Through the Living Heir

Did you have any questions for me? Thanks! “plot :3”? Do you have something you want to run? “Did I say true death? Killed and permanently killed would be the language I’d use.” Rebus waved dismissively. “But that is irrelevant. You’ve spent too long stalling, and I would be foolish if I continued it myself.”

Huh. That could make sense, though there’s still the photosynthesis and sun-protection problems. I suppose it doesn’t matter too much, though, so we can ignore it. There are fish with up to ten fins, but some of them are on the top and would have to move around in order to get a hexapod. Actually, that can be our second arm pair - top was originally specialized for climbing, while bottom was for basic tool use. Yeah, but I’m not sure fire elevated humans to the top of the food chain. I’d put it more at the emergence of settlements and food surplus.

Ah. Yes, that would work. It does raise the question of what a full Agent does. Alright, I'm going to sleep.

Hi! More homework. School's ending soon, though, and I'll definitely have no more assignments other than optional math stuff. He wouldn't be a very good villain if he wasn't, but I get what you mean. I really should bring back some of my nicer characters... "Yes, in fact, I would. Being forgotten is death." He smiled. "If I were to destroy Bat with antimatter explosives, I would have killed him, even if you can Narrate him back, correct?" I know that better than most. The Plotblade had a (correct) guess as to what Lezterp was referring to, but waiting for him to elaborate. Yeah... no possible problems here! Rebus stepped from some convenient shadows, wearing his futuristic armor. "I am Rebus. You have picked a poor world to expand to, I would say. I personally have nothing against you as long as you don't compete with me, but the world at large?"

Yay! Great! I'll keep both, then, so I can get more power.

Rebus smiled malevolently at the newcomers. "Welcome, servants of Nurgal." The Great Corrupter... what does he corrupt? He may like me... Existential crisis? Oh dear.

Well, I've got two weeks before I go to camp and become even less active than I am right now. The intervening weeks, though, I have a bunch of free time. Unrelatedly, did you ever say whether having electromagnetic powers on the sheet twice will take the same resource to level up (and hence be redundant) or different ones?

I'm not that powerful - I can do a lot of things, but few of them are worth it. You're strange, though. You don't seem to care about my power, or pretzels, or that decoy. What is an agent, that it's more important than power to you?

He cares pretty much exclusively about himself, he's a master manipulator, and he's a metaphysicist and Narrator with access to incredibly advanced technology. He wanted Rebel gone because they're from the same Author, and probably wanted me because he considers me an expendable Plotblade or a deadly "gift".

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s canon that at least normal things can’t consume anything fain. Actually, it wasn’t fire that made us dangerous (though it certainly helped), it was the ability to sweat, which means a group of humans can run prey to exhaustion in hot weather. The addition of tools enables finishing off animals who’ve collapsed without risking injury (via short throwing spears) and the more effective butchering of animals, and fire allowed more nutrients to be extracted. I was thinking building/carrying and eating/tool use. I’d also expect one pair of arms to be used to reach for things, while the other would be a little shorter. Antennae don’t work very well for a biped (they need to reach the things to be I be investigated), though having the more delicate arm set have a much more precise sense of touch while the stronger arms have a higher pain tolerance could make sense. I don’t think they’d specifically see outside the visible spectrum (though they might); I was more theorizing that since they’re “bone-white”, they lack melanin and hence need a different method for cancer prevention. I was originally thinking they’d produce a pigment that only absorbs high-energy light, but upon further consideration they might reflect UV light because of their white color. *note - that’s vertebrates (and even then, not all of them). Insects (and other arthropods) use their appendages for a whole bunch of things. Mandibles (for external chewing and biting), other mouthparts (for moving the food around), pincers and claws (for fighting and crushing shells), legs (for walking, with tons of redundancy), swimmerets (which are on lobster tails and used to swim), spinnerets (used by spiders to spin webs), and antennae (for sensing things through touch) are all evolutionarily the same thing. Wings and tails are the only extremities that don’t come from legs (wings are thought to be repurposed gills, which is cool).

Speculative biology? *Instantaneous appearance* Let's see... I've heard speculations that since the fain are mostly poisonous to normal beings, they have mirrored chirality. They've got four arms, which suggests other fainlife also have 6 appendages. I'd imagine the arms are specialized into different roles, like the mandibles-pincers-legs(-antenna-swimmerets, but we don't need those two) differentiation is say, lobsters. I haven't looked into the mechanics of it, but depending upon whether shoulders for strength or mouth-and-eye proximity for fine motor are more important, they'll be in a different order. Fain are white, which implies extreme cancer resistance or some non-visible radiation absorption - perhaps they block UV and only UV. I haven't read that part of Dragonsteel Prime (but spoilers are fine with me), so I don't know if they have any other special capabilities.

Hi everyone! I'm back - ping me if there's something I haven't responded to. Antagonist, remember? He's got all my cleverness, no morals (that's not true, actually - but his morals aren't very nice), and is trying to be as evil as possible to save the world so he can save himself. If you don't want him attacking you I can stop, though - manipulating characters and manipulating actual people are very different things. "We got lost in your dungeons - now we're lost outside them. Better, especially if we don't really care where we go." See below. Rebel swept his hand, and the tower he had been building toppled onto and in front of Fael. Then he vanished. Rebus, or my Plotblade? Rebus increased Cricket's judgement score in his database, but said nothing. You can. Just don't hurt me - or give me to Rebus. He will certainly hurt me, and maybe you. You should really do background checks before you agree to work for somebody. Rebus smiled at her. "I'm trying to save the world, and both of them. If I wasn't around they'd both have fallen into inactivity - I've saved their lives, and then you killed Tam anyway. Sure, you can bring her back, but that doesn't change the fact you killed her." He turned to Bat. "Can't you hear how callous they are? I know you can read the posts. See how little they care, simply turning to Stone - the man who tried to kill Cricket - when you're not interesting enough, not timely enough." @Through The Living Glass @Bird Furious Rebus waved a hand, teleporting Bacon to Shoe and Beosta.

So wait, do I have electromagnet twice? Once in exclusive domain, and once in stats. If that works better, mechanically, that’s fine (there seem to be other people with the same overlap). *reads over other character sheets* Ooh, speculative evolution! Hang on, induce betrayal?!

Yeah, it's fun. Would be horrendous in the real world, but very interesting to write about. "Even if it wasn't, the fact that you feel bad about it means you're not that person anymore."

There's a specific word for that, I think... I've got several reasons for my religious beliefs, at various levels of cynicism (I shall go roughly least to most cynical, and place counterarguments I have thought of in parentheses). Firstly, it feels right - I have emotional faith in the existence of God without really knowing why. (This may be simply because it is what I was taught as a child) Secondly, I can sometimes feel the presence of God - when I pray (and when I see or hear especially beautiful instances of art or nature), I get a really hard-to-describe-feeling, like the opposite of instinctual alarm; there's the same goosebumps and pressure change, but it feels good, like a comforting presence rather than pressing panic. (This may be a simple physiological reaction of awe at my own concept of God, mixed with conformation bias) Thirdly, the world has survived so many catastrophes it feels like God is interfering - anthropic principle wise, I'm supposed to be ordinary. The chances of us being one of the last generations to exist are low, assuming the generation in which I exist is random. The number of terrible things that have almost happen, and that are maybe going to happen, seem so high it seems something must be happening to avert all these catastrophes, because otherwise its up to random chance. Theologically, God tries to allow as much free will as possible, so only stopping disasters at the last moment seems fitting. (Of course, between sheer luck, humans pulling ourselves together when the real problems start happening, and an omnipotent protector, maybe Occam's Razor points at option 2) Fourthly, I feel that the Bible is a fairly reliable source of information - though I certainly don't accept everything as literally true or completely accurate, the Bible is better documented than many other historical books accepted as fact, so I take it as somewhat fuzzy truth. (Exaggeration, fraud, and misunderstandings can all invalidate it as historical truth) Fifthly, there are modern miracles - I believe the most recent Eucharistic Miracles (in which the Eucharist - bread to be blessed during mass, becoming the symbolic body of Christ - actually begin to bleed or turn partially to flesh) were studied by scientists and found to be impossible through human means. (Of course, fraud is always a possibility - they caught a janitor who staged one of these one time, because the blood is for some reason always AB - and I can't find the actual examinations in English, just excerpts from translations in conflict-of-interest Christian websites) Sixthly, there's Pascal's Wager - the idea that if eternal life and happiness in Heaven is a potential reward, no matter how unlikely, any money and time spent on religion is statistically insignificant in the face of an infinity. Similarly is the axiomic belief in free will - if you're wrong, it's not like it matters or even could be avoided, while if you're right, you have responsibility for your actions. (Full Atheism, Hedonism, and probably other philosophies disagree with this - if the likelihood is zero, the reward is still zero, and if you care more about the present than the future, it doesn't matter. I can't think of any other counterarguments, though) Finally, there's the fact that even if I am fooling myself, I still get benefit out of it - comfort, community, and moral standards are valuable, though external evaluation through secular ethics is important. (You could argue that I'm wasting more time going to church than I get out of an external encouragement to donate money and do good, could get community through easier groups, and might get myself lead astray from actually moral behavior, but as I said, verification through secular ethics)

Rebel sneered, and tossed a gold coin into their mists. All ten were compelled to desire the coin, and to be the only one to have it. Rebel nodded to him, grateful. He would have, yeah. That's not normal procedure, though; the scepter is basically accepting bribes. Mentally will suffice. I am sentient, and sapient. Do you know how bizarre your mind is? "And he has my Plotblade," Rebel said, dejectedly. "I should have been able to summon it back - I still have the bond. Should we retreat as well? It's not like we have anything to gain from staying."

Yeah, it is. The scepter spoke in his mind, saying, Thank you. … What is wrong with you?! I’ll note that Rebel teleports it back just before Atreides attacks Lezterp, so the conversation here is in the past. (Unless Lezterp prevents that, in which case we end up with time shenanigans) Rebel jumped into the air, using utility fog to gain height and get over the wall. He was running out of both power and ideas, though. “Yours, Crusade’s, pretzel guy’s - doesn’t matter. Make me a general, maybe?”

Rebel intercepted the bolt with his Plotblade, but was blown backwards. The sword began to crumble in Fael’s hand as Rebel absorbed its energy, then launched a spike of gold out from the scepter, aiming for Fael. “Atredies, I need more energy to win this! A war of attrition against a Narrator can only end one way.”

I suppose. What makes something a thing? A table, for instance, isn't anything more than a specific configuration of materials, which are in turn a specific configuration of atoms, which are in turn a specific composition of subatomic particles. I could argue that math is better defined than that. Every-religion many (instances of) solipsism. Solipsism being the belief that nothing besides your mind is real - Plato's Cave, and all that.

Does math work? It's built using consistent rules - you can change it so that 2+2=1, but in order to do that you have to change the rules or make a mistake. Also, I messed around with some word roots and made omnitheistic multisolipsism.

Rebel jumped, panicking, and summoned his Plotblade (which was, in truth, a scepter) back from Lezterp. Who probably has time to investigate it before then. He pointed it at Fael, and she was suddenly gripped by an incredible desire to stare at the sword. It wouldn't last long, though, so Rebel struck Fael with the Plotblade, trying to steal enough Narration to survive. That was true - he'd been made that way because Rebus might have simply attacked Desolation and gotten himself annihilated. Rebel wasn't helpless, though - surrendering and losing were not the same thing.

Wait, how's she holding the sword? I guess Narration if nothing else... Rebel dove to the ground to avoid the first, while doing his best to jam her gun with utility fog. "I gave you what you wanted!" "A pretzel that shrugged off a powerful compulsion and soul draining," Rebel muttered, "I'm out of my league - pretending to cooperate is the only way I'm making it out alive."

Rebel was sent backwards, but was decidedly empty of bullet holes - his utility fog had distributed the impact. "I'm not really surrendering to her. The pretzel... thing, maybe."

Probably, but you should read that portion of the Thread to insure you don't mess anything up (I don't know whether the search function is case-sensitive, but if so, you can use that). Huh. That seems really interesting to roleplay, and does pretty much counter anything Rebel could do to him. Rebel caved, grimacing but giving Lezterp the scepter and Fael the sword. "Fine. You can have them. Don't kill me, please."