The Lighthouses and the Pit (Fantasy Mage Quest)
- Thread starter occipitallobe
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
I like the magic but I don't like the character trait that comes with it.
- Location
- Illinois
Personally, I like greedy characters. They are always willing to push themselves to get more, to go beyond what their limits to try to gain something that no other person would even try to obtain.
Like, a healer would likely not want money for their services, which means getting the supplies necessary to do big expeditions or set up new towns becomes harder, even if we can more easily attract people to work for us.
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Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
The primary reason I didn't go Tremorfoot is because I played an earth mage elsewhere who went exactly that sort of way. It's neat, but it's more a RPG thing and not as suited for quests.
Definitely could build a pretty huge library of spells.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
Could two Fleshcrafter mages pair up and fleshcraft each other's body into immortality, using refinements they've practed upon the conjoined retinue?
[X] Untouched by Desire, Detached From Greed
Fleshcrafters are somewhat dependent on others but are literally the #1 rarest and most valued out of all of these choices.
Plus, just look at that one thread that hasn't been updated forever, w/ the summoner guy from that game. Fleshcrafting is powerful. Buy a couple of puppies, train them to obey your commands, and then heal/enhance them into monstrous protectors.
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- Location
- Illinois
Actually, I wonder how many Fleshcrafters the city currently even has. When it says they are highly valued, is it on the level of 'we only have a few hundred or so fleshcrafters', or is it at the level of 'we've got 5-10 fleshcrafters for a population of seventy thousand'?
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I actually really like greedy characters and the Fleshcrafter's total lack of greed is a major turn-off.
I won't go so far as to say 'greed is good', but when you look hard for mutual advantage rather than simply offering charity, it often creates much more positive and sustainable business arrangements and living situations.
Sadly, earthmoving magic is kind of boring from my point of view.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Indigo seems to be around Love. Maybe?
Amelgynn was a Tremorfeet (Extreme Greed) and Fireeye (Violet Lighthouse, so mediated by compassion). I think Fireeye might be on the lower side of compassion? idk.
Possibly because the lack of greed needed to be a Fleshcrafter makes them innately rare, and as for the Glimpse, I'm not entirely certain of the Yellow Lightouse fear distribution.. there are logical arguments for each of them.
I figure, though, that:
To fear nothing: Shaderunner (Darkness and fear, see? Shaderunners don't seem the afraid sorts, too.)
Normal Fear: Spellthief (Thievery..)
To hide from everything: Glimpse
Amelgynn was a Tremorfeet (Extreme Greed) and Fireeye (Violet Lighthouse, so mediated by compassion). I think Fireeye might be on the lower side of compassion? idk.
Our character has never seen a Fleshcrafter in his life. Granted, he's also never (as far as he knows) seen a Glimpse either.
Possibly because the lack of greed needed to be a Fleshcrafter makes them innately rare, and as for the Glimpse, I'm not entirely certain of the Yellow Lightouse fear distribution.. there are logical arguments for each of them.
I figure, though, that:
To fear nothing: Shaderunner (Darkness and fear, see? Shaderunners don't seem the afraid sorts, too.)
Normal Fear: Spellthief (Thievery..)
To hide from everything: Glimpse
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
Other way around. Knowledge is the enemy of fear.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
you're right... probably...It's still useful, however. We can always buy some orphans from the outer ring and engrain obedience into their being. We'll have to practice to develop, anyways. Yes, it's "immoral" but a) they'd starve or be shoved into a tower anyways, b) it will help people.
I would imagine that it is far more toward the 20-80 level, considering that maybe 1 in 60 (?) are a mage and Bladebound seem more common than Tremorfeet which seem more common than Fleshcrafters. Very few people want nothing for themselves, and fewer of those are likely to risk death or maiming by tower out of desperation or desire for power, which appears to be the only reason people risk it. But 5-10 seems somewhat unfeasibly low.
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Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
I'd figure that, though our Shaderunners don't seem to be that.. afraid. Or I might be misreading things.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
Blue is hope/lessness. That or the sad.
It's DC power rings stuff. Indigo is compassion/callousness, green is willpower.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
gross
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Well, pretty much people are forced to go to a lighthouse to keep the population down, and also to get mages.
The porportion of people going to the Orange Lighthouse is much less than the Yellow Lighthouse, and of the people who do go to the Orange Lighthouse, the majority have a balanced Greedy/Selfless alignment, because that's the normal outcome for most. Followed by those of extreme greed, because you might actually survive - And then finally by pure selflessness, which among the 3 is the least viable.
Basically like Mindscours and why they're so rare. Fleshcrafters are special snowflakes pretty much due to the circumstances needed to get one. (Need to want to go the Orange Lighthouse, which is unsafe, need to be selfless and free of greed (and survive), and need to make the 1/10 odds of surviving the lighthouse at all.) It wouldn't be a surprise if Madalgia only has like 10-20 Fleshcrafters.
- Location
- Virginia
[X] Not Owned By Avarice, Not Fool Enough to Disdain Wealth
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- Location
- Straya
No to the first (re-entry is fatal invariably), though yes to the second. Healing maiming isn't easy, though.
It's still useful, however. We can always buy some orphans from the outer ring and engrain obedience into their being. We'll have to practice to develop, anyways. Yes, it's "immoral" but a) they'd starve or be shoved into a tower anyways, b) it will help people.
You can realistically go get combat trained militia - even the best of the well-trained militia, even. Superhuman abilities and healing on-tap is one hell of an offer - if you become talented enough at Fleshcrafting, you can conceivably have other mages in your retinue. Unless of course you want to do some horrifically unethical stuff ('hey, want to be an explosive acid bomb?'), in which case you may need to do some terrible things.
As a rough guide, Madalgia 'graduates' around 100 mages every year (and loses 900 orphans and the like to the Lighthouses), and around 80-90 of those come from the Yellow Lighthouse, depending on the year. The average mage is reasonably young (Shaderunners and Bladebound have a much, much higher mortality rate than Tremorfeet and Glimpses, for instance), though it's something of a bimodal distribution in terms of age.
Yeah, I had my own emotional spectrum thing half-charted out and then I realised 'hey, everyone knows the DC stuff and it fits ~95% of what I want to do'. I went with it largely because it's very accessible. There's no actual connection to DC or power rings in the quest, it's just a convenient model people know about.
This is deliberate - a lot of your personal details aren't going to be filled in until we finish with the Lighthouse.
- Location
- Australia
[X] Untouched by Desire, Detached From Greed