All participants will receive 10 XP for the participations involved. With that stated, the following conditions are the results of what has transpired in lieu of this thread.
Rickter has utilized what remained of his aether at the end of this fight to forge and Overcharged anchor. As incredibly powerful as these are this one is specifically catered to Hikami's recovery period, with a few integral caveats to the anchor itself. They will be explained further in my review of Hikami's section. As a result of his actions Rickter is going to have to spend the next ten days constantly eating just to replenish his reserves. Having said that, the timing of this thread is so long ago, that those ramifications are considerably well made up for at this point.
Now to Hikami's portion of the review.
I'm going to elaborate on every point that has led up to the conclusion that had to be made for Hikami here. Starting out you have had him utilize ice magic for a couple of things, erecting a wall of ice suggestively massive enough to stall the entire horde from the shoreline. Now I'll cover the semantics involved in Hikami's quirk and the benefits of the ice spirit accompanying him, but let's break these actions down to provide a general outline of the powers demonstrated here. Hikami created this ice wall which its sheer size alone would require that of an expert Elementalist at least, followed with a few more Elementalism tricks prior to the battle of the hydra bit.
A normal elementalist would have visibly taxed himself at this point, as even a master would've felt a minor chunk of his aether depleted from this high-level casting. Carrying this a bit further into the bits where Hikami had combined elements like water and wind, and then also utilizing the waters of the lake to act like tentacles when he was pinned against his ice wall, that would've surely been the breaking point and led into overstepping for said normal master elementalist in turn.
Combine the fact that during the Hydra battle, Hikami took matters into his own hands and went... well, way beyond the limitations that were imposed even on him. Enacting Synergy which is a master-level ability of an Elementalist, and using it on not just one but two elements (Water and wind all at once) which focusing on one Element alone is meant to be very taxing on the Elementalist who uses this ability. By all accounts, Hikami literally should've been dead at this point.
But that's only the general outlook from this thread, involving the other details that tie him with the spirit in question, and then we have just a bit more wiggle room to work with.
Lake of Udori spirit
► Show Spoiler In response to both Hyoga's connection to water and ice, as well as his opening up to a power greater than himself here and the related events around the Avalanche of Frost 121, Hyoga has heavily overstepped and received an altered Quirk.
The Blessing of Udori has fundamentally changed Hyoga permanently. His body is now made an amalgamation of living water, ice, and Aether, holding the shape of what his own self image shows. This may change as his moods or personality change and grow, but they are subtle changes. Additionally, because he's taken this form, he's been cut off from the Elements of Earth and Fire. However, this has led to his Water and Wind based powers doubling in raw power and effectiveness at all levels.
Staying in his watery, natural form costs no aether, however, Hyoga can expend his Aether to look more like his original self. The cost of this is tied to his Resistance skill. At Novice, maintaining his original form will be extremely taxing. The cost is halved at Apprentice, halved again at Journeyman, is barely noticed at Expert, and costs no aether at all at Master.
Additionally, the Blessing of Udori has awoken Hyoga's magic to a more sapient level. Hyoga's magic within him will take on the persona of the Spirit of Udori. Hyoga can unlock enhancements to his form by improving the relationship with his Spirit of Udori. This is represented by the social skill of Leadership. At Novice, Hyoga gains icy claws and fangs. At Apprentice, he gains a long, serpentine tail. At Journeyman, he gains wings capable of granting him flight (based on flying skill). At Expert, he gains a humanoid dragon like form. At Master, he gains a full Ice Dragon form. It should be noted that activating these aspects does cost a high amount of aether, but costs no aether to stay in the form once active.
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Finally, the Blessing of Udori gives Hyoga access to the ambient aether of the entirety of Lake Udori, while physically touching it while in range of it. He can use it to recharge, to power him while using his magic, and any other methods. However, this is tied into his meditation skill. At Novice, Hyoga may recharge his completely depleted Aether in 24 hours. At Apprentice 12 hours. At Journeyman, 6 hours. At Expert, 3 hours. At Master, Hyoga effectively has unlimited Aether while in the presence of Lake Udori. It should be noted that this does not prevent Overstepping. If anything, have access to much more Aether than one's natural form allows, it can cause him to overstep far worse than thought possible
Let's go over the cliff notes of this here:
Resistance 8 (Novice)
Hikami's resistance skill is abysmally low in comparison to the rest of the skills involved here. One key detail that is noted is that staying in his liquid (watery) form expends no aether, but retaining any semblance of his physical form before that requires aether to keep it consistently held in that form. Novice level indicates this to be incredibly taxing, regardless of the stability found in the relationship between Hikami and the spirit housed within him. Then there is the fact that Hikami has consistently demonstrated the active usage of ice appendages in thread, which is also stated that it requires sufficient amounts of aether just to activate. We'll cover that in the next section though, as the point of Resistance is to mark Hikami's ability to endure taxing situations that require him to exert sufficient aether for his flagrant usage of draconic features with the ice spirit.
Leadership 75 (Expert)
The development of his leadership skills allows Hikami to engage with powers that make him appear more draconic in turn. It's stated in this section "It should be noted that activating these aspects does cost a high amount of aether, but costs no aether to stay in the form once active." which implies already a high level of aether consumption, and while it does suggestively bolster Hikami's personal power, it does not double down on the amount of reserves required to feed into that power. Using high-level spells when you've already exerted a substantial amount of aether to alter your form will only result in faster if not total nuclear burnouts for your PC, especially when correlated skills revolving around Endurance aren't there to back up the excessive use of power displayed in thread.
Meditation 35 (Apprentice)
Going over this faucet of his quirk, Hikami is an apprentice of meditation which does help stabilize his relationship with the ice spirit to a degree. Having said that though, he's gone well beyond the threshold of limitations that no mere 24 hour recharge period would bring him back. It's clearly stated in this section as well; "If anything, have access to much more Aether than one's natural form allows, it can cause him to overstep far worse than thought possible" which is exactly what Hikami has proceeded to do in this situation.
The ice spirit at this point has very well been consumed by Hikami's careless and exuberant usage of aether by this event's conclusion. By the looks of everything expressed here, the limitations that have been visibly written have not been taken into consideration in the slightest, leading up to what should've very well been the death of Hikami with no point of return whatsoever... Having expressed this, however, there is and will only be one final chance before Hikami is permanently lost for good as a PC. Thanks to the intervention of the Lord of Frost, he may continue to live beyond the loss of the ice spirit; which originally served a part in acting as his power source and medium. The journey he is about to embark on is going to be incredibly long and difficult, therefore, the following caveats are to be considered as a result of this event:
For the next 30 days beyond this thread
Hikami is in a catatonic state as he is resting within Lake Udori. During this time he cannot functionally do anything until this period of recovery has passed, and beyond that, will not be able to maintain even his regular physical form without experiencing excruciatingly agonizing pain. This is when the rehabilitation period for himself (mind, body, and soul) is crucial in that he has to remember who/what his appearance is.
The spirit of Lake Udori has been entirely consumed by Hikami's excessive use of magic. He now loses all the forms that he possessed as a benefit of that spirit, and instead, will now have a new core to serve as his life force during his recovery period. Because of the grand scale of his severity in Overstepping, casting spells and techniques above Journeyman level is going to be a challenge to manifest. It will still be possible to do so but the cost of a mid-grade spell (journeyman level) is going to be twice as taxing, making high-grade+ spells even more difficult to perform or maintain.
He also gains a very temporary buff thanks to Rickter's intervention:
Auriel's Benediction which is the overcharged anchor that is now serving as Hikami's core during the recovery process. The caveats of this buff are the following:
- The length of time this boon lasts is a full year from the date of this thread. The primary function of this boon will no longer work prior after that date.
- Auriel's Benediction is charged with two functional tasks, the primary task being that it serves as an aetheric battery to Hikami. Combined with the natural aether residing in Lake Udori, this significantly helps bolster Hikami's depleted aether, gradually bouncing back at a steadier (but not accelerated) rate compared to most severely Overstepped individuals.
- In lieu of the first task, Hikami can maintain the basic Kathar form he possessed after a full season spent in recovery. It will still be painful to maintain for extended periods of time, but since he's essentially rebuilding his endurance from scratch, water can hold memory to a degree that allows this simpler form to remain easier to maintain.
- The secondary function of Auriel's Benediction is to serve as a failsafe to warn Hikami. By no means is this aetheric battery a literal booster to his aether, its primary function is to draw in ambient aether that helps gradually wane the taxation of Overstepping so severely.
- Should Hikami ever come at risk, even so much as cross his limitations into Minor Overstepping, this will damage the lingering ward of the second function; serving as a final warning of the limitations that Hikami is beginning to breach. Further overstepping will see this ward completely depleted, in turn, destroying Auriel's Benediction which in turn will cement the death of Hikami.
- Masters of the Negation rune can recharge the secondary function of Auriel's Benediction, however, the primary function can only be recharged by the original caster (Rickter) alone should it ever become a necessity.
Given this happened a year and a half ago, Hikami would be moderately recovered to where the primary function is no longer needed at all. Having said that, his recent actions in current threads are already displaying risks of damaging the second function of Auriel's Benediction. The point being; that the writer in question needs to remain astutely aware of the content that he is writing.
It's perfectly fine if you want your PC to go on rampages or write them unleashing powerful, super cool magic techniques that reveal more about their character. What isn't fine is failing to consider the limitations involved with that character, and then expecting the results of their actions to not be far-reaching in return. You even said it at the end of your closing post, Hikami had already nearly died once, and this time he would've for sure died without the intervention of another power.
You're well within your right as the writer to show your PC demonstrating varying levels of magic and their mastery over it, but thematically speaking, when you express the extent of that character's ability with words like "massive," "powerful," and anything else suggesting high-level casting; you're literally burning your PC out to the point they shouldn't even be able to keep up because of these epic displays they're putting on. Please reacquaint yourself with these limitations firsthand, explore them on a minor scale, and then work your way into unleashing these high and mighty spells once the PC in question actually has the skill points in place to back everything up.
And also, don't think of this as punishment for Hikami's actions. These are consequences meant to help him recuperate from his choices, and are meant to guide you (the writer) on his path of recovery and proper mastery over their abilities.
With regards, Chronicle
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