The Carving Light

[Krat05]

As the Dark Mother is to Begotten, & the Primogenitor is to Insatiables, the Carving Light is to Heroes. Allegedly.
The Carving Light is a blank slate onto which any Hero who makes contact projects any characteristics they subconsciously believe the Carving Light should have, whether this is gender, religious, appearance, philosophy, etc.
The Carving Light can provide direction, purpose, & training for a Hero. It can also provide a number of magics akin to the Obcasus Rites of the Begotten, known as the "Blinding Ceremonies".
Note that the Carving Light might not actually be a real creature in of itself, it might be all in the heads of Heroes, but its effect on the world is still very real.

[Krat05]

Ideas for Potential Blinding Ceremonies

● Atavism Opposed: develop some ability to work against a specific Atavism.
● Awaken the Hero: make someone else become a Hero. Must be fully voluntary.
● Burnt Fears: heal the damage caused by a Begotten feeding.
● Cloud the Eyes: causes a Begotten to believe that you are a trusted ally.
● Command the Lair: make a Lair obey you & not the Begotten that built it.
● Death by Proxy: kill a Begotten or some other monster via sympathetic magic.
● Distorted Perception: distort the perception of a group of monsters, leaving them incapable of telling friend from foe.
● Homing Anathema: the anathema you wield homes in on its targets.
● The Hunger Sated: sate a Begotten's Hunger. This works better with the Begotten's cooperation.
● The Kin's Anathema: place an anathema on something that isn't a Begotten but registers as kin to Begotten.
● The Kin's Rage: turn anything kin against a particular Begotten.
● Play Your Part: force a Begotten to act exactly like the monster you see them as.
● Steal the Atavism: temporarily steal an Atavism for your own use.
● True Sight: temporarily share the ability to identify Begotten with a regular human.

[TerrorCooper]

This is an extremely interesting idea! Mayhaps you could converse with Neos01 about blending it with their own homebrew idea for Heroes?

[Neos01]

This is an extremely interesting idea! Mayhaps you could converse with Guest about blending it with their own http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/beast-the-primordial-aa/1411629-have-no-fear-because-i-am-here"]homebrew idea[/URL] for Heroes?

I surely see room for interaction.
What do you think Krat05 ?

[Krat05]

I surely see room for interaction.
What do you think Guest ?

I don't know. I feel most comfortable just posting whatever I come up with.

[TerrorCooper]

I don't know. I feel most comfortable just posting whatever I come up with.

If you feel uncomfortable about this, then you can simply give your permission for the project to be performed. I might be crazy on a genetic level, but I'm moral/ethical enough to not force anyone into something unless theres no other option.

[Krat05]

If you feel uncomfortable about this, then you can simply give your permission for the project to be performed. I might be crazy on a genetic level, but I'm moral/ethical enough to not force anyone into something unless theres no other option.

I may not be comfortable with actively collaborating, but you absolutely have my permission to go ahead with the project. I have no problem with people using any of the stuff I come up with for whatever they come up with.

[Neos01]

I may not be comfortable with actively collaborating, but you absolutely have my permission to go ahead with the project. I have no problem with people using any of the stuff I come up with for whatever they come up with.

I understand, in fact i also simply wanted to share ideas.
The two homebrew seems compatible so if anyone wants to work on it and expand i m happy too.

[TerrorCooper]

I may not be comfortable with actively collaborating, but you absolutely have my permission to go ahead with the project. I have no problem with people using any of the stuff I come up with for whatever they come up with.

Thank ye, Krat05. May your life be long and bountiful, your muse everflowing and your death peaceful and without regret.

The two homebrew seems compatible so if anyone wants to work on it and expand i m happy too.

I'm all too happy to aid you in this endeavor, Neos01.

[Krat05]

The last two ideas I've come up with for Blinding Ceremonies:

● The Hero's Archetype: bind yourself to one of the archetypes worn by heroes past (creator, hunter, leader, lover, sage, trickster, warrior, etc.). +2 modifier for whenever you play into your chosen archetype. -2 modifier for whenever you operate in direct opposition to your chosen archetype.

● Spoils of War: acquire some item from a Begotten's/Insatiable's/etc. corpse. E.g. Medusa's head, gorgon's blood, the Nemean lion's skin.

[TerrorCooper]

Okay, so, Krat05, as I'm fairly certain that you've noticed that there's yet another thread on here that focuses on Homebrewing Heroes into a playable form. If you somehow haven't, then I'll provide you with >>this<< here link. I'm posting this as fair warning that I've directed them here in the hopes of some glorious Synthesis, or at least Symbiosis, between all three of these threads. So, yeah. Have fun! *Trollishly Cheshire Cattish Grin*

[Krat05]

So, yesterday by my perception I logged in here & saw 2 new messages (one of them being the previous post on this thread, which in turn leads to the other one). Being me I instantly looked at them. This brought me back to this thread after quite a while & I decided to see if there might be any potential questions that could be answered.
I found four, which will now be tackled one by one. Sorry if my wording is a bit confusing or if this disrupts your own perception of the Carving Light, but if you don't what to incorporate these potentially obvious potentially not obvious points, then don't.

***

Clarification the Carving Light's nature.
The Carving Light embodies whatever traits that the Hero that has made contact with it believes it should. It is not uncommon for the Hero to fall short of whatever standards that Hero has imposed upon it. This contrast between what the Hero believes an ideal Hero should be & what the Hero can actually achieve tends to form the basis for the relationship between any given Hero & the Carving Light.

***

Why is the Carving Light such a blank slate?
When I originally came up with the idea of the Carving Light I wanted something that was on the same basic level but also felt distinct. I thought of how Heroes don't really have their own culture, thus they don't really have any choice but to contextualize their new reality through whatever they've absorbed throughout their mundane life. Yes, I'm aware that a lot of the creatures in CofD do this, but they for the most part have more of a society than Heroes. This lack of consistency between Heroes beliefs feeds into why the answer to the previous question works. This is also why the Carving Light doesn't have a defined gender identity, as it takes on whatever gender identity a Hero believes it should have.

***

How do you make Blinding Ceremonies, mechanically speaking?
Blinding Ceremonies are the Heroes equivalent Obascus Rites, thus one uses the same basic rules to make one.

***

Where does the name the Carving Light come from?
I honestly can't remember.

[TerrorCooper]

Thank you for the clarifications, Krat05. Of course, to see if I'm getting what you're actually saying I'mma gonna simplify your answers a bit;

1) If the Hero believes that the Carving Light has, say, angelic wings then it'll have angelic wings, right? And Its standards for 'Heroes' are what the Hero believes that it has/should have (potentially affecting how the CL and Hero interact).

2) So other Supernaturals tend to contextualize their new reality through a combination of their mundane/previous life and that particular Splat's culture (if applicable), and develop their understanding based on experience and the aforementioned culture (again, if applicable). Heroes, meanwhile, have to rely entirely on their mundane life, and their subsequent experiences, for context and development of their understanding of it.

3) So the two are practically identical on the scale of basic mechanics, despite the lore/fluff surrounding each, as well as the finer mechanical details, differ greatly.

I'm fairly certain this is what you meant, as in, like, 97% certain, but better safe than sorry.

[Krat05]

Thank you for the clarifications, Guest. Of course, to see if I'm getting what you're actually saying I'mma gonna simplify your answers a bit;

1) If the Hero believes that the Carving Light has, say, angelic wings then it'll have angelic wings, right? And Its standards for 'Heroes' are what the Hero believes that it has/should have (potentially affecting how the CL and Hero interact).

2) So other Supernaturals tend to contextualize their new reality through a combination of their mundane/previous life and that particular Splat's culture (if applicable), and develop their understanding based on experience and the aforementioned culture (again, if applicable). Heroes, meanwhile, have to rely entirely on their mundane life, and their subsequent experiences, for context and development of their understanding of it.

3) So the two are practically identical on the scale of basic mechanics, despite the lore/fluff surrounding each, as well as the finer mechanical details, differ greatly.

I'm fairly certain this is what you meant, as in, like, 97% certain, but better safe than sorry.

Yes, this is what I mean in all three cases.

[TerrorCooper]

Yes, this is what I mean in all three cases.

Alrighty, then! Thank you for confirming it.