Frostdrop1

Nice post. Honestly, kind of nice to have the revivals acknowledged somehow haha

Do not tangle with magic slots. This doesn't make sense in lore irregardless. Moreover, though "ordained heraldry"? You HAVE to do heraldry to get to ordained heraldry so what does that even mean - is it included? Is there really a point of locking out housemagic? What does this mean for characters before the write? It's, frankly, an unnecessary complication. Cursed Children are born with [4] Magic Slots, whereas [1] remaining slot is “locked” and may only be regained if dedicated to the following magics (except in the case of MArts or approved exceptions): ⛥ Naztherak. ⛥ Druidism. ⛥ Shamanism. ⛥ Ordained Heraldry. I think having blended colours on CC could get really complicated and weird. I think that should be struck from the piece. Like, what if two blended CC have a baby? Creating the "infernal soul" requires its own lore piece to be added to the souls part of the forums, probably. At current, souls just don't function this way and the CC curse is undefined and fits none of the changes to the souls the deities impose, because the soul is fundamentally unchanged but you can add a piece ig to make it so. This does lead to complications onto why not having the deeper connections with other demon elements like rokodra which is a can of worms. While not necessary, I do think the CC community should have been communicated with as others working on re-writes and various amendments before have done in the past. It was very polite and much appreciated because they didn't just assume what the wider playerbase would want. This was not the case this time. I don't dislike the other aspects since they act more like flavour and are optional traits to some degree.

A darkened claw skimmed the rim of a tumbler over and over and over again. Travel and isolation had become his means to wade through the scratching chaos of his mind. Glowing marks made themselves known, as did their sting, upon his clench of the glass. He sipped. Even so, he remained teetering on the edge - always teetering. He was ever-downing under the weight of the sturdy figments his mind had carefully jailed him in and the existential threat that pressed on his mind, ever-growing. Personable desire drove some flicker in him to try again, again. Just one more time, try again. And yet, he wasn't ready. Always was he too ready to dig his claws beneath his skin and tear it off, in hopes to peel away the nightmare with it. He chased every shred of evidence that he wasn't a monster and deserved to be loved, when all he could fixate on what the damage he did and how he didn't fit. What he wished would give him clarity, the inkling of grander, larger hope came with its own fog of enquiry and paining hurdles. Enormous things, that screamed at him to break the things he still loved. Because they were wrong. Because their meaning was imagined. His mind still warred to reconcile it all. The smallest things hit him so heavily, overwhelmed by everything as it was. So, he kept chasing the echo of happiness at the bottom of the glass, hoped his closest would forgive the transgression, prayed to bolster his conviction. Yet, the boy buried somewhere in him just grieved the father he lost, though he remembered nothing but a whisper of warm fuzz, and the mother he couldn't save and wished they would ease the dread of the path he had set himself. And he hoped his son - who he had not expected, who he had trained in the snow, and who he had laughed and cried with, who he has struggled relentlessly to piece a life together for, who had changed his life in all the best and worst ways, and for who he battled on and on to be the husk of a good father for - was a stronger person than he had proved to be.

- Inferi are a glaring issue. They are rubbish to roleplay. People get them, get bored and stop because it's pretty much impossible to develop them in any sense beyond like one mechanical upgrade. They need more freedom to be maintained and interesting to those who pick them up. - Boons & banes are too easy to remove (you can literally cut them off lol). This makes them not often worth investing in with non-naz players since the majority of the time you: x have cool interaction x hide something in it cuz ur a bad guy x they get rid of it oopsie This results in boons & banes being more used between naz rather than against outsiders, because they're actually going to keep the damn thing. - Cursing is not worth the irredeemable magic slot. The one amendment that was offered to make it worth existing got denied so idk. Make cursing more impactful and actually worth losing ur magic slot forever over it. - Lean more into deal-making. Naz is so cool as a deal-maker premise. Imo, it would benefit immensely from in-built ways to disguise or distort memory so you can't be so easily called out. You can't exactly be a cool deal-maker if you try to interact beyond your circle, do 1 deal and they rat you out immediately but you also don't have $100+ to toss at skins so you can do alchemical switch-ups. I mean shoot me or something but I don't think external payments to people with the skills to skin should be a necessary or fundamental part of playing anything on LOTC, but the nature of dark magics certainly makes such things almost necessary without just getting pinned endlessly. Naz is fundamentally a cool magic, with a cool premise and has the community to back itself up. They're more nit-picks than glaring issues, aside from the inferi. Also just like generally supporting dark magics so they aren't perpetual underdogs - all dark magics. It feels like dark magic is never a real threat on the server because frankly they're easy to beat into the ground. A lot of people just end up interacting within their own communities or with friends because that side of the server is more dependant on trust. And, frankly, it's better for it but it also means outsiders don't get to interact as much beyond the communities certain groups know they can trust.

Reinhard gave the missive a skim-read, a cursory glance barely worth his time and simply noted again that the Empire was full of uneducated degenerates, even after hundred of years to understand this stuff. In some sense, he had to hand it to them that it took exceptional talent to be so ignorant. But then it occured to him with a small frown that at least the Inquisition had a point the prior times. A real point, even for his own kin. It was so clear, he had to accept it because he knew it was true, even if it were for awful reasons. He gave it a second look and simply blurted in his incredulity: "Are they getting dumber?"

"I assume you've heard the news?" It was not a letter, but a tongue. Reinhard turned his gaze, his thoughts whirring elsewhere, plans being made. Something was finally in motion. He had the means. He had the backing. And though he wouldn't wish to admit it to anyone, he had someone with the mentality for it. "Telemachus is dead." How inconvenient. Now, luck was never truly his mistress. Or, more accurately, Fate. The day just prior they were at odds. He was hounded again by the boy and was, in all frankness, at his wit's end. His life was in crumples. He couldn't possibly be sad that Telemachus died. In many ways, it was a relief. He was looking at a ghost - and he had to tread petty nonsense all over again. He just didn't need it. Time. Asahiko had been right that he needed time. He needed to get away - and yet this is what followed him? All the time. All the time. He was genial, as genial as he could be. He didn't stoop to insults. He didn't lie. He was left strictly trying to control his tone, and his body at some of the information he was being given. At the insults levelled. At the prying around him. Fight. Oh yes, fighting would resolve it. This years-long endeavour of the boy. Fighting would solve it. Not that he could trust his hand - if he started fighting, he knew he wouldn't have stopped. His body was wired to go as of late. It had already carried him too far once. The only faint relief he had was what defense another granted him, observing the way the discourse was between the two. It wasn't his fault things were so aggressive. It wasn't him doing that. All this time, he hadn't acted. He had held his hand, held his tongue. He held it, because they were allies. They were brothers. "What brothers and sisters?" Okay, they weren't brothers. His vision fuzzed. After all this time. Was that what they all thought? He couldn't voice that. He grabbed it. He boxed it. He boxed it alongside all the other boxes in his head. Still, he held he rage, his offense. He could do that, if he just closed the boxes tight. Everything he wished to say was silenced, as ever. Maybe he was his own worst enemy. Reinhard couldn't know. He was trying to do right by his allies, but he always seemed to choose wrong. He needed to speak with the correct people. The one who had dealt with them before. And still, they were paired. Forced to work together. He just didn't need it. Then, they talked. It wasn't the first time. He hadn't expected it to be the last time. Things were far from repaired, but they were amicable. At least, on the surface. Reinhard certainly hadn't forgotten everything Telemachus said, and everything Telemachus did. He hadn't forgotten what had happened in that room, nor what he had led his partner into. He hadn't forgotten the way people looked at him over what spilled from his mouth. Not the fear of it, the loss of it, the blood spilled over it. He hadn't forgotten that. --- By the time he was alone in his study, the devil was brooding. A book laid before him, no bigger than a pocketbook. He had many books, but this one was special. It was familiar. Taunting. Fingers curled and folded together to support his chin. Thinking. Contemplating. Telemachus might have been one of the few people he truly hated. And even then, he made what he could of it. Was he that much of an idiot? Had he not learned his lesson? What would he do the next time he met someone like Telly - just let them ruin his life again? Again? Again? The accusations levelled his way toyed in his mind, living rent-free. He didn't have a way to rid them. Of course he didn't. He couldn't remember. He couldn't defend himself. Pathetic, is what Telemachus left him feeling. And he took answers with him. He took perspective. He took all of his usefulness with him. All his Truth. Maybe that was the point, the effect of it. He wasn't wrong. Was he wrong? No, he wasn't wrong. It was the tale of his life. He sat straighter as a metallic taste crept upon his tongue. His incessant gnawing. Eyes slid down to black-slathered gloves. He shifted them under the desk, to wipe. Wipe. Wipe. It didn't move, that fixture of his mind's eye. When they raised they clasped around the edges of the book. His mind was like snow; buzzing like static. He could know. The warning rang in his ears. Don't open it. With a thud, he dropped it. He heaved breaths, raised his hand to fold fingers through his hair. He cursed to himself, quietly. When his wits even half-recovered, he murmured a slow prayer for Telemachus below his breath before he opted for a whiskey instead.

Reinhard snarled as he hovered over his desk, not so coincidentally in Lichtenwald. He squinted, before he wrenched the whole thing aside to crash to the floor. "Idiots!" He had nothing to say to plead the case. No good would come, that much he did know. There was everything to lose, and nothig to gain. He had begged and tried and made his best of the circumstances - and now it boiled. Never have stopped the wrath of Man, bound, Fated, to ever-turn The Wheel by their very nature.

Reinhard scoffed at the bottom-most plea. His claw ran over the parchment. Leaving indents along where they stretched. "Pathetic." Though his hand settled to his feathered cheek after, pudging it against his palm as his gaze cast off. And he sat, in wonderment, of what gave that man so much right to get on his knees and beg to be remembered well. What have him the right to say he built? What gave him the right to claim his shackles were unison? what gave him the right the claim he gave mercy. Piercing the parchment, claws scrunched to crumple the page. To each there was their own perspective. He knew. He understood. But jealousy was a bitter flame and all the devil could do to console his circumstances was to remind himself that the emperor was but a man. As blind as any man; as beholden to The Wheel as any man. Crumpled clawing merely turned into a weaker sigh.

Reinhard arched his brows of the missive, tilting a tumbler as his horned head tilted back. His gloves were stripped, settled aside to rest on his coffee table as the fire of the far-end of the room blazed, flickering shadows on the walls that swam in his vision. Marred hands clasped at the parchment, sable-clawed. One skin, one flesh; both ran with patterns that faintly glowed in pallid hues. At first it was merely a stilled reaction, before faintly fluffed feathered flared briefly - and an indignant snort was promptly stifled. Then, he just laughed. Up was his tumbler raised in great amusement as amber liquid sloshed over the rim. It was a low, warm, resonant laugh that ran until his lungs exhausted, fuelled largely by his drink. As the sound spluttered, running dry, he settled the glass with a quiet thunk. His purple-hued fleshed palm raised to cover his mouth, muffling the mumblings unto himself: "GOD, bless these witless hypocrites! World's a damn comedy."

Reinhard settled the missive to the arm of his seating. "Finally did something sensible. Et only took-" He squinted in though, before his shoulders raised and his head settled back, the time of The Empire's founding lost upon him. Piercing the decorated ceiling above, his gaze fixated to a stare - thoughts promptly cast elsewhere to other battles.

Reinhard tsk'd as he sat back in the clinic after. Perhaps, at another point, he would have been frustrated with such a show of pride from each man. Was it honour, to not yield - or simply reckless foolishness? Of course, he was certainly one to think such a thing. Him, a devil, in the same space as the Emperor. The Grand Butcher, and his piglets and their grand hypocrisy. How his princed dared to spake the illusion that he cared about the life of Man. The Empire of Man he could not touch. The one that would end his life in a blink. His gaze toyed over a cigarette between his fingers, turning it quietly. No ordinary cigarette, yet still mild - laced with green. A gift. Another duality. At least the patient lived. His hand coiled about the cigarette to stow it away.

It's a more flavourful cutting-down-of-tree. I agree. I think having seeing a corrupted tree ... its pretty logical to go to the druids. Them having a special 'killing' spell is fitting. It's just flavour but its nice flavour.

When the letter flitted to the devil, rapt briefly by it in his basement - his lab, where the door was locked and he was dead to the world - he couldn't help but grin. But chortle. Fangs gleamed with edged mockery as fingers fell deftly to the keys of a piano - a real piano, locked down below. From whence he got the tune, he no longer knew, but it didn't matter - it was melancholic as ominous as his hangs worked the keys without real effort. For he didn't work them at all, not truly. His state was one far from a sober, stable creature, with an empty bottle by his stool and curious remnant lines of golden dust on the counter, marked by flecks of else he had modified it with. His hands were guided by a malgnant force, a foolish sentimental gift he clutched in each day of his life. Of course, the last he truly knew of any communication between him and the orc had been that letter - buried, burned. He never was going to fulfill that promise. He never could express outwardly how much he hated the orc - and then himself. How much stronger he might feel if he could have done it - if he could simply have pressed his advantage and took the revenge that was rightfully his. But he never was one to do that. To bring harm. How much had he let happen, becuase he could strike when he should? Was he allowing it now? Of course he was - he knew so. Hands crashed discordant on the keys before he broke into a laugh terribly unfitting, so untamed in its tones that it was anything other than glee. For what it was, he revelled in the small, tantilisaing piece of good news, in such dark times. His death - that was good. Yet, the passions of the devil were sordidly twisted nonetheless in his heightened state.

PALLO IS THE CHEF!!!! Side-node as a CC: I think CC should retain 4 units, owing to the curse on them. Their blood being black and being slightly special works out well for their rp overall and I think it's reasonable enough lore-wise seen as their descendents affected by something else. It also means the CC page doesn't get even more out-dated, god forbid.

To be fair, Shamanism is in a vicious, sad cycle of "the lore is frozen" so nobody can fix its issues so less engagement. Except, of course, for when it gets nerfed and nobody can amend anything to balance out how weirdly Shamanism is treated compared to other magics on the server. I think shamanism is cool and it deserves more love than the stupid nerfs it gets.

FULL NAME: Reinhard Clement Weiss AGE: 67 PRIOR EXPERIENCE: Yes SIGNED NAME: METHOD OF CONTACT: Letter/disc frostdrop1

Transparency and communication. There is a big reason that Xarkly is a beloved mod even when other mods maybe work hard - he's sensible and engages and is interested in a dialogue. He's set a great precendent in outlining what the rulings are, why and the punishment even when handling reports - and not only does this make the reports clearer, it teaches people what to expect around certain areas that they might find to be grey areas. He has been immensely helpful int he things he chooses to handle. This doesn't have to be just a Xarkly thing. All teams are capable of communication and some do so more than others. The community team communicates! I don't think most people have a problem with community tea (?). I would think most understand that staff in general are just doing their job, and volunteer their time, and they don't really need to be perfect though at times some could be a bit better - there are a lot of staff doing a lot of things and it isn't necessarily their job to make or break the server. The server, frankly, at the top level, operates in an obtuse and obscure manner. How many people here realise that EVERY ADMIN has to unanimously agree to ban someone over a safety report? Why??? I can only fathom that they all want their opinions to matter equally when SOMEONE ELSE's safety is at risk? No. It's illogical and should be changed to a majority post-haste, but I don't think they've ever looked at that policy and second-guessed it. It just screams of policy made out of immaturity under the guise of doing what they thought was logical at the time it was created. It has a very youthful energy of 'we all matter' which should simply not be the priority. It just takes one admin to have a bad opinion or be slightly biased to continue to put people through their paces. This isn't an area that people focus on for change because it's not immediately obvious to most people, but these kind of strange decisions are litered throughout LOTC in policy, handling, lore and mechanics. Outright bolstering pieces of the forums and screaming loudly is legitimately a more effective method of getting admins to do stuff than any other communication, because other forms of communication are incredibly limited or just inaccessible. I truly wonder if the driving force behind this kind of weird decision-making is beaurocacy, similar to how stakeholders can completely ruin a product - be it movie or game - because they only value their voices, and push forward disconnected agendas precisely because the stakeholders have this idea of 'we all matter', but then utterly neglect the people that are more closely connected with the projects and truly breathe life into them. "The admins" as a vague collective right now are just completely failing to choose to communicate for reasons which don't make themselves readily apparent, and have historically also failed to do so. They don't really even communicate about their reason for not communicating, which continues to leaves obscurity and distrust. Communication does not impede impatiality - of which the admins are simply not impartial. They are equally flawed people like the rest of us but by choosing not to communicate it gives the impressions: 1. That they act above others, 2. That they do not care about community opinions, 3. That they are at odds with the community. It has to be stressed, as it has many times before, that communication is required. I am certain that the above is not the impression that they want to give. However, silence in the face of upset communicates a distinct uncaringness whether they mean to or not, and until they choose to engage the general collective of "the community" will continue to feel unheard. I aren't sure if they're worried about calls to end their positions or something, because they started to make communications over the course of Aevos but at current are radio silent, which is simply not painting a positive picture.

I would have voted the last option had it been there at the time. Raaa!

While I frankly understand the sides you are quite literally arguing to make their curse their defining trait. You cannot in the same breath go "it is not meant to be X" then "it should be Y" then say "Y should not be their defining trait". You contradicted yourself outright. There are the many other people that look at CC and then basically just hate the amount not following the hellish route. Things are supposed to develop naturally irply, and most of these current characters have had a lot of influence outside of the hells to push them elsewhere. I don't think the people that look at the SoL CC actually understand most of their character arcs or the influences going into making those characters what they are. They've seen one aspect of that character, latched onto it, and then decided it is categorically the thing they don't like - not living THEIR PERCEPTION of a cursed existence. And, in this case, YOUR perception of a cursed existence. All of these characters, whether they involve themselves in the hells or not, live a cursed existence. They are characters which are oppressed on a macro-level by The Empire, which are frequently told to kill themselves, that are often manipulated and play-things for other characters, some of whom know their ultimate fate and can choose to be plagued by it, are marked out by society for being other and regularly profiled. Some people, of course, take this further to twist their physical attributes more than others - and some don't. Now the person that cause this issue in particular - because this is, frankly, a targetted amendement and I think anyone in the community who is paying attention knows it - has children which have rejected that character because of what they are and what they did to them at birth. The CC-warlock parent relationship is ahighly interesting one because the person you love also completely ruined your life. They also have children who have embraced the hells. I do not personally like how many children they have, though it is not necessarily less than a noble family. But just because I don't like it doesn't mean I think it should be controlled via OOC means. I think you should go handle the problem in roleplay rather than creating an amendment to stomp all over the many in-game years of roleplay that people did to make a nicer evironment for CCs, rather than limiting potential narratives, and also indirectly benefit naz by making them slightly less identifiable. Edit: I fundamentally agree with making CC cursed existence worse via malices and locked magic slots tho cuz I think it's cool and it also doesn't necessarily screw with the lore. Double Edit: I also think not having children at all is a viable trade-off because it could still be seen as a naz tell, but it does mean you can't have the CC-parent relationship without getting someone exceptionally cool to kidnap.

Honestly doesn't solve the issue. People that want CC children will just get the bane, the end. It just adds a very small extra step. This is, frankly, the result of ONE PERSON who needs only be disconnected one more time. Which, frankly, I think solving irp issues irply is better. Like, this is a double-edged blade. I think having CC children is a massive tell you're a naz, on an MA which is diffcult to ID. This is a good thing. Bad thing if people spam it, though it also isn't really doing any harm beyond people getting annoyed because it doesn't fit their concept of how people should rp X thing. The people that want to spam it will STILL spam it. So tbh I don't get what's really "solved" other than maybe making naz even harder to ID.

It is particularly nice. I wonder if this plugin could be developed to allow for direct art to be made for people who can. I suppose one could always make art of blocks though it might look a little jazzy with the biome palate. This is a cool step forwards either way.

very cool...

Welcome to the server! Hoe you have a great time and it's always nice for someone to be enthusiastic. I've been in a couple DnD campaigns as well as FATE. Admittedly, I think LOTC is a little closer to FATE. That said like 99% of my roleplay has always been through text-chat via some medium or other. I wouldn't really have it any other way - I find it a lot less restrictive. Just remember to breathe and touch grass and have fun. x (and ask lots of questions for all the things you don't understand, even when you're not new there's so many commands /help doesn't list.)

The next morn, the devil stood upon the crest of a snow-capped mount. Piercing out, his jaded gaze scoured the isle below for meaning amid the images which plagued his mind, for it was no ordinary dream. It was the solace of isolation that he sought to remedy his contemplation, away from lecture, away from study, away from the security of embrace. So rarely was control ripped from his grasp within his comfort of sleep; so long had it been since the beyond had yawned in his mind. Inherently, it left him disquieted. It left him at a loss. And yet, here he stood as the mountain-breeze blew upon his furs and threatened the ash that had been swept across his forehead, as freckles of snow dotted the warming ring of his hood, ruminating upon that which had meaning indiscernable. Slipping his gaze down, eyes fell on marred hands. One, pale and orange; one, fleshy and grotesque. Each, stained the same way. Each, trembling with the penance he paid each day. Beautiful torture. Clawed hands coiled, left uncertain. His path had taken him far from the flames which burned him. Every day, part of him had strode against the fate that was deigned, rightly or wrongly. He had grown a defect; he had lived a failure. Yet, he had to live by Conviction. He had To Be. He had to contiue in his fruitless endeavour to prove to himself some unobtainable contentedness existed for him. And yet, never could he truly control what Fate had bestowed him. He fought, perhaps, because Fate made it so. To War, eternal, within himself. Yet the thought he could not erase from his mind, one never quite small enough to ignore, yet never loud enough to consume: was he still a monster? Each day he clawed, and he had done so long before any severence, but perhaps he was wrong to do so. Perhaps it didn't matter. He was chiseling something of real beauty from remnant parts. He had fought before, and he would fight again. And whatever awaited, he would realise his duty. He would continue to War for that which was impossible - no matter what came.

Real talk on this piece, I think the ritual to learn a slot 2 is too high cost and annoying with [3] people. Trying to get [3] people together is a pain, and BM is the ONLY magic which has a timed PK clause which means all that time you waste trying to get people to actually co-operate with you is more impactful and actually matters. Having it done with maybe just your teacher makes more sense. BM is also famously scattered for its general teaching comprehensiveness. By this, I mean that due to having to learn every spell and having it listed as a comment makes this magic uniquely nerfed in that not every teach knows every spell and finding someone with every spell can be a pain. So, having it be knowing every spell is perhaps a little weird with how tightly controlled BM is. It's probably more likely to encourage people to meta-game rather than just develop naturally. I agree that Embark should be slot 2 - but it already is. I would have thought that call calamity would be in here as requiring at least 1 [2] slot BM but... it's not. It's already so rare to see it done that maybe its not worth it. Hail being 2Slot - sure. Gives a more ritual vibe ig. Subverse looks to be new but also appears to be equivalent to most other very basic T1 manipulations of your element. Why this would be 2 Slot I have no idea, other than it just being new. I would suggest to get this passed separately as a Slot 1 thing to match the rest of the server. Massed is fine. Doesn't seem to fit the ritualistic vibe or identity of Slot 2. I have no idea what the identity of slot 2 is from this, but it seems like a useful addition and more suited to more advanced mastery. Final thoughts: I think imo the original intent was to have slot 2 be more big, impressive rituals which is what the original write achieved. It just so happens that there weren't many spells. This is solved by getitng more big BM rituals passed for Slot 2, rather than a re-write. This is fine but seems more muddled and I don't think it actually achieved what you wanted it to achieve.