Shattered Bastions

[Luke Dragneel]

Seems like only Malik since that was how he was thinking of his class/magic

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Which means he's closer to Quill's style of magic than Vey's, at least from what I can tell.

 

[Hell_Yeah]

The woman frowned at the heavy guy's terms, but she understood. "There... is a limit. Mine is Silver. Hark's is likely Gold, if he is fortunate. At your limit, you have a singular [Job], and your lesser ones are consumed to fuel its ascent."

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Is your limit set by some hidden potential stat you're born with, or is it determined by the number of jobs you were able to get early on in order to "fuel the ascent" of the main job? Its sounding like either Outlanders naturally have Diamond (or higher) limits, or the experience buff they seem to get means they can grab a bunch of jobs in record time to start out, which gives them fuel to burn as they advance, depending on how the system works.

I'm seeing why Diamonds are either completely unstoppable or completely harmless. I was assuming Quill was talking about personalities, where 5/6 Diamonds aren't likely to attack you unless you did something to them, and the remainder are murderhobos par excellence, but he was referring to their hyper specialization. Either they are the rock to your scissors or rock (since they're a better rock) and you're screwed, or you're paper or a hammer or pretty much anything else, and can beat them on an axis on which they can no longer compete.

As you go up, do your individual jobs get more specialized, or is it just that you lose your secondary ones and your capacity outside of them as is discussed here? Is Dylan able to pick up a non-axe melee weapon as a [Bloodshot Raider] currently, but will eventually be limited to his two specific weapons and be a nightmare with them, while being useless without them in particular? I'm trying to imagine how over specialized you'd have to be that you have a 5/6 chance of being useless when pretty much anything can be turned into a weapon.

 

[Leecifer]

As you go up, do your individual jobs get more specialized, or is it just that you lose your secondary ones and your capacity outside of them as is discussed here? Is Dylan able to pick up a non-axe melee weapon as a [Bloodshot Raider] currently, but will eventually be limited to his two specific weapons and be a nightmare with them, while being useless without them in particular? I'm trying to imagine how over specialized you'd have to be that you have a 5/6 chance of being useless when pretty much anything can be turned into a weapon.

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So, as to the capability question, remember that a lot, if not most, [Job]s are non-combat oriented.

Vey's [Hearthflame Priestess] is obviously combat capable, even if taken to Diamond, and [Arbalestier] is even more so, but a Diamond Rank [Polyglot] would be defenseless, and [Laundress] would likely get weird about it, able to strip her attackers naked (while cleaning and repairing their clothes and armor in the process, perhaps even improving them), but could not disarm her attackers.

 

[Hell_Yeah]

Fair enough. Based on [Calculant], I sort of assumed something like [Polyglot] WOULD have combat applications, maybe by using runic languages or a spoken equivalent we haven't seen yet. I guess we have a pretty biased sample so far, since the main cast all got their first jobs by fighting monsters, and a lot of the people they'd run into in a caravan would have some means of self defense.
Actually, if most people live in Bastions or are at least primarily non-combatants (which hasn't been stated yet, but that's generally both how this kind of setting usually goes and is more logistically feasible to have a functional society as we understand it), and you're always training your Job when using it, unless there's some correlation between taking combat Jobs and having higher level caps, you would have a heavy skew towards non-combat Diamonds, since they'd be a larger part of the population and presumably have a lower chance of getting eaten by something.

Vey's [Hearthflame Priestess] is obviously combat capable, even if taken to Diamond

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The "even if taken to Diamond" is interesting. DO Jobs start specializing within their own roles as you rank up, so you both lose alternative Jobs and lose breadth WITHIN your main Job?

 

[Leecifer]

Actually, if most people live in Bastions or are at least primarily non-combatants (which hasn't been stated yet, but that's generally both how this kind of setting usually goes and is more logistically feasible to have a functional society as we understand it), and you're always training your Job when using it, unless there's some correlation between taking combat Jobs and having higher level caps, you would have a heavy skew towards non-combat Diamonds, since they'd be a larger part of the population and presumably have a lower chance of getting eaten by something.

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Yes, except, remember, the harder you push yourself, the faster it develops, which is why they all got their first [Job] in ten minutes of furiously fighting for their lives, while the magic one from focused fucking about took hours (which is, itself, stupidly fast, and will slow way the fuck down when they give up their gear). And, the nature of power being what it is, anyone with the potential to be Diamond is likely to pick up a combat job, if only to defend themselves. That said, yes, the skew is towards non-combat-specified job, but a Diamond rank [Chef] will Butcher you in seconds, though, bright side, you will be delicious. [Hearthflame Priestess] and [Calculant] are both non-combat specific jobs, so would retain a degree of lethality, but *how* the lethality is applied would be Fae-levels of specific.

The "even if taken to Diamond" is interesting. DO Jobs start specializing within their own roles as you rank up, so you both lose alternative Jobs and lose breadth WITHIN your main Job?

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If you train one aspect more than others, your Rank Up will reflect that by narrowing, if you train in aspects related but technically outside, your Rank Up might broaden the [Job] you get. It's really up in the air, but it will be fair to an alien, eldritch degree, even if you'd rather it wasn't.

 

[TheManWithoutAPlan]

"Outlanders."

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Ah, so they are freaks in how well developed their mana is in addition to being freaks of growth.

If you train one aspect more than others, your Rank Up will reflect that by narrowing, if you train in aspects related but technically outside, your Rank Up might broaden the [Job] you get. It's really up in the air, but it will be fair to an alien, eldritch degree, even if you'd rather it wasn't.

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Ah, meta-gaming here is not the question of the most optimal choice, but rather what you personally are okay with losing in return for the power you seek.

 

[w.cheff]

So now I'm wondering if the divine magic group felt the Mana drain worse because of how they approach their Magic jobs and the arcane group still felt uncomfortable but not as bad because of their approach to their Magic jobs.

 

[vladspellbinder]

So, started my re-read on the nineteenth like I said I would but underestimated just how draining reading for literary analysis instead of pleasure would be for me. I knew going in that it'd not be easy but I didn't expect how hard it would be for me in particular. Then Life Happened (tm) and I never got back to it until now. I had been hoping to do it before a new chapter dropped but, well, Life (tm).

New notes, after taking a more critical eye to things.

First, I'm wondering just what Miskatonic High is and why it's pretending to be Earth. I'm not sure if it's actually a Bastion that for whatever reason doesn't teach people how the world works or if it's some sort of in-between thing. Very celarly based on but not our Earth and may not be the new world the graduates have found themselves on. I don't expect we'll ever get a straight answer on that because it doesn't actually matter to the story.

Second, I keep seeing the phase in your works and I've been meaning to ask; where does "Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast" come from?

Third, Sam got to have a moment with the light but as it was in the middle of a fight it didn't get time to shine, pun totally intended.

Fourth, even keeping in mind he's a high school graduate, making him seventeen or eighteen instead of in his twenties, I still don't like Kyle. He's got "small-medium fish that wants to be a large fish" energy and I just don't care for that sort of character. Guy just can not read the room and keep his mouth shut. (Chapter three.)

Fifth, the fourth point again. Fuck Kyle with a rusty spike. (Chapter four.)

Sixth, so it's still called Doctor Who then? Why does The Starving Trials get a new name but not Doctor Who?

Seventh, the first instance of "This is still our old world." with Dylan just waking up. It's dark because it's dark, forget timezones and all that other shit boyo, you're on a whole other world with new rules. But Dylan isn't the right character to get their head around that sort of thing so it's only a minor annoyance.

Eighth, so, is it still Bleach that Getsuga Tensho comes from? Chlorine maybe? How far does the "off brand name" stuff go? You really should have just stuck with calling it The Hunger Games to avoid this issue. A casual mention of things isn't in any danger for copyright and what not.
I'm going to stop calling out such things now but the more it happens the worse it gets and it can all be avoided by just not doing the joke in the first place.

Ninth, Kristen's a bitch. She's not as bad as Kyle but damn girl shut the fuck up already.

Tenth, wondering what the last name "Ganaka" implies that they'd not be able to work just anywhere.

Eleventh, seriously, fuck Kyle. Quill shouldn't have nulled the damage from that fire. Kyle needs to catch another broken neck and not get healed from it.

Twelfth, ok, so, got through the first five chapters with no "Dylan being super awesome" moment so I have no idea where that bias of mine came from. I guess maybe because I don't relate to him as a main character I'm giving him no benefit-of-the-doubt so when he gets a typical Main Character Moment (tm) it just doesn't land right for me. Brains be weird like that.

Thirteenth,

above metal flower

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"above the metal". First editing thing I've noticed.

Fourteenth,

"This isn't America," Dylan realized.

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No fucking duh. This is one of the problems I'm having with Dylan, he's just not getting it, at least not to the extent I want him to.

Fifteenth, yeah, Kristen's a bitch. That's two characters I don't like at all. But Kristen isn't at a level of "die in a fire" like Kyle is.

Sixteenth, again, fuck Kyle. Every fucking time he opens his fucking mouth. No I don't know why he pisses me off as much as he does but boy does he piss me off.

Seventeenth,

No, likely tomorrow you shall learn something far more important. Magic.

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So, this happens the same day as when she says this. I get that characters can be wrong but as second in command she really should know the plan. Maybe change the wording slightly? Instead of "learn" say "be taught". Because they're learning about it that same day and getting a magic related [Job] but are not really being taught anything beyond the most basic of basics.

On the newest chapter.

First, thanks for the chapter. Second, Malik just using his System interface to recharge the 'mana batteries' without any discomfort and having discrete units to it all was funny and got a smile out of me.

One correction:

while Bartholomew was floating

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"Bartholomew's"

a Diamond rank [Chef] will Butcher you in seconds, though, bright side, you will be delicious.

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I'd think [Chef] and [Butcher] would be too different [Job]s though I guess enough people assume a chef knows how to butcher that a [Chef] would be able to butcher things because of that. Also, it'd take some high level System shenanigans to make make me delicious but I guess there's got to be at least one Race out there that would find my trash tier ingredients delectable.

 

[Leecifer]

Second, I keep seeing the phase in your works and I've been meaning to ask; where does "Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast" come from?

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From the US Military, specifically the Navy SEALS. My dad, who was Air Force, says it a lot.

Sixth, so it's still called Doctor Who then? Why does The Starving Trials get a new name but not Doctor Who?

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Because I was wavering on the 'do I keep the names the same' thing, and, in publication, it might be something else like 'Professor Who' to keep the joke.

Tenth, wondering what the last name "Ganaka" implies that they'd not be able to work just anywhere.

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It's an Indian name that translates roughly to 'Accountant', and is equivalent to an Englishman with the last name of Clark.

"above the metal". First editing thing I've noticed.

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Fixed.

Also, yes, Kyle's a dick. He's also *not unrealistic.*

 

[vladspellbinder]

From the US Military, specifically the Navy SEALS. My dad, who was Air Force, says it a lot.

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Ah, makes sense.

Because I was wavering on the 'do I keep the names the same' thing, and, in publication, it might be something else like 'Professor Who' to keep the joke.

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I looked into it again before my previous post and having a character talk about another franchise in your own original work is totally fine by all metrics. Don't even need Fair-Use because that sort of thing is so minor it's not even at Fair-Use laws. The problems start to arise when you start doing too much quoting of the other work in question but a name drop is nothing.
The main problem I have with doing the "Bland Name Franchise" joke is that if you do it once it really calls to attention every time you don't do it. Where do you stop? How many do you change? Do you change all of them? And at what point do people stop getting references because everything is under an original name? It just seems like a very deep rabbit hole that I don't think is worth the joke but you do you.

It's an Indian name that translates roughly to 'Accountant', and is equivalent to an Englishman with the last name of Clark.

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I was expecting it to be something along those lines. Thanks for the information.

Also, yes, Kyle's a dick. He's also *not unrealistic.*

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I've never said he was unrealistic. I've meet quite a few people like him in real life. Some of them I even wanted to see die because they were just that bad.
Until Kyle undergoes some character development and becomes less of an idiotic asshole I'm going to continue to want to see him die because it's simpler than having to suffer though his character development while he's still an idiotic asshole.