random notes

Monday, 2010 August 09 (12:03:40)

[12:03] lunamoth1: i made an av of my Twilight and I named her

[12:03] lunamoth1: http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1008/d09/1401/c1f3454.png Samar Nadra

[17:46] Erika 1 - S: Pretty!

[17:47] Erika 1 - S: I take it she's a meleer?

[18:37] lunamoth1: well she comes prepared for melee

[18:37] Erika 1 - S: *chuckles*

[18:37] Erika 1 - S: You started building her?

[18:37] lunamoth1: the sword is probably not an orichalcum artifact, but I don'tknow for sure

[18:37] lunamoth1: building no backstory yes

[18:38] lunamoth1: (if it's not ori it's normal sword plated in gold to fool people)

[18:38] Erika 1 - S: Sometimes it's easier to get the mechanics out of the way first. You don't have as much of an image to not quite live up to.

[18:38] lunamoth1: psh i'm talking early backstory

[18:38] Erika 1 - S: (I could see it as an artifact stabby of some sort. Goodness knows she'll have the juice for it.)

[18:38] lunamoth1: ooh then it'll be doubly shiny

[18:39] lunamoth1: I figured out her anima banner and her mortal backstory and exaltation in vague terms

[18:39] lunamoth1: http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1008/d09/1545/3c0f886.png wiuth added shiny

[18:40] Erika 1 - S: Sweetness. Before we go any farther, though, mind if I give you a quick checklist of traits I'd like her to have, just to make getting her into the game easier? (Don't worry, nothing too big. I just had really bad luck with my last new player, so I'm trying to think ahead.)

[18:40] lunamoth1: go ahead

[18:40] lunamoth1: i know you said med was ++good so she does have that vfor certain

[18:41] lunamoth1: everything's flexible - most of it i made up while grocery shopping

[18:44] Erika 1 - S: Oki. One: I need her to be the kind of person who, whether she actually likes it or not, would stick around once drawn into a situation in which she's in the halls of an ancient conspiracy, probably involved in an investigation of someone a couple orders of magnitude older than she is, and working with people whose goals include going to the bottom of the Underworld ocean in the frigid Northwest to kill a Deathlord.

[18:45] lunamoth1: *thoinks* yeah i can swing that

[18:46] lunamoth1: (especially since my thought was that she was originally from the mildly less frigid northwest, she'd be all over offing a deathlord there)

[18:46] Erika 1 - S: Two: I need there to be some reason why she's working with a group of other youngish Solars and Lunars to try to access the Hearthroom of an iceberg Manse in a Northern shadowland. (If it helps, it's a pretty high-powered Manse, that may or may not.... she's Northwestern?)

[18:47] lunamoth1: and twilights + investigation = joy

[18:47] lunamoth1: it kinda came about randomly

[18:47] lunamoth1: not very northwestern

[18:47] Erika 1 - S: I look forward to seeing her backstory, then.

[18:47] lunamoth1: that part i don't have much of - i don't know much about the northwest

[18:48] lunamoth1: but she views herself as northwester rather than western or northern

[18:49] lunamoth1: all i know so far is she was the next midwife in a line of midwives in a tiny possibly unnamed (island?) village

[18:50] lunamoth1: it's the only way I could see her being at all western and being a healer by trade

[18:50] Erika 1 - S: Why'd you want her Westernish?

[18:50] lunamoth1: i dunno

[18:50] lunamoth1: sometimes my muse gets drunk and adamant

[18:51] lunamoth1: my other idea was southeast

[18:51] lunamoth1: see: random

[18:51] Erika 1 - S: Wow, seriously.

[18:51] lunamoth1: also i'm not tied to any part yet

[18:51] Erika 1 - S: Gotcha.

[18:52] lunamoth1: except the healer-by-trade, i kinda like that

[18:52] Erika 1 - S: If it helps any, the other PCs are Northern (Geri), Eastern (Alabaster), and Western (Sky), respectively.

[18:52] Erika 1 - S: ...okay, semi-Eastern in Al's case, he's somewhere on the River.

[18:52] lunamoth1: *nod

[18:53] Erika 1 - S: ....I could go on, if you like, I've got a lot of people whose home regions and sometimes cities I know. *laughs*

[18:53] lunamoth1: i don't know what most of the points between the poles but I'm also not sure what regular direction she'd fit best in either, though not due west

[18:54] Erika 1 - S: Well... what kind of place do you see her from? Brainstorm at me and I might be able to give you an idea where fits.

[18:55] lunamoth1: well, part of the reason I was thinking east/west rather than north/south was that she is an avid collector of healing herbs

[18:55] lunamoth1: whether they be temperate plants or jungly plants I don't care

[18:56] lunamoth1: I just had a strange compulsion to move her east

[18:56] Erika 1 - S: I think some sort of herb flourishes just about everywhere.

[18:56] Erika 1 - S: Though you'll get far more variety of plants in the East, what with the influences of the Elemental Pole of Wood.

[18:56] lunamoth1: yeah

[18:57] lunamoth1: if she wasn't from there that's probably where she headed to after exalting

[18:58] lunamoth1: so she might consider it her new home

[18:59] lunamoth1: anything else the game needs for her to mesh?

[19:00] lunamoth1: it might inspire me

[19:00] lunamoth1: (maybe she's from one part of the easterly direction and moved closer to the pole after exalting)

[19:00] Erika 1 - S: Hmmmm.... I'm trying to find a way to tie her and the others together, not sure how well I'm succeeding. She's probably going to end up needing to leave the group she's currently working with as of when she meets the party....

[19:01] lunamoth1: that's easy enough if your group needs her and she's mad at her group

[19:01] Erika 1 - S: there's something in another player's backstory I'm trying to locate so I can see if I should tie her in (originally I'd been going to use one of my other needs-to-be-introduced PCs).

[19:01] Erika 1 - S: *(NPCs, bleh.)

[19:07] lunamoth1: i can work with it

[19:07] Erika 1 - S: Nah, I'm just trying to see if it works better with her, or if I'm better off keeping it Most Likely a Siddie Resplendent in the Corpse.

[19:08] lunamoth1: *nod*

[19:08] Erika 1 - S: (Which, I think, was the player's original intention.)

[19:08] lunamoth1: well I have been reading about the east and I think she'd fit well there

[19:09] Erika 1 - S: Excellent. *grins* Shall we try to narrow you down a bit?

[19:09] lunamoth1: yes!

[19:09] Erika 1 - S: All right. Tell me more about what sort of place you're thinking.

[19:10] lunamoth1: a very small village, probably an actual settlement not a wandering tribe

[19:10] Erika 1 - S: ...okay, she's not going to be the one from his backstory, too young, I'll find something else. Hmmmm....

[19:11] Erika 1 - S: Tell me more?

[19:11] lunamoth1: i am not sure i know more

[19:12] lunamoth1: i picture small huts surrounded by wilderness of some sort

[19:12] Erika 1 - S: Forest, rather than plains?

[19:12] lunamoth1: in other words if you go outside of the village, you probably don't travel alone

[19:12] lunamoth1: yeah

[19:12] Erika 1 - S: How close to the nearest river?

[19:13] lunamoth1: i pictured a small waterfall nearby but that was more stream-sized not river-sized

[19:14] Erika 1 - S: All right.... how'd she Exalt?

[19:14] lunamoth1: my original idea was:

[19:15] lunamoth1: she was a midwife/healer and got word that someone was badly hurt that needed her to go to them, alone, late in the day

[19:15] lunamoth1: but between the wilderness and the sun setting she couldn't see to get there let alone treat the person's wounds if she found them

[19:16] lunamoth1: so she begins to pray and wish and hope that the setting sun will stay up a little longer, so she can help this person (it's a bad situation)

[19:17] lunamoth1: to her it suddenly seems that the sunset rays glow brighter rather than dimmer (3 guesses why *that* is) and she arrives at the person and aids them, seemingly more easily than she expected

[19:18] lunamoth1: at which point they nervously thank her and try to figure out how not to offend the scary anathema who appears to be their neighbor

[19:18] lunamoth1: that's what i have so far

[19:18] Erika 1 - S: Awkward. I assume that's also why she leaves?

[19:18] lunamoth1: yeah

[19:19] Erika 1 - S: *chuckles* Ruby would sympathize.

[19:19] lunamoth1: she knows if she stays she and her village will be in danger from the hunt

[19:19] lunamoth1: and she knows some people can't be trusted not to tell

[19:19] lunamoth1: so she lives off the land for a bit

[19:20] lunamoth1: actually she briefly went back to the village, to make sure the person got back okay

[19:20] lunamoth1: after hiding the shiny

[19:20] lunamoth1: then she packed up her things, said she had heard word of another village needing a healer, and left that night

[19:21] lunamoth1: before the gossip got out

[19:21] Erika 1 - S: makes sense. Hmmm... what were you considering for her favored abilities?

[19:21] lunamoth1: medicine especially

[19:21] Erika 1 - S: That's Caste. I mean the five non-Caste.

[19:21] lunamoth1: oh

[19:21] lunamoth1: *googles*

[19:21] Erika 1 - S: On the comp with the Corebook?

[19:22] Erika 1 - S: There's a really pretty two-page chargen summary in there somewhere; I used to print copies and give them to players in live-games.

[19:22] lunamoth1: yeah but dad's in the room and he tends to stare and the core book pictures arent' all g rated

[19:23] Erika 1 - S: Ah, good reason. You want me to list off Abilities?

[19:23] lunamoth1: yeah

[19:23] lunamoth1: is survival an ability?

[19:23] Erika 1 - S: Yes.

[19:23] lunamoth1: considering she was living off the land decidedly so on that one

[19:24] lunamoth1: i found a list http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Ability

[19:24] Erika 1 - S: All right. So: Archery, Brawl, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown. Endurance, Performance, Presence, Resistance, Survival. Twilight Abilities, I believe you've memorized those. Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny, Stealth. Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Ride, Sail, Socialize.

[19:24] Erika 1 - S: (Yes, that was from memory.)

[19:25] lunamoth1: wow

[19:25] Erika 1 - S: *laughs* Eh, you wouldn't believe how many people I've had to try to guide through chargen via the Internet.

[19:25] Erika 1 - S: ...who didn't yet have book PDFs. It helps.

[19:25] lunamoth1: btw i dloaded the caste book and red it

[19:26] lunamoth1: *read

[19:26] Erika 1 - S: Sweetness.

[19:26] lunamoth1: still going through ther list but awareness seems her style but limited

[19:26] Erika 1 - S: Limited?

[19:26] lunamoth1: it has less boxes with words in them

[19:27] Erika 1 - S: *shrugs* Awareness is an interesting thing. Want me to FT you Sol Invictus? If nothing else, it gives you easy access to all the trees.

[19:28] Erika 1 - S: (since that thing references every Solar Charm ever released canonically, plus a whole lot of fan additions at varying levels of balance.)

[19:29] lunamoth1: yes indeed

[19:30] Erika 1 - S: ....is one of you on AIM?

[19:30] lunamoth1: i will be

[19:30] Erika 1 - S: Tell me when.

[19:33] lunamoth1: now

[19:33] lunamoth1: both names

[19:36] lunamoth1: melee is shiny

[19:37] lunamoth1: would give new meaning to combat medic

[19:56] lunamoth1: core book says: take endurance/ox body technique at least once!

Erika 1 - S (Fluteotter) is available 7:34 pm

I inconvenience dead people. 3d and 22h ago Comment

Erika 1 - S 7:34 pm

And the best part? Next to no illustrations, unless you count Charm trees.

lunamoth1 7:35 pm

heh

Erika 1 - S 7:36 pm

The cover I think might be a little "Wuzzat?"ish, but it certainly isn't as... gratuitous as, say, the cover for S&S.

Erika 1 - S 7:37 pm

Way I see the combat Charms is this.

lunamoth1 7:37 pm

dad left the room anyhow

Transfer complete: SolInvictusLG.pdf 7:39 pm

Erika 1 - S 7:39 pm

Archery gets you, errr, range. Brawl gets you offense over defense, and a lot of cheap Instants you can pull out pretty much whever in the battle. (Plus, if you hang around Ruby long enough and ask nicely, the Solar analogue to her blood chains.) Martial Arts gets you access to a mess of almost mutually exclusive Charm trees that will approximate but not quite duplicate almost anything and don't have to be the same twice (I was in a group once where everybody except the Zenith practiced a martial art, and we stayed pretty well off each other's toes.) Melee's main advantage is utility--it gives you offense, defense, and a mess of other things in one Charm Tree. Thrown's is being concealable and a bit broken.

lunamoth1 7:40 pm

hmm

lunamoth1 7:46 pm

style wise...

brawl, thrown and archery don't seem to fit her

Erika 1 - S 7:46 pm

Not surprising.

lunamoth1 7:47 pm

what's that leave?

melee and MA?

Erika 1 - S 7:49 pm

Yep.

lunamoth1 7:49 pm

MA rocks i know

Erika 1 - S 7:49 pm

MA depends a lot on which MA you choose.

lunamoth1 7:51 pm

Samar: "Well of course I'd pick the most awesome style."

Erika 1 - S 7:52 pm

*ducks as her characters start arguing over what exactly that is.*

lunamoth1 7:53 pm

heh

Erika 1 - S 7:55 pm

I've played a lot of martial artists. Najam favored Mantis, Tehane a self-designed one called Essence of Surprise, Karasu the Crow Form from the Exalted wiki (wherever that's gotten off to), Taraneh a 2E form based on music that I retromodded the living daylights out of, and Tuyet went through no less than three (one canon, one 25LP, and one entirely of my own creation).

lunamoth1 7:55 pm

ooh

Erika 1 - S 7:57 pm

(the last being one that I've actually cameo'd once in my current game, not that even the person I originally designed the tree for noticed. It's a peculiarly supernatural style based on dreams, rather utility-based, and aside from Natesa I have no idea who knows it.) Core.... is probably right, though I tend to disregard that injunction. (Particularly when playing Sidereals.)

lunamoth1 7:57 pm

ooh

*nod*

but it raises a good point

she mighr be a medic sorcerer savant but she shouldn't be too squishy

Erika 1 - S 7:58 pm

Since Siddies have a pretty weak Ox-Body. Better to just grab up Defense of Shining Joy for one's Persistent, dip a little into Melee for Impeding the Flow, and then favor Dodge because Avoidance Kata is generally useful. *chuckles* When playing Solars, I usually just power my way as close to a persistent as I can get.

I think one can technically qualify for Flow Like Blood or Fivefold Bulwark on a beginning build, it's just hard to do much else--not that you'll have a problem with that, mind you, since you've got a lot of resources to play with.

lunamoth1 8:00 pm

given her experience how long has it likely been since she exalted

Erika 1 - S 8:00 pm

....given she's a self-healer, she might actually make sense with a decent quantity of Ox-Bodies. Solar Soak isn't quite as nifty a defensive tree as Solar Melee or Dodge, but it's decent. Just a pain in the neck to work around ping.... let me think on that a moment.

Given her XP.... either she's a prodigy to end all prodigies, she's done a whole lot of crazy stuff in a short time, or she's been shiny for a long while.

lunamoth1 8:01 pm

probably one of the latter two

the second last hides my n00bness better but the latter is a tad more sensible

Erika 1 - S 8:03 pm

*nods* Fortunately for you, in Yu Shan it makes perfect sense for you to come across as noobish.

lunamoth1 8:03 pm

right

oh did i descrtibe my crazy shiny idea for her anima banner yet?

Erika 1 - S 8:04 pm

No, not yet.

lunamoth1 8:04 pm

based primarily on being crazy shiny :-P

her anima banner will be: initially it's just a crimson-orange-violet swirly business, then it grows and becomes more predominantly purple, looking like swirling stormclouds at sunset, at which point it becomes even more violet and streaks of orange "lightning" arc across the banner

like this but is 97% more awesome http://static.desktopnexus.com/thumbnails/96755-bigthumbnail.jpg

Erika 1 - S 8:05 pm

*laughs* Now I'm getting mental images of her and Amaya in the same fight.

lunamoth1 8:05 pm

what is amaya's?

Erika 1 - S 8:05 pm

Rain. At night. Sometimes with thunder added.

lunamoth1 8:05 pm

hah

as i was telling flint: "and mortals that can't see her directly don't go "Anathema!" they go "Oh crap! go inside!""

Erika 1 - S 8:06 pm

(Her name meant "night rain" and I needed an iconic display fast.)

lunamoth1 8:06 pm

indeed

i google imaged abstract twilight on the purple color setting

ands saw cool lightning pics

her and amaya together would have people boarding up the windows!

lunamoth1 8:08 pm

i saw that solar anima banners seemed to exemplify strength and power

to Samar's mind the strongest scariest most powerful thing is a really nasty thunderstorm :-P

Erika 1 - S 8:09 pm

Makes sense.

lunamoth1 8:10 pm

i am so lost on her favored abilities now :-P

Erika 1 - S 8:11 pm

Mine.... huh. Haven't been all that physically intimidating, unless you think a certain way--Amaya's got her rain, Tehane's was a cloud of bats, Najam had a peculiar paired elemental (sea otter and wind weasel, to be exact) aesthetic, Zilla I think i finally decided was some sort of fox but she never actually went iconic on stage because a. she was a Night and b. most of her combat Charms were scenelongs.)

Lost howso?

lunamoth1 8:11 pm

i forget what was a good idea and not *rereads*

well it said symbolic of strength

on the thing i was reading

like a hawk or a lion

Erika 1 - S 8:13 pm

*chuckles* Yeah, I wasn't very good at that part. I think i had one whose banner was falling leaves.

lunamoth1 8:13 pm

ph34r t3h leaves!

well until dpcc (who has been sworn to secrecy) asked me about anima banners i never knew they had a shape

here's the quote i saw: "Solar Anima Banners tend to depict powerful creatures such as giants or animals emblematic of strength and endurance. Some banners are more abstract, such as a column of flame or an intricate mandala of glowing wires. Solar anima banners are always impressive. "

lunamoth1 8:15 pm

but more than one i read in forums about had butterflies

of DOOM i am presuming

Erika 1 - S 8:16 pm

Ruby had the Abyssal equivalent thereof, if that makes any difference.

lunamoth1 8:16 pm

"Abyssal Anima Banners tend to be a corrupted version of the Solars' banners. They show twisted, hideous animals; zombified, decaying giants; sickly, poisonous-looking green flames; or anything else perverted and unclean. "

Erika 1 - S 8:16 pm

I mostly see it as evoking the character first, being really cool visually second, and maybe if I've still got room having something to do with being strong. (Ragged-winged moths, in Ruby's case.)

lunamoth1 8:17 pm

same but i didn't knoiw much about her so i jumped to step 2

Erika 1 - S 8:17 pm

Makes sense. I do like yours.

that should get a three-die teh first time she kicks herself into iconic.

lunamoth1 8:18 pm

heh

Erika 1 - S 8:18 pm

(That's my main criterion for an anima banner--do I think it could get me a three-die just by describing it for the first time.)

lunamoth1 8:18 pm

heh

Erika 1 - S 8:18 pm

(I haven't had one fail yet.)

lunamoth1 8:18 pm

good criterion

Erika 1 - S 8:19 pm

(Okay, except Leila, but that was because Matt thought I was saying "um" too much.)

lunamoth1 8:19 pm

heh

Erika 1 - S 8:19 pm

Seriously.

lunamoth1 8:19 pm

umm shall be the doom of us all

Erika 1 - S 8:19 pm

Yep. I think that's one of the reasons why I so quickly decided I RP better online.

lunamoth1 8:20 pm

i can just imagine her still being iconic afdter a nasty battle and trying to tend to terrified mortals and their wounds

lunamoth1 8:21 pm

# who go into cardiac arrest on the sight of her anima banner = anima banner success! j/k

Erika 1 - S 8:22 pm

Is she the type to have invested in Presence or Performance? I think there are some Charms in there that might be good for "I'm not going to kill you, now hold still so I can get this leg of yours patched up".

lunamoth1 8:22 pm

yes especially to that end

"hmm, i didn't know mortals could climb trees with one armand no legs..."

Erika 1 - S 8:24 pm

Performance's Rout-Stemming Gesture might be a good start.

(Particularly amusing given that it has a very bright-and-shiny visual display.)

(Then there's Terrifying Apparition of Glory, which isn't quite what you're looking for but has led to a lot of jokes among my fellows.)

lunamoth1 8:26 pm

hah

Erika 1 - S 8:27 pm

Mainly because of Chris's "Terrifying Apparition of Stealth" alternate use for the silly thing.

lunamoth1 8:27 pm

oh?!

as a rookie solar she often hadto apologize to scared mortals for beingshiny :-P

Erika 1 - S 8:29 pm

(Which basically goes like this. TAG is a big shiny scary display of light and power and majesty. One of its side effects, along with "you have to succeed on a Valor roll just to attack me", is that nonhostiles must make a Conviction roll not to immediately obey any non-suicidal orders the character gives. Terrifying Apparition of Stealth is when this order is "DO NOT NOTICE ME!"

lunamoth1 8:31 pm

heh

*reminded of the first appearance of pluto in sailor moon "I am not a suspicious person!"*

lunamoth1 8:33 pm

which of course makes her suspicious!

Erika 1 - S 8:34 pm

Yep!

lunamoth1 8:36 pm

i have a silly question on craft

can it be used to craft things that are theorized but not yet invented?

Erika 1 - S 8:38 pm

Such as?

lunamoth1 8:38 pm

in our time a good example might be a flying car

Erika 1 - S 8:38 pm

You're probably going to want decent amounts of Lore and Occult to go with, if you want to make stuff like that. (Or artifacts in general, really.)

lunamoth1 8:38 pm

in setting it might be a fancy new mill or something

or a pen that doesn't drip ink all over you~!

Erika 1 - S 8:39 pm

In setting it's... very hard to find something that someone else hasn't already invented.

But yes, Craft on its own can do that. (Probably go past some of the things you're talking about, for that matter; there are several varieties of magic pen that not only doesn't drip all over you but takes dictation.)

lunamoth1 8:39 pm

it's fine if it's been invented i just mean that she doesn't nexcessarily know about it

hehe

Erika 1 - S 8:40 pm

*nods* Yeah, if it's mundane Craft'll do it, though I recommend having high Int and Wits to go with. If it's magical, you'll want some Lore and Occult as well.

lunamoth1 8:40 pm

that'd so be her style

lunamoth1 8:41 pm

especially pertaining to medicine with mundane things

Erika 1 - S 8:41 pm

Sweet.

(Malcolm, having read over my shoulder, wishes to know if she's going to go the whole way and start doing lifecrafting. Should I ask him to stop?)

lunamoth1 8:42 pm

tell him lifecrafting isn't her style

Erika 1 - S 8:45 pm

Noted.

lunamoth1 8:46 pm

replacing a hand eaten by a wild animal with a magical prosthetic on the other hand

...

that needs more punctuation

lunamoth1 8:47 pm

i changed her eyes to green

Erika 1 - S 8:48 pm

How come?

lunamoth1 8:48 pm

because it is looks better than aqua

http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1008/d09/2147/a9ed974.png

Erika 1 - S 8:49 pm

Cool.

Erika 1 - S 8:50 pm

....hey, do you think you might at some point want a physical pencil-sketch of her?

lunamoth1 8:51 pm

i never object to Art!

lunamoth1 8:53 pm

btw that is a short dress with leggings not a long top with pants

Erika 1 - S 8:55 pm

Since I've got a player who's currently on study abroad in Japan. He's got an itchy sketchpad finger (a couple weeks ago he was asking me for things to draw on his commute, which led to a couple amusing pictures of characters from my game in modern garb. They're on the wiki, mostly accessible from the recent changes menu), and is flying back next week. I think he's going to want a little something to keep him busy on the flight. You want me to send him your way?

lunamoth1 8:55 pm

sure thing

i am considering doing a watercolor of her anima banner btw

Erika 1 - S 8:55 pm

Excellent. Which sn should I give him?

lunamoth1 8:56 pm

either they both IM on the same screen

aim seems to favro lunamoth1

Erika 1 - S 8:56 pm

(...if you want color you may have to either do it yourself or refer it to me, he doesn't seem to be quite as confident with that. I wouldn't mind in the slightest.)

lunamoth1 8:56 pm

if files must be sent...

*nod*

wiki link?

Erika 1 - S 8:57 pm

http://loosethreads.wikispaces.com

Erika 1 - S 8:58 pm

(Use it once you're involved and I will be grateful forever. That and it'll give me reason to start doing Kestoons again.)

lunamoth1 8:58 pm

hehe

i'm playing a twilight in part because the personality of a scholar isn't hard for me...

already registered

Erika 1 - S 8:59 pm

*nods* It's good to have a character you resonate well with in your first sojourn into a new system. I've been very much reminded of that with Aisling.

Erika 1 - S 9:00 pm

You

lunamoth1 9:00 pm

must be stealthy!

Erika 1 - S 9:01 pm

are going to need to go to the wiki itself and request a membership, as well, then I'll let you in.

lunamoth1 9:01 pm

done

Erika 1 - S 9:02 pm

Accepted.

lunamoth1 9:05 pm

rockin awesome sketches

Erika 1 - S 9:05 pm

Yep.

lunamoth1 9:07 pm

i agree with ruby on the pattern spiders

Erika 1 - S 9:07 pm

*grins*

lunamoth1 9:08 pm

my profile page says, in its entirety: You don't notice me, I don't exist. I am merely a muse.

Erika 1 - S 9:08 pm

*chuckles*

lunamoth1 9:11 pm

in case any of them follow the recent changes feed

and go "who is samarnadra?!"

Erika 1 - S 9:12 pm

*chuckles* It isn't too well-traveled.

I'm hoping to fix that.

lunamoth1 9:13 pm

well i plan to make up a whole profile page on Samar as i come up with things and I'll port it over

but only after i've joined

Erika 1 - S 9:13 pm

*nods*

lunamoth1 9:14 pm

so it'll be like eek a new pc eek loads and loads of info!

i have no clue on her first age self

Erika 1 - S 9:16 pm

No worries.

You wouldn't be the first.

*grins* I just need to decide whether or not I'm going to make something Plotty out of it, and if so how.

lunamoth1 9:17 pm

hehe

like that she doesn't remember at all or that it will have a plot hook?

Erika 1 - S 9:18 pm

Like that it may end up being plot-relevant.

lunamoth1 9:18 pm

:-D

Erika 1 - S 9:19 pm

If I can figure out how. First Age selves either give me massive inspiration, or make me want to curl up in a ball and shove them somewhere else.

lunamoth1 9:20 pm

well even if i get ideas you always have the right to change them to be more awesome

Erika 1 - S 9:33 pm

*laughs*

lunamoth1 9:33 pm

because you *know* that's how a twilight would write their journal

she uses the condensed version as an index :-P

Erika 1 - S 9:35 pm

Aha.

lunamoth1 9:35 pm

"hmm, what was the rain like again? let's see...

Erika 1 - S 9:37 pm

She and Amaya are likely to get along quite well.

lunamoth1 9:37 pm

hehe indeed

lunamoth1 9:40 pm

the condensed vversion may be too long...i'll do excerpts!

Erika 1 - S 9:42 pm

*grins*

lunamoth1 9:42 pm

the title alone ought to make non twilights run away in fear :-P

lunamoth1 9:43 pm

and secrets go looking for the full version

Erika 1 - S 9:43 pm

My inner Kiara probably regrets the fact that the full version is most likely in Creation somewhere.

lunamoth1 9:44 pm

why is that regretful?

Erika 1 - S 9:44 pm

She's on dimension arrest.

lunamoth1 9:44 pm

ahh yes

well the condensed version is probably in elsewhere

Erika 1 - S 9:47 pm

*chuckles*

lunamoth1 9:51 pm

i can do footnotes! http://samarnadrassandbox.wikispaces.com/this+is+a+test+page

lunamoth1 9:53 pm

mwahaha

Erika 1 - S 9:54 pm

Cute!

(nice background, too.)

lunamoth1 9:54 pm

thanks

if they find this they shall be so confused

Erika 1 - S 9:55 pm

Agreed.

lunamoth1 9:56 pm

i almost hope they do find it

Erika 1 - S 9:56 pm

*grins*

lunamoth1 9:57 pm

i am sure they are all wondering what new ideas shall befall them as session resumes

Erika 1 - S 10:00 pm

Heee.

lunamoth1 10:00 pm

is luath still in the party?

Erika 1 - S 10:01 pm

*sigh* I wish.

lunamoth1 10:01 pm

aww

Erika 1 - S 10:01 pm

Last February or so, he fell ill for a little while, then vanished completely. Several months later, he finally got up the nerve to respond to all my frantic attempts at getting in contact, telling me he was leaving the game.

lunamoth1 10:01 pm

aww

who was his palyer?

Erika 1 - S 10:02 pm

Alec.

lunamoth1 10:02 pm

ahh don't know him

Erika 1 - S 10:02 pm

Which is a pity, because Alec was one of my favorite people to write for.

lunamoth1 10:03 pm

aww

lunamoth1 10:05 pm

you know i think if she meets kiara or amaya you'd have trouble getting her to not join the party

Erika 1 - S 10:05 pm

*laughs*

Sweetness.

I wonder what she'd think of the PCs, or of Ruby?

lunamoth1 10:05 pm

reading up on those

if ruby's as genki as they seem she might get alongwell with her so long asshe isn't annoyingly genki

Erika 1 - S 10:06 pm

I don't think she's annoyingly genki, but I'm not sure what level makes for annoying.

lunamoth1 10:07 pm

distracts Samar from her "research"

lunamoth1 10:07 pm

samar wants to know if chess is a good war game

[ruby is] "near-impossible to remove from the vicinity of a good war game."

Erika 1 - S 10:08 pm

(The more commonly used Creation equivalent is Gateway, but Ruby will cheerfully play both.)

lunamoth1 10:08 pm

as will samar :-P

alabaster is a little skimping on the details

lunamoth1 10:10 pm

Geri: "OMS! You translate for Lysha?!"

Erika 1 - S 10:11 pm

*grins* fortunately, after the last time one of my characters used that line, they'll probably get OMS.

Though in her case I actually wrote it out, as "Omisol"

lunamoth1 10:11 pm

hehe

lunamoth1 10:13 pm

not sure how she will get along with fatin - it depends on how prone to "when in doubt, kill it" she os

*is

Erika 1 - S 10:13 pm

Fatin left.

It's just Geri, and Sky, and Alabaster.

lunamoth1 10:13 pm

that makes life easier for me

i don't know how many if any sids she's met yet

Erika 1 - S 10:14 pm

That depends. Has she had any brushes with the Cult of the Illuminated, you think?

lunamoth1 10:14 pm

probably a few

lunamoth1 10:15 pm

but did she notice the presence of sids?

Erika 1 - S 10:15 pm

So she might've, is hard to say. Whether she knows whoever she was talking to was a Siddie is another matter.

lunamoth1 10:16 pm

she may not even recall what a sid *is* when she encounters the group

she might tho

Erika 1 - S 10:16 pm

Possible she knows what one is but doesn't think she's met one.

lunamoth1 10:16 pm

right

Erika 1 - S 10:17 pm

How many she's met is an open question.

lunamoth1 10:17 pm

and wouldn't recognize one on sight especially if he has an RD up

Erika 1 - S 10:17 pm

*nods*

Unless of course he/she's resplendent as a Sidereal.

(this is not unheard of in the Cult.)

lunamoth1 10:18 pm

but of course

i meant sky

Erika 1 - S 10:19 pm

Ah. In Sky's case, probably not, though he's packing starmetal.

The Hat is pretty Material-neutral.

lunamoth1 10:19 pm

if he's forthcoming: "What are you?" "A Sidereal.." "No, I'm pretty sure they are taller and shinier."

Erika 1 - S 10:20 pm

*giggles*

lunamoth1 10:21 pm

and if she's only met journeys for example "and they have yellow eyes"

Erika 1 - S 10:21 pm

*laughs*

"No, see, it's the sparkle. Like this." (Not that he'd be explaining how to identify one, but I love the mental image.)

lunamoth1 10:21 pm

hehe

i wonder how long she could remain convinced he's not a sid for

Erika 1 - S 10:23 pm

....until the secondary complication kicks in. You'll understand why when it happens.

lunamoth1 10:23 pm

*nod*

Erika 1 - S 10:23 pm

Or until he first lights off. Whichever comes first.

lunamoth1 10:24 pm

right

or does something even an exalted shouldn't be able to do

Erika 1 - S 10:24 pm

If she's running Spirit-Detecting Glance or All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight and he's using what I call the Ultraviolet Flashlight....

lunamoth1 10:24 pm

heh

she might use it if she doesn't believe him

Erika 1 - S 10:25 pm

I'm reminded of Borgstrom on Ceasing To Exist Approach.

lunamoth1 10:26 pm

(kimana thrown into this story would have to be frequently reminded not to poke the siddies)

Erika 1 - S 10:26 pm

She wrote this funny little dialogue in which a younger Sidereal who had Ceased To Exist herself into a Solar identity was trying to convince Kejak (himself at the head of a Wyld Hunt) that she was actually a Sidereal. This included a number of Charm demonstrations, followed by "I'm reducing my target number", followed by Kejak telling her not to make him metagame.

lunamoth1 10:27 pm

hahaha

Erika 1 - S 10:27 pm

I love the Borgstrom dialogues. Pity I think the place they were originally hosted folded.

lunamoth1 10:28 pm

aww

lunamoth1 10:30 pm

i can so see the thought process before that convo

"oh craph it's the wyld hunt...oh good it's kejak...oh crap i'm a solar right now"

Erika 1 - S 10:30 pm

(i wonder why I'm trying so hard to lure Robert back into this game? I really shouldn't be, he's as much a hindrance as an advantage. Fun to play with his head, though.)

lunamoth1 10:31 pm

(i heard there were ... differences... with the other players I think it was)

lunamoth1 10:32 pm

he was decidedly vague about it

Erika 1 - S 10:32 pm

There were. Some in-game, some out of game.

lunamoth1 10:32 pm

he's been hanging around kiara too much

Erika 1 - S 10:34 pm

*chuckles*

lunamoth1 10:34 pm

it'd be funny if sky has an RD of a mortal of some sort up :-P

lunamoth1 10:34 pm

"you brought a mortal?!"

Erika 1 - S 10:34 pm

Fortunately, Alabaster stopped that after a few repetitions.

Sky... is likelier to be resplendent in The Hat.

lunamoth1 10:34 pm

hehe

*rummages*

Erika 1 - S 10:35 pm

After the first time this happened, I nicknamed the result Hat Full of Sky and decided it was one of the most awesome alt-PCs I'd ever seen.

lunamoth1 10:35 pm

haha!

Erika 1 - S 10:38 pm

Yep.

lunamoth1 10:39 pm

the hat, it speaks audibly right?

Erika 1 - S 10:39 pm

If it wants you to hear it, which it probably will, you'll hear it.

lunamoth1 10:41 pm

tha'll freak her out

Erika 1 - S 10:41 pm

Yep.

lunamoth1 10:41 pm

i mean she could craft something and stick a summoned spirit into it in theory but...

Erika 1 - S 10:42 pm

That's nothing. Wait'll she meets Anathema.

lunamoth1 10:42 pm

anathema?

Erika 1 - S 10:42 pm

(The hat was designed to get along with them.)

lunamoth1 10:42 pm

hehe

if they had downtime there would be hat studying!

Erika 1 - S 10:43 pm

Anathema is Geri's top-secret concept-killing sword. It's Artifact N/A (also one of the reasons why Robert was unhappy about the game), probably more trouble than it's worth, and while not itself designed to be intelligent is occupied by a very vocal split-personality god.

lunamoth1 10:43 pm

haha

Erika 1 - S 10:44 pm

It's also very bad for the surrounding environment. And causes Paradox. Malcolm knows this. Geri doesn't.

lunamoth1 10:44 pm

heh

journal entry: "Day 1: I need to look into talking accessories!" "day 2: avoid talking accessories at all costs!"

lunamoth1 10:45 pm

artifact N/A?

Erika 1 - S 10:46 pm

Too big to be A5.

Let me put it this way: Its sheath is A5.

lunamoth1 10:46 pm

so it's a BFS?

Erika 1 - S 10:47 pm

Actually, it's the size and ornamentation of a normal daiklave. It's just what it does that makes it scary.

lunamoth1 10:47 pm

hehe

Erika 1 - S 10:47 pm

It unmakes things.

lunamoth1 10:47 pm

uh-oh

Erika 1 - S 10:47 pm

and its god sings annoying songs.

When I first introduced it, they were in the middle of a stirring rendition of "9,999 Unkillable Things In Your Way."

lunamoth1 10:47 pm

it and her inventions will not get along

lunamoth1 10:47 pm

haha

Erika 1 - S 10:48 pm

It also does "The Thing That Doesn't Die", usually when its opponent is fighting a Powerful Thing and isn't letting it share in the fun.

lunamoth1 10:48 pm

haha

Erika 1 - S 10:48 pm

Malcolm prefers interacting with it to using it as a weapon, let's put it that way.

lunamoth1 10:48 pm

Glorious Solar Earplugs?

Erika 1 - S 10:49 pm

*laughs*

The Lesser Sign of Secrets might help....

lunamoth1 10:49 pm

of course she may teach it new songs...possiblyintentionally

Erika 1 - S 10:50 pm

Whoa. Why?

lunamoth1 10:50 pm

well if one researches ways to stop annoying songs

one must encounter annoying songs on the way

Erika 1 - S 10:50 pm

Ahhh.

lunamoth1 10:51 pm

the intentional part is unlikely

unless someone consistently messes up her research/healing/inventing

lunamoth1 10:53 pm

but that'd be pretty cruel to do that to the party :-P

Erika 1 - S 10:53 pm

Geri's probably the only one who'd have to deal with it, if it's any consolation.

lunamoth1 10:53 pm

hehe

the mysteries of the universe will ever elude her

"what does The Hat think of hat pins and hat boxes?"

Erika 1 - S 10:55 pm

Unknown. Would be fun to find out.

lunamoth1 10:55 pm

hehe

lunamoth1 10:55 pm

does the hat sleep on a hatstand?

does it sleep at all?

Erika 1 - S 10:56 pm

Ummmmmm.....

(Cruds I'm going to love having you in this game.)

lunamoth1 10:56 pm

hehe

Erika 1 - S 10:56 pm

(you ask questions. this is awesome.)

(and now I really need to get some of those pictures properly prepped.)

lunamoth1 10:57 pm

and can hats and swords betaught Gateway?

and whowould win

Erika 1 - S 10:58 pm

Certainly, and the Hat probably already plays. (Anathema I'm not sure about, it's a youngish game, but their training of Geri included a game that was essentially 4-dimensional Jenga.)

lunamoth1 10:58 pm

haha

ha amaya and samar have the same hair and eye color

Erika 1 - S 10:59 pm

Ditto Samar and Kiara.

lunamoth1 10:59 pm

hehe

she's a good head taller than either i think

lunamoth1 11:00 pm

women from the east tend to be tall

Erika 1 - S 11:00 pm

*nods*

Esemeli's going to have a field day with it, though. Last time the group came in, she teased them about choosing for companions based on eye color (Fatin having been there for the last visit but not this one, and Sky being there at the time, and both having purple eyes).

lunamoth1 11:01 pm

haha

lunamoth1 11:03 pm

if she commented i can so see samar saying matter of factly "we are trying to form a clone army, however some issues still need to be sorted out"

Erika 1 - S 11:03 pm

Nice!

lunamoth1 11:03 pm

or "well obviously I'm an upgrade on the model"

Erika 1 - S 11:07 pm

*laughs*

lunamoth1 11:09 pm

"Fortune cookies tend to be emptied out when in Lysha's presence."

how so?

Erika 1 - S 11:09 pm

it does not coexist well with fortunes.

Has a tendency to involuntarily lash out and destroy them.

lunamoth1 11:09 pm

hehe

that's what i thought

lunamoth1 11:12 pm

next time you are on by day i'll prbably need helpwith actual stats

Erika 1 - S 11:12 pm

Sounds good. How by day is by day?

lunamoth1 11:13 pm

before 5

Erika 1 - S 11:15 pm

....um. That might be Thursday; I have an eight-hour tomorrow, and close Wednesday.

lunamoth1 11:15 pm

ahh

oki

i'll dload anathema before then

lunamoth1 11:15 pm

ahh

oki

i'll dload anathema before then

Erika 1 - S 11:18 pm

You could. I have an alternate suggestion.

lunamoth1 11:18 pm

yeah?

does it involve paper?

Erika 1 - S 11:19 pm

Excel spreadsheet. I designed one for Robert's game a while back that calculated Essence and tracked experience, among other things. It's not perfect, and it won't optimize the way Anathema does, but it should help once you're on the spending-XP phase.

lunamoth1 11:19 pm

ooh

lunamoth1 11:21 pm

shiny

Erika 1 - S 11:22 pm

Good.

I could probably figure out how to write you something that should help with the bonus XP part, given about an hour and your Favored Abilities.

(*er, BP part.)

lunamoth1 11:23 pm

*that'd be good

Erika 1 - S 11:24 pm

er, wait, not sure about BP.... could at least help you track your Caste/Favored Abilities before you start throwing BP around, which should let me figure out how to minimize your costs.

(not that it matters that much with the amount of stuff you've got to play with.)

lunamoth1 11:25 pm

Erika 1 - S 11:25 pm

I do, however, strongly recommend that you take either Flow Like Blood or Fivefold Bulwark Stance somewhere in the process, regardless of what else you do. it's a lot easier to handle splitting pools in a fight when you've got a persistent to fall back on.

lunamoth1 11:26 pm

Erika 1 - S 11:29 pm

So yeah. I should sleep, but when next we talk (or through offline messaging), you let me know what you want your favoreds to be and I'll fix up an ability point counter. I wish I could do the really complicated stuff for you....

....that'd just take a lot longer. *chuckles*

G'night!

It's excerpts from The Condensed Account of Samar Nadra, Chosen of the Unconquered Sun Volumes 3-7

she has written down every single solitary detail but have made a condensed version for non-twilights (and non-secrets)

complete with references to the volumes of the full version that don't exist

"It was raining (Tales of My Mortal life, Vol. 17, Pt. 7, Ch. 9, §12, Pg. 8-10)"

because you *know* that's how a twilight would write their journal

she uses the condensed version as an index :-P