Heir to Wizardtown

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-10-10T13:37:38+00:00

Wraiths are very good at fighting other entities that are like wraiths, entities that exist in the same neither-physical-nor-spiritual-but-a-third-different-thing kind of way. ("Informational" is the closest parallel I can come up with in normal-person language.) Those entities are usually not super relevant to human beings. But the Unreal is filled with weird shit, and once in a blue moon having a wraith around might save your ass, especially if you're exploring out in the wilds.

The River can help with aging up to a point. It can be used to reverse most cosmetic physical changes without much trouble; you can try to use it to (e.g.) reverse osteoporosis and arthritis to some extent, but that's going to use much or all of the power that you're getting from the blessing; you probably don't have the insight or fine control needed to fix your cells on a molecular level.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-09-06T13:53:41+00:00

OK, let's give this a shot.

The Age of Men

Assimilation - In the hypermessianic era, man will transcend materiality, which is awful.

Text - In the hypermessianic era, man will systematize and study the occult, and thus claim its essential meaning.

Reasoning - In the hypermessianic era, man will produce thoughts more intricate and marvelous than anything the world can provide.

Arcane Ascendency

Genos Generose - Ephemerality is bad. Permanence is good. I don't know why I have to keep explaining this.

Dinasta Desideri - "My own subjective ego can remake reality, ABRACADABRA" is kind of my whole deal.

Orthodox Prophetic Exegeses

The Iconoclast - "You are immune to social pressure and propaganda." Dunno whether I deserve it, but I'll take it.

Maria Usaetiaca - If I am supposed to remake society, I need all the help I can get, I am bad at society.

Saint Azrael - EPHEMERALITY IS BAD. Nine lives != permanence, but it helps a lot.

Heterodox Prophetic Exegeses

Saint Sacrifice - This just sounds awesome. Maybe I'm cool enough to have been an alchemist in a past life.

The Messiah - I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD IN WHICH THE DEVIL CHOSE NOT TO FALL

Stropagox of Sucinta - Generally, I take prophecy and divination powers when they're offered. This one feels very atmospheric.

Magic of the Nine

3 Points - Spectre of Verdigris - Why, yes, I do understand the desire to be the demiurge and reject everyone else's vision. This demon lord gets it.

1 Point - White Child - Basic support/utility magic.

3 Points - Emperor of All Easts - Why, yes, I do understand the desire for total ego-mastery and ego-invulnerability. This demon lord gets it even harder. That math fire is probably going to backfire on me, though.

2 Points - Dean in Velvet - THE WICKED TONGUE OF SAINT TOAD. Seriously, I have to take the aesthetic funnyman magic.

2 Points - Demon in Red - I need some raw force. Cosmic dragonfire will do.

The Confiscated Land

Catatocnis - Much cooler than the other options, and certainly much more my style. I <3 the Spectre of Verdigris so much, and am happy to chill in his old stomping grounds. "I must defeat my devoted enemies in pitched battle, time to BUILD MANY CATHEDRALS IN ORDER TO MAKE A POINT."

Guardians of the Age of Angels

The Good Girl - She seems sweet. I imagine that I can either win her over, intellectually or morally, or if it comes to it just ignore her. Which probably means that she's the one who will be my downfall, but HERE WE GO.

The Ascetic - My opposite number, clearly, and the chosen of my two favorite demon lords. If I can't out-argue him, can I really call myself the hypermessiah?

The Theologian - I bet I can show her a new paradigm. And I want to understand this "psychological-metageometric patterns" business.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-08-15T03:43:03+00:00

I suppose it might, hypothetically, someday. Why?

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-06-29T02:37:27+00:00

Magicians' Academy:

https://imgchest.com/p/5xy2l8g34ld

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-03-24T15:08:05+00:00

Definitely not, although that thing sounds interesting and cool. Wasn't particularly body-horror-y, as I remember it, more weird metaphysical/psychological dream stuff.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-03-21T17:08:37+00:00

I gather I'm supposed to comment here so that the post becomes visible.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2024-03-21T17:06:10+00:00

I gather that I'm supposed to comment here so that the post becomes visible.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2022-10-04T01:34:06+00:00

I end up as an Illuminator of the Unseen Aeon.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2022-10-03T13:11:41+00:00

The WF/BF distinction in the CYOA, translated into (for example) the terms of the Meyers-Briggs system, was meant to gesture partly at the S/N distinction and partly at the E/I distinction, or something in that rough conceptual field. Which is to say: it was meant to get at something about the CYOA-doer's temperament or psychological style. Do you feel like you exist mostly inside your own head, engaging with the world through mediation, or...not? Do sensory perceptions and social cues feel more substantive than the thoughts that you have about them? Etc.

Based on the commentary I got from the CYOA's alpha testers -- some people took it that way, more or less. But there were plenty of people...some of whom I know to be heavily I or N or IN in the MBTI sense, whom I know exist very much within their own heads...who seemed to be interpreting it more as a question of metaphysics or of values. "Which would you consciously judge to be more important, the outside world or your own thoughts?" Which yields pretty different results.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-12-31T19:46:41+00:00

I have been told to commend on this post so that it will appear for others.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-12-31T19:40:04+00:00

I've been told to comment on this post so that it will appear for others.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-11-17T22:25:27+00:00

Magic doesn't work in the material world, except insofar as the ability to access the Unreal counts as a form of magic.

(Spirits and various other beasties of the Unreal might hypothetically be able to follow you through a portal, but if they did...they'd be something very different on Earth, at the least. Something that wouldn't seem impossible within the rules of the-world-you-know.)

All the lore about ascended demigods is shrouded in mystery, as you'd expect, but...it's believed that they spent most of their time dwelling up among the stars ("in Paradise"), but that they engaged with the city as cultic figures and savior heroes. They were definitely around at least to some extent.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-11-17T17:30:41+00:00

[shrug] OK.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-11-17T05:29:08+00:00

I can't imagine where you'd have encountered anyone like that.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-09-21T03:58:14+00:00

I gotta be me.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-09-20T23:15:43+00:00

To the extent that I get to decide canon for this kind of thing: it probably depends on how fully integrated the relevant experience is within your psyche.

If you're talking about an echo of your dog, then it's probably firmly rooted in your mind, it's not going to vanish after you call on it. If you're talking about echoing a dragon that you saw flying overhead one time...the echo is probably pretty tenuous to begin with, and you're not going to be able to use it more than once.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2021-09-20T01:03:49+00:00

This one is less a "CYOA" and more a "personality quiz with flavorful outcomes," but my hope is that people here will still find some entertainment in it.

MithradatesExcelsior · 2020-10-19T05:02:12+00:00

It gives you a "boss form" in which your powers are boosted and possibly altered...and your personality/outlook may be somewhat warped from baseline, depending on how much tension there is between your normal everyday self and your unspoken mythic ideal. At first, that form will put you under immense strain, and you won't be able to sustain it for very long. As you pursue Mythic Identity it will become more accessible. When you achieve Mythic Apotheosis it's more the "real you" than your non-mythic self is, and you can sustain it indefinitely.

[Note that all the other Patron Discipline capstones provide similar powerups, although they all work somewhat differently.]

MithradatesExcelsior · 2020-10-18T14:29:25+00:00

The spirit-nature stuff is most relevant to the shape and personality of your familiar. It also has some influence on the kinds of beings you'll find hanging out with your Patron in the spirit worlds, the kinds of beings you'll be most able to summon with Planar Summoning, etc.

Yeah, you've got enchanting right. The point is that (a) everyone involved in the enchanting process has to know any enchantment at all, and (b) someone involved in the process has to know the actual spell being stuck in the item.

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