>>479222
Dammit man, we already have a 97% female protagonist rating here! Let us have this, it's getting to be like a Miyazaki flick up there.

>>479221

I second this, then no one is displeased.

>>479221
>>479298
That's actually a pretty interesting idea, keeping on with the status quo.

Tiddles is obviously a male name.

>>479327
Kill him!
>>479328
Praise him!

Can't think, must sleep.

Votin' male.

Man man man man man.

muh votin' be for uh wumyn!

A dude!

With a penis!

Another vote for ambiguous gender.

You folks seem to be missing that this is titled, "Godless Quest" which is a name that matches in cliché-logic with masculine warlord and ascension to power nonsense.

The necessary antidote to cliché-stacking in this case seems to be making this protagonist female, and pregnant.

>>478937
Male. The personality would seem kinda weird on a female character, honestly.

malegetitoverwithrealywejustwanttoplay.

Male, because that's what I thought it was all along.

Suggestion 2012/12/18(Tue)03:42 No. 479631 ID: 501984
File 135583095765.png - (42.92KB , 800x600 , 28.png )

Hello again, Carl.

I've killed Javier, burned his house down, murdered several of his guards, fled the city, and collected my hidden cache of supplies.

By most definitions, everything has gone according to plan.

And yet, with half the town on fire, an invasion fleet in the harbour, and the best hope for the town's defense lying dead outside his home, I feel that calling the night a success might be a bit preemptive.

Most would probably be more comfortable calling it a disaster.

Suggestion 2012/12/18(Tue)03:43 No. 479632 ID: 501984
File 135583102312.png - (54.12KB , 800x600 , 29.png )

But for the moment, Carl, we should be fine.

I've been walking for a few hours now, and the sun rose a short while ago.

This road leads to the town of Banton, and at my current pace, I should make it there sometime around noon. With any luck, the invaders will spend most of the day consolidating their foothold, and won't attempt to take any more ground for a day or two. It's a shame I don't feel particularly lucky today.

Regardless, I've been thinking, Carl. You really don't seem to know much about, well, anything. And as nice as it is to have a babbling trinket, your advice would be somewhat more useful if you actually knew things about the world. I figure I can cover a major topic or two before anything interesting happens, so I’ll give you the choice between the gods, current technology (and how I was able to kill Javier), magic, and history. If you can think of anything else you want to know about, feel free to ask.

Oh, and I've found a way to silence you. I hope you didn't mind too much, I wanted a moment of privacy.

And then I forgot for about you for several hours.

It's been a long day, Carl, and I haven't had much sleep recently.

>>479632
Ah, don't worry about anything. Your plan worked as intended, it's a beautiful day, and the invaders won't care about you, probably. Plus you get to eat a proper lunch in a town, which might turn out to be a luxury depending on how things go.

As for what to talk about, well, the most important information is about the nature of the invaders and of whatever people might be chasing you from your own nation. But if you don't know much about that, the tech stuff sounds interesting.

tech, gods, and the specifics of your godlessness.

all of it.

History, gods. More practical in the short term, seeing as how we always end up in ruins, or countries, or talking to people about events, or...
Also, magic seems to be something that primarily comes from the gods, so eh? We can probably extrapolate about magic from the gods.

Let's just go in order, we'll get the other two another time.

You know I was thinking about Javier. You said he was acting strangely, he had absolutely no escort and was easier to kill than you thought. What are the chances he'd lost his position as Chosen of Light? Would that account for it? Was there any way to tell?

I'd like to have a bit of history and geography. You know get the lay of the land and what it's all about.

>>479632
The state of technology, please.

If we have a reference for what is available we can make practical suggestions on improving it.

>>479689
This. There's a nonzero chance we can make you stinking rich with practical engineering advice.

Tell us about your technology, particularly the most recent breakthrough cheap and miniaturized enough to be in widespread use.

Magic and technology. Those should best confer how the world works in a practical sense. Looking at the technology the world seems to be in a state where guns are effective enough to be used, but not enough so to make swords uncommon. Although depending on what types of magic are relatively widespread that might not be a very good indicator.

Cosmology through magic and technology is the angle I would suggest initially because many of us come from worlds with no magic or gods at all. In contrast, the standards of how human societies work tend not to deviate too far from certain norms and are something we can work out ourselves if we have enough bits and pieces to match against what we already know. Further: The highlights of your social order no doubt are informed by the particulars in physics and cosmogony of the world it exists in.

We also have among us those who wield fire, lightning, disease, metal, magnetism, light and other interesting things as our tools and toys, often without any magic. We may be able to suggest certain refinements to your existing technology and technique or other useful applications.

Suggestion 2012/12/19(Wed)04:20 No. 479805 ID: 501984
File 135591960783.png - (16.62KB , 800x600 , 30.png )

Technology it is, then.

Well, I suppose weapons are as good of a place to start as any. Currently, most fighting and warfare is done with enchanted crossbows or swords and spears and the like. Given how easy it is to enchant a weapon to be absurdly sharp, heavy armour doesn’t see much use outside of the rare heavily enchanted (and incredibly expensive) set that can actually stand up to enchanted weapons. The latest technological innovation in warfare would be guns, but even those are probably a hundred years old now.

Basically, someone got it in their head that propelling bits of metal at people was a good idea, and messed around with propulsion systems until they found that magic had the smallest chance of sudden, catastrophic failure. Even with that in place, they weren’t that great, as they had to be enchanted to even work, they had fairly terrible accuracy, and they took an age to reload. By most reckoning, an enchanted crossbow was easier to use, cheaper to make, and just as effective. Despite that, guns were still quite popular for a while, at least until a proper magical defense against bullets was devised. Now, they’re more or less useless, and are better suited to adorning someone’s fireplace than being held by a soldier.

My gun? Well, in one of my classes at the academy, we learned about metals that are resistant to magic. While one might think that would make them be great for use in weapons, they are terribly heavy and malleable, and they lose their anti-magic when alloyed. The thing is, the very same properties that make them horrible for use in blades also happen to make them excellent for use in bullets.

Or rather, they would make excellent bullets, if the propulsion enchantments on a gun could actually, well, propel them.

So, my gun is actually based on some of the oldest designs, using mundane explosives to propel magic-resistant bullets. It still takes forever to reload, has issues hitting the broad side of a barn, and may explode if mishandled, but I think its effectiveness speaks for itself.

Oh, and that would be how I silenced you, Carl. You had a luxury ride in a sack full of resistant bullets.

Suggestion 2012/12/19(Wed)04:21 No. 479806 ID: 501984
File 135591968911.png - (19.83KB , 800x600 , 31.png )

Communication and transportation of goods is an odd mix of horseback transportation (and carriages) and teleportation magic. Teleportation is basically great, even despite the fact that it literally never works right. While it might not be too big of a problem if one half of a crate of fruit arrives a foot above the other half, a couch, sculpture, or tourist appearing in two pieces would be catastrophic.

Really, anything that needs to make it to its destination intact has to go the slow way. This generally covers messages and letters and the like, if only because having to piece your mail together like a jigsaw puzzle is agonizing.

As far as convenience items go, the newest thing everyone owns is probably a refrigerator. Basically, they’re magical ice-boxes for keeping your food fresh. They have to be recharged with magic every now and then, but the amount they need is so small that even non-mages can easily keep their own running. I think the main thing keeping them from mass production was a cheap source of decent insulation that played nice with whatever complex enchantments they needed to run. Before that, refrigerators we’re pretty much exclusively used by restaurants and the like.

Uh. Hmmn.

This is not the easiest thing, trying to figure out what may or may not be important.

Most people use wood or coal stoves, but anyone that can use fire magic with any degree of proficiency probably prefers to cook using their own flames. You get more control over the heat.

Plumbing is a thing that most towns and cities have. There was a bit of a debacle with lead pipes when they were first introduced, but it's all been sorted out.

Most medicine and healing is done with magic, and the bit that isn’t is just herbal remedies or basic first aid. You know, bandaging wounds so nobody bleeds out before someone that can heal arrives.

Printing presses exist, but most of what they churn out isn’t worth reading. They do keep the libraries stocked full of books, though.

…

I’m not sure what else would be worth mentioning. On to questions, I suppose.

Suggestion 2012/12/19(Wed)04:22 No. 479807 ID: 501984
File 135591977492.png - (46.28KB , 800x600 , 32.png )

> As for what to talk about, well, the most important information is about the nature of the invaders and of whatever people might be chasing you from your own nation.
Simply put, I know nothing about the invaders, outside of their obvious mastery of boats and fire. I didn’t see anything distinguishing in my flight from the town, and I can’t think of anyone that would ever consider invading us. I mean, our gods operate fairly locally, so we’re basically the only nation that has magic. There are some groups of beastmen and demi-humans that do pretty well for themselves, but nothing that could even come close to taking a city.

> You know I was thinking about Javier. You said he was acting strangely, he had absolutely no escort and was easier to kill than you thought. What are the chances he'd lost his position as Chosen of Light? Would that account for it? Was there any way to tell?
I am fairly sure that this is not the case. It has never happened before, and being chosen is really a birth till death sort of deal. I’d think his strangeness and lack of escort would be more due to the invasion than anything else. I mean, what kind of 'hero' would he be if he pulled his escort away from the defense of the town?

But I suppose that’s just who he was, always trying to look good for the people. He always was more of the sort to run away from the fighting to let others die in his stead.

> There's a nonzero chance we can make you stinking rich with practical engineering advice.
Given the current state of invasion, I doubt there will be the time or materials to engineer enough of something to actually sell. And even then, it’s not like someone will just buy up a few hundred of some untested device or weapon. It’s a nice thought, though.

> Ah, don't worry about anything. Your plan worked as intended, it's a beautiful day, and the invaders won't care about you, probably. Plus you get to eat a proper lunch in a town, which might turn out to be a luxury depending on how things go.
Very reassuring, Carl. Though, I am looking forward to that lunch.

And that’s it, I think. I suppose I’ll move on to the gods next. Or, alternatively, we could enjoy the rest of the walk in silence. I’m sure listening to me listing off common knowledge isn’t exactly the most exciting thing. I don’t mind too much either way, Carl, and I’ll answer any questions you have about what I’ve already covered before anything else.

>Given the current state of invasion, I doubt there will be the time or materials to engineer enough of something to actually sell. And even then, it’s not like someone will just buy up a few hundred of some untested device or weapon.
It's called wartime profiteering, my friend. Sometimes tricky to pull off right, but definitely an opportunity to be exploited, all the same.

I have to agree. In times of war and strife, people tend to be rather hasty when it comes to buying things that will give them an edge against the enemy. Though that will have to wait until we know what the enemy is.

For now, why don't you tell us about the gods?

Spill the beans on the gods Tiddles

> metals that are resistant to magic [...] they are terribly heavy and malleable, and they lose their anti-magic when alloyed
Do they retain their anti-magic properties at high temperatures (i.e. when molten)?

so lead is antimagic, huh? there are some ways to use that in a blade, depending on yous skill as a metalworker; if the bullets blocked our magic then you can use it as something like a shield on a normal blade, just coat the sides with lead. this is less likely to work, however, than actually making a bi-metal, folded non alloy for the blade a-la damascus, with a pure lead handle. and if you can get access to the necessary capital, we can certainly help you with your problems with the possibly-exploding-gun.

nope, tell us about the gods.

What are your goals now Tiddles? Do you care enough about your town to try to protect it from the invaders? Or would you rather develop the world's first magic lever action rifle?

Oh dear. Your nation is the only one with magic, and guns are 100 years old?

The rest of the world has probably moved on in weapons research. I must assume they have a grudge, for some reason. Ah well. I recommend an army of unstoppable Knife Elementals. Conquer the world. With Knives.

>>479805
So you made a proper gun with lead and gunpowder instead of poncing about with some silly magical gun. Good on you. Just remember to keep your powder-horn dry and away from an open flame, and that gun will take you far. What kind of action does it have?

>>479806
Sounds like a market revolution is coming if it's not already happened.

>>479865
The question is, can you give a magical construct a gun with antimagical ammo, or is it too potent and would disrupt the animating spells?

Magic sure sounds like it does interesting things to technological development. It fills up niches where it's vastly superior to existing technology, and doesn't really seem to improve, so that any competing technologies can't incrementally improve enough to catch on even if they have the potential to be far greater if pursued. Why would you build the infrastructure for electric light bulbs if you can just enchant a fixture to glow on its own? I'm curious as to what the state of technology in the other less magical nations is.

Let's hear about the gods, they sound important. As does your personal circumstances with them.

Plastics sound like they would revolutionize things.

a good but simple way to improve gun accuracy is rifling. you etch a 4 grooves in a plus shape on the inside of the barrel that spiral around slightly through the whole barrel. this makes the bullet spin when it is fired, and so it goes through the air better. also how are the bullets made? casting or carving? if cast in a mold they should be identical in just about every way letting you make your gun barrel as close a fit as possible. combing these two simple modifications in one gun will yield a better accuracy.

a much much more complicated upgrade is the Revolver. it can fire six shots in a row before reloading. will explain more if you ask.

>>479922
I don't see any reason why bullets wouldn't be cast, but rifling is more hassle than it's worth unless the guns are breech-loading which they don't seem to be, and machining a gun with the precision required to make a simple breach loader that doesn't lose power would be a bit beyond Tiddles' current resources.

>>479962
The first rifles were muzzle-loaders, and significantly more effective than their smoothbore contemporaries. But without access to a lathe, rifling a barrel is damn-near impossible. And for one-off custom made firearms, adding breech-loading and sealed cartridges is not out of the question either.

Tell us more about Javier, and the things he did.

>>480075
there could be a magic method to get around the lack of tools. it's only the bullets that are magic-proof, not the gun itself.

>>479916
True, although magic may not be completely static either. It may evolve or change over time.

Ah. A primitive gun design. Master. I have good news. We can show you nonmagical guns that vastly surpass the ones of this world.

>>480090
And then we have to show him the tools to make the tools to make the tools for making the guns. Not to mention the materials themselves.

Although if magic can mass-produce stuff with high accuracy, then we're in luck.

>>479807
>Given the current state of invasion, I doubt there will be the time or materials to engineer enough of something to actually sell. And even then, it’s not like someone will just buy up a few hundred of some untested device or weapon. It’s a nice thought, though.
Given the current state of invasion, people will be absolutely leaping to buy something that they can use to defend themselves. And it looks like we have a lot to offer in that regard! Step one for a better gun is to pack the bullets and propellant into thin metal cartridges (Brass works well) with an impact-sensitive spot at the back to set it all off. These improve safey (less chance of overloading powder) and can be loaded into a gun barrel far more rapidly than separate components, and the pressure of the propellant will force the cartridge walls against the barrel, creating a tight seal for the duration of firing, which means you can cut a hole in the side of the barrel to load the cartridges through so you can reload even faster. All this requires little in the way of metalworking and can be easily demonstrated as an improvement

tl;dr you can make up for killing that one town's best chance of defense by giving your entire kingdom an even better one, and come out of it with enough money to buy nobility.

Knowledge of the gods would be nice. A thought strikes me however: You did not remove the bullet used on Javier. Your secret antimagic bullets may become known. It looked like the shot went through his head though so it might not be found among all the burning rubble.

>>480114
more than that, it is possible that the brass shell holding the lead bullet can be affected by magic, therefore opening a wide variety of methods for fast loading, ejection of shells, ect. think about it; from muzzle loading smooth-bores to fully automatic hyperburst rifles in a month. the foes of our master shall know terror, but only for a very short time before they shall know the afterlife.

>>479807
Can't you make a servicable mace out of magic-resistant metal? Or would the enchantment just block the shaft since making that out of a soft metal is a bad idea?

>>480229
Oh, that's an idea. Instead of having the magic propel the bullet directly, it could propel a casing around the bullet, which is designed to break off of the bullet as it exits the barrel. Or it could be organized like a crossbow...

Why don't they just make magic-resistant arrowheads for crossbow bolts? Surely an enchanted crossbow can just direct its energy at the shaft to move the bolt?

>>480255
Plan caseless discarding sabot rifle is GO.

Suggestion 2012/12/22(Sat)04:39 No. 480270 ID: 501984
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>It's called wartime profiteering, my friend. Sometimes tricky to pull off right, but definitely an opportunity to be exploited, all the same.
>In times of war and strife, people tend to be rather hasty when it comes to buying things that will give them an edge against the enemy.
I suppose you’re right.

>a good but simple way to improve gun accuracy is rifling.
>a much much more complicated upgrade is the Revolver. it can fire six shots in a row before reloading.
>Plastics sound like they would revolutionize things.
>We can show you nonmagical guns that vastly surpass the ones of this world.
>And then we have to show him the tools to make the tools to make the tools for making the guns. Not to mention the materials themselves.
All of these sound like decent ideas, Carl. It’s probably not the best idea to pursue them immediately, considering I’m currently trying to outpace an invasion force, but if we happen to come into the money, materials, and time to get something done, we’ll make it happen.

>so lead is antimagic, huh?
No, Carl. Lead is another soft, heavy metal that was used in plumbing for a while before it was discovered to be poisonous. And in a number of other things. I can’t seem to think of the proper name for the stuff at the moment, but that’s just me being tired.

>There are some ways to use that in a blade…
Well, if you had enough of another metal mixed in for the sword to stand up to actual combat, you’d be able to affect the normal metal with magic. It’d resist magic better than a normal sword, but it would also be incredibly heavy for its size, and likely far less durable. If you wanted a sword that could bypass magical defenses, you could enchant it to do exactly that. It would otherwise be a normal sword, but it is very possible to enchant something to resist specific types of magic. Before you even think it, such a sword wouldn’t have worked against Javier; his defenses would have been too strong for it. Regardless, swords and the like have been a mainstay in warfare for a long time now, so most of the ‘improvements’ you can think of have probably been tested at some point or the other.

>more than that, it is possible that the brass shell holding the lead bullet can be affected by magic…
Antimagic bullet. The same pretty much applies here. While it would be possible to move the brass shell with magic, the extra weight alone would make them annoying to manipulate, and then you have the resistance to magic atop that.

>Why don't they just make magic-resistant arrowheads for crossbow bolts?
Well, outside of being poorly weighted and having little to no penetration, defenses would still affect the shaft. The metals don't really dispel magic, the just sort of ignore it. And If you have enough of it close enough together, it starts to suppress magic around it.

>Plan caseless discarding sabot rifle is GO.
I tried sabots. Even with a magic gun, you’re still just applying a force to the projectile, so adding a bunch of weight in the form of a sabot significantly affects your muzzle velocity. And you do need a sizable sabot, as …

Well.

Magic. Yeah, this is why magic was an option for a topic.

It would take a long time to explain exactly why it doesn't work, and I have questions to answer and gods to discuss. Just take my word for it, sabots do not work well enough to make an effective weapon.

>Do they retain their anti-magic properties at high temperatures (i.e. when molten)?
Probably? As I said, it’s not lead, so it has a fairly normal melting point for a metal. I’m not sure what you’re thinking here, but it’s likely infeasible to keep the metal molten for long enough. It’s not like you can just use magic to keep it hot.

>You did not remove the bullet used on Javier. Your secret antimagic bullets may become known.
It hardly matters. It’s not as if a regular gun could even come close to scratching him, and the wound it left was most definitely a bullet wound.

>The question is, can you give a magical construct a gun with antimagical ammo, or is it too potent and would disrupt the animating spells?
Animated constructs are…

Well, they exist, but really only the gods and some of the chosen have ever been skilled enough to make them. It’s easy enough to move something around like a puppet, and it’s not even unheard of to make something that can repeat some task in the absence of its creator, but anything that acts of its own volition is a magnitude above what even the most accomplished mages dare to dream of.

>I recommend an army of unstoppable Knife Elementals. Conquer the world. With Knives.
Really, Carl? It was one knife. I bought it because it would be easier to clear out Javier’s guards with something sharp, and it was cheaper than a sword. It broke when it went out the window. I have no more knives.

>I'm curious as to what the state of technology in the other less magical nations is.
Well, we’re on decent terms with the nations near us, so with trading and whatnot they’re more or less the at the same state we are. Even the magic equipment isn’t too uncommon; lots of people travel, and recharging a few things for the locals is a fast, easy way to make a bit of money.

>Tell us more about Javier, and the things he did.
As much as I would love to rant about him for a while, he’s dead. I don’t see anything about him becoming particularly important in the future, all things considered.

>What are your goals now Tiddles? Do you care enough about your town to try to protect it from the invaders? Or would you rather develop the world's first magic lever action rifle?
Hmn. The plan before the invasion was to get out of town, travel far enough that nobody would know me, offer you and the sword to a god, and get a job and live happily ever after. While mages aren’t exactly uncommon, ‘telekinesis’ is pretty much one of the best things you can have on a resume.

Now, with the invasion? I’m not so sure. If the military gets it together and repels the invasion, the old plan could still work. But the invaders are a sizable unknown here, and after seeing what they did to the town, I’m not sure that this will all sort itself out.

Either way, the town’s as good as dead. It didn’t exactly have a large garrison, and its resident chosen is dead.

Honestly? I think it’s a bit early to be planning. We know nothing about the invaders, and we know nothing about what the gods’ response will be. But if I had to put together a list of things to be done, It would probably look something like:

- Get to Banton.
- Eat lunch.
- Get information about invaders. A messenger should have been sent out the moment the ships appeared on the horizon.
- Leave Banton. It will probably be invaded soon.
- ???
- And maybe invent something along the way.

Suggestion 2012/12/22(Sat)04:41 No. 480271 ID: 501984
File 135618007790.png - (159.77KB , 800x600 , 34.png )

>For now, why don't you tell us about the gods?
Alright, then.

The gods weren’t always around. At some point in the distant past, they came to our world, and for lack of a better description, everything went to shit. Groups of people sided with various gods because who doesn’t want magic, the gods had petty fights and basically everything was at war with everything else for several hundred years. Or longer, according to some. Eternal war isn’t exactly sustainable, so eventually something gave. There was a bit of a revolution among the people, and somehow, one of the gods was killed. This somehow led to a treaty of sorts, where the gods basically agreed to divide the populace such that each god had their own group of followers to lord over without the other gods interfering. And then we all lived happily ever after.

Or so the legends say, anyways. Given the gods’ close involvement with pretty much everything, recorded history isn’t the most reliable source.

Regardless, the remaining gods follow the rules that have been laid out, and everyone gets along well enough despite old rivalries.

As for the gods themselves:

Haemorus is the Lord of Blood. His domains are Life and Death. His magics focus on the manipulation of flesh, blood, and bone. He is associated with the Bat, feasting upon flesh. His people are barbers, morticians, doctors, assassins, and butchers. His people tend to be distant and calm, seemingly less affected by events than others.

As a rule, those with the favour of Haemorus live longer. As such, I’ve been sure to make offerings to keep on decent terms with him.

Cyra is the Lord of Fire. Her domains are Warmth and Refuge. Her magics focus on the creation and manipulation of fire. She is associated with the Lion, protecting her kin. Her people are soldiers, innkeepers, smiths, guards, and chefs. Her people tend to be passionate about what they do and kind towards those they care for. Those they don’t care for don’t last very long.

Cyra is probably not the happiest with me. Not enough that she’d care to do anything about it, but I haven’t gone out of my way to appease her and she’s not incredibly fond of murderers.

Sohlarn is the Lord of Light. His domains are Freedom and Order. His magics focus on light and guidance. He is associated with the Eagle, flying high above. His people are leaders, jailors, judges, politicians, and executioners. His people tend to believe in honour, justice, and righteousness, and often value them more than most would consider reasonable.

Given recent events, Sohlarn will likely kill me if I ever dare to set foot in one of his churches. I never liked him or his people much anyways, so it’s not a big loss.

Fwyn is the Lord of Earth. Her domains are Nature and Creation. Her magics focus on the manipulation of earth and stone. She is associated with the Beaver, constructing a den. Her people are hunters, masons, herbalists, engineers, and farmers. Her people tend to be dependable, if a bit reclusive.

I don’t think I’ve done anything that would annoy Fwyn, so she’s probably indifferent about me.

Karas is the Lord of Winds. Her domains are Novelty and Change. Her magics focus upon the manipulation of winds and weather. She is associated with the Raccoon, surviving behind masks. Her people are sailors, revolutionaries, couriers, vagrants, and inventors. Her people find entertainment in simple things, but tend to bore easily.

I haven’t had too much to do with Karas in the past, but given current events, I think I might have to look into making an offering or two.

Hyrssa is the Lord of Seas. His domains are Hope and Ambition. His magics focus on the manipulation of luck. He is associated with Hermit Crab, seeking a shell. His people are merchants, gamblers, entrepreneurs, prospectors, and ambassadors. His people tend to believe that the world is not as great as it could be. How they act on that is a bit more varied.

In the past I’ve tried to be on good terms with Hyrssa for the extra bit of luck it provides. That said, he might not be too happy with me over Javier’s death. A lot of people looked to him as a role model, and he was more or less the best hope for the town’s defense. On the other hand, he might appreciate that I’m trying something different with my life.

Nothe is the Lord of Darkness. Her domains are Discovery and Secrets. Her magics focus on Observation and Illusion. She is associated with the Coyote, hunting in the night. Her people are explorers, psychologists, spies, lawyers, and scientists. Her people often make strange leaps in thought, and are notoriously hard to follow in conversation.

Nothe has a bit of a rivalry with Sohlarn, so she’s probably quite happy with me considering the circumstances of Javier’s death.

And that's the lot of them. Really, you don’t have to do much about the gods to keep a relatively normal life. By default your patron god will be happy with you, and making the others more than indifferent is generally as easy as offering your pocket change to their church every now and then. They really just don’t care enough to bother punishing minor sleights, so as long as you avoid doing anything extra heretical (like killing one of their chosen), you’ll be fine.

And yes, as many of you have guessed, I was born without a patron god. It's not completely unheard of for it to happen, but it's rare enough that most people aren't aware of it.

Anyways, it really only means that my personality and the like were not strongly influenced by any of the gods, I'm not particularly great with any of their magics, and I can't belong to any church.

It does get a bit weird when gods do want to affect me, though. Positive stuff works just fine, but a part of their divine agreement is that the gods can only punish their own disciples. So, for example, if a follower of Fwyn went and murdered one of the Chosen of Karas, Karas would have to either ask Fwyn to punish the follower, or ask for her permission to act against the follower. Either way, Fwyn would probably agree, even if only to avoid making enemies among the gods.

Obviously, with me not having a patron god, I'm in this awkward punishment grey area where there isn't a specific god that is supposed to keep me in line. When these grey areas crop up, the gods have to reach some sort of consensus before anyone can do anything about it. Well, do anything about it without angering the rest of the gods. The original plan for killing Javier hinged on the consensus delay, but it all worked out regardless.

And honestly, I can't see them giving Sohlarn permission to hunt me down. It's not like I would just go quietly, I've proven I'm capable of killing Chosen, and the gods are very adverse to sending anything stronger than the Chosen to deal with problems. And none of that even matters now that they have an invasion to deal with.

Suggestion 2012/12/22(Sat)04:42 No. 480272 ID: 501984
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Oh, hey. Banton.

It looks like there’s a bit of a guard presence, and they’ll likely be wondering why I’m walking in at this hour, alone, on a road that leads only to an invaded town.

You have any ideas about what to tell them, Carl?

>>480272
Time to get your gameface on, mate.
Slap some mud on yourself, muss up your hair.
Today's order of the day is "Distraught survivor," and you best play it well.
Don't go overboard, though. We don't want any suspicions to arise when you make your miraculous "recovery."
Just some mild shaking and a lightly-vacant stare will do.

Can't you just circle to some other road?
Also how well can you see without your glasses?

>>477984
Good plan. Totally true as well. Try walking through brambles to get more minor injuries. Inform the guard of the armada of flame spewing murder ships.

You could claim to have set out before the invasion happened, and witnessed it while camping off the side of the road.

Being a ragged survivor could be odd considering you seem well-packed.

I don't see why you can't just walk up and tell them that you are running (well, walking really) away from the giant invasion fleet that just wrecked the town you were in.

Honesty is the best policy and all that.

Also, uh, if one of the gods was killed during that war, shouldn't there be a hole in the pantheon? Like, elements that aren't represented? I guess there isn't a direct opposite for Haemorus. What would oppose Life and Death though? Or maybe Haemorus used to represent just one of those two aspects? Like, there used to be a Life god and a Death god, but one died so the other took both roles?

Suggestion 2012/12/22(Sat)14:02 No. 480335 ID: 2f4b71
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>>Do they retain their anti-magic properties at high temperatures (i.e. when molten)?
>Probably? As I said, it’s not lead, so it has a fairly normal melting point for a metal. I’m not sure what you’re thinking here, but it’s likely infeasible to keep the metal molten for long enough. It’s not like you can just use magic to keep it hot.

Capital!
What I'm thinking here, my bespectacled friend, is to be two steps ahead: eventually, someone is going to cotton to the idea of bullets made of anti-magical metal, and device a countermeasure: thick armour of naturally strong materials. As mentioned before:
>heavy armour doesn’t see much use outside of the rare heavily enchanted (and incredibly expensive) set that can actually stand up to enchanted weapons
We can probably assume any Chosen tasked to go after you would be fairly well-off financially, and forewarned of your ace-in-the-hole, and would be so equipped to shrug off a soft metal ball splattering against their armour.

So you need a can-opener. Let me introduce you to a little thing called the Explosively Formed Penetrator.

>>480335
That is an even softer ball of liquid metal. Granted, it has a lot of kinetic energy, but if we become capable of transferring that kinetic energy to liquidized metal we will also be capable of transferring it to small sharp things that are not soft balls of metal.

for massive damage a Claymore mine may work against an enchanted armor guy. at worst it completely coats them in anti-magic metal. at best the first few weaken the enchantments enough that the rest can break trough.

>>480270
>I have no more knives.
We should probably rectify that in Banton. A knife is always handy to have.

>>480272
Why lie? You saw the invasion coming in and ran away. It's perfectly reasonable and there's doubtless more on your heels who did the same. If you want you can act like you're trying to put a spin on it, like you ran to valiantly get word out even though obviously you'd much rather have fought. You know, give them an obvious lie so they don't look for another one.

cross-ref: Unchosen by the Gods, Dead God

Perhaps you are chosen. I believe you would have to ask the god of death, personally, for more details.

What if you just say you are a theology student who was visiting the city to look up some texts in the city library. You were living on the cheap in the guest bedroom of some distant relatives outside the city walls. This night you got wind of some kind of warfare and fires in the city. Then your aunt Janet suggested that you immediately return to your mom and dad before things get worse so you can keep your parents safe and free them from worrying about their son being caught up in fighting.

Yeah, let's just tell them the truth. Obviously not the whole truth, but enough to explain your situation. The city was on fire and you saw warships on the horizon, so you did what any sane person would do and ran. If they look through your stuff and see your gun and get suspicious, just explain that it's an old style gun and you're a hobbyist of some sort, and that it's not exactly something you could use to attack a city.

>>480353
Or perhaps it might be better to ask the God of Secrets who should currently be looking favorably upon him.

Suggestion 2012/12/23(Sun)04:39 No. 480450 ID: 501984
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>Time to get your gameface on, mate.
>Slap some mud on yourself, muss up your hair.
>Today's order of the day is "Distraught survivor," and you best play it well.
>Try walking through brambles to get more minor injuries.
Carl. If I can see them, they can see me. Jumping in some bushes would be incredibly suspicious, not to mention that there aren't any brambles readily available. And besides, how could I be roughed up without even seeing any of the invaders?

>Can't you just circle to some other road?
I am currently very tired, somewhat hungry, and the guards can see me. Circling around would be even more suspicious than bush jumping, especially considering that smoke is still visible on the horizon.

And besides, I want some information about the invaders. And lunch. Lunch would be good.

>I don't see why you can't just walk up and tell them that you are running (well, walking really) away from the giant invasion fleet that just wrecked the town you were in.
>Honesty is the best policy and all that.
>Why lie? You saw the invasion coming in and ran away. It's perfectly reasonable and there's doubtless more on your heels who did the same.
>Yeah, let's just tell them the truth. Obviously not the whole truth, but enough to explain your situation. The city was on fire and you saw warships on the horizon, so you did what any sane person would do and ran.
Well, yes, but I happen to also have this neatly packed bag of things, and the only way anyone would show up at this hour is if they left in the dead of night.

>What if you just say you are a theology student who was visiting the city to look up some texts in the city library...
Probably a bit too much information, but I can work with it.

I'l say I was in the city to see if I could scrounge up any information about a few items I inherited from an aunt. I wasn't expecting to stay for long, so I packed light, and I kept most of my things in my bag at the inn. I woke up to noise and fire, saw the warships, and valiantly ran away to get a warning out.

Yeah, that should work. It even explains why I'm carrying a gun, an enchanted sword, and you, Carl.

>Also how well can you see without your glasses?
Well enough that I could easily get by without them. I'm somewhat nearsighted, so I really only need them for reading things that are far away.

>cross-ref: Unchosen by the Gods, Dead God
>Perhaps you are chosen.
>ask the god of death
>ask the God of Secrets
I am fairly sure this isn't the case. The Dead God is most definitely dead. If they cared to answer, The Lord of Blood would tell me exactly that, while the Lord of Darkness would probably encourage me to visit the Dead God's tomb to see for myself. And I mean, what kind of God of discovery and secrets would she be if she just handed out answers to anyone who asked?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think you'll be going back in the pouch for this conversation. You're very distracting and I'm honestly not sure that I'd be able to keep myself from reacting to whatever you'd say.

Suggestion 2012/12/23(Sun)04:40 No. 480451 ID: 501984
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...

Suggestion 2012/12/23(Sun)04:41 No. 480452 ID: 501984
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Well.

They bought my story.

A messenger has passed through already, and is taking the news all the way to the capital.

They didn't mention Javier at all, so news of his death probably hasn't reached this far yet.

This town is being evacuated. It's a very small town and it’s not really in a defensible position, so everyone has been busy packing their things. A caravan will roll out of town in a few hours.

The invaders are mostly human, with some demi-humans mixed in with the infantry.

They do, in fact, have better guns than us, but they are still of the magic variety. It's not good news for our rank and file troops, but organized priests and mages should be able to provide sufficient protection.

The major problem?


They have magic.

I'm fairly sure that the guards weren't supposed to tell me that, but one of them let it slip. They refused to tell me any more about it, and said that if I wanted to know more I'd have to talk to Reva.

Suggestion 2012/12/23(Sun)04:43 No. 480453 ID: 501984
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This is bad, Carl.

They have to be getting their magic from somewhere, and it's not as though they could just pull up to our shores and suddenly know how to use the magic of our gods.

They're either getting magic from something we don't even know about, or they have their own gods.

And if their gods operate anything like ours do, their presence would be required for their followers to use magic.

Which means that the invaders brought their gods with them.

This is how century-spanning wars start, and that's assuming we muster enough of a defense to hold back their initial assault.



But you know what, Carl? I think I'm too tired to even panic about this.

So, what'll we do first? Find this Reva and try to get more information on the invaders? Try to get some proper lunch before townsfolk finish packing? Help people pack their things? Something else entirely?

gods are needed for the big magic. you don't have a god and you can do some magic. so how much magic they can do is important. if they have someone that is about as powerful as a chosen then yeah, gods are involved.

for now though, get some food and help packing while asking for reva.

>>480453
>Try to get some proper lunch before townsfolk finish packing?
Priority is food and supplies, then finding Reva. Chatting to the townspeople can wait until the evacuation has gotten underway.

>>480336
Molten things moving very quickly don't care for things like 'sharpness' or 'softness', and are more governed by Newtonian impact depth. Rule of thumb for EFPs is that penetration depth is a little under 1/2 the diameter of the EFP form (e.g. a 60mm EFP will penetrate 25mm of steel at range). Plate armour was about 3mm thick at it;s thickest point, but magic could allow someone to carry significantly more weight, so let's assume 10mm before sheer bluk makes it too hard to move. a 25-30mm diameter EFP should easily cause any Chosen to have a very bad day from a good 50m away. And small enough to be shot some distance from a large gun, and/or strapped to the head of a firework rocket.
Go Go Anti-magic Panzerfaust.

Do think twice before going to meet this Reva. It might be wise to avoid the eye of authority figures while the blood is still fresh on your hands so to speak. You killing Javier might be totally overlooked in the chaos following the invasion, but it is possible that inquiries might be made.

I would recommend looking for someone handy to travel with. Maybe a brewer, smith, healer or the like. People with crafts that are in demand. Others will seek them out during the move so you might have a steady string of people passing by that you can question. Help them pack and travel with them and their family.

On the topic of new gods - If your 'old' gods suddenly appeared some time ago then it looks like some more might have simply appeared recently. Perhaps there is something that triggers a divine genesis or the beings known as gods are simply prevalent somewhere else and come to your world to feed on the worship of sentient minds? Who knows. You're also likely to be in very high demand. Your godless status would make you a great spy or infiltrator. I mean you could probably turn up at the enemy camp and just say you want to join the new gods because the old gods have forsaken you all your life.

Tiddles, how can you expect us to know a dead god has a tomb or anything for a mortal to examine?

Also, I don't think the idea was that the Dead God is active so much as perhaps people being assigned their god is a bit more automatic and the God you were reserved for just so happens to be dead. Tomb might be a useful place to check-out regardless if new gods are invading.

>>480457
Point.

How much magic do they have?

And an extended war is very, very good. We're going to be war profiteers, remember?

We sell ourselves to the invaders as a disaffected former worshiper- after all, you wouldn't be killing their Chosen if you were on their side. We sell ourselves to your country as a loyal countryman with a grudge against only one guy and aghast at these invaders.

Then we sell them both tech and weapons. We'll see if we can get the tech to be better than magic and wean them off magic. Then the gods would be less involved.

also an idea, if you were theoretically encased in anti-magic metal, could even a god effect you?

>>480466
Yes, very easily? Anti-magic metal is very soft, and it wouldn't take much godly power to magically hurl heavy things at him.

>>480460
Let's not go around telling people about us killing Javier. The fewer know about it, the better.

There are plenty of other ways we can sell our eventual merchandise to either side, should it come to that.

nothing good comes out of doing things on an empty stomach.

Man you people really need to figure electricity out, anyways, let's get lunch, better thoughts roll when the stomach is not distracting.

>>480468
when enough s gathered together it doesn't just make the metal itself immune it starts creating a null-magic ZONE.

>>480496
If there's one thing I learned from Magicka is that a wizard is never immune to rocks.

>>480460

Selling out to both sides could be extremely profitable but how the hell do you hide that kinda activity from the gods especially Nothe?

>>480496
Anti-magic is not anti-momentum.

>>480504
Easy. The other gods. Get them to stop each other from seeing what's happening.

I'd assume that'd be fairly common in divine wars anyway, since no one likes having their enemy know their every move in advance.

>>480525
And we can buffer our way out of any sort of zone by way of air pressure. Magic compresses a cylinder, pressure is routed to a barrel to propel a projectile or sabot.

Get some food and make friends by helping pack. You don't urgently need to know more about the invaders; it's not really your problem, so long as you get out in time.

>>480453
I think you should take this opportunity to make some friends. Specifically, a smith or machinist. A small town like this must have one, and he must need help moving his heavy crap.

Smiths will be strategic resources in short order, it's best to be in good with them.

On that note is your bullet metal tin? Zinc? Antimony? C'mon man!

Also, while you've given us an interesting overview of the state of consumer technology, you haven't mentioned manufacturing or infrastructure systems like lathes, production lines, pump systems, power plants (as in prime movers, engines), power storage systems, and the like.

>>480453
Food is the most important thing. How long do you have food for? Get more if you can. A proper lunch, sitting down in a restaurant, is a good idea but not before you're laden with as much non-perishable food as you can carry. Dry rice, hardtack, smoked and dried meats. Vegetables are easier to scrounge, and in a pinch you're better off skimping on them than you are on carbs and protein.

After that, meeting Reva might be wise, and helping the evacuation effort would be noble.

Oh, and remember that even a dead god may dream, and death is not always more permanent than life. But there's no reason to assume that anything that's happened has anything to do with the dead god.

>>480453
what are you genre-blind? it's obviously the dead god leading the assault!

been in hiding mustering power all this time.

anyhow, how will the gods deal with this if the invaders don't belong to a specific god? how will they retaliate when they're out of the god's domain?

>>480453
I think we should speak to Reka as our first priority. Lunch can be eaten while traveling.

Lunch first. You can't make a good plan on an empty stomach.

>have no magic

>magic must come from gods

>you specifically are unassociated with the gods, but still have magic

Yeah, so. Either A. You are coupled with one of the gods without knowing (or the dead god as previously mentioned) or B. having gods isn't a prerequisite for having magic.

>>480591
Oh yeah, there you go. And only one not born under any gods can stand a chance against his armies, for some reason.

>>480663
Gods are a prerequisite for having magic, as far as we are aware. Being aligned with a specific god is only a prerequisite for getting magic directly from them. Mages, which our friend here is, manipulate the passive magical energy projected by the gods.

The issue is that an invading force shouldn't know how to manipulate the energy of the gods that are already here. They'd have to be using a different energy source to be even half competent. Which means different gods, or something else entirely.