Author’s Comntary on Broken Lands: Night Owl
I have mixed feelings about Night Owl. The three major events that were planned happened (dealing with Physalix after his assault on Izel, internal conflict in Izel, and reaching the first Upgrade). The problem is that they rather stacked on top of each other. I originally planned to have that set as a midpoint and move on to the plans for Lost Ruins, but as I got into it I realized that would be better if I separated it into its own arc - the events weren’t going to overlap anyway (other than possibly Physalix).
In many ways, this ended up as more of an exploration of the Skylands and the Challenges of Izel than it did sothing about the overarching conflicts. In a lot of ways that’s fine; there was very little they could do about Physalix or the Hilt until it was straight in front of them, so they were concentrating on the last point: helping Amy get the Upgrade she wanted while Sophia and Dav tried to figure out what they wanted. They never really managed to express it well, but the thought definitely ca in handy when they suddenly had to decide in a hurry.
I think the thing I’m the happiest with is finally having the chance to get so of the Patrons involved and show their situations, if not their deeper motivations. The Wanderer’s a ddler and he definitely has things he wants … but at the sa ti, he refuses to corner anyone into helping him. He’s very happy with Sophia and Dav right now and would have done more for them if he could … Which is hopefully obvious. He may not always guess right, but he’s trying. There’s very little he can really do for them until they’re out of the Broken Lands, unfortunately; even when they are, he’s heavily restricted … and I shouldn’t say more than that.
Overall, then, Night Owl is a bit of a travelogue and a bit of an exploration of a world with hints of the society it’s built … and more than a little of people learning to know each other. I’m very happy with Marcie, less happy with Aric, and Los’en amuses
entirely too much sotis. Sophia showed her impulsive side and got herself in trouble that others had to help her out of twice … but I have to admit that I don’t really think she’s learned better. Dav’s doing a better job at figuring out who he wants to be, and you might get to hear about it if he’d just talk … ah well.
In any case, that’s what I’m the most happy with in Night Owl: the people, even the ones that only showed up for a few scenes then quietly waved goodbye.
Moving on into the next book, the Lost Ruins will (hopefully!) get us a little deeper into what happened in Kestii and what the Broken Lord’s after. Well, if I stick to the current plans … there’s a decent chance that one may go a bit haywire. We’ll see.
The one thing I can say for sure is that we’re going to get to spend so ti with Ci’an and her brother Lan’ti. It should be interesting; Lan’ti is definitely the older sibling…
The last thing I usually talk about in this series is the art. For Night Owl, I’m mostly satisfied but I have definitely noticed that I’m doing more post-processing and setup work, often in the middle of the art process, to get what I really want. This is taking more ti than I like, so I need to think about what I want on so of it; do I want the more polished pieces it makes if I do the extra work and final edits? Does that an I need to cut back a little on the art?
Realistically, I’m pretty certain I’m going to keep doing art the way I have been, at least for the rest of Broken Lands. The next series will happen when I get there.
See you in Lost Ruins!
~Lillene
Latest Status
Sophia
Grand Spell: Pierce the Veil
Plud Domain Abilities:
Warped Human
(Stun Spirit)
(Spread Plus, Anchor, Anchor)
(Feather Image)
(Spirit Soothe)
(Plud Spellcaster, 4, Free)
Body: 10
(Veiled Sheath)
(Plu Shift, 4, Free)
Core: 15
Additional (Empty) Slots: 10
(Focused Feather, 4, 4)
(Piercing Plu, 4, 4)
Shield: 75
Grand Ability: Plud Insight
(Plush Bonds, 4, 4)
(Innate Communication)
(Plu-Reinforced Spell, 4, 4)
Wisps: 4000
(Aural Magic Sense)
(Disruptive Plus, 4, 4)
(Collected Knowledge)
(Down Coat, 4, 4)
Spheres
(Nexus Knowledge)
(Plud Aura Armor, 4, 4)
Plud Domain (Hallow)
(MageSight)
(Magic Attuned Aura, Bonus, Free)
Level: 4 - First Upgrade
(Spirit Sight)
(Firewater Plu, 4, 4)
Anchor: Aura
(Excellent Ears)
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Slots: 20
Signature: Plu
Additional (Empty) Slots: 10
Vestige Invoker (Linked)
Level: 4 - First Upgrade
Psychic Bulwark (Linked)
Level: 4 - First Upgrade
Attunents:
Spells:
Species Abilities:
Contraceptive Amulet, 1
(Force Bolt, 4, 4)
(Scaley, 4, 4)
(Force Blast, 4, 4)
(Magical Translucence, 4, 4)
Spear, 1
(Corruption Bolt, 4, 4)
(Manifest Wings, 4, 4)
Enchantnt: Image Shift
(True Death Bolt, 4, 4)
(Prismatic Magic, 4, 4)
(Attractive Affix, 4, 4)
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Slots: 25
Shield, 1
(Parrying Presence, 4, 4)
Enchantnt: Image Shift
(Embody Elent, 4, 4)
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Slots: 20
Unbroken Link Bracelet, 2
Enchantnt: Shared Shield
Enchantnt: Send Mana
Sphere: Plud Domain
Plus of feathers claim and control your Domain.
Anchor: Aura
You are no longer limited to the body that was once your prison or your ho.
An Anchor is required for the first Upgrade. This may be modified by your Signature once it is discovered.
Signature: Plu
Feathers and plus form the outward manifestations of your style.
A Signature is required for the second Upgrade. This may be modified by your Grand Talent once it is discovered.
Grand Spell: Pierce the Veil
Your Plus cross the boundary of spirit and flesh. This is a Variant of the Grand Spell: Part the Veil
Spell Fragnt: Stun Spirit
Stun your opponent's spirit rather than their body. They may still take actions that do not require thought.
Spell Fragnt: Spirit Soothe
Pacify spirits with your feathers’ touch. The effect is strongest for those wholly within the spirit realm.
Spell Fragnt: Veiled Sheath
Cover anything that strikes you in a feathered sheath that transmits their power across the Veil.
Grand Ability: Plud Insight
Your feathers feel more than the wind. Use them to comprehend your domain. This is a Variant of the Grand Ability: Shrouded Insight.
Ability Fragnt: Innate Communication
Innate Communication is the most comprehensive of the set of Communication Abilities for sapients. It includes understanding of all forms of the language and the necessary knowledge to easily communicate in those languages so long as the capability exists. Languages that require thods not possessed by the possessor of Innate Communication cannot be used without that thod.
Ability Fragnt: Aural MageSense
Feel the magic within your aura.
Ability Fragnt: Collected Knowledge
You understand the monsters in your partner’s Collection.
Ability Fragnt: Nexus Knowledge
Share the knowledge you have collected with the Nexus about monsters that are currently attacking the Nexus, giving all defenders a reduced version of the benefits you receive from Collected Knowledge and all related Abilities.
Ability Fragnt: MageSight
See magic in all its forms.
Ability Fragnt: Spirit Sight
See the spirits which surround you. This does not show auras, but it can reveal spirits that are not native to the forms they occupy.
Ability Fragnt: Excellent Ears
Hear the world around you with greater precision.
Plud Domain Abilities:
Spread Plus, Anchor Ability
Enhance your feathers with mana to take charge of your Domain. Feathers can attack or be commanded to cast spells or use Abilities. Spread Plus are required for many other Plud Domain Abilities.
Plud Spellcaster
Your Domain is aligned with the Arcane. Learn the spells that resonate with you.
Plu Shift
You are your plus and your plus are you. Turn yourself into a cloud of Plus that you can spread across your Domain. So long as any Plu is intact, you may return to your normal physical form without injury at the location of that Plu. While using Plu Shift, your Shield is disabled.
Focused Feather
Concentrate your attention on a specific feather to improve your control of that feather and all effects it creates. Increases mana requirents.
Piercing Plu
You know how best to use a plu to break the Shield of enemies that you have Collected Knowledge of. Increased effectiveness when used in combination with Focused Feather.
Plush Bonds
Cover your targets in feathers that impede their ability to move.
Plu-Reinforced Spell
A spell cast using a Plu is more difficult to dispel by any ans, including simple resistance. Plu-Reinforced Spells are buttressed by your control of your Domain. Costs additional mana.
Disruptive Plus
Charge a Plu with Arcane magic to disrupt spell structures.
Down Coat
Your feathered Domain gathers around you to retain heat better in the cold and warm up more quickly. Environntal cold must deplete your Shield before it can cause permanent damage to your body. You may lend a Down Coat to another in your Domain at an additional mana cost.
Plud Aura Armor
Your plus deflect attacks before they reach your shield.
Magic Attuned Aura
Your aura resonates with the power of magic. Your plus can weakly affect magic within your aura in any way you choose.
Firewater Plu
Create a plu of crystallized Water that holds Fire in its heart. Requires ambient Water and the Fire that is to be captured. The crystalline prison can be disturbed by a sharp shock, returning to its constituent water and releasing the captive Fire. The crystal will slowly evaporate if kept in a dry environnt.
A Firewater Plu can be used like any other Plu. Composition of the Firewater Plu may affect so uses.
Spells:
Force Bolt
Discharge a bolt of magical force to damage your target.
Force Blast
Create a rapidly expanding shell of magical force at a distance to damage targets in the area.
Corruption Bolt
Discharge a bolt infused with the magic of Corruption to damage your target. Corruption erodes the core elent of a being.
True Death Bolt
Discharge a bolt infused with the magic of True Death to damage your target. True Death has little effect on natural creatures. It is extrely effective against beings created by magic, such as magical constructs and the walking dead.
Attractive Affix
Attract other magic, including both spells and enchanted objects, to a chosen feather. The feather may be affixed to a creature or object or may simply be a feather in your Domain. The attraction is weak but may disrupt distant attacks or make an affixed creature or object easier to target.
Parrying Presence
Repel other magic, including both spells and enchanted objects, away from a chosen feather. The feather may be affixed to a creature or object or may simply be a feather in your Domain. The repulsion is weak but may disrupt distant attacks or make the creature or object harder to accurately target. Parrying Presence is more likely to disrupt targeting than to completely deflect a blow, though attacks that are poorly aid may be redirected completely.
Embody Elent
Manifest your elent physically. Exact effects depend on the elent embodied.
Species Abilities:
Scaley
Call upon your heritage to gain the scales of your ancestors.
Magical Translucence
You can choose to diffuse magic that strikes you, reducing its effect on you and spreading a weakened effect over a wider area.
Manifest Wings
Temporarily create a pair of wings ford of magic that can lift you into the sky.
Prismatic Magic
Split magic into its constituent elents.
Dav
Grand Ability: Eldritch Acuity
Eldritch Invoker Abilities:
Chaos-Warped Human
(Eyes that See)
(Eldritch Call, Anchor, Anchor)
(Eye Image)
(Psychic sh)
(Dual Invocation: Weapon, 4, 4)
Body: 16
(Weapon Union)
(Solid Invocation: Weapon, 4, 4)
Core: 8
(Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch)
(Empower Call, 4, 4)
(Mana Specialization Attunent: Eldritch)
(Spirit Shatter, 4, 4)
Shield: 125 (50)
(Spirit Voice)
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Ability Slots: 10
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Ability Slots: 20
Wisps: 4000
Calls:
(Overflowing Health, 4, 4)
Spheres
(Spiked Shield, 4, 4)
Eldritch Invoker (Hallow)
(Flowering Firewater, Bonus, Free)
Level: 4 - First upgrade
(Reflection, 4, 4)
Anchor: Entity
(Unreal Space, 4, 4)
(Unbreakable, 4, 4)
(Dread Aura, 4, 4)
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Ability Slots: 10
Attunents:
Species Spells:
Species Abilities:
Contraceptive Amulet, 1
(Eldritch Empowernt, 4, 4)
(Bonded Armor, 4, 4)
(Eldritch Overcharge, 4, 4)
(Spell Reservoir, 4, 4)
Eldritch Armor, 2 (Growth)
(Spellwarp, 4, 4)
(Sword Sketch, 4, Free)
Level: 4
(Warp Space, 4, 4)
(Eldritch Elasticity, 4, 4)
Perfect Fit: Dav
(Light and Dark, 4, 4)
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Ability Slots: 25
Rapid Assembly
(Eldritch Projection,4, 4)
Self-Repair
(Quickstep, 4, 4)
Flexible Movent
(Eldritch Aurora, 4, 4)
Minor Deflection
(Eldritch Weapon, 4, 4)
Protective Ablation
Additional (Empty, -, 4) Ability Slots: 20
Eldritch-Touched Blade, 1
Effect: Dual Invocation
Effect: Image Shift
Unbroken Link Bracelet, 2
Enchantnt: Shared Shield
Enchantnt: Send Mana
Ability Descriptions
Sphere: Eldritch Invoker
Suffuse your being with the eldritch power of Chaos Itself.
Anchor: Entity
You are yourself; what was once your physical form has beco the expression of your being.
An Anchor is required for the first Upgrade. This may be modified by your Signature once it is discovered.
Grand Ability: Eldritch Acuity
You know more, feel more, and are more than others comprehend. This Ability is no re Variant; you have started the process to create your own Ability.
Ability Fragnt: Eyes that See
Summon the Sight of the Eyes that See. You see beyond the physical, perceiving the eldritch reality of the world.
Ability Fragnt: Psychic sh
Connect to other compatible entities of your choice. All partners may project so or all of their thoughts to other linked individuals. This ability does not allow for true synchronicity, control, or unity.
Ability Fragnt: Weapon Union
Commune with a weapon.
Eldritch Weapon: Eldritch-Touched Blade
Union Effects: Dual Invocation, Image Shift (Tattoo, Blade)
Ability Fragnt: Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch
Align your mana core with the Eldritch power that runs through you.
Ability Fragnt: Mana Specialization Attunent: Eldritch
You are an Eldritch existence.
Ability Fragnt: Spirit Voice
As you can see it, you can speak to it. Your voice may cause pain to those who do not understand their own spirits.
Eldritch Invoker Abilities:
Eldritch Call, Anchor Ability
Invoke the Eldritch power that suffuses your Entity to create effects. Eldritch Call is required to express all Calls.
Dual Invocation: Weapon
When you Call, your Unified Weapon also Calls.
Solid Invocation: Weapon
Create a temporary weapon of pure Eldritch power. The Solid Invocation may hold a single Call.
Empower Call
Focus your will on a Call to increase its power.
Spirit Shatter
Purge spirits with your eldritch chaos.
Calls:
Overflowing Health
Suffuse yourself with healing eldritch energy that spills past your Entity to aid your allies.
Spiked Shield
Extend spikes of eldritch power from the edge of your Entity.
Flowering Firewater
Lay a trail of burning water that freezes into petals that resist the motions of others.
Reflection
Step out of yourself and join yourself in the fight.
Unreal Space
Your Eldritch power suffuses your Entity. You can partially ignore other influences, such as gravity.
Unbreakable
You are and what you are is inviolate.
Dread Aura
Allow the sensation of your eldritch existence to enter your aura. Causes fear in most who sense it.
Species Spells:
Eldritch Empowernt
Gain or grant a minor eldritch boon.
Eldritch Overcharge
Channel extra mana into Summons for additional power or duration.
Spellwarp
Twist a spell until it triggers or breaks.
Warp Space
Distance is only an illusion for you.
Light and Dark
Gather light and leave darkness behind.
Eldritch Projection
Project the power of Chaos upon your enemies.
Quickstep
Step around instead of through. May be cast on others.
Eldritch Aurora
Pull Chaos around yourself as a mantle.
Eldritch Weapon
Enhance a weapon with the power of Chaos.
Species Abilities:
Bonded Armor
Forcibly bonding with your armor has permanently connected it to you. Armor abilities draw on your mana. Continued use and empowernt may awaken or create additional abilities.
Spell Reservoir
Learn to cast the spells of your species. Does not include any Spell Slots or Spells. If selected, all Species spells will be reserved for the Reservoir.
Sword Sketch
Use your sword to sketch your understanding of the eldritch nature of reality.
Eldritch Elasticity
Bounce Back.
Non-Attuned Magical Items
Charm Bracelets with Compass that can find North or other related bracelets
Feather Charms (Lighten Carried Loads)
Snowflake Charms (Chill Area)
Charm Rune of Spirit Sight (Sophia)
Charm Rune of Affect Undead (Dav)
Charm Rune of Sense Undead (Amy)
2 Stoneshield vials
Vial of Shattershell Oil
3 Heatstones
Cord of Spirit Ice
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