Realm of Gadigan

[23:28] Gadigan: Preliminary warning: Some of this stuff differs pretty decently from the dream-version of things and is still undergoing refinement. As a result, stuff is semi-likely to be changed around a bit when I do detailed outlines, and I'm apt to occasionally get things mixed up and start working off the original-game/dream versions of things. (Everyone's names are different in the current version for the early Ascensions. There were some goofy names the first time round.)
[23:29] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 1st Chapter of the 1st Ascension is The Dark King.
The Traitor Fight of the 1st Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Argantannion.
The Chapter Boss of the 2nd Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Waerus.
The Personal Foe of Syliri is Dyreimes the Artist, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 2nd Chapter of the 1st Ascension. There's about a 50/50 this his place is swapping with Waeras.
The Chapter Boss of the 3rd Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Thousandfold-Emperor Galshumakko.
The Personal Foe of Erhaquss is Salshubarass, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 3rd Chapter of the 1st Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 4th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Conicus.
[23:29] Gadigan: The Personal Foe of Kamadeus is Kohlmorne, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 4th Chapter of the 1st Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 5th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Belschmetz.
The Personal Foe of Ayurdunis is Morrisant, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 5th Chapter of the 1st Ascension. Morrisnant won't be appearing twice in the selection pot since he's already there as an Ascendant.
The Chapter Boss of the 6th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Deathking Mortachhus.
The Personal Foe of Parmansus is Archlich Ehrlekt, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 6th Chapter of the 1st Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 7th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Asular, Endbringer.
The Personal Foe of Anadar is Albardi, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 7th Chapter of the 1st Ascension. Albardi won't be appearing twice either since he's already in the pot as the traitor on another Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 8th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Nathquorlo the Eradicationist.
[23:29] Gadigan: The Personal Foe of Gazhanniz is Kelsius Darkfeather, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 8th Chapter of the 1st Ascension. Kelsius won't be appearing twice either since he's in there as an Ascendant.
The Chapter Boss of the 9th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Kasura. She won't be appearing twice since she's already there as an Ascendant. I'm seriously considering switching her place with Seretian.
The Personal Foe of Klureimel is Proress Seretian, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 9th Chapter of the 1st Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Master Anandale.
The Second Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 1st Ascension is Dargannon.
Not really sure what's happening with Chapter 11. It's always been kinda hazy and to-be-determined. Maybe I'll redo numbering and make the Prologues Chapter 1 and meld 11 with 12.
The Final Boss of the First Ascension, fought at the end of Chapter 12, is the Universal Control System KIRGA.
[23:30] The Nottest of Daves: It's Dargannon!
[23:31] Gadigan: It is
[23:32] Gadigan: The Council of Netheryn manages to summon him in at the end of Chapter 10, and the Ascendants rise to Higher Reality, where he came from (emanated by the KIRGA as one of its deletion processes) after defeating him
[23:34] Gadigan: I'm going to leave things at that for the night, may try to get info on those folks' skillsets at some point
[23:34] Gadigan: Organization of this is going to suffer because of the Ascendant/boss overlap
[23:34] Gadigan: Particularly in early Ascensions
[23:34] Gadigan: A fair number of the 2nd Ascension's folks were the villains who succeeded in being dedicated and entertaining against the 1st



[22:57] Gadigan: The Dark King - Invulnerability to basic attacks, Leadership targeting phantom-allies and self, Sacrifice of pseudo-entities for benefits, Benefitting from non-equipped heavy armor combined with equipped clothes, Wielding unequipped weapons, Spellstrike Dark-Magic-on-melee (also Enchantment)
Waerus - Shapeshifters, Gaining the powers of specific entities from the Enemy List in mass quantities, Umbramancy, Replicating entities' actions, Lycanthropy, AOE attacks that deny gear, Mass summoning / hybrid-entity-summoning
Dyreimes the Artist - Battlespace creation, involuntary battlespace transport, Summoning, Element-shift, Creating non-entity presences that have varied destruction conditions that amplify summons until they are destroyed, Summoning temporary/invincible Golem-versions of things, Fake geomancy
Thousandfold-Emperor Galshumakko - Aliens, Leadership, Extending his own Level and buffs to allies, Dominion, Amplifying allies attacks based on how many other allies attacked in a round, Letting allies act across battlespaces, Formation control / enemy position-lock
Salshubarass - Swords, Sword Arts, Combat Arts, Chasing cross-battlespace movement, Attacking the entire enemy team while performing counter-lockdown and super-attacks on a single main target, Forcing opponents to accept fake allies on their team that they must defend or suffer alternate loss conditions
[22:57] Gadigan: Conicus - Time, Undoing effects, Repeating effects, Looping rounds while keeping some things preserved, Fake savepoints, Rewind, Forced auto-battle, Effects with timers, Effects with phases that activate each round / can be rotated, Elementals, Spirits, Swords
Kholmorne - Magic Beings, Spirits, Divination, Robes, Time, Round-rewind combined with predictive seer-defenses, Counterspells and specific anti-magic stances, Books, Pretending to exit battle, Forcing opponents to act through counters and prep only by ignoring non-counter action results
Belschmetz - Demons, Demon Magic, Elementals, Interdicting attacks with summons, Souls, Gaining the powers of dead allies / trapped enemies, Ritual Magic, Shutdown of Divine Magic
[22:57] Gadigan: Working on more
[22:59] The Nottest of Daves: iiiiiinnnteresting
[23:13] Gadigan: Deathking Mortacchus - Melee-Necromancy, Mass Undead summons, Usurping control of Undead, Killing summons and bringing them back as Undead, Bonuses upon the death of entities, Gaining the powers of dead individuals, Heavy Armor, Shields, Axes, Drain, Unhealable Damage, Formations and direct-chains
Archlich Ehrlekt - Wizard Magic, Necromancy, Staffs, Auras, Disguising Necromancy effects, Contingent drain, Level drain/loss, Stacking progressively-more-aggressive combinations of defensive buffs, Being pseudo-dead when advantageous, Self-resurrection, Non-healing-based self-HP-recovery, Spell theft
Asular, Endbringer - Massive AOE attacks, Catastrophe Magic, Summoning amplified upper/lower planar beings, Destroying effect types and schools of magic, Resurrection prevention, Gear destruction, Cannot-target-me awe effects, Replacing geomancy with damage clouds, Summon interdiction/cannibalization
Nathquorlo the Eradicationist - Dodge/Counter-on-Dodge, Auto-hit, Assassination strikes, Instant Death, Endless cleave, Multi-hit, Damage spikes, Blink tanking, Extending Sword/Axe/Throwing Weapon/Knife/Deadly Item skills to all weapon types, Excessive multiwield, Lowering own defenses for super-offense stances, Extinction-effects that remove summon options / Eidolons / etc
[23:13] Gadigan: Prioress Seretian - Robes, Mass summoning / sacrificting / cannibalizing Arch-Demons/Devils/Daemons and Fiends, Ripping Deity Effects off of beings and becoming their source, Dark Magic as Divine Magic and vice-versa, Exploiting her allies' weaknesses to indirectly target enemies while evading defenses, Creating and hiding battlespaces that generate battle-ending effects over time, Ally-killing mass directs, MP Damage/Drain, Curses
Master Anandale - Ritual Magic, Summoning, Geomancy, Summoning bosses and creating sub-battles that he forces enemies into, Evocations, Channeling/empowering semi-Eidolon-style Pillars/Endbringers, End-of-round super-attacks, Abjuration, Enchantment
Dargannon - Mass destruction, Sacrificing self-control of massively-increased power, Utterly ignoring lower-Level things, Ignoring battlespaces and geomancy, Ignoring and mass-consuming summons, Turning things he kills into bombs
Universal Control System KIRGA - Controlling everything, Preventing opponents from making decisions, Redefining the rules, Becoming immune to everything, Forcing other things to rely on your status being good, Overruling effects and immunities, Summons with infinite actions
[23:14] Gadigan: And that's the list for the 1st
[23:15] The Nottest of Daves: Oh my
[23:15] The Nottest of Daves: KIRGA
[23:16] Gadigan: Yep. The first Ascension endboss
[23:16] Gadigan: Personal subtype of Administrator
[23:16] The Nottest of Daves: How did they beat it?
[23:18] Fruedestruction: soooo
[23:18] Gadigan: Making their own Universal Control System and operating within a parallel, semi-unassailable ruleset was the main trick
That is, of course, combined with being Level 9,999 Ascendants with full individual skillsets, combined with a massive mutli-form boss battle
[23:18] Fruedestruction: KIRGA is pretty much the Master Control Program?
[23:19] Gadigan: Yes
[23:19] Gadigan: It also took the role of the Sources (at an even higher Level) before they existed
[23:19] Gadigan: Only it wasn't element-restricted. It had all the elements that existed at the time
[23:22] Gadigan: Add Curses to Seretian. She has those in notable numbers too



[23:42] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 1st Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is The Dragon King.
The Traitor Fight of the 1st Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Barax Zaratome.
The Chapter Boss of the 2nd Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Astratarach.
The Personal Foe of Elena Durinteyn is Emperor Gentnal, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 2nd Chapter of the 3rd Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 3rd Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Mr. Zaranadu.
The Personal Foe of Jarn Arbedo is Helene Sepherys, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 3rd Chapter of the 3rd Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 4th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Xeirabrestys. He gets Zeero Megameganono as an assistant for the fight, but he's the one with the official position and skillset on the list.
The Personal Foe of Raynold Darrantmoore is Grand Archduke Oralund, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 4th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 5th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Brathwaterzein.
The Personal Foe of Zhuren Wenzei is The Queen of Autumn, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 5th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension. There's at least some chance of her switching places with Brathwaterzein.
[23:42] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 6th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Anton Carassius.
The Personal Foe of Keiradandrel is Dessius the Traitor, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 6rd Chapter of the 3rd Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 7th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Malburgeon Zalderos. Naria and Maleficus are also around for the battle, but Naria is an Ascendant and Maleficus isn't at full power, so I'm giving the title and skillset-pick to Malburgeon. at least at present.
The Personal Foe of Illyri Hope is Miermalech the Killer, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 7th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 8th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is The Pan-Dimensional Quantum Potentiality Information Overmind. She's probably notable for being an entirely-hijacked Ascension boss who isn't intentionally operating against the Ascendants.
The Personal Foe of Aryx Syrim is Melmazar Laplace, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 8th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension. Kelsius won't be appearing twice either since he's in there as an Ascendant.
The Chapter Boss of the 9th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Da’Re’Huel.
The Personal Foe of Armistead Ilreynden is Grand Vizier Haziz Ib’Dahakari, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 9th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension. Getting this skillset is going to be weird. The guy is still around, but massively depowered and generally unable to do much without a win for his faction. Being given his power back (or taking it from someone who gets it) would pretty much immediately catapult him from being stuck at low-power to being one of the most dangerous things in the accessable setting.
The Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Arsansil, the All-Weaver.
The Second Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 3rd Ascension is Lord Shalmarkion.
Chapter 11 is still blurry.
The Final Boss of the Third Ascension, fought at the end of Chapter 12, is Gya-Karus. He gets replaced by Shalmarkion halfway through the fight, though, since he willingly gives up his identity and the Ascension's structure requires a specific final foe (a role which Shalmarkion gladly adopts and was planning to usurp however possible). Since Shalmarkion can't be in the pot twice, Gya-Karus is getting the skillset pick for final boss here.


[19:25] Caelzeph: Hah, interesting thought
[19:26] Caelzeph: Isn't Ascension 5 one that hasn't happened/started yet?
[19:27] The Nottest of Daves: yes
[19:27] Caelzeph: (4 and 6 going off at the same time due to plot weirdness in our end kicking it off)
[19:27] Caelzeph: Therefore we know who the traitor is before they're traitoring
[19:27] Caelzeph: (Although I recall Gad stating that Mahu isn't a traitor in the usual sense)
[19:28] Caelzeph: Needless to say, I don't expect the PCs to have this knowledge
[19:28] Gadigan: That's correct. He basically requests to drop out, and he pulls a test-your-powers battle instead of an actual antagonistic one


[19:37] The Nottest of Daves: Sepherys: "Potions and Medicines (particularly ones that grant new abilities)"
[19:38] Gadigan: Her company had an aggressively-good pharmaceuticals division. Good cosmetics too. She developed ways to bottle and sell super-powers (and took mass advantage of that herself)
[19:38] Gadigan: She had a strong Superhero connection overall
[19:39] Gadigan: Hence Captain Omega working with her
[19:39] Gadigan: He was the line mascot for a while
NEW MESSAGES
[19:40] Gadigan: (Notably, though, he mostly didn't get his powers from her stuff. He was actually a 'natural' superhero. He'd juice up on her stuff sometimes if he needed a boost against a particular foe, but most of his powers were his own)



20:03] Gadigan: Anton Carassius - Rotating immunities, Mastery of base spell subtypes, Ancient Magic, Catastrophe Magic, War Magic, Forces, Magic-manipulation, Mass-casting
Dessius the Traitor - Using other people's MP pools, Forcing other people into burnout, Summoning allies/jumping battlespaces/detonating summons, MP Damage/Drain, Controlling decisions related to the casting of magic, Bringing down opponents' defenses, Applying Damage to regularly-sprouted auxiliary MP pools
Malburgeon Zalderos - Axes, Using traditionally-good-aligned things while an Arch-Daemon, Daemons, Leadership, Using magic to enhance melee combat, Cooperative moves with allies, Retribution-effects that punish individuals who hurt him/his allies
Miermalech the Killer - Swords, Knives, Instant Death, Entering enemy row-order formations, Summoning bizarre Outsiders, Acting as an Emissary, Merging/unmerging things/killing-on-unmerge, Acting without regard to battlespaces, Mobile combat, Attacks that bolster themselves based on their targets
The Pan-Dimensional Quantum Potentiality Information Overmind - Existing across battlespaces, Machines, Robots, Hypertech, Probability control, Knowing information without scans / selective scans, Creating avatars, Forking each round and choosing one result from many
Melmazar Laplace - Dominion/control, Exiting battle and controlling events from outside, Making other people's choices for them / preventing choices, Demons/Devils, Curses, Repeatedly forking battle and winning across all battles if he wins in any of them, Long-range action delay and divination, Getting progressively-larger piles of retroactive delayed actions
[20:03] Gadigan: Da’Re’Huel - Polearms, Heavy Armor, Balanced and aggressively-high stats, Gish melee-casting and spellstrikes, Boosting allies on-hit, Violent Leadership, Undoing battlespace messery with severe penalties, Ramping up as enemies take more actions, Auto-summons, Interdicting and countering attacks aimed at his summons
Grand Vizier Haziz Ib’Dahakari - Wish magic, Robes, Staffs, Divination, Contingencies, Summoning, Eidolons, Summoning unique bosses, Becoming untargettable while he has allies, Fading Calls, Desert-based Geomancy, Dragons and Reptiles, Buffs that cause his allies to berserker-implode if his enemies get control of them, Major negative status effects
Arsansil, the All-Weaver - Creating/Connecting/Merging/Splitting battlespaces, Triggering effects when things happen to battlespaces, Creating and forcing combat in sub-battles, Mass summoning/unsummoning, Channeling (including hostile channeling), Movement-lockdown, Traps, Insects, Mass Geomancy, Swapping/linking/unlinking values, Action theft
Gya-Karus - Merging with other beings, Combining power/stats/skill-sets, Uplifting other beings, Ignoring buff stacking, Counting as multiple entities where advantageous, Replicating actions of other entities / as self, Drain, Effect replication, Consuming opponents into his skillset, Turning opponents into buffs, Having infinite HP

I'm kinda wondering if I should be replacing someone with P.H. Turkey. He was around during this Ascension as a recurring boss, and it's weird not having him be a major boss from it. Still, he never really played into any of the main chapter-arcs as directly. Leaning no. Might pull him back out for one of the less-well-outlined Ascensions to give him a crowning moment fight. Or maybe I can traitor him on the 6th.
[20:03] Gadigan: Shalmarkion skipped due to becoming an Ascendant, so he'll get sorted in with the others in his Ascension (Naria's)


[23:33] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 1st Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Emissary Eurestys.
The Traitor Fight of the 1st Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Mahu Ra'Seydi. He switches chapter-end-fight positions with Lyrix, who gets a smaller fight earlier in the capter. This gets mirrored in the later Ascension where he's the traitor and gets a small fight and she gets the chapter-ender.
The Chapter Boss of the 2nd Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Iyeriolantros.
The Personal Foe of Ardrakas Kresmeides is Doctor Lychera Tyrrenaum, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 2nd Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 3rd Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Arzendrassus, Helix Conquerer.
The Personal Foe of Aisaro Jinzan is Ilmiero, The Perfected Blade, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 3rd Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 4th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Candros Xanthassaros XXXVI.
The Personal Foe of Krayl Vanzeil is Detective-Inquisitor Symon Chardman, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 4th Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 5th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Earmensarna, the Guiding Azure Star.
The Personal Foe of Drolda Thandolmann is Augustus Solomon, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 5th Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
[23:33] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 6th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Yemnaut the Formless.
The Personal Foe of Gorsannis is Grandmaster Joseph Sekaro, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 6th Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 7th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Eorakline, Empress of the Far Heavens.
The Personal Foe of Alarexia Gillingman is Celestial Prophet Kaljadel, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 7th Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 8th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Earmenhirakah, First of the Reborn Titans.
The Personal Foe of Savvatmarl is Uruquaris, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 8th Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 9th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Erkthanot, The Slumbering God.
The Personal Foe of Lurumel is Ismyri, Wanderer, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 9th Chapter of the 4th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Gyl Rathos.
The Second Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 4th Ascension is Myr Hieradraise.
Chapter 11 reporting in as hazy.
The Final Boss of the Fourth Ascension, fought at the end of Chapter 12, is Savvekh'Lambh.


[1:02 AM] Gadigan: Fifth Ascension gets the same warnings as the Fourth
[1:02 AM] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 1st Chapter of the 5th Ascension is The Marquis of Dufrestyne.
The Traitor Fight of the 1st Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Lyrix Chalerex. As noted, Mahu is the actual Traitor-Ascendant here (kinda, he voluntarily leaves the team and fights them to test them), and Lyrix makes a reappearance as the end-of-chapter big fight.
The Chapter Boss of the 2nd Chapter of the 5th Ascension is The Buzzard Priest.
The Personal Foe of Erynnei, Crimson Witch of the Farlands is Magellan Ashe Laathus, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 2nd Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 3rd Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Don Hippopotamus.
The Personal Foe of Archmagus Sandor Arinceyd is Clu Karidallios, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 3rd Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 4th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is The Utopian Minds.
The Personal Foe of Kobolor the Ancient is Lyr Bardol, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 4th Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 5th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Andu Ruulath.
The Personal Foe of Janthos Irimanos is Grandmother Quoxjiggobbulous the Primordial, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 5th Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
[1:02 AM] Gadigan: The Chapter Boss of the 6th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Cetmyl Dryse.
The Personal Foe of Silseria Dragonsbane is Gran Markoloch, the Prime Dragon, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 5th Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 7th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Mausmangarde, Daemon Lord of Fulsome Industry. Tiefervausa and Rausenrotte show up for the fight too, but it's really Mausmangarde's battle.
The Personal Foe of Jurunei of Erileyem is Patriarch, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 7th Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 8th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is First and Most Abominable. Lenelaise and Ouettzer show up for this one, but they're not the focus and are under its general sway.
The Personal Foe of Inspector Cerina Ilrenden is Irrian Illumos, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 8th Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 9th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Jyurae Daiemah.
The Personal Foe of Captain Mahdar Hasquaam is Arkhelos the Pale, and their battle takes place at the conclusion of the 9th Chapter of the 5th Ascension.
The Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Orghol Karse, Endbringer.
The Second Chapter Boss of the 10th Chapter of the 5th Ascension is Gonzo Heed. (Though he fake-appears as the first one before Karse and fake-appears as a boss to an entire fake chapter earlier.)
Chapter 11 reporting in as hazy.
The Final Boss of the Fifth Ascension, fought at the end of Chapter 12, is Bez'Bekklin.
[1:03 AM] Gadigan: You may notice that you're up against worse versions of several of these folks.
[1:03 AM] Gadigan: You're stuck in the remaining third of lower reality between Ascensions Four and Six
[1:03 AM] Gadigan: And that's leaving Five's content in a weird place
[1:03 AM] Gadigan: Where you're able to stop it and just hold it off till after those two end
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: But if you don't stop it, its people are rolling around (since six vaguely keys off of some of them at least existing already)
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: Multiple Ascensions at once makes stuff weird
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: Particularly when you don't have other aspects of the middle-setting in place
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: Like you've still got Nexus
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: Whereas the Fifth Ascension has The One City
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: And you've got Iepterro around as Endbringer
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: Stalling stuff
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: And getting Dryse on his side
[1:04 AM] Gadigan: Instead of Dryse running off and doing her own thing
[1:05 AM] Gadigan: And First and Most Abominable's best minions keep getting shut down before it even shows up directly (and it's way lower Level right now too)
[1:05 AM] Gadigan: And Irrian keeps having to run around patch-fixing stuff
[1:05 AM] Gadigan: And the Utopian Minds are messing stuff up
[1:05 AM] Gadigan: And even the NPCs are bouncing off you all doing weird stuff and getting their own weird bits in
[1:05 AM] Celas: Feeling like I dodged a bullet, there(edited)
[1:06 AM] Gadigan: Like killing Gran Markoloch
[1:06 AM] Gadigan: That'd have been one heck of a fight if it'd happened
[1:06 AM] Celas: The pink text was quite ominous
[1:06 AM] Gadigan: Did it come over to you as pink?
[1:06 AM] Celas: purplish
[1:06 AM] Gadigan: It was supposed to be a matching purple
[1:06 AM] Celas: OHH
[1:06 AM] Gadigan: To when he spoke earlier
[1:06 AM] Gadigan: Yep!
[1:07 AM] Gadigan: And that's why I said things almost started involving that in the Megaquest
[1:07 AM] Celas: Yeah, looked different on a white background than the grey I've got the BA set to
[1:07 AM] Celas: That WOULD have been pretty epic, though.
[1:07 AM] Gadigan: nods
[1:09 AM] Gadigan: It's a hostile mirror of the Enigma Men and their natural predator. They come from beyond the end of time and write themselves backwards into existence. It comes from before the beginning and consumes things such that they were never able to become present in the first place. It's about equally Paradox-retcon-cheaty to them, just from a slightly different angle.
[1:10 AM] Gadigan: Hence the name. It becomes progressively more true the more it works itself into existence
[1:10 AM] The Nottest of Daves: What
[1:11 AM] Gadigan: Anathema almost fought First and Most Abominable in the megaquest
[1:11 AM] The Nottest of Daves: Ah
[1:11 AM] Draconics: oh jeez
[1:11 AM] Gadigan: Just way lower Level than above
[1:11 AM] The Nottest of Daves: I wasn't following what entity you were referring to
[1:12 AM] Gadigan: Yeah, I was responding to Celas and instantly knew which one he meant, so I didn't state it in my initial response
[1:12 AM] Gadigan: That's also how and why it was deleting characters from quests
[1:13 AM] Gadigan: I was keeping it under wraps since Mystery-based powers work better that way
[1:13 AM] Gadigan: But the Megaquest fight with it got skipped
[1:13 AM] Gadigan: And you just made Truth
[1:13 AM] Gadigan: Which stands a good chance of just writing it out entirely for a while
[1:13 AM] Draconics: hue hue hue hue hue hue
[1:13 AM] Gadigan: So I'm spilling the beans
[1:14 AM] Gadigan: If it doesn't end up getting struck from the active NPC set, consider this knowledge a Truth-based bonus
[1:15 AM] Gadigan: Colonel Wilson Jonas is engaged in a retcon-and-implication investigation-war with it slightly to the side of reality's normal progression. He's someone it nearly ate who got half-away and started fighting back (while it is, at the same time, toying with him to a point and trying to rewrite him as its murderous servant)
[1:16 AM] Gadigan: Doris and Roy Belwoo also being involved to varying degrees
[1:16 AM] Gadigan: All of this being from the BA version of things
[1:17 AM] The Nottest of Daves: HRMMMMMMMM

Some Ascension-info!

[8:26 AM] Gadigan: Back. Sorry, got distracted with cleaning up the house and brushing my teeth
[8:26 AM] Gadigan: So, Ascensions
[8:27 AM] Gadigan: The First Ascension isn't the first overall major historical event
[8:27 AM] Gadigan: But it's pretty early
[8:27 AM] Gadigan: Before it we have the creation of The Barrier
[8:28 AM] Gadigan: Then the period where The Saints built initial stuff pretty much sans-Gadigan
[8:28 AM] Gadigan: Then the period with Necromancer Valcont
[8:28 AM] Gadigan: Then a bit more of the first overall hibernation with random other minor events
[8:28 AM] Gadigan: Then some stuff on the Homeworld, though it wasn't fully formed at the time
[8:29 AM] Gadigan: Then some bits with Raziel Argarassan and other ancient heroes
[8:29 AM] Gadigan: Demon Valcont is around there
[8:29 AM] Gadigan: Various minor storylines
[8:29 AM] Gadigan: Then The Worldstone War
[8:30 AM] Gadigan: Which took place in Greater Erathis
[8:30 AM] Gadigan: Which got split into Erathis (the main portion), the Isles of Osirion (the second biggest portion), and the smaller third portion that General Verngrass Wethryll ended up in
[8:30 AM] Gadigan: (Bear in mind that some of the details of that dream-timeline wise occur after the stuff related to the Ascension, but we're going with the BA timeline here)
[8:31 AM] Gadigan: So after the splitting of the Worldstone
[8:31 AM] Gadigan: The splitting Erathis, I mean
[8:31 AM] Gadigan: The Worldstone is no longer in play
[8:32 AM] Gadigan: And things switch over to the control of the UCS KIRGA, which was outside reality, but didn't kick in as much control-wise until the Worldstone was out of the picture as the source of elemental power and most mana
[8:33 AM] Gadigan: The KIRGA was initially working, but Gamiri and Kensadi, its caretakers, from a different Lower Reality than the one you're in, went power-mad and started messing with it
[8:33 AM] Gadigan: Ended up with it still in control, but off-kilter
[8:33 AM] Gadigan: Producing more-aggressive Ethryl and Nathryl
[8:33 AM] Gadigan: The errors didn't spread over to the main Lower Reality megaverse, though, yet
[8:33 AM] Gadigan: So, over on Erathis
[8:34 AM] Gadigan: Master Amansdal decided to gather a group of like-minded villains to take over the whole of Erathis
[8:35 AM] Gadigan: Got killed fairly quickly by Saretian, and Master Anandale took over
[8:35 AM] Gadigan: The members of the Council of Netheryn carve up Erathis and start looking to the other planes of the multiverse
[8:35 AM] Gadigan: Saretian in particular turns her attention to deposing and binding the forces out there
[8:36 AM] Gadigan: Annandale becomes interested in the possibilities of something beyond Lower Reality
[8:36 AM] Gadigan: And starts reasearching ways to contact it
[8:36 AM] Gadigan: I'm getting too into minutiae here, though
[8:37 AM] Gadigan: The First Ascension has fewer and less-clear themes than some of the others because I wasn't really building it with themes in mind and hadn't yet, at the time, decided to do 12 of the Ascensions
[8:37 AM] Gadigan: So things that just kind of happened during it became the roots of patterns
[8:37 AM] Gadigan: Like Argantannion turning against the rest of the group and getting replaced
[8:37 AM] Gadigan: (Again, differences from the dream version, but proceeding)
[8:38 AM] Gadigan: The most prevalent theme, though, is the Ascendants going up against the notion that the opposing forces are entrenched in reality, have vast resources at their disposal, and are at such an initial advantage that it seems improbable for them to be defeated
[8:39 AM] Gadigan: The Ascensions, however, as a general theme, involve the general 'divine will' saying that these people will triumph over the obsticles before them and Ascend surmounts whatever themes or notions it is opposed to
[8:39 AM] Gadigan: So we have the Ascendants managing to rise from low Levels to high ones, despite all that the opponents throw against them
[8:40 AM] Gadigan: Despite the Ascendants being destined to win
[8:40 AM] Gadigan: Several of their opponents put up such clever or dogged fights
[8:40 AM] Gadigan: That they manage to impress me
[8:40 AM] Gadigan: Which triggers me deciding to do a Second Ascension with them and some others
[8:40 AM] Gadigan: Though the Third Ascension is where the patterns and such fully start coming into play
[8:41 AM] Gadigan: Do people want me to do a slightly more zoomed-in view of what happens in the various chapters?
[8:41 AM] Gadigan: Or do people want me to move on to Ascensions with clearer themes?
[8:41 AM] The Nottest of Daves: First, some generic history questions!
[8:41 AM] Gadigan: And if people want me to move on, what are the questions here, Ryan?
[8:41 AM] Gadigan: Sure!
[8:41 AM] The Nottest of Daves: KVESTIKONS!

1. What is the Worldstone?
2. Is it possible to travel between Lower Realities?
3. What's in Higher Reality? Is there more than one? Is Annandale the one who discovered it?
[8:43 AM] Gadigan: The Worldstone was the initial beating heart of creation. It was a massive crystal that supplied most (but not all) mana for the primary universe back when it was around. Various individuals, including a potent devil, a noted assassin, Talrusion, and Lloyd vied for it. Talrusion ended up winning, and rising from Lower Reality to Higher Reality in the process (it was easier back then). Lloyd managed that too, but lost the overall war (though he survived).
[8:44 AM] Gadigan: It mostly isn't possible to travel between Lower Realities. Moving between them is a Level 1,000 power. The Veil Render has a specific power that gets around it at lower Level (and is how the Veil Render sits safely outside the reach of most things). Theoretically, some being from Higher Reality could give one of its Emissaries the ability to travel to other Lower Realities.
[8:45 AM] Santooth: Or just move them itself
[8:45 AM] Gadigan: Yeah
[8:46 AM] Santooth: Was the "noted assassin" the guy who founded that assassin network running that assassin network running that assassin network TSG briefly considered working for (and Lili got a contract letting her buy hits with)?
[8:47 AM] Gadigan: Good question. It's actually not Versetti and the Gahzrat Jingali. Versetti first appeared later, closer to the Third Asension.
[8:47 AM] Gadigan: Working on Ryan's third question
[8:50 AM] Fruedestruction: Is Higher Reality important?
[8:50 AM] Santooth: Nah
[8:50 AM] Fruedestruction: Wonderful!
[8:51 AM] Santooth: Just a couple of bigwigs trapped outside the setting due to the overwhelming size of their heads
[8:51 AM] Fruedestruction: so basically if it's destroyed nothing of value will be lost
[8:53 AM] Santooth: Depends on one's definition of value I suppose
[8:53 AM] The Nottest of Daves: I want to meet Lloyd someday
[8:54 AM] The Nottest of Daves: if only to figure out where all of Technomancy disappeared off to
[8:54 AM] Gadigan: What's in Higher Reality? Stuff that's over Level 1,000.
It's an elevated state of existence beyond physical dimensions. It's above multiversal beings and the like. Anything capable of existing out in Higher Reality is able to exist as its own conceptual foundation and exist outside exterior concept-sets. Since things are operating within their own concept-sets, it appears differently to different beings, though there are some views of it that are more 'standard' than others. Stuff there generally isn't limited, except by how other beings with similar or greater power are imposing their own concept sets and restrictions on that which around them. There are some upper bounds, though, and a state above it.
There is currently one Higher Reality. There theoretically could be more.
[8:54 AM] Gadigan: It's currently stacked inside the First Holy Empire. Counterparts to it could show up in the Level 10,000+ portions planned for the 11th and 12th Ascensions, but those haven't happened yet, and no other versions of it have been made. The Second and Third Holy Empires don't really have needs to have them. Areas within The Barrier but outside the three Holy Empires could, in some respects, in some of the small parts like that, have aspects similar to different Higher Realities, but none of those places are set up in ways that really require it either. There was one brief bit where Sri made a bunch of Higher Realities, roughly at the same point that Sri mass-produced Ascendants and Bez'Bekklins for fun, but those didn't stick around and got folded down and away since their presence was just weird and would have messed with the other, actual, Ascensions.
Annandale wasn't the first to 'discover' it. There were things up there before he contacted it. Valcont was probably the first non-Gadigan/Saint person to learn about it, but didn't really do much with it at the time. Gameri and Kensadi got directly informed of it upon their creation and didn't really need to 'Discover' it, but were the first named people I can think of who had access who were originally from Lower Reality (though there may have been other ones off in some more-Sylvia-run part of things or something). The first one from the main Lower Reality universe to discover it was Lloyd, though Talrusion seperately discovered it pretty quickly after Llloyd did and managed to reach it first.
[8:58 AM] Gadigan: Okay
[8:58 AM] Gadigan: So after the Ascendants took out the KIRGA
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: The UCS VERYS was put in as a temporary replacement
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: Things get hazy for a bit
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: The Second Ascension happens
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: It's the one that happened mostly-offscreen in the dream version of things
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: With almost all the details I have
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: Being filled in retroactively
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: And I still haven't bothered to check or make all the specifics
[8:59 AM] Gadigan: But from what I have theme-wise
[9:00 AM] Gadigan: Morrisant versus his own hubris and desire to over-plan everything (and to a lesser extent his other Ascendants doing the same thing) was a notable one
[9:01 AM] Gadigan: He basically tried to set stuff up in case he ever Ascended with a fortified parallel multiverse where he could quickly regain power
[9:01 AM] Gadigan: Attempted to game the system multiple times
[9:01 AM] Gadigan: Eventually realized that kept coming back to bite him
[9:01 AM] Gadigan: Switched to playing along with the overall themes
[9:01 AM] Gadigan: And realized the importance of 'entertaining' on top of 'effective'
[9:02 AM] Gadigan: Also in there is some law-versus-chaos theme that resulted in a lot of the chaos-stuff being sidelined or controlled by law on some level
[9:02 AM] Gadigan: With effects from that being long-lasting and still hitting the BA present
[9:02 AM] Gadigan: Plixplix and Chaos Child and company sorta are changing that, but that's a side-story for way later in the timeline
[9:02 AM] Gadigan: So I don't actually know a lot of the bosses and stuff from the Second Ascension
[9:03 AM] Gadigan: Or what happened exactly with the VERYS, though it got moreso moved back to its own original place than destroyed
[9:03 AM] Gadigan: Morrisant was briefly handling apportioning the majority of elemental mana since we were down the Worldstone and both Universal Control Systems
[9:03 AM] Gadigan: But between the Second and Third Ascensions
[9:03 AM] Gadigan: The Sources got created
[9:03 AM] Gadigan: And put in their general roles
[9:04 AM] Gadigan: So he didn't need to keep doing that
[9:04 AM] Gadigan: Also in that period
[9:04 AM] Gadigan: Nexus got created
[9:04 AM] Gadigan: It was smaller at the time
[9:04 AM] Gadigan: Lots of dimensions were made
[9:04 AM] Gadigan: There were dimensions before that, but planar stuff used to be less spread out and less-available at low Levels
[9:05 AM] Gadigan: So the Third Ascension deals with unification, division, and cooperation
[9:05 AM] Gadigan: Planes are becoming more and more connected
[9:05 AM] Gadigan: Thanks to the All-Weaver and the Unbroken Tide
[9:05 AM] Gadigan: Gya-Karus is working around the restrictions on Higher Reality influencing the prime Lower Reality
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: Shalmarkion, working partially through his champion Da'Re'Huel
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: Starts assembling a new group of villains to conquer everything
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: But unlike the Council of Netheryn
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: Shalmarkion's actually work together
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: Instead of betraying each other
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: They start covering for each other's weaknessess, assisting each other, etc
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: But the Ascendants, dimensionally hopping around, going to Nexus
[9:06 AM] Gadigan: Do stuff
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: Then Nexus gets taken over by the Archtyrants
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: The Ascendants eventually free it
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: Go on to do other things
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: Ah, while we're on that point
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: The Battle Arena
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: Not originally in Nexus
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: Part of one of Kelsisus's side-quests during the 2nd Ascension
[9:07 AM] Gadigan: He built the thing up, helped stock it with monsters, beat the bonus monsters, became champion
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: It moved to Nexus, Kelsius didn't object to others fighting at it
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: It was a minor side thing during the 3rd Ascension
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: But moreso a 2nd thing
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: So reality is eventually unified in the Unbroken Tide
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: Gya-Karus merged with everything
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: Loses his identity
[9:08 AM] Gadigan: Events require that the opposition have some identity
[9:09 AM] Gadigan: Shalmarkion surfaces, having had the most will to dominate Lower Reality
[9:09 AM] Gadigan: Ascendants beat Shalmarkion
[9:09 AM] Gadigan: Again, this is really abbreviated
[9:09 AM] Gadigan: Bascaradine gets launched during the Second Ascension
[9:09 AM] Gadigan: Ah, the whole Council period happens between the 2nd and 3rd
[9:09 AM] Gadigan: It's a weird period where stuff is run differently but not much of note happens
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: So we have the 3rd Ascension
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: Stuff moves to the homeworld for a while
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: We have paperwork Valcont
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: We have more random stuff
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: We have the time war
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: We have the Mandate and the other versions of the homeworld appear
[9:10 AM] Gadigan: We have the Alien Wars
[9:11 AM] Gadigan: Through this whole stuff, the Holy Empire's control of the Homeworld goes from background to direct
[9:11 AM] Gadigan: This is also a period with a lot of approved anti-Holy-Empire villains
[9:11 AM] Gadigan: Working under approved sanction
[9:11 AM] The Nottest of Daves: (Mandate? Is that the same Mandate as the Mandate Version of Orlue?)
[9:11 AM] Gadigan: Yes
[9:11 AM] Gadigan: And the Magellans
[9:11 AM] The Nottest of Daves: (thanks)
[9:11 AM] Gadigan: np
[9:12 AM] Gadigan: Then the second hibernation period
[9:12 AM] Gadigan: I come back, do imperial stuff, wander around in avatar bodies
[9:12 AM] Gadigan: Lots of tours
[9:12 AM] Gadigan: Various minor things
[9:12 AM] Gadigan: Fourth Ascension launches
[9:13 AM] Gadigan: Theme of the opposition there is 'you can always work to become greater, achieve more, and surpass whatever obsticle is before you'
[9:13 AM] Gadigan: Savvekh-Lambh helps beings break limitations, there's a mass rise-up of heroes and the like
[9:14 AM] Gadigan: Fourth Ascension later stages finish semi-offscreen
[9:14 AM] Gadigan: Savvekh-Lambh defeated by Thandolmann and company
[9:14 AM] Gadigan: I'm veering into
[9:14 AM] Gadigan: Dream Continuity here
[9:14 AM] Gadigan: Since the 4th is ongoing
[9:14 AM] Gadigan: But keeping some BA continuity details so people don't suddenly have different names and the like
[9:15 AM] Gadigan: Then we hit the period with the source guardians going to war
[9:15 AM] Gadigan: Bright Crusade, New Dark Empire, etc
[9:15 AM] Gadigan: Doc makes the Source Wheel
[9:15 AM] Gadigan: Gives it to Amelia
[9:15 AM] The Nottest of Daves: (Which gets confusing, since both of them are defunct , and Doc is dead)
[9:15 AM] Gadigan: Deraglio kills Ouettzer on behalf of Bill
[9:16 AM] Gadigan: (Yeah, things are going differently on-BA, but knowing the other version of events should help inform people of the general gist of where some things are coming from)
[9:16 AM] Gadigan: Source Guardians war
[9:16 AM] Gadigan: Gillingman gives Harkala his powers
[9:16 AM] Gadigan: One of her sister-predecessors already Ascended at this point
[9:16 AM] Gadigan: Harkala and Amelia fight with Gillingman and Doc backing them, respectively
[9:17 AM] Gadigan: Deraglio, meanwhile, gets rezzed, god-hunts on Bill's behalf
[9:17 AM] Gadigan: Lots of pantheons destroyed
[9:17 AM] Gadigan: Harkala wins the source war
[9:17 AM] Gadigan: Gets all the sources
[9:17 AM] Gadigan: Rises above most multiverses, but not into Higher Reality
[9:17 AM] Gadigan: Places her shadow touches get reflection-versions of her
[9:18 AM] Gadigan: One of those goes to war with Selereth Helios and the Manly Society
[9:18 AM] Gadigan: Another is responsible for creating The One City via prophecy of her future self
[9:18 AM] Gadigan: Meanwhile, forces of good, seeing Harkala doing stuff
[9:18 AM] Gadigan: Start work to create Kriele and prepare for her arrival
[9:18 AM] Gadigan: Nexus is destroyed
[9:19 AM] Gadigan: There's a resurrected-ouettzer plotline
[9:19 AM] Gadigan: Ouettzer gets to the homeworld during part of it, occupies things there
[9:19 AM] Gadigan: The One City becomes the center of events
[9:19 AM] Gadigan: It gets its own cast of characters and heroes
[9:19 AM] Gadigan: Salvatore and some others manage to hold off Don Hippopotamus
[9:20 AM] Gadigan: Enigma Men start doing things behind the scenes
[9:20 AM] The Nottest of Daves: (wew. 4th Ascension's really gone off the rails in the wake of CAIN)(edited)
[9:20 AM] Gadigan: There's a side plot with Laurennia and the Chosen that's ongoing
[9:20 AM] Gadigan: 4th is actually done by this point
[9:20 AM] Gadigan: This is the intermediate period between 4th and 5th
[9:21 AM] Gadigan: The Farlands are created, I move there for a while to relax
[9:21 AM] Gadigan: Other madness occurs in my absence
[9:21 AM] Gadigan: Skipping a few of the plots in there
[9:21 AM] Gadigan: But then the 5th hits
[9:22 AM] Gadigan: The themes are deception, reality being supplanted by lies and subjectivity, destruction, loss, and the Ascendants versus entropy / eventual death / collapse
[9:22 AM] Gadigan: Runs in parallel to the Deathbreaker stuff
[9:22 AM] Gadigan: Heed takes over the Imperial Homeworld
[9:22 AM] Gadigan: Replaces me while I'm in the Farlands for a while
[9:23 AM] Gadigan: 5th Ascension actually goes to the Farlands for parts
[9:23 AM] Gadigan: The Entombers of the Silent Hall are defeated by the Deathbreakers, with assists by a particular lich and Michael Helios (who survived the source war mess)
[9:24 AM] Gadigan: Mike and the lich go collect the Wooden Elephant and a chariot prophecized by Oracle to last to and through the final battle between the Ascendants
[9:24 AM] Gadigan: Use those objects to ride-dodge the Bez'Bekklin mess
[9:24 AM] Gadigan: Bez'Bekklin gets contacted by Gonzo Heed in a retributive strike
[9:24 AM] Gadigan: Gonzo goes down
[9:24 AM] Gadigan: Bez kills the Ascendants by showing up
[9:25 AM] Gadigan: Things switch entirely to the Deathbreakers for a while, because everything but them, Bascaradine, the Level 10,000+ stuff, the Mike and Lich crew, and a few others, is dead
[9:25 AM] Gadigan: Re-ignite life, bring back the Ascedants
[9:25 AM] Gadigan: Ascendants work with Deathbreakers, Laurennia, the Chosen
[9:25 AM] Gadigan: Defeat Bez'Bekklin
[9:25 AM] Santooth: Seems like it'd be hard to grind when everything else is dead
[9:25 AM] Gadigan: 5th Ascension ends
[9:26 AM] Gadigan: Yeah, the re-ignition of life is necessary for the stuff to fight to gain levels
[9:26 AM] Gadigan: Things are back alive
[9:26 AM] Gadigan: I return to the homeworld
[9:26 AM] Gadigan: Go on adventures with some provencial governors and stuff
[9:27 AM] Gadigan: Gulliver and Creepy Oswald, working with Forcystus and Corruption and a particular group of dimension-invading insects, start causing problems
[9:27 AM] Gadigan: I destroy them while utilizing Man in a Hazmat Suit to do so
[9:27 AM] Gadigan: Ah, Inescapable Well stuff happens before that
[9:27 AM] Gadigan: Wait, no
[9:28 AM] Gadigan: Yes
[9:28 AM] Gadigan: Before
[9:28 AM] Gadigan: It's just weird because
[9:28 AM] Gadigan: It involves the future presence of Kriele being a thing
[9:28 AM] Gadigan: Where Harkala, Veil Render, future-Kriele, and one avatar-me work to get George the Graceblade out of the Well
[9:29 AM] Gadigan: Anyway, events with destroying those villains
[9:29 AM] Gadigan: Leads to Kriele being made
[9:29 AM] Gadigan: MIAHS comes back as Patriarch, who gets cast back in time by Owler, the Enigma Man who shows up post the defeat of the Enigma Men by the 5th Ascension to interact with a gap in the 5th Ascension timeline
[9:29 AM] Gadigan: Stuff with that is weird
[9:30 AM] Gadigan: And we're basically at present
[9:30 AM] Gadigan: With the 6th Ascension impending and some members known
[9:30 AM] Santooth: That "Harkala gets all the Sources" prophesy really wasn't worth the hype in this version of events. She kept them for all of a couple months before losing half and being put on the clear losing side of Light versus Darkness, on account of Krieleikai having like a third of them and everything else besides
[9:30 AM] Gadigan: Yeaaah
[9:30 AM] Gadigan: Haha
[9:30 AM] Gadigan: So
[9:30 AM] Gadigan: Questions from all that?
[9:31 AM] Gadigan: I went on some tangents, but that's big-picture meta history
[9:31 AM] Gadigan: Skipping several events
[9:31 AM] The Nottest of Daves: How does CAIN impact the ongoing nature of the 4th (and future happenings of the 5th) in general terms?
[9:31 AM] Santooth: Who is Gulliver again?
[9:31 AM] Santooth: Silent-hill guy?
[9:31 AM] Santooth: And Creepy Oswald?
[9:32 AM] Gadigan: Time stopping mass murderer, appeared first in silent hill place, yeah
[9:32 AM] Gadigan: Much weaker on-BA. Never reached his power-up sequence where he became the embodiment of murder
[9:32 AM] Gadigan: Creepy Oswald is the dude who is stalking Darston on-BA and was stalking dream-you in the dream timeline (which is why I transferred the stalkertude to Darston)
[9:33 AM] Gadigan: Works with abjuration magic and is generally a creepy dude who pretends to be other people
[9:33 AM] Gadigan: Eventually got a name after not having one for ages
[9:33 AM] Santooth: Oh snap
[9:34 AM] Santooth: <THAT> was him?
[9:34 AM] Gadigan: CAIN isn't really affecting the 4th. Stuff for the 4th Ascension is off in one of the two other lower-reality partitions TCL and Maleficus made
[9:34 AM] Gadigan: Yes!
[9:34 AM] Santooth: Urgh
[9:34 AM] Gadigan: CAIN is doing going to make the 5th really weird. A lot of folks are going to have to be respawned from Storage to make it work, and a lot of the setup and details are going to be different
[9:34 AM] Santooth: Wellok
[9:35 AM] Santooth: I was wondering why he had some sort of freaky hyperpowered stalker. Did he survive his fight against Teagan and Dresher?
[9:38 AM] Fruedestruction: How much people will be pissed by the "lot of folks" being respawned from Storage?
[9:38 AM] Fruedestruction: given that from what I've read there's a significant amount of people that were Storaged in Crisis that I think most PCs would rather keep them Storaged
[9:39 AM] Gadigan: Other ongoing plotlines involve Orlue (various versions of him), the Tribulationists, and various other things
[9:40 AM] Gadigan: Creepy Oswald did survive the Teagan / Drescher fight. Got temporarily contained and potentially could have been killed by Anathema in the side fights, but wasn't
[9:40 AM] Gadigan: Garse Prektus got killed there
[9:40 AM] The Nottest of Daves: RIP Orlue: Eaten by Children's Card Games
[9:40 AM] The Nottest of Daves: BEWARE THE SHADOW REALM
[9:41 AM] Gadigan: I'm not in any hurry to start the 5th Ascension. There's two others running. People might be bothered by folks returning for it, but I don't know what opinions will be like when/if that happens in the BA timeline
[9:41 AM] Gadigan: I see no huge need to actually advance the meta-timeline and start the 5th since I can just put future characters in the present like I have been with Orlue
[9:41 AM] Gadigan: So the BA version of things may never see the 5th Ascension happen or the 4th/6th conclude
[9:42 AM] Gadigan: Even though they will sometime in the eventual future
[9:42 AM] Fruedestruction: inb4 PCs manage to derail things enough that no, we want <NPC> in Storage forever and nothing short of sending us there will prevent us from doing all in our power to do so
[9:43 AM] Gadigan: About to head off for the night
[9:43 AM] Gadigan: Any final questions/comments
[9:43 AM] Gadigan: Not sure how much of this history was openly revealed already
[9:43 AM] Gadigan: I think a fair bit was to Wriggle from old side-chats about the dream version of events
[9:44 AM] Gadigan: But I'm not sure about to the site as a whole once I started trying to document this sort of thing
[9:45 AM] Santooth: ~
[9:45 AM] The Nottest of Daves: There are other things I'll want to hear about in greater detail some time
[9:45 AM] The Nottest of Daves: but it's past your pumpkin hour
[9:45 AM] The Nottest of Daves: so sleep well!
[9:45 AM] Gadigan: Haha, yeah
[9:45 AM] Gadigan: Sounds good
[9:45 AM] Gadigan: You all sleep well too!
[9:45 AM] Gadigan: And I hope that Wrig and Geddoe both feel better
[9:45 AM] Gadigan: Adios!
[9:45 AM] Gadigan: And that Frue's heating situation is fixed
[9:51 AM] Gadigan: Briefly coming back
[9:51 AM] Gadigan: Because I wanted to note
[9:51 AM] Gadigan: That the BA was launched after the 3rd Ascension in the dream timeline
[9:52 AM] Gadigan: But before the 4th really got into gear
[9:52 AM] Gadigan: So if past chats have missed out on some stuff from then on, that's why
[9:52 AM] Gadigan: It's happening in parallel to things on here
[9:52 AM] Gadigan: And some of this stuff is pretty recent, within the last few years
[9:52 AM] Gadigan: Also, the BA has been around for ages now
[9:52 AM] Gadigan: Wow
[9:53 AM] Gadigan: Anyway, wanted to note that stuff and thank you all for sticking around for so long
[9:53 AM] Gadigan: I'm back to bed
[9:53 AM] Gadigan: And engaging pumpkin mode
[9:53 AM] Gadigan: Adios!

[8:21 PM] Caelzeph: Just out of interest, as they've been mentioned a few times, what are the Farlands?
[8:21 PM] Caelzeph: Besides 'Gad's vacation spot'
[8:21 PM] Gadigan: Aha, good question
[8:24 PM] Gadigan: The Farlands are a multiverse cluster that's more distant from Nexus, the Imperial Homeworld, Erathis, and other 'central' parts of the main universe. They're harder to reach without the right path (less so on the BA than in the dream version of things) and tend to be ruled and affected by different major powers than the main portions of stuff. For example, the New Dark Empire and Bright Crusade were never over there. Mausmangarde kinda is, but that's due to 5th Ascension stuff. They've got several notable wizards, and the Great Mage (the one with a noted fondness for tacos) and his library (when it wasn't destroyed) were over there. For the most part, nature there is lush, but sometimes weird and magical, and dimensions are more likely to include floating islands and sky trees and the like. The space between dimensions has more elemental forces in it over there too.
[8:25 PM] Caelzeph: Voted #1 getaway by usurped omnidimensional megadeities.
[8:25 PM] Gadigan: Haha
[8:27 PM] Gadigan: Major regions, as a note, include Erathis (and Osirion and some related dimensions, plus parts of the old cosmos), Nexus (plus Echo Providence, and also worlds closely connected to it through the Nexus Portal Nexus), The One City (and worlds connected to it), the Imperial Homeworld (and its reflected versions, plus the major cosmos from the alien worlds), the Network Worlds, the Farlands, Thranheiven (and places connected to it - the larger cosmos there is kinda sketchy), whever the 6th Ascension is (and places around that), and then a few others that either haven't been major on the BA or are ungrouped. There's more, though.
[8:28 PM] Caelzeph: Network Worlds?
[8:28 PM] Kitsune106: Hmmmm nice
[8:28 PM] Gadigan: Under the Information Overmind. Part of the 3rd Ascension. They're numerically listed mostly
[8:28 PM] Gadigan: 1 sec
[8:28 PM] Kitsune106: Also. Hmmmm, trying g to decide what order for my characer
[8:28 PM] Kitsune106: And cool
[8:29 PM] The One True Pathaky: (Has Thranheiven been mentioned before?)
[8:29 PM] Gadigan: "Network World 0003-0004-0012-0024-9999 can get nested in Networked Multiverses of the the Pan-Dimensional Quantum Potentiality Information Overmind."
[8:29 PM] Gadigan: Those

[8:45 PM] Caelzeph: I didn't realise that Kelsius basically made the Arena.
[8:46 PM] Gadigan: Yeah. He wasn't the original founder, and he isn't running it right now, but it's why he has 'Arena Champion' in his descriptor
[8:48 PM] Caelzeph: I dread to think what kind of Megaquest messery the upper ranks of the Arena get up to
[8:49 PM] Caelzeph: "Oh hey, we just reorganised the fundamental underpinnings of Upper Reality, like, twice."
[9:06 PM] Caelzeph: These Mandate guys have all just been popping up out of nowhere, lately
[9:07 PM] Gadigan: Yeah
[9:08 PM] Gadigan: They're from the second most-notable alt-version of the homeworld
[9:08 PM] Gadigan: And the most-notable is the dark one that's either filled with horrible monsters or under homeworld jurisdiction, depending on the area
[9:08 PM] Gadigan: Whereas the Mandate has its own government, is expansionistic, and is an ongoing threat
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: It also has control of other parts of its cosmos and other dimensions, both nearby and far
[9:09 PM] Caelzeph: And has some sort of Render-ish thing going on?
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: Dimensional colonies and stuff
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: Eh, not really
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: They have ships that breach between dimensions
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: But that's normal dimensional travel
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: Just through different means
[9:09 PM] Caelzeph: Huh, I thought they had some kind of brainwashing/person-collecting deal going on
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: Not skipping from one lower reality to another
[9:09 PM] Celas: Huh.
[9:09 PM] The One True Pathaky: They do have the ability to mark people as "of the mandate"
[9:09 PM] Gadigan: I think this is something that may never have been explained to the player base
[9:10 PM] Gadigan: Alt versions of worlds still exist within the main universe
[9:10 PM] The One True Pathaky: Indeed
[9:10 PM] Celas: Right up until that line, I had an unmitigatedly positive view of the Homeworld
[9:10 PM] Gadigan: They're different multiverses in it, usually
[9:10 PM] The One True Pathaky: Echo Providence and all that
[9:10 PM] Gadigan: But they're still reachable by people in it
[9:10 PM] Gadigan: Like the negaverse and stuff
[9:10 PM] Celas: (I mean, I still do for the prime version, but...)
[9:10 PM] The One True Pathaky: Beta-Negaverse >:D
[9:10 PM] The One True Pathaky: Huh, breaching the Negaverse might be fun.
[9:11 PM] The One True Pathaky: Nole's gotta catch up with Noel, in fact
[9:11 PM] Gadigan: The homeworld is one of the easiest places to live in the setting. It's still full of adventure opportunities and stuff. It's mostly nice, but there's still dungeons and threats (though they're contained)

[9:25 PM] Gadigan: So, the Imperial Homeworld is the setting's Earth-equivalent
[9:26 PM] Gadigan: And draws the most frequent new inspiration from the dream timeline
[9:26 PM] Gadigan: Because hey, most of my dreams are set on Earth
[9:26 PM] Gadigan: So places that relate to my life the most and would be the most frequent subjects of dreams
[9:26 PM] Gadigan: Get the most stuff on the homeworld
[9:26 PM] Gadigan: And tend to geospatially expand the most
[9:27 PM] Gadigan: So most earth locations also have homeworld equivalents
[9:27 PM] Gadigan: So if someone mentioned an earth location, I could probably tell them what the homeworld is like around there
[9:27 PM] Gadigan: Or if someone mentioned a homeworld location, I could probably say where it roughly corresponds to on earth
[9:28 PM] Gadigan: Also, wow, I grabbed some canned chipotles while I was setting up laundry
[9:28 PM] Gadigan: And they are unexpectedly hot after eating several
[9:29 PM] Celas: YELLOWSTONE
[9:29 PM] Celas: haha
[9:29 PM] Gadigan: Hah!
[9:29 PM] Kitsune106: nice!
[9:30 PM] Gadigan: I don't think there's an equivalent yet, which is surprising me. Mentally drawing places up to make sure
[9:31 PM] Caelzeph: Whichever part is always cloudy/raining is likely homeworld-UK
[9:31 PM] The Nottest of Daves: I am present now, and caught up
[9:32 PM] The Nottest of Daves: When the current topic is done, I'd like to hear about Lloyd
[9:32 PM] The Nottest of Daves: ;D
[9:33 PM] Gadigan: Yellowstone would be in the Province of the Captial.
[9:33 PM] Gadigan: Central/Northern combined region
[9:33 PM] Gadigan: I'll let you know if something pops up later for it
[9:34 PM] Celas: haha, neat
[9:34 PM] Gadigan: UK is the Province of Highcastle
[9:35 PM] Gadigan: Anything further on the homeworld?
[9:35 PM] Gadigan: Or should I go to Lloyd
[9:36 PM] Caelzeph: None from my end
[9:37 PM] Celas: Toss out an interesting random spot!
[9:37 PM] Celas: (other than that, not so much!)
[9:38 PM] The Nottest of Daves: (the Great Wall of China!)
[9:38 PM] Gadigan: Sure. In the Japan-equivalent, there's a city reached by flying train that is made up of levitating islands (held up by a mixture of magic and rocketry) where smaller sky-trains let people travel around the city, sort of like venice's canals and gondolas, but with air. There's also bridges and stuff
[9:38 PM] The Nottest of Daves: fancy
[9:39 PM] Celas: that IS pretty cool!
[9:39 PM] The Nottest of Daves: I've always liked Venice-equivalents
NEW MESSAGES
[9:39 PM] Gadigan: Great Wall of China would be in the Province of Dragonthrone.
No official name for it, but it's a dungeon. A rather large one.
[9:39 PM] Gadigan: Hm, I'll give it a name
[9:39 PM] Geodude: Is Haiti a place?
[9:39 PM] Gadigan: Wall of the Ancient Emperor
[9:41 PM] Gadigan: Doesn't have a named-equivalent yet, but it'd be in The Worldbearer Ocean, near Bluedeep Island, but a bit further South
[9:42 PM] Geodude: Cool

[9:43 PM] Gadigan: Tangenting over to Lloyd
[9:43 PM] Gadigan: He's the first notable technomancer
[9:43 PM] Gadigan: Genius, runs Xanatos gambit things
[9:43 PM] Gadigan: Candles as hats are a symbol that represents him
[9:43 PM] Gadigan: As are mechanical spiders
[9:43 PM] Gadigan: Blimps and the like are also associated with him
[9:43 PM] Celas: (...Mechanical Candles?)
[9:43 PM] The Nottest of Daves: (glory to the pattern spiders)
[9:44 PM] Gadigan: Yeah, the mechanical candles were related to him
[9:44 PM] Gadigan: He's bald save for a white ponytail
[9:44 PM] Gadigan: Usually has a monocle
[9:44 PM] Gadigan: Slender, tall, long limbs
[9:44 PM] Gadigan: There was a weird sequence in the dream-version of things where he possessed my mother, but that's its own strange thing
[9:44 PM] Caelzeph: He'd likely be less bald if he stopped with the waxing
[9:44 PM] Gadigan: It was one of the main initial Lloyd bits, though
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: Hah
NEW MESSAGES
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: So in bygone days, he was a technomancer
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: Participated in the worldstone war
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: Invented all kinds of contingent weapons, mechanical servants, etc
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: Defeated some of the others, found clues towards the Worldstone's location, found pieces and stuff
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: Top rival of Talrusion
[9:45 PM] Gadigan: Analyzed the structure of existence
[9:46 PM] Gadigan: And managed to deduce a way to potentially get to Higher Reality
[9:46 PM] Gadigan: Talrusion actually got there first
[9:46 PM] Gadigan: But Lloyd followed
[9:46 PM] Gadigan: And the final parts of the Worldstone War took place up there
[9:46 PM] Gadigan: He's very machiavellian and runs complex Xanatos gambits
[9:46 PM] Gadigan: And tends to rely on Rube-Goldberg-device-like plans
[9:47 PM] Gadigan: He was the general villain left at the end of the Worldstone War
[9:47 PM] Gadigan: With Talrusion being the protagonist-type left
[9:47 PM] Gadigan: The devil-guy was more evil than Lloyd, but went down earlier
[9:48 PM] The Nottest of Daves: So, what was Technomancy like when Lloyd used it? Has it changed substantially in the intervening passage of time?
[9:50 PM] Gadigan: Lloyd is still around, albeit usually in Higher Reality.
Technomancy has expanded to become broader, with more futuristic-tech-branches of it out there (nanite-magic, quark magic that manipulates time, etc), as opposed to Lloyd's more magitech / clockwork tech / complex triggering-off-itself-combo-spell-groups.
Llloyd's stuff is still the upper-end best Technomancy, but it's not the most common, or really the most useful to normal people who don't have his best stuff

[9:57 PM] Gadigan: Knights cannot Combo.
Knights can do all the fights Enigma Men can. I may add more for them later
[9:57 PM] Gadigan: The Mandate! Sure
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: It showed up initially as an alt-world government that one of my avatar bodies was made aware of. Had massive shipyards and stuff. People dressed like old-timey naval figures and explorers
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: Or at least the leaders did
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: Learned that they were planning an invasion of the main world
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: And were well-armed to do it
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: Their ships had mech parts
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: Could walk around, carry weapons
[9:58 PM] Gadigan: Slam their prows into the dimensional fabric
[9:59 PM] Gadigan: Break through to other dimensions
[9:59 PM] Gadigan: Sail between worlds
[9:59 PM] Gadigan: That sort of thing
[9:59 PM] Gadigan: Their upper planners, attempting to conquer the other versions of the homeworld
[9:59 PM] Gadigan: Also encouraged expansion to other dimensions more connected to that-side of things
[9:59 PM] Gadigan: To gather resources and additional forces and the like
[10:00 PM] Gadigan: Their main 'ambassador' (he's kinda hostile for the job) and most of the top brass haven't shown up yet on-site
[10:00 PM] Gadigan: Though Prektus was pretty high rank
[10:00 PM] Gadigan: Magellan Ashe Lathus isn't really running the show yet. She's not at full power yet or even particularly notable among the Magellans openly right now
[10:03 PM] The Nottest of Daves: Well
[10:03 PM] The Nottest of Daves: Sounds like Miss Magellan would indeed be a pretty fancy target to draw in the Ascendant stakes
[10:04 PM] The Nottest of Daves: though more from a boosting-up the Citadel side of things perspective
[10:04 PM] The Nottest of Daves: than the sheer levels of SCIENCE from Dryse ;D
[10:04 PM] Gadigan: Indeed!
[10:04 PM] Gadigan: She has science and water and dimensions
[10:05 PM] Gadigan: Kinda hits lots of Dulcinea's bases
[10:05 PM] The Nottest of Daves: ooooooooh


[2:50 AM] Celas: It got me wondering about villain powersets potentially conferring weaknesses
[2:52 AM] Gadigan: They kinda do in edge cases, but I'd put the specific things to block them as being rare enough that they aren't really worse off than any other powerset (like getting Wizard powers making you weak to mage-killer abilities). The Ascension villains do have build holes and weaknesses, but their raw power level is high and BA members can use their ability spreads to patch some of it
[2:52 AM] Celas: aha, okay. Cool.
[2:52 AM] Celas: That's reassuring!
[2:52 AM] Gadigan: nods
[2:53 AM] Celas: I was eyeing Tales for Elyion, and most of the remaining nifty mage-ey ones are Villains
[2:53 AM] Celas: which I find kind of ironically amusing
[2:53 AM] Gadigan: Hah, yeah.
[2:53 AM] Gadigan: I'll say that it's better in 99% of cases to have one of their unique super-mage powersets than not having it
[2:53 AM] Gadigan: So I encourage her to go for it
[2:54 AM] Gadigan: Having said that, I'll note that it's harder to roll the villains where the Ascendants are there still
[2:54 AM] Gadigan: Tilt for what the character wants is a factor in rolls
[2:54 AM] Gadigan: But accounts for about 10% of the base spread for that category
[2:54 AM] Gadigan: Then 10% is awkward anti-tilt
[2:54 AM] Gadigan: Then you've got the beefy 80% block
[2:54 AM] Gadigan: Which mostly rolls an Ascension
[2:55 AM] Gadigan: Then assigns each Ascendant an equal chance of being rolled and then sticks all the villains for that Ascension as equal liklihood (in a group) to one Ascendant
[2:55 AM] Gadigan: Then if you roll the villain bundle, it rolls between them (with the endboss having lower odds than the rest)
[2:55 AM] Gadigan: That's just general odds, though, and doesn't cover all cases
[2:55 AM] Gadigan: You can post this if you want
[2:55 AM] Celas: Interesting!