Maybe we should by the Bottled Emotion power? to see if any more powers come from that source?
Even if we get the power we don't necessarily have to use it.

>>499725
I don't know. The ability itself seems more dangerous and double edged that it is directly useful. I'd be reluctant to spend precious TW on an ability just to divert points to greenie. Especially if there may be other ways to go about it.

Its only one point, Kairosa can take the TW back if it fubars.

Yo, Saulanna, while Wordblood is off in La-La Land you should ask Kairosa for fashion advice, or if she's considered how she wants to be worshiped when the Time comes!

Instead of spending three points on generation we could spend them on efficiency, since we're planning to go eat another ghost anyway.

Leave it be. Spending valuable Titanic Will on it right now is a gamble. We have no idea what would happen. What we need right are upgrades we know will be useful to us in the coming days.

Once we become vastly stronger though, to the point of gaining Titanic Will on a scale that we have no idea what to do with it all. Then we experiment, it will be our ace in the hole when shit hits the fan.

I kind of like the bottled emotions power. I like perspective of history better, I think, but bottled emotions isn't bad either.

Lets spend three will on efficincy.

As long as we're communing with the Hero's Soul, we might consider seeing if we can find a way to naturally stabilize our Caste, without the addition of the tattoos other Moon Heroes use. That might help get the other two Moon Heroes off our back.

...Admittedly, being the first Moon Hero to stabilize her own Caste in a thousand years might cause us other problems with them, but I'd still like to vote for the No Moon Caste if it comes up.

I just thought of something.
Saulanna, can you ask Kairosa to try communing with the Hero Soul?
My thought is this: It might be that ALL Devas of Saulanna could learn to draw upon the hero soul, and use it's powers, by aligning with it. Now, I don't know what that will do or how it will work, but I'll wager it will change the way the energy system works a bit!
As of right now, there's the Moon Pool, and the two Titan Pools, for Saulanna, Kairosa, and WordBlood respectively. Now, here's the thing-Saulanna is also a Deva-she should eventually gain her own powers in addition to what she gets from the Hero Soul..But as is, it seems like Saulanna's powers pretty much is confined to pulling on the Hero Soul/ using it! Seems to me that the proper set-up, or rather, what might be the ideal set-up, could be basically making the Hero Soul availible for all Devas, and based on their connection to the Ideal the Hero Soul represents! So in effect, while Saulanna might resonate With the side of Lunar Heros that sneak around, WordBlood might perfer the enhanced senses, while Kairosa capitalizes on the drinking heart's blood to gain new shapes!
Titan and Hero can be seen as opposites, but I think they could grow together, and work in harmony, to create something amazing!
Might even be a workaround/ method to controlling your caste-just have whoever attuned to it do their thing, kind of like how Titans normally work!

(So people reading through this thread in the future don't have to go hunting through the dis threads for them, here's more sneaky Wordblood discussion).

>>/questdis/68833
>>/questdis/69100

... Do not even think about raising the soul force of the Chimera soul.

>>501123
It's not a chimera.

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/20(Wed)18:15 No. 501414 ID: 3d20f2
File 136382853251.png - (94.09KB , 600x500 , communewithherosoul4.png )

>don't cheat
>don't risk it
>it's too dangerous

... Right.

When it's other people's souls, of course, no problem. Rend them down to raw energy, go ahead. Making someone into a resource to be used, a material to be crafted, that's no big deal, it's not the absolute most extreme way to dehumanize someone. Not, even if you can put them back the way they were, or make them even better in every way, a violation on the deepest most personal level, pulling apart every memory, every source of identity they ever had, Peregrin. It's no big deal. She's a Titan, she's just more important than everyone else.

Though...

... that is pretty much true.

...

... Message received, then.

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/20(Wed)18:16 No. 501415 ID: 3d20f2
File 136382856579.png - (164.42KB , 600x500 , communewithherosoul5.png )

Saulanna decides not to try coaxing upgrades from the Hero Soul at this time. That means she won't be able to get Self-Awareness right away, so her plan for TW spending has to be updated. She'll take a dot of Beauty, instead. She also feels she needs to cast some eye to the long term, so she's going to take Generation as well, and set it to her own Soul Force. That Emotion Bottling power seems oddly attractive, but not enough to overcome the unease it makes her feel. The rest of the plan will go on as she had laid it out before, as well, if there are no further objections.

>>499744
>ask Kairosa for fashion advice, or if she's considered how she wants to be worshiped

"Ooh, I was thinking of going for like, a guild of thieves, only they're like archeologist historian magic thieves, and they're my secret priests as well! That'd be cool."

>ask Kairosa to try communing with the Hero Soul

"Sorry, mistress, won't work! The Hero Soul's keyed to work with creatures that have a material body to work with, and humans by preference. You're still mostly human, and even if you become more deva-ey, you'll still have the main connection to the body and a core of humanity that'll keep you connected. I'm a weird time spirit monster, I'm way too alien to what it was designed for for it to work for me! Not the way it was meant to work, anyway, I'm sure it has some influence on me. Not that way, though."

Looks like Wordblood's back! What now?

Man Saulanna, how did you ever let us them talk you into rendering souls into their base components in the first place?

But I think the reasoning offered for not doing it to yourself is more a matter of uncertain results and preserving limited resources, not of your own relative worth.

Well, since he reads "I SEE EVERYTHING IT IS STILL HERE", you might want to... completely ignore the this obviously unimportant detail and go look inside the tent-thing to see how it changed when your SF went up.

(One more sneaky Wordblood conversation)
>>/questdis/69229

>>501414
What, no! It is a big deal doing that to people, even if we can theoretically reverse some of it now! That's why you struggled so much over the soul eating. It is a big deal, no matter who or what you are- and it should not be taken lightly.

Being reluctant to attempt soul surgery on yourself, or a part of yourself, doesn't mean intrinsically devaluing the souls you've consumed out of necessity, or considering yourself to be "better". You did what you did because you had to. You're cautious now because it is dangerous, and you do not understand the possible consequences of your actions.

There is nothing wrong with self interest- with trying to protect yourself- even if this sometimes comes at the cost of others. That's a harsh, complicated choice all living things eventually face- titan or no. Especially since you're responsible for more than yourself, now. You have others who depend on you.

...and yes, what Peregrin did to you was terrible. But you cannot dwell on that now. You need him, and if he had not done as he did, Wordblood would still be dead and alone, and Kairosa would never have been born. If you could choose, would you really condemn the two of them to nothingness in favor of whatever it was you lost?

You may not remember your past, but you are a still you. You have a strong will, your motivation and drive, and a moral structure that struggles to comprehend the strange problems of Titan-dom. You may have lost your memories, but you have not truly lost yourself.

>archeologist historian magic thieves
...so her worshipers would be Indian Jones and Jackie Chan (Adventures)?

This girl has fantastic taste, I must say.

>>501415
I wasn't saying you shouldn't modify yourself because you were super important, I was saying you shouldn't do it because I'm not sure if it's something a Titan should do, or could do safely.

Wordblood, Kairosa, how dangerous and acceptable would it be for Saulanna to modify herself to fit the Hero Soul's standards? Also, Saulanna, can you give us more details on what the modification would do? I mean you didn't say exactly what you'd be changing.

That's just talk, though. Let's keep moving. Onwards to the tent to take a looksee inside it.

Just buy the stuff already.

Also: since Efficiency of Consumption is only relevant when we're actually eating stuff, can we redact some of our current purchases to get a couple more TW for spending? As long as we use it on one-costers, we can always shift the TW back if we run into a ghost we want to eat. (Is there anything else we've bought that we won't need for a while? The wiki doesn't have a running list of our expenditures.)

Then look around our world or go talk to Peregrin or something.

>>501414
Hey, I said to cheat!

Relate what you learned from communing with the Hero's Soul, get the upgrades, and go explore your world-self some more. Let's start with the tent!

Also: It's not that it's too dangerous or you're too important to mess with yourself EVER, just that it seems a bit too dangerous RIGHT NOW

>>501414
(You know you're not playing consistently when your own character starts to sass you.)

Remember the Soulsteel guy? One of the (if not THE) absolute worst examples of human scum your world is capable of producing? That still sparked a moral debate on whether or not it was okay to eat him. We only went through with it because it was needed - Determination, remember?

It is a HUGE deal that we're eating people - we just don't have much other choice at the moment. Heck, every time we bring it up, somebody somewhere starts a massive moral debate over the issue, DESPITE the fact that we need to do it.

And even considering all of that, we don't know what it will do to you.

>[What peregrin did to you]
This would've been a GREAT argument to bring up with the slavers if it genuinely bothers you all that much

>>501415
The plan's okay as long as Kairosa can reverse it later for efficiency upgrades if need be.

>>501432
Kairosa + Indiana Jones OTP.

...

Stop looking at me like that.

yeah, go ahead and do the rest of the plan and get out of here.

No one here has ever taken the eating of other's souls lightly or really viewed you as more important then everyone around you because you were a titian. We asked you to absorb them because we had no idea what to do, were being hunted for reasons we didn't fully understand, and were just trying to find some way of becoming more then helpless. Well I'm not saying that makes it ok I'm just saying that we never told you to devour them because we saw them as nothing more then food, not once. If you really want to you could make some kind of memorial for all the souls you have absorbed. Just some kind of orb or wall or something that well show you the face of anyone who was absorbed so that they wont be forgotten, even if they were scum in life, and after life as it seems, at least this way we can give them a kind of grave or marker so they won't just be considered food. I know that's not perfect but it's a start.

As for what to do next lets explore our little world a bit before we go back to the real world, it would be nice to see how we've grown and help get our minds away from these darker thoughts.

>>501432
Exactly this.

❀✿❀ 2013/03/20(Wed)22:54 No. 501487 ID: 3dd384
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>>501414
I'd like to not have to do any more ghost eating than necessary. Even if you can put them back together afterwards, I think I agree that it's not automatically morally okay (although Peregrin definitely managed to find souls for whom it seemed to be conveniently better than the alternatives). Hopefully it won't be necessary to be less picky than we have been so far - obviously, buying up Kairosa's abilities will help with that, although just as obviously, we can't spare all our TW on building for the future right now (not to rehash the same argument we've been having for a while).

But what I really wanted to mention was this: thanks for feeling so strongly about this. It means that whoever you were before all this began, you're finding your feet again. Knowing what you want makes you strong. Knowing what you think is right gives you direction.

In the end, all we can do is offer advice and moral support. You're the star of this show, and you need to be the one to decide what it all means. I may not always agree, but I'll be rooting for you.

>>501415
No objections.

I'd still like to take a look around your Inner World before returning to prosaic reality, but if you're not interested in that, that's fine.

No! Do the self surgery! Its the best kind of surgery, after all! For science!

Where's your sense of adventure and curiosity?

>>501492

Busy being trampled by the sense of enormity realizing what being a titan entails, if I were to guess. It's hard being responsible. You have to know when to take time off from fun and games.


>"Ooh, I was thinking of going for like, a guild of thieves, only they're like archeologist historian magic thieves, and they're my secret priests as well! That'd be cool."

Stamp of approval. So much approval.

>>You may not remember your past, but you are a still you. You have a strong will, your motivation and drive, and a moral structure that struggles to comprehend the strange problems of Titan-dom. You may have lost your memories, but you have not truly lost yourself.

And don't forget, you can still read the past of your belongings from before Peregrin "changed" you in order to find some clues to who you were, if you care to discover the secrets to your past.

>>501414
Yeah, that seems pretty much right, with one note: Eating people is fine, just don't do it to good people. The act of consuming souls is no worse than killing someone for their crimes, and being a titan, you are totally within your rights to make such judgements. But if you start just doing it to anyone you can in order to get more power, then you've crossed the line.

Though I think you really should pump TW into the hero's soul after all this is done.

>The souls we eat are dicks
Yeah, that too.

Wordblood: In the same vein as Kairosa's question, what kind of worshippers would you like? Say, ninja-librarians?

Suggestion: buy Swallow Your Passion; it seems useful.

>>501414
it's good that you feel bad about what you did to those souls. cherish it. but remember that we did that because we had to, and those particular souls belonged to bad people.

Do be careful how far we take the "we only eat the souls of dicks" reasoning. Dickishness is often subjective.

Ultimately, with the exception of probably the first two ghosts we ate before we really knew what we were doing and when we were just trying to survive, the souls we have eaten were those who had done far worse than eating a soul will ever be. The soulsteel trade was an abomination, and anyone involved has to, at the very least, be contained. We can't let them run free. Maybe something can be done with those souls in the future...maybe. But right now we don't have the power, or the influence, or the time. We have to focus on not becoming the puppet of The Dragon's Shadow, or even worse some nutbag Lunar Elder.

On a side note, how about for your Purpose and Element:

Queen of Souls?

>>501432


he's right, especially about our hesitance to alter our heroes soul. Keep in mind the heroes soul is a complex spiritual super weapon, designed explicitly to kill titans. modifying something like that blindly is essentially a roundabout method of suicide.

how about the Queen of Squirrels? besides, a queen is a profession, not a purpose.

No objections to continuing on.

I think we're pretty much done here, really. There are some lingering plot threads, but that's appropriate; just because we've paused time shouldn't automatically mean that we get to resolve all our internal issues forever.

I think there is still a significant case for investigating the house.

I'm also interested if we can do anything with an extended period of meditation in time stop.

can we look at the tent now?

Look at the tent, then get moving in the outside world. (The tent's probably been upgraded due to Saulanna's increasing SF.)

Make a note to update Peregrin on everything and assure him you'll start teaching him as soon as you're not in immediate danger of being talked into anything dumb.

Plan to study theology and ethics when time permits.

Also when time permits, look into how to power up the devas so they can talk to Peregrin directly. WB might have something important to tell him...

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/23(Sat)15:49 No. 501985 ID: ce609b
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>souls

... Saulanna doesn't know what she was expecting, or what she was thinking, exactly.

Up until now, she's had other things to occupy herself with, aside from... aside thinking about what she's done. Maybe she didn't want to think about it. Maybe she was expecting things to be more... even-handed? That she'd put herself to some risk for her needs, as well as using other people, and that would make her feel better about it, somehow. The risk is higher, for this, but the potential rewards equally greater. Part of her still wants it to be that way, but it's stupid, in retrospect. Impractical. Maybe just another excuse. And she knows that she had misgivings every step of the way, that part of her wanted to take different paths, and she'll probably be remembering her own doubts well into the future. But she has to act, make choices, and she's done what occurred to her and what seemed a good idea, at the time. She would be second-guessing herself either way.

It seems to her that she can't go five steps without a dozen thoughts going through her mind, but thought and action are different. She's the one who decided to follow the paths she did, and perhaps she's just... reflecting on her decisions.

Her mind isn't just a single line running straight on the same track forever. It seems part of her has a problem with what Peregrin did to her, but at the same time, she sort of likes him, and is even grateful for what he did. She could never regret anything that led her to have Wordblood and Kairosa with her - or so she thinks to herself, at first prompt, feels to herself, an insistent scream from her heart, that they're hers and she loves them and she would never ever let them go ever. But it doesn't stop her from wondering what she's lost. She seems to have a problem with consuming souls, as well, but at the same time, she feels she needs to do it again. Part of her wants to do it again. The part that understands when Kairosa says how hungry she is. The part that feels confused, and afraid, and wants to be stronger, wants everything to be easier, wants to see her and her devas grow and become what they're meant to be. And the only thing stopping her is herself. Peregrin has to do what she says, and she doesn't think he'd object too much, regardless. Not on any moral grounds. Wordblood is pleasant and likes humans, but at the same time he seems to still think of them from the position of a creator, half seeing them as a resource to be harvested, as they were at least partly made to be. Kairosa would probably be enthusiastic about it. All manner of practical problems with devouring souls present themselves, of bad reputation and being feared and hated, but liberal application of Titan's Will seems like it could solve anything. So all she'd need to do, to solve the problems with eating souls, is to eat more souls. And the thought frightens her. The desire to grow, to become stronger, more complete... a few doubts still run in their tracks around her mind, but so far, it's probably the closest thing to a Heart's Desire she has. It wouldn't take much more for her to be sure of it.

With the infinite time to spend in here, thinking, perhaps Saulanna is just beginning to try and sort all these different thoughts out, in her head. But thought is cheap, and past a certain point, she can't come up with any further answers for herself. She'll need to go on, and in time, the things she does - and the things she doesn't do - will help her figure out who she is.

And she doesn't think there's much left to do, in here.

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/23(Sat)15:50 No. 501986 ID: ce609b
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Saulanna takes a final look around.

Wordblood's island, or platform, or whatever it should be called, has grown but not significantly changed in its themes. It has an air of incompleteness about it; pillars with no roof, floors with no walls. Other things seem unusual, as well. The bookshelves fit, but other aspects of the place seem strange. A cobblestone road, a street lamp, and a pair of wooden protrusions that put the mind to nothing more than a dock of some sort. The mist which flows from the central fountain only adds to the impression, as it flows down and out into empty space, only to spread out in a growing pool of dense fog.

"I actually feel as much mystery as you, my lady. A certain urban quality seems to be apparent, but I don't recall ever having had much in particular to do with cities. The mist, on the other hand, seems like it will eventually grow to surround all our islands, like a sea. Perhaps it will even become able to support weight, for our lesser devas to swim and sail upon, one day, and connect all the lands of our inner world. I feel a sense that, although it originates through me, this mist has a significant part of each of us within it."

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/23(Sat)15:51 No. 501987 ID: ce609b
File 136407906639.png - (142.35KB , 700x500 , kairosaspad.png )

Kairosa's home seems far more solid, complete in itself. It seems mainly made from stone, but if stones they are, they radiate a sense of endurance beyond even that of mountains; though roughly cut and softened as if by weather, there is a sense that endless years of rain and wind would leave them as whole and solid as they are now. At the center, rings of something like metal, though it reflects no light, slowly rotate around each other, some barely fast enough to see the motion. More strikingly, violet stars hang above the entire edifice, linked in strange constellations.

I'm going to mark important things in the sky, mistress! Symbols of big events, and images full of meaning for us and our world. See, we have our own Mask, and there's the Scepter, the Waiting Man, the Tome, the Crescent, the Devourer? One day, I hope to fill our sky with them, and let them move across it. Perhaps they'll even hint at the future, if people find out how to read them!

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/23(Sat)15:52 No. 501988 ID: ce609b
File 136407912812.png - (109.62KB , 600x500 , backatthetent.png )

And that leaves the tent. Here, at the center of her world, Saulanna feels herself centered, as well. Perhaps her senses have sharpened, or perhaps it is just the contrast with everything else, but standing here, she feels more comfortable, more grounded. There is a sense of restfulness, here, and the tent seems to radiate it most of all. Whatever is inside, it feels... familiar. But in a distant way, not personal. Like... if you grew up in a place, where rain came almost every day, and you moved away to a desert, and lived there for years, and then one day water began to fall from the sky...

... that kind of familiarity. But although she feels it, she doesn't know what it might be.

Wordblood said the tent reminded him of the first dwellings humans ever made for themselves; just as her clothes, he thinks, are like the first human garb. Something about the tent does make Saulanna feel a little more human. The tent itself. What lies inside feels different again, though... enticing. She wonders what it could be.

And yet... going in doesn't seem appropriate. On some instinctive level, Saulanna feels that it's not time. It's not a hugely insistent feeling; there's no intense wrongness to the idea of entering the tent. She just... feels like it doesn't make sense. She thinks about doing so, asks herself if she wants to, and the answer feels like: "why would you want to do that?"

What could the tent be for, that she's not supposed to be doing yet?

>>501988
Alright if its not time to enter then its not yet time. All things come and if theres one thing we do have its time. Assuming we live through this we have an eternity.

It seems obvious to me.

The tent is for resting. You have too much to do to stop and sleep.

>>501985
Oh. Gatherer of Will? The Builder of Will? Keystone of Will? Uniter of Will? Uniter seems right. It might even be Uniter of Power, or Uniter of Souls. We're getting quite close though.

>>501988
The tent's a place you can have privacy. For enticing, private things. It's for sex.

Right now, you're not in the mood, and... there's nobody to have sex with anyway, is there? Kairosa's got no lower body at all, and it doesn't seem like Wordblood has any bits. If Peregrin was around, the reason for not entering would be a bit different. Instead of "Why?" it would be "Not yet.".

Make with the upgrading. We're about done here, but you could bring in Peregrin temporarily to show him how things are going.

>>501985
Eating souls for Titan's Will can solve all of our problems. It doesn't even need to be especially harmful for who we eat; within a few days we'll be able to restore everyone we had eaten in as good a condition as they were before the consumption, ready to continue existing for ages to come. Perhaps even a better existence, with our help! Perhaps there's a comprise to be found, there, between eating the souls of people we don't like and waiting for a reasonable amount to generate. We can simply find some ghosts who are willing to be eaten to help us grow faster, and then soon after we can bring them back and spend a few Titan's Will to give them a boon of some sort as payment. A boon made using even a few measures of Titan's Will is exceptionally valuable, and is therefore something people would line up to be eaten in order to obtain. We gain, they gain, and there are no moral quandaries because no one was forced into it.

>>501988
A tent like that would be for shelter and privacy, and sleep as an extension of those two. There's no need for shelter here, and we don't need any privacy at the moment, either, nor do we need to sleep, so there's no need to enter.

>>501986
Possibly the openness and the water are tied into Wordblood's broader responsibilities for our world? He's not just Words- he's also the Aide. He's got the responsibility for the breath of life, the blood of our world, helping others, and keeping the lines of communication open.

In that light, spreading water and air, and an open place to make sense.

>>501988
If it's not time to go into the tent, it's not time to go into the tent. You'll know when it's right to see what's inside.

Tents are made for shelter, to protect you from the elements, to keep out the elements. It might have something to do with your past so you don't want to know what you were like bake then or afraid to see what you have become but ultimately it's your choice. Do you want to go in or not.

Inner world is best world. I'm really excited to see where it goes. Even moreso than the outer world, strangely enough.



>Tent
It's for sex/self-pleasure. You're not going in because your arousal isn't high yet. You should fix that and see if it feels more inviting~

...

Hey, somebody has to say it. With that out of the way...

Theory: It may be a place where you can cut yourself off from your many magical influences and just be human for a while. It seems off to you because your identity is so greatly defined by your connection to both the Lunar Soul and your titanhood.

Another possibility is that the tent puts your body on instinctual auto-pilot - like how a person will do things without thinking about them, going in there would put your mind in a fugue and you'd just go through motions.

Or more likely it's going to be a titanic function we either don't know of yet and don't need right now, or wouldn't affect the Queen soul. In the former's case, there's nothing we can use it for right now. In the latter's case it feels confusing specifically because it doesn't do anything to the queen.

>>501992
... Would you believe I typed the sex thing BEFORE hitting refresh and seeing this? ^^'

>>501990
Possible but if that's the case, why would the Queen need to go somewhere specific to sleep when it's the outside body that needs sleep?

Upgrade and invite Peregrin in, if he can survive now.

I imagine that the tent has a functional purpose, like the pool. Maybe entering the tent takes us back into our body proper.

>>502000
Of course! What is the one stat that has been holding us back the whole time? Commit all Titan's Will to raising our Arousal attribute.

PS: don't actually do that.

Makes me think of something which has yet to develop. Something that is growing, that has yet to be complete. Like a half-formed thought in the back of your head, a collection of information without meaning and feelings without purpose, waiting to be a sudden realization another day. That's my impression, anyway. In any case, if you feel that way it's for a reason and you should let it be for now. But as an experiment, imagine for a moment that we brought Peregrin in here, and he suddenly decided to enter the tent, how would you feel about that? Angry? Uncomfortable? Embarrased? Because we will bring him in here later, and this may come up.

>A certain urban quality seems to be apparent, but I don't recall ever having had much in particular to do with cities.
He Who Bleeds The Unknown Word didn't, but as the deva of language and knowledge in a titan that is also human, the association between the two is indirectly linked to the development of cities. After all, hunter-gatherers weren't exactly known for their expansive libraries.

Kairosas star reading devices is very interesting, but not as much as the constellations themselves. Ask her what exactly each of them mean.

There is one other unexplored area, check out those woods behind the tent for anything of interest. Also... look around and see if anything unusual is around, not connected to the areas of our devas. Some half formed structures, the beggining of new paths, formations around under and above the more obvious things, etc.

>>501992
It might have the aspect of privacy, but I doubt that's the whole of it.

>"See, we have our own Mask, and there's the Scepter, the Waiting Man, the Tome, the Crescent, the Devourer?"
Hmm. The Tome, the Crescent, and the Devourer seem like symbols of Wordblood, Luna/the Hero Soul, and Kairosa. The Mask represents raccoons. So what are the Scepter and the Waiting Man, then?

Anyway, I'm curious about the tent, but we have all the time in the world. (Literally, as long as we can keep Kairosa safe.) There's no need to rush it if Saulanna doesn't feel it's the right time.

Make purchases, then go talk to Peregrin.

I can't believe that no one is getting it.

The tent, and the small grove of trees around it, is Saulanna's section of her inner world, and as such is representative of her soul and personality. Now, we've already noted that Saulanna has no Heart's Desire, no Purpose, and no Element. Saulanna's personality is still forming, still being moulded into the titan, benevolent or malevolent, that she will one day be. That's why we shouldn't go in the tent.

If we were to go in there now, we'd probably just find a small picture of Peregrin and nothing else. It's not the right time to go in the tent because we were literally born yesterday.

The scepter is a symbol of leadership and the waiting man is the servent. Obvious ties with our new acquisitions.

Tents are for sleeping! Maybe.

Anyway, let's get back to real-world time.

ah, nostalgia. probably something from your past. if you don't feel like you're ready to deal with that stuff, don't.

I can't wait for Wordblood's fountain to become a grand landmark and for Kairosa's constellations to cover all our skies. I say devour all the souls you like. with time on our side, it is merely like you are borrowing them from existence for a tiny little moment.

random thought that has nothing to do with the tent or inner world but when we ate those two souls earlier and activated our Soul Force thing were we light up like a bonfire, does it actually burn people who get to close to it? I ask this because When we ate those guys Peregrin was holding us so I'm just wondering if we are going to come back to the outer world to find we just set him on fire and are now trapped however deep inside of the catacombs he brought us to or not.

>>502012
>>502007
These do make the most sense.
I think its time to return to the outside world.

>>502089 [re: "soul fire" being harmful]
No, for Moon Heroes. It's just silvery moonlight that at worst leaves the surroundings seeming like they've been left outside for several humid nights. Death and Hell Heroes' auras, though...

So, we've got problems. And the problems can be solved by getting more powerful. And the biggest obstacle in our way to getting more power is our own reluctance to eat souls. Sure, I can accept that - Saulanna is human after all. Humans don't act optimally most of the time! They have all these emotions banging around in their head, it's a wonder they ever get things done at all.

Ah, Suggestion! If we can make stuff like that Emotion Bottle thing, is it possible to just develop an ability that removes our reluctance to eat souls (and any future doubts we would have about having developed Reluctance Removing Prana, for good measure)? It would be Will well spent, I think, since we'd start getting more Will even faster than Kairosa's generation stuff. And with all the new souls going through the ol' grinder, we might hear more from Greenie even sooner. I like that chap.

>>502103
That is ridiculous. No.

>>502103
>Spend TW to modify main char to ignore suggestions I disagree with
In world, there is no reason she couldn't do that.
But meta, there is no way a sane DM would allow such.
Furthermore everyone who votes against eating souls would vote against removing the reluctance to eat souls, combined with people who are ok with eating souls but against such soul surgury for one reason or another

>>502103
Did you really ask if we could upgrade Saulanna so that people couldn't argue against your position? Seriously?

>>502103
*facepalm*

Kairosa: What can you tell us about what the stars mean/represent (so far)?

Maybe the tent is where her heart's desire is kept.

Hmm, I find it curious that our Mask is looking different from canon Mask (which is a constellation of sneakery and Sidereals broke it a bit). Did it get fixed or is it also different in universe?

The rest are original... Are they original in-universe as well or do they normally belong to the new maidens?

We need to thank Peregrin, get to the library, and then moon heroes dragon's shadow.

>>502277
Going directly back into it is pretty much exactly what we were told not to do. We have to find a better strategy before directly engaging them again. We were given multiple suggestions of how to do that. Akatrina and Askalafsdlaslff both have centuries of experience at this, we have less than a day. We need to be TACTICAL about it.

Man, our devas get much cooler sections than a tent. Best to leave it alone for now, let it have its mysterious content for the time being.

We should get ready to return to conventional reality. We could use P's input before we make the final decision. Plus, he might have more general advice for our upcoming 3-way social combat.

The idea that we can unmake and remake people to suit our whims, with no thought of their feelings, is a wonderful way to step onto the greased slide of hubris that ends up with yet another overthrow of the Sun Heroes, with our overthrowers feeling entirely justified.

As a punishment and preventative for terrible criminals it can be appropriate; it's like a more final execution. But we should /always/ be aware of the full implications of what we're doing when we do it.

>>501985
>Heart's Desire
Well, that's an interesting question. Saulanna seems to like gathering power, and exerting dominance over others, but I don't those are the core of her motivation. LIkewise, morality and kindness are important to her, but they aren't what make Saulanna, Saulanna. So what have we been doing?

Well, the first thing we did when we met Gevin was to decide to aid him in his personal quest. Mainly because we felt sympathy for him, but there was also a desire to have a goal. We were without guidance, so we shared his life's goal as a way of having one ourself.

We've come across many sources of information, and we've always been keen on exploring them. Partially because knowledge is power; we were born lost and confused, so we seek to learn all we can about the world so we know what we can do and what we shouldn't do. Partially because learning is fun and exciting; the world is full of many fascinating things, and we don't want to miss out. Partially so that we can judge things properly; the world is very complex, and if we make a decision without knowing some crucial details, we could make a horrible mistake. We seek to understand the world, so we know our place in it, and how we can and should react to it.

We've been subjected to mental influence more than once, and we've fought against it with all we had. Whether it was external, like Peregrin's mind-controlling voice, or internal, like her budding addiction to human souls, losing control of her own thoughts is more frightening to Saulanna than anything else. She wants to make sure that it's her own will that defines who she is and what she does, not a force that she can't control.

At its core, Saulanna's Heart's Desire is "Facilitate her own self-determination." To gain power, so that she can mold herself into what she chooses to be. To be the Queen of her own mind, so that she can make that choice for herself. To defend herself from those who might seek to control or destroy her. To study the world, so she knows where she stands in it, what she could do, what she should do.

Now, this is all from the perspective of a newborn, and as such it's not likely to last forever. As we grow in power and knowledge, there's a good chance that we'll find a different, greater purpose, probably one that involves helping the world and its peole. But that's a long ways off. Before we can decide how to fix the world, we need to understand it first. We need the power to make our choice a reality. And we need to be in a position to choose.

The tent is likely for all manner of domestic things such as shelter and having a family. In the case of a deva's tent, the unreadiness to enter Saulanna feels could be have many reasons. Maybe she just isn't ready to rest and relax right now, it's not an appropriate moment for that what with the titan Saulanna barely having a foothold on survival. Maybe the family that is implied by the tent should be created in the old fashioned sense, as is appropriate for a symbol of humanity, and she'd need a husband or at least a lover for that. Maybe it's just because the time isn't right to bust out noble devas yet.

Maybe those last two would go together down the line. I kinda like the idea of her kids being her nobles. It would make perfect sense considering the theme of humanity. Deva-Saulanna's only themes right now are being human, wanting power, wanting safety, and wanting those last two things for those who are closest to her. Which would translate perfectly into a royal sort of motherhood.

But it's definitely not something that should be worried about just yet. As the sense from the tent she gets says.

>>502374
She likes gathering power, but exerting dominance isn't a very common theme here, at least in comparison. Covering her ass is a better way to say what she's doing. Keeping herself and her own safe would be an overarching theme for both of those, so maybe that should be her desire. She's definitely shown to be protective of her devas.

>>502317
And owning a kitchen knife is a wonderful way to step on the slippery slope of being a serial knife murderer.

>>502374
> Facilitate her own self-determination.

I like that. It seems appropriate; not a desire to do some specific thing, or follow some specific path... rather, it's a desire to have the freedom to choose, instead of being forced into some kind of mold. Having that freedom, ultimately, means gaining power, since there are any number of things that stand in the way of our ability to do as we wish. In comparison with what a Heart's Desire would normally be, it's a little vague, since it sets no bounds on what we might ultimately want to do... but it feels appropriate, for a would-be Titan; a Heart's Desire equally as appropriate at the moment of our birth, at the moment when we rise to challenge the powers of a world that constrains us, at the moment when we victoriously ascend to rule over the remnants of the last fallen age, at the moment when we preside over a glorious new age of our own design, and at the moment when all things come to an end and it is down to just ourselves and the encroaching chaos of a world come apart. A truly Titanic desire, suitable for all times and conditions; ultimately, we want to be able to choose, to do what we wish, to be free of the constraints of people and laws and conditions not of our own making. It transcends smoothly from the foundling's desire, to be free of those who would seek to dominate us; to the titanic desire of a creator of worlds, discontent with the limitations of her own powers and the wreckage of the framework of ages past, thinking ahead to the possibilities of creating an entirely new reality from the Formless Chaos itself.

It's perfect.

This doesn't sound like much of a Heart's Desire to me, not so much because I disagree that it's something we want and have been actively pursuing, but rather because it's something that pretty much everyone wants. No sane DM would give you combat bonusses for saying "it has always been my Heart's Desire to not die", because that's kind of assumed and already built into the combat rules.

I like the rest of >>502374's analysis, though, which is nicely put.

It's also worth noting this:
>Well, the first thing we did when we met Gevin was to decide to aid him in his personal quest. Mainly because we felt sympathy for him, but there was also a desire to have a goal. We were without guidance, so we shared his life's goal as a way of having one ourself.
I think it's a good sign that, even when we were lost, confused, and scared, our first instinct was to help others.

>>502415
Not entirely true in Exalted (or in reality) that everyone wants self-determination. In canon there are "akuma" who've given that up for power. Saulanna briefly considered adopting Peregrin as one but rejected it as being arguably a Fate Worse Than Death -- which is another reason to pick self-determination as a defining motive for now. Still, eventually you have to pick a goal beyond "setting my own goals" unless you're flopping around randomly.

>>502374
Heh, we're starting to define the First Saulanna Excellency charm! One thing I notice is that there's no consideration in that for her Lunar nature. No raccoon theme or anything. I suspect that'll change once she gets out of here and learns more about the state of the world. She's just really pre-occupied with the thought of being talked into something.

<b>Time to get going</b>, right?

>>502415

Speaking of, we never managed to find her actually, and we do still have her Schnozzlepoints. Naturally, we can't exactly blow off Askalaff and Dullahan, but we can't forget that we do eventually need to find her, since Gavin is still wandering around the castle.

>>502415
>>502421

Facilitating self-determination isn't quite that hollow, though. Mortal beings are inherently subject to all manner of constraints, and even immortals and gods are heavily bound. Even the Titans find their actions restricted by the state of the world, by those that oppose them, and by Samsara. Ultimately, then, the Desire for self-determination includes essential facets of 'gaining power' (to better preserve freedom) and 'opposition' (to resist external influences of every kind). This makes it harder for Mal/Affections and such to be imposed upon us, but makes the ones we do form more primal and important, since they are the truest extensions of the choices we make. Essentially, we would have no single cause that we hold as primal in importance other than simply being ourselves, free to choose... as such, we are indeed free to choose, but those things that we do wind up choosing, even trivially, will be a lot more central to our identity, and difficult to shake loose at a later time. Accordingly, our Desire wouldn't simply be a hollow formless thing, fluttering on the breeze; it'd be a thing that slowly develops over time, maturing as we do, shifting to reflect the choices we make, the precedents we set. At all times, we seek foremost to protect our own ability to choose, to extend our will to give our choices more weight... but at the same time, all our choices, as reflections of that will, follow us as manifestations of our will to choose, continuing to define us for far longer than such trivial choices might for a being grounded in another sort of concern.

>>502374
you voiced my opinion as well in regards to the heart's desire

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:22 No. 502558 ID: 7475da
File 136441936923.png - (193.22KB , 600x500 , readytogo.png )

>What do the constellations mean?

"Ha ha ha! What fun would it be to just tell you, mistress? It's a fun little mystery for you to unravel yourself! Tell you what, though. Every one of them is drawn from an important event in your Titanic existence! Try looking back on everything you've done that you remember, and maybe you'll find where they come from; and then maybe you can figure out what sort of symbolism they're supposed to have!"

>spend Titan's Will on...

Her mind simply can't move on from this, it seems. Saulanna decides she needs to finally get on with spending it as she had determined she was going to spend it, instead of letting herself waver and doubt all the time. If she doesn't stick to what she's already decided, she'll never get anything done!

"Alright, here we go!"

>Titan's Will 10 -> 7
>Kairosa's Will Generation is upgraded to level 3!
>Will Generation has been time-enhanced and devoted to improving Saulanna's Soul Force. Estimated upgrade time: sunset three days hence.

>Titan's Will 7 -> 4
>Wordblood gains World Reading! World Reading upgraded to level 2!
>By spending a dot of Power, Wordblood can activate this ability, allowing him to detect a target's Health Points, Will Points and other active statistics.

>Titan's Will 4 -> 1
>Kairosa gains Forked Path Oracle!
>Wordblood gains Seeing the Tongue Slip!
>Wordblood gains his Titan Blessing!

Saulanna keeps one measure of Titan's Will for now, intending to use it to upgrade her Beauty when appropriate.

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:23 No. 502559 ID: 7475da
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>time to get going

Yes.

"Take care, my lady."

"Remember, you can come back in any time you like!"

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:24 No. 502560 ID: 7475da
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And the world returns.

Peregrin looks concerned, and seems surprised by something, but he isn't saying anything. Oh, hold on. He did say something, didn't he? Only just now, from his perspective. He asked if Saulanna was feeling well.

Well, in fact, as she senses herself fitting back into her body again, she feels pretty fantastic! She'll...

...

Were we this tall before?

Somehow I remember us being almost the same height.

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:33 No. 502568 ID: 7475da
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>>502567

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:34 No. 502570 ID: 7475da
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"Oh."

"Um."

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:35 No. 502571 ID: 7475da
File 136442011528.png - (75.70KB , 600x500 , readytogo7.png )

"Ok, so, er. No problem. You can fix this!"

Saulanna Rockblossom 2013/03/27(Wed)14:35 No. 502572 ID: 7475da
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"... I think."

(And a concealment bump...)

(or two...)

(or three...)

(... or four. For the right measure.

And we're done!)

How far away from being able to reform souls that we devoured again?

I was rereading the quest and now I really want to give the poor captain his soldier back.

screw the captain and his soldier. in fact, let's eat him too.

>>502586
We ate the soldier before we got Kairosa. She explicitly said she could only undo things we'd done after she came into the picture. The mobster and soldier are gone for good.

Ask Wordblood and Kairosa about shapeshifting/spending TW to remove these changes, particularly the size. We're trying to NOT let anyone know something is up. I'd say suddenly growing three feet is going to be an issue.