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[The Adversary]

Desert Clansfolk Mk3
[Ubiquitous]
[2 Fruit Of the Land]
The clans of the deep desert, though fractious and all but impossible to unite under a single banner, have long served as willing mercenary faces in exchange for the finer treasures of civilization. Relatively primitive themselves, the equipment of the Clansfolk varies considerably in quality, but typically consists of extremely light cloth armor, a scimitar made of whatever metal can be afforded, and a comparatively fine recurve shortbow of horn laminate along with a quiver of simple arrows of stone or glass tips. While their tactics are unrefined, revolving around fast harassment and ambushes, and they resent traditional command structures, they work well when deployed as largely self-governing units of irregular infantry.
[Trivial Difficulty, d4: 1. No Bugs]

Passage of Childhood
[Ubiquitous]
[1 Auspicious Hours]
The Passage of Childhood, while technically a rite of Sacred Lunacy, is not a transformative event. Rather, it serves as a half step towards transformation, a kindling of the more bestial spirit and a connection to the natural world. While the ability to ‘speak’ to animals is frequently overstated (most animals lack anything resembling a syntactically defined speech, and most lack the intellect to develop one) the ritual unites a child’s developing language skills with the pheromonal activity and body language of their animalistic marks. The result, while not speech (and often entirely silent) does manifest as greatly heightened communication abilities with animals of the child’s own mark.
[Trivial Difficulty, d4: 3.]
[Minor Bug, Feature]
A side effect of the Passage of Childhood is a sort of strange classism. While all members of the People of the Luna can recognize one another, the Passage grants a private method of communication to those they share mutations with. While this enhances communication, empathy, and coordination among like-mutated members, it slightly damages it in mixed units.
[Minor Bug, Complicated]
Enhancing the curse of Mad King also comes with a certain instability. Echoes of an older magic. Wilder by moonlight, the People of the Luna find themselves slipping a little further toward the beast at night, and closer still on full moons. This somewhat hampers group coordination and the use of advanced technology during those hours.

Lunacy Lichens
[Revision]
[Difficulty+6< 8 = Automatic Success]
A few intensive transformative rituals are sufficient to mutate the poisons present within the Aqueduct lichen into palatable chemicals. Already a natural filter for the water, it’s managed within the aqueduct drawing tubes instead of destroyed. While blooms of poisonous lichen still occur, their toxins are absorbed by their transformed brothers, which they have to compete against for a foothold. Differences in color allow maintenance workers to easily prune away poison growths when they occur. Owing to the spores being pulled through the drawing tubes, blooms of Lunatic Lichens do occur from time to time, but the immediate management of such blooms is far less critical.

Research Lead: There are interesting reports of side-effects within workers of the upper aqueducts, who often pull their drinking water immediately after it has been purified by the Lunatic Lichens. Universally positive, the workers report increased energy, a noted absence of internal parasites, significantly reduced rate of disease.


It is the 2nd Design, Revision, and Research Phase

[Powder Miner]

MY TIME APPROACHES (insert hyperthink here)
I know what I want to suggest once the battle comes out, too.

Edit: MY TIME HAS COME (insert vibrating hyperthink here)
So, we need a naval unit to actually make progress on the sea lane, especially since Zehlin has now done so. But... what if we don’t actually use constructed boats? We have some level of proficiency with transforming living beings, after all, and we have animal people who can better commune with animals. What if we make giant god damned turtles, with shells transformed to have an extra upwards curve for our guys to sit in and be a little less shot?

It’d be a heavy and tough and slow vessel, so there’s a tradeoff, but, c’mon, TURTLEBOTE

[The Adversary]

MY TIME APPROACHES (insert hyperthink here)
I know what I want to suggest once the battle comes out, too.

YOUR TIME IS HERE

Battle report is out too. Just realized I also need to add territory capture.

There is a lot more small stuff to do here than I realized.

[Powder Miner]

Turtles of Taratan
The city of Taratan, along the coast where the desert stops being so much of a desert, has always been in something of an odd position in relation to the rest of Alikai. The coasts are a moderate population center (not a large one because the Mossdeep is not a hospitable land) with allegiance to Alikai for most of history since the days of the long-dead desert empire, and Taratan and the surrounding coast are populated with the same animal-tinged people as the rest of Alikai, but the lack of experience with a desert lifestyle meant that the people of Taratan often found themselves in something of a marginal, mind-your-own-business role.

Advances in Sacred Lunacy and the stumbling attempts to expand in the sea have rather changed this dynamic. Lunatic Mages (that is, mages skilled in Lunacy, not mages that are also insane, mostly) in Taratan have experimented with transforming the sea turtles often found around the area into vessels much more fit for the Mossteeth than wooden craft. This has, simply, involved a transformation that makes them a hell of a lot bigger. They are hardly turned into battleships or any such thing (in fact, the turtles are only enlarged to the point of being a small craft capable of holding a handful of people), but that's still a fair increase from turtles around four feet long. The turtles are a slow vessel under normal circumstances (although sea turtles are capable of bursts of greater speed), but one that is eminently tough, the hard shell being damn difficult to pierce and resilient to the Mossteeth, and are surprisingly adroit in the rough waters of the Mossteeth, especially as some Taratanians possess qualities of sea turtles and can commune with them thanks to the Passage of Childhood. Additionally, being turtles and all, they're technically amphibious, although with their size this really only means that they can land on coasts and clamber off of obstacles in the Mossteeth.

A light steel scaffolding is fitted around the edges of the turtle's shell, taking advantage of the shape in order to not be hammered into the shell but simply built around it. The scaffolding essentially consists of a pair of simple horizontal rings above the rim of the shell, helping the "sailors" on top of the turtles avoid slipping off in rainstorms and to hang on to the outside or quickly climb up when needed.

TURTLEBOTE
I replaced the extra bit of shell with a scaffolding because transforming the shell in an odd way would have just added additional difficulty and taken on water.

Adversary, is just making shit b i g g e r a viable usage of Sacred Lunacy?

The Turtle Captains

In addition to transforming turtles into seacraft, the Lunatic Mages of Taratan have focused their efforts on creating the ideal "sailors" to man them.

As the coast of Taratan has sea turtles as frequent visitors, when the original rituals that transformed the people of Alikai came, many of those in the city and around the more rural villages of the coast beyond it manifested qualities of the turtles that live there. Thanks to the Passage of Childhood, they can communicate with turtles, and so they were the immediate pick for work concurrent with the work on turning the turtles themselves into seacraft. In this case, this means that volunteer sailors from the city, many eager to finally prove their worth to wider Alikai, were selected to undergo rites of Sacred Lunacy and bring their turtle elements to the fore.

The result is a people with broader chests ensconced in shells of turtles, with scales across their limbs and up to their cheeks. They have no ability to retract into those shells, as their bodies are still largely humanoid, but the end result still makes them quite a bit tougher. Their shells are capable of withstanding arrows from all but the strongest of bows, and though their scales aren't capable of quite that feat, they may possibly deflect more glancing blows (say, blows that would bounce but poison from a totally hypothetical poisoned blow). This does mean that the Turtle Captains are actually rather slow, and they're really not suited for land combat, where they do not appear at all, (sailing with a large, heavy shell and tromping around with one are entirely different things), but they are at least quite specialized for the sea. They're able to commune especially well with fellow turtles, are often already experienced sailors in the trouble of the Mossdeep, and can swim well as well as hold their breath and submerge for longer periods of time.

They're also given very mundane bows, since if fired upon it would really be preferable for our sailors to be able to fight back.

[Happerry]

I like the turtle stuff, and we do need boats, so I'll probably support that. I kinda wish they had a boiling steam jet breath weapon though.

I also have the urge to write up a design spec for a breed of giant deep desert moths that can be tamed and ridden, but it's both 1AM and not actually urgent we get that kind of thing out this turn like I felt it was to have some form of counterpoint to our medium/heavy infantry, so I'll put that off till I wake up.

[Powder Miner]

yeeeeaahhhhhhhhhh a fellow true champion of TURTLEBOTE
(I’m not opposed to trying a breath weapon with a revision but for now I’m mostly kind of just wary of however the hell these difficulties are going to turn out)

[TricMagic]

Heritage Ritual: Passage of Adulthood

During the first full moon of someone's 16th year, a second ritual takes place. This ritual serves as the rite of passage, in which one can choose to gain greater power through their species, taking on traits from them. It serves as a rite of passage, that one comes into adulthood. After this, one may choose a profession to specialize in. While they may have learned during the time before this ritual, it is this focus that will lead to passing the Rite of Adulthood in 8 years, where they will showcase their mastery and their body and mind will be fine-tuned through the ritual involved in that profession. Those that fail are considered lesser adults, never to have a place of true power within the clan, so the time leading up to this often overlaps with the Passage itself.

Turtles of Taratan: (1) TricMagic
The Turtle Captains: ()
Heritage Ritual: Passage of Adulthood: (1) TricMagic

Turtle Captains for next turn, though the Turtlebote very much fits. After this passage, any transformations taking on traits should be very easy.

Other vote would be a hardy flyer, or fixing the aqueducts.

[The Adversary]

Adversary, is just making shit b i g g e r a viable usage of Sacred Lunacy?

Other changes might go along with it from bugs, but yes. Dire versions of animals absolutely fits the lunacy magics.

[chaotick21]

I think that eventually we should try and develop full transformations for our army.
If we were able to get a unit to fully transform into half-human half-beast creatures could help give us the upper hand. We should also try and research something to secure the Shifting Isles.

[TricMagic]

I think that eventually we should try and develop full transformations for our army.
If we were able to get a unit to fully transform into half-human half-beast creatures could help give us the upper hand. We should also try and research something to secure the Shifting Isles.

Hello~ Adulthood will likely allow us to do that next turn if we wish, though we'd have more luck just developing individual transformation groups.

As for the isles, Dire Turtles this turn.

[chaotick21]

Hello~ Adulthood will likely allow us to do that next turn if we wish, though we'd have more luck just developing individual transformation groups.

As for the isles, Dire Turtles this turn.

+1 for Dire Turtles

[TricMagic]

Turtles of Taratan: (1) TricMagic, Chaoskl21
The Turtle Captains: ()
Heritage Ritual: Passage of Adulthood: (1) TricMagic

Added.

[Powder Miner]

Turtles of Taratan: (3) TricMagic, Chaoskl21, Powder Miner
The Turtle Captains: (1) Powder Miner
Heritage Ritual: Passage of Adulthood: (1) TricMagic

If we’re starting our votes, I’m going FULL TURTLE but would rather wait for a different third design since I find passage of adulthood not to quite be specific enough. I’d be interested in fixing bugs on the Alikai to make ‘em suck less in the shitty breaking mountains, maybe.

[TricMagic]

I mean, the point is to apply to everyone to make them overall stronger. While completing the trifecta of holy lunacy buffs, making the Turtle Capitans and any other such designs almost guaranteed to succeed if drawing from a single animal, with far less chance of bugs.

[Powder Miner]

The Passage of Adulthood as written, though, represents a transformation itself rather than a buff on later transformation like the People of Luna design turned out to have.