SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Well, sometimes you probably have to go with whatever the default for your Way is, even if it's not useful, because picking the right Way is considerably more important.
Path of the Immeasurable Swarm [Worm/Cradle]
- Thread starter derivativeoflife
- Start date
- Crossover
You would think, but from my memories of the scene that was more a expression of Taylor's talent. Most people don't have the Willpower and the madra control to choose how the power expresses itself. You kind of use the Remnant you take in as a Jade to do the expressing. Taylor was just a pure beast in terms of Willpower and forced the expression of her gold sign into one that fit her needs, rather than what would be expressed naturally. Most people are trying to contain the remnant or get it into their Jade Spiral and don't have the madra control or attention span to also choose how that power expresses itself.
Arcman
Heh
Nah, Taylor needs those treasures, to pay off the 8M Empire in the future at least.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
This poor guy. He's the one death in the chapter I'm kinda sad about.
But also, from a broader perspective, I'm pretty sure this guy was Moon Sage's sanity touchstone, and now that he's gone, she's almost certain to go absolutely cuckoo.
He's probably the only person she ever talked to about the outside world, the guy who reminded her she's not actually a goddess (but he loves her anyway). With him gone, she's certain to go absolutely crazy cakes and cause a lot of damage. In what way that damage will ripple to hurt something Taylor actually cares about... Time will tell.
- Location
- Ruminating on Something. What was it again?
More. Definitely more. Look at the 8 Man Empire, they're just about considered the equivalent of a Monarch all put together and with the Abidan-Cheat armour combining their powers. Without that it's going to be even more.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Finding a compatible remnant at all is tricky for the masses, and for those with the wealth and resources to pick their choice of remnant, they're prioritizing strength and compatibility with their path over a neat Goldsign. Moreover the power boost from a goldsign is temporary at best; once you're around Overlord you can just brute force anything a goldsign could do (see: everyone and their uncle being able to fly just fine without wings).
Definitely getting a neat goldsign our of your advancement is a nice thing to have, but it's the frosting, not the cake.
The biggest problem is coordination. Without the Eight Man Empire armor you need some other way to coordinate your Sages and Heralds. So you need someone specialized in Control or Communication with very specific techniques on top of it. And then also spend time on wargames and drills to make sure everyone synchronizes properly.
Such formation also has a clear weak point in the Sage that is doing the coordination part.
- Location
- Australia
Given the way it's worded I'm not even sure the Moon Sage saw the scarabs irl more just sensed the madra with authority that Taylor popped then as soon as they were unveiled. So she might just know that someone used some form of constructs possibly even that they were shadow and dream madra but not much more.
Honestly she seemed like she was very much on the weaker end of Sages as I imagine most of the ones we know would be able to freeze an Archlords remnant in place for more than a few seconds, especially you would think as a cold Sage freezing in place should be something that resonates with your icon.
Honestly she seemed like she was very much on the weaker end of Sages as I imagine most of the ones we know would be able to freeze an Archlords remnant in place for more than a few seconds, especially you would think as a cold Sage freezing in place should be something that resonates with your icon.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Curiously enough, Cradle canon has the exact opposite fight go down: one Monarch fighting with one sage to try to fight the authority and three Heralds to fight the Monarch physically.
From what we see, the Sage is on the defensive the whole time and the three Heralds together don't do so well. Being a Herald and a Sage seems to make the Herald body better and the Sage workings have more authority. The one Sage is more experienced at being a Sage than the Monarch is, but still on the defensive, and the Heralds aren't strong enough to fight the Monarch evenly. All casualties in this fight are on the non-Monarch side.
It's pretty likely to me that "four and four" is more the usual even fight, which is supported by some events in the last book and also that the Eight Man Empire is what it is. Some evidence exists that the numbers can go up or down a bit based on the match-ups of the Sages/Heralds/Monarchs in question.
- Location
- USA
We briefly see another authority fight in Wintersteel. Northstrider contests the Blood Sage's use of the Blood Icon. The Blood Sage is probably much older than Northstrider (millennia, even?), but Northstrider can overpower him. It seems like a Sage can have more experience and skill with authority, but the Oomph of a Monarch is just really hard to beat.
Yeah honestly at such a high level it's going to come down a lot to the artists. Someone like Fury who is close to reaching Monarch is going to be able to use "pseudo authority" despite being a Herald. Additionally the Icons in question will matter, are they the same Icon, opposing Icons (eg. Life vs. Death), or unrelated (eg. Shadow vs. Bow).
- Location
- Massachusetts
Gee, what could possibly control and coordinate a bunch of independent powerful bodies to work together against an invincible foe? No way Taylor had something like that in her pocket
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Didn't they ascend to Monarch and depart Cradle after the Uncrowned King tournament in this story?
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
- Location
- USA
Oh sure, that particular person isn't applicable to the rest of this story. I was just using them as an example.
- Location
- Christchurch, New Zealand
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's probably worth it. Pissing off one isolated Sage who may figure out who you are in return for treasures that could make the difference in a battle against a Monarch who very much knows who you are.
He's pitiable and pathetic, but his death is hardly tragic. He's the moon sages right hand man. He might be a lazy old man now, but that's hardly indicative of how ruthless he is when there's an motivation for him. On top of that, there's the fact that he use to not be a lazy old man and was definitely as evil and petty as the rest of her harem.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Since, I didn't mention it earlier, thanks. I think my only complaint about this fic is that people's goldsigns don't get mentioned that much so it's easy to forget, for example that Taylor has "two pairs of dragonfly wings, each more than four feet long and shot through with delicate veins of violet madra" or that Yerin has a bunch of bladed spider-legs like she's Kerrigan.
To be fair Lindon mostly skipped out on the whole Goldsign thing. He got his Gold advancement through nepotism afterall.
Specifically by forming a contract with living Sacred Beasts, which is an uncommon but viable option.