The broken city in the clouds [Group project]

[Perrin Aybara he/him]

Ok, thank you! Tomorrow I'll upvote those who I couldn't today.

 

So there are Liberals here? Can I not escape them!? Just kidding.

 

What are the powers of a Sire?

 

I'll take the rest of my space to right about some other things. Above the city is something called the Angels' Labyrinth. Every year, a couple Braves, Seers, and Romancers all go up into it, only to almost never return. It's a roiling mass of solid clouds, liquid clouds, and gassy clouds. In the center there is supposed to be a way to restore Liberty- a Switch, which will spin Liberty all of the way around. Most consider it to be a myth. Nobody's found it, though many have tried. A few who go up only to the shallowest areas return as insane Anarchists. They won't say why or how this change occurred. It just did. One can reach the Angel's Labyrinth by riding up the Angels' Elevator, something far at the end of the Honor sector. The Sires rarely climb it, but the Braves most often do, seeking to make a name for themselves by entering. The Seers do out of a Hope to do what nobody else has. The Romancers do it as companions to those braves and Seers who lead the expeditions up. Likewise, the Romancers are almost always the ones who never return when the leaders don't.

[Stormgate he/him]

Seems legit.

The thought occurs to me that if/when we 'defeat' Anarchy, we're going to have to figure out something else.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

What are the powers of a Sire?

Emotional- Goldspeech- makes people obedient.

Body- Hardskin- causes skin to become harder (weak use doesn't restrict movement ,but strong use can do so)

Cloud- Implosion- pull ALL nearby clouds towards yourself

Cloud appearance- light yellow with streaks of gold.

Edited December 25, 2015 by ChickenPlague

[Stormgate he/him]

I don't know which time zone you are in, Chicken, but at least one of us is up past our bedtime.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

I am at +2:00

[ChickenPlague he/him]

So about the Wisdom powers.

Emotional- Wisening- makes people more practical and logical.

Body- Timefreeze- makes someones body stop (even in MIDAIR). Can be used on SEPARATE body parts.

Cloud- Truesight- can see through clouds and make your own clouds more or less opaque.

Cloud appearance- white with little glowing specks of green.

I just got the idea that Justiciars could mix their clouds with those of other CPs to create objects with special abilities and am because of this adding passive (kind of) cloud abilities to all current CPs. The "change opaqueness" is one of these allowing translucent blades and stuff.

Edit: done! Also wanted to mention a few things. The standard powers of a CS are- cloud manipulation, cloud state xhanging, cloud channeling and one's own weight reduction. A full CS can use the first 3 powers on non-angelic clouds. A CP can use these powers on non-angelic clouds and their own angels clouds.

Edited December 26, 2015 by ChickenPlague

[Alfa he/him]

One major question do discuss are the power levels of CSm/CP.

 

First and most important, since CloudMagic is a relatively "hard" magic system, Strenght matters a lot, only Surpassed by Skill. I have some ideas about the strength system:

 

1) Relatively easy: Everybody has a "power-level" hard-coded into his or her DNA (or sDNA for that matter). That applies to CSms as well as to CPs

2) Even easier: everybody - CSm and CP alike - has the same power level. Skill is all and everything. The one who knows the better trick is better in direct comparison. CPs are slightly stronger than CSM because they can use more powers.

3) A bit more difficult; this system only for CPs: The power level depends on how much you follow the virtue of your statue.

4) Also only for CP: Like 3), but now it does not matter how much you follow the virtue, but how capable you are of following it: if Honor thinks that you can acomplish great honorable deads, you are strong, even if you are not very honorable right now.

 

Also, it's important to define the power levels, or, better to say, the borders of the abilities (2nd law greets):
- either the CSm and CP use something inborn (like the cliché of Mana) to channel their abilities, either in great flares or in small uses over long time; somehow the inborn resource regenerates or can be regenerated

- or they can accomplish only that much in a given time period; they can not create bursts of power

- or they channel some extern resource (like the clouds) through them, but they have to concetrate on the fact of channeling. If the concentration fails, they "burn out" - something, that can have some negative consequences, depending on what we choose (faint, death, evaporation to clouds, turning to stone, explosion, loosing the ability to channel, immediate transportation to the angels' labyrinth, whatever)

- or some combination

- or something radically different

Edited December 27, 2015 by Alfa

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Ok everyone it's time for some more terminology to be put in place.

What does "cloud channeling" mean?

My idea was that it would allow someone to move any cloud he/she is touching to any other place he/she is touching. I've now realized that this is pretty useless.

I am getting the idea that Alfa means something else with "cloud channeling".

Is this the term for using cloud magic in general? If it is then these are my answers to you Alfa.

Power level: option 2.

Power cost (I assume that's what you mean): The power works on clouds which are consumed through skin contact. The clouds aren't consumed if they are a) unusable by the consumer (different ideal) or under control by another CS or CP. In all other cases the clouds are consumed. The consumption isn't instant and works faster on gas than on solid.

[Alfa he/him]

Ok everyone it's time for some more terminology to be put in place.

What does "cloud channeling" mean?

My idea was that it would allow someone to move any cloud he/she is touching to any other place he/she is touching. I've now realized that this is pretty useless.

I am getting the idea that Alfa means something else with "cloud channeling".

Is this the term for using cloud magic in general? If it is then these are my answers to you Alfa.

Power level: option 2.

Power cost (I assume that's what you mean): The power works on clouds which are consumed through skin contact. The clouds aren't consumed if they are a) unusable by the consumer (different ideal) or under control by another CS or CP. In all other cases the clouds are consumed. The consumption isn't instant and works faster on gas than on solid.

 

With cloud channeling I meant using clouds for any matter. In the case of consumption, I meant "expending the clouds" for cloud magic usage.

 

Actually, the mentioned cost seems for me to vague, and also to easy to access. I think CSm and CP clouds shall be very few in that case; it makes also the whole thing more interesting, since we have a scarce recource built in.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Btw I am completely content letting you choose the cost. I am going to focus on the abilities and maybe some animals for now.

[Alfa he/him]

I think the equal distribution is good; that makes the whole thing fair and easy. I only think, that Statue-Clouds and usual Cloudsmithing clouds are difficult to acess.

Probably, the Clouds for Cloudsmithing (CfC) are relatively rare, and so it requires either luck or complicated and dangerous searches. Probably down the diskus of the city, the chasm in the city center, some bridge-nets below the city, wherever. You can store the clouds for an almost infinite amount of time, but can only use a fix amount in any given time period.

[Stormgate he/him]

Btw I am completely content letting you choose the cost. I am going to focus on the abilities and maybe some animals for now.

Shapeshifting animals that are what you think they are. If nobody pays attention to them, they form a random shape.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Shapeshifting animals that are what you think they are. If nobody pays attention to them, they form a random shape.

I was thinking more along the lines of goldfish with wings that can glow intensely. But both is fine. Btw the anmals can use specific clouds for powers. These fish use gold clouds.

Yeah also Alfa I agree that powers should consume a rare cloud ,but should work on all normal clouds. I also don't agree that you should be able to hold clouds. I think that needing to keep a large amount of Smithcloud around would be an interesting limitation.

[Alfa he/him]

Indeed.

I was also thinking about if CfC could be gathered by people who do not have the abilitie to use Cloudsmithing.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Indeed.

I was also thinking about if CfC could be gathered by people who do not have the abilitie to use Cloudsmithing.

It would be hard to do unless we add some cloud "technology". Maybe a material that attracts clouds and absorbs them.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

I made something

Edited December 28, 2015 by ChickenPlague

[Stormgate he/him]

I like your name for the karma power of Justice.

[Alfa he/him]

For Love:

as body power I suggest Healing. (Note: Healing, in special cases, can be reverted. I never saw a reason why you can heal a bone with a power and can't break it with it. Sometimes that is even necessary for a god healing)

emotional power I suggest Sympathy.

Cloud power, passive: Shielding - the clouds absorb hits taken, it does not matter if caused by other clouds or by natural origins (like stones). In contrast to other clouds the Romancer doesn't have to concentrate on the sielding.

Cloud power, active: Attracting - pulls at other clouds around itself, effectively hiding the cloud.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Sympathy is very similar to Compassion. How about Affection?

[Alfa he/him]

But Compassion is now named Harmmirror.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Actually there are 2 compassion powers. Justvoice is emotional conpassion and Harmmirror is physical compassion.

What I meant about it being too similar was more about the effects of Sympathy seeming similar to emotional compassion (justvoice).

Edited December 28, 2015 by ChickenPlague

[Perrin Aybara he/him]

Ok, I've now upvoted everything from since I've joined.

 

The Angel's Labyrinth would have plenty of CfC which is another reason some Cloudpriests would go up there.

 

Based off of powers, I think I would want to be a Sire, just because hard skin, implosions, and Goldspeech all seem very useful. What if there was a corrupt Sire who had some Anarchists as lackeys? I feel like that would make for a good twist. He wouldn't be called a Sire anymore, though, because he would have broken his value. He would be a Slaver. That would be a good name. Slavers are foul Sires. 

Edited December 29, 2015 by Perrin Aybara

[Perrin Aybara he/him]

So you guys enjoy writing, right??? Have any of you thought about forming a writers' group?

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Regarding the powers Doc I am having trouble opening it. I tried to put it up in a way that everyone can edit, but I don't know whether that worked. Did it?

Also Slaver sounds like a good name for a bad Sire. I like it. Although maybe Master would be more fitting as Slaver could be for Romancer.

Edit: The Romancer active seems like a long range Honor active. Also how would hurting someone with healing work?

Edit2:Descriptions going to be added to the Doc tomorrow.

Edit3:You can add them yourselves till then. Anyone with the link can.

Edited December 29, 2015 by ChickenPlague

[Perrin Aybara he/him]

Thank you, Plague of Chickens, americanas, rhode island reds, silkies and all. 

 

Guysssssss, make sure to add to the doc. The Cloudjailer

Yes, the Cloudjailer, the most despicable of all Cloudpriests. He worships Justice, which is gone, and therefore has gone mad. He has the harshest punishments for the merest of crimes.