[rereading claymore unfortunately put an idea in my head]
Quinn Angstrom
[rereading claymore unfortunately put an idea in my head]
[rereading claymore unfortunately put an idea in my head]
Quinn Angstrom
Let me tell you about a cursed world
Quinn Angstrom
The Curse is a metaphysical force apparently created in order to bring about the end of the human race
Villain
here we go again
Quinn Angstrom
In many places, it has apparently succeeded
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Only one continent still bears human civilization
dragon time
ohboy
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The main way that the curse manifests is by the creation of the Afflicted
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There is no known pattern by which the Curse chooses its targets
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but once a human has become an Afflicted, they can no longer be sustained by food, drink, and air, nor do they need these things
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The only thing that can sustain them
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is killing.
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The Afflicted must kill. This need drives them so completely that their personality gradually decays until only the hunger to kill remains.
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They appear as humans, but their human heart dies, and is replaced with a cursed heart, which gives them the power to assume monstrous form.
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The stronger ones can also use dark magic.
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Some roam the world openly seeking victims, some hide among humanity, satisfying their murderous impulses in secret.
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Their power is too great for normal humans to stand a chance of fighting them unless they have an overwhelming advantage of numbers and weapons.
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(Tech level is steam trains and muskets, I think)
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So of course, humanity was forced to create a weapon that can counter the Afflicted
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and that is the Curse Eater.
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A Curse Eater is a human who has had a cursed heart surgically implanted into their body.
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Most die from the process.
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But those who live through it gain power similar to the Afflicted, but retain their human consciousness.
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and also retain their human body, although with much greater parameters.
Quinn Angstrom
Unfortunately, with the cursed heart comes the same hunger to kill.
Quinn Angstrom
Fortunately, it can be sated by killing the Afflicted.
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So, the Curse creates Afflicted, and the Curse Eaters hunt them to protect humanity.
Quinn Angstrom
The Curse Eaters are created and controlled by an organization that touts themselves as the saviors of mankind:
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The Beasts Templar.
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They turn humans into Curse Eaters, train them, organize them into ranks and groups, and then send them on missions regularly to make sure their hunger stays under control.
Villain
this is metal as hell
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The Templar organize both Curse Eaters and Afflicted into three ranks:
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Star, which is the bottom 90%
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Moon, which is the middle 9%
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and Sun, which is the top 1%
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There are approximately 1,000 Curse Eaters at any given time, meaning that there are about 90 Moon-Class Curse Eaters and exactly 10 Sun-Class
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Known Afflicted are ranked with roughly the same proportions
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but there are threats beyond even Sun-Class Afflicted.
Quinn Angstrom
So let's talk about three other kinds of enemies.
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Dragons
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Dragons are what you get when an Afflicted kills a Curse Eater and eats their second heart.
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Sometimes.
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Like the creation of a Curse Eater, this is often fatal to the Afflicted.
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But sometimes, they ascend to a new level of power, and become a Dragon.
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Dragons can no longer assume a human form, but have size, physical strength, toughness, regenerative capabilities, and magical powers far beyond that of normal Afflicted.
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One of the main roles of Sun-Class Curse Eaters is to hunt down and slay Dragons as quickly as possible.
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But some remain long after their creation, because they are simply too powerful to destroy without dedicating close to the entire Templar force to one mission.
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It is considered safer to let them choose their territory and lurk there than it is to try and kill them.
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Fallen
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The existence of the Fallen is something the Templar go to great lengths to prevent whenever possible.
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The fact is, every Curse Eater is a ticking time bomb.
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Eventually, you'll draw too deeply from the power of your cursed heart.
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Eventually, you'll let its power consume you, and won't be able to come back.
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Then, you become a human Afflicted.
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They carry their memories and some faint echo of their original personality, plus all of their powers, but amplified to terrifying degrees.
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Their mind shatters as they give in to the Curse's urges to kill.
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Dragons and Fallen are roughly equivalent in threat level, but in different ways.
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Dragons are intelligent, and can organize. A Dragon can gather an army of Afflicted and wage war against humanity.
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The Fallen are generally much stronger in single combat, but they have no allies.
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Even other Afflicted treat them as beasts to be killed on sight.
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Queens
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Just as random and unpredictable as the Afflicted but much less common.
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A Queen is a special Afflicted, who trades physical strength for the ability to directly spread the Curse.
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In other words, they can turn humans into Afflicted.
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While Queens are not very strong, they are usually protected by powerful Afflicted or even Dragons,
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and they also pose the greatest imaginable threat to the Beasts Templar,
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because they can turn Curse Eaters into Fallen.
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While Fallen and Dragons can sometimes be ignored for a time depending on the circumstances,
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the appearance of a new Queen cannot be ignored.
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The primary purpose of the Beasts Templar is to kill the Afflicted as they appear, to protect the last bastion of human civilization from meeting the same fate as the rest of the world
Villain
she got to GO
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Their secondary purpose is to identify the source of the Curse, and, if possible, kill it.
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Some people sometimes have questions about the Beasts Templar as an organization.
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Like, "where do they get people to turn into Curse Eaters?"
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and, "why does anyone who tries to defy the Templar quietly disappear?"
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But really, all things considered, it's best to not ask those questions.
Quinn Angstrom
So that's what I've got
mask of pride 🌸
this sounds dope quinn
this sounds dope quinn
Quinn Angstrom
A party of Curse Eaters using a power created to destroy humanity in order to save it
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While struggling not to become the monsters they fight
Villain
Wild
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brutality, body horror, tenacity in the face of hopeless odds
Quinn Angstrom
Curse Eaters being much more varied than Claymores - any gender, all kinds of weapons, plus curse magic as an option for caster builds
EsperBot
Neat
Rama
Everything about this sounds amazing
mask of pride 🌸
i love the idea of this, this sounds like it'd be a wild as fuck ride
dragon time
I love it
Quinn Angstrom
when I say "magic" above, this is less 'here's a list of spells you can learn' and more 'Stand ability'
Quinn Angstrom
'ideally one of the weird, gross ones'
00000000
Nice. And I like the fact that anyone can be a Curse Eater
mask of pride 🌸
i'm already trying to think of a concept for this
Quinn Angstrom
for character concepts, the darker and more gothic the better
moontouched
hell yeah
mask of pride 🌸
my brain is admittedly spitting out 'minstrel who got thrown into this mess for trying to rally the people against the templar' or something, tho i'm mostly looking at the minstrel part
Quinn Angstrom
all you need to become a Curse Eater is the luck, determination, and tenacity to survive the implanting process
mask of pride 🌸
some sort of song decay powers. sort of intoner? maybe
mask of pride 🌸
nice nice
Quinn Angstrom
taking inspiration from Drakengard is VERY on point
mask of pride 🌸
excellent
Quinn Angstrom
I'm not saying that this WON'T end in the skies being covered in giant babies that eat the world
moontouched
we have to play ddr
moontouched
in the sky
moontouched
while everything explodes
mask of pride 🌸
perfect tbh
Quinn Angstrom
I need to think of some kind of universal visual tell that Curse Eaters have
Quinn Angstrom
so that the common folk can be fucking terrified of them
Villain
reflective eyes
00000000
I was wondering if there was a visual tell
Villain
in the dark sometimes their pupils flash
Quinn Angstrom
some kind of eyes situation would be apropos
Dirk Warhard
Shark teeth? Since they're eaters.
Quinn Angstrom
I kind of like the reflective eyes, it means they can pass for normal during the day but in the dark their nature is revealed
Quinn Angstrom
they're also prone to carrying around oversized or eclectic weaponry and just having a general aura about them
Quinn Angstrom
so unless you're going out of your way to hide your identity, people will probably know
mask of pride 🌸
ohhh
00000000
Do any of them ever desert?
Quinn Angstrom
yes
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deserters have a tendency, however
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to disappear
mask of pride 🌸
can curse eaters turn into queens, out of curiosity?
Quinn Angstrom
well, it hasn't happened before
mask of pride 🌸
oho
mask of pride 🌸
duly noted
00000000
Can they be tracked, e.g. by power signature/usage?
Quinn Angstrom
Curse Eaters and Afflicted both, especially when powerful, have the general ability to sense curse energy
Quinn Angstrom
which can be used like that
Quinn Angstrom
and of course, they can in turn try to suppress their power to avoid detection
00000000
Is there anything akin to Claymore's power suppressant pills? Not that those would necessarily be practical for long-term use, especially if the Beast Templars control the supply
Villain
There could be!
00000000
Also, would it be possible for Curse Eaters to sync/pool their powers?
連続犬
oh I would play the HELL out of this campaign
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It would give me an excuse to re-use in some form the ridiculous greatsword lady i was pitching for Meteor
Villain
Character who spent YEARS training to fight the Afflicted as a human
Villain
And became super badass
Villain
And then got in one fight and immediately ate shit because they're on a level that no amount of clever tactics will let one normal person beat them
連続犬
other vibes I'm getting from this are like
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Demon Slayer and also a HEFTY dose of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
Villain
And then a curse eater was like "I'm mortally wounded from trying to save you so here"
Quinn Angstrom
no comment at this time re: special medicines or power syncing
Villain
/rips heart out of their own chest and shoves it in this guy's chest
Villain
They are now a curse eater
連続犬
i now just thought "steam powered greatsword"
Villain
oh FUCK
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like definitely a curse eater after all that but every edge counts
Quinn Angstrom
rolling up to fight the afflicted with my swaxe
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HELL yeah
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i would need the person I tasked with the sword I first made for my meteor pitch into a steampunk version
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this fucking thing
this fucking thing
mask of pride 🌸
holy shit that's so cool
dragon time
My concept is leaning toward a crisis build
dragon time
Iseul and Bechamel were fun but rarely got fucked up enough to go hard into it
dragon time
Maybe a crisis companion build where I can do stuff like get my arm hacked off and then it turns into a companion and starts stabbing the enemy
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I'm definitely thinking of leaning into Empower Attack
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probably relatively tanky while abusing the hell out of Health Limit
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Str/Aura/Guts probably?
dragon time
I've played enough smart characters in a row I wanna go big and stupid again
dragon time
Str Aura Guts was the Iseul build and I REC
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i did a crisis build with mateo so I wanna do empower attack
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just stack a ton of it
Dirk Warhard
I haven't got a fighting style idea yet, but I wanna play someone whose older sibling was a Curse Eater who became a Fallen and now they've become a Curse Eater and live only to destroy their sibling and finally lay them to rest.
mask of pride 🌸
those sound so dope
mask of pride 🌸
i think my minstrel girl's gonna be leaning heavily into aura? i'm trying to think of what other stats would be good on her :|a
mask of pride 🌸
but she's deffo magic-based and i think i'mma go with "song magic that can literally rot people"
mask of pride 🌸
idk, whatever i do i wanna make it as opposite to amaya as possible, leaning definitely into blast radius shit
dragon time
Mine doesn't use a weapon I think
dragon time
They will use hand to hand combat and also be able to control their own heartbeat
dragon time
So like- high pressure bloodsprays, maybe some sort of concussive heartbeat force that shakes foes apart via vibration
dragon time
Remote control hands via heart pulses programmed in ahead of time...
dragon time
Maybe this is still an int character but like a berserkery one
dragon time
I don't think I've played str/int before
dragon time
I haven't played a guy in a while so I think I'd go dark broody and handsome.
Villain
The kind of guy who goes into shady taverns and sits in the corner so his back is to the wall
Villain
And has one eye glint from just under his hat brim
dragon time
Wide brim hat so he can pull it d-
dragon time
You understand me 
Villain
SAME HAT
Villain
Possibly a scar over one eye
dragon time
fffffSAMEHAT
Villain
I'm picturing long dark hair and a long overcoat with excessive belt buckles
dragon time
I probably can't use literally Vincent valentine as a PB he's too obv an association
Villain
Definitely has Vincent Valentine energy though
Villain
Somewhere between that and Alucard HellsingUltimate
dragon time
I'm coming up with a backstory but he seems like the kind of fellow who wouldn't jaw off about his past
dragon time
Rumor has it that he was born a Curse Eater but that's ridiculous
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Agatha probably volunteered to become a Curse Bearer after someone close to her went missing
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this person was probably also a Curse Bearer
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whether they went dark because they ran aflul of Beasts Templar, or became a Fallen, or something else, is up in the air
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shes the kind of girl who says that "like a lot of things, Afflicted will break if you just put enough heat and pressure on the right spot."
moontouched
i'm just gonna rejig ancelin because i had a 100% serious character concept last time so they can be shitjerk morbid archer to balance out everyone being more serious
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yesss
Wild Child
Man i probably shouldn't make a versatile boost character as my first Valor character but that also sounds perfect for this premise
Wild Child
Just constantly shifting and sprouting new parts to attack and fight with
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as one of the two people who basically wrote the book on Versatile Boost, it defonitely does require a high degree of finesse and system mastery
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Partially just because you're editing your sheet all the time
skerple
this fucking slaps
dragon time
I'm feeling Caliban as a name
mask of pride 🌸
ohhh, that's a nice name
mask of pride 🌸
i'm thinking dolores?
mask of pride 🌸
for my girl
Quinn Angstrom
anyway this had a HUGE reaction so it may have to be rushed up the list
Quinn Angstrom
a bit
Quinn Angstrom
so, here's a little bit more info for the next day
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- Medicine to suppress curse energy is not a thing
Quinn Angstrom
- Syncing your power with another curse eater isn't a universal ability, but might be a skill a specific curse eater has
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- While there are ten Sun-class Curse Eaters, there's another unofficial subdivision between the lower seven and the Top Three
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who are vastly stronger than even the other Suns
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Currently occupying that class:
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- Josiah the Silent, a curse eater with the ability to make his presence go completely unrecognized in the minds of everyone around him
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- Mad Sacheverel, a bare-handed fighting berserker with strength and brutality matched only by his penchant for causing massive collateral damage
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- Nadia the Immaculate, the strongest Curse Eater, so named because when she fights, not a single drop of blood lands on her
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- Until recently, Steel Raelene, a Curse Eater thought to be indestructible until she died under obscure circumstances
Quinn Angstrom
some relevant things to
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at least:
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- it's rare (but not unheard of) for anyone younger than 13 or older than 40 to survive a cursed heart transplant
Quinn Angstrom
- Upon joining the Beasts Templar as a Curse Eater, you legally surrender your surname - you are no longer connected to your family, only to the Templar and their mission
mask of pride 🌸
mask of pride 🌸
oh hell yes
Quinn Angstrom
- It's not as uncommon as one might like to think for a man representing the Beasts Templar to visit an orphanage, then later the orphanage has a lot of money for renovations and a couple fewer orphans
dragon time
Good facts
Dirk Warhard
oh my god
mask of pride 🌸
holy shit
連続犬
oh these are good facts to know
Quinn Angstrom
curse eaters can still HAVE surnames, like, that they use themselves, but they are not legally recognized
連続犬
makes sense
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also Nadia the Immaculate is such a GREAT name
Quinn Angstrom
the Suns usually get epithets
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since last names aren't a thing among Curse Eaters I would assume Stars also get epithets but ones that are like, not necessarily ones that have any glory to them
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more a comment on who you are as a person
Quinn Angstrom
anyone can have an epithet, Suns people actually know and use them other than your personal friends
連続犬
makes sense