Hey Valaska, I don't know how notifications work on this site, so I just wanted to let you know that my post is in the next page in case you wanted to continue. also, Arbuz has joined!The devourer was at a stage where the professionals can deal with it in the event it gets out... provided they find/catch it. Though it might evade its pursuers, but Mara survived after all. They are more the first responders rather than watching all the time, and some places might escape observation long enough for things to get out of hand. But trust outside of extreme circumstances they're going to be able to put most demons down. Novencia has existed alognside them for... a logn time now.
Arcade was very advanced in age, in his mid-seventies with no heirs, as the Ohme he was married to ascend to the throne, exiled herself shortly after. His next wife bore him two sons, who promptly kicked the bucket in their infancy due to sickness. Likewise said sickness took his wife from him as well. Natural causes not poison or anything and happened quite a long before Arcade's end. Time was running out and Anemas were next on the throne, as no Arcade alone could hope to claim the throne over an Anemas... or an Ohme, but at that point all of the Ohme line was/are absent.
Arcade was not without supporters. Tullis, fairly high in stature and popularity wholly supported Arcade's plans, as well as many of the eastern noble houses excluding the southeast of course (Graff and Anemas). His rule was a time of great providence in terms of wealth, academia, and agriculture. Him fearing his time was coming though hastened his hand and tried to switch over.
There was no middle ground to be found in Cade. Cade was, by all reports, a warhawk. Excessive by Ohmish standards even. But many respected his name and his strategic acumen. Among the greatest Ohmish strategists. A respectable duelist too, but nothing like his uncle or eldest son. Graffs are also sworn to the Anemas. There have been a few unions of Anemas and Graff through the years. And these two constitute two of the largest houses... but don't forget the Arcade and Tullis are two of the richest and most prosperous houses, providing much of the buckwheat, wheat, tubers, and other agriculture.
And also something fomented divisions between some of the houses, causing four ideologies and two allegiances to form.
A very martial society with libertine values and... fairly accommodating. The highest respected jobs are its professional soldiers and those industries that directly supply them, as well as a healthy degree of respect to those who literally feed them and clothe them etc. Einadians wake to the joyous revelries of its academy's patrols and sleep among lover(s) in good drink and hearth. Neighborhoods band together and raise children, make sure they have a packed lunch, and send them off to the academy for their schooling. Its three military academies are huge points of pride where many are educated and some even housed and raised in two of them.
But they also have public schooling for trades, and trade programs to ensure men and women have options. But it's no secret how pivotal their mercenaries and troops are to their prosperity. Not to mention the fact it makes a shit ton of grains, vegetables, and fruits grown by its farmers. Barley, einkorn wheat, masses of it. Einad exports and uses much of these profits to pay for its military.
It also has a college specifically for academic pursuits in scribes, scholars, physicians and such. Though well funded it's much smaller than any of the military academies and was constructed when Einad was at its most prosperous... it is seeing a bit of a resurgence, especially with the mercenary wars going on on the borders of Pyri. Which Einad really hates lol.
Frequent festivals! Stone homes carved into the cliffs and plateaus of the main city, other buildings made from the stone quarried from those constructions... acacia trees and their flowers scenting the summers. Regular rains roll in from the mountains and its rainy season is capped with a nude mud run and wrestling festival! Its clays and ceramics are famous the world over, too. Her leaders expect the best, and they give the best, led by the current ilkhan and "sub ilkhans" it secretly keeps despite the Sutlan's express wishes for that not to be the case.
Redic's life isn't the most typical for those from Einad. He had insane expectations from an extremely strict father. Though this can often be the case when children are pressured to live up to military legacies and great smiths, Redic's father was stricter than most.
The military isn't as entwined with everyday life as Ohmes, but it can be seen everywhere. They follow their old gods, their old customs, and old traditions. Einad is a snapshot of the Sultanate's history. Harkening back to a time when husbands and wives were unions of those who wished to have a higher bond than those others they may take as nightly trists of passion and unite their estates together. A time when celebrations were plenty, drinking was public, and joyous merriment was the expectation and not a taboo. Where at a moment's notice the populace could take up arms and form a formidable fighting force if threatened.
Einad was pivotal in stopping the Rotten King, tides upon tides, waves, an ocean of undead breaking upon her sword and shields failing to break through the great cliffs of Einad while Ohmish troops in Pyri fought, scorched earth, withdrew, and fought again until hey wore the armies of the undead down... Einad stood its ground there, on the spot, and stopped them firm. they paid for it in blood but were showered with riches and favours by the old Khanate. It's mercenaries are renowned the world over and fetch the highest prices of any... raking in huge sums of money for Einad itself as most all of these are organized by Einad as foreign legions fighting on behalf of forces the world over.
Pyri was one of the states that broke away from Lorum and were very aggressive in pushing its borders with others, even ignoring some pretty serious crisis' in the world to take advantage and strike when others were weakest. They made insane fortifications across their territory and others and were insanely good at resisting siege warfare, just pissing people off the world over forcing months/years long sieges... which broke the supplies and logistics of the sieging force even.
The Zahra didn't lose a war to Pyri. They lost to Ohmes... well, more accurately they lost to a single Ohmish noble house that wanted something from the Zahra, specifically, and cut Pyri in half to get that thing. It took multiple surrounding nations and the Orderites of Mourning Valley to excise them, and lands of Pyri (traditionally/formerly the Zahra) were given back to the Zahra to keep Pyri cut in half.
The Zahra are more than likely capable of holding Pyri back on their own. Especially with how fucking unorganized the northern Pyri is and the insanely hilarious long time it takes for the two halves to communicate with each other since the Zahra won't let them just go through their territory and force them to skirt the mountain range/go past Einad which results in mixed results depending how much Einad wants to fuck with the couriers that day. Northern Pyri has access to one of the greatest forts in history... Umbregada, and have failed year after year to hold it for more than a few months at a time. If they could secure it they could expand a TON of their territory. Also where one of the largest mercenary wars is being fought right now with seasonal campaigns.
Zahra had the land returned as part of a major fuck you to Pyri by Einad and others in the region that brokered peace. There's not much going on in said land in terms of resources etc, it's mostly arid savannah transitioning into grass steppes. Technically not even any real settlements of worth that Pyri had, some ancient Zahra ruins here and there and a couple small villages of Pyri people (formerly, they were relocated)... but it was kind of critical to Pyri for obvious reasons.
Hey Valaska, I don't know how notifications work on this site, so I just wanted to let you know that my post is in the next page in case you wanted to continue. also, Arbuz has joined!
There's no real "level" system like Demon, Archedemon, Cardinal Demon and such like judeo hierarchies. Demons similar to humans will be able to kind of feel out where they stand compared to their peers, and humans will proscribe a definition to them best they can. Mara despite being extremely young might be considered to some as above Cursed Vermin at a glance just because of the gathering and influence Mara surrounded herself with. But then if outsiders know of Cursed Vermin's reputation, they'd consider him above.
Because Emperor Arcade was succeeding in his goals and bringing some allies of Cade's closer to turning. Arcade was a talented politician, progressive, and amazing at bringing his ideals and building bridges to those who don't share his views. He played the long game... but everyone has finite time which he was running out of.
Tullis are definitely leading the charge on capturing Scylla and publicly execute her as a stand-in for Anemas' treason to the throne, which in Ohmes means garrote strangulation or slow hanging (where you start bound on the ground and they life you up by noose). Treason is one of the few things they are... excessively cruel over. Graffs would welcome her return but are more concerned with holding the world back from the mainland proper, it's the duke of Coventry who wants to bring her back (and as of right now are an unnamed house, I have a few working names but haven't settled on one just yet).
Well prepare for whiplash, the Ohme family would live nowhere else. Ohmes is their true home, and they'd never leave.
Something like that.
Redic's father was a smith of absolute renown and a masterful swordsman, though he never really was in combat with his skills as a smith being valued too highly. As his "contact to the past" you see during Scylla's questline, Redic was a prodigy... sort of a "he would have been the pride of Einad, if only" situation.
That'd be cool! Maybe in the future, it was the world fighting against the progenitor of the undead and their spread northward. It swept upwards claiming the lives of millions and displacing millions more. Lucia, Ottavia, Pyri, Zahra, The Order, their attempts to stop him early failed and nations sort of contracted to try and defend themselves. Until Einad, Ohmes, Novencia, and the Atlathkans mobilized. The Atlathkans weren't... as effective... as the others, but the fresh soldiers they provided were important regardless. Ohmes used abandoned forts, especially of Pyri's, and designed a fighting withdrawal strategy, only truly committing to surround and exterminate breakaway forces or forces that became isolated. But with a priority to break off if the main host became focused on their extermination forces. The Khanite used its troops in a similar fashion to draw the second wave into Einad, the SaKhans fought positions outside of Einad but eventually had to pull back with whoever they could save and that's when Einad stood strong, despite losing the city on the eastern side of the passage they held the city centre and the undead only broke through to the western side in small individuals or "special" instances.
Atlathka's second wave of troops landed by ship behind the Rotten Kings' hosts and forced the Rotten King to commit. And when scorched earth tactics did as much damage as Ohmes felt, both Novencia and Ohmes committed and counter attacked, catching the bulk of them into a cauldron of Ohmish Novencia, Khanite, and Atlathkan coalition forces. The mortals who were subjugated and kept alive would go on to revolt after they realized something was up.
We actually sat down to talk about it, Mara is an exceptional demon. What she has managed to learn and pioneer, the things she has accomplished... in her short time on this planet is exceptional. Though it was attracting a lot of eyes so without intervention she'd probably have gotten found out by The Order in time. But her understanding of physiology is probably the highest walking the world.
Ok, but do they respect seniority or something? Like maybe Lady Wolf would feel obligated to help Mara and take her under her wing because she is very young, or maybe Mara is more likely to listen to Lady Wolf and do as she says because of her age?
Given the way demons have alien thinking compared to humans, then maybe they'd have different ways of interaction with each other?
Also, when did demons first appear?
Not talented enough apparently. Considering that this ended with his entire family tree being put to the axe and Ohmes fracturing, this might not have been a good idea. I mean, I can understand having elections, more representation and a more moderate education. But converting to the order to hunt demons? Having no military? Returning every land even if they don't want to? Hell, if even the Novencians thought it was bad idea, then maybe there were some flaws with his plan. Like the saying goes: cool beans, bad broth.
Stand-in? Cade, his sons and most of his family are dead! At this point, what do they expect killing Scylla would even accomplish? The Graffs would see this as an insult, and I doubt at this point the other families would care that much. Giving her amnesty and using her to extend an olive branch to the other families would make more sense at this point. Maybe she could even help to restore Ohmes to something resembling a republic?
If the Ohme family never wants to leave, then why do they always abdicate or are always absent? Do they just hate politics?
Well, one would have to be in order to kill a mutant titan in an enraged state. Besides that, I've given it some thought, and I think that in a 1v1 he's probably the only person who stands a chance against lady wolf. I mean, I don't think he'd win. But if he had enough time to prepare, if he knows enough about demons and knew what Lady wolf's tactics were, he could probably drive her into a stalemate.
Must have been a hard time on the world. So in the end who killed the Rotten King?
Also when it comes to the undead, did anyone ever try to put a hermit on a living being? could that transfer the memories and the personality? Something like a soul transfer, maybe.
hm...
Makes me wonder if the demon cults have it all wrong. That instead of raising them as gods or pets, maybe they should raise them as children? For all her potential, Mara's purpose could have been very different if she had been raised differently.
Her original purpose could have been: Become insect/spider, but because she was so unimpressive to them, they handed her off to the woman who would become her surrogate mother. She became so enraptured by her that she started to match herself to look like her, she learned medicine to help her, and changed her entire purpose so she could give her what she was looking for. I mean, if you take a baby and raise it among wolves, then it will grow up a wolf in order try to match his environment.
Maybe demons are the same that way, like children that have to constantly "grow up" in order to adapt to their environment?
So I asked this before, but how did the Zahara react After the whole war they had with that Ohmish noble house?
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Demons for the most part do treat humans and other demons differently, but how it manifests it depends on a specific demon in the end and their personality. There's no universal code of honor, as demon nature has no structure besides their life purpose. One demon can be more cordial to demons over humans, while other might be more invested in humans and pay no attention demons.
They predate written history so uknown.
Hermit rejects living being and cannot merge.
demons can't change their purpose, they can deviate from it, they might try to supress it, but they cannot change it. Demon development can be affected greatly, specially with more sophisticated purposes, as more intelectual demons tend to stray away from their purpose but its still always "tugging" at them like an instinct would.
Obviously enviorment might shape how demon tries to perform their purpose, which could be difference between harmful or helpful but you might not even know whats demon is about until much later in the mature stage.
It will be more down to the individual because outside of potentially some actual groups of demons who work together, they don't really have an ingrained hierarchy to be understood. It's something they'll likely feel out per interaction, and demons will often be able to feel/sus out if the other might have some general presence. But specific demons specialize in specific things... so one might actually specify in more violent combat, or one might be nearly worthless in that regard, like Mara.
Mara is stronger than the average mortal but not very dangerous in combat especially since she took time and effort to actually maintain things like the circulatory system, respiratory etc. Despite not needing it technically... but it's conducive to her expanding on and learning in her field. Mara would defer to Lady Wolf because she recognizes Lady Wolf as an older and wiser, definitely stronger, being.
Demons have always kind of been around.
Emperor Arcade at that point had to take a risk, the throne would go to no one other than Cade Anemas or his sons. There were zero chances that objections based on merit would work, and no one knows where the Ohme are. Completely abolishing the military wasn't something he was going to try in his lifetime but he wanted a massive drawdown and planned to get that process working by separating military from education and state, as much as possible.
Currently, the Wardens are holding out hope for Scylla's uncle to return. Seditionists (Reformists and Abolitionists) want any remaining Anemas' dead and known dead to break the hope that someone ascending to the throne can mend the fractures in the Warden faction.
They still assume her uncle is alive as well as Scylla. They believe that first priority would be vengeance. Though her uncle was, dun dun dun, actually in the Arcade camp before Arcade preemptively killed his brother and the line... he, having been lied to, chose to turn against Arcade's ideals and was instrumental in getting Scylla out and caused a shit storm for Arcade's machinations before the Duke of Coventry and Graffs got to the emperor himself.
Well, one on one Scylla in her right mind and not being suicidal but too afraid to end herself (she suffers from Thanatophobia) could the majority of outcomes, could out-duel Redic. Kimber Asgher can match Scylla at that. Roth and her captain too, are exceptionally dangerous individuals. But only a few of them have any idea how to deal with a demon. Kimber has never had to worry about killing one, so it's something that's never even occurred to her to prepare for, for instance. We'll see how Weis measures up when the time comes, too.
As to whom killed the Rotten King themselves, we haven't made that dedication yet.
Heh... you missed her purpose there, it's very much there and you'll probably get it if you think harder on her story. I try to keep purposes a bit vague but if someone guesses Mara's I'd be happy to confirm it. Demons don't particularly know it themselves either, they may have and form an idea with time though.
But the environment could change how they pursue their purpose.
They're very xenophobic now and they have increased their focus on being martially prepared, warrior "paths" becoming far more important and elevated than they were before.
Is that because of their creation or function?
If its creation, could new ones be made to merge with living beings?
If its function, could they be changed so they cause hemorrhaging when attached so they can retain most of the information from the brain while killing the host?
I was more referencing the fact that she could have chosen it as her purpose, but instead attached herself to someone that resonated more heavily so she had to choose it. This is to show how properly raising demons can have a much bigger affect then simply guiding or aiding them in finding it.
So demons can form groups? Interesting...
I might have an idea or two that could be good, but I don't want to step on any toes. So let me know if you'd like to hear any!
So how long has the world been around for? And most importantly, what's its name?
Wouldn't that just cause a civil war?
If the Wardens have no hope of reformation, wouldn't they go for the Ohmish tried and true conquest method to create a new succeeding line? Feels like that would be the very thing Arcade was trying to avoid.
So did her uncle ever tell her how everything happened or did he die before he could?
Also, if Scylla ever wanted to comeback, What would she actually want to do? And how would everyone react?
Redics greatest asset isn't his physical strength or skill, but rather his mental acumen. He was capable of sussing out that Scylla's fighting style is essentially her being suicidal by just getting a good look at her fighting. If you give him enough time to prepare for a fight he could be damn near unbeatable. Also, a 1v1 fight doesn't mean its gonna be a fair one. If he had one, he could just pull a pistol and shoot you, or grab a knife and stab it in your joints (bonus if its poisoned) etc.
Besides, its fighting against Lady Wolf, a very different ball game. The reason why Redic would be the most effective is his fighting style and planning for the fight. His fighting style is similar to fencing, so Redic maintaining a distance while dealing damage is going to be bad for Wolf, and closing the gap is a danger because one wrong move and *thwack!* off go's her head. redic also knowing a demon's weakness would be a problem, probably one of the reasons she took the book before Redic could read it. To kill Scylla would be easy for her considering her fighting style, all she would need is one good hit and she's down for good. Kimber is probably the same, and I doubt if she knew that it could prepare her for
Really?
Well... lets use the old MIND PALACE shall we?
We know that she want humans to be more. Faster, stronger, smarter. She also believes that she has to prepare them for the future, for "whatever may come". Her main source of doing so is her mutagen, her method of 'transformation', and how she created her mutants. But her goal started with her baseline, The Favored. A strange creature with four arms, a massive physique, great regeneration and a very alien appearance. we know he wasn't always like this because it says he could walk and run, so he was different before, "the dawning of a new age". I noticed something though, his arms, his skin, the other mutants ability to transform. it somewhat resembles... Mara.
I mean, that makes sense. It is her mutagen after all, a basis of her being.
The essence... of a demon.
So that's my theory anyway, Mara is trying to make humanity like demons or akin to demons. To what extent, only she could tell me.
As for why? I might have and idea.
I think since her last encounter with "The Devourer" she had somewhat of a unconscious realization, that mortals are in no way prepared for what demons can do to them. Demons don't age, and in time they might be in large enough numbers that mortals cant prepare or compete with demon advantages. So that's why Mara 'needs' to do this, so when "the day may come for the new age" Mortals can play on a somewhat even playing field.
So that what I think at least, was I close?
You're telling me that they're MORE annoying now!?
Fantastic.
(insert sarcasm here)
I mean yeah we are always open to ideas, here, our discord, wherever. And the planet has to be at minimum 3-3.5b years old at MINIMUM from current estimates. More realistically it's likely around 3.8-4.5b years old. Though, potentially, magic may have sped the process along.
Every time I suggest a name for the world Arbuz goes "yeah, yeah I like that.... let me think about it..." Never says anything, and I forget the name I suggested. I've suggested like 4 REALLY good ones so far and forgot them all. Just looked it up on Discord and the last one I suggested was "Eade" which I really like.
Without the Wardens being united it's not likely they can break a united Reformist front. The sides are all standing stalemated right now in cold war, and there are some divisions within the Warden and Reformists themselves too. Finishing off the Anemas line might demoralize the people and even some of the houses pledged to them. The people themselves in Ohmes do generally have a hope of Anemas return and the Reformist/Abolitionists have done their best to try and malign and ruin public sentiment around them.
But, it could spark the war and a Reformist loss. There are no guarantees on how the other side will react.
I mean Scylla was about 15 turning 16 in a few months when this happened. She doesn't know everything that politically went down but she was old enough to witness her little brother become skewered onto the ground with a spear, etc. All Scylla really knows about Ohmes right now is that they keep sending people trying to get her and her uncle. There isn't much known about the internal strife and factions outside the world, just that it's fractured and there is a massive standoff.
Redic has an amazing ability to observe for sure, Scylla sussed out how Redic fights, too, and his preferred form of fencing. Which is meant to draw someone in thinking you have too low a guard. When Scylla's skill tree is finished it'll kinda show this, she'll be able to execute easier than anyone else and have super high burst.
Redic prepares too for sure. His ability to observe and plan forward is why he was able to get out of Faltest alive, most people in combat get caught up with now and become reactive. It's why people like Kimber, Redic, Scylla, Weiss, etc survive so long with such high body counts.
Scylla's fighting style is... well, one of many lo. Right now she is just going full in due to some issues she has. But she could pick up an axe and shield, two hander, spear, shamshir, saber, epee, bow, etc. Remember she is an Ohmish noble and war is their life, she could do Einadian dropsword and then fill in the blanks that she doesn't know and had the best tutors you could want. Even though her education was sort of cut short, she finished the rest under her uncle. Though he couldn't teach her everything in time of course.
The most important thing would be just knowing how to kill a demon in the first place. If you bring Scylla with you in Mara's quest she actually outright tells you the steps you need to do if you want to kill her... and she would NEVER willingly take a hit from one in order to deliver a finishing blow because it just wouldn't work with something that strong. Equally how she wouldn't take a huge hit from an Ogre either lol.
Weiss is a war hero, mind. The man has been through the shit and back again, he was there in the freelancer invasion of Kaldea.
That's definitely what she is doing, but not her purpose haha. I don't imagine anyone will peg it and she's uncertain of it herself. But yeah very cold on what her purpose is, but that is definitely what she is attempting to do right now.
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Unsure difference between creation or function. But they are "biologically hardcoded" to be so, and trying to create mutation which can latch on live host is for the most part pointless from the undead perspective.
Thats the thing she couldn't choose it, purpose is set before demon becomes sentient. Its the main reason demons develop intelegence in the first place, so they can properly comprehend and fulfill their purpose not other way around. Demon with incredibly simple purpose can stay in very animalistic or even vegetable tier intelegence no matter how much you would care for it.
I might have a good one, Eelad. I took Eade and modified it so it sound more bisected like Earth does, also sound more middle eastern like, which I think sounds cool in the setting.
I did notice something though, she seems to lack foresight. She didn't expect that she would be double crossed by the bandits, despite the fact that they were killers and cutthroats. she also kind of forgot that the headhunters still existed and were after her, until they captured Hiho. And then going alone to face them, without thinking that her friends might just go to find her anyway.
In the end though she can only choose one weapon, and when fighting a demon you don't always know what weapon would be best for the job, so picking a weapon that is flexible in application is generally preferable. Speaking of weapons, when might we get a gun? we know that Redic is capable of using one, and we can buy bullets and gunpowder for it, and Kimber basically offered us one.
Could you repeat what she said? I don't remember what she said exactly.
If he is such an experienced fighter, why would he make such a tactical misstep as to attack Atlathka before Kaldea was ready?
There is a chance she might catch him with his pants down (so to say) at which point he might not have a say in the matter.
After all, who expect a demon to come knocking on you're door? Besides Redic that is.
Ok, could you at least tell me how complex it is?
Is it simple like: "Help others" or "Learn"?
Is complicated like: "Learn biology/medicine/anatomy"?
Or is it strange like: "Become what she wanted" or "Become her"?
Scylla had worked with Huxley's Marauders for quite awhile... and she sort of saw them as family. Her friends in it were quite loyal... which was the beginning of the end for her in Huxley's eyes, working on something right now that will show where the division truly started. She knew the Headhunters were still around, but never expected them to go for someone else.
Also, if you don't have Hiho, recruited, they will capture Samara, and if you only have Osh'to they will kidnap her! But you need someone else to move forward in her story. Also, I am extremely upset with her second quest... it got so cut down I almost feel like it shouldn't even fucking be in the game. The location was supposed to be much different and it was supposed to have some really cool puzzle and interactive elements that would show how brutal and forethinking she can be, how proficient in her trade she was... what is in the game barely conveys... it's... yeah it's shit and I hate it. I struggle to even play it I get so upset. Ugh. It doesn't translate well, it doesn't show what I wanted to show, it developed her character so much more the first way it was designed. I've got to stop talking about it/her now because I am just, yeah it just... I am so pissed off about it. It's shit, I should have done more to get it implemented better etc. What is in there is barely worth being in the game except for the recovery. I am happy about the recovery, I almost want to just have the entire combat quest part removed and replaced with a text scroll. Fuck I hate it so much.
Ok calmed down now. If the quest was implemented how I originally wrote and designed it, it would have conveyed she had zero intentions to make it back and her death would free her friends from threat. It was her way of atoning, and ending the constant state of fear her thanatophobia/survivor's guilt places on her.
But it doesn't, because it's... so fucking cut down the entire thing is just worthless. It should not even bei n the game. We should cut the entire combat portion and just put a text scroll with some pictures, skip to the fight with Roth, just get it over with as fucking fast as possible. It's a complete waste of time as it is now. Just, fucking awful.
Scylla's will be added when her tree gets finished, she can teach Samara to shoot if you keep them happy with one another but she won't be as proficient as Redic or Scylla. Redic's firearm handling will come soonish. Kimber's reward will happen after a sidequest where you deal with another situation between her and Moira, regarding the senate and its parties.
Scylla points to the oil pots in the room (Kerosene I believe) and says the best way to kill a demon is fire. A little lore addition... Kerosene was there to put The Favoured out of his misery/anger and keep the villagers safe. But Mara didn't have the heart to do it.
Weiss is radical... and his plans are in response to something not shown on the stage yet. If Redic didn't intervene the Atlathkan forces would have been hit with magical weapons they'd have no idea were coming and... well, you saw Atlathkans mixed in with them. They'd been planted in pretty vital locations.
He has motivations for wanting to trigger the war sooner than later.
Strange but simple.
Honestly, it wasn't that horrible to me, it wasn't that good mind you, but I didn't hate it. Unlike all the grinding I did in Mara's laboratory, now THAT was horrible. Besides, it isn't something that cant be fixed. Maybe you could add something like a visual text adventure that showcases her thinking and feelings, maybe before the house raid the headhunters could patrol the alley and she would have to take them out one by one, they did lose the kidnapped companion after all, so they might expect her to come. Or maybe you could compensate for that in her third mission, lots of possibilities exist.
And I got the gist from it, that she wasn't planning to come back and etc.
I was mostly referring to the fact that she's just kind of... naïve.
Its a bit naïve to consider bandits as family, especially Huxley. She should have gotten rid of him and taken over long before he got any funny ideas. It was also naïve to think the headhunters would have some kind of sense of honor, Roth did, wouldn't mean they would. And it was naïve to think they wouldn't go looking for her as soon as she went missing, she was already spotted leaving and it was pretty obvious that Redic was going to follow her considering he went through something similar. Hell, he was probably fake sleeping knowing she would go alone so he could follow her.
In the end I feel that she wanted something like most 15 year old's do, life to be more simple and less complex then it actually is. Maybe a part of her never really left that time, like a sort of PTSD or trauma, or a memory of a better time.
She's a good character and a good person, so it makes sense that that she would want to believe in the best of some people, even at their worst.
Also, I'm curious about Hiho. It feels like she's projecting some her feelings and ideals onto Halmech, considering he feels like a mostly pure neutral kind of god.
For example, Warming up gives you strength token with each hit, with variations in synergy depending on what perk you take.
however, the burst tree is just... bad. It feels like its supposed to support a playstyle build of getting a lot power temporarily, hitting hard and fast, then moving quickly. So swiftness and outpacing makes sense for that, it even synergizes with slash-conserve strength so you can use flurry (also a problem, too much ap cost for a mobile enemy. It works for Osh'to as a tank, but not for Redic.) to deal massive amounts of damage. But instead of outpacing I get... deadly force? which screws up the synergy so bad, the entire build isn't viable. Also, maybe reduce the token loss to 4 on upgrade so I can at least keep the one from the momentum perk?
Another one is last stand, it should be a great ability, but parry is just superior because of its armor recovery, and because it essentially has infinity blocking, also it costs no stamina. Maybe you should boost its stats a bit, and maybe make it so it also fixes all maims and bleed.
Swift strike is redundant because of slash-swiftness (unless it costs zero AP and stamina).
Murder stroke is redundant because of slash-expose and guard breaker (unless it can cause massive amounts of bleeding).
Last thing, is it possible to give Reddic an ability perk to swap between two card sets for a cost of 4 to 8 AP? I feel like it could be in character with him being always prepared and his great learning ability.
So did she love him? Are demons capable of love? Is it hard for them to understand because they don't reproduce, so they don't get the same reactions as humans do?
I ask because it seems like lady wolf keeps an emotional guard up so people cant tell what she's feeling or thinking, but she does have emotions, like passion. So could it be a lack of understanding or a lack of experience for them?
Did her mutagen exist from the beginning of her forming?
If it did, it could explain her purpose. It could be something like "change" or "morph". It could also be something sinister like
"infect" "mutate" or "corrupt", like Cursed Vermin.
And I got the gist from it, that she wasn't planning to come back and etc.
I was mostly referring to the fact that she's just kind of... naïve.
Its a bit naïve to consider bandits as family, especially Huxley. She should have gotten rid of him and taken over long before he got any funny ideas. It was also naïve to think the headhunters would have some kind of sense of honor, Roth did, wouldn't mean they would. And it was naïve to think they wouldn't go looking for her as soon as she went missing, she was already spotted leaving and it was pretty obvious that Redic was going to follow her considering he went through something similar. Hell, he was probably fake sleeping knowing she would go alone so he could follow her.
In the end I feel that she wanted something like most 15 year old's do, life to be more simple and less complex then it actually is. Maybe a part of her never really left that time, like a sort of PTSD or trauma, or a memory of a better time.
She's a good character and a good person, so it makes sense that that she would want to believe in the best of some people, even at their worst.
Also, I'm curious about Hiho. It feels like she's projecting some her feelings and ideals onto Halmech, considering he feels like a mostly pure neutral kind of god.
Yeah, I wanted to talk about that. It kind of feels like a few of those skill trees are all over the place, Mostly for Redic.
For example, Warming up gives you strength token with each hit, with variations in synergy depending on what perk you take.
however, the burst tree is just... bad. It feels like its supposed to support a playstyle build of getting a lot power temporarily, hitting hard and fast, then moving quickly. So swiftness and outpacing makes sense for that, it even synergizes with slash-conserve strength so you can use flurry (also a problem, too much ap cost for a mobile enemy. It works for Osh'to as a tank, but not for Redic.) to deal massive amounts of damage. But instead of outpacing I get... deadly force? which screws up the synergy so bad, the entire build isn't viable. Also, maybe reduce the token loss to 4 on upgrade so I can at least keep the one from the momentum perk?
Another one is last stand, it should be a great ability, but parry is just superior because of its armor recovery, and because it essentially has infinity blocking, also it costs no stamina. Maybe you should boost its stats a bit, and maybe make it so it also fixes all maims and bleed.
Swift strike is redundant because of slash-swiftness (unless it costs zero AP and stamina).
Murder stroke is redundant because of slash-expose and guard breaker (unless it can cause massive amounts of bleeding).
Last thing, is it possible to give Reddic an ability perk to swap between two card sets for a cost of 4 to 8 AP? I feel like it could be in character with him being always prepared and his great learning ability.
Is fire good against demons because it destroys a lot of matter quickly?
So did she love him? Are demons capable of love? Is it hard for them to understand because they don't reproduce, so they don't get the same reactions as humans do?
I ask because it seems like lady wolf keeps an emotional guard up so people cant tell what she's feeling or thinking, but she does have emotions, like passion. So could it be a lack of understanding or a lack of experience for them?
hm...
Did her mutagen exist from the beginning of her forming?
If it did, it could explain her purpose. It could be something like "change" or "morph". It could also be something sinister like
"infect" "mutate" or "corrupt", like Cursed Vermin.
Likely going to put a small rest area in the library with Roddis, including a limited store.
She'd been running with Huxley and his crew for a long time at that point, and you tend to fall in and become friends with people you spend that long with. Even shorter, but Scylla definitely seeks out a place to belong and even a surrogate family. It's why she is extremely loyal to those around her. One of the others woke Redic up after noticing she was gone.
The only way to fix Scylla Q2 is to either redo the location to be like the original murder house puzzle situation with inner thought and monologue which at this point would be a lot of work... but her Q2 is so short and shitty compared to everyone else' Q2 it's, something I am very frustrated with. The original design was pretty cool. I still want to opt for just removing it and handling it with nothing but text and some pictures, do the fight with Roth, then recovery. The current combat portion of Q2 offers nothing, it does nothing to develop her until Roth. It's so fucking worthless, it's an embarrassment on my record as a quest designer and I hate it.
Our trees and combat are a far way off yet.
If it has an accelerant stuck to the demon it can outpace their ability to regenerate and will continue burning whatever material/matter they bring from their dimension. So oil and fire is something that can be highly effective at bringing one down unless they have some way to counter it. Which isn't easy.
Every demon is different, they are different beings to any mortal being so it is impossible for them to convey if they do or do not feel things differently or have different experiences. There are no real qualia etc to explain conscience like that to another without sitting down and comparing experiences. After that it would be exceptionally hard to even understand if you are describing things differently or just abstracting similarities.
Nah, getting colder. If that was her purpose, Redic's arguments would have just fuelled her further.
Wouldn't it make more sense for Redic to wake up first? Considering he and Scylla are much alike, Him guessing she might be lying is possible. Also, didn't Verona catch her sneaking out? she didn't tell anyone?
If had to pick, id say do a bit of both. Do a few rooms with death puzzles to show her skills and foresight.
Then, do what they do in the pathfinder games, events. Put in a few pictures, text to describe what is happening, add some choices for engagement and maybe add some picture variation depending on what you chose. Here you can add all the inner thoughts and monologues so it would feel organic, and you could put them in between rooms to be something like a break or an interlude to the next room. Do a small lead up before the Roth scene, then the fight, the Coup de grâce for this section, then recovery.
You right, redoing everything would be a lot of work, and it might not be as fun as making something brand new.
As for just removing it. If I'm being honest, and this is just my opinion. It could be a bit lackluster to just cut it. Just removing it would kind of feel... anticlimactic?
But regardless of what you choose, I'm sure it would be interesting to see!
Something to discuses down the road then. I do think it would be neat to see something like that in the future.
OH!!! And I almost forgot the funniest thing! If you use mind games on an enemy with only two cards drawn, they just die!!
When I use it I just imagine that Redic is using telepathy, so he just kills them with his mind!
So if a demon could absorbed any element it wished and incorporated it into itself, so it absorbed the fire and turned into a living fire ball, could it counter it?
Mind, I'm mostly referring to cohesive demons.
Even if a demon cant convey what they experienced, they can still describe or show what it elicits in them. Mara can feel fear from what she ran from, sadness at losing those she cared for, regret for her failure and joy for all the new things she encounters.
So its not impossible, just difficult. A dog cant explain why its happy or sad but its experience isn't necessary to understand it. Its like if you meet a guy that is afraid of fruit, will you know why he's afraid of fruit? No. But you will know that fruit makes him afraid. And that's enough to communicate to know not to bring fruit next to them, so we don't make them afraid.
I think Tosh from the comic said it best "If you expect a satisfying answer then you're not getting it.". We all Experience things in our own way for our own reasons, that's what makes us unique. What's important is to try and ask ourselves why (demons included), and maybe then others might have a chance to know it.
As for love? Maybe they'll know when they lose it.
So having said all that, I'm still interested in knowing. What did Mara feel for the Favored? By your words.
So it cant be a negative or aggressive related purpose.
So I need to go in the other spectrum, like "improve" or "grow".
Also, can I get an explanation on her mutagen and how it came to be?
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Verona is a bit wary of getting in her way, Scylla had to smooth things over between her and her father in order to stay at the inn with you. Make some assurances. It's mentioned in a flavour text with him at some point, Huxley's Marauders had "business" with Nathan and Verona.
Yeah I dunno, it's just so upsetting how cut down and awful it became. It's so short and wet noodle compared to all the others, too. Originally it was her basically killing a section or even small platoon's worth of men quietly but as hyperviolently as possible with her guilding the player on what to do next and what she was thinking. And then her taking sick satisfaction on her job, only to see a hostage family after bear trapping a man's head for when she could have honestly just slit his throat or driven a hammer through his skull. The family would have looked at her in horror, and she would have looked back, seeing a young girl full of fear as a mirror to when she saw her own family die.
Then she'd let them out and even after that they'd be pretty scared of her, recovering the father of the family from a pit (covered in intestines and guts from a man she noosed and opened up then kicked into the pit) who would have had to climb up a dead body and rope used to hang him.
Then she would have proceeded to the second story, booting a guy off a balcony, murder hobo stabbing a man on the toilet, and then the fight with Roth.
Originally it was probably the second best or tied for best quest I had written and designed. Drew out careful diagrams of the quest, location, etc... everything. I can't even bring myself to playtest what it got cut down to.
lol I didn't know that, deck or ArbuzBudesh prooobably know about it and can confirm if its intended or not lol.OH!!! And I almost forgot the funniest thing! If you use mind games on an enemy with only two cards drawn, they just die!!
When I use it I just imagine that Redic is using telepathy, so he just kills them with his mind!
Fire's not really a thing that plays well with organic material. I have no idea what... could "absorb" fire like that in nature? The best bet would if they know how to make a fire-retardent shell or something as a sacrificial ablative protection or something, insulating itself away and waiting for the fire to burn out. In general, though, fire is pretty deadly for most things.
Unless you mean like, DND elements? That's not really a thing we do.
Mara is extremely emotive, she does a lot to replicate the mortal experience and organism within herself. What she "feels" though would be up for debate, but she expressed fondness, affection, worry, sorrow, regret, love, shame. Whether those are thing she feels would be nearly impossible to translate/tell from their kind to ours.
Yeah much, much, much closer. She made it, through extensive research, hands on manipulation of tissue, and organisms, she has designed and purposefully shaped/adapted processes and organs of her own to be able to explore tissues, and then later, living systems as they operate.
She then attempted to enhance, not overwrite, mortals... bringing them a bit closer to parity with demonkind. A forceful evolution assisted by demon physiology.
But at that point she has been around for a while so she probably became a bit less wary of her, and knowing how important she was to Redic and co, and they were basically a couple of minutes behind her so they had to wake up pretty close to when she left. So I dunno, it feels a bit too coincidental for them to just wake up on time.
Hm...
A section sounds better. A platoon, even a small one, would be a bit excessive to go through.
As for the hyperviolence and the sick satisfaction... honestly, it feels like too much. Instead of showing the player her trauma, it just feels like she's acting like a psycho. I think a slow roll would be better for something like this, and instead of a sick satisfaction maybe something more like a righteous anger.
For example:
When she makes her way into the building, she kills them quickly as to not draw attention. Then she starts an internal monologue. Talking about her brother, her father, her uncle, everything she's been through and everything she sacrificed. How she blames them, for every choice she had to make, for taking everything she cared For, and how she's not going to let them take anyone else.
So with each kills she makes she gets angrier and angrier, becoming more brutal and violent. To the point where she's in a large hallway killing them, then she drops something long and sharp on top of one of them, collapsing his lungs and pinning him to the floor. She then waits for the last one there to come in, letting him see her handiwork. Then instead of killing him creatively, she just draws her weapons. And in a fit of rage, her eyes wide in anger, she just starts shredding him. Cutting him everywhere, avoiding every major artery in order to make his pain last. After she's done, she turns around and sees the one she pinned to the ground still alive and dying, gasping for air.
He looks young.
All of a sudden, its like she's back in that moment seeing her brother murdered, her thanatophobia starts acting up as she starts shaking, she takes a look around and sees all the death she caused, and starts having a panic attack. Then she starts remembering her friends and why she came here, she calms down and looks at the dying headhunter, she reaches for him and comforts him (like he was her brother), then she plunges her dagger through his heart, ending his suffering. She makes her way to the second story, and kills them the way she did, quickly.
Full circle. And you know the rest.
(Also, murder hobo refers to killing people and looting all their stuff, so I don't think it fits here.)
Scyllas journey reminds me of Joshua Graham's from Fallout New Vegas. In a way I feel like their story sort of mirrors each other. So if you'd like, I have a video you might enjoy
You must be registered to see the links
Ignore the title, it's not why I want you to watch it. The video summarizes Graham's story arc and shows how the events in his life shaped him, events that I feel could describe how Scylla might feel in her life and this moment. Its also a very entertaining video, so there's that too!Maybe instead of remaking everything, restructure what exists and add what is missing.
Its not always possible to make everything the way we want it to, but its always possible to make something better then it was before.
I wish I could see some art of Redic doing a Charles Xavier, blowing up someone's head, and everyone else are shocked and confused lol!
Maybe something like condensing their matter so tightly that it can absorb the heat and resist the fire while protecting them.
Or maybe something like mental conditioning, where they run away, turn off pain receptors (if they have any) put out the fire until it stops burning, then regenerate.
Emotions are generally reactionary, and sometimes for humans translating emotions can also be difficult. (that's why we have therapists)
So I think the question isn't whether Mara can explain her feelings, but rather if her feelings are genuine.
For example; Lady Wolf is a good actor, she has studied mortals so she could fake interactions with them without incurring suspicion. However, her words don't have much depth behind them. Kimber was able to sus out that "Clementine" was fake, that her behavior was an act, even Osh'to was suspicions of her. Lady Wolf herself isn't very emotive, but she can feel some emotions, she just choses not to show them. This is possibly why in the comic she matches her persona to her actual self, so she would seem more genuine.
Mara herself however, is a bad actor (or a dramatic actor at least) that cant really do complex lies, like what happened at Whispering Brooks. But since she is very genuine with others (like Samara, despite her being afraid of her), its harder to suspect her of lying. (I can only imagine what Kimber's reaction to her would be)
I think the difference between them is exposure. While Mara was exposed to emotions at an early age personally through her foster mother, Lady Wolf was an observer, who simply tries to mimic it so she can blend in.
Like I said before; Maybe what demons really need in order to properly interact with mortals, is to be raised by them. Like a parent would raise his child. maybe then other demons like Mara could exist.
Getting close.
Maybe its something slightly higher like you said, "enhance".
Or maybe its something slightly stranger... like "uplift".
Not so much wary just not fond enough to care, and keeping to her own business.
Her thanatophobia is an internal one of her own death not death of others in general. But yeah she is definitely taking out her history on others, but she also does take satisfaction in being able to do her job. She has lived in a world of extreme violence, and despite being disgusted with it in the quiet moments, during it she (like a lot of higher tier forces) does take a satisfaction in what she does. And she also very much was about sending a message in her line of work too. The closure portion would come in her third quest if at all btw... or maybe even the end of the game! Who knows.
Though the way you put it out is a good structure and story for sure.
Yeah the issue is fire is good at going through dense material too, you want something that will instead of burning insulate and spread the heat... potentially melting instead of burning. This isn't conducive to continue combustion over a long time. Issue is everything containing carbon can and will combust at some point so its increasing those thresholds of ignition vs melting and volatility. Organic matter or matter that is pliable/malleable just tends to burn more.
Dealing with the fire and running to the nearest water source or quenching the flame is a tactic that would work for sure.
Mara, like us, would struggle to understand or know if her feelings are genuine in the same way as ours. Kimber for example has a neuorsis which makes it hard for her to trust and observe things closer than others may. Anxiety and paranoia connected to an OCD. Kimber notices that Clementine is very fake with the things she says and her pageantry. But that is how Clementine behaves, it is part of her personality.
Potentially! Maybe. Who knows haha.
Mara is leagues behind Lady Wolf in terms of disguising herself and moving around the mortal world. Mara for example was shown to be extremely unpracticed in transformation and taking on her guise of Imogen. But yeah she just outright behaves the same between the two forms. Which for certain would come across as being truly genuine, and I would like to write interactions between Mara and Kimber, remember, Mara had for certain captivated and sold her story to the senate, including Kimber... you know, until Kimber's mental illness compelled her to dig further into the story and found the graves, as was revealed recently. Kimber is the type of mind that would likely be medicated further into the future tbh... though formidable and guarded, there are ways she struggles especially just in day-to-day life.
I wouldn't say it's safe to assume that of Lady Wolf's upbringing, that the two were so different or even similar. They're both from Novencia btw and speak Novencian fluently (French). But Lady Wolf has definitely had more time on this world period and her focus wasn't so singular as Mara's had become.
Maybe. But Mara's upbringing would be fairly traumatic for most humans so...
Her thanatophobia could be a result of her knowing she essentially came to die, as she said "So I purchase my friends safety with my life". She could have been ignoring that feeling from all the adrenaline from the killings, but once that ran out, only the feeling remained.
I can understand the feeling of a job well done, but one has to make sure 'success' doesn't turn into 'excess'. After all, in the line of work she chose, enjoying yourself too much might be... a problem.
I'm assuming you mean dragon tooth, where the emissary is held captive. I do wonder what she would do, its like that guy from Hiho's quest said, "we all have to face our shadows eventually.". And in her case, her shadows are coming very soon.
And thank you! I tried my best!
Did you enjoy the video? I find that it has a bit of something for a lot of people, I also find Joshua Graham to be a well written character. especially because you don't get many well written religious characters.
Cant they transform into other materials? like that demon that turned into a tree?
And Siskh might be made of stone, so cant they turn into something inflammable?
Also I wonder. If a demon mastered pocket dimension, could they transfer their consciousness into their pocket dimension if they had enough matter in it? Like an emergency exit in case of near death?
Isn't that a bad thing? if you're trying to avoid detection, wouldn't you want to be noticed less rather then noticed more?
Even in politics, it is better to be underestimated rather then overestimated. Unless she just really wanted to feed Redic that escargot.
Yeah, its not every day you get frenched by a demon.
Riiiggght... I'm sure I know what they were captivated by.
And I'm pretty sure Kimber would find Mara unnerving, considering mara might also behave very obsessively and also be very genuine, she would probably stammer and try to maintain her composure.
I don't know if medication would be necessary. I have a type of Attention deficit disorder, and I found that practicing on achieving more focus can also help. In Kimber's case, she needs someone she trusts to help her in... relaxing.
Who knows, maybe SOMEONE can give her a "hand" with that. Maybe show her that she doesn't need to clutch what she holds dear so tightly. Because if she does, it might just slip through her fingers.
Interesting...
Considering her name, her form and that she behaves much like a huntress, she must have had a very particular upbringing.
And if I had to guess something about her purpose or goal, id guess it has something to with demons, or that demons are a part of it.
Honestly, humans across history have lived through far worst things. And some orphans would kill at the chance to have a mother, even for a short time.
And there is a saying about a trial by fire; You either find yourself, or you find yourself wanting. Mara managed to find herself. And even through all that hardship, I'm sure she wouldn't have traded all that time for the world.
OK
I think I narrowed it down.
Is Mara's purpose something like "perfect"? (as in make perfect)
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Hey Valaska!
You're probably busy working on the next build, so feel free to come back for a chat when you can!
How the heck do you navigate in this game anyway. I'm stuck in the quest "A BREAHTAKING STORY" and i can't hand the wine to the sailmin master. It's so damn hard to find item in this game.