Chapter 194: Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-Four – Sisters II, Marks Addendum
"Yes, that is true. You should be aware that its part of the nature the Curse coded into us. Think about it... despite Hags being pretty much the epitome of vile, evil, wicked women, petty and scheming and powerful enough to make their wishes reality... they still get together in covens and work together to mutual benefit." Their heads tilted as they thought about that. "Their sense of sisterhood must be extraordinary to be able to put up with all that, despite being as despicable as they are. We have the same sense of it... but without all the raw Evil sitting in the way."
They all looked enlightened. "So, it's like a special power of ours?" Veis popped up happily.
"Yes. Regardless of anything else, we're bound by the Curse. We don't really have any other family, yet we all have the same source, and its stronger than blood, because it's blood, meat, and bones, too. In truth, I'm very surprised by how strong the bond is." They all nodded agreement. "So, do you have any questions for me?"
Veis shot up her hand instantly. "Can you tell us about what it means to be a Hagchild?" she asked softly. "You just mentioned sisterhood, Sama. Is there more? Are we normal humans, other than that?"
"Mmmm." I considered that. "That is a loaded question. I will say that, from a magical standpoint, we are all humans. Bane/Humans works on us, just like other humans, and Bane/Monstrous Humanoids, which works on Hags, does not. So, for 'real' purposes, we're humans.
"But no humans have ever had to endure looking into the heart of the Hag Curse, getting their minds fused to a stolen soul, and endure the Ritual of the Silver Queen. So, you can say that we have become human, because we took our humanity back, and held tight to it against the strongest Curse to afflict the human species."
They considered the implications of that. "What does that mean?" Verd asked, her face scrunching, looking down at her fingers, and stroking her green locks.
"Do you know Powered aren't exactly human?" They all blinked. "That's right. All Powered, anyone who can use magic or chi, has something in them that normal humans do not. They may be ninety-nine percent Human... but there's something in them that is not, that allows them to spin spells and execute Techniques, to warp magic and spin the Breath of the world. We... are Not-Powered. That one percent of something else, we still have it, just like the Powered do, and that one percent makes us Forsaken Null Hagchildren.
"So, we're human... but just like a magical bloodline, there's something else there. It gives us our Sign," I flicked out my black nails, a gesture they all repeated with me in their own colors, "our teeth," I smiled ferociously, and they did the same, everyone showing off their doubled canines, "your hair and eyes, and me my lack of a chest." I tapped my breastbone.
Their eyes popped. "Seriously?" Amber blurted out, staring at my lack of cleavage, only muscle.
I nodded. "Not that there's not magical ways around it, but I've got no bust. Rejoice! You'll always look sexier than me." I rolled my eyes and waved my hand, and they all laughed despite themselves.
"On the flip side, I'm going to be stronger and taller than any of you, because I'm the brute force bitch of Hagchildren, thank you very much." I braided my hair with a thought, mock-ignoring the way their eyes opened in delight.
"Now, you all know how to get stronger, right?" I asked them, and they all nodded quickly.
"Karma and Levels!" Veis piped up eagerly. I nodded along with them.
"And you've all been shown Class Levels, Secondary Class Levels, and Racial Levels, right?" I asked them, and they all nodded quickly. "Well, there's a fourth path, and I'm not talking extra training. They are called Evolutionary Levels."
"Ohhhhhh," they all said together, and didn't even find it strange. Neither did I, come to think of it.
"The default for us is Human Levels, which is very important, because it binds us to Humanity and people. Even if people think you've got weird hair or eyes or nails... those Human Levels bind us all together. For instance, people don't give me shit about my nails or looks, because I'm a Human/4. They get a little weirded by the Curse, but I'm still human, they understand it on a gut level, and I'll always be a Human, first and foremost."
"Human/4?" they all chimed together. They'd seen it on the Assay, but it hadn't sunk in. "I thought Humans only went to Three!" Verd finished for all of them.
"Human/4 is an Evolutionary Level, often called Atlantean Human. Basically, a better human then humans, or humans perfected. You know about Stats, their range, and how Humans get a +2 to one of them, and Human/3's get that bonus again?" They all nodded. "Human/4's get that +2 to ALL their Stats."
Their eyes popped again. "Wow!" Amber exclaimed. "What's it take to get that?"
"Human/3 and a Ten, or being born that way. Super high-end magical societies sometimes try to advance humanity to the next level by forcing the Evolutionary Level on them via various means. Usually, it ends up restricted to nobility and then they crazily preserve their bloodline so they can dominate other humans, and they rarely reach Human/3, as they consider themselves above other humans," I sniffed, waving it away. "Just know that it's there, and it's one of the things you'll want to gain when you are a Ten." They all nodded eagerly.
"But for us, the first Evolutionary Levels are otherwise going to be Hag."
They all sucked in a breath, looking at me in shock. I held up a finger. "Remember, no Curse."
They all calmed down, thinking hard. "When the Ritual cleans us out, what it does is empty a lot of holes in our heritage... all the little markers that turn us into Hags, instead of people. Powered also have those Markers, and they're also usually mostly empty... so they take Evolutionary Levels to fill them in with... stuff. Templates, racial characteristics of other species, things like that.
"I want you to think about what it means to be a Hag." I started putting up fingers. "One, Hags are tougher than Humans. Humans have a d8 racial hit die for Health. Hags have a d10. It's not much, but it's there. Key point, higher maximum Health." Eyes sparkle-sparkle.
"Two, Hags generally have a lot MORE Racial Hit Dice. So physically they get obscenely tough, just like monsters do. We can potentially get that physically tough." They all looked very interested in that point, indeed.
"Without looking like a Hag?" Amber blurted out nervously.
"Hag ugliness comes as a part of the Curse. Everything I'm talking about is there... but will have to be powered up by Karma, not the Curse." They all looked greatly relieved. "So, correct, no sausage noses, turnip bellies, rakes for hands, wart gardens, and the like." They all visibly relaxed.
"Three, Hags have awesome melee combat instincts. You all know this, because you've been told how fast you pick up fighting." They all nodded. "Fourth, Hags are strong. You know that now, because you're all much stronger than you look. You're not stronger than humans can be... like Hags are... but you're stronger than you look.
"Four, Hags have a specific set of skills tied to their Race. In other words, they have an Akasha that taps into some of the oldest, deepest, and darkest secrets of the multiverse. Hags Know Things, without ever having to be taught, and some of those things are pretty damn bad.
"We have the potential to learn those things, if we want to go sewage diving in the Hag Akasha. Yes, that's exactly like swimming through the Curse." All their noses wrinkled ferociously in recollection.
"Five, all Hags have a better base Stat line then humans do. Even Stormcrones are physically stronger than humans are. Annis are the strongest and the toughest of us here, with Greenhags next. Greenhags are the wisest and most cunning. Shellycoats are the most charismatic. Stormcrones are the most intelligent.
"And this applies to what you can become." I met all their gazes one by one. "I'm going to be stronger and tougher than you, and you're not going to catch up to me, because I'm an Annis-child, and complaining about it is just dumb. You can be wiser than me, Verd, and you're going to be stronger than Veis or Amber. Amber is going to be the best looking of us, and the most tempestuous. Veis is going to end up the smartest, and the most agile." Veis promptly beamed a smile even wider than Amber's.
"And Six, on the subject of age... Hags do not have a maximum life span."
It took them a moment to digest that, Verd got it first. "Hags never die of old age?" she gasped, and I nodded as the others stared.
"Does... does that mean we'll be young and beautiful forever?" Amber promptly asked.
"No. It means we'll be crones for a very, very long time." They all blinked, and their faces fell. "Which is not a problem if you have a Diamond Vajra keeping you at your physical prime. Basically, we have the potential of getting closer and closer to middle age, but we'll never go past it, if we have a Diamond Vajra.
"So, you won't look like a pretty young thing forever, Amber, sorry... but you will look like a very fit and sexy older woman... once you hit two hundred or so."
"Two hun-?" she repeated, all of them blinking.
"Still Tens. Still get a hundred years extra time."
"Oh, well then!" Amber smiled. "I think I can get used to it by then!" Verd and Veis agreed with her firmly.
"You're not ever going to get married." They all blinked. "That's correct. One, the sisterhood bond is too strong. If you have to choose between us and a man, we'll win." They all had strange looks on their faces. "You can have lovers, but you'll never have a husband. I'm also not sure we can have children." They all gasped. "Yes, that's right. Think about all the artificial conniption horror shows our Hagmoms had to go through just to make us. We don't have any of that magical Curse-powered crap going for us.
"So, I'm pretty sure we can't have children. But, I might be wrong. We can only try repeatedly and energetically, I suppose."
They all burst out giggling despite themselves.
"On to what we've inherited in particular," I continued. "I... am a killer. I revel in combat. I like to fight, I can kill at the drop of a hat, I'm not afraid of anything, and my Talent is Natural Swordswoman. I like to beat on things that are bigger than me, or who outnumber me. It is who and what I am, and I make no apologies for it."
They all nodded happily, totally fine with that. Having the brute on your side was always a good thing.
"Verd, your Talent is Natural Woodworker. Greenhags in general are close to plant life. So, you're always going to be using wooden weapons, the best of which are spears, staves, and bows. You probably shie away from swords and axes and things, and like to carve wooden things?" A bit surprised, she nodded. "That restricts the type of weapon you can use, and I've been told you use a spear." She nodded again.
"You saw my Titles on the Assay," I made them recall. "I am a Grandmaster of the Sword. None of you are naturals with the Sword, I can't teach you that level of skill in a weapon. So, you will have to pursue the Grandmastery in different Weapons.
"That doesn't mean I can't show you how to use them in many different ways. My Grandmastery required me to learn how to use many weapons extremely well, and I can certainly pass that on to you.
"Verd, the most natural paths of the spear are the mastery of the charge, and the mastery of the stand. The synthesis of them, the Grandmastery, is called One Step."
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Addendum: Sama's Marks
Sama has a 'belt' of nine Tattoos around her waist, mixed in with the Soul Tats of her Manticore Belt and Arakne Arms. They are instantly identifiable by anyone who knows Demonic as being Runes of that Source, and someone with a high enough Knowledge Check or experience can identify them as looking similar to Succubi Blessings. However, although the Marks are black, the empowering energy is white and pure, meaning there is nothing profane or unholy about them.
By feeding the succubi who made them to them, Sama locked in their relevant effects, while not incidentally removing the controllers from play. There are nine basic effects: +2 to one of any of the basic Stats; +2 to Charisma checks against potential sexual partners (this is appearance-based, you look hotter); +10 to movement; and +2 to Natural AC (skin is magically reinforced, and incidentally looks better).
Sama had to pay Karma as if they were magic items to activate all those effects. The succubi were part of that 'Naming Karma', locking the effects of the Marks, and in effect growing her soul into the Marks.
By killing and feeding a lilitu to them, she unlocked the code to upgrade them to +4, +20 Move, and +3 natural Armor. The Queen of Succubi has the +6 level effects... Naturally, she has had to slowly and patiently pay for all those upgrades on her own.
There are two Greater Effects possible with Succubi Blessings. One allows the recipient to instead use the Succubi's Charm Other ability, mental-based, and the other allows the recipient to use the Succubi's Change Shape ability to morph into other humanoids. As the Charm Other is a projected ability, Sama can't use it outside of herself. She can't even use it on those who access her Markspace, as that's actually a link, they aren't in her head. IF she could, they'd suffer a -4 to the save, however.
The Change Self has limitations because she's a Forsaken, and magical effects find it very difficult to affect a Forsaken for long durations. She can't imitate anyone she hasn't fed to a Mark (naturally requiring she kill them) or eaten (which usually means drinking a blood sample), gaining her the genetic information the Marks can access to do the change.
Such a transformation is effectively permanent once done, as the cells of the body are rearranged into the new format and 'set' there until Renewal, where they loosen up long enough to revert to normal if desired.
Using the shape changing magic takes Soul Essence to power the change, a basic Mastery to control the accuracy of the change, and a second Mastery to use more than one change. Inspiration must be used if you wish to make a change more then once a day, meaning the ability is nowhere near as nice as a doppelganger or a Hat of Disguise. Again, Forsaken pay a lot for similar effects.
--Others:
Sama can inscribe the Marks on others, and by resonance through the salvaged power of the original succubi, activate their Marks. Such resonance gives them a telepathic link to her that works across dimensions, and a buff that corresponds to the Mark she gives them. However, these are magical items being given away, not 'free' like succubi can do.
Sama usually activates the telepathic award with Glory awards from Warlording. The recipient gets the first +1 bonus by spending a day of naming Karma (i.e. 1,000 pts) to turn it on, usually instantly. They can get it to +2 for 4 days of Name Karma. Go out, kill, get stronger! They can improve them to +4 with Sama's approval for the Greater Resonance, with nine days for the +3, and sixteen for the +4 (Note: they have to do this in lieu of improving their Weapons...). This is a typeless bonus that does not stack with Sacred or Profane bonuses (Primal bonus?)
Sama can talk to any or all of the people who are Marked at a whim, their presences totally individualistic 'doors' in her mind. She can maintain an outer 'shell' that people with a Mark can see whenever they look at the link, which is why everyone can see The Map, all the time. She can 'silence' a Door at will, and she can cut Resonance with a Mark at will. She can project to another and cannot be silenced in turn (although she won't do so unless it's an emergency). Sensory or tactile information is not shared, nor full memories, unless the one doing the sharing is make a concerted effort to broadcast/allow such a thing to happen. i.e. Sama can't read minds, either. Standard Marktell communication is like speech, only much faster, and the meaning and intentions much clearer, with moderate emotional context conveyed/broadcast.
A Powered, Primos, Source, Void, or Warlock can have one Mark. For Warlocks and Powered, adding more would just disrupt all of them. For Voids and Sources, adding more would simply be too constrictive to their Forsaken natures, and they'd be dismantled/burned away, like getting rid of handcuffs. Primos simply don't have the power at either end to support more.
Nulls can have up to three Marks if they have no Vajra. They aren't tough enough to support more, but don't have the resistance of other Forsaken.
Nulls can have up to six Marks if they have a Vajra, as their souls are the hardest and completely neutral. They can have up to all Nine Marks with a Diamond Vajra, and potentially work on the Greater Mark Combinations.
Any person can remove a Mark by simply deliberately marring the Tattoo, Erasing it with magic, or even Dispelling it, if specifically targeting it. If it is marred by an outside force, it will heal naturally as long as the Marked did not intend disruption.
Anyone with a Mark can potentially make that Mark on another, and achieve resonance. However, this makes a link to that person, not to the higher Mark, and so doesn't give access to Sama's Markspace, so, for example, they couldn't see The Map, which Sama maintains. Sama could reach through her Marked to the new person, seeing them as a subset of her Marked's Door, but the reverse would not happen.
Sama can create links between doors, i.e. 'chatrooms', where Marked are basically broadcasting through the back of her mind to one another. Generally, she simply walls them off mentally and pays no attention to them. Constructing private chatrooms is codified into specific requests and phrasing so she can perform them automatically, i.e. "Commander Shavrone requesting chatroom with all members of Seventh Company of the Ironblood!" Flick, done.
Individuals forming Fellowships and the like simply jointly request a chatroom.
Sama's Minstrelry and Warlord bonuses work on everyone in her chatroom because they are 'right there' in her head, and all she has to do is share thoughts/auditory experience with them all to hear the music. Tremble being able to play telepathically means this can be done in total silence. Everyone is effectively subjected to the same effect that she is, which means her Courageous bonus from Tremble is conveyed to the whole field, boosting her Warlord Bonus to +6 from its default +2.
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Binding Sealer
Sama isn't stupid enough to actually have a free-willed Fiend staying in her body, like many Binders do (and who get access to their spell-like abilities). Using Binding Sealer, she killed powerful Evilborn (and one Fallen Ahren), and used the vivus and Karma of the killing to seal their genetic imprints into the Marks.
Doing so allows her to access their benefits for later Evolutionary Levels. For Powered, this would mean the full kit of being able to evolve into a Succubus, Angel, etc. For Sama, this basically means being able to buy some of the base Stats, magically making and empowering permanent changes to the body like a magic item, as she has the blueprints to do so.
This can get very dangerous when doing mental Stats, as you are basically growing your brain in the direction of learning to think like a Fiend...
Because these changes are like magic items for a Forsaken, they can only be purchased at the rate of such, i.e. 1,000 Karma a day, where a Powered would just invest massive amounts in an Evolutionary Level and take it all in one go. Every Stat point is priced out like a magic item, meaning gaining the full +16 racial Strength bonus of a lilitu, even if purchased in part in other templates, will normally cost 256,000 xp... and take 256 days, naturally.
Feeding others directly to the Marks basically sets their Karma aside for the Marks and/or records their imprint for shapechanging in the future. Note that Change Shape is limited to Succubus ability, i.e. it can't be used to look like even a Succubus, only humanoid creatures. No wings, for instance. She could certainly look similar to one, and 'borrow' aspects of one to mix with another...
Sama's goal here is to gain the Hag Stat buffs (which, without the Curse, are basically neutral in aspect), then the Nymph (urp! No, that wasn't me), then the Fallen Ahren, then the Succubus/Lilithi/Lilitu, using the different influences to offset one another. Given the very slow rate at which this progresses, all these upgrades will literally take years of time, and it takes her personal Naming Karma and Magic Item Investing to do so. She can still create Crafting Value, and use Naming Karma on one Weapon per day, as usual.
Taking Human Levels forms the foundation of all Evolutionary Levels, building up from that basis. The racial bonuses from additional Levels join with those of Human Levels, i.e. the lilitu's +16 bonus supersedes that of the Atlantean Human +2, meaning there's only +14 more to go. Taking Atlantean Human basically was done to save a small amount of Karma at the bottom end... and a month of time.
Her final goal is Str+16, Dex +18, Con +22 Int +10 Wis +12 Cha +18 from all the various aspects she has acquired. That's 1,608,000 Karma, five years of it, and doesn't even touch things like the lilitu's 60' base move, or the marilith's +15 Natural Armor, or maybe upgrading Arakne Arms so she ends up with an extra 4 arms, equal to a marilith, instead of just two, or having her Phoenix Cloak manifest as actual wings, or the lilitu's base open hand damage not requiring ki, a mantissari's jumping ability, every demon's racial bonus to Stealth and Perception checks, the resistances and immunities to energy damage of all the various races, or a succubus' constant True Sight...
Evolutionary levels can give you a lot of stuff, but they take enormous amounts of time for Forsaken. And for Powered, they basically end up turning them into NPC's, as they forcibly align themselves with the races they are transforming into.
If that sounds like Sama is going to end up a six-armed, five-tailed (lilithi!), winged, horned, clawed killing machine... well, she's a gamer-minded melee warrior who can't have kids of her own, who'll be able to shift to a more social form. So, yep! And we haven't even touched on templates...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Aelryinth
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Ended last week around 230 or so, same as the week before! Looks like breaking 200 is the new goal! Just need more new readers...
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