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Anime Jason 
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HH

Subj: Re: Yes, but which theme was it?
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 at 10:38:54 pm EDT (Viewed 470 times)
Reply Subj: Re: Yes, but which theme was it?
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 at 09:33:15 pm EDT (Viewed 2 times)




    Quote:
    I know I've shown Liu Xi transmuting quite complicated stuff before now (as you've had her do) but I'm generally happier with her controlling the primal elements. It feels more "elemental", and it has a mythic rather than scientific basis. Conversely, Alcheman, whose self-transformations are mystical, tends to root his abilities in actual chemistry.


Noted, but more on the formula of how this works in a minute.



    Quote:
    Again it comes down to drama. A character who can simply turn an enemy into a pillar of salt (as Sersi could) is really hard to use in combat. Either you have to take them out right off to give the team a good fight or else find yet another reason why this enemy is shielded from the effect.


How about that someone has to clean up all those salt pillars? \:\)

In Lara Night's case, she has that "overflow" ability that she could simply burn and electrocute everyone in the vicinity by releasing a very large amount of electrical energy at once (like a lightning strike from a powerful storm).

But it's very easy to limit the use of that ability because she's simply *afraid to use it*. It's like walking around with an atomic bomb strapped to your back - if you have a conscience if feels like more of a burden than an advantage. Instead of feeling like she has a powerful weapon, she feels like it's something she has to prevent through careful control. She doesn't want to be responsible for the loss of life and severe collateral damage.

To give you a picture, her worse nightmare, possible or not, is striking with unbridled anger and energy, and when the dust clears, seeing something akin to what a town looks like after an F5 tornado just tore through it.

So simply enough, she limits herself to make sure she never has to live that nightmare.



    Quote:
    In Liu Xi's case I tend to assume that more complicated, actual chemical manipulations must take longer and be harder than "raw" elemental use. I don't know if Liu Xi can usually radically transmute (say earth to water) but if so I'd say that has to be pretty draining too.


I've divided this into two sections: Similar elements, and equal trade. Liu Xi can swap two Metal elements, for example - iron to silver, lead to gold, etc. But because the latter more precious metals are so dense, it takes an enormous amount of material and lots of her own personal energy to make it happen. It may even take enough energy to kill her. That's why she can't, for example, create large amounts of radioactive material from rock. At least to her, making a few ounces of valuable material out of worthless rock isn't worth her life.

Also, interestingly enough, 100% perfectly pure rare metals like gold are kind of impossible with modern technology, so anyone who tests it would probably dismiss it as a fake or some kind of tampering and declare it worthless. So all that energy and raw material would just go to waste.

Silver, on the other hand, isn't quite so dense, and she may be able to handle if she makes only one small medallion a day over the course of a few days. Since a proper spell isn't something that can be hurried, and since it would likely require a certain purity of silver, and since Vinnie is usually broke, I guessed that Liu Xi may have made them from possibly junkyard iron or something.



    Quote:
    Conversely, an ability of Liu Xi's that I really like is her sensitivity to the elements. It adds a nice unique perspective to investigations, enhances dramatic tension, and perhaps explains why the character can sometimes be a bit detatched from the world - she's effectively seeing tides and colours the rest of us can't possibly perceive.


I figure the way it works is kind of like a smell or vapor would. Ever hear someone in a room ask "can you smell that?" And then a few people can, but most people can't. The elemental sense would be kind of like that, something she picks up just barely with her senses, but that nobody else has the ability to.






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