/cyoa/ - Choose Your Own Adventure

>>6646

I'm going with immortality.

Reason

[+1000] Cure Mortality

Augs

[-700] Omega Psi

[-70] Metacognition

[-70] Man of Steel

[-40] Endocrine Alteration

[-50] Smart Metabolism

[-10] Cosmetic Refinement (9/10 Appearance)

[-60] Physical Augmentation: (SS-Rank Endurance)

Mentor

Elspeth, Goddess of Wisdom

Ally

Verdandi, Goddess of Time

Rivals

Marco

God Name / Domain

Mystro, God of Magic

Legend

The Apostate

Summary

I'll stand with Elspeth and Verdandi for as long as I believe they are genuinely working towards a brighter future for humanity. If I feel they lose their goal in favor of enjoying godhood then I will take action on my own.

While I am working with the pantheon I will try to reason with the Apostate and bring her over to our side. To do this I will request that Verdandi turns back time and stops Tyrael from screwing up our first impression with her. I will be much more reasonable than Tyrael.

Omega PSI seems nearly limitless in potential. Metacognition should help me learn new powers faster. Man of steel offers some protection from the attacks of common people without having to wear bulky armor everywhere. It would be pretty lame for the "God of Magic" to be killed off by a random thug wielding something comparable to a handgun. Endocrine alteration will keep me balanced. Smart metabolism will keep me fit. The first rank of cosmetic refinement is free. I purchased the next rank so that I can have a 9/10 appearance. I augmented endurance to SS-Rank so that I could be a superior lover.

Reach for the Stars - 1000 years

>Augments:

500 years - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta Psi Augments (all I need is a lightsaber and I'd be a Jedi :) )

30 years - Knowledge and Skill in Mechanical Engineering

60 years - Physical Augments: Agility x2 (A); Endurance (B)

10 years - Lifespan

<1000 years later

Ok so let me get this straight, Ms LaBelle is it? We've lost contact with earth, we have crashed, not landed, CRASHED on our destined planet, said planet is covered in razor sharp thorn bushes, with thorns the size of a man, the ship is broken into pieces and we are down to only 300 of the 4000 people, oh and some are sick, but we got plenty of food, water (I hope), and shelter. Ok this seems doable, I'm an Army vet, and Eagle Scout I'm sure that might come in handy, ok maybe not so much on this alien world but we'll make do.

>Team:

why am I picking the team? whatever, let's get to it, shall we?

Serena LaBelle - you'll help with the flora and fauna, try to keep up ok?

Felicity Hodgson - you'll be our medic

Bran Bowers - man after my own heart, truth, justice and all that, just don't get too gung ho jr this isn't a comic book

>Missions:

First Thanksgiving - as a Christian this is very important to me

Mystery of the Thorns - knowledge is power, the more we know about the land and it's wildlife the better we can tame it to our ends

Illness - as a student of history I can tell you that if a colony let's sickness or disease run wild they will fail or at the very least suffer needlessly

As for the leadership issue, I vote for Mel Guess, simply because it's been my experience that the best leaders are the ones that don't want the job.

>>6658

Supposedly about 160 people are that is required to maintain a diverse gene pool and avoid inbreeding. So with 400 it's still possible to populate a planet, but that's really cutting it close when you account for exploration deaths, illness, and suicide from hopelessness. I'd say things could go either way. At least your powers and longevity should help. Good luck, Sergeant!

Reason: Cure Mortality (+1000)

Augs:

Omega Psi (Bioalteration into Genesis - Fauna/Cryptids) (-700), Greater Demihumanity (Draconic) (-250), Knowledge Implants (Genetic Engineering, Biology) (-40), Spare Years (+1% Omega Psi!) (+10)

Mentor: Mortati, God of Healing

Who better to help me figure out how to shapeshift people and creatures into monsters than the guy who's already experimented with Chimera! This new world needs some fantasy races if you ask me :p

Ally: Aninmah, Goddess of Harvests

As above pretty much, how else am I going to make Dryads? Though if I'm honest I'm much more interested in getting close to Elspeth if ya know what I mean, she's a cutie, and a genius to boot.

Rival: Nike, Goddess of War

More of a professional rivalry than a personal one I hope. Seems like the goddess of War is the one that's going to be raising the heroes to beat my monsters. Honestly it sounds like this girl need to cheer up though :(

God Name / Domain

Bahamut, God of Transformation and Monsters (Filling in the Terror role)

Legend

The Fallen One

Now admittedly I didn't have points to take a bunch of stat boosts or other combat augs, but surely for 250 years Greater Demihumanity has got to be more than just a cosmetic change. That or I'll have to practice enough with Bioalteration until I can flesh-shape him into something a little more harmless (and boost myself a bit as well). Poor bugger, putting him down will be a mercy I'd say… doesn't seem like there'd be much hope of rehabilitation.

Summary

So yeah… always wanted to be able to shapeshift and transform people and all that fun stuff, and really enjoy non-human races and the like as well, so I think this concept works. Can curse our enemies by transforming em into lesser critters, create monsters to teach kiddies lessons, who knows what else. THis is a really cool CYOA anyway, love that it has different pages for what happens after each choice, makes the decisions a bit more meaningful :)

After careful deliberation, I'm going the full Cure Mortality route. I want at least a Gender Swap, I might as well go all in. If I master Omega Psi I should be able to shape my body further as I see fit. Metacognition and a Knowledge Implant in biology should enable me to easily learn to use my Genesis power for fleshcrafting. Trapify tweaked for perfect androgyny because why not?. Hedgehog Speed for fun and an extra Cosmetic Refinement pass on top of the standard single pass for long trippers because "striking androgynous" sounds good to me.

When I wake on the other side of the ages, I'll take as my mentor Mortati, God of Healing. He'll be able to help me refine my fleshcrafting to a fine art. I'll ally myself with Ninmah, Goddess of Harvests, since I'm going to take up the role of God of Revelry (yes god, a bit of confusion never hurt anyone) and she'll be able to get me some good grapes for wine and an exceptionally pleasant strain of cannabis for those who partake. My rival will be Belkh, God of Stone, and maybe I'll get some rock-hard hatefucking out of the deal. I will explore The New World and bring revelry to it.

>>6669

I changed my mind, I will not simply be a god of revelry. I will be a God of Change, of transitions, much as Janus of old was. I shall be known as Woot, and my arrival will still bring revelry, for today we honor the passing of yesterday and celebrate the coming of tomorrow.

I immortality now.

>procedure

cure mortality

>augs

omega psi

metacognition

endocrine alteration

nano-organs (all 4)

physical augmentation (SS level intelligence)

>mentor

Elspeth

>ally

Yawgmoth

>domain

God of law. Yaldabaoth.

>Legend

The apostate

>>6646

>Reason

Cure mortality 1000

>Augments

- Greater demihumanity, just a dude sculpted from stone (functionally super durability and strength)

- Breaker's fist

- Omega psi (physical and concept deterioration into genesis)

>Mentor

Marco

>Domain

Bingus, the god of Ruin : Sometimes humanity stagnates, and to get them going there must be a problem to solve. Making those problems is my job. It can be anything from making old technology obsolete, to causing food reserves to dwindle.

>Legend

The apostate, just gotta ruin everything around her and eventually i'll ruin her

>>6690

Why not go after subduing the Fallen One and leave the Apostate to those with more diplomatic approaches? We could use her allegiance or at least her non-hostility and turning her into a martyr seems a bad idea to me.

Cure Mortality

Knowledge Implants: Mathematics and Molecular Biology

Endocrine Alteration, Smart Metabolism, Metacognition, Gender Swap, Omega Psi (water and bioalteration)

Mentor: Mortati

Ally: Ninmah

Rival: Belkh (He fucks up my rivers and does tremendous ecological damage, but I'll need to work with him to manage the lay and flow of water.)

Domain: Goddess of Flow/Fluidity: Water and Evolution. Especially fresh water, biofluid, and the flow of life as a worldwide chemical process.

1. Become a rain and river god. Master fluid control. Rapids will calm before me. Seas will part and provide me with air.

2. Expand fluid control into bioalteration, specializing in gene manipulation.

I will be more of a scientist than Mortati with a desire to genetically adapt humans and other life to the changes technology will bring. He can represent the moral side of biology; humans need not understand mine.

I will remain objective when dealing with others, retaining a pacifist and amoral nature. It is not my problem if humans are disagreeable. It is my problem if they are maladaptive. Suffering because of stupid, dysgenic policies of the pantheon does not count as maladaptive and I will oppose such things.

The Apostate

I don't see the big deal with this girl. She'll pass on soon enough and this reeks of the Streisand effect. I will learn her philosophies, demonstrate that she is a non-threat by not treating her as such, and possibly act as a intermediary to further diffuse the situation. Her ideas can be undermined after time has gotten the better of her.

The Faithful Empire

Belkh and I can create natural defenses to make attacking far more difficult. In the event of war I can use minor flooding to make transporting military equipment difficult, causing wagon wheels to stick and blocking travel routes before they arrive. I will not participate in offensive action against the empire unless they oppose me personally.

The New World

I wish to document the world's fauna, flora, cultures, and Psi use anyway. Once I have teleportation I can manage this and my rainmaker duties simultaneously. I need as much data as possible and can establish myths in foreign lands to prepare for my/our return later.

>>6698

She could be useful against the Fallen One. She is likely immune to its breath while the stone man you responded to or maybe even an incarnate would not be. Talking to Verdandi first to give her an easy point to go step back to and stop you if something goes wrong would be a good idea, since it can likely destroy anything except maybe The Apostate by breathing on it.

>>6710

Didn't mean to sage.

>>6710

Honestly I would say that The Faithful Empire is the biggest non-issue we have. All we have to do is elevate our flock, teach them not only better technology and tactics, but how to achieve a stronger civilization. Better health to increase their lifespans, better agriculture to support larger communities and more scholarly pursuits, we're not too far from a new Renaissance as it is. It's only been 63 years since the Pantheon began, give it a few more generations and our faithful will be leaders of the pack. Once Yawgmoth drops an Industrial Revolution on them, they'll outcompete the Empire into irrelevance.

>>6716

The cyoa mentions ten years to complete the mission and war expected soon. It sounds like a threat due to the short term implied. For that natural barriers might be enough. All we have to do is slow them down and it'll be a none issue as you say.

>>6717

True, I missed the ten year urgency. Our water goddess there has it right. Surround our people with rough terrain, dense forests, deep rivers, that sort of thing. Bingus up there can cause their armies' weapons to rust as they cross our territory. I can fleshcraft them without killing them, let's see how well they fight while trying to get used to walking on hooves, or with their fingers on backward. It sounds like a fun time for everybody, really.

>>6698

she might not be the last new world person to gain powers, they'll probably notice a pattern if we keep sending each of them to their deaths

>>6659

there could be other pods out there with more people so that could help

>>6757

It's not that she has psi abilities that's the problem, it's her attitude towards the gods. Presumably that's at least somewhat tied up with her presience ability (god can't always be the good guys, or maybe she just realized that hey, we were normal people once too), but even so, I think after she is talked down/taken care of, the pantheon will know to approach such potentially volatile individuals more carefully. One can hope anyway.

Reason: Cure Mortality [+1000]

Augs

Omega Psi [-700]

Metacognition [-70]

Physical Augmentation * 6 [-120] (Agility: SS, Endurance: SS, Strength B)

Cosmetic Refinement [-10]

Knowledge Implant * 3 [-60] (Particle physics, fundamental forces, engineering)

40 years remaining, which I use to increase my Omega Psi powers by 4%.

Mentor: Elspeth, Goddess of Wisdom

Ally: Verdandi, Goddess of Time

Rival: Samael, Goddess of Envy

Domain: Taliesin, The God of Magic

Legend:The Fallen one, followed by The New World.

I'll spend my time helping out Elspeth and Verdandi as much as I can toward a better future for humanity while learning everything I can from Elspeth with the goal of mastering Genesis. Once I am reasonably confident in my abilities I will go and slay the fallen one. I expect it to be a difficult fight, but I think I'll be able to handle it if I run my strategies by Verdandi and get her input before I make an attempt. After The Fallen One is killed, I will travel the world learning the magical traditions of all cultures. Once I have wandered around and seen all there is to see, I will open an academy for magic at the base of Olympus, where I will teach mortals how to use Psi.

If possible, I want to court Elspeth and become her lover, both because I think she's hot and because I think having magic and knowledge be theologically linked would be important for our fledgling culture and set a good precedent for the academy I want to set up. But if she's not into it, I won't be too let down. If the Apostate is still kicking by the time I've done all of this, I'll try to have a word with her, maybe take her on as a student if I can, but I expect that she'll have probably died of old age by the time I'm finished with my adventures.

>>6758

Oh yeah, there's plenty of pods scattered across the planet, there'll be a slow but steady trickle of new genes into the community. You guys'll be fine up there on the genetic diversity front.

Meanwhile, as I've been meaning to post, I've got to deal with these dozen-plus douchebags (of which I am now one) so I figure I'll look at my relationships with my colleagues going forward.

<Elspeth, Yawgmoth, and Verdandi

These three are all right by me. They're heading the cause of rebuilding civilization to shitposting levels. As I'm out exploring the world I'll be sure to keep my senses open for old tech. I'm sure Yawgmoth would love it if I brought back some old servers for him to play with. Can you imagine If I found the archive.org servers? Who knows how much data would be salvageable after two millennia, but I bet he'd nearly jizz himself anyway.

<Ignis, Samael, Valentina, Niké, Tyrael, and Marco

Work-wise, neutral toward every one of them. They're all self-aggrandizing douchenozzles to various degrees and seem to either not help the cause or actively defeat it. But they seem to be serving a purpose or Verdandi would be reining them in. On the other hand, when it comes time to let loose in revelry, as I will be making sure happens, Samael and Marco will be bro-tier.

And of course, as already mentioned, Mortati as mentor, Ninmah as ally, and Belkh ends up being a rival even though I've got nothing personal against him.

>Program

Cure Mortality +1000

>Augs

-100 Gender Swap

-70 Lolify, Loli!

-10 Cosmetic Refinement, Improve my bone structure for objective cuteness.

-700 Omega Psi, Seems as if I could do anything with this even achieve transcendence or become pure energy if I cultivate this path.

-70 Metacognition, A standard at this point can't not get it.

-50 Smart Metabolism, No need to worry about being fat.

>Mentor

Ignis, Learning about our full glory and how it is like being Incarnate and start to figure out how to transition into that state through Omega Psi seems fun.

I want to learn from the others after absorbing all that I can from Ignis. I think I'll head to Marco then Verdandi and Elspeth next.

>Ally/Enemy

I wish not to participate in this farce for the mortals. Although there are gods now I have bias towards already, why announce such things to the world? Instead I'll just privately list who I want to get to know better most and least.

Samael, Cute loli comrade!

Valentina, The defiler of chastity!

>Divine Role

The Betrayer

I would want to go my own way but being threatened with being publicly announced as The Betrayer for being a possible threat while I am too weak to resist. Which would eventually result in conflict where I would be killed by the pantheon. Really makes me want to get stronger to have the option to escape.

Instead I'll play along

Goddess of Fancy, I get to play around following my imagination, whims (Marco has the right idea) and while less chaotic than Marco I can set a positive example for mortals through my actions. Following their flights of fancy to discover new ideas and arts.

>Legend

The New World, Exploring a world will take effort while Yawgmoth could send a few satellites into orbit for an accurate map, I just desire to explore alone away from the pantheon for awhile.

>>6762

for me it is, they might realize that they have the same powers are their gods and will demand to be included in the pantheon, i will never accept this

>>6901

One, their powers are generally weaker. Two, they're going to die eventually. Let them demand, we won't have to listen to their bullshit when they're geriatric.

Also, I've noticed that God of Magic seems to be a popular choice, which is fine, it's a CYOA after all, but I decided against it for that very reason. I want as many of us to fit in the pantheon (or whatever era) as possible, because the more the fuckin' merrier, right?

>>6905

true, but if we let them live they'll whine until they die of old age

>>6913

Which in our time scales would be like a week.

>>6914

you realize there will be these people in every single generation, right?

>>6931

Which is why we want to approach them diplomatically and get them on our side. We want them joining us, it's not an insult, it's the whole point of the Pantheon in the first place. We're trying to cultivate humanity, why cut down the strongest sprouts in our garden? Legend needs demigods as well as gods.

>>6905

You seem to be assuming noone will listen to her too. Only takes a particularly charismatic person to start a movement, and I wouldn't be surprised if Psi ability and charisma/force of will tied closely together.

>>6932

Yeah, what this guy/gal/it says.

>>6932

because nothing implies that there is a force that rivals humanity thus we do not need strong mortals

>Legend needs demigods as well as gods.

we don't need demigods just because some mythologies have them

>>7020

>we do not need strong mortals

And yet we have them anyway. The question here is what to do with them, and if this girl's example is anything to go by, trying to subjugate or eliminate them is a plan that is not working. Three times the antagonistic approach has failed. Repeating this will do nothing but make us look weak, and if we do succeed in destroying her and those like her it will make us look vengeful and we will be worshiped out of fear. Which is why we don't glass the Empire of Katavja, remember?

And here's a sobering thought for you. Conflict breeds advance. If we keep pushing them, eventually one of them is going to have the potential to kill us. If we continue the antagonistic approach, whether it's from psi evolving stronger, or technology advancing, someday one of them will be able to end us. We don't want to become the stone that hones the blade that kills us.

>>7021

>implying we are unable to get stronger than we already are

with the headstart we got, there's no way the mortals will catch up, the girl probably came for a pod herself even if Braun claims that Josiah was the only expection

>>7026

You're simply going to ignore the point that Verdani has foreseen a collapse of our plans if we become seen as subjugators? If you're that opposed to the goals and ideals of Valhalla, why even stay here? Go out and do your own thing.

>there's no way the mortals will catch up

Have you forgotten so easily the rate at which technology advances once it gets going? It's not a question of if there will be a technology that introduces the possibility of our destruction, but when. Unless you plan on keeping the entirety of humanity pre-industrial which, again, is directly opposed to the goals of the Pantheon.

>>7027

are you telling me gods won't use technology? that's just naive

>>7037

So you would have us getting into an arms race with them, putting us in an antagonistic relationship with all of humanity, and destroying everything we're working towards. May I ask again why you remain in Valhalla, when your goals are directly counterproductive to the Pantheon's?

Hmm, kind of feels like it's passed the point of debate into the realm of feeding trolls at this point…

>>7041

It's reached the point of RP, let it happen.

Humans can and will cause problems with technology. Further, they will advance themselves at an unpredictable rate. It can happen quickly and so is hard to control. It is far more important that humans become capable of leading themselves and having temperaments that lend to good behavior and not nuking us and/or each other. The greatest thing we can do is prepare them to not need us. That'll make it easier for us as well. This is why I took goddess of evolution. It is the single most important piece. Even better is if they were gradually redesigned to more easily discover the tech themselves, but everyone else is totally impatient.

The evolution cannot be done quickly because

1. Trial and error will be needed to find out what works best without needing heavy-handedness by us to compensate for weaknesses. Being arrogant that we have the right solution without testing it extensively will bring disaster. Humility is not optional, nature is the one true god and only its judgement matters. Self-sustaining civilization is desired, not a broken mess that'll fall apart the instant we take an off day from smiting people.

2. Their current state needs to match their environment. It is bad if they are fully evolved for a tech society in a primitive one and vice versa. Humans evolve traits in a primitive life that are a liability in a civilized one, like we are seeing on Earth now, and the opposite is also true. Nukes, no lions = hate war, talk things through, not paranoid vs predators around every corner. No nukes, lions = needs to be aggressive enough to survive, sees predators around every corner. Etc.

Everything is a problem of impatience. The gods want tech and everything and they want is now, elevating humans before they are ready. Earth now (2018) isn't ready and in such a future it'll be worse. This is why I said that girl is not a problem and in fact I believe dealing with her will be good for the gods. Without genuine difficulty we will lose our ability to problem solve effectively and become decadent (we already are, what a cow-tier clusterfuck so far!). She is a needed challenge and the trouble she causes is minor compared to the long-term benefits of us developing the skill to deal with issues better without the embarrassing mess it has been.

Even the enemy nation being a problem is stupid. We should have been more subtle from the get-go so that when we revealed ourselves it would have been easy to integrate us into human society. Plan, spread myths, etc. We never should have been reliant on a small area that we went immediate 100% full on. Them not seeing us as their old gods when we first appeared physically as gods, matching their myths, is such incompetence. I'll be maintaining loose associations with the other gods, stopping short of outright betrayal, because I am a servant here for the betterment of humanity and not delusions of grandeur and larp games. Doesn't matter to me if the rest fall or succeed. If the Earth is suddenly flooded I will adapt humans to that too instead of pulling hairs over any ruined plans.

If we are willing to bring the hammer down and do a lot of smiting to fix things, why not let humans die from diarrhea a bit longer instead and do everything in a way that'll be better and easier in the long run?

>>6646

Reason: Cure Mortality - 1000

Augs:

Metacognition - 930

Alpha Psi - 830

Machine Empathy - 480

Nanoswarm - 120

Physical Augmentation - Strength x 2/S - 80

Physical Augmentation - Agility x 2/S - 40

Physical Augmentation - Endurance x 2/S - 0

I like shapeshifting and physical indestructibility provided with Nanoswarm, which in turn could be perfected with combination of Machine Empathy and Metacognition. Alpha Psi for instruments and sheer strength my body can't provide, also for manipulating distant things.

Mentor: Yawgmoth

He is God of Machines and could help me with perfecting my Nanoswarm

Allie: Verdandi

It's always a good thing to have someone with precognition on your side

Rival: Tyrael

I had to chose someone

Domain: Cupbearer of the Gods

I think that God of Machines could benefit from my help, since i can use my Nanoswarm and Alpha Psi as advanced instruments

Legend: The New World

I'd like to explore this world

>True Chrononaut.

>Augs:

Smart Metabolism, Cosmetic Refinment 3, Alpha Psi, Metacognition, Endocrine Alteration, Lifespan x 10

>Job:

Wizard.

Spouse:

>Eliza Smith

This goddamn bait and switch, I don't even feel like explaining my shit(not that it's complicated anyways)