Still reading, but it looks pretty interesting so-far
Edit: So would a character be able to start with two and perhaps use two of the different powers in tandem, like technologism and dynamicism used in conjunction to do something like use a daimond in making dangerous lazer attacks and stuff like that?
2nd Edit: Would using the various schools of polymathy in tandem via simplistic scripts be possible aswell? Like having their main and largest script be for the purpose of preventing their own abstraction, limiting what they can script but allowing the different kinds to be used in tandem? I was thinking like how megaman from the megaman battle network series has a program that can fit certain combinations of smaller, assisting programs in his code, like a picture puzzle or a collage.
3rd Edit: The questions helped me cook up another idea, dm me
@RoboCat The synthesis of different Majors is something that’s been happening more recently, though more as collaborative projects between multiple Polymaths than just one person being good at multiple Majors. It’s certainly possible for an individual to have studied two Majors, but either they’d be average at both, or they’ll be some sort of mega-monstrous genius. Which would make them famous, because the differing prerequisites makes excelling in multiple Majors pretty hard.
Different Majors have different methods of utilizing script to interface with Formula. Egoists passively benefit from the gradual edits they make to their own body,Technologists engrave upon solid objects to alter or enhance properties, Dynamicists manipulate the movement of intangibles, and Mesmerologists scam people. They functionally cover different things, so while you can use things in sequence (technologism to enhance a bullet and then dynamicism to cause wind to propel that bullet fast), you can’t really apply both to the same thing under ordinary circumstances. Just doing anything with Formula alone would cause Abstraction though; trying to prevent Abstraction through Formulization is like trying to save fuel by burning fuel.
Oooh, this looks really interesting based on the information provided. The Formulae in certain parts sounds somewhat kind of in my opinion like alchemy in certain fictional series. The transmutation/modification of already existing matter akin to Equivalent Exchange, the focus on "magic" being in reality scientific, and the execution of such "magic" being reliant on rules and limitations, I found these to be reeeally cool concepts!
Excited and nervous. If I qualify, this will be my very first RP in this site. But regardless I'm definitely interested.
Pertaining to the lore, I wonder why the Dynamism of Lightning got banned by the Geneva Convention? Being banned in such regard meant that it is probably seen as exceedingly dangerous/outrageously unethical/unnervingly easy to mishandle/et cetera. But why? Curiosity tingled~
Also got a question regarding Technologists that I would like to ask. Do they generally have a certain, say, "favorite object" upon which they typically apply their formulae upon, or do they just perform formulae on whatever is available, or are both cases common?
Last but not least just to make doubtlessly sure as I've never done this before, should I start making my character if I'm interested or is there something I should wait for before I jump the gun?
I was kind-of hoping you'd say it like that. I had the idea of a very old Dark Continent nation that basically lives off of their land's rare material that they'd call a pathway stone. It'd basically be the stone of Aja from jojo's bizarre adventure but for sound and light, and what you said made me realize, they'd only need technologism to do what I had in-mind. They'd have a system for surgically implanting these stones into their royal families via Egotism while the main polymathy of their royals would be various ways to use the stone. With the stone working as a optomechanical crystal, they'd use technologism to adjust it for trapping sound and light together before also using technologism to release it as a dangerous lazer.
I cooked up the background for the country before fully understanding how the power system worked and wrote that the reserve of the material was their country's bread and butter. Would something like that be possible?
Edit: To clarify, the egotism is basically a one-off thing for making them more resistant to the blatantly dangerous vibrations and heat and basically so that they don't die using their gemstones.
The abilities that would stem from using technologism on the stone would be things like amplifying sounds with the trapped light, magnifying light like a powerful magnifying glass, shooting the equivalent of a flashbang, etc. They'd be weakest in dark areas, and strongest in water.
@Medili It got banned because the Occident are PUSSIES.
More seriously, in Europe (and later on globally), they essentially had wireless electricity transfer towers, and their entire society is built around the idea that you don't really need batteries, because the transmitter-receptor system means that anywhere in civilization, your devices will have power.
When the Indigenous Coalition of the New World launched a counteroffensive during the Futile War, they brought a Lightning Dynamicists with them. Prior to this, Lightning Dynamicists were considered scary, but required an actual thunderstorm to be manifested in order to be so. Because of Europe's wireless electricity hijinks, though...yeah, everything turned into a hella of plasma, enough so that even the Indigenous peeps were like "yeah, this is very bad news". Subsequently, the Occident and the New World brokered a truce, being the first step towards ending the Futile War.
All Technologists would be trained in standard materials that are useful for making a living, and could also have either a specific material that they are exceptionally good at altering, or a specific alteration that they are exceptionally good at imposing. Generally, you can imagine every type of material as a different puzzle; you can broadly understand how each could work, but it takes time and practice to really get to understand the alogrithms governing them.
And yeah, pitch your character idea first or toss up a character sheet draft. I generally prefer to get all the CS creation done during the interest check phase.
@RoboCat Sounds interesting. I'll give you a more elaborate answer later, but for now, just gotta clarify a couple of things. I can understand light, but how does sound play into this? Egoism, at any stage, basically turns the Egoist into an Endling. They are no longer able to reproduce because their genetic data has been altered, so that's essentially the end of their bloodline there. Is there a particular reason, beyond just tradition, that has them slotting a crystal in their body rather than a crystal into a tool?
Hey, so basically it was just tradition. they don't need it slotted into their bodies, I just figured that'd be super cool, and that it'd tie in with a thing I had in-mind. Also with the sound part, basically when light and sound are trapped in the same container the hertz of the sound increases by some crazy amount by like a hundred million hertz or something along those lines.
But yeah basically having them just use the stuff externally would be for the best. It'll give them a bit of a glass cannon vibe.
Alright, here’s some extra details about how Technologists do their thing.
While Technologists can create solid materials that are able to then indirectly alter intangibles (for example, the Steam Core is essentially an engine that lowers the vaporization point of water when the water's inside of it, allowing you to create steam without needing external fuel), they won’t be able to ‘gather’ those intangibles in the way that Dynamicists can. If the stone functions largely as a compression/storage device for light and sound (with sound and light released to activate certain effects), then it’ll probably take a while for them to charge up properly. But also due to this being storage, there’s no weakness to dark areas, so long as they’re sufficiently charged prior to this.
Specifically in regards to Egoism, you’ll probably have a whole religious culture/rite focused around indoctrinating the next crystal-bearers into the sort of self-focused mindset necessary to see their own body as a mutable substance. So that works well with this being a more traditional thing, especially because your nation has presumably been doing this for more than just the last 50 or so years. Larger crystals are needed if you want to do actual laser beams or sound cannons, smaller crystals function just fine as megaphones or flashlights, and each crystal will need to be Formulized for a specific function at a specific output level. A Technologist Polymath could alter the output on the go, but would need a fair bit longer if they wanted to alter the function.
It’s 100% viable for this light/sound-amplifying crystal to be the main industry of your nation too. It’s hard for me to really picture what madness you can do with a hundred million hertz, so I would say, because this is accomplished by distorting the laws of nature rather than by obeying the laws of nature, you don’t get that insane light-sound synergy. Still works for the purposes that you’d want, just no hard science implications behind it.
Also, easiest way of dodging around the 'bloodline ended because no longer human' problem would just be to like, have more kids.
Oooh, got it. Okay, thanks for the answer! Poor lightning people becoming vilified, despite that their existence did in a way helped with ending the war.
Alrighty, I'll start thinking up a character. Probably gonna be a Technologist. Being bullied because of disinclination towards traditional staple food optional, haha~
I might as well share my own thoughts here, too. I'm thinking some sort of alchemist, either a technologist brewing odd potions, bombs and doing similar mad science, or going more the internal alchemy route with an egoist who's a walking drug factory.
I've read through a lot of what was written and even got some ideas with some of the things written in response to the questions here. I kind of have this idea of making a sort of stereotypical british man with top hat and cane - a sort of chemist prodigy. By day, burgeoning chemist genius, by night an assassin that takes the saying "Silent but deadly" joke of passing gas a bit too seriously.
However, I have other questions.
With regards to our origins like countries and organizations, do you have them preset or are we to make them ourselves? I'm kind of looking at making my man a rather young and questionable recruit from this worlds version of MI6.
Can Formulation be executed through any part of the body as long as there's physical contact? Does this also apply to Dynamicists?
With this many Technologists already, I'm probably going to end up rolling a Dynamicist? Dynamist? Whatever you call them. Base character concept so far is Russian agent working for the not!KGB.
You're good to make up your own countries/organizations, so long as you run em through me first. Having a Queensman is totes fine and probably even as expected in such a RP.
Formulization can be executed through any part of the body so long as its bare skin physical contact. Technologists prefer their fingers because their work requires fine, nimble adjustments, Dynamicists prefer their palms because it gives the most tactile sensations. They can technically do it with whatever, but at reduced efficacy. Imagine it like being accustomed to using a set of tools, and then comparing that to having to use a totally different set of tools. You know what to do, but you don't know how to handle the new tools so well.
And hey, lots of Technologists makes sense: that's the STEM of Polymaths. If you're a Dynamicist you may as well be a Forestry Major. And if you're an Egoist? Better hope you make something out of your sports career. ;3
Since everybody's sharing their concepts, I suppose I will too. I'll probably be rolling with a character that combines technologism and dynamism-- a New World girl that, for one reason or another, was raised in good old Victorian England.
How does a country that's very much like Britain who's imperial dreams have yet to be tempered sound? A sort of giant looming in the distance yet tied down by the results of the Futile War. Recognizing that their ambitions can yet be achieved through other means, their Military Intelligence sets up their own spy program named: "The Institution of Small Good Deeds" posing as a orphanage that regularly kidnaps children of special talents and trains them from a young age. My man just happens to be one of them.
13 y/o | Female | 142cm (4'8") | 35kg (77lbs) The Iron Sentinel Empire, Germany | Technologism | Ferromancy
Born to House Konigsmahne, one of Germany's most prominent noble families, Lucretia was the youngest of five siblings. It was clear even from the first few years of her life that the white-haired girl was gifted, one of the very few individuals blessed with exceptional intellect, a savant, a genius among geniuses. Not only that, her family had the connections and resources to foster Lucy's talents as soon as possible. The young girl was taught with the best private tutors money could buy and combined with her extraordinary intelligence, it catapulted her development in the academics. Naturally, aside from general knowledge, her studies were focused on learning Technologism, the House's primary major in the art of Formulization. For Lucretia in particular, she had a particularly strong affinity with the element of ferrum, iron.
Of course, all of these boons didn't come without a price. As it was common with savants, Lucretia had developmental disorders in the social aspect of things, she didn't get along well with her peers, not that she was a bully or anything, but other children were often put off by how quiet and insensitive she was. She preferred to wrap herself in her own bubble, intensely focusing on her current project, often days on end, stopping only to eat, sleep, and do hygiene stuff. She couldn't read the atmosphere and often came off as brutally honest, speaking pragmatically without heeding the emotions of others. Still, she wasn't an actively malicious person, but humans are social creatures and being able to relate with others is just as - if not more - important as academic prowess. Over the years, she got better... somewhat, through experience and trial and error, she had developed certain 'social protocols' in her head to compensate where she lacked. Regardless, she still preferred to deal with machines instead of people whenever possible.
As mentioned before, the noble house she belonged to was quite prestigious, their ancestors were engineers and inventors, Technologist Polymaths, one of the forefront actors that brought about the Scientific Revolution of the Occident. The name "Konigsmahne" could be found in documents detailing the discovery of the steam core, peizogravitas, dreadnought designs, mechanized weapons (panzermensch), and other technological marvels. They too were one of the parties that supported the Enlightenment edict that led to the short-lived Age of Exploration...
Then the Futile War came, and it marked the end of House Konigsmahne's golden age. In a loyalty-fueled attempt to support the Occident's war efforts, the house poured massive amount of resources to fight back against the 'savages'. How could they resist Enlightenment in favor of their primitive beliefs? Preposterous, unthinkable, Technologism is the way to the future, not some voodoo nonsense. Alas, in the end, nothing was gained as the war ended in a stalemate, but for the house, it might as well be a crushing defeat. While their finances had recovered over the decades after the war, the stain on their pride was still fresh to this day.
Since then, the house never stopped searching for a way to finish what the Occident started, prove to the world that Technologism is the only true path to Enlightenment. To that end, they made alliances with parties that shared their views, one of them being Pax Occidenta, an enigmatic group that operated in the shadows, claiming to be the heralds that'd manifest the destiny of the Occident. The deal was to hand over one of the house's brightest to them, to be their scion, so that with their combined might, they'd bring about Manifest Destiny. This chosen scion was none other than Lucretia.
Her first mission? Enroll into the Academic City of Bermuda and await further instructions...
Lucretia's Specialization within the Formulization Major of Technologism. While she's able to manipulate the properties of most solid matter like all technologists, she's particularly adept at the element of iron and combined with her gifted intellect, this truly led to extraordinary craftsmanship, especially for someone so young. She had constructed numerous devices over the decade, but none surpassed her masterpiece, Schwarzritter.
Schwarzritter takes the form of a curious T-shaped remote-controlled floating drone that's capable of a number of things. It can be used as a personal transport, portable storage, mobile cover, and weapons platform. Its strength and endurance are the equivalent of an iron golem, its central body had slots to store items in, and its two 'arms' contain an automatic assault turret each. It's installed with a Peizogravitas formula to enable buoyancy using electricity gathered from the global electric wireless structure a.k.a the Telesma Network. In the absence of access to said network, it possesses a backup Steam Core generator, enabling it to function at a reduced performance.
When not in use, it can fold itself into an inert backpack-shaped object, surprisingly lightweight, making it convenient to carry around.
Furthermore, although it’s definitely not a living creature, Lucretia considers the drone to be her closest friend, she often talks and refers to it as if it has a mind of its own, like a young girl playing with her doll... except that it's made of metal, and many times her size, and capable of deadly force.
@Liotrent Sounds good. Might wanna talk to Click so the two of you have a unified vision of the UK. Very James Bond-y, really, just coming across talented orphans. Now what came first, the talent or the orphan? ;3
@Izurich Looks good! Just to clarify though, while Lucretia may treat Schwarzritter as a friend, automatons aren't actually a thing, so it'll be more like playing with a doll rather than playing with a pet robot thing. What does this drone run on though? I'm presuming electricity, mainly because it seems to be a more complex construction than something that'd just run on gears and such (which would make a steam core more viable as a power source). You can mention that it incorporates Peizogravitas (a common Formulization of a copper alloy that makes it hella buoyant when electricity runs through it) in its construction too, to make it easily transportable.
Like I mentioned with Robo's crystal idea, Lucretia will be able to adjust the Schwarzritter's output on the fly with Formulization, but if she wants to change its functions, she'll have to spend time workshopping it. Also, Schwarzritter will be effectively disarmed at the start of the RP, with its weapons (and basically every other students' weapons) stored in the armory/testing grounds of the island. They'll allow militant-minded students to continue to perfect their weapons of destruction, but not bring it outside of specified grounds.
@Izurich Looks good! Just to clarify though, while Lucretia may treat Schwarzritter as a friend, automatons aren't actually a thing, so it'll be more like playing with a doll rather than playing with a pet robot thing. What does this drone run on though? I'm presuming electricity, mainly because it seems to be a more complex construction than something that'd just run on gears and such (which would make a steam core more viable as a power source). You can mention that it incorporates Peizogravitas (a common Formulization of a copper alloy that makes it hella buoyant when electricity runs through it) in its construction too, to make it easily transportable.
Like I mentioned with Robo's crystal idea, Lucretia will be able to adjust the Schwarzritter's output on the fly with Formulization, but if she wants to change its functions, she'll have to spend time workshopping it. Also, Schwarzritter will be effectively disarmed at the start of the RP, with its weapons (and basically every other students' weapons) stored in the armory/testing grounds of the island. They'll allow militant-minded students to continue to perfect their weapons of destruction, but not bring it outside of specified grounds.
Nice! That went better than I thought it'd be.
Alright, noted, made the changes and additions to the Ferromancy section of the CS, those are in bolded italics.
Schwarzritter takes the form of a curious T-shaped floating drone that's capable of a number of things. It can be used as a personal transport, portable storage, mobile cover, and weapons platform. Its strength and endurance are the equivalent of an iron golem, its central body had slots to store items in, and its two 'arms' contain an automatic assault turret each. It's installed with a Peizogravitas formula to enable buoyancy using electricity gathered from the global wireless electric network. When not in use, it can fold itself into an inert backpack-shaped object, surprisingly lightweight, making it convenient to carry around.
Furthermore, although its definitely not a living creature, Lucretia considers the drone to be her closest friend, she often talks and refers to it as if it has a mind of its own, like a young girl playing with her doll... except that it's made of metal, and many times her size, and capable of deadly force.
@Click This I just noticed that, how are we going about this?
As far as my vision of how the UK looks here... it's just anime steampunk Victorian Britain. Less strict gender roles, women's clothes that are cuter and less stuffy that it was historically, for sure. Y'know, think Princess Principal, like ERode mentioned. The UK's probably flexing on the Continent as usual, but probably more low-key meddling than what we saw historically since the Orient and the New World are big players now too.
Also, the Royal navy, can't forget that. Big. Powerful. Superdreadnoughts. In the sea and in the air. See my signature.
I dunno about the empire and colony situation though, since there isn't the new world to grab land from, or even Australia.
