Voidus

Zyn snorted in response. He took one glance up at the high ceilings in the buildings, the support beams, window frames and awnings. Some sections of corridor didn't have much in the way of rooftop hiding, but the number of empty rooms and exits made for plenty of hiding places. "'Long as they're not a tineye or an Awakener I could tail near storming anyone in these buildings." He replied. "Fancy people always put too much in their houses, makes it much easier." He dipped into a nearby alcove that held a statue, presumably one of the gods they worshipped here but he hadn't paid much attention. Taking a quick look behind he saw there was plenty of room to move, they'd make easy platforms to lift himself up towards the ceilings if he needed to. Some convenient windows also made them an easy way to escape quickly if things went sour. "Yeah that should be pretty easy." He confirmed again as he made his way back.

Once more Laurelai was tempted to hit Okame with something. There were many in the Dark Alleys who had a somewhat jovial side to them, but most of that was a darker sort of humour the kind that didn't quite match with normal reality and served only to put people on edge rather than make them relax. But Okame seemed nearly perpetually buoyant, as though even the weigh of the Alleys and all that they contained wasn't enough to drag him into the darker depths of reality. But he's a radiant isn't he? Something must have broken him at some point. Laurelai watched the back of the large Horneater as he made his way through the caverns, following him out of the other exit where the moss continued for a little while before it suddenly stopped as though sheared off by a knife. She would have investigated that a little more, but Lita was right, they could come back and collect samples for R&D later, nothing here seemed like it would be likely to threaten them later so there shouldn't be any issues with leaving it behind. Not like all the other issues you've left behind? The ones that will come back to haunt you. The ones you hide from. Shaking her head once again, Laurelai refocussed on Okame and voiced some of her earlier curiosity. ":How did you join them?" She asked, trying to keep a steady voice. "The Radiants? I was on Roshar for a while so I know a little, you just seem too..." She left the sentence trailing, unsure of how exactly she intended to finish it. Too hopeful? Annoying? Whatever it was he didn't exactly seem like most other Radiants she'd seen in the city.

Voidus caught himself again, still staring out into the distance. Getting lost in his memories was not the most unusual of occurrences for him, perhaps an old habit as a researcher to muse on the past in search of ideas for the future. But something else had been distracting him as well, a feeling of some kind. Not so potentially catastrophic as when he'd felt the Void being pulled those months ago, but something equally if not even larger in scale. Something subtle. A flare of Bronze sent an immense surge of Allomantic power out, washing over the Alleys and even spilling out a little into the city itself. The flood of information was as intense as ever but he quickly sorted most of it as insignificant. A few places of particularly strong Investiture, the unique pulse of the Worldspike's barrier, Invested individuals walking about. But nothing of particular note. Imagination perhaps? He wondered. He lifted one hand to his head, bracing himself against it for a moment, placing a slight pressure against the bridge of his nose. Lack of sleep? He snorted at the thought. He couldn't even recall the last time he'd truly slept. There was far too much to do to be able to take a break for several hours in order to do nothing at all. Even a moments inattention could cause any number of catastrophic issues, might ultimately lead to another Sudiov or something worse. No, there was no time for resting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- An indeterminate period of time ago in a location of indeterminate distance "So." The Professor began, curiosity and fear still warring in his expression. "You called it Voidmaking? How did you..." Voidus gave an amused smile. The two had moved away from the Professor's office and Voidus had ceased any overt displays once they were back in public, visiting a cafe that the Professor had recommended. This seemed to have calmed the Professor down enough that his curiosity had begun to win out and he was asking questions more eagerly than before, though it had taken Voidus no small amount of effort to prove that it was more than some hallucination or magic trick. "How did I do it? It's not terribly difficult once you get used to it. More difficult to avoid doing it for me to be honest." He replied. "Ah, cappuccino and as many sugars as you can manage." Voidus turned towards the waitress who'd come over to their table, the Professor managed to blurt out a request for a flat white as the waitress left them with a smile. "That's not an answer." The Professor said, frowning. "I meant specifically how, people can't just..." He seemed to have trouble phrasing himself, resorting to gesturing at Voidus as though to encompass everything that he was. "Clearly they can." Voidus replied, still amused. "Given that I just did." Looking at the Professor he seemed to feel some measure of pity, giving a soft sigh before he continued talking. "There's a very complicated answer that I wouldn't be able to articulate in a way that would be understandable, or there's a very simple answer that wouldn't leave you satisfied. So I suppose I'll go with the middle ground here and start off by being mysterious. There are forces beyond your understanding in the universe, I happen to have some measure of control over one of those forces. And you have the potential to learn how to do so as well." He held up a hand as the Professor was about to interrupt, nodding his head to the waitress who was returning with their coffee. Taking it and enjoying a sip of his incredibly sweet beverage, Voidus continued as the waitress left. "I know you won't believe that yet. You probably still don't think I can do it. So to answer your next few questions: Yes I'm sure, no I'm not going to ask you for any money, this isn't a scam. I'll even pay for the coffee. And no, not everyone can. You had something of a brush with death? That's a part of it. But it needs to happen in a very specific way, for reasons that again are too complicated and not interesting enough to go into right now." He watched the Professors frown deepen, taking a sip from his own cup before quickly drawing back as he discovered it was too hot. "Here." Voidus said, leaning over to touch the side of the cup. A barely visible shadow drifted over them for a moment, easily dismissed as a passing cloud if it weren't obviously a clear day. "Try again" Sceptically, the Professor tried another sip, finding it to suddenly be a much more comfortable temperature. His eyes shot up from the cup to Voidus' eyes, then down to his hand, examining carefully. "No trick." Voidus said, pulling his sleeve up to show the empty hand. "Heat is energy, and contrary to what every physicist you've ever met has told you, energy can be destroyed. You just need to try hard enough. Think it over for now, I'll be back another day to talk a little more." With that, he drained the last of his cup and stood up, leaving the Professor to examine his cup now, and made his way towards the counter where the waitress was waiting to put their order through. "Keep the change." He said as he handed her a bill. She smiled in response, thanking him and putting the change that she had been about to hand him into a nearby jar for tips. Voidus looked down to the small name badge on her shirt then back up to her, nodding in thanks for the coffee. "Thanks for the coffee Laurelai." He said as he made his way out, past the Professor who watched him leave, still obviously burning with curiosity.

Whisper followed along behind the main group of scouts, she'd spent too long handling Kemmeth, enjoying the sensation of purpose that she'd felt as the spike had pierced through his heart, an odd mixture of terror and relief fading from his eyes as the life had left him. The others had continued on ahead without her, but given her usual position towards the back of the scouts she shouldn't attract too much attention if she slipped back in, and that along with her tracker that she'd planted on one of the other sleeping scouts when she woke them should leave little evidence that she'd done anything. Corrette might notice or suspect, but Whisper was relatively sure that so long as she didn't interfere with or draw any undue attention towards Corrette then the woman would let her be about her own business. She walked softly down the tunnel, following the footsteps of 'Karin' who had passed her not too long ago. That had proved to be something of a close call, fortunately Aylitha's look-alike had been moving for speed rather than stealth. Whisper didn't know if Karin would have approved of finding Whisper wandering down the tunnel, still wiping the blood from a spike. And while her Aluminium spike might prove effective against Karin, Whisper still wasn't eager to get in a fight. Fighting was always a last resort, a waste of life. Death with no horror, no fear of the great unknown served no purpose. Wasteless slaughter like that would not hesitate to bring them back. Hearing voices up ahead, Whisper forced her face to stillness. She struggled to avoid smiling in satisfaction, finally managing to twist the smile into her usual look of polite interest. She took care to move with a mix of caution and confidence, trying to avoid being heard approaching while also not appearing to be too obviously sneaking. She renewed her Lightweaving over herself, ensuring that any lingering signs of blood that she might have missed weren't visible. Stepping out from behind a bend in the tunnel, she hesitated in her stride when she saw the bulk of the scouting forces all gathered around something. She slowly made her way forwards, slipping in between the figures that crowded the tunnel until finally she could see what they were staring at. Speaking of mindless slaughter. Whisper had no need to hide her grimace of distaste at the body and the message. They might suit her purposes a little in promoting an even more suspicious and fearful atmosphere, but it was still a waste of a life. She put a little effort into looking more sorrowful than angry, ducking her head to avoid meeting anyones eyes and moving towards the back of the group once more. May need to accelerate things a little. Better a slim harvest than no harvest at all.

Zyn stepped in silently, giving polite nods to those that they passed but otherwise remaining silent. he was nothing like as skilled as Lena was with creating a disguise and his lanky figure would be difficult to conceal no matter how skilled he was. Better to try to be as forgettable as possible instead. This is why you should leave this kind of work to other people. Zyn chastised himself mentally. Scope the building out from a distance, sure. Learn the patrols nearby, check where all the guards are. But don't walk straight into the dang building! That's a job for a Soother. Shaking his head he caught up to Alask with a series of long strides, keeping his head down. "So what's the plan here?" Zyn asked, voice pitched low. "Just wander until we find something interesting? I doubt they'd just keep anything too valuable out in the open. Maybe some fancy ornaments but Invested stuff? With all these kids playing around?"

If it's just being burned rather than fire itself then it'll be a little lower but that's still solidly a 50, which I think would put this below 300 again. Means only the first 3 previous weaknesses need to be used. 1. When she cares about someone she will go to extreme lengths to defend them. -5 2. When she tells a lie she begins to mix up the lie and the truth. -15 3. Absolutely hates slavers. -5

Rusting abilities are annoying to allomancers but most other people use Shardblades or Aluminium anyway, not so useful offensively since anything made of rust is going to break pretty instantly.

Depends a lot on the character, for someone whose entire combat abilities are based around Hemalurgy? A lot. For someone whose primary means of fighting doesn't involve a lot of blood, a lot less. Probably around 15 here. If you want something that allows for a lot of points to come off then it has to impact the character in a pretty dramatic way that will occur at least semi-frequently. SO while normally I'd only give a fear of fire somewhere in the same region of 15, if this character were to have a mortal fear of fire then it'd be worth more like 50+ because that's a contradiction to their powers.

100 points in weaknesses is a lot, and I'm generally not a fan of just adding a giant list of unrelated weaknesses to a character purely for the purposes of getting them within points limits. Two or three well defined and meaningful weaknesses make a character interesting, having a giant laundry list of random phobias, allergies and tics just makes for confusion. Not trying to specifically call you out here, a lot of those on this list are actually really good as weaknesses, but general preference is for some really impactful weaknesses rather than just a bunch of them. That being said I will take off a few more for the existing weaknesses since as you point out it does combine with the Epic weakness nicely, which is exactly what I was just suggesting. So -25 for existing weaknesses: Even with all of those it'd still be a little over, problem is a lot of them are basically just normal behaviour for people or something I would consider a natural consequence of existing weaknesses. Or in the case of slavers or the cats thing they're just a little too specific to be worth much, it's not often that a giant cat actually poses a threat to anyone.

Both actually pretty close to what I came up with, Aylitha came out a little lower for me since not needing to sleep is only a 15 under the usual Epic ratings, Nimari's powers I rated quite a bit lower due to the fact that this is limited on Stormlight and Epic powers usually don't have any limiting factor which is why they're score so highly most of the time. But end of it all I came to the same judgements on Nimari is within limits, and Aylitha is just outside them.

Can't do a full scoring right now as I'm not at home, but a quick look would suggest this is within normal limits. Will need to clarify what you mean by the 'stun' power though, like knock people unconscious? Just kind of daze them? Is it physical or mental? And what kind of duration would it last for?

H2H is 50, Melee weapons is 75. 50+75=125 Neither do almost any PIs, and outside of these you're describing a perfect PI with no limitations. PI's are always worth a lot, they're what separate Epics from High Epics. Probably not, it'd be a fair amount lower but 100 square feet of total ability to incinerate things is still quite a bit. Would be around 100 points for that, so still 400 points total. Sorry, must have been misremembering it was a while back now. But it was pretty graphic and designed to give some kind of mechanical benefit in the RP, which could potentially incentivize a lot of people to use it for characters or create NPCs who used it. Potential to get a little too pervasive.

There's a gray area around it, basically I think in the past I've said that as long as it's not super overt it would be potentially fine. I think the problem that Darth was referring to was when there was some discussion about a new drug entering the AV that literally made people explode if they OD'd on it. That's a little too graphic and a little too focused for what I think we can get away with. But basically as long as it's not being glorified and as long as the process of actually taking any drugs isn't gone into in too much detail I think we can stay within acceptable limits. Preferably though it's a part of a characters mindset rather than a whole plot or anything like that though. Brandon himself touches on the topic a few times with Pewter and again in SA with Firemoss, so I think we can get away with a bit if it's focussed more on the human aspect of it rather than the actual drugs. Alright well that is a lot. A mile square of fire manipulation puts this squarely in the highest tier of elementalists that my rating system goes to, that is some city-destroying capabilities right there. Pyrokinetic abilities: 250 points Rusting: 100 points (Rated higher than normal due to ignoring Investiture) PI: 80 Skills: 125 Weaknesses: -5 Total: 550 Fire manipulation is what's really going to get this, 1 square mile is just an absolutely huge amount. That's more than what the Phoenix has used the last two times it managed to level most of the city.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/98/#e874 Not explicitly contradicted yet and Brandon has confirmed elsewhere that Identical twins are likely to share the same ability for the metallic art (As are fraternal twins, but identical even more so) I think it's safely within the pseudo-canonical realm that we operate in.

While we do try to make decisions democratically for the most part when it comes to things that relate to characters, in this case we've already opened the forum up for people to discuss. If more people were suggesting an alternative option then we might open a poll or something but at the moment there don't seem to be much in the way of issues that people are taking with it. So for anyone reading, at the moment we'll be operating under the assumption that all points are doubled, skill allocation and magic allocation, leading to a 300 point total. If anyone wants to reopen the discussion on the points for this plot then let us know, otherwise I think we should move forward with other planning.

That's true but the spikes are also synergistic with allomantic tin and pewter, though not as much as they are with feruchemy. I think this comes out at just over 300 from a quick count Total should be: Mistborn - 160 Amberite - 45 Spikes - 120 (20 apiece) Synergy - Spikes + Mistborn = 50 Skills - 50 (30 H2H, 20 melee) Weaknesses - -40 (Misc), -75 (spikes) Total: 375 (M) + 50 (S) -115 (W) = 310 But a problem is how oriented this is to magical abilities, assuming that we were attempting to keep the existing ration of magic:skills with the 300 point limit there should only be 200 points of magic, even with the weaknesses offsetting them there's currently 260. I'd probably suggest changing the weaknesses up a bit, swap out the allergy, missing fingers and fears for a single really impactful weakness. Try working in the other direction, come up with a weakness based on the character and their history and then blow it out of proportion to counter their strengths, rather than trying to come up with enough individual weaknesses to offset the points.

I feel like these are here mostly just to try to allow an otherwise OP character, some of these are actually really nice traits for a character to have, it's nice to flesh out exactly what tics or physical clues they give out. But also not going to be worth a lot of points. Don't have enough time right now to fully score them but I'd say even with the weaknesses this might end up on the OP list.

Moved to Cosmere Discussion

Been busy lately, sorry. Quick look would put it over point totals by a little, but given the restriction of not using Radiant powers in combat and that they're an old character I think this should be fine to go based on progression allowances recently. EDIT: Sorry again, just realized I may have misread the profile here, will need to discuss with other mods before we can give a definitive rating.

"Wouldn't be here if I didn't trust you." Zyn mumbled, taking another bite to eat now that Lena had shown it wasn't poisoned. He pulled the packets over towards himself, opening the blue bag up a little with some interest to examine its contents. It didn't look like anything special but if Lena said it would make for an interesting experience then he was certainly intrigued. But then again, Lena might have a different idea of what 'interesting' meant than Zyn would, hopefully it wasn't something that made you intensely fascinated with murdering people. He tucked the bags away, setting his cuttlery down as he finished the last of his meal, cheeks bulging a little with food. He looked up to examine the rest of the table, eyes resting a little longer on Eve as he tried to get a gauge on her. Was this a group of people who could successfully infiltrate a great guild? He wasn't certain, but at the least he thought they'd probably manage to scope the building out without too much trouble. If things got sticky later on then there'd be some way to get out at least. "Ready when you are." He said, taking a large swallow to finish his mouthful.

Laurelai watched the last of the damage in the moss heal over, the glowing pulses of light faded back to their previous rhythm. She watched a few more cycles of light course through the moss before gently placing it back down where she'd found it again, turning towards Lita with a sparkle in her eyes. The implications of what this could be were beyond what she could imagine on her own, but she knew people in R&D who would kill for a new species like this even without the possibility that it was actually generating its own Stormlight. She was halfway through an excited exclamation when she saw Lita's curious expression, saw what she was standing in front of. Laurelai's own curiosity peaked further, was this moss some kind of carnivorous plant? They hadn't seen any motion or other indications but it might have some other predatory strategy. Keeping a cautious eye on the moss, Laurelai crossed the cavern and crouched down next to Lita, looking over the pile in front of them. At first she'd thought they were simply bundles of clothes, possibly discarded from corpses that had been consumed. But taking a closer look, the entire pile was made entirely of shoes. Her expression dropped, curiosity fading and giving way to confusion. How did a pile of shoes and nothing else end up here? And only one of each pair by the looks of things. She looked over towards the other side of the cavern, where it seemed the tunnels continued. Was there some pool of water or something that people travelling through hadn't wanted to soak their footwear in? But that wouldn't explain why only one of each pair, or why they hadn't carried them. Why leave them here? "There must be dozens in there." She commented, leaning forward to get a better look at the pile. "So either fifty or so people with one shoe each, or thirty with mismatched pairs?" She shook her head over them, unsure of what to make of this oddity. She'd heard that some strange things had been discovered in these caverns, but she was expecting Invested creatures or plants, not a mysterious pile of footwear. "Either of you able to see any tracks or footsteps?" She asked the other two. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whisper nodded as Corette told her of the assembly point, keeping an eye on the other woman as she moved on to speak to others. Whisper stood up, tucking her book back away and out of sight before reaching up and supporting herself on the tree she'd been leaning against as she stretched. After loosening her muscles back up she gave herself a small nod and moved over to the scouts who had been trying to catch some rest, gently shaking them awake one by one, drawing back the little remaining Stormlight she'd left on each. She smiled inwardly as she saw them all flinching as they awoke, eyes wide and rapidly scanning their environment. In spite of having gotten some sleep they all seemed even less rested than they had when they'd arrived, but that was helpful in its own way. Kemmeth awoke with a start, feeling a small pressure against his shoulder. His eyes snapped open and fastened onto the small limb that was holding him, he saw a deep black that sucked in all light. Darkness itself forming a long amorphous limb that would drag him with it back into an endless abyss. He drew himself back, hand scrabbling at his waist for a weapon but as he blinked he saw only a young girl, drawing back at his reaction and looking a little hurt. Her small arm was still held out after being drawn back from Kemmeths shoulder. He blinked in confusion, looking around and seeing the other scouts, a few of whom were glaring at him for scaring someone who had just been trying to help him. He was surrounded by people and stone trees, not the giant monsters and obelisks of horror that he'd been imagining. Confused, he raised one hand to his eyes to try to rub some sleep out of it, relaxing a little as his fears proved baseless. But still he looked at those surrounding him with confusion, he offered no apologies to the young girl as she drew back, simply gathering his supplies and moving in the direction she'd pointed and following the others who were moving to gather there. A few of the other scouts that he knew came up to walk with him but quickly retreated under the dark, sullen looks he kept shooting them. Unseen, Whisper followed some distance behind him, a sly smile on her face as she kept an eye on the lonely form trudging along ahead of her.

Zyn watched the new woman cautiously. Alask and Lena he knew, and he doubted they'd try to set him up, but meeting new people in the middle of planning was always a caution-inducing experience. But as she spoke he slowly relaxed, at the least she didn't seem overly interested in Zyn and if Lena and Alask trusted her then that was their responsibility to bear. "Scouting is definitely going to be a good idea." He agreed, taking a bite of food. "As for anyone else, well there was nobody at the hideout when I visited but some of them still use it, might be possible." He took another bite, savoring the warm food for a moment before giving his bowl a careful look. He was pretty sure Lena wouldn't poison him, but it never hurt to be safe, and that looked she'd given him had definitely promised an incredibly swift and painful death, who's to say she wouldn't deliver on that preemptively?

The spren spun around the dancing sticks with delight, the other children had joined in, some trying to poke at it with sticks, others who were unarmed tried to catch it with bare hands but the spren nimbly stepped between their splayed fingers, and defended itself against the oncoming sticks. The game heated up as some of the children got into a competitive streak, each trying to catch the spren first. Crackling with merriment the spren led them around the large square, dodging out of the way of the bigger people who were walking around, weaving through the seats and decorations that had been set up. It ran along the ground, dodging the feet of the children scampering after it and then zipped back into the air, just out of reach. It saw a number of faces smiling up at it, still reaching and trying to jump up to touch it. The spren crackled again, letting them know that it had also enjoyed their game. But it still had something to do, something urgent. Remembering to do things was easier than remembering why it had to do them, or what they meant. But it knew that remembering would be easier after it had done... whatever it was supposed to do. So it gave the children a wave with its stick, watching them stand around talking for a few more moments before they realized that it wasn't coming back down and began running back to the corner where it had first seen them. The spren watched happily before turning to look over the rest of the square. Its body flared brighter as it tried to remember what exactly it was supposed to do, it really wanted to go to that big tree and see what it looked like when it was burning, but just before its frustration mounted high enough to cause such an inferno it spotted two figures nearby. One of the figures was familiar, they had been with the man with the interesting hat. But the other the spren didn't remember seeing, though that was normal given how hard remembering was right now. Maybe it was the man with the hat and the spren had forgotten what they looked like? But they didn't have the hat on any more. Had the spren burned it? Curious, it darted forwards, turning into a ribbon of light once more before seeming to vanish altogether in a sudden burst of speed. Stopping beneath the feet of the two figures, the spren noticed with some surprise that it was no longer visible. It had forgotten that it could do that, or possibly only just learned how to do it. Amused, it wove between their feet, swirling around in invisible figure eights.

Laurelai stared aghast as Okame tore a chunk of the moss away, he shoved the faintly glowing moss into his mouth, swallowing it down after a few seconds. Laurelai closed her eyelids for a moment, suppressing the intense urge to roll them at Okame, then opened them up again, staring directly up at the Horneater. "How in Harmony's name did you manage to survive in the Alleys for this long?" She asked, genuinely a little impressed at either his luck or fortitude. "A little extra warning before you do something incredibly stupid would be appreciated though, at least let us spike you before you kill yourself so those Radiant powers don't go to waste." Shaking her head she bent to hold the moss surrounding the chunk he'd ripped free. The light continued to pulse through it, seeming stronger in the sections that had been torn but it didn't drip out that she could see. Which meant it wasn't simply a bioluminescent fluid probably. But what was it? What purpose did it serve? As she watched, the light pulsed again in its regular beat. As it did she saw the tear seemed to pulse physically, not just with the light, bulging out into the gap. As the light faded once more there seemed to be more moss present, as though it had expanded inwards from its edges to fill the gap that had been created by Okame. Another pulse of light hit, causing the same reaction again, shrinking the wound even further. "Is this a Stormlight circulatory system?" She asked aloud, wondering. "It's healing back up where it was broken. But how in the world would it get a supply down here? Does it create it itself?" If so this would be a momentous occasion indeed. A living power source for Investiture was not something seen outside of Sel, and even then the Elantrians themselves didn't generate the Investiture, they merely acted as a conduit for the Investiture of the land. Of course it was also possible that she was wrong, either in that this might not be Stormlight, or if it was it might gain it from an external source. @ZincAboutIt @Invocation