Ataraxian Wist

I think we've already solved that problem here, actually. Read through the rest of the next page, too, for more info.

Yeah, I rather like that election system.

I intentionally left election timing out, as I don't have much experience with the Allyverse and therefore have no understanding of its timeflow. That does need nailed down, but I can't do it personally. The public seat basically just needs to be a wildcard for the other Senators, because the Senator who takes it is the original tie-breaker for the election of the Chancellor, and is a normal member or Chancellor afterwards, so I don't want the majority to belong to one group as part of the system. Otherwise, that group is basically in charge, and the others become figureheads. So I used the only method I could think of to accommodate those concerns. If the Chancellor is simply replaced by one of their own, then there will always be ties and the Chancellor will always break them in their own interest, so it's one-sided again. If you have another suggestion, I'm open, as I think are the others. I already understood that as the way we would establish house status, actually, so no arguments here. I did not account for that at all. But, if we make it so that the number of seats can only change with each election, then the number of major houses can be unknown until the voting is over, and then the top minor house candidates can be selected. Would that work?

Really? I didn't realize other people really thought so. I've theorized about the creation of a "Mistblade" that involves Nicrosil Compounding and the Burning of a spike, plus some possible Identity stuff. That's the angle he's going to come from, once he connects all of the dots and decides that hell go into Hemalurgy.

I'll hold onto it, just in case.

Thank you. Iron Compounding has always interested me. He'll need Hemalurgy to accomplish his goals though. Assuming it's possible.

He's not finalized yet, but yes. He's an Iron Compounder (Crusher?) and Metallic Arts fanatic who's obsessed with getting a Shardblade, but more specifically with proving one can be made from the Metallic Arts. He's also a Lurcher Savant, so he can do cool things, like stopping trains and following bullets (not far though, because of drag).

Unless there's some initiation I missed beyond the offer of a cookie that was definitely not spiked, yeah.

I was actually putting them all in one governing body. It simplifies things, and the other provisions are made to account for the imbalances it would otherwise entail. In other words, Minor Guild senators are still part of the same senate. Supposing there are four Great Guilds, this means there are also four seats available to Minor Guilds, and one available to anyone.

Sorry this took so long. I'm on mobile, but that's small compared to the fact that I was trying tri write it like a constitution, rather than a simple explanation. Here's the easy one, taken largely from what we've seen here: 1. Each Great Guild (defined as we determine) has one seat in the Senate of Alleyversial Republic. 2. For each Great House seat there is one Minor House seat in the same Senate. These "popular" seats are filled by popular vote, not Senatorial appointment. 3. There is also one "public" seat, to which any citizen can be elected by true majority. Candidacy is reduced by a process of elimination until one candidate had more than half of all votes. Yes, this is important. 4. The Chancellor is appointed from and by the Senate. 5. Laws and decisions are made by majority rule of the Senate. 6. Ties are broken by the Chancellor's intervention, but the Chancellor gets no other vote. 7. The Senate can impeach the Chancellor by a supermajority (⅔)decision, and if convicted of felony or high crime, Chancellor is removed from office and punished by law. 8. Senators may be impeached by the decision of all other senators, and are likewise tried in a court of law. If convicted of a felony or high crime, they are removed from office and punished by law. 9. In the temporary absence of a Chancellor, ties are broken by popular vote. 10. In the temporary absence of a senator, the Chancellor votes in their place. 11. If war has been declared on the Allyversial Republic, the Chancellor and Senate may jointly declare a military state, in which only temporary laws may be enacted and all power is vested in the Chancellor. That's it. The number of seats available to Minor Guilds keeps them from getting trampled out of principle, while the identity of the public senator can force the Senate's hand when selecting a Chancellor, though they aren't necessarily the Chancellor themself. The popular tie-breaking ensures that the Senate will think twice before impeaching the Chancellor. What do you think?

Great. That lines up pretty well. I'm curious as to why defense is with the House. Not that I have a particular reason it should be otherwise, but curious. Explain?

Before I actually type this proposal up, which powers should be designated to which chamber? I mean, taxation makes sense as part of the Great Guilds one, just because each member of it is accountable to more people, while goverment spending (grants and such) makes more sense for the Minor Guilds chamber or as a joint decision, because otherwise the GG can just embezzle the entire... Planet? Is this system for the Allycity, Allyplanet, or Allyverse? Anywho, what other powers need to go to specific chambers?

Great. I figured they were probably just oversights, but I didn't want people to super like it in that state and then end up stuck with it. And yeah, I get the whole staying-up thing. I finally got to bed at, like, 1:00 this morning. Heheheh, I don't make good choices.

I stand in opposition to this system for the following reasons: 1. It requires a unanimous decision by at least one house to pass anything. Whether this is the unanimous decision of the House or the Senate passing the legislation or that of the other house, some group has to be unanimous. This makes it nearly impossible for the government to enact just laws if they might incriminate a member of the governing body, essentially forcing the entire government to uphold the corruption of a minority of its members. This is pretty bad. 2. There is no distinction as to who can pass which laws. This defeats the point of having seperate houses for Great Guilds and Minor Guilds, as the House can basically make laws for WAY more people than it represents and the Senate can't really stop them. 3. The Chancellor basically counts as an entire body of government. He still has to open the voting up to one of the other bodies for his own legislation, but at that point his vote is assumed, so they need at least two hours against it or it automatically passes. The Chancellor can basically pass anything he wants by deferring majority-favoring laws to the Senate and minority-favoring ones to the House. 4. There is no veto. If one house passes a law that hurts the other, this system does not include a veto for the attacked house, and that means that they have to wait till it goes into effect and then repeal it. It's a mess. I am definitely in favor of guild representatives, as that allows more people to get a hand in the government if they can form a guild with enough primary members. I am also in favor of a Chancellor, because the idea makes things fun, but not if this is what they can do. I will post my alternative soon, for consideration.

Yeah, gender-neutral isn't too hard to remember. I've got to accommodate that in the Reckoners RP too, and for one of my favorite characters. But yeah, please clarify whether the character is transgender (and if so, male ore female pronouns) or gender-neutral, or one of those other things that I don't remember.

Yes, on mobile. No, they don't hang in the air. Their distance relative to wherever he's pulling from does not lengthen. It's like string. Granted, Iron pulling is always "like a string" but b this one isn't jerky. He can hang things directly below him, toll them slowly across the floor, or just keep you from running off with them. That's all. Yes, I'm almost certain that's correct. It's mentioned in the first book, if I recall correctly. Though I could have that wrong, and my Kindle is broken so I can't access the book, I'm pretty sure Vin had that problem while dueling Kelsier. And I believe Wax exploited it to push Steris or Marasi to safety at one point. Yeah, forgot that about Reckoners. Will add appropriate information. And weaknesses. He'll have more human ones, I just can't think of any right now. Besides a possibly crippling fear of fire, which would be appropriate. I'll post the new one from my desktop.

Here's my character idea: I'll bold columns as soon as I'm off mobile, so just bear with me for now. Also, I may need a reason for him to want the Shardblade. Not sure yet. And yes, I know I said "useless Iron Compounder" but still. I just dirt if realized he wasn't useless. That's all. Critique? Too OP? EDIT: I changed him up a bit, because why not? Here is the final Weston Demoux, but I can't tag so I'll just post a link to him.

It was actually mac last time. But I'll pass. I just remembered the DA Disclaimer, and I don't think I'd end up with the legal high ground if things turned bad.

You're kind of DA, so... I'm somewhat hesitant to eat this cookie. See, last time I accidentally burned an Iron Spike ABD ended up with a big, blue physique and a splitting headache.

I've been on the edge about joining this for awhile now, but I'm now pretty sure I want to, and I want to give my two cents. First off, the Fox Laws (kenod's suggested rules for building and growing characters. I call them that for clarity, and because it sounds good) are something I can get behind one-hundred percent. I'm all about community accountability, especially since the other RPers are the one's who will have to deal with power increases or random Shardblades that they don't remember from their last run-in. I mean, the characters wouldn't know about new stuff anyways, but that has been an unspoken rule in the Reckoners RP for awhile, and it has been really helpful for me to remember that I need to check my new tech (Karabiner's power is really fun) off with the others. Second, Hellbent Syndrome has been one of my worst nightmares ever since I started reading little bits of this RP over the summer. (I think that's when it was, anyway) Third, I really like the point system proposed by Ookla the Meme-Theif, and will personally design my characters to follow it as building rules, but I can see that other are staunchly opposed to it, so I feel that we should only use it as a quantifier across the board, and only invoke it against ourselves and those who's characters start breaking the game. The reason for this is that, even if I was certain I was in the majority on this one, I know that angry RPers are worse for a story than gamebreaking characters, and so would rather err on the side of diplomacy. Also, I am saddened that I am too late to have the first - and therefor most plausible - Zinc Compounder. Because tha power is really cool, but also really limited, and I love it. I will be a useless Iron Compounder instead...

Amanda's sight had returned several minutes before the van pulled out of the alleyway by the doughnut shop. Her delusions, however, remained shattered. She knew Skeet was a lying backstabber of an Epic, worse even then others of his kind because he had pretended to care about her. Pathetic, she thought. That's what he called me, but can I really blame him? I am pathetic, really. But somehow, despite his clear disregard for her feelings, she loved him. She would never say it, but she could no more easily deny it outright. She needed him. His smiles that went clear through his eyes when nobody else was there, the stability and warmth of his embrace, and the little security she got from his being ther3e on her ventures. She knew, of course, that he could never save her from those parts of her missions that she most hated, but... Well... He couldn't. Could he? In any case, his comment bit. As the van rolled out, Amanda decided not to even bother with stopping herself from sliding around on the floor. It just wasn't worth it. Karabiner had tech at the Picket that would patch up any scrapes she got, so she wouldn't scar or be in pain for too long. That was far from true of her mind. Nudge drove the van out of the alley to follow the target - a red Saab 9000 Aero, driven by a young man whom Karabiner had confirmed as the Epic Bloodlight. he didn't think he had been noticed yet, and hoped to keep it that way, but, well... City blocks only helped one stay out of sight and on target if one knew where the target was going. Which Nudge didn't. Yet. Nudge hit a button on the dash. "How may I be of assistance, Operative Nudge?" It was Charles the artificial intelligence from the Picket. He was connected to all of the mobiles. "Our target is that red car we're following, and we want to keep out of sight by taking an alternate route," Nudge answered. He almost continued, put paused to confirm "you do have our cameras, right?" "I am logged on to the cameras installed in and on your vehicle, yes.," replied Charles. "Great. Do you have footage of that doughnut place?" "Only from the van, but I caught the disappearance of two or three Epics inside. The vehicles Master karabiner sent ahead to secure the stadium where he's going later show the same three people, along with two others." Nudge was a bit lost by that information. "And the point is...?" "I suspect - and I'm just a computer, so this could be wrong - that the driver of the van your target is following, if not your target himself, is looking for his friends from Destination Doughnuts. In other words, the stadium is your "best bet." Nudge drove toward the stadium, trying to steer his route as close to Bloodlight as possible, so as to see him a few times from behind. He didn't seem to be going to the stadium directly, but he was going in more or less the right direction. Skeet had remained silent that whole time, and Nudge looked over to see what he was up to. Skeet was staring at his knees, his face a mask of pure loathing. For whom - or what, as the case may have been - though, Nudge had no idea.

"... Out of the ordinary, flash your brights. Okay?" Liam finished, walking a bit further and into an alley, ostensibly the location of his van. Nate turned to get into his car, then thought better and went to the trunk first. Opening the spare tire compartment, he removed a black and red armored vest, took off his jacket and put the vest on, then returned his jacket to his shoulders. "... Offer much protection, but the mags are worth it. Neither will really matter if I go Bloodlight, but they might keep me stable." He took bracers of the same style and purpose from it and put them on, sliding each sleeve up to strap them to his forearms, fingers sliding neatly through holes at the first knuckle. "... Hope I don't need these," he was saying. "Knee guards? No, they don't go well over jeans, might pinch." With more time, he would have put them on underneath, or changed into better pants for it, but just then he was in a hurry. "Ready," he confirmed to himself, closing the trunk and walking to the driver door. He unlocked it and climbed in, then started the Saab, which let out a beautiful purring sound. A van pulled out of the alley Liam had gone into. Looking through the window, Nate saw that it was Liam driving, and he put his foot on the accelerator to follow him. It would be a few minutes before he realized there was another van following him.

“Hey Nate, know of anything… peculiar or important happening in town? Or maybe something to do with Karabiner?” "Karabiner? The weapons Epic?" Fought to control of his voice, which had risen to a much higher tone than his usual baritone. "I can only imagine. I'm new here, but I have a car." His voice slowly returned to normal as he finished. "That must have sounded weird," he muttered.

“Well, looks like you’re along for the ride. Time to find some Epics,” Liam said, gripping Nate's shoulder as he stood up. "I... Well... Yeah, that seems as good an idea as any. Plus you'll be safer - physically, aside from some pain - if I'm there. No telling what he can do." Liam gave him a funny look. "What's with-" Nate muttered "... Oh. I meant Nathan, not Ko... kichi, was it?. Nathan seemed suspicious." Nate checked both hips for his guns, then pulled the airsoft model from his left holster. He didn't want to kill someone by mistake, but if he was hit then the guns would be virtually the same within his power-range.

“Well, if we’re being frank, I don’t entirely know what I want.” A thought crossed his mind. “Actually, there might be one thing. If you happen to possess some indispensable skills and have your evening free, I could use your assistance.” Liam nodded at Nate and added “you too, since you’re here.” Nate did have some skills that, once known, could be considered indispensable. He had run point in all of the Survivors' Epic-killing missions and acted as ambassador in negotiations with the Epics they didn't kill, even before gaining his powers. But... Those last were the problem. "... Can't let that happen," his muttered musings concluded. "Well, I do have some very useful skills, but... I might jeopardize the... Whatever-it-is you intend to do. Oh. And 'Please-Don't-Kill-Any-Innocents-Right-Now' isn't part of my name, I just nervous around other Epics." Nate wasn't really a master of face-reading, but even he realized he had said too much. "... What... Did I say?"