The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy
- Thread starter Birdsie
- Start date
- Location
- 1
Quick Fix in particular already has a very high raw benefits without the secondary powers to fully use them, so it probably hits diminishing returns on practical value before the first pill. You can run faster, but once you run fast enough, further running is more a matter of deciding where to go than travel time; Quick Fix would if anything probably be better as a 300-point pill for 10% of the benefits.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This is true. I feel like Quick Fix stacking is something I'd be interested in if the science goes very well. If stacking multiple of the same pill gives poor results then it's obviously bad. Even if that's good but mixing different pills is bad it's tough, because that limits our ability to use the other pills to manage the speed of double Quick Fix.
I think what I'd really like is to just spend this update doing science with a small pool of credits, then vote again based on those results. I suspect that would be unpopular on account of the resultant pacing.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Thought for how to make time travel fair to Linneas(we'd potentially be retconning his salvation out of existence for our own benefit after all). Give him the opportunity to warn his past self about the knight with part of the pill first.
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
Do we know how long along ago Linneas was captured?
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
No. We don't. We could ask perhaps. In the end though I just don't want to give him a metaphorical smack in the face like that, retconning him back into the death knight's chains.
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
I'm just not sure whether six, or maybe even twelve years back is necessarily enough to divert his course.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Fair enough. Do you think you'll be voting this round?
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
I'm having trouble tracking down the specific builds for the two leading votes, and it seems like voting for something else would be kind of a waste.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Here's the post where Rihaku originally articulated Plan Absurdity and the plan in quotes(The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy)
Here's Plan Do-Over's original post(The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy) and the plan in quotes, word of Birdsie on Discord is that Chill pills mitigate the risk somewhat for the X-Ray pill, Tetra's got some brainstorming here(The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy) about how to use the hammer to go further in the form of a general thing that's basically free and that's in plan Science and Knuckles
Finally there's the closest current competitor(full disclosure this ones mine), plan hammertime with 4 votes(The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy) to the leaders 6. It uses OverL enhanced Icarelian to try and get as favorable dice as possible for healing our creativity using contamination as opposed to an inspiravive pill. I might consider trying to merge tetras work in but I don't want to change it too much at this point considering other people are voting for it. It also uses Red and Blue as potential insurance to protect Linneas against hostile visceralist mental/social attacks if he goes for it instead of the new soldat-stero.
[X] Plan Absurdity
Absurdity's Touch / Post-World Report (Taure)
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Post-World Report (Taure)
Street Attunement: Level 5 (out of 15)
Conditions
Dreamless (Near-Absolute)
*Your Second Aspect is severed from the oneiric. You cannot experience dreams.
*Your Second Aspect is heavily drained of creativity and innovation; difficulty of non-iterative action is raised dramatically.
Remaining Duration: Permanent.
Import: 11.5
Attributes
STR: 17
CON: 18
AGI: 19
WIT: 9
Available Skills:
Craft (6.83, near-Master - Masks)
Deception (6.2, Elite - Acting)
Socialize (5.5, Expert - Noble Etiquette)
Stealth (4.6, Adept)
Fencing (4.3, Adept)
Singing (4.3, Adept)
Linguistics (4.5, Adept)
Anatomy (2.1, Apprentice)
Crimson Lost [38 Potential]
Battle Tendency (20) - Increases all combat-applicable skills and attributes. +14 STR, CON, and AGI when worn, and +20% to their worth.
Blood Hunter (18) - Blood control and hemokinetic regeneration. Total control in arm's range, diminishes swiftly beyond that. Hemovoyance. Hunter instincts; grants boost to associated actions, enhances efforts to slay wild creatures.
[ ] Evolve into Crimson Hunter [2 Import + a day of effortful combat and wildlife hunting]
*Merges Battle Tendency and Blood Hunter into one superior aspect, Battle Hunter, at 50 Potential.
*Battle Hunter grants even more advanced hemokinesis syncretic with Viscerality, even more Attributes, and supernal talent in domains concerned with battle and blood
*The Battle Hunter refuses wearers who've never tasted violence or blood
The Icarelian [28 Potential] - A mask cast in an array of shades covering the full gamut of the sky from morning to midnight.
Light and Darkness (17) - Photokinesis, about on par with a heavy-duty 120,000-lumen flashlight. Kinetic variant, like a 'luminous force push.' Can, via removal of photons from an area, create shadows and therefore simulate umbrakinesis. This can drain temperature from an area as well.
Gamaliel Enforcement (9) - Aids use of Gamaliel Contamination Protocol, mostly via making undesirable outcomes less likely.
Enhanced Form (2) - +2 to Physical Attributes
The Artificer's Mask [40 Potential] (1.1x - effective 44) - A simple mask of varnished wood. Blockish, compact shape.
Enhanced Craft (30) - Generates selective Facelessness, only to craft masks. Enhanced hand-eye coordination with craftsman's tools, can make even better mundane items and work much faster.
Craftsman's Stamina (5) - Enduring worker's spirit, the ability to sit in one place without tiring for countless hours, and remain focused on a task.
Mask Container (5) - Can carry three other masks within subspace, as well as six uncrafted masks.
The Theater Child [20 Potential] - A mask that evokes a simple, youthful feeling. It smiles benevolently.
Creative (10) - Enhances one's lateral and outside-the-box thinking, as well as creativity. Prone to mischievous conclusions. Weak and minor effect, at least for now.
Satisfied (7) - Generates innate 'life satisfaction.' Can relieve Stress. Acts as effective buff to one's willpower when resisting temptation, maintaining moral integrity, etc.
Theatrics (3) - Charisma, aimed at grandeur and spectacle.
The Oracle of Midnight [14 Potential] - A mask mimicking Dr. Musorov in some regards, with an oracular third eye carved on its forehead.
Enhanced Sense (10) - Grants enhanced senses, mainly sight. About half as potent as the average Midnight's sensorium.
Farvision (4) - An ability to perceive from other locations. Range constrained to 'within the same house.'
The Streetwalker [7 Potential] - A mask embellished with shimmering stones.
The Street Unending (7) - Broad, conceptual domain. Improves faculties relevant to increasing Street attunement: musicality, ability to travel, and so on. Also renders wearer better at predicting the Street's myriad whims.
The Power of the King
Pawn [Rank II] - Linneas of the Argent Kingdom
Able Pawn II - Linneas gains supernatural effectiveness when acting to assist, support, or bolster his King's direct actions. Fighting at his King's side, Linneas gains exceptional fortune and tactical acuity. By acting as hype-man or opening act, his King's diss tracks land with uncommon severity. Or, by exhorting his liege directly with spirited verbal encouragement, he can moderately improve the outcomes of Dorian's magical projects, including usages of Contamination or Viscerality.
Pawn [Rank I] - Japhris of Cirantil
Indomitable Self - Resistance to degradation of self from all sources, and regeneration of baseline selfhood when compromised; acts as top-of-the-line mental protection. It mostly operates on the mental and spiritual levels, although it also confers a mild healing factor. It does not prevent 'organic' changes and developments to selfhood.
Pill Effects:
*Enhanced Vision (x-ray, can see through all thin solids that aren't lead; with effort, can penetrate deeper)
*Super-Soldat (considerable + to All Stats)
*Chillness (immunity to fever, cosmetic cryokinesis)
Choice: Gamaliel Contamination Protocol
Rudimentary Development
Technique: Material Transmutation (Basic) - Can with effort and several seconds of time, reliably transform one type of matter into another similar type. (Metal into another metal, one type of wood into another type of wood.) Cannot reliably transmute shape yet.
Technique: Disease Destruction (Advanced) - Can with positive emotional attachment to a subject, and several minutes of sustained effort and deep focus, destroy even a moderately supernatural disease, applying distortion such as to transform the viral or bacterial organisms into harmless organic compounds.
Viscerality - Apprentice [2.2]
Skill Effect:
*Improved regeneration speed; unemotional baseline healing speed is now 4.5x that of a mortal. With effort and emotion, can heal moderate wounds in minutes.
*Reduced basic needs. Requires only three-fifths the food, water, and oxygen to operate at optimum as an organism; raw survival instinct and desperation once deeply starved means death can be postponed moderately.
*Can begin to access the most basic and essential forms of Visceral flesh-warping: shifting around flesh, creating armor from body fat, creating sharp talons, et cetera.
*Can evoke modestly intricate but still primal emotions (a specific hue of lust, rage towards a specific individual or concept) in all individuals in visual range or who are in very close proximity, strength is moderate to high.
Gathered Relics:
---
Absurdity's Touch
Good news! According to my dice, you've successfully attained x-ray vision without bursting into flame - as such, in order to save on time and interest, we'll move onto the Absurdity selection stage under the convenient assumption you simply trusted the Chill Pill.
Absurdity's effect allows you to bring to reality one fictional character.
Here are fictional characters that feature prominently in Dorian's memeplex:
Drethir
[ ] The Nameless Mask - According to some, there once was a Mask Without a Name. As one of a kind, this mask was not only a sentient being, but almost frighteningly intelligent, wise, and capable of vocal communication. It went from wearer to wearer, dispensing advice, experiencing countless stories and lives over time, accumulating their stories like a traveler picking up mementos. There, the narratives diverge as a river might into streams. Depending on the region of Drethir you're in, you'll hear dozens of unique tales about the mysterious mask, its adventures with various wearers, and the valuable moral lessons contained therein.
However, all of those stories eventually conclude the same way: the unnamed mask decided it wanted to experience the world itself. It made a human body it could inhabit out of stone, dust, and wood shavings, no longer needing a host to carry it. The story then ends without a real conclusion or hints as to what happens after, although some implications and storytellers shall tell you their popular theory - the Nameless Mask continues to walk among us, somewhere in the furthermost reaches of Drethir.
[ ] Mother Shade - Once upon a time, there was no night. Desiring children who could bask in his magnificence, Father Sun brought sentient life to Drethir. Without deception, the hearts of primordial humanity were laid bare before the judgment of Sun and kin. All was exposed. All who sinned or were shamed burned away in unending light, and life grew scarce - until Mother Shade interceded.
Shade stole half of all hours from her lover, so mankind would have a time of respite when they would be hidden. Taking human form, She Who Conceals walked Drethir and crafted a mask to fit the face of every being, though men alone were granted the choice of whether to wear them. But with concealment came the ability to hide the truth. Soon the first lies were spoken, and people began to war among themselves...
Icarel
[ ] Basil and Tibert - Animals typically cannot make Choices, yet there are always accounts to the contrary. In one apocryphal story a boy named Basil Chose Zenith and disappeared. The sole witness was his cat, Tibert, sunning himself on the stones outside. He waited and waited, yet his human didn't return! Hunger forced him to hunt, but every day at noon, Tibert would return to paw at the lucent archway and yowl in protest at the thieving structure.
As the sun reached its peak on the seventh day, the Tower itself took pity and admitted Tibert. He ascended the golden spiral leading to the perfection of form and found Basil napping atop the summit! Pawing his lazy human awake, the two emerged together. Basil was surprised to see that his friend's coat had turned brilliant gold; thereafter Tibert needed no sustenance save light. The two went on to have many varied and implausible adventures, spawning other stories of sun-blessed gilded animals.
[ ] The Last Bolidian - The Comet Kings are not gone. They walk among us still, immortal witnesses to history, trails hidden and powers restrained until they're needed. This trope's popular in superhero comics, supernatural romance novels, and conspiracy theories.
Tyrell Lachemin's the most famous of these fictional Comet Kings. Loosely based on a proto-Francorian monarch, he occupies a Superman-shaped cultural niche: stopping crimes, averting wars, dispensing the wisdom of ages in disguise. In some adaptations he's an evil conqueror, a relic of a chaotic, uncivilized age; other tales end with Tyrell soaring through the sky to become a comet in truth, departing Icarel but raising the Towers of his kind from the ruins to usher in the Comet Kings' return.
Arrocco - Linneas' homeworld
[ ] The Wise King - An apocryphal and somewhat archetypal character with an almost theological significance, the Wise King's often said to be the ultimate archetype of Kingship, the shape to which every royal should try to conform, and whose word is to always be heeded. He is most often mentioned in proverbs and sayings, although appears infrequently in novels or plays as a character of almost mystical importance and origin; either drawn from the archetype itself, or directly referring to the archetype. The Wise King is said to exemplify virtue and uplift others with his presence, even other Kings as no more than Pieces on the board to his grand cosmic design.
And most curious of all - most of the tales referring to him are fond of saying the Wise King does not rule over any one land or populace, but countless lands, as the Wise Kingdom makes space for all souls and their salvation beyond its gates. All Kings shall ultimately be made to stand before their judge, all Pawns ultimately freed of their burdens, and so on, for the Wise King is the one authority above all others. This also means his presence likely wouldn't interfere with your own establishment.
[ ] Sophia - A story of no amount of controversy, banned in some nations and extolled in others as an excellent tale of moral wisdom. In Sophia's story there is an unnamed Kingdom that is reigned over by a cruel and intemperate monarch, a profligate spender who does not care a whit about his people. Motivated by benevolence, Sophia pleads with the King three times to see reason and see to his own people's needs: to ease their hunger, to lessen their burdens, and relieve their sorrows.
The King does not respond to any of these pleas, and so after the third time, he is karmically punished by the heavens above when all the coins in his treasury become locusts and eat each other, whereupon Sophia uses her magic to transform the remnants of the swarm into bread for the people. The King's prized horses then escape from their stables and Sophia makes them work the land for the peasants, freeing them from the burdens of work. Finally, the third curse is when the King himself suffers a death of heartbreak upon losing all of his possessions. He is then replaced by his son, who is fair and just, and whom Sophia marries to become the Queen, resulting in a happy ending.
Demimonde
Is anything on Demimonde verifiably fictional? Writing about frog people's fun and lucrative until the deep ones drown you in your bath.
Also none of the characters you've heard about seem like great allies to have, if you are being frank with yourself.
Street Attunement: Level 5 (out of 15)
Conditions
Dreamless (Near-Absolute)
*Your Second Aspect is severed from the oneiric. You cannot experience dreams.
*Your Second Aspect is heavily drained of creativity and innovation; difficulty of non-iterative action is raised dramatically.
Remaining Duration: Permanent.
Import: 11.5
Attributes
STR: 17
CON: 18
AGI: 19
WIT: 9
Available Skills:
Craft (6.83, near-Master - Masks)
Deception (6.2, Elite - Acting)
Socialize (5.5, Expert - Noble Etiquette)
Stealth (4.6, Adept)
Fencing (4.3, Adept)
Singing (4.3, Adept)
Linguistics (4.5, Adept)
Anatomy (2.1, Apprentice)
Crimson Lost [38 Potential]
Battle Tendency (20) - Increases all combat-applicable skills and attributes. +14 STR, CON, and AGI when worn, and +20% to their worth.
Blood Hunter (18) - Blood control and hemokinetic regeneration. Total control in arm's range, diminishes swiftly beyond that. Hemovoyance. Hunter instincts; grants boost to associated actions, enhances efforts to slay wild creatures.
[ ] Evolve into Crimson Hunter [2 Import + a day of effortful combat and wildlife hunting]
*Merges Battle Tendency and Blood Hunter into one superior aspect, Battle Hunter, at 50 Potential.
*Battle Hunter grants even more advanced hemokinesis syncretic with Viscerality, even more Attributes, and supernal talent in domains concerned with battle and blood
*The Battle Hunter refuses wearers who've never tasted violence or blood
The Icarelian [28 Potential] - A mask cast in an array of shades covering the full gamut of the sky from morning to midnight.
Light and Darkness (17) - Photokinesis, about on par with a heavy-duty 120,000-lumen flashlight. Kinetic variant, like a 'luminous force push.' Can, via removal of photons from an area, create shadows and therefore simulate umbrakinesis. This can drain temperature from an area as well.
Gamaliel Enforcement (9) - Aids use of Gamaliel Contamination Protocol, mostly via making undesirable outcomes less likely.
Enhanced Form (2) - +2 to Physical Attributes
The Artificer's Mask [40 Potential] (1.1x - effective 44) - A simple mask of varnished wood. Blockish, compact shape.
Enhanced Craft (30) - Generates selective Facelessness, only to craft masks. Enhanced hand-eye coordination with craftsman's tools, can make even better mundane items and work much faster.
Craftsman's Stamina (5) - Enduring worker's spirit, the ability to sit in one place without tiring for countless hours, and remain focused on a task.
Mask Container (5) - Can carry three other masks within subspace, as well as six uncrafted masks.
The Theater Child [20 Potential] - A mask that evokes a simple, youthful feeling. It smiles benevolently.
Creative (10) - Enhances one's lateral and outside-the-box thinking, as well as creativity. Prone to mischievous conclusions. Weak and minor effect, at least for now.
Satisfied (7) - Generates innate 'life satisfaction.' Can relieve Stress. Acts as effective buff to one's willpower when resisting temptation, maintaining moral integrity, etc.
Theatrics (3) - Charisma, aimed at grandeur and spectacle.
The Oracle of Midnight [14 Potential] - A mask mimicking Dr. Musorov in some regards, with an oracular third eye carved on its forehead.
Enhanced Sense (10) - Grants enhanced senses, mainly sight. About half as potent as the average Midnight's sensorium.
Farvision (4) - An ability to perceive from other locations. Range constrained to 'within the same house.'
The Streetwalker [7 Potential] - A mask embellished with shimmering stones.
The Street Unending (7) - Broad, conceptual domain. Improves faculties relevant to increasing Street attunement: musicality, ability to travel, and so on. Also renders wearer better at predicting the Street's myriad whims.
The Power of the King
Pawn [Rank II] - Linneas of the Argent Kingdom
Able Pawn II - Linneas gains supernatural effectiveness when acting to assist, support, or bolster his King's direct actions. Fighting at his King's side, Linneas gains exceptional fortune and tactical acuity. By acting as hype-man or opening act, his King's diss tracks land with uncommon severity. Or, by exhorting his liege directly with spirited verbal encouragement, he can moderately improve the outcomes of Dorian's magical projects, including usages of Contamination or Viscerality.
Pawn [Rank I] - Japhris of Cirantil
Indomitable Self - Resistance to degradation of self from all sources, and regeneration of baseline selfhood when compromised; acts as top-of-the-line mental protection. It mostly operates on the mental and spiritual levels, although it also confers a mild healing factor. It does not prevent 'organic' changes and developments to selfhood.
Pill Effects:
*Enhanced Vision (x-ray, can see through all thin solids that aren't lead; with effort, can penetrate deeper)
*Super-Soldat (considerable + to All Stats)
*Chillness (immunity to fever, cosmetic cryokinesis)
Choice: Gamaliel Contamination Protocol
Rudimentary Development
Technique: Material Transmutation (Basic) - Can with effort and several seconds of time, reliably transform one type of matter into another similar type. (Metal into another metal, one type of wood into another type of wood.) Cannot reliably transmute shape yet.
Technique: Disease Destruction (Advanced) - Can with positive emotional attachment to a subject, and several minutes of sustained effort and deep focus, destroy even a moderately supernatural disease, applying distortion such as to transform the viral or bacterial organisms into harmless organic compounds.
Viscerality - Apprentice [2.2]
Viscerality has two components: a tactile magic by which the body of any being can be altered, and a facility for manipulating the passions that rule the body. The first allows for regeneration, shapeshifting, creating custom organisms, and gradual alteration of ecosystems. The latter starts with a sense for the most primal emotions: fear, anger, ardor. Discernment blossoms into the ability to evoke such feelings with increasing intensity and subtlety. Stoking is always easier than suppressing.
Warping others is more difficult, as physical influence diminishes with distance from the body. Preexisting biomass and biological knowledge are helpful, but one's own passion can be substituted for either in a pinch. Visceralists gain instincts corresponding with their emotional investment. Progress in the art's rapid as long as you pursue your interests. A laborious combination of gene therapy and implanting symbiotes can initiate others into Viscerality, proliferating the magic. Any children you have will be natural users unless you desire otherwise.
Warping others is more difficult, as physical influence diminishes with distance from the body. Preexisting biomass and biological knowledge are helpful, but one's own passion can be substituted for either in a pinch. Visceralists gain instincts corresponding with their emotional investment. Progress in the art's rapid as long as you pursue your interests. A laborious combination of gene therapy and implanting symbiotes can initiate others into Viscerality, proliferating the magic. Any children you have will be natural users unless you desire otherwise.
Skill Effect:
*Improved regeneration speed; unemotional baseline healing speed is now 4.5x that of a mortal. With effort and emotion, can heal moderate wounds in minutes.
*Reduced basic needs. Requires only three-fifths the food, water, and oxygen to operate at optimum as an organism; raw survival instinct and desperation once deeply starved means death can be postponed moderately.
*Can begin to access the most basic and essential forms of Visceral flesh-warping: shifting around flesh, creating armor from body fat, creating sharp talons, et cetera.
*Can evoke modestly intricate but still primal emotions (a specific hue of lust, rage towards a specific individual or concept) in all individuals in visual range or who are in very close proximity, strength is moderate to high.
Gathered Relics:
[ ] The Hammer - This simple claw hammer is more than a craftsman's tool. Properly wielded, it acts as an unparalleled tool of destruction and recreation.
A sufficient amount of repeated strikes can undo even the most curmudgeonly of matter, shattering titanium ingots into scattered shrapnel. This can be done to virtually anything and used offensively to great effect. However, if a craftsman holds a piece from a broken item over another and hammers it, as one might hammer a nail in, it can fuse these fragments with the object. This is always done per the wielder's intent and desires, completing engineering work even they couldn't do; a simpleton hammering a computer into a suit of armor will form a wrist PDA that interfaces with other technology, not distribute random circuitry under the armored plates.
This can be done successfully even with relics and other magical artifacts and was tested on a couple of your masks to good results. The worth of the ability to combine masks and their identities in such a granular fashion surely doesn't need to be stated.
Earphones
A pair of earphones, which, if powered, produce a calming background noise of nature, such as the sounds of a beach or a calm forest birdsong. Afterward, if the wearer directs their attention to something in their environment, such as an individual or an item, and mentally prompts it, the earphones provide narration or description of the object. This content is usually the same length (about two to five sentences) and sometimes produces information no one could reasonably extract via simple observation. The voice seems to be the wearer's own, although dissonant, distorted (in a manner that makes it appear slightly feminine), and slightly staticky. Using them repeatedly seems to cause the statements to become shorter and less useful, although this passes with time. This is especially apparent when spammed on the same object.
Glasses
Worn, they make the wearer appear oddly unassuming and trustworthy, although still recognizable. The effect becomes obvious in retrospect once they are removed, but not if the wearer leaves eyesight; the removal effect seems global, once they are taken off. Once put back on, this does not cause previous memories to once again become unassuming, nor does it kick back in globally until the wearer is viewed again. Trustworthiness is compelling but not absolute; Andrei Musorov was asked to self-harm and refused the order, Linneas and Japhris were asked by Dorian and almost did before the order was rescinded. This might require more testing.
Cloak
A cloak of raven-dark, a piece of original attire you carried with you ever since Drethir. Enhanced as a relic, it is more comfortable and offers slight protection against the elements, beyond its usual remit. However, its most noticeable ability is the selective lightness it confers on its wearer, able to make its wearer swifter and keener in motion without compromising strength or durability. It also imparts grace and charisma, as well as improved social instinct.
*Grants effective +++Agility, +++Charisma, +++Manipulation.
A sufficient amount of repeated strikes can undo even the most curmudgeonly of matter, shattering titanium ingots into scattered shrapnel. This can be done to virtually anything and used offensively to great effect. However, if a craftsman holds a piece from a broken item over another and hammers it, as one might hammer a nail in, it can fuse these fragments with the object. This is always done per the wielder's intent and desires, completing engineering work even they couldn't do; a simpleton hammering a computer into a suit of armor will form a wrist PDA that interfaces with other technology, not distribute random circuitry under the armored plates.
This can be done successfully even with relics and other magical artifacts and was tested on a couple of your masks to good results. The worth of the ability to combine masks and their identities in such a granular fashion surely doesn't need to be stated.
Earphones
A pair of earphones, which, if powered, produce a calming background noise of nature, such as the sounds of a beach or a calm forest birdsong. Afterward, if the wearer directs their attention to something in their environment, such as an individual or an item, and mentally prompts it, the earphones provide narration or description of the object. This content is usually the same length (about two to five sentences) and sometimes produces information no one could reasonably extract via simple observation. The voice seems to be the wearer's own, although dissonant, distorted (in a manner that makes it appear slightly feminine), and slightly staticky. Using them repeatedly seems to cause the statements to become shorter and less useful, although this passes with time. This is especially apparent when spammed on the same object.
Glasses
Worn, they make the wearer appear oddly unassuming and trustworthy, although still recognizable. The effect becomes obvious in retrospect once they are removed, but not if the wearer leaves eyesight; the removal effect seems global, once they are taken off. Once put back on, this does not cause previous memories to once again become unassuming, nor does it kick back in globally until the wearer is viewed again. Trustworthiness is compelling but not absolute; Andrei Musorov was asked to self-harm and refused the order, Linneas and Japhris were asked by Dorian and almost did before the order was rescinded. This might require more testing.
Cloak
A cloak of raven-dark, a piece of original attire you carried with you ever since Drethir. Enhanced as a relic, it is more comfortable and offers slight protection against the elements, beyond its usual remit. However, its most noticeable ability is the selective lightness it confers on its wearer, able to make its wearer swifter and keener in motion without compromising strength or durability. It also imparts grace and charisma, as well as improved social instinct.
*Grants effective +++Agility, +++Charisma, +++Manipulation.
---
Absurdity's Touch
Good news! According to my dice, you've successfully attained x-ray vision without bursting into flame - as such, in order to save on time and interest, we'll move onto the Absurdity selection stage under the convenient assumption you simply trusted the Chill Pill.
Absurdity's effect allows you to bring to reality one fictional character.
Here are fictional characters that feature prominently in Dorian's memeplex:
Drethir
[ ] The Nameless Mask - According to some, there once was a Mask Without a Name. As one of a kind, this mask was not only a sentient being, but almost frighteningly intelligent, wise, and capable of vocal communication. It went from wearer to wearer, dispensing advice, experiencing countless stories and lives over time, accumulating their stories like a traveler picking up mementos. There, the narratives diverge as a river might into streams. Depending on the region of Drethir you're in, you'll hear dozens of unique tales about the mysterious mask, its adventures with various wearers, and the valuable moral lessons contained therein.
However, all of those stories eventually conclude the same way: the unnamed mask decided it wanted to experience the world itself. It made a human body it could inhabit out of stone, dust, and wood shavings, no longer needing a host to carry it. The story then ends without a real conclusion or hints as to what happens after, although some implications and storytellers shall tell you their popular theory - the Nameless Mask continues to walk among us, somewhere in the furthermost reaches of Drethir.
[ ] Mother Shade - Once upon a time, there was no night. Desiring children who could bask in his magnificence, Father Sun brought sentient life to Drethir. Without deception, the hearts of primordial humanity were laid bare before the judgment of Sun and kin. All was exposed. All who sinned or were shamed burned away in unending light, and life grew scarce - until Mother Shade interceded.
Shade stole half of all hours from her lover, so mankind would have a time of respite when they would be hidden. Taking human form, She Who Conceals walked Drethir and crafted a mask to fit the face of every being, though men alone were granted the choice of whether to wear them. But with concealment came the ability to hide the truth. Soon the first lies were spoken, and people began to war among themselves...
Icarel
[ ] Basil and Tibert - Animals typically cannot make Choices, yet there are always accounts to the contrary. In one apocryphal story a boy named Basil Chose Zenith and disappeared. The sole witness was his cat, Tibert, sunning himself on the stones outside. He waited and waited, yet his human didn't return! Hunger forced him to hunt, but every day at noon, Tibert would return to paw at the lucent archway and yowl in protest at the thieving structure.
As the sun reached its peak on the seventh day, the Tower itself took pity and admitted Tibert. He ascended the golden spiral leading to the perfection of form and found Basil napping atop the summit! Pawing his lazy human awake, the two emerged together. Basil was surprised to see that his friend's coat had turned brilliant gold; thereafter Tibert needed no sustenance save light. The two went on to have many varied and implausible adventures, spawning other stories of sun-blessed gilded animals.
[ ] The Last Bolidian - The Comet Kings are not gone. They walk among us still, immortal witnesses to history, trails hidden and powers restrained until they're needed. This trope's popular in superhero comics, supernatural romance novels, and conspiracy theories.
Tyrell Lachemin's the most famous of these fictional Comet Kings. Loosely based on a proto-Francorian monarch, he occupies a Superman-shaped cultural niche: stopping crimes, averting wars, dispensing the wisdom of ages in disguise. In some adaptations he's an evil conqueror, a relic of a chaotic, uncivilized age; other tales end with Tyrell soaring through the sky to become a comet in truth, departing Icarel but raising the Towers of his kind from the ruins to usher in the Comet Kings' return.
Arrocco - Linneas' homeworld
[ ] The Wise King - An apocryphal and somewhat archetypal character with an almost theological significance, the Wise King's often said to be the ultimate archetype of Kingship, the shape to which every royal should try to conform, and whose word is to always be heeded. He is most often mentioned in proverbs and sayings, although appears infrequently in novels or plays as a character of almost mystical importance and origin; either drawn from the archetype itself, or directly referring to the archetype. The Wise King is said to exemplify virtue and uplift others with his presence, even other Kings as no more than Pieces on the board to his grand cosmic design.
And most curious of all - most of the tales referring to him are fond of saying the Wise King does not rule over any one land or populace, but countless lands, as the Wise Kingdom makes space for all souls and their salvation beyond its gates. All Kings shall ultimately be made to stand before their judge, all Pawns ultimately freed of their burdens, and so on, for the Wise King is the one authority above all others. This also means his presence likely wouldn't interfere with your own establishment.
[ ] Sophia - A story of no amount of controversy, banned in some nations and extolled in others as an excellent tale of moral wisdom. In Sophia's story there is an unnamed Kingdom that is reigned over by a cruel and intemperate monarch, a profligate spender who does not care a whit about his people. Motivated by benevolence, Sophia pleads with the King three times to see reason and see to his own people's needs: to ease their hunger, to lessen their burdens, and relieve their sorrows.
The King does not respond to any of these pleas, and so after the third time, he is karmically punished by the heavens above when all the coins in his treasury become locusts and eat each other, whereupon Sophia uses her magic to transform the remnants of the swarm into bread for the people. The King's prized horses then escape from their stables and Sophia makes them work the land for the peasants, freeing them from the burdens of work. Finally, the third curse is when the King himself suffers a death of heartbreak upon losing all of his possessions. He is then replaced by his son, who is fair and just, and whom Sophia marries to become the Queen, resulting in a happy ending.
Is anything on Demimonde verifiably fictional? Writing about frog people's fun and lucrative until the deep ones drown you in your bath.
Also none of the characters you've heard about seem like great allies to have, if you are being frank with yourself.
Last edited:
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
Oh look a build vote
[X] The Nameless Mask
[X] Mother Shade
[X] Basil and Tibert
[X] The Last Bolidian
[X] The Wise King
[X] Sophia
[X] Evolve into Crimson Hunter [2 Import + a day of effortful combat and wildlife hunting]
[X] The Nameless Mask
[X] Mother Shade
[X] Basil and Tibert
[X] The Last Bolidian
[X] The Wise King
[X] Sophia
[X] Evolve into Crimson Hunter [2 Import + a day of effortful combat and wildlife hunting]
Last edited:
[X] Mother Shade
Rihaku
The Internet
Hm... it feels like we need a bit more detail on exact capabilities before we can narrow down who to vote for. Is Mother Shade supposed to be an uber mask crafter that can create arbitrary masks that start at >50 Potential, or is most of her power tied into more typical night goddess effects like shadow teleportation?
Sophia sounds like she might be the best healer and buffer of the lot, but it would be extremely relevant to know whether she can (even partially) heal spiritual ills like Fixation, Oneiric Severing or whatever the Somber Mask does.
Sophia sounds like she might be the best healer and buffer of the lot, but it would be extremely relevant to know whether she can (even partially) heal spiritual ills like Fixation, Oneiric Severing or whatever the Somber Mask does.
Rihaku
The Internet
Discord Info:
*Mother Shade would be more suited to work on healing Japhris' Fixation, while Sophia would be more suited to healing Dorian's creativity
*Mother Shade's domains are night, identity and concealment
*Sophia is a (mythical) Bishop focused on blessings and curses
*The Last Bolidian offers immense combat power. He can modify Dorian's Gamaliel powers to an extent
*When asked if "the Nameless Mask could be a high-Potential (~60-80 depending on balance?) mask that can shift between roles while retaining its Potential total? It's immune to Fixation and instead has a Sentience score that amplifies its power in the same way, and starts with 3-5 broadly useful specialties like Healer, Warlord etc. If not being worn it can spawn its own body and act within the themes of its current specialty," the answer was "eh, maybe," implying that this level of power/versatility is at or near the limits of what Absurdity can produce, but not wildly above it. I think we would be very happy to get something like this version of the Nameless Mask, but there are no guarantees here.
If we're going to rely on Contamination to heal Dorian's creativity, The Last Bolidian augments that and offers overwhelming combat and engineering power in the short to mid term. Sophia is probably the more versatile caster, and more directed suited to repairing Dorian's creativity - buffing allies and debuffing enemies is her primary focus. We just got triple super-soldier stats; our immediate combat power has been substantially augmented, so for now I'll go with
[X] Sophia
This should also help prevent Dorian down the line from becoming that which he most despises - a tyrannical Emperor who uses overwhelming force to enforce his unjust dominion.
That said, Mother Shade would be immediately relevant for potentially getting Japhris and Arcanist back online, plus all the long-term maskmaking buffs that a goddess of identity might offer. Powerful superhuman stealth and theft could certainly both be relevant to retrieving Musurov as well; she might even be a direct counter to the Somber parasite if its powers are ultimately mask-derived.
I think any of Sophia, the Last Bolidian, and Mother Shade would be powerful and relevant here, but Sophia is probably the most useful pick long-term.
*Mother Shade would be more suited to work on healing Japhris' Fixation, while Sophia would be more suited to healing Dorian's creativity
*Mother Shade's domains are night, identity and concealment
*Sophia is a (mythical) Bishop focused on blessings and curses
*The Last Bolidian offers immense combat power. He can modify Dorian's Gamaliel powers to an extent
*When asked if "the Nameless Mask could be a high-Potential (~60-80 depending on balance?) mask that can shift between roles while retaining its Potential total? It's immune to Fixation and instead has a Sentience score that amplifies its power in the same way, and starts with 3-5 broadly useful specialties like Healer, Warlord etc. If not being worn it can spawn its own body and act within the themes of its current specialty," the answer was "eh, maybe," implying that this level of power/versatility is at or near the limits of what Absurdity can produce, but not wildly above it. I think we would be very happy to get something like this version of the Nameless Mask, but there are no guarantees here.
If we're going to rely on Contamination to heal Dorian's creativity, The Last Bolidian augments that and offers overwhelming combat and engineering power in the short to mid term. Sophia is probably the more versatile caster, and more directed suited to repairing Dorian's creativity - buffing allies and debuffing enemies is her primary focus. We just got triple super-soldier stats; our immediate combat power has been substantially augmented, so for now I'll go with
[X] Sophia
This should also help prevent Dorian down the line from becoming that which he most despises - a tyrannical Emperor who uses overwhelming force to enforce his unjust dominion.
That said, Mother Shade would be immediately relevant for potentially getting Japhris and Arcanist back online, plus all the long-term maskmaking buffs that a goddess of identity might offer. Powerful superhuman stealth and theft could certainly both be relevant to retrieving Musurov as well; she might even be a direct counter to the Somber parasite if its powers are ultimately mask-derived.
I think any of Sophia, the Last Bolidian, and Mother Shade would be powerful and relevant here, but Sophia is probably the most useful pick long-term.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Sophia
[X] The Nameless Mask
[X] Evolve into Crimson Hunter
[X] The Nameless Mask
[X] Evolve into Crimson Hunter
Last edited:
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Going with this for now
[x]Mother Shade
[x]The Last Bolidian
[x]Mother Shade
[x]The Last Bolidian