Old-Rattlesnake

Of all the lore that needs re-balancing the reproductive cycle of plant people should be way, way, way down at the bottom of that list. Limiting Bryophytes to producing children with their own kind brings literally nothing interesting to the table and hinders ongoing roleplay. Why is this an issue? It's utterly pointless. Let people roleplay the way they want so long as no one is getting an advantage over the other person and the lore is sound.

I have a few concerns I’ll message to you over Discord.

Kill this lore in its entirety. There is a new issue with it every other month and regulation up to this point has utterly failed. If it’s going to be constantly and consistently abused by players then they do not deserve to have it.

Make it so that Ascended Soulfire reverts/stops Feral transformation for both deity-enlisted and unaffiliated Ferals and you'll get full support from me. Given that our magic is currently lethal, and with your proposed change roughly 70% of Ferals would be wholly immune, I believe my suggestion is a balanced solution.

Null Embers will continue to only be usable by Ascended. No other group has a written-in, abusable weakness in their disconnection lore and we will not either.

One of the redlines is that only an Ascended can use the null ember to disconnect an Ascended. I may add in that Chaotic Embers can be resulted from someone not an Ascended, we'll see. Mulling it over atm.

The proposed edit to Ascended Disconnection is intended as a quality-of-life change which eases the burden on Ascended teachers as well as allows the use to be tracked by the Magic Team. This lore is written to work in tandem with the Ascended Lore posted: Here Overview: Most of this is already accepted in the main lore post this piece is mainly just clarification, slight alteration, and slight expansion of the accepted concepts. Ascended Disconnection now has two varieties. Upon acceptance of this magic addition all current Ascended that know Disconnection will have to relearn it and then submit a Disconnection app (All Ascended that fit this category have agreed to the proposition) Disruption, Decay, and Repossession do not require an accepted Magic App. Reference: Progenous Flame (T4-5) ↑ Living Ember (T1-3) OR Progenous Ember (T1-3) Null Ember Disruption, Decay, & Repossession When an Ember is gifted to a mortal, turning them into an Ascended, the flame from which it was birthed retains a lasting impression of the Ember that was lost. The vacant space is mended in time as the Flame naturally regenerates itself, however a scar remains in place of it. This Null Ember exists permanently within its Flame and, indeed, the Ascended that houses this flame. Like a scar one would find upon the skin it houses no infectious or ill properties and serves merely as a reminder that an Ember was gifted to another. However, with coaxing, a Null Ember may be taken from the Flame just as easily as a normal Ember would. Physically it appears identical to a normal Ember save that its hue is an abysmal black and radiates a faint, dark smog. The Null Ember holds none of the properties associated with Soulfire and is harmless to all Ascended, save one. The Ascended which bears the Ember that resulted in the creation of the Null Ember is exceptionally vulnerable should the two be forced to merge, resulting in three different outcomes. If the Null Ember merges with the Ember, the result is a Chaotic Ember. Chaotic Embers reside within the Ascended and cause their magic to be wildly unstable; reverting all their magical feats to minimum strength for three elven days. After time has passed the Chaotic Ember will stabilize and revert to a normal Ember. If the Ember has since turned into a Progenous Flame, merging with the Null Ember will destabilize it and revert the Flame back into an Ember. Effectively the Ascended is returned to average strength and can no longer fragment their flame to create new Ascended. Should the Ascended undergo the Ritual of Stoking in the Hallowed Grounds then they will return to their former strength immediately. The Ascended that bears the Null Ember in their Flame, the teacher, may physically rip the Ember of their student from their soul and replace it within themself; resulting in that particular Null Ember ceasing to exist for future use. The student then ceases to be an Ascended. Teachers cannot repossess an Ember if their student’s Ember has since turned into a Flame Red Lines: Null Embers may be given to an unrelated Ascended as a physical item, allowing them to hunt down and destabilize the unruly student without the teacher directly being there. Obviously the teacher cannot disconnect the student fully if the two are not together. When not held by the teacher the Null Ember will decay and die after one elven week. In cases like this the Null Ember must be made into a physical MC item, be approved by the MT, and list an expiration date. Null Embers cannot be Soulbound or stored in an Enderchest. It must always be in a direct inventory. Null Embers have the consistency of charcoal and may be physically destroyed. Null Embers CAN be held by ghost entities. Another Null Ember cannot be created until the previous one expires. Null Embers can only be used against an Ascended when in the possession of an Ascended. TLDR: Ascended Teachers can partially silence, weaken, or directly disconnect their student by themselves. They can only do this with Ascended THEY created. Null Ember Disconnection There are times when an Ascended has lost sight of their purpose and been deemed a threat to the order or the realm, however, the acquisition of a Null Ember by normal means is not possible. In such cases a Null Ember must be forcefully brought into being through the wounding of their own Progenous Flame; a process both damaging and taxing to the creator of the Null ember. Forced creation of a Null Ember requires an Ascended to expunge a typical connection Ember from their Flame while on the verge of mana depletion, when their Flame is weakest, and then provide an ounce of the intended target’s blood to the Ember. The Ember will then darken and take on the form of a standard Null Ember, which is usable against the Ascended whose blood was utilized in its creation. After the creation of a Null Ember the performing Ascended will lose access to their Enhanced Regeneration and be unable to create any Infusions for three elven days. Red Lines: If the intended target’s Ember has since turned into a Flame, it will take two uses of a Null Ember to fully disconnect them. One to revert the Flame to an Ember, another to repossess the Ember. The blood of the targeted Ascended is required, allowing them a chance to learn of the plot against them. Standard Null Ember redlines (listed above) apply. Three Null Embers are required to disconnect one bearing the Living Flame. The blood utilized must be no more than 24 hours old. TLDR: An Ascended can inflict weakness upon themselves and utilize the blood of a rogue Ascended to create an artificial Null Ember, which can be used to weaken, destabilize, or repossess the Flame/Ember of the rogue Ascended. Key Note: As all Embers and Flames are descended from the Living Flame, the bearer of the Living Flame can repossess the Ember of any Ascended as long as it has not matured into a Flame. This is already accepted in the main Ascended lore post.

Unlike other lore that meddles in removing the finality of death this piece has made the process very difficult, exceptionally risky, and with a very focused reason for performing the ritual. My only gripe is that it’s strange for the ritual to bridge through Abrietas to get to Tahariae’s Realm. I think it would make more sense if the Clerics could just directly bridge to Tahariae’s Realm rather than do both that and bridge to a realm belonging to an Aengul they have no interactions with.

The issue is that the Holy Orders, for the most part, cannot get along for more than a few months. Trinity Keep housed all three with the first Holy League, then the Ascended pulled out and months later the Clerics did as well. Paladins took over an island meant to be Holy Devirad, Adherent Clerics moved into the Savannah, and the Ascended into Urguan. Tried an alliance again, then the Gazardiel event happened. I believe playerbases and roleplay should be concentrated as much as possible but this is difficult when people you're supposed to be working with are trying to kill you. People tend to assume that the Holy Orders are all 'kinda samey' but the politics are very different.

"Damn we should really start selling these things."

"It's good to see today's youth taking up the cause and helping make a better tomorrow." Heial says as he rocks in the rocking chair on his front porch while sipping prune juice.

I am absolutely in love with the scrolls idea. Ascended Ember Infusion is very much a physical thing and I see no reason why a Scroll of Soulfire would not be possible.

1. As I'll quote from the Ascended lore: Due to a direct connection with the energies of the Caretaker of Souls, the Ivory Soul of an Ascended is nigh-immune to any and all magics that would attempt to corrupt it. If not resisted outright, such attempts on an incapacitated Ascended may simply kill them. Because of this I do not believe that Ascended would be vulnerable to this magic-stealing process, though that is one of very many concerns with this lore. 2. Many months ago the Ascended rewrite pitched an ability that would merge deity magics into powerful combo spells, but this was torn apart and shredded by the LT and most loreholders because Aeriel, despite being the Archaengul, holds no dominion over other aenguls or their magic and have no power whatsoever to shape how it functions. Why would this Divine Scoundrel magic be any different, in this case? 3. There are so many different ways that a Divine Scoundrel can proceed, and so many different magics they can lean, that I wholeheartedly believe the system would devolve into overly complicated situations with lots of paperwork involved and a multitude of things that can go wrong, most importantly powergaming. 4. Now, I may have read this incorrectly, but are you saying that a Divine Scoundrel can use their stolen deific magic as well as void magic? Because if this is the case I am vehemently in opposition to it. The greatest weakness of a deity mage is that they cannot use voidal magic whatsoever and their souls are physically incompatible with void magic. Workarounds to this rule are a hard 'no' from me.

We have a debate forum so we can debate having a debate forum.

I'm quietly holding out for lab-grown meat to become a more efficient and cheaper process so it can be mass-produced.

Gross oversimplification of the holy vs dark complex and completely unneeded.

Oh hey you beat me to the punch. Yeah this is waaaaaay too similar to Ascended Soul Mending, which I'll post a brief snippet of below:

After some brief discussion with Sug I don't believe the Ferals would be affected negatively by Soulfire and they are, actually, protected by the Aegudaemonic Clause. As the Ascended loreholder I am fine with this. Overall I very much like this lore and I look forward to petting these very big doggos.

It's of my opinion and Rella's that Anti-Mages, being neither undead or cursed, would likely be one of the more susceptible to Ascended Soul Mending. Furthermore it's my belief that magics that lock your character in for life are extremely detrimental to roleplay and kill a lot of interesting character arcs such as betrayal or redemption. With this rewrite implemented the dynamic of Anti-Mages will become less cut and dry and bring some interesting power struggles and political intrigue into the mix.

Both the Ascended and the Clerics are working on rewrites for their respective Holy Alteration. Post-Rewrite the Ascended won't even make wards like what is listed in this thread. The three types from each respective group are too different to have a blanket clarification placed over them, doing so would be a hindrance and restrict their respective capabilities.

Only potions which harm or refill health are affected. Strength potions and things of that sort are fine.