Ventusyr

omg chill bros 1) There's mali'ame, mali'ker, and mali'aheral. High elves named themselves something pretentious af. Pure ones are mali'thill. Bein a clerical heretical sorta folk, im mali'thilln, but I stick with mali'aheral, the general term for high elves. 2) Its his IC belief, bein a clerical heretical sorta folk, that Tah is an Arch-Aengul because all other aenguls are scrubs, and thus the title. thank you for the feedback friendos.

Ashanaak, Chosen Prophet of the Holy Aengul of Purity, Tahariae Basic Information Nicknames - Prophet, Heshakomeu, Hesh, Heshy, Filthy Heretic Age - 230 Gender - Male Race - Mali’Aheral Status - Enlightened, blind, and alive Description Height - 6’5” Weight - 200 lbs. Body Type - Tall and lean; defined, if not impressive, muscles Eyes - Both bear a faint white glow and are of an opaque crystalline substance, covered in sporadic, scattered tiny glyphs that glow slightly brighter. If Ashanaak summons forth his light, the eyes see, but otherwise, they are blind. Hair - White, with mild platinum tint Skin - Lightly tanned from living in the Caliphate Markings/Tattoos - The right side of his face is covered in an angular network of thick scar tissue, almost as though it is an intentional design. The left side of his face, however, retains the regal, ageless beauty of an adult high elf. On his neck is a green brand in the image of a stag head, its antlers spreading across the front. On the rare occasion his shirt is removed, a thick line of jagged scar tissue would circle the joint between his right shoulder and arm. Wide intersecting circles are tattooed across his torso; more tattoos in Elvish, likely prayers, line the insides of them. Health - Unspecified recurring heart complications ; blind Personality - Enlightened ; distant ; meditative ; content Inventory - A blessed staff of ironwood is typically held in his hands. The glyphs that cover it glow in rich hues of platinum, crimson, and lapis. An oaken shield rimmed with iron banding and bearing a thick round iron center hangs on his back. He wears a thick brown coat over simple cotton shirt and trousers, with leather travelling boots and thick leather gauntlets. Bound to his simple rope belt is a thick leatherbound tome; a light flanged mace with golden edges hangs from a small strap attached to it. Inside the tome are yellowed pages covered in intricate diagrams of the bodies of the many races, as well as copious descriptions of clerical rituals and spells. Numerous objects are stored in folds, pockets, and straps within the thick coat: a bundle of four white candles bound together with twine; two thin rods, one of flint and the other of steel; a small wooden canteen, inside of which is water; a small aurum bottle, inside of which is rose incense; travelling bread wrapped tightly in thin cloth. Life Style Alignment - Lawful Good Deity - Tahariae Religion - Cryptic Clericism Alliance - The Clerical Order Class - Master Cleric Titles - Chosen Prophet of the Holy Arch-Aengul of Purity, Tahariae =+= Master Cleric Professions - Adept Enchanter Special Skills - A surprising knowledge of hallucinogenic herblore ; scribe ; extensive knowledge of clerical lore ; unshakable faith ; architect ; running away Flaws - Emotionally distant ; recurring heart condition that causes blackouts ; blind Magic Current Status - Teaching, with five students Arch-type - Clerical Sub-Type - Tahariaean Rank - Master Cleric Weaknesses - War Clericism Strengths - Ritual Healings Current Spells - Priest Healing =+= War Clericism =+= Blessing Weaponry Fighting Style - The Art of Desperation Trained Weapons - Light mace, quarterstaff Favored Weapon - Staff Archery - Sub-par Family Parents - Akal’ahern, otherwise known as Verada de Nomos Shidari, and Campari de Sarash Shidari Siblings - Campari de Verada Shidari (Half-Brother) Children: Therren Sohae (Adopted) Extended Family - Unknown Pets - A carrier pidgeon History Ashanaak considers himself born upon Tahariae speaking through him for the first time in 1536, thus initiating him as a Prophet. There is no history but in His Lord.

I fail to see how they are like Xan's keepers, which are essentially Paladins beefed up. Augurs have no healing abilities, have only spectral abilities (not the offensive capabilities of other holy magics), and have very different sets of morals. Yeu Rthulu followers have a unique moral system outlined in the strictures based on forgiveness and abstinence, not neutrality, as with Wilven monks. Yeu Rthulu restrictions are based on mundane things (no sex outside of marriage, no drugs, no alcohol, et cetera). They CAN and WILL help defend people, but that isn't really their point.

My initial response to this, when Quav first shared with me the lore, is what would be the initiative to play these. Overall, they don't have anything special, other than having specter powers. They cannot partake in conflict RP. They literally just float around and be happy. On multiple occasions, even before this lore came out, I have encouraged Quav to make the followers of Yeu Rthulu have some sort of advantage of other magics, which he has stubbornly refused to in favor of peaceful, friendly roleplay Then I remembered one of my favorite roleplay encounters with a band of leprechauns - excuse me, red-haired halflings with magical goods and wore green - in Anthos. They were silly, and happy, and peaceful, and I got a "magic" blanket out of it. I realized that it is the peaceful, special, unique interactions I have that are truly memorable, not a paladin magicking a sword into existence, a cleric making a blinding light (though I do enjoy healing RP immensely), or a fire evocationist focusing on their palm until flame bursts into existence. Augurs provide that. Imagine them having a small shrine in a village, where they just talk about the strictures and float about and be happy. Go to them for advice. Go to them for prayer. Players will remember these guys. They provide a unique magical holy experience. And they aren't guild-locked! +1. Look forward to the RP these guys provide.

Perhaps this is already in the specter lore, but can Augurs use magic (Void or otherwise)?

This may be a bit of a stupid question, but can only a small amount of living flesh be eaten without killing anybody? Like, a Morghuul could, say, bite off someone's hand and then go on their merry way? How often do Morghuul need to eat? Also, I'm sure you mentioned it somewhere in this post, but can Morghuul use magic?

The boons are exceptionally OP. I would also recommend trying to avoid already-existing magic types as boons; grant some unique abilities. Perhaps the followers cause taint and decay to spread around them as they walk? They exclusively have taint-bestowing powers akin to necromancy, but without the actual raising of the dead stuff? I would also recommend changing how the cult was founded from outright manipulation of dark people across the realm to something simpler, like contacting a single assassin/necromancer or something and making them their prophet. If this is a true cult, I would recommend ironing out some tenets and some more rituals, perhaps even some prayers for flavor.

What confuses you about disconnection? Don't wade through the comments looking for more on it; the Disconnection section has been updated with whatever feedback was contained in the comments. If something doesn't make sense, please, let me know! :) https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/135576-the-effects-of-disconnection/ This is a good resource if you're confused about disconnection in general, but the section I contain in this lore applies specifically to Tahariae clerics and the added effects.

Progress was momentarily stopped for me to focus on midterms. There is progress currently, but it is in google and word documents, and I'll need a little more time to finish them. Left a post saying what I'm adding:

No, this is pretty new. As opposed to taint being like oil and holy magic like fire, where holy magic just naturally burns it away, it is more like matter and antimatter, where they oppose each other but neither has natural destructive capabilities. Holy magic has a slight advantage still, but it's very, very different than how it previously was, where holy magic actually has to struggle to overcome taint.

No, this is pretty new. As opposed to taint being like oil and holy magic like fire, where holy magic just naturally burns it away, it is more like matter and antimatter, where they oppose each other but neither has natural destructive capabilities. Holy magic has a slight advantage still, but it's very, very different than how it previously was, where holy magic actually has to struggle to overcome taint.

I'd suggest to remove this thing as with "unlikely to transpire" I do assume this could mean a few favored individuals getting this done for them. Amma agree with this. Also, there's nothing here about the mental effects of disconnection, other than "a piece of their mind being taken away". Perhaps provide some examples of how the mind can warp (hallucinations, extreme depression, et cetera)?

I'd be down with this. It drives away/temporarily demanifests dark beings, but it doesn't kill them? Sounds fair.

I'm still confused why people keep saying they will be helpless without gold. You won't be helpless, you will just need to find a character capable of alteration (holy or otherwise) to bless/enchant your blade. It promotes roleplay. Sure, it'll take longer, but eventually, blessed/enchanted blades will become more common, and those do just as much damage as gold. You will just need to do RP to acquire them instead of mining. Their only downside will be the fact they need to be recharged. No, we are not exclusive special snowflakes. At least, the clerics aren't. I've put in a lot of work to change that stereotype. We've accepted every person who has come to join us, and we've never refused help, at least in the past four months or so. I can guarantee that coming to us for magic taint-purging blades won't be met with rejection because we are an exclusive VIP-only group. Unless you're rude af, you won't have difficulty with that.

I just looked at the wraith lore, and there are other ways to drive wraiths away, like fire, which is, I'm pretty sure, and correct me if I'm wrong, much more prevalent than gold. Magical means would be the only way of killing them, but clerics/Paladins/Ascended/Fi' bros/alterationists can bless/ward weapons to make them effective against unholy folk. So, instead of buying some gold ingots and having a smith make you a golden sword and that's that, you just have to find a holy/antiholy/voidal person to supply you with a weapon of spectre-slaying capabilities. You don't even need to join the holy order! Elsewise, figure out the fire thing IC and drive em away. With ghouls, I am fairly sure cutting off their head would do some damage as well. Yes, removing gold makes slaying wraiths harder, but not anywhere close to impossible. It provides some more RP opportunities for holy+other folk, who are either good for healing only or at best convenient in some combat situations currently. Again, this wouldn't make things impossible, this would just make dark beings less of a nuisance and more of a legitimate danger... And even so, with a blessed/enchanted tool, quick work can be done with them. You would just need to do the RP to acquire it.

I believe I am done. Not done yet. Did considerable rewording of the Venator section, added that they lose most of their memory upon Ascension, and moved Shackles of Light from the War Cleric list of spells to now become a Venator-only spell. Also added/clarified that mundane weapons of any sort disrupt a Venators ability to summon spells. I also changed the magic so a second connection is no longer needed to become a war cleric. They are simply another list of spells. Now, there is a connection ritual to allow clerics to use any and all clerical abilities. Solves issues of war cleric magic being dead because nobody is around to connect and teach clerics. Will be introducing conceptual explanations of each spell that is more than a sentence, and will be introducing Prophet lore and the Utterings of Tahariae, a new set of Tenets for clerics to follow (because those five are hella vague).

I think I'm going to go with what booklight is saying. While I don't believe offensive holy magic should just smash every dark being without a fight, it's purpose is solely to destroy taint. I think that, in cases of a dark being and a holy mage of equal tier, the cleric will win in terms of raw power (but not necessarily in strategy or skill), but, of course, with a struggle. Like, if a holy beam and a tainted beam originating from sources of equal tiers, the holy beam would eventually overpower the tainted one. If the tainted were a tier higher, then that one would win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haZEcPbF1T0 I like it!

Ah! Okay, I understand. I am so sorry, I definitely did misunderstand your issues with Venators, and you're right, some form of actual drawbacks (rather than limitations) would be fair. I will also work on editing the general pros and cons to be a little more descriptive (again, I didn't write that portion, so I didn't want to manipulate the content too much). I'll start thinking!

In short, the Venators are made to be selectively strong against users of magics that can literally trash anybody. Perhaps if there were more war clerics, and clerics in general, in ratio to the amount of dark beings, they'd be unneeded. However, unlike necromancy or Shadism or tainty, evil magic in general, cleric magic is only selectively powerful; we can't summon holy flame and kill a man, we can't heal someone's arm backwards, and we can't shank people with manifested weapons without being disconnected. Our offensive magic only works against tainted or unholy beings, and our healing magic can only be used to heal. No such drawbacks with the darker magics, who not only can learn other subtypes, but have magic that easily trumps anything mundane forces can throw at it. So instead of asking dark mages to nerf their magics, as Swgr's attempt to do so with necromancy's life drain was so poorly received, I'm going to instead argue that the magic made purely and solely to defeat dark mages be kept. Venators are the pinnacle of that specialization. They actually forego the majority of roleplay cleric magic brings: healing. Their lack of empathy renders them incapable of meaningful relationship roleplay (and if they do, they're subject to decension for not being dedicated enough, and for powergaming past a weakness). Their lack of priest healing removes about 80% of roleplay a cleric character will receive and provide. Their mission to defeat only the big baddies like wraiths or event unholy creatures like tainted Dragaars (and will only engage the lesser users, such as necromancers and shades, if they are gathered in large enough numbers) limits them to becoming almost an event character. Their delicate outer tissue and severe susceptibility to ichor loss only prevented by their armor makes them even worse in non-magical single combat than a swordsman with equal training, equipment, and stature. They are the trump card that, frankly, is needed. In the same way a cleric shouldn't go up against a wraith in single combat, no dark mage should go up against a Venator single-handedly and expect to live through it. I know your comments are made with the intentions of fair fights with unholy folk, but until unholy folk aren't impossibly stronk against everybody, a few guys who are stronk against only unholy folk, and specifically the stronkest of stronk unholy folk, Venators should stay. They're really little more than event creatures at this point. As for mental healing, I didn't write the Venator lore, so I just removed the problematic explanation and replaced it with just a natural holy defense against mental mages. I can instead say it's because their mind is so foreign and different to a normal mortal's that mental magic would be hard-pressed to have any effect, if that would make more sense. Any other complaints about Venator abilities, please list them so I and the actual players of Venators can address them, and provide some suggestions for limiting their power. I'm just a cleric, and I wrote the lore so that Itharel/Venators were simply no longer needed in the cleric community for the rising of power, and the Itharel players wrote the Venator lore to transform them into purely and only holy warriors.

So sorry, didn't catch that when it was first put through. Edited!

Username: Ventusyr Group: Clerics of TahariaeBy applying, you agree you were elected through a fair system?: Yep. I also kinda wrote the lore, and I help lead the largest order.