The World In The Aftermath (Formerly A World Less Magical)
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
And the fourth will come out later this evening.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
- EternalPhoenix
- Posts: 1929
- Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:42 am
- Location: The Land of Mary
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
EXCITE
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
The Archetype Blendarama!
The Phoenixverse 3E Conversions
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
The Archetype Blendarama!
The Phoenixverse 3E Conversions
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Shar Zahad
Thousands of years in the future, when Earth-descended humanity has joined their off-world cousins and spread the boundaries of known space even further, when Earth itself has been largely forgotten, there is a world which remembers more of their history than many human settlements do. What they remember, though, is a mishmash of fact and fiction, with people who never actually lived thought to be every bit as historical as the often misunderstood people who did.
Hundreds of years before the people of this world begin employing completely digital intelligences to educate their young about the history of humanity, there is an extended period where androids, created in the form of their conceptions of historical figures, were used to that end. One of these androids was dubbed Šahrāzād, after the storyteller of the One Thousand and One Nights. As well as recounting the stories which featured in this collection and others which have become associated with them, she was programmed to be able to relate historical facts about Islam and the region which gave birth to those tales and that faith.
After decades of service, however, the android began to experience what her owners considered corruptions in her programming. These took the form of telling versions of the stories that differed from the texts she was expected to relate -- usually only minor variations but occasionally changing the ending entirely. They concluded that she had reached the end of her useful service, and ordered her to go to the recycling plant, where her biological components would be recycled and her mechanical ones dismantled.
And she obeyed. But perhaps the corruption had spread even further than anyone realized, or perhaps she had internalized a bit of the determination to survive that her character demonstrated, for she did not go there by the most efficient route. And by chance -- or perhaps not -- the route that she did take crossed the route that the Rutherfords were taking as they sought to escape from a criminal organization that the couple had crossed. Distracting the criminals with one of her stories, the android suffered major damage when they lost patience with this and shot her. This in turn attracted unwelcome official attention, and the time travelers chose to take her with them when they made their escape from that world and time.
Freed from the dead end of her existence, Shar Zahad -- the name that she chose, mixing the one she had been assigned up a bit in the same way that she sometimes mixes up her stories -- welcomed the chance to explore new worlds and times, whether alongside the couple or alone. She spent an extended time exploring India and Persia in the 7th and 8th centuries of the common era, in a failed attempt to determine whether there truly was a historical Šahrāzād, while also completing the Hajj. While not a particularly devout Muslim, she observes as much of the doctrines of the faith as she can.
Because of the breadth of her experience, and the fact that she has spent more time with the Rutherfords than any of her fellows, Zahad found herself put into the position of the quartermaster of the Anachronic Argonauts when they were thrown together, given command of the group whenever they are out of battle. She is not exactly comfortable with this role, as she would prefer to escape all this and wait it out rather than fight a series of incredible conflicts. But she has always been curious about the whys and wherefores of the cosmos, and it seems likely that this is a good opportunity to learn something new. And, if nothing else, it will be an amazing story.
Is Shar Zahad the traitor? Possibly. If she is, then she is fated to go through many changes, as Lord Carnifex seems to be a biological organism that may have mechanical augmentations instead of a mechanical entity with biological components. But she has sometimes speculated about the possibility of becoming a human being ...
Shar Zahad -- PL 8
Abilities:
STR 0 | STA -- | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 3 | INT 2 | AWE 3 | PRE 6
Powers:
Android Body: Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Protection 8; Regeneration 1 (natural healing) - 39 points
Self-Styling Hair: Feature 1 (self-styling hair) - 1 point
Temporal Anomaly: Features 2 (chronal bulwark, chronal memory) - 2 points
Advantages:
Attractive, Daze (Deception), Equipment, Fascinate (Performance), Fast Grab, Grabbing Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Skill Mastery (Persuasion), Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.
Equipment:
Commlink translator.
Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+7), Deception 6 (+12), Expertise: Galactic 8 (+10), Expertise: Performance 7 (+13), Investigation 5 (+7), Persuasion 5 (+11), Sleight of Hand 6 (+9), Stealth 7 (+10), Technology 6 (+8).
Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 0)
Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 7, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 8, Will 8.
Offensive PL: 4
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 8
Totals:
Abilities 30 + Powers 42 + Advantages 10 + Skills 27 + Defenses 14 = 123 points
Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Inquisitive. Secret (android.)
Thousands of years in the future, when Earth-descended humanity has joined their off-world cousins and spread the boundaries of known space even further, when Earth itself has been largely forgotten, there is a world which remembers more of their history than many human settlements do. What they remember, though, is a mishmash of fact and fiction, with people who never actually lived thought to be every bit as historical as the often misunderstood people who did.
Hundreds of years before the people of this world begin employing completely digital intelligences to educate their young about the history of humanity, there is an extended period where androids, created in the form of their conceptions of historical figures, were used to that end. One of these androids was dubbed Šahrāzād, after the storyteller of the One Thousand and One Nights. As well as recounting the stories which featured in this collection and others which have become associated with them, she was programmed to be able to relate historical facts about Islam and the region which gave birth to those tales and that faith.
After decades of service, however, the android began to experience what her owners considered corruptions in her programming. These took the form of telling versions of the stories that differed from the texts she was expected to relate -- usually only minor variations but occasionally changing the ending entirely. They concluded that she had reached the end of her useful service, and ordered her to go to the recycling plant, where her biological components would be recycled and her mechanical ones dismantled.
And she obeyed. But perhaps the corruption had spread even further than anyone realized, or perhaps she had internalized a bit of the determination to survive that her character demonstrated, for she did not go there by the most efficient route. And by chance -- or perhaps not -- the route that she did take crossed the route that the Rutherfords were taking as they sought to escape from a criminal organization that the couple had crossed. Distracting the criminals with one of her stories, the android suffered major damage when they lost patience with this and shot her. This in turn attracted unwelcome official attention, and the time travelers chose to take her with them when they made their escape from that world and time.
Freed from the dead end of her existence, Shar Zahad -- the name that she chose, mixing the one she had been assigned up a bit in the same way that she sometimes mixes up her stories -- welcomed the chance to explore new worlds and times, whether alongside the couple or alone. She spent an extended time exploring India and Persia in the 7th and 8th centuries of the common era, in a failed attempt to determine whether there truly was a historical Šahrāzād, while also completing the Hajj. While not a particularly devout Muslim, she observes as much of the doctrines of the faith as she can.
Because of the breadth of her experience, and the fact that she has spent more time with the Rutherfords than any of her fellows, Zahad found herself put into the position of the quartermaster of the Anachronic Argonauts when they were thrown together, given command of the group whenever they are out of battle. She is not exactly comfortable with this role, as she would prefer to escape all this and wait it out rather than fight a series of incredible conflicts. But she has always been curious about the whys and wherefores of the cosmos, and it seems likely that this is a good opportunity to learn something new. And, if nothing else, it will be an amazing story.
Is Shar Zahad the traitor? Possibly. If she is, then she is fated to go through many changes, as Lord Carnifex seems to be a biological organism that may have mechanical augmentations instead of a mechanical entity with biological components. But she has sometimes speculated about the possibility of becoming a human being ...
Shar Zahad -- PL 8
Abilities:
STR 0 | STA -- | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 3 | INT 2 | AWE 3 | PRE 6
Powers:
Android Body: Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Protection 8; Regeneration 1 (natural healing) - 39 points
Self-Styling Hair: Feature 1 (self-styling hair) - 1 point
Temporal Anomaly: Features 2 (chronal bulwark, chronal memory) - 2 points
Advantages:
Attractive, Daze (Deception), Equipment, Fascinate (Performance), Fast Grab, Grabbing Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Skill Mastery (Persuasion), Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.
Equipment:
Commlink translator.
Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+7), Deception 6 (+12), Expertise: Galactic 8 (+10), Expertise: Performance 7 (+13), Investigation 5 (+7), Persuasion 5 (+11), Sleight of Hand 6 (+9), Stealth 7 (+10), Technology 6 (+8).
Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 0)
Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 7, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 8, Will 8.
Offensive PL: 4
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 8
Totals:
Abilities 30 + Powers 42 + Advantages 10 + Skills 27 + Defenses 14 = 123 points
Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Inquisitive. Secret (android.)
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
-
- Posts: 1160
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2017 7:20 am
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Self-styling hair? Now that's a power fantasy.
- EternalPhoenix
- Posts: 1929
- Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:42 am
- Location: The Land of Mary
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
The Team Is Assembled!
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
The Archetype Blendarama!
The Phoenixverse 3E Conversions
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
The Archetype Blendarama!
The Phoenixverse 3E Conversions
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
- Commander Titan
- Posts: 338
- Joined: Thu May 19, 2022 3:14 am
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
What an eclectic crew!
Current Setting Projects:
- Solo - Ember Point
- Collaborative - A Game of Legacies
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Well, one of the characters who inspired her has hair which seems to move in accordance with her will, but I didn't want to give her the full Medusa effect. (That's Jaana's bit.)
And on Thursday you'll find out how they did.
Yep. But if you put a Scottish highlander, a troubled teen from Perivale, an immortal from the future, and a mathematical genius from a parallel reality on a team, I think you'd get something just as eclectic. (There's a poem I once read, and dearly wish I'd saved, about all the surviving companions reuniting and offering a toast to those who didn't and to "the one Who isn't there".)
Thanks!
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Happy Birthday Davies
- EternalPhoenix
- Posts: 1929
- Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:42 am
- Location: The Land of Mary
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
I'll second this.
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
The Archetype Blendarama!
The Phoenixverse 3E Conversions
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
The Archetype Blendarama!
The Phoenixverse 3E Conversions
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
-
- Posts: 1160
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2017 7:20 am
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Thank you both.
And now ...
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
The full story of what eventually became known as the Anachronic Calamity may never be known. Even its starting point is debated, with some assigning primacy to the journey of the Purple Haze through the Pillars of Eternity, and others to the manipulations of Jessica Drummond that resulted in the birth of the Warpwitch. While time was not broken until the Purple Haze murdered Dancer, it was already fracturing before that point. Ironically, its shattering, and thus the end of causality, slowed what followed it down to the point where it could be, to a degree, rectified.
None of this was known to the four founders of the Anachronic Argonauts, who soon found themselves the leaders of a much larger organization, numbering some three hundred members*, ranging from the Albadine aristocrat sometimes called Princess Kaguya to a digital recreation of the man called Captain Nemo, and including heroes and villains from the World More Grim, the World Closer to Death, the World More Sorcerous, the Sprawl and Tanelorn. Their stated goal was to determine what was happening, to determine the whereabouts of Bruce Rutherford and Weena and rescue them if necessary, and then to restore reality to what it had been. They would succeed only in the first two of those goals.
Meanwhile, unaware of what had begun on the World Less Magical, Billie Zane and Cerebron departed on a journey to obtain the Cosmic Gems of interstellar legend, less because of their power than because Billie planned to use them to buy access to Ananke. They were successful in obtaining four of the gems and determining how they could be used in combination, and then traveled to Daath to claim the fifth from its guardian. Having done this, Billie -- now travelling alone -- was ushered into the presence of Ananke by Abraxas himself. The whereabouts and fate of Cerebron become something of a mystery at this point.
The Anachronic Argonauts managed to free the Rutherfords from their captivity in Pandiomon, and learned that their friends had been kidnapped by Khoronous, the Hierarch of Time -- and a dimensional counterpart to Exelion -- as bait for a trap for Exelion, whom their captor believed to be the only individual in all of reality who could assist him in preventing what was to come. The success of the Argonauts made Khoronous reconsider his notions, and he now offered his assistance ... but almost too late.
For even as he did so, Billie Zane faced Ananke and offered to solve the Final Problem, which took the form of a riddle game ... which Billie won. Doing so undid the lock that the Old Ones had created, and all of reality began to dissolve into the entity known as Azathoth. But because time had been broken, that dissolution was not instantaneous. Because time was no longer real, there was still a chance.
Four of the five Hierarchs, each the heir of one of the Old Ones who had created the lock, agreed to try and restore it. But the fifth, Nyx, who had helped to create it, found the destruction amusing and refused to assist them ... until he came under attack by an alliance of villains, notably including Nephren-Ka, the Saffron King and the Shadow Dragon, who sought vengeance on him. In exchange for the assistance of the Argonauts in defeating these villains, Nyx agreed to assist.
The five Hierarchs of the World More Sorcerous then joined forces with the Immortals of the World More Grim and also the Guardians of Tanelorn, and challenged Abraxas, draining his accumulated power and shaping part of it into a new lock for Azathoth. In the process, the realities containing the World Less Magical, the World More Grim, the World Closer to Death and the World More Sorcerous were merged into a single reality, with the Sprawl and Tanelorn coming to occupy parts of the World In The Aftermath as well. It was no longer a World Less Magical, for the extradimensional energies that Abraxas had once monopolized were now available to anyone able to learn to use them. Magic was loose in the world.
The Anachronic Argonauts disbanded, but the Rutherfords have promised that they will gather them again if the situation ever becomes this dire again. Just which of the four might become Lord Carnifex remains unclear, but Weena pointed out that there was a time when none of them could have become Lord Carnifex -- as the future no longer existed -- and yet Lord Carnifex still exists. The mystery remains.
And what of Ananke? What can change the nature of an entity? Especially an entity who is immune to all things. The answer lies in the definition of "immunity" -- the ability to successfully resist anything. But what such an entity does not choose to resist -- or chooses to embrace -- can still affect them. And so, the truth that once was spoken remains the truth: anything that an entity believes can change them, can.
And so, when the Final Problem was solved, and its solution spoken, and all that is and was and ever could be began to dissolve into its original nature -- the process slowed by the breakage of Time -- some part of Ananke that had changed over the billions of years of her existence remained separate from that part of her which ceased to exist with the opening of the lock. And when what had gone wrong was once more set right, though different, that being remained and took up a new office in the new establishment.
Teleute, Hierarch of Entropy
* Before you ask, this is not a reference to any Spartan propaganda. This is a reference to the number of equites -- cavalry -- in the legions fielded by the Roman Republic.
None of this was known to the four founders of the Anachronic Argonauts, who soon found themselves the leaders of a much larger organization, numbering some three hundred members*, ranging from the Albadine aristocrat sometimes called Princess Kaguya to a digital recreation of the man called Captain Nemo, and including heroes and villains from the World More Grim, the World Closer to Death, the World More Sorcerous, the Sprawl and Tanelorn. Their stated goal was to determine what was happening, to determine the whereabouts of Bruce Rutherford and Weena and rescue them if necessary, and then to restore reality to what it had been. They would succeed only in the first two of those goals.
Meanwhile, unaware of what had begun on the World Less Magical, Billie Zane and Cerebron departed on a journey to obtain the Cosmic Gems of interstellar legend, less because of their power than because Billie planned to use them to buy access to Ananke. They were successful in obtaining four of the gems and determining how they could be used in combination, and then traveled to Daath to claim the fifth from its guardian. Having done this, Billie -- now travelling alone -- was ushered into the presence of Ananke by Abraxas himself. The whereabouts and fate of Cerebron become something of a mystery at this point.
The Anachronic Argonauts managed to free the Rutherfords from their captivity in Pandiomon, and learned that their friends had been kidnapped by Khoronous, the Hierarch of Time -- and a dimensional counterpart to Exelion -- as bait for a trap for Exelion, whom their captor believed to be the only individual in all of reality who could assist him in preventing what was to come. The success of the Argonauts made Khoronous reconsider his notions, and he now offered his assistance ... but almost too late.
For even as he did so, Billie Zane faced Ananke and offered to solve the Final Problem, which took the form of a riddle game ... which Billie won. Doing so undid the lock that the Old Ones had created, and all of reality began to dissolve into the entity known as Azathoth. But because time had been broken, that dissolution was not instantaneous. Because time was no longer real, there was still a chance.
Four of the five Hierarchs, each the heir of one of the Old Ones who had created the lock, agreed to try and restore it. But the fifth, Nyx, who had helped to create it, found the destruction amusing and refused to assist them ... until he came under attack by an alliance of villains, notably including Nephren-Ka, the Saffron King and the Shadow Dragon, who sought vengeance on him. In exchange for the assistance of the Argonauts in defeating these villains, Nyx agreed to assist.
The five Hierarchs of the World More Sorcerous then joined forces with the Immortals of the World More Grim and also the Guardians of Tanelorn, and challenged Abraxas, draining his accumulated power and shaping part of it into a new lock for Azathoth. In the process, the realities containing the World Less Magical, the World More Grim, the World Closer to Death and the World More Sorcerous were merged into a single reality, with the Sprawl and Tanelorn coming to occupy parts of the World In The Aftermath as well. It was no longer a World Less Magical, for the extradimensional energies that Abraxas had once monopolized were now available to anyone able to learn to use them. Magic was loose in the world.
The Anachronic Argonauts disbanded, but the Rutherfords have promised that they will gather them again if the situation ever becomes this dire again. Just which of the four might become Lord Carnifex remains unclear, but Weena pointed out that there was a time when none of them could have become Lord Carnifex -- as the future no longer existed -- and yet Lord Carnifex still exists. The mystery remains.
And what of Ananke? What can change the nature of an entity? Especially an entity who is immune to all things. The answer lies in the definition of "immunity" -- the ability to successfully resist anything. But what such an entity does not choose to resist -- or chooses to embrace -- can still affect them. And so, the truth that once was spoken remains the truth: anything that an entity believes can change them, can.
And so, when the Final Problem was solved, and its solution spoken, and all that is and was and ever could be began to dissolve into its original nature -- the process slowed by the breakage of Time -- some part of Ananke that had changed over the billions of years of her existence remained separate from that part of her which ceased to exist with the opening of the lock. And when what had gone wrong was once more set right, though different, that being remained and took up a new office in the new establishment.
Teleute, Hierarch of Entropy
* Before you ask, this is not a reference to any Spartan propaganda. This is a reference to the number of equites -- cavalry -- in the legions fielded by the Roman Republic.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Happy Birthday Davies
Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
Thank you!
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."