What do you say?
[ ] "I... think I do. Is that why you visit the other world sometimes?"
I don't really get it. I think what she means is that she usually lives in the weird shifting void place, and this is just one of the changes she likes to have sometimes?
Hm. Okay, I'm going to explain what's going on. The place that you guys are in is literally a dream. Alice is at least level 50, and she could very easily be level 100+ - and at level 50 you get access to something called a Principle that lets you pull some pretty awesome conceptual bullshit. The actual mechanics behind it are actually pretty cool; they basically work like stunting from Exalted, where you just narrate a fitting action and it happens. Alice literally harvested this fever-dream from someone sick, and then imposed order over it so that she could live there. (There's some other stuff going on, but that's all I'm going to let myself say.) It's symbolic on a lot of levels; Alice hides her madness behind a facade of order, and right now she's asking if you understand that too - if you have that spark of madness and genius burning within you that you have to hide and constrain in order to function normally.
Thirteen hours, slightly over half a day of exploring/ research. We can do our exercises/ skill practising later after food, I think.
Hm. It'll nice not to have to do another twenty-five hour long update - though this last one was actually quite manageable, thanks to me skipping through some stuff and not having a very big article. Quite honestly, I thought that the Alice bit was going to be the hardest and I saved it for last, but it flowed like water once I started. I mean, just looking over it now I can see a bunch of problems, but... meh. I'm too exhausted to give a fuck right now.
Hm. Okay, I'm going to explain what's going on. The place that you guys are in is literally a dream. Alice is at least level 50, and she could very easily be level 100+ - and at level 50 you get access to something called a Principle that lets you pull some pretty awesome conceptual bullshit. The actual mechanics behind it are actually pretty cool; they basically work like stunting from Exalted, where you just narrate a fitting action and it happens. Alice literally harvested this fever-dream from someone sick, and then imposed order over it so that she could live there. (There's some other stuff going on, but that's all I'm going to let myself say.) It's symbolic on a lot of levels; Alice hides her madness behind a facade of order, and right now she's asking if you understand that too - if you have that spark of madness and genius burning within you that you have to hide and constrain in order to function normally.
Interesting, but I have seen little indication of such in Dust. She's a transcendent Angel that has inexplicable epiphanies sometimes, sure, yet she relies quite heavily on structured frameworks of thought to make her decisions, and doesn't seem to suffer from madness in any form (though who knows what is lurking beneath). That's my perception of her character so far, that is. And I don't think lying to Alice about our nature is a good idea, so pretending we are the same is out. Maybe just find some commonalities?
[X] "I like broken things, but I also like to fix them. What a strange paradox, isn't it?"
[X] A scroll filled with hastily written notes purporting to document 'The artificial domination of Goblins'. There is no name given for the author, and the end of the scroll is soaked in blood.
[X] A small, pocket sized book entitled 'A primer on the basics of the Elements', by Last Rites.
Is the book on Artifice written by the Lord of Ticking Death?
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Outpost some more. [6] (1/15 complete)
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (6/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [4] (3/15 complete)
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. [4] (3/4 complete)
[X] Eat some food. [1]
[X]Kustom Magick: Light of the Lord. By using the power of your own inner [Light], you briefly weave it with the light coming from the superior world. That takes the form of a spiralling halo of glowing letters, which join together to form [Words] according to what [Action] you wish to do. For now though, you can only use the word [Harm], creating a minor blast of energy that hurts the target in front of you.
I thought about it and I believe there's something to be done to make it cooler/more in character: one of the Magick's spell focus is a book. Specifically, the [Words] are initially taken from said book in order to make the magic more powerful, but in exchange the passage containing that word is destroyed. Later on we could do weird stuff such as using an entire book whose theme resonates with what we're trying to do, amplifying the power of our spells but in exchange burning the thing entirely.
[X] "I think I understand, yes. Should I find something... Unusual from my tower, I'll consider gifting it to you"
Hopefully she won't attack us or we're toast.
Books for the bookworm angel:
[X] A thin book with a cover made of obsidian plates called 'The disappearance of the Ten Hosts, Thirteenth Edition, by Top-Hat Grin'.
[X] An atlas entitled 'The Geography and history of the Six Regions, by Lonely Wanderings'.
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Ravine. [3]
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2]
[X] Practice:
-[X] Your "Interaction skill" [4]
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The soul of the [Red Jungle]. You want to know more about the place within which you were born, even if you left it shortly thereafter. [2]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. [2] (3/4 complete)
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
[X] Eat some food. [1]
[X] "I like broken things, but I also like to fix them. What a strange paradox, isn't it?"
Interesting.
books
[X] A scroll filled with hastily written notes purporting to document 'The artificial domination of Goblins'. There is no name given for the author, and the end of the scroll is soaked in blood.
[X] A small, pocket sized book entitled 'A primer on the basics of the Elements', by Last Rites.
Oooh. Minions and elements; how interesting. Makes sense though, and it'll be fun to explain my elemental system given how complex it is at first glance.
day plan:
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Outpost some more. [6] (1/15 complete)
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (6/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [4] (3/15 complete)
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. [4] (3/4 complete)
[X] Eat some food. [1]
And a nice smallish update, which is good since I have beta duties today. It's nice to have the MotSL reading vote since I plan to use that to explain the spell focus stuff.
I thought about it and I believe there's something to be done to make it cooler/more in character: one of the Magick's spell focus is a book. Specifically, the [Words] are initially taken from said book in order to make the magic more powerful, but in exchange the passage containing that book is destroyed. Later on we could do weird stuff such as using an entire book whose theme resonates with what we're trying to do, amplifying the power of our spells but in exchange burning the thing entirely.
Oooh. Neat; I really like that bit of detail. Not... entirely sure how I could justify it, since having a spell focus in the first place means that I have to invent a bunch of new mechanics to explain how it works, but... hm. Actually - yeah. Yeah, I can get how that would work now. Thanks for bringing that up actually; it fits in nicely with some other stuff I've been planning.
EDIT: So it looks like the update is going to be pushed back a day. Sorry guys; some stuff came up.
Just dropping here momentarily to mention I found the rpg I was thinking about: jagsrpg
Even better, it's free (allegedly)!
Courtesy for GilliamYaeger's Quest for reminding me of the title. His quest also looks interesting, but sadly it's pretty much dead: What Alice Found There (JAGS Wonderland)
EDIT: I also fixed a typo I made in my previous post, the one with the "spell focus" thing.
Alice Conversation:
"I know, but in the most abstract of senses. The spark of madness but flickers occasionally within me, you see." You hold your breath, waiting for Alice's reaction.
A minute passes before Alice reacts, suddenly appearing casually splayed across the throne. She giggles lightly, her hat still pulled low over her eyes. "Then if the spark holds no sway over you, what is your oddity?"
she leans forwards intently, unseen eyes boring into yours.
You pick your words carefully, well aware that not doing so could be quite dangerous - or at least unwise. "I like broken things you see, but I also like to fix them. I like the shattered pieces of a life, but I also like it when those pieces are picked up one by one and sewn back into place." You pause for a moment. "It's such a strange paradox, is it not?"
Alice laughs, jumping up from her throne and spinning about the room, parasol now unfurled and in hand. You make a point of not turning to look at her, and when Alice appears behind you, hands on your shoulders, it takes an effort of will not to jump. She whispers in your ear, her voice taking on a hollow, echoing quality.
"Well well well." Suddenly, instead of her voice coming from your right shoulder, it's coming from your left - but you can still feel her head resting on your right shoulder. "I suppose you've indulged my curiosity - now let me indulge yours."
And then Alice is back on her throne, and your mind is insisting that she was always there.
what do you say?
[X] Write in.
Story:
When you wake up, you decide to spend your time exploring the outpost further. Choosing to focus on the large main building, you find that the front third is a lounge of sorts, with tables chairs and couches made of white and black marble. The next two thirds are divided into an office with attached living quarters, a small storage area filled with the white and black marble that makes up the furniture, and a small medbay. You find some paper in the office, and you make a mental note to come back later to steal some of the furniture for the tower - especially the beds. You are pretty sure that you got everything there.
After that, you spend some time researching your staff. You finally manage to interface with the bonding mechanism, though you can't figure out how to actually activate any of the triggers. You do notice that once you've bonded with the staff it becomes incredibly light in your hands, though it still hits just as strong.
After that, you spend four hours researching your custom magick. You don't make any major breakthroughs, but you make progress all the same. The pathways in your soul are beginning to solidify, and you will soon be able to pump [Light] through them.
+1 Staff Research Progress
+2 Custom Magick Research Progress
After that, you settle down to finish reading 'On the Manipulation of the Soul's Light'. You want to make sure that you don't accidentally screw something up with your custom skill, afterall.
Article:
Foci and Cartridges are two of the more esoteric elements of a mage's craft. While their origins lie in Artifice, they serve as invaluable tools for any powerful mage who seeks to fully master their Magicks.
Magick Foci, while expensive to make and requiring a sacrifice of your Soul's potential, are invaluable tools for casting high level magicks. By imbuing specific arrangements of mystical materials with the infinite potential of your soul, you can create amplifiers for specific Magicks that allow for far more power to be channeled into an effect. Almost all high level Magick users eventually acquire one or more Foci to boost their favored Magicks.
Cartridges are similarly powerful, allowing for the storage of precast Magicks. However, it is impossible to use a Cartridge if you don't know the Magick for which it is designed - unless you have a Foci for that Magick. When paired with Foci, Cartridges can allow for normally weak beings to cast high level magicks with ease. Creating Cartridges is not easy however, as they require high quality mystic materials and the sacrifice of some of the creator's Soul.
The process of creating either of these powerful force multipliers begins by selecting the appropriate mystical materials. In general, it is wise to use a first tier material as the inscription material with a...
You put the book down with a sigh. It is a fascinating read, and you have bookmarked the sections on Foci and Cartridges for further reference. Unfortunately, you think as you prepare a meal for yourself, creating either of them requires access to high quality mystic materials - which you have none of. You don't even have any idea of where you could find some, a frustrating prospect.
On the plus side however, your cooking has gotten better.
what do you do?
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Ravine. [3]
-[X] Smoke Stack. [3]
-[X] Outpost some more. [2] (4/15 complete)
-[X] Tower Library some more. [2] (3/10) complete)
-[X] Write in. [?]
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (7/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [2] (5/15 complete)
-[X] Write in. [2]
[X] Practice:
-[X] the Wing Reinforcement Skill. [4]
-[X] the Flight Skill. [4]
-[X] Your {Body} Attribute. [4]
-[X] Your {Mind} Attribute. [4]
-[X] One of your knacks... (Write in). [4]
-[X] Write in. [4]
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The soul of the [Red Jungle]. You want to know more about the place within which you were born, even if you left it shortly thereafter. [2]
-[X] The soul of the [Grim Forest]. You feel that it would be wise to know more about the area within which you currently reside. [2]
-[X] Write in. [2]
[X] Enter the mirror again to:
-[X] Talk to Alice about... (Write in with a subject) [2]
-[X] Write in. [?]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the Metaphysical role of the Kabbalah in the formation of Reality', by Seventh's Luck. [2] (2/6 complete)
-[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. You want to go back over it to focus on the section about... (Write in). [2] (4/4 complete)
-[X] 'On the Artificial Domination of Goblins'. [2]
-[X] 'A primer on the basics of the Elements', by Last Rites. [2]
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
[X] Eat some food. [1] (1 day of food left)
[X] Hunt for some more food. [2]
[X] Write in. [?]
Time: 17:00
Mind: 6
SP: 90/90
SPR: 18
Level: 3
Body: 7
HP: 70
HPR: 7
Notes:
So! First off, sorry for how short the update is. Second off, the vote for the custom magick is still going on because there is still a tie - you guys might want to fix that. Third off, I should probably explain how Cartridges and Foci work in game terms rather than mechanic terms.
Creating Cartridges or Foci requires sacrificing some of your total SP capacity which you then can't use until the Cartridge or Foci is broken. All Foci provide an efficiency boost, giving you more bang for your buck when you use them. They can do other things as well, like adding status effects or changing how it manifests. However, Foci that can alter a Magick are very rare and have to be custom made for one specific person's magick. You can't use a Foci if you don't have the Magick it's attuned to (though some, very very special ones are said to be able to let people use magicks they don't know). Foci need to be charged with SP every so often to function.
Cartridges allow you to 'store' SP that is attuned to a specific magick. You can then later spend the SP stored in that Cartridge to use that magick without paying from your own SP pool. However, you can't use a 'little bit' of a Cartridge's storage; it's all or nothing. Cartridges are reusable, and often take the form of elaborate charms or bracelets. You can't use a Cartridge if you don't know the Magick it's attuned to.
Now, if you use a Cartridge and a Foci that are both designed to work together, are made by the same person, and which are attuned to the same magick it is possible to have them essentially form their own self contained system. This means that you can have a 'revolver' Foci that fires Magicks by using Cartridge 'bullets' that anyone can use.
Now, you're probably wondering 'well, if these things are so useful, then why doesn't everyone have one?' The answer to that is two-fold: one, making Foci and Cartridges is expensive and difficult as all get out. Very few people can make Foci or Cartridges, and those that can often only learn how to do so for themselves for reason two: making a Foci or a Cartridge means that you lose a percentage of your SP capacity.
This means that if you let someone else use your Cartridge or Foci, you basically just lost some of your SP. In addition to this, each person can only make a few Cartridges and Foci, and in general people need to customize a Cartridge or Foci to the user for maximum efficiency. On top of all of this is the fact that only the creator of a Foci or Cartridge can recharge it, which means that they are pretty much useless if you use them to much.
There is a third reason that everyone doesn't use Cartridges or Foci: sometimes their Magicks just don't work well with them. Subtle magicks don't always benefit enough from a Foci that there is a reason to make one for it. I mean, most high level people have a Foci, but often times they only have one.
To give an example of what I mean, the Order of the Northern Breeze teaches all of their high level monks to make a single Foci and either one or three reserve Cartridges depending on their duties. Often times Cartridges are used as last resorts, hold out magicks for worst case scenarios.
Basically, Cartridges and Foci are powerful tools and force multipliers that allow already powerful mages to reach even greater heights of power by sacrificing versatility for specialized power.
Magick Foci, while expensive to make and requiring a sacrifice of your Soul's potential, are invaluable tools for casting high level magicks. By imbuing specific arrangements of mystical materials with the infinite potential of your soul, you can create amplifiers for specific Magicks that allow for far more power to be channeled into an effect. Almost all high level Magick users eventually acquire one or more Foci to boost their favored Magicks.
I really, really like that the making of a Foci is kind of like what the Da'at World (I think?) does to the Infinite, but just on a personal level. Restricting the infinite potential to make something that's greater, yet lesser. Love that type of cross-reference world building.
Also, does this work as a vote? First time with this system/quest, so I'm not entirely sure...
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Outpost some more. [2] (4/15 complete)
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [3] (7/10 complete)
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. You want to go back over it to focus on the section about... (Write in: The Oversoul, and how memories can be imprinted upon it to cause changes). [2] (4/4 complete)
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
//I think you mentioned once about using a different colour when the time element is raised or lowered for an option, so I think the green works.
Foci and Cartridges are two of the more esoteric elements of a mage's craft. While their origins lie in Artifice, they serve as invaluable tools for any powerful mage who seeks to fully master their Magicks.
Sounds like they're fancy DnD's Scrolls and Wands/Rods. Too bad we're still stuck in the middle of nowhere with little contact with civilization or anything like that. Still, it's the thought that counts.
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Ravine. [3]
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (7/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [2] (5/15 complete)
[X] Practice:
-[X] Your Interaction skill. [4]
We should start testing that if we're focused on attacking the gobbos. It is our main ability after all.
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The soul of the [Red Jungle]. You want to know more about the place within which you were born, even if you left it shortly thereafter. [2]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the Artificial Domination of Goblins'
--[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. You want to go back over it to focus on the section about... (Write in: The Oversoul, and how memories can be imprinted upon it to cause changes). [2] (4/4 complete)
[X] Hunt for some more food. [2]
[X] Eat some food (AFTER using our Cooking skill to make it tastier). [1]
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
Lots of stuff for today's choices, but as I said we must step up our game. We cannot hope to stay here hidden forever, after all. Trouble is going to come knocking sooner or later.
[X] "Speaking of broken things, I saw a tribe of Goblins the other day near the Forest. Terrible creatures. Do you know something about them?"
Interesting.
day plan:
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Ravine. [3]
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (7/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [2] (5/15 complete)
[X] Practice:
-[X] Your Interaction skill. [4]
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The soul of the [Red Jungle]. You want to know more about the place within which you were born, even if you left it shortly thereafter. [2]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the Artificial Domination of Goblins'
--[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. You want to go back over it to focus on the section about... (Write in: The Oversoul, and how memories can be imprinted upon it to cause changes). [2] (4/4 complete)
[X] Hunt for some more food. [2]
[X] Eat some food (AFTER using our Cooking skill to make it tastier). [1]
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
Hm. Interesting; it looks like you guys are going to be taking some {Mind} penalties though.
That was when you were pushing [Light] into it - except now that you've figured out the bonding mechanism, you don't need to keep flooding it with [Light] to activate the passives.
I really, really like that the making of a Foci is kind of like what the Da'at World (I think?) does to the Infinite, but just on a personal level. Restricting the infinite potential to make something that's greater, yet lesser. Love that type of cross-reference world building.
Hm. I mentioned that because I thought that the red color would carry over, but it's still nice to have a clear indicator of change - I actually ended up missing that the Outpost exploration was supposed to be six hours long at first, and it kind of shows
EDIT: So! It turns out that we are still at a three way tie when it comes to the custom Magick. I really don't want to randomly select something so important...
Alice Conversation:
You take a breath. "There is a tribe of Goblins layering within the [Caverns] of the [Grim Forest]. They are disgusting, broken creatures. Would it be possible for me to benefit from your wisdom?"
Alice giggles again, kicking her feet back and forth in a disturbingly childish manner. "Well... the truth is that Goblins are so very brutish and, well, disgustingly straight forwards. It's a rare Goblin that knows how to do something other than hit stuff hard - and when they do, it's often just how to hit stuff very hard. So... so dissapointing. You know what I mean, right?"
what do you say?
[X] Write in.
Story:
Once you finish your meal you turn your attention to the Ravine. You want to explore the [Grim Forest] some more, to avoid any potential unpleasant surprises. You end up spending about thirty minutes on the flight out to the Ravine, and you presume that you will need an equal amount of time on the return flight. Since you have allocated three hours of time for this excursion, that leaves you around two hours for exploration.
The Ravine runs almost straight from East to West, and because of that most of it is illuminated during the day. However, with the sun growing low in the sky, you can't take advantage of that fact to aid your expedition - something you at first regret, until another fact becomes apparent: there are veins of glowing crystal embedded in the rock. In addition to this, they seem to have been the subject of some mining efforts; there are bits of abandoned wooden scaffolding lying about, and there are clearly man made tunnels winding through the ravine.
You end up spending a fair bit of time trying to reach the bottom of the Ravine, but you never even manage to make out anything more than darkness. Eventually you have to turn back - you have plans to do some research.
Your research goes well, and you make progress both with the Staff and with your own custom Magick. With the staff, you manage to trigger one or two of the functions erratically, but you aren't sure what you're actually doing. You actually ended up taking a break from it for that exact reason - you hope that a fresh perspective on it might help you make the required breakthrough.
You don't make any major progress with the custom Magick either; it's really just a matter of nailing the pathways down now with continued practice and flowing [Light] through them.
+1 Staff Research Progress
+1 Custom Magick Research Progress
Once you reach a stopping point in your work on your custom Magick, you start work on practicing your [Interaction] skill. It's surprisingly easy to practice; you just sort of... RISE. It's hard to describe, but [Interaction] basically allows you to rise above such mundanities as damage. It imbues you with an authority that by its very nature is above. You don't need to take damage or have something hit you or whatever - you just have to become something greater.
You aren't sure how to explain it. You aren't sure if you can. It's useful though - really useful.
Interaction Level Up!
Interaction Level Up!
Since you haven't left your study, you settle down in the middle to meditate again. You affix an image of the [Red Jungle] as viewed from above in your mind as you descend beneath the waves of your mind.
A sea of blood, its tendrils rooted deep within the soil. [RAGE]
A bloody battle - no, a bloody massacre. [REVENGE]
A desire, a need to inflict upon others what was inflicted upon it. [PROPAGATION]
DROWN THE WORLD IN BLOOD
DROWN THE WORLD
IN BLOOD SO FINE
You awake floating in the air and you only just manage to get to the fireplace in time to throw up. A brutal, merciless massacre. Thousands of innocents executed for no reason other than to prove a point. A literal sea of blood, sweeping across the landscape, soaking into the World Soul as it did so. Corpses mummified in the sun as even the scavengers and bacteria avoided the site of the massacre. Most of all though, a burning, horrible desire to make others feel the same pain. To drown the world in blood.
Meditation Level Up!
You shiver, taking deep breaths in an effort to forget the taste of blood and rot and hate so fine to drown the world in blood so long~.
You shiver again. The [Red Jungle] is mad, mad as can be.
Blood so fine, to drown the world in hate so long~
You have a suspicion that you won't be forgetting that encounter any time soon. No, you don't think that you'll ever be forgetting that encounter.
...you aren't even sure if you want to.
Blood, that dances in the sun, sparkling in a rainbow of hate~
You shiver again, looking about for something to distract yourself with. Seizing upon the reminder that you have acquired several new books, you pull down the bloodsoaked scroll 'On the artificial Domination of Goblins'.
Blood, blood, smells so fine~
You wonder for a moment if picking the bloodsoaked scroll is an entirely wise thing to do, but you push that thought away with an effort of will.
Blood, blood, goes down like a fine wine~
You shiver.
Blood, blood, blood, blood...
Article:
Goblins are cannibalistic creatures that consume each other, and in doing so gain power. This is the key to this process. By imposing one's will upon your [Light] and then forcing it through them, you can overide their soul, forcing it to conform to your will. By pumping your [Light] through the conduits of their souls, it is possible to reshape them, breaking them and then remolding them to better serve you. While normally this is a very difficult and complex, the unique nature of a Goblin makes it much easier.
A Goblin's ability to subsume other Goblins means that it has an opening of sorts within its soul that serves as a natural access point of sorts. This makes it much easier to dominate a Goblin, though highly evolved Goblins don't have this exploit in their soul. Be warned though, that while Goblins are much easier to dominate than most other creatures (in my experience - I am sure there are other creatures with similar flaws) most initial attempts, even if not successfully resisted, will likely drive the target mad. It takes experience to create high functioning servants - even a successful domination can result in a retarded subject incapable of following more than a few orders before forgetting them.
It is also important to be aware of the risk of backfire; when first practicing Domination, it is possible to be knocked unconscious, allowing the subject to possibly escape and/or kill you. Therefore it is my recommendation that restraints be employed whenever possible, and that any attempts at Domination without these safeguards only be employed against beings with significantly weaker souls than yours.
Now, when developing a Domination Magick, it is important to note that Domination is at its most basic level a form of instinctive Necromancy, without all of the rituals and equipment. Because of this, employing various ritual props can provide small boosts in effectiveness, though they are not required as in a full Act of Necromancy. This also means that it is important to keep in the correct state of mind; that this is your right, that this creature should bend to your will. You must Dominate the target, and to do so you much fill your own [Light] with your absolute will and authority.
You shiver as you put the scroll down. You had eventually been forced to stop, the subject matter not exactly helping with the whispers in the back of your mind.
Drink it down~ Like a fine wine~ Smooth on the lips~ Dancing on the rips~ In your mind~ In your Mind so fine~
You instead turn your mind to trying to understanding why these whispers are happening.
Blood, blood, dancin' in the blood~
After consulting 'On the Manipulation of the Soul's Light', specifically the section on the Oversoul/World Soul, you suspect you have an answer. When a sufficiently drastic event happens that sticks in enough people's minds, that resonates with the local section of the World Soul, aspecting it one way or another. In the case of the [Red Jungle], a horrible massacre aspected it towards [Flesh] and [Blood], which manifested in it becoming a bloodthirsty jungle.
Dance in the rain, dance in the red rain red~
When you meditate on things, from what you can tell, you access the innate connection to the Oversoul that all Mortals posses. It's just that in this case that connection backfired, and exposed you to something that you couldn't handle, so some of the taint leaked over. You suspect that if you meditate on the whispers you might be able to 'purge', or at least 'quarantine' the taint.
Red Rover Red Rover, stain your coat so fine~ Stain it red as wine~
You sigh. You're too tired to do that right now though.
Sparkles in the air, raindrops everywhere~
A quick hunting trip later that nets you three more days worth of food and you've cooked up a nice and simple meal to eat before going to bed. You fall asleep to the sound of bloody whispers in your ear.
what do you do?
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Ravine. [3] (1/5 completed)
-[X] Smoke Stack. [3]
-[X] Outpost some more. [2] (4/15 complete)
-[X] Tower Library some more. [2] (3/10) complete)
-[X] Write in. [?]
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (8/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [2] (6/15 complete)
-[X] Write in. [2]
[X] Practice:
-[X] the Wing Reinforcement Skill. [4]
-[X] the Flight Skill. [4]
-[X] Your {Body} Attribute. [4]
-[X] Your {Mind} Attribute. [4]
-[X] One of your knacks... (Write in). [4]
-[X] Write in. [4]
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The soul of the [Red Jungle]. You want to know more about the place within which you were born, even if you left it shortly thereafter. [2]
-[X] The soul of the [Grim Forest]. You feel that it would be wise to know more about the area within which you currently reside. [2]
-[X] Write in. [2]
[X] Enter the mirror again to:
-[X] Talk to Alice about... (Write in with a subject) [2]
-[X] Write in. [?]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'On the Metaphysical role of the Kabbalah in the formation of Reality', by Seventh's Luck. [2] (2/6 complete)
-[X] 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle. You want to go back over it to focus on the section about... (Write in). [2] (4/4 complete)
-[X] 'On the Artificial Domination of Goblins'. [2] (1/3 complete)
-[X] 'A primer on the basics of the Elements', by Last Rites. [2] (0/5 complete)
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
[X] Eat some food. [1] (3 days of food left)
[X] Hunt for some more food. [2]
[X] Write in. [?]
Time: 21:00
Mind: 6
SP: 90/90
SPR: 18
Level: 3
Body: 7
HP: 70
HPR: 7
Notes:
So! Despite this coming out disgustingly late, I got it out. In this update we find out that meditation can have some bad side effects and we find out part of why people don't like necromancy.
Now, I have a big test tomorrow, so I'm going to post this, find my calculator, and hit the sack. Any errors are unfortunately going to have to wait till tomorrow. Any thoughts on the whispers? Over done? cliche? Silly?
Hmmm. The way goblin domination works, I don't think we want to get minions from them for some time yet - if at all ever. Just not our style. Though this does make it more interesting that they specifically choose parts to eat!
EDIT: So! It turns out that we are still at a three way tie when it comes to the custom Magick. I really don't want to randomly select something so important...
I hope mine wins, not because I'm biased towards my choice (I am), but because... We'll, I'm a bit biased yeah. And It should be more flashy than a mere fireball.
That reminds me: since Interaction is one of our Skills given by our initial character creation, would improving it eventually unlock other abilities as well?
My votes:
[X] "I think there's a certain aspect of their Action, that can be acknowledged. But they are very simple creatures, yes. Even then, they might pose a threat with such numbers. Would you happen to know of a way to get rid of them, if that was needed?"
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The whispers of blood. You need to get these under control - they're a distraction at best, and dangerous at worst. [2]
-[X] The abandoned tower you found and everything about this strange Outpost. Perhaps you can learn something useful about their former inhabitants. [2?]
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Smoke Stack. [3]
-[X] Outpost some more. [2]
-[X] Tower Library some more. [2]
[X] Practice:
-[X] the Wing Reinforcement Skill. [4]
-[X] the Flight Skill. [4]
-[X] Your Cooking Skill [1?]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'A primer on the basics of the Elements', by Last Rites. [2] (0/5 complete)
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (8/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [2] (6/15 complete)
[X] Eat some food. [1] (3 day of food left)
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
There. Hopefully I'm not overtaxing our Angel gal with this schedule. Thankfully she can recover quickly by resting, JRPG style.
EDIT: So! It turns out that we are still at a three way tie when it comes to the custom Magick. I really don't want to randomly select something so important...
Yay! I can finally stop refering to the custom magick as the custom magick.
...or maybe I can't. This... this could be a problem.
alice conversation:
[X] "I think there's a certain aspect of their Action, that can be acknowledged. But they are very simple creatures, yes. Even then, they might pose a threat with such numbers. Would you happen to know of a way to get rid of them, if that was needed?"
Interesting.
day plan:
[X] Meditate on:
-[X] The whispers of blood. You need to get these under control - they're a distraction at best, and dangerous at worst. [2]
-[X] The abandoned tower you found and everything about this strange Outpost. Perhaps you can learn something useful about their former inhabitants. [2?]
[X] Investigate the...
-[X] Smoke Stack. [3]
-[X] Outpost some more. [2]
-[X] Tower Library some more. [2]
[X] Practice:
-[X] the Wing Reinforcement Skill. [4]
-[X] the Flight Skill. [4]
-[X] Your Cooking Skill [2]
[X] Read:
-[X] 'A primer on the basics of the Elements', by Last Rites. [2] (0/5 complete)
[X] Research:
-[X] the Staff. [2] (8/10 complete)
-[X] Your custom Magick. [2] (6/15 complete)
[X] Eat some food. [1] (3 day of food left)
[X] Get some sleep. [8]
I went and bumped up the Cooking Skill bit so that you guys can actually get something out of it - I presume that's okay?
Well... sort of. Khornates seek blood for glory, for honor, for the pleasure of risking your life. The [Red Jungle] wants to (inasmuch as it wants) make others suffer the same pain that it suffered. It hates being alone, and it 'wants' to warp others into reflections of itself. This is part of the reason you guys got 'tainted'; [PROPAGATION] is a key part of the [Red Jungle], and that makes it much easier for it to sneak into people's minds and spread itself.
Plus, the [Red Jungle] can be subtle - or at least, some of the things in the [Red Jungle] can be.
That reminds me: since Interaction is one of our Skills given by our initial character creation, would improving it eventually unlock other abilities as well?
Any skill will unlock new but related abilities at level 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 - and at 100, they also prestige, spawning a new, much more powerful ability.
So to use an example, Shaping at first can only roughly manipulate materials - moving hunks of dirt around, uprooting trees, digging trenches and tunnels. Then at level 20 it can finely manipulate materials, making smoother things - tunnels are more polished, individual branches or stones can be manipulated - stuff like that. Then at level 40 it can roughly craft materials, cutting logs into planks and such. Then at level 60 it can finely craft things, allowing it to do stuff like make lanterns and nails and fine furniture and other things. Then at level 80 it gets the ability to transmute large amounts of materials into other, related materials. Finally, at level 100 it gains the ability to transmute small amounts of materials into other materials instinctively, allowing for you to do stuff like build a fancy four poster bed from a tree, some dirt, and a hunk of stone.
However, at level 100 it also prestiges, spawning a new skilled called 'Define', which allows you to do stuff like alter the laws of reality in an area.
Interesting. This levelling system reminds me of The Gamer a bit, although thankfully our skills do increase quite quickly. Still, just to know/for fun: what would a Cooking Skill of level 100 be able to do? Somehow make an omelet from thin air?
@einargs can we exploit traveltime in exploration?
To travel to the ravine it took 30 min teach way. Thats 1 hour to travel and 2 hours left for exploration.
3 exploration actions back to back in the ravine will then give 1 hour traveltime and 8 hours in the ravine.
instead of
4 separate explorations for the last will give 4 hours traveltime a and 8 hours of exploring.
And, because I forgot to respond to some people, have some more comments. (I was going to edit them in, but my page decided to suddenly backspace and I lost, like, eight hundred words.)
And... fixed. I still don't know what causes these formatting hiccups though.
Hmmm. The way goblin domination works, I don't think we want to get minions from them for some time yet - if at all ever. Just not our style. Though this does make it more interesting that they specifically choose parts to eat!
Yeah, this is one of the reasons Necromancy is looked down on. To be a truly great Necromancer, someone who can affect souls of similar power to yourself, you have to believe that it is your right to change someone on the most fundamental of levels. Your [Light] is shaped by your personality and your will, and to do Necromancy you must have a will and belief strong enough to overcome another's innate belief in their 'self'. Indeed, this holds true for all forms of [Light] Manipulation - even, to a degree, Sorcery.
Magic is shaped by what you do, and by what you feel when you do that. Magicks are born of mundane skill enhanced by the power of the soul - and the power of the soul is governed by emotion. People with powerful, highly developed Magicks have personalities that are influenced in some way by them - or perhaps, it is the other way around. It's hard to tell. For instance, the Interaction skill is born from Distinction of Dust's abnormal connection to Keter - but it is also influenced by DoD's ability to simply brush off minor pains and annoyances. Whether or not that character trait is innate or caused by the Keter connection isn't for certain; little is in these matters. Heck, even DoD's instinctive knowledge of how to reaffirm her appearance, and therefore 'rise above' such mundanities as dirt and filth is born from that trait.
Sorcery, while isolated from the soul by the nature of how it works (elaborate, calculated rituals and circles), can still be affected by your personality. How good you are at channeling and controlling an active-variable Sorcery is affected by your personality to at least some degree - how big of a degree that is varies quite a bit though. Someone who uses Sorcery to build great, permanent structures might start to pay more attention to the future, investing in more solid and durable things. This isn't because of the circles they use changing them; its because when they use those circles, they have to consider the future more - and that bleeds over into their normal life.
Artifice, being a bastardized mix of Magic, Sorcery and Necromancy, shares characteristics with all three when it comes to how it affects personalities. An Artificer pours their heart and soul into their creations - and I mean this in a literal sense. An Artificer does their best work when they are making something for a reason, when they can imbue the fires of their forges with their passion and the steel of their tools with their determination. Artificers are by nature intense; they have a more developed 'palate' for feelings, and they tend to be very self-aware, even though they often seem to act without thought. Artificers are beings ruled both by emotion and logic; they apply their logic to their emotions, deciding if they want something enough to go through with it, and if they decide they do then they pursue it with all of their being. Artificers also tend to be worn out after crafting an Artifact; they're literally tearing off a piece of their soul and anchoring it to the Artifact, so that makes sense.
The interaction between the Soul and [Light] manipulation is complex and strange, but as a general rule casting a Spell or performing an Act or channeling a Circle or crafting an Artifact doesn't change who you are - it just provides new stimuli, much the way experiencing something new changes you. It's a natural and subtle progression, and that makes it very hard to study or understand. If you're wondering why the MotSL book counts Artifice as a subsection of sorcery when I'm treating it as a seperate school, that's because there is some level of controversy in the academic community on that matter (read: academic hissy fight). And as for the alternate terminology, like using circle instead of Sorcery or Spell instead of Magick, those are just other names for the same thing that different factions use.
The whole 'manipulating the [Light] is powered by your will' is actually somewhat inspired by the Dresden-verse. There isn't anything inherently corrupting about some stuff, its just that using it requires having... undesirable mindsets. There are ways of using Necromancy without accidentally slipping and becoming insane, but those generally require very structured philosophies (which is how The Lord of Ticking Death works) or stuff like 'asking for consent'.
Interesting. This levelling system reminds me of The Gamer a bit, although thankfully our skills do increase quite quickly. Still, just to know/for fun: what would a Cooking Skill of level 100 be able to do? Somehow make an omelet from thin air?
TGWP is something of an inspiration for this, so that would make sense. And as for the Cooking stuff, it would probably allow you to make food that restores people to perfect health after eating it, clears their mind from fatigue, and recharges their soul - plus other things, like buffs and stuff. It would probably prestige into some kind of Alchemy skill as well, letting you make potions that grant various buffs, like letting you see in the dark or not be effected by electricity or at higher levels even let you do stuff like turn into a cloud gas that can move around - stuff like that.
@einargs can we exploit traveltime in exploration?
To travel to the ravine it took 30 min teach way. Thats 1 hour to travel and 2 hours left for exploration.
3 exploration actions back to back in the ravine will then give 1 hour traveltime and 8 hours in the ravine.
instead of
4 separate explorations for the last will give 4 hours traveltime a and 8 hours of exploring.
Yes, that is an option. Travel time only gets counted once, so if you spent six hours investigating the ravine you would get five hours of actual investigation.
...I probably should have mentioned this sooner, so thanks for bringing it up.
With our new magick, I wonder if we can cause changes to an area's 'personality' by [speaking] a word or idea over and over again, forcibly imprinting it onto the Oversoul enough to overwrite lesser parts. If so, we could alter them to our advantage, or for other purposes.
Alice Conversation:
You speak."Yes, they are such simple creatures aren't they? But - even then, they might pose a threat with such numbers." You can see Alice nodding along, her fingers tapping at her chin. "Would you happen to know of a way to get rid of them, if that was needed?"
Alice laughs and dances over to a checkerboarded cabinet that was not by the wall before. She grasps her parasol by both hands and swings it about, spinning around and around as she does so. She pulls a bubbling beaker of ever shifting light that bubbles and pops as it sloshes about.
Now, instead of spinning her parasol about, Alice is spinning the beaker about. A slosh of the liquid goes over the side, hitting the ground. Where it lands a cloud of soapy butterflies forms, taking flight until Alice gestures absently with an off hand. The bubbles pop, spraying a cloud of liquid light out that spins and twists before evaporating into the air.
Alice proffers the flask to you, a simple, happy smile on her face. You are immediately distrustful of it. "Here. A drop of delirium mixed with three parts madness, one part unsanity and a Wonderland twirl to top it all off. Goblins are creatures of cannibalism, and they eat their dead - and though they don't gain any power from the ones who they don't kill, they still take in some of the soul. Force feed this to an unevolved Goblin, wait a day, then kill it and dump the corpse outside their settlement. The Goblins will take it in and eat it, consuming the madness that has infested the dead Goblin's soul. After a while some of the Goblins who ate the first one will go mad, and be put down by the other Goblins - and then eaten. After a week most of the unevolved Goblins should be mad or insane - though even a first evolution Goblin won't be affected by the madness of a corpse it eats."
what do you say?
[X] Write in.
Story:
You dive deep, slipping beneath the waves of your mind with ease. As soon as you had woken up, you had started on your meditation. You want - no, you need - to get these whispers under control. You swim through fluorescent currents, dancing with luminous green and purple sharks that prey on rocks that swim about with fins of seaweed. You aren't really awake as such; you can't be, not really. You're in your subconscious, the sea of your soul, and you can't dive beneath the waves without leaving something behind.
Long, multi jointed human arms striped with black and white are anchored in the sandy bottom, and they reach and grasp at the creatures swimming through the ocean. As you watch, one of them catches a yellow and purple fish shaped like a flat, thin disk with a single eye mounted in the center. It thrashes back and forth, the eye rolling madly as the disk twists and turns. This only gets worse as the black and white hand slowly pulls it lower, each elbow slipping beneath the sand with a soft 'plip' until the fish is finally pulled beneath the grains.
You shiver, and move on. Eventually you come to the source of the whispers, a spill of angry red oil that shifts and writhes on the surface. Clumps of red rock form and disperse, bobbing up and down in the water before suddenly splitting in half to reveal a center of pressurized oil that spurts down into the sea before slowly returning to it's source. There are slimy red tentacles that reach downwards into the water, seeking to ensnare the few fish that still swim in the area, and which dance furiously before suddenly dissolving into a fine red dust that floats upwards to rejoin the red oil. The worse though are the thicked lipped mouths that appear and disappear seemingly at random, whispering through clenched fangs of [FEAR] and [HATE] and [RAGE] and [PROPAGATION].
Even as you watch, one of the oil tendrils manages to catch a tubular blue and purple fish that swims through the water by undulating back and forth like a wet noodle. The tendril grabs onto it, surrounding it and bringing it back to the oil streak above. As soon the fish makes contact with the oil it is swamped, red oil flooding into the gills that line the length of the fish. When the oil disperses, it reveals something different.
The new fish is looks like it has been dunked in a bucket of freshly spilled blood, with stripes of crusty scabs running down its length. Instead of the pupil-less neon green eyeball that was mounted on the front of the fish's body, there is now a patch of hundreds of tiny tentacles with bulbous dark red eyes mounted on the ends. Instead of gills there are slits that flex, extending hundreds of teeth outwards that drip a viscous red liquid. The newly tainted fish swims off, and you wonder just how many other fish have been corrupted by the oily whispers.
You dive downwards, your thousands of wing filaments waving back and forth in the water as you swim. You pass through the yellow belt and the green belt and the blue belt until finally you find one of the trenches. Sitting nearby the ledge is a school of yellow and pink whales reclining on beach chairs and sipping icey drinks. You dive downwards to talk to them, deep bellows and echoes flying forth from your mouth. You can see the outer shockwave of black streaked neon orange hit one of the bigger whales. In a flash it's up and out of its chair, moaning and gesturing at the others.
You follow the school of whales as they swim down the trench, past purple and far into ultraviolet. There you find a many tentacled squid who shifts and warps, its tentacles merging together and splitting apart constantly. It's a sickly pale white, tinted with green, but under the black light of the depths it glows with a dark purple. The whales moan at the squid, and its three eyes whirl and dance, hundreds of different colored pupils flashing on and off.
The squid gestures with its tentacles, and the whales nod, their blocky heads twisting disturbingly. The fleshy flower bulb mounted on the top of the squid splits and unwinds, revealing a tiny whale sleeping on an enormous black flower, whose petals glow with the potential for new life. The flower uncurls, revealing its black stem as it stretches out. When it finally stops stretching, it's nearly a dozen times longer than the squid that birthed it.
Then it begins to crumble, the petals drifting off into the depths as the steam crumbles into nothing. The tiny whale that was within the flower expands, blowing up like a balloon until it returns to its normal size. A minute passes, and the school of whales celebrates, nuzzling the newcomer fondly. Suddenly a tide of tiny squids rushes up from the depths, all copies of the first squid done in miniature. They cluster around the first squid, dancing in between its tentacles as they do so. The bud that birthed the black flower rewinds, wrapping about itself until the first squid is back to normal.
The group sets off, swimming ever downwards. You follow, your wing filaments trailing behind you. Eventually you reach the end of the trench and emerge back where you first found the whales. The tiny squids have grown larger now, nourished by the neon pink ink trailing from the first squid. The school of whales and the shoal of squid crash against the angry red oil with a sound like a dvd player trying to play a shattered disk.
The whales suck up the red oil with their big white teeth that tint red as they eat more and more of the oil, until the teeth are finally pushed out of their slots by a new set of pearly whites. The squid attack the oil, tentacles splitting and multiplying until the squid look less like actual squid and more like a big ball of sickly white tentacles that writhes about as jets of pink ink overwrite the angry red oil.
Screams and whispers of rage echo through the ocean, and fish drop dead from the sound, but the whales fight back, a pair of them pulling out trumpets and starting up a jazz duet. One of the squid joins in, playing three sets of keyboards and a drum made from ink bubbles. Slowly the oil is cleaned up, and eventually you can see the white and black sunlight sparkle against the surface of the ocean. You emerge from the sea of your soul with a contented expression.
The {Angry Whispers} have been QUARANTINED.
You dive back into a different sea, following a stream of sunlight that twists and winds. Eventually you find your goal, a soap bubble that shimmers with iridescent blackness. You poke your head in, and allow your mind to be swept away.
A knot, one made of wood and swamp. [ROT]
A network, of roots and branches seeped in grey miasma. [EXPANSION]
A fog, that sweeps through leaving horrible diseases and mutations in its wake. [INFECTION]
You emerge from your meditation with a hazy dream of the sea that floats just beyond reach, and a sense of [ROT] and [INFECTION] that makes you want to scrub at your skin until it bleeds.
Meditation Level Up!
Level Up!
The [Grim Forest] is divided into three areas; the [Outskirts], the [Transition], and the [Center]. The outskirts have nice, clean streams and are riddled with warrenous caverns. Then comes the [Transition] area, which contains the settlement that you live in along with a few other areas. But at the center of it all is a massive knot of wood, riddled with holes and tunnels in which horribly mutated monstrosities live. Currents of swamp seep into wood, staining it a dark green and mutating the bark into something strange and grey and sharp.
You shudder and pulse your soul. You don't think you're going to feel clean anytime soon.
You make your way to the bottom of the tower for takeoff; you want to go and investigate the smoke stack in the [Transition] zone that still hasn't gone away. You wings beat, clawing at the sky and pulling you into the air.
As you approach the smoke stack, it becomes obvious what the source is: a herd of living trees. They move across the ground on exposed roots that rip up the earth as they move, leaving behind a trail of broken vegetation and churned up dirt. Yet even as you watch, the destroyed landscape spawns new - if... different - life. Bushes with sightless eyes for berries spring up side by side with trees that have human torsos for trunks and thousands of arms for branches that are in turn surrounded by softly waving grass made of human hair. Feet with hands sprouting from the sides scuttle about, climbing into and out of the slowly receding trenches. Looking back along the path, you can see that the 'altered' vegetation slowly returns to normal, leaving behind no trace that the 'tree-herd' ever passed through.
The smoke though, comes from the fire that lives in the tree branches. A mass of almost living flame that dances in the air, making arcane shapes and symbols, yet never actually burning its host tree. Sometimes you can see the fire form into eyes that gaze off into the distance intently before dispersing into a cloud of sparks, or mouths that whisper words made of smoke and carried along by the crackle of the fire.
what do you do?
[X] Stick around to observe the...
-[X] Mutated flora.
-[X] Write in.
Follow the trees to...
-[X] See what they're doing.
-[X] Write in.
[X] Get closer to...
-[X] Inspect the fire.
-[X] Inspect the trees.
-[X] Inspect the mutated flora.
-[X] Write in.
[X] Leave...
-[X] Fast and loud.
-[X] Slow and quiet.
[X] Write in.
attribute upgrade:
[X] You upgrade your...
-[X] {Mind} Attribute. You can feel your Soul growing stronger, more powerful.
-[X] {Body} Attribute. You can feel your body growing tougher and more durable.
+ You leveled up! You can upgrade one Attribute by one point! + You leveled up! You can upgrade one Knack to a Skill!
Time: 24:00
Mind: 6
SP: 90/90
SPR: 18
Level: 3
Body: 7
HP: 70
HPR: 7
Notes:
So! First off, I swear I wasn't taking drugs when I wrote this. I swear. The ocean scene really is all natural weirdness, straight from my stream of consciousness. I was trying to capture a dream-like sort of sureality, and while I know that I didn't fully succeed I'd still like any thoughts you guys have to offer
Now, I'm kind of exhausted - I ended up taking a four hour test today that was designed to not leave you enough time to finish it - so I'm going to go faf about and maybe start another re-read of TGWP. More commentary will likely be edited in later, and I will probably be around to answer any questions about what the ocean scene actually means. (The likely answer: I have no f**ing clue.)
With our new magick, I wonder if we can cause changes to an area's 'personality' by [speaking] a word or idea over and over again, forcibly imprinting it onto the Oversoul enough to overwrite lesser parts. If so, we could alter them to our advantage, or for other purposes.
Okay, so you could probably do something similar to this - but you would have to have a Sorcery backing you up that you were channeling through the words, or something similar. Altering the World Soul is the domain of Sorcery, and while Magick can mimic it to some degree, it is fundamentally different. It is completely possible to make a Magick that taps into an active Sorcery to do something though.
But if you had a couple of centuries to spend, then you probably could make a noticeable change to an area with the method that you've mentioned. The problem, you see, is that some of these areas have literal millenia of history behind them, and you need a really big change that stays changed for anything to actually impact an area nowadays. Well, unless you cheat with Sorcery.
But if you had a couple of centuries to spend, then you probably could make a noticeable change to an area with the method that you've mentioned. The problem, you see, is that some of these areas have literal millenia of history behind them, and you need a really big change that stays changed for anything to actually impact an area nowadays. Well, unless you cheat with Sorcery.
Hmm, thinking more about it, I wonder if a really high level Interaction skill would be the thing to bring about change like this.
We can become greater, and in doing so, cause greater things to happen? Not sure if that would work with this world's rules and such.
