Random Questions Thread

What could a plant-powered superbeing do besides controlling plants, feeding through photosynthesis, and regenerating?

~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)

Eroding the soil/rocks/etc, housing insects and small animals.

Spiral out, keep going.

Camouflage, decontaminating the air and soil via phyto-remediation, anything to do with poisons.

Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)

They might increase the sureness of their footing by literally rooting themselves to the ground; conversely, they might hold enemies in place with spontaneously-grown roots and branches. (Although the latter might come under "controlling plants".)

They might be able to gain terrain and biological information over large distances via communication (perhaps chemical in nature) with other plants.

Perhaps some form of communication with bees and the like, or a particular bond with an insect-themed super?

My Games & Writing

And unless Self-Duplication is an explicit power of theirs that they can use as easily and inconsequentially as breathing, the avatar cannot be everywhere at once to perform the aforementioned spiritual edification, especially if they also have to juggle that with secular ruler duties. So it should be reasonable for them to delegate some of the "less important" religious leader duties a bit to the the pope figure, right?

On a different note... Fighteer, I get the feeling that you have a pretty dim opinion of organized religion, considering your reply seems to assume that the Physical Religion in question either is a Corrupt Church lite or will inevitably become so, completely dismissing the possibility of a Saintly Church.

That goes without saying. I was simply assuming that the cavalry force can only attack the infantry in question from the front for some reason (led by an incompetent commander, terrain constraints, the infantry simply forming a circle rather than a one-directional wall, etc.).

Edited by MarqFJA on Apr 29th 2019 at 5:46:59 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Obviously I do have such a view, but that's not entirely the reasoning behind my post. While I believe that it is possible for religious figures to be honest and sincere, just like anyone else, I also believe that power attracts the corruptible and that churches are not magically immune to this. Institutions built on dogma (political, religious, whatever) inevitably become more invested in their own preservation than in serving their original purpose. It's just human nature.

The kind of person who would seek the position of Pope to a literal deific avatar is not the sort of person I would ever want to be in that job.

But like I said, it depends on how powerful this avatar is. If they can see into the hearts and minds of all the people they are near (or all the people everywhere), then they could delegate work with confidence since they would know if their priests are corrupt.

Edited to add: If you actually believe in a deity that hands down direct spiritual instruction to its priests, then of course you would have faith in the church built around the worship of that deity. If, on the other hand, you hold the view that most religions are based around interpretations of scripture written by people a long time ago, then human nature takes over and means that, even if the deity is real, those interpretations will drift over time.

When said deity actually shows up, it's very likely that some shakeups will occur, both dogmatically and organizationally, and the folks who've been in charge won't necessarily be the beneficiaries of such a cleansing. Ergo, they have the most to lose and are the least likely to accept it.

You cannot seriously think that God would send another Prophet to Earth, they'd look at our vast array of religions and their conflicts and say, "Yep, y'all are doing great. Keep it up." Someone will be the losers there.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 29th 2019 at 11:29:00 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Can dreams be used for foreshadowing future events in the story?

absolutely, depending on the why and how of it within your universe (i.e sent by a diety? psychic powers? a particularly instrumental probability compiler?). prophetic dreams are an old, OLD trope.

Edited by ImmortalFaust on Apr 29th 2019 at 6:31:03 AM

[forum cryptid: it/it's]

Well, in this story (it's a fanfiction) a character who's struggled with a virus for a long time is now going to deal with the virus gaining sentience and essentially becoming a symbiote of sorts. I had an idea that the character would have a dream from the virus's point of view as the virus infected them, so I was just wondering if that would work as a way of foreshadowing the virus's sentience.

sounds solid to me. long as you make sure it foreshadows in a good way that should work

[forum cryptid: it/it's]

Here is a dumb little question, here is the stats rating on my adventurer's guild's info card:

Stats rating(1-Poor, 2-Inferior, 3-Average, 4-Superior, 5-Exceptional, 6-Legendary, 7-Godlike, 8-(???))

What could 8 be, and does anything else need to change?

On the other note, is "life force and healing" more of a Water thing or Earth thing?

I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.

8- shin megami tensei

</humor>

you might want to scale it a little better so that 8 is godlike and figure something out for 7 instead, unless your theme goes about killing god and making a fool of the devil. food for thought.

and it depends on what water and earth represent, imo. could be either depending on the interpretation. if water is the life-giving element (metaphorically speaking for this purpose) then it's suited for that. if mother earth is the essence of life, it would fit better there. sorry for a bit of a non-answer but whatever is more life giving in your setting would be the appropriate element to associate with healing.

if you subvert or otherwise change it up (i.e water is known for being destructive [as nothing stands the elements]) then you may have some more maneuvering to do for the explaination, which could pay off in its own way.

Edited by ImmortalFaust on Apr 30th 2019 at 6:23:17 AM

[forum cryptid: it/it's]

Indeed, I think that I could see arguments for assigning healing to Fire or Air (or Quintessence, if present) too, given the appropriate interpretations. It primarily comes down to the interpretations of the elements present in the setting that you're writing in, I think.

My Games & Writing

One of the ranks could be "heroic" or "enchanted" or something. "Godlike" should be the last one.

My question: I have a german character, first name Blitzbert. I'm trying to figure out a possibly also made-up, shorter surname that would sound good with it, but i can't come up with anything.

Edited by Nukeli on May 2nd 2019 at 8:30:48 PM

~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)

8- Cosmic: powers that transcend time and space.

Is it possible to have a character who is both Light Feminine and Dark Feminine? She's generally sweet and kind, but she's also kind of a Nightmare Fetishist and is also known for being playful and flirtatious. I'm trying to go for Hidden Depths here if you know what I'm saying.

Edited by Mroh on May 3rd 2019 at 4:48:45 AM

How long does it usually take for a dysfunctional marriage to fail?

I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.

Depends on the personalities and lives of the people involved and what's making the marriage dysfunctional. A dysfunctional marriage could devolve into filing for divorce mere weeks or even days after the license is signed, or it could fester between both parties until death does them part.

Edited by CrystalGlacia on May 3rd 2019 at 8:17:07 AM

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

@Mroh: Sounds interesting to me. You should write it up.

@Mroh : I think you may have missed the trope meanings just a little bit, because she sounds more like a Perky Goth to me than a "combination" of the light/dark feminine pairing.

Light Feminine and Dark Feminine isn't just about one of the women being a sweet and naive ingenue while the other is a BDSM-practicing vamp. It's about two women being Foils to each other specifically as different types of femininity.

How does being a Nightmare Fetishist relate to her being feminine? Does she feel like it makes her "weird" or "creepy" (and therefore "less" feminine)? Do men think she's weird/creepy?

Personally when I hear "combining the light/dark feminine," I just go "This Is Reality, we have lots of women like that."

Which isn't to say your idea is bad, because we need a lot more realistic female characters instead of constantly playing out the Madonna-Whore Complex.

Edited by Sharysa on May 5th 2019 at 8:03:25 AM

" The light is generally angelic and feels love, whereas the dark is generally devilish and plays with desire. The light is usually sweet and naïve, whereas the dark is usually aloof and brooding."

It wouldnt strictly speaking fit the trope perfectly, but I see no reason why one female character couldnt be all those things.

What kind of superpowers would fit villains representing 7 deadly sins and heroes representkng 7 heavenly virtues? (My main characters are neutral and have shadow&light powers and electric powers)

Edited by Nukeli on May 4th 2019 at 7:21:17 PM

~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)

I could have sworn that we have had similar conversations before (maybe not in this particular thread) but now I cant find them.

Found this thread with a quick search, although I thought I'd seen a more recent one somewhere.

That might have been it, thanks.