Caerwen
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The prt has access to thinkers too. Perhaps they were tipped off that it wouldn't be needed. Or they are guarding a decoy convy.
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Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)
- Thread starter Daniel Snuts
- Start date
The prt has access to thinkers too. Perhaps they were tipped off that it wouldn't be needed. Or they are guarding a decoy convy.
Zxzx24
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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No, the PRT isnt allowed to be reasonable or do a good job. Here or in worm. The story would collapse in on itself like a super massive black hole.
Daniel Snuts
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...remembering that we didn't need to worry about Essence requirements for Charms...which can be construed as meaning Tay has E10. Also remembering that Tay essentially has infinite motes. They Endslayer is born people
No, as mentioned she is Ess 3. She just doesn't have to worry about requirements period. Mantis Form requires Martial Arts 4, for example, and she certainly doesn't have that.
Yes. You need (Artifact Rating + 2) dots in Craft to make an artifact, and your maximum score for Attributes and Abilities is 5 or (Essence), whichever is higher. And it doesn't really matter how quickly you move from Essence 2 -> 5, the rules say you can't reach Essence 6 until you've been exalted for 99 years (250 years for 7).
Illusion.
To put it bluntly, there were no heroes in the scene that appeared in my brain. But I think I can claim fairly confidently that I'm adhering to the spirit of canon - Lung's first breakout was barely even a footnote in the original. Lung is in prison. Oh, Lung isn't in prison anymore. That Hookwolf has escaped a Birdcage transport twice is also canon.
I've been writing with this idea in mind. Lisa goes "oh yeah, insecure prisons is part of how they encourage people to go villain". Clockblocker gets attached to a prisoner transport and goes "that's weird, what are they plotting?" Kaiser is staunchly opposed to the idea of infringing on the Right to be Broken out of Prison, even for his arch-nemesis.
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Stop that
what the fuck???
You really like Nazis, huh?
wow, you really like nazis
Last edited:
Mentos
吸血鬼
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I'm not familiar with the Exalted rules, could you meme this with time shenanigan bombs from Bakuda or similar effects from other parahumans or charms?
Alucard 109
Not too sore, are you?
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Maybe Khonsu?
Alucard 109
Not too sore, are you?
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To the first one, that's actually just an unfortunate fact. Not because "Oh, black people make everything worse" or anything, but actually because of decades of institutionalized racism. Everything from Jim Crow laws, to redlining, to school district laws have forced minorities into "the bad part of town" and kept them from getting out.
To the second, the author has already explained that their soul's price can't be something they already have, so none of their prices are things like "an excuse to hurt people". Although, on the other hand, it's still a fair criticism that she only seems to be meeting homogenous true believers. I'd expect a few more like "to make my father proud of me", "to get away from my abusive partner", or even one or two "get out of the Empire"s. But even that could be for the Doylist reason of not wanting Taylor to subvert the rank and file yet.
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I find it strange how some of the nicest, most lawabiding citizens in this fic have been nazis in a criminal gang, whose whole theme is being nazis. And that being nazis is what makes them so law-abiding, funny and nice to Taylor.
Rather than being bitter and hateful, using self-victimisation excuses to beat, steal and kill. Which would be actually realistic.
Placeholdername
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It likely helps a lot that most of who Taylor interacts with are the more PR friendly sort of Nazi white supremacists, those approved for being assigned to public patrolling of Empire territory rather than the really hardcore asshats with swastikas tattooed on their foreheads and a couple outstanding murder warrants. Basically, they're the "nice" Nazis.
Edifier
Trusted within thoughts.
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That sounds more like comically evil to me and less believable.
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How? That's what extreme racists are like. Do you find it more believable that the people described so far in the story are supposed to be advocates of multiple genocides?
That being very racist has made them very law-abiding and nice? Because they think breaking laws is for minorities? Think about any hardcore racists you've met or seen and if any of that lines up.
L.34
Daniel Snuts
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That's another soul price moving into the 'never gonna use' column, you suppose. Which isn't to say that it hasn't been useful. Lung, who famously fought Leviathan to a draw, wants a rematch against someone else. If you ever see a parahuman woman wearing a fedora, you're turning around on the spot and running the fuck away.
But back to the present: After taking care of Lung - once again out-heroing the heroes, just as a side effect of being a sane person acting in your own self interest - the next item on the agenda is 'hanging out with Rune'.
"Since we have patrol tonight, I can't just dismiss Fenrir for the day," you explain, not entirely honestly. "I need somewhere a giant wolf can lay low until our shift starts."
Because you enjoy a certain amount of irony in your life, you suggest you hang out over the Medhall building - no one ever spots anyone up there. But almost as soon as you you get out of sight from the others you notice Rune's hands start shaking, prompting you to put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"All those people," she says softly. "There were- I saw a little kid get caught in..."
"Yeah," you say, because there's little else to say. The suicide bombers were not defeated without collateral damage.
Fenrir tries to nuzzle her, but she flinches away from his bloodstained affections.
"How are you so calm?" she asks.
"Practice, I guess. Ottawa was worse, and hit me harder at the time."
"You were at- you never spoke about that."
"And I never will."
Rune nods.
Actually none of that happened, because Rune is a certifiable badass who would never show weakness in front of others - and if it did, you would have been sworn to secrecy about it. The next couple of hours are pleasant enough asRune gradually calms down you sit around and talk about nothing in particular, only somewhat marred by post-traumatic stress the way you're sort of expecting to get called in and chewed out by your boss at any moment.
The conversation eventually circles around to the subject of boys, as conversations between teenage girls do (you know this from overhearing others - you yourself haven't exactly had friends since becoming a teenager).
Now as it happens, you did meet a boy yesterday - but Low Key can't exactly talk about what Quicksilver did, now can she? You have to fall back to the second-most-recent boy you met. And even with the cape-related details omitted that's still a risky thing to share. But mutually assured destruction through shared secrets is what friendship is all about, and Rune is being a friend.
"I did meet this one guy recently," you say. "Big, strong, handsome... a little older than me, but that's just the way I like them. He seemed nice too, but..."
"Taken? Gay?"
"Black," you sigh.
"Oosh. Better not go spreading that around."
"Yeah, I know." 'I'm trusting you to keep my secrets' goes unsaid, but not unheard.
"No worries," Rune says. "I've been there. This one time, one of my dumb friends from school sent me a picture of a some shirtless nigger - and wouldn't you know it, some rank and file asshole was looking over my shoulder right as I opened the message."
You cringe in sympathy as she continues, seemingly addressing the world at large as much as yourself. "It was just a fucking picture! I admit the dude was hella ripped, but you wouldn't believe the earful I got for noticing. It was just some random internet beefcake, it's not as if I could've fucked him even if I'd wanted to!"
"I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where my eye candy will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the definition of their abs?" you suggest.
Rune snorts. "It was like half a year ago, and they're still sending me stats on domestic abuse and single motherhood broken down by race!"
You laugh and roll your eyes. They are such fucking nerds. "It's nice to know they're looking out for you at least," you say.
Rune aims a swat at your head, but you dodge. "I'll forward the whole mess to you so you can feel appreciated too!"
The funny thing is, you do feel appreciated. Rune is looking out for you, and you're not even reverse blackmailing her. You might even keep hanging out with her after you've gotten her power. Which is going to happen any month now, Jesus Christ what is so difficult about lifting rocks?
---
You patrol, you sleep, you go to school, you go to the dojo - and still you don't get called in to answer for what you did. Over the course of the evening pretty much every single mortal at the dojo manages to catch your eye and give you either a respectful nod or a softly-spoken "well done", so it's not as if no one knows. Everyone knows.
But speaking of irony in your life, the very first session after having befriended(?) Hookwolf is when you finally get Othala's power down. Meaning you no longer have any reason to stick around. Well, you can work with this.
"Me 'n Krieg told Kaiser it was all our idea, and we press-ganged the two of you into helping out," Hookwolf tells you after everyone else has left, and suddenly everything makes sense again. And you're going to have to take the question mark off of 'befriended', because taking the fall for you like that was a seriously decent thing to do.
"'preciate it. How hard did you get reamed?"
"Eh." Hookwolf waves the matter away. "We had him over a barrel and he knew it. We're the only lieutenants he's got left."
An excellent point, that you hadn't thought of. It's easy to forget that Hookwolf is actually third in command in the Empire (with Krieg in second), because he comes off as a simple thug. But he really is a lot like Lung - you shouldn't be fooled by the way they habitually turn into giant monsters and wreck shit. That doesn't mean they're stupid: Turning into a giant monster is a very intelligent solution to a great many problems.
"So," you say, "now that we've gone through the classic buddy cop arc and become friends despite our differences-" Hookwolf snorts at that "-I've realized that the friendliest thing I could do would be to stop shitting up your dojo with my retarded presence." Crap, you called it a dojo to his face. He doesn't react to it, though.
"Will you be alright? You are shit at fighting still."
Oh sure, now he wants to teach you. You hold out your hand in front of you, and will the golden knife to appear in your grip. "I'll manage."
With that, the 'Hookwolf saga' part of your life story comes to a satisfactory conclusion. Oh, you're hopeful that some day you'll be able to parlay your buddy cop status into studying his power for real, and become a chainsaw monster too. But attending the dojo is not how you do that, and you need to free up time so that Quicksilver can hang out with Ballistic.
Yes, just as you were worrying about where your next power was going to come from, one of the most amazingly lethal Blaster powers you've ever seen practically dropped into your lap. You'd say someone must be looking out for you, except you really hope not because that someone would be the Simurgh. Quick, think about something else.
Like your new power. Gotta figure out what you did to this one. You'd call it a crapshoot, but to be honest only one power (Lung's) has given you any real trouble (one point five if you count whatever the hell Newter did to you). Sure, it could be argued that Labyrinth's power gave you quite a bit of trouble - but the power itself was easy to use and self-explanatory in its effect. The fact that said effect turned out to be 'stranding the user and any bystanders in a desert for the better part of a week' is a separate issue.
So, Othala. The power to grant powers. She has to touch people to do it, but some instinct tells you that you won't have to. You'd prefer a proper instruction manual, but vague nudges are more than some powers (Lung's!) have given you. So you try to reach your mind out to Fenrir, as he immaterially pads along next to you. Flight, you think as hard as you can. Because a magic wolf companion is awesome, but a flying wolf companion would be even better.
It doesn't work. Okay, what about powers you actually possess? You mentally flip through your (gratifyingly long) list of powers, looking for something that would a) be obvious if it worked, and b) Fenrir can be trusted with.
Oh, you're dumb, the correct answer is obviously mind-hands. A magic wolf companion is awesome, but a tentacled wolf companion..? No but seriously, mind-hands are ridiculously dextrous, and his biggest weakness is his lack of thumbs. Not to mention that they can cross the material/immaterial barrier. Mind-hands, you think at him.
It doesn't work either. If it only works on humans, you're going to be pissed - or realistically, mildly disappointed. Super strength? you suggest without much optimism, but it seems your power likes that better. You feel a connection form, above and beyond the ever-present connection of a spirit-tied pet. Your mind brushes against his, and you perceive... contentment? Your power can't improve Fenrir, because he is happy the way he is?
Really, subconscious? You gave yourself a power-granting power that only works on people with body image issues? Really? Could you maybe pretend to not be a broken person for just one single power? (trick question, you're a parahuman)
You put further experimentation on hold, because you're not about to try to convince Fenrir that he isn't awesome. He is awesome, but he also loves you enough that he might believe you if you told him otherwise. And you'd rather kill yourself than abuse his trust like that.
It's when you get home and see your dad that the last piece falls into place.
He is tired, your power whispers. You know. He's always tired, he's working so hard. To keep the union alive in a dying city... and to provide for you, despite the way you've been acting recently. You wish you could contribute some of your ill-gotten gains to the household budget without blowing everything up even worse... but there is something else you can do. He has never tried to hide how life wears on him, at least not very well.
So you give him an unsolicited hug, and supernatural stamina.
Not very much, yours is not a flashy power. Strictly Brute 0 territory. Not that you would inflict capehood on your old man even if you could. But enough to keep up with the demands he makes of himself a little better.
Not flashy, perhaps, but apparently permanent. Once given, you discover that you couldn't take that stamina back even if you wanted to. An interesting trade-off compared to the original power. You almost hope this somehow reveals yet another deep-seated flaw in your character, because the alternative is that you subconsciously made Othala's power more low key. Ugh.
You're going to call it 'emptiness endowment', you think. Because it can only fill up the holes in your spirit.
You shoot off a quick message to Lisa before bed - you are going to want to brag about this one. Of course it would be even better if you could use it on y- you can use it on yourself! As soon as you think of it, every single aspect of yourself that you've ever been dissatisfied with opens up for improvement. Ouch, it's a lot.
You're this close to doing something stupid, before you stop yourself. That thing can wait. That other thing too. You haven't discovered what limits this power has, if any. You should start with the most useful thing, and work your way down the list. But what would be the most useful?
Well, it sure would be nice to know some knife fighting techniques to go with your magic knife. Cutting through anything is all well and good, but you've heard that some people use weapons to parry things as well.
And just like that, you know. You summon your knife into your hand, and run through a series of attacks and guard stances. So that's what Cricket was trying to teach you. Ha. Now that you've left the dojo once and for all, you finally get it.
You straighten up and send the knife away again. You experience a mild mental hiccup when you don't forget anything of what you just learned - having gotten used to industry and forge wisdom, you sort of expected your sudden expertise to vanish the moment you let go of the implement. But no, this power is different. The knowledge is still there, even when you don't immediately need it. As is a faint ache that you recognize from when you created Fenrir, though nowhere near as bad. Hm. You recovered from that without ill effects, but still. Pain is generally your body's way of telling you to stop. And you're in a much less precarious position now than you were back then, you can afford to be careful.
You sit down on the bed, turn your sorcerer's sight inwards and study your new power as you meditate on the feeling. It reaches out like that, and injects... your internal monolog quickly degenerates into Thinker-language, but you think you see what's going on. Forcibly shoving foreign capabilities into your soul(?) damages your... potential for growth?
This is where a scientist would start making shit up in order to generate a physics- and biology-compliant model of what was happening, and start using words like 'brain plasticity'. As an old hand at unreasonable ontology, you don't make that mistake.
Instead you follow the warm glow of I'm sitting next to my Spirit-tied Pet back to the power in question, to see if your new perspective on things can give any new insights. Uh-huh. Yep. That thing was burning your potential to fuel his growth. Stick that in your brain plasticity model and smoke it.
Good call on not going nuts with self-endowment, though. Overusing that thing could seriously retard your ability to learn things naturally - and 'learning things' is the whole point of your main power!
---
"You'll love this one!" You reach out and boop Lisa on the nose with one finger, concentrating on bestowing a gift of intelligence. She's certainly complained enough about the flaky nature of her own power for it to count.
Her eyes go wide, and her power goes off - you're too busy getting your unfamiliar new power to work correctly to catch what it said - and she rejects it. Without a willing recipient you lose control and the gift fizzles out.
"For the love of god, Taylor. Could you please stop adding creepy Master effects to your powers?"
Yeesh, is she still sore about you having her soul price? Wait, Master effects?
"Master effects?"
"The fact that you didn't know is the only reason I'm not punching you in the face right now. Hm. It didn't feel like soul's price, though. Hit me again, I want to figure this out."
You roll your eyes, boop her again, and get rejected once more. Maybe if she'd been smarter, she could have figured it out in one go.
"Huh." Lisa leans back in her chair. "More Shaker than Master. Probability manipulation. You're not compelled to obey, but if you don't, something terrible happens to you."
That's... sort of awesome, actually. "See, I only make nice Master powers. I give you something nice, and all I ask is that you're nice back. Soul price is 'guaranteed gratitude', this is 'karmic justice.'"
Lisa sighs, but you like to imagine it's a fond sigh. "I'm still not going to let you do it."
---
"Stupid ungrateful Thinkers," you mutter to yourself as you prep the apparatus. One more session should lock in trusting the notes properly. A short session this time, to keep the permanent nerve damage to a minimum: Without the dojo as an excuse your access to Othala is more limited. And you do have a date with Ballistic later tonight.
"What did she do?" Aisha asks.
"I was going to use my new power to make her smarter. Lisa loves being smart, right? But noooo, she had to get all pissy about the Master effect. It's not like I would have asked her to do anything bad! We're friends!"
"Huh. So you're basically Teacher now?"
"I suppose."
"Hey. Um. You know..." When she doesn't continue, you turn away from the apparatus to face her. She's looking at her feet, and fidgeting. It's weird. You can't say you know her well, but you've never known her to be bashful. About anything.
"Yes?"
"Could I have her smarts? Since she didn't want them and all." Once she starts speaking, the words come out in a rush.
You raise an eyebrow. "You sure? The Master effect will fuck you up if you ever disobey me."
She snorts. "Yeah, like you wouldn't fuck me up if I disobeyed you regardless."
"An excellent point. Here." You boop her with smarts. You don't have to touch people, but it's funnier if you do.
"Holy shit," Aisha says. She blinks rapidly a couple of times, then looks around the room, wide-eyed. "Hit me with a math problem!"
You shrug. "9x - 12 = 51?"
"Uh... minus twelve, um, sixty-three... Seven? Holy shit, I just got that. Is this what smart people feel like all the time?"
"No," you tell her.
"Oh." Her shoulders slump a bit. "I suppose you get used to it?"
"I didn't give you that much," you continue as if she hadn't spoken. "That's what people of average intelligence feel like all the time."
She starts to give you the finger, but reconsiders it halfway through the gesture. "Could I have some more then? Please?"
She could, but... "Give it a couple of weeks to settle in. Could be side effects if I give you too much all at once."
"Yeah? What kind of side effects? Because-"
"Learning disabilities," you say.
"Never mind!" Yeah, you had a feeling she'd say that. Right in the insecurities. "But, uh, as soon as it's safe, yeah? I've been a pretty good minion, haven't I?"
===
But back to the present: After taking care of Lung - once again out-heroing the heroes, just as a side effect of being a sane person acting in your own self interest - the next item on the agenda is 'hanging out with Rune'.
"Since we have patrol tonight, I can't just dismiss Fenrir for the day," you explain, not entirely honestly. "I need somewhere a giant wolf can lay low until our shift starts."
Because you enjoy a certain amount of irony in your life, you suggest you hang out over the Medhall building - no one ever spots anyone up there. But almost as soon as you you get out of sight from the others you notice Rune's hands start shaking, prompting you to put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"All those people," she says softly. "There were- I saw a little kid get caught in..."
"Yeah," you say, because there's little else to say. The suicide bombers were not defeated without collateral damage.
Fenrir tries to nuzzle her, but she flinches away from his bloodstained affections.
"How are you so calm?" she asks.
"Practice, I guess. Ottawa was worse, and hit me harder at the time."
"You were at- you never spoke about that."
"And I never will."
Rune nods.
Actually none of that happened, because Rune is a certifiable badass who would never show weakness in front of others - and if it did, you would have been sworn to secrecy about it. The next couple of hours are pleasant enough as
The conversation eventually circles around to the subject of boys, as conversations between teenage girls do (you know this from overhearing others - you yourself haven't exactly had friends since becoming a teenager).
Now as it happens, you did meet a boy yesterday - but Low Key can't exactly talk about what Quicksilver did, now can she? You have to fall back to the second-most-recent boy you met. And even with the cape-related details omitted that's still a risky thing to share. But mutually assured destruction through shared secrets is what friendship is all about, and Rune is being a friend.
"I did meet this one guy recently," you say. "Big, strong, handsome... a little older than me, but that's just the way I like them. He seemed nice too, but..."
"Taken? Gay?"
"Black," you sigh.
"Oosh. Better not go spreading that around."
"Yeah, I know." 'I'm trusting you to keep my secrets' goes unsaid, but not unheard.
"No worries," Rune says. "I've been there. This one time, one of my dumb friends from school sent me a picture of a some shirtless nigger - and wouldn't you know it, some rank and file asshole was looking over my shoulder right as I opened the message."
You cringe in sympathy as she continues, seemingly addressing the world at large as much as yourself. "It was just a fucking picture! I admit the dude was hella ripped, but you wouldn't believe the earful I got for noticing. It was just some random internet beefcake, it's not as if I could've fucked him even if I'd wanted to!"
"I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where my eye candy will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the definition of their abs?" you suggest.
Rune snorts. "It was like half a year ago, and they're still sending me stats on domestic abuse and single motherhood broken down by race!"
You laugh and roll your eyes. They are such fucking nerds. "It's nice to know they're looking out for you at least," you say.
Rune aims a swat at your head, but you dodge. "I'll forward the whole mess to you so you can feel appreciated too!"
The funny thing is, you do feel appreciated. Rune is looking out for you, and you're not even reverse blackmailing her. You might even keep hanging out with her after you've gotten her power. Which is going to happen any month now, Jesus Christ what is so difficult about lifting rocks?
---
You patrol, you sleep, you go to school, you go to the dojo - and still you don't get called in to answer for what you did. Over the course of the evening pretty much every single mortal at the dojo manages to catch your eye and give you either a respectful nod or a softly-spoken "well done", so it's not as if no one knows. Everyone knows.
But speaking of irony in your life, the very first session after having befriended(?) Hookwolf is when you finally get Othala's power down. Meaning you no longer have any reason to stick around. Well, you can work with this.
"Me 'n Krieg told Kaiser it was all our idea, and we press-ganged the two of you into helping out," Hookwolf tells you after everyone else has left, and suddenly everything makes sense again. And you're going to have to take the question mark off of 'befriended', because taking the fall for you like that was a seriously decent thing to do.
"'preciate it. How hard did you get reamed?"
"Eh." Hookwolf waves the matter away. "We had him over a barrel and he knew it. We're the only lieutenants he's got left."
An excellent point, that you hadn't thought of. It's easy to forget that Hookwolf is actually third in command in the Empire (with Krieg in second), because he comes off as a simple thug. But he really is a lot like Lung - you shouldn't be fooled by the way they habitually turn into giant monsters and wreck shit. That doesn't mean they're stupid: Turning into a giant monster is a very intelligent solution to a great many problems.
"So," you say, "now that we've gone through the classic buddy cop arc and become friends despite our differences-" Hookwolf snorts at that "-I've realized that the friendliest thing I could do would be to stop shitting up your dojo with my retarded presence." Crap, you called it a dojo to his face. He doesn't react to it, though.
"Will you be alright? You are shit at fighting still."
Oh sure, now he wants to teach you. You hold out your hand in front of you, and will the golden knife to appear in your grip. "I'll manage."
With that, the 'Hookwolf saga' part of your life story comes to a satisfactory conclusion. Oh, you're hopeful that some day you'll be able to parlay your buddy cop status into studying his power for real, and become a chainsaw monster too. But attending the dojo is not how you do that, and you need to free up time so that Quicksilver can hang out with Ballistic.
Yes, just as you were worrying about where your next power was going to come from, one of the most amazingly lethal Blaster powers you've ever seen practically dropped into your lap. You'd say someone must be looking out for you, except you really hope not because that someone would be the Simurgh. Quick, think about something else.
Like your new power. Gotta figure out what you did to this one. You'd call it a crapshoot, but to be honest only one power (Lung's) has given you any real trouble (one point five if you count whatever the hell Newter did to you). Sure, it could be argued that Labyrinth's power gave you quite a bit of trouble - but the power itself was easy to use and self-explanatory in its effect. The fact that said effect turned out to be 'stranding the user and any bystanders in a desert for the better part of a week' is a separate issue.
So, Othala. The power to grant powers. She has to touch people to do it, but some instinct tells you that you won't have to. You'd prefer a proper instruction manual, but vague nudges are more than some powers (Lung's!) have given you. So you try to reach your mind out to Fenrir, as he immaterially pads along next to you. Flight, you think as hard as you can. Because a magic wolf companion is awesome, but a flying wolf companion would be even better.
It doesn't work. Okay, what about powers you actually possess? You mentally flip through your (gratifyingly long) list of powers, looking for something that would a) be obvious if it worked, and b) Fenrir can be trusted with.
Oh, you're dumb, the correct answer is obviously mind-hands. A magic wolf companion is awesome, but a tentacled wolf companion..? No but seriously, mind-hands are ridiculously dextrous, and his biggest weakness is his lack of thumbs. Not to mention that they can cross the material/immaterial barrier. Mind-hands, you think at him.
It doesn't work either. If it only works on humans, you're going to be pissed - or realistically, mildly disappointed. Super strength? you suggest without much optimism, but it seems your power likes that better. You feel a connection form, above and beyond the ever-present connection of a spirit-tied pet. Your mind brushes against his, and you perceive... contentment? Your power can't improve Fenrir, because he is happy the way he is?
Really, subconscious? You gave yourself a power-granting power that only works on people with body image issues? Really? Could you maybe pretend to not be a broken person for just one single power? (trick question, you're a parahuman)
You put further experimentation on hold, because you're not about to try to convince Fenrir that he isn't awesome. He is awesome, but he also loves you enough that he might believe you if you told him otherwise. And you'd rather kill yourself than abuse his trust like that.
It's when you get home and see your dad that the last piece falls into place.
He is tired, your power whispers. You know. He's always tired, he's working so hard. To keep the union alive in a dying city... and to provide for you, despite the way you've been acting recently. You wish you could contribute some of your ill-gotten gains to the household budget without blowing everything up even worse... but there is something else you can do. He has never tried to hide how life wears on him, at least not very well.
So you give him an unsolicited hug, and supernatural stamina.
Not very much, yours is not a flashy power. Strictly Brute 0 territory. Not that you would inflict capehood on your old man even if you could. But enough to keep up with the demands he makes of himself a little better.
Not flashy, perhaps, but apparently permanent. Once given, you discover that you couldn't take that stamina back even if you wanted to. An interesting trade-off compared to the original power. You almost hope this somehow reveals yet another deep-seated flaw in your character, because the alternative is that you subconsciously made Othala's power more low key. Ugh.
You're going to call it 'emptiness endowment', you think. Because it can only fill up the holes in your spirit.
You shoot off a quick message to Lisa before bed - you are going to want to brag about this one. Of course it would be even better if you could use it on y- you can use it on yourself! As soon as you think of it, every single aspect of yourself that you've ever been dissatisfied with opens up for improvement. Ouch, it's a lot.
You're this close to doing something stupid, before you stop yourself. That thing can wait. That other thing too. You haven't discovered what limits this power has, if any. You should start with the most useful thing, and work your way down the list. But what would be the most useful?
Well, it sure would be nice to know some knife fighting techniques to go with your magic knife. Cutting through anything is all well and good, but you've heard that some people use weapons to parry things as well.
And just like that, you know. You summon your knife into your hand, and run through a series of attacks and guard stances. So that's what Cricket was trying to teach you. Ha. Now that you've left the dojo once and for all, you finally get it.
You straighten up and send the knife away again. You experience a mild mental hiccup when you don't forget anything of what you just learned - having gotten used to industry and forge wisdom, you sort of expected your sudden expertise to vanish the moment you let go of the implement. But no, this power is different. The knowledge is still there, even when you don't immediately need it. As is a faint ache that you recognize from when you created Fenrir, though nowhere near as bad. Hm. You recovered from that without ill effects, but still. Pain is generally your body's way of telling you to stop. And you're in a much less precarious position now than you were back then, you can afford to be careful.
You sit down on the bed, turn your sorcerer's sight inwards and study your new power as you meditate on the feeling. It reaches out like that, and injects... your internal monolog quickly degenerates into Thinker-language, but you think you see what's going on. Forcibly shoving foreign capabilities into your soul(?) damages your... potential for growth?
This is where a scientist would start making shit up in order to generate a physics- and biology-compliant model of what was happening, and start using words like 'brain plasticity'. As an old hand at unreasonable ontology, you don't make that mistake.
Instead you follow the warm glow of I'm sitting next to my Spirit-tied Pet back to the power in question, to see if your new perspective on things can give any new insights. Uh-huh. Yep. That thing was burning your potential to fuel his growth. Stick that in your brain plasticity model and smoke it.
Good call on not going nuts with self-endowment, though. Overusing that thing could seriously retard your ability to learn things naturally - and 'learning things' is the whole point of your main power!
---
"You'll love this one!" You reach out and boop Lisa on the nose with one finger, concentrating on bestowing a gift of intelligence. She's certainly complained enough about the flaky nature of her own power for it to count.
Her eyes go wide, and her power goes off - you're too busy getting your unfamiliar new power to work correctly to catch what it said - and she rejects it. Without a willing recipient you lose control and the gift fizzles out.
"For the love of god, Taylor. Could you please stop adding creepy Master effects to your powers?"
Yeesh, is she still sore about you having her soul price? Wait, Master effects?
"Master effects?"
"The fact that you didn't know is the only reason I'm not punching you in the face right now. Hm. It didn't feel like soul's price, though. Hit me again, I want to figure this out."
You roll your eyes, boop her again, and get rejected once more. Maybe if she'd been smarter, she could have figured it out in one go.
"Huh." Lisa leans back in her chair. "More Shaker than Master. Probability manipulation. You're not compelled to obey, but if you don't, something terrible happens to you."
That's... sort of awesome, actually. "See, I only make nice Master powers. I give you something nice, and all I ask is that you're nice back. Soul price is 'guaranteed gratitude', this is 'karmic justice.'"
Lisa sighs, but you like to imagine it's a fond sigh. "I'm still not going to let you do it."
---
"Stupid ungrateful Thinkers," you mutter to yourself as you prep the apparatus. One more session should lock in trusting the notes properly. A short session this time, to keep the permanent nerve damage to a minimum: Without the dojo as an excuse your access to Othala is more limited. And you do have a date with Ballistic later tonight.
"What did she do?" Aisha asks.
"I was going to use my new power to make her smarter. Lisa loves being smart, right? But noooo, she had to get all pissy about the Master effect. It's not like I would have asked her to do anything bad! We're friends!"
"Huh. So you're basically Teacher now?"
"I suppose."
"Hey. Um. You know..." When she doesn't continue, you turn away from the apparatus to face her. She's looking at her feet, and fidgeting. It's weird. You can't say you know her well, but you've never known her to be bashful. About anything.
"Yes?"
"Could I have her smarts? Since she didn't want them and all." Once she starts speaking, the words come out in a rush.
You raise an eyebrow. "You sure? The Master effect will fuck you up if you ever disobey me."
She snorts. "Yeah, like you wouldn't fuck me up if I disobeyed you regardless."
"An excellent point. Here." You boop her with smarts. You don't have to touch people, but it's funnier if you do.
"Holy shit," Aisha says. She blinks rapidly a couple of times, then looks around the room, wide-eyed. "Hit me with a math problem!"
You shrug. "9x - 12 = 51?"
"Uh... minus twelve, um, sixty-three... Seven? Holy shit, I just got that. Is this what smart people feel like all the time?"
"No," you tell her.
"Oh." Her shoulders slump a bit. "I suppose you get used to it?"
"I didn't give you that much," you continue as if she hadn't spoken. "That's what people of average intelligence feel like all the time."
She starts to give you the finger, but reconsiders it halfway through the gesture. "Could I have some more then? Please?"
She could, but... "Give it a couple of weeks to settle in. Could be side effects if I give you too much all at once."
"Yeah? What kind of side effects? Because-"
"Learning disabilities," you say.
"Never mind!" Yeah, you had a feeling she'd say that. Right in the insecurities. "But, uh, as soon as it's safe, yeah? I've been a pretty good minion, haven't I?"
===
Charms:
Taylor: All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, ???
Tattletale: Know the Soul's Price
Bitch: Spirit-Tied Pet
Aegis: Ox-Body Technique
Browbeat: Shaping the Ideal Form
Dragon: Implicit Construction Methodology
Kid Win: Industry and Forge Wisdom
Lung: By Rage Recast
Vista: Mind-Hand Manipulation
Cricket: Mantis Form
Faultline: Charm of Lesser Unmaking
Labyrinth: Hell-Walker Technique
Othala: Verdant Emptiness Endowment
Taylor: All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, ???
Tattletale: Know the Soul's Price
Bitch: Spirit-Tied Pet
Aegis: Ox-Body Technique
Browbeat: Shaping the Ideal Form
Dragon: Implicit Construction Methodology
Kid Win: Industry and Forge Wisdom
Lung: By Rage Recast
Vista: Mind-Hand Manipulation
Cricket: Mantis Form
Faultline: Charm of Lesser Unmaking
Labyrinth: Hell-Walker Technique
Othala: Verdant Emptiness Endowment
Taylor's new charm does exactly what Lisa describes it as doing. A deal with the devil, except you don't need to explicitly ask the devil for anything, just express discontent where the devil can hear. And the devil doesn't have to tell you that anything is happening at all. It can be refused, but unless the devil warns you ahead of time that happens on a purely subconscious level - the DM says "you're getting X as a Training effect, would you like to spend 1 Willpower to not have that happen?" but the character can't hear that.
Lisa is as usual using her power to cheat at the 'not knowing things' part.
Still not using XP because it's still not a Gamer fic, but respect for this very XP-debt-like 'soul strain' will keep things from degenerating into '5 dots in everything'.
Lisa is as usual using her power to cheat at the 'not knowing things' part.
Still not using XP because it's still not a Gamer fic, but respect for this very XP-debt-like 'soul strain' will keep things from degenerating into '5 dots in everything'.
goricnac
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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the entire aisha situation is so fundamentally creepy, she basically has a mastered enslaved minion shes going to be experimenting on to stack the master effect further by fullfilling more soul prices. The solar mess of seeing "mortals" as inferior is really fucking with her head, specially with how she seems to be falling more and more for the nazi bs, tho a lot of this world seems to have been changed to make the nazis partially right given that whole thing with the FBI mislabeling the races of criminals to make white people look bad.
Waterfly
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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This is a true statement.
Earth-Destroyer
Versed in the lewd.
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Knew that Othala would be Verdant Emptiness Endowment. Now that is a really powerful one.
To bad that Teacher is likely the one holding it upgrade Bestowal of Accursed Fortune, which allows for background dot to be given things like allies, servants, wealth etc.
To bad that Teacher is likely the one holding it upgrade Bestowal of Accursed Fortune, which allows for background dot to be given things like allies, servants, wealth etc.
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wigg55
Not too sore, are you?
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Ah, the Green Sun Prince solution. Just Devil-Tyrant Avatar Shintai your problems away.
Knight In Red
Getting some practice in, huh?
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States#:~:text=According to the FBI, African,3.1% were of other races.
That was about crimes.
About mislabeling races. The main point of politics is to twist truth to favor you, not your opponent. And there can be MANY different reasons for this mislabeling to happen... with majority of them being a genuine error of some random office drone, that prepared materials for database import... And I think, I don't need to say what unspeakable things people can do with statistics to make them look more "realistic".
About Nazi. I think, their ideology is pure stupidity, because, you know, NO ONE IS BORN EQUAL... no one lives equal and if some beliefs about afterlife, like reincarnation, are true... no one dies equal.
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Gallyrat
Getting sticky.
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Who says that the part alleging that wasn't just a situationally gullible Taylor being lied to?
omni001
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How long does the do what I ask or else effect last? Does Taylor only get one request per power granted or multiple?
Also does this effect herself? Since she granted herself a power does that mean if she wants to do something but doesn't for some reason will she give herself bad luck for disobeying herself?
Also does this effect herself? Since she granted herself a power does that mean if she wants to do something but doesn't for some reason will she give herself bad luck for disobeying herself?
ses
Experienced.
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No debt for using the power on herself. Only one task may be assigned with the recipient instinctively knowing that doom will befall them if they don't obey it. It runs on Godfather "One day, I will ask you to do a thing for me" rules. The task must be actually possible to complete, and the effect fades harmlessly if they've been working at it for a full month and it's still not done. Doom only kicks in if they take more than 24h at a time off from working towards completing the task.
Rerororororororororo
I love dogfighting
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I like the nazi ideology in this chapter, instead of wasting a couple of paragraphs that could be cut out you organically include it in the story by tying it into something that's happening. I hope you continue doing this because the nazi stats 101 with the goons section contributes nothing to the story.
demonitter
Know what you're doing yet?
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Funny, Taylor could have poked herself with the equivalent of Exalt Lore to know how her powers work better, but she got knife fighting instead.
Saltade
Verified Salty
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People keep saying Taylor is falling for the Nazi bs in this story, but is she though? I mean to some extent yes, but is she actually on her way to becoming a genuine Neo-Nazi? Or is she just getting into the mindset because when she's away from the Nazis apart from some occasional stray thoughts she then feels guilty about, she pretty consistently calls out their bullshit. I personally so far am interpreting this story as Taylor getting really into the mindset while power snitching from the Nazis and it just not being explicably spelled out because this isn't an omniscient narrator story. She's being affected by it a bit, but not as much as most here seem to think, imho.
That being said Tay-Tay, maybe take a sabbatical from the Empire for a few days? Go hug some puppies, touch some grass, kick some Nazis as not-Low Key, maybe go talk to your non-Empire friends and acquaintances more?
That being said Tay-Tay, maybe take a sabbatical from the Empire for a few days? Go hug some puppies, touch some grass, kick some Nazis as not-Low Key, maybe go talk to your non-Empire friends and acquaintances more?
R.A.G.
Well worn.
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Wonder if Taylor realizes she's accidentally subverting the E88 out from under Kaiser?
#JustExaltThings I guess
#JustExaltThings I guess
Man, can't even thinking about having a guardian angel looking out for you in Worm.
Huh, wonder if that might be useable to unfuck Noelle? Since she's entirely body image issues.
Edifier
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What's the worst that could happen?
R.A.G.
Well worn.
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In this scenario? Using your life as the lubricant.
omni001
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Just thought of another question, is there any reason Taylor can't 5 dot in everything someone who she either doesn't care or actively wants to strip of their potential?
Like say for example Emma, is there any reason Taylor couldn't turn Emma into a hyper omni-competent braindead slave doll?
Like say for example Emma, is there any reason Taylor couldn't turn Emma into a hyper omni-competent braindead slave doll?
Edifier
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Tehnically speaking they would be a hyper omni competent teenager who couldn't get better at anything, but they'd already be an expert at multiple things... so a pretty good trade... BUT then die or suffer in karmic ways if they disobeyed or betrayed Taylor.
This power, as I understand, doesn't actually enslave directly. Just puts them under a guillatine. So I suppose in a way it still does, hmm, the do or die kind.
I however am loving how the supernatural loyalty comboes with this. Aisha is forced to be loyal, which leads to her feeling safe to get powerups that on betray come with karmic justice. And if the artificial loyalty wears off, well, they're now in a bind and a deep diggidy hole they dug while brainwashed.
Earth-Destroyer
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By the rules yeah you could make someone the physical and mental peek of human potential, with the skills to do anything from open heart surgery to solving grand field unification of physics. It would put them into exp debt that would take hundreds of years to pay off thou. Even exalted would find it eats up their growth for ages, which is really not a good thing for exalted since charms are generally better. And it not so much a death sentence as you fail horribly sometime in the next month like trying to jump a roof top and fail and land of fence spike, it is bad but you can generally survive.
But writer has made it so their is a limit for this story so moot really.