[CA + Feat Addition] Vampire Aging

[The King Of The Moon 5412]

FOREWORD

All boons and banes listed are inherent to charactfers with the Silit Creature Application or Corcitoră Feat Application respectively. They are not 'taught spells' nor optional burdens. 

The following addition would be added under Physical Description of silit lore after the Appearance, Feeding, and Blood Loss sections. The corcitura addition would be added to corcitura lore under Explanation after the Feeding section. 

 

The vast majority of this piece revolves around the quirks of pre-existing features in siliti and corcitori lore, which are essential to an understanding of what this addition means to change. Both are linked in the 'citations' section below. I would urge any unfamiliar with the aforementioned to read such before continuing on with this submission, as this piece offers only a very surface level explanation of how relevant abilities, physical traits and weaknesses already function in both pieces.

SILITI

Age

    As genus is life, raw and potent, so too does it mature. Marrows are the grandest expression of this power and in their intangible roiling they grow with the time, distinguishing vampires between the likes of fledglings and formidable elders. As a silit feeds they rejuvenate and strengthen their ethereal bodies, their maturity lending to strengths developing. They are measured in weeks since the posting of the CA.

 

All boons and banes will be retained in perpetuity from the tier they were acquired onwards. For instance, all boons and banes gained at Tier 2 will still apply to siliti of Tier 5.

 

Spoiler

Tier 1 - Creature Application Acceptance

No changes.

 

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Tier 2 - 8 OOC weeks

Boons:
-Each narrative hour timeframe for a silit’s aversion to sunlight (1 through 6 hour distinctions) are doubled (2 through 12 instead), their marrows minorly accustomed to its agitation.
-The silit can stomach food and drink, though it remains repulsive and flavourless and still cannot be fully digested. Food must be regurgitated within a narrative hour (up from 10 narrative minutes) or normal regurgitation mechanics apply.

 

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Tier 3 - 16 OOC weeks

Boons:
-The cooldown of Metamorphosis (Major) is reduced to 6 OOC hours (down from 12).
-The silit can use Rite of Restraints on two animals (up from one). All normal RP and combat rules apply.
-Claws and teeth created with Metamorphosis (Minor) can be made as hard as ferrum with an additional emote, capable of slashing through materials no stronger than hardened leather. This is equivalent to a mortal wielding knives. This would disrupt the resonant flow of an oscillit silit in the same manner. 

 

Banes:
-Whilst Starved the silit has a translucent reflection. Whilst Withered they have no reflection at all. This is easily perceivable both to the silit as well as any onlooker, albeit only when the reflection is clear upon a flat, undistorted surface. For instance, a silit's translucent reflection would be easily visible upon a clean mirror or a large and well lit body of water, but could not be discerned on the likes of a puddle or smaller liquid surface, window, metal armament, armour piece or jewellery no matter how polished.
-Whilst Starved a silit’s darkvision is hindered by daylight, drastically limiting their range of vision to 64 blocks [minecraft render distance 4]. Whilst Withered this is further reduced to 32 blocks [minecraft render distance 2]. Unless at night, in overcast weather, underground, or indoors a silit in these states becomes totally blind to anything beyond the aforementioned distances, obscured from their perspective by painfully bright sunlight.

 

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Tier 4 - 32 OOC weeks

Boons:
-Rite of Restraints’ preparation emote count of bloodshot eyes is lowered by one (down to 1 emote, lowering the usually 6 emote total process of enthrallment down to 5).
-[Noncombat Boon] The silit’s Weightlessness ability is extended beyond a silit’s physical form, able to reach out to its surroundings and telekinetically manipulate up to 2 objects within 1 block that that add up to a total weight no heavier than 25kg. This ability cannot be used during combat. 

 

Banes:
-Prey animals that have not been enthralled will grow uneasy around the silit while Starved and will flee from or attack them while Withered. Druids who commune with animals who saw a Withered silit learn they saw a horrifying predator animal. Predator animals or animals derived from predators (IE cats and dogs) do not have this instinctive sense. ST consultation is advised if there is any ambiguity toward which category an animal falls into.
-[Noncombat Bane] The silit can no longer emotionally connect with descendants, at most able to share a level of companionship on par with how a human might cherish a pet animal. Consequently, siliti of this tier and beyond find themselves incapable of romantic engagement with descendants. The same also applies to creatures linked with deities which oppose siliti, such as the Ascended of yore. Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, kharajyr, wonks and musin are all perceived as no more than intelligent livestock and the thought of treating one equal, personable, like family or like a lover is to the silit as repulsive and unnatural as a descendant doing so with an animal. Siliti of this tier and beyond are emotionally incapable of forming or maintaining any mutual level of familial or romantic relationships with descendants and cannot FTB with descendants.

 

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Tier 5 - 52 OOC weeks

Boons:
-The silit’s Metamorphosis (Minor) alterations includes growing a set of tattered, pathetic bat-like wings. They may drape from the silit’s arms and sides as sheets of skin and/or dark feathers or alternatively span out from the back. They may be used to float simulating the silit’s Weightlessness ability. They are meek cartilage limbs that lack limb strength and while manoeuvrable and dextrous can be cut through with ease rendering them irrelevant to combat effectiveness. Easily slashed through or ruptured by blunt force and bleeding when cut, these wings are ineffective if not detrimental to combat and cannot absorb or deflect blows in any fashion. 

-[Noncombat Boon] The silit’s Weightlessness ability is extended beyond a silit’s physical form, able to reach out to its surroundings and telekinetically manipulate up to 4 objects within 3 blocks that add up to a total weight no heavier than 25kg. This ability cannot be used during combat. 

-[Noncombat Boon] While in a Well Fed state and not touched by sunlight, the silit may utilize their Metamorphosis (Major) abilities - excluding healing - instantaneously without triggering its usual OOC cooldown. This ability cannot be used during combat. As usual with Metamorphosis (Major), a silit who is physically weakened by magic (IE unfiltered voidal poisoning) cannot utilise this ability. This may only be used indoors, underground or at night and requires the silit to be Well Fed. If used to seal bodily wounds or if a scenario shifts to combat within 10 OOC minutes of this ability being used, the usual cooldown for Metamorphosis (Major) is invoked, wasting the action.

-[Noncombat Boon] The silit’s mind is completely removed from that of the descendant they once were. Unlike many humans whose minds may in time become prone to forgetfulness and slowed cognitive functions, to the extremes of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia, the silit’s mind is on the inverse sharpened. With thought fully transplanted into their ethereal mind marrow as opposed to their physical brain, ancient vampires become capable of heightened thought akin to the bygone Cognats of old. The silit’s memory becomes selectively photographic, capable of digesting and flawlessly recalling the likes of entire libraries of written text, room layouts, sounds, smells, shapes and measurements outside of combat. These can be roused as ordinary memories or personally hallucinated as if physically there to the silit. In its most extreme case, the silit left undisturbed for long stretches of time - such as when trapped in a coffin or disembodied in the Red Nexus - may construct their own lucid dream of reality out of past experiences yet this does not prevent stirring madness from extensive coffin sentences. In addition, the silit becomes far more capable of managing their emotions with the exception of pride (see: [Noncombat Bane] T5 Mental State below). Only mundane emotions (not emotions roused by magic such as the downsides of a magic a silit practices or an emotional curse afflicted by another) may be suppressed by the silit. Sensations borne of self preservation such as pain cannot be numbed, though emotions like hatred and fear could be lessened should the silit choose. For example, the silit outgrows their fight or flight response to dragonkin; they will still regard them with the same inherent disdain and paranoia that leads all siliti to phobia or zealotry around dragonkin, though no longer feel forcefully compelled to attack them nor run from them on discovery. They retain their inherent disdain for and fear of dragonkin which cannot be overcome but they are now capable of stomaching their presence without resorting to violence or escape. With the exception of willful hallucinations out of combat, this ability has no bearing on a silit’s senses and cannot be used to heighten awareness, numb pain or sharpen reflexes. For clarity, this ability cannot provide a silit with new information they could not otherwise obtain normally; merely sharpening their retention of it. In addition, knowledge that is magically gatekept such as the caecic language could not be retained without the silit possessing the prerequesit MA; Seer, in this example.
One should note that this magical memory is selective, not passive, and thus cannot record nor apply knowledge past normal descendant capacity during combat. Enhanced memory only begins at T5, with earlier memories lost as usual. Memories will still be lost if a silit’s body is destroyed in accordance with combat rules, and the player behind the silit is solely responsible for recording information they wish to recall in detail themselves. That is to say, if a silit player were to forget something then so too would their character, and they could not demand another player or ST to remind them of that information if it is forgotten OOCly and others do not wish to share it with them. 

 

Banes:
-While Withered the silit’s will skin will painfully dry and crack until their full form eventually bursts into flames if left in direct sunlight for twelve emotes. If able to find refuge before the final emote a silit will require an equal amount of emotes out of sunlight as they had spent in sunlight to recover fully. If combusted then the silit is reduced instantaneously to ashes and must obey the same death mechanics as if they had been slain with boomsteel. 

-[Noncombat Bane] The silit has lost every trace of their descendant mind and can no longer truly empathise with mortal races. They are apathetic to mortal struggles that do not align with their own personal wants. Whilst the silit may certainly understand the social orders of descendants and the like with which they are familiar, they are never able to grow emotionally invested and integrated with mortal designs alone. That is to say, siliti who have fully settled into their mind marrow do not under any circumstance consider themselves to be a part of the Aegisian diaspora. All mortal cultures and racial groups are viewed as something they once were a part of, but can never truly return to. A silit who was born human in this regard will never again think of themselves as human, and any attempt to live amongst them ultimately is little more than a masquerade. Whilst human values and religions may still have appealing elements, siliti will always feel as outsiders who do not truly belong in these societal frameworks unless artificially supplanted at the top to fuel their own grand designs and desire to feed. Most significantly this leads many siliti to dysmorphia in their ‘original’ appearances, perceiving their descendant physique as little more than a mask which their true form - that of a monstrous gargoyle described under Metamorphoses (Minor) and (Major) - wears out of convenience. When it poses no threat to their schemes or their values (such as the Hexalogue), Tier 5 siliti will always default to their monstrous appearance as the most comfortable, expressive and natural manifestation of their own ego. When alone or in safe company they will always shed their descendant skin as their inherent understanding of beauty and health fundamentally changes to align with their beastial nature. What’s more, a silit who has reached this state is fully aware of their near-immortal nature. Mortals may be frequently underestimated by contrast, and even the most grievous of injuries - whilst still inflicting the same physical pain on a silit as an ordinary descendant - are ultimately recognised as fleeting. Elder vampires in this regard are highly arrogant creatures, deluded into a self-fulfilling notion that because they have survived this long they will, logically, live forever. On the inverse this may cause the silit to avoid other vampires of similar age or older which they perceive as equals on a fundamental level and thus potential threats. 

 

 

CORCITURI

Age

    In the likeness of their higher race, corcituri solidify in power over time and gain traits through maturity albeit paling to their kin. They are measured in weeks since the posting of the FA.

 

All boons and banes will be retained in perpetuity from the tier they were acquired onwards. For instance, all boons and banes gained at Tier 2 will still apply to corcitori of Tier 3.

 

Spoiler

Tier 1 - Feat Application Acceptance

No changes. 

 

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Tier 2 - 4 OOC weeks

Boons:
-The corcitură’s feeding timers (1 through 4 OOC week distinctions) are doubled (2 through 8 instead).
-[Noncombat Boon] Borne of their Archon, Eireamhan the Hermit, the silit bloodline trait of the corictori manifests as a means of keeping hidden in a similar fashion to their reclusive forebear. The corcitură can wield light and darkness to finely camouflage themselves outside of direct sunlight. While stealthing they move at half speed. This ability cannot be used during combat. This chameleon blending into the environment is convincing up to 2 blocks away at which point they cannot hide the curvature of their body against their background and are noticeable. Corcituri and siliti’s darkvision abilities pierce this stealth and is negated completely to them.

 

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Tier 3 - 12 OOC weeks

Boons:
-The corcitură may learn the signates of other corcituri by drinking an inconsequential amount of their blood. This only applies between corcitori and cannot be used to acquire the signate of a silit.

-The staggering effect suffered by a corcitură who drinks the blood of a silit is shortened by one emote. 

-While not currently thirsting for blood the corcitură is no longer bothered by sunlight, though some quirks remain; whilst the sun is no more immediately harmful to them than an ordinary descendant, corcitori are strangely incapable of tanning. Corcitori with light skin tones remain stagnant and incapable of adapting to higher sun exposure, resulting in more frequent sunburns than the average descendant. 

-[Noncombat Boon] Eireamhan’s bloodline trait manifests completely and in addition to previously the corcitură may turn completely invisible in darkness equivalent to shade or moonlight. That is not to say a corcitoră can chameleon against a background or become transparent and therefore completely 'invisible', but rather they are capable of darkening their forms to accurately match the low light levels of their surroundings and effectively disappear into the shadows. Unobstructed light from a torch or brighter within 8 blocks of the corcitoră will unveil them, though otherwise they remain undetectable. While stealthing they move at half speed. This ability cannot be used during combat. This darkness is convincing up to 1 block away at which point they cannot hide the curvature of their body against their background and are noticeable. Corcituri and siliti’s darkvision abilities pierce this stealth and is negated completely to them. In addition, beings that do not require light to see such as Seers (both MA and Feat) can still see corcitori clearly whilst using this ability, as can those in possession of True Sight such as Mystics and those afflicted with Vivification. Furthermore, as physical descendants with ordinary body temperatures utilising this magical ability, alchemic solutions could still be utilised in unveiling hidden corcitori.

 

Banes:
-The corcitură can no longer be cured with the exception of becoming a transformative CA that is incompatible with the feat, such as a silit.

 

 

Purpose

On Siliti
The primary underlying reason for this addition is to alter the way in which vampires conceptually perceive themselves, and in turn are perceived.

In the case of siliti this is sought not through devastating power and ability but through the far softer - and, in my opinion more interesting to RP - touch that is mental, performative and emotional expressions of monstrosity, otherworldliness, vanity and above all else inhumanity which I personally feel is criminally unexplored by many with this CA. 

When most people think 'vampires' they consider - through our modern understanding - creatures that are malicious, cunning, spiteful, and above all else evil. They can and should also come across as strong and fearsome, yes, and I believe the noncombative additions in this piece equip silit players with the means of conveying that, though ultimately combat roleplay is something which occurs so rarely and rarer still is it carried out in good faith between all parties. I am of the opinion siliti are - for the mostpart - on par with descendant characters in terms of actual lethality. Which is fine. Inconsequential, even.
The root aim of this piece isn't to alter siliti's power, therefore, but their portrayal. Whilst there can and absolutely should be distinctions between the personalities of different siliti, there are underlying aspects which - whilst I do feel we attempted to make clear in the initial 'Mental State' section of the lore - should be universal yet rarely become visible in RP. A silit is vampire; not a human, elf, dwarf or orc which just so happens to have a CA. The identity of a silit should be understood by the player behind the character (and expressed as often as possible) as that of the wicked creature that character has evolved into, not an immortal variant of the race that character once was.

That is to say, siliti are - for all intents and purposes - monsters. Creatures which require ordinary people to suffer to sustain their unnatural existence can never truly be good. They may have personal beliefs of what their morality defines as good and evil, as all characters do, but these can never realistically align with the basic emotional nor physical needs of day-to-day people. Siliti drink people's blood. Siliti outlive people. Siliti hurt people and prey on people and fundamentally are not themselves people. 

They are creatures of mystique, malice and whimsy. They are not heroic. To humans, whilst they may certainly act the part to infiltrate society, they are no more friendly than is necessary for the advancement of their schemes. Just as a farmer is no more friendly than necessary to the pig he intends to slaughter. They are not nurturing. They are not romantic. They are cold blooded, calculated parasites. It is for all these reasons and more that this addition means to place much harsher social restrictions on silit characters. It is also for these same reasons that more intense, folklore-rooted weaknesses have been brought to light (no pun intended) to urge silit characters into the inevitable frictions all should feel amongst descendant societies unwilling to tolerate their kind. 

The silit CA was added back in 2020. In a few months it'll have been three years since it was accepted, and in that time so far thirty-four siliti have been (and many continue to be) played. We hope this number will only continue to grow, and we are very pleased with that figure when compared with other dark arts groups. Though numbers alone aren't everything. We hope this piece is well received and not simply misread as a list of new spells to powercreep our CA, but rather as a box of tools (mostly to the encumbrance of characters which are expressed more as 'people' than 'vampires') which will encourage these players and those to come to act in a way more aligned with the vision of siliti lore. One which we hope will be for the betterment of the server as a whole with an antagonistic player-driven force urged ahead by more than exceptional circumstance and good faith alone.

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On Corcitori

The most punishing feat on the server by far, corcitori in many ways suffer the inverse problem of siliti. That being many approach a feat intended to be an accessible gateway towards all the sought after themes and aesthetics that come along with playing a vampire, though (at least I intended) without the same level of strife and commitment required of siliti. 

Given time to rise and fall in the same activity cycles most accessible LoTC apps, a sadly consistent pattern has emerged wherein many players (often new to dark arts RP) find the experience far too punishing to justify without much tangible reward that could not be achieved through far less resistant paths. Therefore the trend seems to have for a long time been for many players to acquire the Feat, mess around for a few weeks then get bored and seek out a cure. A behaviour whilst I don't personally agree with I can't necessarily fault many for pursuing, especially when considering the in-character reality of their grim situation.

The intent here therefore was to give corcitori an incentive to stick it out and weather the storm for the longhaul, with changes to the feeding system making the feat as a whole far less punishing to the average player as well as the addition of a unique ability serving as both an aesthetic and functional enhancement to those who intend to commit their character fully to the feat and its associated lifestyle whilst still keeping in the spirit of what limited potential a 'feat' in LoTC ought to offer (as opposed to a magic or creature application). 
 

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Citations
Siliti
Corcitură

 

Credits
Mordu
Zarsies
 

[bumblefina 2290]

Some much needed progression for siliti, I'd like to see more CAs with similar progression as well

[Zarsies 6115]

To note, the reason we've done this is because we're pleased with silit lore but see things missing; how the mentality is roleplayed such as players being more human than monster, how there's no elder vampire monster aesthetic (e.g. wings), how the strong vampire trope isn't fulfilled (notably balanced by being noncombative), the weakness to sunlight being gentle, and so on. With this addition we mean to adjust vampire traits to hit the marks we want without laying on something that adds to their features too much or makes them too strong. As I said on the previous thread by Fooldude, I very much like how siliti are roughly mid. I'd call it competent but not competitive compared to other CAs and mindful changes like these satisfy my anxiety around powercreep. I hope this addition pleases the communities and gives them something they look forward to playing with!  

[Traveller 2438]

i see mordu and zarsies tag team, i upvote

 

the concept of aging is already talked about irply but there was no lore to back it up, so an excellent addition and very much needed imo

[ronin_champloo 5951]

[wowj 2925]

1 minute ago, ronin_champloo said:

[Olox_ 3521]

 

Imagine not being a Silit 

 

[Lord_of_losers 1108]

what happens to existing crocs that do not want the incurable trait if this passes
 

do they get to drop it or do they suck it? or do st decide that?

 

for previously cured corcs I assume we continue life as normal? 

[Zarsies 6115]

2 minutes ago, Lord_of_losers said:

what happens to existing crocs that do not want the incurable trait if this passes
 

do they get to drop it or do they suck it? or do st decide that?

 

Usual protocol is to allow people to drop it if they want so I expect (and hope) that to be the case. Corc certainly, silit I doubt. Same ol same ol for those already cured.

[Jentos 7107]

Spoiler

imagine implementing loss of libido for all corcs and silti, lurin stocks would crash

 

[creamynoteblock 2641]

31 minutes ago, wowj said:

33 minutes ago, ronin_champloo said:

[_Sug 2574]

 

+1 always for Mordu and Zarsies

[MeteorDragon 3128]

If accepted, would all Siliti and Corcs start at T1, or would they become the Tier that they would have been?

[The King Of The Moon 5412]

22 minutes ago, MeteorDragon said:

If accepted, would all Siliti and Corcs start at T1, or would they become the Tier that they would have been?

I would like for them to be fasttracked to whatever makes sense with when their app was accepted, as if this progression had always been in place. 

That said I'd urge the ST to offer Corcitori who wish to be cured amnesty for a short period around implementation (since this lore will render the curse permanent at T3 and there are many corcitori who have likely had it long enough for that to be the case), which has been the norm with changes like this in the past. Chiefly because the lore they signed up for is now crucially different with regards to its permanence. 
 

12 minutes ago, rukio said:

If you feel the feat is already punishing, I feel as though forcing them to not be able to be cleansed after x weeks is just punishing them even more for no reason, even with a small boost.

The issue isn't exclusively that the feat is punishing. The real problem lies in how it pushes people over the edge. If someone isn't enjoying their roleplay then they still have three months to change their mind and get cured.
 

I think it's safe to assume if someone chooses to go through the motions of drinking people's blood on a regular basis for all of 90 days, however, then having leaving them with an eject button after they've been given the best toys for doing so feels somewhat cheap.
 

Corcitori shouldn't be treating the feat like a void magic to pick up and drop as they please. It is still a fundamentally character defining experience and to endure such a length only to have a paladin, shaman or alchemist waft the problem away when they get bored - in favour of the option specified in this lore as taking on a far more significant change of character like a CA - feels silly. 

[rukio 8913]

If you feel the feat is already punishing, I feel as though forcing them to not be able to be cleansed after x weeks is just punishing them even more for no reason, even with a small boost.