Conquest of Shambhala



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Xeraxian Account of the Beginning of the World​

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18 months later



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What did Pandora do?​

People person

People person

People person

Self-motivated

Self-motivated

Self-motivated

Observant

Observant

Observant

Imitator

Imitator

Jack Of All Trades

Jack Of All Trades

Jack Of All Trades

Insightful

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The haze of the barrier in the sky smeared the moon’s light, and hid the stars. The midwife’s house was a single blaze of brightness in the dark, as light shone from the opening. Inside, a cacophony of sound emerged with the husband’s reassurances mixing with the midwife’s instructions and the mother’s screams.The midwife took the empath’s form, with it’s normal light brown skin, black hair. She seemed to deeply feel every pain flashing through the mother’s face. She resolutely repeated advice the mother already knew in a reassuring manner, doing her best to convince the mother that everything was alright and she was doing great.The father, kneeling beside the bedside, contrasted the midwife’s lively brown skin and unconcerned expression. His black scaled face was set into a frown as a yellow spark danced above his left elbow. He stroked his wife’s hand with his right hand, his left elbow simply ending in the sparks which lit the room. The stoic and stocky man’s reassurances took on the soft tone of a kind and gentle soul.The mother laid on the table, long white hair behind her, covered by a blanket. She maintained her native form, with blue skin streaked with cobalt and sweat. After a final scream from the woman, the midwife knelt, and raised a new figure. Dirty and bloodied, the newborn was brought to the light. After a quick cleaning, she was presented to the mother. Her blue skin shone in the father’s light.“What are you naming her?”Looking upon their firstborn child, the woman glanced at her husband and spoke, “Pandora.”Pandora looked around her. The world was full of colors, and sounds. Some of the colors were moving. Some of the sounds came from colors. She could feel a lot of sensations on her skin too. The world was so exciting! Her open mouth let out a cry. Colors continued to dance across her vision. She cooed again as her arms wiggled.Above her, her parents watched. The man had returned to his native form, now with blue skin matching his wife’s native form and the child below him. His eyes gazed out from his white hair as he looked upon his daughter. Every aspect of his tall lanky body beamed with pride. The woman, however, looked different. She now had dark brown skin, with black hair. Her build was stockier and shorter than previously, and she gazed upon her daughter with pride.The man spoke, “What’s she thinking Juno?”“She’s confused… and excited… and adapting.” There was a hint of pride in the mother’s voice.The two parents watched their newborn child with the wonder that fresh parents alone have. After a long pause, the two returned to their chambers and prepared for sleep, placing the child between them. The couple had never slept as happily as they did that night.“Dada!” Pandora looked towards the horizon from the porch she was sitting on. Juno, seeing Pandora’s attention shift, looked up to see her husband as he approached. He still wore his farming skin, evident from the distinctive hobble to his walk, and the black scaly skin covered by his toga. When he saw Pandora looking at him, he lifted his left arm, revealing the missing forearm, the missing sections quickly replaced by sparks which danced to and fro where his hand ought to have been.“Dada spurgle!” Pandora shouted, smiled, and waved her blue arms at him. He laughed, and hobbled up to her, then reaching down to her, sparks from his left arm flowed just over her body without touching her.“Spurgle ickle!” Pandora continued laughing and playing as the sparks her father commanded danced all around her.“How was work today Pluto?” Juno asked.“Oh, same old same old.” Pluto responded while continuing to look at his daughter and play sparks across her figure, “The new farmers don’t know a lick about proper pruning.” A spark flew in front of Pandora’s nose and she tried to catch it. Pluto sighed, “We could use more water and the new field configuration takes some getting used to.” Pandora caught a spark just in time for it to go out. “Nothing particularly interesting. How was Pandora today?”Juno looked thoughtful. “Not too different, you know Pandora. She…”[] Imitated her mother (gain trait:: Pandora has been fascinated by people. She seems to understand people more readily than others, and learns quickly from instructors, especially instructors that she knows. She is motivated by people, and prefers to not be alone and appreciates other people’s support. (Mechanics effect: gain 2x bonus to learning from an instructor)starting stats:Mobility: 3Awareness: 3Communication: 4Negotiation: 3[] Walked around on her own (gain trait:: Pandora always works towards reaching her goals, even if it’s as simple as self-locomotion. She more easily learns things on her own than others, and and has little problems finding her own motivation for things. She tends to prefer to do things on her own than with groups. (Mechanics effect: 2x bonus to learning and experiences performed on Pandora's own)starting stats:Mobility: 5Awareness: 2Communication: 1Negotiation: 1[] Looked around and observed (gain trait:: Pandora is fascinated by the world. There’s so much to see and experience, and she wants to see and experience it all! There’s so much to learn. She is motivated by seeing and trying new things. She grows tired of doing the same thing over and over again. (Mechanics effect: gain 2x bonus to experience gained from attempting skill challenges)starting stats:Mobility: 1Awareness: 5Communication: 1Negotiation: 2[] Write-in (gain a starting trait and stats subject to QM approval - hours spent learning cannot exceed 1500)[] Tried to make sparks like her fatherGains trait:. Pandora carefully observes and emulates those she looks up to. When she watches other do feats she cannot yet do, she is inspired to emulate them and tries ever harder to reach that goal. She is motivated by people she looks up to. (Mechanics effect: 2x boost to experience gained from learning and skill challenges within 24 hours of watching someone perform a skill at a higher level than her.)starting stats:Spoilers[] Smelled and licked sparks (gain trait: Laser Focus)Laser Focus - Pandora is endlessly curious and motivated, almost to the exclusion of everything else when given a subject to study. Given a situation and a reason, she can, will, and does poke, smell, lick, and generally examine something until she understands it completely. (Mechanics Effect: Gives X2 bonuses when she examines or discovers things, X1/2 penalties for all other skills while pursuing, nonstacking. Bonus stacks for more tasks done in a row around that subject.)Starting skills:Mobility: 4Awareness: 4Communication: 2Negotiation: 2[] Did a little of everything, really (gain trait:: Pandora hasn't really had a single preference, as far as you can see. In fact, she seems determined to do everything in every way that she can - and many lessons can cross over from even the unlikeliest of fields. (Mechanics effect: 2x bonus to learning a skill if its level is lower than your highest skill level)starting stats:Mobility: 3Awareness: 4Communication: 3Negotiation: 3[] Be insightfulPandora sits quietly, watching mama and then dada in turn. Neither are paying attention to her. She feels an odd tickling feeling somewhere she can't place. Finally something snaps, and she notices her parents areShe lets out a cry of delight, and tries to get both of their attention, babbling incessantly just as she saw them doing.Mobility: 2Awareness: 4Communication: 4Negotiation: 2Gain Trait:. Pandora enjoys teaching, or attempting to teach, others insights she has made. She is motivated by linking together different observations and explaining the links to others. (Mechanics effect: 2x experience gain to a skill for 24h after teaching any related skill to someone else.)AN: Welcome to the Conquest of Shambhala! In this story, you control Pandora, the (currently) young protagonist. Her current capabilities are pretty minimal, but she’ll get better as she grows up. The first several posts will be fairly large-scale time-skips in which several months to years pass with each update as Pandora grows. This rate of time passing will slow down after a period of time.This story takes place in an original setting which Pandora will learn about as she grows up (thanks to the capable @Kiba for helping with world building and beta-reading). I’ll answer player questions about the setting, but remember that information will be restricted to things that Pandora knows. This means you might get somewhat biased, incorrect, or partial answers. For instance, the first section is a legend. It may or may not be the full and complete truth. Discovering the setting is intended to be a part of the adventure. At the moment, Pandora’s knowledge is restricted to the observations of an 18 month old (so, not very much). Feel free to ask questions about which Pandora might know based on her experiences. Or clarification questions on mechanics.Well, you’re welcome to just read the updates as they come out, but I’d encourage you to participate beyond that. Providing commentary or analysis of the scenes will lead to Pandora discovering things she wouldn’t have otherwise, and more participants are likely to mean more discoveries (which will have both narrative and mechanical benefits).That’s ok. I’ve done my best to create a fairly simple mechanics system you can read about here . If something is still unclear, ask a question. You’re likely not the only one who doesn’t understand. If things are still unclear, don’t worry: while mechanics will play a significant role in the quest, they’re intended to be mostly a signpost for you to compare how you’re doing in relationship to the rest of the world. You should have a general sense of how good/bad you are at things from just reading the story, and can choose to either specialize or generalize as you wish.Voting for this quest will be done using approval voting (using CounterBot as developed by @eaglejarl ). This means you can vote for as many options as you want, and the option which receives the most votes will win. So, for instance, if you want Pandora to walk around on her own this update, you can just make a reply which says[X] Walked around on her own (gain trait: Self-motivated)If, instead, you just want her to do one of the other options, but don’t care which, you can vote for both of the other two options by replying[X] Looked around and observed (gain trait: Observant)[X] Imitated her mother (gain trait: Imitator)Note that the vote itself must be on it’s own line, but doesn’t require it’s own post. If, later, you want to change your vote, you can update your vote either by editing your initial post, or making a new post subtracting your current vote. So, if you made the vote above, and later decided you really wanted Pandora to imitate her mother and not just look around, you could either edit your original post (removing the “Looked around and observed” line), or make a new post which canceled your old vote by having[-] Looked around and observed (gain trait: Observant)On it’s own line.That’s fine, I welcome and encourage active player participation, including forging your own path by creating your own options. If you have an original idea which isn’t encompassed by the available options, or want to provide more details on an existing option, you can make a new plan. In fact, many times, I expect the best course of action will not be covered by any option. To do this, simply make a vote for something which nobody has voted for. For example, you could make a new plan by making a post which included a new thing Pandora did or trait she gains such as:[X] Down with the Patriarchy!Pandora ignores every male she ever sees and refuses to interact with any of them aside from Dada. They’re all dumb and weird. Mechanics effect: bonus to fighting men, penalty to communicating with men.If somebody else made a write-in you like, you can just copy their vote line. So, if a different poster make the above post, you could second it by simply making a post with a line which said:[X] Down with the Patriarchy!No worries, if I haven’t explained something, please let me know. You probably aren’t the only one misunderstanding. Feel free to ask any question you want. I’ll do my best to answer it.