Revolution (RWBY Planeswalker Blake)

[owrtho]

"Tell us, kitty, are they prey?"

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(Ability Acquired: Pray [Rank ???])

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So, just figured I'd check, but is it supposed to be "Pray", or is it supposed to be "Prey"? The latter would be in keeping with the rhyme, but the former does fit in the sense of requesting aid from some supernatural being.

I don't actually know anything about Eldrazi other then things that could be deduced from off-hand mentions in Ignition, but either way mysterious voices that tell us to chose a prey don't sound like ordinary friends.

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Eldrazi are entities that live in the Blind Eternities (the place between planes). They generally seem to be unknowable eldritch entities modeled after Lovecraftian horror (for instance causing madness, corrupting stuff around them, and being exceedingly powerful and hard to kill/stop). To go along with that, any manifestation of them in any manifestation of them encountered is not actually their true self, but rather something of an avatar that they are using to interact with a plane, meaning that when you kill it, you aren't actually killing the eldrazi, just kicking it out of the plane. They don't seem to be specifically evil so much as generally not care about normal mortals, and the strongest one encountered was only "beaten" when it basically got bored of the conflict, and proceeded to give one of the planeswalkers facing it a spell to supposedly seal it away in the moon, then highjacked them to make them cast the spell. There's a popular fan theory that one of the new planeswalkers from War of the Spark is actually that eldrazi in disguise.

Given that eldrazi live in the Blind Eternities (which supposedly requires the spark to not be destroyed by being there, though even planeswalkers generally can only survive for short periods), it's possible all eldrazi have the spark and are thus planeswalkers. However, that's not confirmed, and as noted, the spark does not seem sufficient to allow living full time in the Blind Eternities. They also don't seem to exhibit other planeswalker powers, but that might just be a difference in how they said power, since much of what a planeswalker can do comes from visiting and getting abilities from various planes, and eldrazi don't really travel around much.

owrtho

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

That doesn't really sound like Eldrazi would care to ask if locals to where they wanted to be were prey or not in the eyes of the prospective summoner, nor that they would care to ask or try to trick someone into it in the first place. Besides, don't they require mana that has been bleached of elemental affinity to show up? I vaguely remember something about that from comments in Ignition and/or another MtG based quest.

 

[BunnyLord]

Obviously relying on metaknowledge is a dangerous thing, but traditionally Eldrazi are colourless. I highly doubt this is anything to do with them, and is probably something local (and far more interesting to me, in all honesty!) I don't think Eldrazi are things we're going to be messing around with as Blake, considering the comment on power levels near the start? I'm curious to see what help the thing that wants us to pray to it is offering, at least. Ankhseram's a cool guy, maybe it's them!

 

[beowolf]

Besides, don't they require mana that has been bleached of elemental affinity to show up? I vaguely remember something about that from comments in Ignition and/or another MtG based quest.

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They don't require it, what happens is that they produce elementally drained Mana naturally in addition to bleaching normal Mana into it, and as the only things that do so, converting normal Mana into what is more similar to them can attract their attention.

 

[Nixeu]

I took that more to mean that Blake's connection to Black and discovery of the ability to make Black constructs meant she'd become a beacon to hungry things that were willing to let her summon them to cuddle and nibble on designated targets - "tell us kitty, are they prey?" is about the clearest request for IFF I've seen in that kind of offer; usually the language is much more obscured with the implication of wanting to be summoned with instructions vague enough to be able to run wild. I'm not saying to just trust the creepy dream-voices, but for a first contact I think they've really put their best appendage forward.

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Oh, the last line was definitely IFF. As for the rest...maybe you're right, and our recent forays into Black magic are what attracted their attention. Maybe they just mean the Burning Briars, and not "whoever Blake is feeling vengeful towards from her past", because they did nothing but observe her since then. I suppose you could explain the first line as the entities just assuming she was forced to move from somewhere, or perhaps were referring to the camp she was kicked out of. There are, I suppose, other explanations than the entity in question knowing her past and recognizing what she is.

I'll grant you all of that...but, if they can send us dreams, who's to say they can't look deeper into our mind and memory, or "sense the pain and resentment in our heart", or something along those lines? I'm not sure that they are just referring to our current foes. Something about the song, simple though it is, seems to me to hint at a deeper understanding of Blake and her motivations than might just be gained from casual observation. "Have your say" could just as easily have been "have your way", but the former would speak more to someone like Blake than the latter. It seems to me that this entity is basically saying "pray to us, and we'll destroy anyone who you ask us to", with the implication of helping her with not just the current situation, but also her deeper ambitions. And I feel like that sort of thing might be a little beyond just any old demon.

Basically, seems to me like you're underestimating exactly what we might be dealing with. I'm not sure this is as simple as "some group of eldritch horrors/demons/restless spirits/miscellaneous monsters saw us using Black and decided to offer their services in devouring our foes". I think they might know a little more about Blake than that, and I think that indicates they might be a bit more than just randomly interested in her.

 

[owrtho]

That doesn't really sound like Eldrazi would care to ask if locals to where they wanted to be were prey or not in the eyes of the prospective summoner, nor that they would care to ask or try to trick someone into it in the first place. Besides, don't they require mana that has been bleached of elemental affinity to show up? I vaguely remember something about that from comments in Ignition and/or another MtG based quest.

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So, that vaguely touches on something I forgot to mention which is that unlike most things, Eldrazi are generally colourless, despite not being artifacts. Since coloured mana seems to be generally linked to planes, and they are not from those. However, they do not generally require colourless mana (usually using generic mana). Only one set actually had the required colourless mana cost, and it seems to have been limited to cards from a single Eldrazi's brood (specifically Kozilek). It's not actually clear in lore what requirements an Eldrazi has for showing up, as both planes they've appeared on are ones with a history of them, that seemed to have specific measures taken to stop them showing up. This would suggest that they could basically show up anywhere if they want to (much like a planeswalker), but unlike planeswalkers generally don't bother. Alternatively, they might have a harder time entering planes on their own, hence their showing up generally being in the form of a mass invasion.

Admittedly, it's also unclear how accurate it is to describe as a mass invasion. Setting aside corrupted individuals, there are only 3 named eldrazi, and all the others are are indicated to be members of their brood. While usage of the word brood would suggest they are children, based on the mythos they are inspired by, it would not be a stretch to think all the lesser eldrazi are actually just offshoots, dregs of power, the equivalent of planeswalker summons, etc. of the 3 named eldrazi, and not actually true eldrazi themselves. Under this theory, there are only 3 eldrazi we've seen, and they've generally traveled as a trio.

It should also be noted that eldrazi may not be limited to eldritch tentacle horror forms. While it's possibly an instance of inaccurate representations, the three eldrazi are the three gods of Inistrad, who were depicted as far more humanoid looking individuals with none of the horror aspects (though some aspects of their look do match the monstrous forms). They also created the various angels and such on that plane, which were not remotely Lovecraftian prior to the eldrazi coming back in full Lovecraftian horror mode. It's unclear how much of the corruption of the plane as seen in those sets is a natural effect of eldrazi showing up, and how much is the result of the three having seeded the plane long ago with stuff they could change when they returned (as the only other plane we've seen them on was also one they had a history on, we again don't know if any of the far less prevalent corruption was just the result of leftovers from their first visit having permeated the place).

owrtho

 

[Alphagates]

Obviously relying on metaknowledge is a dangerous thing, but traditionally Eldrazi are colourless. I highly doubt this is anything to do with them, and is probably something local (and far more interesting to me, in all honesty!) I don't think Eldrazi are things we're going to be messing around with as Blake, considering the comment on power levels near the start? I'm curious to see what help the thing that wants us to pray to it is offering, at least. Ankhseram's a cool guy, maybe it's them!

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I'm betting in being something local, a summon type magic, similar to celestial spirit magic.
Maybe trying to get into a contract with Blake?

 

[fictionfan]

The following morning, Blake stared out at the Burning Briars Guildhouse from the window and tried to figure out how to curse them. Vindictive? Yes. Petty? Blake would argue otherwise considering that some members were outright kidnapping people. Their misfortune could only be good for any victims.

Still, her intent-infused Black emissions didn't seem to accomplish their intended purpose and Blake shelved the project for later.

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I suspect that this is what it noticed. We were looking at the Burning Briars Guildhouse with ill intent well using trying to use black mana.

 

[Nixeu]

I think people should keep in mind that whatever this is seems to see Blake as a rescuer or savior or otherwise someone who can do something to help them somehow. Probably uniquely so. I can't think of a whole lot of other ways to interpret "our own ray", other than "ray of light/hope". If anyone has any other interpretations, feel free to bring them up. But that phrasing, combined with a lack of any implied urgency, makes me think it's restrained in some sense, and that Blake is the key to releasing it, rather than it being in immediate danger or under threat of some sort.

If so, we need to ask: why is it that we're the solution, not some other Black mage? I can think of two reasons why Blake would be uniquely qualified:

1. The restriction is only able to be lifted by a Planeswalker, or a nonhuman, or some other trait that Blake has that others lack.
B. Everyone else from this plane knows better, and it thinks it can sucker a newcomer into freeing it.

Either one is worrying.

 

[fictionfan]

Black mana has more lets call it purpose that other mana. For example a curse requires a certain amount of "inteligence" to work. A curse of bad luck has to be able to figure out what bad luck even is moment by moment. If you tried to curse someone using blue you would have to define everything ahead of time or always keep updating the curse. White can figure out your intent, but it super literal minded about it and lacks any flex. Well black can figure out what you intent and even adjust according to situation.

For example the Contradiction curse. I don't expect that it was fully defined as it was cast unless the God that did it intended to try and destroy the world and if it did there are way more straight forward to do it. But as time passed and the person under it kept trying to figure out loopholes it adjusted to keep to it's purpose of turning the person under it into the sort of person they hate.

 

[Nixeu]

For example the Contradiction curse. I don't expect that it was fully defined as it was cast unless the God that did it intended to try and destroy the world and if it did there are way more straight forward to do it. But as time passed and the person under it kept trying to figure out loopholes it adjusted to keep to it's purpose of turning the person under it into the sort of person they hate.

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...No, I'm fairly sure the point was to either drive them to do something irreversibly restrictive in an attempt to suicide (jump in a volcano and sink into the crust, bury themselves alive, throw themselves into space, etc.) and/or cause mass havoc in their quest to die, because Ankhseram's a dickhead. More direct forms of destroying the world are probably banned, or at least opposed, by the other Gods. But, if a mortal does it under the Curse's influence, it's not directly Ankhseram's doing. Which may be a way to dodge responsibility. The effects of the curse were well known and fairly consistent.

Now, the way and direction in which it warped the cursed individuals' thoughts was probably unpredictable and unique to each person, and probably didn't always go as far as Zeref's apocalyptic plans. People's brains aren't all wired exactly the same, after all. Still, given enough cases, end-of-the-world stuff was inevitable. It's Stochastic Terrorism: Magical Edition. The curse was likely meant as both a deterrent and a way of killing large numbers of people to increase Ankhseram's power. Because again, jackass who needs people to die in order to maintain power. That's almost certainly true of Ignition's version, and likely Revolution's too, based on how his High Priest behaved. Dude thrives on death, and his curse inevitably produces a lot of it. Pretty sure that's a feature and not a random bug or heuristic hiccup.

 

[What A Day]

My bet is on this being a Fairy Tale entity, due to this:

used their lives to summon an archdemon
....
"Her Majesty is relaxing the laws on demonology and death magic, though," Catello added sourly. "'Weaken the enemy by understanding their weapons,' she says. Because we really needed more Warlocks wandering around, right?"

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Showing that Black is the color of the year.

"I have no idea what I'm doing.

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We'll need to get Blake good enough with Blue to at least do mental shield/remove magical effects. At this point it's the color most likely to take us down suddenly and prevent escape.

Or a Black way to do it. Or better yet both for effectiveness.

 

[Razzocnor]

A Blue/Black mental defense sounds like the kind of thing that doesn't actually protect so well as it viciously counterattacks anyone foolish enough to try.

"Sure, you can read my mind... but are you ready for what you'll SEE there?"

 

[BlackCoat13]

If so, we need to ask: why is it that we're the solution, not some other Black mage?

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Though it's too soon to be definite, most Mages in Fairy Tail aren't 'Color Mages' as Planeswalkers and most mages on most Planes are. Instead, Fairy Tail mages use the energy unique to their home Plane, Ethernano. Obviously we can't trust this assumption because AU settings, but I'm fairly confident that no, some random Edolas Mage with a Black tinge probably couldn't unlock or pact with whatever the voices are because they're still using Ethernano.

Blake, as a Planeswalker, is using a higher tier energy source, actually Mana. It could be that this just makes her the only person around they could have contacted.

Strange voices talking to us in our dreams? Well, at least it's not a Cabbit.

Edit: Don't go qouting me without actually reading that I know it's too soon to be definitive.

 

[fictionfan]

We'll need to get Blake good enough with Blue to at least do mental shield/remove magical effects.

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Her aura seems to work to an extent and we can expect her aura to become stronger overtime and with use.

I just kinda expect the soul of planeswalker to be stronger.

 

[Diomedea]

The clear solution here is for Blake to make a concept her prey! You can't kill an idea, so there's always something new to hunt, devour, and empower yourself with. And who can claim to stand against an enemy of injustice?!

 

[Ichigoblade22]

The clear solution here is for Blake to make a concept her prey! You can't kill an idea, so there's always something new to hunt, devour, and empower yourself with. And who can claim to stand against an enemy of injustice?!

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That sounds like a horrible idea.....I'm game for it what concept should we declare prey it have to be narrow enough to not trigger Blake's morality. I can't think of any cause concept based powers are a pain in the ass to deal with so I don't bother.

Seriously thou we shouldn't throw any possible advantage we have out yet including summoning culthu. Though learning some blue defenses would be best as their great slapping shit down and then learning some black/blue combination for more piece of mind cause nothing reassure you like being able to make the other guy burn/wither. Also with our magic people will start to compare us to Zerif (cant spell) and that can lead to problems assuming this after his whole immortality thing and was born.

 

[The Mad Ghoul]

"Tell us, kitty, are they prey?

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[Nixeu]

My bet is on this being a Fairy Tale entity, due to this:
Showing that Black is the color of the year.

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My bet is on "something that Alivaril made up that fits the setting", since I can't think of much that's canonical which would fit. Well, except for a telepath whispering in our ear.

Though it's too soon to be definite, most Mages in Fairy Tail aren't 'Color Mages' as Planeswalkers and most mages on most Planes are. Instead, Fairy Tail mages use the energy unique to their home Plane, Ethernano. Obviously we can't trust this assumption because AU settings, but I'm fairly confident that no, some random Edolas Mage with a Black tinge probably couldn't unlock or pact with whatever the voices are because they're still using Ethernano.

Blake, as a Planeswalker, is using a higher tier energy source, actually Mana. It could be that this just makes her the only person around they could have contacted.

Strange voices talking to us in our dreams? Well, at least it's not a Cabbit.

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We haven't heard anyone use that term for mana yet, and all their spells have been fairly normal, so far as we know. You have basically no foundation to build on here besides likely false metaknowledge. I'm willing to use it for establishing precedents for what we might be able to achieve in the future. It's much less useful for establishing the laws of the setting.

The clear solution here is for Blake to make a concept her prey! You can't kill an idea, so there's always something new to hunt, devour, and empower yourself with. And who can claim to stand against an enemy of injustice?!

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I...don't think that's how pacts with dark beings generally work. Not unless it's an overly literal demonic contract. I'm pretty sure if we, after making a pact, summoned Nyarlathotep and told him to go hunt down and destroy the concept of poverty, he would probably...okay, in that case, it's like 50/50 if he'd just laugh and/or vaporize us, or actually go out and do it successfully, but in a way that makes things even worse. But you get my point.

Seriously thou we shouldn't throw any possible advantage we have out yet including summoning culthu. Though learning some blue defenses would be best as their great slapping shit down and then learning some black/blue combination for more piece of mind cause nothing reassure you like being able to make the other guy burn/wither. Also with our magic people will start to compare us to Zerif (cant spell) and that can lead to problems assuming this after his whole immortality thing and was born.

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I really don't think we're nearly strong enough to be mistaken for that walking contradiction. Zeref's magical power is basically "yes". I also don't recall us getting a solid read on how much power any individual local mage has yet, much less what the average amount is. So we can't measure how much power we have. Also, we aren't randomly letting off massive, uncontrolled bursts of death magic. So that helps.

 

[Diomedea]

I...don't think that's how pacts with dark beings generally work. Not unless it's an overly literal demonic contract. I'm pretty sure if we, after making a pact, summoned Nyarlathotep and told him to go hunt down and destroy the concept of poverty, he would probably...okay, in that case, it's like 50/50 if he'd just laugh and/or vaporize us, or actually go out and do it successfully, but in a way that makes things even worse. But you get my point.

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I...was making a joke? Tongue in cheek, as evidenced by the emoji in my post?

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

I...was making a joke? Tongue in cheek, as evidenced by the emoji in my post?

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The trouble is that many Veloci-tans take the "There was a point we should have stopped and we've clearly passed it - let's keep going and see what happens!" meme seriously, let alone more subtle jokes that could possibly be serious suggestions. I keep running into the same problem, since I'm not usually a very serious sort myself.

As an example, I was going to post about Blake now having the one of three magical steps needed to make her own ice cream, having learned to make a chilled area with Blue, so at least one Red for heat and to combine with Blue for cold plus churning force should be the next priority for mana use, but between the Black dream and discussion and figuring I'd need to be this explicit about it being a joke to not actually have it added (if at a low level) to the queue, dropped it until now.

Except that having written it, I almost do want to have her work on something like that, both for the sake of playing with "cats like cream" and "good kids get ice cream" memes and as practical training for Red and Blue and general fine mana manipulation to get the temperatures and texture right, and whatever class of crafting skill finding and preparing flavorings (such as mint, which is more likely to grow in pseudo-Europe than chocolate or vanilla, and is related to catnip as well as being the objectively best ice cream flavor ) falls under. Truly, once you start down the meme path, forever will it dominate your destiny!

edit: There is also this smiley, if you want to be really sure about making it clear it's a joke with a single one:

 

[Nachtigall]

I can't think of a whole lot of other ways to interpret "our own ray", other than "ray of light/hope". If anyone has any other interpretations, feel free to bring them up.

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I can. Death ray, or targeting laser come to mind.

why is it that we're the solution, not some other Black mage?

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3. It's and entity from Remnant, and called us because we're a Remnant native. In which case the most likely option are the Grimm, and praying would unleash them on this world.

 

[cheesyme]

3. It's and entity from Remnant, and called us because we're a Remnant native. In which case the most likely option are the Grimm, and praying would unleash them on this world.

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That would require the Grimm be capable of traversing the Blind Eternities to follow Blake on her accidental and uncontrolled journey outside of what most would consider concrete reality. Its questionable if Salem could even survive being dropped in the Blind Eternities, let alone be functional enough to do this, and the Grimm certainly couldn't.

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

The Grimm might originally be extradimensional and only summoned to Remnant, or have been created as such by the God of Destruction, since the Brothers fucked off to (an?) other world(s) and therefore seem capable of traveling the Planes themselves anyway. Climbing out of pools of black goo is hardly unusual as a monster trope, though it does have some especially concerning associations in MtG specifically.

 

[cheesyme]

The Grimm might originally be extradimensional and only summoned to Remnant, or have been created as such by the God of Destruction, since the Brothers fucked off to (an?) other world(s) and therefore seem capable of traveling the Planes themselves anyway.

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Not necessarily, you can have multiple worlds within the same plane, so its entirely possible that the Gods are just on a different planet without ever crossing the Blind Eternities. Probably more likely that way, since I don't think most/any of the gods are really all that capable of getting to other planes with the exception of Yawgmoth being weird.

And before you go into the black pools being something related to the Glistening Oil, it behaves really differently, and quite frankly if the Grimm were related to Yawgmoth Remnant would not still exist.