Karma, as someone more familiar with Nobilis and Chuubo's lore, can you explain Actuals to me? I remember Actuals being described as biomechanical bedrock of reality, I also remember them subsuming others into a part of them, but I don't know if the brief blurbs I found are all there is or if there's more that I missed somewhere. I have a Chuubo's character whose Arcs aligns with Actuals, but I don't know whether to run in that direction or not.
yeah i would love to!
i'm going to reference the short sections they're given in glitch and in nobilis 3, and supplementary material from dr. moran's blog; while i'm there i will also pull out the Reykjavik Actual, which i think is mostly useful for the description, the miracle powers are a draft six years out of date; that is most of the concrete text we have, to my knowledge, and the rest would be like, inferring from their arcset and from seizhi's backstory
actuals in their natural state are the underlying laws and structure of the world; they seethe around in a big roiling chaotic mess not bothering anyone, in forms that are not tangible, alive, or aware in the ways we conventionally understand, but from their motion arises some capacity to organize things and hold things and make it possible for us to exist.
the metaphor i like to use is actuals as metaphysical grammar: grammar is not visible when you look at a sentence, you can't isolate it as a thing in itself, but it provides rules and shapes the way the sentence forms anyway
the actuals that cause problems are actuals that have accidentally been drawn into interacting with surface reality; nobles & imperators who use miracles to create paradoxes or otherwise exhibit hubris open a hole in the world that an actual may potentially fall into and take new traits from whatever the miracle was trying to do, creating an embodied form we can interact with.
under the glitch/nobilis paradigm, we are told these unfortunate actuals are not fully self-aware but desire quite badly to become so, and will interact with the world desperately hoping to comprehend themselves and their new surroundings; unfortunately the only means for interaction they have (which i think is an out-of-control exaggeration of the way they normally facilitate organization and relationships) is to eat, devour, incorporate into themselves, and grow, without learning anything new about the world or about themself. it might be a grey-goo scenario where the actual literally eats things and grows larger, or a more subtle sort of assimilation/contamination, but the end result comes out the same.
under the CMWGE paradigm, the laws of the setting have become a lot more relaxed and embodied actuals having personhood + identity and being allowed to just live their lives is now way more on the table; seizhi schwan being the most prominent example PC, something that was uprooted from the underlying substrate of reality so that someone could fill the role of Best Friend, but also functionally just A Person albeit a really anxious one.
even if it's not Full Throttle Nobilis Lore Compliance, i would expect a CMWGE character who is an actual or actual-like to have a specialty & clearly defined role in the world that they are bluffing about at least a little bit, and to have a blurry boundary between themselves and the world in some way that allows them to manipulate others and make people/things more like themselves (mostly all that follows from the arcset); they might have an origin or defining event relating to miracles, or paradoxes, being a fulcrum that other events rely on so they logically MUST exist, or otherwise filling in the gaps of someone trying to do/create the impossible
finally: it is totally valid to just say "this character uses the arcset of actuals" and have that be as far as it goes, if what i'm saying isn't clicking for who you have in mind
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I think the part about communicating with people outside the black hole was talking about Terezi and John's convos.
Those too, but Terezi was actually out IN the ambiguous void as the collapse was happening when she received her earlier messages... the far more dramatic one was when her phone buzzed when she was back on earth and about to get on Dirk’s ship.
It is certainly true that this John specifically messaged Canon Terezi a whole bunch and doesn’t realize it, though, which adds some background hilarity to Calliope asserting that TO John.
Messages and Mail also have a hefty Breath association. If Heirs are a nexus around which their aspect changes and is controlled, then John might have basically been a wifi antenna, especially with whatever distant traces of Retcon-power were left in him.
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The Maid of Doom comes off as the kind of person who quotes a lot of vampire-based media. References to Nosferatu, Blade, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and even the classic Bram Stroker’s Dracula litter this Doom player’s vocabulary, and they’ll try to sneak them in without anyone noticing. If you quote Dracula’s “what is a man” speech from Castlevania, they’ll call you an amateur and quote something even more obscure from the series. There’s something awesome about the way vintage vampires talk, and the Maid of Doom doesn’t mind borrowing some of that flair.
Knowing Doom players, this particular type has a soft spot for Roombas, treating them as gentle friends who wish to zoom about and clean the floor. If they had the budget, they would own so many cleaning robots that they would never have to own a vacuum or mop ever again. Depending on who you ask, it’s a little weird when you see the Maid pat the metal disk and say, “Thank you for your hard work!”, bu no one will argue on the cuteness of it.
The Maid of Doom, at least in their opinion, would make a fantastic DM for their own D&D session, but everyone is slightly afraid of the prospect of the Maid having too much power in a fictional world. Not only will nothing slide past their watchful eye, but they will make your campaign tough. This isn’t out of malice though - it’s the exact opposite. The Maid of Doom understands how sacrifice through one’s journey can give it a meaning, similar to how conflict is what makes a story meaningful, and they’re trying their best to make sure they’re giving you a top-quality D&D experience. Consider them Dungeons and Dragons: Hard Mode, someone you should go to after a few rounds.
Alrighty then! I'm a Maid of Doom upon the Land of Aberrance and Rules!, a massive ancient egyptian style tron grid where the Denizen (Anubis) has unleashed seven Anomalies, distortions that bring forth beings that Should Not Be (like the Undead, Living Sburb Glitches, and Doomed Timeline Duplicates). I have to kill these things and fix the anomalies, learning about having goals and ambition and taking responsibility for my future instead of letting others guide it. (1/2)
(2/2) I like books, especially fantasy books, and am quite good at simple yet repetitive tasks. My favorite books are either those of high fantasy with consistent magic rules, or sci fi with hard science (basically anything that’s not handwavy nonesense). My Strife Specibus is Bookkind, and you made something for it upon a previous request. This time I am requesting for a magician’s robe (as I am the spellcaster of the session), peferably one embroidered with runes and sigils.
How does The Bookburner sound?
A robe made of pressed paper with arcane symbols floating across its surface. The symbols will transform into whatever is spoken around the wearer. While this seems pointless, it becomes a lot more interesting if the wearer is a spellcaster. When a spell is spoken, the enchantment flashes around the robe, causing it to be cast multiple times over. This has the handy backfire effect if your opponent is also a spellcaster. Just be careful with fire, water, decay, and weather magic.
To make this yourself, use a standard robe, a ream of paper, potassium permangenate (optional, used to make the paper yellowed for cosmetic effect), a book of sigils, a bottle of enchanted ink, and a bottled echo.
Its always nice to see new people in the comunity. Hope it goes well!. Can you analyze a Maid of Doom or Page of Mind? ( the Canon Aspect Test gave me Mind while I was natively a Maid of Doom and I realized that I have some stuff in common with a Page of Mind). Either one would be swell so don't worry about ignoring the other. I won't mind.
aight SO
maid of doom:
maids have this thing where they kinda bounce around aimlessly doing jack DICKALL and are just kinda like, helpless slaves to their aspect. but then one day they take a good long look at themselves and decide: FUCK this im taking charge of my life and my aspect and im going to do what *I* think is best from now on (this is why maid is a ‘’’female’’’* class! the trope of gaining your agency and finally prioritizing yourself over the needs of others is a very culturally female gendered trope within media)
maids also can sometimes be a little authoritarian about their aspect ONCE theyve got their agency because hey wouldnt you seek total control over your aspect if youd been metaphorically chained and kept from it for years and years. however this only applies to 2/3 maids (aradia is pretty chill about time) so take it w a grain of salt
doom is like uhhhhhh fate and shit but what differentiates it from time is, time is cycles. it goes hand and hand with space in order to Keep The Circle Of Liiiiiiiife Moving. doom on the other hand is much more detached from life (its opposing aspect) and serves STRICTLY to fuck shit up. well, bring things to their natural end so that life can sprout new things from the scorched earth. doom players in general tend to be kinda pessimistic because they cant see the full result of their work like time players can.
so a maid of doom would be someone kinda batted around by doom. maybe they just accepted that theyd be fucked no matter what and didnt consider that HEY maybe this isnt the right path to oblivion. so as the lamb got closer to the slaughter, they would suddenly decide that HEY this isnt the right time for me to go this isnt how the universe goes out. they take fate by the balls and say: screw this im rewriting things the way i think they should end
they MIGHT POSSIBLY be kinda bossy about other peoples’ doom (but again only 2/3 canon maids). so like, telling people that a certain thing is doomed or even MAKING it doomed because they believed it had to be done
*CLASSES DO NOT HAVE GENDERS BECAUSE CHARACTER ARCS ARE NOT GENDERED. EVEN IF THEY WERE WITHIN HOMESTUCK, HUSSIE SAID DO WHAT YOU WANT. now bear w me this is GOOD META
page of mind
aight pages and maids are actually kind of superficially similar? both start out with not a lot of their aspect and both end up fairly powerful. the difference is, maids are kinda like bards in their SNAP aspect realization, whereas pages have been working their A.S.S. off from day one and just not getting anywhere real quick. often this is because they have some kind of power working against them, but equally as often its just bc they suck (no offense im sure u only suck a little ;p)
mind players are (unsurprisingly) up in their own heads a whole lot. theyre aware of every decision that could be made and what the reasoning would be and how it would affect them and other people around them. the degree of their awareness and what they do with it depends on class. anything they do is like, filtered as hell through 7 layers of LOGIC IS THEIR BLADE
so a page of mind would be trying their Got Damn Best to be THE ULTIMATE PILLAR OF RATIONALITY but would be about as good at it as your average MRA. shit they might even BE an mra oh god what have i done theyd not notice obvious logical conclusions and pull illogical conclusions out of their ass and overall be very bad at mind.
when they FINALLY get their shit together after years of SHEER EFFORT theyd be a rhetorical force to meet with (meet with? is that the right expression??? shit i havent had breakfast yet bear w me). theyd see the outcomes of every decision like one of those really advanced chess players and rarely choose wrong
thnak you 4 coming to m tedtalk im john heiretical
