ReaperofInterest, post: 81323047, member: 309377 Wrote: Hmm...while I'm on the subject, what sorts of ways are there for Arcane to train Affinities? The [Combat] Affinity, for example, seems to require going through combat situations, while in The Huntsman's Quest Josh was able to buy a book capable of training, or at least giving access to, multiple basic Elemental Affinities. How would someone go about training for an Affinity like Smoke, Sand, Time, or...say, Wolf, or any other animal Affinity? Or how about the more exotic Affinities, such as various colors?

First to clear up the murky bit, Jon didn't actually unlock those Affinities so much as learn how to use them, because the rules for using a type of magic don't really change based on one's affinities so much as your affinities make a certain type of magic easier to use. Meaning theoretically that anyone can learn how to use any attribute but those with affinities can do so faster and cheaper than those without.

Now for most Arcane the simplest way to increase their affinities (and with minimal personality change) is repetition, like an obscene years worth of repetition. (Typically after learning how to use an attribute from study of some kind.) After that would be exposure to the attribute in question, with anima infused versions of these attributes developing an affinity faster. Then in a mix of the two you have the contracting system, which allows an Arcane to borrow the affinities of their contracted via exposure through their contract bond, eventually developing their own affinity regardless of contract.

As for training more esoteric concepts, one would have to understand the concept enough to make use of it, typically through Will craft if more literary methods are unavailable. At which point it becomes a mix of philosophy, psychology, science, and magical capacity as to how easily they can learn an esoteric affinity.

(Fun Fact: The method of learning DeSade taught Jon isn't the normal one and is actually based on the man's own obscene Occult level as he used Jon as a guinea pig for an experimental teaching method to know if it was safe for his daughter to learn via. Which is half the reason why Jon can pick them up so fast, compared to other people who would take weeks if not months to figure even the derivatives of their own affinities out.)

rush99999, post: 82717533, member: 380992 Wrote: How is DeSade pronounced?

De-s-aid.

(Technically, it's derived from the french De Sade (Pronounced: De Sod) but the pronunciation has shifted over the last hundred or so years due to living in america and the family's Sadistic reputation. Leading to people mispronouncing the name, and a few members of the family relishing in what was meant as a play on their name and reputation.)

rush99999, post: 82769463, member: 380992 Wrote: There's paperwork, actual official paperwork, for being a Dark Lord?

Yes, though the requirements aren't necessarily easy to fulfill.

rush99999, post: 82769463, member: 380992 Wrote: ...Why?

The Arcane Association originally started it as a joke because one of the immortal/world conquering founders was capable of qualifying despite having retired years ago.

rush99999, post: 82769463, member: 380992 Wrote: ...Why?

Eventually with the rise of Sanctuary and the Heroes' Guild it took on a secondary, and actually legal definition essentially marking someone as a magical crime lord of sorts. (Even if they haven't committed any crimes.) Who should they come up with a valid reason for their continued existence can create a deal that gets law enforcement to leave them alone in their given territory, (in DeSade's case that would be keeping a lid on all the things in Blackwell).

This isn't to say that they have free reign to do whatever they please, just that as long as they can prove their value every so often or help with the occasionally 'Dark Art Problem' then the local government can sweep a few 'lesser' crimes under the rug, but large scale things will still come back to bite them.

Additionally, since it has become a synonym for 'magical crime lord' not all dark lords are official Dark Lords, (who actually take their certifications and titles very seriously given how hard they are to acquire and will frequently deal with the posers themselves.)

rush99999, post: 82769463, member: 380992 Wrote: Also how did DeSade end up showing his Dark Lord paperwork to Jon?

It was half-pride (DeSade earned those 3 A Rank Dark Art Masteries.) and half proof that he did in fact know what he was talking about and was in fact working for the betterment of Blackwell despite the occasional cult meeting and/or blood sacrifice.

LaughingMadAndBlue, post: 82769679, member: 462574 Wrote: Because bureaucrasy does, indeed, have their claws on absolutely everything.

The Arcane Association likes to certify and rank everything if they can.

LaughingMadAndBlue, post: 82769679, member: 462574 Wrote: On that note, anything that could take advantage of that? Paperwork and stuff, because it certainly sounds like it has a lot of potential for it.

Part of the reason the system works is by them taking advantage of the official -and occasionally helpful- Dark Lord's pride to eliminate the 'fake' -and frequently unhelpful- dark lords.

Fun Fact: The Sanctuary media engine actually makes the posers out to be a bigger deal than they are while minimizing the real Dark Lord's power solely to stoke this prideful hate, before soothing it once the poser is gone so as to keep from having to deal with that whole mess themselves.

Crazyone47, post: 82901008, member: 422818 Wrote: And this might be Huntsman related but what happened to Desade's daughter Jill that necessitated Jon save her instead of Desade and Desades cult?

Uh, that is wrong on several points.

-Jill was a female camp counselor that had been at the camp longer than Jon.

-DeSade's daughter's name was Rosalind.

-Rosalind was kidnapped off the streets and Jon witnessed it allowing him to solve it around the time DeSade found out.

--DeSade considers the fact that Jon saved her before him a massive honor debt.

Crazyone47, post: 82901008, member: 422818 Wrote: Is Jon registered as Desades and Blackwells apprentice?

Jon is not actually registered as DeSade and Miss Edna's apprentice (Blackwell is the town they live in.) because Miss Edna rebels against the system and DeSade didn't want him as an apprentice (more a custom bullet for the beast) but due to reputation issues and witnesses he was forced to make Jon his honorary apprentice.

Fun Fact: DeSade wanted to make Jon his official apprentice after Jon killed the Beast of Blackwell, (in part to add the feat to his own reputation) but Miss Edna put her foot down and refused claiming she had as much of a right (because she's known him since he was like eight) and they are currently in what could be considered a custody battle for Jon's apprenticeship. (He has no idea.)

Crazyone47, post: 82905499, member: 422818 Wrote: Oh that is f******** awesome, hilarious and any other word that means good. Comedy wise.....

They'd probably disagree.

Crazyone47, post: 82905499, member: 422818 Wrote: Why can't they just both take him as an apprentice?

They could, but they're both too prideful to and disagree with the other's views/philosophies on magic. (Miss Edna thinks DeSade will turn Jon into a jaded cynic, while DeSade thinks Miss Edna will coddle Jon wasting his potential.)

Ironically enough, as long as their dispute is going on they're technically stuck splitting his apprenticeship anyway. (And occasionally one upping each other as his teachers.)

Crazyone47, post: 82905499, member: 422818 Wrote: Genuine question how much does a reputation matter to a Dark Lord?

Greatly, since to get the title they have to earn it which takes years of work in a dangerous field of study, all while there are a bunch of posers pretending they have the title. Then they're also technically crime lords meaning that their reputations also keep people from stepping too close to their territory. And said reputation is the only thing keeping Sanctuary from thinking they're an easy target, but they have to keep that reputation just helpful enough that they don't get slapped with a kill warrant either.

Crazyone47, post: 82905499, member: 422818 Wrote: Desade is a full blown arcane right?

Actually no, he's from a long line of practitioners a couple hundred years old, and uses several of his family's old talismans/artifacts. (He actually has a small vault and trades them out whenever one starts to run low or he needs a specific magical advantage.)

Miss Edna though is an Arcane, she's just studied the practitioner stuff as a proper educational interest since she was around when the Association was first founded as a school for Arcane and was even a teacher there until the Rift Riots.

Crazyone47, post: 82911880, member: 422818 Wrote: How did Edna end up starting a summer camp inDesade's territory anyway? I dont think thatbis common.

The DeSade thing is coincidental since Blackwell is her hometown. That said, she founded camp Bet as bet with her sister involving childcare and eventually grew to love the place. (She actually decided to keep it after winning the bet, the same year Jon joined the camp.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 82925335, member: 309377 Wrote: Huh. How much of the name of the camp was a result of the camp owing its existence to a bet?

She named it that specifically to rub it in her sister's face that she was going through with it and why.

Crazyone47, post: 82927510, member: 422818 Wrote: Is Desade technically something like the Mayor adjacent? Like does he get a salary and get some taxes for being a Dark Lord or some authority?

Eh, yes and no? His family legally owns the entirety of the land Blackwell is built on and everyone just rents it or makes land payments to him, but that's a carry over from a couple hundred years ago rather than the Dark Lord thing. This is actually where most of his political power comes from.

Crazyone47, post: 82927510, member: 422818 Wrote: How old is Jill? Started Arcane Studies yet?

20-21. (Roughly 3 maybe 4 years older than Jon.) And while she's not an Arcane or learning magic, she is starting her nursing degree while the Huntsman's Quest is going on.

Crazyone47, post: 82927510, member: 422818 Wrote: Is Desade married or is this a continue the clan without blood ties thing?

He's married and has a daughter, but his relationship with his wife is complicated.

Crazyone47, post: 82927510, member: 422818 Wrote: Would it be spoilers to talk about Edna's sister?

Mild, but as long as I don't mention her name we should be good.

rush99999, post: 83423956, member: 380992 Wrote: How high up the ladder was she? Was she the one giving orders or was she the one following them?

Jon's Ma was the non-Deviant leader of a military squad specifically devoted to fighting Deviant threats in the war zone, and was part of one of the first mixed-squads in the military. What's more her squad and the others of their 'generation' were also basically the creators of the anti-Deviant military drills that weren't stolen from Asylum or mercenaries. (Several of which have been added to Sanctuary training drills in the time since she left. (She's not actually aware of this, and might respect them more if she knew they weren't practicing the 'execution' drills taught to her.))

Typically the way things worked for her squad, was that they were given info packs airdropped near their objectives and then extracted once completed and with a bit of distance behind them, with their actual objectives being to target any local Deviant threats on the field. She was technically the one giving orders but she also received them, and after an incident involving the military higher-ups and her squad she refused to re-enlist again and pulled every string (and bit of blackmail) she had to get out a year or two before the actual end of her contract.

Which is why she will bad mouth the military, the chain of command, or those leading it without shame, but will punch you if you insult anyone actually fighting. Her belief being there are soldiers and then there's the military, soldiers fight for what they believe while the military orders soldiers to fight for their cause, regardless of if that cause is actually part of what the soldiers believe or not because it is controlled by a political element at higher levels.

Crazyone47, post: 84000393, member: 422818 Wrote: How did Desade end up as Camp Quartermaster?

rush99999, post: 84001677, member: 380992 Wrote: Rogers is the Quartermaster, not DeSade

Yeah, and he ended up quartermaster after Miss Edna found him half-dead and stitched him back together. And once he was back on his feet he ran into and killed a small pack of Corrupted, after which Miss Edna offered him a job as quartermaster (and security guard) of the camp each summer.

(She also may or may not have tricked him into a geas to keep him from physically harming any of the camp's kids. (She's an opportunist not stupid.))

Crazyone47, post: 84000393, member: 422818 Wrote: Also did what Jon did count as Madness enhancing Anima? When he was enchanting the axe with Yangs dragon affinity.

He wasn't actually counting it as Madness enhancing Anima, instead he worked to filter out the [Dragon] affinity from her [Storm Dragon] via a mix of Miss Edna's 'you can tutor Ying on magic' notes and DeSade's 'you're friend is an interesting phenomenon' notes. It's just that Ying's Madness Corruption is what caused her 'one affinity' Incarnate rule to become two affinities.