#rinley yatskaya

[windienine]

vitally important data for me specifically: chuubo's marvelous wish-granting engine character popularity poll

justifications in the tags unnecessary but delightful

[lillies-for-the-living]

Stupid Long Post Where I Map Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Characters To Steven Universe Characters In What's Probably An AU I Guess (Part 2!)

Okay, so in the last post we got through the main characters, so let's do some side characters.

Lapis: See, I kind of wanted this to be De Montreal, but I think it's Natalia. They both have a deep and present sorrow, and both of them can kick serious ass. I was waffling on whether or not to make Natalia Connie, but I think her sorrow and healing is more important to her character, so there's nobody she could be other than Lapis, really.

Peridot: Now *this* is Leonardo de Montreal! Connection to a far-off and evil place (Bleak Academy/Homeworld) and technology/science obsession, Peridot and De Montreal are the ones who line up the most, and it's not just because they're ranked Most Likely To Break Out Into An Evil Monologue Despite Nominally Being A Good Guy in their respective medias, although it does help.

Bismuth: Now normally I wouldn't include Bismuth but I think that Laodemus is Bismuth. They've both got the whole "science hero" thing, and although I can't see Laodemus trying to kill Jasper, I can imagine him getting a little wild about fighting the Gem Authority. Speaking of that...

Gem Authority: Horizon's School is probably this version of the Gem Authority. Which is weird, because you'd think Bleak Academy, right? But I think that the Six Sins make up the rest of the Diamonds, so Horizon's School is the best fit for the Gem Authority.

White Diamond: I think Glass Spider is White Diamond. It could be Owler, but Spider is more of a control freak than Owler, and his possession is broader.

Yellow Diamond: Impious, pretty clearly. Both are shockingly military and have the vibe of a mean gym teacher.

Blue Diamond: Mourning, and not just because of the name. Both Blue and Mourning are the most far-sighted in their particular factions, and neither of them see anything good in the world.

I haven't watched Steven Universe in, like, forever, but I had this idea out of nowhere and had to make this post. Hope you enjoy it! Here's a little summary down of who's who down below

Steven: Jasper Irinka Connie: Seizhi Schwan (although I kind of wanted this to be Natalia) Amethyst: Rinley Yatskaya Garnet: Entropy II (Although I have no idea who the hell Ruby and Sapphire would be) Pearl: He, Death, The Headmaster Of The Bleak Academy (This is the most insane main protagonist group btw) Rose Quartz: Jade Irinka Lapis Lazuli: Natlia Koutolika Peridot: Leonardo de Montreal White Diamond: Glass Spider

[ladylolalilly]

Okay, @harveythewendigo asked, so here’s an infodump.

Chuubo’s Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine is a diceless TTRPG. The system itself is pretty flexible, but the main setting is Town, which IIRC is the last entirely-real place in the universe. (The rest of the world(s) got swallowed up by unreality for reasons that aren’t explained, probably very long and definitely tied to the author previous work, Nobilis.) It’s pretty chill and slice-of-life: I’d say “except for all the weird shit”, but actually the weird shit doesn’t really interrupt the slice-of-life at all.

I feel like the best way to illustrate what this game is like is by introducing the eight premade characters from the Glass Dragon, so here’s the list:

Chuubo, the Wishing Boy: A perfectly ordinary kid who made a Wish-Granting Engine in a basement and can also turn into a giant snake. He’s never been mentioned to have a surname, and apparently none of his friends have ever seen his family, but he asserts that he does have one (his playbook suggests that this could be a completely innocent coincidence, him covering up a completely mundane secret “like a divorce or time warp or something”, or something actually serious).

Seizhi Schwan, the Best Friend: Chuubo’s best friend, who also happens to not be real — Chuubo used his Wish-Granting Engine to wish for a best friend, and so it summoned Seizhi out of nonexistence to fill the role, complete with a fake backstory, a full set of fake memories and a family that may also be fake (the book leaves it up to the table’s interpretation). Also has an older brother named Laodemus Schwan, who may or may not be the Spirit of the Wish-Granting Engine depending on table preference (more on that later), and also a luchador/masked adventurer who’s also probably gay and has a “life partner” named Aidan.

Leonardo de Montreal, Nightmares’ Angel: A self-proclaimed master of nightmare science (basically mad science with a biotech angle). His backstory is long and complicated by the fact that he has the power to erase events from everyone’s memory, so it’s entirely possible some or all of it is BS, and the book outright suggests he may have erased his memories of a relationship with an important NPC because it hurt too much to remember. Notably, he believes he’s a 16-year-old human orphan with no known family, but he’s survived several years (campaign default is seven, but it can vary) without his heart, can canonically grow flaming wings at will and is implied to have firsthand memories of an event that occurred over twenty years ago. Anyways, he’s a mad scientist who usually lives in Old Moulder, the failed industrial district of Town, but is currently renting a room in Fortitude while he investigates something (what he’s investigating is up to his player). One of his core mechanics is that he can use injuries (both physical and intangible) to give himself new powers at the price of them taking a permanent chunk out of his HP, but if he loses enough HP it unleashes a massive disaster. (I am absolutely ENTHRALLED with Leonardo right now, if you can’t tell. There’s just so much to talk about with him.)

Rinley Yatskaya, the Troublemaker: The youngest child of the Yatskaya family, which is important for reasons that are kind of complicated and generally require their own paragraph to explain. She used to be a really shy kid, but then she met and befriended a talking rat named Prince Eduard Fujimoto (yes, talking rats are a perfectly normal thing in this setting, and yes, that is how you spell his name, it’s not Edward) and decided to try and come out of her shell. By default she’s a year younger than most of the other PCs (who are mostly 15-year-olds, with the exception of 16-year-old Leonardo and 22-year-old Entropy II), and is intended to be the social glue of the campaign. She’s also a good storyteller and gets XP for doing so. (Oh yeah, and her family’s descended from selkies but heavily associated with cats, to the point speaking with cats is a standard Yatskaya ability.)

Natalia Koutolika, the Prodigy: A recent immigrant from Russia (by default at least, the game lets you pick whether she’s Russia, Spanish, French or African). She has enough emotional baggage to fill an entire closet with suitcases, and her first quest is hunting a giant golden snake that contains some of her rage while hanging out on rooftops (probably with the talking rats, because that’s also where they hang out). Her main powerset is basically just Hypercompetence The Character Class (although it’s well-balanced, at least as far as I can tell), and she has a special ability called Frozen Heart that’s basically just Emotional Trauma The Ability.

Jasper Irinka, the Child of the Sun: The daughter of the town’s sun goddess, who was murdered by her lover and Jasper’s father when Jasper was a kid (by default she was 8 when it happened, but it can vary). She’s also the new sun, as the sun was destroyed and recreated when her mom died, but she hasn’t figured that out yet. Being the sun goddess apparently comes packaged with being a bringer of hope, and one of her core mechanics is growing new limbs in response to other people’s hopes, or as a reaction to damage (not that doing that keeps her from losing any HP, it’s mostly just a flavour thing I think). She also has an evil mode thanks to her dad’s genetics, which lets her swap the hope part of her godhood out for disillusionment (by default, anyways: other options provided by the book are despair or death, but it does recommend going with disillusionment). She’s also technically homeless by default, because her home was in Celestia (sky kingdom her mom ruled) and after she died it vanished and nobody has any clue where it went or how to get back there, Jasper included.

Entropy II, the Angel of Fortitude: The 22-year-old principal of School, which is apparently the only high school in Town. He inherited his position from his father, Entropy I, who was the god of evil, ruler of the evil world and founder of School. (Entropy I is also from Nobilis.) He has a cool motorcycle and his father’s blood dripping eternally from his hands. His initial quest involves fiddling with a large part of Fortitude’s streets in an attempt to create a fountain he can use to wash the blood off his hands temporarily. It is casually implied that this could potentially upset the Outside, which would definitely be bad. (Also, his player has the option to make him a woman or a woman who’s pretending to be a man.)

Miramie Mesmer, the Dream-Witch: I feel like to explain Miramie, I have to explain Melanie first. Two decades ago, Melanie Malakh was a student at the Bleak Academy, which is basically a school for teaching people how to destroy the world. (Long story, ties into Nobilis.) Melanie was sent to Town to destroy it, where she used her powers to mind-whammy (book’s words, not mine) a magical glassmaker named Hideo Hayashi into helping her build a glass dragon that she could fill with all the reasons she felt the world should be destroyed and use to destroy Town. Except that backfired, and the glass dragon shattered, and Melanie did too. Over the next two decades or so, Hideo ends up studying abroad and then returns to run the Archive, which is like a fusion between an actual archive and a halfway house. (Town is weird.) Then, two decades after the whole affair, Miramie emerges from the Archive, having (re)constructed herself from some of the shards of Melanie/the glass dragon. (I’m not super clear on whether or not there’s a difference between the shards of Melanie and the glass dragon. If there is, she’s reconstructed from the shards of Melanie and not the dragon.) (Players also have the option of saying that Miramie is a teenager who got a part of Melanie’s soul stabbed through their eye, and now the original teenager is either dead or fused with Melanie.)

There are more player characters mentioned, both in published material and the author’s Tumblr, it’s just that most of them (like the Spirit of the Wish-Granting Engine) don’t have character sheets available yet.

Also, in case it wasn’t obvious already, the premade characters are all pretty flexible. Each character has a genderflipped variant, and then a bunch of options to customize them more, like turning Leonardo into a robot or a sorcerer, or making Jasper the North Wind or a rainbow instead of the sun. (My personal favourite variant is probably female ghost-whisperer Seizhi, but I’m sure everybody’s got their own favourite.)

Hey, anybody want to talk about Chuubo’s with me? I’m bored, obsessed and lonely, and this tag is DEAD.

[incorrectgluubilisquotes]

Source

[incorrectcmwgequotes]

Rinley: we are always told "don't eat the cookies that are cooling on the tray" and then "don't eat the cookies that are in the jar" the loophole in this system is to eat the cookies while they are still baking in the oven.

[jennamoran]

The Horizon Campaign (21)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

We worked on our set of Main Characters and concepts, tied them to Arcs and colors and archetypes, built Rinley’s storyline, and got most of the way through their quests.

Today, let’s build the fifth quest in their set!

         As We Determined Yesterday ...

This quest can be about:

The miracle of the survival of the sun, the perseverance of hope through the transition between times, the Outside crashing in and breaking the boundaries. Wonder, hope, desperate anger at the cost of that hope, flood imagery, chaos imagery, temptation, miracles, sacrifices.

Focus, building the world step by step, making stairs into the sky, meticulous effort, willfully re-evaluating identity, setting aside ego-attachment to seize the fire of what one wants, the terrible power of being unafraid, defying the horror of a false image of the self.

Kicking up shrine-iness a notch, talking with and sharing things with their Mystery, fantastic sights, fantastic experiences, adrenaline, danger, weirdness, everything snapping into place, and coming home to Horizon and its gothic façade.

Awakening the dominion of one’s other self and making it more lively, merging with one’s more formal self, connecting to its memories and tragedies, assuming a grander role than one had held.

Returning from far away. or

Becoming.

          Let’s Brainstorm Some Bullet Points

the wall against acceptance crumbles, just a bit

This one is meant to equivocate between Rinley gaining acceptance and Principal Entropy I doing so.

you take command of notional enemies

This is mostly intended to be part of the process of the two Rinleys merging in the Lightless Crown, but also seemed like it might work in the chaos of the past bubble collapsing in the Grey Internship and for Owler stuff in Curiosity. 

(Reminder: summaries of the stories are here.)

you wear someone else’s clothing

This is again mostly for the Lightless Crown, but also for wearing Owler’s mask and such.

you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

This one too is for the Lightless Crown and Owler.

danger snaps at your heels

This seemed the right generic phrasing, at least on the first draft, for the kind of danger I wanted in the Ouroboros House version of this quest.

people hang banners and ribbons

This is an image I mostly had for the “kicking up shrine-iness a notch,” but it has obvious applications in the Owler Catering Committee plot.

something ancient is reborn

This is an attempt at capturing something tying together the sun’s rebirth and the connection with the Grey Prince. I’m making multiple tries at this—this isn’t actually the first, since I kept paging up to the top of the list to write new bullets there where I could see the “Summing Up” section.

you are introduced to someone else’s memory

I wanted something to express gaining access to the Grey Prince’s memories that wasn’t ludicrously specific. This seems to be a good one, since it can also cover being told stories or whatever. Plus, it kind of suggests that you should be listening to Owler or Hoop Snake or Entropy I or Akino Shichiji’s memories, without making a big deal of it.

you become more than you were

This seems too simplistic, so I’m expecting it’ll go away, but maybe I’ll change my mind? It’s an optimistic view on Rinley merging with whatever. This is, really, a surprisingly optimistic quest, and it’s kind of sad that it’s pegged to 5 so won’t come up early in most campaigns.

you find a pathway home

This is probably too easy to be a 5-XP and too story-breaking to be 1-XP, but maybe I’ll make it a 1-XP option and just trust people, or merge it with something? It’s about, like, returning to Horizon, or, you know, whatever. Or maybe I’ll tighten the wording to make it worthy of being 5 XP?

everything falls into place

This is from one of the merger plotlines when suddenly everything is singing. Not literally. Probably. When suddenly it all makes sense.

fearlessness displays its power

This shows up in most of the stories above. It’s a common theme. But ... I may need to think a little more about this bullet point once I’ve edited this list down a little, anyway. I like this phrasing, but it might be a bit weird when actually invoked?

temptation surges

I don’t want to make this about Rinley being tempted, but I don’t want to cut out the idea of Principal Entropy I being tempted. I realize that he’s an NPC in one of four stories. But, seriously, the fact that he might not want to just let go and accept that he’s already dead is kind of important to having the story have tension this far in.

you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

This is a way of connecting the whole “unite with the Grey Prince” thing to “bring more shrine-iness into Horizon” that also sort of works with Owler and SEED stuff. I think?

you take a careful and measured step forward on your plans

This one is me trying to capture that meticulous internal growth thing from the Owler plot.

stairs ascend into the sky

This was a metaphor I had in mind from the Owler story, which could be more specifically realized in, e.g., the time travel story. It might be too specific, though. Maybe ...

a path is opened to the sky

... instead?

two worlds collide

This is a little simplistic but it’s obviously a thing that keeps happening throughout these stories. The Outside and the past, Fortitude and Horizon, the Outside and Horizon, Rinley’s world and the Prince’s world ...

P.S. I’m really glad that I formally established that the title “Prince” is gender-neutral in this setting back in GMD so I only have to feel a little weird every time it comes up here.

you shake off a false idea of yourself

I wanted to generalize this, but “someone shakes off a false idea of themselves” didn’t really seem right. Though I’m going to add it to the list right now, below, because, well, maybe I should. Anyway, this is me trying to implement that whole conscientious mental process that can overcome and claim the mantle of Owler thing.

someone shakes off a false idea of themselves

I’ve just added this now, because Entropy. Maybe Owler. Maybe the Prince.

false ideas are sacrificed to seize the fire of greatness

This was my earlier attempt at that generalization, and maybe it’s a better one!

the Outside breaks in

It was mostly the Grey Internship that had explicit visuals of the Outside flooding in, but it seemed to fit the other stories too.

Something is, impossibly, reborn

This is another, technically earlier, attempt at linking the rebirth of the sun and a more general “feel of miracles” to the Grey Prince storyline.

you discover the terrible cost of hope

This is lifted fairly directly from my thoughts on the Grey Internship.

you face the terrible cost of hope

... or should it be phrased this way?

someone finds a reason to hope

... or like this? This might be its own bullet point, though. I mean, I doubt it, I’m having to trim these lists pretty ruthlessly, but it could be separate from the two above.

the world descends into disorder

This is an alternate take on the Outside crashing in that also covers, like, people panicking about it.

you see something marvelous, likely never to be repeated

Miracles and wonders. Miracles and wonders.

talking to something amazing and beyond human

I suspect that my mental image of Rinley talking to Hoop Snake was influenced by the general imagery of people talking to their various tulpas in Diane Duane’s “the Wounded Sky,” but since it’s been at least a decade since I read that, it’s not a very direct connection. The point is, I wanted that to have a sense of wonder attached, and if that happened to bleed wonder into conversations with the Grey Prince, Owler, or even Entropy I, I guess that’ll have to be OK.

a flood

This was one of the first bullet points I wrote, and has probably become obsolete now that I’ve narrowed in on “the Outside breaking in.” But maybe not? Since I do have a specific desire for flood imagery.

you come home

This is probably redundant with “you find a pathway home,” and has the same basic idea. It’s about returning to Horizon after being lost.

you make the world livelier

This one is basically what I want Rinley to do to Horizon in the Ouroboros House version of this story. It seems to fit with the Catering Committee’s job fairly well too, though.

there are brilliant colors everywhere

This is another version of that, that ties in with what I imagine to be Hoop Snake’s bright scales.

you see a flash of brilliant color

This is yet another variation.

there are fireworks in the sky

It eventually occurred to me that this might be what I was thinking of with “a flash of brilliant color?” Either that, or a flash of colorful scales in the distance. Not sure!

             Colors

Let’s give these things colors and sort them a bit and then see where we stand!

(BLUE) you shake off a false idea of yourself

(BLUE/RED) you take command of notional enemies

(BLUE/RED) fearlessness displays its power

(BLUE/RED) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(BLUE/MOON) you wear someone else’s clothing

(BLUE/MOON) you become more than you were

(BLUE/MOON) you face the terrible cost of hope

(SWORD) danger snaps at your heels

(SWORD/RED) the world descends into disorder

(GREEN/RED) temptation surges

(RED) you are introduced to someone else’s memory

(RED) someone shakes off a false idea of themselves

(RED) false ideas are sacrificed to seize the fire of greatness

(RED) someone finds a reason to hope

(CROOK) the wall against acceptance crumbles, just a bit

(CROOK) you take a careful and measured step forward on your plans

(CROOK) you make the world livelier

(CROOK/RED) talking to something amazing and beyond human

(CROOK/RED) you come home

(CROOK/MOON) people hang banners and ribbons

(CROOK/MOON) you find a pathway home

(CROOK/MOON) there are brilliant colors everywhere

(MOON) everything falls into place

(MOON) you see a flash of brilliant color

(STAR) a path is opened to the sky

(STAR) Something is, impossibly, reborn

(STAR) you discover the terrible cost of hope

(STAR) you see something marvelous, likely never to be repeated

(STAR/SWORD) the Outside breaks in

(STAR/RED) you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

(STAR/RED) something ancient is reborn

(STAR/RED) two worlds collide

(STAR/RED) a flood

(STAR/MOON) stairs ascend into the sky

(STAR/MOON) there are fireworks in the sky

          Today I wasn’t feeling very confident in the individual entries and so wrote down quite a few; we’re going to have to narrow them down a bit before we can do more sorting.

Let’s start within colors:

BLUE/RED: We can drop “taking command of notional enemies” as redundant with the others.

BLUE/MOON: Like I thought, “you become more than you were” was too simplistic. It lacks spark next to the other two. That can go away too.

RED:

We can drop the overwrought “false ideas are sacrificed to seize the fire of greatness.”

Someone else finding a reason to hope, or shaking off a false idea of themselves ... these can be combined into “you see or help someone take a step forward on their personal journey.”

And then can merge with the memory thing to “you see a bit of someone’s personal journey—in the past or the future, with your help or without.”

Which I just know will wind up getting trimmed to “you witness part of someone’s personal journey/evolution,” so I’ll go ahead and do that now.

CROOK: All of the shepherd/purple/(CROOK) ones seem to fold into “things seem a little easier, or, a little brighter.”

... and then I’m going to fold that in with the banners and ribbons and brilliant colors in CROOK/MOON, getting “the world becomes a little livelier.”

... it’s awfully condensed.

CROOK/RED: I’m going to drop “you come home” as redundant with “you find a pathway home,” under CROOK/MOON.

MOON: all of these combine into “a shocking, marvelous moment.” The grammar is wrong—I’ll have to do some sentence massaging—but let’s leave that for now.

STAR: “A path is opened to the sky,” “Something is, impossibly, reborn,” and “You see something marvelous, likely never to be repeated” probably collapse into “you bear witness to a miracle.”

I don’t like the duller phrasing, but I think I’ll need the card space!

STAR/RED: “Two worlds collide” and “a flood” can combine into “another world comes flooding in.”

Bam!

STAR/MOON: “Stairs ascend into the sky” and “there are fireworks in the sky” combine into “something rises to connect the world and sky.”

Maybe?

Because I basically didn’t change the color set I was working with, that doesn’t help me actually organize the list any further.  But it does get the number of quest options down to something I’m more used to working with:

     Specifically,

(BLUE) you shake off a false idea of yourself

(BLUE/RED) fearlessness displays its power

(BLUE/RED) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(BLUE/MOON) you wear someone else’s clothing

(BLUE/MOON) you face the terrible cost of hope

(SWORD) danger snaps at your heels

(SWORD/RED) the world descends into disorder

(GREEN/RED) temptation surges

(RED) you witness part of someone’s personal journey/evolution

(CROOK/RED) talking to something amazing and beyond human

(CROOK/MOON) the world becomes a little livelier

(CROOK/MOON) you find a pathway home

(MOON) a shocking, marvelous moment

(STAR) you bear witness to a miracle

(STAR) you discover the terrible cost of hope

(STAR/SWORD) the Outside breaks in

(STAR/RED) you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

(STAR/RED) something ancient is reborn

(STAR/RED) another world comes flooding in

(STAR/MOON) something rises to connect the world and sky

         How to Trim It Further?

(1) Well, “you bear witness to a miracle” and “a shocking, marvelous moment” are pretty obviously redundant. Let’s drop the second one and make “you bear witness to a miracle” STAR/MOON.

(2) We need to drop either “you claim a part of who you think you ought to be” or “you wear someone else’s clothing,” but it’s really hard to decide which. Probably the clothing, though.

(3) I think we can drop “you discover the terrible cost of hope” as redundant with the entry about facing it. ... no, wait, let’s invert that. Let’s drop facing it, or at least move facing it to the simplified quest. I’m not visualizing repeated attempts to face it as a thing.

(4) I think we have only one tri-color loop—STAR/SWORD, SWORD/RED, STAR/RED. I don’t like these loops because they make it very hard to order the colors neatly on the final quest, which is a silly reason to make any changes, but it does make me want to get rid of either STAR/SWORD or SWORD/RED, and conveniently they’re sort of redundant anyway. I think I like the Outside version better, so “the world descends into disorder” goes away.

(5) At this point, “danger snaps at your heels” is the next thing making this list hard to sort properly. On thinking about it, though, I realize that part of this is that I don’t actually want this bullet point to be orange—I want Rinley to be dancing through this danger. It’s, like, blue, or moon, or something.

Maybe crook/moon?

... blue.

Honestly, now that I’ve moved it up the list I think maybe it’s redundant with “fearlessness displays its power,” or maybe it’s a good 5-XP?

Let’s make it a 5 XP.

(6) Let’s also make “talking with something dangerous and beyond human” blue/red ... and now we can actually sort this thing properly.

             We Are Now At ...

(MAJOR GOAL?) danger nips at your heels but it can’t get you

(BLUE) you shake off a false idea of yourself

(BLUE/RED) fearlessness displays its power

(BLUE/RED) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(BLUE/RED) talking to something amazing and beyond human

(GREEN/RED) temptation surges

(RED) you witness part of someone’s personal journey/evolution

(STAR/RED) you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

(STAR/RED) something ancient is reborn

(STAR/RED) another world comes flooding in

(STAR) you discover the terrible cost of hope

(STAR/SWORD) the Outside breaks in

(STAR/MOON) you bear witness to a miracle

(STAR/MOON) something rises to connect the world and sky

(CROOK/MOON) the world becomes a little livelier

(CROOK/MOON) you find a pathway home

This is properly sorted in the sense that the blues are together, the reds are together, the stars are all together, etc. You see? I think that’s more visually appealing on the quest card but more importantly I think it makes it a little easier to figure out what you’re looking at and for ... both visually and cognitively. At least for me? I hope for most people, though, otherwise I’m using a bad metric. *^_^*;;

I mean ...

Anything is going to be a wall of text at 15 entries with all-caps words instead of icons, of course.

But it feels more organized to me, anyhow, and is down, at least, to those 15.

             More Work

(1) Let’s go ahead and drop “you shake off a false idea of yourself” as quasi-redundant with “you claim a part of who you think you ought to be.” Maybe it can be part of the simplified quest?

(2) Let’s pick out a few to be 5 XP. Probably ... “something rises to connect the world and sky,” “something ancient is reborn,” “another world comes flooding in,” and “you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors?”

I want to say “you discover the terrible cost of hope” but my heart won’t let me. That’s apparently just 1 XP.

(3) ... hm. So many 5-XP options, even so! Five of them would would make this is a fairly long quest. The problem is, as I think I’ve mentioned, I’m not fond of super-long-quests for end-of-Arc quests.

(Although I also have trouble avoiding it sometimes, as I think I’ve also mentioned.)

... let’s hold off on making “You are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors” 5-XP for now; it seems like it might open possibilities as a 1-XP thing. That could let us keep it down to 40 XP, anyway, which isn’t much worse than 35.

(4) Thinking about 5-XP options has helped me notice that “you find a pathway home” is just ... not a good 1-XP or 5-XP option. Let’s drop that one.

(5) Let’s combine “you bear witness to a miracle” and “you discover the terrible cost of hope” into “you bear witness to a miracle, or its terrible cost.”

... no, that’s not right.

OK, we have to do something about “you discover the terrible cost of hope.” I think, thinking about it, that what I want is to go back to having “you face the terrible cost of hope,” instead, but that its old colors were wrong. It needs to be ... purple/red. It’s about looking at that cost unblinking, or talking someone through it, or opening up to someone about it. Not about a big mood.

(6) Let’s add a star to “you witness part of someone’s personal journey” for visual neatness.

        Giving us ...

(MG) danger nips at your heels but it can’t get you

(MG) something ancient is reborn

(MG) another world comes flooding in

(MG) something marvelous is happening in the sky, or bridging between the sky and ground

and

(CROOK/RED) you face the terrible cost of hope

(GREEN/RED) temptation surges

(BLUE/RED) fearlessness displays its power

(BLUE/RED) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(BLUE/RED) you talk to something amazing and beyond human

(STAR/RED) you witness part of someone’s personal journey/evolution

(STAR/RED) you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

(STAR/SWORD) the Outside breaks in

(STAR/MOON) you bear witness to a miracle

(CROOK/MOON) the world becomes a little livelier

           Which is Almost There!

If you read through the 1-XP entries from top to bottom, you’ll see that they’re starting to form a story here. That doesn’t always happen, but I love it when it does. The only disruptions to that are “you talk to something amazing and beyond human” and “the Outside breaks in:”

The first one, a great bullet point but undeniably breaking the flow of the “story.”

And the second one, closer to fitting the story, but also kind of ... strong? for a 1-XP option?

So as much as I love the first one, let’s drop them both! And get down to:

(MG) danger nips at your heels but it can’t get you

(MG) something ancient is reborn

(MG) another world comes flooding in

(MG) something marvelous is happening in the sky, or bridging between the sky and ground

and

(CROOK/RED) you face the terrible cost of hope

(GREEN/RED) temptation surges

(BLUE/RED) fearlessness displays its power

(BLUE/RED) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(STAR/RED) you witness part of someone’s personal journey/evolution

(STAR/RED) you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

(STAR/MOON) you bear witness to a miracle

(CROOK/MOON) the world becomes a little livelier

       P.S. In case you’re curious, I’m not going to try to bring the purple/CROOK entries closer together---I mentally treat quest bullet point lists as a loop, so the bottom is “next” to the top. Whether that completely negates the point of collecting similar icons next to one another or not, I do not know.

             Regardless, We Now Have a Quest!

... though, I am going to tweak the wording as I go here because I’m not completely satisfied with the version that we have above.

      Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You have fun evading a serious threat;

Something ancient is reborn;

Another world comes flooding in;

Something marvelous happens in the sky, or is bridging between the sky and ground.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 20 XP.

          Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:

(CROOK/RED) you face the terrible cost of hope

(GREEN/RED) temptation surges

(BLUE/RED) fearlessness displays its power

(BLUE/RED) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(STAR/RED) you witness part of someone’s personal journey/evolution

(STAR/RED) you are elevated above your place, given someone else’s honors

(STAR/MOON) you bear witness to a miracle

(CROOK/MOON) the world’s a little more festive or exciting, thanks to you

You can combine this with an XP action, but you’re not required to.

            I believe my former self; this is a mystic quest. And its name is ... Awakening?

Rebirth.

The Miracle.

That’s still tentative, but OK!

Spoiler: as you’re about to see, though, the name won’t stick; we’re going to change it again, a little later on ...

The quest card:

        Simplified Version

Once again, let’s invert the bullets and see what we get! 

Sped up, evading danger feels like a 1-XP option once again.

Conversely, facing the terrible cost of hope feels like it should turn into a major goal.

Many entries feel like they carry over directly. Like, they were blue/red or moon/star, meaning the color shift does nothing, and the entries feel like they might stay the same as well?

Anyway, a straight inversion gives us something like ...

(GREEN) you invite danger

(MG) You awaken or give rebirth to something ancient;

(MG) You break the floodgates and let another world come flooding in;

(MG) Something marvelous happens in the sky, or is bridging between the sky and ground.

and

(MG) you discover the terrible cost of hope

(SWORD/BLUE) ... I can’t figure out a sped-up sword/blue version of “temptation surges”

(RED/BLUE) fearlessness displays its power

(RED/BLUE) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(MOON/BLUE) you change someone

(MOON/BLUE) you seize someone else’s place

(MOON/STAR) you bear witness to a miracle

(FLAME/STAR) you cry havoc and let loose the hounds of festivity and delight

       Hmm.

I want to get it down to 20 XP if I can. Let’s start by moving “something marvelous happens in the sky” back down into the main set.

        Giving Us ...

(MG) You awaken or give rebirth to something ancient;

(MG) You break the floodgates and let another world come flooding in;

(MG) You discover the terrible cost of hope.

and

(GREEN) you invite danger

(RED/BLUE) fearlessness displays its power

(RED/BLUE) you claim a part of who you think you ought to be

(MOON/BLUE) you change someone

(MOON/BLUE) you seize someone else’s place

(MOON/STAR) you bear witness to a miracle

(MOON/STAR) something marvelous happens in the sky, or to connect the sky and ground

(FLAME/STAR) you cry havoc and let loose the hounds of festivity and delight

          (1) From here, let’s combine the two MOON/STAR entries into “you witness something wonderful, often in or rising to the sky.”

And then drop “or rising to” as it looks weird in the resulting entry.

(And later we’ll even drop “often in the sky” to improve the overall “look.”)

(2) Let’s drop “you claim a part of who you think you ought to be” as in conflict with “you seize someone else’s place.”

(3) Let’s combine the two MOON/BLUE into “you change someone, or seize their place”

(4) Let’s make a few more cosmetic tweaks, and we have a 25-XP quest, which is longer than I originally wanted but feels satisfying to me now:

        Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You awaken or give rebirth to something ancient;

You break the floodgates and let another world come flooding in;

You discover the terrible cost of hope.

You can earn up to two of these bonuses, once each, for a total of up to 10 XP.

       Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:

(GREEN) you laugh at danger

(RED/BLUE) fearlessness displays its worth

(MOON/BLUE) you change someone, or seize their place

(MOON/STAR) you are witness to something wonderful

(FLAME/STAR) you overdo it trying to make things more festive or exciting

      This quest is obviously gold.

And is equally obviously not named The Miracle. Hm.

Stealing Fire?

A Time of Myths

You will never guess that I have in fact landed, today, on

Opening the Sky

^_^

What’s left?

I think the Arc title is “the Eldritch Studies of Rinley Yatskaya,” based purely on the quest titles that have suggested themselves ... but I’m going to need to figure that out for sure, looking at the stories and the mythic correspondences and such. Either way, once I pin that down, I may need to rename some of these quests. I don’t know if I can do that right now: either I’ll be inspired quickly after pinning down the Arc name, or it’ll be a slow and difficult work of time.

I’ll also need to make a simplified version of the first quest in the Arc.

Then we’ll have our first complete quest set for the Horizon campaign!

[kaaramel]

i got a Lot of really nice feedback on that chuubo’s comic. foolish. you’re only making me stronger and i’m only going to continue making exclusively de Montreal content... my point is look out for another comic because i wanna see if these two do anything interesting when i throw them at each other

i like the rinley exploration above but i’m a little scared that it’ll be a ‘gary larson with rocky the flying squirrel’ situation where i’ll never be able to draw her again

[thecottageinthedark]

This is all quite accurate but fails to mention that if anything it's worse when Rinley and Leonardo manage to pull in the same direction instead of against each other.

Because when that happens, one Miss Mesmer assures me, you leave them unattended in your cafe for like ten minutes tops and return to find that they have completely disassembled the espresso machine and are rebuilding it into a device in which to brew the elixir of life.

RINLEY VS. LEONARDO

RINLEY PUSHES LEONARDO INTO KOI POND, MAKES JOKE ABOUT “CARP-POOLING”.

RINLEY GETS INTO LEONARDO’S HOMEMADE, NIGHTMARE SCIENCE COMPUTER USING A CODE BACKDOOR LEONARDO WAS SURE WAS NEVER THERE; SIGNS HIM UP FOR AN ENDLESS CHAIN OF SPAM EMAILS.

RINLEY GETS INTO COMPUTER *AGAIN* USING *ANOTHER* BACKDOOR THAT DIDN’T EXIST UNTIL SHE THOUGHT IT SHOULD, THEN STARTS @STUFFLEONARDOSAYS TWITTER ACCOUNT.

LEONARDO COMPLETES OUTSIDE EMANATION DETECTING CRAB; RINLEY KNOCKS IT INTO WATER, THEN TELLS RIDICULOUS STORY ABOUT HOW NON-WATERPROOFED CRABS GROW UP TO BE ENCYCLOPAEDIA SALESMEN.

BOTH COMPETE IN A COOK-OFF THAT IS EVER AFTER KNOWN SOLELY AS “THE BOUILLABAISSE INCIDENT”. ALL WITNESSES ARE SWORN TO SECRECY, AND ANYONE MENTIONING IT AT SCHOOL IS EXPELLED.

LEONARDO RIGS A TELEPORTER TO SEND RINLEY FAR, FAR AWAY FROM HIS LAB; SHE TRICKS HIM INTO IT.

LEONARDO LETS SLIP THAT HE CANNOT STAND MUSICALS; RINLEY CONVINCES CHUUBO TO WISH THEM INTO ONE.

LEONARDO TRIES TO IGNORE HER UNTIL SHE GOES AWAY. NOBODY IS QUITE SURE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS BUT LEONARDO BANS ALL HORSEHAIR ITEMS FROM HIS LAB AFTERWARDS.

RINLEY CONVINCES LEONARDO TO LET IT ALL OUT; LEARNS SEVENTEEN NEW WORDS, NONE OF THEM PRINTABLE.

LEONARDO PAINTS STILL LIFE WITH BOWL OF FRUIT FOR ART EXHIBITION. RINLEY STEALS THE FRUIT RIGHT OUT OF THE PAINTING AND EATS IT IN FRONT OF LEONARDO. LEONARDO WEEPS.

RINLEY CONCLUDES LEONARDO ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE PAIRED OFF WITH JASMINE APOCYNUM. FOLLOWING HORIZON NEARLY BEING DESTROYED THREE TIMES, SHE DECIDES NOT TO DO THAT AGAIN.

[xxxdragonfucker69xxx]

@bansidheking replied to your post

“so like who do i have to kill to get a gmd webcomic”

gmd?

[laser eyes activate]

gmd, or the glassmaker’s dragon, is a campaign for cmwge, or chuubos marvelous wish-granting engine, a tatterpig i have vowed to never shut up about. the glass-maker’s dragon is about: well, once there was a rider of the apocalypse and a glassmaker, and one convinced the other to make a dragon, and it raged and would have destroyed the world, except it broke instead. and we’re all dealing with that

gmd features 8 sample characters, each of which is presented with several possible variations. these are so charming that everyone loves them and talks about them all the time, and usually plays as them or one of the variations. they are:

chuubo (no last name), who built a machine in his shed that grants wishes. pretty straightforward. you can see and interact with his daydreams. he wished a) everything would be ok b) for some ice cream c) that he could have his ice cream and eat it (or some variation on the joke i dont recall exactly). if chuubo is a girl she’s usually called shokyou instead. i forgot to mention chuubo can turn into a giant snake but it will NOT help

seizhi schwan, chuubo’s best friend! seizhi is really good at being a best friend! chuubo wished for a best friend and there seizhi was! seizhi doesnt have imposter syndrome about this or the fact that the wish-granting engine basically grabbed a shapeless eldritch blob out of nowhere and turned it into a best friend! its fine!

leonardo da montreal, the nightmare scientist. this one time the sun died but leo ripped his heart out to replace it, and now he cant experience friendship or love. (that is to say, he can totally experience friendship and love, as long as he loudly declares that NO THIS IS JUST RIVALRY BEHAVIOR) oh yeah he’s chuubos rival and he has an incomparable nightmare engine and lots of horrible biomechanical nightmare inventions. we all love him very much. the girl version is dulcinea da montreal and the robot version is leo VII and the necromancer version is leonardo d’avignon

rinley yatskaya, the troublemaker. rinley’s a kid of one of the shrine families around town, they’re a storyteller and they’re named after a legendary ancestor and they like to make trouble. rinley’s name is rinley no matter what which led to a lot of gender talk so now theyre canonically nb i think. rinley is also rinley no matter what family theyre from but the default is friends with cats as well as the talking fortitude rats, some of the other families are not so nice. anyways rinley has a power where they can do retroactively do stuff offscreen and i love them

miramie, the... dream witch? is that her appellation? shes very tired and she hangs out in this professors archive and she appears in dreams sometimes wearing a mask. and i dont remember whether or not its supposed to be obvious that shes the rider who tried to destroy the world, but she kinda broke with it and shes retired and sad now. she has some connection to chuubo that is maybe romantic?

jasper, the child of the sun. ok remember how the sun died well she was also an angel and jasper is her kid but jasper isnt an angel. you see the sun got shot down by Death and death is also jaspers dad its really complicated. anyways jasper is sort of nebulously implied to be on track to take her moms place in some way, there are a lot of portents and miracles, however the more important thing is jasper has a power that lets her eat Anything. no matter size or substance or scale. also she can grow multiple limbs to take care of problems

natalia, whose epithet i dont remember. natalia is new to town she crossed the lake which connects to uhhh dont worry about that but shes from russia. she underwent hardcore soviet training in either ice skating or kung fu or psychic powers or all three. she can be superhumanly good at anything except processing emotions

principal entropy ii. entropy runs horizon academy, a hereditary job he took over from his dad. entropy also moonlights as the angel of fortitude, a vigilante on a motorbike who mostly helps old ladies cross the road since there isnt much crime in fortitude. e2′s hands are always bleeding and that blood can mutate you so watch out. he uses it to make hall monitors. principal entropy is like just barely old enough to be out of school himself he is not qualified to be a principal. he is exactly old enough to lament hes too old for this when the other gmd kids get him caught up in their bullshit

[thecottageinthedark]

Oh god. Most awful CMWGE concept ever.

SO. (And @kaaramel because they got me into this goddamn stuff so it’s their fault.)

Chuubo's a dumbass. A dear well-meaning dumbass! But a dumbass!

They don't realise how, exactly, the Engine granted their wish for a best friend. They know Seizhi got retconned into their past; how thoughtful of the Engine! But they don't know that it made them.

(Seizhi hasn't told. Seizhi can't bring themself to tell.

Because it's Chuubo, and they love him-they can't not love him, because they were made to be his best friend, but even if they weren't what they are, even if they had a choice, they think they might still love Chuubo for his bright innocent gentle heart.

And how the fuck are they supposed to tell Chuubo something like this? "Hey, the wish you made didn't just put me into the path of your life, didn't just arrange your fate to meet somebody who would become your best friend. It dragged a thing of the Outside into Town, slapped a shape on it, moulded it to best fit you-but left it half unfinished, because who cares whether it has a coherent, stable identity, right? It does what it's supposed to, who cares if it's happy? Or sane?"

How are they supposed to say, "You wished for a best friend and got me and that means I can't ever stop being your best friend. There will never be anyone that means as much to me as you, ever, and that's not romantic, it's a collar and a chain. It means you could do anything to me, and I'd still feel the same way about you, and I wouldn't be able to leave you, I wouldn't be able to stop supporting you. I can get mad at you, sure, but I can't leave, I can't even really want to leave. You could beat me up and I'd still be your best friend. You could murder my family and I'd still be your best friend. You could rape me and I'd still be your best friend, and yes, I know you wouldn't do any of that, I know you're not like that, but you could do it!"

Or, “You made an evil thing when you built the Engine, or at least an amoral one. Something that doesn’t care about anything except what it was built for. To grant a wish, it’ll hurt anyone that stands in the wish’s way. And I know that, because I’m the first person it hurt.”

...They can't say any of that.

It would hurt Chuubo too much.)

So Chuubo carries on happy, with his best friend Seizhi, and his other friends too, and his Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine and his pursuit of ice cream and his hope that maybe there will someday be a situation in which turning into a giant snake might help.

And then one day something comes up. Because silly, wild, dear Rinley Yatskaya has gotten their young heart broken over a short-lived spirit with straw-coloured hair.

And Chuubo and Seizhi are talking of this, and Chuubo says, “Next Sunday, maybe my wish should be for Rinley? For them to have a datemate who won’t die after a couple of weeks. Or maybe a best friend would be better-like you are for me!”

And Seizhi-

Seizhi screams.

And screams.

And SCREAMS.

[windienine]

oh that was completely the incorrect file. HERE is the character voice attempt for rinley.

[thecottageinthedark]

I propose that Rinley and Miramie make a joint venture of it. Miramie is also a Superior Dreamer, she has powers of destruction, and it will be a way for her to earn money to put towards refurbishing that old building into a cafe.

Figured out a way to take advantage of my excess shallow REM sleep and frequent lengthy semilucid dreams: I’m hiring myself out to show up in other people’s nightmares and beat up their fears. Please message me with a description of your fears, and I’ll get back to you with a quote.

(Disclaimer: I will not beat myself up. Don’t fear me.)

[cetaceanhandiwork]

Welcome to the beginning of the world.

The eight main characters of Fortitude: The Glass-Maker’s Dragon, a published, ready-to-play campaign for the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine tabletop RPG.

For the next two days, you can get PDFs of CMWGE, plus a few supplements, for just $10, 10% of which will be donated to The Trevor Project.

Or, you can get PDFs of the whole CMWGE box set (including The Glass-Maker’s Dragon, where you can learn more about the characters above), plus the famous second edition of Jenna Moran’s Nobilis tabletop RPG, for just $20.

(Of course, if you prefer physical books, those are also available, for somewhat more money, on Drive Thru RPG.)

Portraits by the indefatigable @beesmygod. She has a webcomic, y’know!

[cavefelix]

Rinley 'M’ Yatskaya

Not that long ago ago...

"Story!” young Rinley said, grabbing on to her sister’s leg. Rinley was at the age where her sentences were typically only a word or two long. 

Caroline smiled indulgently, lifting Rinley up and walking around the temple. She sat down by Grizzly, a calico who liked hearing tales too. 

“All right. But it will have to be short. I need to go to the market to get some apples to poison and it’s getting late. So let’s tell a story about someone else short -- you, Rinley.”

“There is one man that all fear. One who is unstoppable. One whose motives are inscrutable. He comes to all. Brave men fear him; fear of him is what makes them brave. Wise men seek to avoid him, though their wisdom leads them to eventually learn this is folly. I speak, of course, of Death.”

Rinley clapped. “Brother!”

Caroline nodded. “Yes. He’s much nicer to you than he was to me growing up. He’s never pulled your hair or put a spider down the back of your shirt.” But she said it affectionately. The childhood antics of Kuroma were just  a memory.

“None know why Death chooses to end lives. And none know why he chooses to spare others. But all were surprised when one day, while walking along the shore of Big Lake, he found the wreckage of a boat washed ashore. And clinging on for its life was a baby rat, which he chose to spare.”

Rinley held her little paws up. “Me!” she said.

Caroline nodded. “Yes. You. I don’t know why; normally we don’t like rats very much. But Kuroma took you home. He saw something special in you. You’d been born at sea, and maybe that whispered to him, as our family was founded by a selkie. Or maybe the fact you were barely holding on, on the threshold of life and death, called to the part of him that was death. Perhaps it was the fact that he found you on the anniversary of the day mama disappeared. Or maybe he thought you were cute,” Caroline said, poking Rinley’s belly.

“Yes!” Rinley said.

“To be honest, I thought you’d be eaten within the week --” Caroline began.

“Fish tastes better,” Grizzly interrupted, grooming her paw.

“-- true, but you know some cats are less particular,” Caroline responded conversationally. “But anyway, I was wrong. The cats took to you as well as anyone. And Goro, when he found you, rather than being annoyed said that you should be adopted.

“I wanted to name you Minnie, because you were so tiny. But the rest of the family said you were a Rinley.”

“Yes!” said the little rat.

Rinley ‘M’ Yatskaya

Age: 34 months

Academic Skills: Good

Athletics: Catlike and Ratlike reflexes

Favorite Food: Fish! Especially smelt, sardine, and herring, where you can eat a whole one by yourself.

Animal: Cat

Background

Caroline pretty much told Rinley’s origin story above. She grew up in the Yatskaya shrine, surrounded by cats, raised as a member of the family. Occasionally Fortitude Rats came to parley with Caroline, or discuss the cat population. They were invariably put off by Rinley, and the feeling was mutual.  But for the most part, it was a mystic and mellow upbringing. 

Recently, however, she’s been coming into herself, or out of the shell that is the temple. She realizes she’s changing, and believes it’s a good thing. She doesn’t want to hold it back anymore (if Frozen has made it to your version of Fortitude, she probably loves the song Let It Go), and doesn’t want others to hold back either. She’s ready to dive in to life, seeking new experiences.

Skills:

Superior Non-Fortitude Fortitude Rat 2 -- Rinley would never admit to being a Rat of the Far Roofs, but this skill comes in useful when you need to be 18 inches tall or have a tail.

Story Teller 1 -- Rinley has always had a love for stories

Cat Speaker 2 -- As a Yatskaya she has a natural affinity for cats...

Cat Magic 1 -- ...Including their spirits

Claimed By the Sea 1 -- The ocean claimed her (biological) parents; perhaps it has a hold on her too.

Superior Dreamer 1 -- Growing up in the Yatskaya shrine does things to a young rat.

Play Games 0 -- Rinley has the ability to play chess, checkers, backgammon, Ticket To Ride, and so on, or at least properly move the pieces.

Perks:

Connection 1: Death -- She has always had a special bond with her older brother. It’s possible she also has a bond with the Headmaster, though she’s never met him.

Connection -1: The Rats of the Far Roofs -- They’re just so weird. 

[Bonus Slot] Perk: Accessory - Evening Primrose jewelry -- Rinley has a piece of jewelry that was designed as a bracelet for a human, but she can wear as a necklace or belt. It is a silver chain with a realistic evening primrose hanging from it.  The Primrose is carved from old ivory, so old it has yellowed to the point it is the color of the flower. Its origin is unknown, though  probably it’s connected to more than a long-dead animal. (Since I know ivory is a sensitive subject, I’m assuming Rinley knows somehow it wasn’t taken from a living animal, but one who passed away peacefully, and has an association with death. A piece fo the tusk of an elephant god?) See the power under Prophet for more.

Miraculous Arcs

Prophet 2/Creature of Delerium 1

Prophet

Rinley is deeply connected with death,  After all, she was saved by Death and raised among nine-lived beings in a mystic environment. But not the “you’re no longer alive” aspect of death. She's connected with the symbolic meaning of Death, its representation in the Tarot. She's associated with the aspect of Personal Change, or Self Transformation, depending on which wording better suits the situation This is her Principle. She’s probably not actively aware of this. She's consciously going around trying to upset the status quo. But she's an agent of this whether she wants to be or not. (She does. Your character doesn’t get to be called The Troublemaker by chance.) Of course, this has created enemies. Obviously, not everyone wants change and the uncertainty it brings. In the Glass Maker's Dragon, she's probably opposed by The Moon Prince, who seeks for people to let go, to stop changing. I suspect she may also be opposed by Billy Sovereign, whose vision is not quite a world of changelessness, but one in which there is but one kind of change, where you become sycophants of Billy Sovereign. It's even possible she'll butt heads with the Dream Witch or someone else who wishes a return to old fashioned ways, though I advise that to be more a friendly rivalry than outright hostility if the Dream Witch is a PC.  Rinley has the following powers associated with this Mystic Arc. If you're trying to become more mystical, which isn't the default but there's an option in her quest set, she also has Frantic. Divine Guidance: When Rinley is uncertain what do do, she can form a Level 4 Intention, at no Will cost, to "Listen to the subtle ways that change is all around us." Usually this is an HG hint as to what might foster change in this situation. She also, when using Divine Guidance, may understand symbols and motifs of death, even when unfamiliar with them. When she uses this power to serve the principle of change, she gains a +3 tool bonus. Finally, when opposed by a bleak power, this can shatter the effects, creating a chaotic backlash that affects Rinley and the target, essentially inflicting a Serious Wound. This power can be used once or twice a book at no cost. Subsequent uses cost 1 MP. For 2 MP, Rinley can use this with any intention. Divine Guidance (Powered Up): If Rinley can sustain the Intention of Divine Guidance for an entire chapter, she can cause a major sort of change in the Region. A downtown neighborhood could get a facelift, a school could adopt a new curriculum, or a medical organization may decide that exercise and diet are bad for your mental health, and change to suggesting eating only butter because it feels good emotionally. Materialization of Possibility When you're facing a problem you can't deal with, you (or someone) needs to change. Rinley can invoke Materialization of Possibility to use personal change to solve an immediate problem. This power can take many forms, often a Tool Bonus or temporary Perk. This can be used once or twice a book at no cost. For 1 MP, this can make things somewhat more likely or powerful. For 4 MP it makes something much more likely or more powerful. Example: Rinley is being chased by the First Free Dog, because she stole its favorite squeaky toy on a whim. Materialization of Possibility might give her a +1 bonus to persuade him that rope toys are more fun, changing his outlook. If she runs through a pet store and spends 1 MP, the First Free Dog may see the ideal new toy. For 4 MP, she might decide it's time to change herself and stop treating dogs as inferior to cats, gaining the Superior Dog Speaker 4 Perk to telepathically explain herself to the undead pup.

Inspiration

RInley draws inspiration from places where her aspect of death is not weak. Much of Little Island and the Walking Fields are out of bounds, due to their properties of “things can’t change before they’re ready” and “What happens is what always happened,” respectively, but there are exceptions there where Death and Change are strong enough -- the memorial statue of Jade Irinka; or during a Wild Hunt, for example.. 

While in these places, she can invoke Inspiration to have her Story Telling and Game Playing Skills transform, becoming The Story Telling  and The Games of Transformation. They will always have a minimum Intention of 4, and ignore 1-2 points of Obstacle.  They also function as if they were Superior 1 Skills; her stories seem particularly inspirational; the dice seem to favor her, forcing you to adapt your strategy. 

In places hallowed by death/rebirth -- important mausoleums, holidays about Death, etc., these skills function as Level 2 Superior Skills. Rinley plays games on a master level revealing the need for you to adapt, and her tales stir the hearts of the most callous person.

Inspiration can be used 1-2 times per scene at no cost. It costs 1 MP for subsequent uses, or 4 MP to use it as many times as needed per scene.

Vestments

In the language of flowers, Evening Primrose is a symbol of fickleness, or inconstancy. A sign that people change. While Rinley doesn’t always wear it, her jewelry can function as if she were in a place where death is strong enough for her to get the lowest advantages of a Superior 1 skill with Inspiration. 

(Sometimes Rinley leaves this at the the temple, because cats like to paw at dangling things on chains.)

This is a bonus perk, noted above.

Hallow

Over the course of several months*, or instantly for 4 MP, Rinley can make a place sacred to her principle, giving it the Property People are driven to do something different with their lives. 

* Normally Hallow takes years to invoke, but as a rat her lifespan is, like, seven or eight years, so I’ve reduced is slightly. 

Creature of Delerium 1

Rinley wants people to change, to achieve their potential. They don’t do that though, and she always wondered why. She only recently realized the answer when a cat spirit spoke to her. “You can’t just wait for the door to open so you’re on the other side You need to yowl incessantly. You can’t wait for the Ming vase to fall; you must push it yourself. They who hesitate are lost.” 

And the spirit taught her the truth, feelings of hesitation. This is her Experience. Or course, making a deal with a Cat Spirit to learn more about how to help people has a downside. Rinley sometimes notices it affecting her way of thinking. That’s a curse, though she may not realize it’s a problem.

Also, while on Creature of Delerium, Rinley gains the power Sickly.

Embodiment

Whenever Rinley has been in an area for more than a few minutes, a Region Property forms: Rinley feels no hesitation.

Extraction

Rinley may, by touching someone on the shoulder, remove their sense of hesitation. (Getting to their shoulder may require some climbing, but such is life.) Their sense of hesitation takes the form of a small chain (holding them back, get it?). Someone without hesitation isn’t necessarily going to do stupid impulsive things, but they’re not going to let what was holding them back from what they wanted stop them without a solid reason, 

Rinley can affect their sense of hesitation by manipulating the chain, wrapping it around a particular object to make the person hesitate over it. She could also theoretically use Cat Magic to affect it, presumably making the person hesitate over what would make a cat hesitate. 

She can return their sense of hesitation with no effort; others face an Obstacle 2 Action. 

Using Extraction can be done for free once per chapter; subsequent uses cost 2 MP.   

Command

Rinley may see through the senses of someone who she has extracted their sense, or direct their actions.  Normally, this faces a Level 2 Obstacle, though that can be waived for 1 MP. While doing this, Rinley is considered the vessel for purposes of any Miracle targeting it.

Catharsis 

When RInley targets you with a miracle, the effect can be emotionally powerful. (This includes interacting with command.) Since she wants people to change, this is very convenient.

This can be used twice per book (but once per chapter) for free, It costs 2MP for a third use; and 4MP to use more than once per chapter. 

Notes

Prophet is an easy Arc to visualize, and hard to pin down when writing it. I felt I could have made most of the powers’ listings much longer.

The Victorian language of flowers has a few plants that signify death, but I think they signify the I Want You To No Longer Breathe aspect, not the change aspect. Evening Primrose isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as I could come.

If you’re using this as an alternate Rinley for a GMD campaign, a few possible suggestions:

Substitue the Rat Prince(ss) for the Straw Haired Child if you are looking for a lead. They’re the first Fortitude Rat she’s met that’s interesting, then she loses them to something.

Rinley’s quests and emotion XP work pretty well for this character. If you want her a emotion XP to be a little more serious than Groan, I’d consider Fist Shake. 

When Rinley interacts with they Titovs, I’m pretty sure that she isn’t going to accidentally free Iolithae. Instead, she’s going to “accidentally” free Iolithae.

[incorrectgluubilisquotes]

Look, if you’re counting on me to be the voice of reason and sanity around here, we’re all in very serious trouble.

Rinley Yatskaya

(Source: Tumblr)

[incorrectcmwgequotes]

Rinley: burying my treasures may have started off as an attempt to grow more treasures but now I just like having my stuff underground.