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

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Alectai said:
(And from what the Narrator there is telling us, we're going to have to probably overthrow a lot of old monsters in the course of our Path either way, an (Inverted) Ethos might be necessary to raise the strength needed to do that)
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we don't even know that an Inverted Ethos would be that much stronger, nevermind the problem of Sync and Divergence we'd start accumulating trying to use an Inverted Ethos' powers (seeing how Sync and Divergence seem related to how we act/what our attitudes are and how they align with the Ethos, getting an Inverted Ethos could threaten our divergence of our other Ethea). Personally I'd rather take a lower rarity Flow Ethos than a higher-rarity Inverted Flow Ethos.

Thinking about Inverted Ethea: Survival!Lilly mentioned that Ethea can invert after people have picked them up:
Slyvena said:
But I didn't want people thinking an integration vector had inverted and coming after me. Having already witnessed some of what the girl could do, they'd commit everything they could to the hunt if they thought she'd turned.
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Presumably this happens if your experiences and actions line up so you end up acting the opposite of your original Ethos. I'd venture that it'd be a function of hitting maximum Divergence and maybe reaching some sort of traumatic breaking point after that which causes your Ethos to invert.
The question would be (especially with Zach slated to get an Inverted Ethos), whether you could "revert" the Inverted Ethos by basically deliberately trying to invert an Inverted Ethos. (this might also be relevant wrt Myah, depending on what exactly is going on with her)
 
Might actually be worth a shot? If an Ethos comes 'Inverted', it should be possible to 'Invert' it back to its less sinister version, which might be stronger for the experience? (Especially if (Inverted) Ethae are originally intended to be conflict stimulators and thus have reduced limitations in exchange for typically putting them in opposition with their surroundings?)
 
Alectai said:
Might actually be worth a shot? If an Ethos comes 'Inverted', it should be possible to 'Invert' it back to its less sinister version, which might be stronger for the experience? (Especially if (Inverted) Ethae are originally intended to be conflict stimulators and thus have reduced limitations in exchange for typically putting them in opposition with their surroundings?)
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It's a gamble, though.

We *may* have to take it, but it's still a lot riskier than I'd like.
 
AlphaDelta said:
It's a gamble, though.

We *may* have to take it, but it's still a lot riskier than I'd like.
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Guess we'll have to see what's on the table when the time comes though. I know getting a Flow Ethos at the moment though is and remains priority one, above all other considerations.

[Overlooked Maiden] would be the best if we roll it again, but I wouldn't count on it.
 
Alectai said:
Guess we'll have to see what's on the table when the time comes though. I know getting a Flow Ethos at the moment though is and remains priority one, above all other considerations.

[Overlooked Maiden] would be the best if we roll it again, but I wouldn't count on it.
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Yeah, I suspect the Ethos was available specifically because of what was happening right at that juncture in time. Now that Waters is looking for us, he's unlikely to just straight-up forget what we're about, Flow or no Flow.
 
Simon_Jester said:
Yeah, I suspect the Ethos was available specifically because of what was happening right at that juncture in time. Now that Waters is looking for us, he's unlikely to just straight-up forget what we're about, Flow or no Flow.
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Yeah, I don't regret the choice we made, Bedrock was just so critical as we're finding out.

But yeah, we need to close that hole given how Flow effects seem to be a soft counter to Essence.
 
To be fair, [Overlooked Maiden] might have enabled us to evade the confrontation with Waters entirely... but you're not wrong, Alectai.
 
Simon_Jester said:
To be fair, [Overlooked Maiden] might have enabled us to evade the confrontation with Waters entirely... but you're not wrong, Alectai.
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At the cost of making the "Wrap your head around what the fuck just happened" tremendously more difficult as well as making the 'Help Dad get better' mission a disaster in the making.

Fucking [Rapid Iterator], whoever was feeding it Gravitas apparently let it pick up Flow as a secondary within a distressingly short period of time.
 
Deuterium Dawn said:
Where is this coming from specifically? I don't remember it.
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The fact that Lilly can't even seem to perceive something is going on when Flow effects come into play?

Like, she seems to at least identify that something is going on with Oath and Mana of the other sources we've seen (If only because they seem to have physical effects that interact with Essence), but Flow seems both ephemeral enough not to show up physically, while lacking an interaction that Essence can notice.
 
It's not even technically certain that this snippet is directly about us! It certainly sounds like it, but we'll have to see if it is.

Anyway yeah we definitely need to start digging into Flow.
 
Alectai said:
The fact that Lilly can't even seem to perceive something is going on when Flow effects come into play?

Like, she seems to at least identify that something is going on with Oath and Mana of the other sources we've seen (If only because they seem to have physical effects that interact with Essence), but Flow seems both ephemeral enough not to show up physically, while lacking an interaction that Essence can notice.
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This feels awfully thin on the ground. She didn't detect the creepy rapist's concordance shit either did she? Can we even be sure that taking a flow ethos would help? There's a lot of things that could be useful and bases we need to cover.
 
Honestly I want a Mana Ethos more then a Flow Ethos. The Mana Ethoi we've seen have been some of my favorites, while none of the Flow Ethos have really stood out to me... Except Needlepoint Construction. That one I'd vote for in a heartbeat.

Also, we should keep in mind the Ethos we're being offered at the decision points as well. I'd really hate to see us pass up a really good Mana Ethos because there was a less-good Flow Ethos and getting Flow was deemed "more urgent." I'm not even sure Flow is more urgent - we've certainly seen dangerous Flow Ethos, but we honestly haven't seen much of Mana or Oath, and there's probably effects from those two that are just as bad as the most dangerous Flow we've seen.
 
I feel like while it's really important to get an ethos of each source, it's far more important to make sure they are the right ethos. If we get a shitty flow ethos, and a fantastic oath ethos, I want to get oath. And vice versa
 
ImperatorV said:
Honestly I want a Mana Ethos more then a Flow Ethos. The Mana Ethoi we've seen have been some of my favorites, while none of the Flow Ethos have really stood out to me... Except Needlepoint Construction. That one I'd vote for in a heartbeat.

Also, we should keep in mind the Ethos we're being offered at the decision points as well. I'd really hate to see us pass up a really good Mana Ethos because there was a less-good Flow Ethos and getting Flow was deemed "more urgent." I'm not even sure Flow is more urgent - we've certainly seen dangerous Flow Ethos, but we honestly haven't seen much of Mana or Oath, and there's probably effects from those two that are just as bad as the most dangerous Flow we've seen.
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I'm hoping that Quickwrit Stennovoker pops up again. Instant (as well as "regular" crafting-focused) rune magic would probably allow to approach and defend things from multiple angles. And maybe Mana Ethea are by their nature better counters to Flow Ethea, though we don't have any kind confirmation or even a hint for that yet from what I remember. Actually, if we just had a small pause in crisises for least a couple of days to let Lilly absorb common knowledge about Ethea, that would probably be supremely helpful when pondering beforehand what type of Ethea to choose as Lilly's next.
 
Writing progress continues!

I have about 8.5K notes, 4K of which is mostly coherent story.

IceCold said:
How do people experience Ethos Selection? -snip- Is it more like impressions?
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That one.
The discrete impression of a choice, like parts of yourself rising out of the ether and they choose to draw near to one which then grows and settles into place as their Ethos.
They never see/hear actual words, nor are they directly aware of the Ethos description blurbs. Those blurbs exist to give you the reader a similar impression to what the chooser would be picking up as a vibe.
Evie would be a bit of an exception, in some cases her words are directly understandable within Ethos selection.

TheBiggerFish said:
It's not even technically certain that this snippet is directly about us! It certainly sounds like it, but we'll have to see if it is.
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actuallynotanegg said:
It's a Girl's World — And Myah Wants to Not Die
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It's a Girl's World — And Who's a Good Girl! Ruffles is a Good Girl! Yes She is!
The Adventure of Ruffles, the secretly sentient dog and her trusty unwitting sidekicks Sally and Tunia. I guess Lilly can come too. Ruffles knows she is Best Dog. But is she Best Dog enough to save us all?

meianmaru said:
Actually, if we just had a small pause in crisises for least a couple of days to let Lilly absorb common knowledge about Ethea, that would probably be supremely helpful when pondering beforehand what type of Ethea to choose as Lilly's next.
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*literally writing a short description of the dynamics of some types of Ethea as I read this*
You might be in luck.

I've tried to make it not be excessively dry, but the middle segment of 2.3 will be a Geopolitical and Ethea infodump. It's like an info sandwich. Story either side with meaty delicious info in the middle. Admittedly more focused on combat mechanics than cosmic origins or peaceful life (given the source of the information). But considering your current circumstances, "How" Answers are probably going to be more helpful than "Why" Answers anyway.
 
Are Inverted Ethea something you would feel as discrete information, or is that just something you might extrapolate from the impression you get from them?
 
IceCold said:
I assume that it's something Evie informs her of, like what the primary source of an Ethos will be.
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when we see it, probably, but maybe even normal people are aware of it somehow.

What I'm hoping we'll get another crack at getting is [Seamless Call]:
[Seamless Call] (Rare):
Many when faced with the prospect that they will wield incredible influence, shy from the call and reject it. You barely even flinched at such a decision, accepting it as a simple truth to be dealt with when the time came. You are the woman they say that even dying as a child could not hold back her ambition. You will forever move toward your goals with inexorable momentum, pushing aside obstacles both physical and conceptual that are in your way.
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It's almost assuredly a Flow Ethos from its description and I bet it'd be a solid combo to go with [My Resolution, Thy Bedrock]. Where MR,TB anchors us in who we are and what makes us ourselves, [Seamless Call] sounds like it'd be strong at keeping us moving towards our goals, without being deterred by interfering Flow Ethea or other distractions. I feel like that combo should be a strong one-two punch against any attempts to subvert us in any form.
 
sheep-dodger said:
when we see it, probably, but maybe even normal people are aware of it somehow.

What I'm hoping we'll get another crack at getting is [Seamless Call]:

It's almost assuredly a Flow Ethos from its description and I bet it'd be a solid combo to go with [My Resolution, Thy Bedrock]. Where MR,TB anchors us in who we are and what makes us ourselves, [Seamless Call] sounds like it'd be strong at keeping us moving towards our goals, without being deterred by interfering Flow Ethea or other distractions. I feel like that combo should be a strong one-two punch against any attempts to subvert us in any form.
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Its definitely a cool ethos, but I'm still hoping for [Needlepoint Construction]. Singular focus made into a weapon should be able to do stuff similar to that while being a bit broader scope.
 
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I wonder if [Needlepoint Construction] will synergize with {Sample Space}? But yeah, [Seamless Call] seems like it could be useful.

Also, I think that nihilistic Ethos we had in our first vote would've been an Inverted one. It feels like the type. So I don't think people necessarily know.
 
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