially by messing with ethea
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Y'know, I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this before, but I'm really excited for the oath part of [Shine, my Gentle Heart]. I'm pretty sure we're eventually going to be contracting Aurora or something like that. The entire ethos seems like it's weaved by Aurora.
- Location
- Ekaterinburg, Russia
Something to consider.
The implication of Ethea, aka Integration Vectors, is that they connect to souls and allow some hidden potential within to be expressed, brought to surface.
:::GEOLOGICAL INTEGRATION ONLY:::
Don't you think that Foundational Ethea, aka Dungeons, also need to connect to something in order to be deployed? Could this be an indication of the existence of, say, a World-Soul?
Like I said, something to consider.
The implication of Ethea, aka Integration Vectors, is that they connect to souls and allow some hidden potential within to be expressed, brought to surface.
:::GEOLOGICAL INTEGRATION ONLY:::
Don't you think that Foundational Ethea, aka Dungeons, also need to connect to something in order to be deployed? Could this be an indication of the existence of, say, a World-Soul?
Like I said, something to consider.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
tbh the fact that Aurora is legit known as a god and apparently vanishes for three days every year makes me suspect that she isn't actually a Deific being like Evie or Manoth. Feels more like she's something the Deifics created as part of the world building and those three days of absence every year is scheduled maintenance (possibly Aurora is related to forming new souls, since it's impossible to conceive during those days)
Edifier
Trusted within thoughts.
- Location
- Court of Moon Wizards
Aurora could be someone like Lilly, trying to become a goddess and possibly succeeding.
Once they believe you are one, with an ethos to draw power from those you've ensnared, there is potential for her to be collectively raised above the mortal rabble.
Once they believe you are one, with an ethos to draw power from those you've ensnared, there is potential for her to be collectively raised above the mortal rabble.
- Location
- Dragyxx
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Hmm, I wonder if the reason [The Ladder] could draw conclusions about [Rapid Iterator] is because such attitudes are *generally* how the 'AI' assigned to [Rapid Iterator](s) behaves. That maybe Dungeons have a form of standard issue artificial 'soul' that they operate on. It might explain a few things. After all, Dungeons are apparently uniform enough in behavior for people to have generalized terms for it.
- Location
- San Ramon, CA
...GaaaAAAAHHH! I can't take it anymore! We've been hanging off the edge of this cliff for two weeks now! Did NULLERROR curse Lilly? Is her family alright? Is Valerie still breathing? And what about Chariot? The people need to know!
...Sorry, I'm just anxious to see if everyone's alright (or at least just get the band-aid ripped off).
...Sorry, I'm just anxious to see if everyone's alright (or at least just get the band-aid ripped off).
Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
@Silverking
All shall be revealed in time. I'm feeling good about getting it out this weekend.
All shall be revealed in time. I'm feeling good about getting it out this weekend.
- Pronouns
- He
Don't worry about it. You were not the only person thinking it....GaaaAAAAHHH! I can't take it anymore! We've been hanging off the edge of this cliff for two weeks now! Did NULLERROR curse Lilly? Is her family alright? Is Valerie still breathing? And what about Chariot? The people need to know!
...Sorry, I'm just anxious to see if everyone's alright (or at least just get the band-aid ripped off).
- Location
- Dragyxx
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Alright, as a distraction, I shall now rant forth a collection of random all-caps conspiracy theories in Hope's of triggering interesting discussion.
MARIGOLD SHOWED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT!
THE EVIL ROSE BUSH IS LILLY'S GRANDMOTHER!
FLOWER IS A TIME-TRAVELLING LILLY FROM THE FUTURE!
CHARIOT IS SECRETLY A REINCARNATED BLOOMLING!
THE WHOLE WORLD IS AN ELABORATE SIMULATION!
AND THE GODS AREN'T THE PEOPLE RUNNING IT!
IT'S ALL A DREAM! LILLY IS STILL UNDERGOUND IN THE FOREST!
PETAL IS RAPID ITERATOR!
Huff... huff... I feel a bit calmer now.
MARIGOLD SHOWED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT!
THE EVIL ROSE BUSH IS LILLY'S GRANDMOTHER!
FLOWER IS A TIME-TRAVELLING LILLY FROM THE FUTURE!
CHARIOT IS SECRETLY A REINCARNATED BLOOMLING!
THE WHOLE WORLD IS AN ELABORATE SIMULATION!
AND THE GODS AREN'T THE PEOPLE RUNNING IT!
IT'S ALL A DREAM! LILLY IS STILL UNDERGOUND IN THE FOREST!
PETAL IS RAPID ITERATOR!
Huff... huff... I feel a bit calmer now.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Alright, let me hit a few.
Marigold's gonna arrive in Sanguine, because her ethos has that in the name.
Sanguine's gonna have some big blood sacrifice from some far out place.
Sanguine's gonna have even more blooming shenanigans.
The child demon thing disappeared using high fracture concordance
The library we saw in the Myah vision is related to that one foundational ethos.
Evie's slowly going to become big evil Evie again
also
MANOTH IS AN AGENT OF THE MAW
Marigold's gonna arrive in Sanguine, because her ethos has that in the name.
Sanguine's gonna have some big blood sacrifice from some far out place.
Sanguine's gonna have even more blooming shenanigans.
The child demon thing disappeared using high fracture concordance
The library we saw in the Myah vision is related to that one foundational ethos.
Evie's slowly going to become big evil Evie again
also
MANOTH IS AN AGENT OF THE MAW
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
actually, I was thinking about when Marigold is gonna show up. And while it's some very basic speculation, I've decided to roughly map out the distances each of them traveled:
(red area is Marigold's last known location, blue Valerie's likely crossing sites and green is Lilly's home, the distance markers are 100km per black or white box)
We know that Marigold was about to pass the border between Parisi and Narisell when we saw her interlude, which took place in the early morning of the 8th (so yesterday in the story). Presumably she's traveling somewhere in the red area, as I doubt she's crossing close to Mudbend, as the area she was traveling through was rather remote (it had been several days since she'd met anyone) and there's maybe 50km between Mudbend and Phali, which even to mundane people is two to three days of foot travel tops. So Marigold was probably ~600km away from us yesterday.
Marigold's Interlude also had Valerie cross the border between Lolsv and Narisell (presumably also on the eighth, as the interlude only mentioned that she was elsewhere, not elsewhen). There's two possible locations where she could've done so, due to the mountains blocking the rest, though the western one is more likely as Abby mentions that Lilly's location is directly south of them, not southwest.
Importantly, this means that Valerie traveled ~250 km in about a day, so her Ethos probably has some very nifty use to let her travel faster, as otherwise that's just an impossible distance to clear.
Wrt Marigold that means that even if she can travel as quickly as Valerie, she's still at least two days out, probably more, as I didn't get the impression that her Ethos is particularly suited for fast travel. If we assume she can clear 50km a day (a rather conservative estimate I think, considering that she can probably travel without much need for rest if she keeps her heat up), she'd still be eleven days or more out.
- Location
- San Ramon, CA
...That does look cathartic. Let me try.
- All the Bloomlings in the world have been told to keep a lookout for some random girl from podunk Narisel, and nobody knows why.
- Myah's Ethos, [These Bonds I Bear], may be somewhat weaker than other support Ethos due to its "one-size-fits-all" status (Even [Service to Man] is more specific). However, it can make up for it by assisting with any Ethos, which can be a real boon for some of Lilly's ambitions. Minor bonuses for a seamstress or healer is good, minor bonuses for rewriting reality with [Tower] is better.
- Chariot is not an "Unmodified Horse." If Lilly was to "ping" him with [Tower], she may learn something interesting.
- Madame Silva offered to convince her son-in-law, the jeweler, to come along as a bonus. This is actually a ruse to get Lilly to take her daughter, who has a Mythic Ethos that she's not able to hide for much longer, particularly when the apocalypse gets closer.
- [The Ladder] has a specific plan in mind for Valerie. This is why it gave Lilly the strategy to disable and reform her, even unprompted.
- Sally and Tunia are behind EVERYTHING. The dungeon, Lord Waters, Valerie, the Multi-Ethos, all of it. They are the Secret Bonus Bosses that we'll have to defeat after we take care of the Maw. (They have Plot Armor right now, so no sequence-breaking, but we'll know. Oh, we'll know).
- Location
- Somewhere.
inb4 at least one of these random speculationbits is right. (looking at you, "I wasn't actually expecting that interlude to be a Bloomling!")
(If I had to pick, "Ladder has specific plans for Valerie".)
Edit: Oh no. The QM rated me Funny. Help.
(If I had to pick, "Ladder has specific plans for Valerie".)
Edit: Oh no. The QM rated me Funny. Help.
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On the contrary, I suspect that Myah's ethos is helpful to other people in probably really big ways. The Caveat I suspect is that I think there is a significant cost to her for helping out others. It is called [These Bonds I Bear] and the bear part imo implies weight and heft. I also suspect this could be weaponized as well
Slyvena
I don't like pie.
- Location
- Pie Shop
Did I mention I had a name planned out for Myah's Inverted Ethos if ya'll hadn't gone straight to her? (Even if you'd gone at a later date it would have been a possibility, but nipping it in the bud early with an [AC] vote means you've essentially removed the possibility.) Anyway, if I haven't said it, its name would have been [Be it on their Heads].
Great writing news. I got over the writer's block part of the Chapter and was able to finish the first draft. Editing will be heavier than usual because there were more moving parts and critical moments than is standard, but I am now very confident I'll have things done this week.
@TheBiggerFish
Your offer a while back of corrections / typo-hunting would be greatly appreciated if that's something you'd still be down for. @Nevill has done that a bit himself and that's been really encouraging having someone help me improve the story.
@Silverking
I've decided the bonus I'm going to give the story for your latest Arc 2 Omake will be offered after I post 2.5
There will be some upcoming rolls and I'll let you pick one of two broad categories to receive a flat bonus for all of 2.6
Edifier
Trusted within thoughts.
- Location
- Court of Moon Wizards
Ladder has always plans, they involve Lilly becoming influential and gaining a following. Probably Lilly's first priestess or avatar, since it's having Valarie nestled inside what may as well be considered Lilly's core. A metamorphosis you could say.
And once Lilly has a following, soon enough Lilly shall rule the world, and through that save the world. The more influence, personal, and impersonal power Lilly has the more Cleaver of Fortune can do.
Relations could allow Lilly to give more control to Valarie of her ethos, or for Lilly to give her one of her own. Or for Lilly to tie Valarie closer to herself.
By the by. I notice Chariot's Ethos pick sounded like making a new entity, Petal, Evie, Chariot. And it'd serve a similar function to Petal, another respawn point. It also sounded like she'd be turned into a horse girl and Lilly too.
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- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
I would be much more worried about Ladder's plan with the context that just as Lilly was thinking of changing Ladder to be less evil only for it to make a peace offering not even ten minutes latter by telling us how we can protect Myrah from divinations via Hybrid Siphon and a minor Relations.
Like sure it gave us valuable info about how Hybrid Siphon works and an idea of how to use a minor slot but it was also for Myah's peace of mind since tbh I don't think she really needs to worry about seers looking for her beyond being a part of our group.
Cause I feel Myah was mostly worried about seers as part of her dad's abuse and them being a tool that her father would use to find her even if she managed to run away. Something that has been practically solved by Lilly's tremdous personal power making the father irrelevant in terms of a threat.
This means that after seeing how Lilly thought about modifying Ladder because of its advice to take advantage of Myrah's despair didn't sit right with her. It then practically rushed to give a separate piece of advice that would help Myrah in a way Lilly was happy to oblige.
Like sure it gave us valuable info about how Hybrid Siphon works and an idea of how to use a minor slot but it was also for Myah's peace of mind since tbh I don't think she really needs to worry about seers looking for her beyond being a part of our group.
Cause I feel Myah was mostly worried about seers as part of her dad's abuse and them being a tool that her father would use to find her even if she managed to run away. Something that has been practically solved by Lilly's tremdous personal power making the father irrelevant in terms of a threat.
This means that after seeing how Lilly thought about modifying Ladder because of its advice to take advantage of Myrah's despair didn't sit right with her. It then practically rushed to give a separate piece of advice that would help Myrah in a way Lilly was happy to oblige.
- Location
- Somewhere.
Yeah I'm pretty much always down for an excuse to reread ;P
Here goes!
Tree -> tree? I don't know if you're capitalizing for stylistic effect but I don't think you normally do that.
Add comma between "tonight" and "making"
first off, too -> to. second off, this is...a bit of a clunky construction? an unnecessarily split infinitive, and a bit...I dunno, something about it strikes me as off. perhaps consider "the destiny to which your future will cleave"?
add "of" between "beginnings" and "prodigious"
"through you like clothes" -> through your light clothes
"families" -> family's
looks very different compared to? looks very different from?
Everything in -> Everything is
"families" -> family's, again
...It's very apropos for the Maw to gorge something out, but should this perhaps be "gouges out"?
...That period should not be there because it makes the next bit a sentence fragment. "unharmed, surrounded by your own gore, breathing hard[...]"?
You've got quite a bit of sentence weirdness similar to the stuff I just mentioned in here, too. Suggest replacing the periods with commas and the commas with periods. (Except the end of the paragraph period, which is obviously supposed to remain a period.)
The period between "liar" and "capable" should be a comma.
Switch comma for period.
"parents heart" -> parents' hearts
You've also got quite a few uses of "Ethos" where you should probably have "Ethea".