Amyra:Chapter 2

Chancel_Amyra


For Bonds, please reference the Wiki, although certain things may have changed since this Chapter was originally played. Simply click on the link of the Noble and you'll find Bonds, Codes and Dante's recipe for shiskabob! (Okay, so not that one..)

OOC

"Two-Fisted Tales of Academic Mathematics”

[lazarus] ...
[lazarus] (20:31:11) lazarus: I wonder where RN and BethL are?
[lazarus] RN, I've inherited your Power of Summoning
[Random_Nerd] We're just that good.
[Random_Nerd] Wait, dang, I've got the Summonable limit!
[Random_Nerd] Curses!
[Random_Nerd] Well, at least I'll get MPs.
[Etheric] You either have that or Perfect Timing.
[Random_Nerd] Could be.

[Random_Nerd] By the way, lazarus, how much have you thought about Brian's approach to mathematics?
[lazarus] And ... haven't thought about that yet - likely a tool to describe things
[Random_Nerd] Is he a platonist or a formalist, do you know?
[lazarus] a what or a what? He's a physicist, if that helps...
[Etheric] Remind me what formalism is? I know Platonism, that's the belief that mathematical reality has its own independent existence...
[Random_Nerd] Yeah. Formalism has mathematics as just a formal grammar for modelling purposes.
[Random_Nerd] It's a way of talking about things, rather than a study of things that have actual existence.
[lazarus] Definitely formalism
[Random_Nerd] So numbers don't actually strictly exist, but are useful ways of thinking about things?
[lazarus] Err... yeah, kinda
[Random_Nerd] Like, for example, does "2+2=4" mean that there are things called "two" and "four" that are no less real than a table or a chair, and that are in a particular relationship?
[Random_Nerd] Or is it a statement that when you bring these things and those things together, and you count them, you'll have that many things?
[lazarus] Both, actually
[Random_Nerd] Okay. So numbers are useful, but also have real existence?
[lazarus] Mythically, they're real
[Random_Nerd] Mythically?
[Random_Nerd] It would help with the approach to the attack on his estate if I knew, so could you tell me when you decide whether he thinks numbers are actually in existence?

• James flies off to deal with gangs....
  

[Random_Nerd] (VBH/James will sit out this session, and we'll take it as given that his character will be dealing with Lesson's project.)

[Etheric] While we're still waiting on Knockwood, I'm somewhat worried about something.
[Hollyhock] What?
[Etheric] We haven't seen much play from the Demanding Imperator property. And soon we may have the points to buy it off. I'd prefer to get at least some roleplaying opportunities out of this. I mean, if we're not somewhat stretched, with that property, something's wrong, in my view.
[Hollyhock] Well, I've been having him be somewhat demanding, but not at full strength yet.
[Hollyhock] Don't you worry, he'll be plenty demanding in the future.
[Etheric] How long do you expect that Property to last, though? We've already got, what, nine DPs?
[Hollyhock] For the first storyline, he was being deliberately rather "hands off" in that he wanted to see what approaches the PCs themselves tended towards.
[Hollyhock] Okay, Kudzu will be more demanding in the future.
[Etheric] Did I just violate Rule Zero? ^^;

• Theresa pats Etheric on the back. Probably, but we usually do it sometime...
  

[Theresa] Let's see, the approches we tend towards are to overtalk and plan everything and then anchor a demon? [G]
[Hollyhock] *grin*
[Etheric] Something like that, Beth.
[Knockwood] Let's see, I barge ahead, you guys dither...
[Hollyhock] (Oh, and by the way, some Imperator qualities, like the Corrupt Cult, won't be ones you can buy off without actually doing something about them in character.)

[lazarus] I oughta disappear, actually. Big storm.
[Hollyhock] Well, let's start now, and if Brian keels over we'll just say it was the stress of the Flower Rite incapacitating him?
[Theresa] Alas, poor Brian...I knew him, HollyhockGod...a Noble of infinite numbers and finite jesture...
[Hollyhock] Oh, and by the way, the page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_mathematics is a decent overview of philosophy of mathematics.
[Brian] Crap, this is not a cool storm. I should shut down.
[Brian] Sorry, folks.
[Hollyhock] Okay. Want to try to do the game without Laz, everyone?
[Theresa] I'm okay with it.
[DanteE] How are we going to find what's bothering Brian without Brian?
[Hollyhock] It's fine, lazarus, we don't expect you to control the weather, and it's sensible not to risk damaging computer equipment.
[Hollyhock] It will be... trickier.

• Hollyhock ponders.
  

[Hollyhock] Now, what sorts of questions do folks have?
[Random_Nerd] Anyone have stuff to discuss, questions to ask, demonic summonings to enact?
[Knockwood] How do my Bonds look?
[Etheric] Yeah, I could use some comments on Carrie's Bonds myself.
[Random_Nerd] Okay. Just a moment, let me look them over.
[Theresa] Why would I need to summon demons when you're already here?
[Random_Nerd] (Oh, and I've decided that the title of the next storyline will be "Two-Fisted Tales of Academic Mathematics," by the way.)
[Knockwood] (By Jove! Smashing title for our little amusements!)
[Random_Nerd] Is that eternal life for humans individually or collectively, Etheric?
[Knockwood] and how are you playing the overlap between 1 and 2?
[Random_Nerd] You mean 1 and 3?
[Random_Nerd] Oh, 1 and 2 can overlap too.
[Random_Nerd] Good eye.

• BethL ponders her bonds. Let's see, her Domain, the Chancel, her Family...uhh...
  

[BethL] Maybe chocolate. I can see a bond to chocolate.
[Knockwood] There's 19 points, what'll you do with the 1 remaining?
[Random_Nerd] You can keep a few points in reserve if you want.
[Knockwood] Or do what they do in the book, save a few for 'HG's Discretion'
[Etheric] I was thinking the second Bond would encompass both. Mostly the collective dream of immortality, as per the Code of the Light. But partly each individual's hope to live forever, be it as spirit or in the flesh.
[Knockwood] Ah, but 2's part of 1, isn't it?
[Random_Nerd] Okay, so will that place her at odds with the Dark, then?
[Etheric] Well, yes. She's a power of the Light; she's almost automatically at odds.
[Random_Nerd] The basic code of the Light itself, which deals with humanity as collective, doesn't conflict as much with the Dark's Code.
[Random_Nerd] The Light focuses on all humanity. The Dark is all about individuals.
[Random_Nerd] So, for example, if "Humanity destroyed itself, except for a few toys" and the "toys" were around forever... the Light would win, argubly.
[Random_Nerd] And if, on the other hand, humanity was always around, but each particular human ended up killing himself sooner or later, that would be a pretty good scenario for the Dark.
[Etheric] Ah, I see what you mean. Well, techincally her bond is to hope. Not to reality, but to potential and aspiration. So as long as each individual had the potential to survive throughout his or her life, and hoped to survive even to the very end, the Bond is intact.
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. Interesting.
[Random_Nerd] By the way, Beth, Knock, what do your PCs think about the Light/Dark conflict?
[Etheric] When I find the inspiration to write up my Miracles I'll be spelling out my view of the Estate of Hope a bit more clearly.
[BethL] *ponders*
[Random_Nerd] I know Knock's Light, but I wonder about his view on these things.
[Random_Nerd] (Err, Dante's light.)
[Knockwood] Yeah, my own code is more flexible. ]:]
[BethL] Well, Theresa's Serpent Code, so she might be a bit of "Let the humans sort it out." But I can see good and bad points for both sides.
[BethL] Yay for individualness but boo for destruction of everyone. Yay for beauty and truth and humans being around, but boo for 'well, it's okay if massive amounts of humans die, more where that came from’.
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. You know, each Code seems to have a particular item that gets in the way more often than others.
[Random_Nerd] Like the Gift line for the Wyld, or the "What must be done should be done cleanly" for the Light.

• BethL grumbles about Respect Life...I shoulda taken Plant Life...
  

[Knockwood] I'm thinking, there are some times where a little 'pruning' is needed...
[Random_Nerd] (Hmm. Y'know, I'd argue that the Light has probably killed far more humans than the Dark, over the history of the world.)
[BethL] (Duh, Flood.)
[Random_Nerd] (Besides. By the philosophy of the Dark, murder is wrong. That's not an intrinsic part of the Light philosophy.)
[BethL] So the Dark likes suicides but not murderers, while the Light can like serial killers. Huh.
[Etheric] As far as the overlap goes, think of it this way. Two is part of One, but it's a small part of it. There are three points invested in that small part, *plus* what's invested in it as part of the collective aspirations and potentials of humanity. So, if something oblitarated all Hope from humankind, both Bonds would be threatened.
[Random_Nerd] So, two is a particularly emotionally important part of one.
[Random_Nerd] Gotcha.
[Knockwood] Etheric: that would mean an attack specifically on the Hope of Immortality would be an 8-point threat to you
[Random_Nerd] But it would be a nonspecific threat to the first Bond.
[Random_Nerd] There are different levels of "personalness" to Nettle Rites.
[Knockwood] Yeah, but they're both Hope. Since Carrie is Hope, that's very personal no matter what.
[Random_Nerd] The Bonds look okay to me, Etheric.
[Etheric] Well, this is how I see it:
[Etheric] The first Bond will only be in jeopardy if something happens to damage most hope throughout humankind. For example, an economic disaster.
[Etheric] The second bond can be in jeopardy from circumstances far less broad than that.
[Random_Nerd] Or weirder stuff, this being Nobilis.
[Knockwood] Sounds fragile, the first one.
[Etheric] Fragile?
[Knockwood] Well, depends on the scope of the disaster needed. You could argue we're in one now IRL.
[Random_Nerd] I'd disagree, for game purposes, that this counts.
[Etheric] I said disaster, not slowdown.
[Random_Nerd] Like, either World War would seem to count, but not the Iraq one.
[Etheric] As far as the Sanctiny of the Estate of Hope, that was almost an afterthought. I noticed when I was done that I didn't have a "Sanctity of her Estate" bond, so I shifted some points around.
[Random_Nerd] But on the other hand, if the Power of Insects made mosquitoes drink hope as well as blood, that would be an attack.
[Etheric] Very true.

[Random_Nerd] Now, I have a question for you all...
[Random_Nerd] What sort of stories would you like to see in the future of the game?
[BethL] A Day in the Life of Lesson? ^^ A Nobles get-together. Hmmm...
[Etheric] I'd like the divine spark of humanity to play into the game quite strongly. My hope for Carrie is that she eventually helps make Humanity Imperial as it was always meant to be, before the Fall at Eden.
[Etheric] Of course, she doesn't even know what happened in Eden yet...
[Random_Nerd] *nod*
[Etheric] Or what the Light is. Other than a bright nudging in her head.
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. Would you like the Dionyl to play into that some too?
[Etheric] Hmm, that might be interesting.
[Random_Nerd] They're relevant to that, because they were a proto-humanity, and it seems that they had a Fall of their own.
[Random_Nerd] Given that they too produced two factions of humanity, Splintering and Domination.
[Random_Nerd] Also, they've been mentioned in passing, as some of Lesson's past victims.
[Etheric] Thoughts on what you want the game to involve, people? Come on -- don't let me be the only one to put in input!
[Random_Nerd] What view of Justice does Dante have?
[Knockwood] you could argue that Justice is right in tune with the code of the Light... more rules 3 and 2 than 1
[Etheric] Very true, but it's not an intrinsic part, more a tool.
[Random_Nerd] It's more directly connected to the Code of Heaven, but there's emotional synergy with the Light.
[Random_Nerd] But it's been demonstrated that the Light will violate justice under some circumstances, at least.
[Etheric] My Imperator in my first game was a Magister of the Light with the Estate of Honor, among others.
[Etheric] But she wasn't Honorable as an Imperator property.
[Etheric] The way I reconciled that in my own mind was that she saw honor as a tool to protect humanity, no more and no less.
[Random_Nerd] Interesting.
[Etheric] I played the Power of Discovery in that game... Very fun before I had to pull out due to time.
[Knockwood] As for stories...
[Knockwood] Let's see, a constant flow of Exs would get old quick...
[Random_Nerd] Oh, and which do all of you like more, the cosmic scope stuff in Nobilis, or the personal stuff?
[BethL] I think I lean more toward the personal but I also like the cosmic.
[Etheric] Personal as in what exactly? Interactions with other Nobles and mortals?
[Random_Nerd] *nod*
[BethL] I'd like to meet a Serpent.
[Knockwood] In some ways we're still figuring out what we can do and where we fit in in the overall scheme of things.
[Random_Nerd] As in, say, "My cousin Jim has cancer" vs "OMGWTF! Excrucians are eating the Sun!"
[Etheric] I'd say I'm the inverse of Beth. I like the cosmic scope stuff best, but the personal realm is also fun to explore.
[Random_Nerd] (Well, heck, in Nobilis even Earth-scale stuff isn't the highest level.)

[Random_Nerd] Any types of story you don't want to see? "Lucifer runs around poking people in the eye," say, or "Lesson's heart-warming experience with ownership of a puppy?"
[BethL] o.O Does he eat the puppy?
[Random_Nerd] That's not heart-warming!
[BethL] His heart's a plant, it doesn't warm anyhow!
[BethL] I don’t want to meet Entropy. No thank you. I'd never get the blood out of the carpet.

• Knockwood agrees with Beth.
  

[Knockwood] Heh... how comfortable would people be with meeting Lucifer? Or Jehovah?
[Random_Nerd] Jehovah isn't in the setting, per say.
[Random_Nerd] There's talk of Cneph, but he's awol.
[Etheric] Well, Yahweh could be a True God if you wanted to open that whole can of worms.
[Etheric] ._. Not that I advocate opening it.
[Random_Nerd] This make sense, of course, because god-scale games that have a Creator who isn't gnostically absent pretty much have to deal with solving the Problem of Evil and such.
[BethL] I'd be okay with meeting Lucifer. He's probably a flash bastard like in Sandman.
[Etheric] Yes, meeting Lucifer might be a fun part of the setting.
[Random_Nerd] I'd prefer to avoid bringing in God, just because it would make it too tempting to dive into paradoxes and stuff that people not as interested in philosophy of religion as myself would swiftly grow bored with.

• Random_Nerd ponders the differences between Lucifer and Entropy.
  

[Knockwood] (Did I ever mention that setting I put together, "By Lucifer's Halo"?)
[Random_Nerd] (I don't believe so.)
[Etheric] I don't think so, Knock.
[Knockwood] It was based on that old thread "RPGNet Create-a-Setting: God is Insane"
[Knockwood] Basic premise was, Lucifer left because he saw it coming... he's actually the bastion of resistance to the insane God, and therefore "good". Maybe.
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. I think that these days Lucifer as heroic rebel is actually more overdone than Lucifer as someone who actually had it coming.
[Etheric] What do you guys think about the whole Hell as the True Creation thing?
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. It's tough to disprove. Certain arguments in its favor, such as the place of the roots of the Ash, exist.
[Random_Nerd] I've not taken a point of view on which of the various Origins of the Ash is true, for the purposes of the game.
[Knockwood] Well, back to the old view: if you play Lucifer as a "necessary evil".
[Knockwood] He could be any personality you want... world-weary, smug, stoic, whatever.
[Random_Nerd] In an Augustinian "felix culpa" sense, you mean?
[Knockwood] RN: huhwah?
[BethL] Cat's fault?
[Random_Nerd] Uh... that the Fall (either of Lucifer or of humanity) was a culpable error that will nevertheless have a net positive or neutral result.
[Random_Nerd] From the Latin for "Happy fault."
[Random_Nerd] [[--- Philosophy major.
[Random_Nerd] (As if you didn't guess that.)

[Random_Nerd] Hmm. What would Lesson be like, if he had the power of a god?
[BethL] He'd have a better fedora.
[Random_Nerd] Fair enough.

[Knockwood] Anyhoo... well, for this game, Lucifer's personality is yours to determine.
[Random_Nerd] What do you guys prefer.
[Knockwood] (And it's a wee bit odd that Lucifer is seen as a more welcome addition to the game than Entropy, Lord of Creation...)
[Random_Nerd] (I've been using certain Satanic language to refer to Entropy, by the way. In this game, it's Entropy and not Lucifer who's the Prince Of This World, for example.)
[BethL] (Screw Entropy. He's scary. )
[Random_Nerd] (And Lucifer isn't?)
[BethL] (Err, actually don’t screw him. Think of what the children would look like.)
[BethL] (Lucifer has Deluges for Anchors. But still, I am... distracted from his evil?)
[Etheric] Lucifer, I think, is preferable to Entropy in that he's less immediately dangerous. Sure, he would plunge all of Creation into corruption if he could. But he's subtle about it. He keeps himself pure as a tool to better serve the cause of uncovering and fostering corruption.
[Random_Nerd] It's important to remember that, for Lucifer, corruption is a goal.

• Etheric nods.
  

[Random_Nerd] For Entropy, it's just a byproduct.
[Etheric] Right. He tries to mitigate it when he can, but he can't do so directly.
[Etheric] Entropy's goal would seem to be power.
[Etheric] Though his private vendetta against Love might give the lie to that.
[Random_Nerd] So, say... Entropy is the guy with bad BO, but Lucifer is the guy who takes your desk apart and fills the legs with rotting skunk parts and then puts it back together.
[Etheric] Hmm, good analogy.
[Knockwood] Ah, so you're playing him as an active force for corruption...
[Random_Nerd] He wrote the Code of Hell, after all.
[Random_Nerd] Corruption is the Highest Principle, and all that jazz.
[Knockwood] Rather than, say, a necessary byproduct of Creation?
[Knockwood] Hey, the bad guys have to go somewhere.
[Etheric] Well, he does follow the Code of Hell. Presumably he believes that corruption is beatiful and not the other way around.
[Random_Nerd] He sees corruption and suffering as ends in themselves.
[Random_Nerd] Entropy sees them as means to accomplish his goals.
[Random_Nerd] But on the other hand, Lucifer is more of an idealist than Entropy.
[Etheric] Indeed...
[Random_Nerd] Either way, I'm not inviting either one of them to my dinner parties.
[Etheric] *laughs* Might be fun to do just that in-game though.
[Random_Nerd] I bet that would be awkward.
[Random_Nerd] They'd both be trying to out Prince-Of-Evil each other, while everyone else rolled their eyes.

[Knockwood] AHEM... anyway, you were asking about stories.
[Etheric] Have you all thought of the implications of a Dim Warding?
[Random_Nerd] Some. Probably not all.
[Etheric] It says that our Imperator has taken some of his power away from the war, to empower his Nobles to fight shards.
[Random_Nerd] That will end up relevant soon, of course, with the Rite against Numbers.
[Random_Nerd] I haven't decided, yet, why Kudzu chose to do that.
[Random_Nerd] He's got a weird personality, and it's interesting to wrap my brain into a Kudzu mold.
[Etheric] Indeed... My current speculation is, might he become wounded in the future? Possibly Failing?
[Etheric] Failing, together with a Great Harvest, would be interesting.
[Knockwood] Hm... so we could sneak up on Ex Anchors?
[BethL] *ponders*
[Etheric] I don't advocate that now, but it's something to consider.
[Random_Nerd] Kudzu does, I think, have an interesting backstory with the Excrucians.
[Random_Nerd] I haven't decided all of it yet. But there's stuff he's not told you.
[Etheric] Indeed. Sounds fun.
[Random_Nerd] He's been awfully cagy on the topic of the Scruchies, hardly mentioning them to the PCs at all, and giving very little information on how to deal with them. This isn't just a random thing.
[Knockwood] What do the rest of you think of a good old-fashioned Mystery?
[Etheric] That could be fun.
[Random_Nerd] Tricky, for Nobilis. I'd need some advance preparation for one that doesn't end up either easy or impossible.
[Random_Nerd] But I can put one together if you want.
[BethL] I'd go for a mystery. And I want my Maple tree answers, darn it. :P
[Knockwood] well, the real trick with those is that you either have to give us ALL the info and rely on our OOC brains, or else resolve everything IC, which pulls some of the fun
[Random_Nerd] Oh, you'll find out more on the Tree soon enough.
[BethL] If I could draw, I would draw a chibiTheresa clutching a plushy Maple tree and looking soulfully at you.
[Random_Nerd] It might be useful to consider the fact that it was apparantly deliberately hidden from Kudzu, but not from his Nobles, and the possible reasons for that.
[BethL] Because we're that cool?
[Random_Nerd] Possibly.

[Etheric] Hmm. Any thoughts on that relating to the Cammorae's presence in the Chancel when it was formed? Might they have been investigating the Maple?
[Random_Nerd] They might!
[Knockwood] Actually,that's a good point...
[Random_Nerd] Heck, maybe their organization was responsible for putting it there.
[BethL] Stupid extra flowers in the briefcase that won't talk to me...
[Knockwood] Is there anything else about our situation that we're missing?
[Random_Nerd] Another thing to ponder is what the tree has to do with why the Diplomacy Grove is a good place to meet people.
[Random_Nerd] How do you mean, Knock? Which situation?
[Knockwood] In general.
[Knockwood] Fr'ex: anything else deliberately hidden from Kudzu, that we can see?
[Random_Nerd] Well, nothing huge that immediately comes to mind.
[Random_Nerd] And you're well on your way to tracking down the dead pigeon, for example.
[Knockwood] When we look over Kaerkoven from the tower (with or without The Sight), any weird areas, black marks, odd lights & sounds?
[Random_Nerd] Hmm! Interesting question.
[Random_Nerd] Looking at what areas in particular?
[Knockwood] Has the Amyran government stabilized, met, come up with an action plan?
[BethL] I always wondered how Chancel folk kept surviving. Not every place would have enough food to grow or stuff like that for everyone. Or is that one of those handwaving stuff, don't worry about it things.
[Random_Nerd] The government is trying to figure out what to do, currently. They know there's a connection between the "plague" and what has happened. But they don't know the details.
[Random_Nerd] Carrie's father is involved in the research on that aspect of it, but he's been asked to provide an alternate explanation.
[Knockwood] Well, I mentioned some time back how Prester John's Letter mentioned that his place was rich in gems...
[Random_Nerd] Yeah, Amyra is pretty well-to-do.
[Knockwood] Which you said could be how you had a 'first world' country on the Horn of Africa
[Random_Nerd] Good material resources, but doing a better job than many African countries of using them properly.
[Knockwood] Which could be a problem if they were using their gems to buy food...
[Random_Nerd] Like Israel in the Middle East, but more so, and without the constant struggles with other nations.
[Knockwood] Of course, you could argue that the gems were an integral part of old Amyra, so now they're a big part of Locus Amyra...
[Knockwood] Heck, they grow buildings now.
[Random_Nerd] Oh, and you know the Magical Inhabitants that you guys wanted but haven't seen yet in character?
[Knockwood] Maybe there are certain gem lodes that can yield 'mana'.
[Random_Nerd] I think I may tie them in to the various "weird freak-people in Foreign Parts" legends from the Middle Ages.
[Knockwood] There we go... maybe a story in which we just explore Kaerkoven and Amyra
[Random_Nerd] Could be. That sounds interesting.
[BethL] If there is more than one topaz mine...

[Random_Nerd] Oh, and what do you think of the recent Lesson-and-the-gangs stuff?
[Knockwood] Ah, that reminds me: thnk I went too far dealing with the gang-banger?
[Random_Nerd] Define "too far"?
[Knockwood] Threatening to rip his face off & mail it to his mother postage-due, for instance.
[Random_Nerd] Well, it seems within the range of what Dante might do.
[Random_Nerd] He's rather on the impulsive side.
[BethL] I liked how he's pushing the boundaries. But I don't think he'll get what he's really wanting.
[Etheric] It's creepy in just the right way, I think. Serves to remind us of the fire we're playing with.
[Random_Nerd] Oh, Lesson isn't nearly as capable as he thinks.
[Random_Nerd] The only humans he's used to dealing with are prisoners in Hell.
[Random_Nerd] The psychology of humans is something he has a very uneven and tilted view of.
[Knockwood] "Next on Locus Amyra: The Re-Education of a Demon, or, Lesson's Lessons"
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. Any of you familiar with Watchmen?
[Random_Nerd] I've decided to base certain aspects of post-Anchoring Lesson's psychology on Rorschach.
[Etheric] I'm not familiar. Is that a comic book?
[Random_Nerd] Well, it was.
[Knockwood] Before or after that little girl?
[Random_Nerd] Some aspects of both. Not all of it, but just the "I have a selfless and perhaps arguly noble purpose, and I don't compromise my principles on that, but I don't really have any scruples other than that" side of things.
[Knockwood] So we have to deal with the practical applications of "never compromise. Not even in the face of armageddon"
[Random_Nerd] Yep. That's part of the Wild, of course.
[Random_Nerd] Freedom, in the sense it means, is ultimately a matter of being true to yourself and letting the world go hang if it doesn't agree.
[Random_Nerd] (Ozymandias, interestingly, is an excellent example of the Light's philosophy.)
[Random_Nerd] Basically... what superhero stuff would be like if it had the philosophy of Unknown Armies or Pulp Fiction rather than of the pulps.
[Knockwood] Well, there were only 2 people in the Watchmen universe with any real’super powers', and one died before the story started.
[Random_Nerd] Two? I can only think of one.
[Random_Nerd] Oh, wait, that one guy, that was involved in that plan thing?
[Random_Nerd] That the other guy used to make his thing?
[BethL] And he had another thing?
[Random_Nerd] Hey, I'm keeping it vague so as not to spoil in case you do want to read it.

[Knockwood] So, what have we got so far? Let's see, story-wise...we want to explore Amyra.
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. People are interested in a mystery, a "week in the life of Amyra" story, and something with Lucifer.
[Random_Nerd] And nobody really wants much Entropy.
[Knockwood] We want Entropy far, far away.
[Etheric] Sounds about right.
[BethL] Sounds like some good places to start.
[Etheric] I'd also like a story revolving around the divine spark in humanity, in the long term.
[Random_Nerd] Hmm. I may have Entropy's relationship to the general society of Imperators be about like LBJ's view on Hoover.
[Knockwood] hm... I'd heard a little about JFK's, but what was LBJ's?
[Random_Nerd] "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in."

[Knockwood] What are you guys doing with your shiny new Char Point?
[Etheric] I'm saving it up so that I can eventually purchase Realm 2.
[BethL] I'm not sure what to do with mine. Some Realm might be nice, since I have none.
[Knockwood] Oh... think I should have more Flaws?
[Knockwood] Er, in-game ones?
[Random_Nerd] Only if you want 'em.
[Random_Nerd] The way I see flaws, if you get them you're saying "Screw with me in this manner," just like how getting Immortality means that you're saying "Don't make the game involve my PC getting hurt."
[Etheric] RN, if I could redo things I would have taken Realm 2 and Aspect 0 to begin with. But, I'm unsure whether it'd be worth changing things now if we didn't get the Chancel Points from the higher Realm.
[Random_Nerd] What would you want to do with the Chancel Points?
[Etheric] Not sure, I'd want to talk about it with everyone.
[Etheric] A Mana Mine is my first thought, but other things are possible.
[Random_Nerd] But if any of you want to change your character in relatively minor ways, I'm willing to make it as if the PC had always been that way, as long as it makes narrative sense.
[Random_Nerd] After all, now you've had more time to see how the character's abilities work in practice, which can change one's ideas about such things.
[Etheric] Right.
[Knockwood] Let's see... no Allia or Banes, right?
[Random_Nerd] None at the moment.
[BethL] I was thinking about a border guard.
[Knockwood] Well, I thought the Maple could be an Allia
[Random_Nerd] Maybe it is! Or a Bane!
[Random_Nerd] Or perhaps a source of delicious syrup!
[BethL] It has GM-silenceshrugs. It might be a Bane.
[Etheric] The only problem with borderguard, Beth, is that if you want it to be effective that's a *lot* of points.

Beth


Chancel_Amyra