Six Kingdoms: Apocalypse -- Discussion Topic (OOC)
skaooc
Minor question for the GM's. How big is the Fort Nektann Warskak in number? Is it a few dozen? Several dozen? A hundred? More than that? I want to know what I'm working with here.
Approximately 40 - X NPC Skakdi, where X is equal to the number of MCs + PCs in the faction.
The number of 40 comes from Boss's raiding party in SKR.
Whoo, I'm tired now. Just wrote by far the longest post I've ever written in an RPG! Hope you guys enjoy, I had a ton of fun writing it.
RULES UPDATE TO FAR SHORE ADVENTURES
Hey all, as part of Expansion 8 there has been a revision to how Matoran Principles work for Far Shore Adventures. While the design intention of the original version provided a little more freedom of choice, it was overly complicated and this new version is a more streamlined and (hopefully) understandable system. You can see it in the rules topic, and the main portion of the rules text that was changed has also been posted below:
Quote
Optional Matoran Principles
You may pick up to three of the optional prompts associated with Matoran Principles from the respective timeline (A or B) below for your Far Shore Adventure. You gain one additional piece of random loot from the Far Shore Loot Table for each successfully incorporated optional prompt. Once one of the prompts for a timeline has been used, it will be crossed off the list and is no longer available.
Once all of the principles are used in a given timeline, the next adventure will be run by a GM and will guarantee the Far Shore Makoki Stone as a reward.
I hope this change helps those who are wanting to try Far Shore Adventures, or who were a little confused about how to end them. 
Heya!
Just wanted to apologize for the inactivity these past two weeks. I'm having a busy time at work right now. Didn't plan it this way, but a bunch of things just started lining up where they needed taking care of at the same time. It's gonna be like that for at least another week and a half I'm afraid. I'll check in and post when I can. If you're urgently waiting for a reply, feel free to shoot me a PM with a reminder please ;^^
Alright now that I'm back from vacation let's see what's up in the PM inbox and...
Oh hold up I forgot to say I was on vacation
I was on vacation.
I'm back, let's play. 
Congratulations to @Onaku on unlocking Spiriah's profile!
Hello!
It's time for the SKA Mid-Game Survey! You can take the survey here. You can also click on this nifty link here:
https://forms.gle/KnAW7cEM1VhErDW38
Thanks for taking this survey! Your response means so much, and really helps GMs get a better picture of how to run Six Kingdoms RPGs. For those who are looking forward to the breakdown of SKR surveys, thanks for your continued patience. They're coming soon! Attached is a little teaser graph pulled from the data of all SKR surveys...
EDIT: We've received 10 survey responses so far! Thank you so much! This is about 50% of the currently active play community. If you know someone who hasn't filled out the survey yet, please share and help us get an even better picture of how things are going!
"Whatever it was, it felt like it had always been there, out in the aether. Existing between the trio of Toa as they went about their days and journeys, waiting on them to wake it up.
Like a locked door, being passed by and ignored until one day someone finds the key under the rug."
Syzygy.
Hello Everyone,
Thanks to everyone who's put time into filling out the survey for SKA Mid-Game. We have 12 responses. However, with 19-20 players still active in SKA this means we have barely over 50% of the player base reporting their experience. If you have not filled out the SKA MID-GAME survey, please do so this weekend. Your voice is important to us and we greatly appreciate and consider all the feedback we receive.
Thank you,
UN
Two posts in one day, first time in ages.
Apocalypse pets up for adoption!
Are you wanting to play a riteborn, but don’t want to sacrifice one of your characters? Well, today’s your lucky day.
Three unfortunate MCs have just taken a dip in Irnakk’s Tooth, and are looking for some new owners to guide them in their lives as Zivons. The GMs have given me permission to adopt out Weaver, Scarrow, and Hakkzan to anyone who’s interested and has a PC slot to spare.
Their profiles are listed below for background and inspiration, but since riteborn lose most of their memories of their past lives, and past powers don’t matter for Zivons, they’re pretty much blank slates for whoever takes them on. Physical flaws also don’t carry over, so your monsters don’t need to be blind, crippled, or photosensitive. However, since Riteborn are meant to inherit the psychological flaws they had in life, I’d encourage whoever takes on any of these three to come up with a flaw or two to keep things fair if the character they pick doesn’t already have one.
Hakkzan – bound to Ysocla
QuoteBreed: Ta-Skakdi
Faction: Mesi/Marrow
Brief Description: Pale reddish skin, wears leather armour studded with spikes of bone for a more intimidating effect.
Role: Guard
Flaw: He suffers from mild claustrophobia, becoming terrified when trapped in a confined space alone – an unfortunate malady for a being forced to live underground.
Powers: Access to the elemental power of fire when working with another Skakdi. He is blind, but not eyeless, and relies on his infrared vision power to perceive his surroundings.
Equipment: A pair of simple shortswords.
Scarrow – bound to Zataka
QuoteBreed: De-Skakdi
Faction: Mesi/Marrow
Brief Description: Pale grey, and lightly armoured, he wears a cloak of sand-hued cloth for camouflage and sun protection when moving about above ground.
Role: Guard
Flaw: Due having been born and raised underground, his eyes are extremely sensitive to light, and his skin sunburns quite easily.
Powers: Element of sonics when used in conjunction with another Skakdi, telescopic vision.
Equipment: Shortbow, and a quiver of mismatched arrows.
Weaver – bound to Zataka
QuoteBreed: Ce-Skakdi
Faction: Marrow/Mesi
Brief Description: a short, slim Skakdi clad in scuffed armour of muted blues and golds.
Role: Guard
Flaw: A mutation has left one of her legs stunted and twisted, causing her to constantly limp and hobble.
Powers: Elemental power of psionics in combination with another Skakdi, X-Ray vision.
Equipment: A large, well-maintained shield, along with a simple spear.
Anyone who’s interested, feel free to make your pick and get down to causing some kaiju chaos.
Stannis' Far Shore Adventure Breakdown
Timeline: A
Element: Water
Conflict: Character Vs. Self
Twist: Prophetic Fallacy
Optional prompts: Destiny and Faith
Stannis' Far Shore adventure took place over five posts and three distinct Stanzas, each with different thematics and separate but contiguous locations.
[Stanza 1] The first chapter featured Stannis adrift in an unknown ocean, all by himself in a small sloop called the Atramentous. The only things available are navigating equipment and a chart with an unnamed island, and there does not seem to be much sign of previous sue of the craft but it clearly has been at sea for a while. The sextant works, but he doubts its reliability and takes it under faith that he knows more than the faulty device and there is no greater power than his knowledge. His boat crashes onto the shore of the island after he follows his faith in himself.
[Stanza 2.1] [Stanza 2.2] In the second stanza, he explores the island and finds evidence of a war. He traverses a shattered city filled with paradoxes of architecture and Penrose stairways, wherein he meets a seer who goes by Atramentous who tells him that the denizens of the world used to live in the city but then hid away in the catacombs below ground. He is told that Caedast will win and is destined to accomplish the Grand Wish, which Stannis assumes is about him, but before he can learn more the seer seems to die before him and he backtracks after being warned that the world is converging on Stannis to kick him out. He fights the horde of mindless fighters in the streets of Terros-Nui and finally finds refuge in a massive citadel. The enemies are narratively portrayed as a whole mass, there is no single entity, they act like a swarm of bees instead of individuals.
[Stanza 3.1] [Stanza 3.2] In the final chapter, Stannis descends into the depths of the city's underworld and feels a great power lurking in the deep. The world is damp and sodden, and upon some investigation he realizes the aforementioned catacombs are not tombs for flesh and bone but a graveyard of civilization, as a massive library is stashed away but rotting to pieces with utter disuse. He is confronted by a being who seems to be intimately familiar with Stannis, and eventually reveals itself to be the Caedast of that timeline, apotheosized to Great Spirit ascendancy, and that !Caedast has been behind everything Stannis has confronted in the Far Shore. In fact, there was never a single other being that he had interacted with that wasn't controlled by !Caedast—she was Atramentous, the Kestora in the street fight, and the eyes in the darkness. He briefly fights the Great Spirit counterpart but soon sees the hopelessness of it all. Once he realizes the library’s knowledge is the course of Caedast’s power and he tries to destroy it with his powers. He is ultimately overwhelmed, however, battered and drained of power, and as he lays dying on the wet floors of the crumbling library he realizes the seer’s prediction was right… but it wasn’t about him, and he does not know what’s best after all.
The primary narrative theme to the adventure was Stannis constantly fighting again himself, and a tussle between holding faith in something versus confidence in himself. Additionally, it was central that he had to confront more than a simple adversary; there is a philosophical battle as he fights between what he has actively been pursuing in life versus what !Caedast has accomplished in Terros-Nui, which is ultimately a logical conclusion to his current paths. As a result, he has to find a way in his own timeline to either avert a deadening of the universe's wills to live or accept that he will ultimately wreck everything he's been fighting for. Autonomy though knowledge is an essential concept for his character, but there is a hubris as having full control takes away individuality and autonomy from others.
And that's all, folks! Hit me up if you have any more questions. GMs, give me some loot.
Congratulations @EmperorWhenua. It looks like you successfully incorporated five prompts into your Far Shore Adventure. It was a delight to read, and I look forward to what it means for your character's story moving forward.
Stannis’ Loot (2, 4, 10, 13, 20):
Gungnir and Long Mjolnir—neat! And some weird shiny rock thing—cool.
About the Void Sickness, though: Is it even possible for VS to afflict a body that is, in all practical senses, dead? Stannis’ body is used as a sock puppet and his psyche was devoured and destroyed by Caedast’s will, so while I can think of some narrative shoehorns they don’t exactly match how VS works. Any GM guidance for this would be appreciated.
@EmperorWhenua yes a corpse can become afflicted with Void Sickness* and I'd be happy to provide some suggestions/clarifications. For convenient reference I have the Void Sickness rules quoted below:
Quote
Characters who become afflicted with Void Sickness must have the following added to their profile:
- Void Sickness (Physical Flaw):
- You may use, discover, and research taboo rites.
- Your sense of morality begins to shift. Choose and add one new Psychological Flaw to your profile that goes against your current sense of morality. For example, if you “believe everyone has good in them,” your new Psychological Flaw might be “I am distrustful of everyone’s intentions until proven wrong.”
- Each time you enter the Far Shore, notify the GMs by tagging them in your post. GMs will roll a percentage die. On a result of 10 or lower, you are trapped in the Far Shore. If rescued, you return from the Far Shore as an Aspect of Makuta beginning your Grand Wish.
In this case, the ability to use, discover, and research taboo rites now applies both to Caedast and to the corpse of the toa possessed by the aspect. Should Caedast for any reason be removed from the corpse, and another being possess it, the corpse of Stannis would carry on slinging taboo rites without issue. For the second point, I'd encourage you to think about what the Stannis' morality was before death and apply that as a psychological effect to whatever/whoever is possessing him. Finally, the third bit only matters should Caedast go back into the Far Shore possessing Stannis' body. It'd be quite interesting if Stannis himself became an aspect in his own right. 
In short: all effects apply to the body, not the aspect, that is Stannis. If an effect is cumulative, you can disregard it until it is no longer cumulative.
____
* (i.e. someone dies in the Far Shore, gets void sickness as a loot drop, gets the wounds remain loot drop, and then someone is kind enough to resurrect them somehow in the game world)
New Map:
You can always view old maps at the bottom of the IC topic initial game post.
I’m starting to realize what’s happening.
Xa-kas is turning into the Kentoku Archipelago.
It's been mentioned a few times that Aspects reincarnate. How different are these incarnations from each other? Are they exactly the same, or do they have different names, appearances, demeanours, Kraata Powers, Grand Wishes, etc.?
*checks GM notes*
yes?
Escapement may hold a solid clue to the answer to your question.
In Kini-Nui, how far is the Amaja Circle from the Far Shore portal?
I'll double check the original description of the location when I can -- I do know that the length of the temple is no small distance.
Thanks for your patience!
Edit: looks to be described as over 300 feet from end to end in notes, so I would say a private conversation on a Amaja Circle probably would be difficult to hear by the Far Rift Portal. Someone standing near the Suva-Kaita could probably hear to the end either direction to pick up any moderate to loud chatter, depending on ambient noise (read: is a kaiju attacking or are missiles being launched into the air). Hope thay helps!
In regards to the Aqua Sphere puzzle room, I do have a couple questions:
1. You say "However, no matter how hard Sorilax tried, the powers of his elements would not cooperate. Somehow they were being dampened." Is the usage of the word "elements" there a broad descriptor to mean all powers? Or is it literally just elements, meaning Kraata powers can still be used?
Since Mahrika wasn't told she couldn't use her powers, I'm guessing elements means elements.
2. Also about the elemental dampening. Does this include elemental weapons? Or do they still function normally?
3. Are there provided Kanohi or are we out of luck since Mahrika only has one extra and needs the other to function? (This is assuming we need to fill all three Kanohi slots)
1. Elements means elements.This is the same as with the elemental ruins puzzles
2. Elemental powers do not work. This is the same as with the elemental ruins puzzles
3. Kanohi were not provided.
I know Mahrika has a spare mask of concealment, but I think I forgot a mask. Could have sworn she had a spare. It’s not in my notes though. Let me check her time at the Fire Suva,
Ah no, looks like she only has the mask of concealment. Drat
New Map in IC topic. Re-posting here for visibility:
If you had a character storing items in a Suva that no longer exists, those items are now gone and cannot be accessed.
press f to pay respects to the defaced hafu statue
Is an avalanche from the displacement of structures from the Relic Fields to the mountainside of the Kini-Nui valley a reasonable consequence? Or at the very least some other loud noise that would travel through the valley easily?
9 hours ago, Daniel the Finlander said:press f to pay respects to the defaced hafu statue
:regional_indicator_f:
@Daniel the Finlander, I'm pretty sure a Miru only lets the wearer levitate, not actually levitate other objects. That's stuff a mask of telekinesis can do.
On 5/19/2021 at 9:18 PM, Onaku said:Is an avalanche from the displacement of structures from the Relic Fields to the mountainside of the Kini-Nui valley a reasonable consequence? Or at the very least some other loud noise that would travel through the valley easily?
I mean... ocean water just rushed in. There's your noise.
EDIT 1: NPC Profiles for Grime, Takadox, and Irnakk are available in the Rules topic (see the first post just above the list of approved characters). Please remember some information may be unknown to your characters, and some information may still need to be discovered.
EDIT 2: @Onaku, here are the Far Shore Adventure prompts for your PC:
Timeline: A
Element: Lightning
Conflict: Character vs Character
Twist: The Cake is a Lie
Optional Matoran Principles (available prompts shown, may pick up to 3):
have fun!
On 5/21/2021 at 1:38 AM, BULiK said:@Daniel the Finlander, I'm pretty sure a Miru only lets the wearer levitate, not actually levitate other objects. That's stuff a mask of telekinesis can do.
oh right my bad, i’ll edit it. funnily enough, i made a joke in an earlier niidak post about her assuming miru could levitate things when it in fact couldn’t.
Yeah I get the confusion given how the hafu statue used it.
EDIT: Yeah, I don't have a problem with bunnying Arnex/Berys for the repairs, go for it.
So, uh, I was writing my next post, and there continues to be unexpected consequences from accidentally giving a Muaka NUVA Proxima. So I guess it's time for a couple GM questions.
Muaka have two shoulder masks. Do I have to place two masks of the same power on the shoulders in order for the Muaka to be able to use one Kanohi power?
If the Muaka can use two different masks, one placed on each shoulder, can the masks be used both at once?
As it's an MC and a rahi, let's go with two of the same mask to make the muaka do the thing. Maybe the extra mask makes it easier to access.
As it's been more than 48 hours this is not a double post...
@The UltimoScorp, your far shore prompts:
Timeline B Optional Prompts (may choose up to 3 from the list):
Have fun!
Careful what you wish for, Yumi
That took a while, eh? Apologies once again. Hit a serious wall of writers block these past couple of weeks and a bit of a creative slump in general.
You all have been up to some very exciting things recently, was an absolute blast catching up on reading! =)
But Zataka's back now. Updated profile for her and the Zivons will follow shortly. Time to power through to the endgame!