Shitposting Rave OOC

it actually depends on the cronus

like yeah the vast majority them are incapable of developing as people due to narcissism/death but @Crotulasprite cronus would be much more open to development were he to ever unfuse from latula (unlikely, theyre hellbent on keeping each other in there as long as possible) and @Scratch actually isnt a narcissist and is just rather self centered

@Slick is capable of change too due to being 14 but aaron isnt feelin up to rping him so hes not gonna be around

 

this reminds me I finished Ford's serenade, which starts like this:

I told Samira I was feeling low; she won’t accept my protection
Samira told me, upon scrutiny, that my pride might need correction

I told Samira I was mad as hell, so many wounds I can’t mend—
Samira told me: just let it all go; nobody wins in the end

 

OMG

 

Do you know the song, "Althea"? He filked it. It's Grateful Dead. It's a hilarious song that is pitch af in the original format, but he um, revised it considerably

 

OMG

 

There's channelers, who are either spirit-touched or gifted power from Spirits, who can do colorless magic which is largely elemental, and magi who can manipulate Color. Channelers can also manipulate Color, and are much stronger when doing so, but they tend to burn themselves out and have to be trained young or die messily. Anyone with the right disposition and understanding of Color can become a mage, and if they die because of magic it's usually because they did something stupid instead of overdoing it; their magic tends to fizzle out when they don't have enough power instead of going kablooey.

Spoiler: Colors, long

Silver is the color of luck and insanity, of miracles and ill fortune, of rewards both earned and otherwise. Silver magic is usually used for cheating luck, and favored by thief-mages, but it's also pretty great for curses. People forget the last bit and Silver users tend to be chronically underestimated... just the way they like it.

Crimson is the color of anger and righteousness, of prophets, leaders, war, and civilization. It's a battle magic all the way through, either on its own or imbued onto weapons. Imbued weapons only last as long as they're wielded, however, so they can only be used by the Crimson who imbued them. It can still turn a weapon from "damn sharp" to "cuts through a tank" if the mage is strong enough, though. Crimson magi either specialize in wielding raw Crimson and are your squashy black mage type, or go battlemage. Some of the latter may wield raw Crimson and weapons, and protect themselves with Emerald, or just rely on imbued weaponry with or without Emerald.

Amber is the color of chaos, of delight, rapture one step away from possession. It manifests in magic as control over the body and metabolism specifically; using Amber can help one go without food or water for much longer, heal wounds quicker (or slower), things of that nature. Laverna used it in the Weirdmaggedon Tango to instantly sober up, though there's no dodging the hangover. Less commonly it can also be used to trick another's body into thinking it's been poisoned or drugged, causing them to suffer symptoms and sometimes even die from them. Most people just learn a little Amber except for healers, but some assassins do and they are scary.

Azure is the color of suffering and inner pain, but strong with hope and is associated with the past where Crimson is often associated with the present. Its magic is to do with time and the perception of it; it can slow someone's perception of time so their reactions are faster or they can think with less time passing, let them speed up their whole body while in motion so they can run/jump/fight faster, things like that. It can also temporarily shield them from emotional damage. Azure magi tend to be historians and the like more than they actually use their magic.

Violet is the color of secrets, magic, and concern. It doesn't manifest consistently and has to be used by someone sufficiently creative, but it's most often used for uncovering secrets. Laverna used Silver, Azure, and Violet together to try and look at Sans's past, but she was wasted and looking at a hole in a timeline and mostly just gave herself a headache. It can also be used for keeping secrets and keeping things hidden. Unspoken, as the Violet Lady, knows all secrets on Ethus. Or at least most of them. It's also easily mixed with any other color for a power boost, being the color of magic itself, but especially Crimson.

Emerald is the color of patience, control, awareness, dedication, and balance. Mostly it's used for defence, especially since it's rather dense and viscous in addition to being protective. It's also used with Amber by healers, and can be used to promote growth in an area.

Gold is the color of love, unity, respect, pity, dedication, and sacrifice. It's very rarely used for magic because nobody trusts a Gold mage, since Gold magic manipulates trust. Positive perceptions in general, but trust is one of the big ones. Fortunately it's also pretty hard to wield Gold enough to be dangerous, but a lot of historically scary people who nearly broke the world were Gold mages who regularly fucked with peoples' heads.

 

Oooh.

All magic in Sutra Stories is referred to under the umbrella term of Sorcery. The exact hows vary based on the tradition though of which there are four, however only three are considered official in Heaven. These are the sorcery practices of the Kongjia (Confucianism), Daojiao, and Fojiao (Buddhism) which are collectively the Three Practices, Heaven's only sanctioned religions. Popular religion has the magical tradition of Shamanism or Wu Shi however. Kongjia sorcery falls into Philosophers/Ru Jia, who devote their time to improving the theoretical frameworks under which they work, and the Ritualists/Li Sheng, who deal with the concerns of the populace at large. The Daojiao sorcerers are Maguses/Dao Zhang who study the theories worked on by Daoists and the Mystics/Dao Shi who manipulate the forces of nature. Fojiao sorcery falls into the work of the Dharmists/Chan Shi who spend much of their time cultivating wisdom and are revered for this and the Enchanters/Fa Shi who work by delaying or speeding along karmic processes. The Wu Shu, or Shamans, commune with devils and summon them to increase the powers of prayer. None of these schools of thought are exclusive and most do share or are inspired by people who work in the others. After all the San Jiao aren't just separate religions. They are the joining of three schools of thought into one mass that suits the Chinese people (and gods).

However inspired by or no there are limits to what one can do. You can't force Buddhist based sorcery into the models of Daojiao stuff exactly because karma just doesn't fucking work the same way that manipulation of qi does. You also can't manipulate time or directly control people's minds. You can suggest things or cloud their minds, but you cannot absolutely force them to do something directly.

There's also cost involved. So let's say we have two Mystics. One has spent years cultivating her Qi reserves and has studied the Wen deeply. You have another who doesn't have those Qi reserves and who hasn't studied as heavily. However both are capable of the exact same acts. Just there are different costs involved. Given that our more experienced mystic understands things more and has better Qi reserves she is able to craft elaborate and fancy talismans with only a bit of her blood. The unexperienced one though can only make a few talismans that are very simple and he needs literal sheeps' worth of blood. Multiple dead sheeps.

Sacrifice can in a variety of forms however. Maybe sweat is what is sacrificed or maybe tears. Sorcery is highly variable in this but there is always a cost. You do not get shit for free and the unexperienced need to pay far steeper costs. An example from the Fojiao side of things would be if Abhaya and the Jade Empress Guanyin were compared. Let's say they're trying to forestall the fall of a karmic fruit that would lead to a deadly illness in someone. The Jade Empress could basically literally just snap her fingers and it's done. She has that much merit on spare to transfer and she's that skilled at doing it. Abhaya meanwhile is probably going to have to hamper herself either by taking on that illness herself or by giving up enough of her own merit that she, let's say, gets hit by a fucking bus the next day for it. It'd also take a lot longer for her to do this because she doesn't have the experience that Guanyin does. She can't just look at someone and it's done. Abhaya needs several hours worth of sustained chanting and meditation to transfer it.

Which leads to the variety of arts that can be sorcerous. Which is to say all of them. Martial arts can Work and poetry can be used for the Working. Though all practices fall into Blessings/Curses, Evocations/Exorcisms, Warding, Sealings and Divinations in terms of what they actually do. But you could in theory use the Dao to divine the future through dance or you could divine it with playing a game of go or by writing a poem.

 

Meanwhile I am sitting on the divine concept of Entropy and his grumping that he isn't a god because no one is worshipping him.
Not only is Unicron wrong on the first point, he is very wrong on the second as well.
I'll let ya in on a secret.
Before Nichrome went full Marxist Decepticon and internalizedthat Religion is The Engex of The Masses?
Tiny lil Edgelord was a Unicron worshipper :P

 

Every time I see Unicron my brain tries to read it as Unicorn.

This is a problem.

 

Unicorn alt for Unicron 2k17
Onyx Prime of centaur-dragon-pony tripleforming approves

 

In Transformers Prime they actually make a joke out of just that. Have a character ask whether they are seriously all worried about a unicorn of all things before being corrected.

 

Tiny baby robot: metal is snacks right

 

omg

At least it was just a useless coin. These ones are actually money though. For explanation, deities earn their salaries in the form of prayers. They can take those prayers and offerings and transmute them into celestial coinage. Technically the deities don't need the money because it's not like they can be killed my the cold or heat and they can't possibly die from lack of food and water. But you try living millennia when you're cold and hungry. No you won't die from it but it won't fucking feel pleasant.

In addition to that there's businesses in Heaven where one can earn funds. The boozehouse she works at is where she gets most of her money. The prayers are more just an incredibly rare supplement that means jack shit for the most part.

 

@IvyLB Suggestion: Starscream Mims fell asleep on is namesake, which is why he´s been quiet while you were gone.

 

@Aondeug are the coins any particular metal or divine or anything like that?

 

They're a sort of celestial metal. So while they may share some similarities with earth metals there's definitely something very different about them. This is some high quality material. Nothing like it can be found on earth or if it can in small and exceptionally expensive amounts. A beggar god's supper is fit to serve the kings of earth. Same applies to their building materials. They aren't themselves magical though. They're just money. And not a lot of it at that. Think like amounts equivalent to dollars for gods.

 

robobabby time has inspired me to introduce @Smol Norm the Genie to the rave

 

Now I can stop banging my head on bringing in Rayi! She's hopeless for poor lost-looking younglings.

 

Oh man, tinies

 

I just realized theres a smol/swol axis of body types