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grislyintentions · 6 months

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|| HC- Diviner's Fate ||

In reference to the Glimpses into the Beyond manuscript penned by Fuxuan herself, she spares little effort in reminding/warning other diviners that any actions that imply attempts to predict Yaoshi's fate will be treated as an unforgivable felony.

Despite the considerable leniency that is offered to those who attempt to predict the fates of other Aeons (still illegal), the Ten-Lords Commission equates acts of trying to predict Yaoshi's as a crime equal to the Ten Unpardonable Sins. Diviners found guilty of said transgression will be punished strictly- provided they are still alive after committing said crime as those who have tried have all met tragic fates of their own.

Given these factors, there are two possible outcomes that befall Diviners who attempt to predict Yaoshi's fate:

Mental Collapse (Subsequent development of Acute Megalophobia)

Divination is by no means true omniscience. It is a practise of making calculations based on recorded instances of data and the Diviner's ability to map out multiple possibilities based on the movements, logic as well as thought processes from it.

As witnessed in March's story quest, the Matrix of Prescience is used by diviners to draw information from the past to predict the future by literally placing the observing person in said variable scenarios to derive accurate outcomes, albeit heightened by Fuxuan's third eye.

The Matrix actively draws the future it observes from Chaos.

So how does one even begin to calculate and predict the fate of Aeons who fill the skies like celestial bodies? A being that is incomparably huge, move according to their own Path with a transcendent mind? How does one even define chaos of such magnitude?

Both devices as well as the living mind has their limits. To withstand, hold and interpret something of this magnitude is realistically impossible to accomplish without breaking something in the process either by fragmenting of memory or mental collapse in efforts to preserve one's well being ie: amnesia, memory repressing etc.

In such a scenario, it is likely that diviners may experience a similar phenomenon. Their added ability to literally "visualise" observations may also cause the Matrix of Prescience to backfire and create a massive toll mentally. And they could thus develop an accute fear of vastness when bombarded with everything at once (fear of outer space, bodies of water, atmosphere so on so forth). TLDR: A living hellscape they cannot avoid. Resuming divination duties would be impossible with the emotional association, PTSD and trauma. ON TOP of having to be punished for committing what is essentially a crime.

Victim of Parasitism (Eventual Brain Death)

To essentially divine an Aeon's fate is to quite literally observe and visualise oneself walking down their path. While it might seem achievable at first, this places the human psyche in a very tenuous position.

They have to possess a certain level of emotional understanding in order to navigate the accurate steps. When tied with their own cultural complicated feelings towards Yaoshi, it can all form a level of cognitive dissonance and dissociation in order to process things.

With reference to how the "Aeons" in Herta's simulated universe could capture notice of the Trailblazer from his actions, why would this then be a stretch? Especially when the Luofu is a place already filled with Yaoshi's blessings, along with those who actively pay homage to their practises, it is all too easy for the Aeon to take notice of repeated engagement from a certain device.

Diviners who try to place themselves in the mindset of an all too generous Aeon will likely be further poisoning themselves with not only knowledge but also a stronger unfiltered emotional connection with Yaoshi.

With parasitic comparisons of my Yaoshi portrayal, I like to think that the diviners may suffer a similar fate to the ants who have the unfortunate displeasure of crossing the path of the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.

Once infected by the fungi, ants would often alter their behavioural patterns by searching for areas best suited for fungal growth. They then attach themselves to leaves, remaining there to their deaths from which the fungi spores grow and release from the spores in their head. This is something that has devastated multiple ant colonies.

Similarly for diviners, they will remain unawares to the facts that mara symptoms have begun to develop at an erratic rate within them. In the ensuing days to come, they may experience a radical change in ideology, compelling them to follow down Yaoshi's path or join up with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.

Those who fight to retain their own lucidity may experience the soul crushing endeavor of losing their mental faculties periodically, feeling their bodies and mind revolt against them. It is a slow, terrifying and debilitating experience that may cause them to take the only means out rather than give in to Yaoshi. Thus, also succeeding temporarily in accomplishing the Aeon's goal of relieving them from 'suffering'. They cannot escape not even in the end.

#charac: yaoshi #[a lot of people bash divination practises #but this is the very same concept present with strategising as a whole. its not omniscience. its pattern prediction and can be applied #in a lot of things not just spiritually. but in defense tactics etc too.#thats why fuxuan is placed in such a prominent position together w jingyuan during militaristic approaches]#[please take w grain of salt! i just like to think thonks and fling spaghet gbgbg]#brain injury cw #parasitism cw #suicide tw

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dumb-hat · 4 years

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Character Sheet - Evander Winsome

—————- Link to blank template!

Rules: Things in brackets are meant only as guidelines, to be erased and your answers written in place of. Things separated by | are for bolding and italicising.

Tagged by: No one! I saw this reblogged by @mooglemeet, so I went ahead and grabbed it directly from @bluespiritfire. Link to the blank template is up above! Tagging: No one specific/anyone who wants to. Feel free to tag me back so I can see it!

Name: Evander Winsome Age: 26 Pronouns: He/him Birthdate: 12th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon

~~PLACE OF ORIGIN~~ Race: Hyur From the First: Interracial heritage:

Hometown/city: Limsa Lominsa Current residence/popular haunt:Ul’dah

~~APPEARANCE~~

Favourite/commonly used clothes:

Any difficulties with magical/physical disciplines? Nothing in particular

~~RELATIONSHIPS~~ Parents/Legal Guardian/Parental Figure: mother | father | aunt and/or uncle | grandparents | adoptive | foster | mentor | family friend/godparents | other Siblings: One older brother; deceased Children: None that he knows of Romantic: single | unrequited | crushing | dating | engaged | married | divorced/separated | widow/widower | recently split | it’s complicated (I mean, not to him. To him, it makes total sense. Well, most of it does.) | other (…) Friends: Evander tends to befriend and trust people fairly easily, though it can take him a bit to really open up. Once you’ve hit that point, you’ve likely got a friend for life. Rivals/Enemies: To the best of his knowledge, he’s left these all behind somewhere or other, thanks largely to his restless need to wander. That said, there’s surely a few lurking in the past and there’s always room for more, of course!

Any special gestures of affection they have with people in their life? He’ll often make complaining noises about paying for drinks and dinner, but he’ll do it every time and would be slightly hurt if people didn’t let him.

How are they dealing with the most prominent of the above? How does it affect their in day-to-day life, if at all? Poorly, typically.

~~ODDS AND ENDS~~ Notable Weapons He doesn’t have any particular bond with any of his weapons, really. He sees them as tools, and ones that he uses only reluctantly. He sometimes enjoys tinkering with the ones he builds, but that’s more of a hobby than anything.

Notable Mounts He has various vehicles and machines he likes to fuss over and drive around, but he’s particularly fond of his SDS Fenrir.

In addition to his chocobo—a particularly stubborn beast named Doreen—he’s also fond of his battlesheep, Doctor One and a colossal crab he’s dubbed St. Barnabus.

Notable Minion/s Besides Doctor One and St. Barnabas, Evander is especially fond of various clockworks, automata, wind-ups and models that he’s put together. His favorite is a drone modeled after a Magitek bit that he’s named Valencia.

Keepsakes/Mementos

A pendant in the shape of a swan, a few too many flasks

Chronic Illnesses or Disabilities Evander lives with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I’ve written about it a few places, most notably at length here and in brief here. How do they deal with these? Depends on the day, really. This isn’t really a thing he has a name for, so it’s not a thing he can easily address. He’s got a sloppily slapped together set coping mechanisms that work about half the time, if he’s lucky. Other than that, he mostly hopes for good days full of things he can convince himself he’s interested in.

Education Level He likes it when people underestimate him, so he’s not always quick to admit to the formal Ishgardian education afforded to him by the family that took him in when he left Limsa Lominsa. He’ll often try to pass it off as eclectic, self-driven studies... Which, admittedly, also played a big part in shaping him.

Habits There’s a lot of excess in his life. He drinks too much. He eats too much. He stays up too late, too long, and then sleeps too late, too long. He’s almost always got a flask or four on his person, and he often finds that he’s picking up the dinner or drink tab wherever he goes.

Other Nothing immediately springs to mind, but I’m sure there’s like a dozen things I should put here. This thing has been sitting in my drafts for god-knows-how-long, so I’m just glad to finally get it out there.

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monstersdownthepath · 6 years

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Spiritual Spotlight: Ng, Lord of the Crossroads

True Neutral Eldest of Seasons, Secrets, and Wanderers

Domains: Knowledge, Magic, Travel, Weather Subdomains: Exploration, Seasons, Thought, Trade

The First World: Realm of the Fey, pg. 30~31

Obedience: Wear gloves, a veil, or both at all times. Wearing the items for 24 continuous hours counts as meeting the terms of the Obedience. Benefit: Gain a +4 sacred bonus on saving throws against spells and effects that damage, drain, or penalize ability scores.

Ng (which I’ve learned is pronounced “ing” like in “going” or “moving”) continues the trend of Eldest Obediences that are comically easy to perform, with his own being one of the easiest of all. Has your character crossed a pair of really nice, comfortable, magical gloves that they’d never logically take off, and they also have access to Prestidigitation? Congratulations on never failing your Obedience ever again unless forcibly stripped of your clothes. Note that you can freely switch between gloves and veil so long as one of them is still on your body at all times, so if you really need to wash your hands or hair you’ve got a way out.

There is the minor caveat in that breaking your Obedience, either through negligence or because something stopped you from wearing your uniform, costs you your bonuses and Boons for at LEAST 24 full hours rather than just until you have an hour to beg Ng for forgiveness. If you’re not Faesworn, then this loss can be painful but not debilitating... But if you ARE Faesworn, losing access to all of your class abilities for a full day can be fatal.

The bonus you get for remaining in uniform won’t allow you to keep your uniform on and unharmed, but a +4 bonus to anything that would harm or penalize your ability scores in any way is actually a LOT more amazing than it looks at first glance. For example, do you know what two extremely common conditions penalize ability scores? Fatigue and exhaustion, and thus anything that causes either condition (either by itself or as a side effect) has to get through your +4 bonus to affect you, including things like staying up all night to keep watch, marching across harsh territory, or pushing yourself beyond your normal bodily limits. Ng is a god of explorers rather than exploration itself, blessing his faithful against anything that would impact their body’s ability to carry them across the land.

As mentioned before, the Eldest do not possess the average Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel spread, and use the Feysworn Prestige Class. The Feysworn Prestige Class can be entered at level 6; if taken as early as possible, you get the Boons at character level 8, 11, and 14 instead of 12, 16, and 20. Yes I’m going to clarify this for every Eldest.

Boon 1: Pass Freely. Gain Expeditious Retreat 3/day, Invisibility 2/day, or Blink 1/day.

Right off the bat, Invisibility 2/day is useful in a generous handful of scenarios. From sneaking around enemy encampments to giving an ally a free Sneak Attack to just eavesdropping on a conversation you can’t be seen anywhere near, becoming invisible for minutes at a time is invaluable. Since spell-like abilities require no components to perform, you can even trick people into thinking you’ve escaped their clutches by false-casting Teleport while fading from view.

Blink is an incredible defensive action, as well, fading back and forth between two planes to avoid incoming attacks. Useful for people who really don’t want to be hit, though Invisibility is, in general, better for getting the drop on enemies to prevent you from being targeted at all. It really depends on what sort of character you are or what you plan to do later on in the day. Hell, even Expeditious Retreat has its uses when cast onto archers, mages, or otherwise-immobile tanks and bruisers.

Personally, I’d always lean towards Invisibility--the other two are better in specific situations, but turning invisible is good in just about every situation.

Boon 2: Planeswalker. You may cast Plane Shift 1/day as a spell-like ability.

.. Hm. Only once? That’s... A little disappointing, actually. Now don’t get me wrong--easily hopping from one plane to another at level 11, two levels before Wizards can do it, is quite the ability... But Clerics and Oracles can do it two levels before you can, and can do it three times per day when you’re finally able to cast it once. Now if your party doesn’t HAVE a Cleric or an Oracle, you run into a completely different problem with this ability in that you have no real way to quickly get out of the plane you just shifted into without some outside help.

All that being said, though, one of the biggest limiting factors of Plane Shift is that, normally, you need a special tuning fork aligned with a specific plane in order to visit that area, often requiring a quest by itself to find, steal, or create. Not so with Planeswalker, which bypasses that need completely and grants you access to any plane you’re aware of and the power to hone in on any specific locations you’ve gained the knowledge of. Know that Devils will soon be launching an invasion upon That Poor Town and its only means of salvation is divine intervention? Why not step directly up to Heaven’s Gate (or Nirvana’s doorstep, or Elysium’s cool tree gate, etc etc etc) and personally ask for assistance? What about bringing some angels to Hell for some personal justice? Er, so long as you can get past the doorman, I mean.

Or, hey, has one of your Faesworn allies died and you need to get into the First World to bargain with their Eldest for their freedom? Ng has given you the power to do that.

Still, not being able to shift back without outside assistance can be a huge limiter with this ability. Until you or your party has some means of returning to the Material Plane, one of the better uses for Planeswalker is body slamming your enemies out of reality. Unbound by the need for tuning forks or silly incantations, you’re free to send your foes to the furthest reaches of the Multiverse to any plane you desire, either stranding them without any hope of getting back or dying outright from a hostile atmosphere (or lack of atmosphere). It’s easy to mislead your foe into accepting this ability and denying them their saving throw, too, since it’s a spell-like--perhaps you lull your enemy into thinking you’re going to heal them, buff them, or harmlessly send them on their way.

Remember, though, what I said about Imprisonment in the Lost Prince’s article. because it applies to Plane Shift as well. If your target has something valuable on them, teleporting them across reality will just mean you have to undertake another questline to get them back.

Boy that was long! And we still have one more Boon to go over!

Boon 3: Home at the Crossroads. You may cast Maze 1/day as a spell-like ability. The target is transported into an extradimensional space consisting of an endless series of roads through a lonely, darkened forest. You may instead target yourself with this ability if you choose, transporting yourself and any number of willing targets within 100ft to the crossroads, where you may remain indefinitely without the need for food or drink. Any creature peacefully invited into the crossroads may leave by willing it (reappearing in the location they disappeared from, if possible), but cannot re-enter unless invited with another use of this ability.

Maze is an impressive spell to slap right onto something you don’t want to be around, locking a single enemy out of reality until they figure their way through the endless twists and turns, only to drop back into the fire once they find their way out. Locking a singular powerful foe, such as either half of the typical Caster And Bodyguard duo, while dealing with the lesser minions makes lots of fights much easier. Even without mooks in play, Maze can give the party a much-needed respite from a battle, enough time to recollect themselves, heal up, and prepare for when the target manages to get back out.

The secondary function, however, is infinitely more interesting. Having a sort of base to retreat back to if things get hairy is useful, especially since it has no natural hazards, and the only way in is to be a follower of Ng. It’s not elaborated on if you go to the same section of the crossroads with each use of this power, or if the crossroads can be altered in any way, and what happens to anything left behind in it, but I like to think that a powerful follower of Ng would be able to carve out a little hovel for themselves in this endless realm and return to it when needed. DMs not wanting to hand over a tool as powerful as an extradimensional home-away-from-home could simply say No to building a base of operations inside the crossroads, but the option for the DM to consider is there once the player reaches level 18+ and have proven themselves to be a truly powerful follower of the Lord of the Crossroads.

Much like how bopping an enemy into the Maze gives your team a bit of breathing room, so too does allowing your allies into it. Scrambling into the crossroads in order to rest, heal up, recuperate, and plan against whatever made them retreat in the first place is a viable tactic, especially since enemies won’t know that you and your party haven’t actually teleported away. Once you and your allies have finally gotten themselves together, you appear in the location you vanished from (if possible), which may potentially be right in the villain’s throne room or base of operations. Vanishing into the crossroads during a “collapsing lair” scenario is also effective, because like a normal Maze, if you really don’t want to reappear in the same spot you left, the crossroads can be exited via Plane Shift... Which you just so happen to be able to cast!

You can read more about him here.

#Spiritual Spotlight #Neutrality Notes #Pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons

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