Regarding Three Drops (Eris/Orchid's Lunar contact), I think this Terry Pratchett quote is pertinent:
"If you really want to upset a witch, do her a favor which she has no means of repaying. The unfulfilled obligation will nag at her like a hangnail."
(This actually kind of applies to Eris as well, now that I think of it. With anyone but her sister, she's much more comfortable with trades than gifts.)
Mm. I should also look at a Creation map and figure out where the manses are... (rather than just going "forty thousand mile range on 9m WCWT means I don't care")
And I may end up overusing WCWT just a little, but darn it, I spent two Charm slots to get it. Is my precious.
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
It is a wonderfully useful charm, isn't it? Characters from Lookshy are actually required to have it, along with the Lore charm that lets you shoot bolts of energy from your hands.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
It is a wonderfully useful charm, isn't it? Characters from Lookshy are actually required to have it, along with the Lore charm that lets you shoot bolts of energy from your hands.
It is the best Charm - and it's one of the Charms that's better when two people in the group have it, because then you can have two-way conversations. Along with DB Medicine, it's one of the DB Charms that made my Zenith (in another campaign) incredibly jealous when she found out about them.
(Seriously, comparing DB Medicine to Solar Medicine gave me the distinct impression that a Solar's approach to battlefield healing was meant to be "delegate the problem to some Wood Aspects". Solars can fix absolutely anything - it's just slow and very costly in Essence. If you want to heal the Great Contagion, or Fair Folk ravaging, or certain Yozi-related poisons, get a Solar medic. If your problem is less severe than that, a Dragon-Blood will do it more efficiently.)
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
That's probably exactly how it worked, honestly. Solars are for the things that no one else can do, while the Terrestrials are supposed to take care of the twenty thousand smaller injuries that pile up in the meantime.
Zhou has Medicine as a favoured ability, actually. It stems from his own compassion score - it bugged him that he had until then only learned to cause injuries, rather than treat them. Not got any of the charms yet, but I'll get there.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
That's probably exactly how it worked, honestly. Solars are for the things that no one else can do, while the Terrestrials are supposed to take care of the twenty thousand smaller injuries that pile up in the meantime.
Yup! And I felt better about it when I realized that it actually fit the setting. But it's (appropriately) depressing when you're a Compassion-5 Solar medic in the Second Age and there is a distinct lack of Dragon-Blooded minions colleagues to handle the less serious problems. Especially when you have a Compassion-based Limit Break.
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Zhou has Medicine as a favoured ability, actually. It stems from his own compassion score - it bugged him that he had until then only learned to cause injuries, rather than treat them. Not got any of the charms yet, but I'll get there.
Awesome
DB Medicine also has an anti-UMI charm, which is rather nice. That one doesn't seem to show up in the Solar Medicine toolkit at all, and I'm a little worried the reason is that Solars are expected to just overwrite the UMI with their own
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Ah, was thinking of the wrong charm. Well, his primary motivations for the scene are pretty much 'get a feeling for how different people here think and act' and 'have some more of those little pastry things'.
I ship you/Anyone./Infernal Gardevoir from outside the playground, by Recaiden//ExtendedSig
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Originally Posted by Thanqol
It's not normal, of course, and what's actually happening in Comet Kicker's brain is that she's using regular murder as therapy for worse murder. There's a breakdown in the works and all it needs is one good, hard kick.
Also, meanie Zhou, making Orchid actually talk rather than just harvesting the results of others' suggestions I was going to wait and see if I'd heard from my Contact, or what Mastery of Small Manners yielded, but I guess we can slot that in when convenient for the ST, and I can chat with Zhou in the meantime.
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
But you were doing such a good job of being a stalking-horse!
Also, I'm actually somewhat interested in this play, Ifni OOC is suspicious. (They've been doing free showings for all the common folk, everyone thinks it's amazing, nobody will say what the show actually involved. Something is tripping my Performance-charms radar...)
But okay, off to write a post, that we may have inter-PC interaction
EDIT: There we go. So what do you think about Lookshy's recent proclamation, dear Zhou? *innocent eyes*
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
And Ifni... wow, I think the tables turned fast enough there to give me whiplash. Zhou is now attempting to walk a wonderful balancing act of conveying that he isn't a supporter of the Cleansing without adding the qualifier of 'because I would like to stab them all in the face'.
That might not go over well in a reasonably civilized party. Though I get the depressing feeling Orchid isn't going to let him remain so non-specific and uncommitted
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
Heh heh. Orchid is a delicate blossom. With spiky poisonous thorns, if you put her on the spot
But actually, she'll probably let Zhou get away with it. She has Judge's Ear Technique up, so she knows that everything he just said was the absolute truth (assuming it was). And that's... very interesting. If the Lookshy proclamation doesn't have popular support among the city's Dragon-Bloods, then about the last thing she wants to do is alienate someone who might give her an in with them.
I mean, she could take this as a jumping-off point to whip up a mutual discontent-against-the-Realm-fest, but that's kinda risky and this meeting probably isn't big or influential enough for it to have a large upside.
Also, I love the mental image of Zhou having this conversation in full armor and wearing a sword. That makes Eris' attempt-to-subtly-inculcate-a-negative-Intimacy-toward-the-Cleansing work even better.
Hey, The_Snark, good to see you So, Bronze Faction, huh? *looks back at ST going 'Oh, the Bronze Faction is very interested in your Ally'* Eheh. Should be fun!
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Yup. Everything he said was perfectly true. I've always felt it's a poor debater who has to outright lie to accomplish his goals. It's much more entertaining to deceive with truths.
Zhou didn't say the Cleansing is unpopular among all of Lookshy, though, mostly because he doesn't know. And it deeply worries him that he got so utterly caught out by this one.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
Yup. Everything he said was perfectly true. I've always felt it's a poor debater who has to outright lie to accomplish his goals. It's much more entertaining to deceive with truths.
Zhou didn't say the Cleansing is unpopular among all of Lookshy, though, mostly because he doesn't know. And it deeply worries him that he got so utterly caught out by this one.
Yup. But he said his comrades felt the same way, which at least suggests it's not just him.
Anyway, I'm off for now; back later
EDIT: And with that, I think I'm waiting for industrious to post; Orchid wants to talk to Zhou, but not in front of a room of people. I would like to get a bit more information on what everyone else is saying, and on the play, before we skip ahead. I'm waiting on:
-Mastery of Small Manners results for everyone's motivations in the scene.
-Replies regarding mysterious play (do I know of "Elegance"?)
-Any reactions to Zhou's initial suggestion, any Casolrians or people from further East picking up on Orchid's hint to complain about Anathema / boast about not being daunted by Anathema (if she gets really lucky, the name of the notorious Lunar bandit Skandi might come up), and any data on where the disturbance started (if enough people have even vague things like "to the north of my manor house", we may be able to triangulate).
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Heh. I laughed at the interaction of Symphony of Chimes with Judge's Ear Technique. Duly noted.
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Ohai there Lunar! Or possibly some other kind of Exalt - but someone who knows Skandi and feels comfortable with blackmailing a chaos-spreading wolf-Lunar, and that narrows it down a fair bit.
Hmm. Need to think about exactly how she'll react to this.
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Very interesting. Of course, Zhou has no idea Chimes is anything special, which will probably turn out poorly later.
Orchid is considering trying to slip a heads-up to you or Chimes (via WCWT while she's putting on her armor), but she's not sure who needs the warning more at this point
I'm rather tempted to just casually ask Chimes how he knows Skandi the Wolf, just to see the reaction...
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
I was really tempted to respond to the armour comment with 'But I make this look good' or something
Still. Off to investigate, and hope that Chimes doesn't stab me and leave my body in an alleyway or something.
Well, either of you could take the excuse to walk Orchid back to Cinnabar, if you wanted to chat She does need to go home to change (well, actually her armor's in her Elsewhere-pockets and her clothes are made of Essence, so she could duck into an alley and change, but that would reveal some stuff about her artifacts/capabilities that she doesn't want widely known, and also be a little risky as the armor is orichalcum), but she also wants a chance to think for a bit and possibly fire off some WCWTs.
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Pfft, that's what Infinite Resplendence Amulets are for!
EDIT: if the other two are letting Orchid go home on her own to get her stuff, I'm happy skipping forward to the garden, unless something else intervenes.
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Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Also wstfgl. I went to finish my artifact/manse descriptions and promptly went over the word limit. So here is Eris' background cut-and-pasted from earlier post to make room for other stuff, I'll link it there.
Background:
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Early life (short version, see vignettes up the page):
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Born Tepet Ireva, Eris was trapped in Thorns by the Mask's invasion when she was four. Her five-years-older sister Firada managed to keep them both alive, in the streets and then the Undercity; their parents were visiting the Isle at the time of the invasion, investigating schools for their firstborn.
After Firada Exalted as a Wood Aspect when Ireva was fourteen, taking the title White Rose of Thorns, Ireva devoted her energies to unifying the Resistance behind her sister's leadership. Six years later, her final triumph led to her Exaltation as an Eclipse.
Unfortunately, the Immaculate faith has always been strong in Thorns, and Ireva's transformation into Anathema led to calls for her death. When Firada refused to let her be killed, the alliance they'd built broke apart. Worse, since the alliance had been sealed by Ireva's anima in the moment of her Exaltation, the repercussions for oathbreaking fell on Firada and the leaders of the other factions, further undermining Firada's support and leading to accusations of vile Anathema magic. It is for this reason that Ireva took the name Eris, which means Discord.
Trying to reclaim her supporters (and prove to herself that the Dragons hadn't turned away from her), Firada went on a solo rescue mission to a necrotech laboratory in Thorns, trying to rescue a Resistance operative who'd recently been captured and taken for experimentation and torture by the Daybreak who ran the lab. Unfortunately (and likely due to the oathbreaker's curse) she failed to notice that the Daybreak was still there - having chosen not to attend the party at court that evening. He defeated the Wood Aspect in combat, chained her in soulsteel, woke her up, and was casting Threefold Binding of the Heart on her when Eris put a jade daiklave through his back. One of Firada's remaining allies, a woman named Janya, had released her and given her some supplies and Firada's sword, telling her where her sister had gone.
Eris got them both safely out of the city, via a Guild contact. Firada headed off to the nearest Realm outpost, and returned home to the Blessed Isle, where she argued fruitlessly for relief for Thorns, and eventually ended up taking vows in the Immaculate Order (while very surreptitiously keeping in touch with her little sister).
In the nine years since her escape, Eris has been keeping a very low profile. She's been building a life outside Thorns, trying to understand the politics of the Scavenger Lands, and slowly developing alliances and contacts. However, the advent of the Cleansing has pulled her out of hiding - not for her own safety, but because it provides both a threat and an opportunity for her long-term goals.
Life after Thorns:
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After Firada left, Eris stayed with Swift for a while. He told her a bit about the history of the world (carefully edited; Swift has his own agenda), and the nature of her Exaltation. He also brought her to a manse he guards, the Shrine of the Sea's Song (see below), in part to get it to analyze her Essence to make sure she was what she seemed to be, and in part to propose a deal to her.
To whit, he would allow her to attune to the manse and take its hearthstone. In exchange, she would seek out the other manses built by the same Exalt, let him know what artifacts and relics of the First Age she found there, and deliver one such item of his choice to him. He believed (correctly) that, as the hearthstone bearer for the Shrine, her dreams would give her clues to the locations of the other manses networked with it. Eris agreed, and sealed the bargain with her anima power.
After she felt she had learned what she could from Swift (or rather, that learning from Swift was no longer worth putting up with the constant teasing and flirtation), Eris headed further north, and then along the first great river she came to. She got work as a guard on the barges heading upriver, and sought word of the Guildsman Anaxos Ro; she eventually found him in a riverside trading town.
She paid off her debt to him quickly enough, via a few jobs that he gave her to test her abilities. The ability to perfectly discern someone's intentions and half-truths proved useful in negotiations, as did (in other contexts) access to perfectly encrypted letters and perfectly concealed subliminal messages. After she easily identified the spy in his office who'd been passing on information to a would-be business rival for months, Anaxos decided that he wanted to keep her friendly, and started inviting her to parties and putting her in touch with potentially useful contacts.
Anaxos had decided not to head back to Thorns, for the moment, given the cloud of suspicion hanging over him due to his somewhat-earlier-than-expected departure from the city on the same night that a Daybreak vanished without trace. He considered himself lucky, and wasn't going to push it. Instead, he intended to shore up his trade networks elsewhere in the East, and his position in the Guild hierarchy. Consequently, he remained in Nexus for an extended period, and helped Eris get settled in the city.
She began a low-profile business as a scribe, translator, cryptographer and information broker. Most of her customers thought she was a God-Blood or Outcaste; only Anaxos knew her true identity (or at least, only Anaxos revealed his knowledge). During this period she lived very modestly, in a tiny attic apartment; it had a large window and a view of the open sky, and that was mostly what she cared about. She also practiced the sword with the Guild mercenaries, and gained a reputation for near-inhuman skill, although she mostly used an ordinary blade rather than her very-distinctive daiklave.
When she felt ready, after a year or so in Nexus, she went to Anaxos Ro about financing an expedition into the hinterlands to seek out an ancient manse. She implied the clues came from ancient memories; in fact, they were transmitted to her through the hearthstone.
They agreed on a bargain: Anaxos would supply funding, a team of experienced scavengers and a geomancer, and in return be entitled to all artifacts found within the manse. Eris would claim the manse itself; the Guild lord preferred more portable and fungible assets. The expedition was successful, finding the small Earth-aspected manse called the Waystone, in a deserted hillside in the Hundred Kingdoms. The travel and unearthing of the manse consumed the better part of two years.
On returning to Nexus, Anaxos found a message from Tepet Firada awaiting him, requesting a brief meeting. He replied, with a hidden message from Eris concealed in the envelope, and a few weeks later the sisters had their first meeting since their escape from Thorns. Firada told Eris about their new siblings, and about her training in the Immaculate Order, and taught her a Charm to allow them to communicate privately over great distances.
Anaxos was extremely pleased with Eris after the manse expedition, which had yielded a number of pristine First Age artifacts. His standing in the Guild rose rapidly, and the social circles to which Eris was admitted as a result of her association with him grew increasingly lofty. Her reputation spread, quietly - among those who bought and bartered information and were willing to pay a premium for accuracy, and those who valued privacy and discretion and speed in their communications (of course, these groups tended to overlap quite a bit). Financiers, merchants, mercenary captains, those involved in political intrigue... she met many interesting people in interesting lines of work, and took the general approach of trying to remain useful yet unthreatening to all parties.
Slowly, she began to feel more secure in Nexus. With the income from her investments and business, she bought a comfortable apartment in the Cinnabar District, one where she could entertain guests. She began rinsing her hair with a dye to bring out the green highlights, and taking a slightly more visible role at parties and functions, becoming known as one to turn to for a quick and witty summary of the latest gossip. She allowed some mercenaries to see her practicing with her daiklave, and then accepted an invitation to train with the Hooded Executioners; their leader, the outcaste Dragonlord Johoda, has offered her a job a few times, and while she's consistently turned him down, they've had polite conversations on more than one occasion. Previously she had avoided the Dragon-Blooded; slowly and cautiously, she began to approach known outcastes where their social circles overlapped, trying to learn more about them.
Slowly, she developed a reputation in certain circles as a well-informed woman, one who could usually tell a newcomer to the city of all the latest goings-on, and put them in touch with someone who might be able to assist them - for a price, of course, albeit usually measured in favor rather than in coin. She runs a salon of sorts (in the Renaissance sense, a place for meetings and discussion) from her apartment, where once a week whichever of her contacts happened to be in the city might meet to discuss matters of mutual interest. She has quietly let it drop that the areas of greatest interest to her include Thorns and the Anathema - of course, she is very far from the only one in Nexus with interest in those topics, and the latest news regarding them frequently features in the discussions at her apartment. She goes by the name Untimely Orchid, and is listed on the Guild's books as a reliable external contractor.
She usually leaves the city at least once a year, for periods ranging from a week or two to several months. She lets her contacts know that she'll be out of town, rents out her apartment, and leaves. Her longest expedition lasted for a year and a half and took her far to the northeast, in search of another manse in the network; this time, she wanted to see if she could figure it out herself, since the Waystone had been rather harmless.
On the way, riding alone, she saw a flaring Lunar anima banner. She went to investigate, and intervened in a fight between a young casteless boar-Lunar and three (also fairly young) Dragon-Blooded. They had been on a hunting party that hadn't gone quite as intended. The Fire Aspect was already unconscious and on the verge of death; the Wood Aspect and Air Aspect were both also injured, and were trying to defend each other and their fallen brother. The Lunar wasn't looking much better, though. Eris rode up and managed to convince the Dragon-Bloods that they should leave to heal their wounded brother and report the encounter, while she challenged the boar-Lunar to single combat. The Lunar was happy to fight one Dragon-Blood rather than four, and accepted.
Once the Dragon-Bloods were out of sight Eris sheathed her grand daiklave and demanded to know what the Lunar was doing. It eventually came out that he'd been sent to speak with a No Moon who was meant to be in this area, regarding moonsilver tattoos. They headed off to find the No Moon, an ice-weasel-totem woman originally from the far north named Three Drops, with only a brief detour to hunt down a boar and burn its body (Eris reported her victory over the Lunar, and that she was burning the Anathema's corpse to prevent any chance of regeneration, to the Dragon-Bloods via Wind-Carried Words Technique).
Eris had some interesting conversations with Three Drops, including one regarding a certain half-broken and looted manse, and its insane construct guardian. Eris sighed and accepted the young Lunar's offer to accompany her, to discharge the debt he owed her for extricating him from the fight with the Dragon-Bloods.
She managed to talk down the insane construct guardian (the Eclipse caste mark helped), and together they cleaned up the manse; it had been a workshop once, and the underlying structure was still intact, just all the First Age tools had been looted. Fortunately, Eris was still carrying around a complete set of First Age tools - albeit blood-encrusted dark metal tools with a distinct tendency toward skull motifs. Where would she have sold them, after all? She made a deal with Three Drops that the No Moon could attune to the manse, and use the workshop and tools when Eris didn't have need of them (although the construct-guardian is stubborn, and still sulks when a Solar is not in residence); Three Drops had led a nomadic lifestyle ever since leaving the north one step ahead of an angry member of the Bull's Circle, but she'd been thinking about developing a territory for some time. Eris also claimed the orichalcum breastplate they found in one of the secret compartments in the secret compartments, apparently the one thing the earlier searchers had missed (the fact that it was the compartment directly behind the not-quite-sane guardian construct's preferred resting spot might have contributed).
Eris spent some time speaking with Three - although the sorceress enjoyed being cryptic - before heading back to Nexus and resuming her previous life there. And that brings us, more or less, to the present day - and more specifically, Eris' worry at Lookshy's announcement of their support for the Cleansing. She was always more comfortable in the shadows, and she's been safe there for nine years, as she learned her way around the world outside Thorns and gathered resources and prepared... but now the world is turning, and she can no longer remain on the sidelines, lest all she hope for turn to ash.
Draft of discussion on names with Three Drops:
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"A name? For you?!" The woman laughs uproariously, for several moments. At the end she wipes her eyes. "Oh, sister. Your problem isn't that you need a name. Your problem is that you don't like the one you already have."
The Eclipse raises an eyebrow, from where she sits cross-legged on the floor of the tent. She idly passes a - necklace? - between her hands. A narrow chain of silver, set with a single yellow gem. "Is that so? How very interesting." Her voice is perfectly polite, no hint of boredom or sarcasm in it. Its very earnestness demands suspicion.
The No Moon twists herself around a chair. Human joints should not bend like that, nor should any human woman be so thin, but Three Drops seems more than willing to flaunt her nature when in her own domain. Her white hair looks more like a pelt than a woman's tresses, and her teeth are sharpened to points.
"And are you grateful for my insight, Quicksilver Falcon?"
"Oh, very much so. But sadly, if what I came to trade for is no longer on the table, then all I have to offer is my gratitude." She sighs a little, and stands, and bows politely. "I thank you for the tea."
She waits for it, as she turns to go. And sure enough, with a peal of laughter, and a well-concealed edge of worry and anger behind it,
"- Discord is your name."
The Solar looks back, turning one palm upward. "A possible answer, to be sure. You give names for past accomplishments, no? But I was told that here I might find one who could help me shape future deeds."
"Strife is your lot. Do you think you can escape it?" The Lunar laughs, high and sweet and dancing on the edge of sanity. "To sow it, to reap it, to end it... wherever you are, Solar, there will be strife. Whether of your doing or undoing."
Eris smiles in brief appreciation at the wordplay. "Inevitably?"
"Do not forget, child, that we were made for war." The Lunar's voice becomes chill - and brittle, as ice over black water. "Each and every one of us. Diplomats, they called your kind, emissaries. But your role, back then, was to build the alliances that would win a war - and subvert and betray and turn against each other, all those who would not follow. Just as it was ours to walk strange boundaries, to seek the mysteries hidden away from the moon's light, and bring back the power we found there to turn to our mates' and allies' cause."
"Why are you surprised, Discord? It's only who you are. Who you were. Who you've always been. What else do you want to be?"
The No Moon smiles a red scimitar smile, like the bloodied edge of a crescent moon. "You want a name like ours? Like mine?"
"The Ogre, Three Drops - so named,
For dancing, laughing, in passion or in mirth,
Should she strike, her victim's life is fled
Ere even three drops of blood can fall to earth."
"Should I strike? I did. We don't give deed names for wishful thinking, Discord. If you want to defy what you are, come back in a hundred years, and tell me what you've done."
"I didn't come here for a name." Eris smiles, faintly.
"Ah. Is this the tiresome part where your hired assassins spring out of the woodwork? Or are you planning to do that bit yourself? I really would advise against the latter."
"Hardly. I just wanted to meet one of Luna's Chosen. Find out what you think you are, and I am. And now I know." She bows to the No Moon. "Thank you."
The Eclipse gently lays the necklace down on the rug. "Your payment, as promised. Until we meet again, Chosen."
The Lunar snatches at it, a movement almost too fast to see. But her hands are very gentle as she cradles the crystal.
"... Stormcrow."
Eris raises an eyebrow.
"Payment promised for promised payment; I owe you no debt, Solar." The Lunar's voice holds a paradoxical joy, and a simmering of wrath. "You are a harbinger of strife. The clouds of war will follow in your wake. Since your kin returned, the world has been turning toward chaos and destruction, and it turns still."
"The prison broke open and spilled light and darkness alike back into the world. How close is your reflection in the mirror, daughter of Thorns? How close is your shadow?"
"Perhaps you'll come with peace and harmony in one hand, to balance the promise of future strife held out in the other. But you cannot avoid that strife, that conflict. Look to your own nature. The tree draws the lightning."
She stops, breathing hard. And then smiles, and says light-heartedly, "So if you want to know your name, there it is... Eris Stormcrow."
"I'm grateful for the information." The Eclipse's voice is near-perfectly serene.
"Beware the stars. They're always watching." The Lunar giggles. "Now go ride your stormwinds, crow girl. Tree girl. Lightning girl. Going to play with Terrestrials? Have fun. Bring me some jade, next time."
__________________ PCs:
Spoiler
Word:
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Fourth post in a row, sorry... but just wanted to clarify that Orchid's sending a WCWT to Zhou in her latest post, on her way home to "change clothes". If Chimes wanted to accompany her, just let me know and I can edit the post (but still send a WCWT to Zhou when she goes into her room to change, or something).
Sorry if the pace of posting is too quick, right at the moment I'm still on the enthusiasm high from getting a chance to play in this game, and I have to keep up with Maugan
__________________ PCs:
Spoiler
Word:
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
I tend to settle down to about once/day, although I can often go faster if others are as well. Just don't want to go much faster than industrious, in this context, since we have an NPC approximately with us.
For Eris' Essence tracking, industrious, how long would you estimate it would take to get from the Embassy to her apartment at the southwest end of the Parko Llana, and then meet Zhou and Symphony at the garden we've been pointed at? I've been assuming ~40 minutes - 1 hour (including time to grab stuff at her apartment and put on her armor), but should probably confirm that. If it's much less than that, I may want to cancel that last WCWT. (If it would be much more than that, she might find a closer place to change and come back, she doesn't want Zhou and Symphony to get too bored waiting for her.)
__________________ PCs:
Spoiler
Word:
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Snark
I must not argue on the Internet.
Internet argument is the mind-killer.
It is the little death that brings total aggravation.
I will face my annoyance.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
When it has gone past I will turn my inner eye to see its path.
Where the irritation has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
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Re: The Return of the Scarlet Empress OOC
And erk, cranberries, Ifni is not a fan 
by Recaiden//
