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The Amber Age: Pantheon Edition (Collaborative)

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I have to oppose this plan, because it doesn't have the same thematic symbolism for reincarnation as a songbird phoenix, thus it provides no continuing incentive for my "reincarnation with memories intact" plan. Plus, someone already drew fanart for our phoenix form!

Also, we're not injecting anyone with lava. That's bad, we're a benevolent god.

I guess I better get on the discord... though I wish it didn't exist, so that everyone would be forced to talk in one place.
 
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I don't know that there are much more efficient ways to kill people than wasp swarms that inject people with lava which turns them into golems under our control who we then arm with obsidian swords to distract people who our wasp swarms are injecting with lava.
Blowing up a volcano is too messy, our influence is unlikely to grow fast enough for us to be able to just snuff people out.
 
Umi-san said:
I don't know that there are much more efficient ways to kill people than wasp swarms that inject people with lava which turns them into golems under our control who we then arm with obsidian swords to distract people who our wasp swarms are injecting with lava.
Blowing up a volcano is too messy, our influence is unlikely to grow fast enough for us to be able to just snuff people out.
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A more efficient way would have our Fire Ants on lava injecting duty and have our (Stone) Wasps handle to golem part.
 
xtra_ore said:
A more efficient way would have our Fire Ants on lava injecting duty and have our (Stone) Wasps handle to golem part.
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Wasps were not a feature of the initial plan to which I was replying. 2 butterflies (1 metallic) + fire ants.

Also, having fire ants sting people is not more efficient than wasps because wasps can fly and fire ants can't. A happy medium might be having our giant metallic butterflies give rides to the fire ants so they can fall like a gentle drizzle onto the enemies below, possibly amidst a cloud of metallic dust that will blind their eyes. Stone wasps tho... just feel dumb... unless they're building wall-like spire clusters that would defend villages, sort of like a termite-alike.
 
Umi-san said:
Wasps were not a feature of the initial plan to which I was replying. 2 butterflies (1 metallic) + fire ants.

Also, having fire ants sting people is not more efficient than wasps because wasps can fly and fire ants can't. A happy medium might be having our giant metallic butterflies give rides to the fire ants so they can fall like a gentle drizzle onto the enemies below, possibly amidst a cloud of metallic dust that will blind their eyes. Stone wasps tho... just feel dumb... unless they're building wall-like spire clusters that would defend villages, sort of like a termite-alike.
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But with Fire Ants, they would have to be concerned with both ground and sky attacks, and they have huge colonies, so there would be tons of them too.
 
xtra_ore said:
But with Fire Ants, they would have to be concerned with both ground and sky attacks, and they have huge colonies, so there would be tons of them too.
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The problem with saying "they have huge colonies so there would be tons of them too" is the assumption that ants are as homogenous in traits as, say, bees and wasps are. The ants would likely have a relatively small number of specialized warriors and a larger amount of normal, lava-sting-less other ants (who might still be fire-centric and provide warmth to houses cough cough). Wasps, meanwhile, have a less caste-centric system which means the majority of wasps will have the lava stings. Thus, they are likely to have equal numbers of aggressive members.

Also, wasps are better suited for aggressive rather than expansionistic initiatives & guarding borders since their nests are likely to be more widely spread.

But anyways, fire ants + moths wouldn't be awful and the reduced overlap of traits makes them more approachable.
 
Umi-san said:
But anyways, fire ants + moths wouldn't be awful and the reduced overlap of traits makes them more approachable.
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Only reason I am pushing fire ants plus butterflies is that fire ants have a symbiotic relationship with two types of butterflies in real life (and this is where the metallic butterflies came from as that's what one of the types are commonly called), but you do make good points.

Edit: the other butterfly type has caterpillars known as singing caterpillars fyi.
 
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Umi-san said:
That was the assumption but to go with the elemental theme their ability to sing is based on the wind. Which would also let them fan flames and speed up metal flakes.
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Ash might be better, as it wouldn't force us into branching into another major element (branches out of Fire iirc), as well as the fact that type has a specific subtype, known for their deep, blue color, which would relate to our cremation rituals/special dye as diamonds made from cremated ashes are mainly blue diamonds (though normal, clear ones are possible, they're mainly found in the remains of people who have had chemotherapy), if we ever got into that.


Bonus fun fact: the first type of butterflies I mentioned, the "metallic" ones, have had instances of their caterpillars eating fallen, i.e. dead, leaves and their adults may even primarily feed on rotten fish along with other carrion.
 
Poking at growth prospects. Of our present available aspects we can buy...

-Element of Earth - Unlocks soil fertility blessings. This would probably in combination with Stave Off, allow us to much more rapidly expand our population and thus DE budget. Good pick for an early buy. Over time may lead to opening up Life stuff via the Fertility route, which is the thing the monster lovers are probably looking forward to.

-Element of Fire - Gives our people controlled fire, which they already make use of in their rituals, so the immediate boon is likely wider ritual work. Expands Pottery. Assuming the originals are any indication, Fire + Earth gives us Obsidian, and later Metal. Oh and between Fire and Death if someone comes attacking we could do a bit more impressive stuff, given DE to burn.

-Spirit of the Ancestors - Bigass boost to Loremaker, which is our Cultural skill. Hadn't seen what it does yet since we hadn't done those Inspires, but it makes us a spirit of Tradition/Humanity, which is a somewhat humanizing role. Our appearance would be more human-like, but with markings of death.

-Ashform - This is an Avatar type effect. Be resistant to damage by being made of ashes, which PROBABLY comes with some weakness to water or wind attacks dispersing it. Low-ish priority, but it does potentially give us an avatar without picking a given fixed form. If we find a neighbor thats hostile this might be a higher priority.

-Aspect of the Hawk - Boost to two types of Destruction...unfortunately our entirely combat ability is "low random chance of death", so that isn't very significant yet. Gives some kind of flight, and boosts scrying results, so it's somewhat useful. Phoenix lovers want it of course.

-Obsidian Patronage - Currently useless. We don't have any obsidian yet.

-Aspect of the Greater Lizard - Large reptile form. Good for those who want to be a dragon(well, large lizard for now, dragon is a long way off yet). Immediate practical use is very low, since we don't even have Peerage skills yet, and the +5% is negligible when the skill is 0.

Bolded for most immediately useful purchases. Unmarked for stuff that's of limited immediate utility. Strikeout for stuff which are not currently useful, though they may be super desirable later

Assuming we're left alone after those guys run screaming(which is a little dubious), investing into an Earth aspect at the next juncture would get us a useful population growth bootstrap. Bonus if we can snag both Earth and Fire at once and go straight into Inspiring pottery.
 
As far as upgrades go, I would like the Ashform.

It just seems fitting for our God that their first mortal form is nothing but living ash. To steal a pun from the Discord thread, it fits our Ashthetics.
 
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