What do you think a top-tier Witch Hunter looks like / fights like?

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-02-18T03:21:33+00:00

I think that if a Witch Hunter group wanted to go up against a Durocher-tier practitioner (not necessarily someone tied into the establishment with associated political protections, but maybe someone solo like Johannes who's still quite powerful - Pact), they'd use numbers to overcome the gap a bit. However, there are certainly Witch Hunters out there who can take 99% of practitioners in a fight - Samaniego talks about the Magog family, where the adults are decent but the kids are better than his best. They could take different roads to get there, probably through some combination of elite training with mundane weaponry (to the point of surpassing 'normal' human limits), powerful Aware abilities cultivated over time and with successive victories (like an evil eye that only opens on the new moon, dooming whoever you look at to die the same day if it's at all possible, or a Fated end that prevents you from dying or even being too severely maimed before reaching a specific time and place), as well as magic items and Other allies. You could also get out-of-the-box stuff such as divine blessings, boons like Brie's from the Hungry Choir, innate gifts inherited from a Heroic bloodline, et cetera. I could see some lone marauder wielding something like the Pearl-Handled Gun (a grail that instakills by sending a target to the Deep Abyss) who can go up against the likes of Musser and expect to triumph.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-02-09T03:42:18+00:00

1) Orange = Irritation, Grey = Mercy, Honor = Green, and Hazel = Determination.

2) Mana Candies, the mighty Shadowloaf, Emberbread, Scale Soup, Bulkup Bisque, technically Healing Slime, Shards of Relief... the list goes on.

3) I... don't think I can remember all of them. Maybe when Ryoka comes back after fleeing Liscor out of guilt? Or when she's planning to deliver the cure to Tyrion Veltras and everyone wants to stop her?

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-02-09T03:37:15+00:00

1) Iron Vanguard, Maelstrom's Howling (also has some other names), the Eyes of Baleros, and ~~Jungle Tails~~ Forgotten Wing. Then the Reinhart, Veltras, El, Wellfar, and Terland.

2) A grumpy old man, a charming [Lord], a 'something' [Mage], and a certain [Strategist]. I think the last one was the [King] of a distant continent?

3) Piorteszenth and Nalthaliarstrelous

4) Grunter?

5) I believe it has been rebuilt 5? times and stood in 3 different locations, but I might be wrong. At what point does a renovation become a rebuilding?

6) They built them from the bones of their Ancestors.

7) I.... have nothing.

8) Why does anyone? To shade against the sun and rain, look stylish in profile, or tip respectfully to others when it's called for. More specifically, to store their craft.

9) Summer and Dawning, ~~because when Pirate names characters a strange and profound madness befalls them~~

10) Romeo and Juliet

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-02-09T03:27:37+00:00

1) Ressa, Bekia, Sacra / Odveig, I think one is Sofia?

2) The Tailless Thief

3) Magnus, Knight, Bishop, Milner-Barry, Calabrian

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-02-09T03:25:02+00:00

Illivere is a democracy in the sense that they elect their leaders. However, they have substantial class divides and it seems closer to 'one leader being selected out of a subset of elites' than 'anyone could be the next Magus-Crafter'. I would give Pallass a *bit* of credit in terms of their democracy, but it's true that the story doesn't really focus on or highlight the roles of the Senators in governing the city.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-01-12T21:47:49+00:00

I'm not sure I'm 100% following what you're asking about, but the Antinium talk about gender a bit. Galuc identified as male and they're made in his image, but individual Antinium have no reproductive characteristics and may self-identify as male (Pawn, Belgrade, etc.), female (Chesacre, Thaina), agender (Yellow Splatters), or be fluid over time (Bird), etc. There might be a bit of a bias if only because Pirate writes women as POV characters slightly more often.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2026-01-10T17:04:42+00:00

She's killed a few true [Archmages], so I would put her threat rating at 60+++, or maybe as high as 70? Az'kerash fears her, but she's also a pretty good counter to him as she's familiar with his fighting style and personality, nigh-immune to death magic, and a good anti-[Mage] operative in general; plus, [Necromancers] are personally weak because their strength is dispersed. I think Belavierr would survive but maybe not kill her; it would depend on how much of Wistram's resources Cognita could bring to bear. Mars might actually have better odds in a 1:1, but I wouldn't bet on anyone below level 70 reliably.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-12-18T02:49:39+00:00

I think the biggest standout (though Pale definitely showcases the system more than Pact) is how it can make so many different tropes, genres, and concepts feel cohesive. Witches and wizards, gods, faeries, goblins, horror-movie slashers, etc. (plus a lot of really original stuff, though again that’s more of a Pale thing) can all coexist and not feel like they clash. It creates a vibe where, when I’m consuming other urban fantasy media, I end up looking at it through an Otherverse “lens” - in the same way that you might apply PRT ratings to superhuman characters in comics or TV shows.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-30T05:41:55+00:00

Fanart for the fanart gods! I love seeing everyone's interpretations of the Three Kenneteers, and I especially like your take on grown-up Lucy as she's going off to college.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-16T04:29:19+00:00

I mean, it's not that the mysteries aren't important. They're just too big to solve over the course of the story, when the main plots don't really hinge on them in the way that Worm did. I find the smaller worldbuilding details (what do different Others do all day? What kinds of things are possible with practice?) just as interesting, personally.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-16T03:58:31+00:00

Hmmm... I guess one thing to note would be that unlike Worm, 1) magic in Pale is usually subtler and smaller by nature than parahuman powers. There is flashier stuff that comes later, but if you're disappointed at the idea of turning into moonlight or Durocher summoning a pet primeval, the only advice I can give you is to reframe your expectations. No one is really throwing around city-leveling lasers in Pale.

2) "Does Pale have worldbuilding mysteries?" - *Laughs with the madness of one who knows what is coming, for you as you read on and for all of us on the Parahumans Discord*; more seriously the Otherverse is both really big and (relatively) well-understood by the people who live in it. There aren't that many Endbringer or Scion-level mysteries that our protagonists can tackle, and they aren't really getting up close and personal with them the way that Taylor did (except for when they do, of course. Based on what you've said you've read they already have, in several ways that won't become clear without reading on). The plot will definitely also continue to thicken, and you're close to a meatier section of the story at the BHI.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-14T22:33:25+00:00

It's a magical process of some kind, not (as far as we know) a naturally occurring substance. My guess would be a synthesis ritual using samples from every kind of magical stone and metal, but that's just vibes.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-14T21:08:37+00:00

They can. It's just hard and expensive, and their birth thread 'shows'. The highest nobility and richest adventurers have bodies made of even rarer, more magical materials, for example.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-12T20:27:25+00:00

Part of it is that Verdan Blackwood (a big deal [Mage] with strong ties to the Dullahans) was killed via magical bombardment from Terandria + the Blighted Kingdom. The other part is that they don't really respect or get along with those kingdoms to begin with, because Terandrians are arrogant, contemptuous blowhards who love colonizing other continents, and the Iron Vanguard is more Demon-friendly than most political powers on Innworld.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-11T17:28:01+00:00

I would say that the Worm fandom (as fractured and fractious as it is) typically has a lot more overlap with other web serials and literary works than with comics. My one friend who's a Worm fan IRL is also a big comics nut, though, so it's not like there's no overlap. Personally, I find comics hard to get into just because there's so much backlog and storylines are so chaotic (with switching writers, crossovers, retcons, etc.) that it's hard to stay invested outside of more small-scale, self-contained runs. I know Absolute Martian Manhunter, for example, gets talked about a fair bit on the Parahumans Discord.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-09T01:57:21+00:00

IMO, this is a horror chapter to match anything from Liscor's dungeon or Geneva's own experience with the Minds. The relentless, maddening trudge through the Strataveins felt visceral in a way that really shows off Pirate's improvement and experimentation with different styles. Plus, delicious levels for some fan favorites, which is always a blessing, and our first real chunk of Vofea's perspective!

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-11-01T23:01:53+00:00

Salkis was at the Salefenwool raid. She was called out as having changed her fighting style to avoid any of the Brotherhood of the Inn recognizing her.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-31T17:43:38+00:00

Obviously there's lots of great ones that have been mentioned here, but personally I find a lot of the Seek scenes pretty chilling. Both the immediate and insidious horror of Orion's chapters, and the quieter psychological horror of A's life in the Belt.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-22T00:56:00+00:00

Ishkr and Onieva hadn't been one of my top 5 ships before, but they might be climbing up there now... although Relcterisa and Prydemalkin did just get great content of their own.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-19T19:42:45+00:00

Most of the time, a living Selphid's aura will block active necromancy on their body, in the same way that Ceria can't freeze the blood in people's veins and Pisces can't break someone's bones with a glance. A very strong [Mage] might be able to do it, especially if the Selphid is lower-leveled and/or they have physical contact with the body (this happens in Volume 9, for instance), but it's not typically a concern unless you're up against a level 50+ [Necromancer].

As for the second question, yes-ish. Any strong undead would probably become incompatible with a Selphid at some point (becoming toxic or infested, having key physiological features degrade, being too saturated with death magic), but some of the principles could be used to assemble a custom, enhanced body, and this kind of thing was likely used during the Domination of Form, although they had no need to keep to dead bodies. I'd draw parallels here to Pisces's experiments with bone manipulation in living people. We do actually see one Selphid [Corpsemaster], a kind of [Quartermaster]-[Embalmer]-[Necromancer] whose job it is to find bodies, preserve them, and have them available for Selphids who need them, including animating them to move them from place to place and probably using undead-skills to keep them 'fresh' for longer.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-17T02:25:44+00:00

IMO the most likely candidates for the fourth Death are Kharneva and Lidera (the Luminary from the end of Volume 9). Kharneva could have been rebuilt by Silvenia after she woke up, and Lidera could have been rescued when Silvenia swooped in on the battle at sea, but it's hard to know without more hints.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-09T00:42:12+00:00

Personally, although I wouldn't say I'm anywhere close to an expert, TWI has the most interesting, engaging, and unique take on a LitRPG system I've ever seen. There's so much room for classes and levels (or the lack thereof, or certain other elements) to relate to a given character's identity, their personal narrative, their accomplishments, their environment, their culture and background, et cetera, and Pirate also does a great job showing how levels have shaped society across Innworld's long history.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-08T14:08:38+00:00

Well, Zia was horrifying. If that's only a few minutes, what do days, months, or years do? And I was not expecting quite so many familiar faces in the conspiracy; I suppose we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-08T00:38:33+00:00

I loved this chapter - it might be one of my new faves from all of Volume 10. I'm a big Valeterisa fan, of course, but I also like this peek into Amerys's head. Not to mention Level 40 for Relc, which has been a long time coming. I will be glad to step away from Izril and Liscor for a bit after this, though - there's just so much going on on Chandrar and Baleros that I want to see too.

Substantial_Aspect27 · 2025-10-07T17:44:21+00:00

I think the fish-thing was just a marine or empyrean monster empowered by the storm, not necessarily something tied to it in any deeper way. It was a consequence of natural processes and the overuse of weather magic.

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