Mirandae

The Spirits Within

@WanderingSpirit
Oh, hi. I didn't refresh the page before posting myself. Don't be too discouraged if a lot of people are in the same division. They are just broad fields of study with many, specific orientations that I can't go through in detail.

The Spirits Within

Just a note for everyone: I most likely sleep when most of you are active, as I'm in Europe. Just thought I'd put this out there so it doesn't seem like I'm ignoring all the talks.

@71452K@deadpixel101
I will comment on your sheets once I've put my own up. I realize that it will just be easier for me to reference my own sheet in certain instances. It's mostly the ideology section that need a bit of expansion, but I'll get back to comments in a bit.

@Fabricant451
The FF constant? It's probably something super obvious, but I'm too stupid to see what it is, haha!

The Spirits Within

Yes. My character is a cross between Reinhart from overwatch and Lt. Armstrong from Full Metal Alchemist.

@Mr Rage

Cool. Is there a realistic picture alternative do you think? I'm sure there are plenty of aryan-looking strong men to choose from!

The Spirits Within

Made updates to Combat and Catalyst sections. You can now see what items you need for which added effects when using magic in combat. Color coded for easy reading.

The Spirits Within

@Otaku95
Very cool. If augmentations is a common thing, then it's not hard to imagine that weapons technology would be similar as well!

@deadpixel101
Well, a distinct spirit that interacts without would probably have traces of all elements, but perhaps one or two or more dominant and would show in its chosen form and coloration when emerging from your character's body.

It's totally up to you how many of these you'd like to describe in the story. But, if you want a number, then perhaps 1-4. Ultimately, it depends on a person's spirit density, and consider our characters' young age, their density will be relatively low.

The Spirits Within

@Prisk

Okay so then spirits still have individuality and personality, but you don't have a constant pool of them. Like your friendly fish water one who you grew up with or anything like that. They come and go as you gather them and they are expended by way of points in battle?

Or am I still waaay of the mark lol

@deadpixel101

Spirit points is just a translation to make the game system work. It has nothing to do with the actual lore. To explain it better: a spirit with a very distinct personality and form that interacts with you would be a collection of many spirits that have stayed with your character for a long time. It's unlike that it would leave unless it was abused by you. But, you are right in that tiny, individual spirits come and go all the time. It's when they congregate and merge with each other that they become larger, more powerful, and attain clear personalities.

The Spirits Within

@Prisk One last question: as far as weapons go, what technological level are we looking at? Something semi-futuristic, like in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, more modern-ish, steampunk-ish, or a mix of all of those, a la RWBY?

@Otaku95

Probably in the way of Call of Duty. I'm not familiar with that particular installment of the game, but I'll check it out. I mean, the world in this story has been at war for around 20 years, so a lot of time and development has been put into weapons technology. Guardians often use melee weapons, as well, that can be more archaic, if you're into that. So, you have a lot of options for weapons.

The Spirits Within

@Prisk I'm not very familiar with the Final Fantasy franchise, but I am extremely familiar with the "Spirits Within" film (in fact, much of my very first TBRPG characters' backstories and personalities were inspired by components of the film). In terms of knowledge of FF canon, is knowing more about the franchise as a whole necessary?

@Otaku95

No, absolutely not. Whatever references I take form the games is often severely taken out of context, and mostly for the name of that aspect alone. I say Final Fantasy-esque because of the combination of magic, setting, story structure, characters, and such. It's like an interpretation of the series, thus no knowledge of it needed. The Spirits Within film is excellent. That's where the name of this roleplay is from, obviously.

<Snipped quote by Prisk>

I see! I had a very different image of spirits in my mind. I was thinking of them as very distinct, as if you housed a few that you knew. Sort of like they were secondary characters.

Having the options to use all elements instead of just a few is neat though, and makes everyone versatile, so that's still just as interesting.

Cool then, that clears things up, thank you :D

@deadpixel101

Spirits do have personalities, though. They're very much sentient beings. I talk a little about this in the "Spirits" section. Spirits can emerge from your body to interact with you, but they can't talk and only emerge when 'things are safe'. So, you can definitely use them like mini-secondary characters. It's like your own little barn of pokemons, or something!

The Spirits Within

Hello there.

I'm also very excited about this!

I do have a few questions though, namely about how exactly these powers function. How much liberty do we have in that regard?

Also how many spirits should a beginning character have? One powerful one or a few less connected ones?

On another note, though still a question; is the whale oil inspired by dishonored?

Hope i'm not being a bother.

@deadpixel101

Hi! Not at all, ask as many questions as you want!

You have access to spirits of all the elements (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Air, and Water). Guardians absorb so many spirits on a daily basis that it's difficult to not have all the elements within you. So, what you do, in-character, is that whenever you want to use magic, you just choose whatever you want to use at that point. If you use some elements together, you might have to describe the attack differently. For example, Fire and Earth together could create some kind of Magma-like magic attack.

Second, you have 'spirit points' that boost damage. You have a 1000 points each battle that you can use whenever you want, however you want, as long as you document what you actually used, so that I can see it.

Last, you have items as catalysts that can give your magical attacks 'added effects'. These items are acquired randomly in the game. Think of it as loot when characters travel, after combat, and so on. It's a bit of a raffle, too, as I'll use a random number generator to see what people get!

So, you have quite a bit of liberty, but you don't have to create 'spells' beforehand. Your character does that on the fly in the story. The inspiration for this is how magic is used in Final Fantasy 15.

Yes, the whale oil thing is indeed inspired by Dishonored.

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@71452K
I totally understand how you feel about that. I've sort of felt the same lately, but I've also never really used anything but realistic pictures. I know some people forbid famous people as face claims, as in unknowns only or relatively unknown people, because what you described can extend to other people—It might be that I know who your face claim is and what that person is like in real life. But, on the flip side, if one breaks from the style of face claims, then it disrupts immersion as well. So, I'll tell you what, begin with looking for an unknown, realistic face claim. Avoid stalking! Attach only your character's persona to it. Feel it out, and then, if it gives you nightmares, we'll deal with it!