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I'm pretty sure JT Jag's post is going to win all the votes now, and rightly so. It's an interesting opinion and we should be gauging the responses of the others at the table.
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Mar 16, 2015 21:44
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It's a good post but in some respects it's also kind of a shame, because it's nice to occasionally define your character rather than simply pick the optimal solution for gaining most information. Makes it easier on the GM, too.
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Mar 16, 2015 21:49
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:It's a good post but in some respects it's also kind of a shame, because it's nice to occasionally define your character rather than simply pick the optimal solution for gaining most information. Makes it easier on the GM, too.
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Mar 16, 2015 21:53
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You can't make money off the warp, just lose it. Keep it away from your goodies and pray to the god-emperor he favours your journey.
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Mar 16, 2015 23:01
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Riso posted:You can't make money off the warp, just lose it. 
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Mar 16, 2015 23:06
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People will pay you loads of money to make it go away.
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Mar 16, 2015 23:06
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Ralith posted:But our whole career is (will be?) built around making money by trade that it permits
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Mar 16, 2015 23:22
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:It's a good post but in some respects it's also kind of a shame, because it's nice to occasionally define your character rather than simply pick the optimal solution for gaining most information. Makes it easier on the GM, too. Sticking with a "define yourself" option I'd lean more towards B but secretly A because we've already got the stain of heresy in our past and while I doubt BftBG is going to terminate this CYOA next post by having us executed for heresy, thematically it would behoove us to keep our true thoughts to ourselves.
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Mar 17, 2015 01:15
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JT Jag posted:
Adding my voice to the choir! This, by far.
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Mar 21, 2015 03:17
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Captain’s Dining Room, Machina Scientia As the conversation continues you look around the room. The dining room was a curiosity aboard a vessel whose crew primarily consumed a processed nutrient slurry, but even the Mechanicus had to entertain guests. You know that were the ship in realspace the thick windows would reveal a magnificent view down the spine of the ship. Now armored shutters secured the possibility of an errant glance into the madness-inducing Warp, so you had to make do with the perfectly machined artistic touches done on the inside of each shutter. The Mechanicus valued perfection above all, so a significant portion of the artwork was spent demonstrating perfect geometric shapes to a level of precision that required a laser micrometer. It was less about artistic expression and more about technical proficiency, which you supposed could be an art in and of itself. You begin to wonder about the reality of perception, and how what to you looked like a rather dull circle would be a masterpiece to a Tech Priest. Could the same be said of the Immaterium? You knew the Warp is a sea of energy, influenced by the collective consciousness of psychic races. It is the well of power from which psykers are able to do amazing things, but is also host to beings of unfathomable malice. A powerful emotion felt in realspace, regardless of the truth behind whatever formed that emotion, would manifest itself in the Warp and could grow into a full daemon. Perception was reality in the Sea of Souls. You catch a lull in the conversation and interject your own thoughts. “The Warp is poison,” you say. “To think otherwise is foolishness, but it is not the Warp's nature to be poison. It is simply a reflection of the will of the universe, a universe that is now full of rage, of disease, of schemes, of decadence. And so the Warp has been twisted. Perhaps once it was not like this. Perhaps it could change, far into the future, when the changes in the nature of man and xeno are reflected in it.” You pop a crunchy morsel into your mouth to enjoy a moment of respite. The de-limbed invertebrate was expertly prepared, with las-lines carefully cut into the still-living carapace to ensure it would shatter in precisely the right way to avoid cutting your mouth. The internal organs were delicious. Sweet and savory portions of the creature intermingled to form a perfect harmony. It was incredible, a culinary masterwork, and you wonder how in the name of the Emperor delicacies like this were on a ship run by the Machine Cult. It certainly bore investigating. After a sufficiently appropriate dramatic pause, you finish. “But none of that is relevant to us. As of right now, the Warp is the greatest threat to humanity, and unfortunately, the greatest tool as well." Your musing catches several off guard. Videre, wearing a hint of a smirk, is the first to speak. “My, I must say I hadn’t expected you of all people here to have such an expansive knowledge of the Warp. I thought the job of an Inquisitorial prison was to extract secrets, not provide them.” This elicits laughter from the other Navigators. You look Videre straight in the eye. “The profession of a Navigator is to guide the Emperor’s vessels through the Warp, and one does not question their knowledge of their craft. The profession of an Astropath is to communicate across the Warp, and one does not question their knowledge either.” You smile. “My job is to profit from the Warp, so naturally I should know of it.” “Take care your grasp doesn’t exceed your reach, Lord Prosper,” interjects Ocul, “lest instead of profit you find the fires of the Ecclesiarchy and the fate reserved for all heretics.” Cornelius regards Ocul the same way a man might regard a particularly unpleasant insect that’s been crushed under foot. “Strange words to say to a man in front of his bodyguard.” Ocul looks up at Rast, unperturbed. “I had been meaning to ask about that. How in the name of the God-Emperor did you manage to retain an Astartes?” There are some men in the galaxy who can communicate vast quantities of information with the slightest amount of effort. With a scant few lines a laureate can evoke a lifetime of emotions. A simple melody is all that a virtuoso requires to sway the hearts of billions. A prima ballerina at the peak of her ability can make the most complex and difficult movements look as graceful as walking. With the glance he gives Ocul, Rast displays an equal level of proficiency in conveying the imminence of an unfathomable level of pain and suffering. “You are mistaken, Navigator.” You nod, taking note of the reaction. “Indeed. Although obviously large for a human, Rast is no Space Marine.” Ocul bows his head in supplication, clearly interested in changing the conversation. “Of course. Forgive my lack of manners. No disrespect was intended.” It is Videre who redirects in the hopes of saving his companion. “So you say the Warp is a well of poison, and yet mankind is forced to drink from it. Doesn’t that bring about a sense of inevitability?” You nod, deciding to contemplate Rast’s behavior later. “Indeed it does.” Now your mind turns to what you gleaned from Gant during his numerous interrogations, the surface thoughts that the Inquisitor had been unable to sterilize before he delved into your mind. “Just look at Eisenhorn, the Inquisitor whose career took him from the height of the Puritan ideology to the depths of Radicalism. Or the psyker who touches the warp one too many times and finds himself the victim of its perils. Or anyone who dabbles in trinkets of the Empyrean and exchanges his soul for a transient moment of power.” “And what of the Rogue Trader who profits from it? Does he not suffer the same fate?” “That’s why we have intermediaries.” That brings about a few chuckles. The conversation drifts into various pleasantries and other discussions of little note and in time the dinner ends. Your routine continues in the same manner for several days. Every moment available in the Librarium, dinner with your fellow notables, and business of the Dynasty in the evening. You notice the journey is wearing down on the Navigators, and over a variety of delicacies you learn that the Warp has been truly relentless in its abuse of Machina Scientia. A great pressure has built up, like a wave underneath a ship, and the Navigators struggle to maintain sight of the Astronomicon. Without the guiding light of the psychic beacon located on Holy Terra all would be lost. Yet still they continue. Your own studies take a turn as well. The discussion of the Warp has spurned your interest into new areas of research. You tell yourself this is purely business, a reasonable attempt to take advantage of the position of your station to exploit the Empyrium, but the search for something compels you on. You peruse erudite studies of the Immaterium, treatises on the theory of collective psychic will and the manifestation of belief. You browse borderline heretical papers on the nature of the Daemon, and then your focus turns to the psyker. A massive tome hovers in the stasis field before you, the pages held perfectly still behind a protective shield that was impossible to breach. In spite of your constant psychic abuse at the hands of the now-deceased Inquisitor Lord Gant you find yourself remarkably ignorant of those who can manipulate the Warp through sheer force of will. The book you read, Of the Psyker, was actually an introductory text for neophytes of the Machine Cult who were contemplating a Biologis career. In careful, dry text it spoke of the various manifestations of psychic will. You begin to look carefully, absorbing every word, and find yourself reading out loud. “The ability of the psyker to manipulate the Immaterium is further proof of Chold’s Theory of Mental Fortitude, as only those of incredible willpower are able to maintain the self-control needed to avoid being consumed or driven mad. Being itself a manifestation of collective will the Warp itself is theorized to have a sort of driving will or instinct. Like a vessel submerged under water the deeper one gets the greater the pressure upon you.” +++ Uh… boss? +++ You pause, and then rub your eyes. “Yes Crispy, what is it?” +++ Not to dictate terms or anything, but why are you reading an introductory primer on psyker phenomena? +++ “Because it interests me.” +++ Doesn’t making vast sums of money exploiting those who have lost sight of the God-Emperor of Mankind interest you more? +++ “At the moment? No. There’s something here and I need to find it.” You look back at the primer. You see the disciplines. Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis, and Telepathy. Each producing significant benefits and dangers. Overlap was not uncommon and most psykers produced some kind of hybrid. You suspected each psyker was unique in their methods and trace, like fingerprints, but that information was not available in this text. Crispy floats over and sees what you’re reading. +++ I’ll admit I’m not much into the psionics, but I know the disciplines. Which one’s your favorite? +++ A. Biomancy, or the manipulation of living things. A powerful Biomancer could punch through hardened steel with his bare hand or boil the blood in a foe’s body. Tales of Biomancers being able to ignore the most horrific wounds and being free of pain and fear are not uncommon. The same hands that can kill can heal, removing pain and misery from the souls of others. B. Divination, the prediction of the future. The psyker who practices divination can peer into the murky depths of the future and sense the probability of a given event occurring. He may know with perfect precision the placement of a hail of bullets heading his way, or have the ability to look deep in the future and see what may come to pass. The future is never guaranteed, and many a diviner has been driven mad by visions of what could have been. C. Pyromancy, the manipulation of fire. Fire is the primordial power within the Universe, the first foe truly tamed by man. A Pyromancer channels the power of the Warp into the physical manifestation of raw power. With enough force of will the Pyromancer can engulf himself in flames, let loose a lance of energy with the power of a melta, or regard a man with a single glance and make him spontaneously combust. D. Telekinesis the conversion of raw psychic energy into pure physical force. The Telekine is a master of the material world, using raw willpower to shape things as he sees fit. With enough force of will a psyker wielding telekinesis can throw boulders or rip a hole through the fabric of reality into the Warp itself. Others can use subtle motions to jam the motion of machines and guns. The truly powerful, those at the peak of psychic ability, can snap a Titan in half with a single thought. E. Telepathy the control and sensing of the minds of others. Where the Telekine rules the material plane, the Telepath is the undisputed master of the mind. A well-trained Telepath can crush the will of a foe to resist, dominating him mind and body, or alter his mind and obscure the Telepath’s presence. The encouragement of a psyker wielding Telepathy can bolster the morale of an entire Imperial Guard regiment or crush the spirit of an opposing legion. The penalty for this power is insanity, as the Telepath constantly runs the risk of having entered so many minds that he cannot discern the thoughts of others from his own.
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Mar 22, 2015 02:50
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Only Telepathy is worthy of a Rogue Trader. The rest are mercenary trinkets, mere parlor tricks compared to the power of absolute command!
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Mar 22, 2015 03:02
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:Only Telepathy is worthy of a Rogue Trader. The rest are mercenary trinkets, mere parlor tricks compared to the power of absolute command! this!
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Mar 22, 2015 03:32
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B Gotta predict those prices.
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Mar 22, 2015 03:36
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A. Biomancy, what's the point of being filthy rich if you can't live forever without a halo device
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Mar 22, 2015 03:38
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Recent posts remind me of character creation in Daggerfall. Which of these options gets us that OP ebony dagger? A. Biomancy sounds rad.
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Mar 22, 2015 03:45
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RandomPauI fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Mar 22, 2015 |
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Mar 22, 2015 04:04
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RandomPauI posted:F, make a quip about how your ideal discipline doesn't seem to exist. That your favorite would be one that restores the warp to its former state of calm I will accept options outside of those listed. Incidentally I think yours would be closer to Theosophamy.
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Mar 22, 2015 04:14
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B. we must divine a means to make as many fat stacks as possible.
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Mar 22, 2015 04:20
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Normally I'd pick that or Divination, but for tonight's forecast, a freeze is coming. Voidfrost Disciple 
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Mar 22, 2015 04:24
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B because foreknowledge is a significant advantage.
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Mar 22, 2015 04:28
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Biomancy the flesh is ruled by the mind. The mind is ruled by the will. The will is ruled by me.
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Mar 22, 2015 04:33
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pre:A XXX B XXX C D E XX F XX (Restoring Warp, Cold)
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Mar 22, 2015 04:49
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RandomPauI posted:F, make a quip about how your ideal discipline doesn't seem to exist. That your favorite would be one that restores the warp to its former state of calm
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Mar 22, 2015 05:05
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Changing my vote to A!
AmyL fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Mar 22, 2015 |
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Mar 22, 2015 05:09
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Changing my vote to "The emperor doesn't have a favorite, why should I?"
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Mar 22, 2015 05:23
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B
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Mar 22, 2015 07:29
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A
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Mar 22, 2015 07:38
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B: Learn to Read the Emperor's Tarot. What better way to profit than to respond to opportunities before they appear?
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Mar 22, 2015 07:39
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all of the above!!! (B)
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Mar 22, 2015 11:17
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Telepathy
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Mar 22, 2015 11:39
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I sense that B is going to win. Useful already.
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Mar 22, 2015 11:46
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:Only Telepathy is worthy of a Rogue Trader. The rest are mercenary trinkets, mere parlor tricks compared to the power of absolute command! E. Mind powers for the god of capitalism!
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Mar 22, 2015 12:30
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B
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Mar 22, 2015 16:16
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A
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Mar 22, 2015 16:25
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Kegslayer posted:E. Mind powers for the god of capitalism! E. Capitalism for the God of Mind Powers!
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Mar 22, 2015 16:27
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B. Why learn to swordfight when we can just cheat by abusing precognitive dodge?
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Mar 22, 2015 17:35
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pre:A XXXXXX B XXXXXXXXX C D E XXXXX F XXX (Emperor Has No Favorite, Why Should I?)
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Mar 22, 2015 18:33
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B, Divination. Think how much money you could make on futures if you already know the future.
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Mar 22, 2015 20:10
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Slightly Lions posted:B, Divination. Think how much money you could make on futures if you already know the future. This plus cheating in sword fights
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Mar 23, 2015 01:37
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 12:25 |
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E. Telepathy There is no greater advantage to a Rogue Trader than to know what his opponent is thinking. Invaluable in negotiations and ferreting out intentions. Although I must confess I am a fan of Telekinesis for breaking Titans and throwing Apoc tanks.
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Mar 23, 2015 15:06
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