>>32791242
>Absolutely not.

Then my work here was a success!

>>32791260
>>32791218
>Were you prepared for the "you're fucking terrible, get cracking"?
>Absolutely not.
Oh and speaking of:
>Getting people to change their beliefs to something more accurate and/or perhaps better for the world.
Is that the source of our delicious FR points?!

>>32791297
Rejecting illusions and accepting reality? As a broad statement at least

>>32791260
I'm honestly glad that was a weak point of hers. If she was anywhere like me she would have used all her power to prove Talon wrong. Only on the opposite side.

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TAIRA RESPONSE VOTE
>1. Push towards sex (doesn't automatically give an FTB). "Why don't you find out?"
>2. Play up your ego a bit. "It's only slightly exaggerated."
>3. Don't respond to the flirting. "Is that even possible?"
>4. Custom

>>32791273
>>32791298
Pretty much.

Reinforcing your internal reality is how you regen FR points. When you took out Darian (note that it wasn't the absorption that was necessary) you removed an incredibly toxic presence and made reality conform to your own view despite his power. When you convinced Taira, you got a very powerful being to agree with your viewpoint of the world.

This has natural implications for your power source and the implications for going into the negative.

>>32791297
Killing a dude=/Changing his beliefs anon.

>>32791356
2

>>32791298
but wait, reality is "what you make of it, or what others try to convince you to make of it". this ties into it too. Killing that vampire, recruiting taira, we MADE reality happen the way it should. But we made it within the rules of outer reality itself. This strengthens our connection to it?

While when we burn FR we are brute forcing outer reality to conform, this makes us more of an "outsider".

>>32791356
oh, I wrote the above post before seeing this reply

>>32791356
Wait..That's it? That's been blatantly obvious for a while.

>>32791356
Well, if it's just making the world how we want it to be...

That would seem to be rather easy, and only a matter of deciding how we wanted it to be.

On the other hand, if it's confirming our beliefs, then we'd only have to have accurate beliefs that we could demonstrate.

>>32791356
>2

>>32791356

>2

>>32791406
So far I think we are mostly on the life route I think.

>>32791356
>and the implications for going into the negative.
that means... our internal reality is crumbling and is no longer affecting the world as it should. that sounds like it would cause us to lose significant amount of passive powers and abilities. Like, a penalty to all rolls equal to the negative value?

>>32791358
Well technically, it is, because he can't really believe things if he's dead.

A bit like the diplomacy thing of "please stop trying to kill us" into "oh well if you're going to keep doing that you'll probably have to die".

>>32791358
>>32791432
It isn't necessarily convincing the dead guy either. but everyone else still alive

>>32791432
That more removing the beliefs. This is more Enforcing our internal workings on the world. They don't really need to agree to be killed.

>>32791450
If you think about it, if this applies to all astral beings this makes them terrifying (from a morality perspective)

>>32791450
>>32791448
As a double technicality, you are still convincing him, just more manually by killing him. Beliefs=changed to zero. But it's still a change.

But like, conforming reality to how we want it to be seems rather easy, though.

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Only votes are for 2.

>>32791406
It can't just be mundane matters you're confirming. It has to be a true test of your internal view of reality. It has to be a situation where failure would have serious effects on your internal view of reality. Your chef refusing to make you a sandwich wouldn't do that - your entire staff rebelling would. And naturally, convincing your chef won't regenerate an FR point whereas subduing your staff and replacing them with one that will do your bidding would.

>>32791397
As far as I can recall, nobody ever put down such a view in writing. Or at least, not in terms of how FR points work.

>>32791466
Considering we where flat out told early on they had inhuman morality in general. It pretty much just means you have a couple beings running around trying to enforce their version of reality on your ass.

>>32791356
I am tempted to make a joke about it being larger

>>32791491
So basically, we're testing a theory where an incorrectness would be dangerous?

I mean, we're up for Scientist Talon most likely.

>>32791507
And they are getting rewarded for it with more power, as well as reinforcing their views. This leads to extreme fanatic behavior..
I mean, oh shit, this maybe why the angels exterminated the church worshiping them. They were enforcing their view of reality (we are not to be worshiped).

>>32791491
I thought it was pretty obvious that we get our strength from enforcing our reality on the world so I never really brought it up. After we killed the vampire and got one I pretty much just said

"Oh we get strength though following the Astral path Talon is on." I just wasn't sure about how much enforcement it took.

>>32791356
wait... you read my books too?
did every women we know read those?

>>32791529
why?

>>32791397
So far, all of aspirational's riddles have been "blatantly obvious" in RETROSPECT.
The thing is, it is often very difficult to get to those things and VERY VERY easy to go down the wrong track. Like the one with blackwater's power. In hindsight its blatently obvious, but we couldn't figure it out

>>32791529
Given most of the beings that are astral where born with it. They probably don't even notice their views may not be totally there. Talon is pretty human so he realizes it.

>>32791566
see >>32791491
>Your chef refusing to make you a sandwich wouldn't do that - your entire staff rebelling would. And naturally, convincing your chef won't regenerate an FR point whereas subduing your staff and replacing them with one that will do your bidding would.

If we decided that alienates our entire staff. say, becoming a daywalker and restarting the blood farms.
If we slaughter them and replace them with people who genuinely believe as we day (say, various daywalkers from ex taour), we get rewarded by it with an extra FR point.

It is terrifying to think that the successful super beings of this setting (arch angels, god lords, fae lords) are all behaving in such a manner

>>32791529
Thing is, it probably can't be just "enforcement", since that is actually too easy.

That would mean the crazier, and thus more different from reality, the being, the more powerful it would be and the faster it would gain power.

If it's almost completely disconnected from reality, it's then very easy for it to make big changes to reality, gaining tons of points.

>>32791596
that is another good point, but I was extrapolating into the terrifying meaning of them actually getting stronger from forcing those insanely twisted views on the rest of reality.

>>32791631
ye gods, I didn't even realize that but you are right.
with great insanity comes great power.

... although, actually if it is completely insane it would be thwarted too often and lose FR points. it still has to has some grasp of reality

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>2.

You laugh lightly. “They exaggerate slightly, yes.”

“Only slightly?” she asks, her voice mischevious.

“Would you rather it be exaggerated a lot?” you reply.

She laughs in return and pats you on the head. “You’re cute. In both manner and body. I can see why you’ve caught up the others in your wake – though Tsucchi’s in denial.”

“Denial?” you say, feeling like a parrot.

“That argument earlier wasn’t just because I woke her up – we resolved that one,” she says, as thunder roars in the background. “I brought up how you don’t seem to care about how others view the world. She got defensive over it – I get the feeling she’s not sure how to deal with you. You must have done something to surprise her?”

You remember when you nearly blew up in anger at her, when you learnt she was playing at subservience in an attempt to play to your pride. Your response had been for her to ‘be herself’, essentially. Perhaps Tsucchi wasn’t certain of that – she had mentioned Ren having difficulties growing up. It would stand to reason that the younger sister of the greatest fox to be born would not get off as lightly as she had implied.

>Any last things to say or do with Taira?

>>32791582
>Retrospect

It was like the first idea I had. After seeing Talon go off about how he wants to save the world from the horrible vile thing that vampire did I thought it was pretty obvious it had something to do with following our astral path. I just didn't write down enforce our code of reality because that is inherit in following our astral path.

Blackwater on the other hand fucked with me hard. Just because the magic appearing from no where confused me into thinking he wasn't actually there.

>>32791662
"She was putting on a show of submission for me. I told her, sternly, that it was not necessary. She should just speak her mind."

>>32791630
could we burn an FR point to get our followers to be ok with it? im following your hypothetical.

im reading this as if we started and won a rebellion, or crushed one against us we'd get a point. but could we burn an FR to cancel that rebellion entirely?

im still not following your logic though. why wouldnt the angels encourage worship if it gave them more power?

>>32791711
They would need to help enforce the astral reality on reality for that. If they where just worshiping them for some reason it wouldn't have any effect.

>>32791661
But this is why, it's too easy. A being who sees holes in everything that then makes holes would be instantaneously powerful.

But >>32791491 implies that it is when we confirm our own beliefs to be true at a risk that we gain something.
I mean, in theory we would also gain something by upon our own will determining a belief to be false and altering it to be better, as well.

>>32791662
Tell her the story of how we nearly married that fox girl and gauge her reaction.

>>32791672
oh, its funny. for me it was the other way around.
the FR thing has been fucking with me hard (to the point where I was dreaming about it, and that is how I figured it out).

While the blackwater thing was something I had taken for granted and didn't even bother saying, instead getting into the more convoluted and technical aspects

it reminds me of a question in highschool by physics professor about why stuff floats in water. I started going on and on about the matter interaction before she cut me off and said "buoyancy is the answer". To which I replied, but that is just what its called not HOW and WHY it happens.

>>32791711
I think we could, which would be awful. I am also wondering how much of our charisma is subtle, smaller alterations.

>why wouldnt the angels encourage worship if it gave them more power?
They don't get power from worship, they get power from being proven right. They believed that they gain nothing from being worshiped, so destroying the worshipers proves them right.

>>32791662
"She surprised me. I got a little angry."

>>32791750
I love telling this story

>>32791766
>she cut me off and said "buoyancy is the answer"
Terrible person most probably.

I wonder when we are going to level up charisma

>>32791747
>But this is why, it's too easy. A being who sees holes in everything that then makes holes would be instantaneously powerful.
it has to be major holes though, remember the sandwich example.

>>32791811
Relatively major. The sandwich is minor for us.

If it sees illusionary holes in everything, it's no longer minor.

That's why it's too easy. It doesn't need to be big in general, just big TO YOU.

>>32791356
I just realized another hint you gave us. the dialog where we convinced taira to join, the exact wordings had a lot to do with leaving our mark on reality.

this reminds me of quantum jumping. anyone else remember those "what is quantum jumping" ads from 2 or 3 years ago?

"Quantum Jumping is an advanced visualization technique where you visualize yourself jumping into alternate universes, and communicating with alternate versions of yourself"

also the law of attraction but... more

>>32791860
So, the difference between an angel and an arch angel is that the lower angels are more sane?

>>32791903
It really can't work that way.

Because enforced delusions granting you the ability to enforce more delusions in basically a self-annihilating chain reaction. (That takes everything else out with it.)

>>32791949
Well, all the angels except 2 (archangels) are mysteriously missing. And those 2 are busy containing a world ending terror known as the shadow beasts.
Also, ember is burning his land to the ground, including all the people in it. (I hope talon's paren'ts managed to escape that in time, would be a bitch and a half to locate them now though)

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>>32791860
There'll be more detail on this IC as time goes on (particularly on how other astral beings work), but the crux is that any being weak enough to find the sandwich example major (for whatever reason) won't be strong enough to fix most of the holes they see. If you try and fail at fixing the big holes, you won't have the opportunity to fix the smaller ones. FR points aren't completely unstoppable either - they're an IC thing, which means you aren't necessarily the only one capable of using them or blocking them. Power is finite.

>response about Tsucchi

"She was putting on a show of submission for me. I told her, sternly, that it was not necessary. She should just speak her mind,” you say.

Taira giggles a bit. “Yes, from what I’ve seen that is exactly how you would respond. For her, the world is more complicated – for you, it isn’t. She doesn’t know how to handle that, especially as you probably naturally tease her just as you’ve been teasing me.”

“I never tease,” you respond without thinking.

“Oh? Then I guess you’ll have to hold up your end of the bargain eventually,” she says, eyes almost glittering as they look down at you. You gulp slightly, recognising the emotions in her eyes very clearly.

Then the moment passes and things go back to normal, if still somewhat heated. Before anything happens, Finn bursts in the front door, sopping wet. He pauses as she sees the two of you together. There’s a long moment where you worry that something’s going to happen.

Then, “Wow. That must really comfortable, Sir Talon,” he says, staring at Taira’s fluffy tails.

She grins and, without the slightest warning, leaps up and proceeds to badger Finn. Well, you say ‘badger’ but it’s more like pamper. Just like you were being pampered – Vad had said she was like you and Ren, after all.

>A short Undine and Merce scene next before I close for the night.

>>32791903
>>32791949
As well, an angel appearing to have an 'inhuman morality' isn't necessarily that it's goals are different from the human's, just that the human doesn't understand the angel's actions.

In essence, an archangel could basically be a master chaos theorist. She drops by, turns on some showers, punches a dog, and leaves.
Five years from now, three less people die than they would have.

Which is why it seems more likely that FR is from confirming beliefs to be accurate, and thus gaining an understanding:
That makes you a better chaos theorist.

>>32792042
We should ask one of these days about why Taira seems so calm with her tails.

>A short Undine and Merce scene next before I close for the night.

Now this sounds amusing.

>>32792042
I look forward to the big reveal

>>32792042

Preemptive thanks for running, fun thread as always.

>>32792042
>but the crux is that any being weak enough to find the sandwich example major
Oh. I think he was saying that a being could be powerful, but INSANE enough to find the sandwich example emotionally major.

But now I realize, its not how major it is to you emotionally, its how much of a challenge it is for your powers.

Given two problems, A and B. If you find A to be super extremely important affirmation of your beliefs and B to be a mediocre affirmation. But A is really easy to achieve while B is really hard. Then B will grant you FR while A will not.

You gain power from overcoming challenges. in that manner astral power is similar to sorcerous power and the setting's rules in general.

>>32792042
>fixing the big holes
No, see, that's the issue. It was making holes. If you had a delusion that there were holes in everything, you'd enforce your internal reality by punching those holes that aren't there.

Which means if you have a delusion, it's now easier for you to get FR. The more convenient your delusion, the more and faster you can get it.

This is because falsity is easy relatively speaking.

>>32792135
but you only gain power from holes that are difficult to make, not holes that are more personally important to you.

>>32792153
You can have delusions which make it very difficult for you to do something.

And then it would be a material challenge for you, just like say physical therapy after an accident.
It's a material challenge because you're insane, though. And since insanity is easy relative to understanding, a being completely bonkers overcoming things materially difficult to it would begin to gain massive power.

There would have to be some external valuation system, which would deny the ability for it to be merely the enforcement of beliefs.

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>>32792127
>Oh. I think he was saying that a being could be powerful, but INSANE enough to find the sandwich example emotionally major.
Because of how astral power works, that's not really possible.

To extend the sandwich example, if you knowingly incited your staff to rebellion you might lose FR points by failing to subdue them but you might not gain any by succeeding.

>>32792135
Also not really possible. Faeries drag their reality into this one for a very good reason and they're comparatively less dangerous outside of it for that same reason. Again, power is not infinite - the degree of your delusion is meaningless if your power isn't great enough to make reality match your delusion fast enough. Also, you can't change your internal view - you cannot manifest a delusion in yourself.

>>32792250
And that answers a question I was about to ask before I got to it.
Whether its possible to lose FR via failure (I was guessing it was)

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>Undine and Merce scene

You’ve wrapped up most of the matters remaining in Ahm and have said most of your farewells – and it’s not just a matter of collecting Undine from her sparring with Merce. The Aefir had collected your Champion from a particularly boring meeting with Jace and Alyce.

When you get to the small training room you were told they would be in you frown. Merce and Undine were very close once and this is a very small training room. Too small for the sort of sparring you would expect from them.

You…

>1. Step inside.
>2. Find Mal and contact Undine by sending.
>3. Knock loudly.
>4. Custom

>>32792282
3
jealousy is unattractive

>>32792282
>1

>>32792282
>>1. Step inside.

"Undine about time we leaved."

>>32792304
changing my vote to 1

>>32792250
>Also, you can't change your internal view - you cannot manifest a delusion in yourself.
You can though, in real life.

Like, if you're schizophrenic, your internal view will tend to change unbound by your senses.
You're not knowingly making it a challenge, it is a challenge because you're disconnected from reality.

Even a normally 'rational' person can be taken by illusions, psychotropic substances, dreams.

If it's from enforcing a world view different from that which exists, the crazier you are the more opportunities you have available.

>>32792282
>1. Step inside.

>>32792250
This brings some interesting meta thoughts.
Potentially risky ones (lose FR and destroy yourself).

If you knowingly recognize your interaction between inner and outer reality. Would believing in such knowledge to be true allow you in some cases to choose to accept something in outer reality as true reality, internalizing it to affect change in yourself, altering your future path. I except such a thing to still harm you in the short term (lose a point of FR), but will allow you to change what actions gain/lose FR in the future (not in terms of min max, but in terms of altering your goals and desires)

Or if you could attempt to leverage it on something that is more min maxy like the notion of having to specialize and "lock" your powers. is it really true, or is it just that the lords and archangels believe it to be true. I can see trying to go against it as potentially sanity stabilizing or sanity destabilizing. Something that lowers power in exchange for versatility or just lowers it with no reward. Or outright self destruction by trying to challenge a hole too big for you to fill. Not to mention that if you success your very existence might serve as anathema to the lords and archangels and fae who locked in their powers to something specific. Making you enemy to all of them (as destroying you reaffirms their reality, while failing causes them harm)

>>32792282
I am wondering if undine and merce used to be lovers. undine had only been with women before talon
then again, I got more of a parent-child relation from them so I am not sure

>>32792282
1

>>32792351
This isn't IRL
Also, schizophrenics do not change their internal views to manifest delusions in themselves. not on purpose that is (I believe aspir meant on purpose)

>>32792351
I think it is more that the views get locked in after a point. if something goes against them you would probably instantly notice it as a delusion and shatter it.

>>32792417
Let me put it this way:

In real life, your world view is from determining the accuracy of external reality with your senses. That's perhaps basically the common anchor which people share, and which enables people to perhaps exist and communicate.

If it's the reverse, if it's you changing reality to fit an internal perception, you're ostensibly doomed to eventual insanity.
Because there's no anchor. Nothing to compare to. Reality is bending to what you believe it to be, meaning you can never be sure of anything, since your belief can make it real.

>>32792469
when you're a schizophrenic you're a victim to your delusions. they exist independently of your conscious understanding. its actually kinda like its described here

you have this internal reality, this disconnect where your mind is. it matches up with reality and with external circumstance but incorrectly. like thinking sorta logically but coming to the wring conclusion. there are two possibilities, your delusion or the nondelusion, but you lack astral power to enforce your reality.

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>>32792351
Such a being would never be able to wield astral power. Their mental state may differ from their internal view of reality but it's not the same - just as you could potentially be defeated by your own internal enemy last thread but it didn't actually represent your mind's actual thoughts. It may not be realistic, but this setting has actual souls and soul energy. The metaphysics are a little special.

>>32792417
Responding to this is very spoilery, so I'll dodge it.

>>32792439
It was almost explicitly stated at one point that there was a thing between Undine, Merce and Alyce. Gnome had a similar thing with the pair.

>1.

You don’t waste time knocking and instead step in. There’s a brief moment when Merce turns to you that you get a good eyeful of the nude Aefir, held away from Undine by an open palm. Alyce does well, you think, before Merce darts off into a changing room on the side with a small scream.

You file away the mental picture of Merce alongside the one you got of Alyce before turning to Undine, who is fully clothed. She looks annoyed but not at you.

“Hello, Talon,” she says with a shy smile. “Um, nothing happened.”

“It looked like something was going to,” you say.

Shrugging, Undine plays with the chair she is leaning on the back of. “Merce can be a little forceful. She missed me.”

“I’m surprised you were saying no given what I know of your past,” you say slowly.

“Merce isn’t quite ready yet,” she says and you stare at her. Merce had been very ready – hell, her clothes were strewn all over the floor and from the look of the lingerie she was wearing it’s clear she was preparing for something special here.

>continued

>>32792506
Which inspired me to ask, can you recognize this fact and overcome it, accepting external reality to be true instead of enforcing internal one (elminating the need to repeatedly enforce a false reality, thus reducing insanity)

>>32792559
But schizophreniacs don't go along choosing to consciously modify their own delusions. Which was my point

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>>32792594
Then it hits you. “She has no clothes in there, does she?” you ask Undine, who smiles in return.

You gulp, realising that Merce is likely leaning against the changing room’s door, waiting for you to leave. You turn to Undine, who is giving you an odd look.

“Would you like me to meet up with the others while you say farewells to Mercenie?” she asks in an odd tone of voice.

You’re feeling more than a little lost here. You…

>1. Leave now by yourself, leaving Undine to say farewell to Merce.
>2. Send Undine ahead to say farewell by yourself.
>3. Wait with Undine until Merce comes back out.
>4. Custom

>>32792614
... I can't decide.

>>32792614
>1

>>32792614
>4
Pretend to leave
What's the worse that can happen?

>>32792594
>Alyce does well, you think, before Merce darts off into a changing room on the side with a small scream.
So, is alyce in the room too or not?

>>32792614
>>3. Wait with Undine until Merce comes back out.

I don't know

>>32792614
2

>>32792614
>2 faggits

>>32792594
>You file away the mental picture of Merce alongside the one you got of Alyce.

Oh lol. The best thing to remember before leaving.

>>32792614
3 we should be annoyed these sluts are trying to rub our ladies BEHIND OUR BACK this should be a borderline diplomatic incident

>>32792594
>Undine refusing to sex with mercie
>Undine shyly telling us nothing happened between her and mercie
>When we ask why not, she says Mercie isn't ready yet
>This confuses talon because she was nude.
>Undine suggests that SHE leave while YOU say godbye to the nude trapped mercie.
>Talon more confused

Is undine trying to set us up with mercie here?

>>32792614
I don't really care either way. Though I do kind of want to chat with Mercenie.

>>32792729
>Sluts
no, just not
>We should be angry and jealous
Personally, I am fine with them sleeping with other girls, its other guys I am jealous about.

>>32792614
do 1 than 2

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Rolled 1

>>32792694
No. That was just Talon being mildly jealous of Alyce.

Tie-breaker roll.

1 = Option 2
2 = Option 3

>>32792739
No one knows what the fuck is going on not even Talon

>>32792760
thats stupid and naive (no offense) a dyke will have the same attitude towards you when fucking your girl that any guy would. behind our back is the key part

i vote against including alyce and mercie in our harem (its crowded) so lets send a gesture to undine cause she a healous type and be curt here, just say goodbye and leave

>>32792739
So, basically, undine is being very loyal and refuses to sleep around unless talon is also part of it? But she wants to rekindle her flame with mercie so she is trying to set her up with talon?
... or maybe I am misreading this

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>>32792788
>naive
>/tg/

You don't say?

>>32792788
We know both of them are bi.
But you do have a point about the attitude and "sealing away" so to speak. But what if it is harem members sleeping with each other, that is ok, right?

Also, I don't think this is "major diplomatic incident", especially because that is misuing our position of authority for something we shouldn't NEED to.

I do agree that the harem is getting a bit too crowded.

>>32792729
Does she actually know about talon and undine being lovers?
She only knows about talon and gnome.

>>32792610
Well, the schizophrenic example was to elucidate the trouble of being able to gain power by being wrong.

The enforcement of a change only works in normal reality if it is valid to occur, basically vetted by the universe, round peg round hole shit.

If you can work around that, your insanity is perhaps guaranteed, because whether you're right or wrong doesn't matter. The universe does what you want.

That basically breaks how the universe works by allowing many more illusions and malfunctions to occur, and should you try to cross-reference your own perspective with the changed universe, you perhaps compound the illusion. In essence, you can't not be a schizophrenic, since there's no reality synchronization point to compare to.

If that was how it worked, Talon's only hope would probably be to understand how the universe works completely, do he doesn't fuck anything up, and can get FR points from enacting innovations.

>>32792821
between harem members yes. and i said "borderline diplomatic incident". scale is Borderline incident, incident, major incident.

how do you think russia would react if obama visited putin and slept with his wife on the trip.

>>32792821
>crowded
>5 people
>Compared to kings who had 100+

Hahahah.

>>32792872

Don't blow a casket, anon.

>>32792858
I'm pretty sure we have a reputation

>>32792872
Actually its
>Obama visits
>Sleeps with putins secretary
>Putin: WTF! She is my girl!
>Obama: Wait, aren't you already married?
>Putin: YES! They are BOTH mine.... Also YOU are married too.

>>32792874
But were they all... waifu material?

>>32792872
Wouldn't really care probably. I'm pretty sure putin hates her anyway.

>>32792892
hahaha

>>32792895
If that mattered we wouldn't sleep with half the harem we have.

>>32792911
Waifu material always matters.
Fluffy tails.

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>2.

You take Undine up on her offer and she quickly retreats to meet with the others. That just leaves you in an empty room, surrounded by the discarded clothing of the familiar of the Archmage who is in turn hiding in a changing room.

“I know you’re the one out there,” comes Merce’s voice.

“And I know you heard what Undine said,” you reply. “You know, it’s not such a big deal – I got to see just as much of Alyce when you sent me in the other day.”

There’s a pause before Merce slams the door open and charges out, just as nude as early.

“You what?” she shouts at you, voice shrill. “She said you just walked in on her with her underwear on.”

“That’s right,” you say and Merce relaxes a bit, feeling had, before you continue, “but then she took that off.”

The room freezes as Merce stares at you in anger. It seems she’s not terribly happy over that.

>continued

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>>32792926
“Before you get too angry over perceived slights, Lady Mercenie,” you say quietly, your voice seeming to crackle through the permeating silence, “perhaps you should think about exactly what I just walked in on.”

Merce calms down a bit, realising that she’s not exactly in the best position to throw the first stone. She gets a bit bashful, looking away from you – though you suspect she’s completely forgotten the fact she’s completely naked. It’s a good look, if a fleeting one.

“In any case, I wanted to say farewell, for now, and thank you,” you say. “Whatever your thoughts of me, you still did help to lead to this – whatever may come after.”

You hold your hand out to shake hers, but she surprises you by stepping in and giving you a close hug and a peck on the cheek. Then she steps back, and immediately grabs her clothing and begins to dress.

“You forgot you were naked, didn’t you?” you ask.

“Shut up,” she says.

“It was very pleasant,” you say peaceably.

“I could tell through your pants,” she spits back and you laugh in reply, much to her consternation.

>Farewell and arrival back at Harrowmont is the next and last scene of the session

>>32792874
>LaughingChineseKings.jpg

>>32792926
Oh god. Oh god that is perfect. I was waiting for us to say that.

>>32792926
>>32792933
nicely done aspirational

>>32792933
swoons
I love you aspirational.

>>32792933
>“You forgot you were naked, didn’t you?” you ask.

Okay that is pretty funny.

>>32792889
phrase is "don't blow a gasket" not casket

>>32791491
So it's more like 'fixing things that are out of place'.

>>32793110

Whoops, the point stands

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>Last post for the night

As you leave Ahm, a reminder from Alyce that she wants to talk to you more by sending over the coming weeks about the potential alliance. It’s a reminder that this trip, in spite of everything else that happened, was primarily about whether you ally with Alyce. It’s a big decision to make and you’ll need to consider all of your other options first.

Thinking of other things, you’ve picked up a particularly big one. Two, really, if you count Corrfax. Taira’s presence and allegiance to you may make your relations with the Six-Star Alliance more complicated. Tsucchi will almost certainly feed the information back, if Taira doesn’t tell Ren herself. Given that Tsucchi has informed you that the council of the alliance is in the midst of deliberating how to cooperate with you, it could mean things change rather rapidly.

The trip is mind shorter as a return trip – Taira simply teleports everybody, including the carriages, to Taour and then Harrowmont, over two days. As you approach the fortress, the walls are manned and the soldiers alert – something is in the air and you signal to everybody to get ready. Taira has an odd look about her. You are about to ask her what she can sense when you enter the main gatehouse of the fortress and it hits you.

Power. Overwhelming power, like nothing you’ve felt before. It hangs over the entire fortress, almost oppressive in its very presence. You sincerely doubt that there is anything that could unwittingly let out such ambient energy.

>continued

>>32793145
i wasnt angry, idk if i came off that way

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>>32793159
Something powerful is in Harrowmont and it wants you to know its here. Several of your knights salute you stiffly, fully armed and armored, as you step out of the carriage in front of the keep. Many of the defenders are spread out in small teams across the courtyard, as if in expectation of magical assault. You step inside the keep, not willing to let yourself be intimidated – though you are fully armed yourself. You cannot surrender Harrowmont so easily, merely because something else sits in your throne.

And sit on your throne it does – a massive cloaked and armoured figure almost twice your height sits lazily on your throne, one hand resting on its knee. The cloak is made of heavy leather and flickers with unfamiliar runes and the armour is made of magical plate thicker than your own armour. Its hood is an impenetrable mass of darkness. All of the power you felt earlier is nothing in comparison to what sits in the being before you.

The Archangel of Life, Raphael, is here to talk to you about your levy for the Barrier of Marie, it would appear.

>That’s the thread

Next thread is July 5th at 6pm EDT. Note that the date in the OP of this thread and the last is wrong – I got the timezone wrong.

I’ll be posting Taira’s char sheet shortly and will be around for questions for an hour. After that, I’ll disappear for a few hours before returning to answer any more.

>>32793177
Oh good! We can ask him about the spoilers!

And, you know, give him a hug.

>>32793177
Oh baby this sounds fun.

>>32793177
argh cliffhangers

>>32793177
>We could have used a domain right now.

>>32793177
Two words
"Get Fucked"

>>32793177
>And sit on your throne it does – a massive cloaked and armoured figure almost twice your height sits lazily on your throne, one hand resting on its knee

Backhand the scoundrel

>>32793215
It's not really a cliffhanger, since we know he's going to join us. Eventually.

And we can tell him all the fun stuff we've heard about enforcing our will on things for the greater good! Presumably. Or Holy Terra?

>>32793232
>/tg/s power of pattern recognition.

>>32793232

Midori pls

>>32793246
wait join us? he's like lvl 90, we're level 40

We really should ask him if he knows where the fuck Samuel is.

>>32793268
That doesn't really matter. We have so many more fluffy tails than him, and an interpersonal understanding with helping people join us.

>>32793246

We don't know much about him so we can't say that.

What little we know leads us to believe he's arrogant and presumptuous. He came here to beg us for troops and he's sitting in our throne like nothing's wrong.

I have a feeling that, that one solider who almost died is going to get mustered

>>32793177
when do you next plan on updating the pastebins?

>>32793336
>Arrogant

Not sure if you can be considered arrogant if everything you say you can do you can.

As if you guys didn't think that with a 3 week hiatus there wouldn't be a huge cliffhanger either with impromptu invasion or meeting one of the greater powers.

Honestly I was expecting we'd piss off Raita and she'd spirit nuke Harrowmont and disable our source for a bit.

>>32793349

I suppose we'll see if that's true or not.

>>32793336
Oh yes we do. Why wouldn't he want to join?

He gets allied troops, we get another waifu!

>>32793349
He can't claim to be the ruler of Harrowmont, so thusly he's be arrogant in that regard.

>In before we get 50 FR just for getting him to stand up.

>>32793376
I am hoping we do send a levy over time. Just because I really don't want the shadow beasts to burst in and say hello.

>>32793403
>He can't claim to be the ruler of Harrowmont

"I'm now the ruler of Harrowmont." Blows up the throne room with more FR points then god.

"Any objections?"

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>>32793348
I really want to get them done before the next thread. Failing that, I'll likely take a break after the next thread and bash them all together. The pastebins take a lot of time, especially after such a long break without updating them, and I've been busy.

>>32793404
Honestly, they probably just use the levy as soul-drain food for the barrier.

Or even better, to maintain the shadow beasts to they can continue to enforce their belief that they should fight shadow beasts.

While eating half of the souls for lunch at regular orgies.

>>32793404

I want to send a levy just to get him out of our hair.

If we rotate the levies, we should be able to get experience for our new recruits, I suppose. Let them train our troops, then pull the veterans and give them rookies.

We got more important things to worry about anyway

>>32793430
Well until he does that, he's being arrogant. So there!

>>32793437
>Rookies against shadow beasts.
>Implying some will survive.

>>32793436
Pretty sure they don't do anything considering the shadow beats are only like 200 years old or something.

>>32793437
Honestly as long as it doesn't care about our source or what we do I wouldn't mind it just because no one else is giving support right now. So we might get something out of it.

>>32793468

If they don't survive, they were just rookies, and we already fulfilled our obligations. It also gives us an excuse to get out of sending levies in the future.

If they survive, then we get veterans.

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So, yeah, Taira is pretty imba right now. This could work out, as it means you'll be able to tackle foes much greater in power much sooner.

TAIRA CHAR SHEET

Name: Taira
Class: Female Nine-Tailed Mystic Fox
Title: Ancient Mystic Fox
Magic Type: Spiritual
Equipment: Elegant robes
Level: 5 / 5
Personality: Mischievous and inquisitive

STATS

Strength [3]
Endurance [3]
Speed [5]
Intelligence [5]
Magic [8]
Resistance [6]
Charisma [4]

SKILLS

Martial Arts I – proficiency in a variety of martial arts and in combining them.
Battlefield Basics I – proficiency in all general battlefield skills (dodging, blocking etc).
Spirit Techniques (Arrays) III – ability to use complex spirit techniques. Mystic Foxes make use of spirit arrays that they draw with their tails. With nine tails, Taira can draw multiple complex arrays simultaneously thereby allowing her to use multiple abilities and patterns at once.
Knowledge (Magic) II – great knowledge of magic, be it sorcery or spiritual.

>continued

>>32793473
No, I mean that would be hilarious of them:

They demand levies not to fight the shadow beasts, but to make more shadow beasts for them to fight and kill because they believe shadows beasts should die, thusly giving them more power indirectly.

Or they Golden Throne the levies to feed the barrier!

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>>32793497
ABILITIES

Force Techniques IV – you may generate raw force (i.e. massless kinetic energy). This force can be projected at a moderate distance and at up to one thousand targets or over an area of 200m^2. Maximum force against one thousand targets is that of a strong war hammer blow. These techniques ignore magical barriers.
Elemental Techniques II – the ability to create and manipulate the elemental forces of water, wind, earth and fire. These elements can be projected at a moderate distance and of a maximum volume of 25m2. You cannot use extended concentration with these techniques.
Teleportation III – you may instantly teleport yourself and up to ten people up to fifty kilometres. With extended concentration, you may take up to one five hundred people with you or a similar amount of mass (approximately 50000kg) up to a distance of four map tiles once per day. Lesser amounts can be done at greater distance or more often.
Spiritual Fire II – a sorcery cleansing fire. Highly effective against magical beings. May be project up to moderate distance over an area of up to 100m^2. This fire will not burn physical beings, just sorcerous and sorcerous effects.
Spiritual Body I – you may replace your physical body with a spiritual clone under your control for up to 24 hours. The clone can do everything you can do and has all the same physical needs (hunger, sleep etc) and still suffers from pain. When the time expires, you dismiss the clone or the clone ceases to function your physical body will take its place in the world – except you will have no magical energy at that moment and have half health and stamina.

>>32793497
>>32793510

>Magic [8]

>Maximum force against one thousand targets is that of a strong war hammer blow. These techniques ignore magical barriers.

>With extended concentration, you may take up to one five hundred people with you or a similar amount of mass (approximately 50000kg) up to a distance of four map tiles once per day.

>May be project up to moderate distance over an area of up to 100m^2. This fire will not burn physical beings, just sorcerous and sorcerous effects.

All hail Fluffy Tails, our new lord and savior

>>32793510
Woi, Taira is OD.

>>32793497
Spirit magic eh? What might that do, and can we learn it?!

>>32793510
>Maximum force against one thousand targets is that of a strong war hammer blow. These techniques ignore magical barriers.

I'm in love. Also holy shit I don't even want to know how the fox alliance is going to react to this.

>>32793570
Make sure to cuddle the fluffy tails regularly.

Fox-senpai must be kept well pleased!

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>>32793510
One correction and one thing to note on Force Techniques IV:
>This force can be projected at a moderate distance
should be at a long distance.

Also, she can apply much more force if she attacks less targets or a smaller area.

Also, for teleportation:
>With extended concentration, you may take up to one five hundred people
should be five hundred people. Dunno what the one is donig there.

>>32793553
It's weaker than astral power, so not really. It's the poor man's way (e.g. foxes and monks) of using astral power without killing themselves.

>>32793570
Well, Taira was called 'heavy artillery' in the original Champion vote for a reason. You'll notice her base stats aren't that great and she can't even use empowerment - Gnome would grind her to dust if she got close enough.

if we were to fight her one on one who would win?

could we get her to train vad?

>>32793602
>Gnome would grind her to dust if she got close enough.
Wouldn't happen. Way too fluffy.

But it seems like we've got excellent utility now! And really, there's got to be something we can pick up from her. Maybe. Other than cuddles.

>>32793602
Makes me want to go sparing with her once we finally go full Domain with harrowmont.

>Gnome

You know full power Gnome+Taira is pretty terrifying. Gnome to get up close and break magic. Taira to blast them to bits.

>>32793645
Honestly we should spar more with Salamander for that weaponry 3.

>>32793662

Gnome would be useful, but Taira can apparently bypass magical barriers already.

>Maximum force against one thousand targets is that of a strong war hammer blow. These techniques ignore magical barriers.

I pity the next army we run up against

>>32793687
>army

About that:

Can we tickle Taira until she develops Teleporation IV?

>>32793602
Oh, say, how accurate is she with trajectories?

Can we like, take a rock, and force technique it into a sniper bolt?

>>32793687
Yeah I mean more she could get up and keep magic off of her. About the only thing that could take that down is high magic or physical fighter up close.

Though thinking on it there really isn't much of anything stopping her from focusing all that force on one person.

>>32793748

Also she can just do this

>Spiritual Body I – you may replace your physical body with a spiritual clone under your control for up to 24 hours. The clone can do everything you can do and has all the same physical needs (hunger, sleep etc) and still suffers from pain. When the time expires, you dismiss the clone or the clone ceases to function your physical body will take its place in the world – except you will have no magical energy at that moment and have half health and stamina.

In risky battles to give her another layer of protection since she seems to be a bit of a glass cannon.

>>32793510
Be useful to have her slam a wall a few times with the full force of that attack.

Why do I just see Ren reading Tsucchi's report right now. Getting to the part where she mentions we have a 9 tails then just stopping for a second. Turning around and rereading before going "What?"

We would have been in a lot stronger position right now if we bound the last POP to talon...

>>32793177
What color is his armor?
because I find it amusing that he has this sinister look (shimmering cloak, hood that is impenetrable darkness) yet is the angel of life. I bet his armor is all dark and overlordy in appearance.

Also, as far as levy goes. I want actually to form good relationship with them and this is a good opportunity to do so. I say we go above and beyond the basic levy.

Things we can offer
1. Not just soldiers, but having our elites spend a little time every year there as well. Like, a month a year?
2. Have our army, elites and all, be on call in case the wall is breached and they need to put down the fire so to speak.
3. The AA equipment we developed sounds really useful in defending fortifications (like the wall) and is significantly faster and cheaper to produce than traditional MMK equipment.

Things I want:
1. Not to be horribly murdered
2. No interference from them about our control of the source
3. Knowledge / training
4. Keep the levy size to a managable amount
5. Have our levy come and leave with talon and the elites so we could lead and protect them there. Instead of a year round levy, a rotating one. This means others are not commanding our troops, nor golden throning them.

>>32793884
I think he probably wouldn't' be in the throne room in that case. Mainly because being in the domain would be slightly dangerous.

>>32793884

Yeah, I'm not willing to get bent over backwards by him.

Alyce already indicated that the angels would only be peeved if we don't provide a levy.

I recommend that we provide levy, but anything further would require massive concessions.

>1. Not just soldiers, but having our elites spend a little time every year there as well. Like, a month a year?
>2. Have our army, elites and all, be on call in case the wall is breached and they need to put down the fire so to speak.

These two could seriously cripple our military flexibility and is going way too far.

>3. The AA equipment we developed sounds really useful in defending fortifications (like the wall) and is significantly faster and cheaper to produce than traditional MMK equipment.

Maybe, but they would require massive concessions since we want to protect one of our big military advantages.

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>>32793884
>What color is his armor?
The leather is various shades of cream and brown. The steel is, well, steel-coloured. The runes glow white when the flicker.

He doesn't look sinister, just very imposing. He's massive, in terms of height and girth.

>We would have been in a lot stronger position right now if we bound the last POP to talon...
I did drop a big hint that the archangel was aware of Talon when you were speaking with Alyce, as a contradiction to the presupposition beforehand that the archangel wouldn't become aware until you did bind a PoP to Talon.

>>32793884
>We would have been in a lot stronger position right now if we bound the last POP to talon...
This reminds me

This source has 7 pops.
1 of them is in the archangel territory and a big unkonwn.
4 can be bound to undine.
1 might be bound to ren (or he might be bound to a pop of another source)
2 are extras.

This means binding one to talon before maxing out undine is useful, if only for the fact that it protects undine (since a powerful being can come to harrowmont when we aren't there, go to the source, and claim it. I don't know but it might mean undine dies and another dead candidate gets summoned from another of the pops)

>>32793902
Which would mean that talon could potentially "hide" from him inside and be costly and time consuming to dislodge. Right now he is so overwhelmingly powerful nothing is stopping him from killing us if he even suspects we become a risk to him later on.
If we had the pop he would still be overwhelmingly powerful, but as long as we aren't openly antagonistic it would be too costly to dislodge us to be worth it.

>>32793949
Yea, I was asleep and missed that vote. Or I would have pointed it out. there have been lots of hints.

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>>32793973
Well, it won't hurt too much.

Once I get back from dinner I'll be trying to post all of the character sheets of major characters. Here's Caitlyn's, less particular draconic abilities she hasn't shown you.

CAITLYN CHAR SHEET

Name: Caitlyn
Class: (Black) Feldragon Knight
Title: Knight
Magic Type: Sorcerous
Equipment: Greatsword and shield, plate armour

STATS

Strength [5]
Endurance [3]
Speed [4]
Intelligence [2]
Magic [6]
Resistance [6]
Charisma [2]

SKILLS

Leadership O – the ability to effectively command and inspire a small party.
Weaponry II – great proficiency in a large variety of weapons.
Battlefield Control I – increases all attributes by one when fighting in a battlefield of own creation.
Battlefield Basics I – proficiency in all general battlefield skills (dodging, blocking etc).
Sorcery (Draconic) II – ability to use intermediate sorcery. This sorcery is draconic in origin and very different to how mages use their power.

ABILITIES

Empower Self I – you use sorcery to increase your physical attributes by one point for one hour.
Empower Weapon I – you strengthen a weapon or shield in one of your hands with sorcery, increasing its durability and the force it applies when used. This is an instantaneous ability and the energy placed into the weapon will fade when it is used.
(PASSIVE) Sorcerous Body II – your body contains a very large amount of sorcerous energy due to your draconic nature so this ability is always active. Almost all physical and magical effects that operate by modifying the function of the physical body (poison, drugs etc) have no effect on you but you are still sensitive to mental attacks (or magical attacks that affect the mind through ingestion of physical agents). You are also insensitive to pain. The regeneration of your magical power is increased but it also slows rapidly as you become more wounded.
Draconic Flight – you have the ability to protrude draconic wings and fly.

>>32793935
>Yeah, I'm not willing to get bent over backwards by him.
buttering him up in exchange for goodies we want is not being bent over backwards.

>These two could seriously cripple our military flexibility and is going way too far.
I don't think it would cripple us, especially not if the tutelage we receive in astral power allows us to be that much more effective in the other 11 months.

Also, someone needs to keep the wall secure. And we intend to one day reclaim the lands beyond it and put down the shadowbeasts for good.

>>32793973
I think losing the initiative here will be worth taking away the option to make an enemy of him. the only reason we'd need to be able ot overpower him would be if we wanted to and thats just not a good idea at this point in time

>>32793949
I was pretty aware of that. Just wasn't expecting him so soon. Though I imagine it really wouldn't help if it wanted us dead it could just flatten us before we got tot he court yard.

>>32794031

Well, we haven't even heard him speak yet. Let's no be overeager and play it cool.

We can make concessions when necessary but we should see what kind of a negotiator he is first.

Those 3 concessions mentioned seem to be the logical extreme of what we could provide, which means that we would have to get almost everything on our demand list.

>>32794043
That is one way to look at it.
another is "I am in a position where I don't HAVE to do what you want me to, but do it anyways because I want to" rather then "shit, I am powerless against you and we both know it, I do whatever you tell me to"...

Also, am I the only one who assumed the unbridled power was lynn's dad before it was revealed to be raphael?

>>32793956
>1 might be bound to ren (or he might be bound to a pop of another source)

We couldn't summon him in that case.

>I don't know but it might mean undine dies and another dead candidate gets summoned from another of the pops.

That would mean Undine switches allegiance.

>>32794090
I pretty much instantly assumed a archangel. Taira seemed to know the being.

>>32794090
dice rolls for diplomacy will be a bit higher but itll all come down to how we play it. even if we could kill him, you know, shadow beasts. fighting him would be suicide even if we could win

>>32794106
>We couldn't summon him in that case.
that is OOC knowledge though.

>>32794106
>That would mean Undine switches allegiance.
That would be really bad too, and something worth preventing. Especially if she is powered up by pops (and thus stronger than her sisters)
also makes me really wonder what kind of effects are in her minds if she can be forced to switch allegiance in such a manner.

>>32794128
Oh, I never wanted to fight him. As you said, winning means the shadow-beasts overrun the walls. its suicide to win.
I wanted that diplomacy bonus, and to protect undine from someone powerful sneaking into the source chamber and fucking with our bond.

>>32794161
Thats the thing it wouldn't be forced. If someone else had the power to claim it then it would be the same situation as the archmage is in right now with her.

So, in regards to our prior discussion about the blue and orange morality of angels. and our own experience with our little bout of anger when we found about tsucchi...

Would negotiations with him benefit if we tailor our behavior to that? that is, reaffirm his beliefs of us? don't be overly unexpected? Or... it might backfire to attempt as such and hurt us in the long term if he has little preconceived notions about us and has watched us for a while. We could be reinforcing wrong beliefs about talon which would result in an explosion when disproved later.

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I'll be back in a few hours to post Vad's, Sarah's and Maloric's character sheets. Not sure if there's any others people want.

>>32794090
>Also, am I the only one who assumed the unbridled power was lynn's dad before it was revealed to be raphael?
Thinking of Lynn's dad, has anybody paid attention to the colour of the dragons?

>>32794194
The archmage was the apprentice of her gnome's previous master.
Undine was the familiar of a different mage whom talon killed (well, the soldiers under his command did) years after undine died, when talon sacked blackstaff as an RSK general.
So, to undine, the archmage is basically a childhood friend and an ex lover, whom she didn't even know about or consider when she bonded with talon..

This is different from being forced to break the bond with your CURRENT master to make a new one. (now, familiars CANNOT be forced to make a bond... normally. But she isn't a familiar anymore, she is a source champion)

>>32794236
so, you are posting the new sheets here then updating them in the pastebin?

>>32794236
Honestly the only real sheet I would love to see is Sarreg but I now that is never happening. I am really interested in sarah's though and Felix.

>>32794236

Is Felix notable enough to merit a character sheet?

>>32794243
Yeah thing is that wouldn't be a mental change. If you pay attention the moment a familiar bound is created they follow them. it isn't a mental effect though just like how Gnome mentioned each bond is different and relationship.

It's probably one of the reasons Undine hasn't skewered us for killing her old master.

Missed the entire thread, I guess I'll read it later on the archive. Thanks for running Asp.

>>32794293

I forget, does Undine actually know that we killed her old master?

>>32794293
>It's probably one of the reasons Undine hasn't skewered us for killing her old master.
actually, she doesn't know yet
unless mercie told her since we introduced her

>>32794308
I would imagine she can guess. We have her old war table in our war room and we mentioned we got it after sacking her masters home I don't know but it might mean undine dies and another dead candidate gets summoned from another of the pops). Doesn't take a genius to put 2 and 2 together.

>>32794236
>colour of the dragons

Only real thing I've noticed is most are black. With only the mage guard dragon being silver.

>>32794236
>has anybody paid attention to the colour of the dragons?
no, I assumed its just like hair color in humans.

>>32793510
>Teleportation III – you may instantly teleport yourself and up to ten people up to fifty kilometres. With extended concentration, you may take up to one five hundred people with you or a similar amount of mass (approximately 50000kg) up to a distance of four map tiles once per day. Lesser amounts can be done at greater distance or more often.

You know this could be useful to chain teloport with Tssuchi. Like she teloports us 4 tiles then Tssuchi teloports us 3.

>>32794742
tsuchi can teleport ONE person 3 tiles
Taira can teleport 500 people 4 tiles.
And if she teleports fewer people (eg just one person) she can teleport more often.

>>32794803
Yeah. But it would still be useful for something like say. Teloporting our elite squad of heavy mage knights from Taour to harrowmont. Then from Harrowmont Teloport Talon into the RSK to talk to one guy or something.

>>32794236
Just for laughs how long could Tssuchi fight with Taira?

Rolled 5

>>32794236
so Lynn's faher is armour now`?

Rolled 20

>>32794236

One last bump before I sleep to keep the thread alive for character sheets.

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Char sheets coming shortly. Vad first.

>>32794444
There's been one other notable dragon whose colour isn't black.

>>32794888
Not very long, especially as Tsucchi has no real combat training. Vad would probably do better as he's explicitly trained to fight foxes who are stronger than him and has experience. Neither would really last very long, though. They just wouldn't be able to summon enough power to stop Taira and they can't cast as fast or as many spells with fewer tails.

>>32794308
You haven't told her yourself.

>>32794285
His char sheet is pretty boring. I may still make it.

>>32794259
They'll be added to the same bin as Undine, Gnome etc are in currently.

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VADORIC CHAR SHEET

I'm not sure if Vad's ever shown his elemental techniques - I have a vague memory of him covering his fists with flame and attacking but I'm not sure if I've ever described it.

Name: Vadoric
Class: Male Five-Tailed Mystic Fox
Title: Enforcer
Magic Type: Spiritual
Equipment: Functional grey and red robes

STATS

Strength [3]
Endurance [3]
Speed [3]
Intelligence [3]
Magic [5]
Resistance [4]
Charisma [1]

SKILLS

Martial Arts II – great proficiency in a variety of martial arts and in combining them.
Battlefield Basics I – proficiency in all general battlefield skills (dodging, blocking etc).
Spirit Techniques (Arrays) II – ability to use intermediate spirit techniques. Mystic Foxes make use of spirit arrays that they draw with their tails. With five tails, Vad is limited in the number and complexity of the arrays he can draw but is very skilled at what he can do.
Knowledge (Magic) I – general knowledge of magic, including sorcery, spiritual and astral techniques

ABILITIES

Empower Self II - you use magic to increase your physical attributes by two points for two hours.
Force Techniques II – you may generate raw force (i.e. massless kinetic energy). This force can be projected at a long distance and at up to ten targets or over an area of 25m^2. Maximum force against ten targets is that of a strong war hammer blow. These techniques ignore magical barriers.
Elemental Techniques I – the ability to create and manipulate the elemental forces of water, wind, earth and fire. These elements can be projected at a close distance and of a maximum volume of 5m2. You cannot use extended concentration with these techniques.
Disruption Techniques I – you may generate disruptive forces amongst magical energies that disrupt barriers and prevent spell casting at a close distance. This can prevent spiritual techniques as well as sorcery.

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MALORIC CHAR SHEET

Name: Maloric Reegan
Class: Mage (Magister-rank)
Title: Archmagister
Magic Type: Sorcerous
Level: 2 / 5
Equipment: Magically reinforced combat robes, specialised channeller’s staff, focus ring and amulets

STATS

Strength [2]
Endurance [3]
Speed [2]
Intelligence [4]
Magic [5]
Resistance [4]
Charisma [2]

SKILLS

Weaponry I – proficiency in a large variety of weapons.
Battlefield Basics I – proficiency in all general battlefield skills (dodging, blocking etc).
Sorcery (Evocation) II – ability to use intermediate sorcery. Your talents lie in a variety of formal and informal teachings but with a heavy basis in pre-existing knowledge and spells.
Sorcery (Rituals) II – ability to use intermediate sorcerous rituals. Rituals are a difficult field of magic as they require mages to be able to control their power as it flows in reality rather than in their own mind. You have the ability to enable mages of a lower level of rituals to participate in rituals one level higher than their own talent allows.

ABILITIES

Sorcerous Disruption I – you can channel raw magical energy at up to a long distance in such a way that makes it difficult for other sorcerers to cast spells. This will also disrupt all targets who rely on ambient sorcerous energy.
Summoning I – you can summon magical beasts of your own creation that can last for up to 24 hours. Instantaneous summons are of limited combat usefulness but extended concentration and a ritual can enable you to summon several combat-capable summons.
Enchantment II – you can place high-quality near-permanent enchantments on items, including large volumes of similar items. More esoteric enchantments still require independent work and research but are within reach.
Channelling II – you can channel a large volume of raw magical energy with your standard evocation or a small volume with near-transmutative ability. This power can be used freely for projectiles, barriers and spells in general.

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SARAH CHAR SHEET

Poor Sarah. This sheet makes it clear how outclassed she is whilst also maknig it clear she's relatively talented.

Name: Sarah Hawkins
Class: Noble; Mage (Journeyman-rank)
Title: Archduchess of Vitria
Magic Type: Sorcerous
Equipment: Magically reinforced clothing, focus rings and amulet

STATS

Strength [1]
Endurance [2]
Speed [2]
Intelligence [4]
Magic [3]
Resistance [3]
Charisma [3]

SKILLS

Battlefield Basics I – proficiency in all general battlefield skills (dodging, blocking etc).
Sorcery (Evocation) II – ability to use intermediate sorcery. Your talents lie heavily in formal teachings and as a result you lack the experience necessary to cast more improvised spells using your existing talents and knowledge.
Sorcery (Rituals) I – ability to use basic sorcerous rituals. Rituals are a difficult field of magic as they require mages to be able to control their power as it flows in reality rather than in their own mind. Your talents lie mostly in personal rituals rather than with other people.

ABILITIES

Channelling I – you can channel a moderate volume of raw magical energy with standard evocation. This power can be used freely for projectiles, barriers and spells in general.

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FELIX CHAR SHEET

Poor Felix. He's not exactly weak but his sheet is basically just the starting one for the Knight but slightly weaker. The only regular soldiers in your military who could hope to match him are Phrace and Arail and that would be with their mage-knight plate and a bit of luck.

Name: Felix Tarn
Class: Knight
Title: Personal Guard
Magic Type: Sorcerous
Equipment: Sword and shield, plate armour

STATS

Strength [3]
Endurance [3]
Speed [3]
Intelligence [2]
Magic [2]
Resistance [2]
Charisma [3]

SKILLS

Leadership II – the ability to effectively command and inspire a small army.
Weaponry II – great proficiency in a large variety of weapons.
Battlefield Basics I – proficiency in all general battlefield skills (dodging, blocking etc).
Sorcery (Instinctive) I – ability to use basic sorcery. This sorcery is instinctive rather than properly learnt. You don’t need a focus to cast and are better at ad hoc spells.

ABILITIES

Empower Self I – you use sorcery to increase your physical attributes by one point for one hour.
Ad Hoc Projection I – you may project raw magical energy up to melee distance of minor strength. This projected energy may be used as a barrier, to deflect magical attacks or to propel oneself a moderate distance at high speed. The ad hoc nature of this ability makes it versatile, if weak.

>>32796519
>>32796486
What's the quantitative difference of power when we compare Channeling I and II?

How about a max weight of a stone [or whatever you decide] that can be thrown around by said mage, just as you do it with Mass teleportation [up to xy kg] or Force Techniques [m^2]

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>>32796554
It's a jump of about 3x. The big difference is that Channelling II can manipulate some energy (1/3 of Channelling I's normal amount) in a way that is more effective for enchantment as well as for avoiding magical disruption (Mal's own disruption technique wouldn't affect that).

Otherwise, Channelling is too broad a field of skill to easily nail down. It's a feeder ability for his other talents and is also used for his magical projectile.

>>32796544
is that me or is felix a better commander than us?

>>32794236
So what, Sylvian is Seath and Lairos is Kalameet?

>>32796544
Felix ;_;

Poor guy. Bloody Finn could destroy him.

>>32797425
Speaking of Finn. I'm hoping we eventually learn how to do a lesser astral being uplifting ritual. Just because that way after his Tattoos are removed he can still have some power source.

>>32797468
Hmm, if we can do an astral uplift I don't see why we can't just set his tattoos to draw astral power as a default. That way he still has his own reserve tank of power to fall back on in a pinch, but he should us it so rarely that it won't majorly impact his health and lifespan. Just a thought anyway.

>>32796519
How do we make her not outclassed?

>>32797590
It's probably not designed that way. Mainly because right now it draws out his life force to do it and the uplifting process should give the power to naturally use it. Otherwise there is no point. Of course this assumes we can learn a power like that. I think we probably can but it's going to be absurdly hard. Be a damn fine counter measure for Finns issue of losing most of his powers within 10 years though.

>>32797625
Send her into fighting and make her research. Which given her political situation is a no. Though I would say she probably would be decently talented within 30 years. We really shouldn't force her to do too much though since she doesn't seem interested.

>>32797625
We don't she is not a front line character, she is our best bureaucrat we need her for politicking our internal affairs.

>>32797636
Though thinking on it I haven't checked up on how our astral paths look. Last time I checked we had a tie and I"m pretty sure Life/fire is one. But I don't know what the other one was.

>>32797646
>We really shouldn't force her to do too much though since she doesn't seem interested.
She seemed moderately interested actually. Also sseemed interested in having her own pure elemental familiar

>>32797676
balance/water IIRC.

>>32797741
I don't think we chose that very often. The monastery and one other place at the top of my head. We have chosen life/fire a lot though something around 4 times.

I know we choose power at least once and we have about a dozen or so points now. 4 of which at minimal is life fire.

>>32797767
So for it to be even it needs around 4-5 points in that one path. Though if it is water then a lot of the ramblings that Talon goes on sometimes makes sense. Though in that case I wonder why life/fire isn't brought up more.

>>32797780
Also going to bring up something very interesting for me. For anyone who stuck around. Deodain is right next to Termina. Go up 4 hexes and you are in mage guard territory. That being Sylphs POP and the local one on our source.

>>32797741
>>32797767

Here have a confirmed list by Aspirational.

"The Dragon scene (where you killed it) was Life (automatically).

The scene where you brought back Phrace and your men was Power (by choice).

The scene where you went a bit nuts near the revenant was Power (dominant concept at the time).

This scene and the insanity at the monastery were general 'otherness'.

The scene in the monastery where you attempted to evade the detection was Balance (by choice).

The scene where you consumed Darian was Life (or it may have been Power - I can't remember). This was by choice.

You also gain some points from certain conversation choices which can affect your dominant concept."

>>32798863
Thanks I knew it was listed somewhere.

>>32792417
>>32792594
>Responding to this is very spoilery, so I'll dodge it.
Understandable.
Although such a response just makes me more curious than before

>>32797653
But she is the leader of one of our main factions. If she's not up to snuff with her skills in short order, some magister could come along and knock her off her pedestal in the Meritocracy we're setting up. We need the people we surround ourselves with to be at least moderately capable of keeping up with us.

We should lump the efforts of buffing Sarah and Felix together, just to simplify matters.

>>32800412
I don't think our bureaucratic or managerial positions would be awarded based on combat ability, that just seems counterproductive.

Plus, we likely won't be fully implementing the meritocracy in Vitria for quite a while, given the entrenched noble system.

>>32797646
>>32797653
She seemed interested in more than just being our top Bureaucrat. Some relevant quotes:

>"They say no plan survives contact with the enemy. That one did,” you say. “Do you at all regret siding with myself after seeing that?”

>She stares into your eyes, and you feel that something has changed between the two of you. “Undine told me earlier that I lacked the power, the will and the ambition to be her master. Although I still dispute her words somewhat, I think I understand why she chose you over me. I… I could never do that – imagine doing that. Men and women will never show the faith and belief in me that they do you.”

>She smiles bitterly at you before continuing, “Even so, I do regret siding with you. It is impossible not to – you are everything I wish I could be. I need your strength if I am to ever unite Vitria… and even if you give the city to me after you conquer it, I can see that I will only ever do so in your shadow.”
Ergo, she wants to be known as more than our best administrative aid.

>>32800412

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to make her stronger, but I don't think our meritocracy will operate by the laws of the jungle where the strongest will be the leader.

Sarah is politically connected, talented, and has connections. That's what makes leaders in a meritocracy, not just brute magical force.

If we are concerned about assassination, well that's what bodyguards are for.

It would be interesting to make her stronger, but I see that as more of a long term priority.

Alright so I had a crazy theory about vampires.

There's been a lot of talk about figuring out how we can sustain the vampires within our Empire. The blood bank idea has come up, so has just mass genocide. The former is plausible, but potentially messy, the latter would cause some issues. Thoughts about replacements for blood has also come up, but we've yet to find anything that can do the job. Unless we're looking in the wrong place.

In setting we know blood is a powerful magical catalyst. It can be used in a pinch to fast track otherwise long and difficult rituals, i.e. Hiien and the malformed Elementals. Vampires however seem to "lack" the ability to use sorcerous magic properly instead focusing on Blood and Shadow powers and enhanced abilities. Perhaps this is just an extension of natural magic or not but it seemed different to me. I don't ever remember any vampire whether Day/Nightwalker who used magic in the same sense that Mal or our Knights do.

So that leads me to this thought. What if the affliction of vampirism in some way drains the person of their natural magics? Converting it into their vampiric abilities without a direct way to harvest it anymore? They somehow lose their connection to latent magical sources and instead have to rely on the most readily available and direct source they can muster. Blood. So essential their bodies become little ritual machines without a true magical source.

So the question would be, how do we replace blood and/or the natural magical tendencies of it? If we could somehow produce something that was similar it would all but neuter the vampires more "evil" trait, while leaving all of the good that they can do i.e. The HMK Beserkers and they could live relatively normal lives as a result. There is a use for the abilities, we'd just need to figure out a way to replace blood itself as the catalyst to sustain such.

Alternatively I've thought way too into this and they are just bloodsuckers for the sake of blood sucking.

>>32800476
Well, yes, I understand what you're saying about political power and bodyguards, but that wasn't exactly the point I was trying to make. I was wondering about whether our whole ideas about the meritocracy-aristocracy hybrid thing will hold water when the person leading an archduchy is only a moderately talented mage that any magister could knock over like a house of cards. the politicking is a strong plus for her, yes, but so far we've been making huge waves on the strength of our arms, and that's what we're becoming known for, by and large: the ability to use force to shape the reality the way we want. I'm wondering about what it says that one of our key cabinet members isn't too strong comparatively.

Just my two cents. Buffing those two up is definitely a long-term priority, sure, but something we shouldn't ignore for later.

I think the biggest problem with buffing Sarah is how much we rely on her to handle our diplomatic and political affairs as a whole, and then her dealing with Vitiria as a borderline state within the empire that could rebel if it felt like it(though it would be the worst of decisions).

Doesn't leave much time for upping your magical abilities. She has also stated she wants Vitria to be a sister city of Harrowmont, something to be proud of within the Empire, not an problem child. Perhaps her views have changed and her focuses refined.

I don't see an issue with training her up. But perhaps a "Champion(not like Undine)" is in order, someone she can rely on as her direct source of combat and serves only her(and us by extension).

>>32800590

I understand your point, but a cabinet, particularly the civil side, can't be made of just the strongest people regardless of our claim to fame.

Strength of arms gave us legitimacy, but our capable civil administration will give us staying power.

I also think the fact that she has support of incredibly strong people (Talon & Co, Knight Orders, Vitrian Mage Towers) legitimizes her.

But no, I agree with you that buffing them should be a long-term priority, don't want them to be forgotten while we go reck armies with fluffy tails..

>>32800573
If that was the real problem with Vampirism, then not only would that be incredibly clever, it would also be an incredible find, considering Mal is doing research into the Crystal Batteries. That would also turn the Blood Bank idea into something even more palatable to the public; after all, most people in the world don't even use their sorcerous energies, they won't mind loaning it out to others.

You do raise an interesting point, though. Blood and Shadow are the vampire's main energy instead of sorcery, and we know that each governs different types of abilities. We can guess how the Blood works, since it's all physical and likely just uses the blood they've stored up. but how does Shadow work, mechanically?

Did Aspie ever explain where Vampires came from, originally? Because thinking over that 'self-contained ritual' bit now, I'm wondering if the affliction isn't some kind of self-propagating Pattern from the Ye Olden Days. maybe even some kind of super soldier created by an ancient power to turn his regular civilians into super-soldiers that got out of control.

>>32800697
>I think the biggest problem with buffing Sarah is how much we rely on her to handle our diplomatic and political affairs as a whole, and then her dealing with Vitiria as a borderline state within the empire that could rebel if it felt like it(though it would be the worst of decisions).
That's mainly because 2/3rds of our empire had all of their leadership assassinated in the past year or so. Our overdependance on her is a temporary measure.
>I don't see an issue with training her up. But perhaps a "Champion(not like Undine)" is in order, someone she can rely on as her direct source of combat and serves only her(and us by extension).
I think she should focus on summoning yeah. Honestly, since Mal dislikes using his summoning abilities in combat that might be what she should focus on. It would differentiate her at least.

>>32800697
>Doesn't leave much time for upping your magical abilities.
Alyce has done it, as did other magocracies.

>>32800714
I get that the civvie side doesn't have to be all powerhouses; after all, we're not expecting feats of derring-do from the merchant guy or from... shit, I forgot the name of our RSK spymaster. we're not expecting them to be out on the fronts lines with us. But don't forget that the very first meeting we had with Sarah was after we killed the assassin that was sent on her. Vitria is a cutthroat merchant republic, and we need her to be strong enough to lay the smackdown on some fools if they get uppity. besides, she's a relatively young girl with self-esteem issues relating to how OP we are. How do you think she's going to feel if she needs to continually rely on us and our people to protect her because she can't do it herself?

>>32800772

>That's mainly because 2/3rds of our empire had all of their leadership assassinated in the past year or so. Our overdependance on her is a temporary measure.

Truth. A large one.

>I think she should focus on summoning yeah.

Perfectly fine with in myself. She has a Tower in her city that is pretty good with summons, as we saw, it would be an easy fix. And of course a Familiar of stature at some point would be good as well.

>>32800798
>Alyce has done it, as did other magocracies.

Don't forget Alyce is in the magical capital of the world and is 60 some years old, she had time to cultivate her magical abilities before becoming a leader. Sarah is 18, she still has a lot of time to go. But yes it is entirely possible.

>>32800749

>That would also turn the Blood Bank idea into something even more palatable to the public

As a middling ground until we could discover a way to replace blood, oh yeah for sure. Plus political campaigns for it after making the discovery known would easily make it easier to digest for the people. We'd have to place laws against unlawful feedings of course. But as a wide and whole, vampires aren't bad people, just cursed.

>I'm wondering if the affliction isn't some kind of self-propagating Pattern from the Ye Olden Days

I've had the same thoughts. It would be an interesting twist on the vampiric affliction at least. It certainly seems to work as a "super-soldier" serum at least, so it's possible. I've just been doing a lot of theory play with the whole idea lately and wanted to throw it out there for everyone else.

>>32800926
>As a middling ground until we could discover a way to replace blood,
Have our first mass produced nonsentient pattern be a blood bank. It would probably actually be relatively easy to make.

>>32800841

I know that Vitria is a cutthroat merchant republic, but I would hope that Sarah can use her political savvy and powerful connections to lay the smackdown.

Self-esteem is a good point, but there aren't any immediate ways to make her super powerful. A power summon would be the best solution since it gives her more prestige and would be a crutch and capable problem solver.

>>32800950

Oh that is a good idea. Even if the idea is a bust and over thinking. We could do some research into pattern work that would produce something similar to blood. It would technically work. And make us rich.

>>32800950
Self-replacing blood? Oooooh. I like that. Plus, that's an automatic draw for powerful citzenry, IE vampires, to join up. If we charge for it, too, (not so much that it will actively discourage using it, just enough to get some tax from it) that could be a great way to create some more revenue streams when we start pumping out Magitech factories.

If we can find a way to make this Pattern portable, we could even create whole Vampire Legions that can handle long distance travel.

>>32801048

It would be crazy insane to have those black HMK vampire beserkers frontlining for us. Just tearing shit up. Classic case of using your own enemies tactics, only better. Seems right up Talon's alley.

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>>32801105
>an entire legion of HMK Vampires

>>32800412
Why would mage powers matter? For that matter why would the archduchess be really considered for that considering she is an entire another system in the empire. She's actually a landed vassal instead of a bureaucrat.

>Meritocracy

Not nearly as efficient as people think ask the Chinese when there tests became more who can write in the perfect lines and answer the questions exactly as we say with no thought. Eventually it just becomes who you know but it's more efficient then other systems.

>>32801105
According to the pdf, a unit of Nightwalker HMKs has a 75% chance of beating its equivalent in Human HMKs.

And that's not counting the other bonuses Nightwalkers have, like regen, superior speed and superior stamina.

>>32800460
Well yeah. That was early on though and it isn't like she is a genius like Mal or a demigod like Talon. So there is no real way to catch up. Felix can though high level equipment it takes decades to learn magic to good levels.

>>32801277
which pdf?
>>32801273
>Not nearly as efficient as people think ask the Chinese when there tests became more who can write in the perfect lines and answer the questions exactly as we say with no thought. Eventually it just becomes who you know but it's more efficient then other systems.
What really matters is the ability to identify and remove/sideline the egregiously incompetent. As long as that is done, any system will workd decently.

>>32801310
>Well yeah. That was early on though and it isn't like she is a genius like Mal or a demigod like Talon.
Actually, she learned to cast magic 3 years earlier than Mal did. She has enormous potentiality.

>>32801318
Aspir released combat and resource calculation pdfs the same thread we took Taour.

>>32801318
Yeah, I think that when people say 'meritocracy' they really just mean having systems in place to get rid of the incompetents. I personally think that an aristocracy one step removed from bloodlines would be the best if we can institute some kind of quality control on them.

>>32800841
Why would she need to do that personally? Just call up her guards. The most powerful people in the world aren't the strongest.

>>32801310
She can totally catch up, because she's a real genius with magic. but she's 18, and Magic in this setting is practice practice practice. Alyce is an incredibly young archmage, and she's 60. Sarah simply needs more time to grow.

>>32801370
>Sarah simply needs more time to grow.
The question is, will she be able to catch up in the timescale of this quest?

>>32801318
Yeah. Just saying a lot of people seem to think its a lot more efficent of a system then it is.

>>32801389
That's because a perfect meritocracy is about as easy to make as communism.

>>32801338
I learned to read at 4 yet I"m not a genius. She is good but I don't think she is anywhere near the top 10 at her best.

>>32801387
That's the problem that we're trying to deal with. She'll be a great mage given room and time, but the issue is how to get her up to speed in time for actual campaigning. She'll have more than a few years to get better, though; after all, we're using a timeskip of a year pretty soon.

>>32801346
Mine seem to lack names

>>32801468
Eh, I extrapolated from the info found in screenshots of the named version.

>>32801434
Took Mal like a decade to get good. Be a while before she can do anything and even then she probably won't be top class or anything.

>>32801411
Yeah.

>>32801237
1000 HMK vampires. That would be really damn painful.

>>32801468
>>32801507
Hang on, I'll post the units.
From top down:
Archers
Arcane Archers
Men at Arms
Heavy Men at Arms
Light Mage Knights
Flying Mage Knights
Medium Mage Knights
Heavy Mage Knights
Battlemages
Noble Knights
Nightwalker MMKs
Nightwalker HMKs

No idea about the others.

Though Now that I think of it I really wish I thought to ask what would happen if Ren and Taira got into it.

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>>32801539
Throw that on top of our AAs once they get buffed up and some battlemages to counter any shenanigans, and you've got yourself a proper bitchfucker of an attack force.

>mfw Taira and Gnome are fronting this terror of a legion

>>32801737
You mean like a fluffy eugenics project?

Talon would gain an army of superpowered megafoxes in a few hundred years, is what would happen.

>>32801761

One legion of HMK. Four of MMK humans to feel in the holes. One legion of LMK split to rush in. 3-4 Legions of Arcane archers in the backlines each targeting a different section until they are needed.

Lead by Full power Salamander, Gnome, Sylph, and Undine along with Taira. Mal is also leading about 200 Battle mages at full power.

Not Including any Patterns we may have by that point or if we can pull off a Godknight style astral ritual.

Wonder how long the average RSK force would last against that?

>>32801872
You left out the Kitsune Samurai, Griffon Knights and Arcane Ballistae or repeater bolt throwers mounted on armoured Elephant-like patterns.

>>32801781
No I mean like fighting. I'm curious how powerful Ren is because he is a 8 tail but we all know that at max power all the Champions are equal to full power Gnome in some way.

Which makes me wonder how Ren compares to Taira. Fluffy Eugenics doesn't really work because Lamarck was wrong.

>>32801948
You know I"m honestly terrified. We know that even at max powers things will be hard.

But exactly what will Talon be fighting that would require Full power Gnome, Salamander, Sylph, Undine. Along with Taira, Full power Mal, Full power Finn, Full power Talon. To make it close to even?

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>>32801948
>repeater bolt throwers mounted on armoured Elephant-like patterns.

Oh my god, are we going to create war elephants? Please tell me we're going to make war elephants. I never knew how much I needed this in my life until you said it.

I don't even care about horse patterns anymore, they weren't very viable anyway. but WAR ELEPHANTS. That could actually work!

>>32801954
Eh, not necessarily.

Gnome is explicitly the strongest of the Sisters, and She, Undine and Sala were all champion candidates.

>>32801948
>Griffon knights

Honestly not all that efficient compared to FMK. More mass to hit, More weight to carry and if if falls the rider falls as well losing two units compared to just one.

>Arcane Ballistae

Could be useful.

>Kitsune/fox

Not sure if we will ever have enough of those to make a standard part of the army.

>Elephant-like patterns

Could work. I'd honestly rather build a automation the likes then build armor on top of it. Patterns seem more useful for things like shapeshifting assassins, Wargs.

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>mfw when we're creating a possible young empire built around the coordinated efforts of humans, vampires, and foxes

What the fuck is this fantasy world I'm living in and why is it so glorious?

>>32802027
>war elephants
>pic related

>>32802019
Well, the shadow beasts, for one.
Then there's the Great Lords, the guys that made the shadow beasts, possibly Archangels, the Empress of the continent across, Fae and Infernal Lords and Lich Kushan.

>>32802027
Eh, a pattern to replace horses is still viable, we just need to replace the horse body shape with a velociraptor, the give it a magically-hardened exoskeleton and the ability to breath fire.

>>32802118
>Honestly not all that efficient compared to FMK. More mass to hit, More weight to carry and if if falls the rider falls as well losing two units compared to just one.
Given that we don't know anything about the toughness, speed and magic resistance of Griffons, writing them off and this stage seems a bit premature.

>>32802038
And they due to plot will all be equal at least at the start.

>>32802027
>War elephants
>Ever working

Hannibal this is why you will never sack rome. Elephants scare away with fucking fire. If your going to get anything get Armored Mammoths with Ranger order archers on the top. Then hope a FMK doesn't blow it up from above.

>>32802168
They're elephant-like patterns, not elephants.

We can make them magic resistant, with super regeneration and a shell as strong as enchanted steel with hollowed out portions having grown naturally so an external howdah is not required.

>>32802168
I never said it had to be actual pachyderm war elephants. It's the concept of them that has my hype boner all aflutter. If we go about making something like that we're definitely going to be redesigning the ideas away from the problems of war elephants. Magic, nigga. It's a wonderful thing.

>>32802166
Yeah but in that case I would rather just use Griffons themselves instead of sticking a guy on top of them. If we do I would rather it be a light weight Pattern or something.

>>32802134
>Eh, a pattern to replace horses is still viable

If I was to recommend a pattern it would be less a horse and more a pickup truck for carrying army supplies.

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Honestly I think the Griffon Knights is really just a show of force and ego thing. We're unlikely to ever field a force large enough to matter when Flyers and LMK exist. But using a heavily armoured griffon with a glowing white knight flying by at a blistering speed waving your banner above an already impressive army? Sounds against like something Talon would do.

That and we know nothing about them yet. There's a good reason typical fantasy monsters are rare in setting. We just don't know why yet.

>>32802246
Why make them elephant shaped then? Also I made a setting with an empire that did this actually. Undead Regenerating wooly Mammoths absurdly useful With Archers. It's useful in a low magic setting but it's slightly easy to spot and pick off form the skies if they have FMK. So we will have to make sure it use our Arcane archers to keep air superiority if we use them.

On ground combat though I imagine it would be pretty beastly. Until a knight jumps up and kicks it in the face.

>>32802250
>Yeah but in that case I would rather just use Griffons themselves instead of sticking a guy on top of them. If we do I would rather it be a light weight Pattern or something.
And if the griffons aren't tameable enough to be convinced to throw themselves into combat?
Plus, a knight on top would be well-armoured, protected by the griffons bulk and capable of ranged attacks.

>If I was to recommend a pattern it would be less a horse and more a pickup truck for carrying army supplies.
Firstly, we can do that too.
Secondly, that's boring, we live in a worls of magic and can basically play god with making a bunch of cool creatures, so why not go wild?

>>32802317

Probably because that's the first thing most people go to when animal war machines come up.

We'd certainly have a solid base of frontliners with it for the open field. Just don't know about defense and siege.

Could we have the Griffons as parade units? not really used in combat, but to put on displays during important events... such as annual festivals, or to open Grand Tourneys with...

>>32802396

I always figured that would happen regardless. Makes sense when your banner is a griffon.

Though, I've always wondered how in setting Talon knew what Griffons were, it was mentioned once that fantastical creatures weren't prevalent in the setting before. So maybe a story? something he read once in a history book? maybe he saw one at a young age and it always stayed with him?

Random thought.

>>32802317
This is all assuming that we won't come up with counters to these things. I can definitely think of ways to counter an attack by ground-bound troops, not the least of which are more than just the one prehensile trunk. Throw in extra pairs of massive tusks and the ability to move fast and you can easily have these guys swat away and gore anybody who tries a frontal assault. The flyers are an issue, sure, but that's why you've got AAs in the Howdah to counter. Besides, if we leave them no opening to be attacked by humans, then how will we domesticate these beasts once they're released into the wild for natural breeding?

>>32802375
>Secondly, that's boring, we live in a worls of magic and can basically play god with making a bunch of cool creatures, so why not go wild?

It's also very practical which I'm more interested in then going way out there. Though might work better as golem like things with wheels that we can stick supplies in that way we can just pull damaged parts and replace them.

If we did it with Patterns I would make it something like Large bull that can open up it's stomach into a freezer like compartment. That way if the lines are attacked directly it can be told to just run off.

>>32802375
>Plus, a knight on top would be well-armoured

Weighting down the mount.

>protected by the griffons bulk

Which keeps him afloat in the air.

>capable of ranged attacks.

By diving in close and swinging. Unless he had a bow in which case he needs to be really good.

That and we don't really even know how Griffins with work. If they where like absurdly fast then it might be worth it.

>>32802257
I personally think that any Griffon-mounted units would be the equivalent of the HMK. The FMK are really nice units, but they're limited by their weight and the limitations on enchantments they can carry. If we've got griffon-mounted units, we can have them just be aerial war machines to decimate anybody who comes along.

>>32802555

That's sort of where I went with it as well. Inter mix them with the FMKs and ground AA support and they'd just tear through Flyer ranks and cause discord.

Also some of our new Rangers showed that they can hit targets while mounted/moving, so we mount them up, and bam.

>>32802511
> I can definitely think of ways to counter an attack by ground-bound troops, not the least of which are more than just the one prehensile trunk. Throw in extra pairs of massive tusks and the ability to move fast and you can easily have these guys swat away and gore anybody who tries a frontal assault.

God knight vs this. Fight of the ages.

>The flyers are an issue, sure, but that's why you've got AAs in the Howdah to counter.

Yeah. I mean it could work really well assuming we do something like stick spikes on the legs or eyes on the back to see behind it so foes can't hack from behind. Thing is when eventully A army runs low on Arcane archers it will become more and more risky with FMK. Something we should take into account when we start thinking about how we want to organize our legions.

> then how will we domesticate these beasts once they're released into the wild for natural breeding?

Why would you do that anyway? Just keep them in pins if we have to add a self replicating function.

>>32802555
In that case though they need a lot of speed. Otherwise you get a situation where the FMK just scatter and fire a dozen magic shots from as many directions as possible. Given the mass it would be easier to hit and far harder to replace then just a FMK suit.

It could work all right assuming we had some good FMK units with it but it would always just be in danger of the foe just using numbers or rushing in so close the Arcane archers can't risk firing without friendly fire.

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>>32802598
I actually just got a horrifying thought when I scrolled back up and read the idea about Arcane Ballistae. We create an Arcane Ballistae, all the bells and whistles of a souped-up AA on it. We attach it to the underbelly of a griffon and throw a Featherweight spell on it. We stick an AA on top of the griffon and give him the ability to remotlely control the Ballista from up-top the griffon. Suddenly, we've got flying AA Siege weapons that nobody can hit, plus the hell of an airborne AA.

>mfw this actually works

On the subject of vampires, don't the Mage Guard have something of a problem with them? I can't quite remember but I think Aspie said that they will object to us picking any other option than "Kill the Vampires".