#and want to use the time control artifact staff

[kuipernebula]

One of these days I WILL play my Sun Wukong as a Sidereal Exalt character in an Exalted game

[gl1tchxr]

i didn't realize until recently how little fantasy stuff is in my world. sure they're all animals or dragons and they've got magic but there's no actual gods and i didn't even think about including magical artifacts or beings made of magic until a month or so ago. everything could've been so much cooler this whole time lol

[tohwitchesduels]

REQUEST BATTLES OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 46: Gus Porter vs Hunter

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Since both have quite huge profiles, I won't be getting into specifics, just motivations and I will link to their profiles in their names.

Gus Porter:

Gus Porter is a prodigy when it comes to illusion magic. Prodigious enough to skip a few grades and even defeat the coven head of illusions with his sheer raw power. Gus displays insane potential and a big imagination when it comes to his magic. Now his powers are still limited by his own imagination and creativity meaning his illusions for the most part can be used mostly for deception and distraction, but during this tournament, Gus finally revised his own skill to find even offensive capabilities of his powers. While Gus did display the willingness to study other tracks, he ultimately never did due to his reassurance in being a master illusionist how easy it comes to him, and how much he can do with illusions alone.

One must know how intelligent Gus is during his battles. He can easily fool and toy with his opponents thanks to his illusions and Gus is also not afraid to either mock or straight-up torture his enemies during his battle just to get the results he needs, and has more than enough raw power to pull his schemes to their fullest. It's worth noting that when Gus feels extreme emotions, his magic only gets amplified, however, the side effects could be that Gus actually loses control over his own powers and gets to be the victim of them too, though thankfully to the magical amplifier from Graye, the risk of that is lesser.

Gus does possess a Palisman and is known to be an utter speed demon. Gus doesn't fly in a traditional sense like most other competitors due, to preferring to surf in the air, but this only further allows him to still cast spells while midair, which mixed with his capacity to trick his opponents more dangerous. It's hard to tell however how good he is in combat with his staff, but it appears he knows how to battle with it if he still used it as a means to fight in LR when briefly facing Hunter.

One of the artifacts I allow Gus to have independently regarding whether or not his opponent also has any supportive gear is the looking glass earring he got after he defeated Adrian. The magical amplifier allows Gus to further concentrate his raw power into specific abilities he has a hard time pulling on his own and even enhancing them in the process, growing more powerful.

Gus and Hunter are the best bros and there's no bad blood between them while going into this battle nor will there be any after they finish. Gus wants to have a chance to battle the finalists; it's nothing personal. Gus realises he may be outmatched as he knows how dangerous Hunter can be but he's willing to face him as he knows Hunter isn't invincible or flawless either. Granted Gus won't do his worst towards Hunter (so no Belos trauma as it would be hit below the belt... but Gus may aim with his staff below Hunter's belt).

More Gus pictures showing his powers:

Hunter The Golden Guard:

Hunter "Insert your preferred surname/s for him", also known as a former and the youngest Golden Guard in history, head of the Emperor's Coven, Emperor Belos's right-hand man. One must know that unlike other contestants (aside from Luz) he's not constricted to specific covens and tracks since as a former leader of the coven that allows all kinds of magic, Hunter will have expertise in all types of coven magic as well, and he's also very dedicated to studying wild magic.

Hunter has no bad blood towards Gus, he's his best bro. Hunter does feel bad a bit to have to battle Gus, but he's willing to do so and win this match since he knows Gus will be a little shit if Hunter lets him win (siblings am I right?). It's worth noting that Hunter already had to face Gus at his strongest even when they weren't battled and while it wasn't easy, Hunter managed to push through Gus's powers to save him, so Hunter sees no reason why he can't do the same to take down Gus as well. After all his position in the tournament is also at stake because of this.

Hunter himself was also known as a genius teen prodigy and is undeniably a child soldier who was raised by both hell and the library to get to the very top. While he was born magicless, it did not stop him from earning his title as the right-hand man of the most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles. Hunter spends days and nights both training and learning everything about magic both as a duty and as fun. He's incredibly knowledgeable regarding all kinds of magic, meaning it's hard to actually surprise him with anything. And since he's a child soldier raised in a magical military with no magic by himself, Hunter had to survive hell even worse than some of the adults that also were part of this coven went through, and he survived it all. Hunter has already been to countless witches' duels beforehand, he made it several times through a maze full of traps, and judging by how he calls getting from the top to the bottom of the mountain alive "a classic", this might as well suggest that this Hunter's version of "summer camp", as he did that numerous times and he considers it "fond memories". Hunter without a doubt has the most experience among all participants when it comes to battling, because you know Belos never gave him a break or easy time and for Hunter to be where he is today is all thanks to his own strength, intelligence, and resilience.

Hunter certainly has one of the strongest wills among all characters in TOH, as despite going through a ridiculous amount of pain, he is capable of brushing it off and pushing forward, with his only weakness being Belos. Hunter's willpower was even able to withstand Gus's trauma bubble which specifically puts you through your worst memories and even renders you useless, but Hunter resisted its effect and calmed Gus down instead, despite his pain being very fresh and severe and Hunter in fact not being ok with it, but Hunter keeps on going anyway. One must know it's very hard to break him, trust Belos, he tried but didn't succeed. Hunter even managed to resist Belos's possession for some time, which is a lot considering Belos was his abuser and had power over him metaphorically and physically in that moment.

Hunter displayed throughout the series to have some great athletic skills and agility, being able to keep up pace with running Luz without breaking a sweat while proving he has experience in parkour and acrobatics as seen in him flying on staff. Certainly, he can use his skills to evade incoming attacks with his reflexes while keeping up with his opponents and close distance between him and his enemies. He also has plenty of brute strength at his disposal as well, considering he managed to shatter falling debris by just swinging his staff in one hand.

Hand-To-Hand Combat - Hunter has proven to be efficient in hand-to-hand combat throughout the series. While Hunter overall plays more on defense as a protector rather than offense, he is not afraid to throw a punch. This post goes more in-depth about Hunter's proficiency in staff-wielding, but I will explain some of it here too. Hunter as a trained soldier and experienced martial artist has his body be his weapon. He knows how the body works and has great control over it. He defeated both Luz and Eda in his debut with a quick kick while evading their attack, straight-up toyed with Kikimora, and had to be put to sleep to be restrained by coven scouts as he was still fighting and kicking. This also gives him a huge advantage against other competitors who are used to fighting across distance, whereas Hunter fights at a close range.

Back in EC Hunter learned how to be smart, resourceful, and strong, and as I've mentioned before multiple times, he's a child soldier. His opponents usually underestimate him, but he's not the one to be crossed. His victories compromise of defeating Eda and Luz on 2v1 in his debut; immediately defeating Luz in HP once he's recovered; defeating Kikimora in HP; and Tying with Amity in EL after being physically and mentally exhausted, in 2v1 with King (who was rather defeated by Hunter in this duel), while wielding a completely new staff and restraining himself to not kill her but just getting the key; winning flyer derby game on his first try; catching Darius off-guard (which is a feat with Darius's great reflexes); making a strong glyph combo on his very first try; resisting Gus's trauma bubble; kicking ass during Hexside against EC battle; he was defeated twice by coven scouts, which while fair, was also due to his poor condition and the second time he had to be put to sleep to be restrained; handling abomatons and scouts with rest of the Hexsquad during S2 finale; standing his ground and protecting Hexsquad from Belos while being severely weakened in KT; breaking through Willow's vines in FtF with his freshly awakened powers.

Hunter now is sub-merged with Flapjack meaning he does not require staff anymore to cast spells as magic now comes from within. What's more, I allow Hunter to also levitate/fly without the help of any staff. This is more of a fanon ability, but it's supposed to connect him to having the powers of a palisman (but no, he can't turn into a staff, nor is wooden) and abilities of a palisman are usually just enhanced abilities of the holder, meaning flight is in capacity of any witch, but all of them utilise staff since flight on its own is probably hard spell to pull off, but Hunter should do just fine for the sake of this tournament.

And now finally, let's talk about his staff. For the purposes of this tournament, I will give Hunter Waffles. You know Hunter is the best staff wielder in the entire tournament only rivaled by Luz. I already mentioned how Hunter is absolutely proficient with his staff, utilizing it for both offensive and very effective strikes and flawless defense. Hunter is also a real aerial ace capable of flying at high speeds with agility to dodge attacks and is capable of even surfing on his staff as demonstrated when he showed off in ASIAS. His flying skills were also decisive in both forming EE and winning their very first game together.

Return to Masterpost

[stuffyflowers]

Masterpost of everything we learned from the Kissy Cutie AMA with Merengue on ACDS for those wondering

(Merengue is the creator I should probably mention that lol)

The game, particularly its theme of racism, derived from the rise of Trump in 2016, during which hatred towards Mexicans was popular. As a Mexican woman herself, she says this was a very personal source of inspiration and she considers Kissy Cutie a "healing journey."

Similarly, Sona is inspired by her personal experience living with a controlling parent. Her confusing motives and reactions take you off guard. She depicts a complex person who is full of regret but fails to be better.

The endings were were a criticism of dating sims, trying to follow Undertale's ending style and the fandom.

She regrets making the truest ending so hard to obtain. She is tempted to make TikToks showing people how to get all the endings to stop the suffering.

She would love to remake Kissy Cutie, but "ran out of budget on the intro." In all honesty, she would think about it if people are really interested.

The game has so many artstyles as no artist wanted to compromise to draw all the sprites. While the end product worked, she would have preferred a more homogenous artstyle.

If she were to remake the game, she would like to redraw everything herself.

The yellow soul was renamed to Clover as the demo of Undertale Yellow had released during development. There are also references to Flowerfell (such as in Sona's final transformation), which was another fan creation she loved.

Sona's powers had many changes during production. She was going to be a doll-like monster that absorbed human souls (and goes bald at the end?), then she was going to have Flowerfell reset powers, but in the end she was made to be a witch whose powers came from an ancient artifact. She is also able to turn the monsters human through "determination."

She wanted to explain every loose end left in Undertale, hence the focus on Chara's backstory and their upbringing with Sona. She says Chara is the main character, not Sona.

She was nervous about doing a Sans path due to his popularity at the time. So she made him "that way" on purpose.

She handles the Frisk/Chara/Player relationship "like the Catholic Church handles the Holy Trinity."

She has played Danganronpa, but has not read Homestuck or watched Glitchtale.

The characters with no sprites are a result of their artists abandoning the project.

Alphys, Mettaton and Toriel paths were planned, but never got far.

The Alphys route was being written by a friend who she began to distance from. She never got to see any of it.

She has not played Undertale Yellow, only the demo.

The disappearance of the 42 Ayotzinpa students is another source of inspiration (The scene in which you find Mettaton's body likely alludes to this).

She loves and encourages fan content of her game, including using the game's code as a base for projects.

The humanification arc was intended to explore how a racist would 'solve racism' without violence, by turning everyone into "someone like them."

The human designs have slightly pink hair to reflect Sona's influence. Human Papyrus was inspired by his in-game comments about wanting muscles and hair, human Sans was "the typical fandom approach," and everyone else became anime characters.

The music was the last thing worked on. It was rushed and they didn't know what they were doing.

Sona was not intentionally similar to Monika or Makima.

Sona is (supposedly?) wearing a black mourning dress (Likely mourning Chara hence the yellow flowers).

The cover of Waterfall is her favourite track.

The idea of Sona being a skeleton named Arial was tossed around briefly.

The truest ending was created after some staff requested the option to save Flowey and Sona. It also fulfilled her plan for Sans and Papyrus to take over the orphanage.

Sona's final transformation intended for her to be kept human "but not without her sins showing"

The glitchy text character was Flowey. The glitchiness showed the interference and Flowey being manipulated

[digitaldoeslmk]

By The Book AU Timeline

[this will be edited as things progress and the au gets more fleshed out]

less of a timeline and more the a brainstorm chart for the plotbeats i have so far

Prince > Little Sage > Pilgrim > Immortal

ACT 1, PRINCE: 2 years, S1 plus some of S2

ep0 special, MK becomes Monkie Kid

Fated Feast (tm) and dealing with it

MK learning how to use his powers

pretty much all the episodes of S1

Beijing Opera sideplot

first New Years is a Lion Dancing competition special

Macaque introduces himself

Spider Queens get exorcised, LBD reveal

Nezha and Muzha introduction

some more filler episodes of Monkie gang dealing with small easy stuff

MK gets invited to meet Guanyin

MK learning the Dao and Dharma, starts cultivation

Macaque causes trouble (basically Shadow Play ep but not), Wukong finds out

spicynoodles start becoming a thing late in the arc

S1 finale special, except it's LBD and some henchmen

Celestial Realm sightseeing moment, introduction to several immortals and gods

ACT 2, LITTLE SAGE: about half a year, part of S2 and a lot of changes

Red Son's investigation gets serious, Nezha is helping

Wukong gets more present to teach MK

most of what's left of S2, with some changes

Yingge and Longnü intro

Tang starts helping MK and Mei with magic

Mei starts training her dragon powers in FFM

Guanyin meets the Monkien gang, reveal of Tang's past reincarnations

MK gets deeper on training with his monkey form and powers

"recollections of red and blue" is set in this arc

DBK and PIF start making amends with Red Son

qpr chimera fully established, Red Son and MK get serious enough to tell their parents about it

more LBD shenanigans

S2 season finale, except not

LBD tries to trap him in a pagoda, everyone joins the fray, MK escapes because Macaque underestimates him, Wukong gets kebabed, Megapolis is lost and the gang flees for their lives

ACT 3, PILGRIM: about half a year, S3 in spirit but almost every plot gets scrapped cus its just filler anyway

they aren't on a ""journey to the west"", they are gathering allies and tools to use against LBD and Macaque

plan is, burn the motherfuckers with the Samadhi fire with the help of the four dragon king's armies to spread the fire with rain, and use some artifacts to then control the fire and put it out

drastic measure but it do be drastic times

LBD used the skeleton key to open the gates of the Diyu, so the world is slowly getting overrun by runaway spirits, as well as channeling the waters from it to freeze the land

apparently Macaque wants to consume every living thing he's trapped to fuel something, and nobody is sure what

anyway it's crisis politics time, nobody is having fun, everything sucks

time to check in with the past pilgrims for advice and some tricks they know, Monkie gang power up time

the dragon king of the north and his family are missing, time to find them

Shen Gongbao intro, he's involved but they figure it out

it's also time to draft some immortals, we love owing favors to people in this house amiright??

Mayor starts to think the henchman career isn't for him, time to dip

he fucks a plan cus he uses a pill of immortality to heal himself but oops the gang needed that

Mayor spills the beans on Macaque's plan, MK gets impulsive and runs off to face LBD

S3 special time except not

MK exchanges himself for the girl LBD got possessed, which builds the group time to wrap up lose ends

final battle time, hoards of the underworld versus whatever immortals got convinced to help despite going against the Jade Emperor's decree

MK sends a clone with his staff before he loses control back to the gang

Mei in dragon form fighting possessed MK, so that Red Son and Nezha can take a shot at MK to exorcise LBD out of him, Erlang and Muzha helping to hold Macaque back

MK gets shot with the Samadhi Fire, to explosive results

MK vs Macaque kaiju monkey battle time

Macaque gets nuked, LBD gets carbonized, Mayor dies saving people from the city before the fires get to them

everything is put back where it belongs, but there's a lot of loose ends to wrap up, ends in a bittersweet note

ACT 4, IMMORTAL: two years, S4 solely in name, basically a full overhaul lmao

oh man oh man shits gonna hit the fan lmao

the city is saved and the bad guys are gone; time for Consequences

Jade Emperor isnt very happy with the amount of unauthorized actions taken just now

MK goes to fucking trial for the crime of saving the world, it goes as well as one would think

luckily Guanyin comes in clutch and gets his sentence lightened to "community service"

there is an absurd amount of undead still walking around, which means MK has to get on that

also yknow. the devastating amount of damage in the mortal AND celestial realm

MK is given an assignment in the heavenly bureocracy, to help keep him in check and accountable to stuff. is great innit.

another part of his job is, dealing with Wukong's past sworn brotherhood cus they've been uppity since Macaque's attack and threatening to break the human-demon truce

Qi "two dads nuclear family" Xiaotian learns to deal with distant extended family relations with very specific social cues. again, goes as well as expected

under all that, Red Son still hasn't been able to get the missing memories situation fixed

also turns out even Wukong doesn't remember who MK was but he used to know. he doesn't anymore. and he doesn't know what happened. Red Son did not like learning that.

the celebration of Ulhambana in the Celestial Realm is approaching, and Red Son thinks he can get himself and MK invited to it so they can yknow, ask Buddha wtf is going on

so yknow, time to earn the trust of the Celestial Realm again, in a year. that's doable right? ahahah

and because he doesn't have enough on his plate, MK traded off a lot of his merits in exchange for LBD and Mayor speedrunning their time in hell so they can be reborn under his care

MK becomes An Uncle, what could possibly go wrong!

oh, jumpscare, Macaque is still around but Different

[doctorofmagic]

Doctor Strange and the supernatural characters pt 1 - Nico Minoru

Since Nico will soon be featured in v6, I decided to start with her. For context, let’s do a quick review on her character.

Nico Minoru is a member of the Runaways, a team of teenagers that found out their parents were part of a cult called The Pride. Their goal was to perform a ritual to release the elder gods called Gibborin, who would feed on the souls of the entire world and claim it for themselves. The Runaways saved the world, but their parents died in the process. As a consequence, their hearts never recovered from that trauma, which only worsened due to the following betrayal of one of their teammates, Alex Wilder. The TV show is more or less loyal to the characters, but there are heavy differences in case you’re wondering (and one of them is Nico’s character development, which I’ll explain in a second).

Nico comes from a powerful japanese clan of wizards and her weapon is/was The Staff of One, which she stole from her evil parents. It turns out this artifact is actually an ancient sorcerer called The One, who was challenged by Nico’s ancestor. He lost the battle and thus was turned into the Staff. Nico only learned about that recently in the last Runaways volume, when The One came out and revealed himself.

In the past, Nico was forced to draw her own blood to summon the Staff out of her body, but after making a (terrible) deal with The One, she no longer needs to harm herself in order to summon the staff. In exchange, The One releases a drop of his own essence into Nico’s soul, one at a time. On top of that, her staff allows her to perform spells only once, failing whenever she tries to repeat them. But this is not the only issue with Nico and her magic.

She went through a VERY traumatizing experience along with her teammate Chase in Avengers Arena, when Arcade kidnapped sixteen teenagers and created his own Battle Royale scenario. She lost an arm and actually died there, but the staff brought her back, boosting her magic powers and giving her a new artificial arm, although turning her a little more violent. Her mental health was severely damaged there, and so she decided to never speak of that incident ever again.

Following this event, in Avengers Undercover, she infiltrated Zemo’s organization along with the survivors of Murderworld. Their first goal was to rescue Elsa Bloodstone’s little brother, Cullen, unaware that he actually wanted to stay in order to find Arcade and get revenge for Murderworld.

Meanwhile, Nico was welcomed by Daimon Hellstrom (please don’t ask), who was working under Zemo’s leadership (please don’t ask²). Daimon summoned the soul and body of Alex Wilder back from hell (since he was dead) so they could train magic together. Alex’s true intentions were never revealed, but I do suspect Daimon was using him to waste Nico’s spells and also make her vulnerable since Nico had a relationship with Alex before his betrayal. She later realizes that it’s useless to train her magic skills because she wouldn’t be able to use them a second time in battle, accusing Alex of manipulating her.

After that, Daimon teleported them to a hall where Arcade was hosting a murder game. They did kill Arcade, finally getting their revenge, but he just a meat doll created by Daimon. Zemo manipulated them all so he could lure the Avengers while he attacked S.H.I.E.L.D. and framed the kids.

Turns out Daimon was not only manipulating Nico but Cullen as well. Daimon taught Cullen how to control the monster inside him, unaware that his true intent was to put it under his control (please don’t ask³). Since Arcade was still alive, they proved their innocence, although another emotional scar was carved into their souls.

(”oh, but aren’t they teachers at Strange Academy?” you may ask. YES, they are! Marvel’s continuity, am I right?)

Later on, Nico also joined the A-Force team, which sadly didn’t last. But she became good friends with some of the members, such as Dazzler and Singularity (her relationship with Carol became sour due to a terrible event called Civil War II, although they were able to come to an understanding).

Lastly, the Runaways reunited once more, facing new challenges concerning their found family. The volume was sadly cancelled, although it brought huge changes for Nico. She asked Karolina to take The Staff of One with her to space, which depowered her magic abilities significantly. The consequences are seen in Midnight Suns, her last appearance, where she constantly struggles with self-worth and self-doubt (just like a certain magician we know hehe).

That’s what leads us to the next topic: her personality.

Nico is the very definition of a bi disaster. One of her most infamous bad habits is the fact that she’s always trying to kiss almost every member of her team in order to cope with her loneliness, whether they’re single or not. The thing is, the smallest sign of affection is enough for her to get involved with someone, and at the worst possible times (for instance, after burying a friend). Don’t get me wrong, I love her and I’ll protect her. But I can’t pretend she doesn’t have the same bad coping mechanisms than Stephen did when he was trying to forget Clea. And that’s what stood out the most to me as a Stephen stan, opening my mind to ideas of how they can bond.

The thing is, Nico constantly feels alone and insecure about her own capabilities. First of all, there’s the leadership issue. After Alex’s betrayal, she was forced into leading the Runaways, although she canonically states she never wanted that in the first place. It’s a responsibility she was never ready for.

Secondly, there’s the trust issues. Their parents lied to her all her life and tried more than once harm her. She was in love with Alex and then he betrayed everyone, constantly inserting himself into her life and making it a living hell over and over (sometimes quite literally). She trusted Doc Justice and he tried to murder the Runaways in order to promote himself, even though she swore she’d never trust adults.

And that’s a super interesting point because... The very premise of the Runaways is that adults are bad. They refuse to ask for help because the Avengers and the X-Men failed them over and over. This is why Nico never asked for Stephen’s help like Illyana did. And yet... It seems that this is about to change in v6.

I don’t really know where writers are going with their relationship, but I do hope that Stephen realizes that The One is slowly infecting Nico’s soul. That’s a good thing, believe it or not, because Stephen can be a good role model to Nico and a bridge for her to work on her trust issues regarding adults. He can teach her how to get rid of The One’s grip and also teach her safer methods to perform magic. Friendly reminder that Wong also taught her a spell or two.

Overall, I believe that the Strange Academy was a fresh start to her because Nico doesn’t really have a purpose. Karolina is her first stable relationship, and she’s off to space to deal with Majesdanian stuff. Besides, if Nico is considered to be the “mother” of the Runaways, Chase was the “father”, and he was taken to the future for a reason yet to be explored in future stories. Point is, she needs an adult figure to reassure her. The Midnight Suns was another good addition because she was able to open up with Illyana and find comfort and self-worth.

Personally, this is truly touching and meaningful because, as I always like to put, the magic community has something quite special going on. Their connection runs deeper because of the soul/spirituality. And that’s why I have huuuuuge hopes that Stephen will be able to reach out for her. It’s been shown that he keeps in touch with her whenever magic is involved, not to mention the school itself.

It’s true that they barely interacted in the past, mostly because Nico is always neglected when it comes to big magic events (Last Days of Magic, Civil War II etc). Strange Academy was another missed opportunity, but there’s room now thanks to the team of v6.

This is what I’m looking forward to, honestly. Even with limited powers, Nico is quite creative, although her self-destructive tendencies get in her way, which is exactly what v4!Stephen used to be. I’m pretty sure he’d see himself in her and would do his best to support her. That’s Nico’s opportunity to bond and grow as a character, to work on her trust issues, to heal from the trauma she’s been through and create healthy relationships, not only when it comes to Stephen, but the magic community as a whole. Friendly reminder that he taught magic to both Jericho and Illyana and almost became Billy’s and Wanda’s mentor.

So this is it. As you can see, the potential and background are all there. I’m really excited to see what comes next for them and I do hope they’re able to create a nice and sweet bond in the next issues!

[theemployees]

Spirit Weapons in the Hidden City

Many keep up with Big Mamas Nexus News and recently we have all seen the new challenger, Ameise, an ant yokai wielding two twin blades bursting with spiritual energy, their orange blades lighting up with the fire of ancients wowed the audience increasing the match attendance tenfold!

Now what I wondered dear reader is what are these enchanting blades and where can the nexus get more?

(My artistic rendition of Ameise in her debut fight)

The Ancient Art of Spirit Forging

I have read through many a history book looking for anything about these strange magical artifacts, I’ve seen the insides of ancient museums and yet nothing I find leads me to the creator of these weapons besides an old veterans statue from the Great War. I understand many of my audience is too young to remember such a time but when warfare ravaged the hidden city these weapons seemed to be quite common. I researched even further and found a few veterans around the city, as sadly scarce as they may be I finally got an interview with a fine gentleman named Shanty for a mere beer…

Our conversation was very informative despite his laid back demeanor, he lamented of times before the war, till we got to the meat of this Simurgh! 

“An old pal of mines father used to forge em, I got one of my old relics at home. The key is for the spirit to actually want to stay with you, keep em clean, form a bond, whatever.” I tried to inquire further but my feathered friend hesitated to give me their supposed “friends” name. After a call and a few more drinks Shanty gave me a number and an address and I got to speak to the last and only known person who practices what Shanty called “Spirit Forging” 

The Last Known Forger

I have been asked to not disclose the name or address of this yokai so I shall be referring to them as the forger here is our conversation log over tea:

“So what exactly is ‘Spirit Forging?” 

The forger snorted at my question “Well it ain’t exactly called that, it’s just simpler to say than the elemental translation” 

“Which is?”

“It’s more of a principle, called Vinculum inter arma vitam et mortem… yeah a little hard to understand but Spirit forging is as good as any name”

“So what is it?”

“…basically a bonding of spirits either past or natural occurring, into an item, there’s lot of different spirits with all differing effects and personalities but overall it’s just magic item creation with purpose”

“Purpose?”

“Most magic items were either made before the war by skilled magic artisans, formed into existence by powers far greater than my own, magic focuses like wands or staffs, or spells infused into items through complete accident, although there are some instances of purposeful magic item crafting in modern times it’s a little ehhhhh. Spirit forging is an agreement between a spirit, an item usually weapons or armor, a forger, and finally a wielder. If you mistreat your spirit depending on the temperament you can either end up with a powerless blade or a bashed in skull.”

[A small segment of this conversation had to be redacted for time and privacy]

“You mentioned personalities and temperaments these things are alive?”

“Ermmm yes and no? Spirits can form either naturally in spirit groves, through a massive loss of life or under some very specific conditions that neither of us would have the time to go over in one day, in reference to their personalities…” they pulled out a chart of spirits at this point which they allowed me to copy down a few details before we moved on from this discussion in particular... Sadly I only was able to copy down the most common colors

Red - Powers:  Conjuration - Temperament: A range of personalities most border on sadistic in their anger but others are calm and caring for others Orange - Powers: Fire production - Temperament: excitable fire balls, real friendly, keep away from alcohol, hardest to control and regulate Blue - Powers: Quick travel (hue of blue effects the power level; lightest travels further distances, darker blues/indigos tend to be able to access realms beyond but are more unstable; a perfect balance allows for a skilled user to access both at the expense of A LOT of energy) - Temperament: usually more calm but with the same enthusiasm of an orange spirit Purple - Powers: Evocation through creation - Temperament: Logical and calculated a little more introverted tend to lash out if a user is too pushy Pink - Powers: Floral control and creation - Temperament: Calm and connected, bonds formed naturally are strong

“Spirits ain’t very picky about what colors they hang out with eventually forming Spirit Groves, their little communities that usually form in caves, forests, really any dark place in the hidden city, most spirits tend to collect in dark areas and then light up the area by growing a shielding centre tree that protects spirits from detection, but I think the only major example people kind of know about would be the HoneiSukles cherry blossom tree”

“The tree has spirits?!?”

“HoneiSukles is a big district, souls untethered to a belief get lost when they die and if they aren’t getting pulled to a collection of souls in a spirit grove well they head to a place familiar or umm beautiful to them. Plus with the idea that their old queens spirit pulling them to the area is an interesting theory which is… plausible”

“Souls get lost… do you know what happens after death?”

Now the forger paused for a minute and chuckled a bit “No- No kid I ain’t know what happens after death I study spirits I ain’t a deity or anything. I should clarify, souls are yokai that have passed while spirits I use interchangeably but are naturally occurring, I make an effort to only use spirits in forging. When you’ve been on the business as long as I have you can tell if you’re harnessing a creatures power or stealing someone’s after life”

“So what about the religious?”

The forger snorted “I’m not sure to be honest, I’m not even sure if i’m right If you wanna talk about this I’d suggest talking to a theologian on that, it’s all theory… all I know is what I do which is harness.”

“Will you ever sell your blades to say the battle nexus? It would be an amazi-“

“No. The nexus does not and will never have my support. I work for those I know will care for my weapons and the spirits in them.”

“But-“

“No. May we move on?”

“Alright well how do you care for the spirits?”

“Well keeping your weapons clean is always a good idea it’s like cleaning their “room” talking with them, engaging in activities they enjoy blue spirits are quite found of catch while purples may decide they want to play with building blocks for the day, they don’t eat per say but they can be bribed with some glow fruit…”

“Glow fruit?”

“A naturally growing fruit found exclusively in groves, no bigger then a penny, they do as the name implies… glow. Gives the groves their whole atmosphere. Plus wizards and witches love working with the stuff since it increases the volatility of potions.”

“May I request something?”

“Shoot”

“Well you’ve mentioned the spirit groves a few times and I was wondering if you could show me one… for my report” 

The forger paused for a moment again and shrugged “Sure… but that’ll have to be another day I have to go pick my kid up from their… wait you’re still recording ain’t you?”

“Yup!”

“Mind turning it off..?“

“Oh right sorry!” *Click*

And there you have it dear reader my research on Spirit Forging! Although my blacksmithing friend may not seem eager to provide weaponry to the battle nexus, you must admit their craft is an interesting study that I’m sure gladiators and spiritual philosophers would both be interested in. Hopefully I’ll return next week with an entry about these “Spirit Groves” that or the research I have done on “The Great War.”

This is G.R.F. signing off!

Published by the U.M. institute of Knowledge and Journalism in the Hidden City

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello! I’m looking for a game where you play as dying gods in a world that has mostly forgotten them. Do you know of such a thing?

Thank you!

THEME: Dying Gods

Friend, I am holding your hands lovingly. How did you manage to ask about a very specific game that I designed? 

(Don’t worry, it won’t just be shameless self-promotion).

Forgotten Gods, by quinnntastic.

you are gods.infinite, all encompassing,Forgotten.

Forgotten gods, trapped,adrift in the cosmos,left behind by a societythat no longer wanted you.

but you weren't Forgotten alone.

~*~

FORGOTTEN GODS is a game about otherness and clutching each other tightly in the face of the uncaring.

write letters to each other. remember who you were, who you are, who you will become. 

This is a single-page, slightly abstract, epistolary game. It gives your characters a beginning set-up: that you are gods, forgotten by your people, who have only each-other to talk to. A game that works very well for two players, it’s a great start for pairs of friends who may find it difficult to keep in touch across time zones. There is very little in terms of game structure; however, if all you need is a premise by which the two of you can write little pieces of fiction for each-other, this might be a neat little place to start.

If you bought the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Texas, or the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida bundle, you already own this game!

Mischief by Moonlight, by Mint-Rabbit (me!).

You are small gods, stolen away by colonizers inside the everyday items of those whom you loved. Your artifacts have been repainted, refurbished, and reconstructed until you hardly resemble your former selves, and you have found yourselves among other relics, closed up in glass cases,  temperature-controlled archives, or stuffed on top of a collector's shelf. 

However, some small remnant of your old magic remains. It is not grand or powerful, and it doesn't last nearly as long as it used to, but it's enough to do something about your current situation - whether that be haunting the museum, aiding other small spirits, or moving your artifacts to a different location. 

Mischief by Moonlight is an ode to all of the artifacts sitting in places like the British Museum that have no right to be there. You play as small deities, separated from the peoples who venerated them, bound to everyday objects that a museum has put on display. You’ve been separated from nearly everything and everyone that gave you power - but you haven’t diminished into nothingness. 

This game uses the VRBS system, by David Garrett, which consists of assigning action words to your characters, along with three tally-boxes per word. Failure will propel your character forward in that each failed roll allows you to either add a tally to a verb of your choice, or to add a new verb to the list of things your character can do. Your small gods will navigate different rooms of the museum, in an effort to help out other deities, haunt the staff, or whatever else your heart desires. 

If you like random roll tables, easy-to-learn rules, or if you just like the idea of poking fun at the British Museum, this game might be for you!

The Dying of the Light, by Keith D Edinburgh.

You are a God. 

For millennia, you have been worshipped faithfully, your powers striking awe into the hearts and minds of your followers. 

But something is changing. Your Followers have heard of a new way. The Age of Reason is dawning. Can you keep the flame of your divinity alive in the face of this unknowable threat?

The Dying of the Light is a one page roleplaying game for 2 or more players.

This game is only one page, and carries a simple collection of rules. It uses d4’s, d6’s and d8’s, and tracks the popularity of gods over a century. There’s not a lot of flavour for this game, so I think it might be a good companion to a larger game, especially if the game decides to check in on the world (and the effect the Gods have on it) over large periods of time. Otherwise, your group might have to work a bit to add a larger story - describing each act of the gods, inserting events that cause followers to fall away, etc.

[pbandjesse]

I think I may be exhausted. Like on a larger layer then just being tired. I just don't feel good. It didn't help that I had a horrible time sleeping. I was overheated and I couldn't get comfortable so I was awake a lot. I also had stressful dreams about having a baby and also a turtle and for some reason I was struggling having to take care of both?? No idea why this particular thing was the focus but it was stressful.

I slept until 730. There wasn't any rush. The feildtrip didn't start until 10 and Elizabeth asked staff to be there at 9. So while I still got there early I wasn't to worried about anything.

James made me a sandwich and packed my leftover pancakes. And sent me off. They had a late start because of evening hours at the museum so they would be home this morning. But I would head to camp.

It was real cold this morning but it would get up to 85 by the afternoon. I was bundled up this morning and was mostly comfortable. I would go to the office first. Ate my sandwich. Made some copies of the schedule. And soon Jamie was coming in. It was her first time leading this program so I wanted to be there if she had questions but she would kill it because she's great. Dachelle and Sarah would come soon and they of course were also fine. Elizabeth would go set up the fire. And I would go around and drop a few things off and make sure my program space was set up too.

I had some frustration with my old laptop. I only keep it because not has an HDMI port, but it sucks and it basically useless. I was really struggling to get it to work but in the end it would be totally fine. But it got me all worked up. I would sit outside on the porch to wait for the bus.

I was really sniffly. My sinuses have been a mess lately. I am really glad that I'm not currently getting any nose bleeds but that is apparently a pregnancy side effect so that's fun.

The school's buses got stuck behind a BGE truck so they were a few minutes late. But that was fine. I have extra time built into the schedule. My intro can be a whole half hour or it can be ten minutes. Whatever the situation calls for. And I really felt in control of the program and that was really great. Very good for my ego.

The kids were very sweet. 70 4th graders. And the teachers were also just excellent. Of the five groups there was one that was a little to big and a little to rough. They would end up breaking some of my wooden bowls (mom if you are reading this we need more wooden bowls) using them to grind corn but just being a little to intense. The lead teacher was mortified and wanted to pay for them and ended up reading the whole field trip group the riot act after lunch. But for the majority of the day the groups were great.

I had a different set up for my pigments and hand talk segments and I really felt like the kids were getting it. I would have a few of them come up to act out the hand talk while the others guessed. And I tried to chose the sentences that had similar words (I, go, make, ECT) so that we were learning as we went. It was fun.

And the pigments went well. The only one that was a problem was the white, which becomes a non Newtonian fluid so then they can't paint with it. I would just put it to the side by the afternoon. Whatever. They rest of the colors worked fine.

And I think they had fun. I had artifacts (like hides and bones and stone bowls) for them to explore once they were done before it was time to go. They were being a little rough on my bones but they were mostly chill and I was just glad that they were enjoying their field trip.

Lunch was a nice break. I chatted with Alexi about tomorrow, which is the BGE volunteer day, but would pretty quickly have to go get the second half of the day going.

And it was a nice hour. The kids were nice. I had some good laughs. And chatted with the teachers about coming to do team building stuff. I was getting a bit tired but only a little. Mostly I was just happy. The kids kept telling me they liked my hair. It was a good day.

Once we were done I would clean up and reset for next week. And went to drop off a few things at the office before going to the lodge to clean up.

I would put all my table stuff away. My computer and artifacts and extra papers. I was also trying to apply to a holiday night market. I accidently used all my data for the month so they nerfed me. I was trying to stay connected to the WiFi in the lodge and was able to apply. They said they were going to specifically give preference to people who live in the highland town arts district. And guess who lives exactly one block outside of that!!! Ugh. I just said yes to the "do you live in this area" question and explained in the address section that I think it should count. It's a free market though so if I don't get in it's all good. I'll just be a patron.

Jamie would come over to help clean the tables. We also put up all the chairs so we could sweet. And Sarah would come help finish the sweeping and take out the trash. We had a good system going. I also told them pregnancy stuff and about this blog. They thought it was wild that I've been writing it for so long and so consistently. But I feel lucky that I can look back on basically every important event from the last decade! And that's just really cool.

We would all head out after finishing setting up. I would strip out of my tights because it had warmed up a lot. And went to Chipotle for a late lunch/early dinner. Which was very good. I would go moved to Marshalls after to look for an eye cream and I would also get some hard candy and an ice roller. I was starting to not feel great though so it was time to go home.

I was behind a cyber truck for a while! Terrible, stupid vehicle. Looking like a potato someone peeled with a knife looking vehicle. It was also really dusty.

When I got home I brought everything inside and got changed. I was just feeling bad. I let James know I was not going to come to the museum for the social club. I just couldn't do it. I held Crabcake for a little. Hugged Sweetp. I drank some juice. I cut my finger nails which has grown stupid long and keep getting bend backwards. I hung out on the couch and tried to just be calm.

Eventually I would get a little energy to put the dishes away. Fed Sweetp. And went upstairs to lay down.

I would eventually take a shower. Which helped a little. And now I am just laying here waiting for James to come home.

Tomorrow we have our volunteer day and then I have a shift in the print shop for an event. I am planning on taking a little nap between. And I just hope it will be a good day.

I hope you all are having a good day. I love you all very much. Sleep well. Good night!!

[ao3wasntenough]

Its scenario magic sam in tf 3-5. I am thinking in tf 3 plot still same but well sam manage to save many peoples and save Ironhide unfortunately it's make his secret reveled to government. And in battle Chicago sam to much using his power make him weak yet since he touches itehr cybertron artifacts his power being high up but well there's price for big power.

And in tf 4 when the hunt began sam using his magic failsafe make all humans forget about his and his parents existence except non human and person that he want to remember so that's why sam break up with his girlfriend and government look forgetting about sam existence and sam come with Autobots. Unfortunately after Chicago battle sam conditions look like sick person his power getting stronger but unfortunately like before he can't using to much. Fortunately sam manage to save many bots, including ratchet but of course a few bots not so lucky. Sam also manage to take all bots and cons corpses from ksi and make them can't build any tf and the plot is same like cannon. Well care sort of questioning sam. After battle still angry sam curse all Cimetary and ksi with curse that make them insane.

In tf 5 , the plot is same, edmond and Vivian also magic users. And they need take Merlin staff edmond and sam can't go because edmond is old and sam is sick. In middle fight between nemesis prime and bumblebee , sam manage release optimus from quintesaa mind control. While Vivian using Merlin staff to stop cybertron and earth fuse but not enough to move cybertron. Sam have desperate and crazy idea, he will give cybertron second chance to exist Sam give cybertron his life. Cybertron moving from earth and leave eart orbit and with that cybertron peoples can have home again.

I think it would be amusing to watch a great race to hunt down Sam witwicky again, just for him to refuse and be hog tied and dragged along by other humans while the autobots are busy just for sam to try and make a break to freedom just to look back, see bee struggling against prime and realise he has to, even just one last time (he says tha everytime)

[arcanescholxr]

“This won’t make me explode will it?”

Elias stretches out in place, not giving any attention to the younger witch flipping through his grimoire. He agreed to let Dwight try out a spell he needed to do for class. It was a glamour spell making someone appear not what they seemed. Perhaps an animal, maybe someone entirely else. In the olden days, witches used these glamour spells to hide in plain sight and escape aggression.

Normally, Elias would be wary about letting Dwight do a spell on him. It wasn’t that Dwight was bad at magic, it was simply that he spent his entire life not being able to control it, and the college was his first time ever learning how to manage it. Since entering the college, he’s gotten better, so what harm could one spell do?

“What are you planning on doing?”

Dwight thumbed through the grimoire until he landed on the certain section of glamour spells. “How about your familiar?” Dwight nods his head over to Crimson, Elias’s wolf familiar. He was sprawled lazily on the floor, paws stretched out in comfort. “That might be an easy thing to do.”

“Why not just change my hair color? That’s way more easier.” Elias suggested.

“But everyone is going to do that!” Dwight pouted. “I really want to impress people, I want to do these cool spells.”

“Wow you are really living up to the Blackburn name.” Elias teased lightly. “Okay then kiddo, give me your best shot.”

Dwight read through the grimoire and gently set it down against a nearby desk. He grabbed his staff and held it up. The young witch closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Soon, the staff started to glow, life omitting from the magical artifact. Elias watched as the carved sigils on the staff started to glow as Dwight concentrated his energy into the spell. Then as quickly as it appeared, a ball of magic came from the spell and hit Elias.

A small cloud came from the other witch and when it cleared, Elias was gone and in place was a black cat.

Dwight gasped, a smile upturning his face. “I did it! I mean, I meant to disguise you as a wolf, but hey! I’ll take a cat.” The young witch knelt down to examine his glamour.

The cat, or rather Elias, appeared to be a black cat. He had green eyes and his tail swished behind him. “Hey not bad kid.”

The glamour could fool the untrained eye but if you disturbed the glamour, it could wash away. Dwight touched the cat, expecting it to disappear and Elias would stand there once again. Expect, he found that Elias had very soft fur.

Dwight touched him again. And again. And the glamour wasn’t going away

“Uhh, are the glamours supposed to be this strong? Or is this a family magic thing?” Dwight asked.

Elias realized around the same time that he felt different more than he looked different. A yowl left the cat. “What did you do to me?!” Elias demanded, running over to the closest mirror, examining himself. The glamour didn’t dissolve.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“I-I don’t know, why isn’t it going away?” Dwight stammered as he watched Elias panicked. The cat hopped over to Dwight’s open grimoire, eyes scanning over the text before looking over at Dwight in what could be described as anger.

“DWIGHT! This is transformation chapters, not the glamour chapters!l

“I-I thought they were the same thing! Don’t they both turn you into something else?”

“One tricks people into thinking you’re something else, the other MAKES you turn into something else!” Elias hissed.

“Oh god, Elias I’m so sorry, I-I’ll fix this.” Dwight grabbed at the grimoire flipping through the pages. There was shuffle of noises, and Dwight looked over to see that Crimson got up from his nap. And he was looking at Elias. And looking at the now cat Elias, hungrily.

Elias, noticing immediately, walked backwards away from his familiar. “C-Crimson, it’s daddy, don’t you recognize me?”

The wolf familiar barked excitedly and made a mad dash for Elias. The cat yowled and ran away, with Dwight in tow.

“No Crimson stop! Bad dog! That’s Elias, bad dog!” Dwight called out as he chased down the two.

October Event: Elias is now a black cat for the month of October.

[zhongrin]

My main team consists of Tighnari as main DPS, raiden as sub DPS, Venti as cc and zhongli for shields and being my favourite.

I dropped my xiao some time ago because I want to have fun with as many characters as I can, but i still use him in the abyss (I mean, he is almost triple crowned, only his normal attack is on level 8). Although I still feel guilty for leaving him, diluc, Barbara and kaeya behind, but I want to have fun with new characters as well and dendro reactions

(oh dear, I hope xiao don't hate himself for that, poor baby)

I pulled for tighnari on his banner and build him almost immediately, so foxboy knows he is loved. He also has only 5 star weapon on the main team (thundering pulse that I got by accident). He surely knows that he has better fate than cyno, that I got by accident when I was pulling for some four star on his banner. Cyno is level 50 with two star artifacts just like my qiqi, because I don't have any other use for him. But still, I had to get into hard pity for raiden and now I don't have much left for alhaitham, and I feel like he has something to do with it.

Raiden was build to level 60 in a single day, now being close to 80, with burst on level 9 and maxed out catch on the start. I also put her on my team after I got her (was using Fischl/Keqing as placeholders). Since she is my newest addition that I use more than others to test her and for fun, that might be a reason to panic for others I guess.

Venti is the most replaceable on my team. It sounds brutal and all, but he is on that third slot where I switch to low leveled characters (currently my level 40 beidou) to level up their friendship level. I like his crowd control, but for the reactions my kazuha/Fischl duo is way better. And I think he knows that, as he is being switched the most

Zhongli, my dearest. He is loved alright. I wanted to go for the staff of homa for him, but hutao and yelan look too good to pass. He has the meteor crowned, and shield close behind. I even leveled up his normal attacks when I wanted to make him a physical DPS (yes, I tried). Now he is a hybrid with 28k hp and 60/180 crit/dmg ratio. And I use him on almost every team, no matter who I want to use, he is usually there, in his 4th slot that I use for healers/shielders. Although I feel like he would be jealous of how quickly I level up new additions. But I did had to spend money on him, because he sent qiqi my way.

tighnari be like "who are all these alarmingly powerful people" lmao-

samee i've been playing around with different characters (also bc i want to increase them friendship levels) but xiao is my go-to dps too, he's THE goat in my squad. my golden child <3

so far i only have xiao and zhongli triple-crowned. al haitham's gonna be triple crowned too once i manage to farm for the new materials haha i've been quite lucky with the mirrors, so fingers crossed he can be triple-crowned soon!!

when will tighnari come home i want his passive skill so much sobsob

kazuha is so good as cc and exploration in general, i love him hehe definitely money well-spent!

zhongli has a permanent spot on my team lmao he's a hybrid so i enjoy witching between having him as shielder or dps! he was mean about coming home for me too lol he also sent our granddaughter qiqi my way and persisted until close to 80 pity.... thank god his banner wasn't recent, otherwise i would have to explain said spending for the house loan review lmao still, did not regret pulling for him nonetheless <3

your team looks awesome shdfljskdlf i have yet to build many characters, so they're all over the place...

[gimblestank-the-goblin]

Okay, so there’s a lot to respond/breakdown here because WBL effects a lot of design decisions. So first we need to level set. My understanding is that WBL is not “you can buy any magic item at Walmart”. Rather it is/was a specific design philosophy employed by 3rd edition whereby characters were expected to have a certain amount of GP “tied up” in magic items at each level and that the monsters were balanced around that fact. Using a random example (and making up the numbers), at level 10 a fighter was expected to have 10,000 GP worth of magic items (usually assumed to be a item of +X to attack and damage), and a monster’s stats were increased to compensate.

This meant that players who did not have that amount of GP tied up in magic items were underpowered for their level, which led to a variety of knock-on effects, one of which was DM’s letting you buy artifacts at Walmart to ensure their players weren’t underpowered.

5e has gotten rid of WBL. Monsters are no longer balanced around the assumption that players have magic items. This was a (largely successful) attempt to make the magic items that exist feel more important. A sword of +1 to hit is a massive upgrade in 5e because it lets you break the assumed power curve

Now how does that pertain to my dungeon:

First off, I do have an assumed WBL in that I have planned my dungeon around the players having a certain amount of money by the time they reach a certain level. The dungeon is a closed environment with a set progression (within the confines of metroidvania design) so I have a relatively high control over when and where players gold/XP. So I have a spreadsheet that I use in the background to balance everything and make sure that players get gold and levels in order to create (hopefully) satisfying pacing.

This, I assume, you have no problem with @kaiya

Second, I do have a pacing spreadsheet which covers how many in-game days I expect it to take for players to reach certain sections of the dungeon, what level they should be at that time, how many magic items they should have and the total amount of GP they should have gotten. This is how I was able to quickly and easily calculate the average GP/day that a level 10 adventurer should be getting

This, I assume, is also not the crux of Kaiya’s concern since that is just good planning..

3rd, I am allowing players to buy any magic item they can afford, and I am pricing all the items in the corebooks. This, I believe, is the issue. And there are a few reasons for this.

 

The first is a design constraint. I am designing this dungeon to be “pickup and play”. Once it’s complete I want to be able to run it with as little improvisation as possible. Which means I cannot (and do not want to) rely on altering treasure to better suit a given parties needs. If the players fight a boss which drops a staff of “be a better wizard” and they don’t have a wizard in their party they need a way to trade that in for a sword of “kickass fighter” or whatever. The easiest way to do this (especially since I am already keeping track of how much money they have) is to just let them trade in magic items for their full GP value and then use that to buy other magic items. This is however a gameplay abstraction*

The second is a worldbuilding issue**. This setting assumes a set of relatively complex nation states able to mass mobilize their populations on the same scale as WWI. Within the confines of this paradigm, high level-adventurers are very rarely lone actors***, but rather massively expensive military investments and they are equipped appropriately. A level 10 adventurer is the equivalent of a main battle tank or a fighter jet, and by the time we reach the 15-20th level adventurer we are talking battleships and aircraft carriers.

And this, by the by, is where the game abstraction comes in. Because you can’t just go into Walmart and buy a fighter jet, nor can the players just go into a store and by a Rare (or artifact) magic item. Nor, generally, can you simply train to reach that level (you will notice that the characters have fought quite a bit and not managed to gain a single level). The ability to reliably train and outfit adventurers of level 10 and higher are exclusively****  the purview of nation-states which can afford the time and treasure necessary to do so. Generally, if you are getting a Rare or better magic item, that represents an investment into your character by one of those nation states*****, or you spending an obscene amount of money bribing official to allow the sale and tracking someone down who’s willing to sell it for pure cash. Its just that I am allowing the players to set the pace on how much they want to actually interact with this aspect of the setting. The main goal is the dungeon delve after all, so if the players want to just spend money and get magic items we can handwave the hows and whys.

 

 

* It will come up later, but buying a level 10 magic item is the equivalent of buying a fighter jet or a tank. Its something you can buy with money, but money isn’t the whole of it. A nation-state is selling it to you as part of its larger geopolitical agenda.

**Which is itself driven by the fact that I like the idea of player characters as geopolitical actors, and given our previous exalted discussions I feel this is something we are just going to disagree on.

***The idea of the lone adventurer hitting it big and retiring fabulously wealthy still lives in the zeitgeist in the same way as the gold miner or lottery winner who hits it big, but this is about as rare. Even Anglia – the most capitalist of the countries – still treats its adventurers more like East India Trading Company then solitary individuals.

**** Barring Anglia messing this up because they are dumb capitalists who have offloaded this to private corporations. Also Rrath, but he breaks a lot of rules.

***** Diverting for a second to real life, I am an aerospace engineer and I’ve worked the military side a decent amount, specifically at Lockheed Martin. LM sells fighter jets to foreign countries, but what countries and what planes they are allowed to sell to those countries is decided by congress (its complicated, but basically we have a big list of country ranking based on foreign policy considerations and this determines what planes can be sold to who). This is one of the ways the U.S.A maintains its hegemony. A country like, for example, Israel cannot really go against US interests, because if they do they are at risk of being taken off the list and losing the ability to buy US jets. Similar concerns are in effect in this setting. If your country wants to keep (paying) to send their nobles to the Valosian Academy of Magical Arts (so they can have some level 10 wizards) they are going to need to cozy up to Valois, and if they want some monks who know how to punch with their souls they are going to need to ensure they are on good terms with Salcurne.

[times-of-drought]

hi! Happy STS! I am fascinated by the Glass Demon, can you tell me more about the possibilities of other people becoming artificial elementals? And how can someone be half human and half elemental, how does that help them stand against the demons power :0??

Hello! I AM SO LATE SORRYYY!!! Jdnsmsjk

Anywayyy! What I am going with right now is that human souls are 'empty'. Hollow, if you will. Because of that, they can bind themselves to an elemental, whose soul filled with magic somehow latches onto the human. As such, if you create a soul or just use an existing one and fill it up with magic, it can become an elemental!

The Mage who tried harnessing the power of an elemental didn't try to fill up their soul with magic solely because they had that little piece of wisdom not to try. It was never done before, so they wanted to exert at least a little bit of caution through trying out on a copied soul

Buuut if you managed to do that on your own soul, you could become an elemental.

The protections on the artifact were crafted in such a way tha no human and no elemental could try to use it.

The outer layer of protections were designed to steer off elementals: without advanced, multi-element spells one could not tear through them. A sole elemental could not do that. If they tried to gang up, maybe, but there was still the risk of getting caught. One could slip unnoticed, but multiple of multiple elements?

Binding oneself to the staff is a challenge for humans, a destructive one. Humans are... squishy, let's say. Their hollow souls make them way more vulnerable against any magical attacks. Trying to control the Demon would be barely possible and not without grave struggle.

Our main character, though? He was born from an union between an elemental and a human, a mix of two worlds. His soul is not fully hollow, but also not fully filled up with magic. His soul is like a vessel which can store magic but is not forced to 'keep it in'. He's like a walking spell scroll. Not for a long time, not all the time, but he can store other kinds of magic inside.

That allowed him to circumvent the outside spells and, with a sort of protective layer of his own, innate magic, was able to resist Demon's attacks while binding. I like to visualize it like Razareth entering the mindscape of the Demon, attacking and resisting it while trying to gain control.

So basically a human vs a half-elemental trying to bind the demon is like a guy in wizard robes trying to apprehend a person with a gun vs a guy in bulletproof gear. You still can get shot, but the chance of it being lethal is smaller

[explorer-of-art]

The Dorm Leaders in Red's Time

Now that I posted about Red, I can about post the dorm leaders from his time.

When making Red, I initially had him in Ramshackle but now his dorm is in purgatory. I also made him close to the dorm leaders of the time and that resulted in me making MORE OCs. In present time, they're all Night Raven College alumni. They're all ~40 years old because I had Red come from 20 years before Main Story. Most of them are designed to be a foil to their original counterparts. Some are involved in North's story but aren't as involved in the crossover compared to Red and Abigail.

7 profiles under the cut because I don't want to make 7 separate posts. have fun trying not to lose your sense of literacy.

Lucero Espinosa, the former Diasomnia dorm leader, is a tutor primarily handling magic education subjects. He joins NRC staff after Book 4. Twisted from Dean Hardscrabble in "Monsters University".

He makes and uploads videos teaching his viewers magic to make magic education accessible to those who can't take the subjects at school. Most people don't know about the channel and he never talks about it.

He likes bugs and insects. Unless it's mosquitoes.

He was nominated for dorm leader and others challenged him for the role by magic duel.

When he gets mad, he appears more calm. If he's mad at you, you will feel like you will be torn to shreds. "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed."

Ignatius Kowalski, the former Ignihyde dorm leader, is a blacksmith. Very loosely twisted from the Snuggly Duckling thugs, especially Attila, in "Tangled".

The mask is cosmetic. He wears it to hide his facial expression, partly to avoid being judged based on that. He has many masks in varying colors and patterns.

Under the mask, he is rather beautiful that he wouldn't be out of place in Pomefiore.

He is still introverted and shy. He is more open with friends.

As a blacksmith, he mostly makes decorative items. He sometimes collaborates with Demetrius if magestones are involved. He has made a sculpture before because he was issued a challenge.

He is not from TWST!Corona. He did go there for an internship with a veteran blacksmith (TWST!Xavier) in his fourth year and met friends at a pub (who are also twisted from the Snuggly Duckling thugs but closer).

Demetrius Marsh, the former Pomefiore dorm leader, is a gemologist working with magestones. Twisted from Madame Medusa in "The Rescuers".

Tends to use he/him when referring to himself but is okay with any pronouns

Wears a corset from time to time

From Jubilee Port

Better at flying a broom than driving a car. He's still working on getting his driver's license.

Erhan Aksoy, the former Scarabia dorm leader, is a Magicam user and photographer who documents events. Twisted from Prince Achmed in "Aladdin".

He is not fond of cats. He doesn't hate them, he just doesn't want to get scratched or bit and he doesn't understand cat behavior.

Has accidentally discovered a new species once.

He wants to leave some kind of lasting impact and feel like his life meant something which is why he has a Magicam account.

Is also influenced by Prince Achmed in Starkid musical "Twisted" lmao

Jasper Seymour, the former Octavinelle dorm leader, is a museum curator focusing on magical artifacts. Twisted from Lyle Tiberius Rourke from "Atlantis: the Lost Empire".

Despite his strong appearance, he actually leans toward the academics.

Technomancy user

Unironically watches documentaries

Capable of hand-to-hand combat

Would know some Romance languages along with Latin and Greek

Sandip Gupta, the former Savanaclaw dorm leader, is now a martial arts instructor. Twisted from Shere Khan in "The Jungle Book". (I don't like this drawing but don't feel like redoing it lmao)

(bengal) tiger beastman

His primary elemental magic is Fire. He chose to hone fire because he believes being able to control it dispells the fear and association with destruction.

He would unironically have training montage songs like "I'll Make a Man Out of You" or "Eye of the Tiger" in his workout playlist.

He took one good look at Red and went "get in loser, your training starts now". And so he taught Red martial arts and hand-to-hand combat.

He becomes the one who adopts North

Sato (サト) is somehow the most distant one out of the group despite remaining close with them. Twisted from King Candy from "Wreck-it Ralph".

Sato is a nickname, not his real name. The others referred to him by first name back in the NRC days.

Ironically, he dislikes sweets. He prefers bitter foods. If he had to pick a candy, it would be dark chocolate.

He builds PCs. He mainly works with desktop PCs but has a built laptop for him to carry around.

His day job is unknown. The gang sometimes jokes about him being a secret agent and he humors them for the bit. The joke allows him to step out during hangouts without question.

[pkmacabre-shadow]

Captain N: Adventures in Smash

Chapter 3

Bang! Slash! Bam! Smash!

All five of the fighters attacked the primids one by one. Megaman fought with Melody so that he could show her the ropes on how to buster worked. Pit circled many primids, hitting them with his arrow. Wren and Chester worked together on the attack.

Pit: Chester behind you!

Chester hit the primid behind him who is about to attack him.

Chester: Thanks Pit!

Wren: *Kicks primid* The primids are mostly gone. There should be one more.

They all heard a stick broken, leading to the five turning to where it was and lo and behold: The last primid.

Megaman and Melody: I got it!

Both of them shot the last primid, having it explode into many balls of shadow. The blast, however, left some damage on the trees.

Melody: Did you see that Mega?! That is the most coolest thing I’ve ever done!

Megaman: That’s nice. But we may need to work on that aim though.

Wren: Seems like they’re getting along well.

Bayonetta: And it’s seems like you’re not going anywhere!

Bayonetta and Captain Falcon jumped down in front of the five, positioned in their fighting stances.

Melody: Oh you again?!

Pit: You guys already met them?

Wren: We actually stumbled upon them by accident.

Chester: If it’s a fight they want? Then it’s a fight they get…

As they were about to fight, a pillar of bright light showed up nearly blinding everyone. For Pit, he recognized what it meant: The goddess has arrived.

Palutena: Stop fighting!

Pit: Lady Palutena! We found the source of power you’re looking for. Including Dr. Light and Timeman of course.

Palutena: I could see that. However, I feel like giving an explanation would be more helpful.

Captain Falcon: That would be great, of course. How on earth could they appear out of nowhere?

Palutena: I’ll tell you once we go there.

Chester: There?

Palutena used her staff to teleport the fighters to the Palace of Power. It is a grand place where all the power and knowledge of each world is kept since long ago. The palace itself was located away from the smash house, nor was it in the sky or underworld, to have its secrets kept safely from all forms of evil.

Once they made it to the Palace of Power, the three teens looked in awe. The palace contains many artifacts from each games from their time, containing each piece of history, much like a museum.

Palutena: Here we are everyone! The Palace of Power.

Pit: Pretty cool, right? We’ll give you a tour of this place. And also showing you what this power pad does.

Palutena: Like what Pit said. Follow me.

As the goddess gestured, she walked with the rest following her. She explained the history of each artifact long before they were born. Given the teens’ knowledge in video games and what they know online, they already knew some stuff and their significance to their reality.

She then stopped to where the old power pads were in. The more notable ones being that they appear to be NES and SNES controller with their respective zappers. She pointed it, telling its story and significance to their world.

Palutena: That, right here, is the legendary power pad and zapper.

Melody: That’s it? They looked like regular old NES and SNES controllers, better yet old technology from the 80s and 90s.

Palutena: It may seem like that, but it’s actually the Captain’s power. The zapper can shoot many shots while the power pad can freeze time, give you boosts, and many more. Although, you’re right about its age.

Chester: Captain’s power?- What do you mean by that.

Palutena: I’ll tell you: Long before you were even born, a young man went into this world that gave him the powers that he would use for good. He was our protector, after all. That young man is your Father, Chester: Kevin Keene.

Chester: …. MY DAD?!

Palutena: Yes. It is pretty shocking to you and to everyone else, but you have this familiar power you have. It seems like you’ve inherited it from him.

Captain Falcon: Hold On. So you’re saying that *this* kid right here is related to the Captain nearly 30 years ago?

The goddess nodded, leaving to both men being in disbelief.

Megaman: Sorry to interrupt, but while it’s nice that the captain returned-well kinda-his friends also appeared in this world with similar powers as him. Could they be his allies?

Wren: Ah-Well- We can be given our friendship. So uh. To make the long story short, Chester invited us to see the CD ROM that his sister found from his office and got transported here.

After hearing Wrens nutshell of the story, everyone looked at her.

Chester: Oh-Yeah yeah! We literally just transported here from my dad’s CD ROM. Heheha

Bayonetta: Well… that seems kinda hard to believe…

Palutena: *ahem* Regardless. You are three are very welcome here to come to our worlds, especially the smash house.

Wren: Thanks Palutena, that’s nice and all but we may need a new name for the entire world. I’d feel getting tired saying the same names of different worlds all together.

Chester: Or even call it Videoland: That names kinda dumb already.

Melody: How about we call it the digital world or cyber world?

When it comes to name suggestions, no one had ever thought to name their dimension. So hearing Wren’s and Melody’s suggestions did made them thought of that.

Chester: Not a bad idea. I think Cyberworld is a better name. It just sounds right.

Wren: Yeah. I do find it much cooler, anyway.

Melody: Then that settles it. I hereby name this dimension the Cyberworld.

Everyone clapped, until Captain Falcon noticed something on Melody’s head.

Captain Falcon: Hey Melody, where did you find those goggles?

Melody: I found it.

Chester turned back to the goddess, with Wren doing the same having worried expressions.

Chester: I hope this isn’t too much of a bother to ask, but is there anyway we could go home?

I feel like our parents are worried for how long we’ve been away for.

Wren: And better yet, how can we go to Cyberworld if my friends and I live apart?

Palutena: Don’t worry, Chester. I would send you back to where you came from. There is a little button on your power pad so that you can return to your world. And for your question, Wren, I would ask Master Hand and Crazy Hand to give you the abilities to be transported to this world with the technology you have. Now then, off you go.

With one more swing of her staff, the three teens were engulfed in a flash of light before being flown back to Chester’s room. The light from his computer turned off.

Chester: Was that just a dream or what?

The young man looked down and see the power pad on his belt. He looked at his friends to see that that have the same pads, too.

Wren: Nope. Definitely not a dream. So uh, do you mind if you drop me and Melody off to our homes or am I gonna have to call my brother so that he can pick me up?

Chester: Uh-I guess I’ll just drop you guys off. Sorry for the mess I got you guys in.

Chester looked back at his belt and pondered. With the information he learned about the Cyberworld and his father, he was shocked about what it came to be. But knowing what Palutena meant, he knew one thing for sure: He and his friends are now the new protectors of Cyberworld