Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

[DelightedOne]

Step 4: Have him or Mareinette perform another Forge's Redemption on us ASAP.

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Definitely him, if we Recalibrate his lesser lore to Grail he auto-passes with his general bonus on it and only needs to roll a 10 to succeed at the Forge check, with the reroll it is very safe to trust him to do it. And since it doesn't seem to cost him an action to instruct Velvet there is no need to not have him do it.

 

[Sveta08]

A name for-
Oh, wait. No. This deserves a little more effort.

A name for a Name.
No Names were made of flesh and blood but rarely does that matter.
A son, unloved as the others, but without the same voice
It is not his duty to be loved

He is to be useful


Personally, I'm a fan of Brass Anvil
It feels apt.

 

[Pororurin]

I personally think that befriending the Forge Name is better than getting an edge sacrament, if we are forced to choose between the two. Biedde's edge sacrament is an unknown effect, or we could befriend the Name, which has a known effect (2AP + ALL IN). Not to mention just how unlikely it is that we actually do get the sacrament, seeing the chances involved. And it very well may be that we need to choose considering the Poisoned Blood Malus, even if we heal it off as soon as possible.

 

[spiderhellian]

Wow. Very cool. I like that even in success there is failure. And even in the joy of creation there is grief in its limitations. And that we have made something great, and yet it feels hollow. I think that fits the Forge of Days, and fits her last working.

And a complicated Name! I like that too!

1. We can convert it to a Forge 6/X 3 artefact for a turn.
2. We can convert its secondary lore to whatever we'd like, as a free action.
3. We have a use for low-level artefacts! Neat!

And a very distinct befriending, huh. 2 Velvet AP + lots of bits + needing a Forge Redemption the turn afterwards (of, ideally, but he sure would be good at casting it...). We could maybe do this next turn, even?

Forge, the lore of transforming and destroying our bit supply, you are a beauty.

 

[ses]

Note that on the subject of Expeditions...

the fact that it can turn itself into an "artifact" essentially means IT CAN ACCOMPANY AXE FOR ZERO BITS to expeditions!

AND WE CAN TAKE IT INTO THE MANSUS!!!(!)

 

[Flaregamer82253]

Definitely him, if we Recalibrate his lesser lore to Grail he auto-passes with his general bonus on it and only needs to roll a 10 to succeed at the Forge check, with the reroll it is very safe to trust him to do it. And since it doesn't seem to cost him an action to instruct Velvet there is no need to not have him do it.

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Okay I know how I want to center the name now

I'm in favor of Rare Item!

(Rarity I'm sorry-)

 

[ses]

Okay I know how I want to center the name now

I'm in favor of Rare Item!

(Rarity I'm sorry-)

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Oh my god it's perfect. Seeing as Rarity is paying for all this goddamn child support that's a brilliant and subtle pun. Subtle enough that it can be unintentional and unnoticed IC as well, which is perfect

 

[W00F3R]

My idea for a name:
Brass Sundial
I think it's kinda fitting.

 

[DelightedOne]

Okay I know how I want to center the name now

I'm in favor of Rare Item!

(Rarity I'm sorry-)

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How ironic. Rarity promised to name her firstborn after Velvet but Velvet had another foal and named it after Rarity. I'm in.

I personally think that befriending the Forge Name is better than getting an edge sacrament, if we are forced to choose between the two. Biedde's edge sacrament is an unknown effect, or we could befriend the Name, which has a known effect (2AP + ALL IN). Not to mention just how unlikely it is that we actually do get the sacrament, seeing the chances involved. And it very well may be that we need to choose considering the Poisoned Blood Malus, even if we heal it off as soon as possible.

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You actually have a good point, though the hunger for Sacraments has been growing so it might not give results.

 

[ses]

Sadly we spent our reagent for the turn so we can't make the Forge 6 reagent regardless until next turn.

And we probably want to turn it into an artifact next turn for the free Book Hunt ticket. I don't think we can make the Forge 6 reagent on a turn it's miniaturized

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

Ah, yes. A bar of Blue Gold to feed the child. A little bit of uranium for the robot horse, as a treat.

 

[DelightedOne]

Okay some of you might have noticed this but we technically have a Lantern Artifact for Selene to use now that the Forge Name is here. Are we going to do it?

 

[Alan975]

I'm in favor of Rare Item!

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YESYESYES ALL MY YES'ES!

 

[spiderhellian]

Okay some of you might have noticed this but we technically have a Lantern Artifact for Selene to use now that the Forge Name is here. Are we going to do it?

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I find it very hard to believe we don't have a better use for its AP than "+30 on a scrying a ritual", lol. Worst-case we just get it to do the ritual!

 

[DelightedOne]

I find it very hard to believe we don't have a better use for its AP than "+30 on a scrying a ritual", lol. Worst-case we just get it to do the ritual!

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What could be better than making sure we can befriend Baldomare?

No really, I'm asking because that gives a lot of help to Selene and also saves his charge.

 

[ses]

What could be better than making sure we can befriend Baldomare?

No really, I'm asking because that gives a lot of help to Selene and also saves his charge.

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It's strictly worse than just having it do the ritual itself. Luna has no applicable inherent lores other than the Name general bonus.

And besides, we have the Lantern 4 artifact. It's just not necessary

 

[DelightedOne]

It's strictly worse than just having it do the ritual itself. Luna has no applicable inherent lores other than the Name general bonus.

And besides, we have the Lantern 4 artifact. It's just not necessary

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But aren't those the exact same numbers? If the Forge Name became a Lantern 3 artifact Selene would have +60 and if he did it alone he would also be rolling +60.

That way we can make sure he saves 1 turn of charge so we don't have to rush too much and lose an Artifact if we are too slow.

Edit: The Artifact we can't use till next turn?

 

[Shaper47]

[] Something else? (WRITE IN)

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[] Teresa
[] Ember
[] Morning Star
[] Cinder
[] Unkindled One
[] Lightbringer

 

[spiderhellian]

Hah. Morning Star, Lightbringer, that's kinda fun.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

It better to just scry and send an expedition for the reagent.

 

[Limabot]

On the name, given that the colt is supposed to basically be a "clock" counting down to the world's final transformation, I would be partial to something that worked that idea in.

How about something like "Bronze Zenith" or "Dawnbringer"?

 

[spiderhellian]

The Same Scene, Eras Prior

You create and you destroy. The lowliest spark is no less a creation than this great working.

Yet, it is true, some workings you attend to more than others.

Your hoofs just moved, as they always did. The Malleary moved with them, as it always does.

Your hoofs moved, and the hammers clanged, and the flames roared into life when change created heat and heat demanded change.

And inevitably, the small pieces came together to form the bigger pieces, until finally everything was fit into its proper place.

And you stared down at your creation.

It was… beautiful. But only in the most clinical and intellectual of senses. It did not evoke the breathlessness of a sunset, or the joy of sunrise. But it was beauty nonetheless.

It was… a clock. A timer, counting down the endless days, tuned precisely to ring at the end of an Era. The ticking of its internal clock acting like a heartbeat of sorts. And for all that it did not resent you or its purpose, it also understood it would stop with the Glorious thrum of its trumpets.

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It was… a companion. You have servants, and tools, and Names, and perhaps even peers. But no real companions, as of late. This will indeed keep you company, and learn what it can, and pass the tools, for all the workings yet to come.

It was perhaps what you wanted…

But it would never be what you needed. What they all needed.

Still, you cannot regret its creation.

Because as you looked down at your latest creation, that masterfully-crafted web of cogs, and metal, and delicately-wrought pieces of clockwork in the shape of a foal, you saw…

…

One day. One day. When the ticking of its heart stops, and all nights finally come to an end.

That is its purpose. That is exactly why it was created. To keep you company, to count the time, and to be a constant reminder of what is to come.

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You cannot be frustrated.

But you think you could be happy, one day. One era.

You look down at the foal you made, and it is not the foal you wish to give to The One You Love.

It is… intriguing. Like a mortal, made out of clockwork and metal. An eccentric piece of art for those who play with your principles in the Wake. To them, it might very well be so great as to be worshipped as a god. But to a god, it is not.

It is, well, foal-sized. And even as it stands, unmoving, amidst the fires of your home, it is dwarfed by anvil and furnace and flame. You made it a pony, because that is what you wished to make, and also because…

Well, this is not the creation you want to give to The One You Love.

With a gesture, the fires flare. The steel glows. A single spark seeds into its chest, and it is alive.

In the Wake, this would be an act of creation unlike any that came before. Here, it may not be commonplace, but it is nothing all that special.

Because this creation is not special enough.

Scarce-heard amid the hammer-falls and bellow-blows, the clock, like a tiny heartbeat of a metronome, begins to tick.

And the cogs around the clock begin to pull their neighbors, and the clockwork around its chest begins to tug at its limbs.

Light shines where there was once dull metal.

And its eyes slowly open.



"Hello, mother," it says, with a voice of metal and copper, but that also sounds innocent and jovial like the song of a bird.

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Of course, it is perfect. It looks like a foal, more than any of your other creations. Even the ones that were once foals themselves.

And what is more, you can already tell it is… perfecting itself. Like anything alive, it creates itself, and destroys itself, moment to moment and era to era. It cannot do a better job than you could, but it can do its own. And you certainly have better things to do.

In the moments before your attention moves on, it is already larger, and smarter, and stronger, and more. All that has happened is the slightest turning of a hundred-hundred gears, but each portends an evolution, and you can see all those changes as clearly as you can see that slightest shift.

It is real. It is yours. It is a child that you made.

…

However, you only thought of one thing, during that last moment you attended to it. It is the only thing you will think of, when your attention rarely returns to it, in the massive volume of moments this era has left to offer you.

It loves you, yes. But only because it was created to do so. The same way a lock is supposed to fasten itself and not yield, and a hammer is supposed to press whatever it strikes. It loves you, and it called you its mother.

But you… do not love it back.

It will never resent you for that, and it knows that perfectly well.

But still…

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This is not the child you wish to give The One You Love.

You will have to make a better one, one of these days.

Spoiler: AN

I read the scene creating the Forge Name, and I thought -- "Cool!"

Then I read it again, and I thought -- "Wow, this exact scene has happened before, hasn't it. Every piece of it."

It was stated, to some extent, but also fun to write out. The Forge really is the character at the center of this quest's deep mysteries, and I love every bit we learn of her.

I'm glad she did better, later on. And I'm curious to learn more about that, too, one of these days soon.

 

[Shaper47]

It better to just scry and send an expedition for the reagent.

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It's less effort to just create it.

We could have even befriended our new daughter Name this turn if it wasn't for the self sabotage via half hearted moralizing.

 

[Uruguayan spider]

[X] (MAREINETTE) You introduced her to Cadance, yes, but you are still very interested in her endeavors.
-You will signal to Mareinette that you are still interested in your ongoing relationship. She will hold you for that.
-From what you hear, Mareinette will continue to mostly lounge in your estate and wander around Ponyville. To the delight of the farmhoofs that adore her.
-This is a free action, and will not interfere in Mareinette's ability to serve you.

 

[Limabot]

[X] (MAREINETTE) You introduced her to Cadance, yes, but you are still very interested in her endeavors.
-You will signal to Mareinette that you are still interested in your ongoing relationship. She will hold you for that.
-From what you hear, Mareinette will continue to mostly lounge in your estate and wander around Ponyville. To the delight of the farmhoofs that adore her.
-This is a free action, and will not interfere in Mareinette's ability to serve you.

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Voting hasn't opened yet. You will have to repost this in about 9-10 hours for this to count.

 

[Shaper47]

Invitation: You do not know any creature that may help you

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Interesting...

Sigh, I just hope this sabotage doesn't continue so we can actually befriend our Forge Name.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Velvet, how could you not love your foal? How could you Mother 7 fail you here, at the crucial moment?

Inb4 Stormchaser adopts the colt despite Velvet not wanting to give him the colt, to follow in Silky's hoofsteps of Name acquisition.

Also I will push for Mareinette to hang out with Cadence for a reason not rooted in morals whatsoever: I want more scenes of Her Royal Highness, Princess Mareidance, and that can't happen on the Velvet Estate!

 

[Bakkasama]

Ok, so to befriend the Forge Name as soon as possible we would have to:

Use our free reagent AP and 80 bits to craft a Forge 4 reagent in turn 23 (since we don't have the bits to do so in turn 22)
Use 110 bits, 2 Velvet AP and 1 Forge name AP and 1 Velvet max HP to refine the reagent and feed it to the Name in turn 24.
At some point do the Forge's redemption to recover our maximum HP.

Interesting...

Sigh, I just hope this sabotage doesn't continue so we can actually befriend our Forge Name.

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Dramatic much? They probably just haven't gotten around to change it yet, that post was last edited in february.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Huh. I guess this is technically true. But honestly, it's not how I was taking it.

Maybe it is that I want this settled one way or the other. But I was definitely personally interpreting this as "Okay, if we don't vote for Mareinette here, I'm going to stop arguing for the Grail Sacrament". And assume it's not happening, that we're not interested in her friendship but we'd love her to be friends with Caddy instead. We'll get by with what costs we have to pay, what effects that has, and hey All-In will come soon enough.

I wonder if other people see it that way too, or see it differently?

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Hah! Just getting Mareinette to hang out with Cadance more is not going to stop people from arguing for cannibalism. As long as it's an option, people will argue for it. Like the Wolf Sacraments.

It's less effort to just create it.

We could have even befriended our new daughter Name this turn if it wasn't for the self sabotage via half hearted moralizing.

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How would we have had the bits for that? Biedde performing religious duties would only have netted us another 60 bits, that's not even the cost of the Forge 4 Reagent.

 

[Gordian_Knot]

Gonna put my vote down for Fervent Spark.