If anyone knows a good, reasonable commission artist (or even, dare i speculate, fanartist), point 'em my way--I want visual reference for this thing I've made!
I have a long list of artists whose styles I like, but I don't know your budget range or what sort of style you're going for. (I also don't keep track of which ones do commissions, but it's a place to start.)
As for me, I think the fastest way to describe to what I'm imagining would be Generator Rex by way of Bloodborne and Fullmetal Alchemist, but that's mostly because I don't know enough frankenpunk styles.
First things first--you're hungry, and that eclipses other concerns. Now that your stomach's stopped rotating from the mirror transit, it's very concerned with letting you know how empty it is. A state of affairs that demands attention! You hop up onto the railing stanchion for a better vantage point, picking your external teeth with your wrist-spur idly as you scan the station with both your eyes and your nose. The latter begins categorizing the rich sensory profile of the station into person-smells, threat-smells, concept-smells and food-smells, and you zero in on every example of the latter that you can find, finally settling on:
[ ] A cart that smells of mushrooms and shellfish, run by a Teuthis who's coiled around the cart and watching the crowds in between dishing out bowls of noodles. They accepted a handful of your bullets as payment. (-Iron)
[ ] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[ ] A pale human in dark glasses, selling knots of dark brown, salt-sprinkled dough that his sign claims are "pretzels". He wanted a riddle in exchange. (-Wit)
[ ] The birds that are roosted up in the rafters--wouldn't take but a minute to scramble up a pillar and catch yourself something hot and fresh, but the fact that nobody else is doing that is a little strange. (-Charm)
You fill your belly and pay the cost, whatever it may be, and move away, the gnawing panic of the part of you dedicated to physical hunger sated for the time being. Now, for the next stage--finding somewhere to go from here. This station is big and fancy and full of people, but it's also full of obvious charlatans and the most basic, tourist-facing facets of Qoman life. There's more out here! And you're gonna find it.
You spot some exits right away, since spotting patterns in crowd movement is never a useless skill back home, but the real question is which exit? Opportunity knocks once more.
[ ] The low arches where those machines with the legs and wheels come and go--lots of traffic is over there, which would indicate that a significant portion of the city beyond is accessible. Plus, you could get a closer look at the machines.
[ ] The train--why go by half measures? Lock yourself in with dozens of strangers and travel across the city just to see what's on the other side and get a feel for the local zeitgeist.
[ ] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
[ ] Under that clock is an arch that people are going through by foot, which would seem to be an obvious exit, and from outside comes a lot of snapping and crackling noises, laughter, and the sound and smell of rain. Could be interesting?
[x] The birds that are roosted up in the rafters--wouldn't take but a minute to scramble up a pillar and catch yourself something hot and fresh, but the fact that nobody else is doing that is a little strange. (-Charm)
[x] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
[x] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[x] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
[x] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[x] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
[x] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[x] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
[X] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[X]Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
The moment zeitgeists were mentioned, I started having Pact flashbacks.
[X] A cart that smells of mushrooms and shellfish, run by a Teuthis who's coiled around the cart and watching the crowds in between dishing out bowls of noodles. They accepted a handful of your bullets as payment. (-Iron)
Noodles! Huh, now I'm hungry. That one!
[ ] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
...This is making me paranoid. The lack of recognition, the arm-wrestling challenge from a species with quills... does she had microscopic quills in her skin? Probably not, but I'm still noping the hell away from the contest for the mystery meat. I mean, she may gain something, but a contest with a random stranger, which requires her to lose? There's some cool political plots I can imagine involving displays of strength, but that's my DM side talking. I expect that she's just trying to get rid of the stuff (no payment?) and decided to use it to invoke entertainment, since she can't use it as compost, can't eat it, can't sell it to anything but idiots with no money...
Oh gods, what is that meat? Nope. Nope nope nope.
[ ] A pale human in dark glasses, selling knots of dark brown, salt-sprinkled dough that his sign claims are "pretzels". He wanted a riddle in exchange. (-Wit)
The problem is, what type of pretzel is he selling? Probably large and soft, and while those CAN be good, they can also be oh so bad. Pass!
[ ] The birds that are roosted up in the rafters--wouldn't take but a minute to scramble up a pillar and catch yourself something hot and fresh, but the fact that nobody else is doing that is a little strange. (-Charm)
Let's... not be completely asocial right off the bat. We're here (and not dungeoncrawling) for a reason!
-----
[ ] The low arches where those machines with the legs and wheels come and go--lots of traffic is over there, which would indicate that a significant portion of the city beyond is accessible. Plus, you could get a closer look at the machines.
I'm curious, but the sheer amount of traffic suggests that any opportunities here are commonly exploited. Let's find something more niche!
[X] The train--why go by half measures? Lock yourself in with dozens of strangers and travel across the city just to see what's on the other side and get a feel for the local zeitgeist.
TIME SPIRIT AND TRAIN RIDES! Also, pact flashbacks. Imma do this one.
[ ] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
But mooooooom, I don't wanna go back to the hive!
Seriously speaking, I thought locusts were different everywhere. The fact that this needs to be mentioned intrigues me, but is making me imagine certain types of spiders, which successfully disguise themselves as ants, and I just don't feel like getting digested today (i.e. my paranoia has been activated for weeks and it WON'T SHUT DOWN).
[ ] Under that clock is an arch that people are going through by foot, which would seem to be an obvious exit, and from outside comes a lot of snapping and crackling noises, laughter, and the sound and smell of rain. Could be interesting?
Sounds like entertainment! Ooh, captive thunderstorms? Who knows?
That being said, the promise of Talking To People, while tempting, is secondary to ATTUNING WITH TIME ITSELF!
I love the color commentary, and the paranoia, keep both up! But I will say that you're thinking of mystery meat from the perspective of someone who eats normal meat. Grail knows what human, Locust, bug and rat meat look like.
In addition, Locusts may have different trappings, but they all tend to be pretty grimy, canny, and suspicious. The ones here are cleaned up and getting along.
[x] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[x] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
Commentary limited due to keyboard troubles, but anyway...
I don't love trading away bullets; we don't have too many of those, and they're what might actually let us win fights against other Locusts. And some serious non-locust threats, which I assume do exist.
[X] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
She sounds friendly. The price is slightly weird, but I like that.
[X] A pale human in dark glasses, selling knots of dark brown, salt-sprinkled dough that his sign claims are "pretzels". He wanted a riddle in exchange. (-Wit)
He sounds interesting. Tricksterish. The price sounds fun to read IC, but maybe a bad call OOC? I ought to know more of the system, but I'll toss it a vote anyway.
None of the Locusts are eating station-birds. There must be a reason for this, and it seems unwise to try before finding that out.
And...
[X] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
Like I said before, I want to see what the job market looks like.
I love the color commentary, and the paranoia, keep both up! But I will say that you're thinking of mystery meat from the perspective of someone who eats normal meat. Grail knows what human, Locust, bug and rat meat look like.
In addition, Locusts may have different trappings, but they all tend to be pretty grimy, canny, and suspicious. The ones here are cleaned up and getting along.
I know they eat who-knows-what gladly, but the fact that the person selling it is selling it for an arm wrestling contest is really emphasizing the who-knows-what quality.
And yeah, that screams "Invasion of the Body Snatcher," which, for all its trappings of scary scary communists, really just screams of spiders. And to spiders I must say: Nope. Done here. I haven't had enough coffee to deal with you yet, and I never will because I hate coffee. No, seriously. The smell is great, but why would I want to drink the stuff when there's so many other ways to consume caffeine?
[X] A pale human in dark glasses, selling knots of dark brown, salt-sprinkled dough that his sign claims are "pretzels". He wanted a riddle in exchange. (-Wit)
[X] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
[X] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[X] Under that clock is an arch that people are going through by foot, which would seem to be an obvious exit, and from outside comes a lot of snapping and crackling noises, laughter, and the sound and smell of rain. Could be interesting?
Post isn't up yet, but I want to make this a matter of public record before I forget it--your commentary may possibly unlock bonus actions appended to the vote's result, and the first of these will go up with the new entry!
[x] A small kiosk run by an Oriza with her quills tied back, dispensing spicy meat-and-vegetable kebabs--while everything here is new to you, you don't even recognize what meat she's using, let alone the veggies. She asked you to arm-wrestle for your meal. (-Vim)
[x] Wait, over there, beyond the train--that's the Ves-bearing procession! You could follow them to find an important part of the local Locust culture, get in touch with your own people within Qoma. They do seem a little different from back home.
You chose the kiosk, and sat down for a few moments on one of the crates near it to eat your well-earned meal. Trading food for little challenges like arm wrestling or gambling is nothing new in Vespergren, after all. The meat is rich and muscular, the spices complicated and intense, the vegetables fresh-tasting like you've almost never had. The Oriza looked a little relieved to lose, and so you ask her what's up while you eat--poison's nothing to be afraid of, after all.
"Sho, what'sh up with throwing the game?" you ask, mouth half-full of spicy meat.
"...Ya figured it out that easy, huh? Shoulda guessed," she responds, smiling sheepishly as she scratches at the back of her head. "I don't really expect ya to understand, really, but I gotta get rid of all this beef before sundown tonight, and y'all Locusts don't think it's weird to charge an arm-wrestle for food."
You mull that over as you pull the last piece off the kebab, then begin chewing meditatively on the stick.
"...What's beef?" you ask eventually, picking an onion out of your exposed fangs.
She blinks in response, before chuckling. "I never get used to y'all... 'S meat from cattle, big chunky animals with horns. Not too common 'round here, but people are eating it all the time outside Qoma. Didja enjoy it, at least?"
You nod as you stand, licking the last of the sauce off your fingers and wiping them unconcernedly on your pants. "I did. Eat well and live bloody."
She smiles in response, and you find yourself lingering on it--her mouth looks like yours does, but all around, and it's oddly comforting, considering how most of the people you've seen so far keep their teeth behind their lips.
"Savnok shield you, lil Locust. See ya 'round."
With that, you take your leave, rolling around what you just learned inside your head.
When you look around for an exit, the procession of Ves-bearers catches your eye, and the old fascination comes back. You remember when the bearers came to your block, bringing the load that would become your creche's First Sacrament. You remember the ritual, the sacrifice, every ripple and creak of your muscles as the Sacrament changed you--more than human. More than the world. Vesakh, the Anointed, Those Who Take. You didn't even see them last time, your Second. You only showed up and let them Treat you once more. If you follow them you'll be able to see it again, to recapture that feeling... plus, you'll probably find whatever the locals consider important to your people at the other end. Mind resolved, you set to following them at a safe distance, relying on the scent of the Ves, faint but unmistakable, to prevent you losing them in a crowd.
The bearers move briskly, keeping the urn at an even level as the ring of guards parts the sea of people all around them. You track them across the station and through a gateway, and out--into Iash Qoma proper.
Buildings rise all around you, most blockier and more simple than the baroque spires of home, and high above is not the ceiling of smoggy rainclouds, but a literal ceiling of stone, glittering with crystals and luminous fungi, stretching around a massive hole in the center. Watery sunlight filters down through that hole, around the gigantic pillar that rises from the center of the city up into the light. The lights of buildings and machines glint everywhere you look, vast mechanisms and tangles of architecture rising up the central pillar like moss up a dead tree. Other pillars rise, from islands in a dark and gleaming sea, connected to the central by tangles of bridges, cables and dangling structures, all laid out before you from the station's position atop a low hill. It's so simultaneously familiar and alien that you're lost for a moment, senses jumping from sensation to sensation--here, a distant cry of laughter, there, the smell of coal and phlogiston, there a gleam of pale orange crystal, high up along a sheer stone wall. Eventually, the sharp, pale tendril of the Ves cuts through your confusion, and you zero in on the bearers, almost out of sight as they move down a busy hill, keeping the urn level even along the incline. You move swiftly, cursing yourself for being distracted.
The bearers move faster as you get further from the station, the various civilians giving them a wide berth--you make sure to keep your distance, blending in with the crowds as they close back up in the procession's wake, an act of almost second nature to you. As you go, the architecture becomes more familiar--Name-signs and pictographs are daubed on the walls in chalk, natural pigment and glowing fungal smear, skeletons and sculptures of found garbage decorate the doorways and lamp-posts, and the air smells like Locusts, charred meat, and the old reliable undercurrent of distrust, a smell more familiar to you than any other. Even so, it remains alien--tubes of glass full of light snake along the walls, people without visible weapons, natural or manufactured, walk the streets unafraid, and the clothing is less grimy, less damaged--some even wear signs of visible wealth, something that back home indicates utter confidence or absolute stupidity. It takes everything you have to stay focused on your goal, as the procession winds on, towards a tall, leaning structure made of wood and fungal timber, perched atop a low building of columns and soot-stained marble.
The procession is slowing down, this is their stop, meaning this is a vital structure to the locals. What do you do?
[ ] Follow them right in, see if you can catch a glimpse of where exactly they're taking it.
-[ ] Try to find the local Boss immediately.
-[ ] Track the bearers.
-[ ] Case the joint.
[ ] Bide your time, wait for them to leave, then go in. Seeing the local Boss is fine, interfering with the Ves... isn't.
-[ ] Find an Augur and negotiate for a reading.
-[ ] Find someone to jump for what they have, keep yourself in fighting trim.
-[ ] Find someone who's hiring, see if there's any opportunities that don't involve talking directly to the Boss. Follow them/Bide your time is a binary choice, choose one and then a sub-vote. Approval voting is fine for the sub-votes but any individual voter can choose only one of the bolded choices.
[X] Bide your time, wait for them to leave, then go in. Seeing the local Boss is fine, interfering with the Ves... isn't.
-[X] Find an Augur and negotiate for a reading.
[X] Bide your time, wait for them to leave, then go in. Seeing the local Boss is fine, interfering with the Ves... isn't.
-[X] Find someone who's hiring, see if there's any opportunities that don't involve talking directly to the Boss.
[X] Bide your time, wait for them to leave, then go in. Seeing the local Boss is fine, interfering with the Ves... isn't.
-[X] Find someone who's hiring, see if there's any opportunities that don't involve talking directly to the Boss.
[X] Bide your time, wait for them to leave, then go in. Seeing the local Boss is fine, interfering with the Ves... isn't.
-[X] Find an Augur and negotiate for a reading.
Ah, that sort of makes sense of the limited vote options.
[X] Bide your time, wait for them to leave, then go in. Seeing the local Boss is fine, interfering with the Ves... isn't.
-[X] Find an Augur and negotiate for a reading.
-[X] Find someone who's hiring, see if there's any opportunities that don't involve talking directly to the Boss.
I don't know how Augurs work, but I assume they offer a legitimately useful service in this setting. I wouldn't mind seeing them. That said, I'm more interested in accomplishing our current objective, which is getting actual job security. Finding what our options are should at least help with negotiations, if nothing else.
