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 Scores of ֍’s hands connect to the Mountain from Fortress to Peak. They shear away the surface where they grasp, scattering hills and ruins and glaciers into the freezing outer air. The defensive measures of Ages past activate below the Peak—the Deadlands wall, the avalanches and storms, the blessing of death itself. They do nothing to halt the titan’s advance. Slowly, ever so slowly, it starts to lift the Mountain up. -    Stars everywhere begin to die. Constellations become asterisms become anonymous flickers streaming into the titan’s neck. All the light drains from the sky as if hiding from the titan on the other side of the Mountain—then erupts in a catastrophic lance that incinerates a narrow span of the veil opposite the titan’s breach. Through the fierce glow, the gods can see a path into the void beyond void. For what few mortals remain on the surface, it simply looks like the last star that will ever be born. OOC: Opening the Voidborer's way: 5d6k1+4d6k1 12 vs target 9. Domain: 18, Hunger: 16. No Consequence. The way is very much open. As discussed on discord, spending 4DP total with 1 from Mezidec. -  Atom’s Split rockets off the shipyard faster than anything has ever moved on the Mountain, just as a hand descends on the free city. It’s hard to tell what does the most damage—the explosive energy manifested through the ship-in-a-bottle, or the titans’ digits flattening out across the squat towers and aqueducts. Still, there’s nobody left to die, so, no harm done. Finding lost freeboaters is a trivial matter with Kariarchus as the compass. It doesn’t take long before the last mortals on the surface of the Mountain are safely in the Split’s hold. However, soaring from the Sab-suran sea to the ethereal ring-River—across leagues of open void—and then rescuing thousands of lost souls is a task of an entirely different magnitude. With a roar, the Split blasts off the edge of the world... and... ...takes flight, leaving a coronal trail behind it as it darts through thin air, weaving between titanic limbs and earthly detritus, always a second from disaster until it makes seafall on the far side. Here the water is crystal-clear, the waves perfectly ordered—more the idea of water than water itself. Not that Atom and his crew have the time to appreciate the wondrous, formless River when there are lost souls to rescue. Especially not when they’re travelling along a body of water far, far larger than the Sab-suran sea. That’s when Mezidec, with careful gestures, opens tunnels between the River and the Mountain, letting the Split skip vast lengths of the River between each soul by jetting through cavernous subterranean rivers and back onto the River again. In only a few hours they pick the last lost soul out of the ring-River, having made the first, and last, marine circumnavigation the Mountain will see. One final tunnel guides the Split directly to one of the largest chambers in the Voidborer’s hull—a ship in a bottle in a ship in a bottle in a ship. The ghostly bottle disappears for now, job done. OOC: Rescuing the lost souls: 3d6k1+3d6k1 11 vs target 9. Domain: 16, Hunger: 9. No Consequence. Atom’s Split reaches all the lost souls with the help of Mezidec, and is safely stored away in the Voidborer’s hold. - DP status: Bosyak: 8/8, 2/2 Mezidec: 1/8 ----- (-1 for opening the way, -1 for rescuing lost souls) Solene/Mona: 2/8 ----- (-3 for opening the way) Sharon: 5/8 Fuu-jii: 7/8 Rai-jii: 7/8 Tectamus: 1/4 Bergeros: 1/4 Finibus: 0/4 Atom: 1/2 ----- (-1 for rescuing lost souls) UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Dec 21, 2021 |
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Dec 19, 2021 23:00
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֍ raises the Mountain high on countless hands. The sky is a vast, lonely abyss. Only by the half-light of the Deadlands wall below and the dying stars above does the Executioner Troupe see Bosyak’s silhouette up on the Peak. Soon the final battle may commence. For now, the world is dying—is being reborn. The soil, the sea, the clouds and winds, the ruins of all the cities and villages smashed to pieces; every place the mortals once lived or knew or heard of; all of it drains down the titan’s severed gullet, leaving the Mountain bare rock and ice. The Voidborer alone is safe behind the aegis of the gods. For now, the world is silent, and the stars are watching. -     Rai-jii stops dead in his tracks, then puts a hand on Sharon’s shoulder as she walks past. “Look, Shaz...” Fuu-jii stops too, and turns back to watch. “You spent a couple centuries getting chummy with this guy and then things turned South ‘cause stuff happened outta your control. Happens to all of us.” Fuu-jii nods solemnly. “And, look, the Yamas sent us—and our boy Strax here—to take care of this. You don’t gotta be here if you don’t wanna be here, is all I’m saying.” “Thanks, Rai”, Sharon speaks with a smile that is clearly slightly forced, “But yeah, I’ve been around the block enough to know that this sort of thing happens if you’re with the Halls long enough. It’s a consequence of being disconnected from local matters.” She sighs, sadly, “I will be conserving my energy for dealing with the Titan, but I will not turn away either. I owe it to him to be there for his final moments, at the very least.” Rai-jii looks her eye to eye, and after a long pause, pats her once on the shoulder and lets go. “Long as you’re sure, Shaz.” Fuu-jii looks to the Peak, then to Strax. “Looks like we’re gonna do the usual. You best get ready.” Strax nods and readies his blade. “Alright, let’s do it. Anything you can tell me about him? If you know him for a few centuries? Why is he so loyal to this Titan anyway? He’s expecting to be eaten last or something?” “The reasons for his loyalty are likely multifaceted”, Sharon answers with a steady clip, “But most importantly, he is loyal because Bosyak is a God of the Old Ways, and the Old Ways demand that gifts be repaid. And he is a former mortal granted apotheosis by the Titan. He believes he is in debt.” “Personally”, she continues, “I do not believe being made a spoke in some overelaborate resurrection engine and consigned to misery and loneliness on some forsaken mountain peak to carry it out is something that should indebt you, but that is a conclusion he will have to arrive to himself.” “So no, he does not believe he is going to be eaten last. If anything, he believes he is going to be eaten first, and he seems dead set on going through with that regardless of what he actually wants.” “After all, What is Wanted and What is Right, these are not the same…” “Hm… a slave to ties and debts hm? Exactly the things that I’m all about destroying. Well, I was, I suppose. Can’t really do that now.“ For a while, Sharon says nothing, electing to walk forward in silence. Eventually though, she poses a question: “Tell me, Strax. How would you prefer things end here? Not how you think they will, but how you’d want them to.” The bound god takes a deep breath. “Someone breaks my chains, and perhaps their own as well, and we get away from this drat bureaucracy. We face and destroy this Titan. Then, I go find a world to make sure people are free. Maybe join the ones that are escaping here? But this time, I’ll choose to measure my violence more carefully, so I don’t destroy the very people I try to free.” he looks at the titan. “Failing that, I’d settle for not dying a slave.” Fuu-jii and Rai-jii grunt, but say nothing either way. Sharon smiles, ever so faintly. “That is not a bad wish.” UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 12:39 on Dec 21, 2021 |
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Dec 20, 2021 17:24
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 Bosyak felt the mountain move. He sensed the disappearance of the stars. Neither diverted his eyes. Despite the violent shifting of the world around him, he seemed, if not at peace, calm, sitting on his rock. A gentle snowfall separates him from the approaching Executioner Troupe. And Sharon. A disappointing sight. At his back is the broken shrine. In the distance, a herd of wild yak, undomesticated, unbothered by the turmoil, grazing quietly. He flexes his hands. The ogres step either side of the path as they reach the summit. “Well well,” starts Fuu-jii. “Thanks for waiting,” finishes Rai-jii. “I’m good at… mmmm... waiting. And I am the God of Hearth & Hospitality. Welcome, killers.” Fuu-jii scratches his beard. “Hospitality, huh?” He fishes around for something, then produces a little jade bottle carved with ogre teeth. “First we drink, then we fight?” Bosyak’s ears twitch. After a moment, he gives a small nod. He produces a small bottle carved out of a yak’s horn. The last of the liquor produced at Sharys, left behind in the evacuation. He offers it in exchange for the other, one last exchanging gifts, beholden as always to the Old Ways. Strax folds his arms. “Pass. I’m not a guest. And I’ve drunk enough.” Bosyak’s eyes move slowly to Strax’s shackles. “Uninvited, you have come to my domain. How… mmmm... disrespectful.” He snorts. “You must love killing, eager as you be to get to it.” Fuu-jii samples the bottle of Sharys, then passes it to Rai-jii, who gives an approving Hrrrn before offering it to Sharon. Sharon takes the bottle and pours herself a small cup with what is almost ritual reverence. “Good stuff, ain’t it?” she says as she takes a sip, “It was a joint project of ours to make this, you know? Back ‘round 400 years or so when the only things they had here were some proto-beers. It’s got all kinds of significance, to drink this.” Rai-jii raises an eyebrow. “Not bad for four hundred years. Shame, really. What’s it mean, then?” “Drinking Sharys together,” Sharon continues, “signifies the will to move forward. To let the past be, and to tread a new path with one another.” “I suppose there is a sad kind of irony in the fact that we’re drinking it here now.” She lifts her eyes from her cup, and looks straight at Bosyak. “It might be your Domain, my friend, but a Titan concerns everyone. Not just you. Not just us. There will be problems and issues many Worlds over if this resurrection comes to pass. We cannot make such allowance.” Bosyak takes a small sip of the ogrewine. “God of Rabbits,” he says. “You should have hopped along. You don’t want to be here for this.” He puts down the bottle. “You speak of ֍ but not of your… mmmm... list. To sacrifice good Gods, the Enricher, the Celestial Sisters. Speak not to me of friends.” “They burned the list.” Strax says. “Make no mistake. I hate my two taskmasters here. If not for the chains, I would leave them, and the next time I met them, it would likely be in blood. But they are willing… somewhat willing at least to disobey orders, to disobey masters if they feel something’s wrong. Are you?” Bosyak looks out at the distant yak, grazing, unconcerned and unbothered by this gathering of Gods. His eyes meet with the largest, the leader. He scratches his cheek. “A domesticated animal concerns itself solely with obedience to its master. But a wild beast? Only… mmmm... protecting the herd.” Rai-jii rubs his chin and casts an eye around at the Mountain, the snow, and the stone. “Y’know, if you really wanna protect your friends... we can go back, tell the bosses they’re all dead, gone, dusted—and the bosses? They’ll never go looking for your friends.” He looks Bosyak dead in the eye. “If you make a deal with us.” Bosyak says nothing. He waits for more. The ogres look sidelong at one other, then each clap a hand on Strax’s shoulders and intone, in dreadful and well-practised unison: “Lay down your head for the executioner’s blade.” Strax closes his eyes, takes a breath, and raises the bloodied blade. “It’ll be quick. This thing, I know how to do.” “Doubts,” Bosyak says, “I have none, killer. But trust I have neither. You will have to earn these horns. It might not be much… mmmm... work. With ease, you may slay me. But I will do my best to War you.” Strax tries. “They would though. Not because they like your friends. But because they much rather pull one over on the one pulling our strings. If you don’t trust their loyalty. Trust their spite.” “And if you don’t trust their spite”, Sharon interjects, “Trust me. The brothers Jii-Jii are far too straightforward and honourable in their own way to tell lies or hatch schemes against anyone they’ve shared a drink with. I will vouch for their word, as their longtime friend and drinking buddy par none”, she looks at Bosyak, “I recall, during our last chat, that you told me you’ve never lied to me, ever since we first met. That is true. But it is also true the other way around.” It was a decent offering. But Bosyak thought of Mezidec. He thought of Solene, Mona, their demand for recompense, their demand that he live. “A heavy debt,” he murmurs to himself. He stretches his neck. The ship had not taken off yet. Fly, you fools! He speaks softly. “A consideration, I have for you, killer. Step back for a… mmmm... moment. I’ll go at your guards. If I die, your job is already done. If I stand, we can see about them… mmmm... shackles.” Strax smiles bitterly. “A tempting offer. Really tempting. I’m not bound by loyalty. Not in general, and not to my keepers. But if I let you kill them, then who will stand against the Titan? I told your friend that I’d fight the Titan even if I were free, and I wasn’t lying.” “The God of the Peak.” The ogres raise their eyebrows. “Really?” “Is this guy serious?” “You brought the titan back, now you wanna kill it?” Bosyak snorts. “Funny thing about circles,” he says, drawing one with his finger in the air. “They come around.” Fuu-jii and Rai-jii look to Sharon. “Well”, Sharon speaks, “I am no Diviner God, but even I can read these leaves”, she clears her throat, “Penitent Local God helps suppress Titanic Incursion, goes MIA during altercation.” “Sound about right?” The ogres back off a few steps and confer in energetic whispers and increasingly enthusiastic and violent gestures. “Huh… didn’t see that one coming.” Strax says. “Wouldn’t mind if it’s two penitent gods going MIA though.” Sharon merely winks, and brings her index finger to her lips in a silent gesture. Fuu-jii and Rai-jii turn back to the other gods, then to Bosyak. Fuu-jii speaks: “Alright. Yeah, alright. You do us a solid and we’ll strike you off the list.” Bosyak stands from his rock, stretches his shoulders, shakes his head. He glances at Strax. “Strike as you see fit, killer.” He points at the ogres. “Interlopers, I name thee. And do you know we here on the Peak do to… mmmm... interlopers?” Buried deep underneath a bank of snow, The Leopard God's bloodshot eyes snap open for the first time in two hundred years. “Kill them all.”
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Dec 20, 2021 19:24
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quote:
- DP status: Bosyak: 8/8, 2/2 Mezidec: 1/8 Solene/Mona: 2/8 Sharon: 5/8 Fuu-jii: 7/8 Rai-jii: 7/8 The Leopard God: 8/8 Tectamus: 1/4 Bergeros: 1/4 Finibus: 0/4 Atom: 1/2
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Dec 20, 2021 19:25
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   Mezidec – On the bridge of the Voidborer with every mortal, every extant demigod and the Celestial Sisters DP: 1/8 > 0/8 Wounds: None There was no time for further delay. They had everyone. They had everything. Save the waste of deific power at the summit and the subsequent expenditure before the Titan. Mezidec held the far ends of the tunnels in potentia close in case two more needed saving, if they could be saved and wanted saving, but now it was time to bridge the gap between the mountains. The trail had been blazed by the Sisters, the aperture was wide open, now it was time for the first and last flight of the Voidborer. Mezidec invested his power into a Warp Tunnel, positive energy to the fore and negative to aft, to safely traverse the void. He took special care to ensure the Lyric Matrix was safely included within the effect, given Tectamus was there and the Kindly Shelter wasn't just called that for no reason. "Everyone, it is time. Give it all you've got." ooc: This is it. Still time for the tunnels in potentia if needed, but the Voidborer is getting underway. Mezidec is ensuring the warp tunnel manifolds protect the Lyric Matrix and Tectamus secured tightly in ventral attachment: As has long been established, he does not leave family hanging. 1 DP (Tunnels) for his contribution, 1 Hunger (Magnanimity) to save everyone, tapping up the Sisters, the Brothers and the Blesséd to contribute as well. AJ_Impy fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Dec 21, 2021 |
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Dec 20, 2021 21:02
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Mona and Solene – The Fortress of Dusk and Dawn DP: 2/8 > 0/8 Wounds: None One last thing to do before leaving. A part of the Sister's essence is imbued in the Fortress and while the Fortress cannot come with them, they cannot leave that part behind. Mona and Solene walk through the massive halls, hand in hand, thinking of their time on the mountains. They gently pass their hands across the scars in the walls, remnants of Bosyaks fury and the Sundering. Slowly they climb up to the tallest tower, and look down on the turrets and parapets of their home. Their old home. It is time to go. Together they stand and pull their own essence out of the stone of the Anti-Mountain. It has been laying dormant here since before Mona's birth, an eternity ago. The sister’s can quite remember why they laid it to rest here, nor can they recall what life was like before it. Slowly, as the energy flows towards the tower, they remember, she remembers. The tower glows bright as all the color, the light, the very shadows drain from the lower floors of the Fortress and when it finally dies down, the sisters are gone.  Astra - The Fortress of Dawn and Dusk In their place stands Astra, goddess of the sky. Her eyes are dark with shining pupils, her hair is fiery at the root and black as night at the tip. It has been a while since she last was whole. She holds out her hands, one is black as night, with shining stars drifting around right below the skin, the other is ever-burning, plasma arcing between the fingers. Astra dashes through the sky, fast as light, and in an instant she arrives on the Voidborer, a bright streak burned into the retinas of any observer. It will fade in an hour or so, there is no time to spare. “Let’s hope this works.” She says to Mezidec, in the same voice the Sisters used to share. Astra focuses and pours all the power of the sky into the Voidborer, the energy and speed of light, the shroud and discretion of dark secrets. She focuses her newly rediscovered Unity into the ship, surrounded by her brother, her child, the mortals she has pointed onto this way. This is all-in. Sounds very impressive, sadly I only have 2 DP left, so spending 2 (all domains) and 1 HP for security. Fathis Munk fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Dec 23, 2021 |
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Dec 21, 2021 19:32
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atom Antonidas surveyed the scene as Kariarchus was rushed out of the Split, carried by crew and extended family, and hauled towards whatever hospital facility the Voidborer posesses, after the effort of an intense couple hours filled with close and closer calls. Almost too much so for the ancient elder. He feels more than sees a spill of spirits rushing out the bay doors and into the tunnel-hallways of the Voidborer. More remain on the Split marveling they can yet touch it, while a large crowd of freeboaters, still dazedly getting their bearings, exits as well, praising good fortune or cursing lost vessels. At this point they'd lost almost everything - except their lives. Atom grinned. Which meant they'd be mostly fine - his people were a hardy breed. Mezidec posted:"Everyone, it is time. Give it all you've got." Atom snorted as the command rung through his head. Kariarchus was down for the count, maybe for good, so that left him as far as the mortals went. "Ye sure? Could hang out fer a bit, watch th' show from afar, see how it pans out." "Cap! Whale." "Stop bringin' that drat thing up, I was jest sayin'!" ---- With a superhuman effort of will, Kariarchus lifted his head and turned it to gaze towards the Split's bridge, in Atom's direction, even as he was being carried off. The captain can be seen leaping across the deck, as divine energies were coalescing all around the Voidborer. "Nonce or never. We shan't be freed - or shall we?" he muttered into his grand-nephew's ears, then began to focus, one last time, on what he wanted to find most of all. ---- With impressive hustle, Atom made his way to the bow of the great ship, where the makeshift version of the Split - cast in processed Wave Rake flinders - still rested. It felt hot to the touch when he grabbed it, but he couldn't question whether that was good or bad, or just was. Too little time left to wonder and ponder and question whether he'd made the right moves. "Arrigh', feck it. Let's go." The mortal reached for a guttering divine spark, his respite against time so well-spent in salvaging others', and poured it all in, feeling everything drain away to a point . 1 DP is spent to tap into the void-breaking effort of the Wave Rake shard to aid the interdimensional journey. Scribbleykins fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Dec 21, 2021 |
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Dec 21, 2021 20:43
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 The Voidborer is ready. The Mountain is open. The way is clear. A final molten star marks the exact point the ship where must breach the veil for a smooth and swift escape. All it needs is power. Astra can provide power. All the light in the sky is unleashed at once in a single direction. For an instant, it turns the Voidborer’s dock into a kaleidoscopic cauldron—and then the ship is away, swooping like a firebird down from the Mountain and through the hole in the world. Mezidec sits at the centre of the bridge, flanked by Bergeros as navigator and Atom as pilot; far below, Finibus works the engines with furious concentration, guiding the raw power that Astra pours through the vessel’s veins. Further still, Tectamus cradles the Lyric Matrix as an inhuman web of stone. Nomads rub shoulders with Unionists rub shoulders with Concordians rub shoulders with Sab-surans in the holds while the freeboaters and lost souls look on from the decks of the Split; the crisis makes for uneasy bedfellows, but it’s not too hard for them to find peace in the face of certain death they're fleeing from. The prow carves a path through the void beyond void, and the statuary that adorns it glows red-, then white-hot with stubborn fury. Tectamus follows close in the Lyric Matrix, hanging low and burning like magma. Where it passes, the void beyond void is reduced to an inconceivable froth. Things that live in the deepest depths, things that cannot be, feel its passing, but cannot see, for Astra’s command of the night blinds them to the void-ark. The golem-god and his creation are safe. Everyone is safe. The Voidborer is free of this dying old world, and it carries its people, light, and communion toward the new. OOC: Escape: 7d6k1+5d6k1 12 vs target 11. Domain: 24, Hunger: 22. No Consequence. The Voidborer makes its escape with everyone safely on board and everything safely stowed, and Tectamus and the Lyric Matrix are protected from the depths of the void beyond void. As discussed in the discord, all the characters involved are contributing all remaining DP, and all the gods and demigods (except Tectamus) are contributing 1 Hunger die). - DP status: Bosyak: 8/8, 2/2 Sharon: 5/8 Fuu-jii: 7/8 Rai-jii: 7/8 The Leopard God: 8/8 UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Dec 23, 2021 |
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Dec 21, 2021 21:57
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 The Leopard God bursts from beneath the drift and the gentle snowfall snaps to a raging, laughing, screaming blizzard. This is not the Yeshi that Sharon and Bosyak once knew—this is something new. She is the snow haze that slips through fingers, she is the teeth of the Mountain, and there is no mercy to be found in her maw. The storm descends on the ogres, and Bosyak with her, and the Mountain quakes and shivers. Fuu-jii still has a somewhat drunken grin on his face when the two Gods of the Peak attack. His head turns towards the explosion behind him but not fast enough to catch the Leopard God's claws before they sink into him. She latches onto his shoulders and bites down as is her way, laughing, screaming, crying. Bosyak moves in cold silence, no roar or bray or snort, just quiet determination, pummeling fists flying at the ogre, each with the force of an avalanche. Bosyak circles and swings as the ogre tries to tear The Leopard God off of him. Broken teeth and red blood splatter across the empty white snow. Rai-jii strikes the beast’s jaw and though she’s unhurt, the impact is enough to jolt her off of the other ogre’s shoulders. Fuu-jii beats a hasty retreat from the Peak, leaving a trail of blood and swiftly-disappearing footprints. “poo poo”, Sharon remarked as she closed ranks with Rai-jii to allow for Fuu to lay off, “Didn’t think the guy had it in him to spring an ambush. Guess I’ll owe you two for that one”, she nodded at the Leopard, “We’ll take the Leopard. Not much of a will left in there anymore, I don’t think. Just animal rage.” Strax looks at his jailers get attacked and bloodied, and for a brief moment, considers actually joining the old yak’s side. He didn’t particularly like any of the Bureaucracy’s servants. “An actual choice to make, God of the Peak. Thanks for that.” He says. And then, his blade rises, and he rushes forward, his bloody patricidal blade driving right for Bosyak’s back. “But as you said. My wardens are trespassing on your land, and betraying their masters. And I am the Traitor’s Friend.” There is a great rumble as the Voidborer takes off. Bosyak pauses, looks up, watches, thinks, A debt paid. There is the hint of a smile on his face when the blade drives through him. He looks down and sees it pointing through his chest. He coughs blood. "Poor, poor killer," he murmurs, poking at it with his finger. "Pitiful slave. The shackles are in your… mmmm… mind." Rai-jii is quick to charge The Leopard God, and the two start to battle and wrestle for supremacy, shattering hills, parting whole fields of snow, but it is soon enough clear that Rai-jii, with his millennia of experience, is getting the upper hand. Not enough to get in a decisive blow, but enough to pin his foe down long enough for Sharon to step in. And as she looks down upon The Leopard God, what she sees is that same messy tangle that Yeshi had been trapped in for so long. It might have coalesced into this thing, but it’s still fundamentally the same. And tangles were no issue, as long as you could see where to cut. A single swing of a scythe, cutting through divine essence, seeking for a key strand of being. Something fundamental snaps. OOC: One round of attack and defence each. Bosyak and The Leopard God ambush Fuu-jii, who suffers 2 Wounds and receives a little late help from Rai-jii. Fuu-jii escapes while Sharon and Rai-jii attack The Leopard God, inflicting 1 Wound, and Strax attacks Bosyak, inflicting 1 Wound. The Mountain suffers the strain of many Consequences. - DP status: Bosyak: 3/8, 2/2 ----- (-5 for combat) Sharon: 2/8 ----- (-3 for combat) Fuu-jii: 3/8 ----- (-4 for combat) Rai-jii: 3/8 ----- (-4 for combat) The Leopard God: 3/8 ----- (-5 for combat) UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Dec 22, 2021 |
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Dec 22, 2021 07:51
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“You know nothing of shackles. Or about me.” Strax growls, and twists the blade viciously inside Bosyak. “This? This is me making a free choice. Because this whole thing, choosing to fight when peace was on the table even if the world burns? It’s way too familiar to me.” Strax then pulled the blade out and raised it for another strike, lips curling in an enraged snarl. “And I hate you for it.” Bosyak grunts and falls to one knee. He places a hand over the wound, his blood warm between his fingers, even in the frigid cold of the Nomadlands. Another God might have perhaps taken the moment to wax poetic on their similarities, their histories, their servitude. Or debate over some philosophical sense of what is right and what is wrong. Or argue over the folly of trying to kill a Titan so powerful that death was a choice and return an inconvenience. But Bosyak simply snorts and says, “Sure.” Because he gets it. The deep-seated need to fulfil a duty. The inescapable pull of one’s nature. Killer. Executioner-Convict. Sad, shackled servant. What could be more offensive to Hearth & Hospitality than forced servitude? Slavery was not recompense. If Strax’s “crimes” were beyond redemption then he should have been ended. But Bosyak had to question to the validity of any conviction made by the Celestial Bureaucracy – those same faceless beings who so casually called for the deaths of Mezidec, Solene, Mona, whose only crime was proximity to the God of the Peak. And then there was Sharon. Who called him friend. Who, upon proposal of his willing slaughter, protested not. Who argued, in fact, that he should place his head upon the block. Bosyak grits his teeth and charges horn-first towards Rai-jii. Each step a trembling quake and great glaciers calve from the Mountain and turn to dust as they fall to the Titan’s stump. Rai-jii and The Leopard God continue their struggle, great Mountain-shattering blows being traded from one side to the other, yet for now, neither manages to come on top. As for Bosyak, he finds his charge suddenly interrupted, and his World upside down, as something thin and solid finds itself between his feet to trip him up. Sharon looks down upon him as he lies in the snow, her scythe-blade arcing above her head akin to a halo. She looks sad, and tired. “No-one here wished for blood but you, Bosyak. Yet it is us who you call killers”, she turned her head, and looked upon the struggle between Rai-jii and The Leopard God briefly, before turning back, “It is true that they came here with a list of executions. It is also true that they listened to me, as their friend, to whittle it down to nothing so that nobody would have to die. Even if it would get them to trouble later on, they chose to listen to me. To trust me. That things would work out.” “Yet you chose to spit on all of it. I never asked you to trust them. Or trust the Bureaucracy. I only ever asked you to trust me. Like I trusted you. Yet it seems, that at the first sign of hardship, you would elect to drive a dagger in my back instead.” She is silent but for a moment. “It is my wish that this is a mere misunderstanding of Divine proportion. It is my wish that is not the kind of being you truly are.” “Please tell me that you aren’t.” Bosyak looked up at her with red, hazy eyes. “You know what I am.” “A stubborn old Yak?” Sharon sighs, but in a less heavy manner than before, “If there is a cause for this pointless bloodshed, it would have to be the fact that you finally met your match on that front with the Brothers Jii-Jii.” “Yet they were willing to bend, in the end. Why not you? Much pointless pain could have been avoided.” How could he explain himself to one who would not, could not understand? The ogres were as unpredictable and untrustworthy as the wind. They would bend now. But in a hundred years? Two hundred? After they were drunk and feeling boastful? No. “Nothing is… mmmm… pointless.” He looked past her, at the dying sky, at the birds soaring above them between the limbs of ֍. In another time, his body would have been a good meal for them. One last gift to the Mountain. Beyond his sight, somewhere distant and increasingly further with each passing moment, the Voidborer traversed the expanse to freedom. “Shame about the birds. Beloved, they were, by the Sisters.” And in Titanic death or rebirth, they would all be gone. As would the Mountain. As soon would he. Bosyak had paid his debts. Sharon looks at the birds herself, too. They were beautiful birds. “Yeah”, she merely says. “...Maybe it makes sense why it is so hard for us to understand each other”, she continues after a short while, “Because in the Halls, like a good three quarters of everything they make us do is utterly, completely pointless. And it is that World we’ve had to learn and navigate.” She turned, and started to walk towards the battle raging downhill. “But hopefully you can still understand when I say: don’t get yourself killed, Old Friend.” Rai-jii and The Leopard God seem evenly matched in their brawling and clawing. Neither gains the upper hand, and so, Rai-jii decides he will have to fight properly. He assumes the knife-palm martial stance and drives his hand through The Leopard God’s ribcage, where it’s answered by a claw of lightning from the black sky that tears her away and into the mountainside, laughing and crying and raging. The snow haze fades, the blizzard weakens, the beast is vulnerable. Sharon walks with an even clip, not an ounce of hurry in her pace, though she crosses wide swathes with a single step, until she happens upon the wounded form of The Leopard God. Her eyes are closed. This was a matter more for intuition than sight. The battle had unraveled its form. Sharon could see it now. The central knot at the heart of this chaotic edifice of Divine Being. Another singular swing. And though Bosyak casts the locks of Solene and Mona to protect his ally, the reaper slices right through the light of the sun and the ink of the night. The knot is cut. A God is no more. “Brother Yak!”, cries out an echo of a voice, already long since passed. Strax has gone through many executions. Wielding his blade with grim purpose, driven by the manacles. But this time, the Brothers would notice that it is different. Even with the manacles still containing him, binding him, his nature, his violent, destructive self is slipping the leash. The talk of dying birds only drives his rage higher. “DIE THEN!” He says, the sword hacking away at the god. Blood clings to him in ways than are more happenstance. His mouth in a snarl baring teeth, his heated breaths forming clouds. No execution was this. No clean kill. Not the performing of duties. This was the violence that had damned Strax’ world. Violence in all its destructive ugliness made manifest. The manacles had to do little to drive him onward. Their main purpose now to contain it to the target. OOC: Another round of attack and defence each. Bosyak and The Leopard God attack Rai-jii, who just about fends them off with some assistance from Sharon. Rai-jii and Sharon attack The Leopard God, inflicting a further 2 Wounds that kill her, and Strax attacks Bosyak again, inflicting a second Wound. The Mountain suffers the strain of many Consequences. - DP status: Bosyak: 0/8, 0/2 ----- (-3 for combat, -2 special for combat) Sharon: 0/8 ----- (-2 for combat) Fuu-jii: 3/8 Rai-jii: 0/8 ----- (-3 for combat)
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Dec 22, 2021 20:58
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. . . Beneath him, a wounded heap of bloody fur. The snow steaming from where it had splattered around them. Half-blind and gasping his final breaths, the God of the Peak reached up with a weak, trembling hand and touched one of Strax's shackles. "Let me… mmmm… mm… help you with that… killer." Bosyak's head rolled to the side. The pain he felt was two-fold. Physical, yes. But spiritual, philosophical, as well. The Old Ways had led to his destruction. These… New Ways, though, this violence, this forced servitude, was little better. His vision was blurry but he could just make out the dry riverbed. The pathway to the Celestial Bureaucracy. Perhaps No Ways would be best, after all. "I may need…" Bosyak whispered, "...some assistance…" With a grunt, he turned his head towards the broken shrine. Sharon and Rai-Jii standing triumphant over the broken body of the Leopard. With what little he had left, he tried to fix it and welcome oblivion. There would be no slaves, no duty, no wretched freezing loneliness. If the Titan made it down the river, perhaps no Celestial Bureaucracy, either. It was a noble effort, but in the end, he lacked the strength. Bosyak sank into the snow, surrounded, with an Ogre on either side and Sharon and Strax standing in front of him. It was their final confrontation. Sharon’s expression was a mix that was difficult to read. There was sadness there, and resignation. But behind all that a spark of will still remained. “...Well, I guess this is it”, she glanced at Strax, “I have no power to stop you from doing what you will to him, at this point.” “But you will have to decide on your line of action soon, because”, she pointed her hand at Bosyak, visualising the Tunnel In Potentia he still had. She balled her hand into a fist, and then opened it again, bursting the edifice open, “In a few more moments, this sad, stubborn old man is going home.” Strax raised his blade. “You fool! Blind fool! Your blind violence might have doomed countless lives! I hate you! I loving hate you! You deserve death! I don’t care about no stupid writ of execution! Getting your throat cut is what you’ve got coming!” The blade came down, and struck Bosyak at the horn, to strike the tip but no lethal blow. “Buf if you can’t get redemption…then neither can I.” He turned away. “Get him out of here.” The servants of the Bureaucracy grew distant as space folded upon Bosyak. And then, only darkness, though a few last words echoed even then. “I will think about what you have told me. And perhaps then, if in a thousand years we will meet again, we will finally understand one another.” “This is my earnest wish.” “Goodbye, Old Friend.” Back on the Mountain, Sharon smiled, ever so faintly. “...Good choice.” OOC: Gravely wounded, Bosyak tries and fails to fix the Final Waystation. The gods of the Bureaucracy have their shot, but Strax chooses to let Bosyak go for his own reasons, and Sharon uses Bosyak’s tunnel-in-potentia from Mezidec to send Bosyak to the new Mountain. - DP status: Sharon: 0/8 Fuu-jii: 0/8 Rai-jii: 0/8
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Dec 22, 2021 22:01
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Rai-jii crudely bandaged the last of Fuu-jii’s wounds. “So much for the warm-up, huh. Still, it got the blood pumping.” “Pumping alright!” Fuu-jii retorts. “What a mess. And we’ve still got the big bastard to go. You all ready?” Strax cracked his neck. “Well I intend to die a free god. So I guess I’ll just have to survive this.” Sharon tapped the handle of her scythe with her fingers as she stared at the approaching Titan, “Yeah… sorry about having dragged you into this utter mess of an operation. But at least if we suppress this Titan… adequately enough, we can probably slide the fact that both an important target God and the Convict managed to go MIA in the struggle through the brass.” She scratched her neck awkwardly, “Still, drinks on me for a couple hundred years at least, huh?” Fuu-jii looked up with a crooked smile and a spark in his eye. “What do you mean, Shaz? They all died. Every last one. Ain’t that right?” The ogres cracked their knuckles and rolled their necks. Their strength could—and had—crushed mountains. Sharon cackled, “Huh, yeah, I guess that’s right. And if they ever learn different, well, let that be a lesson not to put me in charge of the paperwork again~” “Now”, she lifted her scythe, “Let’s do this, yeah?” Sword and scythe and thunder and lightning rained down on the Mountain. THIS IS THE DAY THE WORLD DIED
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Dec 22, 2021 22:37
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Now we begin the epilogues. Here are the rules:
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Dec 22, 2021 22:38
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The Mountain GodsTyrannosaurus posted:
AJ_Impy posted:
Fathis Munk posted:
Other Known Powers of the Mountain UnCO3 posted:
UnCO3 posted:
UnCO3 posted:
Scribbleykins posted:
Outsiders Theantero posted:
UnCO3 posted:
UnCO3 posted:
UnCO3 posted:
Shogeton posted:
UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Dec 23, 2021 |
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Dec 22, 2021 23:15
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Astra - The new Mountain Before Astra even sets foot on the new Mountain, she takes off and makes sure to weave a new firmament, strong and thick. A new shell to keep the Mountain safe from what lurks beyond, from the Void. This firmament will be her new home and in time it will fill itself. Astra has learned much over the last Ages, about mortals, gods and other things. If the new Mountain is to be safe and beyond notice of the Celestials, the souls of the dead will have to be taken care of. The new firmament will be their home, they will accompany Astra on her eternal voyage. The souls will be the new stars of this place and slowly move along the Celestial Path until they are ready for rebirth. She will walk with them, talk to them, learn what they know. Astra will not walk the surface of the Mountain, not yet. There will be time enough later, once the mortals and the other Gods have settled. For now she is happy to watch from above, in the company of her stars. She will be watching, inwards and outwards, making sure that the new Mountain is safe.
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Dec 23, 2021 17:09
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Sharon – The Halls of Judgment, Jade Palace, Personal Quarters Wing Within the hierarchy of the Bureaucracy, the Yama were considered very high class, and often thought of second only to the Celestials themselves. And unlike the Celestials, they tended to be generally well regarded due to actually having boots on the ground and occasionally bothering to get their hands dirty. With such prestige came a degree of luxury, and the Jade Palace where the Yama lived and spent most of their time off-duty was indeed filled with unearthly beauty. The architecture would have been alien and inscrutable to mortals and even outsider Gods in design and scale, but every bit of the grand, lavish halls and intricately carved pillarworks made it very clear that these were the abodes of people Greater Than You. Deep within the Palace, there was an area whereupon one could find many doors, placed in a formation that was definitely orderly, but not in any way that was immediately obvious. None of the doors were identical, all were personalized to a degree, both in terms of images carved upon them and the materials they were composed of. One of the doors was built of jade, gold and alabaster. Upon it were engraved great histories of gods and mortals, following a river from top down into an an hourglass, whereupon they were all shattered to sand, pooling at the bottom of the door in a uniform pile. It was an exquisite piece of art. Sharon promptly kicked it open, wearing a party hat and pink shades, a barrel under her arm and a box filled with bottles under the other. "BOOZE DELIVERY!" she yelled, to raucous cheer from most of those gathered, set the box down on a nearby table, and tossed the barrel to Fuu-jii on the other side of the room. She took one of the bottles, removed the cork with her teeth, and sauntered over to a woman in the middle of the room. She threw her arm around her shoulders and filled both of their glasses to the brim. "Congrats again, Julie-boo~", Sharon said with a laugh, "Even got your old digs back!"  Sharon – The Halls of Judgment, Jade Palace, Personal Quarters Wing, A Big Ol' (Re-)Graduation Party with Julia & the gang "Yes, thank you again", Julia was also wearing a party hat, but wasn't quite pulling it off with the grace Sharon was. Or perhaps she was pulling it off with too much grace, and that was the actual issue at hand, "I've been off for too long. Even with all the drudgery it involves, I've started to miss work somewhat." "Yeah, I'm sure you have", Sharon took a big gulp from her glass, "BETTING POOL: How many Ages until she eats those words? I'm going with... three, max." There was laughter. "So", Julia continued after it died down, though Sharon could see she was smirking a bit herself, "How has your own work been going?" "Oh, pfft, same old, same old", Sharon spoke with an almost dismissive tone, "Watched over this new guy on his first job. He's a bit stiff still, but when he went on this whole temple breaking mode after a local God of Glory tried to corrupt the clergy, I decided that he's probably a good kid deep down." "Other than that, not a whole lot-", "Just like how Shaz likes it", Sharon snorted, "Shut", then she shrugged, "Though not incorrect. Higher-ups are still trying to get me into the Executioner program due to what happened with the Titan suppression a while back, and I'm kinda running out of new ways to tell them off. We should brainstorm some day, I don't want to re-run my materials." "I guess we should", Julia laughed, "That is not a line of work that would suit you at all." "Right you are", Sharon pat Julia's shoulders, "But anyways, I'm handing you over to the rest of these pestermites now. The bros are challenging me to a kegger and this time I will definitely win~" ------------- Sharon – The Halls of Judgment, Jade Palace, Personal Quarters Wing, Party Aftermath with Julia Sharon opened her eyes, and stared at the ceiling. It was dark. She groaned. "You didn't win", Julia spoke matter-of-factly. She was sitting off to the side, reading some obscure text or another by lamplight, "But at least you return to us, at long last." Sharon was about to to clap back, but instead, all she managed to do was groan again and hold her head. For a moment she was like this, but eventually she spoke again. "Hey Julia", she said, "What do you think of like... the Bureaucracy?" "What I think is that you're still clearly drunk. Go get some sleep, Sharon." "No but like, really", Sharon clambered up into a sitting position, "What do you think of it? What's your opinion." Julia sighed, furled in the scroll she was inspecting, carefully put it back into its case, and turned on her seat to face Sharon. "What do I think of it? Not a whole lot. The Celestial Bureaucracy is a fact of being. As far as anybody knows, it might as well be another ontological facet of reality itself, akin to Chaotic Space. It is vastly old, nobody can recall a time before. It is vastly mighty, I have difficulty seeing it ever being broken. I see little benefit in having opinions about such things." "Yeaaah", Sharon nodded slowly, "But what if it like, wasn't any of those things?" "You seem fixated on this, Sharon." "Ye, I think it's important." Julia sighed, and cast her eyes to the side, "Well, if it wasn't any of the things that it clearly is", she was quiet for a bit, "I suppose I would consider it... an organization doing an... adequate job of managing hamartial stresses in local space? With a bad habit of occasionally overstepping its boundaries and engaging in overtly sweeping enforcement of its own rulings." Sharon smiled sadly, "That's just another description, Julia. I wanted to know your opinion." "It just feels like you're getting overly sentimental again, Sharon. You always do when you're drunk. And it also feels like you're trying to drive me towards some particular conclusion." "Yeah", Sharon said, "It's just, I was wondering that if things ever get... confusing on that front, where you would stand in all of that, you know?" For a while, Julia was silent. Then she sighed, and spoke with a faint smile, "Confusing times are times of intuition, Sharon. And I have always trusted yours, have I not?" "Haha. I suppose you have, Julie-boo~" Julia sighed again, and nodded. "Now, go get some sleep, before I drive you out." ------------- Sharon – The Halls of Judgment, Auxilia Quarters Sharon was shambling through the Halls to her own (notably less luxurious) quarters. She dug around her pockets for something, and pulled out a brooch of gold-framed amber. Polished and see-through, there was a single whisker of a yak sealed within. For a moment she looked at it, as if to reaffirm something with herself, before putting it back in her pocket, and continuing on her way. Theantero fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 23, 2021 18:44
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Mezidec - The Mountain Mezidec had poured out his domain of wealth in its entirety to become the new Mountain, thus it was that when the Voidborer landed, the Mountain became his domain. The Voidborer itself landed in a berth that shaped itself to fit as it arrived, setting down and, over time, becoming the city of New Concordia, extending above and below the surface, a bright and shining capital for the new world. A place of progress and plenty, freedom and advancement. Old boundaries between surface and within had broken down, with the freedom to seek your fortune enshrined in Mezidec’s law. Mezidec worked with his Demigod progeny, both those that had made the voyage and future creations, always with an eye to a prosperous present and a better future. He supported their creative endeavours and personal projects alike, a de facto benevolent theocracy over an otherwise egalitarian society. Mezidec oversaw all from within the mountain, and not merely just its heart from here on in, with morphic control over the land he had created.
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Dec 24, 2021 00:23
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Strax - Some River On one of the many rivers that souls were meant to use to get to their destination paddled a single figure, bloodied and bruised, his wrists showing raw marks were manacles had been. He was sitting on a piece of driftwood, and using a two handed sword to paddle. On his shoulder sat the bird he' had fed. He was not supposed to be here. He was not supposed to go this way. But Strax was not one to respect boundaries. The bird, as it did, flew up for a few moments, then made a quick 'caw' sound. The warning that a Reaper was coming this way. Not a reaper from the world he just left. A Reaper from another world. From the one upstream this river that he had chosen at random. Strax gripped his sword. Beaten, bruised, weakened as he was, a Reaper was well within his ability to handle. One less servant of the Bureaucracy. Earlier. "You're welcome you know." Sharon had said as Strax rubbed his wrists, now free. He had been even worse off than he was now. Near death, just like his two wardens. Strax had looked at her. "You expect me to thank you for not taking a slave back to his keepers?" he took a deep breath. "So, you're going back, I suppose huh?" After confirmation he gave her a long look. "I despise them. Your bureaucracy. For what they did to me. For how they declare themselves the authority of god and mortal alike. But... I can't destroy them. Not yet. Not till I make sure that there'll be something standing after I finish." Bold words from a god who had been barely standing. That it was moral duty, rather than power that kept him from destroying the bureaucracy. "I'll go and search. I won't be able to build something on my own. I don't build. I cut. But when we built something. I'll be coming for the Bureaucracy. And I will come to cut." he looked at them. "I don't do debts. I don't do bonds. I hope... that when I come to cut, you won't be working for them then." Strax scowled, and jumped in the water, hiding under the piece of wood. The bird sitting on it, watching the Reaper go by. Tapping with its beak on the wood when the coast was clear, the swordsman unveiled himself. To destroy the reaper was to invite investigation in him. He had to lay low for a while. Build himself up. Find allies. Freedom. You couldn't reach freedom with only violence. And violence was what he was about. And then, he heard the cries. Following them, he came out of the river, and into a world he didn't know the name. He saw goblins. Small green creature in a cage, collars around their neck, brands on their shoulder. Elven guards watched them with cold contempt in their eyes. The goblins cried out, cried out for anyone to help them. To free them. Strax scowled and raised his blade. But you could not reach freedom without violence. And so, he answered some prayers. Shogeton fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Dec 24, 2021 |
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Dec 24, 2021 01:49
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atom the newly minted bearer of a second divine commission - to scour the Void for signs of Hunger, Celestials or anything else of interest that the gods might have missed on their first pass - sighed as he trudged along a mainfare tunnel leading out of New Concordia, which day by day was starting to become a great city, beginning on its path to rival - or overcome - the city of the old name. He sighed because he'd seen a small crowd of his crew, milling ahead close to some large figure blocking their path, and sadly, the Captain knew all too well who - or what - it'd be. He scrunched his great bearded face in mild disgust at the rank odor of alcohol, sweat, blood and yak as he joined his crew by the rumbling, snoring body. "Maybe if we get some winches we can roll the big gently caress over?" suggested Scrimr-sha, the carpenter expertly peeling a potato with a carving knife, which he then passed to Bo-sum who grumbled and inserted her fifth, cheeks bulging. A bet over managing to shift the fallen divine. Atom gave the two of them a long-suffering look. "I'll handle it. Oy, ye big lout! Folks been worried fer ye. About ye. Off ye. And yer blockin' our main thoroughfare outta here an' - NO OFFENSE MEZIDEC - I don't want t' see another drat tunnel fer a month at th' least. I'm no' goin' th' long way around, so would ye mind terribly gettin' up and outta folk's way?" "...mmmm..." "Think he's still out o' it, Cap. How does a God get blind drunk on Sharys? Ain't exactly hard liquor t' begin with, I'd suggest at least tryin-" offered a ruddy-faced crewmember, while kicking at the collection of skins and bottles that surrounded the divine - some appropriated Nomad's hoard or perhaps just the divine’s own creations. "By wantin' it hard enough, Hich," said Atom, tersely cutting the other sailor off. "Now this fella here needs a gentle touch, not drinkin' advice from a fellow alcoholic. Like so." The onlookers winced as Atom took a running start and shoulder-checked the face-down body of Bosyak, God of the Peak, with a thunderclap-like impact. The empowered mortal's push was sufficient - barely - to roll the great being over, eyes squinting in the sudden glare of Astra's new sun peeking into the tunnel entrance. Rather than squeeze past the now partially-cleared passageway, Atom paused to consider, then instead hopped up on the prone divine's chest, avoiding the stab-wound covered in starstuff-woven bandages and still-red stains. He peered down at the devastated, grumpy face that stared back up. "Reckon I don't know much about the Old Ways," Atom said and rooted through his jacket, pulling out an engrammed silver bottle. "But I picked up ye start with sharing stuff an' repaying favors. Let's go from there." The Captain poured his bottle over the divinity's face-snoot, letting it splash into fur and nostril as much as lolling mouth, letting the feel and taste of it saturate the divine's features. This wasn't grog - just pure, cold refreshing Mountain water - meltwater. Not this Mountain's - the last's. Precious drops, in a way. Bosyak closed his eyes and drank deep. "That's one. This heartfelt advice makes two: I've seen folks flounder like this before, ye know. They weren't gods, mind. Mostly they were jest too stubborn by half. And th' thing is - they didn't just hurt themselves. They hurt their friends. Family. Strangers. And then they hurt themselves s'more, because there's no defendin' what they'd done, yet no admittin' they were wrong. That's ye right now. And th'-" "Off," grumbled the divine, face dripping, weight shifting as he rolled to his side. Somehow Atom kept his feet - he'd been on stormier seas. "-th' thing was, tweren't like it was only their fault. Oft 'twas bad upbringing, or a lack th' same. Ended up bein' a chip off th' ol' block or with a chip on their shoulders due t' it. An' if I'm any judge, Hunger was a right ol' prick-agh" Atom yelped as Brother Yak, trembling with self-inflicted misery, summoned the strength to seize him in one big hand. A strained smile broke through Atom's beard as bones creaked and his sailors froze in worry or fright. "We see it e'ery so often. Some fellow fucks off on a boat, rather than stayin' a dad. May as well have been dead to 'em. E'en th' best sailors that do that carry it in them - that when it mattered, they didn't give a poo poo, or worse - an' just left a little piece o' themselves t' be, to fester or grow without 'em. Hunger didn't really give a poo poo, did he? Couldn't. Wasn't what he was all about. His biggest contribution was removing himself, an' aye, there can be worth in that, but nothin' owed. Never. But them's left can still care, still hurt. Some lone child, th' one with a missin' da, th' one what had no idea what this all e'en could be, an' had t' raise themselves, figure out their own ways, with th' pieces what was behind. The Old Ways." Atom grunted at the still-increased force, but added pressure within to the pressure without. "Funny, innit, how that works? Old Ways. Do unto others as ye'd have done unto yerself. Eye fer an eye. What goes around comes around. I've read a lot o' scripture an' best I can tell it's stuff for children writ large, no offense t' th' Nomads or anythin', cuz we are children, all o' us, ain't we? Were there o'ers? Did ye e'er fight o'er it? Do ye want t' talk about it? That'd be three, by th' way, if ye accept." "I do not." "Well, ye can blame a man fer tryin', but it weren't in ill faith. Yer just... so lucky, ye ken? Luckier than e'en me, an' I'm startin' t' think Astra put up a special star fer me somewhere... ach, hope it's not Kariarchus. That feller deserves some rest... point is, ye can't go on bein' a sourtopus jest cos ye lived. That might be th' best thing t' come o' it, whether ye think so or not. Ye've got a shot at somethin' else, somethin' our ol' granpoppy didn't make o' ye, and now can't. Don't waste it on what's already o'er, don't waste it on what ye hosed up on th' way, unless it's t' make yer amends, and only then if those amends don't make things worse. Yer free, like all o' us, t' do what ye will, and ye will. But - th' thing is, th' thing with yer type - is it only sucks cos yer makin' it so." Bosyak let go. He covered his face with one hand and groaned. “You… mmmm... like to talk.” Atom fell to his feet, but caught himself, breathing deeply, before looking up and gazing into the divine’s eye. "So I’m told. Now, I 'preciate yer kindness, but ye really should crank back on th' whole-" "CAP!" "Righ'. Well, see ye around then, Bos. If I e'er find Sharon out there, I'll tell her ye says hi. Hah! Now that's three." Bosyak’s bloodshot eyes snapped open. He used his elbows to force himself to sit up. “Wait,” he said. “If you see a Reaper, little god, run. They want to kill us all. Fair well against them, I did not. Stronger than you, I am.” His ears twitched. “I have… mmmm... work to do…” He didn’t really even hear Atom’s response. Something about truths with modifications, not being a god and weren’t the God of the Peak and Sharon friends? Chummy. He didn’t realize he was reacting either. All the same, in one quick motion he grabbed the little god and hurled him into the distance. And as Bosyak stood there, seething, grinding his teeth, clenching and unclenching his fists, it occurred to him that that was, perhaps, an overreaction. He stood up and squinted. He could see the upturned dirt from where Atom had made his own mini-tunnel. He shook his head and sighed. “Grateful, I am, for the water.” He paused. “And the talk.” Another pause. “Recompense is yours should you seek it.” And with that he began a long, slow trod towards the heart of the new mountain. --- His crew dug Atom out of the ditch he'd furrowed where he'd landed far outside the tunnel. Scrimr-sha gave the heavily bruised man the most incredulous look of his long career, which almost made the whole thing worth it on its own. "Captain, and I say this with the sincerest respect for you and all your bullshitting masterpieces: what the flyin' gently caress was that." "Getting a few straight answers from th' supposedly most reticent god o' the old Mountain, looks like. Wonder if I should've gone with Bosyak first, if he'd be that easy t' read." "Easy to- No... that's it. Lads and lasses, I propose next we've a chance we dunk this crazy bastard in the nearest sea - or the Void if it comes to it. All in favor?" "AYE!" "Reckon so." "Definitely." "Dippy time." "Mghpgh." "I'll schedule th' mutiny fer an appropriate day. Now come on, we're late, th' Split be waitin...' an' I don't want t' get caught up in a brewin' snowstorm or somethin' when we set flight." --- There are few tales as strange and meandering as those concerning the Void Voyager, the Captain of the Soul, Atom Antonidas, particularly those concerning his origins and the Mountains. But they all have a point.
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Dec 28, 2021 16:22
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Bosyak, surprisingly, lived. And on a new mountain, he sat on a new rock. But while there was a new peak but he did not claim it. While there were nomads, he did not claim them. He was quiet and still, unmoving save for the occasional sucking on a small stone he kept in his mouth. He offered assistance to Mezidec and Astra when requested. Counsel, when asked. He created many children, demigods. He gave neither defense nor explanation for his actions. Rumors of him grew and died as mortals did. He was an evil thing, chained into service by mighty Mezidec. A hero god, who, at great cost, defended their escape against overwhelming odds. A benevolent watcher. A protector of the home. A powderkeg. Whatever storms were in his mind, he kept them there. And the surface of the new mountain became a pleasant place to be. Bosyak tended to the rivers with gentle rains, nurturing farmlands and grazing pastures. Winters were bearable, easy. Summers, cool. Terrible things such a blizzards drifted into memory and, eventually, legend. Quietly, Bosyak sucked on his stone. It was from the old mountain. From the Titan. Perhaps the last remnant of it. There would be no second resurrection but... there was an awful lot of power in that little stone. More, if one was patient and willing to nurture it. And the former God of the Peak was one who made plans in centuries. He watched and he waited. He was very good at waiting. He knew this new mountain would not, could not be a secret forever. That the Celestial Bureaucracy would find them, on purpose or on accident, and deem them worthy of death. He knew that he fought, and lost, because he was outnumbered. He knew, staring out as his many children worked with the mortals, that that would never happen again. That there was power in the herd. One day, he would greet the Celestial Bureaucracy as interlopers. And he would kill them all.
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Dec 28, 2021 16:53
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Accularis the Solenic was right. If a god may cut a titan, then a man may cut god. Fortunately for the gods of the new Mountain, the Theosophists did not pursue this insight. Instead, the sects united, like their patron empyrean, and turned to study something new. Deeper secrets beckoned: truths about mortalkind, not the divine. In time, the constellations filled with these former stargazers. In time, the secrets of gods and mortals alike would not be enough, and the stars would turn their gaze out to the void. In time. - The Lyric Matrix vanished into the Mountain, and Tectamus with it. Extraordinarily few mortals had ever laid eyes upon it in the old world—just a handful after Jokanan the lost prospector—and the giant ball of rock they’d seen suspended from the Voidborer passed into legend again. He was no longer longer the Warden of the Antimountain, but instead the hidden curator of the most complex work of art to grace the new world. The few who found his Haven in the centuries thereafter returned to New Concordia with news that the demigod was working on something new even deeper than the Lyric Matrix—some sort of pitch-black pictogram-carven chamber made of concentric spheres of stone, lit only by Tectamus’ candle eyes. - No more tyrants. No more borders. That all meant no more diplomats. That meant Bergeros’ work was done—in some ways undone. The Warden of the Outer Slopes had nothing left to ward. ‘Chancellor of New Concordia’ was a far more rigid and central role than Bergeros had ever played, he who once only touched on mortal society from the outside, but he quickly adjusted to the position, and came to relish seeing the system work from within. Where his first-father was the all-seeing eye, he himself was the right hand of the City. - Few mortals knew where Finibus went after the settling of New Concordia. Their former responsibilities soon diffused among the many progeny of Mezidec. Even the gods had trouble picking them out from the crowd on the rare occasions they saw the former Warden of the Boundaries in the flesh. That suited Finibus just fine. There was a world to travel—at their own pace, this time—people to know, sensations to feel besides fatigue and frustration. And now and then, they’d come home and speak of what they’d seen. -  Deep within the Library of the Celestial Bureaucracy, a certain Lesser Celestial pored over decrepit scrollery in search of—of what, he did not know. All he knew was that he’d felt the disembodied gaze of something much like ֍ before, aeons ago... but he couldn’t remember when or where, and there were still so many secrets of the Bureaucracy hidden to him, being kept from him... and besides all that, so many more interesting things to learn about the subjects he adored, like astronomy and planar dynamics and theo-linguistics and... ...and this ‘Celestial’ disguise he wore was starting to wear thin, and his horns were starting to show. -  Deep within the Bureaucracy, further than most Celestials are ever allowed to go more than once or twice in a kalpa, there is an incalculably vast black chamber. In that chamber there is an unresurrected corpse of titanic proportions that gazes reverently upon the last unspoilt fragment of perfectly-ordered, crystalline Creation. All around sits the circular court of the Greater Celestials debating and orchestrating the Bureaucracy’s business across myriad worlds like a circus of buzzing flies. Together they are attended by an army of armies of servile, blindfolded Lesser Celestials. News ripples through, century by century. A convict has gone missing. There are inconsistencies in certain servitor spirit reports. Gods that ought to be dead may yet live. Dangerous words are whispered out of the earshot of these masters of the universe: Treachery? Incompetence? Rebellion? Unthinkable, of course—nobody could amass the power to challenge the Bureaucracy. And yet... it could not be entirely ignored. Not as the evidence began to mount, century by century, millennium by millennium. -  In the void where the Mountain once was? Nothing remains save the dream of a city, the shades of its people, and the bloody-mawed leopards who stalk its streets. ...And the demigod dream-shade of a nomad woman who notices for the first time, with shock and curiosity, that she and her children are not alone. - SO IT WAS, AND SO IT SHALL BE
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Dec 28, 2021 20:10
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. . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Dec 28, 2021 20:11
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fin The game is over! I have a bunch of stuff to post shortly, lists and thoughts and icons, but in the meantime, ask any questions to me or others or talk about the game or whatever:
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Dec 28, 2021 20:12
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To start with... ICONS Here are all the icons used in the game, plus a few unused icons! The original idea came from Dog Kisser’s game The Fragile Gods of Somewhere; I first used it myself in Five Centuries of Flux; and the icons for this game were made with Affinity Designer (though if Inkscape or similar has an emboss filter then you could easily make them in that too, probably). First, the mountain gods: Bosyak, Mezidec, Solene, Mona, and Astra Second, Mezidec’s children: Tectamus, Bergeros, and Finibus Third, Yeshi’s past and future:   Yeshi, dreaming Yeshi, The Leopard God, and Yeshi’s demigod dream-shade1 —— 1 demigod Yeshi was the original icon made by Tyrannosaurus before the Consequence of her becoming a god Fourth, the outsiders:  Sharon, Haniyu, scattered Haniyu, Strax, Fuu-jii, Rai-jii, and Lady Julia ?, Titan of ??? Fifth, assorted others great and small:  Temryak, Atom Antonidas, and ֍, Titan of Hunger Sixth, the Five Centuries of Flux icons in the titan’s death message:           The Titan of Time, Galarian reversed, Jugo, Iokana, and Faustus Glister, Chizos1, Nochtli, Ananke’s book closed, and Seyrasa2 (Rea Sysa) —— 1 the example character —— 2 this is actually the name of a very old godgame character (for reference, this is the 106th game here I’m aware of, and Seyrasa was from the 3rd and 4th) Seventh, the Fragile Gods of Somewhere icons in the titan’s death message:      Verdelé (Verdelait), Kəzar (Czar), Gu-Lam (Gulm), Mit and Ras (Mit’ras), and Amygdulla (Amyhdahl)1 —— 1 I went with off-names since Fragile Gods is its own thing Eighth, the other icons from the titan’s death message:      Ashiram, Sharon reversed, Ashiram reversed empty, Atamok empty, and Solene/Mona empty Ninth, the original icons from the titan’s death message (excluding Sharon):                  Ashiram, Titan of Time1, Verdelait, Galarian, and Jugo Iokana, Faustus, Glister, Czar, and Chizos2 Gulm, Nochtli, Mit’ras, Ananke closed book, and Rea Sysa Amyhdahl and Atamok3 —— 1 I shrank the titan’s icon from last game to match the rest in the death message —— 2 the example character —— 3 a character I made for a godgame years ago (so the icon was made new for this); I needed something for ‘duty’ and remembered this god, with domains Death and Duty, which fit pretty well (though technically in Atamok’s case it was the duty of the dead, not duty to the dead) Tenth, the icons of prospective player gods:   Senger (Dog Kisser) and She Untitled (Scribbleykins); Shogeton submitted Strax, who was later added as the Bureaucracy’s executioner Finally, some other unused icons:      Adamant, time-distorted Bosyak, time-distorted Mezidec, time-distorted Adamant, and Kariarchus1 —— 1 I made Kariarchus’ icon during the endgame after making Atom’s, but it didn’t feel right to suddenly start using an icon for him when I hadn’t before (vs Atom, who actually did get a divine spark just before the first post with his icon) UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Dec 28, 2021 |
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Dec 28, 2021 20:52
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Another list: PRAYERS Most of the Age 1-2 Prayers came from Shogeton; most of the Age 3-4 Prayers came from Scribbleykins; a few in Ages 2, 3, and 4 also came from me. That’s when the Prayers were posted, though, not when they were sent to me. Here’s a full list: Age 1
Age 2
Age 3
Age 4
At some point in Age 4 I planned on having the final Age's prayers replaced by arrest/death warrants in each Mountain god's Haven, pinned into some flesh or organs by a knife (hide and hair for Bosyak, eyes for Solene/Mona, brain for Mezidec), sent ahead by the Halls' executioner. Then I decided for various reasons to swap in Strax for the original executioner and dropped the idea, since it was no longer an NPC action.
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Dec 28, 2021 21:28
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Penultimate list: CONVERSATIONS I figured it’d be handy to just keep track of the posts where people contributed to conversations (which were mostly written in googledocs rather than post by post here). Here’s a full list, with the character(s) of the player who posted it first and the other characters after (along with who they were played by if they weren’t player characters): Age 1
Age 2
Age 3
Age 4
Age 5
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Dec 28, 2021 22:24
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Final list: CONSEQUENCES Lastly, here’s all the Consequences: Age 1
Age 2
Age 3
Age 4
Age 5
UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Jan 3, 2022 |
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Dec 28, 2021 22:28
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And bringing this back since it's sandwiched between the end of the game and a shitload of lists:UnCO3 posted:fin
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Dec 28, 2021 22:31
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Thanks again for running the game, UnCO3. Twas good stuff. Questions: 1. So what exactly would've happened if Tectamus was ferried through Chaotic Space without being shielded inside the Voidborer? 2. Any further details on this NPC Executioner that was discarded in favor of Strax, or did you never get that far in planning them?
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Dec 28, 2021 22:39
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Theantero posted:1. So what exactly would've happened if Tectamus was ferried through Chaotic Space without being shielded inside the Voidborer? Theantero posted:2. Any further details on this NPC Executioner that was discarded in favor of Strax, or did you never get that far in planning them? The first idea was a surface-level Loki copy called Lougui who was a motherfucker, as you might expect. With the RIver drained, his boat would've been carried along on the shoulders of the bailiffs. Here's the only thing I had written up for him: quote:Carrying a boat of human teeth, whose mast was the spine of the first god he murdered, and whose sails were that same god’s skin—though under the circumstances, the sails were furled. From what little else they could make out, he seemed... irritated. The second idea was a recycled version of an NPC I was thinking of introducing at the start of Age 2 (along with another NPC god and a fifth PC). This person was variously called Adamant, Damant, and Wasi Qusi, and had the Domain of 'Laugh, Kill, Weep' that I recycled for a certain later god. Their schtick was that they were searching for something and had no idea what it was, and were unpredictable but not necessarily unfair. Kind of a middle ground between Lougui and Strax in that respect. I had one thing written up for their original planned appearance in Age 2: quote:
quote:
edit: as you can see I also recycled the icon, since it fit very well for the bursting-with-divine-power leopard Yeshi. UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Dec 28, 2021 |
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Dec 28, 2021 23:01
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Another question: What would the Titan of Hunger's agenda have been if we chose to go for the parley plan? What would the resurrection scenario have looked like in that case?
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Dec 29, 2021 20:41
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What would've happened if no-one had pulled on the 'investigate stuff' thread? Sharon really obliged you here, what with making it her focus. Would you have started dropping more heavy-handed hints that things should be looked into, or just surprised everyone with some variation of the 5th age event?
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Dec 30, 2021 05:35
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Theantero posted:What would the Titan of Hunger's agenda have been if we chose to go for the parley plan? What would the resurrection scenario have looked like in that case? The alternative that I'd drop strong hints for if communication developed was that the Mountain gods could've avoided being consumed by becoming not what they were. There would've been very strong hints for this, if not outright confirmation, if Mezidec established communications, because he'd already reversed part of his Domain, though there were other ways I could think of doing this. It'd be up to player interpretation in a big way. Anyway, if people joined forces with the titan then they could've stayed mostly-free of it, and the very end of the epilogue would've been a pretty pointed comparison between them and the Bureaucracy. Scribbleykins posted:What would've happened if no-one had pulled on the 'investigate stuff' thread? Sharon really obliged you here, what with making it her focus. Overall the idea was that the mystery could expand and contract (from ending by Age 3 to running the length of the game) according to how much people focused on it.
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Dec 30, 2021 10:46
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Some thoughts on game mechanics, nothing final: Domain and Hunger vs dice Technically you don’t have to tag actions with bits of your Domain and Hunger to add Domain or Hunger dice; it’s more like the lists are there for inspiration, as the most common reasons why you might roll more than the baseline dice. However, I think it could work well if rolling dice without an appropriate bit of Domain/Hunger to back it up meant you had to change your character accordingly. The diminishing returns on using just one pool worked well, I think, and better than in the last game’s system, where it was either/or. Consequences I think these mostly worked pretty well, though there was a bit at the start where I didn’t know what to do with them, so I delayed actually acting on them til later. Either way, I think I stuck kinda well to the terms I set out in the rules, particularly that Consequences were usually interesting problems rather than just me loving things up for people. Even the harshest Consequences (e.g. Bosyak’s shockwave at the end of Age 2) were more about creating or building on friction between characters. One thing I’d’ve liked to do more is Consequences as blowback on people’s Domains, but it’s a little hard to do that when every Domain is just a list of concepts. Messing with concepts is a big deal! The larger, so-far-unused game I took these rules has some extra stuff for Consequences and blowback on Domains. For Consequences, a Consequence can be replaced with an ‘Omen’, basically a sign that something’s under threat from a future catastrophe that collectively hits everything currently marked by an Omen. For blowback, when you run out of DP you can continue to gain Domain dice by gaining BP, Burden Points, instead, and at the end of each Age your Burden gets rolled against the next Age’s DP to see whether your Domain enters a Crisis (basically works like in last game). I’m not sure about the second one now, though—I think Consequences worked pretty well by themselves. Failure We had a couple failures (besides in the final fight) and for the most part they were pretty boring (though forced success added some tension). I brought up some alternatives in the discord channel at a couple points, but nothing for sure. One idea I had for the future was to get rid of failure entirely and just have the roll determine whether you get a Consequence (there’d have to be some reason to roll Hunger though, or maybe Hunger’d be partly out of people’s hands). Another idea was to bump success vs failure up to “yes and” vs “yes”, i.e. if you get >= the target then you basically get a positive Consequence, otherwise you get a regular success (this means more GM work, though). Another issue is that targets are kinda arbitrary, which probably isn’t great from a player PoV since you don’t know whether you’re overestimating your roll. That said, I did like that a target of 11 actually does make an action palpably difficult, unlike in e.g. PDQ where you just stack stats on each other. Domain: responsibility and power Something that basically got skipped over is that Domain in this game isn’t quite like Domains in many other godgames, in that was meant to be a list of things (including, but not limited to, concepts) that your god has power over and responsibility for. For the most part everyone went with concepts (I think Strax, Tectamus, Bergeros, and in a way Haniyu were the only ones with non-concepts in their Domain). Regardless, in-game, the gods, especially the Mountain gods, all clearly felt some things were their responsibility, not just a source of power or a home or whatever—Solene/Mona and the sky, Bosyak and the nomads and shrines, Mezidec and the communities in the Mountain, Solene/Mona and Mezidec and the people on the outer slopes. Sharon was an odd one out since it wasn’t her world, but she clearly had her own responsibilities. I think a more comprehensive Domain, with big and small things, concepts and objects and people and places and traditions etc., could be a better player and GM aid. It’d give the GM a clear list of stuff that could be involved in Consequences, for one. It’d also open up a different, clearer way of setting targets for actions: doing something with/on something in your Domain would be target 7, in someone else’s Domain would be target 11, and in nobody’s Domain target 9. Where 2 Domains overlap I’d go with the smaller/more specific one. Combine these two changes (to Consequences and targets) and adding something to your Domain helps you and also puts it at greater risk.
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Jan 7, 2022 12:43
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