#Other Scions from the multiverse

[dailyadventureprompts]

Faction: The University of Taloncliff

"Enter with open eyes and behold the truths of the world unending" -Inscription beneath the fountain of the pensive sage, in the gatehouse courtyard.

Founded by dedicates of Ioun who wished to study where the land met the sea and sky, the institution that eventually became the University was founded three centuries ago when the sages of Taloncliff found themselves inundated with eager pupils who had travelled far and wide seeking their wisdom.

Growing quickly along with the coastal village that supported it, the university is today one of the most famed and foremost centres of learning on the continent entertaining scholars of what seems like every discipline imaginable. If the party needs to know something, Taloncliff is the place to go.

Adventure Hooks

Gaining access to the halls of knowledge is not as easy the heroes may hope, as only those who have joined the university are allowed to peruse it's near endless archives and deep vaults of lore. That said there are other options: they might find a sympathetic ear at one of the tea-houses wherein students and faculty partake in the boisterous debate discouraged in the august lecture halls, or persuade a smuggler of forbidden literature to clue them in on the tunnels beneath the university's walls.

The easiest way to gain entry by far however, is to simply join as a student, bypassing the yearly enrolment process by earning an invitation as a renowned seeker of knowledge... or by having the party's noble patron purchase your way in.

Alternatively, you could start your campaign with students already enrolled as students of the University, engaging in a few apprentice level adventures before flashing forward to when they've graduated to doing fieldwork.

Also, I'd be remiss if I made a whole faction dedicated to learning and didn't mention my advice/system for how you should let your players research in campaigns, which you should check out before exploring the University's inner workings below the cut.

Though it appears stately and unified from outside, behind its alabaster walls Taloncliff is in fact a contradictory mess of overlapping "Curricula" like a dozen different organizations of varying sizes dressed up in a wizard's robe trying to look important. Each Curricula is named after one of the original Sages and follows generally in their footsteps, here are some of the most relevant:

Curricula Endaris: The prestigious institute of learning to which the noble families of nearby realms send their learning minded scions. Endaris gave council to kings, and her followers teach statecraft, diplomacy, history, as well as the good governance of the land itself. One of the largest factions and the one most likely to receive outside donations, Endaris maintains a strong influence over the rest of the university as holding onto its coin purse.

Curricula Jadek: Adherants of the knowing mistress who maintain the campus as part of their devotion and studies into more mystical forms of knowledge. They tend to be inward focused and act to balance out the other voices, giving them a respect that superscedes rivalry.

Curricula Gazerette: a wizarding school that functions like a music conservatory, looking to instill a basic level of competence in all students while hunting for talent that could be refined into something prodigious. Gazerette wanted only the best from his apprentices, and the cutthroat rivalries between Gazerette wizards are the stuff of legend, going back nearly as far as the university's founding.

Curricula Oddolgyn: Still headed by the ancient eleven astronomer of the same name, last of the original sages. This group operates out of the university's observatory studying the ephemeral patterns of the firmament and the multiverse beyond. Currently small and thought of mostly as dabblers It's been more than a century since they were superseded by Gazerette as the foremost of Taloncliff's mages.

Curricula Narthex: Adventurous and daring, the explorers of the Narthex always seem to be recounting their last great expedition or planning their next, even maintaining their own airship docks to make it easier to seek out new horizons.

Shortly after one of the party have really proven themselves to be a true asset ( or liability) to the school, they'll receive a note that says "seek to Know the secret of the waters, at the place where Torthane met her Mistress". This requires catching up on some very old University gossip, as well as tracking down some otherwise unnoticeable histories that are always misfiled in the library. Doing so reveals Torthane to be one of sage Jadek's first pupils, one who frequently clashed with her austere teacher about his insistence that dedication to Ioun and true knowledge meant abstaining from the physical world and the "earthly knowledge" that came with it. Torthane loved Ioun, but she also loved the ladies, and was said to meet with her lovers right under Jadek's nose in a particular garden that the campus grounds have since grown to encompass.

These clues further lead the party to the statue of the fountain of the pensive sage, which boasts a statue of Jadek poking his staff into a basin of ever rippling water. One who looked closely might notice a glow distorted by the ripples of the fountain, and that if the primary spout is plugged or diverted that the glow originates from where Jadek's staff disturbs the unearthly white sand that rests at the basin's bottom. (Leave a comment if you can figure out what the party will need to draw in the sand to progress)

With the passphrase entered, a secret stair opens in the cobbles surrounding the statue, inviting the party down into a dungeon crawl that takes them to the university's flooded foundations. After battling past arcane traps, more puzzles, and creatures of the tide, they stumble into a room wreathed in cascading water, in which the images of a dozen or more cloaked figures manifest and pass judgment upon them. The question that the figures are to argue: Are these trespassers cringe?

Some of the figures will argue that the party are indeed cringe, a never-before seen collection of narcs, fuckboys, killjoys, and karens. It will be up to the party to plead their case. If they manage to win over a majority of the crowd then the waters will part and they'll be invited into the secret headquarters/speakeasy of Curricula Torthane, the resident secret society of Taloncliff made up of all those who are willing to bend the rules and collaborate in the pursuit of knowledge and those little pleasures that are so often neglected in scholastic dourness. You haven't lived till you've had wizard moonshine, so cheers and bottoms up troublemakers.

Further adventures

I'll be adding more Taloncliff adventures in the future, so feel free to check out my blog.

While the party is sure to meet no end of red tape as they explore the campus, they'll make an easy ally in Oroteia, a rising star in the Gazerette and Narthex Curricula who seeks to overturn every expectation placed on her by her by others after discovering her lowborn country origins. Blazing a trail through the University's establishment, she'll see the party as useful allies against whatever campaign level threats the rest of the institution is too set in their ways to even contemplate dealing with.

[sistersorrow]

Back in July, I had a problem: I had finished Nona the Ninth and realised I had no idea when Alecto the Ninth would come out

I didn't feel like picking out a new novel to read every 10 days or so, so I decided I'd pick one very long book and hope it tided me over until a release date was given

So on the 19th of July 2024, I started reading Worm, and a bit over three months later, I read the final line of the final chapter on October 23rd

I have had many thoughts about this book while reading it, and since I haven't had access to the internet for the last two week, I've also had many thoughts after reading it, mainly thoughts where I was drafting this post (despite thinking about my draft for five days, now that I'm finally writing it, I can feel the whole thing fading from my mind)

TL;DR: I genuinely think the ending didn't happen

Yes, the whole "It was all a dream/purgatory" angle is very cliche, but it's a very common theory in the Worm fandom for a reason (one of those reasons being Wildbow jokingly saying Taylor's in purgatory)

For me, that reason is that Taylor is way too okay with the state of her life after Golden Morning

Throughout the book, Taylor has a consistent pattern of behaviour where she sees a problem or has a goal, decides on a means of realising that goal/fixing the problem, with anyone who attempts to get in her way being treated as part of the problem, allowing her to more easily justify using ever escalating acts of incredible violence to terrorise them into either helping her or getting out of her way

Taylor, by her own admission lives for conflict because for her things make the most sense when she has a very clear target to oppose and doesn't have to think past the near future because in the present the target is actively trying to kill her, and there are people who simply refuse to listen to her when she talks about ways to deal with the problem

Her, I dunno, ascension(?) to Khepri is just that pattern of behaviour taken to its logical extreme: the problems are Scion and people refusing to fight Scion or not working together, so she resolves the issue by resolving the issue of their free will and makes them fight in concert to bully Golden Space Jesus into killing himself

Despite the Speck arc being 174 pages of Taylor's brain being formatted by a fragment of an alien god as it remove any aspect of her personality that doesn't either facilitate acts of violence or think of new ways to commit acts of violence, Taylor has never been more herself than in that moment, hell, when she finishes scouring the multiverse for capes to turn into superpowered people puppets for her slave swarm and faces down the most powerful being to walk the earth as she realises she's beginning to forget where her mother's grave is, she stops to think about how nice it is that everyone is finally working together for once, just like she always wanted

The kind of person who does that to herself and others simply is not going to be able to adjust to civilian life, where she's going to continue to be exposed to the systemic failings that frustrated her into being Skitter in the first place only now without the tools or resources she used to effect change back on her Earth

At best, Interlude: End Taylor would be horribly depressed, and at worst feel like she's been placed in her own personal hell

For this reason, I genuinely think Contessa realised there was no coming back from what Taylor had become and decided to end her there, with the final interlude being a dying dream cooked up by her shard or something just before their connection was fatally severed, and honestly, I'm completely fine with that cause it feels like a natural conclusion for her arc, even if dream theories are always a bit contentious

[strykingback]

Starter for @valorousflower ! (For the Hornet) __________________________

OST: Welcome To The Battle!!!

"Hello Remnant! I'm your announcer for this fight, Blade Stryker and welcome to the Second Annual Multiverse Fighting Tournament!!!! Where everyone from across the multiverse come to test their strength, techniques, and skills against others across the multiverse. Therefore, with that being said we shall get started with our first match of the day which is this man!!!!!" He said pointing to one corner of the colosseum as chanting would come from it.

OST: Theme of the Neo-Shinbaori

"Tell me everyone! In all of Mistrals history who was it that faced the Scions of Darkness alone?!" Blade asked with a roar from the crowd as they shouted in unison: "THE SHINBAORI!!!!"

"Correct!!! but it was only just days before the rise of the Faunus Rights Revolution that they would be destroyed, yet one man built it from the ground up once more and found newer warriors with skills!!!! This man in particular is one of the strongest of the Neo Shinbaori!!! Born Blind he could not see... until one day he could see through the usages of aura! Not holding him back he would defend a village against a large Ursa Grimm therefore when defeating it the people would praise him with the title of Sakata no Kintoki!!!!" Blade continued as Kintaro would walk out.

"He lives by the heavenly virtues set for him! Therefore even the most hottest of stones can feel cold!!! Where there is no path laid for him he shall walk whatever path is right for him!!! KINTAROOOOOOOOOOO NOBUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!""

"Namu Amida Butsu......" Kintaro would say.

[driftward]

FFXIV Write 2024 Master Post

I wrote some words. Got a prompt in for every day, plus a bonus one that wouldn't leave me alone.

Steer: Is reality destiny?

Horizon: What lies beyond the future curves

Tempest: A short poem for Susano

Reticent: The annual reminder that Nyx Blackmoon is a walking war crime

Stamp: Desertwalkers AU. Reinhardt sure is having a day.

Halcyon: Karasawa Atraxae suspects she remembers Amaurot rather better than Emet-Selch

Morsel: Yotsuyu has a hunger she wishes to satisfy

Free Day 1 - Glasses: It always comes back to an artifact from a shared childhood moment...

Lend an Ear: Desertwalkers AU. The naturalist and the seer encounter each other for the first time. This will be a thread I come back to several times during this Write event

Stable: Dominants AU. Ozma has some problems

Surrogate: Aymeric leans on the Scions as babysitters

Quarry: Desertwalkers AU. Zoissette and Lavender get in some trouble

Butte: Desertwalkers AU. A continuation of the naturalist and seer thread. Thancred's been keeping an eye on things.

Telling: Desertwalkers AU. Chapter three of the naturalist and seer thread. The naturalist interrupts the seer's business

Free Day 2 - Contest: Zoissette fights for a reward from her beloved

Third Rate: Desertwalkers AU. Zoissette and Lavender get in more trouble

Sally: More of the naturalist and seer thread. Urianger calls out the seer on her blind spots

Hackneyed: Everyone's a critic, but especially Emet-Selch

Taken: What Zoissette takes with her, what she leaves behind

Duel: Desertwalkers AU. Lyse and Livia fight for a train on top of a train

Shade: Desertwalkers AU. Lavender has a way with new people

Free Day 3 - Caretaker: Y'shtola tends to Zoissette in the time after Ultima Thule

On Cloud Nine: Aetherwave AU. Riot has opinions about this gilded garden

Bar: Tony Hawk is not in this fic Bar (Another Take): Aymeric and Zoissette talk about Zoissette's new relationship

Perpetuity: Nyx watches on the journey to forever

Zip: Multiverse shenanigans. I will finish this one one day

Memory: Krile and Zoissette talk about the nature of people

Deleterious: Desertwalkers AU. The seer catches up to the naturalists' thread

Free Day 4 - Coda: Desertwalkers AU. And the thread with the naturalist and the seer comes full circle

Two Heads are Better Than One: Thancred is very punny.

And that is a wrap for this year, I hope to see everyone next year! I have enjoyed a great many of your stories.

[three-fulm-thaumaturd]

Dawn? Trailed.

Finished Dawntrail MSQ tonight. Assorted scattershot (and spoiler-heavy) thoughts under the RM.

-I came to DT without much preexisting hype or emotional investment. All I wanted out of this expansion was to have a break from being the main character who has to save the multiverse from extinction, again, and to have some cool scenery to look at and some banger music, and we sure got that!

-There are a lot of things about how this expansion was written that didn't effortlessly or instinctively emotionally appeal to me in specific, but that are, when I think about them, really good, solid workmanlike choices re: how to construct a video game narrative.

-I know J-media tournament arcs are “well worn” in the same sense that the Grand Canyon or the Marianas Trench are, but they provide a plausible pretext for the things that MMOs are set up to do. Better than a host of supposedly highly-realized and virtuous precursor beings insisting that we repeatedly justify our existence by fighting, for sure.

-Being Wuk Lamat's mentor/emotional support Eorzean/800 pound gorilla was an interesting conceit. I think the writers carried off "non-protagonist PC" fairly well, and I've played other games where that was tried and didn't work (lookin at you SWtOR, re: KotFE). Lamat'yi feels like a more competently-written version of Stormblood-era Lyse. She's got both a core personality that remains consistent and a trajectory of increasing competence and maturity. I think she's well constructed as a protag/viewpoint character: she's primed to like things and people, her ethos of addressing conflict by seeking understanding and consensus is a good pretext to deliver exposition, and she feels/empathizes intensely but doesn't get stuck on her own emotional reactions. I wouldn’t say I effortlessly enjoy her as a character, especially early on when the writing leans hard into her immaturity and desperation to be liked and to prove herself, but I understand and respect what that’s for. It’s no different than Naruto or early-OT Luke Skywalker.

-I like the variety of Central/South American cultural inspo (Aztec, Quechua, Yucatec Maya, Pueblo, etc), we got in the setting and culture for this xpac, and the conception of Tural as a very racially/culturally heterogeneous place where power comes from the aggregate of a complicated network of relationships that have to be negotiated on an ongoing basis. It's not zero-sum, and finding solutions that benefit everyone is hard but worthwhile.

-I was excited to be able to bring Krile, my favorite Scion, along this time. I feel like the ShB/EW A-team had enough presence to appeal to people who like them and not so much that they upstaged the new characters or the change of scenery.

-I think there was effort to add cinematographic interest to the many, dense cutscenes other than wide-angle shot/reverse-shot over paragraphs of text. Some of the camera angles (switching between the faces of my minimum-height lalafell and 2m+ Wuk Lamat) and long shots of characters' expressions resulted in...sometimes-intentional uncanniness and unintentional comedy. This probably was not the devs' intention (their intention was probably a performance with emotional subtlety that the graphics overhaul alas still doesn't permit), but my instinctive read was that it felt like unnecessary padding/stalling for time.

-Re: other stuff that felt like it unnecessarily lengthened the playtime and the amount of text to read, sometimes I resent that it feels like I'm being not just spoon-fed, but bottle-fed plot and character beats that are not complicated or hard to understand. Then I see people evincing failure to comprehend what they're reading elsewhere on the internet and understand why it's done that way. :\

-There's basically one trademark Ishikawa conflict: Local man driven to extremes by inability/unwillingness to come to terms with loss, aging, and death. There's also one trademark Ishikawa sin that characterizes all of the ShB-and-after antagonists: a delusional insistence on harming the living to feed the dead. Those come up so consistently that her style is instantly recognizable...and I wonder some about what she's experienced or how she's doing.

-The hairpin turn in the plot about 2/3 of the way in and the by-now very familiar tropes aren't my narrative jam at all, but it was engaging enough to mostly keep my attention until the end. I'm beyond weary of Ascians/Ancients and shard math, so I'm glad those things were referenced (and there's some interesting stuff to chew on re: Lalafell history in particular) but not focal.

-I'm a little mad, because my pre-Heritage-Found speculation that El Dorado was going to turn out to actually be an aetherologic Superfund site (which would explain the security, the giants charging in and coming back dead, sick, or unable to reproduce, the teratogenic effects on eg Blessed Siblings etc and the fight for control of it as a putative military asset) seemed to have a lot of fun possibilities. I guess you could argue that Living Memory might be a very abstracted nod in that direction.

-*Queen Sphene*? Really, you couldn’t have named her anything at all else???

-I'm not at all satisfied that "he felt overshadowed by his father's accomplishments and wanted to prove his worth independent of his unusual heritage" is sufficient justification for how Zoraal Ja was, especially prior to his first contact with Alexandria. I figured based on his behavior and Krile's remarks, that he had to be Tempered, or affected by an equivalent kind of magical compulsion.

-The final trial, and to a lesser extent the last dungeon are an unmitigated (and unmitigatable until mods become available again) accessibility nightmare if you're photosensitive or prone to motion sickness. I hoped the devs would take the feedback they got from the ShB alliance raid series under consideration but they sure didn't give a shit. Guess I'm not doing roulettes for a while.

[canadiankazz]

ABOUT ME

Hi! Call me Kazz.

Cis. Het. She/her. Mid 30's.

I am a dual Canadian/Australian citizen currently living in South Australia. I grew up in the 90’s, so 90’s nostalgia is my jam. My husband and I have been together since 2011. He is in most of my same RP games. I work retail in a grocery store and have a (useless) bachelor of arts in English and History, a Graduate Diploma in Education and a degree in Library Studies. Orcas are my favourite animal, although I’m also partial to cats, dogs, red-tailed hawks, Australian magpies and guinea pigs.

I’m currently the owner of three guinea pigs named Sable, Neil and Buzz. Check out their side blog HERE.

My hobbies are writing fanfic, playing RPGs, video games and cross stitching.

Link to my Fanfic on Ao3

Link to fuckyeahlabynight Tumblr's largest collection of everything to do with LA by Night and NY by Night.

Link to my Cross Stitching Side Blog

My CURRENT Fandoms include (but are not limited to):

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss

LA By Night, NY by Night and Vampire the Masquerade in general

Critical Role

Dropout.tv

Doctor Who

Good Omens

I also love SMOSH, Dropout.tv, Last Podcast on the Left (and other true crime/spooky/disaster podcasts,) Disney, Shakespeare, Norse, Greek and Egyptian mythology, most films, musicals and theatre in general. My favourite musicals include Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Little Shop of Horrors, Six, Beetlejuice, Hadestown, and Les Misérables. I also love the Starkid musicals.

Past fandoms include Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dresden Files, Star Wars, the X-Men, Spider-Man, Marvel and the MCU, Batman and the DCU, Hellsing, Hannibal, Dracula Daily, Animorphs, Discworld, Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Smallville, Harry Potter, Team Four Star, Achievement Hunter, Death Note, Wolf’s Rain, True Blood, How to Train Your Dragon, Steam Powered Giraffe, Lord of the Rings, Rifftrax, The Sandman, American Gods, and Transformers.

My favourite video games include Dead by Daylight, The Sims 4, Wingspan, Power Wash Simulator, Hunter: Call of the Wild, Stardew Valley, Jackbox Games, Unpacking, House Flipper and Steamworld Heist.

I prefer watching streamers play horror games rather than playing them myself. (I make an exception for DbD, as I’ve become a killer main and that’s a lot less scary than playing survivor.)

I’m also into reading runes/tarot cards and doing some magicy stuff from time to time.

Current RPG games I’m Gming or are playing in:

Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition

Scion

A homebrew game called "Becalmed" using the nWoD system. 

RPG Systems I have played in the past include:

Most New World of Darkness systems. (“Vanilla” WoD, Vampire: the Requiem, Werewolf: the Forsaken, Changeling: the Lost, Hunter: the Vigil and Mage: the Awakening, while also running games with Geists and Prometheans.)

Call of Cthulhu

Dread

Exalted (2nd and 3rd ed.)

Dungeons and Dragons (3.5 and 5th edition)

Spirit of the Centaury

Pathfinder

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Monster of the Week

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG

Apoc World

Shadowrun

Only War

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire

Marvel Multiverse RPG

Please note that though I used to love a lot of things that have *problematic* creators, that does NOT mean I support or condone the actions of those creators. I may still reblog things from those fandoms from time to time.

[theinfiknight]

Something that's really funny to me about every single player-character in the pokemon franchise is how none of them have any sort of narrative backing to them being the protagonist. Every single player-trainer is just some guy, no traumatic backstory no extraordinary motivation no nothing. In every single game without fail the other people you meet, especially your rivals, have infinitely more protagonist energy, right from the first game. Blue is the Professor's grandson and a Pokemon prodigy, if anyone would be narratively advantaged in becoming the champion it would be him rather than this random other kid with no narrative significance other than being Blue's rival. Silver is the son of goddamn Giovanni, his whole story, his angst and his resentment all scream main character way way way louder than regular everyman gold and kris, who have loving parents and nothing to prove. Barry is literally the son of a Frontier Brain! If anyone's gonna beat the elite four it's him! But no, instead it's just some nobody from twinleaf who saves the universe, befriends the Devil and defeats Cynthia besides.

N's backstory and quest could be the plot of a shounen. He's LITERALLY the Chosen One and Legendary Hero who can Talk to Pokemon. He has green hair for fucks sake!! Doesn't get much more main character than brightly colored hair!! But no, some kid from nuvema is also recognised by the other dragon and steals the center stage from him.

Hau is the grandson of a Kahuna and struggles to leave his shadow, Gladion is an emo boy with eighth grader syndrome except he's actually on the run from a massive evil organisation out to get him, and Lillie is a desperate child struggling to create an identity for herself outside of what her abusive parent forced on her, all the while hiding an infant god. All three of them could be Naruto characters in terms of their backstories but no. The random new kid from Kanto somehow sweeps them all away, solves all their problems, defeats the multiversal star dragon and saves the world. It would be like meeting Izuku in MHA and hearing everyone's stories and dreams and watching them struggle and out of nowhere some random black haired background guy swoops in and defeats All for One.

Granted, gen 3 makes you the kid of a gym leader but his name is LITERALLY Norman. He's mister normal. He even looks like an npc. Plus your rival is the Professor's kid so in terms of narrative significance they outrank you. And THAT'S not even mentioning miss Scion of a long line of dragon masters Zinnia, who for some reason is ignored by Rayquaza in favour of this random other kid who comes from a loving family, lacking nothing and facing no major difficulties in life.

It's almost ridiculous how all these anime protags end up as side characters to this generic npc looking ass dude. Hop's entire life revolves around one day becoming stronger than his brother who is also the strongest trainer in the world, Bede is an orphan from nothing who was taken in by Bill gates and then abandoned by him, Marnie literally has her hometown peeps cheering for her at every match. Arven's parents are world renowned researchers who vanished on him while his beloved partner languishes on death's door, Penny was bullied out of school and went through a whole anime arc about bonds and friends and unavoidable goodbyes and Nemona is struggling with finding a kindred spirit while being a Goku in a world full of Yamchas. Any one of them could be the main characters of a generic highschool or sports anime, but it's this random new kid who JUST got their first pokemon who solves all of their problems and saves the world. Barely in the first year of highschool and already lived through the plot of Jurassic Park and Terminator. It's like generic black haired isekai protag syndrome except it's your player character in every game.

Of course there is one notable exception to this list, which is Legends Arceus, where you are literally the heaven sent saviour, chosen by God, replete with hax isekai powers that allow you to trivialise the things that others balk to even think about. Full credits to that game though for making the entire thing very believable and more importantly, super fun.

[ask-the-praetors]

What happens when a moment's time has come and all that is left are the ripples fading away into nothingness? When the last scraps of a feast are consumed with regularity, and with lesser and lesser remaining every occasion?

The Eldrazi devastated planes by sending scores of incomprehensible entities to reshape even the very landscape of the planes. Though countless scions and drones existed, in truth, there were three Eldrazi - the Titans. The hordes existed as an extension of one of their wills. Even when they looked different, each Eldrazi foe fought was created by the titans for a purpose and could not stray from their directives. Today, of the Titans, Emrakul alone remains, yet the plane she inhabits now lies unaffected by her. Before the multiversal invasion, Zendikar appeared to have fully recovered from the Eldrazi. Still, the seeming lack of remembrance from so many relevant parties remains as inscrutable of the Eldrazi themselves.

Nicol Bolas sought to reap the sparks of Planeswalkers with an army of the undead and the few Planeswalkers by his side. To end an Eternals was not to take a life - the only tears shed by their killers were with realizations of who these clockwork near-machines once were. The God-Eternals had the sentience to truly live, yet they were all killed, with the last slain, Bontu, killed by her own ambition. Bolas, unbeknownst to nearly all, lives, though he, much like Emrakul, takes no action out of powerlessness. Though his schemes lasted centuries, the time taken to alter the trajectory of his direction was far less. The time spent of notice after failure was similarly short.

Phyrexia conquers by stripping the life and soul out of that which once truly lived and extracting the resources, leaving but a shell of the former selves of both beings and of planes. Yet unlike the Eldrazi Drones or the lazotep-coated Eternals, the Phyrexians live. Every single one of them still holds unique thoughts and behaviors and participate in a planet-wide civilization.

Armies slaughtered, trinkets locked but retained, and legacies forgotten. A pattern emerges, yet a major distinction can be made.

The Phyrexians, unlike the brood of the Eldrazi or the armies of the Eternals, are all sentients beings, with the capacity to feel all sorts of emotions, even fear.

I ask, looking at how they are often viewed and how other multiversal threats have been treated, if they might have reason to.

We have always been able to feel fear. Now even Norn knows it. She is afraid of her own people, because she knows her control will never be absolute.

She should be afraid, of course.

-U

[tegarrianlore]

Freia the Eternal

Freia the Eternal, the goddess that defined an era and the world to come.

Ruling for a hundred millennia, Freia was born out of the desperation of mortalkind.

To understand Freia, one has to understand how gods function in this world. Infinite in nature, each god is a manifestation of a concept or set of concepts and ideas. There can be extensive overlap between certain deities - the Archons rule seven elements of nature that also have had other gods throughout history. Certain gods can rise in reach and power, and the strongest among them ascend to a greate classification: a Greater God. There have only been four Greater Gods in the Tegarrian Lore. Irkathame the Scion-keeper, an ancient deity of a now-exctint species of octopus-like beings that ruled most of the galaxy millions of years ago; Adam El Asem the First Man, who created all of mankind and whose mistakes led directly to the birth of Freia; and Freia the Eternal, whose original purpose became buried under an epoch of corruption. The fourth god deserves a whole another post, so I won't mention her.

Freia began life as a minor deity, travelling across the world to help mortals with tasks they could not accomplish by themselves. These tasks were usually the vanquishing of monsters and other threats. She became the Goddess of many things. Goddess of Hope, of War. Of Love and Lust, of Crops and Famine, of Gold and Wealth, of Magic and the Afterlife (just like the irl Freyja), etc. All those concepts she still represents, even after her death.

However, Freia was born in the shadows of a devastating collapse of civilization. When Adam El Asem's million-year-long Empire came to a close, the very foundations of the world were left in shambles. A war among the Gods themselves raged across the universe, the devastation still felt well into the modern day, 400,000 years after the fact.

After the fact, a huge power vacuum was left open for anyone to grab. A certain Demon Ofnir and his Kingdom of Blood almost conquered half of the world; the Queendom of Sarthes Azura and her two patron deities provided a semblance of order after the First Rapture. An object, an Artifact of Creation was left unused. The Ring of Life, spread over multiples Runes that control all things living, dead, in-between and beyond. This was up for grabs, and Freia quickly began wielding it.

However, the Ring of Life was all but a trap, for a higher being - the Powers That Be - had corrupted it eons before.

Freia with her daughter Promethea, the Angel of Death

The influence of the Powers That Be was strong. Freia grew distant.

Twenty sons she had with the last of the Fae gods; Dewuulf, the God of the Wild Hunt. Of these, the first of them became corrupted by It as well and had to be excised from history all-together. After this, a certain madness claimed Freia's mind. Of her original twenty or so sons and daughters, history only remembers seven of them: Promethea, the Angel of Death, was her Executioner. Godranni, the Weaver of Fate, was her oracle into the future. Aasir, the Red Khan, was her brute-force solution to any problems. Maistorm, the King of the Under-realms, was the only one allowed to perform necromancy. Ulaatan Castellan, the Hammer of Justice, was her perfect general. Kaedriel Mallacht, the Nightbringer, was her soon-to-be successor. Indoral Addarach, the Clockwork Disciple, was the brightest mind allowed to exist. Everyone else would be forgotten by History all-together.

Ms. Adalgard Lund, Emergency Director of the Dämmerung Foundation.

Freia's Golden Empire would soon crumble too. Driven to insanity by the whispers of the Powers That Be, she would end up shattering the Ring of Life itself. This brought an unpredecented age upon the entire Tree of Life - to the entire multiverse. An Age of Undeath.

The Goldenborn beckon for a bright future, but that will not be possible. Of thee, only seven will exist.

Faylane, you the Eternal Muse of Mankind, loved and wanted by all mortals, your presence must come to a stop. Ihnaros, the King of Sands, you have helped the Nightlord settle her lands and establish her rule, and for that I am eternally grateful; for she will forget you. Oljme, Prince of the Hunt, you who enjoy slaying beasts and protecting the wildlife, I must vanish thee. You will join your brother of whom you hold no memories, Audwynn, in eternal un-existence. To fight the war within, I must not falter, ye Forsaken Demigods, for all of Reality depends on it.

READING RELATED TO FREIA THE ETERNAL:

DCA-6000 - The Leytree of Freia the Eternal

DCA-001 - Dr. Elrod's Proposal - The War in Heaven

DCA-5031 - The World Serpent

[wormbraind]

Worm Oc info dump ask, feel free to ignore.

Cape Name: Almost Perfect/ Arthur Penlizard.

Visual: a tall, imposing figure in classically inspired 'knight's armor' (really just spray painted and stage propped combat armor Penlizard stole from a bunker, as the PRT refused to give him an original costume and wanted him to dress up as Dauntless) who looks like the perfect hero, but tends to be physically clumsy whenever danger isn't present.

Power: Trump 10/-1, Penlizard is almost the perfect hero, being able to Always Save Himself but never anyone else intentionally. Anyone he tries to save with his power by acting as a human shield dies, no matter what Penlizard tries to do or how indirectly he acts. This doesn't apply to him cleaning up dangerous rubble or hazards, however.

Role As A Hero: Penlizard is often sent into dangerous areas like old disaster zones that haven't been fully cleaned up yet to clean them. He lives a sad, lonely existence when he isn't filming PRT propaganda videos, most of which are shot alone in the irradiated ruins Arthur is cleaning to avoid having to pay for filming rights, with only cheaply built drones for other 'actors'. Almost Perfect's real power, identity, and operations are kept heavily secret, and he's used to film just about any death-defying stunt to get more funding and sales for the PRT. Penlizard has never and will never receive public recognition as a hero due to his fatal flaw screwing him over.

Final: "I want to be able to save myself." Arthur thought this just before his trigger, and to be fair to his Shard, Pyrrhus, he was given just what he asked for. He lives an almost perfect parody of a hero's life, doing dangerous, thankless work when he isn't spending hours doing mindless bullshit for an audience that will never know who he *really* is, and the pay sucks too, of course.

Arthur Penlizard, alias Almost Perfect, died during Golden Morning when Scion got bitchy about Arthur surviving three direct hits from his laser blasts, and whacked him with a bit of Load-Bearing Multiversal Wall, erasing him from the memory of everyone around him as the already quite damaged multiverse tried to course-correct from Scion giving it a bit of squishy red-pink wall decor and mostly succeeded.

I haven't read Ward, so I dunno if he'd show up or be mentioned there. Probably not. He's not the sort that gets remembered.

this is so cool!! ahh irony my beloved. and scion got bitchy because of course he did. thank you for sharing with the class ^_^

[bracketsoffear]

Gog-Agog (Kill Six Billion Demons) "Oh worm? Her true nature is a massive, worlds-spanning colony of worms united under a single mind and identity, who frequently fractures and develops its own micro-identities within the whole; she’s more of a multiversal infection than an individual. She offers people happiness through her media empire (read: political and capitalist propaganda) and eating her worms to become more of her: “People always wanna feel good. Satisfied. Pretty. Happy! […] Eat this worm! If you eat it, you’ll become me! And being me is reaaaally fun!” Her ability to infect and assimilate others has given her a massive cult that worships the Worm-Queen as a god, imitating her current style and aspiring towards being eventually assimilated by her; this is reminiscent of Mag 153 with the Divine Chain Cult and Agape. At one point she forms countless bodies into a hollow moon made of faces and attacks w/ tentacles made of heads vomiting out other heads."

Taylor Hebert/Skitter (Worm) "Taylor gained the ability to detect and control a wide variety of bugs and bug-like creatures (including insects, spiders, earthworms, and crustaceans) after being stuffed into a locker full of used tampons and pads. She set out to become a superhero, but ended up becoming a supervillain named Skitter instead. Her powers let her inflict anaphylactic shock (bee stings), comas (black widow spiders), tissue necrosis (brown recluse spiders) or death (all of the above), and she later gets access to bullet ants for 24 hours of pain. The applications she’s found for her powers include include attacking with hundreds of venomous creatures, spying on people from two blocks away by looking through the eyes of insects, devising a bullet-resistant costume by commanding spiders to spin one from their silk, improvising a costume with carefully directed insects (which not only conceals her identity but intimidates her opponents with a giant, creepy-looking human-shaped swarm), arming even the nonstinging, nonvenomous insects (imagine being divebombed by bugs whose undersides are coated in capsaicin who are guided to your mouth, nostrils, and eyes), have her bugs vibrate to mimic speech, using bugs pull the pins on grenades, employing spider threads as triplines or to cocoon people, and even killing a Nigh Invulnerable character by cramming insects down their throat so that they suffocate. After what she did to Lung, The Merchants, and Dragon, she is considered, quote, "one of the scariest motherfuckers in town." By the end of the story, this has been upgraded to 'one of the scariest motherfuckers in the multiverse'. After Scion's defeat the entire superhero community goes out of their way to forget her because they're so traumatized by what Khepri did. It's eventually revealed in Ward that, since no-one knows what happened to her, the entire superhero community tries to avoid saying her name because they're scared of drawing her attention."

Image from the Worm Wiki, credit to Neoworm.

[kudosmyhero]

The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #13: Spider-Men: No More

Read Date: July 03, 2023 Cover Date: March 2015 ● Writer: Dan Slott ● Penciler: Giuseppe Camuncoli ● Inker: Cam Smith ● Colorist: Justin Ponsor ● Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos ● Editor: Nick Lowe ◦ Devin Lewis ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● oooo, Otto’s gonna hear some stuff about himself he won’t like… ● and there’s Pavitr Prabhakar without his mask! I just read Spider-Man: India issue 1 right before this, in which I saw him without his mask for the first time. ● also, Spider-Gwen and Silk? I’m here for it. ● uh-oh

● did the Inheritors forget they can’t regenerate themselves? ● YES, fucking finally ● Otto-Spidey here with a much-needed, fairly savage pep talk! ● ok, now we’re getting somewhere! ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: On Loomworld, the Inheritors convene and Jennix apologizes to Solus for failing to stop the destruction of the cloning facility, while Brix and Bora reveal that the Spiders have taken refuge on the one world they cannot go to. Solus dismisses them, saying that as long as they have the Scion, the Bride and the Other will come to them, stating that it is time to exterminate the Spider-Totems once and for all.

On Earth-3145, Uncle Ben explains that after being bitten by the spider, he became his world's Spider-Man, wearing a costume from his nephew. All went well until his nemesis, the Emerald Elf, figured out who he was and bombed the Parker household, killing May and Peter. Ben quit being Spider-Man, and when Ezekiel Sims told him he was in danger from Morlun, accepted his offer to stay in the bunker.

Peter and Otto press Ben for further details as to why he let the world fall into ruin, and Ben reveals that his world's Otto Octavius held the world at ransom with nuclear weapons, but there had been a mistake and the device detonated prematurely. While Otto expresses disbelief and dismay at his counterpart's actions, Peter takes out the scrolls Jessica sent them. Silk, feeling guilty for having gotten Jessica trapped, sneaks away, but is tailed by Gwen, who offers to join her in a rescue mission.

Paviitr Prabhakar and Billy Braddock have an existential discussion, with the former taking note of the overwhelming number of similarities between himself and the other Spider-Totems, especially the Peter Parker of Earth-616. Paviitr states that it feels like he and the others are echoes or distorted reflections of Earth-616 Peter, and therefore expendable in the coming battle. Billy refutes this, stating that while there are thousands of members in the Captain Britain Corps, each one is unique and special in their own way.

Otto, angered by the actions of his counterpart and frustrated by the others' inability to translate the Master Weaver's scrolls, furiously snatches the scroll away and activates his holographic assistant. When Peter notes that it has a striking resemblance to Anna Maria Marconi, Otto abruptly realizes that Peter is from later in the Earth-616 timeline and therefore that he regains control of his body, with Otto losing everything. Before he can do anything, Anya Corazon reveals that, due to her original powers having come from a cult that worships the Spider-Totems, she can read the text, stating that the first scroll contains a prophecy that the Inheritors will lose to the Spiders in 1000 years in the future, and that the only way of averting this fate is by sacrificing the Other, the Bride, and the Scion, which will stop new spider-totems from rising. Mayday furiously demands they travel to Loomworld and rescue her brother, and at that point the Spiders realize that Cindy has run off again. Peter contacts her to find her in the middle of a brawl with multiversal pirates, one of whom destroys her teleporter.

On Earth-802, Kaine angrily rebukes Earth-1610 Jess' attempts to console him over Ben's sacrifice, traveling to Loomworld. The Inheritors, sensing the presence of the Other and the Bride, go on the offensive. On Earth-3145, Anya states they can use the contents of the second scroll, which contains Karn's life story, to sway him to their side and turn things in the Spiders' favor. Peter contacts Kaine, who reveals he is on Loomworld and intends to kill the Inheritors himself before tapping into the Other's full power. Peter contacts his away teams, ordering them to rendezvous at Loomworld ASAP, shouting down Miguel O'Hara's protests. Earth-1610 Jess reveals that she's stuck at Jennix's base, but Miles calls in and says his squad will pick her up.

On Loomworld, Kaine transforms into a massive Man-Spider as the Inheritors arrive. Morlun remarks that the last time he faced the Other, when it was hosted by Peter, it was nowhere near as powerful, and Solus remarks it is due to it being in the Center of Reality. The Other impales Solus on multiple spines mid-boast, killing him, and Morlun attacks in a rage, ripping off one of the Other's legs and stabbing it through the head, stating that they don't need it alive, only its blood.

Elsewhere, Jess berates Cindy for destroying two teleporters in a single day. Gwen tries to break up the argument, but Verna, Brix, and Bora attack with multiple Green Goblins.

On Earth-3145, Mayday snaps at Peter to leave Uncle Ben, who refuses to suit up, behind. Despite Ben dejectedly remarking that Mayday is right, Peter reminds him that "with great power must also come great responsibility", revealing that he kept the costume and stating that his Uncle Ben made all the difference. Otto angrily snaps at Ben to toughen up, stating that he lost more times than he won but that didn't keep him from fighting. Otto's rant inspires Ben to put the costume on one last time, and the Spider-Army sets off for the final battle.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_3_13)

Fan Art: Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse by Hammling

Accompanying Podcast: ● Amazing Spider-Talk - episode 13

[avatarvyakara]

I am rather reminded that Strands of Webbing does need a proper ending. I am also given to understand that people have started mentioning their own Spiders again on posts.

Seems a decent thing to combine the two and try to work on the next chapter at least…so, without further ado:

The Other Spiders

In rough order of appearance:

Peter Pauker/The Cob: the masked menace of Staten Island, 1787. Carries a sword, known for long-jumps.

Roshni Raj/Jalavai “The Webweaver”: hologram-heavy spider from Navayurka in the year 2670. Much use of illusions, the third member of the “tech support” (along with Peni and Miguel).

Spider-Glitch: the Spider for a Matrix-like world. Mildly exasperated that the multiverse doesn’t come with a blue pill.

Anansi: a version of the African spider-god, prone to easy laughter and the provision of stories. They may save your life one day.

Mary-Jane Watson/Carnage: took over from her friend Steff “Stay” See when the latter died. Both sides agree that Venom (Flash Thompson) is a prat.

Kaine Parker/Webwalker: a surprisingly moral crime boss in 1890s Manhattan. First Spider known to be killed by the Inheritors.

Hida Haraka/Jorōgumo: a young girl in 1840s Japan who happens to be being transmogrified by the spirit of a man-eating golden orb spider. Good at eating bad guys, doesn’t like it much. Looks like Peni’s mother.

Peredur y Parchedig/Spider-Man: protector of the Roman city of Eboracum, later York, and the Britons who live there. Bitten by the Goddess Arianrhod. Likes the Beatles. (Mayday is terribly annoyed at Billie for that.)

Ebenezer Parker/Scion Spider: moneylender in 1874 San Francisco, bitten by a cursed spider hiding in a Hopi idol. Was visited by Peter Parquagh, Peter B. Parker, and Miguel O’Hara on Christmas Eve, and was shanghaied (his words) into becoming a vigilante.

Charles and his 400 siblings/Spiders-Man: Ham’s nephews and nieces in one of 1610-Peter’s old suits. Enough said, really.

J. Jonah Jameson, Jr.: no, really. No masks. A safe home for young mutants, excellent luck on the stock market, and annoying physical strength aside, it’s still the same guy. Annoyingly.

Benjamin P. Parker: for very different reasons, no masks. The son of Earth-1610’s Peter and Mary Jane, born after his father’s death. Miles is the best babysitter in the world.

Olivia Ockham/Spinneret: friend of Mabel Reilly, alias Lady Spider, in 1960s New York. No powers, plenty of webs. Tendency to murder people.

Now, there are more, but they’re more just interpretations of already-existing characters. Not that some of these aren’t, but they’re hopefully less…obvious? I dunno.

In any case, questions or comments are very welcome!

[witchofthescions]

Erna tugged the borrowed tunic around her as she made her way into the Rising Stones. Nails picked absentmindedly at the fabric as half-formed thoughts chased themselves around her head. She wasn't sure what she'd say when she showed up. "Sorry I almost died?" "Tales of my death were greatly exaggerated?" "Hey, Tataru, can you make me a new shirt because my old one got kinda destroyed."

It didn't take long for someone to notice her striding into the establishment. And it didn’t take long for her remaining friends to gather around.

And it especially didn’t take long for Tataru to come barreling over to her, arms held up for a hug. Erna barely had time to kneel down before the lalafell leapt into her arms and hugged her tight.

"Oh thank the gods you’re safe." Tataru buried her face against Erna’s shoulder. "I was so worried that you’d..."

Tataru held her a little tighter, her voice dropping to a whisper. "That you’d been taken from us, too."

Erna said nothing, simply squeezing her friend back. They stayed that way for a few moments. Hoary Boulder knelt down and hugged the both of them (and for a moment Erna felt a twinge of longing, wishing it was her own brother) before Tataru finally pulled back, gesturing for Erna to place her on the ground. She wiped her face, one last sniffle getting through before she regained her composure.

"What happened out there? I’ve heard bits and pieces, but... but I’d rather hear it all from you."

Erna launched into a recounting of the events that day, wrapping up with her conversation with the mystery caller. The others all listened intently, wearing different looks of concern.

"'The better path leads you here,' huh?" Tataru repeated, frowning. “And you said he seemed familiar, somehow?”

"Yeah. Like... like I’d met him before somewhere, but fuck if I can remember where or when."

"What could you make out of his features?" Hoary asked. Erna shrugged.

"Not much. He was wearin' robes and a hood. All I could make out was patches of pale skin, but that don't exactly mean much, considering how many folks I've met are pale as sheets." She punctuated the point by gesturing towards some of the assembled Scions who, of course, were very much on the paler side of the spectrum.

"Whoever he is, if he's really the same person who's been contacting you this whole time, then perhaps the others are with him." Tataru lowered her head, momentarily lost in thought. "The fighting's hit a stalemate, according to Ser Aymeric, but... but if that monster in Zenos's skin comes back, you're going to need everyone's help." She raised her head and fixed Erna with a stern look. "And I forbid you from going to face him on your own. Do you hear me? So if you must leave... Go and find the others. Bring them home."

Tataru's eyes welled up again as she looked at her, and Erna couldn't help but shy away like a chastened child. But she smiled back at her friend, and nodded in reassurance.

"I will. I promise I will."

Tataru smiled back. "Good. I'm holding you to that!" She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Now, you said he'd left a beacon for you at the Crystal Tower? But how are you to find it when the tower has been sealed shut?"

"Hells if I know." Erna shrugged.

"Well, if anyone's likely to know a way, it's Cid and the researchers at Saint Coinach's Find," Tataru said, nodding to herself. She fixed Erna with a determined grin. "Don't you worry. We'll find that beacon for you!"

Cheers erupted amongst the other assembled Scions. Erna looked around, somewhat surprised at the show of solidarity.

You know... other people don't really come to our aid that often, do they?

No, not like this at least. It was... refreshing to have so many people ready and willing to help her for a change. Usually it felt like she and her team were on their own.

But that's never really been the case, has it? Fray mused. The other Scions have always had our backs. And we've had plenty of other allies besides, both from our own star and from across the multiverse.

Fray was right. She was never truly alone. Not when she had so many allies to draw upon. How could she have ever thought otherwise?

"Oh, right, before I set out to speak with the researchers," Tataru said, bringing Erna out of her musings. "I have something for you!"

She disappeared behind her desk as the Scions dispersed, and came back with an armload of clothes and beaming ear to ear.

"I made these for you." She held the bundle out to Erna, who took them with a measure of excitement. "And I had Nero make you a custom weapon that I think you'll appreciate." Tataru beamed up at her dear friend. "Happy belated nameday." Erna scooped Tataru up into another hug. "Thank you, Tataru! You're the best."

"Thank you!" Tataru squeezed her back. "I wish I could see how those clothes fit on you, but I'm afraid I should be going. The sooner I contact them, the sooner we can find that beacon, after all. But you must show me how it all looks once I get back!"

"Oh, you bet!"

"Good!" Tataru smiled again. "Oh, but! I want you to get some rest while we work, do you hear me?" Erna was a little taken aback, and it must have shown on her face because Tataru put her hands on her hips and gave her a stern look back.

"I know what you're like, young lady. Did you leave with the chirurgeon's permission, or did you sneak out against their express wishes?"

Ernastral's gaze drifted away from Tataru and towards a particularly interesting formation in the ceiling. Oh, would you look at that, how absolutely fascinating.

"I thought so. That's why I'm going to strongly encourage you to stay here and rest. Do you hear me? Rest."

"Alright, alright, I'll get some rest. After I try on your new outfit."

Tataru giggled. "Perfect! Well then, I shall see you later!"

Tataru gave her one last wave, and then marched off to see to her own tasks. Erna watched her leave, then took a moment to examine the clothes she'd just been given. There was a cute pleated skirt, some really nice looking boots, a crop top shirt, and a really nice looking jean jacket. The latter caught her attention the most. She'd never seen anything like it before. Sure, she had a pair of jean pants, and those were nice, but she didn't realize you could make that material into a jacket.

We have to put this on right now.

No, she was going to find somewhere private to change first, and then she was going to put the whole outfit on. She wasn't just going to put on the jacket without trying on the rest of the clothes Tataru made.

Alright, fair enough. Let's see how this all looks, then.

[namelesschurch]

Weekly notes 6/30/2023:

Lev: Been testing Impose with the assistance of Sylph. Results have not been promising; admittedly, seeing her fail makes me feel a little relieved. The moment Lev starts really finding a direction in earnest is likely the moment she'll probably be getting into a lot of danger. I haven't really mentioned Crow to her, though she'll probably be reappearing in the next week...I should probably warn her.

Chi: Still do not get her unusual drive for school. Why school specifically? She does not seem to understand her own reasons or just doesn't want to tell me. I'm hoping school doesn't disappoint her...

Kris: His godhood is unusual in the sense that he retains his human characteristics. Usually, gods embody a concept such as rage or order - etc - and are usually engulfed by it. Just goes to show that the multiverse makes things different.

He however can still get bored, tired, listless, etc. Not sure what I have to offer - other than letting him go ham here. And though he does enjoy hanging out with Chi and Lev, it's probably not -fulfilling- he mentioned he likes to feel useful - probably to feel like his extraordinary powers - and potential suffering to get it- had purpose. I mean, I guess letting him deal with crime here would be useful - even if he's restricted by the World Boundary here, he still has the experience and technically can't die for real. It's not like this is the world I knew anymore, and the circumstances that led to the first timeline imploding are not present anymore.

Stupid Radiance. Stupid Dream.

Madison Ruarc (note the name change): He seems to be doing better after encountering two annoying bits of anonymous magic, which is concerning. Is he being targeted because he is an angel or is it something else entirely? The second one seems to be particularly ill-intended/problematic requiring someone else that I cannot recall off the top of my head to partially halt the effects.

He is currently living with some sort of entity known as Sarandiel - or at least was in the same room at one point - they seem non-hostile. What is of concern is that it does not seem that Mads may have his place of work anymore, which he seems to derive happiness and comfort from. He also doesn't like being off-world so-to-speak. Maybe create something that doesn't really require a time requirement here - like an animal shelter here with his assistance welcome as needed?

Chi seems to have already attracted another dog to the Inn on her walk with Lev. So we now have a chicken, 2 ducks, 2 dogs, and two cats (even if one of them is a ghost).

Random note, I am just going to admit this in the privacy of my own head.

I think it is an utter shame Gotham did not employ the Nameless City's stance on dog killers.

Erna: Met one of her friends online, Tataru. From the sound of it, considerations would likely have to be modified since it sounds like there's someone on it. As expected Scions is a close-knit group. Learning Erna having the capability to fight the equivalent of gods in her world is also surprising. Seems to be straining herself in regard to her comatose friends though if convo with Crowley is any indicator.

Crowley: Continues to deal with the hivemind algae thing. Lack of online presence is likely secondary to that. Her plan is interesting in that there's a way to somehow restrict said algae thing to make it seem like it is an ordinary, if probably toxic (red algae blooms?) algae. Makes me wonder how many supernatural things are being hidden in plain sight.

Hermes / saintworks: Still not sure how the "Datalight" went past the World Boundary, still theorizing. He is currently finding a new planet? to inhabit. What's left of his company after the attack seems to be a whole bunch of misfits and malcontents that are working together for the mutual sake of survival and potential new business.

Not quite sure how to approach, given Datalight for some odd reason passes through the World Boundary for no reason. The whole "don't want to draw attention until I figure out what's going on" to the "I can't figure out this person who bounces between rational and guns-glazing" to the whole "cross between AI and human body with some sort of very high-level technology that can pass as magic in any other world.

At least his cafeteria sounds decent. And they have food and housing. Safety, not so much.

Bruce / something-in-the-wayne: Upon my review of the dashboard later at night, he suddenly got very serious when talking to a kid that seemed like she was self-destructing and apparently entering into a dangerous situation. Probably because he's a father himself.

Other than that, not much changes other than some interesting advice from his own perspective as starting out with his inherited company. Which is useful. Unions could be used as a means to deal with annoying shareholders - the problem is I don't have any shareholders for them to deal with. Still cross-training is an interesting concept. No one really aspires to be a grocer after all. I can believe Farmer, but...grocer...Anyway.

And apparently he started using Grindr? again?

Not much happening on his front.

Nata: She seems to be healing from the wound she received (cracked horn) from Damara. And whatever aches and pains she's been feeling - perhaps just from a strenuous day - it seems that even deity / near-deities can still have aches and pains, though Kris also does prove that. Seems like Hermes can port things to her world too. She seems to be doing fine hopefully.

She does singing, which is interesting, though it does not seem like often enough - and the act itself has a special meaning to her.

Yugi: Introductions with Sarandiel have revealed some more of his hobbies, though the favoring of analog games over video games is expected. Seems to be more of a social creature, willing to do more things outside of his comfort level, if his friends are around. Friendship seems to be a big thing with Yugi - companionship and all that. This is assumed to be the main Yugi and not the other Yugi.

Clarification on the "Island Sinking." - so Yugi is not as dangerous as Lev made out. Lev made me believe that Yugi summoned a monster in a duel that accidentally took out the island with it - either that or this was just her exaggerating, which is likely.

Siege - strikingskeletonsiege - Backtracking on the dashboard - was likely one of the sources for Chi picking up the Flesh Suit thing. Also of note, Siege knows Nata - at least assumed given how he commented how Nata gets really stupid anons. He has a very lively personality as seen in his introductions with other people.

----

Lex Luthor - Earth-3 :: An interesting note that Lex has dill-emma's father's phone number - and used it to make sure dill-emma would be retrieved safely from a Joker (clowningachievement). Not much to report on this front though beyond that. He does note himself to be primarily doing meta-gene research and biology? except the way it was put like there's a supernatural element to it.

Lee (ultra-rage) - Well, his username matches his demeanor to say the least. Sounds like Lex really has a handful with him - sounds like that Ultraman (father?) really made a very bad impact on him. Superpowers and being easily provoked are not a good combination unfortunately.

Provocation seems to primarily stem from the feeling of being mocked? Or pointlessness. There's just a lot of disproportionate aggravation with his interactions involving dill-emma.

Has a soft side with Dove. Guess every lid has its pot.

Nightwing - slightlylessdarkknights - Haven't interacted much beyond the initial encounter. Seems to share a universe with thedarkestknight? and maybe kalkalicious? The times he is on, I suspect he is on patrol in the city as a superhero. Has an interesting mindset when at work - that everyone can be redeemed, and I'm assuming he is someone who will not kill another criminal.

His post (assuming again about dill-emma who is the inciting force of this week) is likely referencing her about how he cannot stand being drowned out by someone else. He doesn't like people who don't listen.

Ember and Jack - emberoops and cyberneticlagomorph - Linked due to the interaction. It is interesting that Ember works for Jack in some sort of "desk?" job. And that Ember gets PTO for an unspecified surgical procedure - or maybe it was specified and I missed it. But apparently he can divide into multiple bodies with a shared? consciousness - does having one part work and three part recreation memories lower the strain due to the proportion or amount of time lived?

As for Jack, apparently a somewhat lax boss who gives decent PTO. The kids are interesting, especially Egg who seems to be like in the terrible twos stage or something but perpetually. Jack is managing though. His world is especially interesting too - the Moon producing milk? Talk of fae, etc.

--

Miscellaneous: I'd been under the impression that Grindr is a branch of the Tinder dating website. I am technically correct. It is a dating site, but it is one that caters to the LGBTQ+ community. This explains Bruce's, while maintaining some level of jovial, somewhat taunting / somewhat "shame on you" posts.

[thrythlind]

Test of Ability

Scion 2e There are two major ways to bring down the magical barrier. As soon as work goes on the barrier, the entire tower locks down. The two main approaches two the barrier are to try to burst it down through an overpowered burst or to try to take a ritual suggested by the inscriptions. Bursting through immediately can be done in a single try, but is a Difficulty 5 Performing the ritual requires a Difficulty 2 and four milestones. If the first attempt does not clear the barrier then add: Complication 1 - not paying this off causes 1 Bashing health level for each unpaid level due to the magical feed back in the area. Each additional attempt that does not clear the barrier increases that Complication by one. Individuals in the room but not taking on the ritual or barrier must still act to resist this ongoing feedback in someway. Bonus successes on the ritual can be spent to add Enhancement toward brute forcing the barrier itself. The lockdown on the tower will not release until all levels are cleared.

Monster of the Week Test Barrier (Phenomenon - Bubble) Harm: 5 - Only suffers Harm from the ritual or raw magical force (not fire, ice or other element). Magical Feedback: 0 (increase by 1 after each action directly involving the barrier) Weakness: Someone clever may be able to attack the physical elements of the barrier and thus deal harm indirectly via physical weapons and strength. When you try to take down the barrier, roll +Weird then suffer damage from Magical Feedback 10+ Choose 2, 7-9 Choose 1 * Deal the Barrier 1 Harm * Magical Feedback's Harm does not increase by 1 * Reduce the amount of Harm done by Magical Feedback this time by 1 * Grant the next Hunter +1 ongoing to dealing with the barrier. On a miss the strength of Magical Feedback increases by 2 instead of 1.

Sentinels of the Multiverse Challenge: Unlock the Runes Action: The Heroes take actions to approach the barrier with skill and knowledge. Overcome: OO - Decode the runes on the floor OOOO - Deconstructing the Barrier Challenge: Shatter the Barrier Action: The Heroes try to shatter the barrier by main force. Overcome: OOOOO - Shatter the barrier Challenge: Combined Approach Action: The Heroes mesh the arcane knowledge and sheer power to get through the barrier. Overcome: O Decode the runes on the floor OOO Shatter the Barrier Environment - Abandoned Tower of Test Arcane Challenges d8 Lack of Oversight d8 Unstable Enchantments d6 Minor Green Twist - The Hero taking the action takes a Hinder from the Mid die. Minor Green Twist - Tower minions receive a Boost from the Min die Major Green Twist - All Heroes suffer a Hinder from the Min die. Major Green Twist - Spawn 1 Tower minion Minor Yellow Twist - The Hero taking the action takes an Attack from the Mid die Minor Yellow Twist - All Tower minions gain a Defense from the Min die Major Yellow Twist - All Heroes suffer an Attack from the Mid die Major Yellow Twist - Spawn Min die Tower minions Minor Red Twist - All Heroes suffer a Hinder from the Mid die. Minor Red Twist - Spawn Min die Tower Minions Major Red Twist - All Tower minions gain a Boost from the Mid die and a Defense from the Min die Major Red Twist - Spawn 1 Tower lieutenant

Will come back and fill in the other eight games later... this was a lot.