Southpaw OOC

[MetroMagic]

Thanks, DW!

To help CaraVela fill her role I put a lot of resources focused on skills/info monkey, and a lot less into broad-based caster or melee combat. I’ve been saying “no weapons” and she really doesn’t carry any, not even a dagger. If someone threatened her on the street, she’d run, not fight (but not out of fear), unless someone else was in danger too. Now that she has a party, of course, things may have to be different, but she still sees herself more as support, so that’s where I went.

I don’t know if we’re supposed to know much at this stage… but maybe CaraVela has heard something.

I figure she must be in frequent contact with sailing captains and other travelers about maps for them, and them checking map related info for her in return, maybe selling the maps or maybe it’s a free government service provided by the Observatory – SirP’s backstory call – kind of like the US Geological Survey. She also probably has a strong relationship with the military, making maps for them, updating with their new info, and also getting direction from them about what is classified and only appears on maps for the military. Anywhere with the highly organized military we seem to have probably treats maps as military intelligence.

So if there’s news anywhere, I guess CaraVela has a chance of hearing it from someone official or unofficial.

Hey MM, can you make CareVela's text a little smaller, and possibly a little darker too? It's a little hard on the eyes...

Done. Went back and edited the new color into the old posts too, in case someone’s reading them.

Smaller – standard text size – and a more visible, crisper color too. At least to my eyes. What do you think?

[FireInTheSky]

I’ve been saying “no weapons” and she really doesn’t carry any, not even a dagger.

Actually, neither does Lord K. Well, not weapons that your average Joe on the street would recognize anyway. His spyglass is pretty dangerous... 

[MetroMagic]

Lord K?

He’s just carrying  an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back  a neuralyzer  an Omega 13  a spyglass.

[FireInTheSky]

Lord K?

He’s just carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator/neuralyzer/Omega 13, disguised as a spyglass.

Fixed that for you.

[DragoonWraith]

Hey MM, can you make CareVela's text a little smaller, and possibly a little darker too? It's a little hard on the eyes...

Done. Went back and edited the new color into the old posts too, in case someone’s reading them.

Smaller – standard text size – and a more visible, crisper color too. At least to my eyes. What do you think?

Muuuch better. My eyes thank you.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

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Though i kind of went into it while describing his scales under the arcane sight thing, let it be formally stated that he is expressing both Emerald Dragon and Silver dragon ideals. Thus his bardic knowledge.

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Interesting! It’s possible that the Magus, with his sensitivities, might sense the Incarnum Dragon ideal upon CaraVela… just a Wyrmling, though. And she speaks the tongue, or so she said. And she was friendly to him, made a point of talking to him. Possibly an odd set of facts for him to file away about his new companion.

Thiiiiiis is interesting! I knew I should've taken incarnum dragon, lol. Once he finds out, he's actually going to shit a brick. Yeah, he already likes that she speaks draconic, and he's obviously a dragon-supremacist, so the fact you can express ideals (even lightly) will impress him, putting you at a higher level than the "commoners."

[MetroMagic]

Yes, definitely interesting!!!!

In fact I’m thinking that he must kind of know this already… or at least suspects it.

Here’s my thinking. See what you think.

The Magus is very well versed himself in Draconic Ideals. Even if he doesn’t have Knowledge (Draconic Ideals), he would have a serious Circumstance bonus to a check that involves Draconic Ideals, so his +17(+23) Knowledge Arcana turns into a.. what? +25 or +27? …putting his average roll into the mid-upper 30s, and a good roll into the 40s.

What can he notice immediately? CaraVela is clearly expressing something about Incarnum, to his practiced eye for the arcane: She has the telltale blue haze in her eyes, as well as azure blue boots and an azure blue hairband… he probably can tell on sight that she has two Chakras active and with a good roll, may  be able to tell they are bound.

So, this immediately can suggest the Incarnum Dragon ideal to him, which the Magus probably knows from his studies does pretty much what he is seeing, from the Wyrmling level on up –even if he doesn’t express that specific Ideal himself. Right now, anyway.

Does she seem like she has studied or expresses draconic philosophy, which is the essence of an Ideal and a source of power? Well, she thinks deeply, takes a long view, is principled, is respectful, is practical, is focused on her purposes rather than what others think of her. She does not show the frailty of what the Magus thinks are “lesser creatures” despite her very practical acquiescence to the “weak child” comment, and in fact he saw her put herself in harm’s way to shield Lord K, the actions of someone quite confident in their capabilities and toughness – without even a dagger showing, or any armament (though he may be able to see she has a protective force spell in operation).

And does she show any signs of draconic manifesting? Well, while she does look elf-like, there is something wrong about her shape on a closer look, around shoulders and seat… could there be a suggestion of wings and a tail underneath the clothes? If so, she is covering them very well, but he of all people knows what that cover-up might look like… And she flies already, seems very natural about it.

Finally, what about draconic aura? She has a powerful aura! It’s not the traditional fear aura, though not all dragons generate fear either, but it is very strong, there was no mistaking its impact when she came into the room.

And she speaks Draconic. So… I suggest that the Magus may already have marked her as someone expressing a Draconic Ideal, or at least as someone quite possibly expressing a Draconic Ideal, and therefore most likely the Incarnum Dragon ideal.

For CaraVela’s part, she is not as versed in Draconic Ideals lore as the Magus is, but she has studied it, knows enough to practice it, and can’t have missed the Ideals he is expressing; he wears them on the outside. And he could see the scales fascinated her. (Literally. CuteShiny Things Lover, fascinated by shiny creatures. It’s a Flaw. But it fits her reaction to him perfectly  :-)

So it makes sense to me that they both have a pretty good idea about each other, or at least a guess, at a minimum - even at this beginning point there are things that are fairly plain to see about each other, for someone trained in the ways they have trained.

What do you think? If we agree on these perceptions, I’ll keep that in mind as we go forward… instant mutual respect, a common bond... something along those lines, at least from CaraVela’s side.

[MetroMagic]

Hey DW!

This interplay with CaraVela and Liltar is very entertaining. It sure seemed just like Liltar to wrap CaraVela with an area Silence, a fairly hilarious development, and it seemed to me to be just like CaraVela to react not with anger, but with an apology.

I hadn’t planned on bringing out CaraVela’s telepathy until later in the scenario, but it was an easy answer to solve the situation, so why not – suddenly it was a good time for the reveal.

I notice that Liltar didn’t cast the Silence ON CaraVela, but just on the area around her, which was less like an attack, and more like social commentary

[DragoonWraith]

She would have cast it on CaraVela but didn't want to risk CaraVela succeeding on the saving throw. She obviously didn't count on CaraVela's telepathy.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Metro, this is awesome.

Yes, he has a racial perfection idealism, with dragons being the top of the chain. This isn't necessarily a by-product of the class or subsystem, but from his own upbringing and small village. Think of it as a less-lethal Jonestown thing, very religio-cult. You would actually be an interesting case to him; as a practitioner of ideals, you strive towards perfection, and indicates you are of a superior mind. However, since you are not traditionally educated in these ideals, over time, he would become more priestly and mentoring  towards you, perhaps condescending but with the intention of helping steer you towards the correct path of dragon-purity. If they meshed, he might try and suggest you take the dragonborn ritual, sort of like pushing a baptism on you, to try and fully convert you, heheh.

He would be absolutely thrilled with the idea of you projecting an aura; if there is a dragon themed class, someone in his jonestown has levels in it (his family are more "traditionalist" idealists, and consider themselves upper echelon, but an aura just means you're unique and still closer to being perfect).

I wouldn't worry too much about whether he figures out you're an idealist; he definitely can hit a 30 knowledge to check it, and even if he doesn't it wouldn't take him long to tell. Finding out wont be hard or long (heh, juvenile), it's a matter of time, and he'd be more surprised that he doesn't already know you or your family.

This is good, and I cant wait to pick this up and run with it!

[MetroMagic]

Awesome, yes!

I get where this is a cult for the Magus, a path to perfection, and a practice of his community. For CaraVela, its attraction has been more like a way to connect to something beyond herself, and to connect to other creatures in a way that gains her acceptability to their society of practitioners – especially a society that values creatures who are good of heart, and is open enough to take anyone who comes willing to learn. She in turn will be very open to mentoring, and would even welcome his condescension with some relief, as a sign that the Magus considers himself superior to her – a situation that CaraVela values because it is much less likely he would come to feel threatened by her.

Another reason CaraVela has been experimenting with Dragon Ideals is because she isn’t completely sure she is not some kind of dragon herself. It’s going to take more learning to figure this out, so the mentoring will be perfect from that perspective too.

As to his surprise that the Magus doesn’t know her family already… it would be even more surprising if he did; she would be completely astonished at that, and both of them may be beyond astonished if they ever learn the truth of it. I can foresee an entertaining conversation in their future about that topic, if he brings it up.

About taking the Dragonborn Ritual – out of consideration for SirP, I wouldn’t want to make him crazier than already with figuring out how CaraVela’s racial mix can work together. Also, her situation may fall into the ‘abuse exception’ about Dragonborn, mostly because so many of her racial characteristics arise from monster class levels rather than initial innate abilities. Even so, I think she might lose Telepathy, and therefore Mindsight, which would be a drastic change – like going blind. And lastly, at least at this point it doesn’t feel right for her; CaraVela has a destiny which includes growing up to be what she is. But it’s still an interesting plot aspect, so don’t hesitate to encourage her to do it, regardless of whether CaraVela actually would, or not.

Taking the step from Wyrmling to Juvenile is a definite possibility I had already considered in her relatively near future, so maybe CaraVela’s association with the Magus will be what tips her choices in that direction! I have an idea about how she can try it on for size, see how it fits, and decide for sure after experimenting with it, so… she might very well let herself get talked into that. Or even try on some other Ideals, maybe even one of his. I don’t know what the Magus would make of her experimenting with several, or how he would counsel her choices. All in all, being around the Magus could get REALLY interesting for both mentor and pupil!

[MetroMagic]

Flay (and all) –

I probably should say a little more about CaraVela’s psychological makeup, because it’s so alien to certain expectations that a lot of creatures have.

CaraVela would react to the Magus’ condescension, and has reacted to Liltar’s attitude, the way CaraVela has, largely because CaraVela has no ego; instead she has other drivers that are important to her. Ego is simply not a component of her makeup. Though CaraVela does take satisfaction in something that she has accomplished well, which is akin to pride, she has no self-pride. Similarly, competitiveness is not a component of CaraVela’s makeup; she is well aware of the feeling from observing it in other creatures, but competitiveness is not a motivation for her – it’s a feeling that is simply absent. At the more extreme end, the same with a combative attitude: She is not passive; she simply is not combative – the feeling is absent.

Both of these aspects, ego and competitiveness – or the lack of them – arise mainly from the fact that CaraVela and her kind have not had environmental competition for survival bred into them for generations. On the contrary, for at least one parent in every generation, the parent who carries the dominant racial characteristic, it is irrelevant. CaraVela and her kind do not need to compete for resources to survive, such as food, water, shelter, or even air.

Instead, what CaraVela needs for survival in society is acceptance, not resources, and so acceptance is her primary motivation and drives what she seeks when she is around other creatures. Her internal engineering promotes this; a very similar driver is the source of the strong Aura she projects that has the Charm effect. It’s a Magical enhancement that her kind has developed as part of their makeup to gain friends in a Multiverse that is hostile – though ironically, the Aura has worked out to be a significant contributor to the hostility, in their long history.

These are all reasons why CaraVela is conflict-averse, turns away from it unless it is forced on her, and tries to plan in ways that avoid it. By race and role she is much more interested in the safe arrival of her friends who are along for the journey with her in the accomplishment of their task, and chooses flight over fight when she can, but protects them unhesitatingly when she must.

After acceptance for survival, second and third drivers, in either order, are travel to soak up information. While other types of creatures may have such interests too, for CaraVela they are strongly racial as characteristics and take precedence over what might be more pressing needs for those other creatures. Mature specimens of her kind carry libraries with them, and seek to attract and test the best and strongest as friends and allies to partner with them and learn from them. This aspect certainly sets her up as a very willing pupil to the Magus, and CaraVela certainly will have a lot of opportunities on this adventure from everyone here.

You can see these drivers in operation in CaraVela’s reaction to the task set by Singorn. Her first concern was about how to achieve acceptance in the city and society that is our destination, and immediately after, her next thought was about flying over it to learn about it.

CaraVela is a really interesting role-playing exercise. I hope this contributed to understanding her better.

[DragoonWraith]

For what it's worth, Liltar's kind has no need for food, shelter, and so on either. Their response to this was the opposite, however: they mostly avoid others, even others of their kind, since they need not band together for survival or safety and death by violence at the hands of others is the most likely way for one of her kind to die.

Liltar is somewhat unusual for having such a strong purpose as she does. For most of her kind, their purpose is at best inscrutable, if we generously assume they have one at all, even to themselves.

[MetroMagic]

DW – Thanks for the contrast, and the insights into Liltar.

It led me into realizing at least one thing they have in common, and a couple of other things about the contrast, and how Liltar and CaraVela took different paths. No wonder they’re having a hard time understanding each other.

For CaraVela too, death by violence at the hands of others is the most likely way for one of her kind to die, and she has had to flee places over and over to avoid it. But while Liltar’s very logical response is to avoid others, CaraVela has the opposite reaction and has never thought even to question it, illogical as it may be; she keeps coming back for more because – and here’s a key difference – creatures of her kind want company by nature. They are programmed by nature to attract other creatures to them and try to keep them as travelling companions if they can; that’s one of the main purposes of the strong Charm aura – CaraVela's kind are created that way, with a Charm aura to attract others and at the same time provide some safety insurance while doing so. But Charm doesn’t always work, and usually not indefinitely, and causes its own problems, so… eventually she has to move on. But she travels long distances by nature too, so there is a balance of purposes where she is satisfying one need of her kind, or another.

One other contrast I noticed: I gather that Liltar has interactions with her kind, with some society among them even if the interactions are infrequent and the society is best kept at a distance. CaraVela’s kind virtually never meet each other, therefore finding themselves seemingly unique in the Multiverse, but eventually realize that so many other creatures’ recognition and fear of them, by deep racial memory in world after world, must have a basis in fact that implies there are others of her kind to inspire those deep memories. There aren’t more than a few hundred to a few thousand of her kind in the Multiverse at any one time, dispersed at creation at random across the infinite Prime Planes, an infinite number of which are infinite themselves. So the likelihood of two of them meeting is infinitesimally small.

In D&D, infinitesimally small always equals 100%, a Murphy’s Rule variant, so who knows how this all will play out.

[Darkone]

Aw shucks, you all are gonna make Johnathan feel normal for a change!

More seriously, I suppose Johnathan is a bit screwed in the head in the typical way. He's condescending and holier-than-thou due to upbringing; it's not even "you are all inferior," but "I am superior." A subtle difference, but an important one. His genealogy for generations has been a multi-faceted eugenics program of sorts. Informed of it, he'd look upon racial purity/superiority with derision - both naive and informed at the same time. After all, he probably has some of ____ blood in him, anchored down by magic tattoos to prevent it from magically becoming dominant, despite the low percentage.

Celia is an inhuman, thaumo-engineered war machine grafted together with a human identity (namely, one of Johnathan's more storied ancestors). That basically explains most of it. She knows she's weird, and enjoys freaking people out by being weird and hamming it up.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

So we're a whole bunch of purebred superior assholes firmly wedged up our own butts? Might as well call ourselves the justice leage and have done with it.

[MetroMagic]

So we're a whole bunch of purebred superior assholes firmly wedged up our own butts? Might as well call ourselves the justice leage and have done with it.

Yes!

It's perfect! Just as in the original: JLA.

Justice League of Amantanea.

[MetroMagic]

SirP-

FITS and I had a side conversation: Lord Kensington told the chief Astronomer that he and CaraVela have something to do for Lord Singorn that will take them far away for an extended period of time. From this it was clear that Lord Kensington couldn’t say what the mission is, otherwise he would have told the chief Astronomer. Since LK and CV don’t know how high or far the air goes, on the other side of the curtain, they are bringing along the Observatory’s distance flying support equipment. The three of us said there was some, when we worked out their roles before, but now FITS and I are going to identify exactly what the equipment is, with your input, suggestions, and OK. The spoiler has some initial ideas that FITS and I talked about, as a starter list.

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Lord Kensington: items so that he doesn’t need to breathe, eat, sleep. Necklace of Adaptation?

CaraVela: items to increase her base flying speed, and multiply it.

Both: Protection against being hit be very fast flying space junk – Wings of Cover devices?

Both, or just Lord Kensington: items for gathering, preserving, and storing samples