[LP CYOA] Epic

[Azira]

Though that begs the question, do you want Dio to win?

Not really, but I don't want his qualities to disappear either.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Dio can be a bro, he's just not very impressionable, the poor fellow. With a bit of Ean self-righteousness mixed in he'll be awesome.

Anyway, if we're going to defeat the other shards of Ean, it is not going to be through martial ability. It is going to be through cunning and manipulation. Think about it, we can set things up so they off each other, or that they fall into a trap their abilities won't let them escape, and then eat them or whatever. The final? We can just overwhelm or trick. We don't need to fight to win this. We need to play to our strengths.

 

[Baltika9]

Here's the thing, for that we'll need to take my words of Ean being Chaos Undivided and Dio being Tzeentch very literally. Assuming we'll pull this operation off without a hitch is wishful thinking at best, suicidal in reality. We need a last safety net, always.
Punching people and intergalactic terrors in the face always works.

 

[Smashing Axe]

The telepathy will however help to ensure that the operation goes off without a hitch, where the fighting ability will do nothing of the sort. I'd personally prefer trying to divert our resources towards success scheming, rather than a last resort fail-safe. If we choose telepathy, we hopefully won't even need to fight at all due to its ability to help us not be caught unaware. Don't discount the utility of telekinesis and even telepathy in combat either.

 

[Baltika9]

If we choose telepathy, we hopefully won't even need to fight at all due to its ability to help us not be caught unaware..

"Hopefully" is the key word. I'll go ahead and borrow a page from ScubaV's book, and say that I do not think we can do a critical success. But, agree to disagree.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Yes, well, fighting ability isn't a guarantee of success in combat either, and we're more likely to be overwhelmed by the fighter regardless and possibly Aodh if it ever comes down to that. Far more likely we'll be uprooted from our position and exiled/outlawed, all the fighting ability in the world won't help then. The reason for 2B is to make up for that anyway.

I think the biggest landmine we're likely to step upon are tricks and social traps placed for us by Aodh and others. Combat ability while important won't serve as a compass when navigating through this.

 

[Baltika9]

I think the biggest landmine we're likely to step upon are tricks and social traps placed for us by Aodh and others. Combat ability while important won't serve as a compass when navigating through this.

Again, if we choose to really invest ourselves there. On the other hand, if we milk the Prince and Watchers for all their worth, we might get closer to reassembling Ean. And then everyone can go fuck themselves, because Big E is back.
And he's Back In Black.

 

[treave]

treave, speaking of the question you posed: are there any other alternatives between "Dio wins and becomes the new Ean" and "let's purposely fuck up our character by making terrible choices"?

There are a few. Remember the exile option back when Dio was confronted by Aodh, and what I said about it? Regardless, it is possible for Dio to lose and become Ean anyway, or for him to win and not become Ean. The one thing that is hardest to achieve though is maintaining the status quo. Things are going to tzeentch.

Sacrificing Thania has reduced your options by the way.

 

[Tigranes]

I think you're arguing far too passionately for a choice that is basically half idle conjecture and half redundant reasoning. I know it's about dispelling groupthink, but we don't want to go in circles either. Of course fighting ability is always useful, but there's really no reason at the moment not to play the game we are currently playing and play to win it.

Hopefully xBx can eventually lead to the hero dude being our Dumb Brute Bodyguard Sidekick Dude.

 

[Baltika9]

There are a few. Remember the exile option back when Dio was confronted by Aodh, and what I said about it? Regardless, it is possible for Dio to lose and become Ean anyway, or for him to win and not become Ean. The one thing that is hardest to achieve though is maintaining the status quo. Things are going to tzeentch.

And this, gents, is why I am stressing situational awareness.

 

[Azira]

Situational a-what-now? Not 'dex strongest point.

 

[Baltika9]

Touché.
Edit: flopping to BCA, because root said so.

 

[Kattze]

BCA

 

[TOME]

Why do you go for 2C? He is probably called a madman for a reason. Our plots and schemes requires predictability from those around us, and a madman simply doesn't fit. We can only react to him, not plan ahead. And if you go for info, how are you going to sort what's true and what's lie? You could use telepathy, but it is going to be problematic when the person being probed can't tell difference between reality and fantasy.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Bottom line: Bros, we need to stop treating this chapter like a game unto itself and realize that the choices we make here will affect the entire let's play.

I think we should be gathering information on the other Eans and determining which we want to win...and then choosing in directions that favor our chosen candidate(s), but not sabotaging Dio completely so as to maintain the ability to influence the situation through him. Right now, Aodh and the soldier are both interesting, but we don't know enough about them to say for sure.

 

[Bloodshifter]

There are a few. Remember the exile option back when Dio was confronted by Aodh, and what I said about it? Regardless, it is possible for Dio to lose and become Ean anyway, or for him to win and not become Ean. The one thing that is hardest to achieve though is maintaining the status quo. Things are going to tzeentch.

Sacrificing Thania has reduced your options by the way.

Just when you think its okay Treave pulls out the lulz lazer

so any of the "fragments" can become Ean? if so getting that solider into power while supporting the Prince should be our Goal as well as keeping the Adoh away from the throne.

And told ye gits that we should have saved our Waifu its very Un-Ean like as to Isolation of each Chapter... Attempting to dispel that from the 'Hivemind' will take effort on part of the "mover and shakers" of our CYOA

 

[Baltika9]

treave, is there a limit on how much power one shard can get?
If not, and the combined power of the shards at the time of combining is greater than Ean's was during his shattering, will it carry over?
What about a shard's memories?

 

[Smashing Axe]

I hate the idea of deliberately sabotaging Dio on the oft chance of returning Ean proper. We're playing him, we should be choosing options we think will lead to his success. He's not so bad anyway, and despite all this isn't a psychopath, he's just a man willing to sacrifice almost anything to get what he wants, despite the cost. That takes strength and courage. In time he'll likely even out too, wisdom with age and all that.

 

[treave]

treave, is there a limit on how much power one shard can get?
If not, and the combined power of the shards at the time of combining is greater than Ean's was during his shattering, will it carry over?
What about a shard's memories?

I have no idea what you are talking about by shards. Did I ever confirm they were actually shards of Ean that would recombine? Also, an update can be expected by Friday at the earliest, I've had to pull several long nights of work these past few days.

 

[ScubaV]

Uh oh. Stay strong treave, and don't let work keep you down. We'd hate to see another Curufinwe or Vernydar incident here. Just remember that the might of the Codex is behind you brofisting you all the way.

 

[Baltika9]

Take your time, man. I was beginning to wonder when you'd take a break, even if it's forced.
And what ScubaV said.
jusr don'r abandon it.


PS: you did give me more reasons to doubt the circumstances and room to speculate.
Just as planned.

 

[Baltika9]

He's not so bad anyway, and despite all this isn't a psychopath, he's just a man willing to sacrifice almost anything to get what he wants, despite the cost.

You're right, he's not so bad.

You’ve stopped listening to your father, smiling and nodding as you head towards your room. The medicine was kept in there, where no servant could tamper with it. It looks like your father’s vitality was still strong… you would have to increase the dosage. It would be too late once you leave for Ankida.

And not a psychopath at all.

It was the first time you had actually killed a man personally, though you felt nothing as your father’s lifesblood washed over your hands, his eyes open in uncomprehending terror. He remains staring as the light fades from his eyes, a fool to the end. You were thankful that he had adopted you into House Camna, but his usefulness had ended once Arte died and you were heir.
...
You look down at the rapidly cooling corpse with some distaste. You have always heard that people would panic and go crazy trying to wash the blood off their hands, but it appears those are just stories after all. It looks like it was time to call the servants in, as witnesses to their master’s unfortunate death. You prepare yourself to grieve – it is a good thing that everyone knows you were such a loyal son to the very end.

Need I go on? [/sarcasm]

Dio is not the type of man that can be a bro. Hell, I honestly hope that we'll be able to split his personality off and stuff it into another Anbar-Shi, only shaped like a microphone.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yes, he's pretty darn evil/crazy. Worse than Shulgi maybe.

Speaking of Anbar-Shi...that reminds me of the hunger...I wonder...

We know Ean absorbed some of the negative traits of "the bad" whenever his hunger caused him to eat "the bad"... What if Dio - or just his evil personality traits - are the manifestation of this? After all, I'm finding it difficult to establish WHY Dio is so crazy - or, if my theory that some or all of the characters either represent or carry an aspect of Ean holds true, what aspect of Ean's personality Dio represents/possesses.

What follows is yet more of my speculation. Again, I'm not solid enough to base a decision off it entirely yet:
As far as representation goes:
Aodh - from what I can guess at right now - wants to maintain the status quo in the Empire, which, along with the royal bloodline, I believe might represent the true Ean or maybe Ean as a whole. Aodh may be Ean protecting himself - ie, the Empire and/or the bloodline. (Additionally, if this is true, then our act of temping the Emperor into raping Thania did damage not only by killing her, but by causing Ean's true self to fall...)
The soldier - Ean's warrior spirit. We don't know much about him.
The madman - this is what we get for referencing squid sex every time Sek was mentioned. I think he might represent Ean's unfullfilled desires. All the crazy things we've ever brought up...

edit: And to those of you who have a problem with not playing Dio to win, think about it like this:

Do we favor Dio - a horribly screwed up character who we've only been playing for less than 1 chapter? Or Ean - our bro from day one?

 

[Baltika9]

edit: And to those of you who have a problem with not playing Dio to win, think about it like this:

Do we favor Dio - a horribly screwed up character who we've only been playing for less than 1 chapter? Or Ean - our bro from day one?

Ean is not just our bro. He's a bro to all things, except manipulative twats. Come to think of it, I think I know why Ean was broken up into several pieces:the spheres saw just how much of a bro he was.
They also saw that he doesn't have any real bros, because no bro is enough of a bro to be Ean's bro(except BLOBERT, but he is their bro already), and being the bros they are they saw how unbro that was, so they decided to give him some bros to bro with. Since the only one to be able to bro with Ean is Ean, they had to split him up.
That, or they decided that he is too much Man for any one reality to handle.

 

[oscar]

While Dio might personally be a complete asshole, this does not mean he would make a bad emperor or minister.