amendment [✗] [Frost Mother Amendment] The Dream Yet to be Realized

[Agy 756]

Frost Mother Amendment: The Dream Yet to be Realized

Spoiler

Oh to be Carved from Ice itself, what lost splendor.

 

 

 

Part One: Physical Characteristics

Old Lore:

Spoiler

Physical Characteristics

 

Reborn from ice, Mothers rise from the snow in complete devotion to their Coven as a complete transformation of mind, body, and soul takes place within the Witch. This process, done commonly through the Sabbath of Devotion, ensues a dreadfully painful process for the Witch. The maiden relinquishes any ties to her Descendant form as she fully commits herself to the Coven and the aid of other Witches as reflected by her physical metamorphosis. The most significant of these changes is the quality of her skin; it would become much more hardened, the skin now becoming akin to ice, the blood that she bleeds underneath no longer holding similar properties to her once Descendant form. The blood would be quite nearly frozen and any cardiovascular rhythm would be non-existent, her breathing ceasing entirely as she is structured completely from ice. The internal bone structure of the Witch would be entirely changed, her bones structured from cursed ice, albeit weaker than the ones conjured by Mothers, and her body temperature forever a dangerously frigid temperature - more so than a regular Witch. The eyes of the Mother would forever be altered to a deep, azure hue that emits a softened glow in her Banshee form, and the color of her eyes no longer able to be disguised. Similarly, due to the distinctly frozen nature of her skin, the quality and temperature of her skin would be unable to be disguised by the Mother. 

 

These monstrous maidens of ice sacrifice physical strength for the betterment of their Witches and for a closer tie to the Coven. The main role of the Mother is to bestow the curse to other Witches, and with each curse, she gives away a chunk of her essence to another Fledgling. This process becomes apparent on the Mother, albeit immortal, a process similar to aging takes place upon the Mother. Cracks form deeply within their skin resembling deeply engraved wrinkles, and the once haughty and proud posture of the Witch would curl into a curved hunchback for the Mother over a long period of time.  Despite the fragile nature of the Frost Mother, the killing of a Mother comes to be more complicated. Common blows or slashes will do little to the overall health of a Mother, although causing major pain, can be regrown at the Altar with ease. However, others means such as blunt force damage enough to cause them to shatter, or being set on fire, or means of decapitation or the crushing of their heart, the Mother will cease to exist until brought back through the Sabbath of Resurrection, which must be performed by another Mother. 

Spoiler

Mechanics

- Frost Mothers appear incredibly haggish and grotesque, often hunchbacked or thin and boney, numerous ‘wrinkles’ upon their ice-flesh. Their teeth are often far more jagged than that of a regular Fjarriagua. They still hold descendant-esq forms, though are still grossly attractive and lack any semblance of physical beauty. 

- A Frost Mother is incredibly fragile and frail, their entire form being completely composed of ice, as well as taking on its brittle properties. A Witch Mother may be cracked and fractured with relative ease, hard enough blunt force able to completely shatter her to pieces. They may even be melted to a puddle with extended direct exposure to heat or flame, like that of regular iceHer physical strength is like that of a sedentary old descendant, often requiring the Mother to be accompanied by other Witches when she goes out, if ever. 

- The eyes of a Frost Mother and the temperature of her skin are unable to be disguised at this point (only the glow that she emits in her Banshee form). Moreover, with each new Witch cursed, the Mother must emote the effects of the aging-like process that takes place. 

- A Frost Mother’s heart rate is slow to the point of being undetectable, and their blood is incredibly sluggish if not completely frozen, unable to bleed from cuts and the likes. Her body temperature is well below freezing, her flesh feeling like ice upon direct touch. This means that a Mother may perform light, flavorful cantrips such as forming a thin layer of frost over an object they touch, or causing one to feel a cold numbness upon direct contact. This is not Frost Touch.

- Mothers retain the brittle properties of their form, though to kill a Mother the process is deliberate and they will not die from common wounds nor from bleeding out. Examples of killing a Mother would include sufficient blunt damage to shatter the Mother, setting her on fire, decapitating her, or removing her frozen heart. 

-Frost Mothers cannot wear full-plate armor as their physique is as impaired as a Voidal Mage, and may only use light gambeson or half-plate.

 

 

Proposed New Lore:

Spoiler

Physical Characteristics

 

Reborn from ice, Mothers rise from the snow in complete devotion to their Coven as a complete transformation of mind, body, and soul takes place within the Witch. This process, done commonly through the Sabbath of Devotion, ensues a dreadfully painful process for the Witch. The maiden relinquishes any ties to her Descendant form as she fully commits herself to the Coven and the aid of other Witches as reflected by her physical metamorphosis. The most significant of these changes is the quality of her skin; it would become much more hardened, the skin now becoming akin to ice, the blood that she bleeds underneath no longer holding similar properties to her once Descendant form. The blood would be quite nearly frozen and any cardiovascular rhythm would be non-existent, her breathing ceasing entirely as she is structured completely from ice. The internal bone structure of the Witch would be entirely changed, her bones structured from cursed ice, albeit weaker than the ones conjured by Mothers, and her body temperature forever a dangerously frigid temperature - more so than a regular Witch. The eyes of the Mother would forever be altered to a deep, azure hue that emits a softened glow in her Banshee form, and the color of her eyes no longer able to be disguised. Similarly, due to the distinctly frozen nature of her skin, the quality and temperature of her skin would be unable to be disguised by the Mother. 

 

These monstrous maidens of ice sacrifice physical strength for the betterment of their Witches and for a closer tie to the Coven. The main role of the Mother is to bestow the curse to other Witches, and with each curse, she gives away a chunk of her essence to another Fledgling. This process becomes apparent on the Mother, albeit immortal, a process similar to aging takes place upon the Mother. Cracks form deeply within their skin resembling deeply engraved wrinkles, and the once haughty and proud posture of the Witch would curl into a curved hunchback for the Mother over a long period of time.  Despite the fragile nature of the Frost Mother, the killing of a Mother comes to be more complicated. Common blows or slashes will do little to the overall health of a Mother, although causing major pain, can be regrown at the Altar with ease. However, others means such as blunt force damage enough to cause them to shatter, or being set on fire, or means of decapitation or the crushing of their heart, the Mother will cease to exist until brought back through the Sabbath of Resurrection, which must be performed by another Mother. 

Spoiler

Mechanics

- Frost Mothers appear incredibly haggish and grotesque, often hunchbacked or thin and boney, numerous ‘wrinkles’ upon their ice-flesh. Their teeth are often far more jagged than that of a regular Fjarriagua. They still hold descendant-esq forms, though are still grossly attractive and lack any semblance of physical beauty. 

- A Frost Mother is incredibly fragile and frail, their entire form being completely composed of ice, as well as taking on its brittle properties. A Witch Mother may be cracked and fractured with relative ease, hard enough blunt force able to completely shatter her to pieces. They may even be melted to a puddle with extended direct exposure to heat or flame, like that of regular ice Her physical strength is like that of a sedentary old descendant, often requiring the Mother to be accompanied by other Witches when she goes out, if ever. 

- The eyes of a Frost Mother and the temperature of her skin are unable to be disguised at this point (only the glow that she emits in her Banshee form). Moreover, with each new Witch cursed, the Mother must emote the effects of the aging-like process that takes place. 

- A Frost Mother’s heart rate is slow to the point of being undetectable, and their blood is incredibly sluggish if not completely frozen, unable to bleed from cuts and the likes. Her body temperature is well below freezing, her flesh feeling like ice upon direct touch. This means that a Mother may perform light, flavorful cantrips such as forming a thin layer of frost over an object they touch, or causing one to feel a cold numbness upon direct contact. This is not Frost Touch.

- Mothers retain the brittle properties of their form, though to kill a Mother the process is deliberate and they will not die from common wounds nor from bleeding out. Examples of killing a Mother would include sufficient blunt damage to shatter the Mother, setting her on fire, decapitating her, or removing her frozen heart. 

- Frost Mothers retain the exact same physical strength as they when they were descendants or a Frost Witch, being able to wear whatever type of armour that they could wear then.

 

 

 

Part Two: General Redlines

Old Lore:

Spoiler

General Mother Redlines/Guidelines

Spoiler

- Mothers will always act in the best interest of the Coven, even if this action has them go out of their way or is not beneficial. They are selfless when it comes to other Fjarriagua, and ruthless against descendants who seek to harm their daughters or other Witches. A Mother would never kill a Witch unless it is absolutely necessary, and will, more often than not, punish her in some way, such as through the Sabbath of Locking. They would always be ready to bring a Witch back into the fold if true repentance is shown.

- Witch Mothers are incredibly weak physically, and would rather stay inside their Coven in order to support her daughters, relying on Coven members to bring her food and materials for her Sabbaths. In the event a Mother leaves the Coven, she will almost never go alone, and will often accompany herself with at least one of her daughters to ensure her safety.

- Motherhood is to be roleplayed as a great sacrifice taken by the Witch for the betterment of the Fjarriagua as a whole. It is not an ‘endgame’ for Witches, and is rather humbling as opposed to exalting, the Witch seeing themselves as called to take on a great sacrifice for their race.

- Mothers face less exhaustion from using Ice Conjuration and Manipulation than regular Witches, though overuse will still obviously yield exhaustion, which can be far more detrimental to the Mother due to her frailer form. When in a frozen environment, they are a force to be reckoned with, though obviously not omnipotent, still facing severe exhaustion drawbacks from overuse. When in a non-frozen region, she will have a harder time casting and be significantly weaker in terms of her ability to conjure new ice. Abusing this is powergaming and eventual fatigue must be emoted. 

- Mothers must be active within their Coven unless a proper hiatus is addressed to the Witches of the Coven and the ST. While a particular day limit is not set, if a Mother continuously fails to be active, the Witches of that Coven may speak with the ST regarding the replacement of a new Mother, resulting in the former Mother losing their Motherhood and a new Mother being made from one of the Coven’s Witches. One cannot do something such as logging on once every couple weeks and be considered active, but significant progress and interaction of a Mother with her Coven must be evident.

- Witch Motherhood takes up [5] magic slots. 

 

 

Proposed New Lore:

Spoiler

General Mother Redlines/Guidelines

Spoiler

- Mothers will always act in the best interest of the Coven, even if this action has them go out of their way or is not beneficial. They are selfless when it comes to other Fjarriagua, and ruthless against descendants who seek to harm their daughters or other Witches. A Mother would never kill a Witch unless it is absolutely necessary, and will, more often than not, punish her in some way, such as through the Sabbath of Locking. They would always be ready to bring a Witch back into the fold if true repentance is shown.

- Witch Mothers are incredibly weak physically, and would rather stay inside their Coven in order to support her daughters, relying on Coven members to bring her food and materials for her Sabbaths. In the event a Mother leaves the Coven, she will almost never go alone, and will often accompany herself with at least one of her daughters to ensure her safety.

- Motherhood is to be roleplayed as a great sacrifice  taken by the Witch for the betterment of the Fjarriagua as a whole. It is not an ‘endgame’ for Witches, and is rather humbling as opposed to exalting, the Witch seeing themselves as called to take on a great sacrifice for their race.

- Mothers face less exhaustion from using Ice Conjuration and Manipulation than regular Witches, though overuse will still obviously yield exhaustion, which can be far more detrimental to the Mother due to her frailer form. When in a frozen environment, they are a force to be reckoned with, though obviously not omnipotent, still facing severe exhaustion drawbacks from overuse. When in a non-frozen region, she will have a harder time casting and be significantly weaker in terms of her ability to conjure new ice. Abusing this is powergaming and eventual fatigue must be emoted. 

- Mothers must be active within their Coven unless a proper hiatus is addressed to the Witches of the Coven and the ST. While a particular day limit is not set, if a Mother continuously fails to be active, the Witches of that Coven may speak with the ST regarding the replacement of a new Mother, resulting in the former Mother losing their Motherhood and a new one being made from one of the Coven’s Witches. One cannot do something such as logging on once every couple weeks and be considered active, but significant progress and interaction of a Mother with her Coven must be evident.

- Witch Motherhood takes up [5] magic slots. 

 

 

PURPOSE:
With the loss of the final active Frost Mother that tolerated this CA's countless failings for over two years while all others would instantly burn themselves out after a few months if not weeks. It would be most genuinely urgent that the core (and really sorry for my harsh words) poison of the Frost Mothers be removed; their Voidal Strength and ever-constant incentivization to be reduced to mere glorified TAs and ritual batteries that are forced to give up any speck of antagonist RP that isn't just SoL as a disguised descendant or just tea sipping in one's lair..

 

I am still aware of the previous attempt to fix this and its feedback and we were attempting a full-on thematic rewrite for them specifically so that any changes wouldn't clash with the CA's current tone of "sacrifice" (to the player's OOC enjoyment) of the Witch in question, but with this recent change, we don't have the time to wait out and I refuse to throw myself or any other of my fellow community members into the meat-grinder of burnouts that this End Game CA is. I hope you understand.

 

 

CREDITS
Writing by Agy (I also wrote this!)
Music by Alex Roe
Art by: Marcela Bolívar

 

CHANGELOG
Specified what strength the Frost Mothers would have instead of Voidal (It's what they had when they were Frost Witches/Descendants)!

[Cheese 8874]

I know very little about darkspawn lore but from an unbiased standpoint, this seems to be more of a personal community issue rather than a lore issue. One person's ban doesn't exactly seem to warrant an entire amendment; a new mother just needs to take over in their place.

If every magic, feat, or creature community required a rewrite solely because their leader got banned and they're struggling to find someone competent to replace them, it's not a fault in the lore.

 

Just my two cents <3

[Agy 756]

15 minutes ago, Cheese said:

I know very little about darkspawn lore but from an unbiased standpoint, this seems to be more of a personal community issue rather than a lore issue. One person's ban doesn't exactly seem to warrant an entire amendment; a new mother just needs to take over in their place.

If every magic, feat, or creature community required a rewrite solely because their leader got banned and they're struggling to find someone competent to replace them, it's not a fault in the lore.

 

Just my two cents <3

 

Not really, the issues with the Frost Mothers always existed and would continue to exist even if said player had remained and has infact has been attempted to be ammended/rewritten at multiple occasions.

 

Frost Mothers are fundamentally a poorly Written lore piece and always lead to veteran players never wanting to get it and or quickly burn out the players that were forced to get it so that the Fjarriagua don't go extinct.

 

As I said in the purpose section itself, the reason this amendment is happening instead of a much more polished overall rewrite for them (which has been in the works for a while) is due to the fact that there is no properly active Mother left to take on the burden, the CA has been placed in a situation where we need to make a new one.... And obviously nobody wants to because this is infact a terrible CA.

 

TL;DR the issue always existed and will continue on existing until its fixed, the only thing that changed is that we are currently being pressed to fix it ASAP.

[Agy 756]

29 minutes ago, Cheese said:

they're struggling to find someone competent to replace them, it's not a fault in the lore.

Also that would be me; I am the funky and marketable Witchy replacement currently managing the CA in Dio's absence, been doing that a lot infact 

[Rebellionlife 443]

If a CA is five slots, It better be mfing worth it. Frost Mothers really only get one additional useful spell which knocks them out after a few emotes and can turn people into FWs. In return they become fragile like glass. The trade offs are just not worth it. Either make it three slots or accept this rewrite in my opinion. 

[Agy 756]

1 minute ago, Rebellionlife said:

If a CA is five slots, It better be mfing worth it. Frost Mothers really only get one additional useful spell which knocks them out after a few emotes and can turn people into FWs. In return they become fragile like glass. The trade offs are just not worth it. Either make it three slots or accept this rewrite in my opinion. 

It's an amendment...! We're just removing the Voidal Strength!!

 

As for their fragile bodies, it's honestly not too big of a deal as long they actually wear some hecking armour and still be able to bodyslam another knight into a field of ice spikes like the average Fjarriagua can.

 

And there are no plans for changing the  5 Magic slots, becoming a Frost Mother is a path of ultimate devotion to one's kin, It is most fitting this way. In either case just giving them more content and flavour other than just the skeleton of what's needed to keep the CA alive would be a good idea to make those 5 slots actually worth it.

 

 

[ECS1999 1121]

To be completely honest i don't see how having 'weakened strength' relates to not being able to keep the mothers for more than a couple months. Maybe it's a problem of the CA itself and the community rather than of mothers not being the next MMA fighters. This actually seems an excuse to pass something like their strenght using something not related as an excuse.

[Agy 756]

14 minutes ago, ECS1999 said:

To be completely honest i don't see how having 'weakened strength' relates to not being able to keep the mothers for more than a couple months. Maybe it's a problem of the CA itself and the community rather than of mothers not being the next MMA fighters. This actually seems an excuse to pass something like their strenght using something not related as an excuse.

 

Fjarriagua are not casters like the Naz or Void mages. Their name of "Witches" creates a false image of their actual playstyle and ability set.

 

They are moreso a close/medium range mage/melee hybrid like Scions or well the Azdrazi. With the exception of their "Icey Iron Crossbow" ability, they have no real ranged options with all of their abilities being effective in close range;

 

- Ice Layer: Expands to a total of 6 meters around the witch 

- Ice Spikes: Has a range of 5/7 Meters

- Ice Weapon: You literally summon a melee weapon or shield.

- Conjure Hoarfrost: Temporary Enchants your Melee weapon with frostbite inducing effects as well as a 1-time-use projectile that has a range of 10 meters.

 

Add to that that normal Fjarriagua are already capable of wearing full sets of armour and retain their full strength already and that Frost Mothers literally do not gain ANYTHING other than a single snowstorm ability that rends them incapable of even  fighting for the rest of the OOC DAY, and something like becoming utterly useless and extremely fragile in melee means that you suddenly cannot even use the vast majority of your own spellbook.

 

Which certainly can burn people out really fast when they can no longer even do anything other than being stuck in their lair.

 

[Calise11 841]

6 hours ago, Cheese said:

I know very little about darkspawn lore but from an unbiased standpoint, this seems to be more of a personal community issue rather than a lore issue. One person's ban doesn't exactly seem to warrant an entire amendment; a new mother just needs to take over in their place.

If every magic, feat, or creature community required a rewrite solely because their leader got banned and they're struggling to find someone competent to replace them, it's not a fault in the lore.

 

Just my two cents <3

Mothers have been leaving the rp before the ban. The mother ca feels dead end. It does not offer much to the player the way it is. All that is is left is the witch's bc the way our CA is better makes it more playable and more fun. Its a sacrifice one player has to make for another. And I think they are done sacrificing good personas for the sake of being a battery. :/ Being mother isn't worth it as it is. Server has changed since the last time mother CA was even made. lore should adapt too, time we change with. 

if I am going to sacrifice a persona iv been building up for two years to do awesome spook villainy rp. I need it to /give/ me something. We get one shot with this CA we can't go back. We can't bring a witch alt persona. 

 

 thank you to this angel that keeps trying to improve my player experience, for trying to fix this CA. I know its been a tireless project since the beginning of the year and then some. 

 

[luv 3469]

PLEASE 10/10 thank you agy 😭

[NightcastorKitty 2779]

I'll throw a bone here cause I get why this is being amended. But if you wish to change this part regarding strength, you need to place what kind of strength they would have. 

 

Is it based on original race before turning to the CA? 

 

Is it a set area of strength? 

 

Would an environmental change effect the strength? (Tundra region vs. Desert region)? 

 

Just something otherwise we can't really gauge on what that would be. 

[Agy 756]

43 minutes ago, NightcastorKitty said:

I'll throw a bone here cause I get why this is being amended. But if you wish to change this part regarding strength, you need to place what kind of strength they would have. 

 

Is it based on original race before turning to the CA? 

 

Is it a set area of strength? 

 

Would an environmental change effect the strength? (Tundra region vs. Desert region)? 

 

Just something otherwise we can't really gauge on what that would be. 

Thank you so much!!! Gah! :}

 

I was honestly kinda worried to not make the post too "detailed" in the possible scenario it would make the amendment too complex.... Which in hindsight was extremely dumb. Gimme a sec to fix theese...!

 

[Helmet 1454]

hi there, i know jack about frost witch lore but let me throw in my question anyways.
Why not just double the range for spells casted by a frost mother, establishing them further as a back-liner fighter proper? Having more range and hopefully being behind allies would allow them to get away with casting more spells more often, even if the emote timer doesn't change. Only counterpoint i can see to this is that they would probably need another spell or two to help cement that role further.

[Agy 756]

7 hours ago, SlitheryC1 said:

 Only counterpoint i can see to this is that they would probably need another spell or two to help cement that role further.

Yeah pretty much that; it's honestly a thousand times easier to have the Mothers build off the already existing playstyle of the Frost Witches rather than give them an entirely different one, with many new spells that you'd need to have balanced, reviewed and tweaked along with new mechanics to make a 5 slot mage actually worth it.

 

In short, at that point you might as well create a new CA, which I wouldn't call a good idea, given the fact that Frost Mothers are the next stage of a Frost Witch rather than a "mage subtype" of sorts.

 

Removing their voidal strength and allowing them to continue making use of their Frost Witch magicks is the right decision given the fact that the CA would be filled with the veterans of the Fjarriagua.

 

[TimberBuff 2381]

Considering the apparent systemic problems of the CA, I don't think an amendment like this is the thing you really need. Voidal strength is NOT the downside people think it is and is easily worked around.

This will not fix your problems, you need a rewrite of Frost Mothers, not a combat buff that ultimately accomplishes not very much.