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OddObserver posted:What I don't get is how affixing the Avowed seemingly helping is supposed to work? It was stated outright that Avowed have a stabilising effect on chaos just by existing, as well as when the system was created there was an idea that they would need the avowed as soldiers, even if that latter part isn't currently all that necessary. Add that to the "chaos dump" theory, as well as whatever is going on with uniques i.e. is it the case that humanity would have eventually discovered wizardry on their own? What happened to Gorgon's people? To tell the truth we absolutely don't know at this point. We have some big picture statements but they've been stated to be misleading.
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Feb 22, 2024 20:00
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gonadic io posted:I definitely believe that chaos is essentially global warming arising from the way that Artonan wizardry works. I feel like it has to be a bit more complicated than just that, or the knights are kinda dumb. But I reckon it'll be global warming with a twist.
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Feb 22, 2024 20:01
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Carbon dioxide doesn't currently form demons that a guy with a sword could fight, unless you count oil executives, so yes it's most certainly not just global warming. e: to be less pithy, it could for example be the idea that to fight the current demon problems, they need magic, which makes the demon problems worse. If they did just stop overnight then the currently existing demons may well be an extremely large threat. gonadic io fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Feb 22, 2024 |
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Feb 22, 2024 20:05
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I think we don't understand what resource it is that Artonan resource worlds are providing. Sure, it's Avowed. But what makes Avowed high value? It ties into chaos, but it's not just that. Another thought I had. Artonan presence creates communities of people with whatever thing it is that Artonans value, and then those communities can have children who are vastly more likely to be Avowed-able. The system is making more magical people over time, but I bet that comes with increasing instability of local reality. Artonan "development" of backwards paradise realities comes with costs the natives are wholly ignorant of. Part of why they're ignorant is that Artonans believe that lying to the young and undeveloped is a kind and loving thing.
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Feb 22, 2024 20:27
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Wittgen posted:I think we don't understand what resource it is that Artonan resource worlds are providing. Sure, it's Avowed. But what makes Avowed high value? It ties into chaos, but it's not just that. We've got some testimony (mostly by Joe, I believe) that the function of the Avowed has been subject to major debate and change over time. Originally it seems like the Avowed were intended to be some sort of mass-manufactured Knight equivalent, with things like Bearer of All Burdens allowing Avowed to get up to moon-smashing levels. In modern times, it seems like Avowed seem an awful lot like a convenient pool of servants.
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Feb 22, 2024 20:49
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gonadic io posted:It was stated outright that Avowed have a stabilising effect on chaos just by existing, as well as when the system was created there was an idea that they would need the avowed as soldiers, even if that latter part isn't currently all that necessary. I don't think they are supposed to have a stabilizing effect on chaos in their surroundings, just that they are more resistant to it than a normal person (confirmed by Alden who felt that his affixation would be last thing to fail on Thegund) Affixations may also be required to prevent people from turning into abominations (possibly due to low level chaos exposure). I can't think of any real reason for the Artonans to bother affixing D or F ranks who never get summoned unless they are especially likely to go abomination and ruin their resource world. U-Ranks may also folks who require emergency affixation, or who are already partly chaos corrupted and so need special snowflake affixations to stabilize the extant corruption.
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Feb 22, 2024 20:56
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At one point when Alden is being sent to Thegund, Joe is like "don't worry, your presence there will help stabilize it a bit""CH21 posted:“Can I call you through the System if there’s trouble?”
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Feb 22, 2024 22:25
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I still hope SS reveals at some point what exactly low-Rank Meisters or Brutes end up capable of. It's irrelevant to the story, but I'm still curious. Also Meisters in general are interesting to me, since I'm not sure how they're conveyed proficiency with their tools. Like they get Skills and spell impressions to do things with their weapons/tools, but how do their foundation points lead to proficiency with a specific tool? Maybe that's just something the System offers them? Other low-Ranks are a lot easier to imagine - just people with weird little gimmicky spells/Skills. Nitrousoxide posted:SupSup 121: It's an example of the big weakness in Manon's Skill - she can only guess what specific thoughts she's shuffling around in her targets' heads. She just knows "this person has some thought that can be emphasized or deemphasized to improve the environment for someone." Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Feb 23, 2024 |
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Feb 22, 2024 23:58
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Ytlaya posted:I still hope SS reveals at some point what exactly low-Rank Meisters or Brutes end up capable of. It's irrelevant to the story, but I'm still curious. Also Meisters in general are interesting to me, since I'm not sure how they're conveyed proficiency with their tools. Like they get Skills and spell impressions to do things with their weapons/tools, but how do their foundation points lead to proficiency with a specific tool? Maybe that's just something the System offers them? Meisters are explicitly not given proficiency with their tools, though. Lexi is a very good example of this, both in that he's a high-rank who nevertheless has issues with Writher setting things on fire or cutting them when he doesn't want it to, and also because Writher has a phase-out feature that he activated once and then spent a week trying to figure it out again. They've got skills and spell impressions that can be applied to the tool, but outside of those narrow affixation-granted abilities they need to develop all the proficiency with using it themselves.
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Feb 23, 2024 01:10
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There's definitely something there because e.g. Lute was getting snobby about instrument Meisters who don't really know their instrument and just use their skills.
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Feb 23, 2024 01:25
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gonadic io posted:There's definitely something there because e.g. Lute was getting snobby about instrument Meisters who don't really know their instrument and just use their skills. And in patron spoiler territory, the knights were similarly snobbish about the skill use of the most powerful superhumans in the world.
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Feb 23, 2024 01:27
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It seems to me that Lexi picked a really unusual type of weapon that does actually need lower case s skill but that's not typical for meisters in general.
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Feb 23, 2024 01:30
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SupSup 133: lmao at this stratified society. Got to make sure the actually important people aren't just safe, but also pampered. Get that tea.
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Feb 23, 2024 09:59
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Just want to chime in a bit - I write views that aren't my own ALL THE TIME. Elaine holds views that I don't agree with. People are a little quick to jump to 'the views of the character is the view of the author', and while I doubt I could write a convincing main character that I didn't believe in at all, it doesn't mean every viewpoint of theirs is the same. Some authors do, some don't. It's worth poking around at multi-work authors and seeing how many views are different, and how many are the same
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Feb 23, 2024 15:20
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Wittgen posted:SupSup 133: lmao at this stratified society. Got to make sure the actually important people aren't just safe, but also pampered. Get that tea. TBF. he is absolutely drenched, so some hot tea is actually pretty timely. Probably needs a towel too, though .
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Feb 23, 2024 15:36
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tbf this is one of the reasons I didn't patreon Millennial Mage: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3831668&userid=0&perpage=40&highlight=millennial,mage&pagenumber=331#post531034350
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Feb 23, 2024 15:37
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SupSup 133 I'm pretty sure that the only reason Alden wasn't teleported earlier was because they needed Also: quote:“What do you mean a minute?” Mehdi exclaimed. “No you’re not!” lol
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Feb 23, 2024 15:37
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Selkie Myth posted:Just want to chime in a bit - Agreed, clearly your closely held personal views are as an immortal being made of fire. Being Brretty, and setting things on fire. Your avatar even reflects this. It's amazing how ignorant your readers can be 
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Feb 23, 2024 16:11
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Selkie Myth posted:Just want to chime in a bit - I didn't mean to imply you should drop works because characters exist in it with "bad" views, I specifically meant that I don't think it's worth supporting web serials where the author has views I disagree with. Basically I dropped millenial mage over the discord screenshots linked above, not because of anything specific in the story(Not that you can't see their views leak into the story, but it's not overbearing like in some web serials.) There's plenty of stories, and I'm sure I read some written by people I wouldn't get along with, but it's also not a big deal to not read a random web serial.
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Feb 23, 2024 16:26
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SS 133 Yep, turned out to be exactly what some of us were already thinking. The Artonans are obviously going to heavily prioritize Alden's life. I kinda wonder what's going to happen now, since 1. I don't see Alden demanding to leave unless he directly gets news that something bad has happened with his friends and 2. even if he did demand to leave, it's not like they'd let him. Maybe Alden just won't directly participate in the rest of this event? It's possible that the worst of the event could just end up being handled by the authories/System (which kinda makes sense - there's not really much that Alden and friends could accomplish here that other trained Avowed couldn't do better). edit: I guess he could demand to stay instead of taking the flier (forgot that part), but I still don't see how he'd get anywhere unless the System is willing to teleport him. It's also neat that Kon figured out how to basically rewind the movement of objects. His power suddenly gained a lot of versatility. Similar to Alden's power, it's the sort of thing that will take a lot of training/planning to use effectively. The limitation (IIRC?) that he has to touch items to reverse them is definitely a big one, since it makes it a lot harder to use the power to do things like "make traps" (though it's still certainly possible). edit: While Alden's friends/teachers are probably going to want to know the reason for his early teleport, he can actually explain it pretty easily as "being because of the commendation" (which is also just the truth - it's not like the Artonans know about Alden's abilities). So it's not exactly going to "out" him in any way, beyond making it clear what a big deal the commendation is (the teachers knew it was a big deal, but judging from Klein apparently didn't realize it was such a big deal that it would grant him high teleport priority). Einander posted:Meisters are explicitly not given proficiency with their tools, though. Lexi is a very good example of this, both in that he's a high-rank who nevertheless has issues with Writher setting things on fire or cutting them when he doesn't want it to, and also because Writher has a phase-out feature that he activated once and then spent a week trying to figure it out again. They've got skills and spell impressions that can be applied to the tool, but outside of those narrow affixation-granted abilities they need to develop all the proficiency with using it themselves. That makes a lot more sense (and is also kind of self-evident from the story now that you mention it!). I guess that, to some extent, high proficiency just naturally comes from gaining a lot of dexterity (since most weapon Meisters presumably put a lot of foundation points into a full body version of the sort of thing Alden did with his fingers/hands). Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Feb 23, 2024 |
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Feb 23, 2024 20:18
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Meisters do actually get enhancements to using their assigned tool. One of Alden's evaluators mentioned she knew he wasn't a Meister because, "he's not slick with umbrella, you can tell there's no special umbrella-wielding knowledge". Lexi just has trouble because his chosen telepathic alien whip thing is really hard for a human being to use.
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Feb 23, 2024 20:36
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I'm guessing Lexi's enhancements are very frontloaded on the "do not loving murder yourself or anyone else by accident" spectrum.
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Feb 23, 2024 20:46
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Quote is not edit!
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Feb 23, 2024 20:46
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imo it's one thing to be like "can you move your hand with the sword in it" and quite another to have a mentally directed weapon. all the stuff we've seen about meisters getting benefits is the former.
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Feb 23, 2024 20:54
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Ytlaya posted:SS 133 It will out him to the other students as having a commendation, which he was specifically avoiding (aside from the teachers only Lute currently knows about it). quote:[Chapter 107]
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Feb 23, 2024 21:00
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^^^^ Ahh, that's true. Though probably not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, beyond maybe make some students either more or less jealous.Patrick Spens posted:Meisters do actually get enhancements to using their assigned tool. One of Alden's evaluators mentioned she knew he wasn't a Meister because, "he's not slick with umbrella, you can tell there's no special umbrella-wielding knowledge". While the phrasing (assuming you're quoting directly) probably implies exactly what you're saying, it could also potentially just mean "Meisters are good at wielding their chosen weapon" (due to relevant foundation point enhancements + just practicing). If someone isn't skilled at using something, you know they're not a Meister in it, in the same way you know someone's not a cellist if they aren't play a cello well. I think you're probably correct, just throwing this out there as another semi-plausible interpretation.
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Feb 23, 2024 21:14
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SupSup 133 Alden has a weirdly large collection of bones from his friends now.
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Feb 23, 2024 21:58
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Do we know whether Lexi picked from a skill list like Rabbits do, or whether he picked up [Master of Writher] in a trade?
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Feb 23, 2024 22:35
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Griddle of Love posted:Do we know whether Lexi picked from a skill list like Rabbits do, or whether he picked up [Master of Writher] in a trade? Master of Mind Writher is his class, not a skill. Presumably he traded for it, but maybe he got super lucky and it was his starting assignment. We haven't heard Lexi's affixation story yet, so we don't know for sure.
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Feb 23, 2024 22:54
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Griddle of Love posted:Do we know whether Lexi picked from a skill list like Rabbits do, or whether he picked up [Master of Writher] in a trade? Like Wittgen said, Meister of Mind Writher is his class. Alden: Rabbit Lexi: Meister of Mind Writer Remember how Alden was originally "Meister of Cudgel"? "Meister of ______" is just the class someone gets. The "of _____" part isn't a Skill or something they choose. Wrights are the same. "______ Wright" is the class, rather than someone just being a "Wright" and then choosing their specialization. I'm less sure about Brutes - is "Agility Brute" an actual class, or is it just "a Brute who has specced into agility"? Like there's that one girl in Alden's gym class who calls herself a "Jumper Brute," and that's not her actual class name. It's admittedly a little confusing, since certain classes (like Rabbit and Adjuster) just seem "generic" to start with and let people choose how they want to specialize. And to complicate things further, not everyone has access to the same choices.
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Feb 23, 2024 23:06
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There are set brute classes. Remember the statues at the brute dorm in intake? but people try to do fancy things that blur lines and get better effect. For example, Haoyu wants to become a dura brute, which is not an official class. His class is stamina brute, and then he is taking strength brute type stuff as he can. Brute classes I can think of off the top of my head: speed, agility, strength, long sight, audial, stamina, vocal.
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Feb 23, 2024 23:40
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Ytlaya posted:Wrights are the same. "______ Wright" is the class, rather than someone just being a "Wright" and then choosing their specialization. The story is actually inconsistent about this. When Alden was doing class trading, Bridge Wright was one of the classes being traded, but when Lute was selected the info box specifically said "Assigned Class: Wright"
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Feb 24, 2024 00:17
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Wittgen posted:There are set brute classes. Remember the statues at the brute dorm in intake? but people try to do fancy things that blur lines and get better effect. For example, Haoyu wants to become a dura brute, which is not an official class. His class is stamina brute, and then he is taking strength brute type stuff as he can. Ah, thanks. It's kind of interesting to me that things work like this for Brutes but not, say, Adjusters (who also end up being specific "types," but based off what they initially choose - if you choose an ice spell, you get more ice spells offered later, etc). I guess it's because Brutes rely primarily on enhancements/Skills, while Adjusters are mostly using spell impressions. One thing that helped clarify Brutes for me was the reveal in a recent Patreon chapter that foundation enhancements are actually a form of reality warping. This makes a lot more sense, both because it's "directly magical" and because it addresses thoughts like "isn't super speed really just stronger limbs?" Speedsters instead basically just get to "tell reality" that they can move faster, instead of getting their bodies physically enhanced to enable it. And I imagine it's similar for Strength Brutes, where their feats would only physically make sense otherwise if their weight and durability were radically higher, but instead they get magically enhanced such that they enforce upon reality the fact that "they can move this heavy thing." And so on for the other types.
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Feb 24, 2024 00:17
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Nitrousoxide posted:SupSup 133
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Feb 24, 2024 20:40
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Also I imagine (SupSup 133) he is literally just holding onto the teeth because you can probably have them reattached somehow on Anesidora.
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Feb 25, 2024 11:48
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Ytlaya posted:Also I imagine (SupSup 133) he is literally just holding onto the teeth because you can probably have them reattached somehow on Anesidora. Patreon comment from Sleyca: quote:Lost teeth can sometimes be reattached if you keep them in good condition. Usually they say to keep them in spit or a glass of milk until you get to the dentist. Alden is the glass of milk for Kon's teeth. A noble task. What she's describing is true now irl, it's not some Anesidora thing.
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Feb 25, 2024 12:30
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Wittgen posted:Master of Mind Writher is his class, not a skill. Presumably he traded for it, but maybe he got super lucky and it was his starting assignment. We haven't heard Lexi's affixation story yet, so we don't know for sure. More likely IMO - someone in his trading group got it, and Lexi was slotted for meister. Swaps happened, and he was willing to give it a shot
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Feb 25, 2024 16:51
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I feel the mind writher is a lot like dancing, and once he gets the hang of that he'll be much happier with it.
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Feb 25, 2024 17:42
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The reason I asked was merely because people were talking about it as if Lexi had purposefully picked something weird and difficult to use and I wasn't sure whether the text really backed that up. I can see there not being a lot of monetary leverage left over after getting an S adjuster and a boat.
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Feb 25, 2024 18:22
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Yeah from reading the chapters about them in school nowhere was it mentioned that Lexi was e.g. obsessed with magic whips. Maybe that was a weird leftover that was all they could afford. One thing that WAS mentioned though is that they were all highly encouraged to pick something that was a safe pick and to follow an established build, as nobody wants to end up unexpectedly useless and unemployable. Funny then that both Kon and Lexi ended up with pretty left-field picks in the end.
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Feb 25, 2024 18:46
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