I'm the slacker!  :)

But I'm working on mine this afternoon, I should have it posted tonight.

I'm glad to hear you're feeling at least marginally better Astraea!

No rush Taphrodel, though I'll admit that I'm very curious to see how the Messiah handles the little party dispute happening on my card.  ^-^

It's my turn at Taphrodel's index card now; I should be able to get a post up later today.

Right, okay. I think I badly misunderstood the example in the rulebook and thought it said the person who started the story set out how it ended at the same time, with the other two taking steps to explain how it got there.

Thanks for clearing that up :)

I'm not entirely certain I'm doing aspects exactly right, feel free to offer suggestions for improvements if anybody has any!  :)

I think you're in the right sort of ballpark. Aspects certainly aren't easy, and I had to run mine by the GM a few times (and 'borrow' some of their ideas) before I felt at all happy with them.

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It isn't the same as the one you've put forward so might not fit the design space or characterisation you're going for, but I saw yours and came up with:

Aspect: “Six feet of pure concentrated catastrophe”

Invoke: When wielding power without a hint of restraint or regard for the consequences; When seeking to intimidate or inspire others through a show of overwhelming force; When no-selling threats through inhuman will alone.
Compel: When others turn against you for fear or hate; When you cause meaningful collateral damage in your recklessness; When you arrogantly overstep and fall afoul of unforeseen dangers.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Thu 25 Nov 2021.

... omg, I like your version -so- much better  :D

Thankies. Obviously I'd want to check with the GM to make sure that's okay and not stepping on your Extra's toes at all, but I felt like there was more mileage in the image of a terrifying force of nature that obliterates everything in its path, all the while marking itself as something that must be dealt with and breaking things a lighter touch would have spared.

That new aspect looks good to me. I'm just confused about one thing:
I'm unfamiliar with the term "no-selling", could someone explain?

Sort of like shrugging something off.  Taking a hit but looking completely unaffected.

Wrestling term. Wrestlers have to 'sell' moves to the audience to make them look impactful as they're not actually trying to hurt each other, so to no-sell an attack is to simply not do that and make it look utterly ineffective.

It's that classic trope where anime big bads shrug off techniques that have felled previous antagonists or an implacable killer is barely slowed by being riddled full of bullets. We know that the incoming attack is supposed to be dangerous, so to see the target come out the other end all but unscathed puts across how tough/powerful/inhuman they are. Makes them look unstoppable.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Thu 25 Nov 2021.

So I confess I'm having sort of a block, coming up with a third aspect for the last chapter of Lachlann's story.  Anyone have any fun suggestions?  :)

I'm not sure where you envision taking the character yet, but from my reading you currently have aspects that describe her nature (Otherworldly), and methodology (Six Feet of Pure Concentrated Catastrophe), but maybe the last one could speak to her motivations or goals?  That could help to define her relationship with her creator's ideals or even just express more of what she thinks about the future of her crusade.

EDIT Just spinning ideas out in that direction, but if you wanted to underscore the nihilistic aspects of the Dark One something like this might work:

Angel of Absence
Invoke:  When bringing silence to the world; When stillness can win the day; When expressing her divine mandate
Compel: When her burdens overwhelm her; When the chaos of the world enrages her; When she longs for the world to be silent.

This could lead to something as simple as the argument bothering her and pushing her to offer an immediate alternative.  Take some power from Nihlia or Taphrodel herself and just keep moving.  Don't let squabbles get in the way of the big picture.  It's really up to what sort of leader you want her to be though.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:57, Fri 26 Nov 2021.

It's good to see you guys helping each other out; one of my favorite things about Fate is how it encourages collaboration like this.

I like that general idea Lachlann, it's sort of slightly tangentially aligned with how I'd been envisioning Taphrodel's fundamental motivation in my RTJ:


I'm imagining now an aspect describing her impatience to keep the party always in motion towards resolving the Big Quest, her compulsion to keep the group's focus on task and her annoyance with frivolous distractions.  I'll get something like that moving this morning.  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:06, Mon 29 Nov 2021.

Heh, I like that quite a lot.  Sort of a sulkier more teenaged-sullenness inspired version of nihilism.  I can't figure out how to phrase it in a snappy way, but the concept is quite fun.  "When I gazed into the abyss, it shrugged."  ...and maybe rolled over.

That's going to be fun given that Astraea is team "Hey maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if we failed at the whole destroy the world business..."

... yeah, that's going to be interesting.  Taphrodel is absolutely a 100% True Believer.  :)

To be honest it shouldn't be that much of an issue given that Astraea's chief virtue is loyalty. She's sworn to serve and will ultimately always cede to your will (however begrudgingly) even though she's someone whose ideals and motivations are far more attached to the evil that hates evil aspect of the Dark God than the world's demise. Deep down she expects us to fail and that she'll face a reckoning for her sins, or at least hopes for it, but that doesn't mean she'll actively go seeking that end or undermine the efforts of the power that actually gave her the strength to change the world.

Well, it would appear that we are finished with the Phase Trio. Congratulations, everyone!

I've already finished most of the prep for the first Scenario, so I should be able to get the introductory post for the game done in a few days from now. Until then, discuss as you like, ask some more questions before we begin in earnest, or simply hold tight.

We make an interesting spectrum, since Lachlann is sort of on the pragmatic side of the crusade.  As a creature that was created to exploit human foibles and weaknesses he's developed into a dedicated misanthrope over the years and really just wants all of humanity (and it's various cousins) to stop.  He'll be unfailingly devoted to the Messiah so long as he believes she can bring that silent future just a little closer.  It helps just a little that she's a powerful magical being as well.  As a former familiar/fetch/servitor spirit he's very comfortable falling into old habits and tending to a master.  The lack of direction that came of not having someone to guide him may or may not be one of the primary reasons he fell so deeply into ennui in the first place.

Since it's something I mentioned to the GM before the game started, if Taphrodel would prefer her companions to be more of a matching set Lachlann can very easily change to look like a woman.  The creature underneath is quite literally a dried up old root so the fixings don't matter to it in the slightest.

Definitely don't change your character on my account!  Neither Taphrodel nor I are particular either way.

Heh, then for the sake of not messing pronouns up too often in my writing I'll leave Lachlann as a he for now.  Glamour restructuring is still available if a roving band of dark priestesses is ever needed at some point though. ^-^

No game post quite yet, friends, but I do have a few updates to give you.

After being notified of a discrepancy and then thinking it over, I've decided to take the Drive skill and split it into two different skills - Ride and Sail. Ride is for controlling mounted steeds and animal-drawn carriages, while Sail is for helming waterborne vessels and doing other naval activities; operating airships and their like, however, is a niche specialty requiring dedicated training, and will thus require a stunt. I don't see any of you having or needing airship skills, and I'm thinking the stunt will be locked to those who are Veil-Touched anyway, so don't worry about that too much.

With this new change to skills, I'll allow you all to change what you need to in order to accommodate for it; you'll probably only need to change the word "Drive" to the word "Ride", if you even had it in the first place.

I haven't been spending all of this time doing nothing; the main thing I've been working on fleshing out before I make the first post is the lore on the first region you'll be finding yourselves in. It is mostly finished, so if any of you are interested then you can go ahead and take a look through the following link.

Dracarys Lore: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/a...ocation?preview=true

For the final note of this update, I recently remembered a story element that I was thinking of implementing to add a potential little story thread. For now, I'm calling it The Book of Demons - a codex of all of the demons that your party is looking to help, as well as their last known area of summoning/spawning and maybe a few clues for each. It's just a little thing, but it will be an object with an aspect all it's own which we'll be able to invoke and compel as we need to. Nihlia would have been holding it initially and may likely still be holding on to it for the rest of you, but she would have given it and/or will give it to Taphrodel if she ever asked/asks.

And with that, I've finally finished the prep enough to get us started! Make sure to introduce your characters - describe how they look, have them talk with each other a bit, things like that - keep in mind, though, that I'm only allowing each of you to take one (1) action, if any, before the party flotilla arrives. Gotta keep the pace going somehow, after all.