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Comments
This, except he is made of locusts instead of worms.
The red fog? Actually made of billions of swarming red locusts.
Artemis says, "You are so high maintenance, Tharvis, gosh."
Tecton says, "It's still your fault, Tharvis."
As for the west side of the city, I agree... Move the Virtuosi estate to behind the boulders and shops and one feature closer to the subs, eliminate the western portion of the city that isn't shops and subs and Kerria be a happier MoS.
Outside of the structural issues, fixing the whole pretty much no patron thing would be nice. I remember when I was first playing and it seemed like the Gods were so enthused to be with us and actually liked us... Then they went dormant, and that makes me sad.
There are a number of pretty active gods, but the nature of which gods they're playing means that certain orgs are lacking active patrons.
You guys need to start offering the standard Mhaldorian 110%.
First, the pirates. Then, the tritons. There can only be one arrogant bastard.
Album of Bluef during her time in Achaea
Also I'd change Targossas' name to something that doesn't sound like something I'd visit my dentist about.
Album of Bluef during her time in Achaea
In fact, with Spiritlore now in the game, I believe the case for Targossas rejecting Shamans to be stronger than it was before. Before, it was pretty easily argued (no matter how much the Bloodsworn or players in charge refuse to acknowledge it) that Shamans did not necessarily use powers that went apart from Good. Runelore is earthen magic, vodun operates under the exact same premise as puppetry (albeit using a different medium - something which is completely amoral in this case [for those of you who get easily hung up on words, amoral means it has nothing to do with morality, but is commonly confused with immoral which means it acts against morals]), and Curses is quite literally no different than using Healing magic to alter the body of your target for adverse effects.
However, now that Shamans have the potential for invoking nefarious acts by channeling rather insidious spirits, the case is rather strong that since they have that potential, they cannot and will never be able to operate under Achaea's version of Good.
It is true, one might make the case of "but I'll just never use those spirits." Well, then 1) you're limiting your own success within the world and purposefully stifling your own Growth (something anathema to the basic principles of Aurora), and 2) your character obviously spent time studying how to do those things, practicing them with your trainer until you could. The idea that you have access to these powers by way of your basic training is not something that will go ever well. This argument would be the same as an Occultist asking for entry into Targossas, assuring that they will renounce their Chaotic skills and simply never use them. The potential is there, and therefore it is problematic.
I will, however, concede that the key difference in the directly above is that an Occultist's magic is born completely of Chaos, whereas Spiritlore is not born of anything insidious. However, it must be true that the nature of a particular magic can be waved. The example here is Tarot.
[Please correct the following if I'm wrong.]
If I recall, the Occultists stole Tarot from BigBadJesterDude (Silvestri, maybe?). While the beginnings of Tarot were not tainted by the Occultists' magic, they turned what used to be a rather morally innocuous skill into one infused with their own workings. While it's true that the original Tarot was perfectly fine, the Tarot which Sapience employs today is, in fact, the Tarot born from the Occultists. However, even though this is the case, Targossas allows Jesters, who employ the exact same Occultist-born Tarot the Occultists use. This seems to suggest that the "makings" of a magical art mean little, but only it's purpose or side-effects.
Purpose is twofold. There is personal purpose and there is a more ingrained magical purpose. For example, an Occultist could easily use her magic to help advance Creation. However, the purpose of their magic is to do the opposite. I believe the latter is more powerful than the former. Tarot's innate purpose is questionable. Worst case scenario, we have to concede that the purpose of Tarot, as born of the Occultists, is to cause pain, suffering, and promote Chaos. If this is true, then we still have little issue, as it could be the case that, for Good to recognize a branch of magic as antithetical it must only have negative side-effects.
As to these side-effects, the only chaotic aspect of Tarot is Wheel. However, it is not capital "C" Chaotic, but lowercase "c" chaotic (meaning chaotic in the definitive or relative sense, not in the factional or absolute sense). Therefore, it is fine to be employed by the Jesters of Good. However, Occultism and Domination both directly channel Chaos magics, therefore bringing them into the world. This side-effect, which will happen regardless of the channeler's purpose, is antithetical to Good.
The same, unfortunately, can be true of Spiritlore. To bind a spirit, you are channeling it through yourself so that you may manifest its powers - and more powerfully, its intentions (as argued by the Help and AB files). This creates a strange case in where even though a spirit may not be aligned with Evil, Chaos, or Darkness, its very intentions - that from which you not only draw your power but manifest within the world - may be. This creates a side-effect of using your magic which is antithetical to Good.
It really is a shame, though. Evil has the spirits on its side, assisting it in its advancement. Good, however, must rely solely on the Bloodsworn. And perhaps, this is the true reason the Bloodsworn will never allow a Shaman within Targossas - they are inherently controlling of their followers, and therefore refuse to allow them to use magic which draws from a source that is outside of their realm of influence.
tl;dr: The Bloodsworn are the actual Tyrants, while the Lord allows us to choose our own path and grow in the ways we truly wish. (I will argue here that Apostasy and Necromancy are the "true" Priesthoods, whereas Spirituality and Devotion are bastardized versions held forth by the strings of heretics, but that's another discussion.)