Friendship is Dragons
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Page 182 - The Cleric
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...okay yeah, not messing with Sun goddess :3
Nice monologue too!
Nice monologue too!
I kind of hope that the lions have come to respect her then. The sort of respect that is hard earned and long kept.
The dialogue at the end and Rainbow's expression absolutely sells this comic.
Okay, I totally need to make a Royal Canterlot Voice device for any speeches like this I manage to trick my players into setting up.
(It should be a straightforward variant of a flanger, actually.)
(It should be a straightforward variant of a flanger, actually.)
"The birds call me Lifting Wind.
The spiders call me Fireblood.
The wolves call Moon Mother, though that title has returned to my sister."
And so on.
Also, for those who don't know, The Tomb of Horrors is a classic D&D campaign. Here it's supposed to indicate that the DM and Celestia are gamers from way back
I just read your comic and I like the set up. It certainly helds the mythos together well. I give it two hooves up!
"The buffalo never call at all, though I have left my number with them countless times. And the Diamond Dogs used to insist on calling collect until... but enough on that subject. More tea?"
If I had to, I'd say that the buffalo call her Pathmaker and the Diamond Dogs call her The Blinding Glitter. This is fun! I bet I can come up with a name for Celestia from every creature in Equestria.
How about for, say...the Changelings, the River Serpents (as in, Steven Magnet) and...erm...the Minotaurs.
My ideas--
Changlings: The Morning Constant
River Serpents: The Golden Light
minotaurs: The Assertive Sunrise
Changlings: The Morning Constant
River Serpents: The Golden Light
minotaurs: The Assertive Sunrise
Changelings: Thresh'kreen (food that bites back)
River Serpents: Fabulous Dawn? n.n We really know nothing about them. o.o;
Minotaurs: Mistress of the Invisible Maze?
River Serpents: Fabulous Dawn? n.n We really know nothing about them. o.o;
Minotaurs: Mistress of the Invisible Maze?
Changelings: Seeker
River Serpents: Unshimmering Light
Minotaurs: The Greater Flame
Deer: Spring Maker
Antelope: The Eye of Time
Yeah, coming up with mythic names is a strangely fulfilling experience. I haven't had the pleasure of doing so from the GM's side of the screen, but one campaign I played in ended with us, the players, defeating an Elder Evil in a world where magic was wounded and ascending to godhood along with a number of NPCs. My sorcerer PC's titles include "The Invisible Master" and "The Vital Fire". He sacrificed himself to deal a killing blow to the Elder Evil and used his soul and the soul of the sun-demigod-turned-katana (among whose titles was "The Invisible Man," referring to his long sleep on the mortal realm in the form of the katana) he used to do it to heal the magic in the world. This gestalt being ended up becoming the god of magic and the sun.
I remember another PC - a warblade - ended up with the title "Arbiter of Souls". He had been recruited during the campaign into the secret-police-like inquisition of the country from which we hailed, and was accustomed to meting out justice. Several factions in a time-bound conflict attempted to use him for their own ends, but he mastered them and gained a number of their powers. His portfolio now includes time and death.
I guess that was me sharing a story about coming up with mythic names. Shall we all?
TYS, two questions. First, is that last paragraph of Celestia's speech referencing something...in addition to Tomb of Horrors? A certain piece of not-really-confection-themed fanfiction, perhaps? Second, what do the Parasprites call Celestia?
I remember another PC - a warblade - ended up with the title "Arbiter of Souls". He had been recruited during the campaign into the secret-police-like inquisition of the country from which we hailed, and was accustomed to meting out justice. Several factions in a time-bound conflict attempted to use him for their own ends, but he mastered them and gained a number of their powers. His portfolio now includes time and death.
I guess that was me sharing a story about coming up with mythic names. Shall we all?
TYS, two questions. First, is that last paragraph of Celestia's speech referencing something...in addition to Tomb of Horrors? A certain piece of not-really-confection-themed fanfiction, perhaps? Second, what do the Parasprites call Celestia?
Second: The Parasprites call her Summer's Song.
First: probably for the best. Though someone was going to ask.
Second: fitting.
Third (this one's new! yay!): just read through your comic up to the page "Good Night". It's engaging.
Second: fitting.
Third (this one's new! yay!): just read through your comic up to the page "Good Night". It's engaging.
Now you've got me wondering what Luna's titles are. She _is_ the goddess of death in quite a few fan works, after all.
(Death/path to the afterlife, night, magic, and the arts, if I remember Aquilinus's take on it; that particular fan work gave Celestia birth, sun, hearth and home, and harvest, if memory serves.)
While the "death is not evil" motif comes up quite a lot in comics, it's actually quite rare to see a non-evil death god in gaming, which is why I find that particular interpretation fascinating in this context.
(Death/path to the afterlife, night, magic, and the arts, if I remember Aquilinus's take on it; that particular fan work gave Celestia birth, sun, hearth and home, and harvest, if memory serves.)
While the "death is not evil" motif comes up quite a lot in comics, it's actually quite rare to see a non-evil death god in gaming, which is why I find that particular interpretation fascinating in this context.
Hmm... you know, the only thing really wrong with this comic is that it uses fan art for Celestia instead of a screenshot, even an edited one like Dash there. And I'm pretty sure there's at least one "Celestia is pissed" image floating around the internet... or at least an image that can interpreted that way.
Single class gods were pretty rare in the "Deities and Demigods" I read.
I myself had pondered the same issue, and I kind of decided that if Twilight Sparkle was Celestia's student, she had to be learning something from her. Hence why I suspected Celestia had some arcane magic skill.
INCREDIBLY late on this, but unicorns are psions. They do things silently and without movement. They don't have components, they have displays (which are more a by-product of manifesting).
You can also have spell-like abilities that don't have components, but then again racial spell-like abilities don't always scale...
I find Celestia fascinating for the same reasons, along with the fact that she clearly has 1,000 years of experience of manipulating ponies into doing what she wants and what's best for them.
"Celestia! Liege of endless schemes and pegasi,
Celestia! Liege of unicorns and and Pinkie Pie."
(To the tune of the Red Elvis' "Siberia".)
Celestia! Liege of unicorns and and Pinkie Pie."
(To the tune of the Red Elvis' "Siberia".)
She reminds me of a comment made by a parent who noted that love is multiplied by the children you have, not divided between them.
That might not be true of everyone, but I think Celestia might subscribe to that point of view.
That might not be true of everyone, but I think Celestia might subscribe to that point of view.
Indeed. The difficulty is getting the ponies to see <i>her</i> as something other than a monarch/force of nature.
It seems like Clerics can be the most OP class in a game at times... Hell, my dad plays a cleric on Everquest, and he's one of the most powerful players in the game with the way he set himself up.
Still can't survive the raids he does, though
Still can't survive the raids he does, though
They get that way because of how hard it can be to get people to play them. Even in D&D 3.5, the incentive of CoDzilla wasn't always enough to entice anyone to play a cleric or druid. A lot of folks preferred to max out Use Magic Device and then stock up on wands of cure light wounds.
4E hasn't overcome this problem either, even with the number of healing options you can perform as a minor action. I can't comment on Next, but I'm not optimistic on this point.
4E hasn't overcome this problem either, even with the number of healing options you can perform as a minor action. I can't comment on Next, but I'm not optimistic on this point.
I think this in part depends on the threats in the campaign. Our Pathfinder party doesn't have a PC cleric, and it would _really_ have helped when fighting the evil armies with a habit of summoning demons and telling them "sic good-guy brass".
Naturally, we did the same to them with hound archons (who can line-of-sight teleport at will, apparently), but it would still have been nice to have Holy Smite available. The Pathfinder version of that apparently lets you ignore the DR of evil creatures. When fighting the DR 20/good one, that would have helped a _lot_.
Positive energy burst beats the pants off of wands of cure light wounds, as well (to the point where you'd never bother with a cure spell if you had it available). Everyone in the burst gets a few points of healing. In an army full of low- to mid-level NPCs, you stack the casualties like cord-wood after the battle and let it rip. All but the most grievously wounded are back on their feet immediately.
Naturally, we did the same to them with hound archons (who can line-of-sight teleport at will, apparently), but it would still have been nice to have Holy Smite available. The Pathfinder version of that apparently lets you ignore the DR of evil creatures. When fighting the DR 20/good one, that would have helped a _lot_.
Positive energy burst beats the pants off of wands of cure light wounds, as well (to the point where you'd never bother with a cure spell if you had it available). Everyone in the burst gets a few points of healing. In an army full of low- to mid-level NPCs, you stack the casualties like cord-wood after the battle and let it rip. All but the most grievously wounded are back on their feet immediately.
When a friend was asked what he'd do if he met a god, he replied, "Before or after I wet my pants?"
That might sum up the uncertainty you're experiencing. We forget what awe is because of how much the word's been trivialized from overuse.
(If words are like antibiotics, what conditions can be treated with them?)
That might sum up the uncertainty you're experiencing. We forget what awe is because of how much the word's been trivialized from overuse.
(If words are like antibiotics, what conditions can be treated with them?)
Ignorance. Apathy. Loss. Despair.
Good choices. I'd throw in isolation as well, which I believe might well cover all four of the conditions you suggested.
Woo, this gave me a really nice tingle of joyous shock all through my body. What a wonderful response. Thank you!
RD: There's not enough stuff to fight.
C: Pardon?
RD: It's just that most everything's peaceful around here. Sure, a monster comes out of the Everfree Forest once in a while, but that's about it.
C: ....Heh. Haha. Hahahahahahahaha. *sigh* Forgive me, Rainbow Dash. I did not mean to make light of you or your...plight. But to hear that there's not enough danger in this land is such a sharp contrast from what I've had to live through.
RD: What do you mean?
C: Suppose I told you that once upon a time, all of Equestria was like the Everfree Forest. Ponies lived in fear, all towns needed high walls and guards in order to survive, and it was unknown whether the crops would survive or be destroyed by the weather or monsters. Tell me, have you encountered any monsters that you couldn't "beat up" in the Forest?
RD: Let's see. I think we could have taken the manticore and the cockatrice. But Twi found a hydra, Spike found a dragon, an Ursa Minor came into town. Not to mention those Parasprites.
C: *solemn voice* All that and worse. Every. Single. Day. Until my sister and I drove them back with the power of the sun and moon. We made a safe haven for the ponies so they could tame the weather and live in peace. The reason the monsters live the Everfree Forest? *leans in close* It's because they know I'll come for them if they try to leave.
RD: ...Um...
C: *happy voice* So I'm so glad that my work has given you the privilege of being bored. Have a nice day, Rainbow Dash.
RD:...*whimper*
(sings)
"Oh, C is for Celestia,
if you know what's good for you!"
The *happy voice* sells the whole thing, Lyntermas. Good work.
There's a fan fic I've resisted writing for months now, a crossover I've yet to see anyone employ, but moments like this make the temptation strong.
"Oh, C is for Celestia,
if you know what's good for you!"
The *happy voice* sells the whole thing, Lyntermas. Good work.
There's a fan fic I've resisted writing for months now, a crossover I've yet to see anyone employ, but moments like this make the temptation strong.
That... might actually top Friendship is Science for creepiness. Please do write the fic!
Woo, this gave me a really nice tingle of joyous shock all through my body. What a wonderful response. Thank you!
(Not sure why my original attempt to respond to this got attached to the previous comment; perhaps I mis-clicked. Also not sure you'll ever see this, but... just in case, I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it!)
(Not sure why my original attempt to respond to this got attached to the previous comment; perhaps I mis-clicked. Also not sure you'll ever see this, but... just in case, I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it!)
Fire-On-The-Outside?
Sounds more like a name the Buffalo would call her than the Donkeys.
Sounds more like a name the Buffalo would call her than the Donkeys.
Actually, I somehow missed seeing all the words from "The donkeys call me" to "Fire-On-The-Outside" even though I read it 3 times.. I blame my optic nerve blind spot for making my brain reconstruct that part incorrectly.
I thought the dragons called her "Namby-pamby pony princess"?
In Soviet Equestria, the princesses collect political jokes. They have several labour camps full...
(Ye Wiki has an entire page full of these; it's great.)
(Ye Wiki has an entire page full of these; it's great.)
But in case you do, and are curious what has been going on in the game, I totally wrote a summary for the last session. And it was the greatest session, of any roleplaying game, in the history of roleplaying games...
Short summary leading up to this...
A plague was spreading through Canterlot which spreads when someone with the plague either tries to heal or is is healed by someone else. Two of our party members are infected, Alcazar and Solar Flare (Heat Wave with a new name). Celestia herself is infected, and will die from the disease in the next few days. We have to hunt down the villain, Scroll, to retrieve the artifact that started the plague in order to cure it. And Scroll went to a nation across the ocean named Empathia, which worships the elements of harmony, and is surrounded by a barrier that keeps any magic from entering or leaving.
Princess Celestia gave us the physical Elements of Harmony, but we were unable to use them. And Princess Luna teleported us to the border of their country at the end of the previous session.
ALL ABOUT TREACHERY: And Alcazar has fallen deeply in love with the demon Treachery (Scrapper and Starlight are also deeply in love), and though he was contractually obligated to protect her with his life (or lose his soul), he now would give his life for her willingly. Inky Quills had given her body Treachery to fulfill her promise a month ago to find Treachery a body, and now Inky Quills inhabited a robotic body. Inky Quill's body is also pregnant with a demon foal she named Hallowed Heart, and it is this pregnant body that Treachery now inhabits.
Player Party Members: Inky Quills, Solar Flare, Soaring Song, Alcazar, Scrapper, Faded Tome, and Scales
NPC Party Members: Stylus, Starlight, Treachery, Mirage, and Chainmail
And now for the session summary:
Session 16: The Fire in All of Us
(Sorry I haven't had a chance to proofread it yet, I mostly wanted to post it badly)
Now that I'm not in a super stressed situation of horribleness IRL, I may make a point to go back and write elaborate session summaries for uh... all 12 sessions I failed to do. It should be fun. But only if people are interested or even remember who I am.
So I'm not only doing better, I'm doing great.
Is there somewhere I can get a link to all of these? Because I can't seem to find any from the middle.
The quick plot review I gave before it covers the important plot points necessary to understand the session 16 summary.
The short form of 4.5-15...
4.5: Inky makes a deal with Mephisto to carry his foal in exchange for freeing Stylus from Treachery's possession. Stylus remains in a coma.
5: Travel to Canterlot to stop Antiquity and Blueblood's wedding. Alcazar's father is deathly ill, so his healers can't heal Stylus. Inky talks Conflagria into submission so she stops trying to kill us.
6: Crash Blueblood's wedding, win a tournament 2v5, create a robot body for Treachery, and Blueblood requests our presence.
7: Scroll is with Prince Blueblood. We offend them. Scroll goes to the royal museum and we follow. Meet Smudge, Celestia's new student. Inky attempts to murder Scroll when the lights go out due to a simultaneously robbery, and we're all arrested. In prison, Smudge helps us get Celestia's audience and Celestia wakes Stylus from a coma.
8. Celestia helps us enter Conflagria's mind to remove her corruption. Inside her mind, we find out that Heat Wave identity is permanently dead, and we are defeated and captured by Nightmares to be turned into Nightmares ourselves.
9. With Shapeshifting we trick the Nightmares into thinking we've changed, and track down Heat Wave's new name. Treachery saves Alcazar's life. We befriend a diamond golem protector of the name, who smashes through the Nightmares for us, smashes the shadow of Mephisto, and we read her new name, Solar Flare, reviving her.
10. We are freed from jail on condition that we investigate the museum break-in with Faded Tome and Scales. A dozen new royal guard NPCs are introduced, and they track down Weasel, a contact of the pony who stole The True History of Shadows from the museum, who attacks them with a powerful Nightmare Wand Artifact.
11. Weasel, Charity Plush's son, is attacked by a Nightmare Gargoyle, who tries to kill him; the group defends the suspect. The group splits up to try to magically examine the wand, and half the group is murdered. With scrolls of dispelling, we eventually prove that they were changeling corpses, and our friends were really kidnapped and the wand is missing.
12. With the aid of Pony Stark, we create a tracking device to locate the wand. Changelings attack, and we're all captured. Charity Plush reveals herself to be Queen Chrysalis, and we are thrown in jail and forced to make weapons. Scrapper and Pony Stark turn Soaring Song into Iron Stallion, rescue Starlight having her love feasted on by Queen Chrysalis, and against all odds, kill Queen Chrysalis.
14 (comes chronologically before 13). We hitch a train ride back to Canterlot, and meet a Changeling disguised as Fluttershy. We defeat her, and discover she developed free will when we killed her queen, and she wants to live her own life now. We let her join the party, and she takes the name Mirage.
13. Canterlot is on on military lockdown. A dispelling scroll undoes the protection on Inky's curse and she has hours before turning into a changeling. Inky buys an engagement ring for Stylus. And the royal captain Chainmail ties Soaring Song to a chair and bowchicka.
15. Find out Celestia is dying of a spellplague after trying to heal Alcazar's father. Inky proposes to Stylus (she said yes), curing her changelingism. Celestia gives us the elements of harmony. Alcazar's father passes away. Inky gives her body to Treachery. Luna teleports us to Empathia.
No, you are most certainly not forgotten. As someone else who's experienced emergency gall-bladder surgery, I'm glad to hear things are better again. May you remain on that course.
...I am going to play in a stairc campaign someday. I know it's a pipe dream, and that I don't actually know him, and that I'm not active on the Pony Tales forum, and that I only know his real name because he signs his letters to Princess Celestia. Shut up, voice in my head.
Someday...
Someday...
Here are the fight tallies (only counting fights where we didn't quit the fight before the first round of combat ended, since that's not fighting, that's diplomancing or running away)
0 - Session 1
1 - Session 2
1 - Session 3
0 - Session 3.5
2 - Session 4
0 - Session 4.5
0 - Session 5
2 - Session 6
0 - Session 7
1 - Session 8
0 - Session 9
1 - Session 10
1 - Session 11
2 - Session 12
1 - Session 14
0 - Session 13
0 - Session 15
0 - Session 16
And Karilyn, wonderful job on both the summary and the short summaries. If you ever write a full Campaign Chronicle - that's going to be a sight to see.
And thanks Sunbeam, Cliff, Zarhon, all my players and everyone else. Let's keep building great adventures.
-Stairc
Also, it has been a while since I have been spectating a game in which a player has sacrificed herself, willingly and permanently, for the greater good.
It was so that Starlight could live out the rest of her life with Scrapper. She sacrificed her life, so that two other ponies wouldn't have to be heartbroken.
I can see why a DM might be insecure about his creation, but Celestia being insecure about her peaceful world is a stretch. Lashing out at RD like that makes her look like someone who isn't really in control of things.
Prime example: in the pilot (a.k.a. Episodes 1 & 2), she got captured by her own younger sister, and had to hope that her halfway-trained "most faithful student" could put the fragmentary pieces of the magical puzzle back together.
For all her ability, she still lacks omnipotence or omniscience. Chrysalis demonstrated that one pretty well, but she also looked a bit out of her depth during Pinkie's parasprite polka parade. She doesn't lose her cool often and she recovers quickly, but it happens.
I see this example as a case where she tried to oblige Rainbow Dash's desire for excitement with a colourful threat, only to realize she'd taken it too far. It would be consistent with Twilight's recurring tendency to refer to the harsh punishments Celestia might deliver for relatively petty failings. She didn't grow up on stories of Celestia imprisoning Luna or turning Discord to stone. Everything we've seen indicates that she's been consistently warm toward Twilight for as long as they've known each other, so where does this fear originate?
I see this example as a case where she tried to oblige Rainbow Dash's desire for excitement with a colourful threat, only to realize she'd taken it too far. It would be consistent with Twilight's recurring tendency to refer to the harsh punishments Celestia might deliver for relatively petty failings. She didn't grow up on stories of Celestia imprisoning Luna or turning Discord to stone. Everything we've seen indicates that she's been consistently warm toward Twilight for as long as they've known each other, so where does this fear originate?
Although Zuche's explanation works too.
Magic Kindergarden is a real place and you will be sent there at the first sigh of Defiance.
Heh. I'll have to remember that one.
More along similar lines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuEX5ZRnBYY
(Celestia clips overlaid with quite a bit of Portal 1 GLaDOS lines.)
More along similar lines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuEX5ZRnBYY
(Celestia clips overlaid with quite a bit of Portal 1 GLaDOS lines.)
My character winds up going all bravado on him and does the "I am a god, show some respect" speech. The student looks him dead in the eyes and goes "You ain't any god I ever heard of."
My whole character premise is that because he can only use his powers while the other deities AREN'T using theirs, he's the butt of every joke among his home pantheon because he's basically powerless. Thus, his confidence is shot and he goes to other planes where people don't know his tricks to be the big hero. (He's trying a very soft approach on this one, hence the teaching gig.) The kid basically gave him a verbal punch to the gut and he didn't even know it.
I call alignment shift on her - sooner or later it's bound to happen.
"... and sometimes gets tired of her subjects tripping over themselves to please her" example from the episode: A Bird In The Hoof:
C: *takes sip from tea*
Mr Cake: EMPTY TEACUP AT TWO O CLOCK!!!
Ms Cake: IM ON IT DEAR! *refills celestia's teacup*
C: *takes another sip from tea*
Mr Cake: *refills celestia's teacup*
C: *takes another sip from tea*
Ms Cake: *refills celestia's teacup*
then this procces repeats itself until.
C: *takes fake sip from tea*
Mr Cake: *refills celestia's teacup*
C: Gotcha.
C: *takes sip from tea*
Mr Cake: EMPTY TEACUP AT TWO O CLOCK!!!
Ms Cake: IM ON IT DEAR! *refills celestia's teacup*
C: *takes another sip from tea*
Mr Cake: *refills celestia's teacup*
C: *takes another sip from tea*
Ms Cake: *refills celestia's teacup*
then this procces repeats itself until.
C: *takes fake sip from tea*
Mr Cake: *refills celestia's teacup*
C: Gotcha.
The reallt fun part is making fun stuff that still sounds intimidating. For example:
The draconeques called me Killer of Joy. Now there's only one.
The Sea Ponies call me Burner of the Sky.
Chickens call me the Mother Hen.
The stars call me Warden.
And (after Luna whined enough to get me to play TF2 with her) Noobs call me Haxxor Sniper
The draconeques called me Killer of Joy. Now there's only one.
The Sea Ponies call me Burner of the Sky.
Chickens call me the Mother Hen.
The stars call me Warden.
And (after Luna whined enough to get me to play TF2 with her) Noobs call me Haxxor Sniper
Heh. Aye, Cleric is definitely Celestia's class. Always figured as much, and Canterlot Wedding clinched it when she basically cast Sunbeam at Chryssie.
This was delightful. And there's actually a rather good point concealed in it. You get a lot of people in our world complaining they're bored, and usually they aren't very aware of how much their life is better than people a thousand years ago who would love to have the chance to be bored.
It is possible to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, but it might take effort.
It is possible to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, but it might take effort.
Guest Author's Note:
"Hi, it's TYS. Celestia has always been one of the characters I found most interesting in Friendship is Magic. She is essentially a physical god, tasked with enormous responsibilities. Yet she is also compassionate and kind, and sometimes gets tired of her subjects tripping over themselves to please her. I find her fascinating. That's why I started my comic "The Thousand-Year Sunrise," to explore the world of Equestria in the far past and to explore Celestia as a character.
"As for Friendship is Dragons, I noticed that none of the players had the class of 'cleric.' Knowing that D&D characters traditionally ascend to godhood when they pass the level cap, the dots practically connect themselves. Celestia was a cleric many years ago, and kicked so much flank that she became a god. If the GM is anything like me, they have a monologue in their brain ready to explain Celestia's motivations and terrify the players in one fell swoop.
"If there's anything else I want to mention, I'll post it in the comments. Big thanks to NewbieSpud for posting my image and for making such a fun comic."