The God Diversion
- Thread starter Birdsie
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- not doing my homework
- Pronouns
- He/They
I had some time, so I have written a vague pros/cons list of each Arcane Focus Devotion for the thread - it is an unbiased view on the subject, or as unbiased as I can make it, that seeks to distill everything that has been discussed on the Discord (join the Discord!) for theadgoers.
docs.google.com
I think a good secondary distillation of the whole thing is from Rihaku on discord (which I am quoting with his permission), which puts everything into the context of outcomes: "Vote fire if you want to be a generalist caster, air if you want to be combat focused, earth if you want to be a pulp hero tinker, and water if you want Sol himself to be more active".
Devotion Arguments
Sheet1 Air / Swords,Fire / Wands,Water / Cups,Earth / Pentacles Pros,Cons,Pros,Cons,Pros,Cons,Pros,Cons THE strongest combat option,Least versatile option,Very strong initial blast,Falls off in time,Sanctum Synergy,Arguably the weakest in combat,Eldritch AND Sanctum Synergy,Ritual casting is lim...
I think a good secondary distillation of the whole thing is from Rihaku on discord (which I am quoting with his permission), which puts everything into the context of outcomes: "Vote fire if you want to be a generalist caster, air if you want to be combat focused, earth if you want to be a pulp hero tinker, and water if you want Sol himself to be more active".
Cigarettes, betrayers and snakes brainstorming so far..
Birdsie — Figure out all of the kabbalistic meanings and correspondences of the word 'cigarette,' then explain based on your findings how cigarettes may be effectively used to deal with traitors and serpents. Also extrapolate the connection of a cigarette to the Tree of Life and what sort of powers it could awaken in a smoker if given a flash of divine insight.
Then, further, explain how smoking is actually bad for you and you shouldn't do it to gain great cosmic powers over eternity.
Birdsie —
I'll give you guys a starting point:
Cigarette has the same gematria value as 'betrayer' and 'crushing snakes.'
Birdsie —
It also has the same gematria value as Martin Scorcese, by the way.
Birdsie — Figure out all of the kabbalistic meanings and correspondences of the word 'cigarette,' then explain based on your findings how cigarettes may be effectively used to deal with traitors and serpents. Also extrapolate the connection of a cigarette to the Tree of Life and what sort of powers it could awaken in a smoker if given a flash of divine insight.
Then, further, explain how smoking is actually bad for you and you shouldn't do it to gain great cosmic powers over eternity.
Birdsie —
I'll give you guys a starting point:
Cigarette has the same gematria value as 'betrayer' and 'crushing snakes.'
Birdsie —
It also has the same gematria value as Martin Scorcese, by the way.
- Discussion..
- Snake brainstorming
- Betrayer brainstorming
- Familar Names & Kaballah:
Last edited:
- Location
- Louisiana
These devotions needs to be measured off of a few metrics.
1. What is their casting style? Since arcanum will be making up the broad majority of the spells we will be casting, the specifics of our magic system is critical. Pentacles for example, has a very restrictive casting style with ritualistic magic. It's specialist bonus has to carry it in normal combat. If you want to see Sol play an actual magician, pentacles is harder to use. Personally, I would prefer for Sol to continue using an easy to use casting method, so it can see more combat screentime.
2. What is their domain? Continuing off the point about how arcanum is sols core aspect, the domain of effects we can utilize is very important. Swords is more limited, but it does have some unique effects (like the mental boosts and electromagnetic control). Wand has unique effects surrounding things like creation of life. Cups has emotions manipulation, which is important for the human embodiment of sloth. Pentacles has extremely powerful crafting and artifice. To me, these unique effects are the types of things that will be much harder to replicate between devotions. High enough elevation (and we are jumping the early levels here), allows for versatility with any reasonably broad magic system. I would consider Sword reasonably broad, if not universally applicable.
3. Their unique bonuses. Sword offers absurd combat benefits against other enrolled/magical effects. Cups offers willpower management. Pentacles offers consistent body enhancement. Wand offers a limited supply of highly powerful spells. I find cups to be the weakest of these, but cups has an easier to use casting style that is one of the most versatile. Sword is by far the best one if we intend to ever fight someone like the metaphysician. You don't pull up to metaphysician without something capable of cutting through his bullshit. Fire is broadly applicable across all uses, but I'm unsure if it's optimal. Pentacles allows us to go all in on crafting/eldritch buffs, water allows us to focus on will generation to do heavier cost actions more frequently, and sword allows us to take on more absurd risks while exploring. Fire can do a mix of things, but I'm unsure if it's the optimal move.
Admittedly a lot of that analysis has some sword bias, but I tried to at least recognize the pros of each option. This is still in flux, so as the system cements I might have changed opinions on these options. I do think sword has the most interesting domain though.
1. What is their casting style? Since arcanum will be making up the broad majority of the spells we will be casting, the specifics of our magic system is critical. Pentacles for example, has a very restrictive casting style with ritualistic magic. It's specialist bonus has to carry it in normal combat. If you want to see Sol play an actual magician, pentacles is harder to use. Personally, I would prefer for Sol to continue using an easy to use casting method, so it can see more combat screentime.
2. What is their domain? Continuing off the point about how arcanum is sols core aspect, the domain of effects we can utilize is very important. Swords is more limited, but it does have some unique effects (like the mental boosts and electromagnetic control). Wand has unique effects surrounding things like creation of life. Cups has emotions manipulation, which is important for the human embodiment of sloth. Pentacles has extremely powerful crafting and artifice. To me, these unique effects are the types of things that will be much harder to replicate between devotions. High enough elevation (and we are jumping the early levels here), allows for versatility with any reasonably broad magic system. I would consider Sword reasonably broad, if not universally applicable.
3. Their unique bonuses. Sword offers absurd combat benefits against other enrolled/magical effects. Cups offers willpower management. Pentacles offers consistent body enhancement. Wand offers a limited supply of highly powerful spells. I find cups to be the weakest of these, but cups has an easier to use casting style that is one of the most versatile. Sword is by far the best one if we intend to ever fight someone like the metaphysician. You don't pull up to metaphysician without something capable of cutting through his bullshit. Fire is broadly applicable across all uses, but I'm unsure if it's optimal. Pentacles allows us to go all in on crafting/eldritch buffs, water allows us to focus on will generation to do heavier cost actions more frequently, and sword allows us to take on more absurd risks while exploring. Fire can do a mix of things, but I'm unsure if it's the optimal move.
Admittedly a lot of that analysis has some sword bias, but I tried to at least recognize the pros of each option. This is still in flux, so as the system cements I might have changed opinions on these options. I do think sword has the most interesting domain though.
It seems to me that you are missing two-thirds of the essence of Cup if you reduce it to one manipulation of emotions. There are also potions in Cup that can be very diverse and fundamentally transformative magic, such as increasing strength or turning into other creatures.
- Location
- Louisiana
In that section I was specifically referring to its specialist bonus. I could have been more clear on that. Lowering will costs is good, but I don't think it's AS good as the specialist bonus of the other three. It makes up for it by having, like you said, a powerful and diverse magic system.
Rihaku
The Internet
Much like a Tinker, the versatility of Earth must usually be prepared in advance - but that also means Sol will benefit from the Sanctum buff on almost every spell he casts. And the space of problems requiring magic to solve shrinks dramatically if one has a MAGNIFICENT PHYSIQUE.
I still favor the flexibility of fire overall, however. It's a shame that the weakness of the Enrolled in mental augmentation means Air's versatility is largely constrained to telekinesis and summoning Djinni. I had hoped we would be able to get singular Thinker powers rather than straightforward +IQ - the latter being generally harder to write than the former.
I still favor the flexibility of fire overall, however. It's a shame that the weakness of the Enrolled in mental augmentation means Air's versatility is largely constrained to telekinesis and summoning Djinni. I had hoped we would be able to get singular Thinker powers rather than straightforward +IQ - the latter being generally harder to write than the former.
Don't we already have a symbiote that will make us very strong? I doubt that the Earth will be able to increase our brute force so much that it will become noticeable with the strengthening of the symbiont.
- Location
- Louisiana
I'd be curious if we could do some air shenanigans to link our mental processing with the Symbiote. Air seems to cover mental enhancements broadly, so if we could combine our processing speed together we might be able to do some funny stuff. Especially if we can then upgrade the Symbiote specifically towards that type of enhancement.
Rihaku
The Internet
It's also important to note that domains intentionally contain some overlap - Earth covers the creation of any Artifact, including those that perform the functions of other Devotions; Air's telekinesis effectively encompasses the other -kinesis arts; Fire can create a portal while Water can 'change' your spatial coordinates, etc.
Whether Earth's bonus is material depends on the mechanics used. If the proposal is used then it would certainly be a relevant boost.
Whether Earth's bonus is material depends on the mechanics used. If the proposal is used then it would certainly be a relevant boost.
Maybe we won't lock ourselves in specialization, but just develop what we want from different elements?
Of course, we will not get the return that we could get specializing in the elements and we will need more time to study.
But on the other hand, we will be able to teach students a variety of magic, so that later we can create dozens of followers who will provide us with a constant stream of potions and artifacts for the apprenticeship as payment for the apprenticeship, while we ourselves improve the forces of the air and other necessary forces.
Of course, we will not get the return that we could get specializing in the elements and we will need more time to study.
But on the other hand, we will be able to teach students a variety of magic, so that later we can create dozens of followers who will provide us with a constant stream of potions and artifacts for the apprenticeship as payment for the apprenticeship, while we ourselves improve the forces of the air and other necessary forces.
Just thinking of it as passive thing to do that doesn't requires as much will, because of the fact that if you don't want to do something make a clone and have it do it for you instead, if the clone doesn't want to it'll make another clone, all of them just passing down responsibility onto their creations while making him stronger
- Location
- washington
Word of Birdsie these things are the equivalent of efbs with some downsides and a lot of our roles potential was put into them. So bad idea to not pick one.
- Location
- washington
It's not canon nor is it trying to be also some classes very rare have as many as 50.
GildedSergeant
Tarnished Gold and Rattling Bones
- Location
- Over There
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Currently I'm favoring fire and water, fire being the most flexible and water seeming similarly so, since we can use potions and transformations to make up for things we're not as good at. That said, when we're figuring out which specialization to take we should consider the following:
We have the option to do a minor devotion instead of a full one and switch around relatively freely, so we can always try out a few and see if they click with us before diving head-in.
- Location
- Peterborough, NH, USA
Extra Aspects CYOA.
If Solomon and Penelope are to face the challenges ahead, the Lamb and the Metaphysician at minimum, with other potential issues waiting in the wings, they will need far more power. Treat each of the below as Solomon and Penelope repeating their feat in the Gothic Horror World, claiming an Aspect at Level 5 and 4 Level 3 Techniques(which you may customize so long as they fall reasonably within the Theme of the Aspect) from 3 worlds, 3 Aspects for Sol, and 3 for Pen, which are added to the existing 4 of their respective characters. Ie, Penelope won't get any Magician Aspects.
Alternatively, you may act as if you are a contingency of sorts from the Educator, and take up 6 Magician Aspects and 6 Justice Aspects for yourself.
Superheroes Aspects:
[ ] Magician Aspect: Sorcerer Supreme. Gain a conceptual advantage when facing other mystical entities, be they demon gods, fellow wizards, or even artifacts and mystical phenomena. At Level 5, you effectively have +2.5 levels in any relevant Aspects or Techniques when dealing with any of the above, and any artifacts you wield or power sources you attempt to draw upon will offer 250% greater performance/rewards.
[ ] Justice Aspect: For Great Justice. Gain a conceptual advantage when fighting for morally good reasons, such as protecting someone's life, or to uphold your principles in general. At Level 5, you effectively have +2.5 levels in any relevant Aspects or Techniques when dealing with any of the above, and accumulate XP 250% more quickly when doing so.
Supervillains Aspects:
[ ] Magician Aspect: Demonic Magic. Perhaps best understood as the worst of memetic witchcraft. Curses, possession, summoning demons to do your bidding(if you can keep them under control), etc. but is generally more powerful than conventional magic, at the cost of being all but incapable of healing or creature comforts, excepting poisoned chalices, such as actual poison wine. At Level 5, you'd be able to summon(if not necessarily control) a city-destroying demon, reenact Biblical plagues on a small town, and inflict cursed wounds with either your magic or conventional attacks, which are immensely difficult to heal in any way, even by your own hand.
[ ] Justice Aspect: Vigiliante. At the end of the day, what separates a superhero from a vigilante amounts to popular support and some level of official backing. So, a vigilante will be viewed somewhat ambiguously by their hometown, while a superhero may well be seen as a detective with an oddly themed wardrobe or the like. Of course, the flipside of this is that the nature of PR will restrict a hero's actions beyond what their morals might, such as not being able to go after someone they know is guilty without a proper trial. A vigilante doesn't have that problem, but is far more likely to themselves violate the law. However, the thin barrier between them and those they fight tends to make them even more stubborn about the principles they do hold to. At Level 5, the user will gain significant resistance to things that would make them go against their principles, and dramatically reduced penalties, either social or Role-based, from 'Necessary Evils' as well as a similar improvement to judging whether these are truly necessary acts, and a minor general STATS enhancement. Acting outside the law to mete out justice will almost always count for this purpose.
Knights of the Round Table Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Merlin. A wizard of immense power, but possessed of human foibles nonetheless. He is technically the Court Wizard, but functionally, he's more of a guide. At Level 5, gain a moderate enhancement to all magic, but an immense one to aiding the efforts of others, mystically or otherwise. Be it advice, leading them to an artifact of some kind, or directly buffing them with your magic. You also gain improved rewards from your Role from doing so.
[ ] Justice: Green Knight. A knight of titanic might who nearly killed a Knight of the Round Table for breaking an agreement to trade what the former won in the lands around his House for what the Knight of the Round won within it, and a representation that even the greatest of paragons can have moments of weakness, but also that a moment of weakness is not worth slaying a man over. At Level 5, the user can not only identify recent crimes/sins without any mundane means to identify them, but also gain a strong picture of the motives behind the act.
Hard Science Fiction Aspects:
[ ] Quantum Physicist. The closest thing in real life to magic. Having the actions done to one thing cause the reverse to happen on the other end. The idea that everything is actually just the result of the interactions of various quantum fields would certainly have sounded like magic to someone from the 1800s. At Level 5, gain access to various quantum field effects such as quantum pair particles to communicate across impossible distances, ignoring most forms of interference, the ability to link black holes as if they were conventional wormholes, the ability to create pocket dimensions via Klein Bottles, etc. Though most of this is dependent on your ability to create requisite gadgets, so long as you have your equipment, your performance is more in line with a Level 7.
[ ] Space Station Police. At the end of the day, society in space won't be that different from society on Earth. There will be criminals, and enforcers of the law meant to handle them. Of course, police will have a few new toys, even if they aren't a proper military. The advancement of science may not grant laser guns, but rail guns, and body armor will advance immensely as well in order to keep up with said rail guns, though cover and concealment will likely still remain important, as police in space aren't that much more likely to have proper power armor than conventional police, for similar reasons, though they may have some level of augmented movement. At Level 5, gain a set of equipment that makes modern guns and body armor look like a joke, but focused on non-lethal takedowns first, though it is not incapable in a standard slugging match. This includes a suit with assisted motion sufficient to double baseline strength, and several suped up versions of modern flashbangs, tazers, etc.
Horror Movies Aspects:
[ ] Magician: The Dark Side. While the conception of the Id, Ego, and Superego is a gross simplification, it is true that people have baser desires, and you cannot lie to magic. Thus, one's magic can take on a life of it's own in regards to their repressed desires, leading to something between a split personality and a familiar. Beware that you remain the master of your dark side, instead of the other way around. At Level 5, the Id Magic is fully tangible and capable of acting on it's own, as well as absorbing some traits from your Ego to modulate it's worst impulses. It also has extremely potent abilities in regards to obtaining it's desires, scaling slightly even in the face of a power differential as extreme as the Metaphysician and an ordinary person. Self-preservation will always qualify as one of it's desires, so it provides a substantial combat buff.
[ ] Justice: From Beyond the Grave. Death is normally considered the end, but vengeful spirits laugh at the notion. They are more than willing to come back from the grave to right wrongs committed against them. At Level 5, you may automatically raise those killed by a given enemy as shades, who will actively harry the enemy in question. From holding back their attacks, to disrupting their concentration, to psychological warfare. While not useful against those who are not guilty of murder or manslaughter, those who are guilty will find themselves assaulted to the ends of the Earth, as even those who deal with spirits will find it difficult to appease these shades until they've extracted their pound of flesh from their target.
Magic Academy Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Magic Teacher. An Aspect focused solely on tutoring other in learning magic. At Level 5, Arcane Induction automatically becomes a Combination Technique between it and Arcanum, though this does not count as one of your 4 Techniques. Regardless, you may tutor Enrolled in any of your Aspects, at least up to 25% of your own mastery. You may teach up to 25 students 'automatically' allowing them to gain 500 EXP that can only be spent on copies of your Aspects and Techniques without significant labor on either of your parts, 1000 with minor effort, 1500 with moderate labor, or 2000 with major effort.
[ ] Justice: Defense Against the Dark Arts. Rather than attempting to accomplish justice alone, raise up students to follow your path, so that even when you are gone, your ideals of justice can be carried forward. Students may be taught Retributor or Lawbringer(or any Techniques) up to half your own mastery, and gain significant resistance to cursed and maledictions.
Ancient Greece Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Animal Sacrifice. Sort of akin to blood sacrifice, the Greek Gods generally disdained human sacrifice, and so animals such as oxen were sacrificed to them instead. You may sacrifice animals to dramatically enhance spells, as well as use a number of spells that require killing animals, such as divination through a bird's entrails, with far greater prowess. At Level 5, even a tiny and/or spiritually insignificant animal can dramatically enhance a spell, and a large or spiritually auspicious one can offer more than an order of magnitude improvement on the effects, and it doesn't really matter what kind of spell it is, other than how that affects what animals can boost it.
[ ] Justice: Dike/Dice. The Greek Goddess of Justice in the sense of socially enforced norms and customs, fathered by Zeus with the Titan Themis. At Level 5, gain an immediate, automatic awareness of local customs, and a general overview of their origins, as well as the ability to detect breaches and negotiate them with greater alacrity.
Classic Fantasy Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Blue Magic. If an enemy uses an attack on a Blue Mage, the Mage will learn that attack, and gain the ability to use it for themselves. In some cases, this requires that the user consume the foe, in body and/or soul. At Level 5, simply seeing an attack used on someone nearby is enough to give you the chance to learn it, and/or discount similar abilities in your possession, and they are not required to be 'proper' magic. Something like Eldritch's tendrils would be a viable Blue Magic target if they were used to attack. Defeating a foe outright will dramatically heighten your chances of learning abilities from them, even those not ordinarily compatible with the Magician Role.
[ ] Justice: Welcome To Cornelia! The purpose of police officers is to serve their community. Much like all authority figures, it doesn't always work out that way, but that's the core. Something similar applies to town guards and the like. Any place you are recognized as a law enforcement agent of or by, you will immediately gain a measure of good will and respect from local denizens, greasing the wheels of investigations and opening many doors. At Level 5, this effect is strong enough you could make a reasonable go of running for mayor of a city off the back of it.
Ancient Babylon Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Stars. Magic in Mesopotomia was connected to one or both of the Gods and stars, and Babylon was no exception. However, unlike modern astrology, the latter do not influence everything, and are instead mediators between Gods and men, who may influence things if asked. At Level 5, individual stars can be called upon for specific effects, not unlike a priest calling upon a God for aid in their domain, or all of them can be called upon for major ones.
[ ] Justice: Code of Hammurabi. An Aspect not about the enforcement of one's own laws, but of the modification of society's old ones, and creation of new ones. At Level 5, you gain an intuitive awareness of current legal code, and ways it can be streamlined, and can easily have individual laws changed.
Video Games Aspects:
[ ] Magician Aspect: MP Bar. Videogame character don't need to wait a full day to recharge their mana pool. Why should you? At Level 5, have an exact numerical representation of how often you can use spells in your repertoire, and may convert spell slots of one level to another with reasonable efficiency, as well as regaining all of your slots/MP every hour.
[ ] Justice Aspect: Guards! Guards! It doesn't matter if you know someone's done something wrong if you can't actually catch them to mete out justice. Cops and lawmen in videogames don't have that problem. Gain awareness of any wrongdoing within a radius around you, and the option of instantly appearing during or for a short time after the act is done. At Level 5, this radius is 625 meters, with a 5 minute timer after the criminal act is completed to instantly appear near the perpetrator. Note, this does not inform you of any extenuating circumstances.
Alien Conspiracies Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Looking For Answers. The problem is not that the answers don't exist, it's that there's no way to confirm them. The average citizen cannot simply waltz into Area 51 to see if they have the Roswell aliens hidden away. This Aspect resolves the issue, allowing you to know if your guesses are incorrect intuitively, meaning it is theoretically possible to simply keep guessing until you get it right. As of Level 5, you gain a hot-cold sense that gives you an idea of how close you are to the right answer, in addition to knowing when the answer you've reached is correct so you don't end up going past it.
[ ] Justice: Revealing Coverup. In essence, if your file is so heavily redacted that it resembles a bar code, that's still very telling. At Level 5, you can discern what is merely suspicious and what is actually a coverup with ease. Enough so that big distractions don't work on you. This applies both on the societal level and the interpersonal level.
Action Archeology Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Mystical Artifacts. You may find that quite a few ancient items of mystical potency have survived to modern times. The question is finding them. At Level 5, you all but have a map with annotations on the means of getting around various obstacles to mystical items within 5 kilometers, and they gain a 500% buff to their abilities. Even fakes gain some power in imitation of the original, though the nature of this Aspect prevents it from being used to make counterfeits.
[ ] Justice: Cursed Artifacts. Those who steal artifacts and/or desecrate ancient temples and grave sites being cursed for it is a legend that crosses cultures. Notably, those with native guides, who show the proper respect, or both are usually fine. You may curse, or amplify the existing curses of, artifacts or lands you encounter. A 'curse' only intended to frighten away trespassers would become fit to kill those who set the curse off instantly. A more deadly curse would become 'a plague upon your house' and so on, though these curses are retaliatory in nature, and require some kind of wrong be done upon either you or a target you designate. They also do not achieve full strength without at least some of the afflicted(the leaders, usually) knowingly desecrating a temple or the like.
European Folklore Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Golems. A story of a man made of mud and clay animated by the name of God inscribed on it, originating in Jewish folklore, relating to the city of Prague. At Level 5, you can maintain 125 man-sized golems of roughly equivalent strength with a common human, 25 golems 30 feet tall with commensurately increased power, 5 golems 150 feet tall, or a singular golem over 700 feet tall, though they become increasingly difficult to control as they grow larger.
[ ] Justice: Robin Hood. Is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed a starving family? Most people would say no. Particularly if you take it from corrupt officials abusing their authority to squeeze the people dry. This Aspect aids in identifying corrupt officials and those in need(an official disguised as a beggar won't fool you), as well as in taking the former's money to help the latter. At Level 5, even a disguise with minor magical aid will be of no help in trying to catch you out, and you can precisely identify the officials responsible for the people's suffering, though you have only a vague sense of how much responsibility each of them has.
Cyberpunk Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Hollywood Hacking. When everyone has a computer or 5 in them, everyone is vulnerable to hacking. Combine that with the sort of hacking that Hollywood likes to portray, and it might as well be magic. At Level 5, basic firewalls may as well not exist for all they'll accomplish, anything with up to moderate protections(and unless explicitly shielded or locked out of any networks, that's pretty much everything near whatever terminal you have access to) will be taken over in moments, and any machine you control is an infection vector for further hacking.
[ ] Justice: Watchdog. Combining parkour, a bit of hacking, and hit and run tactics, you can become a sort of cybernetic Robin Hood. At Level 5, you can outfight a small army's worth of goons without much issue, possess extreme terrain advantages in any urban environment, and can hack moderately protected electronics in less than 30 seconds, including more than a few personal cybernetics.
Valentines Aspects:
[ ] Magician: True Love. True Love is a extremely potent thing. In most stories, it's the only reliable means of breaking quite a few curses, can revive the recently dead, or prevent death in the first place. This Aspect allows some of this to be utilized by you. Magic used to the benefit of those around you is enhanced based on your Relationship. At Level 5, each + denotes a 25% boost. Something you can only use for 5 or 6 people in all likelihood, but still. Supposedly, obtaining true love yourself will unlock this Aspect's true power.
[ ] Justice: Virtue's Reward. Those who are patient, who work hard, who try to get through to someone doing wrong, will find their efforts rewarded, particularly if it also benefits someone they love(family, friends, brothers, or romance). Someone who gets a higher-paying job to provide for their family over the passion project they have no talent for will find the drudgery of the former less onerous. If they do their level best at the passion project, they'll find greater success. Those who try to get through to their loved ones with an earnest desire to help them, and not merely a selfish desire to be right, will find it easier to reach them. At Level 5, the effects are dramatic, though they drop precipitously the less genuine feeling there is behind the act.
Nordic Mythology Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Eye For Wisdom. Odin obtained his wisdom by sacrificing his eye(to Mimir) and throwing himself on Gungnir in a sort of ritualistic suicide. You may do similar. Either sacrificing pieces of your body for power(rendered as EXP or a massive boost to a given effort) or utilizing Techniques akin to Arcane Focus: Devotion to narrow an Aspect in return for greater power. At Level 5, the payout is increased immensely, sacrifices may be recovered with time (a sacrificed pint of blood may be recovered over the course of a year) or great effort without losing any gains they offered, and the range of options has been expanded somewhat. Aspects and types of actions can be sacrificed this way. You could become an eternal pacifist by sacrificing your capacity for violence in order to obtain the ability to revive the dead, for example. This Aspect is extremely inefficient with unwilling sacrifices, and still somewhat inefficient with willing ones that are not yourself.
[ ] Justice: Forsite. The Norse God of justice, Forseti, was also the god of reconciliation. Not all justice must be retributive. Settling a dispute before it comes to blows in a way that all parties are satisfied with, or at least not overly dissatisfied with, can cut the problem off at the root. At Level 5, an angry mob can be disarmed with a short speech, provided they are not ensorceled, and generational grudges can be ended in a handful of days.
Pirates Aspects:
[ ] Magician Aspect: Voodoo. An Aspect focused on Voodoo. Voodoo is a combination of Catholicism and African traditions brought over by slaves, who were not allowed to officially practice the latter and began equating spirits with saints to get around the restriction. Various practitioners will give you different answers as to whether the Catholic accoutrements are simply for appearances or if they genuinely believe that saints and spirits are the same thing. At Level 5, the user has an effectively infinite supply of Voodoo Dolls, which have uses beyond the memetic one of translating harm done to the doll to the user. Additionally, they may call upon lesser spirits at will for a wide variety of tasks, and treat with higher ones far more easily.
[ ] Justice Aspect: Privateer. A privateer is, in essence, a pirate with the law on their side, given the backing of a government to plunder ships from other countries, provided they leave ships of their allied government alone. At Level 5, defeating someone, regardless of alignment or form, will reward you with something, provided you do not directly interfere in the affairs of the authority who granted this to you. That is to say, the Educator. In the case of besting a fleet of ships, you will receive at least one for your own use in pristine condition, regardless of their state afterward.
Slavic Mythology Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Dola. The personification of fate and destiny in Slavic myth. The Dola embodied good fortune, while the Nedola embodied bad fortune. They were normally invisible, though they could manifest in human of animal form, and each Dola would be assigned to a person at birth, until they died. At Level 5, you can intervene in someone's fate to a moderate degree by interfacing with their Dola. The Magician Role is ill-suited to outright circumventing fate, but this is technically having fate circumvent itself. Still, this Aspect is weaker than it should be for it's focus. That being said, it's enough to turn certain outcomes uncertain, or impossible outcomes possible, which can be enough.
[ ] Justice: Daughter of Perun. Believed to be the Supreme God of Slavic lore, he sat atop the branches of the tree representing the world(much like the Norse Yggdrasil), where he was provoked by Heles, watery god of the underworld situated at the roots of the tree, who continually stole from him, cattle, people, and even Perun's wife. Perun pursued, flinging lightning(as he was the lord living, earth, and of the skies, in addition to the god of justice) at the serpent/dragon, until the latter was slain or driven back to the Underworld. At Level 5, you have a much easier time asserting any territorial or conceptual claims, can fling blasts of lightning, and have a conceptual advantage against serpents and dragons.
Medieval Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Court Wizard. A mage meant to serve the king's wishes, be it banishing nightmares or dispelling disasters such as plagues. In practice, they were generally either charlatans or herbalists. However. This is not the case for you. You must designate a lord or superior of some kind, which cannot easily be changed. When supporting their wishes/following their orders, you gain +2.5 Levels in any relevant Aspects, as of Level 5. As you've likely surmised, this is useless for acting against them, so take care when selecting your 'king' or at least ensure that their values largely align with your own.
[ ] Justice: Extreme Punishment. Some stories of Medieval times are exaggerated. Others... are not. Many nobles could(and did) carry out extreme punishments, and even many of the lesser punishments would be considered excessive in modern times. However, there are times where someone will not learn anything from a light hand. In such circumstances, this Aspect will aid. At Level 5, it is possible to enact a regime akin to Vlad the Impaler, who earned his name but had a land so lawful a golden cup could be left on a fountain with confidence that it would not be stolen, with a handful of examples of extreme punishments to deter the majority.
Feudal Japan Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Onmyodo. A system of natural science, astronomy, almanac, divination and magic derived from the Chinese philosophies of Ying and Yang, as well the Five Elements philosophy of Wuxin. Omnyoji had duties such as keeping track of the calendar, divination, and protecting from evil spirts. Not to mention the summoning and control of shikigami. At Level 5, you can sense auspicious and inauspicious times and directions, meaning you will always know the best time to use a given mystic power or item as determined by the wider cosmos, divine significantly into the future with reasonably accuracy, and ward off evil spirits. Your ability to prepare tags and summon shikigami is quite potent.
[ ] Justice: Samurai. In addition to their swordsmanship, samurai in feudal Japan were often also magistrates and police. They had limited authority over other samurai, but great authority over the farmers, artisans, merchants, and outcasts who made up the majority of Japanese society. To the point they ran the official justice system for the lower classes, while there was a separate one for the higher classes. As of Level 5, you gain significant sword skills, as well as a general affinity for 'punching down' either socially or in combat, meaning a gap in power in your favor is significantly more of a disadvantage for the other party, though those considered your equals or betters in either field are affected at only half-strength.
Wild West Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Animism. The Comanche Tribes believes that everything in the universe, from the tiniest grain of sand to entire mountains, has a soul or spirit. Something recognized as Animism today. At Level 5, you can empower this soul to the point of bringing almost anything to life, and briefly grant them the ability to move on their own, regardless of their form. Fighting the air you breath and the ground beneath your feet simultaneously is a daunting prospect for most. It also grants resistance to hostile environmental effects of a similar scale. Mundane storms and natural disasters will be, at worst, blunted heavily.
[ ] Justice: Lone Ranger. While the Wild West seen in pop culture is an extreme exaggeration, it was indeed true that the long arm of the law was stretched thin by the rush of expansion. As such, lawmen were sometimes forced to deploy in small numbers to deal with large problems. 'One riot, one ranger' as it were. At Level 5, you gain significant bonuses across the board when fighting alone, against multiple enemies, or both, and the bonus does not falter if the enemy are whittled down to 1 after activating. It also defends against false surrenders, hostage taking, and other dishonorable tactics to the extent that mundane foes cannot use them against you.
History Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Delving Into The Past. An Aspect meant to do one thing: view the past. You cannot intervene, but there's no such thing as 'no witnesses' with you around. At Level 5, viewing 500 years ago is as easy as postcognition of yesterday. Visions, dossiers on past events, even lost media, it's all available. These visions can happen in 'flashback time' meaning minutes or even hours of past information can be processed extremely quickly. Efforts to obfuscate the past, magical or otherwise, are largely useless even for high-level Aspects.
[ ] Justice: History Unwritten. They say history is written by the winners. However, karma will always get it's due sooner or later. Just as history is written by the winners, the regime after that batch of winners may not share their values, and so on. At Level 5, secrets of the past, regardless of the flavor will be easy for you to unravel, and may well begin unraveling from your presence. Perhaps someone finds an old journal chronicling the truth. Perhaps some old man has a crisis of conscience in his twilight years. Etc.
Roman Empire Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Priest of Trivia. The name Romans often referred to the Greek Hecate by. As Goddess of Magic(though she was supposedly a Titan originally), she holds dominion over it, as the Roman Gods often did. She is associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, protection from witchcraft, the Moon, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, graves, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery, though in this case it's condense down to magic, necromancy, sorcery, protection from witchcraft, and knowledge, specifically of the above. At Level 5, you may casually raise the dead in small numbers, call upon outside sources for power or specific tasks(such as various gods), and gain significant resistance to mystical effects, particularly curses, such that a curse meant to instantly slay you would instead merely cause a grievous wound.
[ ] Justice: Daughter of Justitia. The Roman Goddess of Justice, and the origin of Justice's iconography of a blind woman with scales. An Aspect that provides a general boost to the weighing and meteing out of justice, and, as the power of a goddess of justice, general STATS boosts. At Level 5, this is equivalent to +2.5 Level to all of Justice's Aspects, as well as a major boost to raw STATS sufficient to toss a tank like a baseball, stacking with anything already possessed.
Journey to the West Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Immortal. Through the use of pills and elixirs, it is possible to obtain immortality. Even multi-layered immortality, and to in turn teach this to others. At Level 5, you can achieve immortality within a year with minimal effort, and do so for 1 person a year with minimal effort, or for dozens with a moderate amount. This can be repeated to grant greater resistance to soul and existence-targeting effects. Immortality provides benefits such as being able to act independently with your head cut off and healing being as simple as reattaching the severed head, as well as general resistance to effects like soul-destroying attacks.
[ ] Justice: Boxed Crook. In the Journey to the West, it was a common practice to, rather than killing them, give demons a job so they would stop causing trouble. Sun Wukong himself being an example. At Level 5, it possible to convince many otherwise intractable foes to take on a job and make them productive members of society. Their jobs will be less unpleasant than they otherwise might be, and the odds they will rebel(as Sun initially did) are lowered substantially.
Golden Age Science Fiction Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Psychohistory. A model which states that, while individuals cannot be accurately modeled with mathematics, the larger the group, the easier it is to predict their actions. With large enough numbers, you essentially gain divination. While the Magician has trouble changing the hands of fate, knowing them on the scale of societies certainly has uses. At Level 5, even a relative handful of people(10) can be predicted more easily, and if you can reliably gather some data, predictions on the scale of an entire planet become ironclad. It is still of no aid whatsoever when dealing with individuals.
[ ] Justice: Three Laws. The Three Laws of Robotics are famous. 1: A robot may not harm, or through inaction, allow harm to befall a human. 2: A robot may not harm, or through inaction, allow harm to befall itself. 3: A robot must follow the orders of humans. There are, however, a number of caveats introduced, such as a 'knowingly' for the first two Laws, the fact that these are not ironclad rules so much as positronic potentials(for instance, as a robot gets further away from the human who gave them their orders, the Third Law will weaken, and if they are approaching something dangerous, the Second Law will strengthen) and the Zeroth Law, which follows the utilitarian principle that killing one person to save ten others is the correct course of action from a logical standpoint. As such, this Aspect focuses not on laws, but on exceptions to laws, allowing you to introduce loophooles. At Level 5, you will immediately know the exceptions to any mundane legal code in your area, and can work to insert new ones in mundane or magical laws.
Noir Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Mystery. The crux of most Noir plots is the question of who exactly is behind the crime. Usually, someone is wrongfully accused of a crime perpetrated by someone else... but that doesn't tell you who actually did it. You create mysteries, rather than unraveling truths. At Level 5, your thoughts, intentions, and most actions can be obfuscated from any mundane means of discernment, and will hinder most magical ones.
[ ] Justice: Private Detective. Perhaps the most iconic bit of a Noir setting. The detective is hired by someone, often the defendant, to investigate the crime, leading to a larger mystery being unraveled. At Level 5, the odds that you will uncover seemingly unrelated crimes, puzzles, riddles, etc. is exceedingly high, especially if you're investigating a crime of some kind. This offers little protection from the dangers you bring down upon yourself tugging on these strings, however.
19th Century Romance Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Great Man Theory. While in mundane life, every great genius and conqueror has an army, literal or metaphorical, behind them, in magic, this is not always the case. Partially because Educated are so much more potent than any normal human could ever hope to be, and partially because of all the exotic abilities they can bring to bear. This is an aspect tied to the creation of such 'Great People' be they poet, inventor, general, or mathematician. This is more akin to winding up a clock than anything else, so be careful who you raise up. At Level 5, you could easily find and raise up the next Da Vinci, or several in several fields. You could even begin a magical revolution by finding a latent mage capable of learning significant magic without tutoring from an Enrolled, though this would be harder, and of questionable utility for the Magician.
[ ] Justice: People's Revolution. Revolution of the people against corrupt nobles was heavily romanticized, despite the violent and sometimes horrific methods employed by, for example, the French Revolution. However, the idea of the revolution that sweeps out the old government in favor of a more just one remains popular, perhaps because people have largely lost faith in the existing ones. This Aspect not only makes it easier to raise a revolution, but to keep it from becoming monstrous during or after it's rise to power. At Level 5, even moderate grievances can be used to cause a rebellion, and it will resist corruption of it's methods or goals from any mundane source, though mystical ones can still cause problems.
Mars Colonization Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Street Planning. The last thing one needs on Mars is poor city planning. There is literally no arable land not specifically created by the colonists, water is scarce without digging deep beneath the crust, and in general resources are hard to come by, so everything must be proportioned carefully, especially in the early days. At Level 5, a few words from you here and there are sufficient to ensure mundanely excellent planning. A modest further effort can turn the colony into a giant rune intended to increase prosperity.
[ ] Justice: A New Start. Sometimes, the only thing to do is uproot yourself entirely and start anew. At Level 5, this Aspect makes convincing someone in a toxic environment to leave for other pastures much easier, and getting them to actually change much easier as well.
Music Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Musical Mnemonic. By drawing associations with various types of music, you can increase your performance. As an example, playing DOOM music can increase your combat capacity, particularly against demons. At Level 5, any action can be boosted significantly with the appropriate song.
[ ] Justice: Reaching The Heart. Words alone cannot always sway a heart. This does not necessarily mean violence is the answer. Song can be far more convincing than mere words could ever be. At Level 5, a simply ditty can sway a mob to your side, and a longer song can convince even a hardened heart to at least genuinely listen. Also provides significant musical talent.
Naval Age of Discovery Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Explorer. When you get right down to it, every human wants to know what's over the horizon. Perhaps it's rooted in fear of the unknown, or perhaps there's more to it. Regardless, humans are explorers by nature, something this Aspect aids greatly in. All efforts of exploration are improved upon, as are their rewards, significantly so as of Level 5.
[ ] Justice: Equitable Arrangements. The nature of humans and kingdoms is such that when a larger state comes across a smaller one, the larger one will often throw it's weight around. This is the basis of colonization, unfair trade agreements, and so on. This Aspect ensures a greater degree of fairness is enforced so long as you mediate between two nations. At Level 5, even if one nation could casually slaughter the other and would ordinarily be willing to do so, they will at least come to the negotiating table, and any agreements will be made a few degrees fairer from there. Truly immense power imbalances, such as an island nation negotiating with a continent-spanning superpower, can only be interfered with so much at this level, but they can still be influenced.
Post-Apocalyptic Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Scavenger. When the world has ended and whoever remains is picking up the pieces, you have little choice but to grab what you can, when you can, even if it means looting the dead. At this Level, gains from searching amongst discarded things, abandoned buildings, corpses, etc. are dramatically improved, even when this wouldn't make logical sense, such as the husk having been reduced to bones. Note that rewards are moderately reduced by you killing the person yourself, as you are not a raider.
[ ] Justice: New Order. The old world is gone, and, bluntly, it was quite probably rotten to the core to let things get to this point. Thus, a new government must be raised up with who and whatever remains. In some ways, starting from scratch will make things easier, as there are no entrenched powers to uproot. At least, not yet. This Aspect, as of Level 5, makes raising up a new government from the ashes of the old dramatically easier, both in terms of manpower, vetting, and the growing pains of a new government of any kind under any circumstances. You may elect to have someone else leading the day to day and become a manager of some stripe instead, but it's likely you will be de facto calling the shots either way.
Steampunk Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Performer And Technician. Steampunk is a Theme that often has great scientists invent hyper-boilers to explain how so much power is produced by steam engines, rather than combustion engines. It may look cool, but it's also functional. There is no style over substance, or substance over style, the two are inextricably linked. Therefore, the more potent a piece of artifice, the more impressive/beautiful it will become, and vice versa. At Level 5, this does not necessarily need to follow the gears and steam cloud aesthetic commonly attributed to Steampunk settings. A cathedral on the back of a 200 meter mecha meant to shatter cities qualifies just as well. Performance of what would ordinarily be a vanity piece is dramatically enhanced, while the appearance of a blunt instrument meant to fulfill a purpose is similarly improved. If the two were already fairly even, then the bonus is split between them.
[ ] Justice: Lens of Truth. It is said that light is symbolic of revelation. Using a glass lens of any kind, you may see hidden truths through it. The most common example would be a mirror revealing a vampire's lack of a soul from their lack of a reflection, only you can see that through ordinary glasses or binoculars. At Level 5, you may manipulate light passing through glass such that a simple magnifying glass can create a powerful laser, with commensurately greater effects with larger and more complex arrangements of glass, but it's true specialty lies in enhancing the senses. Enchanted glass can easily generate a localized panopticon, and glass created by your own hands always counts as enchanted.
Weird West Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Weirder West. You thought it was strange before? Oh, you haven't seen strange. This Aspect dramatically increases the average magicality of your environs. At Level 5, a year is enough for even a completely mundane place to have ghosts wandering about in broad daylight, with the 'zone' being a distance of 5 km from you and your home. Your Sanctum is considered a separate source for this purpose.
[ ] Justice: Undead Law. "No Mclellan, the law's been changed. I'm afraid you're not getting out of your cell just because you died. ...We had these ghost-proofed ages ago. I don't know why you thought that would work." When the dead rise on a basis so regular that people are more annoyed by the ghosts than anything else(most of the time) it's not hard to find places where the law has issues with the dead just as much as the living. Altering society to accommodate supernatural strangeness(sourcing corpses for wendigos, guarding safes and prisons from ghosts, etc.) is significantly eased at Level 5.
Space Opera Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Technobabble. As long as you can make the explanation sound science-y enough, you can do things that would ordinarily be considered magic, though it helps if you explain it to someone. Incorporating some real science helps, just be try not to contradict yourself. At Level 5, you can do things like make a ray that causes Earth-sized planets to emit Hawking radiation(0.001% of the planet's mass is converted to pure energy, for Earth that would be 5.3*10^36 J) because in theory, any gravity field could do it, even if the mechanism for it is unclear if it's not a black hole, because it's not much of a leap. If you want to do that in such a way as to merely cause some earthquakes instead of destroying the planet, that's going to take more work, or enough of an understand of hard science to bullshit up an explanation. This is not considered magic for the purposes of hostile effects that target magic.
[ ] Justice: Federation Officer. Space Operas are, as a rule, idealistic, so corrupt government and law enforcement are the exception, not the rule. At a glance, this is similar to the Space Station Cop, however, the FO is more focused on odd tricks and maneuverability over heavier weapons and armor. You will generally be held to a higher moral standard, but you should have the tools necessary to rise to meet the challenge. At Level 5, you can reasonably MacGuyver together a gadget or two from random parts in short order, have decent CQC and ranged skills, and a strong grasp of tactics and gambits.
Highschool Drama Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Occult Club. At the end of the day, there are limits to the specialization of any one individual. That's just how things work. The point of specialization is that people don't need to learn every skill possible, just enough to contribute and trade your services. School Clubs are a mix of this and social group. Friends with common interests who can work together on various projects while bonding socially. An Occult Club is no different, though in this case, the members of the group normally have an interest in rites that probably don't do anything, and it's more of a place to hang out with people who understand your interests. Not so with this Aspect, which allows you to delegate certain mystical roles to others. In essence, you can grant specific types of 'Magician' to others, though you give up that aspect yourself. At Level 5, you can grant up to 5 people a mystical Role that falls under the general header of Magician. They gain massively accelerated development as a result of their narrow focus, and in turn, you lose 75% strength in whatever Role you granted. You may inefficiently sub in their expertise for yours regardless of distance
[ ] Justice: Hall Monitor. Someone who was given the job of ensuring students are in class. Truant officers check outside the school, hall monitors check inside, as it were. At Level 5, you are alerted automatically if someone has left a location they are legally supposed to be at(which can apply just as well to a prison as a school), and gain a compass of sorts for them, with markedly higher stealth in approaching them unless you want them to know you're coming.
Philosophy Aspects:
[ ] Magician: As Above, So Below. Physical exertion can yield insight, and while less direct, a sound mind is usually a necessity for a sound body. At Level 5, there is a significant benefit to your mind from physical exertion, and vice versa. Pursuit of greater understanding of oneself and the world, including training one's Role, will grant a moderate improvement to all physical parameters, while EXP can be generated at a modest rate from physical exertion. A Level 5 Aspect will generally provide a 50% bonus to physical performance in all fields, as a rule of thumb. This is multiplicative with any other bonuses one possesses, excepting bonuses provided by this Aspect. So, for example, 4 Level 5 Aspects provides a 200% increase to physical parameters, or a X3 multiplier on any other benefits.
[ ] Justice: Lawful or Good? There is an unfortunate truth that the law and moral justice do not always match. Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances, like having the lives of loved ones threatened to make the perpetrator comply, or maybe the law was made for corrupt reasons such as bribes. This Aspect brings the law more in line with moral good, though this is influenced by the user's views and may not match up with society's views. At Level 5, laws may be actively rewritten in the locality to match up with more morally upstanding values, particularly if they are obviously corrupt.
Tales Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Folk Magic. A combination of proper magic, medicine, and herbalism. At Level 5, you are a competent doctor in all fields, from pediatrics to neurology, capable of a wide but shallow variety of mostly utility magic, and have a strong grasp of herbal remedies. These can be combined to allow for extensive medical treatment sufficient for anything short of literally bringing back the dead, and allow a normal human to live to 200.
[ ] Justice: Good Always Wins. Most stories have happy endings, or at least see the villain defeated, and this Aspect helps ensure that occurs. The scales of fate are weighted towards the victory of justice in your environs. At level 5, simply being in the same city as you will generally weigh on all criminal and corrupt endeavors, making them more likely to be caught and/or stopped, and augments efforts at doing good similarly. This does not boost or hamper any one individual significantly, so a gang of four might not notice the effect, but every individual within the zone is affected, such that a city will see it's crime rates fall precipitously overall.
Bible Aspects:
[ ] Magician: Wiseman. The most famous example of wisemen is the three who came to see Jesus in Nazareth, advisors to a king who believed the coming Son of God to be a threat to his rule, having sent them to find the identity of Jesus. They did not divulge his identity, having seen enough of his nature from that one encounter to side with him over their king on the matter. This Aspect improves general wisdom and competence of thought, as well as your odds of being listened to. At Level 5, even the dullest of people would be of above-average competence, and most ordinary people would believe their words on just about anything.
[ ] Justice: Commandments. The Ten Commandments are perhaps the most famous set of laws in existence, though some argue that the rules were changed with Jesus' birth. Regardless, you may utilize this Aspect to enact divine laws, anything from barring the use of guns or blades, to making ganging up on people illegal, to simple changes to physical laws, which can be maintained indefinitely, and violating them will lead to similarly costless divine retribution, though these rules are indiscriminate, so effort should be made to inform allies. At Level 5, you may maintain up to 10 Commandments at a time, violation of these divine laws will trigger automatic divine retribution sufficient to instantly destroy a tank every moment, you may put a finger on the scales in regards to violations to either modulate the punishment to a lesser sentence and/or give allies some leeway.
AN: Funny thing. Final Fantasy V was released in 1992, which means the Blue Mage, which debuted in 1992, is an aspect of a 30+ year old game. Cornelia, from Final Fantasy I, was from 1987, meaning it's 35+. So I feel reasonably confident that they qualify as Classic Fantasy. Themes can have a lot of overlap, after all. Rushing a bit by the end there, as I'm sure was clear in some places.
8335 words, discounting this line.
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