[Dream] Need help Waste-ing properly

[rubberScarab]

I'm a Waste of Dream, and though I've been a Waste before, I have no idea what I should expect from the Dream aspect. This is terrifying to me, since I've completed all my quests and will soon march on the Black King, but I haven't caused the disaster yet.

Are there any particular abilities I should be wary of, or does anyone know a good way to cause the cataclysm without permakilling anybody? I'm pretty much lost at any aspect stuff unrelated to Rain.

[ventricularPipefitter]

A cataclysm doesn't have to kill someone. What it does is fundamentally change the nature of your session, the assumptions of status quo you can make about it.

Killing a player or an important NPC, the ol' ring-and-scepter shuffle, these are obvious ways to shake things up and make immature co-players mad at you. But they aren't the only 'cataclysms' that could be.

I have seen a Void cataclysm cause the rapid growth and expansion of Skaian Magicants such that they started overwhelming the natural Verdancy of planets and halted the proper development of the Battlefield into its final form. I have seen a Mind cataclysm erase the knowledge of the concept of frogs from a Space player's brain, such that he was unable to complete the frog breeding process because he didn't understand what was what.

Hope and Stars might dramatically re-order the arrangement and locations of the planetary bodies and Veil meteors in a session. Law might make the Laws of the Underworld also apply to the surface of your Lands such that you have to fear Angel attacks at all time. A Heart player that tangled the identities of several players and carapaces such that they have effectively all been body-swapped and had to perform one planet's Duties with another Class and Title's abilities, and the Warweary Villein had to perform the Denizen's Knell for all of them in their stead.

I heard once about a Grace of Fate who swapped perception of 'right' and 'left' for everyone in an entire session, but I'm not sure that one was apocryphal.

I trust you get the idea. It is a significant, irreversible, change that changes your assumptions about what is possible in Sburb, and resets your goals and win conditions. You probably won't be the same person you were after that cataclysm. But you aren't the same person you were before your Dad dies or your first break-up, either. Growing up ain't always gradual, and it ain't always something you'd have control of, either.

My advice for Wastes and Graces is make sure your allies and session-mates don't shun you for what won't be your fault. You'll want friends. You'll want to get through whatever happens, together. Crisis can bring out the best in us.

[lucidChthonia]

VP, I have heard the stories, but I confess I still don't have a clear idea how in the name of Oglogoth you managed to survive that insane clusterfuck of a session.

So if you're willing to tell the whole story... Maybe not in this thread though.

[genesisArtificer]

Maybe not today, yeah.

I had a Blood Grace. Her Cataclysm triggered after the attack of CD at our weekly gathering to discuss our goals. The Grace was only intact Player and she wanted to do Blood Transfusion to EVERYONE.

It kinda worked, but all of us were on brink of health, and we couldn't die and Ascend after that. We also looked like zombies, kinda.

I for example had half of my face pulverized and could not talk.

It was seeping blood the whole time, for three months.

Luckily the session reset didn't kill any of us.

[rubberScarab]

In that case, I suppose looking for a harmless way to go about the cataclysm isn't going to work out...

In my session as a Waste of Rain, I caused all the high ranking carapaces to go insane; causing the kings to trigger the reckoning immediately and completely nullifying the queens' binds to their thrones. In addition, the only remaining Derse agent, Courtyard Droll, suddenly became incredibly aggressive and efficient.
The fight with the Black King was a level above even all that, and we also had to fight the White King immediately after since he never actually lost the war.

I was hoping to avoid a disaster of that magnitude this time around, but apparently it really is inevitable. I guess the best I can do is suit up to fight the king and prepare for the worst.