"rush99999, post: 83423956, member: 380992"

How high up the ladder was *Ma Whitaker*? Was she the one giving orders or was she the one following them?

She 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.

rush99999, post: 83443798, member: 380992 Wrote:

Is there a reason why they don't enjoy manipulating entire crowds or is it just one of those 'I don't know why but it just really bugs me' sort of things?

Would you rather have one solid friend or a hundred shallow friends. One co-worker/employee you can trust to do their job or a hundred that barely know what they're doing. Same principal as those, its quality over quantity. (Technically there's also this power thing in Malice dispersing over a crowd, but again that's quality vs quantity in efficiency.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 83451961, member: 309377 Wrote:

So, if Air is a stronger version of the Wind Affinity, does someone having an Affinity for one or the other have any particular meaning? And are there any other instances where Affinities have stronger versions?

Stronger may not have been the right word there, so much as a more varied sibling.The primary difference here being conceptual complexity, with Wind being the easier of the two since it's moving air while Air itself is closer to manipulation of gases.

Wind focuses more on movement, speed, force, and etc, while Air on the other hand has a more precision based control since it manipulates the air regardless of movement, pressure, or etc., and when mixed with other elements creates a sort of airborne variant of that element. (Though of course most actions involving air do generate mild winds as a by-product.)

Since it's not quite stronger, every concepts has a number of linked versions that are better for different things. I.E.

-Light has Sunlight which takes on more properties of heat and physicality, and Moonlight which takes on more mental and illusive based properties.

-The Heat and Cool are positive and negatives of each other, with Fire and Ice being more extreme versions of them, that while arguably stronger lack the same amount of variance in function.

-And then you have overlapping but differing elements such as Water, Ice, Snow, and Mist which are different states of Water but each react differently to the world around them despite having a level of overlap.

ReaperofInterest, post: 83475961, member: 309377 Wrote:

So, so far I don't think we've seen any Arcane Summons who are...let's say, interested in magic for the sake of it. I think a good way of of putting it is all the Summons we've seen so far are more interested in using magic for specific jobs or purposes. Is it possible for a human Arcane to wind up summoning another human Arcane, or a non-human who's a full-fledged magic researcher in their own right?

Yes to both of those. (In fact Jon's potential summons on the next catalyst include a human and an ex-human. (Neither of them are Arcane though.))

That said, there are usually rules and conditions to this kind of thing for instance in order to summon someone they themselves cannot be a summoner (or rather they can't use Nexus Contracts while summoned).

Next it hasn't been explored but I think I've mentioned how a number of the sapient summons are more or less magical mercenaries, it would be a similar situation where the person in question would have to do this ritual that registers them with the Nexus as a summon while placing their requested payments into the ritual. (Honestly thinking about it, it'd be weird if humans were the only ones not getting summoned.)

For most magic users who can themselves use the Nexus this would usually be an inter-dimensional exchange of magical knowledge, meaning they'd be summoned by someone who is actively seeking a magical tutor of sorts. From there the Nexus likes making cultures mix, so usually people will end up with a summoner of a different species than their own or at the very least someone from a different world if only a human will meet the requirements. (Though it does prioritize teaching/student compatibility in both cases.)

rush99999, post: 83495626, member: 380992 Wrote:

If an M.A.D. was caught making one, what kind of sentence would they be looking at?

Making 1 would be a few years in jail if the Death-Punk was consenting. (They'd still have to wait in jail while that's verified.)

From there the sentencing is pretty much doubled for each additional Death-Punk that's still active. (Roughly speaking 2 = 5, 3 = 10, 4 = 20, etc.) Once they hit a certain threshold though it becomes more and more of a life-sentence/death-sentence depending on the territory, with a dozen active Death-Punks usually getting an automatic Kill Warrant because at that point you're building what is essentially an undying Deviant Army.

ReaperofInterest, post: 83495989, member: 309377 Wrote:

So I have a question about Affinities. Let's look at Space. That can refer to both the physical attribute of space, such as distance, volume, etc. That can also refer to the void in which planets are placed, along with stars, moons, asteroids, etc. Are those both covered by the Space Affinity, or are they placed under similar but different Affinities, like Water and Ice?

Okay this one is a tricky one because this is assuming that the fact that because the modern english word that has two definitions that means the concept does too, even if other languages might split the two, which to a certain extent is true but also wrong. (Meaning it's closer to the Water and Ice thing, where they are two separate things but have a modicum of overlap between each other.)

You see the concept of [Space] is more about a volume of space, or the distance between things. Which if you go into it means that theoretically everything is contained within a space with [Outer Space] being what we refer to in regards to the [Cosmos] in the actual english language. (I'm actually pretty sure us referring to it as just space is one of those evolution of language via compression of words things. (I forget what that's called.) Partly because depending on how I searched it other languages would give different words for the different definitions.)

That said because of this connection between them it is possible for someone with a strong enough understanding of the more basic concept of [Space] to evolve it into [Cosmos] which would be the actual containing of the universe, or vice versa. Though given the scale of [Cosmos] it wouldn't actually have that much practical value unless you had enough power to move planets, but given how different cosmological things have different effects and abilities (I.E. [Sun] and [Moon].) It would be a powerful way to unlock a variety of additional concepts via a logic chain for someone with the appropriate affinities.

ReaperofInterest, post: 83498482, member: 309377 Wrote:

Interesting. So is there any real difference between a [Star] Affinity and a [Sun] Affinity? After all, technically the Sun is just the closest Star to a planet.

Yes because a [Sun] is a [Star] but a [Star] is not a [Sun]. From there there are a series of secondary properties for [Sun] that revolve around either burning things, various physical buffs, and light.

(Fun Fact: Due to conceptuality, despite stars being giant burning balls of gas their affinity has more overlap with light than fire.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 83795637, member: 309377 Wrote:

So I was wondering something. Sometimes, Arcane can wind up developing unique powers as a freshly of being in high-stress situations. Is it still possible for these Arcane to learn magic without messing up their own powers, or is it an exclusive thing?

Technically they aren't messing their powers up when they do this. (Power Corruption like what Ying and Joshua have is a completely different issue.) And even with these 'stress breakthroughs' they still have access to all of their previous potential and can learn everything they could before, it's just that why would they build up a low level power when they've got something much more interesting and powerful to play around with.

Honestly it's less of an issue of messing up their powers so much as specializing before they understand the fundamentals of their powers. Though that isn't to say they can't go back to learn the fundamentals later, it's just it's basically reading a tutorial on something really basic when you already know something advanced in the same field. (And most people just won't bother relearning the basics when they think they know enough.)

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.

Crazyone47, post: 84000393, member: 422818 Wrote:

How are Ariel and Tempest doing now? Reference the Anthology.

Again this is a story I want to come back to, (and the anthology jumps around on the setting timeline) but without major spoilers they continue their partnership with growing flirtation while also dealing with a number of returning enemies as the mysterious 'Mr. Black' somehow mimics the corruption of Dr. Jean Black. From there the story would continue to flash forward and back to when they fought these people as teenagers and the present while also exploring their personal lives and issues at both points.

Crazyone47, post: 84000393, member: 422818 Wrote:

Is Josh's ink powers part of being a wonderlander or being Malice Corrupted?

The old boss did have Ink powers but they were nowhere near the scale Josh is capable of thanks to the Malice corruption. The best he could do were Ink minions, drawing powers, and throwing ink blots. The ink weapons, tags, and toonification are all things Josh can do that he couldn't. (At least not in the same way, because the old boss was a much higher level on his Madness powers than Josh while active.)

Crazyone47, post: 84000393, member: 422818 Wrote:

Do Wonderlanders normally get powers in addition to their Wonderland?

Yes, though most of their powers revolve around their Wonderland and what they do in it. (Which is why every time we upgrade the Cabaret Josh gets more perks and abilities that aren't available through skill level ups.)

To use Tempest as a secondary example, she got her physics breaking by changing the physics of her Wonderland, then she got her 'friends' and their powers via building up each of their domains after creating a Boss Dream and infusing her drawings with Madness in the real world, and lastly her sword and various butterflies are a mix of dragging elements/objects from her Wonderland and a childhood motif involving knights and butterflies. (Her restoration power is caused via anchoring half the city to her Wonderland, which is something Josh will explore if he makes a Waking World base.)

rush99999, post: 84001677, member: 380992 Wrote:

How exactly does one go about enforcing this kind of blacklist?

Ah, not that kind of blacklist, but more of a: Stay away from this person, do not make eye contact with this person, do not talk to this person, hope this person never realizes you exist, if they do realize you exist plan your funeral, don't make them mad, if you've made them mad here's your severance pay now get the f*** out of the country before they kill us all for knowing you you suicidal bas****.

At which point it's just a matter of red flagging their info whenever it's mentioned and withdrawing all possible elements from conflict and then trying to mitigate whatever damage follows.

ReaperofInterest, post: 84003306, member: 309377 Wrote:

Speaking of Wonderlanders, is it possible to have... I think the best way of putting it would Mayne be dual Boss Dreams for a domain? Like, two separate Boss Dreams who may or may not have been designed to work together from the start, as opposed to one Dream who may simply have multiple bodies, if that makes sense.

Alright this one is a bit tricky to explain because while you can have a Boss Dream with multiple bodies that is actually the rarer possibility of this scenario rather than the common one. In most cases if you wanted two Dreams to run a similar/complementary functions they would become two separate Boss Dreams who function as a single or separate units depending on the job.

The easiest comparison I can think of is those boss fights where you keep coming across the two bosses that always fight together but due to story reasons may fight separately once or twice, before teaming back up when they settle their differences.

Crazyone47, post: 84004035, member: 422818 Wrote:

Areyou talking about twins or kind of symbiosis cause a Wonderlander can have multiple Boss Dreams just on one wonderland?

Might be misunderstanding what you said here, but it is possible for a Wonderlander to have multiple Boss Dreams they just tend to split up a bit to their own niche areas. (Think of how Tempest had Wormy for the tunnels, Fox eyes for the forest, and so on.) They're all Boss Dreams but they're bosses of different parts of the dream.

Remember just because they're a Boss Dream doesn't mean they're the Boss of the entire Dream. (That's the Wonderlander.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 84004143, member: 309377 Wrote:

No. Basically, I'm imagining...using the Cabaret as an example, suppose we wanted someone who could also do Avery's duties, just with a different personality or with a different method. Would we be able to create such a Dream with the same authority as Avery, or does Avery already existing prevent us from doing that, or would we manage to create a subordinate Dream?

We could create a second Manager to help Avery out with his duties, though he might be scared we're replacing him. That said, given the small scale of the Cabaret a second Manager would be largely redundant unless we figured out something else for Avery to do. Meaning any other Boss Dreams that pop up are going to be in charge of different parts of the cabaret's functions from managing the waiting staff, maintaining the kitchen, directing stage performances, and etc.

A big part of it being redundant is because if we actually break down Avery's true job in this context is to settle disputes between so many Boss Dreams in so small of a space, while also balancing out how much Madness goes to everyone, and basically anything else that would involve making the eccentric Dream personalities work together while the Wonderlander is away.

That said, it would probably be less redundant if we had two Boss Dreams in any position other than [Manager], in fact I did have a planned pair of Boss Dreams that are partnered together to fulfill the same job in polar opposite ways. (Admittedly I mostly made this pair due to thinking it'd be funny to watch the personalities of the job play off of each other rather than an actually functional reason.)

rush99999, post: 84006981, member: 380992 Wrote:

...Out of curiosity, does anyone on that particular list make a habit of entering random agency buildings, sitting down on the first chair they can find, and then just munching popcorn as they watch the entire building have a massive collective freak out at their mere presence and run away in a screaming panic?

There are a few who would do stuff like this, because while most of the S Rankers in the Deviant's Masquerade setting aren't interested in ruling, they do love messing with people. A few examples would be:

Memento -who is infamous in multiple worlds- regularly follows magical 'geniuses' around while subtly correcting everything they're doing wrong while pretending to be a nobody until someone snaps and asks who he thinks he is telling them what to do. At which point a name drop and a smile usually causes most people to freak out as they realize just how rude they've been to one of the top Ten magic users. (Not that he actually cares after a thousand years. (He just finds their reactions funny.))

The Rosemary Ripper who at one point casually walked through the entirety of a Sanctuary base just to pick a fight with a guy he considers his best frenemy for being one of the few people willing to fight him. And then when told to wait got bored and wandered off to the training area where he helped teach the junior agents to be a full fifty percent more lethal in the hour it took the agent to finish his paperwork. (This bit him in the ass when said agent tricked him into babysitting the junior agents so he wouldn't have to after realizing the Rosemary Ripper was surprisingly good with kids. (He may or may not have given an in-depth lesson on how to break into the agent's office undetected (he was absolutely detected) and how to most efficiently use a paper shredder on the 'out' box.))

The Conquest Seeker once turned himself into a police station -less than a month after breaking out of his prison- and offered to become a white hat just to mess with everyone due to his infamy of orchestrating plans and assassinations months in advance. (He'd made a friend in prison who taught him the value of just messing with people for fun.) He was also extremely surprised when someone came in and put him in charge of one of Sanctuaries kill squads and then let him pick from a list of pending kill warrant recruits for it. (He later found out this was orchestrated by the woman who caught him, and was playing him because she knew he was too prideful to admit he'd been caught off guard and outplayed, thus tricking him into becoming an actual white hat. (He may or may not have fallen in love when she broke it down for him.))

rush99999, post: 84101328, member: 380992 Wrote:

Is it possible to make a nuke using Ectoplasm?

Eh, yes and no.

Yes, if you have a large enough quantity with a high enough density you could cause an explosion big enough to wipe out a city, but only The Deadland Kings have enough ectoplasm to pull this off and it'll leave most of them on empty with a passive power cost they wouldn't be able to easily recover from. (There's a reason the stronger ones are so rarely active.) But in this case you could use the same amount of Anima, Psionics, or Malice to generate an explosion of that level so it's not really a nuke but just a really big bomb, that greatly ups the chances of turning those it kills into Deadmen from sheer ectoplasm exposure.

(Side Note: Madness Nukes wouldn't cause physical damage, but they'd make the area they hit... weird. Maddeningly weird.)

From there the no is because while the Ectoplasm is mildly radioactive it's not uranium radioactive, one character even made a joke in the anthology that Ectoplasm is just a little more radioactive than bananas and that it takes thousands of them to kill you. Their radiation level exists but it's level of ionization is based on how active the ectoplasm is, the only time it's really dangerous is exposure when they're using it (often for combat purposes so of course that'll be dangerous) when inactive you'd have to be absolutely bathing in ectoplasm for it to be harmful.

Crazyone47, post: 84107994, member: 422818 Wrote:

Are there any Deviants that act as religious cult leaders or celebrities? Kinda like "influencers"?

Definitely, in a couple of the Anthology episodes characters even talked about how common cults were with the revelation of magic, demons, and etc. being real. A big one in setting is the Cheshire Cult, which is led by one of his more twisted Jacks as he hands out Madness powers like candy.

The celebrity slots are more taken by either rich Deviants, internet celebrities who show off weird and experimental tech/magic, and then the more publicly seen heroes. (Though a fair number actively avoid the spotlight outside of mandatory 'for the kids' PR events.)

Crazyone47, post: 84107994, member: 422818 Wrote:

Worldwide is there anything to note about how Deviants are treated or is that spoilers or too widespread to know for sure?

Kind of too widespread as each culture (both on earth and off) has it's own opinions on Deviancies, and I think I once had a discussion somewhere about how different cities that we've seen in setting treat different Deviancies differently based on which heroes and villains the area has seen.

But widespread most Deviants are treated fairly when compared to the average citizen of an area due to most governments wanting to avoid their own version of 'The Tallman' coming into existence, since the next one isn't guaranteed to just walk away after they give him what he wants.

(Note: Deadmen, Slashers, and Malcontent sometimes are treated more poorly due to occasionally being feral, serial killers, and their tendency to eat people. (Traits that are not always respectively.))

Crazyone47, post: 84107994, member: 422818 Wrote:

Are all myths distortions of Deviant stuff?

This one is mixed because most magical creatures are real, just they're creatures from other worlds, and then most supernatural creatures are either a magical malady with the undead typically being one form of Deadman or another. Additionally Angels, Demons, and such do exist but I'm not going in depth on them until we at least crack the books on Demonology in the Huntsman's Quest.

Crazyone47, post: 84107994, member: 422818 Wrote:

Can you make an Animal or pet a corrupted?

Yeah, I think I mentioned somewhere else that animals sometimes pop up in Deviant form, similar rules apply here. They're still living creatures and susceptible to Deviant energies, it's just their compatibility varies animal to animal and energy to energy.

(Honestly, due to having multiple creatures with the Nexus I'm trying to subvert the 'only humans are special' thing that tends to pop up a lot in stories.)

Crazyone47, post: 84107994, member: 422818 Wrote:

Could Corrupted or other deviancies get their bodies enhanced to become Punks By MADs?

This one has popped up a couple times too, but yeah they can though the modifications may weaken some of their base Deviancy in Deviants, and in the case of corrupted it tends to depend on if the Corruption and Punk modifications reject each other. Since having two separate things influencing something's nervous system or DNA might cause things to conflict.

Crazyone47, post: 84107994, member: 422818 Wrote:

Is Ariels Waking World done with permission or just something she can do?

Uh, bit confused on this one.

Ariel is the male Malcontent who is partnered with Tempest the Dreamweaver, (a Wonderlander). The 'Waking World' is a reference most Dreams and Wonderlanders use to distinguish the real world from a Wonderland.

If you're talking about her reality flip thing, most people don't realize Tempest is a Wonderlander (she's taken pains to make people thing she's an Arcane and her Boss Dreams are a mix of Travelers and Contracts. (This is part of how she got Ariel's kill warrant revoked.)), so most people think she's just using Arcane magic to fix the scene up rather than flooding everything with Madness until it fixes itself.

Sanctuary overlooks this situation due to her being friends with one of their captains, her overall positive reputation, and the fact that by having her fix the damage it saves the city (and their budget) a massive amount of money. (The fact that it also heals civilians and their soldiers is an added plus.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 84139899, member: 309377 Wrote:

So I remember that Wonderlanders who learn magic all share a Madness Primary Affinity, with the Secondary Affinities usually being something related to their Wonderland's theme. Do all non-Arcane Deviants have Primary Affinities of whatever energy they use, or is this just a Wonderlander thing due yo their connection to Madness?

Sort of, though they aren't direct translations. For instance:

-Most Deadmen have a [Death] affinity with the rare [Life] affinity thrown in.

-Malcontent technically only have one 'primary affinity' but that's because both of their secondary affinities are a mix of [Malice], [Death], and [Madness].

-Slashers similarly have the [Death] and [Malice] affinities as secondary, which is why so many of their Hex are mistaken for Incarnates. Additionally, their affinities have a tendency to be darker than most Arcane with a focus on things like [Blood] [Darkness] [Pain] [Vengeance] and etc.

-M.A.D.s typically have a [Mind] affinity mixed with something along the lines of [Innovation] or [Invention].

-We covered Wonderlanders and their [Madness] affinity.

-Psychics have a [Mind] affinity by default but also frequently an attribute one based on their preferred kinetic and/or an esoteric one based on if they prefer telepathy or cognitive abilities.

Crazyone47, post: 84140265, member: 422818 Wrote:

So other deviancies can become practitioners?

Yes, but due to energy interactions their version will consume their given Deviancy's Energy. (I.E. Deadmen and Ectoplasm, Malcontent and Malice, Wonderlanders and Madness) The reason for this being that they aren't actually using 'Anima Magic' so much as mimicking it with their own Deviancy.

Crazyone47, post: 84140265, member: 422818 Wrote:

Also would the Corrupted animals be any different than Corrupted Sentients?

Eh, not really from a basic point, but a Sapient can do more with it because they'll think about it more than most animals would.

Crazyone47, post: 84140265, member: 422818 Wrote:

Also is there any way to tell what animals are compatible with a Wonderlander for Madness Corruption?

Since it's basically the energy of 'thought' Madness is most compatible with Intelligent, Creative, and Emotional life forms. Which is why you don't see non-Sapient Wonderlanders.

Crazyone47, post: 84140265, member: 422818 Wrote:

There any examples you can give of how Animals might be more useful than sentients or are Sentients better at being corrupted

Well it varies species to species, but they'd retain whatever abilities they had before being corrupted and then their corruption would influence those abilities. (I.E Wolves being faster and more perceptive of humans. Birds being able to fly. Orkin hyde. Etc.) And again the big advantage a Corrupted Sapient has over a non-Sapient is the fact that they can 'plan' and use tools better. (Though some non-Sapients can still do both, if not as well.)

(Also, this is just a nitpick of mine since I see it everywhere but, Sentience means can 'feel emotion' while Sapience means 'self-aware'. I feel the need to point this out because most animals are in fact sentient, they're just not sapient.)

Crazyone47, post: 84140265, member: 422818 Wrote:

Do Boss Dreams die and disappear when defeated?

Eh, sort of. They'll go into this sort of dormant state where they can be re-awoken with sufficient madness, and while in this dormant state their function as a Boss Dream will become significantly less efficient putting them at a high enough priority that the Wonderland will passively devote resources to their resurrection regardless of Wonderlander input.

Crazyone47, post: 84140265, member: 422818 Wrote:

Do Dreams or lesser Dreams dies?

Similarly to Boss Dreams they go dormant and can reawaken, but because they're not as Complex as Boss Dream they're cheaper to resurrect and the Wonderlander has to actively choose to do so. (If there's not a Boss Dream on that job already.)

rush99999, post: 84157239, member: 380992 Wrote:

Does anyone know Sammy T's real name?

His family, the government, the leaders of Sanctuary, and the Heroes' Guild. It's one of those secrets where the only people who don't know is the public, and that's mostly because everyone is trying to avoid annoying the guy who successfully held the government hostage. (And you just know there's that one guy who'd try something if they knew who he was.)

rush99999, post: 84215544, member: 380992 Wrote:

Out of curiosity, are those masks floating above Mr. Tree Trunk Legs just random masks or are they associated with anyone/anything in particular.

One of the original story lines I had for this setting involved the Cheshire and his Jacks, those masks represented the five Jacks that story draft was going to follow, but the anthology never got to the point where I wrote their stories though they are occassionally mentioned here and there.

From left to right we have:

-The Cheshire Killjoy, a first generation crime boss during the Voodoo Wars who rose to infamy as the leader of the New Barons as they stamped out several crime families after seemingly coming from nowhere. (All of which has been referenced in several stories.)

-The Cheshire Riot, a survivor/war lord in a desert wasteland who tears through building sized monsters either barehanded or with a barb wire while also fending off raiders as he tries to build a safehaven for his younger sister.

-The Cheshire Sinner, who took on the Mask as a child before later rejecting it and the Cheshire, and despite being touched by Madness he seeks to actively hunt down those who have wronged him including the 'Cheshire Trickster'.

-The Cheshire Spirit/Captain, a pirate who was set to be hung before she made her deal with Cheshire and used the power to escape as she now tries to tear apart the corrupt government profiteering off of its colonies. (Still split on the name and whether it should be sea pirates or space pirates.)

-The Cheshire Grim, a teenager from an RPG world who is trapped in a time loop repeating the same decade of his life over and over again for hundreds of years as he tries to end his loop, make his world a better place for his family, and kill everyone who threatened them in any timeline.

rush99999, post: 84215544, member: 380992 Wrote:

Also, do black roses carry any sort of significance in the setting or are they just there to make the picture look nice?

Black roses and their brier are both symbolic of different aspects of Madness in setting -as are Blue Butterflies and White Rabbits- more specifically the Black Briar ties into the Cheshire and their Insanity as it grows and binds people in thorns of the mind.

rush99999, post: 84246171, member: 380992 Wrote:

Speaking of which, I have a question regarding the Voodoo Wars.

Would this be a good example of what Deadmen did during that time?

Not all of them, though the Barons did have one Skeletal Deadman who at the time was freshly risen, and the boss's weapons of choice was either a knife or a tommy gun.

rush99999, post: 84390510, member: 380992 Wrote:

What would count as an evil wizard for the purposes of this achievement? Is it just a magic user who uses their powers for evil? Could it just be someone that a Flufflepuff thinks is an evil wizard?

Yes.

rush99999, post: 84390510, member: 380992 Wrote:

Is there some other criteria that needs to be met?

Given the guy who designed the flufflepuff hat system is an ex-evil -it was too much work- magic user and is currently a neutral -much better retirement plan- magic user, the system does not count him. (It still counts his semi-evil apprentice though. (He may've set it up so that every Flufflepuff tries to headbutt said apprentice on sight.))

rush99999, post: 84390510, member: 380992 Wrote:

Also, what's the average force of impact of a Flufflepuff headbutt?

Ever had a pillow thrown at you as hard as twelve year old could manage?

rush99999, post: 84390510, member: 380992 Wrote:

Is it hard enough to make receiving one to the dick an unpleasant experience?

With the helmet yes.

rush99999, post: 84390510, member: 380992 Wrote:

What happens if the evil wizard is a eunuch?

I imagine the spike helmet would still hurt.

rush99999, post: 84393777, member: 380992 Wrote:

What if the Flufflepuff in question hasn't earned their pickelhaube yet? If the evil wizard doesn't have a dick, would he still count towards the achievement?

Depends, do you think this would count as insult to injury?

ReaperofInterest, post: 84419706, member: 309377 Wrote:

So how do most Arcane who've discovered their powers get started on their education? Sure, Jon knows about a decent magic shop in his town, but are those relatively common, or is there some sort of tutor/apprenticeship program people can sign up for?

There are a few options.

To start magic shops aren't common but they aren't uncommon either with every city having two or three and every rural county having at least one, and these stores are the most common way to get a professional apprenticeship to start you off. Of course, all you really need is an older magic user who is willing to teach you, it's just the shops make those people easier to find. And while it's less personal, you can order magic books online or find tutorials on magic there too. (Though like with everything else, it's kind of a roll of the dice how good it is and they can't answer questions.)

After that, Deviants have a tendency to gather, so if there are enough kids in a school you can usually find a 'magic club' (similar to the southside coven) that help each other out and share tips and tricks they've figured out while pooling resources for books and equipment. While their studies aren't as focused as an actual apprenticeship would be, they do tend to get more out of it since they can trade and compliment each other's magics. (And there's no reason a city/town won't have a similar club, though those clubs would get less privacy than the small school groups.)

Then there are independents who actually make up the majority of magic users and study by themselves. These ones don't really have a 'magical education' so much as they've instinctively figured out a few Willcraft spells and taken them to their extremes. That isn't to say some of them don't bother learning the magical arts and crafts, just that it's more common to figure out something and roll with it as you specialize in everything related to it. (Tru Grit is a good example of this as he has no formal magic education and just worked at it until the handful of tricks he had was good enough to make him boss of the fight pits.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 84419706, member: 309377 Wrote:

Also, on a minor note, what is the difference between a Shadow Affinity and a Darkness Affinity?

Shadow and Darkness are fairly similar and largely overlap, and the Nexus difference between the two is largely two sides of the coin with Shadow magic having more to do with the physical manipulation of shadows and darkness while Darkness has more to do with the emotional and spiritual side of things. (That isn't to say that Darkness is evil, just that it's a more slippery slope since the effects influence the user in a less material way.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 84419706, member: 309377 Wrote:

And what are the various symbols of Madness and Insanity, and what do they mean?

In setting Madness and Insanity are largely considered the same thing, with only those who have actively delved into them being able to tell them apart. Due to this most of their symbols are fairly similar with maybe a few minor details to tell them apart that most people will overlook unless they look hard at the symbols.

One such example would be Eyes which while representing both, Insanity Eyes tend to be more bloodshot, with Eyes in general representing a sort of 'See the world as it is' kind of thing, with an entities (non-physical) 'Eyes' representing how aware it is of reality's truths.

Normally these eyes are also seen with teeth filled grins which is because Madness (regardless of Insanity) has this mild euphoric element to it that causes people to smile regardless of their emotional state beneath the Madness.

Next you have the Black Briar which are black vines (more thorns more insanity) that represent Madness's tendency to grow and wrap around people, with the actual Black Briar being related to the Cheshire and one of the more common powers of his Jacks. In fact in most cases anything wrapped in the 'Black Briar' is an object that has been bathed in Madness to the point of being able to meta-physically interact with Madness and Insanity.

Butterflies are probably the most common animal representation due to their representation of growth and change with calming colors being more intune with Madness and aggitating colors Insanity.

White Rabbits would come next but what they represent is a bit debated in setting given how conflicting statements make it mean something along the lines of 'path to peace'. Which pressing on will get increasingly insane answers from Madness users.

Lastly Masks are a big part of Madness given 'The Man In The Mask' and are often indicative of your... ("perspective") at the moment.

Note: These aren't all of the symbols -I even deleted a couple because I don't think they fit- but these are the most commonly seen amongst those looking at Madness Users.

rush99999, post: 84454776, member: 380992 Wrote:

What's the difference between a villain and a rogue?

A rogue is a neutral figure on the hero vs. villain paradigm. Someone who has basically gone rogue and is figuring out their own place as not a 'bad guy' but not a 'good guy' either.

Examples in setting would be Sol, Aiden, Bones, and Memento all of whom are involved in the masquerade but none of whom can be considered 'hero' or 'villain' due to the fact that while they're not actively breaking the law none of them are all that interested in defending it either. And they're all willing to help people but they won't go out of their way to do it, and if someone makes them mad enough they'll respond with extreme force but they won't actively bother people who aren't involved.

rush99999, post: 84499926, member: 380992 Wrote:

Are Deviants also present in this corner of the setting? If they are, do the people of this different world have different names for them?

Yeah, but it's the difference between Arcane, Arcano, and ésotérique. That is to say, that as long as you translate it to english it's the same word, they just use a different word because it's a different language.

Crazyone47, post: 84502689, member: 422818 Wrote:

What was Ariel? a corrupted or Malcontent?

He's a Malcontent, but he was also a living experiment of Jean Black AKA Geneticist, the Dark Corrupter. (Who himself was Malice Corrupted.)

(So Ariel is technically a Malice Corrupted Malcontent(?))

Crazyone47, post: 84502689, member: 422818 Wrote:

Alsowhy was he given a Kill Warrant?

He was the Dark Corrupter's 'Magnum Opus' and while he did rebel and help stop Geneticist, that doesn't change the fact that he'd been working with the Corrupter for a fair amount of time before hand, and with the Geneticist dead they needed not-quite a scapegoat but someone that at the time they could pin things on to make themselves look more competent.

And given how Ariel was a Malcontent -meaning a known people eater-, a former criminal double agent, and the fact that his reputation was at an all-time low due to having been outed on all of this a couple months before taking down the Corrupter, he was a perfect person to slap a kill warrant on. Giving them a fair amount of credit from the public when said Warrant caused him to go underground, thus making it look like the last remenant of the Corrupter was gone due to their efforts.

It's implied a couple times in story but even after two years away a number of people still view him as an accomplice to the Corrupter rather than one of the two heroes who took him down, instead giving all of the credit to his more 'clean' partner Tempest who hated this to the point of working through his absence to get the warrant revoked as a false flag via a lot of rule bending, favors, and technicalities. (She also may or may not have ruined the career of the person who issued the warrant in the first place.)

rush99999, post: 84504090, member: 380992 Wrote:

How did she manage that?

As the hero of the city she has a fair bit of clout within the city, which when combined with her helping out with several massive events in the nearby cities she built up a repretoire with a number of heroes and Sanctuary agents in the surrounding cities, that with a few nudges here and there as well a Dream capable of infiltrating government buildings undetected, she was able to reveal a lot of shady stuff that that Sanctuary leader was doing and then convince the heroes and agents to not back him.

Revoking Ariel's kill warrant was actually the final nail in his political/career coffin given the severity of a kill warrant and the fact that it was given to a high-threat villain who went legit, saved the city, and had turned out to have been using an experimental synthetic Malice to suppress his need to feed. All of which was put at risk by more than likely forcing Ariel back into the criminal lifestyle, alienating the possibility of other villains flipping to hero, and possibly losing a massive amount of research into developing a method to keep Malcontent and Deadmen from needing to eat people.

Of course due to an attempt to minimize the fallout of this incident they couldn't publically acknowledge the fact that the warrant had been made and revoked without bringing up the fact that an undeserved Kill Warrant had been placed on a hero, and that kill warrants can be revoked under the proper circumstances.

Which is why Ariel didn't find out about it until a year later when he was reunited with Tempest after risking coming to town to see her -from a distance- at a public event he knew she would be at and could easily attend without anyone the wiser.

Crazyone47, post: 84528219, member: 422818 Wrote:

experimenttal synthetic Malice? Why isn't Sanctuary Crowing about this to the High hills. This is probably what would put them on the map and make Malcontent actually possibly stable....massive funding and prestige to them maybe even get them out from Asylum's shadow.

Well for starters, Malcontent are one of the rarest occuring Deviancies and the only reason they're considered a primary Deviancy in setting is because of how big of a rampage the Tallman went on. (Note: There are roughly 3,000,000 Deviants in America, of which only 2000-ish are Malcontent.)

Next american culture is very anti-criminal/'hard on crime' in places, by which I mean 'once a criminal always a criminal'. So it doesn't matter if they don't eat people anymore they still did and might eat people and the public doesn't want to forgive or trust them after that. This especially isn't helped by how many Malcontent instinctively crave human meat thanks to their other-selves or how many have decided to embrace those tendencies.

Technically, it was an Asylum scientist who developed the synthetic malice -despite hating the organization- and given all of the things he did as the Dark Corrupter, people are scared to trust anything related to him and Malice given how he created so many Corrupted from those experiments and as seen with Ariel and couple others his experiments could make Malcontent -already a high level threat- even stronger. Meaning very few people are willing to run experiments with the prototype synthetic Malice and Malcontent in case it results in a second Tallman, a realistic fear when you consider the fact that their genetic instability is the primary limiting factor on their powers. (Though there are some who do experiment with it as seen when Vigilance mentions the local hospitals in And All The Sinners Saints.)

Then comes the fact that since this Synthetic Malice is experimental and the fact that Malcontent are genetically and metaphysically unstable it requires that the drug be custom made to the Malcontent in question, which brings up too many similarities to the experiments that resulted in the Malice drug for most Malcontent to ever willingly risk it. (And to be fair as seen in several stories there is more than one group willing to experiment on the Malcontent to unlock superpowers in a vial.)

Which in turn results in a lack of test cases to prove that the Synthetic Malice works wide-scale, since a handful of successes could just be flooks or a Malcontent fracturing in just the right way to no longer needing human meat to stablize themselves. (Honestly the hospitals Vigilance was referring to are more the go to ones nationally for the clinical trials and they're in his city due to him having worked with the Tallman to help dismantle Asylum at one point.)

Lastly when you combine some of these points it comes to the end result that if Sanctuary were to prematurely announce they have a cure to the Malcontent's Hunger while being unable to produce it widescale it would increase the hostility towards the Malcontent due to the fact that if they don't take the drug they're willing choosing to be murderers despite the difficulties of acquiring it and the fact that more than one Malcontent has good reason not to trust the experiments that will result in their cure.

Crazyone47, post: 84528219, member: 422818 Wrote:

Really hope we get Ariel and Tempest's story a continuation. They were cute together.

Yeah, I had an entire story thing planned for them with like four or five episodes where several of their old villains and rivals return thanks to their mysterious enemy reusing the Dark Corrupter's research, and even this one plot twist no one would see coming. But the anthology wasn't really going the way I hoped and the Quests sort of exploded in popularity by comparison.

That said, I do hope to one day go back and finish all of the anthology stories as actual novels. (Though that's probably a fair while off.)

Crazyone47, post: 84528219, member: 422818 Wrote:

By the way are sidekicks a thing?

Yes. As seen with Vigilance who mentors several young heroes or the hero guild's junior hero program, but in most cases they aren't treated the way a 'sidekick' would be treated in a comic book, having a relationship much closer to master and apprentice or just a mentor figure who is trying to keep them from getting themselves killed.

Alternatively, think of it like an old cop and young cop partnership program, with the older cop teaching the younger the tricks of the trade while the younger cop brings a fresher perspective. (The program just starts younger due to teaching powers and responsibility.))

Crazyone47, post: 84528219, member: 422818 Wrote:

Say did Halloween have anything to do with Val summoning the scarecrow?

In part yes, Val summoned the Scarecrow by accident during a previous Halloween Haunt and the two made a Deal due to the Scarecrow having 'issues' with the imprisoned demon. (They both eat fear so they're essentially competing predators, only Val keeps the Scarecrow from overfeeding and getting himself hunted/sealed while also giving him a hiding place/anchor in her world.)

rush99999, post: 84596361, member: 380992 Wrote:

So would this *Side Story: Donovan's Crossroads* be happening concurrently with the events of Huntsman's Quest or is this a glimpse into another point in time?

Crazyone47, post: 84596679, member: 422818 Wrote:

I think this is a few years after Huntsman ends.

There's a little author's note at the top of the one over in the Huntsman's Quest that says this takes place a few years in the future timeline wise. (Roughly 3-6 years to be exact.) And since Blackwell is important to Jon's story I figured a slight easter egg of his future would be nice.

ReaperofInterest, post: 84598642, member: 309377 Wrote:

So, for Affinities like Cosmic, ones that generally aren't practical to use for whatever reason, do people who have Affinities for stuff like that have an easier time building up Affinities or connecting to Affinities that are related, but easier to use?

Yes and no, because while they have an easier time learning related affinities than other people learning them flat out, it's no easier than anyone else learning an affinity related to theirs.

Crazyone47, post: 84599197, member: 422818 Wrote:

Are there affinities considered useless or less useful from an Arcane standpoint? Like say someone had Star as an Affinity. Since Stars require too much energy and are so far away would it be of any real use?

While individuals might find one affinity or another to be useless the stance of more experienced Arcane is that no Affinity is truly worthless as their limits are usually your creativity and will.

To use Star as an example, not only are they galactic bodies but they're also connected to light, heat, and navigation, then there is the modern concept of Starpower which has more of a charm effect, more esoteric uses such as gravity would take more power however.

The only time it's considered less useful is when you are literally working in a situation where it would be counterproductive, such as using fire when you don't want to melt ice, or similar super specific scenarios.

Crazyone47, post: 84599197, member: 422818 Wrote:

Are there any Affinities which are considered dangerous?

[Nuclear] [Death] [Fire] [Darkness] [Poison] [Water] [Healing] (One guy figured out a cancer beam from it.) and more.

Honestly, any Affinity can be dangerous or helpful in the right hands, given how you can generate your concept or manipulate it to be less harmful. The only ones considered no-touchy are [Madness] and [Necro] but typically only the active users of those things can have those concepts, meaning you'd have to actually pursue those affinities to unlock them which is usually a bad idea for everyone involved since the basic users have a lot of safety secondary stuff that keeps them from killing themselves and everyone around them. (And even then that's not always the case with [Necro].)

Crazyone47, post: 84599197, member: 422818 Wrote:

Also for my story would my characters ability to say use Sequences and Clarity to manipulate entire countries political leadership be considered A or B rank threat?

Depends on the context and how direct the manipulations are. If they're 'I can change things happening today if I need to' it's A rank if it's 'I can change things happening a month from now' it's probably closer to B rank.

You see part of a threat rating is their immediate threat response, the more time people have to resolve the issues the lower the threat rating, because while being able to manipulate things month in advanced sounds scary on paper it's actually a lot easier for those plans to come in contact with 'cognitive hazards' (such as Madness users) which would disrupt and disable most of those plans or give time for the anti-precog protocols to spot anomalies and break said plan.

By contrast a plan that goes into effect too fast for anyone to realistically stop it is a significantly more dangerous threat in practice.

Crazyone47, post: 84599197, member: 422818 Wrote:

Theoretically speaking would having more than three Affinities be possible?

Yes, I'm not sure how established I've made this since we've mostly focused on Jon, but I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that arguably the biggest advantage Arcane have over Practitioners -outside of MP- is that they can develop new affinities over time by practicing with the concepts they've learned while a Practitioner will only ever have an affinity for their base three concepts.

It's just again most people tend to take the route of least resistance which involves specializing in their basic affinities to a point that none of the other concepts they learn become affinities by comparison. (Note: This does not mean that an Arcane won't have developed a fourth affinity by the time they unlock their magic, just that it's rarer than not given the age most Arcane figure out their powers.)

Fun Fact: There's this in-setting math equation for determining how much potential affinity the Arcane passively develop without using their powers, based on ambeient Anima in their enviornment, their age, and a number of other variables. (They won't go over this amount, but it can be split amongst any number of Affinities I.E. having 8 F Rank affinities, or 2 D Rank affinities at a specific age. (Again both cases are rare.))

ReaperofInterest, post: 84700318, member: 309377 Wrote:

So I have a question. Would incantations serve as a sort of vocal Sign Craft, or would they just be considered a focusing tool for Will Craft?

More a focusing tool for Will Craft, as you're using the words to focus your will based on what they mean to you and having a non-standard usage. Which is why most Arcane that 'say spells' say them in a language different from their own, while Arcane that naturally uses said language won't use theirs for the same purposes. (I.E. An English speaker can most easily use Latin, Spanish, French, etc. but the native speakers of those languages would be better off using English than their native language.)

That said, it isn't uncommon for people sufficently skilled in both Will Craft and Sign Craft to blur the two by 'Chanting' while using their signs to further amplify/direct their given spell by mixing the two crafts, with a similar principal applying to both Script and Wand Craft. (That you can do this is actually why most teachers recommend you at least dabble in Will Craft after you reach a certain point of proficiency in your preferred craft.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 84737983, member: 309377 Wrote:

So, how does Arcane Affinity Grade interact with accessible Affinities? By which I mean, if an Arcane had an A-Rank Water Affinity but no true Ice Affinity, would they have an easier time using Ice magic compared to someone who had a lower grade Water Affinity, or didn't have an Affinity with an immediate connection to Ice?

It's work similar to how Jon's affinities work, with his bonus growing weaker the further you get from his base. In this case think of Jon's Hunter affinity as E Rank by Arcane standards, with his Moon and Defender both being F Rank. (This is the norm for non-Arcane outside of extinuating circumstances that may or may not eventually apply to Jon.)

That said, rather than simply being a Rank below the Water affinity it'd be about half value so any Ice Magic they use will get an affinity bonus up to about C Rank, accelerating it's growth and power until that point where it'll begin to rise on it's own merits at a more standard level. (Note: There's technically another ever so slight bump that nudges things due to how close those concepts are, which is why on the 20 level system A gets a slight bump to C and why Jon's first tier after his concepts get the same bonus as his base affinities. (A+ = 18 so E+ = 6 so 9 = D+ and 3 = F+, but due to closeness both get another +1.))

Now the trade off of all of this is that the further these affinities develop, the harder it is to develop their polar opposite. (Unless you train them both together.) But this applies to the direct opposites of the affinities you develop rather than their conceptual sub/related affinities.

rush99999, post: 84856825, member: 380992 Wrote:

Would I be correct in thinking that Masters can't just kill their minions to satisfy their urges.

Yes, yes you would.

rush99999, post: 84866158, member: 380992 Wrote:

Would this be because the cost of creating the minion is higher than the payoff received from Killing the minion in question?

Yes and no. It's more like creating the Minion makes it a part of the Slashers -metaphorical and metaphysical- Malice system, so killing a minion won't generate new Malice but will restore some of the Malice spent on its construction. (Based on said Slasher's Malice Control, but never restoring more than its actual cost.)

Crazyone47, post: 84963636, member: 422818 Wrote:

Hey what are lifespans of Deviants? Do any of the energies make you live longer? Anything Anima can do with expanding lifespans?

Most Deviants have an increased Lifespan in one form or another excluding Psychics, and M.A.D.s.

-Anima users usually live for double human.

-Deadmen can theoretically live for millennia if they keep up with their obsessions and Hunger, but those are notably rarer with most passing my their mid- two to three hundreds.

-Most Slashers have a human lifespan outside of Rippers but thanks to Malice even at the age of seventy their body functions as if they were in their prime if they have enough. (If they manage to die of old age that is.)

-Malcontent typically age like a person until adulthood, at which point if their powers are active they start aging in reverse dog years almost. (Meaning their natural lifespan would be somewhere around 400.)

-Wonderlanders are hard to track the age of due to their meta-physical nature, so some live for fifty years some for five hundred, and most just withdraw from reality altogether when their anchors pass away.

(Note: The above are the average cases, there are of course exceptions in the proper circumstances.)

And yes, there are a number of ways to extend your lifespan and even a number of keys to immortality in setting.

Crazyone47, post: 84963636, member: 422818 Wrote:

Can Anima be used yo Enchant or create magical tech or effects from normal or Mad tech? Spark or unspark tech?

Yes, magi-tech is a thing, and M.A.D. tech can be enchanted, but given how complicated M.A.D. tech tends to be on an internal level the enchantment's effects tend to get muddled beyond the most generic effects. (Enchantments can only grasp so many moving parts.)

Crazyone47, post: 84963636, member: 422818 Wrote:

Is it possible for a Deviant to amass significant followings power and wealth in currrent cultural climate of Deviants Masquerade?

Given how the setting takes place in multiple worlds and the methods for steady traversal between them are usually Deviant in nature, yes. Though of course there are a number of other factors such as how long it takes, how their wealth is distributed, and what kind of following you mean. (There are a lot of cults, and a number of royal families in other worlds are Deviant lines.)

If you meant on earth specifically, it is possible but only in so much as it is possible for the average everyday man to get rich. (Meaning you need a good idea, hard work, and lottery levels of luck all at once.)

Crazyone47, post: 84963636, member: 422818 Wrote:

Edit: also if Fairies can be Earth dwelling what about other mystical creatures like Gnomes, Brownies, intelligent gorillas and others? Say leprechauns.

There are a number of small colonies of magical creatures where a couple got loose from an Arcane researcher or traveled through a rift and settled somewhere, though how long said colonies last is usually based on how many subjects got loose in the first place since they need a starting population.

Note: Most of our myths for different creatures are mixing and matchings of similar but different species that appeared in the same region, hence why accounts of certain creatures can vary wildly.

Crazyone47, post: 84963636, member: 422818 Wrote:

Is there any commonly known internet dwelling sprites or faeries for example?

Yes, and no. There are a few known places with magical colonies but the locals try to shut down anyone looking to disturb the colonies -like in Blackwell-, leading to a lot of the internet ones being considered 'fake' or trying to take advantage of the fact that magic is real for views.

Crazyone47, post: 84963636, member: 422818 Wrote:

In wand craft is it possible to use a firearm or another object as a wand to cast magic?

Eh, this one is a bit complicated because there are a number of non-wand objects used to cast magic but they're usually work arounds as not all foci count as wand craft. (Or else Jon's amulet would count as Wand Craft.)

Typically when an object is used to cast magic it is because said object is using either a highly complicated mix of enchanting and/or script craft to allow the object to gather magic or focus magic through it to trigger a spell. (Note: There are a number of guns used to 'shoot' spells, with spellslingers being an actual thing.)

Wand Craft itself is a mix of creating an extremely generic Practitioner's foci -not to unlock magic but to amplify existing magic- and then putting it through a simplistic but highly structured format of simple spells -similar to sign craft but less flexible- while using the visualization of Will craft to smooth out the edges without actually coloring outside of the line.

(Basically it takes the simplest aspects of the other Crafts and merges them while stripping down their more free form and personal elements.)

Crazyone47, post: 84969663, member: 422818 Wrote:

Okay.... Then ... .So Wand Craft is basically like using a pointer stick for a highly specific set of spells while using a gun as a condition to cast spells would be like .... Sign Craft or Will Craft?

Most of the people who use guns, typically use sign craft or enchanting, and from there they apply the script/enchantment to either the gun to gather and shoot magic or to the bullets so that each bullet is essentially it's own pre-made spell.

An advantage of this -other than the shooting at bullet speeds- is the ability to convert the force of the bullet into a stronger spell than the base value, given the much lower base force of a written out stationary spell script. The biggest downside though is applying the spell to something as small as a bullet which -outside of over sized bullets- requires an advanced technique involving imaginary arrays.

There's actually a character mentioned -and seen to be working on bullets- for a couple chapters in the anthology named Ashlynn Thorne, who uses said bullets in a custom made revolver that based on how she uses a secondary spell built into the gun will either fire the bullets as a small localized spell or a massive elemental explosion. Allowing her to use up to six strategically chosen non-lethal rounds and/or spell-shots between her reloads. (She also carries these quick load revolver cartridges with some of her preferred round combos in case a fight gets serious and she doesn't have time to think it through.)

Crazyone47, post: 84969663, member: 422818 Wrote:

Are there any countries that ceased to exist during or post Rift Riots? Or places that got wiped off the map?

No major countries, but maybe a few smaller ones as well as a few small towns. While the rift riots were bad few of the scenarios involved were 'salt and burn the earth' levels of bad.

That said, one of the setting's alt-worlds is essentially a post-apocalypse world where an Anima bomb wiped out a large chunk of humanity and caused rapid mutations in the world's flora and fauna. (Just to point out that some large scale places have been wiped out in-setting, even if not during that event or on main earth.)