The clown nose fixed it ! (did a full reset to be on the safe side
thanks
You're welcome!
I just really needed it cleared up whether or not we had anything special. It's actually cool that it's more like we're taking advantage of loopholes more than anything else. I like the whole 'wild card' aspect of the character. Almost borders on 'outside context problem'. Nice.
Well, you do, but like I said, saying more would be spoilers. Though I do also like the concept of achieving strange effects while still working within a given ruleset, kinda like "gravity toys" or tensegrity sculptures that look impossible but are only possible because that's how the rules actually work. It's not something I see explored often in fiction, but it's neat when it's done well, and is usually significantly more interesting than "I'm awesome because the rules don't apply to me."
Kinda like how odd the concept of religion is, at least in the way it's understood in our world, to Master and Servant society. That point was something I took a direct influence from since I had a similar idea too.
This is mostly just Masters being egotistical (and something else no one has asked about and will probably never come up in-game).
Religion as a concept has a basis in believing there's a higher (or at least greater) power somewhere in existence. Somewhere along the line, Masters started to refuse to acknowledge that there could be a power greater than themselves. From there, "oh my god" became "by my name" (or "by my Master's name" for Servants) and religion became something "foolish" for "lesser" Folk to "make themselves feel less powerless," despite there being examples of Folk (like the druids or Augalamh's priestess) being the equivalent of Servants, but that serve a deity rather than a Master. Since those Servants are generally of very low grade, Masters write them off entirely as cheap parlor tricks (which is where the use of prestidigitation as a term comes from).
Okay, the reminder about how Masters can 'pay to win' actually cleared up exactly how the futa duke got her method... she basically brute forced it and forced a method into existence. But wait, if she could do that, and considering how simple the basic premise of the method is... couldn't... I dunno, like a group of Masters pool their resources to brute force a similar situation? Except something more broad that would make it easier to grant themselves the more 'classical' superpower type theurgy they all so seem to want so bad?
Cuz, ngl. back in the beginning of the game, after it was explained how I could burn money to boost effects, it seemed almost like a no brainer to try something like that.
I dunno, it just seems like the obvious thing to wanna try if you can't do it yourself. I mean, the Order is like, halfway there already...
That's why I mentioned part of her method being that she's taking advantage of instability. Masters burning Silcrow is a way to amplify an existing expression more than a way of creating a new effect. With Evdokia, trying to force it creates an instability, which she focuses to a specific part of the body, then freezes the instability in place once it achieves the effect she wants. It's time consuming, expensive, and can go very wrong if she's not careful.
In theory, yes, a group of Masters could do that (either to shoulder the cost as a group or to multiply the effect), but if the effect they're trying to achieve is Mutation, they're more likely to (at risk of some unpleasant imagery) over-inflate the balloon. Adding more helium tanks would, at most, make the balloon pop faster. Except, yknow, it's not a balloon.
Though that was kinda Evdokia's plan. Spoiling this out for people who aren't in Act 2 yet.
Since she'd achieved an effect and developed a method of replicating it reliably, she wanted to become the new leader of the cult so she could make everyone else pay for her expenses. She didn't want to tell anyone that basically the only thing she could do was make futas, because then she loses leverage. Once basically every major Estate was paying her, she could experiment more and see if it was possible to achieve other effects; she didn't have the capital to continue experimenting on her own.
On a similar note, there is a "writ-writing" mechanic I've been iterating on for a while now that would let you make consumable items that would achieve various effects by spending Silcrow to make them in your study, but I haven't found a good way to implement everything in a way that's both lore-friendly and actually useful. Plus I'm a little wary of adding things you can spend all your Silcrow on when there isn't an easy way to earn it all back because you can accidentally lock yourself out of certain things.
...Hm. But yeah. now that I think about it... Masters, and ppl more generally, wouldn't really risk doing that if they don't have an edge or bigger take in the pot right from the get go...
Plus, you'd probably need a lot of Masters agreeing to 'invest' like that too...
Or at least some sort of proof or believable promise that it works, or the potential return on investment is very high, yeah.
Another little detail on that (which comes up a few times in-game, but not often) - because a person's Theurgy pool is tied to their well-being (and emptying it results in exhaustion, dizziness, queasiness, etc.), and a Master's Theurgy pool is basically the value of their Estate, spending large amounts of Silcrow outside of an even trade (like purchasing something) is physically uncomfortable for Masters. They literally feel ill at just the thought of spending Silcrow on nothing. Asking a Master to invest in something sight unseen is - to them - like asking a person if they'd like to come down with the flu.
Minor graphical hiccup:
When selecting Service with either Chloe or Juniper, the CG graphic either doesn't show up or only shows up part way through their scenes.
I think I found and fixed that on my own, so it should be good in either v0.15 or v0.15.1.
I hope so, anyway. I'm in the final stretch of getting things uploaded (I'll actually be updating the OP once I hit reply here), so by the time I can look and fix it if I haven't already, it'll need to wait for the next update.
Either way, thanks for letting me know!
