Stern Algorithm

Overlord: Momento Mori

I think the ideas that the gossip would be fairly minimal (or that it would have a hard time getting to Salem's ears) are valid. I doubt kath or anyone else would voluntarily go up to Salem and be like, "Hey, guess what happened!"

@Lugubrious I think that since Kath technically only gave a verbal description to Graft of what the local vermin looked like, there might need to be periodic updates to the 'look' of the vermin. Specifically, once a handful had been created and placed under Salem's control, Salem could sneak them into town at night, overpower a sampling of the vermin, and bring dead and living specimens back to the Chateau for Graft to make exact replicas rather than ones based off of a verbal description. I think this would necessitate Salem and Graft working together somewhat, so would Graft be loquacious enough to mention the incident, or at least be in a sour enough mood that Salem would notice something was wrong?

My Hero Academia: Another Story

I'm considering joining this, but I am usually reluctant to join an RP that's already hundreds of posts in. I saw mention that a new story arc was beginning making it easier for new people to jump in. That being the case, I just want to know the specifics of that. Is it a new year? What is the justification for the sudden influx of new students?

Also, are any villain slots open?

Overlord: Momento Mori

I assumed the manor or palace or whatever they lived in would be just slightly removed from the town, and hopefully close enough for the vermin to infiltrate, but I might be wrong about that.

Overlord: Momento Mori

I'm planning for my next post to be a bit of a time skip just so Salem isn't stuck languishing in the past. I wanted to know what juicy pieces of information have become common knowledge, specifically:

1.The tiff between Graft and Chuunitrixx (are people gossiping about this, or are the involved parties keeping mum?)
2. Rodias' intent to replace the nobility of Amberden

Assuming the vermin replicates have been created and implanted with Salem's eyes, Salem will have spent a good amount of time watching the town. Being bored, Salem will have begun remodeling part of the City of Lost Things (just rearranging houses and such) to fit the layout of Amberden, creating a 'simulation'. Salem will then plan to invite Kath, Ashara, and Rodias to 'marvel' at the replica. Whether or not Salem knows that Rodias plans to usurp the duke or whatever, having a layout of the town would help with infiltration.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Enkryption

Got it. As long as it has passed the GM's discretion.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Xaltwind

No no, it's fine. I did think it was funny. I wasn't asking for an apology, but I accept either way. It's just that in the past, playing OP characters in other RP's tended to lead towards over-reaching, and often spilled into meta-gaming. I also didn't want the prior incident with Graft to be assumed as, "I guess Stern is just okay with people pushing Salem around." I just wanted to bring it up to nip a potential problem in the bud.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Xaltwind I just wanted to point out that in the post where Graft grabs Salem's hat, Lugubrious PM'd me prior for permission to interact with Salem in that way. If someone's going to do something rude to or touch my character, and have my character not react or retaliate in any way, I'd like to be asked first. While I have no qualms with the events that transpired (Salem being unceremoniously removed from COIN), I just don't want this to become a habit, with people doing things to other people's characters without permission, since it violates the common courtesy of RP.

@Enkryption I also question the fact that Socrates, and by extension, Chuunitrix has the administrative privileges to move, rename, or lockout chapters. I feel the basic infrastructure of the Chateau should only be editable by player characters. Like Salem might have known the password to COIN, but he wouldn't have been able to access the UI to input the password. I realize this RP is about playing as OP characters, but I feel some limits should apply, especially concerning the Chateau, which is a shared playground among all our characters.

Overlord: Momento Mori

Salem Vicarious, Lord of Lost Things

@The Irish Tree @Xaltwind

A look of annoyance passed over Salem's face as Isolde insulted the doll's stature, but the feeling passed, and Salem shrugged, "Being small is my charm point." Salem found it interesting that neither the absence of Isolde's creator, nor the questioning of her loyalty to Rodias perturbed her, yet threats to her supposed chastity did. Such strange priorities to harbor, though Salem figured that was probably the fault of Isolde's creator, who likely had 'a thing' for 'pure maidens'; Lords knew how often Dr.Drd had been accused of being a 'shotacon' because of Salem.

But the tense moment passed, and Isolde brought up a fair point. The reason Dr.Drd had taken an interest in the Chamber of Imaginary Numbers was because the function of the Chamber was revolutionary, and quite frankly, indispensable. How Chateau Gothika had managed to function without such a convenience for so long was a testament to the tenacity of the Sable Lords. Thinking helpfully for once in the doll's miserable life, Salem knew the function of COIN would greatly benefit not only those outside who were exploring and bringing in newfound materials, but the upkeep and production centers as well, like Kaldorna's pens, Flan's kitchen, and Graft's factory. "But who could repair this place and get it working again?" Salem lamented. Though Dr.Drd was one of Bandersnatch's most celebrated creators who had a hand in the most intricate parts of the Chateau, he had not passed on any knowledge of creation to Salem; unlike Graft who had the Factory at his disposal, Flan who could cook, and Chuunitrix who could spawn. Creation was a gift from the gods, and it had been denied to Salem. Salem turned their attention to Rodias, who was one of the Sable Lords, yet had no creation to his name, which led Salem to wonder why it was that some of the Sable Lords created, and why some of them did not. "Could you fix the Chamber? You did manage to unlock it...without my help..." Salem asked, then teased Rodias with the hint that the doll could have offered assistance earlier.

Overlord: Momento Mori

Kath looked down at the chest, considering what best to do with it. It was mush now. Destroyed utterly. What could she do? She still didn’t have an answer as she leaned down to pick it up, leaving Graft to his own devices.

@Guess Who

Kath and Flan make an omelette.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Enkryption

Thanks for elaborating, my main issue was that I didn't know how deeply the mimics had infiltrated/were allowed to infiltrate the other chapters. If they were all up in the Factory, then Chuunitrix's statement would have been hypocritical, but since that does not seem to be the case, then the label of hypocrisy doesn't apply. And I'm also saying it's not necessarily bad even if Chuunitrix was hypocritical, since we can intentionally characterize our characters however we want. For example, I intended to write Salem as a bratty, annoying little shit with daddy issues. Which is why I pointed out that I wasn't trying to criticize Chuunitrix, nor her creator. I emphasize this only because I've had experiences in the past where mentioning a character's flaw was taken with offense by the creator.

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On a different note, I realize that The City of Lost Things probably comes off as a pretty useless Chapter (it kind of is), and is a terrible destination for anyone. However, the secret of the First Chapter is that it is a test-bed for evolutionary machine-learning experiments. The dolls, plushies, mannequins, etc. are created with randomized combinations of traits so that after each patch and update, Dr.Drd can see which traits or mechanics rise to the surface as the state-of-nature competition allows one to elucidate what the 'new meta' is. That being said, it might not be extremely hard to survive in The City per se, but anyone who wants to test their mettle against absolute f***ing chaos can go there. This is specifically an open invitation to Rodias who might want to flex outside Kaldorna's pens, Graft who might want to train Tabula in less sterile conditions, and potentially Chuunitrix who might also want to train her next batch of leader mimics.

Also, if Graft requested all mention of the words, "Raid Boss", from Kath's library, he will probably come upon the fact that Dr.Drd refers to Raid Boss encounters as his inspiration for creating Salem. Unlike most of the other Keepers and denizens of the Chateau, Salem is an actual boss creature, complete with boss room, multi-stage fight, and weird combat mechanics. Might be interesting if he wants to pit Tabula against him to test her prowess, but also risky since he knows Salem thinks Tabula should be destroyed. Graft could, at any point end the fight by completely wrecking Salem's shit by using his Corrosive Mine.

EDIT: This post took a while and I wanted to add a few more points in response to recent posts:

I hadn't considered resources a big issue, so Graft's proposal to stop the stream of material into The City makes a lot more sense now (beyond just trying to threaten Salem for hinting at blackmail).

I grew up playing Age of Wonders (the first one, I exploited the shit out of wraiths) and StarCraft.