Parabolan War

Surely Dream Eggs would come from Dadbury’s. And presumably have a coating of Dhocolate (Dhodolate?) around their sweet, sticky, Dreamy filling…

I really, really hope for:

  1. The possibility of a truce that is hinted at on the Viscountess’ card. I like both Fingerkings and Cats, enjoy being a negotiator, and it’s a curious perspective.

  2. Interesting uses for items like the Oneiric Key.

  3. An involvement of Parabola-related Councilors (October, July and May), because I crave to see them work together. Though I’d be just as happy to meet any of them there separately; after all, they may have some individual interest in this.

  4. New Parabolan locations. And expansions of existing ones, especially the Waswood with all its unused potential.

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edited by JaneAnkhVeos on 3/4/2021

What I want is expanded exposition of all major sides in conflict.
For starters: I had that feeling for a long time, and Viscount’s collar all but confirms that cats’ titles are completely made up, the cats just invent them to feel important; apparently, Fingerkings are really keen on keeping their promises, and most of the time everything bad related to them happened after the other side broke the promise first.
Also, we have Correspondence in Parabolan colors, implying that stars’ account of how the Law works is misleading at best.

I want to kill snakes, like the would-be Saint Patrick. I’m going to make myself a fine not-snakeskin handbag.

Speaking of Parabola and St Patrick, I remember that one Antoin Artaud, a member of the surrealist movement I believe Parabola is based off of, once travelled to Ireland to return a staff he purchased he believed belonged to St Patrick (As well as Jesus Christ and Satan, prior) to the government, despite speaking neither English or Irish.
I can only highly recommend watching at least one of his plays in the Theatre of Cruelty style on YouTube. Nothing but fascinating. If extremely strange.

So, what preparations are you considering for the approaching war?

Personally, I’ve taken to maintaining a steady supply of various bones to be able to convert them into the various Bone Market items at a moment’s notice.

Given the predilections, fixations and obsessions the Parabolan powers have been consistently shown to exhibit, I’d wager that Luminosity, Great Game and perhaps some Historical items might come useful in the war effort. And I wonder if perhaps the Dream qualities might come into play. A Game of Chess seems to be a particular fit, plus it, Death by Water and Is Someone There? do not have any secondary qualities so far.

I’m thinking that the Silvered Cat Claws and/or the Traces of Viric will matter: The Cats can probably use the claws to assist their side, and traces of Viric could be something like the Museum’s Souls: You go through a bunch and find something powerful.

I also think that Favours/Connected: The Fingerkings are going to be useful, as well as Touched by Fingerwork. Also, I’m willing to bet Mirror-Fed will have something to do with it. I’ve got one just to see.
edited by DuskWanderer on 3/8/2021

[quote=Sir Reginald Monteroy]So, what preparations are you considering for the approaching war?

Personally, I’ve taken to maintaining a steady supply of various bones to be able to convert them into the various Bone Market items at a moment’s notice.

Given the predilections, fixations and obsessions the Parabolan powers have been consistently shown to exhibit, I’d wager that Luminosity, Great Game and perhaps some Historical items might come useful in the war effort. And I wonder if perhaps the Dream qualities might come into play. A Game of Chess seems to be a particular fit, plus it, Death by Water and Is Someone There? do not have any secondary qualities so far.[/quote]

If previous events have taught me anything, it’s that you can never go wrong with huge stacks of echoes to spend on those pesky things you missed. But other than the obvious Historical ties to Parabola, I have a sneaking suspicion that high end Legal and Theological stuff might come in handy too. There’s something suspect about tablets of the First City’s laws being so readily researched all of a sudden, and the Legenda Cosmogene seems potentially useful given the provenance of the Waswood.

I have a suspicion that the Secret College that can be earned with great difficulty and a little Unthinkable Hope will prove valuable too, mainly because so much apparently non-secret labwork touches on Parabola already. Heck, with it Vake Hunters were able to forge a weapon capable of harming or snaring Mr. Veils’ aspect as a bloody-taloned god of the Third City, to say nothing of the Light Fingers hybrid siring adventures. Presumably the Secret College is up to a whole slew of activities like that.

[quote=Hattington][quote=Sir Reginald Monteroy]So, what preparations are you considering for the approaching war?

Personally, I’ve taken to maintaining a steady supply of various bones to be able to convert them into the various Bone Market items at a moment’s notice.

Given the predilections, fixations and obsessions the Parabolan powers have been consistently shown to exhibit, I’d wager that Luminosity, Great Game and perhaps some Historical items might come useful in the war effort. And I wonder if perhaps the Dream qualities might come into play. A Game of Chess seems to be a particular fit, plus it, Death by Water and Is Someone There? do not have any secondary qualities so far.[/quote]

If previous events have taught me anything, it’s that you can never go wrong with huge stacks of echoes to spend on those pesky things you missed. But other than the obvious Historical ties to Parabola, I have a sneaking suspicion that high end Legal and Theological stuff might come in handy too. There’s something suspect about tablets of the First City’s laws being so readily researched all of a sudden, and the Legenda Cosmogene seems potentially useful given the provenance of the Waswood.

I have a suspicion that the Secret College that can be earned with great difficulty and a little Unthinkable Hope will prove valuable too, mainly because so much apparently non-secret labwork touches on Parabola already. Heck, with it Vake Hunters were able to forge a weapon capable of harming or snaring Mr. Veils’ aspect as a bloody-taloned god of the Third City, to say nothing of the Light Fingers hybrid siring adventures. Presumably the Secret College is up to a whole slew of activities like that.[/quote]

I have the feeling that those who spared/ate Third City veils will finally have time to shine, what with it being his most Parabola-centric aspect. Followed by the Curator. And they may add the surface aspect as a board member later on, who knows. I must say I grow more and more regretful of killing him in his entirety, with nothing to show for it but monetary reward.Nothing but jealousy for the Vake riders of the Neath, I probably would have cried if last months exceptional story had included it among the mounts for jousting, with nothing to say of the very real possibility of ACTUALLY FIGHTING BEASTS ATOP THE THING in the upcoming Unterzee update. Stupid promises. Stupid vast connections. I just wanted to be a hunter, for God’s sakes. I didn’t want to become a player in the game, and a possible revolutionary…I suppose sometimes the truest route of the monster hunter is never obvious. Or something cryptic like that, is what I tell myself in the lonely, vakeless hours of the night.

Trying to compile my own list.

War of Illusions - up to deciding between Glass and Shroud (or decide and stage your show)
Advanced skills to the max - it’s possible none of them are required, but I doubt
Connected: Fingerkings - can be maxed at 8
Mirror-fed - no cap is know, and there are hints it’ll be detrimental, but stockpile Parabolan fruits and other inredients for transformative sweets in kitchen, just in case
Mirrors in Balmora and Station 8
All Dangerous gains, since they deal with nightmares
I think Moulin’s Wellspring will be relevant
Discover Sea of Spines and each room in Helicon
Ma-aybe cabinet of Tigers
Ma-aybe Parabolan clothes
Ma-aybe Storm-bird and possessed pets
First City Editcs and Secret College - actually, I doubt it, but you’re gonna grind for them anyway
Same with theological stuff
Ma-aybe Beatrice’s dream
Ma-aybe emotions
Technically Cave of Nadir is connected to Parabola, but noone gives a damn about it
Possibly more uses for Glass Gazettes

Interesting suggestions all round! :)

Perhaps there will be use for more of the various Station VIII-generated extracts, as some of them so far have only niche and one-use applications. They would definitely fit well into the notion of a dream-war.

Considering the possible use of Favours: Fingerkings, I wonder if it’s a better idea to hold off gathering 400 Fingerking-possessed Weasels until after the War is implemented. The Favours might indeed get some new uses. But then, what if there is a one-time use for Weaseller 2 at the onset of the war? Oh, the dilemma for the weasel-inclined among us!

It seems to me that FBG has been attempting to introduce the high-end items (Tier 7 and/or Tier 8) for the categories which up to now had not had them. If so, perhaps the time has come for 312,5/1562,5-echo items for Great Game? I for one would also love to see a 1562,5 echo Luminosity item.

And as for the Ambition-related options, I would be more than a little disappointed if

there is no use for the Last Vestige of Mr. Mirrors, which I’ve mercifully released into Parabola, hoping to one day meet the sad little ex-bat in the wider lands beyond the mirror…

Edit: oh, and it just occured to me - what if the Parabolan War is somehow tied to a Sixth Coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers? It certainly would make sense if the canny old cats were maintaining a gate into the more dangerous parts of Parabola in their place of power in London…
edited by Sir Reginald Monteroy on 3/8/2021

To add to the list of potential tie-ins the Viscountess talks about Dr. Schlomo as a potential general or nurturer of troops. And of course, one wonders what will happen if a certain individual who really likes the color red gets involved…

Schlomo can onle be recruited at the Feast, so the tie-in is currently moot, since the thread is about what you can and should get currently.

I hope the Parabola War comes with more dangerous gains (and, if we’re very lucky, shadowy gains as well)

[quote=Tobias Westcott]I hope the Parabola War comes with more dangerous gains (and, if we’re very lucky, shadowy gains as well)[/quote]Strongly agree. However they do it (both in the context of the war, or one tied to the war, one tied to Hurlers, whatever), I hope they bring those up soon to speed. They were really left by the wayside compared to Watchful and Persuasive, still caught below the old overcap limit of 15.

I decided during Neathmas to go back to the Nadir so I could trade Taste of Lacre for Tears of the Bazaar. Surely I would soon be able to get my stats back up to 215 the new way. Still waiting.

I suspect they’re waiting to see if I give in and trade my 15 Notability for the extra stats, so they can release the updates the next day.

Well well, an interesting thing has appeared in the last few days - a new quality, Protection from Elements, has been added to select few items (mostly Whitsun ones). Seems likely that we’re going to encounter some rather extreme weather during the Parabolan War (and/or when our Railway reaches the Hurlers, I suppose).

Another thing that occured to me is that it might prove useful to prepare by stockpiling some of the items useful for creating Cover Identities, such as Mortifications of Great Power. Who knows what uses we might find for well-developed Cover Identities in the War.

Or for items buyable with these, though I suspect that Tier 7 and 8 items mostly serve as trophies and achievements to grind for, hence the recently added possibilities for obtaining various such items in novel fashions.

I’m going to be so woefully underprepared for this one… I just liquidated most of my possessions to buy 13 overgoats, and I still need one more, so I’m going to be so slow at getting things for this war!

[quote=Sir Reginald Monteroy]Or for items buyable with these, though I suspect that Tier 7 and 8 items mostly serve as trophies and achievements to grind for, hence the recently added possibilities for obtaining various such items in novel fashions.[/quote]Indeed the point mostly seems to be reducing the insane requirements for grinding scrap, which was previously the only reliable way to get many of these (and still is for some other top items). That said, new uses for some of them have also been cropping up here and there, and of course some of the items themselves are also new.

[quote=Sir Reginald Monteroy]Another thing that occured to me is that it might prove useful to prepare by stockpiling some of the items useful for creating Cover Identities, such as Mortifications of Great Power. Who knows what uses we might find for well-developed Cover Identities in the War.
[/quote]

I’ve been stocking up on Final Breaths for this purpose by writing monographs at the Archeological Institute, which also produces Parabolan Orange-apples. If cover identities aren’t useful, those probably will be.

Archeological Institute?