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Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

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Ericwinter said:
I think that before we start making a choice at all on whether to mess around with the religion, we should also, you know, ask the rest of our "pantheon" what they think? I don't know about people like Kayleigh and Laura, who aren't actually known to these people, but Missy, Samantha, and Castiel all kinda have a stake here.
I for one, think it would be interesting to continue, if only so that we can make sure no other Parahuman can come in and continue where the others left off. Also because it's always interesting to me to see how culture's and mythology progress.
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Good idea.

At the moment, the best course of action is to ask the rest of the Pantheon what they think, get some more advice, and go from there.

And if we do choose godhood, we need to decide on our level of involvement.

Will we visit daily? Will we teach them science and technology?
Or will we just make sure that no Parahuman takes over, and prevent human sacrifice?

If we intend to visit Earth Vav and run interference in their culture, then we need to decipher their language and create translation programs. If Storm is given information to work with, we should be able to overcome the language barrier.
Valmond said:
Ultimately, it is not Taylor's responsibility what these people do, she offered them help, once, what they do with it is up to them.
If she decides to start meddling over this, it will become her responsibility.
Trying to uplift a society has so many huge red flags all over it though, especially as we are not immortal (for now, need to work on that) so we would not have the time to stay around and keep it from going terribly wrong.
That said, it could be interesting project to do, and just leaving them on their own feels wrong at some level.
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Well said.

It feels...slimy to interfere with a culture like this. But at the same time, it feels wrong to not help, like you said. When we interact further with them, I think we should keep a hands-off policy as much as reasonably possible. Stay benign and benevolent.
Edit: fixed grammar
 
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[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Save XP
 
Functionality said:
Well said.

It feels...slimy to interfere with a culture like this. But at the same time, it feels wrong to not help, like you said. When we interact further with them, I think we should keep a hands-off policy as much as reasonably possible. Stay benign and benevolent.
Edit: fixed grammar
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I would not use the term slimy myself.
There is nothing wrong with the uplift in principle, we should teach people about germ theory, washing their hands and why boiling water before drinking is important.
Red flags come from potential abuse, and us now being a god, that potential is magnified, and unintentional consequences are a thing.
And i don't think hands off policy would work, we need to either go all in, or stay the fuck out. I don't mean ruling over them, that would be a major red flag right there, but we can't just be a distant figure that occasionally does something benevolent, that would leave a power vacuum for others to usurp while speaking in our name.
 
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Should we consider scanning them for Linker Cores? A Device would act as a translator and a knowledge repository. It would help reduce misunderstandings and consolidate a lot of the potential help that Taylor and the mages could provide.
 
[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Save XP

Personally...we already interfered.
I'd probably take a leaf from classic godding, drop a few commandments or examples and let them do their thing.
These people are doing the most dramatic thing they think can get Taylor's favor with. They're killing people because all they've seen her do is kill extremely efficiently.

So give them a way to please her thats not killing each other and that'd probably deal with it.
 
Orkus Majorkus said:
Why are we banking XP for Laura? Are we saving for something specific? I kinda want to give her a strength buff or armor buff spell from basic
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kamkong said:
[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Save XP
Yeah, save up for the IceBreaker!:D
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Most people are saving XP because someone posted early. Most other voters then thought "fuck it, not gonna think too hard about this" and voted the same. At least, thats what I did. If you can make a convincing argument, I will change my vote.
Valmond said:
I would not use the term slimy myself.
There is nothing wrong with the uplift in principle, we should teach people about germ theory, washing their hands and why boiling water before drinking is important.
Red flags come from potential abuse, and us now being a god, that potential is magnified, and unintentional consequences are a thing.
And i don't think hands off policy would work, we need to either go all in, or stay the fuck out. I don't mean ruling over them, that would be a major red flag right there, but we can't just be a distant figure that occasionally does something benevolent, that would leave a power vacuum for others to usurp while speaking in our name.
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Good points. If we do end up as a god, we will need to prevent abuse of power. I'm not sure what we should do, yet.
I do want see more of Earth Vav, though.
 
[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Save XP


With the kid's story, they will now think that their offerings worked, so we have possibly just solidified a cultural change, so we are more involved now.
I will say however, that this may be cremation of the already dead, and not outright sacrifice. One artistic depiction only goes so far with interpretation.

Personally, I would love to see more interactions between Arcana and Vav. Could be nice for the team, and in a pinch it becomes a decent place to lay low if needed.
Considering the predominant femininity of the team these people may develop a matriarchy.
 
[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Save XP

Hmm, I wonder if Legend will be incorporated into Vav's pantheon.
 
Silently Watches said:
"…Queen of the underworld?" you finally ask in a squeaky voice.
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Praise be!

Silently Watches said:
"I don't want them killing people in my name," you tell him mulishly.
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But Your Divine Majesty, how else would you grow your undead army to defeat horrible monsters from the outer space? :V


Valmond said:
Ultimately, it is not Taylor's responsibility what these people do, she offered them help, once, what they do with it is up to them.
If she decides to start meddling over this, it will become her responsibility.
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IMO, it's too late for that. She should have thought about it before she overthrew local rulers.
Since then, it is her responsibility.


FictionPack said:
I will say however, that this may be cremation of the already dead, and not outright sacrifice.
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When Taylor left, local 'gods' were alive but binded. I guess people rushed to kill them before the binds dissipated, and then decided to show their gratitude by sacrificing their bodies.


Missy: Champion Summon

[X] (Laura) Save XP
for Lion's Pelt or teleportation

[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
Cover, to shore up her defensive abilities, or maybe Sprint

[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
System Purge
 
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Functionality said:
Most people are saving XP because someone posted early. Most other voters then thought "fuck it, not gonna think too hard about this" and voted the same. At least, thats what I did. If you can make a convincing argument, I will change my vote.
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Fair enough. I have two main reasons.

First, character wise Laura has always been made to feel fragile by her father and always reliant on others to defend her. With her magical powers, she very much is the groups face puncher with her knight armor and melee magic device. Laura no longer has to rely her team to keep her safe, she's the one who can take and dish out hits like a brute. She'd feel powerful and it makes more sense for her to go further in the paint with that by learning spells that either boost her physical strength or up her defense and ability to take a hit.

Second, Laura's still new to magic and learning new spells to broaden her tool kit makes more sense for a novice than just trying to learn the biggest boom possible that she would only ever use in Endbringer fights. She's not looking to blow up a city any time soon. Her ice buster is plenty strong for now, Laura can wait on the crazy ass shit.

[X] (Laura) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)

[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)

[X] (Lacey) Save XP

Lacey I think I want to save up for an Advance Spell, namely one of these:

  • Grand Resuscitation – Stabilize critical injuries so the victim can be evacuated for definitive care. (B)
  • Healing Factor – Enchant spell that grants temporary regeneration to an ally. (B)
 
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I personally would relish a chance to play god for a bit. (And maybe do better than when I played Black & White :p)
 
Orkus Majorkus said:
Lacey I think I want to save up for an Advance Spell, namely one of these:
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Since Lacey is a C rank mage, she can only learn Advanced tier spells as rituals.
Orkus Majorkus said:
Second, Laura's still new to magic and learning new spells to broaden her tool kit makes more sense for a novice than just trying to learn the biggest boom possible that she would only ever use in Endbringer fights. She's not looking to blow up a city any time soon. Her ice buster is plenty strong for now, Laura can wait on the crazy ass shit.
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Agreed. Laura doesn't even know Breakers are a thing beyond one comment by Taylor during the Leviathan fight, so I wouldn't allow her to learn a Breaker right now ANYWAY.
 
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[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)

Let's get Laura a little more eased into the idea of learning new powers before we start banking up for the continent-busters, yeah?

As for the god thing, the best option is to leave well enough alone. Maybe check back in every now and then just to see if shit's gone completely off the rails, but further intervention (assuming the time even exists to do that) isn't going to accomplish anything positive.
 
kamkong said:
Could be both. If they burn their dead, then they would associate Fire = Sun = Death. Many deities have multiple facets in their worship.
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Burning their dead could also mean that the mural isn't depicting a sacrifice at all, merely a funeral.

Valmond said:
Ultimately, it is not Taylor's responsibility what these people do, she offered them help, once, what they do with it is up to them.
If she decides to start meddling over this, it will become her responsibility.
Trying to uplift a society has so many huge red flags all over it though, especially as we are not immortal (for now, need to work on that) so we would not have the time to stay around and keep it from going terribly wrong.
That said, it could be interesting project to do, and just leaving them on their own feels wrong at some level.
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I've wanted to have Tim build a drone to observe them for a while, and have even included it in a number of build votes. Right now, however, his time is better spent on other things, but before we make any decisions concerning this world, it seems prudent to gather more information. Besides, PS can't even translate for us yet, as he doesn't have enough samples of the language, so collecting enough information to be able to talk to them seems a prudent step, as well.

Valmond said:
I would not use the term slimy myself.
There is nothing wrong with the uplift in principle, we should teach people about germ theory, washing their hands and why boiling water before drinking is important.
Red flags come from potential abuse, and us now being a god, that potential is magnified, and unintentional consequences are a thing.
And i don't think hands off policy would work, we need to either go all in, or stay the fuck out. I don't mean ruling over them, that would be a major red flag right there, but we can't just be a distant figure that occasionally does something benevolent, that would leave a power vacuum for others to usurp while speaking in our name.
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I'm quite happy with taking the Prometheus role, we just have to frame things in ways they'll understand. People mock primitive cultures for believing that 'evil spirits' cause disease. I prefer to think of that as being a bad translation, as how else are you going to explain invisible living things that need to be purified to make food and water safe, if we're not also teaching them to make microscopes? It might behoove us to give them a few crops to round out their nutritional needs and teach them crop rotation with soybeans* so they're not stripping too much from the soil to continue to farm it.

*Soybeans are one of the only domestic crops that support nitrogen fixing bacteria, meaning that they actually make the soil richer in some respects. As such, rotating them through fields greatly increases those field's output.**
** I have a nagging sense that I may be misremembering things here. With how little I can afford to trust my brain these days, I felt I should include that disclaimer.


[X] (Laura) Save XP
[X] (Kayleigh) Save XP
[X] (Lacey) Save XP
 
Wyrd said:
I've wanted to have Tim build a drone to observe them for a while, and have even included it in a number of build votes. Right now, however, his time is better spent on other things, but before we make any decisions concerning this world, it seems prudent to gather more information. Besides, PS can't even translate for us yet, as he doesn't have enough samples of the language, so collecting enough information to be able to talk to them seems a prudent step, as well.
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WE absolutely need more information to make a final decision, and yes, we need to learn their language asap.

Wyrd said:
I'm quite happy with taking the Prometheus role, we just have to frame things in ways they'll understand. People mock primitive cultures for believing that 'evil spirits' cause disease. I prefer to think of that as being a bad translation, as how else are you going to explain invisible living things that need to be purified to make food and water safe, if we're not also teaching them to make microscopes? It might behoove us to give them a few crops to round out their nutritional needs and teach them crop rotation with soybeans* so they're not stripping too much from the soil to continue to farm it.

*Soybeans are one of the only domestic crops that support nitrogen fixing bacteria, meaning that they actually make the soil richer in some respects. As such, rotating them through fields greatly increases those field's output.**
** I have a nagging sense that I may be misremembering things here. With how little I can afford to trust my brain these days, I felt I should include that disclaimer.
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We do not need to start by proving germs exist, we can start by just telling the truth and they will see the effect on their own, our power and abilities are proof enough that we have something going on they don't know about.
Teach about germ theory, sanitation, other easy low tech ways to improve health.
Then teach about engineering, metallurgy, ship building if there are seas or large lakes around, it would take years, but we could uplift them a lot just by giving them information they can use to uplift themselves.
I would not provide them with anything they can't make themselves though, not unless we want to connect them to our world on a more permanent basis, that would be just irresponsible.
I would also vote against providing any foreign plants or animals, we are not familiar enough with the ecosystem to start messing with that.
Bring some samples back for lab study and see what we can learn about their world so we can provide them with native crop plants maybe?
 
[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Save XP
 
From a more out-of-world perspective, do we, as questers, want to pursue this thread when we already have lots of plots ongoing (managing and growing Arcana, fighting the Fallen, defeating the Endbringers, working with the Protectorate / PRT, dealing with local villain gangs, etc.)?

It's literally a whole 'nother world of people to interact with, which would place even more demands on our limited action economy and player attention. Though it right now is confined to one village, it's likely that at some point other parahumans will notice that the local rulers have been deposed and swoop in to either conquer, raid, or extract tribute from the place. If we assume responsibility, we'll have to either keep permanent guard, have autonomous defenses set up and sustained, arm and train the people with more advanced weaponry or even mages (which might result in them going on the offensive themselves to raid and conquer other places which would make for even more headaches for us...), and / or launch enough counter-raids to develop the village's reputation as a off-limits area. Do we want to play (benevolent?) magical warlord in another world?
 
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AnOldIdeaMadeNew said:
From a more out-of-world perspective, do we, as questers, want to pursue this thread when we already have lots of plots ongoing (managing and growing Arcana, fighting the Fallen, defeating the Endbringers, working with the Protectorate / PRT, dealing with local villain gangs, etc.)?

It's literally a whole 'nother world of people to interact with, which would place even more demands on our limited action economy and player attention. Though it right now is confined to one village, it's likely that at some point other parahumans will notice that the local rulers have been deposed and swoop in to either conquer, raid, or extract tribute from the place. If we assume responsibility, we'll have to either keep permanent guard, have autonomous defenses set up and sustained, arm and train the people with more advanced weaponry or even mages (which might result in them going on the offensive themselves to raid and conquer other places which would make for even more headaches for us...), and / or launch enough counter-raids to develop the village's reputation as a off-limits area. Do we want to play (benevolent?) magical warlord in another world?
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Those are my thoughts as well.
I'd try to resolve it by simply showing up, saying "I'm sorry, I'm not a goddess, just somebody gifted with powers. I was horrified by what was happening and acted to try to help. I'm really against human sacrifice, and I did not even know you were doing it until I came back. I'm just a 15 year old girl who got powers, not a goddess. Please don't kill people in my name. I'm going home and not planning on returning because it's obvious that I messed up here and am not qualified to tell you how to live. Also I'm needed back home. Don't pray to me, I cannot hear them. Not that I will not, just that I can not as I am not a goddess like you think. Goodbye and I'm sorry. did not mean to trick you, but was having trouble with language barrier. Please forgive me." Then walk away as we have too much on our plate.

If it were not for all the ongoing crises already happening I'd be interested in this quest, along with several other side quests, but the problem is the time management. There is too much going on with negative consequences for us ignoring it to pursue these interesting diversions. We wind up having to pick based on what will have the least bad negative consequences if we ignore it.
If it were a bunch of options to pursue where if we ignored them we knew there would not be a bunch of negative consequences coming back to bite us in the butt, that would be a whole different story and we might pick options like this or the generic "patrol with X" or "explore X". However, there are too many crises where failing to act has bad consequences and we can't take the interesting diversions.

Those are just my thoughts on the matter. Take them with a grain of a salt.
 
Orkus Majorkus said:
Why are we banking XP for Laura? Are we saving for something specific? I kinda want to give her a strength buff or armor buff spell from basic
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Orkus Majorkus said:
First, character wise Laura has always been made to feel fragile by her father and always reliant on others to defend her. With her magical powers, she very much is the groups face puncher with her knight armor and melee magic device. Laura no longer has to rely her team to keep her safe, she's the one who can take and dish out hits like a brute. She'd feel powerful and it makes more sense for her to go further in the paint with that by learning spells that either boost her physical strength or up her defense and ability to take a hit.

Second, Laura's still new to magic and learning new spells to broaden her tool kit makes more sense for a novice than just trying to learn the biggest boom possible that she would only ever use in Endbringer fights. She's not looking to blow up a city any time soon. Her ice buster is plenty strong for now, Laura can wait on the crazy ass shit.
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Silently Watches said:
Agreed. Laura doesn't even know Breakers are a thing beyond one comment by Taylor during the Leviathan fight, so I wouldn't allow her to learn a Breaker right now ANYWAY.
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Okay, so I've officially changed my vote in regard to Laura with regards to this information (specifically Silently). The Breaker was the only thing I'd have wanted to wait for, so with it out of the picture, getting something with the rest works for me.
Options I'm considering:
Telekinesis: Adaptable and interesting, Telekinesis actually works well with Laura since the Ice she makes with her spells can be grabbed and flung with this spell, so Laura can make her own ammo in a clear space. This spell family and future decisions is also why I asked about the Unison mana poisoning, since if we worked out way up the tree to Heavenfall, Laura can unison with Cassiel and have a Double-Strength Breaker with reduced mana cost.
Guardian Beast: A dependable choice, this gives us a new combatant. Since we'll likely do random (probably?) then that allows for several possibilities. A new gear would increase Tim's build slots, a rifle would be long-range ice blasts, a shield could serve to help protect Kayleigh, etc. No matter what we get, it will prove useful
Lesser Golemancy: I want this just because it is interesting to me personally. While less adaptable then a Guardian Beast, it is a solid combatant that should easily handle mooks and low-level parahumans. It also might have two forms if "forming from ground" and "forming from ice" prove to have an effect on the golem.
Movement Mastery: Laura does possess both of the movement spells. This would serve to increase her overall speed and make it so everyone who can fly in the group is at max capacity.
 
[X] (Lacey) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Kayleigh) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
[X] (Laura) Learn a spell (Basic tier or below)
 
SlickRCBD said:
I'd try to resolve it by simply showing up, saying "I'm sorry, I'm not a goddess, just somebody gifted with powers. I was horrified by what was happening and acted to try to help. I'm really against human sacrifice, and I did not even know you were doing it until I came back. I'm just a 15 year old girl who got powers, not a goddess. Please don't kill people in my name. I'm going home and not planning on returning because it's obvious that I messed up here and am not qualified to tell you how to live. Also I'm needed back home. Don't pray to me, I cannot hear them. Not that I will not, just that I can not as I am not a goddess like you think. Goodbye and I'm sorry. did not mean to trick you, but was having trouble with language barrier. Please forgive me." Then walk away as we have too much on our plate.
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I'd agree with this, but part of it is where I thought about scanning them for mages. It's still a low magic world, so only a small percentage will have cores. A device learns it's mages language through telepathy, so this gives us our translator to explain ourselves to the people. We might need to use a D-rank mage to get a Beast of the Gear so Tim isn't stuck making however many devices though. The devices can provide knowledge without Taylor's input, and serve to improve the quality of their lives. We also know that these people are really isolated from the original trip there, where Missy was able to "feel" a very large area with absolutely no other people, so warfare with others isn't likely. It's like Operation Pentagram, but for uplifting these people rather than police work.
 
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