We continue our regularly scheduled (:lol) reviews.

[@Scarifar] for Arae
[hider]
There's some good stuff going on here, but it's marred by some flaws.

Your Sphere is quite cool and thematic; it can fit nicely into our setting and it has its own charm. Let me start by sharing my thoughts on what it actually [i]does[/i]: firstly, it's clearly quite affected by Galbar, as in many ways it mirrors what's going on with the families down below. But then as far as it's impact on Galbar, it's just the equivalent of an artillery battery. There are all of these trees and pools that can have destructive, near voodoo-doll like effects upon entire families down below. It's like a missile silo full of a million buttons, each one capable of essentially dropping a free curse down on somebody's family. That's obviously an incredibly powerful ability that should perhaps be toned down or limited, but then again, Family seems like a very niche and limited Portfolio (more on this later) so perhaps such a powerful thing can be justified. 

You know, I think it'd be fitting to say that pruning the trees and tending to the lakes can actually bring good fortune to a family; your sheet only speaks of being able to negatively effect families by ruining the lakes, but why is that? If you made this change, your Sphere would become ironically more powerful and flexible while at the same time feeling less like a proverbial missile silo.

On to personality--I'll start with the good. I like how she is curious about the universe and wants to look after the other gods as they are "her family." Both of these attitudes can lend themselves well to interaction and the storylines will practically write themselves. It's assuring to us when we see you take such a proactive sort of persona rather than an isolated one, because you weren't very active in Mk. II and we really hope that won't be the case here.

The bad? Well, I actually really like this idea that she "punishes those who would try to tear [families] apart" and presumably tries to stop things like kinslaying, adultery, or even slavery that might drive families apart in various means. But this all sounds like a very good and benevolent thing to do, yet you pinned her down as neutral. There's even more contradiction in that you'd expect the goddess that concerns herself with families and embodies the idea of kinship to be somewhat emotional or at least passionate, but you describe her as cold and logical. Are these mixed cues and the seemingly paradoxical description intentional? I'm not getting that vibe; instead I'm just feeling like the personality is maybe a bit unrefined and that you could probably do to try pinning it down better, or else change around some of these stances she holds so as to better conform to a true neutral alignment.

The biggest barrier towards accepting your sheet is the Portfolio. Family seems like a fairly concise and workable Portfolio, but you describe what family is without telling us anything about what it means in the context of powers. What does your Portfolio actually let Arae [i]do[/i]? Does she only tend to the trees and lakes in her Sphere and get the voodoo-doll powers? If so, I think you could probably expand this to be more useful. And in either case, some clarification and better portfolio description is warranted.

Sheet rejected for now; fix the Portfolio issues and you'll be well on your way to getting it approved. But furthermore, I hope that you act upon these suggestions for her Sphere, and then also consider my musings about personality.[/hider]