~Discussion topic for Oz: Crossroad of Legends~

Feel free to retcon away to suit your needs. It's not my domain anymore. I'm just letting you guys know where I was coming from with it all in case you want to adapt that.

All of the concrete stuff I had on Ephesus is in the opening post I did and the sign-ups:
vitcon.boards.net/post/96647/thread
vitcon.boards.net/post/95501/thread

As for stuff I didn't mention in the sign ups, or at least not explicitly:

All of the Avatars are relatively young, and this is because Ephesian Avatars often die in battle before they get old. While revered as gods, it's generally understood that they have a mortal body that is essentially sacrificed to channel an Aspect of the Green Dragon and use its powers, which is a sacrifice of the highest honor. Citizens don't flinch when the Avatars change names and celebrate when an Aspect finds a new Avatar, usually within a few weeks of the previous one's death. The Avatars are usually chosen relatively young as well, since the dramatic events of one's life corresponding to young adulthood tend to attract the Aspects. Others in Oz who have seen a few decades may have engaged different Avatars in the past, but they are usually all of similar power set and ability.

The Aspects are usually drawn to those whose personalities complement them and what they stand for as well. The Red Phoenix is drawn to an empathic savior. The Blue Serpent to an artist who can whip up a crowd. The White Tiger to a stalwart defender. The Black Tortoise to a keen scholar.

I wanted the Avatars to all have double-edged physical mutations that come with their power. They are not supposed to be human anymore, and don't necessarily enjoy their transformations.

As for character bits and bobs that might have developed in my head past the character sheet entries:

Petrine is deliberately a fire-aligned character who is not about burning things to the ground. She dislikes using fire offensively because her empathy powers force her to share in the suffering of someone burning to death and that's just unpleasant. Her preferred fighting style is either like that of a blade-dancer, with quick decisive strikes, or to get a bare hand on them and pump them full of devotion to Ephesus so they stop trying to fight her. She's very introspective in that she's always figuring out if her thoughts and feelings are hers, or something felt by someone else. Because of this, she tends to be reserved and shy away from other people, unless she's in a situation where she's revered as a goddess, in which case she knows she doesn't think of herself that way and can just enjoy the ego boost. She shares Mason's bond with animals since she doesn't imprint with them like she does people.

Esdeath is meant to be a scholar of magic and an architect. Magic used by Ephesus is based in religious ritual, and all tied back to the Green Dragon's power, but is expected to be passed down and taught, so like D&D Clerics that have to learn and cast spells like a D&D Wizard. Esdeath's main shtick is creating things out of ice, but the way I was doing it, everything she makes she has to actually know how to make it on spot, or retrieve it after saving it in her sigil library. So she'll be sculpting hundreds of new designs for sword and daggers and things like that in her spare time. If mecha start to be a thing she'll absolutely set about making an ice one.

Mason goes for the "beastmaster" sort of angle because he understands them better than people. He understands animals in the sense of survival instincts, reward-based motivation, how to train and tame them, and so on. People are more complicated than that and he hasn't brought himself to figure out how to deal with that. It's much easier to just command thousands through command structure.

Galahad is the only Avatar that has a bit of struggle with his faith, in the sense that the passion in his music is from his own love of performance and his effect on the masses, which is exactly what the Blue Serpent Avatar is meant to do, but it's not necessarily tied back to explicit devotion to the Green Dragon. The Emperor knows this, and Galahad knows he knows this, and so he seeks out the Emperor's teachings to help him figure out how to bridge this disconnect. In his round-about lassez-faire way though, of course.

(making sheets for Ephesians when realization)


Does Galahad bathe? If he has lightning hair and eyes, would he electrify himself/his surroundings if he tried?

Magic shower cap and goggles.

Nah I have Mason. Emperor is the one up for grabs.

Why hadn't I done this earlier? Because I somehow thought I already had. Outlander characters themes!

Joshua


Yancy


Irving


Riley


Cheryl


Mira


Marley


Hugh


Emma



Grant


Meridia



Didn't make them all Pokemon themes because I thought it would be boring (but I also know which Pokemon themes I would use so if one of you prefers it that way just say so). I'll so Mason/Galahad themes once I decide on what Mason would have.

Were you taking over for any of the Abominiations?