(An early-morning discussion section about the first problem set of the quarter seems a bit of a silly reason to wake up early.)
Malakath: The Burning Days say their unflinching, uncompromising devotion to the protection of sapients is their specialty. They offer no comment on their abilities, say they are unaligned but against those who harm sapients or allow their creations to do so, and seek only to remove godly harm to sapients completely. They warn that reports from gods about undesirable behavior are likely to be ignored for the biases of the gods.
"Request for three blood oaths, only monetary punishment on the second, limited punishment by choral torture for the third, no soul fries."
"I own a tower and would like to know if non-exclusive service to you provides any insurance at all against property damage."
"Why is that strange mural moving? Oh god! Is it painted in blood? What is that strange little man doing with that knife?"
(Darruth: -7E)
Darruth: Darruth has created Runic magic but restricted access to it to permitted practioners.
Melyssa: Those who love to cook have been instructed to worship KI'Tork as well.
Fortuna: "Fine. I'll make some game about Melyssan architecture and giant reptiles."
"Does the luck have to be good luck?"
With divine luck, many gamble there and are pleased. Soon, a gambling house and inn of similar design named the Golden Grebe opens next door. It boasts of having a very large bath. The Mare of Vice is rapidly in decline and has been forced to shift its payout balance to compensate, losing many in the process.
Neron:
The previously limbless, starving Rani has begun traveling to the nearest temple to thank you.
The fledgling has been adopted by a somewhat poor writer couple.
"Merry Neronmas!"
"Happy Future Great Ice Age!"
Malakath and Fusil:
Shinjo cannot turn into Soul Weapons at the moment. [RETAINS]
10 MALAKATH: Hey there! Would you two like to become closer and more powerful than you'd have ever thought possible? You do? Well too bad. Fusil says no because I came up with the idea first.
20 FUSIL: (whispered) She is a creepy pervert who wants you to do soooooo many weird things. You don't even want to know what she meant by 'closer', and her meaning of 'powerful' taints the minds of children if spoken out loud near them. Back away slowly and carefully, the local police force can do nothing against her.
30 MALAKATH: (blocks 20)
40 MALAKATH: (The warrior and the Shinjo receive a vision. In the vision is the same warrior and the Shinjo who is visibly different but only slightly. In the vision, they work in perfect harmony with each other, cutting down their enemies with ease unlike anything they are capable of now.)
50 MALAKATH: (blocks /blocks 40/) -> (blocks 60)
55 MALAKATH: (blocks /alters 40/) -> (blocks 70)
60 FUSIL: (blocks 40)
70 FUSIL: (alters 40) Instead, they see Malakath standing there and staring at them, creepily.
80 RANDOM WARRIOR: You want me to kill my WIFE for no gain!? No wonder Fusil hates you so much!
85 SHINJO: You want me to objectify MYSELF!? Can you hear what you're saying?
90 MALAKATH: (backs 50 with requisite E) -> (backs 50 with 3E)
100 MALAKATH: (backs 55 with requisite E) -> (backs 55 with 3E)
110 MALAKATH: I don't know what you've just seen but it is most certainly not the truth if it showed your wife dying. Conversion to a Soul Weapon merely tightens the bond between you two, making the both of you more powerful. It's rather different from standard Soul Weapon creation and evolution. It also comes with the added bonus of you going to the same afterlife if one of you reincarnates and the other doesn't. Nobody dies, nobody gets negatively altered, and she can still take a Human form. Actually, the upgrade will allow her to take any medium-sized humanoid form. The only difference here is that he won't be able to produce another Soul Weapon. You can still have children, though.
120 MALAKATH: (backs 110 with requisite E) -> (backs 110 with 3E)
130 MALAKATH: (attempts to block other input pre-emptively)
Output:
(Malakath: -9E)
(This was a
very merciful make-it-cheaper opposition overriding cost. Appeals to reduce it further aren't likely to be accepted despite the general irrelevance of this whole subsubplot.)
Shinjo: "What pleasant entertainment. You two argue like an old married couple. Why don't you go bother each other instead?"
Random Warrior: "Also, no one I know with Soul Weapons can have any romance with them[1]. No deal."
Part of 80.03 was that ALL gods must contribute to the proposal. If this is not already a part of the proposal, then Abstain.
Oppose 80.05.3
The evil person proceeds to pound and kick a neighbor's door in the middle of the night. Fortuitously, there was an unnoticed fire inside which the neighbors slept through until the knocking roused the entire family. The family thanks the evil person greatly.
Nice use of the butterfly effect. I wonder why it was a secret action, though.
Most mortals who do want to triple their lifespan would rather use "natural" methods. Interestingly, many of them mention that a certain other god would probably subvert the tripling by adding the time seconds before death or something similarly awful. Malakath has reached the quota for Keshan and Slytha, but the Mumans, Gruen, and Armu on Muma leave something to be desired. For the Mumans, old age is seen as a luxury reserved for those wealthy enough to avoid mine duty.
How about this: the more you age, the faster you do (once adulthood is reached). That way, they get to enjoy the best part of their lives as much as they can while they suffer the worst parts for as little as possible.
What quota?
Obviously, this is just another case of the entrenched bourgeoisie oppressing and exploiting the working class proletariat. This calls for a revolution! I officially abolish mining in that area and allow the common man to try their old masters in whatever way they see fit.
"I'd like to ask permission before I do, but is it ok with you if were to create some weapon spirits? I'm thinking about making one for myself and maybe some for my angel priests. Since weapon spirits are kind of your thing I'm just trying to make sure I'm not crossing a line here."
"I do not care what you create, if it is based off my design or no."
Well alrighty then.
I create the Soul Item - a manifestation of a branched soul. These Soul Items come in two flavours - Soul Weapons and Soul Protectors.
[#spoiler=Soul Weapons]After a person becomes proficient in the use of a weapon or several weapons, his soul will branch out and create a new soul. This soul will remain attached to the person and will be tightly bound to it through its life and its death. The person will manifest this soul as the weapon that they can be the most skilled with (determined by a combination of fate, genes, and other what-nots) regardless of whatever weapon they've become proficient with.
The weapons that these Weapons can manifest as are unique in appearance to any other weapon (small cosmetic stuff like colour, engravings, and small variations in shape, usually). The only thing they are limited by is technology level and this is where it gets a bit interesting.
If a person can be most skilled with a musket but muskets haven't been invented yet, then the Weapon will turn into the weapon its user can be second most skilled in. This could be something similar in size and application like a crossbow or it could be entirely different like a spear. Once muskets become invented, though, the Weapon will take the form of the musket and remain that way forever. If the technology for the invention of muskets is there but they just haven't been invented, the user will begin having visions and dreams related to it. Weakly at first but as time goes on these visions become stronger and stronger and are meant to compel the user to invent the weapon themselves. Usually, though, the weapon would simply be invented before the user's visions become clear enough to adapt to real life.
There are a few differences between Shinjo and Soul Weapons. The easiest way to differentiate the two is to imagine the Shinjo as seeds that a person makes grow by caring for them until they have matured into trees. A Soul Weapon is like a tree whose trunk has split into two parts that tightly twirl around each other. While Shinjo are basically Human souls, Soul Weapons have their own unique souls. Finally, Soul Weapons are sexless, can only manifest as weapons, do not form any kind of romantic attraction, and do not reproduce.
When a user has no need for the Soul Weapon, it can simply unmanifest it and it'll be absorbed back into the user's body. The user can freely manifest and unmanifest its Soul Weapon at will.
In some cases, the weapon a user can be most skilled at isn't a singular weapon but rather dual weapons or possibly even tri weapons, quad weapons, or more! (Depends from race to race and person to person. For a Human, it's usually dual at most but for an Armu that number would probably be higher.) In such a case, the Soul Weapon will branch into more souls, all just as sapient as the last. The number of Soul Weapons attached to a user cannot be higher than the amount of Weapons his best weapon requires. The variation of how powerful these dual weapons are is just as high as those for singular weapons.
While the raw power of a Soul Weapon is dependent on the user's devotion to Fusil, the refined power and the ability to communicate with the Weapon increases based on devotion to Malakath as these two attributes are dependent on soul-soul connection rather than weapon-user connection. Thus, devotion to Fusil will increase a weapon's sharpness or projectile velocity or whatnot while devotion to Malakath allows for greater weapon handling, aiming, and the possibility of communication with the Weapon. In the latter case, its entirely possible that the Weapon could end up training its user on how best to use it. Devotion to either or both of these entities - as well as the user's dependence on weapons in general - covers the cost of creation of these beings.
Soul Weapons are always mundane and can only be mundane.[#/spoiler]
[#spoiler=Soul Protectors]To balance it out (YOU'RE WELCOME, KLI), Soul Protectors are made as well with similar rules but devotion is based on Malakath and Darruth rather than Malakath and Fusil and that relies on the user being proficient on defensive things like shields and armour. These beings instead take the form of armour and shields. instead of dual-wielding, the Protector can instead manifest freely as a shield (or two) and/or armour. That's right - AND/OR. It can simultaneously be armour and a connected shield. Thus, these beings are always singular. There is never more than one Soul Protector per user.
Unlike Soul Weapons, Soul Protectors are not forced to adhere to the "best" they could possibly be. They can change material composition (bronze, iron, kevlar, etc.), structural composition (plate, scale, chain, etc.), and coverage.
Technology is still an issue. If kevlar hasn't been invented yet or smiths don't know how to make good plate armour, the Protector will not be able to access these materials and types of armour. Other than the rules covered in the above paragraph, technology rules function the same as Soul Weapons.
Each Protector is unique and is thus cosmetically unique. This is reflected in preferred style, colour, and engraving.
Devotion to Darruth increases the maximum amount of area the Protector can cover (never more than 100% protection to the user), the strength of the material (material type still matters, though), and the weight of the Protector's manifestation(s). Devotion to Darruth increases the speed at which the armour changes in terms of both material and structural composition, and the ability to move in the armour with more devotion meaning less hindrance, as well as the usual communication between Soul Protector and user.
Soul Protectors are always mundane and can only be mundane.[#/spoiler]
(I'm rather sleepy so if there are any design flaws just let me know and I'll correct them.)
Quéßäre v. Azem
58.05: Quéßäre sues Azem for cursing everyone's economies. (3-0) [PASSED]
+3 (Convict) from Quéßäre, Azem, Yaos
94.00: Put Azem in a funny hat as punishment (2-0)
+2 from Fusil, Cim
-1 from Malakath
94.01: Have Azem spend 3E to improve the economies affected most and issue a public apology (1-0)
+1 from Malakath
94.02: 94.00 and 94.01 at once (1-0)
+2 from Fusil, Malakath
91.00: Make magic a Council-protected force (1-1) [IMMINENT DEATH, EXTEND TO T95]
+1 from Malakath
-1 from Fusil
94.03: Votes toward punishing a convict may not come from the convict (1-1)
+1 from Malakath
-1 from Fusil
94.03: Votes toward punishing a convict may not come from the convict (1-1)
+1 from Malakath
-1 from Fusil