searching [OOC] The Æther Project

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

Am curious how long you plan to have this RP last for - if you have a set goal in mind, or if it's more open. I have to say that this has been one of my favorite RPs to date.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@WinterS

You promised you weren't changing your name again...

 

Unfortunately I think the arc after this one will be the last arc for the story. I'm not the kind of person who can just keep a story going like @Blitz Boom can.

If there's still interest at the end of the next arc I'll see what I can do, but no promises.

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

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You promised you weren't changing your name again...

I say that every time. Maybe I don't say it this time, it will stick? Reverse jinx it?
 

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Unfortunately I think the arc after this one will be the last arc for the story.

If that is to be the case, then how would you wanna plan on a good ending, then?

[Blitz Boom 4,627]

@Illiad Easle

When in doubt, you can always time skip. I'm sure you'd have some idea, how things would be going, when they'd eventually have to return to the world, as an example, yes? It ain't too hard to keep a story going. You just have to look past your arc, and wonder: What's the aftermath, and potential stories after this?

And then you just BS through until you get to a point, where you have a tangible idea of what you want to do.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Kujamih

2 hours ago, Kujamih said:

Light did not steal your sword it was flunged away from you when you got hit.

Where did you get this idea? I didn't say in my post that she lost her sword, so she still had the sword when Light summoned it. And the post where Light summoned it made no reference to Light having lost it.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Kujamih @WinterS @Blitz Boom

The character Light has broken the fourth wall to talk to the writers directly, requesting to be removed from the RP.

I figure I should at least take your inputs before making a decision. Light's crimes are multiversal in scale, having destroyed an entire dimension, so I fear that removing limiters would simply cause this dimension to also be destroyed.

Thoughts?

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

I think Light's abilities for this RP seem to be too OP, destroying dimensions, etc, is more akin to a god if anything.

[Blitz Boom 4,627]

4 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

@Kujamih

Where did you get this idea? I didn't say in my post that she lost her sword, so she still had the sword when Light summoned it. And the post where Light summoned it made no reference to Light having lost it.

Also, Last is a fighter. Is she out of her depth here? Yes, but that doesn't mean that she's just gonna lose grasp in her weapon out of nowhere. She'll keep on to that, til her teeth are cracking.

And really, it's rather in character for Light to nick her weapon. At least the parts of him we have been witnessing thus far.

4 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

The character Light has broken the fourth wall to talk to the writers directly, requesting to be removed from the RP.

I figure I should at least take your inputs before making a decision. Light's crimes are multiversal in scale, having destroyed an entire dimension, so I fear that removing limiters would simply cause this dimension to also be destroyed.

Thoughts?

I'm... Torn.

I think there's space for Light, but he'll need to have his power hampered substantially, for something to be an actual obstacle for him. As he is now, he's a danger to those around him, and a multi-tool against enemies, making obstacles hard to get into the story. I think that's affecting your creativity too.

If I were to make a suggestion... Well, @Kujamih would have to agree too, but I think it could be good for him, if he had to face off against this other threat, and to cancel her out/a last act from her during their encounter, he'd end up getting the majority of his power, or even all of it, put behind powerful seals. And to unlock them, over time, he'd need to prove himself.

Great acts of selfless acts. Lives saved, rather than taken. Lessons in humility, compassion, empathy- Things that he struggles with now, as he have taken so many lives, that he's not even fazed, and his attitude is rather high maintenance in it.

Just a suggestion, but might prove a good arc for Light too, and would lead to him perhaps, over time, emerging whole again, but this time, a better being. From a demon, to a hero.

Just my two cents.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

@Blitz Boom

Oh I misread it hahaha. Let's just say that Light was ticked off of your character being weak or something. 

I'm really sorry I'm doing RP on the go and while on work.... I guess I'm a very busy person.... And I thought I was lazy... Nah I am... 🤣

Dang this reminds me of thinking of the past things I've done and wondering why I did that.... Most be my fate( writer) doing something stupid. 

@Blitz Boom

@Illiad Easle @WinterS

The scroll is the reason he isn't OP since it's the rule I gave him so that he can travel other dimension since he destroyed what I made... Little did he know I allowed that to happen.

The scroll rules say:

"You are not allowed to be the strongest of anything or anyone within the dimension you have visited."

Hence he cannot do his antics without the writers consent.

One reason why he has the ability again to talk to us is because you summoned Disarray.

Hence disarray is one of the strongest OC in this dimension... Making light second to her, but not enough to kill her. Because he can't be the strongest.

You summoned Disarray (not sure if an illusion or not but just mentioning her and thinking about her can bring her strength back. Just like discord if the act of discord is gone then he will be gone and if discord is present he will become whole again. Same as Disarray. And what better capsule than Light.)

Which required the death of many others just to die down and trapped within the broken realms.

But waking Light's fears and worry about her may it be an illusion or a trick can make Light's will to lock her up loosen and cause Disarray to be really freed here.

So you guys are about to let loose Disarray in this Dimension... This will probably make her one of the villain in this dimension and has no reins since she didn't get the right process in getting in this story... Unless Light stops the empress. 

Disarray is stronger than discord though.. since Disarray is the perfected draconicous of pinkie pie. Which we knew that the princess of chaos pinkie pie made discord run for his money, when she just got the chaos power. And in the series pinkie has full control of discords power at the ending she can make it rain chocolate rain while cozy Glow couldn't even control it.

So either tear the scroll and let light and the empress and the kitsune be throwned out of this dimension And have less OP characters here, or you let Light die and have the empress and Disarray play around here.

 

 

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Kujamih @WinterS @Blitz Boom

I guess this is another reason why I much prefer the fandom over the show, because the show just keeps doing things that I don't like / don't want in my adapted stories. That's why my canon officially breaks from show canon at the end of season 3 so that I can avoid the decisions going forward that I don't like.

For instance, I assert that draconequui are not omnipotent, they are not gods. They can and have been defeated by regular creatures from time to time who represent the opposite of the draconequis' source of power. Discord is defeated by harmony, Fury would be defeated by forgiveness, they can also be simply overpowered by a stronger / smarter foe like how Discord had his magic stolen and was captured by changelings.

That being said, even if I allow Disarray to exist here, it won't be like @Kujamih said, since this universe operates under different rules.

Empress Arcana is only using the likeness of Disarray to subdue Light, to scare him, having lifted the memory from his mind. As powerful as she is, she cannot pull something through dimensions that she doesn't know where it is, nor would she bring something to rival her power.

3 hours ago, Kujamih said:

but just mentioning her and thinking about her can bring her strength back.

No, not accepting that. Talking about Discord didn't make him any more powerful. Besides, technically Empress Arcana is speaking in Unique, translated by thoughts, so she isn't really saying her name.

3 hours ago, Kujamih said:

So either tear the scroll and let light and the empress and the kitsune be throwned out of this dimension And have less OP characters here, or you let Light die and have the empress and Disarray play around here.

Also, false dichotomy, these two options are NOT the only two options here. @Kujamih is not in a position to lay down such an ultimatum.

 

I do appreciate your thoughts, the current plan is for @Kujamih to make a new character to replace Light, similar to @WinterS with Merlot, and Light will make a sacrifice play here to defeat the Empress and allow the others to escape safely. Any objections to this plan?

[Starforce 26]

@Kujamih @Illiad Easle

Who is Disarray? Who is the empress? I am afraid I'm not following this.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@WinterS

Disarray might be a character from the show, might be a character of @Kujamih's creation, she's not important to your character or the story beyond Light.

The Empress or Empress Arcana is the powerful entity that you were all just recently fighting, the one speaking into your heads and controlling the undead.

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

Arcana, from what I can tell, is that she was the Empress of the Unicorns there and she went mad, amassing power from the subjects she once ruled over by stealing their horns?

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

In season 2 what helped discord escape the stone prison was discord between the cutie mark crusaders... Sure it's not really just because of the cutie mark crusaders... It might have built up on the process.

And later episodes show that discord dies without discord and returns back to existence because of discord. Hence the season 2 discord between the cutie mark crusaders solidify that theory.

Anyway you can't say what Disarray can do or not do since first off all I didn't give you permission to use her and we didn't agree to any rules set upon her. Hence what my disarray is will be the disarray be here. That is if she successfully get out... Which we shouldn't, hence please let's kill her and kick Light out. 

The plan was always to let Light get out of there...

You know what scares me is that Disarray is feeling quite alive right now and is trying to break free.... 

It's already causing disarray to the story.... 

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Kujamih

The subject of Disarray is not up for discussion as it is a moot point anyway. I am not allowing her to enter this story beyond Light's memories as conjured by the Empress. The memories are exclusively to scare Light.

I simply don't have the energy to debate the nature of draconequui right now, nor will I for several months as I get my degree. I've laid out how they work here in my universe, and that is simply the way of things. The final main arc will not feature any of them except on the sidelines as an advice giver or ominous distant ever-present evil.

I'm hoping that the last arc will also be much simpler, as I really overextended myself on this arc and started taking shortcuts, sacrificing plot elements I was looking forward to in an effort to just get through it.

Actually...

 

@Blitz Boom @WinterS @Kujamih

Maybe I should take a poll. Please be honest, and you can send me a DM if you'd prefer.

Are you enjoying this arc? Specifically, the plot, the characters, and the events?

Do you think it's progressing too slowly? Too quickly?

Would you prefer if some events had gone differently leading up to where we are now?

Do you want to see more in this area? Or are you eager for it to be over and have the story move on?

I look forward to your honest thoughts. 

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

Give me a day or two and I will get back to you. Am out of town. Will give a complete response to you when I am home.

[Blitz Boom 4,627]

@Kujamih

Keep in mind, as were written, this is not the Disaray you have used, in your own stories. It's an illusion. Big difference between a real thing, and an illusion. Light's fears are being played on, and thus, Illiad is taking things that scares him. In this case, Disaray, yet it isn't real. The fact he doesn't know how she acts, should be more of a warning sign to Light, that she isn't real, over being something taken without permission.

As for the power level of draconequui, I'm with Illiad. They're not gods, they're demi-gods. Immortal, powerful, but not unbeatable. Oftentimes, their own hubris, over how they're better than others, leads to their downfall. Discord being a prime example of that. Furthermore, this is Illiad's setting, and thus, his rules and limitations are in play. It's like a game of D&D. Just with less goblin seduction... So far. 

5 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

Maybe I should take a poll. Please be honest, and you can send me a DM if you'd prefer.

Are you enjoying this arc? Specifically, the plot, the characters, and the events?

Do you think it's progressing too slowly? Too quickly?

Would you prefer if some events had gone differently leading up to where we are now?

Do you want to see more in this area? Or are you eager for it to be over and have the story move on?

I look forward to your honest thoughts. 

I like the arc, and the story. Sure I'm used to Last being more useful, but getting her bashed around some, is good for her ego.  And she got a shiny new poker to play with, when they're out. There's some good in that.

The characters thus far, I enjoy. The kitsune and the reasonings behind her seems solid, and while I normally see kitsune as not being this powerful, this is one individual. Some are bound to be much more powerful than others, and even if this is your standard... Eh, your universe, I'll roll with things.  Though I am tempted to make use of a regular level kitsune, hiding among the ponies on The Æther sometimes. xD Illusions and trickery can be fun.

As for the progression speed... Seems fine. A bit rushed at times, but I figured the delay between things, makes you want us to get through some of the key story elements you looked forward to, and that Light's tendency to invalidate obstacles, exhausted some challenges from your mind.

Regarding events turning out differently... Curious what would've happened, if they hadn't smashed the golem, but beyond that, the events seem to go smoothly, towards a targeted end point.

I wouldn't mind seeing more of the area, but it relies on your, most of all. If you have no desire for it, then we'll move towards something you do want. Though personally, I wouldn't mind if once they grabbed Nexus, they had to find an alternative path out, due to them causing trouble down the previous path.

There are my thoughts, point for point.

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

I definitely wanted to do more with Merlot I have to say, but if you lack ideas for her side of the story I won't force you. I know that I would have liked to do more with Maud and Trixie back then, but I ended up losing interest with playing them anyways, it seemed like that plotline with them didn't really amount to anything, but we can at least come up with some sort of conclusion to their arcs OOC and talk about what their fates will be.

My idea for Spiral is that she would assassinate Apollo, and declare herself the leader of the project, for genuine reasons, to help those aboard and remind those aboard - of the desolation that war brings. Would enjoy playing that out in the story.

As for this current story, I honestly don't understand what is going on so I just went with the flow. From what I gather, the unicorns were rather self serving and captured the Kitsune for less than benign reasons and they are going to free someone important to the Kitsune by why wouldn't they free the Kitsune as well? And the Empress is the 'villain' here?

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

Well I didn't want you guys to really touch disarray... She is my OC. And I have rules for her. And won't use her IF you guys don't like her BUT someone used her without my permission... I'm fine with it... But you gotta play with her rules then... If not then don't put her there and just make a new character to make him scared of something.

 

Ahhh... You see disarray is pinkie... And she is the element of laughter turned to draconicous.... Hence laughter/happiness is her power and her reason to exist...

Hence light had to kill everyone... Even his emotions to her supposed mother so she wouldn't exist. Even a single hint of her mother can cause him to break and end up actually releasing her for real this time...

Anyway again. You guys didn't discuss to me about MY OC joining this RP, and I have plans for this OC Disarray.

Hopefully the scroll would be torn apart so we don't have to deal with disarray. 

 

Anyway in this story line I don't mind it ... I did make a lot of mistakes, sorry about that... I've been doing things on the go and am really tired and what not... Vacation work then funeral.... Then RP... I'm supposed to be lazy.... How did I end up like this.... 

 

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Kujamih @Blitz Boom @WinterS

Alright, thank you for your comments here, I do find them helpful. First to talk to the individual points:

On 2022-09-02 at 12:53 AM, Blitz Boom said:

Though personally, I wouldn't mind if once they grabbed Nexus, they had to find an alternative path out, due to them causing trouble down the previous path.

That was the original plan, they were supposed to get to the Nexus having followed Ficus all the way there, and then Ficus would die in the Nexus chamber forcing them to try and remember the way out without a guide.

But then Ficus died early so it would be unsatisfying if she died again later just for that.

17 hours ago, WinterS said:

I definitely wanted to do more with Merlot I have to say, but if you lack ideas for her side of the story I won't force you.

I will still have things for her to do, I just wanted to stay focused on this arc so as to not have to deal too much with things moving at different speeds while this arc is moving. Being a pilot she will be very useful in the final main act.

17 hours ago, WinterS said:

My idea for Spiral is that she would assassinate Apollo, and declare herself the leader of the project,

I'm not opposed to this, I gave you a weapon for that purpose after all, but you'll have to do this very carefully as simply assassinating Apollo will make him a martyr and perhaps unify the project against you instead of behind you. You'll first have to convince the denizens of the project that Apollo poses a clear danger before killing him will be seen as a favorable move by the residents.

17 hours ago, WinterS said:

As for this current story, I honestly don't understand what is going on so I just went with the flow. From what I gather, the unicorns were rather self serving and captured the Kitsune for less than benign reasons and they are going to free someone important to the Kitsune by why wouldn't they free the Kitsune as well? And the Empress is the 'villain' here?

I'll try and explain. This area is the original homelands for the unicorns before the founding of Equestria as described in the Hearthswarming tale. Only the tale is a simplified and kid-friendly account of what was actually happening told by those who weren't really exposed to the true horrors of what was actually going on.

The three races were at war, each trying to gain an edge over the other two in an endless cycle that was devastating the land. Each group sent out settlers to try and find new land made from residents of the capitols that had not seen the extent of the damage that conflict had caused or the horrors enacted by the other races which had made peace unthinkable to the higher ups. While those settlers went out and jointly founded Equestria, the remaining leadership were preparing their own versions of weapons that would end the war permanently. The unicorns created the Arcane Nexus, which would allow the user to wield all of the magic in the empire at once in a single devastating attack. But the populous didn't know that, if you died while channeling magic into the nexus, your soul would become bound to it until the central caster stopped casting. The Empress knew this, and wanted to ensure that she'd be able to wield the power forever, but also knew that she couldn't keep casting forever, so she had her daughter sealed in amber to serve as the focal point of the nexus, ever casting in an endless loop until the Empress needed her to cast something different. That done, she had the nexus cast a mind-control spell to get everyone in the empire to channel into the nexus, the more that channeled the stronger the control grew, then once everyone or nearly everyone in the empire was channeling, the Empress changed the spell to freeze everything, instantly killing everyone and permanently binding their souls to the nexus, allowing her all the power in the empire to destroy the other two kingdoms, but leaving herself the only one remaining.

The kitsune then trapped her in her own delusions to keep her from leaving the homelands. The kitsune is not the prisoner here, she is the warden.

I hope that makes sense?

4 hours ago, Kujamih said:

Well I didn't want you guys to really touch disarray... She is my OC. And I have rules for her.

You're right, and I'm sorry that you feel she was used without permission. It was not my intention. I only intended to reference her, not actually use her.

 

Alright, let's discuss more general things.

I'll admit I made a few mistakes of my own out of annoyance and poor communication. Honestly I should have been quicker to express my frustration with Light's gradually increasing power earlier, rather than trying to make bigger and stronger enemies to knock him back down. The fact that he seemed to always be prepared for any situation and capable of mitigating anything I threw at him was part of why I ended up making the Kitsune and Empress as powerful as they were and outright starting to overrule previously established abilities, like stating that the Kitsune's magic is unaffected by the changeling crystals and such. This arc essentially became "How can I stop Light from stealing the show and give the other characters a chance at succeeding?" Which then became, "How can I get the other players to directly compete with Light?" Which ended up here as "Kill Light before he becomes a god."

And that isn't fair to all of you.

Here's what I'm thinking, and I'll be pretty transparent about my plans so we can see what you guys are most interesting in having occur:

First, we rewind back to when you opened the door to the Jester's chamber. I wasn't originally planning for them to be a kitsune, but I think that's the best analogue for Jevil that exists in my canon. If you have other ideas for a chaotic good type trickster creature I'm open to suggestions.

Then we adjust the story. I originally wanted the Jester encounter to be a mental one just to keep the relative power levels inconsequential, essentially putting everyone on an equal playing field in terms of problem solving rather than a fight, while the encounter with the Empress would be more of a straight up fight such that Light would get the time to shine that he had been denied previously to result in a heroic sendoff rather than an attempt at redemption.

So, through the Jester encounter on the mental plane they can convince the Jester that they have good intentions and will save the Jester's friend, rather than simply destroy her to accomplish their mission. No one dies, and those who complete the mental challenges especially well will be given some extra power to help them proceed, for instance Ficus having better guiding ability so as to not get them lost getting to the next stage.

The fight with the Empress plays out similarly to how it has gone this time, only we leave out any mention of Disarray, and Light can be seen as a hero by his companions rather than a dangerous nuisance.

 

What do you guys think? Is it worth rewinding the story to get a better story? Or would you rather carry on where we are and simply pretend that the better story happened as I described? 

[Starforce 26]

@Illiad Easle

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I will still have things for her to do, I just wanted to stay focused on this arc so as to not have to deal too much with things moving at different speeds while this arc is moving. Being a pilot she will be very useful in the final main act.

Sounds like a plan to me. I look forward to that. Now, Merlot's character is basically inspired a lot by my personality. She is genuinely wanting to help others, and sees things to the point where many others will not do it right, so perhaps she sees herself as the way to do that, whatever that way will be. Unlike Spiral, she never had any bad histories or self serving nature. Merlot in a sense, as deep as she can seem at times, feels as if she's still an innocent soul who hasn't seen these things up close, but now she will, evidently.

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I'm not opposed to this, I gave you a weapon for that purpose after all, but you'll have to do this very carefully as simply assassinating Apollo will make him a martyr and perhaps unify the project against you instead of behind you. You'll first have to convince the denizens of the project that Apollo poses a clear danger before killing him will be seen as a favorable move by the residents.

I am not exactly sure how that will go. I find myself forgetting a lot of what Apollo was, and is. From what I remember, he is a somewhat self serving figure who seems to only care about his own power? I don't remember much else beyond that, so for the arc of that character, I am going to need more information for when we get to this part. As for Spiral herself, up until about half way through the RP she only cared about her own power, and not she knows the desolation that power seeking brings, and wants to turn herself around, and make up for the wrongs that she did of her own accord.

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The kitsune then trapped her in her own delusions to keep her from leaving the homelands. The kitsune is not the prisoner here, she is the warden.

I hope that makes sense?

Yes that makes perfect sense to me and I find it a very fascinating and original take on this storyline. 

 

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Alright, let's discuss more general things.

I'll admit I made a few mistakes of my own out of annoyance and poor communication. Honestly I should have been quicker to express my frustration with Light's gradually increasing power earlier, rather than trying to make bigger and stronger enemies to knock him back down. The fact that he seemed to always be prepared for any situation and capable of mitigating anything I threw at him was part of why I ended up making the Kitsune and Empress as powerful as they were and outright starting to overrule previously established abilities, like stating that the Kitsune's magic is unaffected by the changeling crystals and such. This arc essentially became "How can I stop Light from stealing the show and give the other characters a chance at succeeding?" Which then became, "How can I get the other players to directly compete with Light?" Which ended up here as "Kill Light before he becomes a god."

This was an issue I had with Light as well. When a character is so powerful and can basically avoid consequences by simply being powerful, then that simply isn't an interesting thing to RP with.

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What do you guys think? Is it worth rewinding the story to get a better story? Or would you rather carry on where we are and simply pretend that the better story happened as I described? 

Seeing as how long it took to get where we are, and as I want to use Merlot more in the future - I would prefer we just say it happened as you described, and we can 'finish' off the Arc with the defeat of the Empress? No need to complicate this with re-writes and such, we continue with the story as you described having happened, thus move on to the next Arc. 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

I was actually doing not much though and was trying to be a support type. I thought I'd just give a back and forth thing. I didn't expect that he is doing so much all on his own... That's why I use buff skills for the party, gave last stand a sword and practically on a defensive... I usually let the others attack first and just act as back up right?... If so I didn't know sorry about that. I think the only time I did initiative was the golem, and I was actually planning to not attack it but last stand had to charge in... I did support her but nada... And I thought my attacks wouldn't work since the doors had magic stronger than mine so I thought the golem is the same.... But I ended up one shot it... I thought it'd give more fight.

 

And I do admit that I wanted to quicken the story here to get back to the project.... I mean does this arc help the final arc? Or is this just a filler arc? 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

Again Light is more of an observer though... That's why he tries to get close to spiral and Last Stand since he knows they have the potential to over throw Apollo. And the reason why he looks like he wants to act like a hero is actually just wanted to protect this group.

Reason why he didn't want to charge the golem to save Spiral is he didn't want the rest to fall victim.

Reason why he is too chummy with the others was he thought Molotov's way would work... Which is flirting... Which didn't work😆 ( plus it's fun that way).

Also I thought I didn't made him that OP... I desperately escaped Apollo, I got lost in the maze... Introduced to fury and tried to help him... Assisted the dogs in saving them,( I actually didn't want Light to do anything about it but that bit was taking too long and no one was actually doing much. But my heroism there became bad for some reason...) 

And the test thing... I'm sure I healed last... Then going to the frozen waste land... Then stuff happened. 

I just don't want to badly end it like what the rest did by just quiting because they got tired or feel like it. So if Light dies I'm good, at least I didn't quit on you 

[Starforce 26]

@Kujamih

Maybe Light ends up dying, and you could use a new character that doesn't have the same issues with writing that Light did?

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

7 minutes ago, WinterS said:

@Kujamih

Maybe Light ends up dying, and you could use a new character that doesn't have the same issues with writing that Light did?

Sure thing... So you vote for tearing the scroll?