It's a Girl's World -- And Lilly wants Adventure

[Slyvena]

Okay, I think giving an idea of what a typical Lvl0 power could be seems to be what most people would find more engaging. Not necessarily going to happen on your next one, depends on how Evie develops.
(Plus what Evie thinks and what I think would be similar enough most of the time that numerical ratings would effectively just be the author ranking his favourites.)

 

[Alectai]

Mmm, does this mean Evie's crossing a threshold and becoming more assertive now?

Anyway, I like the idea. "Don't give a numerical bonus, give a rough idea of what this Ethos can actually do"

That aside, it does seem that the point of an {Inverted} Ethos is "Someone who draws power from their trauma", they're the kind of ability sets that you'd ordinarily only see in some Final Boss level character--and for the most part, whatever your original intentions are, someone who gets assigned an {Inverted} Ethos is inevitably going to become a Final Boss level character in truth. Because an Ethos gets stronger by using it, and the basic powers of an {Inverted} Ethos tend to encourage you to do shitty things with it.

So in a sense, now that we've got our base package together, Lilly should be able to handle an {Inverted} Ethos without going full out Mad Overlady, especially if we manage to put our "Core Values" together solidly enough in the upcoming story arc enough to push against any influence they might send by.

(And I will admit, the Dark Queen bringing forth truth, order, and enlightenment by sword and fire, carving out an empire from the dross of petty men with powers beyond the comprehension of others tickles me something fierce. But I also think the hulking mass of elaborate armor with overwhelming power is an archetype that needs more cute girls in it, and at this point there's zero chance that Lilly won't be a bombshell when she grows up, thanks Mindstate!)

 

[Half Moon]

(And I will admit, the Dark Queen bringing forth truth, order, and enlightenment by sword and fire, carving out an empire from the dross of petty men with powers beyond the comprehension of others tickles me something fierce.

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Have you read A Practical Guide to Evil? That isn't exactly how it goes, but it made me think of it.

 

[Silverking]

Personally, the issue I have with ratings (apart from the previously mentioned criticisms) is that how much Lilly or Evie value something can be very context sensitive. Will this help Lilly with an immediate problem she's dealing with? Does it have a lot of potential, but needs things to be calm for like a week to get started? Does it grant great power, but may involve going down a path Lilly wouldn't be partial to otherwise (death essence, Inverted Ethos, etc)? Is it helpful to "world conqueror" Lilly but not to "respected adventurer" Lilly?

Some color commentary could be useful, though.

Namesake (Lesser): (Sure, Night's Lily is the symbol of despair and death, but there are other types of lilies we can draw from. On the other hand, if we lean more into "for who's sake you have been named"...that well of power might be deeper than you think, for better or for worse.)

Service to Man (Lesser): (It's...a better-than-useless comprehensive support, I guess? If you somehow find someone more awesome than you that you want to get hitched with, more power to you, but this ain't the Ethos of the strong independent woman you seem to be angling for.)

Nihilist Roots (Lesser): (Life's going to be strange for you, Lilly, and sometimes the best response to all the hot garbage headed your way is with a resounding "Meh." Resistance to Flows that draw on strong emotion, and you'll be very quick to adapt to surprising circumstances. Not a lot of Joy down this path, though.)

Dream within the Forest (Common): (Ooh, this looks cool. Imagine a forest's worth of Essence, flowing all around like the wind. Structure isn't its strong suit, though. Progress may come more as bursts of inspiration and insight than any reliable method, so it might be tricky to get the ball rolling. Sweet dreams!)

Brave Blood (Common): (A warrior's best friend. This'll help you both deal a nice chunk of damage and avoid all the hundred different ways to die in battle (like tripping over tree roots). Not the best at marching in line, and there are some duelist Ethos that can dance rings around you, but when things go sideways, you'll land on your feet and punch right back.)

Deviant Wanderer (Common): (In case "law-abiding citizen" stops being a viable option. People are more likely to believe the words you tell them, you'll pick up some neat cons along the way, and you'll always know where the exits are (and which horse can get you to the next town). The main trick is not picking up anything you aren't willing to put down; the eternally slippery aren't the best at making a stand for anything.)

Duty of Wood (Rare): (Sure, it sounds boring, but no matter where you go, they'll always be a demand for good craftmanship. The power of legacy is no slouch, either. You'll find tips and tricks trickling in from past generations to grow into a master craftsman in record time. Besides, if you think your ancestors put their own spin on the craft, wait until they see what YOU can do).

Foṟ̴͍̇m Fr̵̠̂̓ạ̷̾cture (̶̩̲͒͂A̷̡͆pō̵͕t̵̨̃heoti̶̦͛c): (What!? No! How!? How did it even...Lilly, I am literally begging you not to take this one. There's a fairly good chance this thing will EAT me if we have to share a body. Okay, yes, "all barriers, physical, mental, and metaphorical, will all be rent asunder before you," but human minds and the fabric of reality NEED boundaries, Lilly! I'm warning you, this Ethos may be able to take on all comers for a while, but "Lilly Silas" isn't going to last a month.)

 

[noncannon]

Ignorance for the sake of "retaining the mystery" is pointless; we're supposed to compound our advantages, and that includes turning Lilly, however slowly, from her [Uninformed YOLOer] ethos.

I think that fully-loquacious Evie would be providing subtly biased commentary on our ethos picks. Wisping Evie would, unfortunately, be only be able to give vague indications; maybe a few keywords.

An outright numeric rating may actually be an okay compromise; it's far less helpful than it seems. Ethos can be helpful for a variety of reasons, many of which aren't applicable to our context. What exactly does a "9/10" rating mean? Does it combine well with one of our other ethos; is it powerful on its own but not necessarily all that useful; is Evie just biased toward this more persuasive power? How does it stack against the 3/10 ethos that seems to synergize very well with Dream, or the 4/10 ethos that we desperately need to heal Yolun, or the 6/10 that can be used to avoid attention?

Once Evie graduates to full sentences, a numeric rating becomes far less useful, since she can just tell us whatever regardless. It may provide some utility for putting commentary in a "power-level" context, but the context itself is far more essential (and we'd still have to figure out her angle, of course).

...

For example, I think Evie would have been biased toward [Nihilist Roots] and especially
[Deviant Wanderer]; the old Evie, at least, would probably have given a 9/10 rating for [I Tear the Veil]: discoverer of knowledge still essential to our survival. By contrast, Evie would downplay [Duty of Wood] and other such boring support ethos.

[I Tear the Veil] (Rare): (Oath) {Inverted} {I know this one sounds a bit angry--that's Mannoth for you--but I would give it a second look; it's very useful and unlikely to come by again. The sad fact is, you're always one wrong question away from being silenced; with this ethos, you'll bypass those questions and be able to remove memories of missteps without going on the run or resorting to more... permanent solutions. (9/10)}

Duty of Wood (Rare): {I mean, take this if you want to spend your days carving stuff, waiting for the Maw's chosen to arrive at your front door. On the other hand, it's a pretty good upgrade over the usual woodcrafting ethos, more specialized than your dad's R&D ethos why that one's being wasted on woodcarving, I'll never know... (3/10)}

Well, she'd probably be a bit more subtle, but you get the idea.

Duty of Wood (Rare): {You already know this isn't a good fit, so there's not much to say. Woodcarving isn't going to help when the Maw's other chosen arrive at your front door. At least it's fairly strong for such an ethos? (3/10)}

 

[Slyvena]

Namesake (Lesser): (Sure, Night's Lily is the symbol of despair and death, but there are other types of lilies we can draw from.

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So I haven't gone through the four seasons and what Nights Lilies are emblematic of, but Lilly does know.
A Night's Lily symbolizes rest and acceptance. Hence why it is commonly used as a wreathe in mourning. It represents that the departed have found rest and that those who remain can accept their passing. It is aligned with the Season of Solemn.
As Lilly was born in Solemn, the fact the place she needs to go has Nights Lilies there does imply some form of significance.

Aurora, the sun. (The Temple of Virtue venerates her as their chosen god)
Gaia: 1-3 (Season of Growth)/Excess (30 days to a moon, 3 moons/months to a season) Yellow
Sanguine: 4-6 (Season of Change)/Mutation Red
Alloy: 7-9 (Season of Combination)/Apathy Blue
Solemn: 10-12 (Season of Rest)/Death Grey
- The Long Night (3 days long)

Gestation takes a full year in this world, so the day you are born is also the day you were conceived (give or take).
Gaia is your typical sort of spring, its also when most people are born. An excellent season for attempting actions that require the draw of immense amounts of power.
Sanguine can often bring new subspecies or variant animals into existence, an excellent time for trying new crops or animal husbandry. Also an excellent time for magical research.
Things calm down alot in Alloy, many of instability introduced in Sanguine stabilize. An excellent season for refinement and perfected certain techniques.
Everything slows down in Solemn. People are less energetic, libido is lower and rates of conception itself tend to be far less. Not many people are born in Solemn. Wards and barriers' weaknesses are easier to exploit in Solemn, magic is generally less resistant and extra care should be given to maintenance of fragile systems.

At the end of Solemn, Aurora disappears for three days. The Long Night. People feel incredibly lethargic, trying to conceive a child is likely to simply kill the parents, not that anyone is in the mood anyway. The Long Night ends with the sudden remergence of Aurora in her full glory and the beginning of Gaia.


As someone born in Solemn, Lilly would have a natural affinity for death magic and other forms of reduction. (Yes, I see the irony.)


(LE stands for 'Late Era', in common myth it refers to the last major divine war that spilled into the world. Since then, the Gods have gone quiet. Only lesser angels and demons seem to answer any calls and they too seem mostly disinterested.)
Timeline of Story so Far: (Pretty sure I got this all right)


1st Era, 2nd Era, 3rd Era, 4th Era, 5th Era
6th Era
11th Day, 10th Moon, LE2289
- Lilly is born. Sarah Liatris insists on her name.
Sometime between:
- 7th Era begins.
7th Era
11th Day, 10th Moon, LE2301
- Lilly turns twelve
2rd Day, 2st Moon, LE2302
- Lilly begins to feel her Ethos approaching. The family begins preparing for the ceremony.
10th Day, 2nd Moon, LE2302
- Start of Arc 1: Beginning of Quest.
- Lilly runs away, receives [Dream within the Forest], falls into her slumber.
3rd Day, 3rd Moon, LE2302
- Lilly awakes and returns home.
- Receives [Cleaver of Fortune]
4th Day, 3rd Moon, LE2302
- Lilly goes to and returns from Harmuph.
- Myah Mystery, d&m with dad, Madam Silva, Lorewarden.
5th Day, 3rd Moon, LE2302
- Receives [Brave Blood]
- Lilly is trained by Mathew Lye
6th Day, 3rd Moon, LE2302
- The Wolf attack begins after midnight.
- Receives [Effervescent Animus]
- Lilly falls unconscious near the conclusion of the forest battle. (In original post this was wrongly incremented to the 7th)
- End of Arc 1
Between 6-8th:
- Receives [My Resolution, Thy Bedrock]
- Receives [Towering Edifice to Heaven]
8th Day, 3rd Moon, LE2302 (In original post this was wrongly incremented to the 9th)
- Start of Arc 2
- Lilly awakes and is confronted by Lord Waters.

20th Day, 3rd Moon, LE2302
- Projected date for Zach receiving his Ethos
1st Day, 4th Moon, LE2302
- Projected date for when Lord Waters could legally reassign Lilly (presuming she is a member of the Watch).
- End of Gaia, beginning of Sanguine.
11th Day, 10th Moon, LE2302
- Lilly reaches age of majority, 13.
- Original Projected date for being sent to Arrone.
11th Day, 10th Moon, LE2307
- Success condition for Quest. Lilly turns 18.


Let me know if I messed something up, pretty sure I got all the dates square.

 

[Alectai]

Hah.

I guess the Maw's arrival signified the end of the Sixth Age? Fighting seems to be actively ongoing right now, and it seems like precisely the kind of thing the Transcendents would consider to be an Age-ending crisis given how everyone had to united against it.

 

[TaliesinSkye]

Apologies if this has been answered before, @Slyvena, but I was wondering, is there a reason Lilly is spelled with two Ls?

 

[Slyvena]

Apologies if this has been answered before, @Slyvena, but I was wondering, why Lilly is spelled with two Ls if she's named after the flower?

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Precise letter-matching is not necessary for the underlying mechanics at work.
Calling someone Mary instead of Marigold would be pushing it too far.


Or maybe I should just admit that it was a typo and go back and fix it everywhere lol (The double L will never be plot relevant)

 

[TaliesinSkye]

Precise letter-matching is not necessary for the underlying mechanics at work.
Calling someone Mary instead of Marigold would be pushing it too far.


Or maybe I should just admit that it was a typo and go back and fix it everywhere lol (The double L will never be plot relevant)

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It made my editor's instincts a bit twitchy at first, but I got used to it eventually.

Actually, if you'd like a plausible in-universe explanation, how about that Lilly's mother resented being forced to choose that name and went for the maximum amount of rebellion she could manage?

 

[Slyvena]

Actually, if you'd like a plausible in-universe explanation, how about that Lilly's mother resented being forced to choose that name and went for the maximum amount of rebellion she could manage?

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That is actually my retroactive canon even since I first noticed the difference. All the Lillys I've known in my life were double L, I did not know the flower and girls' names were spelt the same for lots of girls until partway through.

 

[Alectai]

Very nice!

Man though, I do hope we get that month of preptime, we've been basically playing catch up since day one and it'd be nice to go Open World for a bit.

EDIT: On an unrelated note...

It looks like my speculation on what triggers {Boundless Ethos} conditions seems mostly accurate? I speculated that we'd be at 3/5 based on the current progression, and that was before [Effervescent Animus] pushed itself over the next level too. The Condition is currently at 4/5.

It does seem to be that my theory that progression is going to slow down soon seems on the mark, given how Expansions after level 5 slow down (Because we don't get to ride the collective XP anymore each level, we fall back to zero XP after each Expansion now, so we require 2100 XP for [Dream Within the Forest] 6 instead of 600). Once our current pile of stuff we got one after another all hit their first Milestones, our progression on {Boundless Ethos} is going to crash, hard, since the amount of Expansions continues to rise but our source of low hanging fruit are plucked.

We're in alright straights at the moment, The Sixth and Seventh Ethae should still be achievable without too much drama. We have 4 Expansions between [Cleaver of Fortune] and [Brave Blood] before the DR fairy kicks in, and 5 for [My Resolution, Thy Bedrock], 9 total Expansions on low hanging fruit.

So, Maths

Spoiler: THE MATHS

Available Expansions:
BB: 2
Cleaver: 2
Bedrock: 5
9 Low Hanging Expansions. (LHE)
4/5 Boundless Ethos

-1 LHE
5/5 Boundless Ethos, The Sixth Ethos Appears, +5 LHE
Now at 13 LHE
0/6 Boundless Ethos
-6 LHE
Now 7 LHE
6/6 Boundless Ethos: The Seventh Ethos Appears, +5 LHE
12 LHE
-7 LHE
Now 5 LHE
7/7 Boundless Ethos: The Eighth Ethos Appears, +5 LHE
10 LHE
-8 LHE
Now 2 LHE
8/8 Boundless Ethos: The Ninth Ethos Appears, +5 LHE
7 LHE, The Gravy Train is now Over

So, based on all of this, and presuming there's no further issues rolling in, our progression through Ethae is going to start to slow down starting after the Sixth Ethos, as most of our easy sources of Expansions fall off the table, but we won't genuinely crater until... I think the tenth?

Ninth Ethos at least has most of the low hanging fruit still on hand that the higher branches will have dropped enough to push us to Tenth, but after that, we're officially in the wilderness.

That being said, Ten Ethae is a a ridiculous pile of bullshit holy shit so by then, if we have even the most rudimentary understanding of how to use them, we'll be in the zone

Now, wishlist for future Ethae.

1) We probably want an Ethos that helps us keep a low profile, sooner rather than later--we're running up to a crossroads where we can't afford to remain in the "Lilly Silas" identity and expect to be anything more than a soon to be purged Pawn.
2) We want a Mana based Ethos, to exploit our theoretical capacity to synthetize custom Spellworks courtesy of the {Core Heart} and the Foundational Ethae within. If Sorcerer drops again and we can tap Deific Magic thanks to Evie and the [Tower], that'd be very appealing.
3) Now that we have Bedrock, we should strongly consider grabbing an {Inverted} Ethos, those seem engineered for rapid escalation and powers outside the usual limits of the system.
4) We should get a supplementary Ethos to [Brave Blood] in the Pithe Source--ideally of higher rarity to give direction to the general physicality boosts we have from our current option. Lilly's build really aligns well with something incredibly tanky, between her functionally bottomless stamina, shock-proof physique, and access to what is--in the long run--arbitrary degrees of artefact gear. "What do you mean the fifteen year old girl has the [Undying Juggernaut] Ethos?!?"

 

[GlassMask]

If we are talking about future ethos, I'm pretty in strongly favor of diversifying our source types. Currently we have no mana, flow, or oath ethos types and I'd love to prioritize getting them for future ethos.

Mana and Oath seem really powerful from a battlefield perspective. Furthermore from an offensive and defensive POV, I'd like Lilly to be able to defend herself from any source pretty well, as well as be able to exploit weaknesses.

Flow ethos tend to seems less powerful from like a pure power pov, but psychic type (which flow seems to be) stuff is useful because we live in a society.

Concordance ethos also seem excellent, though Cleaver seems pretty good on its own so far. I'm sure there is a lot of other cool stuff that could be done with a fate/reality shaping ethos but I figure often we will better off just increasing our power with a different ethos and making ourselves a better cleaver for cleaver of fate.

I ideally don't want another pithe ethos unless it's really good and has obvious synergies. I really really don't want another essence ethos unless it's really really good.

I'm also strongly hesitant on inverted ethos, they seem fairly powerful, but also really really easy to abuse. I'd prefer to see one in action (like with Zach) before we choose one.

 

[Silverking]

At the end of Solemn, Aurora disappears for three days. The Long Night. People feel incredibly lethargic, trying to conceive a child is likely to simply kill the parents, not that anyone is in the mood anyway. The Long Night ends with the sudden remergence of Aurora in her full glory and the beginning of Gaia.

Click to shrink...

...Well, isn't that interesting? Give me a second...

Spoiler: Long Night's Present

Hey, Lilly. Happy New Year's Eve. Or is it New Year's Eve Eve? I don't know, you're the one with the internal clock. Speaking of time, though, I bet you're wondering about the surprise I've been hinting about for the past week or so. You remember the countdown that Zach had before he got his Ethos? Well, every single human gets the date of their Ethos pick assigned on the day they are born. Some weavers try to align picks with a season, others try to get in on the auction, but everybody has their exact date for when the big choice rolls around.

So, dramatic reveal: Absolutely nobody has their Ethos pick assigned during the Long Night. Doesn't happen. Wait, okay, maybe it happened really early on when the weavers were first playing with humans and Ethos, but not anymore. Turns out that when a person's Ethos pick is based on their momentum in life, the absolute worst time to get the choices is when absolutely NOTHING is happening, both physically and metaphysically. That's been the guiding philosophy, and that's why nobody's been assigned these three days in millennia. Of course, when you have a point in space and time that nobody looks at twice, you have to imagine that it might make a good hiding spot. But the idea is basically moot, since no mortal is ever assigned to those days, and even the Lore Wardens know that nobody can induce an Ethos pick.

Nobody except you, of course.

I've been hoarding a bit of Gravitas for the past week or so, and it's juuuust enough to push [Bedrock] to the next expansion, which in turn opens another slot in your soul structure for a new Ethos. Full disclosure: I have absolutely no idea what will happen. It might be considered just a bit of a dark day, and you'll only get some obvious [Hidden in the Night] Ethos along with the other choices. It may be that it views this day as "not happening", and you'll only get Ethos based on what you've done in the days before the Long Night started. It could be a "null session", with no Ethos picks showing up at all (which would have you break even with [Tower], but it would still stink). Maybe it's the rubbish bin of the weavers, with such prizes like [Ethos that Does Absolutely Nothing] or [Ethos that Uses all the Sources but Has No Synergy] or [Ethos that makes Grass Taste Like Chocolate and That's It]

Or maybe it's the hiding place of some Legendary Ethos, or some metaphysical skill, secured where only you could ever access it.

Anyway, the choice is yours. If you think it's not worth the risk, I'll just eat this leftover Gravitas and that will be the end of it. On the other hand…well, if we were only going into charted territory, it wouldn't be much of an Adventure, would it?

 

[Alectai]

Yeah, I think we're good on Essence now, my big concern with Mana seems to be that it's hard to hide though, so it'd be a tough sell until we have a means of shrouding ourselves or we can set up a new identity somewhere. So an Oath or Flow Ethos that helps us with this should be number one in the days ahead.

But as I said, the 'Easy to abuse' stuff is legitimate, but the stakes are also high. If [Bedrock] is solid enough by the time another one comes up, we should genuinely consider grabbing one as a trump card.

 

[NotteBoy97]

Chapter 1.2 look back at as we wait for the next update

Many paths ahead of you, many futures too. Whatever force it is that binds person and Ethos together, it demands complete attention until a choice is made.

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Interesting that Lilly refers to this force as demanding. Is that just human nature to personify forces outside our control or some hint at a mind or entity behind Ethos selection. Also means we nor anyone else can focus on anything else when it's time to make the choice. Which is important for us since if we level up in the middle of something it will be pretty obvious and potentially dangerous depending on how it goes. It also means if we want to influence what Ethos/Vector our brother gets we can't wait until the day itself since even if we're right next to him when he gets it he won't hear or notice us.

But only one consistently shines above the others, as if forged and shaped to perfection by your own hand. Your favourite pastime embodied in an Ethos. [Dream Within the Forest], the simple wilds have always been a source of comfort to you and now they will provide so much more that you can barely contain your excitement to know what lays ahead.

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Thankfully this isn't a Junji Ito story so having something "Made for Me" isn't a horrible thing. Anyways jokes aside Dream is literally made by Lilly's dreams as we know from recent chapters. Makes me wonder how that works given we know Weavers and other types of Entities are behind Ethea. I can't imagine a Common Ethos is somehow the exception to that rule where it's the person who makes the Ethos not it being given by a higher being.

Maybe it's because Lilly is special and a Bloomling but then again Dream was described as a top tier Essence Ethos in the first place if a bit hard to understand and use at the start. So basically like a lot of things I don't actually know and more questions than answers as usual.

Thick ribbons of golden light flow up and down trunks, into and out of roots and gently bleed off into and around the air itself.

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Where does the Essence come from and where does it go? Where did come from Cotton Eye Joe? But seriously where does Essence come from and where does it bleed off into? We know Essence is connected to Life and iirc there was a bit about our forest's power coming from its memories of Life but how does that work? Does eating food get us more Essence? Does growing older? And where does the Essence bleed off to? Is there some Lifestream thing that Essence is going to that we can't see?

How does Death tie into this since it blocks Essence sight despite dead things tending to still have plenty of living things in them like bugs or bacteria? Does Dying convert Essence into the anti-Essence Mindset! Lilly mentioned? Is Growth different than Decay for Essence?

You awake underground. Thick roots grown and woven around your body from the nearby tree. Yet, as you begin to struggle, they move in a most 'not like a root' way, retracting and shuffling loose the earth around you such that with a gentle heave you push up revealing most of your body to the noonday sun. Clumps of dirt slough off you as you stand, still not quite fully awake from whatever it was that you just saw.

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I wonder if this trick is something we can consciously use and with things other than our Prime Tree. Cause being able to tell a tree to smack a birch or grass to hold someone down would be very useful since our Essence telekinesis is pretty weak for physical combat.

You are still in the clearing where you fell to the Dream, though you don't remember the tree closest to you being quite so large. It's added another fifth or so to its already impressive size. As you take in the sight you also realise that the travel clothes you came here in are tattered and indeed even partially eaten by worms. Mother is going to kill you.

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Honestly while we could assume that this meant more time passed than a mere day it still seems in the possibility of a week not the three month coma we got. Cause even three months isn't enough for an already old tree to naturally increase by a fifth or at least I assume I'm not a tree guy.

After a moment as the panic subsides, you cannot help but laugh. It feels so strange to have had such a mystical experience and yet still be concerned about such normal things. You're not quite sure what being an adult means, but you had kind of assumed that you just wouldn't feel like a child after gaining an Ethos. In retrospect you are still entirely the same person. A totally normal person who just so happens to be able to see and feel the flow of natural energy between all living things and can have scary yet exciting dreams like you're some sort of smart tree. It makes you laugh again. It's going to be so weird seeing your friends and family again after you've had this deep and profound encounter in the woods. If they thought you queer before, this won't help that impression much at all.

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I'm sad that Lilly nearly lost this sweet and kind of naive outlook cause man she's going to go through so much crap.

Mystical Concerns: You have only just begun to understand what has happened to you. You are staying here in this clearing and figuring out every last scrape of information you can. You're not actually sure how to figure anything out, but you'll be damned if you don't try! You will of course not risk passing out for another half-day, because you don't want to be bodily throttled when your mother finally gets her hands on you.

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Chasing the Voices: Because touching the tree turned out so well already... But you can't help but be curious what this intimate connection with the living growths of the forest means for you. Is it just the trees? What about animals? You're pretty sure you won't get lost in the voices again…

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I have to wonder how much of a difference picking either of these two options would had made since even if we passed out for another day we would still return home and I doubt one more day would make or break anything besides maybe Lilly feeling a bit more guilt. But that might had been worth it to get some more experience with Dream earlier. Though now thinking of it I feel like chasing voices could had resulted us in meeting more Iterator Wolves and judging by how many it had for the fight I don't doubt it already had a few Alphas to maybe gank us with if we just walked right next to them. So maybe it's best we just went home.

- Being overwhelmed by the voices was only supposed to disorientate you and be uncomfortable, but you failed the save so badly I had to come up with the worst possible reaction you could have besides a heart attack.

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One of the most important rolls of the quest since while disappearing for three months somehow helped our relationship with our father it certainly put us behind the curve in a game that seems even at our best we're still 20 miles behind the curve.

- You rolled pretty well on a lot of wisdom and perception themed tests, giving you benefits like understanding what the golden threads are and remembering the dream after you woke up. Altogether you have a far better idea of the nature and scope of your Ethos than most neophytes.

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This is also important cause as mentioned later Dream is a really hard to understand for beginners Ethos though I have to wonder how differently the update would had been if we didn't make those rolls since trying to figure out stuff without Lilly telling us the answer is pretty fun.

Much shorter update than I remember but I guess it had to be that way given how important choosing our approach to home is after being knocked the fuck out.

 

[Silverking]

I'm extremely hesitant, if not outright resistant, to the idea of grabbing an Inverted Ethos, for a very simple reason: Sync and Divergence. For any Ethos we pick, we will have to actually "walk the walk" in order to make use of it and get better at it. Attuning with nature, going boldly into battle, defying destiny, and being the person that others rely on are things that Lilly is capable of doing well. There may be some adjustments as she furthers her Grasp on each Ethos and what its "purpose" is, but as of yet there haven't been any clear conflicts in continuing to sync up with her various Ethos. Inverteds, on the other hand...

- Point of note: [I Tear the Veil] feels quite threatening. There's more callous anger there than Lilly thinks she's ever actually felt on the issue.

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Even putting aside the threat that Inverteds are apparently hunted down in this society, do we really want to be Punk Rock Lilly (if not outright Murder-Death-Kill Lilly) for the rest of our lives to try and maintain whatever power it brings? Even if [Bedrock] helps us "handle it" from a mental stability standpoint, I doubt that trying to maintain the mindset the Ethos requires is in any way "healthy". Ironically, gaining Self-Worth and Rest State probably made it a lot harder for Lilly to proc an Inverted Ethos pick.

 

[Alectai]

That's fair, would have to be the right package to make it worth the risk then.

That being said, we need to learn what's with Sync and Divergence. It'd be easier to experiment if we could risk a throwaway Ethos at least.

 

[Slyvena]

The last 3 Sourcetypes in particular can work really swonky, so rules for the earlier ones don't necessarily apply.
[Towering Edifice to Heaven], which you've only just started to scratch the surface of one of its six separate categories, will help you figure out a bit more with Deific though.



In some ways you really lucked out with the Essence vs Essence lineup of the first major challenge. If it was something like Flow you'd probably have just been f*cked. ({The Ladder} probably would have told you to just run, abandon everyone.)
It is certainly advisable to make sure you end up with at least one of each Source-type. Being unable to directly perceive an entire category of attack is a weakness you'd struggle to fill.
Now whether you want to race to ticking those boxes as fast as possible or put it off for some more immediate synergy, well, I guess we'll all see. (Or just go all-eggs-in-essence-basket YOLO)

Cause being able to tell a tree to smack a birch

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I see what you did there.

One of the most important rolls of the quest since while disappearing for three months somehow helped our relationship with our father it certainly put us behind the curve in a game that seems even at our best we're still 20 miles behind the curve.

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You slept for 23 days.



About 7000 words written. Maybe a 1000 or so more to finish the ending scene. Then some heavy editing.

 

[sheep-dodger]

11th Day, 10th Moon, LE2289
- Lilly is born. Sarah Liatris insists on her name.
Sometime between:
- 7th Era begins.

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huh, I wasn't aware Lilly was born in the 6th Era. I already assumed that the start of the conflict between Flower and Maw/Colossi was what started the 7th Era, but I had assumed it had been going on for longer. In that case The Plan was definitely conceived of independently of the battle with Maw, since a 14 millenia timeline just to get everyone to the 2nd stage of integration seems a tad long.

Ethos-wise I'd really want to avoid picking up an Inverted one, both due to the question of Divergence/Sync as well as what we'd have to do to gather gravitas for it. Wrt source types I think picking up something Pithe based next (assuming we get something good) seems like a good call to me, since that would be easier to hide, as people already think we're running an Essence/Pithe ethos. Maybe we could swing something like [Quickwrit Stennovoker] since that's somewhat related to the runes we've already learned from Yolun, but that already seems like a pretty tough sell.

 

[Alectai]

The last 3 Sourcetypes in particular can work really swonky, so rules for the earlier ones don't necessarily apply.
[Towering Edifice to Heaven], which you've only just started to scratch the surface of one of its six separate categories, will help you figure out a bit more with Deific though.



In some ways you really lucked out with the Essence vs Essence lineup of the first major challenge. If it was something like Flow you'd probably have just been f*cked. ({The Ladder} probably would have told you to just run, abandon everyone.)
It is certainly advisable to make sure you end up with at least one of each Source-type. Being unable to directly perceive an entire category of attack is a weakness you'd struggle to fill.
Now whether you want to race to ticking those boxes as fast as possible or put it off for some more immediate synergy, well, I guess we'll all see. (Or just go all-eggs-in-essence-basket YOLO)


I see what you did there.


You slept for 23 days.



About 7000 words written. Maybe a 1000 or so more to finish the ending scene. Then some heavy editing.

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Huh, last three source types.

Is one of them the new Mystery Source that just popped up in [Dream Within the Forest?]

Also, I'm super hyped to see if we actually get some fucking time in the 'Open World' before we're back on the calamity train again. We need time to digest our gains and line up plot arcs you know!

EDIT: Wait, wait.

It's Legend, isn't it? That's a Source you've dropped on us from the Foundational Ethos stuff, and hasn't shown up on our list yet and it doesn't seem to be Oath (Which seems to be 'Make commitments, gain power while you adhere to them') or Flow (Which seem to deal with the mind and perception). Given how it seems to have shown up around the same time we got {Collective Communion}... Does it deal with Inner Realm stuff? Conversion of thought to physical matter and back?

But hmm, that doesn't seem to necessarily fit, both of the Legend Foundational Ethae involved altering the parameters of an Ethos. One by removing the usual limiters on power growth and evolution, and the other by altering the script to 'Repair' a broken one in the wrong place at the wrong time. The unifying implication seems to be that 'Legend' is the ruleset the Melange operates on?

While Deific seems to revolve around the transposition and motion of the Outer Planes beyond the Melange into the Melange itself? Hence why Evie's skillset seems to be imposing variant rulesets on targets and redefining interactions of energy, and even {Primordial Chassis} seems to operate by strengthening Lilly's fundamental resilience against hostile intention, being extraordinarily broad while still being 'Smart' enough to exempt positive effects?

If Legend then is the ruleset the Melange operates on, Deific is introduction of alternate realm principles into the Melange? The difference between altering the OS (In Legend's case) and introducing special Software (In the case of Deific)?

If this metaphor holds true, the Third Higher Source then might be exploits in the OS, which seems to hold true with how Ev'aclial described herself cribbing off of the Maw's tricks to design the {Geological Meta-Anchor}. And would explain why Lilly automatically gained awareness in the third Higher Source at the very moment she became the subject of one of said Exploits?

On that topic, while I'm riding the momentum of this whole random wild-ass speculation. It seems that ordinarily Dungeons can generate Gravitas on their own? Is that because they're entitled to the natural Gravitas of everything subsubed into their Domain? Which means that the monsters it spawns doing their regular thing and expanding generate Gravitas which it can subsequently employ to expand its influence further, or to generate stronger tools?

In which case, Lilly's 'Dungeon' can't do that because it's limited to 'Existing'. She needs to vector the Gravitas generated from her other Ethae into it until it can start generating structures that can acquire production in and of themselves--especially hard on account of Exalted Flesh winning the balance which sharply limits the range of her Domain to a maximum of ten centimeters beyond her (At least for now)

 

[Silverking]

In some ways you really lucked out with the Essence vs Essence lineup of the first major challenge. If it was something like Flow you'd probably have just been f*cked.

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Yeah, I could see that being a problem. Lilly is at least aware of the Golden Strands and the Pithe Field, having to fight illithids or something would be like trying to play chess without even being able to see the board or pieces.

It is certainly advisable to make sure you end up with at least one of each Source-type. Being unable to directly perceive an entire category of attack is a weakness you'd struggle to fill.

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...Wait, ALL Source Types? Including the one that we've had Low Inner Awareness in since day 1? ...Yeah, I'm not exactly in a rush to add something like that to our "build" at this time.

 

[Alectai]

Yeah, I could see that being a problem. Lilly is at least aware of the Golden Strands and the Pithe Field, having to fight illithids or something would be like trying to play chess without even being able to see the board or pieces.



...Wait, ALL Source Types? Including the one that we've had Low Inner Awareness in since day 1? ...Yeah, I'm not exactly in a rush to add something like that to our "build" at this time.

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As we've seen, it's not impossible to repurpose it, you just need to be clever about it. Definitely not something we should leap into anytime soon though.

 

[Silverking]

...I just realized, we DID encounter some Flow power during the boss fight that we had no "language" for what it was or how to deal with it.

It's absolutely ingenious, anyone else would have missed it. Even you are only able to tell because of your simultaneously overlayed Essence Sight and {Stutter Ping} in a place you know so well.

It's an ambush ahead. The efforts taken toward stealth are simply remarkable. Mostly wolves, but you see a couple deer and even a bear (they come this far east?). They are partly merged into the various trees, precisely mimicking their nature. It's actually quite unsettling, looking at something that is quite clearly a wolf yet having half your senses insist quite adamantly it is a tree.

Were this not your forest, the place where so much of what you now are was born, you might not have been able to notice it. You have the sense that there are more subtle magics at play here, reducing their profile further.

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We had to stack two detection skills AND have the homefield advantage to bypass it. Who knows what other Flow skills we may end up subjected to without us knowing? This is actually quite concerning; Lilly's got enough of an information drought to fill without Perception Filters, we may want to prioritize this (at least, if the Ethos choices are agreeable).

 

[Edifier]

[Needlepoint Construction] (Common): (Flow)
The art of singular attention is a mostly lost one. What people call concentration and meditation are poor imitations of a truly sharpened focus. Your patience is an immutable wall, unable to be worn down. Stress that would shatter a paragon of fortitude sloughs off you without finding purchase. Your mind is not simply solid, but polished to a brilliant shine. Every time you try something, you will do it better. When the occasion requires it, there is no idle thought, no distraction, simply the goal and the meticulous steps required to succeed.

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A general improvement for everything we do. This would be a good Flow.
Tho the overlooked maiden's brilliant in its own right.