> We are the Ordinates.
>
> For centuries we have served the Vitrian people as instructors and record keepers, as bureaucrats and quartermasters. We are the backbone of Vitrian society, those who have carefully watched and tended as the seed of Empire was first planted in an oft dismissed island, then grew to encompass a continent.
>
> But in recent years we have become dismissed. Forgotten. Our once noble place in Vitrian society has rotted from beneath us. We are looked down upon, treated as a destination for the dregs of the great houses, for low Aptitude children, for criminals and degenerates. Our ability to fulfil the most necessary functions has been curtailed and peeled away, some of it forgotten, others given to half-wits who cannot rise to the occasion.
>
> This fundamental corruption at the heart of the Empire has long dwelled just below the surface, threatening to boil up and drown us all. But never has it been on such blatant display as this very moment.
>
> Because Four Mothers, these questions are the worst thing we have ever had the misfortune to read!
Oh come now. They really are not that bad.
> These are remedial questions! These are questions we would expect from lowborn in the House of Denial, not fresh inductees!
I would remind you that doing this in the first place was your idea.
> One we are regretting more with each passing breath. There are hundreds of these, each somehow worse than the last. We do not even know where to start.
Small. Let us start small. We will answer a few of them and then take a break. Start with this one.
When an Awakened levels up in their class and rolls for attribute advancement, does the luck attribute impact this?
See? This is an excellent question. Straightforward, to the point and rare enough an interaction that it might not have come up with their instructors.
> The answer really should be obvious to anyone with even a moderate educat-
Can we keep the snark to a minimum?
> The answer is no, on both counts. Luck in and of itself can not impact attribute growths. If it could, it would be by far the most desirable attribute in all of Ilun and every major family would be scrambling to develop ways to prioritize a luck class. If such a thing is even possible.
There are, however, rumors of skills that do permit luck to have an impact on attribute growth.
> And we are dealing with rumors now?
I was just saying-
> Next.
If a class grants +64 luck per level (with 80% chance) at Rank II, is that class overpowered, or is the scaling difference between classes that large?
> This is... oddly specific.
Like one of those 'if a locomotive leaves the station at 50 miles per hour' questions. Coupled with an inferiority complex when comparing stat growths.
> To answer your question is difficult without knowledge of the class in question, but a refresher in growths might be useful. In general, a Common, Rank I class will have an average attribute growth of 12 per level, with a total possible attribute score of 24. The actual numbers vary from attribute to attribute and from class to class, but you can always reduce them down to this formula. You could conceivably, for example, have a class with an attribute growth of +19 in strength at say 90% and growths of +1 in all other attributes in the single digits. At that point, you would be sacrificing balanced attributes for one specific attribute growing larger than normal.
>
> Then you have to factor in rarity. Each step of rarity adds a +6 bonus to the total. So an uncommon class would have a total possible Attribute score of +30, an exceptional class would have a max of +36, then +42 at rare and so forth. Then these numbers are tripled for each additional rank. So a Rare Rank II class would have a possible total of 126, meaning that your +64 is possible, if entirely unbalanced. And given that it is luck as a stat, I wouldn't be jealous, I'd pity him. Far from overpowered.
>
> Your teachers really should have taught you all of this.
How many classes of the same tier can you theoretically take and what, if there are any, is the downside of just piling a dozen tier 1 classes for more skills and better EXP in all scenarios of life?
> Try it and get back to us.
What my esteemed colleague means to say is that you can theoretically take as many classes as you can learn, but that it comes with a whole host of problems. First off is time investment. Unless you are some absurd monster with an Aptitude in the high 200's, It will take months or years for you to learn any class. You would die of old age well before you hit a dozen.
Then you have issues with splitting experience. If there is overlap between one class and another, the experience gained will split between them, and not evenly. Some will be lost as a penalty. Likewise, having more than one of similar types of classes such as combat, magic or profession types, runs into splitting issues even if there is no direct overlap. Being a farmer and a blacksmith will stunt your growth in both.
In general the recommendation is no more than one additional class per 100 aptitude, which is why most Vitrians aim for two.
What rank would be considered strong amongst the Vitrian elite?
> Finally something simple. If obvious. Rank III or above is considered respectably strong. Higher ranks are correspondingly rare, and more difficult to discern as those who reach the pinnacle like to keep their strength concealed. It is assumed that the Imperator and at least a few other Vitrians are rank V or even Rank VI.
What are all the rarities classes can reach and roughly how actually rare they are to possess (1 in 10? 1000? etc.)
> Did they teach you nothing?! How do you expect to survive your induction when you apparently need an adult to dress you-
Oh hush. The first part is obvious, but the second half is at least worth discussing. Class rarities match skill rarities and are:
> Common, Uncommon, Exceptional, Rare, Epic, Ancient, Legendary, Mythic, Enigmatic and Unique.
Thank you.
> They should know this already. Our cousin is six and she-
As to the more important part of your question, that is harder to quantify. Class and skill rarities go up with Rank and even with level within a Rank to a much smaller extent. Rank V awakened would be embarrassed to be offered an uncommon skill, while a fresh awakened would be delighted to have one. Moreover, your chances of getting higher rarity skills can vary wildly depending on your experiences, feats of strength, titles and so forth. If you are a common soldier who fights once a year and acquits yourself admirably, an exceptional skill might be in your grasp at some point in your journey.
That all said, anything ancient and beyond is unusual to see for skills, and even more rare for classes. If I had to put a number to it I'd say 1 in 100 awakened, if not less, and most of those at least at rank II or above. Mythic and Enigmatic skills and classes are so rare that specific knowledge of their abilities are considered classified.
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> If you have to ask, you'll never be strong enough to get one.
Ordinate!
Do skills represent abilities you have or do they give you abilities? Is it the same for skills learned through training and those learned through the system.
> Finally a good question.
Really? It seems rather obvious.
> It is at least philosophical in nature, not 'does 1+1=2, or 3'.
>
> The answer is both and neither.
That is helpful to them, we are sure.
> Fine. Skills registered by the system represent a combination of personal knowledge and ability, quantified and measured. They also represent the supernatural abilities that the system provides. Let us use an example. Imagine you spent your whole life learning how to gamble. You were excellent at it, but you dropped the habit at eighteen. A few years later you gained a class. The next time you successfully gamble, the system would recognize your existing skill, and quantify it into a common, general skill, possibly even giving you multiple levels as a result.
>
> Now a couple of things would happen. First, you would no longer decay, you would no longer get rusty. Every time you pick up a deck of cards you'd have the same talent as you ever did. Just as importantly, you'd be better at things than you were before. Whatever quirks or flaws in your gambling habits would begin to be filled in by the system. You would get better at percentages, or reading at your opponents, things of that nature.
You know a lot about gambling.
> Slander is beneath you. Regardless imagine you picked up a gambling skill as a skill choice instead. You would have all the same knowledge, the only difference is that you would lack the experience to use your new talents to their utmost effect.
There are also many things that system learned skills can do that are all but impossible to replicate directly with general skills. Earned skills? Those are another matter entirely.
> Next.
image [https://i.imgur.com/AsUVGAf.png]
> What.... what is this?
We have not the slightest idea. What does the letter say?
> There is no letter. Just this photo. This deeply unnerving photo.
It is like it sees us through the photo. What is it? An owl? A Systemborn?
> An offense against gods and nature. Burn that thing and open the next one.
Is Aptitude tied to the system, or independent of it?
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
> The horrifying owl thing, clearly.
No. Enough of that. The real answer is that it is impossible to know, as we can only see Aptitude through the system, or through tools created by it.
Could you use quests, or equivalent other abilities, to get a higher aptitude? Could you get a quest that would give you information on how to increase your aptitude, perhaps through permanent methods? Could you get a quest that would give you information on quests that would give out certain things, like increasing aptitude?
> Someone was born weak.
Be nice. It is not their fault.
> No, weakblood. There is no known way to improve a person's aptitude. It is as immutable as the sun in the sky or the number of days since your birth.
Do people always have at least one affinity or are there people/ races that don’t have magic? And can all races have all magic or are some paths blocked for certain races? If some are blocked for certain races do humans have all due to their typically adaptive and multifaceted nature? And are there other magic types outside of the 18 given? And does aptitude play a role in affinity quality or quantity?
> Yes, yes, yes, no, no.
Your skills as an educator know no bounds.
> I was trying to be efficient. There are so many of these left. But fine. Yes, every person has at least one affinity, this includes humans and all the descendant races. A handful of affinities are blocked for non-human races, particularly mind affinity for the Thoughtborn and nature affinity for the Steelborn. The Systemborn are so varied that it would be impossible to cover them all here. Humans have access to all affinities and typically have a higher number of average affinities than all descendants other than the Godborn. If there were affinities of magic outside the eighteen given, one would assume they'd have been folded into the original eighteen. Aptitude does not, to our best knowledge, impact the number of affinities a person has. Happy?
In general? Yes.
Do certain Vitrian houses have certain magic types they’re known for or is it more likely they would be known as a mage house in contrast to a melee combat or crafting oriented house?
Even you can not complain about this one.
> We most certainly can. Such a basic question-
Was sent to us by a provincial inductee.
> Ah. Well, then. Houses in general are too large to be so specialized. Even the smallest Vitrian house has over 100,000 members. Individual branch families within the houses, however, are indeed known for specialization in all manner of forms, from magic to swordplay to mercantilism.
My inductee is insisting on utilizing an Imperial Greatsword despite the clear unsuitability of the weapon to his frame. Any advice on how to persuade him to use something more sensible? Such as daggers?
> How did this end up with us?
Forwarded to the wrong address, we suspect. We will speak to the courier.
> It would be a stupid question even for whomever it was intended. The Imperial Greatsword is a storied weapon, possibly the single greatest sign of Imperial might and our embrace of the system when others floundered. Any awakened worth his mettle will use it effectively given time and will. To try and dissuade him is frankly unpatriotic.
Agreed. This writer was clearly a rube.
Is there, or have they found, a limit to the system's capabilities? Are there things that are out of its bounds? Could you physically go out of it? How fast does it propagate? Are there abilities that stack weirdly/exponentially out of control? Could you make a quest for yourself to complete a certain quest a month from now then with every day add more quests/modifiers/limits to 'make' it harder to get an insanely upgraded reward? Like making a quest for yourself to move a bucket of water, but then use other daily quests to add more penalties for failure, make it 5 miles, make it 10 miles..., adding extra weight, making the terrain worse, make yourself go at a certain speed, limit your shoes, blindfolded, deafened, a quest restriction to get rid of your proprioception?
On that note, could you use the quest system to impose restrictions on yourself that you couldn't otherwise do? Like taking away your senses? If so, could you then use that to train other things, like mana manipulation?
Have people used quests, or anything similar, to get information? Perhaps about the system? Does the system give out information that hasn't necessarily been figured out yet? Could it solve a math problem that doesn't necessarily have an answer yet?
> Where is this one being inducted?
Southern Immuria. Fiend subjugation.
> Pass their information on to VISIT when we are finished. These sort of inquiries show an inquisitive mind that is wasted stabbing fiends in some provincial backwater.
Finally met one of our readers that you like, is it? Hard to know where to begin, so by all means.
> This question is rather involved for the format, but suffice to say that this is exactly the sort of work that is ongoing at VISIT and similar institutes throughout the world. Testing the boundaries of system abilities in order to try and find ways to exploit its rules for Vitrian benefit.
>
> While we do not have the background to answer such specific queries, we can say that the system is self-restoring after a fashion. Exploits have been discovered in the past, some small, some quite large. Ones that threaten the integrity of the system as a whole tend to be modified after a time to no longer work. Whether this is done by an intelligent presence, or whether it is done as some sort of automatic function is unclear.
Your questions about questing abilities in particular are a favorite of ours, but the simple answer is 'it depends'. Some questing skills, particularly more powerful ones, can self-impose restrictions such as limiting sight. Others can arrive at similar destinations in a roundabout way, for example, a quest that rewards an item that blocks vision, which is used in a follow-up quest to train in a particular fashion.
> One thing that is set in stone is information. The system can impart information you don't know, but it does so sparingly. If you create a quest to assist a person you are on good terms with, it could conceivably give you their name, even if you do not know it. But conversely, trying to use a quest to learn the name of a masked man would fail every time.
Could people use the system to get rid of the system? Does it give out abilities that restrict/eliminate system access in certain areas?
> Rare to see treason put in text.
Indeed. Please do not send such insipid garbage to our desk any further. Such a thing is not only impossible, but flatly undesirable.
> How many left?
A dozen more and then we will-
image [https://i.imgur.com/AsUVGAf.png]
> Why is this one bigger?
We have not the slightest idea, though we now agree with your earlier assessment. Our faith in humanity dwindles as we speak. Wait, where are you going?!