AlphaMoist 1707 Share Posted June 4, 2020 T H E P R O P E R T I E S O F A M B E R Amber is the pinnacle of chaos, given form. While Mana breathes life and energy into everything it touches, Amber consumes and rots what it takes hold of. It is a highly volatile and corruptive substance, being itself corrupted mana. An unholy, evil, and unnatural substance, Amber has several different effects depending on how it is observed and interacted with in the world. These effects are present amongst both shades and non-shades alike, however, due to their mana pools being made up of the substance, shades can more easily mask its effects and build resilience against it - yet they can never truly get used to it. PHYSICAL EFFECTS When Amber is brought forth from a Shade, or otherwise interacted with in some other manner, those near it will be made aware of a foul presence which is commonly referred to as Dread. Along with this presence of dread, one may also begin to feel nauseous, anxious, or terrified. This stems from the fact that when Amber has been released from a Shade’s Amber Pool, it naturally begins to corrupt the Mana of everything that comes near it, living or nonliving. The rate of corruption is extremely minute, however, and unless willed and forced upon by the Shade themselves, the aura of dread will remain either dull or vibrant, but never debilitating. Spoiler MECHANICS When a Shade begins casting Shade Magic, a feeling of dread will begin to escape their body. “Dread” is a collective term that encompasses various symptoms. These symptoms can include: anxiety, depersonalization, depression, discomfort, fear, heart palpitations, hot flashes, impending doom, nausea, nihilism, radical shift in mood, sudden onset panic, sudden sweating, terror, tremors, or vomiting. Various factors can allude to the strength of the dread emanating off of a Shade. These factors include the amount of points remaining within their amber pool, health, how much they are suppressing themselves, mood, and tier strength. As the feeling of dread is never debilitating, unless the afflicted chooses otherwise, this is all flair, and it is up to the Shade in question to decide how they wish to rp with it. REDLINES It is required to emote the dread and/or cognitohazard effects of shade magic in either the tell emote, or the emote directly afterwards. Dread can never be debilitating, unless those affected by it so choose to rp it as debilitating. An adverse reaction to being around amber must be emoted in some fashion, either through reacting to its dread, or by reacting to the adverse cognitive effects detailed below. A shade may emote their dread being as weak or as strong as they like, so long as it is not debilitating, and so long as common sense is used. At T1, a Shadeling’s amber isn’t going to feel as bad as a Shade Father at T5, for example. COGNITIVE EFFECTS When Amber is actively viewed, be it through a Shade’s tendril or some other fashion, the viewer, Shade or not, will experience minute headaches and visual distortions, such as brief periods of visual snow, or static, so long as the Amber remains within their field of vision. Looking away or otherwise shielding one’s eyes can effectively remove such drawbacks after a few mere seconds. These effects are not debilitating at all, however, and can easily be ignored. Spoiler MECHANICS Amber, as a cognitohazard, can instill headaches and visual distortions when looked upon by a non-shade. Visual distortions are defined as visual snow, or “static.” All effects wear off the moment visual contact is lost. This is simply added flair to make it easier for players to react to the negative effects of being near shade magic, should they find reacting to dread or fear to be too difficult. REDLINES It is required to emote the dread and/or cognitohazard effects of shade magic in either the tell emote, or the emote directly afterwards. The cognitohazard is never debilitating, and it can never interrupt rp, unless the viewer wishes. It merely takes a single sentence out of an emote to acknowledge at minimum. POISONOUS EFFECTS When an item imbued with Amber is consumed, the mortal body will react negatively. Symptoms of Amber consumption can include paranoia, nervousness, dehydration, anxiety attacks, and, worst case scenario, seizures. These effects can wear off completely upon vomiting what was ingested, otherwise they fade naturally in a span of under but not more than 10 minutes, depending on how much was consumed. Spoiler MECHANICS Amber, upon ingestion, causes the body to react adversely, as if it were a dangerous substance. When Amber is ingested, a roll of 20 is made. A roll of 1 leads to a ten second seizure, which can be contained in one emote and recovered from in the same emote. 2-4 causes an anxiety attack. 5-9 leads to rampant paranoia and dehydration. 10-14 leads to mild nervousness. 15+ leads to an effect that is dependent upon what was imbued with amber. This is up to the shade player’s choosing, such as the amber within an alcoholic imbued drink causing an immediate buzz. When imbuing a consumable item with amber, such as a drink or a food product, the 15+ roll’s effects must be outlined in the item’s description, and a member of the lore team must sign off on it, as is normal practice. REDLINES It is required for the 15+ roll to be somewhat negative in scope, in such a sense that the effect cannot be beneficial. An alcoholic buzz, for example, is not necessarily harmful, but it also is in no way beneficial. The victim should be rewarded in some way for succeeding in the role, and therefore the effects shouldn’t be destructive. Potions imbued with amber can have much more effects than otherwise present with typical amber imbuement, however a MArt must be created for such. Alchemical regents imbued with amber have their alchemical properties destroyed. If a reasonable exception should be made, then a MArt should be applied for, or, alternatively, a potion app, whichever LT finds more appropriate during this lore’s reviewal. If amber in and of itself is ingested, it simply flakes away upon being detached from its source. At most, this would cause a recoil of dread and disgust. All effects obtained from consuming Amber Imbued consumables do not cause lasting harm to the consumer. All effects wear off after 10 ooc minutes. MAGICAL EFFECTS Amber, like the Mana it originates from, can be used as an alternative fuel for casting spells. These spells, however, will always come out as being corrupted, and seldomly will not function the way they were meant to. Fire Evocation could be pitch black and carry disembodied screams rather than the crackling of normal fire, Transfiguration could lead to unintended and sometimes undesirable enchantments. Spoiler MECHANICS Amber, upon being imbued into a spell rather than the use of Mana, can alter the spell's appearance and effects to an aesthetic degree. Typically, “Evocations” will become dirty in nature, such as fire becoming a dark tint of green or grey, water being black and sludgy, etcetera. Common sense should be used. With so many rewrites springing up everywhere, it’s very difficult to list every single effect possible. If you wish to have the effects of your magic listed within these mechanics, simply inform me and I will be more than happy to work something out with you. REDLINES These changes can only be aesthetic in nature, and cannot be used to give a mage any sort of advantage in combat or otherwise. A Shade requires at, bare minimum, 10 points of amber to imbue a spell with Amber. This does not use Amber Points, however. Magical Imbuement is by choice. It is not forced, with the exception above. “Amber Imbuement” is not needed in order to imbue a spell with Amber. This is because the Shade in question is not physically pushing amber into a spell. They are simply choosing to rely on their amber pool as a tool to cast rather than mana. ALCHEMICAL EFFECTS Amber imbued Aqua Vitae can be used as an alchemical reagent in order to create potions that carry a variety of effects. Spoiler Amber Vitae Signs: Aether Symbols: Dark x3, Instability x2, Chaos x2 Appearance: A dark, sludge-like material. Dark wisps leak off of its surface, and faint, ethereal whispers unable to be comprehended emanate from its presence. Location: Unable to be found naturally in nature. Harvesting: Amber Vitae is created when Corrupted Mana, also known as Amber, is imbued into Aqua Vitae, which works as a suitable binding agent that is also compatible in alchemical mixtures. Raw Effects: When consumed, a roll of 20 is made. 15+ leads to the amber within the drink expediting its alcoholic effects, leading to an immediate buzz. 10-14 causes the drinker to become anxious and nervous. 5-9 leads to rampant paranoia and dehydration. 2-4 leads to a brief anxiety attack. 1 leads to a ten second seizure, which can occur and be recovered from within the same emote. Redlines: All effects obtained from consuming Amber Vitae do not cause lasting harm to the consumer. All effects wear off after 10 ooc minutes. PHYSICAL MAKEUP GASEOUS Amber, when it first becomes physically present in the world, exists in a gaseous state. This gas is shaped by the Shade who has summoned it, and before anything can be done, the substance must be shaped and hardened to a density of flesh if one wishes to manipulate it further. Once this density is reached, the Amber may be turned into a gas once more, albeit this time, this gas may be manipulated entirely. An extremely taxing process, the gas may be condensed as any normal gas may be, and it offers the same behavior as typical gasses. Gaseous Amber is most often seen when a Shade prepares a spell. They open their Amber Pool, and in doing so, residual Amber escapes and drifts upwards into the air, if not contained within the Shade’s skin. LIQUEFIED Amber, once manifested, can take the form of an extremely viscous fluid, comparable to that of gelatin or sludge. Amber within this state can be used to transfer the Parasite’s corruptive presence into a victim’s Mana Pool, living or nonliving. Once liquified amber touches the surface of a person, animal, or object, the Parasite of Rancour will connect the Host’s Amber Pool with the victim’s Mana Pool. The Parasite will then begin to feast upon the victim’s Mana, in turn creating more Amber, which may then be left within the victim, used as a battery for another Shade, or alternatively, the casting Shade may leech the newly formed Amber in order to replenish their own reserves. This form of liquified Amber may not be manipulated, however, once solidified amber is forced to melt, it may be shaped, contorted, and controlled to the Shade’s content. This version of liquified Amber holds almost no friction. This liquified amber is the easiest to sustain when not in contact with the casting Shade, and can prove to be a reliable Alchemical Regent if mixed with a proper preservative. SOLIDIFIED Amber, once hardened, dons a flesh-like density as a starting point. Flesh-like Amber may be warped, twisted, shaped, and controlled to the heart’s content of the Shade casting it, however their aptitude at controlling the substance in this state scales with age and practice. Undoubtedly the most recognized form of manifested Amber, it is popularly shaped into limb-like appendages known as tendrils due to the sheer versatility of such a shape. Tendrils can grapple, strike, be sharpened to a point, grown, shrank, hardened to steal, softened, all without the concentration required to form and harden a proper weapon. Shades are not limited to simply forming tendrils, however, as an adept Shade will find that with enough practice and concentration, absolutely any tool they can imagine can be created using solidified Amber. Spoiler MECHANICS These sections are mostly just fluff. Amber Manipulation must follow all mechanics and redlines outlined in Amber Manipulation within the main spell list for Shade Magic. There are no exceptions. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AMBER AND SHADE A tense feeling of paranoia, anxiety, and impending doom lingers about any Shade casting magic, the source of course being Amber itself. However, descendants are not the only ones affected by the dreadful aura emanating off of such Amber. In reality, Shades are affected in much the same way as traditional descendants are: they are merely used to the presence, and have learned to live and cope with it. This is because each instance of Amber is unique to both the Parasite and the Host in much the same way one’s soul and mana pool is. While every aspect of Amber is similar where it matters, the exact properties vary from Shade to Shade, keeping those afflicted with the curse of the Parasite from being immune to other Shades’ sources of Amber. Spoiler MECHANICS Amber affects the individuals afflicted with Shadedom in the same manner it affects individuals unafflicted: Shades merely have the ability to be used to the substance in a way that allows them to cope with its existence. Redlines A Shade will always feel the adverse effects of Amber when another Shade casts near them. Lower tier Shades will feel worse around a higher tier Shade when the latter casts their Magic. Shades at the same tier will notice, however it will be rather negligible, unless flair dictates otherwise. It is not needed to acknowledge the presence of dread around other Shades with every single roleplay encounter. However, some level acknowledgement should be present every now and then, especially when younger Shades are in the presence of their elders. Everything else is mostly up to flair. Dread may be swapped with the Cognitohazard mechanic interchangeably to keep things from being repetitive, should the observer/caster so wish. GENERAL REDLINES Shades must emote either the effects of Dread or their Cognitohazard either alongside their tell, or in the emote directly afterwards. This emote must be done in quiet chat or higher, whichever makes the most sense in roleplay. Shades feel the presence of Dread or the Cognitohazard just as any other descendant does when in the presence of Amber. It is impossible for a non-Shade to become used to the presence of Amber in any way, unless the “Marking” ability has been used on them. To claim otherwise is blatant Powergaming. Everyone who has a mana pool is affected by Amber. As a disclaimer, feeling the presence of “fear” from the effects of Amber does not in any way mean that the observer is afraid of the Shade in question. It is merely an effect of the substance. It works the same way with how a drug can make you feel happy, but that doesn’t mean you are a happy individual. It’s just a side-effect, nothing more. P U R P O S E & C I T A T I O N S I simply made this to give Amber its own detailed post in regards to what it is and what it does. As a pinnacle part of Shadedom, I felt as if it deserved such attention. Most of what is written in this post is simply what has been the roleplay standard for an entire year now. I’ve also added a few mechanics to help bring more flair and roleplay to the table. For example, I’ve always thought Amber would be deserving of an alchemical role. Along with this, I’ve found that many players have a difficult time roleplaying the dread mechanic that makes up the main aesthetic that Shade has to offer. As a solution, I’ve developed the Cognitohazard mechanic. It exists so those who do not like roleplaying fear, out of inexperience or stubbornness, will still be able to react to a casting Shade appropriately. It is also extremely annoying to constantly emote dread over and over. There’s only so many ways you can reword it before becoming tired and irritated. This hopes to offer additional flavor that can assist in the prevention of repetition and still be fun, interesting, and edgy. I hope you enjoy this piece. CREDIT Writer: TheAlphaMoist Consultation: DragonofTaters, DumbeBlondeElf, Gavin, Lackless, Mordu, Squakhawk, and the Shade Community. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squakhawk 7303 Share Posted September 26, 2020 This lore has been denied. You will be sent a forum PM regarding the reasons for denial within the next 24 hours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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