Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
No, the former was in the doctor's workshop and you didn't have a chance to go reclaim it.
Yes. You still have it.
The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy
- Thread starter Birdsie
- Start date
Yes. You still have it.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Okay, so I want to get that back or build a replacement. I think "summon an item you own but have lost" is probably harder to mask than "rebuild an omniassembler you've been training with for a month", but the former would give access to our mask collection back on Drethir? Can I get Dorian's guesses for which of those would be doable in short order, given Japhris's help enchanting?
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
[X] Relax
-[X] Interact: Japhris - sound her out about dating, lycanthropy, what sorts of roles she wants to play
[ ] Gain Currency
-[ ] Sell Masks
[X] Write-in: Help Andrei replace the Omniassembler and the gain-powers-from-damage medium
I think we should talk to Andrei given the recent trauma, but given that he was fine after the Mentalism experiment, I think we're better off addressing his real loss: Taure's techbase. Hopefully a well-specialized craftsman's mask will let him substitute for the tools and any missing expertise he'd need to rebuild it.
I'm also not too worried about his present Barakah tinge, given how weak it is, but given that he's a multimage from a tradition that gets powers from taking novel damage, I bet it'd be better to focus on that aspect of his story before the mad scientist thing, because 'mad scientist' is in no way incompatible with being frail and helpless.
Secondly, I want to know more about Japhris. She had a crush on Dorian some time ago; is that still there? If so, how compatible are they? She's not the only potential Queen he'll meet who can both be an equal partner and can follow him down the Street, but she is the one he's known for longest - it'd be silly to ignore that.
Edit: @Birdsie, I'm pretty sure asking Japhris "hey do you want to go on a date and/or be spliced with werewolfism" just counts as Tactics, but if if my write-in would count as tactics for interacting with Andrei it might be tactically advantageous to vote for that.
-[X] Interact: Japhris - sound her out about dating, lycanthropy, what sorts of roles she wants to play
[ ] Gain Currency
-[ ] Sell Masks
[X] Write-in: Help Andrei replace the Omniassembler and the gain-powers-from-damage medium
I think we should talk to Andrei given the recent trauma, but given that he was fine after the Mentalism experiment, I think we're better off addressing his real loss: Taure's techbase. Hopefully a well-specialized craftsman's mask will let him substitute for the tools and any missing expertise he'd need to rebuild it.
I'm also not too worried about his present Barakah tinge, given how weak it is, but given that he's a multimage from a tradition that gets powers from taking novel damage, I bet it'd be better to focus on that aspect of his story before the mad scientist thing, because 'mad scientist' is in no way incompatible with being frail and helpless.
Secondly, I want to know more about Japhris. She had a crush on Dorian some time ago; is that still there? If so, how compatible are they? She's not the only potential Queen he'll meet who can both be an equal partner and can follow him down the Street, but she is the one he's known for longest - it'd be silly to ignore that.
Edit: @Birdsie, I'm pretty sure asking Japhris "hey do you want to go on a date and/or be spliced with werewolfism" just counts as Tactics, but if if my write-in would count as tactics for interacting with Andrei it might be tactically advantageous to vote for that.
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
We have broad leeway to stay on this world for a long time, so any rush is entirely down to setting up an advantageous narrative within whatever rules Barakah follows.
[X] Plan Finally Doing the Thing
Selling masks is a solid quest hook, and the relaxation allows Dorian time to nurse his injuries. However, I am remembering that Taure punished us fairly quickly when we started grinding for power as soon as we landed. What if we didn't try and speedrun this planet?
[X] Plan to recover from Taure
[ ] Relax x3
-[ ] Interact with Andrei
-[ ] Interact with Japhris
-[ ] Interact with Linneas / Bedrest (?)
This plan focuses on patching up the party after a rough exit from the previous World. Did we take some hits? Yes. Are we better off now than when we got to Taure? Yes. Dorian should consolidate the Kingdom before going out to change the world: Can he use the "passion" of his companions if he never talks to them enough to know what they care about?
I'm also approval voting for Visceral Refinement in case we're stuck with the current non-vote-by-plan situation.
[X] Visceral Refinement
[X] Plan Finally Doing the Thing
Selling masks is a solid quest hook, and the relaxation allows Dorian time to nurse his injuries. However, I am remembering that Taure punished us fairly quickly when we started grinding for power as soon as we landed. What if we didn't try and speedrun this planet?
[X] Plan to recover from Taure
[ ] Relax x3
-[ ] Interact with Andrei
-[ ] Interact with Japhris
-[ ] Interact with Linneas / Bedrest (?)
This plan focuses on patching up the party after a rough exit from the previous World. Did we take some hits? Yes. Are we better off now than when we got to Taure? Yes. Dorian should consolidate the Kingdom before going out to change the world: Can he use the "passion" of his companions if he never talks to them enough to know what they care about?
I'm also approval voting for Visceral Refinement in case we're stuck with the current non-vote-by-plan situation.
[X] Visceral Refinement
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- Location
- Russia
The title is just... unfortunate. Why would you do this to yourself?
Ain't that an understatement.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Meaning the Quest title? ...Yeah. The standard term for a Street traveler is inherited from one of the CYOAs by @Orm Embar, but it was unfortunate there too.
- Location
- Russia
I skipped this quest at first, because i thought it was about a prostitute that will have problems with pimps and her fellow workers hierarchy. -_-
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
I expect us to have a plot hook soon about repaying the Mask for their help and there aren't many plan votes.
[x]Plan Two-Thirds Relax
-[x]Relax: Bedrest(Use Brother's Persona to aid dreamlessness recovery, stop if Mild fixation is reached)
-[x]Relax: Interact with Mask
-[x]Gain Currency(Sell Masks)
[x]Plan Two-Thirds Relax
-[x]Relax: Bedrest(Use Brother's Persona to aid dreamlessness recovery, stop if Mild fixation is reached)
-[x]Relax: Interact with Mask
-[x]Gain Currency(Sell Masks)
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- Location
- Louisiana
Man you guys are really missing out not voting to explore more of Misrashan.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Parsing it may be awkward enough to need a consolidation vote.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Very possible, based on what I'm seeing.
It would be great if we figured out how to move Barakah values around. We already know it is possible thanks to Lions, and while there is likely some loss in process the sheer utility of being able to farm Barakah is pretty nutty. Especially if we can create a easy loop of guy does simple deed > gets his Barakah to 10 > we harvest his Barakah > he does the simple deed again etc. Do it a scale and we could harvest tens of thousands worth of Barakah daily, although loss rate is something to account for.
Although this kind of creative system utilization might lead to same consequences we had on Taure, so that's something to keep in mind. Then again, triggering apocalypse could also be a potential boon if we do it correctly.. but that's for later.
Although this kind of creative system utilization might lead to same consequences we had on Taure, so that's something to keep in mind. Then again, triggering apocalypse could also be a potential boon if we do it correctly.. but that's for later.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
My impression is that Barakah manipulation looks exactly like guiding stories, unless you're doing Deep Magic (in which it still looks like a sci-fi story). The Lions have a story where their Greatness is influenced by how many potential heroes they've eaten; the babymurder nation has a story where they sacrifice their greatest young in exchange for peace and stability. The Barakah transfer isn't strictly a matter of transfer so much as How Narratively Important The Deed In Question Is.
Or at least, that's my impression.
There is also a question of what we want to do with Arcanist. It is still a exceedingly powerful 70 Potential Mask just laying around. In general it makes most sense to give it back to Japhris. If not we can combine it with either Artificer or Icarelian. Both should work well very with what Arcanist does.
If we do decide to give it back to Japhris, we can either just put it back together as is, or try to make some kind of hybrid Mask. Later has the advantage of not interacting with her Fixation, meaning that we can do it in this vote and just let her carry a powerful Mask right away. Former has the advantage of interacting with her Fixation, so she gets Fixation power boost. Realistically getting it down to 1.3 should be fine as she has Pawn mental buff, so that is a decent power boost even if she is not as broken as she was on Taure.
And also she can already boost stuff. While we can't do Dwindlings like we could on Taure it is still an interesting facet of her power, that will only get improved by Arcanist. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.
If we do decide to give it back to Japhris, we can either just put it back together as is, or try to make some kind of hybrid Mask. Later has the advantage of not interacting with her Fixation, meaning that we can do it in this vote and just let her carry a powerful Mask right away. Former has the advantage of interacting with her Fixation, so she gets Fixation power boost. Realistically getting it down to 1.3 should be fine as she has Pawn mental buff, so that is a decent power boost even if she is not as broken as she was on Taure.
And also she can already boost stuff. While we can't do Dwindlings like we could on Taure it is still an interesting facet of her power, that will only get improved by Arcanist. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.
not much talked about yet,
But maybe more importantly, this makes combining the headphones and the oracle mask a no-brainer. We can probably take it on or off at combat speeds, and certainly will be able to if this blessing develops further
We're making a lot of progress replicating most of the abilities of the glass webweaver..
But maybe more importantly, this makes combining the headphones and the oracle mask a no-brainer. We can probably take it on or off at combat speeds, and certainly will be able to if this blessing develops further
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I think we can all agree that we are in very powerful position right now. We don't have any outstanding issue we need to resolve right away, we just got a huge amount of power and we have excellent means of scaling. Likewise Providence doesn't have an active apocalypse going on so we only really have to contest human elements, which are mostly limited by our own desire to contest them. All in all I expect three months of being able to just grow unless we go out of our way to fight people.
With that in mind, what would be success for us on Providence? Taure taught us that exponential power inflation is punished, so we are probably better off just fortifying our build in its entirety. As such my list of goals would be as follows:
>at least 1000 Barakah
>7~8 Street Attunement
>4.0 Viscerality
>relevant upgrades to Contamination
>Crimson King to 130~140
>Kingship increased at least once
>Dreamlessness healed/majorly mitigated
I think that given amount of time we have, most of these should be doable with focused effort. If I had to pick three of these to focus on, I think that Dreamlessness healing, Street Attunement and Barakah would be my picks, in that order.
How do you guys feel about this?
With that in mind, what would be success for us on Providence? Taure taught us that exponential power inflation is punished, so we are probably better off just fortifying our build in its entirety. As such my list of goals would be as follows:
>at least 1000 Barakah
>7~8 Street Attunement
>4.0 Viscerality
>relevant upgrades to Contamination
>Crimson King to 130~140
>Kingship increased at least once
>Dreamlessness healed/majorly mitigated
I think that given amount of time we have, most of these should be doable with focused effort. If I had to pick three of these to focus on, I think that Dreamlessness healing, Street Attunement and Barakah would be my picks, in that order.
How do you guys feel about this?
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Unless someone goes out of their way to fight us? There's some kind of 'certain death' out West, and my worry is that it's some kind of occasional hunter like a dragon and/or multiversal faction-monster like the Somber Men.
How did Taure teach us that? I read Veronica's explanation as "the forest embodies a principle of violent struggle for survival; there's going to be massive pushback for trying to replace that narrative". We didn't try to Dwindle the forest until we were demigods at all.
Sure. I'm assuming that the default value is "go to middle of nowhere and grind" so our actions in civilization should beat that. Ultimately the ability to just unilaterally retreat to Street severely reduces the risk of opposing factions, although narrative can work its way around that.
Hierarchy punishes clever solutions. Which is fine, we just need to adapt.
As an aside, one thing to note is that we do have a glaring weakness right now, and that is relative lack of actions. We have so many things we want to do and entirely too few actions to do them. This makes me more willing to go into Viscerality, as creating semi sentient flesh golems that can receive parts of our personality is probably the easiest way to multiply our production. Creating such golem, give it your Mask skill and Artistry, put Artificer on it and then it can grind masks. Very useful if we want to have hundred versions of some Masks. The ideal here would be being able to simultaneously grind skills, magic and make Mask all at the same time.
Alternative solution would be to combine our Kingship and mask/Visc to be able to lend people parts of us. So for example Japhris would be Reflection of Magician(Lions would be Lovers, Linneas Reflection of Strength or whichever Arcana is most suitable etc.) and she would receive Contamination to use as her own, and once we pull it back we get all the training she did with it. It would also be a cool way to make our guys relevant as we keep collecting countless magic systems. Imagine how cool it would be to be hidden boss type of guy who, once you defeat Four Heavenly Generals, their powers combine into a Grand Emperor. Given the direction our Kingship is taking this should be doable, and just really fucking awesome.
But yeah, bottom line, we need to figure out how to grind more, and given Viscerality the answer is likely just "more bodies".
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HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
I have a mask that may help with the first one.
The Taurean
A mask representing Taure, both its advanced civilization and the forest which has nearly destroyed it. Made from steel, glass, concrete, and the wood of a door that once led there.
Fabricate (x) - Aids in constructing Taurean technologies, especially in compensating for lost or broken tools.
Overgrow (y) - Cause plants to grow and mutate wildly, with a lesser effect on animals. Sustained use in civilized areas may rarely produce artifacts.
Also, @_brightwing, want to collaborate on masks sometime?
This is critical information, especially given the spoiler policy; can you please threadmark this?
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The Incarnadine Craft
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
The Incarnadine Craft
You've decided to set off boldly into the realm of flesh-crafting.
Any fleshcrafter beyond a novice notices certain limitations within the art. As Viscerality is powered by one's emotion and harnesses feelings to induce alterations of flesh and mind, anyone with sufficient time to consider the matter eventually tries to create a hormonal node, to induce intense emotions within oneself. Those who attempt this stratagem find themselves hitting disappointingly diminishing returns the more this method is used, the induced emotions somehow losing salience; a property easily mistaken for meaning. It also tends to run roughshod over the Visceralist's motivational structure, potentially turning them into pleasure zombies or dull, ashen depressives.
There are other signs of odd limitation: mutations tend to revert unless sufficient time and cathexis are afforded them, mass creation of clones is difficult and imperfect, and more in that vein. Anyone who traces the art's limitations into the scarlet-splattered code of their genes shall find this out: these are not accidents or properties emergent from some vexatious quirk in natural magical interaction. These are deliberately installed safeguards, emplaced there purposefully to forestall degeneracy. Wherever Viscerality originated, whoever its original master was, they didn't wish its future users to reach immediate transcendence.
Concerning and curious signs of deliberate and intelligent design aside, a fleshcrafter with the passion, will, and time to invest can still aim to ascend.
You've cultivated - an impressive Three (3) Refinements
You can furthermore choose to attempt to Distort a maximum of one option. You can choose to pay out a variable amount of Import from its current (7.8) amount to reduce the odds of a bad result; about 7 Import suffices to reduce odds of an undesirable outcome to about 0%; even if a bad result occurs, this can reduce its severity
You can also choose to pay five (5) Import for an extra Refinement, if you wish
Choose:
[ ] Good Looks - The unsophisticated and uninitiated scoff at the value of beauty, as well as the difficulty of its attainment. Without the vanity of a peacock, resculpting one's facial features into attractive symmetry and airbrushing one's skin to perfect softness is an involved, complex, and delicate Visceral process. One which you'll undertake.
Although never a frowzy schlub to begin with, Dorian's natural handsomeness is elevated to that of a top model, and then even further optimized. Great sculpted abs, a perfectly chiseled face, clear skin, optimal proportions, and even a more innately pleasant body scent. This becomes his default, true state. Watch the ladies come flocking.
*There are substantial differences in relative aesthetic preferences, even among human beings, let alone the sorts of creatures you may encounter out in the many worlds. However, certain general traits are near-universally considered attractive, and those are the ones Dorian will aim to maximize.
*Makes Visceral emotional influence easier and more powerful. When someone's already attracted to you, or receptive to your arguments because of how compelling and neat you appear, each Visceral push is that much easier and more impactful.
*Combined with Crimson King's supernaturally influential enhanced charisma, a conversation with you counts as a low-grade cognitohazard.
*Do not discount the doors this procedure can open; people are nicer to nice-looking people.
*For better or worse, Japhris' crush might intensify a bit.
-[ ] Distortion
*Apply Gamaliel Contamination Protocol to your appearance, while you work Viscerally.
*Enrich each cell with pluripotent chaos, driving out the fundament of beauty from each of them, transmitting that as a broadband wave on reality.
*Ideal and desired result: strive towards an objectively attractive appearance, rather than one with mere mass appeal.
*Potential negative (?) results: eldritch forms of beauty, freakishness.
[ ] Muscular and Osseous Refinement - Endless red strength in crimson flesh and bone that refuses to crack. What are our bodies, if not machines? And what is the destination of a machine, if not to be stress-tested by life? You must prepare yourself and make sure you are fit to render judgment on the world instead.
*Reweave the inner matrix of muscle. The art of Viscerality allows you to attack the problem of augmentation from two directions: where masks and other influences can allow supernatural, magical strength, the incarnadine craft allows you to transform the substrate itself into something worthwhile.
*About +6 Strength, Constitution, and Agility. A sizeable +30% bonus to the worth of these stats.
*Increases Dorian's durability as well. All his tissues are much harder to break, heal faster and more cleanly, and so on. This is especially relevant to his skeleton and more critical organs; he'll surround them in an organic muscle mesh and reinforce all elements. The yellow-shard bullets of Veronica's soldiers would've been far less effective.
-[ ] Distortion
*Apply Gamaliel Contamination Protocol to all muscular and skeletal structures in your body.
*Ideal and desired result: a form made of enduring superorganics, with muscle strands that could individually tear off a man's head or be used as cutting monofilaments.
*Potential negative (?) results: bizarre fleshy or skeletal mutations, potentially subsapient limbs.
*The Import added to decrease negative results here is only half as efficacious.
[ ] Hardness of Iron - An admittedly experimental idea. Why not incorporate the strength of the world outside into your physiology? There are compounds your body struggles to produce, so why don't you supply them yourself?
*Eat raw iron and other metals, dissolve them with enhanced Visceral super-enzymes, and use them to form all sorts of armor, reinforcement to individual muscles strands, and so on. This has some synergy with your Crimson King mask, and potentially other masks you could devise as well?
*Greatly enhances strength and durability. +8 Strength and Constitution, +40% bonus to their worth; moderately diminishes speed as a consequence of added weight, but otherwise doesn't affect your Agility.
*Renders you magnetic, allowing you to design great combat combo moves with Dr. Musorov!
*Renders you magnetic, making you vulnerable to magnetism. It'll take you a second session to eliminate this weakness.
*Become the Man of Steel, or something.
*Doesn't necessarily have any external tells.
-[ ] Distortion
*Distort the metals themselves before eating, aiming to create metamaterials capable of interesting and useful effect. Even greater resilience will be conferred, and you can make the magnetism vulnerability selective, at minimum.
*As a result of not applying Gamaliel directly, much safer! Import spent here counts double to ensure safety of procedure.
*If you fail, you might eat a brick of metal giga-arsenic and die, though.
[ ] Organ Refinement - Choose a specific organ to enhance in a more focused manner:
-[ ] Kidneys
-[ ] Lungs
-[ ] Liver
-[ ] Eyes
-[ ] Ears
-[ ] Other (write-in)
*About 33-66% expected efficacy increase, depending on the organ's size and nature, although it can sometimes be higher or even lower; no matter what, it'll be noticeable. Can make the organs better at hormone production, toxin filtering, sensory acuity, and other natural functions depending on what they normally do.
*You can try to enhance multiple organs simultaneously, dividing focus; perhaps even meld or interrelate their functions. Viscerality is an art that welcomes experimentation; unorthodox ideas could very well be worth testing!
*You can also choose to grow a new organ. This means you'll have to grow slightly larger to make space.
Alternatively:
-[ ] Universal Refinement - Cultivate the entirety of your body without any specific focus. Minor strides in virtually every department. Makes you much better as a biological machine in nearly every conceivable way, but only a little bit.
--[ ] Distortion
*Results vary wildly depending on what's selected. However, as expected of most Gamaliel contamination, the potential boons are often commensurate with the risks. With Gamaliel-blasted eyes, you may well develop some manner of magical vision!
[ ] Cerebrospinal Refinement [Takes 2 Refinements] - A more risky and ambitious procedure. Aim to replace and refine sections of the brain and central nervous system, as well as grow them out, in order to attain a variety of improvements.
*Replacement of sections of ependymal cells, the cerebrum, cerebellum, hippocampus, and central nervous system will have wondrous results. You'll become far more emotionally balanced, focused, coordinated, and better at learning. Minor qualitative intellect boost, vast augmentation to thought speed and perception. Raw competence!
*You'll become noticeably faster at learning virtually all sorts of new skills, accelerate the training of ones you already possess, and become far better at retaining them even while not training. This includes languages, which should, in short order, transform you into a natural and talented polyglot. Near-eidetic memory, too!
*A decentralized, almost insect-like nervous system means strikes to your brain aren't quite as discombobulating or potentially lethal. You could even plausibly survive a headshot or two with a firearm, if you were still fully vulnerable to them. Severing your spine likewise causes only modest impairment.
*Although bypassing Dreamless with this alone is difficult, you could form small-order axon circuits that re-iterate actions according to both top-down and bottom-up processing models to attain a strange combination of: great predictive capability, 'simulated' creativity, and awesome resistance to both hallucinations and schizophrenia.
*Has a moderately high chance to 'fail' or at least produce a novel result you hadn't considered. As Viscerality naturally avoids outcomes that'd be tragic and deadly for its users, this isn't likely to result in death, but might alter Dorian's personality in an unpredictable manner.
*Haven't you learned your lesson, man?
-[ ] Distortion
*???
*Who the fuck knows, really?
*You sure you're this brave?
*Might cure Dreamless?
*Or make it worse?
[ ] Write-in - You can aim for a customized refinement, no stronger than any of the above!
You've decided to set off boldly into the realm of flesh-crafting.
Any fleshcrafter beyond a novice notices certain limitations within the art. As Viscerality is powered by one's emotion and harnesses feelings to induce alterations of flesh and mind, anyone with sufficient time to consider the matter eventually tries to create a hormonal node, to induce intense emotions within oneself. Those who attempt this stratagem find themselves hitting disappointingly diminishing returns the more this method is used, the induced emotions somehow losing salience; a property easily mistaken for meaning. It also tends to run roughshod over the Visceralist's motivational structure, potentially turning them into pleasure zombies or dull, ashen depressives.
There are other signs of odd limitation: mutations tend to revert unless sufficient time and cathexis are afforded them, mass creation of clones is difficult and imperfect, and more in that vein. Anyone who traces the art's limitations into the scarlet-splattered code of their genes shall find this out: these are not accidents or properties emergent from some vexatious quirk in natural magical interaction. These are deliberately installed safeguards, emplaced there purposefully to forestall degeneracy. Wherever Viscerality originated, whoever its original master was, they didn't wish its future users to reach immediate transcendence.
Concerning and curious signs of deliberate and intelligent design aside, a fleshcrafter with the passion, will, and time to invest can still aim to ascend.
You've cultivated - an impressive Three (3) Refinements
You can furthermore choose to attempt to Distort a maximum of one option. You can choose to pay out a variable amount of Import from its current (7.8) amount to reduce the odds of a bad result; about 7 Import suffices to reduce odds of an undesirable outcome to about 0%; even if a bad result occurs, this can reduce its severity
You can also choose to pay five (5) Import for an extra Refinement, if you wish
Choose:
[ ] Good Looks - The unsophisticated and uninitiated scoff at the value of beauty, as well as the difficulty of its attainment. Without the vanity of a peacock, resculpting one's facial features into attractive symmetry and airbrushing one's skin to perfect softness is an involved, complex, and delicate Visceral process. One which you'll undertake.
Although never a frowzy schlub to begin with, Dorian's natural handsomeness is elevated to that of a top model, and then even further optimized. Great sculpted abs, a perfectly chiseled face, clear skin, optimal proportions, and even a more innately pleasant body scent. This becomes his default, true state. Watch the ladies come flocking.
*There are substantial differences in relative aesthetic preferences, even among human beings, let alone the sorts of creatures you may encounter out in the many worlds. However, certain general traits are near-universally considered attractive, and those are the ones Dorian will aim to maximize.
*Makes Visceral emotional influence easier and more powerful. When someone's already attracted to you, or receptive to your arguments because of how compelling and neat you appear, each Visceral push is that much easier and more impactful.
*Combined with Crimson King's supernaturally influential enhanced charisma, a conversation with you counts as a low-grade cognitohazard.
*Do not discount the doors this procedure can open; people are nicer to nice-looking people.
*For better or worse, Japhris' crush might intensify a bit.
-[ ] Distortion
*Apply Gamaliel Contamination Protocol to your appearance, while you work Viscerally.
*Enrich each cell with pluripotent chaos, driving out the fundament of beauty from each of them, transmitting that as a broadband wave on reality.
*Ideal and desired result: strive towards an objectively attractive appearance, rather than one with mere mass appeal.
*Potential negative (?) results: eldritch forms of beauty, freakishness.
[ ] Muscular and Osseous Refinement - Endless red strength in crimson flesh and bone that refuses to crack. What are our bodies, if not machines? And what is the destination of a machine, if not to be stress-tested by life? You must prepare yourself and make sure you are fit to render judgment on the world instead.
*Reweave the inner matrix of muscle. The art of Viscerality allows you to attack the problem of augmentation from two directions: where masks and other influences can allow supernatural, magical strength, the incarnadine craft allows you to transform the substrate itself into something worthwhile.
*About +6 Strength, Constitution, and Agility. A sizeable +30% bonus to the worth of these stats.
*Increases Dorian's durability as well. All his tissues are much harder to break, heal faster and more cleanly, and so on. This is especially relevant to his skeleton and more critical organs; he'll surround them in an organic muscle mesh and reinforce all elements. The yellow-shard bullets of Veronica's soldiers would've been far less effective.
-[ ] Distortion
*Apply Gamaliel Contamination Protocol to all muscular and skeletal structures in your body.
*Ideal and desired result: a form made of enduring superorganics, with muscle strands that could individually tear off a man's head or be used as cutting monofilaments.
*Potential negative (?) results: bizarre fleshy or skeletal mutations, potentially subsapient limbs.
*The Import added to decrease negative results here is only half as efficacious.
[ ] Hardness of Iron - An admittedly experimental idea. Why not incorporate the strength of the world outside into your physiology? There are compounds your body struggles to produce, so why don't you supply them yourself?
*Eat raw iron and other metals, dissolve them with enhanced Visceral super-enzymes, and use them to form all sorts of armor, reinforcement to individual muscles strands, and so on. This has some synergy with your Crimson King mask, and potentially other masks you could devise as well?
*Greatly enhances strength and durability. +8 Strength and Constitution, +40% bonus to their worth; moderately diminishes speed as a consequence of added weight, but otherwise doesn't affect your Agility.
*Renders you magnetic, allowing you to design great combat combo moves with Dr. Musorov!
*Renders you magnetic, making you vulnerable to magnetism. It'll take you a second session to eliminate this weakness.
*Become the Man of Steel, or something.
*Doesn't necessarily have any external tells.
-[ ] Distortion
*Distort the metals themselves before eating, aiming to create metamaterials capable of interesting and useful effect. Even greater resilience will be conferred, and you can make the magnetism vulnerability selective, at minimum.
*As a result of not applying Gamaliel directly, much safer! Import spent here counts double to ensure safety of procedure.
*If you fail, you might eat a brick of metal giga-arsenic and die, though.
[ ] Organ Refinement - Choose a specific organ to enhance in a more focused manner:
-[ ] Kidneys
-[ ] Lungs
-[ ] Liver
-[ ] Eyes
-[ ] Ears
-[ ] Other (write-in)
*About 33-66% expected efficacy increase, depending on the organ's size and nature, although it can sometimes be higher or even lower; no matter what, it'll be noticeable. Can make the organs better at hormone production, toxin filtering, sensory acuity, and other natural functions depending on what they normally do.
*You can try to enhance multiple organs simultaneously, dividing focus; perhaps even meld or interrelate their functions. Viscerality is an art that welcomes experimentation; unorthodox ideas could very well be worth testing!
*You can also choose to grow a new organ. This means you'll have to grow slightly larger to make space.
Alternatively:
-[ ] Universal Refinement - Cultivate the entirety of your body without any specific focus. Minor strides in virtually every department. Makes you much better as a biological machine in nearly every conceivable way, but only a little bit.
--[ ] Distortion
*Results vary wildly depending on what's selected. However, as expected of most Gamaliel contamination, the potential boons are often commensurate with the risks. With Gamaliel-blasted eyes, you may well develop some manner of magical vision!
[ ] Cerebrospinal Refinement [Takes 2 Refinements] - A more risky and ambitious procedure. Aim to replace and refine sections of the brain and central nervous system, as well as grow them out, in order to attain a variety of improvements.
*Replacement of sections of ependymal cells, the cerebrum, cerebellum, hippocampus, and central nervous system will have wondrous results. You'll become far more emotionally balanced, focused, coordinated, and better at learning. Minor qualitative intellect boost, vast augmentation to thought speed and perception. Raw competence!
*You'll become noticeably faster at learning virtually all sorts of new skills, accelerate the training of ones you already possess, and become far better at retaining them even while not training. This includes languages, which should, in short order, transform you into a natural and talented polyglot. Near-eidetic memory, too!
*A decentralized, almost insect-like nervous system means strikes to your brain aren't quite as discombobulating or potentially lethal. You could even plausibly survive a headshot or two with a firearm, if you were still fully vulnerable to them. Severing your spine likewise causes only modest impairment.
*Although bypassing Dreamless with this alone is difficult, you could form small-order axon circuits that re-iterate actions according to both top-down and bottom-up processing models to attain a strange combination of: great predictive capability, 'simulated' creativity, and awesome resistance to both hallucinations and schizophrenia.
*Has a moderately high chance to 'fail' or at least produce a novel result you hadn't considered. As Viscerality naturally avoids outcomes that'd be tragic and deadly for its users, this isn't likely to result in death, but might alter Dorian's personality in an unpredictable manner.
*Haven't you learned your lesson, man?
-[ ] Distortion
*???
*Who the fuck knows, really?
*You sure you're this brave?
*Might cure Dreamless?
*Or make it worse?
[ ] Write-in - You can aim for a customized refinement, no stronger than any of the above!
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Rihaku
The Internet
Dorian Croft has most certainly NOT learned his lesson, thank you very much.
[X] Plan To Boldly Go
[X] Cerebrospinal Refinement
[X] Distort Cerebrospinal Refinement. Spend 7 Import, focusing on mitigation of the outcomes Dorian would personally consider worst.
[X] Muscular and Osseus Refinement
The reasoning is simple: we have few opportunities to grant raw competence to Dorian. We should take this chance to dump all our resources into it. Osseus Refinement's the only other Refinement that grants a speed boost, which is the second most powerful conventional attribute behind wisdom.
[X] Plan To Boldly Go
[X] Cerebrospinal Refinement
[X] Distort Cerebrospinal Refinement. Spend 7 Import, focusing on mitigation of the outcomes Dorian would personally consider worst.
[X] Muscular and Osseus Refinement
The reasoning is simple: we have few opportunities to grant raw competence to Dorian. We should take this chance to dump all our resources into it. Osseus Refinement's the only other Refinement that grants a speed boost, which is the second most powerful conventional attribute behind wisdom.
- Location
- 1
but what if, instead, he had learned his lesson after all?
[X] Plan Learn Our Lesson
-[X] Muscular and Osseus Refinement
-[X] Good Looks
-[X] Organ Refinement
--[X] Universal Refinement
(I think Cerebrospinal's 40-60%(per Discord) risks are too high to do it as Dorian's first major step. We can come back to this once we're a better Visceralist.Besides, if we want to gain raw competence, we already have the greatest magic system of all time, Mask magic. Just make a Batman/Accursed/Hunger/etc mask.)
[X] Plan Learn Our Lesson
-[X] Muscular and Osseus Refinement
-[X] Good Looks
-[X] Organ Refinement
--[X] Universal Refinement
(I think Cerebrospinal's 40-60%(per Discord) risks are too high to do it as Dorian's first major step. We can come back to this once we're a better Visceralist.