Voidus

Yeah given everything going on I think the Boarding House may still be a good idea as a jumping in point for new players and characters.

"Thank you." Laurelai said, hesitating for a moment before shifting seats to join the woman. "Sareshe made it for me, one of the best Arelish seamstresses I've had the joy of finding. She has a little shop on Reo street, I had to track her down from an Elantrian I met at a party." She gave a polite smile and raised her glass to her lips, savouring the smooth taste as she surreptitiously eyed the redhead once more. She was wealthy enough to afford an outfit like that, plenty of people has ostentatious costumes tonight but few were so well made. Expensive without seeming garish, a line that even many nobles form the various worlds still hadn't quite managed to find. A Scadrian Noblelady then? Or one of the wealthier Skaa? "But if we're sharing trade secrets then I have to ask for one in return." Laurelai continued, pointedly staring at the elaborate golden headdress. "That's a lovely piece, it can be difficult to find someone who can pull off the necessary blend of boldness and subtlety at this time of year." Laurelai kept her eyes afixed to the womans face, trying not to stare too obviously. But mentally she was still in a perplexed rush of deduction followed by rapid dismissal, it wasn't too often that she took this long to try to read someone. Usually she would take a few moments to conclude what she could, maybe observe their behaviour and try to reason some less obvious truths about them. But in those cases where she couldn't get much of a read she would usually move on relatively quickly. So why did she find this woman so curious? Perhaps simply her excellent taste in fashion, company and drinks? She reasoned with an internal grin. But that didn't quite feel like all of it, there was some mystery about this woman that Laurelai was determined to unravel. "Oh, and I'm Laurelai." She said after her brief lapse into introspection. "Laurelai Esserethel." Habitually she felt her hand rise to the neckline of her dress, almost pulling free the coin that hung from a nondescript cord there but she managed to shift her hand at the last moment. She didn't want to seem overly nervous. @ZincAboutIt

Shop interactions are somewhat limited by nature, they're designed around a specific goal to fulfil and once that goal is fulfilled they're completed. Something like a tavern or a coffeehouse is a much lengthier more social experience. I know the Bleeding Spike saw some use a couple months back but hasn't been used much lately, and some of the NPCs there are a little aggressive for me to want to suggest it for new RPers. I wouldn't mind us having something a little more laid back and casual like the Odd Job Tavern or the Waystop. The Boarding House may be another good alternative, not sure if we discussed what was happening with it this era? But it's nice to have a neutral place for people to meet and discuss things when they don't want to be in other threads and that then becomes an easy location for new players to meet existing characters without needing to read through an entire thread and jump headfirst into a plot.

I'd be up for that, would there be a position available for a somewhat unstable conspiracy theorist reporter?

Honestly the best piece of advice I can give is to just run something to get your confidence up, choose a prebuilt adventure (Ideally something shortish) and just run it for a small group of friends. I would advise against making a sprawling campaign your first attempt at DMing, get a bit of confidence and familiarity with how the dynamic would work first. Planning a campaign becomes a lot easier once you have a little experience but there's only so much advice I can give to help, the main thing is to know what kind of campaign you want to run and who you're running it for and talk to them about it, if you have a party that just wants to explore and come up with their own stories but you've planned a somewhat railroady epic quest where you expect the party to hit specific plots and do specific things then it can all unravel fast. Make a session 0 and talk to people about what kind of game they want to play. I tend to run somewhat sandboxy games, there are plenty of things happening in the world but try not to plan for specific ways that those things will happen to or with the party. I just plan for what would happen if the party wasn't present and then sometimes they interfere with things and it just becomes a matter of figuring out how that would change what was going to happen.

I'm something of an eternal GM who rarely gets to play, mostly in the D&D 5e space though I've done some Pathfinder and had several Vampire games start and then immediately fall. I'm an enthusiastic worldbuilder and homebrewer as well so always happy to discuss anything related to those particularly, I have an unreasonably massive library of homebrews for 5e.

"Fritz is shameless, isn't he?" Laurelai started as she heard the quiet voice to one side, there was plenty of noise in the room but somehow that small voice carried across to her as though perfectly pitched for her ears. "You're the fourth person he's tempted with that Elariel Estate - it's the dress I'm afraid. You look like you can afford it." Laurelai turned her head to the speaker, a rather stunning redhead with an elaborate headdress, mask and outfit that left even Laurelai feeling underdressed. The woman was still paying attention to her own glass but just as Laurelai turned to her the woman's eyes rose up to meet hers. "To his credit though." The woman said, taking a sip from her own glass as she spoke. "It is delicious." "Were you the third then?" Laurelai ventured with a sly smile, she naturally slipped into a slight Scadrian accent to match their surroundings. "You certainly seem to share my problem in looking like you can justify such a delicious vintage." She took a sip of her own drink, using the opportunity to examine the other woman. It was a lovely outfit, a little extravagant to be able to justify but very appropriate for the festival atmosphere. The headdress was wonderfully crafted to match, not the most elaborate decoration she’d seen a person wear that night but one of the more elegant pieces. Momentarily distracted by her appearance, Laurelai’s eyes shifted to the womans expression and posture looking for the subtler signs she generally used to read people. Not everyone was easy to read, but she didn’t seem particularly guarded. Her accent was the easiest to pick up, it wasn’t as pronounced as some but it was definitively Scadrian. Little enough information that could be gained from that alone, Laurelai watched her posture and was attacked by a momentary sense of incongruity. Pieces of body language and attitude she could read, but she was having trouble piecing together a single story about this woman. She couldn’t always guess accurately, even an experienced Forger wasn’t omniscient and people were some of the hardest subjects. But she would always be able to guess something, some explanation. There’s always another secret. A voice at the back of her mind whispered.

Laurelai glared a hole through the cup in front of her as she pused it away from herself and back to the middle of the table. She'd wanted to take a break from wandering and sit down in one of the outdoor bars for a quiet drink while she watched the festival unfold. Feeling frivolous she'd simply asked for whichever wine the bartender recommended and sipped it without looking, forgetting that she was currently in the Rosharan district of the city. They do have some lovely fashions but by all the Shards how can they possibly call this wine? She wondered as she looked for something to rid her mouth of the taste. Unfortunately there was little present other than more of the same so she stood from her seat, and set down the street again. The Scadrian district would be closer than the Selish was, and her preference did lean towards the Scadrian ports over those of Arelon. The basin simply made for far too excellent a ground for vineyards, divinely blessed ground it seemed was superior to others. She took a few side streets to move through the city faster, glancing a little nervously down them before proceeding but with the number of people walking the streets tonight they were safer and more watched than usual. Finally she arrived in the familiar mixed architecture of the Scadrian district, elaborate noble houses lying accross the street from a simpler terris community. And not too far beyong that the welcome sign of a smaller than usual crowd waiting outside a building that seemed to be some kind of inn or winehouse, a look through the window showed drinks being served, and thankfully none of those drinks were dyed blue. "The Windlass?" She murmurred, reading the sign above the door. She frowned at it for a moment before her mouth quirked up in a grin. Not a bad name, though it certainly sounded more like some dive bar at a port than it did somewhere to find a nice port or wine. But a look at the interior certainly raised her eyebrow, at first glance it appeared like a calm and elegant atmosphere of a winehouse, but some tables were a little too formal, or formal in a different manner. The interior design made the switch between the two seem somewhat difficult to immediately pick up on but once she'd noticed it Laurelai could notice the strange dual-design of the building. One large and elaborately decorated table looked like somewhere to hold a high tea while another was a simple and elegant standing table that held a wine tasting. "Well this was certainly a good find." She mused to herself. It was almost a lucky enough find to offset her horrible mistake at the other bar. Walking up to the nearby counter she waited to get one of the servers attention, the room wasn't crowded compared to the rest of the city but there were enough people that it would still take a moment before anyone would be able to get her a much needed drink. Still, that was useful in its own way. There were few opportunities to read a room as good as waiting for service, people naturally used the time to let their attention and gaze wander so others barely gave it a second glance. Laurelai's eyes roamed over the interior, still trying to make sense of the strange decor and how they'd managed to pull everything together. But she quickly pulled her attention to the people who filled the room, began making guesses about relationships, trying to see if she could determine who in the city was native Scadrian or Alleycity born. There were too many conversations for her to easily pick up on many of them but she could read body language at least to make some educated guesses. "What can I get you?" She heard a deep, bassy voice ask from behind her as one of the servers finally got to her. "Just a red to start with." She said, turning towards him. "Scadrian won't be a problem I assume, I'll take whatever you recommend as long as it's not a Calingfale." The server gave her an agreeable nod at that and fetched two bottles from nearby, presenting them both to her. "For a red we have something new in from House Hasting, bin 145. I've only been able to have the one bottle myself so far but I was quite partial. But it is a festival after all so I thought I might also suggest..." He turned the other bottle around to reveal its label, though Laurelai almost didn't need him to. It was a bottle of port rather than the wine she'd requested, but moreover it was from Elariel estate. Famously one of the best labels, and also one of the most expensive. "I don't suppose you get a commission on these do you?" She asked with a smile and a slightly accusatory glance. "Trying to upsell a poor vulnerable young lady like myself?" "Ah, I should be ashamed." He replied with a smile and mock-apologetic expression. "You're right, I should just put this one back..." "Well since you took the effort of taking it out." Laurelai interrupted as he began to turn. "It is a festival as you said, if there's ever a time for something a little more high-end it's now." He poured her out a glass with a smile, taking the Chrysts that Laurelai slid over and moving smoothly over to the next customer. Laurelai took a moment to admire his figure and manners as he confidently dealt with each of those at the bar, glad once again that she'd managed to find this little hidden gem. Taking her glass she moved out from the counter to allow someone else to step up, she took another brief look around the room before choosing a stool just in from the corner with only a few other occupants nearby. @ZincAboutIt

Feeling much better today, I was back at work yesterday but still feeling a little off. Then I slept for about 12 hours last night and feeling 100% now, which is rare for me even when I'm not sick so woo!

Sorry, I've been bedridden for the better part of a week with fever so haven't been active. I think I saw that Itiah has approved this already? But if there was another character let me know and I'll take a look, just trying to catch up on everything and hopefully get some scenes written out.

Gateways require a level of strength in the power that are almost impossible for an AV character to achieve, they would need a lot of weaknesses to get to that strength (It's rated at around 450 points currently). I'm actually revising the One Power section of the Index in light of this discussion because I have noted that it's somewhat dated and difficult to read. Already made one update to hopefully make it easier, I removed the gender separation because 1. I feel like we can probably do away with those gender tropes here and 2. the rating scale is gender agnostic anyway other than what levels individuals could reach at the maximum but individual levels represent the same strength for both. The maximum level that can be achieved without taking weaknesses into account would rank quite low among the modern Aes Sedai. Enough to take the tests but well below average.

I enjoy these discussions as well, though I try to be aware that any discussions of personal philosophies like this are easily heated and it can be easy to accidentally overexert when being defensive about ones own points so sorry if I cam across to harsh as well, it seems that as I would hope we're engaging in the topic from a friendly and respectful standpoint. I don't really disagree here, while I believe that the world is deterministic in nature I generally act as though it weren't. What I would term the social construct of free will is very useful for bettering all of our lives so I still claim responsibility when I make mistakes (When I can), encourage those who have 'chosen' to do good and chastise those who choose to do bad. I don't want to risk devolving this into a semantic argument over morality given that that would be a little off topic so I'll confine myself to saying that I think I understand your point and that I was simply using the terms differently. I'm still not sure if I agree that choice is necessary for moral judgement, but if I start on the topic of morality then I'm likely to dive down a whole different rabbit hole. The calculations involved would be immeasurably complex and there are the added issues that the quantum realm brings into it, in that certain events at that scale are truly random and so cannot be definitively taken into account. So in the interests of perfect accuracy I'd agree that it's not possible with 100% certainty but I believe the uncertainty comes from inherent randomness in the universe rather than free will. It could be argued that this randomness could occur inside of someone's mind and alter the chemical and electrical conditions to lead them to a different and non-deterministic decision but I would hesitate to call that free will, it's just the random addition of a new variable into the deterministic equation. So I do believe that exceptional individuals shape society but I would say that the 'choices' that lead them to do so are ultimately just more complicated variants of the person at a coffee shop deciding what to order. There is a bit of a risk of this devolving to semantics so I'll start by clarifying that by predeterminism I mean the hypothetical ability of events to be known before they happen. The exact overlap here is a little outside of my field as I don't hold both beliefs myself but know many theists do. eg. You have the ability to choose what to do, but God already knows which you will choose. If you wanted to perfectly predict an outcome then yes you'd need to know the conditions of the entire universe and all relevant dimensions. I believe decisions are theoretically predetermined not that a human would ever actually be capable of perfectly calculating the chain of causality. That said on a smaller scale you could approximately predict the chain of events. (eg. if I stab you you will flinch from that pain) but that's always going to be probabilistic rather than a certainty due to incomplete information and insufficient calculation. I have no ability to disprove this claim and take no issue with people who subscribe to it, personally I 'd argue that the simpler model of the universe is one without an unobservable (At least objectively) force but Occam's Razor is a guideline not a natural law of the universe so ultimately I couldn't entirely rule it out and it certainly does serve a useful social purpose. I unfortunately lack the time and resources to found the Church of Fred at the moment but keep your eyes on this space and if his purpleish favour should shine upon me then perhaps one day I will That's a very interesting question that I hadn't considered actually. I'm not an adherent of objective morality myself so it's difficult to weigh in here, I suppose I'd been thinking about a source of morality that exists outside of the universe and so while the universe if imagined as a closed system is deterministic this hypothetical outside source would not be. It's not impossible I suppose to believe that some deterministic being or rule is the objective source of morality but I don't know of anyone who genuinely believes this. I may revise my point to say that it is possible to believe that humans don't have free will but that some external source of morality exists. But a lack of free will is not necessarily a deterministic universe so I was perhaps mistaken in my earlier remark. (I kind of feel like I'm reverting to an overly formal manner of speech but that's force of habit mostly so apologies if I come across as preachy or something, it's not my intention) Moral discussions are always tricky without endlessly regressing into definitions but I suppose it depends on how exactly you define morals. I personally don't believe there is a set of objective morality in the world, but I also believe that altruistic acts can still paradoxically be selfish. Most people who would be described as altruists will comment that doing good for other people feels good, which begs the question of are they truly altruistic? I believe that in an ultimate moral sense we are only accountable to ourselves but as a society we are all individually predisposed to hold others to account for actions that harm that society. It's a difficult discussion but I hope I've made my own stance clear at least. I do understand this reasoning but yeah I'd say the chain of causation is probably the other way, some horrible people will cling to a deterministic worldview in order to justify to themselves what they've already done, but I don't believe people do things like that because of their philosophical views, or at least not often. I'd also again say that those people tend to be using the philosophy as a shield to defend themselves either from their own conscience or from the criticism of others, it's not necessarily a genuinely held belief. It's an interesting time to be alive certainly, General Intelligence seems a long way off still but all it takes is the right discovery and progress can rocket forward so who knows what the future brings. My work is one of the reasons I enjoy these kinds of discussions, it really does make you think about it. Likewise, it's always a pleasure to speak about these topics respectfully and thoughtfully. I apologize if I came across as too defensive, it seems I misinterpreted deliberate exaggeration for misinterpretation and we humans are a weird bunch who tend to feel personally attacked when we feel like our beliefs are challenged, it can be troubling to repress that urge sometimes. Thanks for taking the time to talk, hope the demands of life don't prove too strenuous.

I don't choose what to believe based on utility, I choose based on what I believe to be correct. How on earth does that follow? Either you're seriously misunderstanding their argument or deliberately pretending to. Believing that choices are deterministic does not in any way predispose one towards something like rolling a dice in order to make decisions, they know what they want to order because their body posseses a unique set of taste buds and neuron configurations that predispose them to a specific flavour and the decision making centers of their brain prime them towards that choice because it will give it the largest chemical reward. It has nothing to do with dice. That's a personal belief, and I'd argue a rather extreme one. I consider plenty of things to be bad that don't have moral agency. Do Viruses 'choose' to invade a human body and wreak havok with it? No, but that's still a bad thing (To me at least) To alter their future actions, also worth noting is that if you want to make this argument then it works both ways. If this deterministic universe 'forced' me to burn down your car, then it also 'forced' the police to arrest me for doing so. Predeterminism does not necessarily preclude free will either, I'm also not a huge fan of strawmen as a general rule. Perhaps listen to what determinists are actually saying and respond to that rather than asserting what you think they believe. It's actually just regular causation. Causes lead to effects, causation does not dictate that causes sometimes lead to effects, so long as nothing with free will intervenes. That's an opinion, I disagree with it but you're welcome to think so. I'd say that it's still the result from deterministic factors. Are some of those factors the internal chemial, electrical and structural variables in your brain? Yes, but that doesn't change that it's a simple chain of causal events. You may assert some immaterial form of 'will' controlling these events, and that's an inherently unfalsifiable claim so I couldn't categorically state that it's wrong but I don't subscribe to such a belief myself. Let's please not assume the desires of other people and speak to the actual arguments that are being put forward here. So far as I know no one in this thread is Richard Dawkns and they certainly are unlikely to be Christopher Hitchens. That has absolutely nothing to do with determinism. The universe could have been created 20 seconds ago by a purple turtle named Fred and I'd still believe it was deterministic. Determinism has no claims about cosmological origins or religion. I am a subjective moralist as well, but morality is, once again, an entirely different discussion. You can believe in an objective source of morality and still a deterministic universe. People of all philosophies have no difficulties in rationalizing bad actions. You may believe determinists are more prone to this than others, I'd personally dispute that and say that anyone trying to use determinism to rationalize any of their actions is not really believing in a truly deterministic universe. Believing the world is deterministic changes very few of my actions, pretty much just how I respond to these arguments and that's about it. As a specialist in machine learning, yes they do. Because I'd rather people didn't misrepresent or misconstrue my worldview. Or if you want more of a distal cause then I'm reading this because of the starting conditions of the universe which set off an inevitable chain of events leading to this moment

Believing in a deterministic universe does not necessarily make one guilty of moral cowardice. As with any philosophical worldview it comes down to how it is applied at a personal level. Do I think I was always predetermined to do a good or bad thing? Sure. Does that change that it was a good or a bad thing? No, no it doesn't. Believing that you are at the mercy of deterministic forces is one thing, blaming those deterministic forces for a hypothetically avoidable situation and trying to argue that they excuse you from punishment is entirely another.

A concept for the guild and at least another person or two to join it, I'd suggest playing for a while before going about something like that or if you already have a specific idea for a guild then talking about it here and seeing if anybody else would be interested.

Here's my character. It's all good and not too OP, right? -15 for the weaknesses brings the total to 130 so yes this is perfectly reasonable. Approved

Have hidden those posts that only dealt with subjects that had already been removed.

Easily approved, the Epic ability mostly seems like flavour since it's easily replicated by technology that's readily available so I'd probably hesitate to even stick a point total on it but it definitely comes out under the limit. Approved.

"Professor Esserethel" He said clearly, speaking into an intercom on the outside of the hospital doors. "Just here to follow up on some research." The nurse hadn't even bothered to wait for the answer properly, as soon as they'd heard his voice the door had buzzed and clicked open. He gave the intercom a smile before heading in, giving a short wave to the nurse once he was inside and asking him if he'd like a coffee. "No thanks." The nurse said with a yawn. "Almost change of shift for me and it'll be hard enough to sleep through the festival without caffeine." The Professor gave him a sympathetic smile before heading on to the cognitive wards. Sometimes he'd check in on some of the patients in the Physical wards, but the combinations of Resealers, Artifabrians, Radiants, Epics, Elantrians and doctors could deal with most physical ailments so easily that there was barely a need to ask them what had happened. Diagnostics were criminally undervalued in the Professors opinion. Just because you could fix something didn't mean you should stop trying to understand it, who knew how many observations had been missed because someone in the Physical department had simply scribbled an Aon Ien over someone. The Professor rarely went there anymore unless he had some specific research in mind. "Ah well." He muttered to himself as his footsteps echoed down the silent hallways. "The cognitive wards are more interesting anyway." Mental problems were much harder to deal with, even utilizing Investiture could only get you so far. But even beyond the complexities of the psychological analysis there, the Professor had derived many interesting insights from those in the Cognitive wards. Some of them had a very... unique way of looking at the world. But those unique outlooks could be useful for reexamining basic assumptions and arriving at new conclusions. Mostly though, the Professor just found them more interesting company than other people. He gave a small wave at the nurses station as he passed it, receiving some unsurprised expressions in return along with a few requests for coffee from those who weren't due to finish their shifts for a while longer. "You could at least pretend that you didn't expect me." He said with mock outrage as he saw the row of cups already lined up and waiting on the desk. "Too tired to pretend." One of them said back, eyes fluttering closed. "Caffeine first, then I'll pretend to be super surprised." Shaking his head as he left, the Professor made his way to the staff kitchen and set about preparing the various cups before pulling two extras from one of the cupboards. With practiced motions he went down the line, pausing for a moment to remember if Emily took sugar in hers. She hadn't been at the station but her cup had been out, so he assumed she was on shift. Shrugging to himself he put one teaspoon in and hoped he'd be forgiven if he'd butchered her usual drink. Though generally they seemed to be tired enough to drink anything with caffeine in it so perhaps she wouldn't even notice. "Anything new?" He asked as he made his way back and began setting the cups in front of those who'd asked for them. "Nothing too exciting." Sam replied. "Not by your standards anyway. Couple of new patients in but you'll need to come in properly if you want to see them." The Professor gave an understanding nod. Letting him in to see patients he'd spoken to before was one thing but even for him there were limits, they wouldn't just give him a new patients medical records without reason. "I'll be heading in for a chat then." He said. "Give my apologies to Emily when she gets back if I ruined her coffee." Still in good humor, he made his way down to a familiar door and gave a soft tap on the door frame. "Vivica?" He asked, gently by firmly enough to be heard. "Are you still up? I've got coffee for us, sorry none for you though Bennington." @ZincAboutIt

There was never a better time to observe the nature of people than during a festival, and the Festival of Rebirth in particular was one that promoted anonymity. It was amazing how much more comfortable people felt in letting their true desires out just from the thin protection of covering their cheekbones with a mask and dressing up a little. To Laurelai, the festival was a goldmine of information, a thousand little dramas unfolding over the city that she could watch as she passed by, trying to intuit the story from the fragments she was able to pick up. Heading to a nearby stall to see what they had to offer, Laurelai smiled at the chaos all around her. It was a strange contrast, people were being far more honest than usual but the streets were busier and interactions more complex than on any other day. Was it easier to understand today? Or harder? "A caramel apple please." She said, flashing a dazzling smile towards the sweet vendor she'd manged to find. Usually she'd avoid something that messy with such an expensive dress but today she'd be lucky indeed if a small caramel stain was the worst she had to deal with. Last festival a table had collapsed on the second story of the inn and she'd been absolutely doused in beer, hopefully she could get through the end of the day without anything that catastrophic at least, but in the worst case she could always spend tomorrow morning Forging any of the previous nights mishaps away. Not the best way to spend the morning after a celebration Laurelai. She reminded herself. Best to try to stay out of trouble in the first place. Idly she wondered if being able to eliminate consequences so easily predisposed Forgers to reckless behavior. Or did the fact that they needed to be so well studied and aware of the consequences of events mean they were less likely to be so? It was an interesting idea of contrasts, her father would probably enjoy thinking about it. Perhaps next time they had a coffee together she could bring it up and see what he thought of it, make sure he stretched his mind outside of whatever he was currently focused on at work. She continued down the smaller city streets as she bit into her apple, enjoying the mixture of the salted caramel with the crisp and sweet flesh of the apple. It was amazing how much of life came down to simply knowing the correct contrasts. A good meal needed contrasting flavors to highlight each other, so did the elements in an outfit or the scenes in a story. People needed contrasts too, she reasoned, perhaps that was why she'd been getting so bored lately. Too many similar people around each other and no one to contrast herself with, nothing to make her life pop. It's a festival Laurelai. Try not to spend the whole time moping about in introspection. Passing a shop window she gave her reflection an amused smile before shaking her head and holding her chin up as she explored more of the marvelous sights the city held. ============================================================================= Whisper crept along the streets, smoothly moving between groups of people and blending in with them for a few moments before gliding over to the next. Blending in came as naturally to her as breathing at this point, even without Investiture she could manage to hide from most eyes. With Investiture there were very few conversation that Whisper couldn't find some way to listen into. And tonight when the city was filled with people intoxicated by both alcohol and the general spirit of revelry, Whisper questioned whether she even needed to bother trying to conceal herself at all. It was also one of the most difficult times for her to work, for one she was completely inaudible in this noise. Even on a normal day the city was loud enough that few could hear the faint whispers that were all she could produce. But at Festival there was no chance that anyone would be able to hear her. That also meant she had to get much closer to potential marks in order to listen to what they were saying, but that was far less of a problem. Everyone was packed close together, and often travelling in the same direction so there was little suspicion that she drew there. But perhaps the most difficult part of working during the festival were the distractions. Everywhere she looked she could see them, the Lonely God, the Stranger, the Mother of Monsters. Sometimes it was obviously a simple piece of plastic or fabric, but other times they were something else. She could see the eyes behind them, not the eyes of the people who wore the masks but The eyes. The eyes of the gods watching them all, judging her. Whispering to her if she listened hard enough, but it was always so difficult to hear what they were saying, what they wanted. Did the gods want people to wear these masks? Was it an offering? Or would the gods find them offensive? Did they stay apart from the world because the city offended them year after year with thousands of pretend-gods parading around? A dagger slipped into Whispers hands as she stared hard at a passing man wearing a mask of the Stranger. Should she stop this for Him? There were many Strangers in the city tonight but her legs were swift, maybe if she cut enough of them she could please them enough that they would come back. Maybe this was what the masks were whispering, perhaps they were pleas from her gods to tear down the false images of them that ran around the city streets. Status update. The pen in Whispers other hand twisted suddenly with the message. You're late with the latest update, anything to report? In a flash the dagger had vanished from her other hand and Whisper slipped further down the street, eyes downcast as she avoided meeting any gazes. Nothing yet. She sent back dutifully. She wondered if she should broach the topic with Lita, would she understand if Whisper tried to explain it? She wasn't an idiot at least, surely she'd see that it would be reasonable to at least try taking out all of those who wore the masks, the ones that whispered at least.

Not against any site rules, just a personal preference but if people want to reuse the old one I can manage just fine with that.

Given that it's been 12 months since the thread was last used it starts getting into necro territory and the sudden jump makes thread continuity a little awkward. If people really want to bring back the old hospital we can do that but given the lack of activity I'd assumed interest had died down.

We've occasionally made exceptions for non combat characters in the past but they still needed to be approved by the mods, and that process has been rolled up into the OP character submission process now. There's a reason we still assign points for things that aren't combat related abilities.

I'd need a very substantial weakness before I agreed to take 85 points off of a character, like a vampire that will burst into flame if it touches sunlight and inescapably dies I might put as high as 75 points. I don't see anything here that would approach that level of commonality or lethality. But as always happy to be disagreed with if @Sorana or @I think I am here. think it's deserving of a different rating.

Moved from main character thread, please remember to keep off hand comments to this thread when possible.