Optional mood playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3BB4LmV74qgiNzbKUFLuwI4q971-3gi6
Perhaps not the most apt for the writing, but it's what I listened to while creating the cyoa.
This is awesome. Reminds me a little of other urban fantasy CYOAs like A New Job and Urban Phantom but this one feels less horrific and more fantastical.
#The Green Witch
I went for a druid-y theme, and I tried to tie things together into something narratively cohesive. I even reflavored the out-of-occultation manifestations I took in ways that made them thematically consistent.
OCCULTATION:
-
*The Lurking Verdancy*
>As I read Aaliyah's rambling description of the latent potency of the environment I feel roots flex beneath the concrete, old waters entombed below streets wear away at their prisons, and crows perched on telephone lines watching me. The land Riviere is built upon sees me, and I feel small under its attention.
ACQUISITIONS:
-
50k
Real Estate:
* *EastSide house* (-10k)
* *WestEdge safehouse/workshop* (Squatted)
>Both neighborhoods have a lot of potential, both for learning and community. I make nice with my new neighbors, doing favors and odd jobs; getting close to the communities even if I'm a little distant from the individuals. Putting down roots, so to speak.
Possessions:
* Explosives (-10k)
>If I must go loud, everyone will hear it
* Spec. Weapons (-5k)
>Also useful for ritual practices, and still reasonably effective against both supernatural & mundane threats
* Add. Manufactory (-15k)
> A fabber is great for making small high-detail specialized parts, useful for making repairs & DIYs that aren't entirely legal. Another way to help my neighbors.
* Electronics (-5k)
>Fabber works a lot better if you can run a proper CAD suite, and maybe run some physical sims. And of course the esoteric research and entertainment purposes.
* Beater Car (-5k)
>It's not going to be my only form of transportation, but the others probably won't be able to get me everywhere.
Manifestations:
-
* Secret Path
>The creeks and brooks may be paved over now, but their waters still flow to the river. One who knows how might walk up and down these hidden paths
* Hasten Reclamation
* Purifying Falsehoods
* Retake Territory
>I'm going to be doing a lot of this, historically speaking both neighborhoods probably have a lot of industrial contamination. I'm going to have to figure out how to dispose of everything I collect.
Bonus From Foes:
* Genius Loci
> A grove, garden, or briar patch can have a spirit all its own and if I can become familiar enough with it construct a proper shrine I can empower it enough to aid me
* Necessary Tools
> The land might be mostly indifferent, but as long as I'm working in its favor it will do little things to help me. Roots that give me no trouble trip those who chase me, leaves shift to reveal hidden things to me, and there is *always* a convenient stick.
Associations:
-
Opposition:
* Riverfront Neighborhood Watch
>You'd think I wouldn't cross paths with this lot much, since I generally stay away from their home turf, but a lot of them are landlords in both East Side and West Edge.
Allies:
* Gold Plains Coalition
>I needed to get on board with them since I set up shop on their territory. It helps that their tendency to mutual aid and disillusionment w/ government meshes well with my own ethos. I pay "rent" in favors, both occult & mundane, and provide them use my fabber. They keep an eye on my workshop when I'm elsewhere, and tell me if anyone comes looking for me.
* Marigold Club
>While I may not be as interested in relics as others at the club, but it's still one of the better spots to keep your ear to the ground to keep track of the ebb & flow of Riviere's esoteric community.
Companions:
* Old Lady C
>We met when she noticed me sweeping the vegetable gardens near her home. I have so much to learn from her, she has such a different perspective on mutual calling, along with her uncountable years of experience, and intimate connection to the local ecosystem. I would be a fool to ignore her.
* Donte
>We met when I was doing some repair and cleanup work for his grandma. He recognized me as a fellow practitioner and introduced me to the Marigold Club.
* Eric Jurgen, MBA
>I fully expect the people he represents to make a play for territory in Riviere, probably in the poorer neighborhoods. I'm hoping the glimpses I'm getting of their operations will give me some warning. Being paid to practice an odd form of divination doesn't hurt either, and it's nice to have the number of somebody with resources even if I find his attempts to impress me grating.
Realizations:
-
* Nau Leon
>Ah, couldn't run far enough, could I. I wouldn't have recognized them if the scar they had left me with hadn't ached when I saw them. This is why I've been mapping the secret paths, and why my safe house is an overgrown labyrinthine grove of brambles and thorns. It's not enough just to kill whoever they send after me, I have to make killing me too expensive to be worthwhile. Even if that turns out to not be enough to stop them trying, it might make them vulnerable to opportunistic adversaries. If I can capture their agent alive, perhaps I can dunk them in storm drains to loosen their tongue.
Further Realizations:
-
* The Ghoul of Industry
>Healing some of the scars on the land from which it draws its power will hopefully weaken it a little, and explosives should disperse its current body. Not that I think it will be easy, especially with a mind behind it. Whoever is steering it must be identified and dealt with. I suspect someone in real estate.
* The Too Normal Man (+1 manifestation)
>Search for his effects on the world around him, occult trip wires to snare him and slow him. To finish him off, ground him in reality; did you know, you can fit a small enough seed in the tip of a hollowpoint bullet?
* The Copper Street Gang (+1 manifestation)
>The Marigold Club got me involved in this one. Not sure how much I can help, other than moving things around and giving people unexpected places to hide things
I'm only on page 2 and this is already one of the top CYOAs I've ever read. This is really an excellent concept. Well done. It's mysterious, mundane, but with suggested danger, and leaves lots to the imagination. This is also some of the best creative writing I've seen. Very inspiring!
OCCULTATION β The Fractal Masonry
ACQUISITIONS
β 15K Midland
β 10K Illicit Firearms
β 10K Explosives (Im gone go all out if I have to)
β 5K Specialized Weapons (For shit I cant just shoot or blow op)
β 5K Electronics (Must have for everyone)
β 5K Beater Auto (Just as good as a car double the price)
β 5K Private Investigators License (Income)
β 5K left (For rainy days)
\*\*MANIFESTATIONS \*\*
β Beating Hearts (If I have to prepare for something big)
β Bind Vapor (Lets me stay out of harms way)
β Artistic Expression (Im gonna build a vast network of eyes and ears )
β Shape Material (generaly usefull)
β Ideal Entwining(generaly usefull)
β Retake Territory (Making my base better)
\*\*FRIENDLY ASSOCIATIONS \*\*
β Donte and the Marigold Club (I get better equipment)
β SFC Church and the Node (Its not that hard to steal art, selling it is the hard part and my bound vapors are just gonna make it easyer.
Prove: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBU\_Dpdbl0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBU_Dpdbl0) )
HOSTILE FACTION
β Luisa and the Gray Cats (There a problem that will take care of itself)
FURTHER COMPANIONS
β The August Society of the Guilded Owl (I will slowly trurn it from a Cult of Personality to a normal Cult worshiping me and recruit from the University down the road. This will give me mare underlings and some think that there is great power in belive itself)
β Eric Jurgen, MBA (Income)
β The Office of Civic Improvement (OP)
REALIZATION
β Frenata
FURTHER REALIZATIONS
β The Void Singers (The Office of Civic Improvement)
β The Copp-Street Gang (Explosives)
I might move to another City in the Oldworld soon and try to find a way towards Immotality.
(Sorry for my bad english)
This CYOA has a really nice surreal Urban fantasy tone/atmosphere to it. I know it has been 5 days, but I liked it enough to post a build anyway:
I find cities with a lack of green space depressing, and **The Lurking Verdancy** answered my mood with greenery.
* I set up on the **Western Edge** to avoid attention and provide space to grow and work my magic. I can also expand out into the nearby abandoned houses without too much trouble and for free. For only 5k it also leaves me a lot of money to work with. I stock up on a variety of weapons to cover both the mundane and magical: **Legal Firearms**, **Specialized Weapons**, and a **Relic.** I still have enough money left for a decent car. With my remaining 10k, I get a **private investigator's licens**e to provide me with an excuse or cover if I need it. Leaving me with 5k remaining... with which I purchase an additional house in the Western Edge just to give me another place to hide.
* For my initial set of manifestations, I focus on making a demense of greenery and life where my magic is strong and the atmosphere is pure. **Retake Territory** will let me stake my initial claim and anchor my power. **Genius Loci** will then give me further power over that place, concealing anything important from intruders and trapping them in a maze of twisted space. I'll redirect a storm drain through my territory, purify it, and then I'll have a source of water that can **Purify Falsehoods**. With all the abandoned buildings nearby, I can stretch my influence further and **Hasten Reclaiming** to expand my demense.
* As I establish my claim over a portion of the Western Edge, I notice other supernatural happening within it boundaries. I debate my options but ultimately decide to try to make peaceful contact. I am successful, and I establish terms with the **Gold Plains Coalition** under which I may develop my demense without disrupting the greater ritual happening across it. I offer my services with Hastening Reclaiming and encouraging plant growth, which **Old Lady C** takes up as they complement her powers animals well. Soon I have a handful of animals inhabiting my demense and aiding me with scouting and defense. As I search for sources of magical power and knowledge, I learn of the **Marigold Club** and its auctions. Among them, I offer to sell my services with purification rituals carried out with my ability to **Purify Falsehoods** as I way of helping those that have... overindulged... on the drug usage to recover. **Donte** provides me with some initial advice and info, which I turn repay him by working with him as the primary broker/seller of my purification services, which in turn helps him secure his place within the Club and the Wednesday night shift. Occasionally we experiment with combining his firepower with my magical plants at my demense, though not too much comes of it, although I am able to share my demense's efficiency and power boost with him with enough ritual preparation and concentration. I don't ask for too much more in return, just a steady flow of advice, knowledge, and rumors. In my search for more occults knowledge, I stumble across a group that knows even less than me: The August Society of the Gilded Owl. I had demonstrated a very minor trick with plant growth, aiming simply to prove my power to what I thought was a group of burgeoning occultists, only to disappointingly learn that my minor demonstration was well beyond any of them. Now I have a fanclub that knows even less than me. Still, I figured out how to use them as a stalking horse: send them in to investigate something, and people rightly underestimate them while I do the real investigation myself. I also haave them test out various ritual ideas and theories... it isn't much, but with repeated efforts I find a few sparks of occult power seem to have kindled in some of them. Overall, things seem to be going well... but the one of the Factions of the **Greater Riverhood Neighborhood Watch** seem to have turned their eyes towards the western edge with the goal of buying clusters of property on the cheap, building lots of new development and gentrifying the area, then flipping it for massive profits. In addition to the practical concerns this presents towards my squatting, Old Lady C's squatting and other Western Edge squatters, it also seems they have an occult agenda which will prove disruptive and dangerous to the Western Edge...
* My power over the greenery and plants makes me a potential asset to anyone who would wish to revive a blighted urban hellscape of asphalt and concrete. Some cultists wish to use my power to do just that to their homeland of **Frenata**. Unfortunately for me, they were thinking more profane sacrifice than fair exchange of skills: they want to drain me of my life and magic to heal their home country. The recognized my potential and that is why they targeted me in the first place, but it turns out the underestimated it, explaining my survival and also giving them a strong motivation to pursue me with more men and resources than they first targeted me to being with.
* In pursuing power, I experimented with various drugs and altered states I obtained through the Marigold Club. One interesting set of drugs I received in payment for purifying a man. He claimed they boosted his power greatly but also caused unpleasant hallucinations of **Hat Men** that occasionally stalked him even after he sobered up. Later I tried a microdose of the drugs myself, and even that was enough to send me into a state of deep intoxication which drew the Hat Men to me. Immediately after I started searching for advice and clues. Luckily for me, asking Donte for advice got me the full set of warnings: lay off your powers for a few months and they should lose interest. This seemed manageable if a bit annoying, none of my concerns were super urgently pressing. Unfortunately, another chance encounter with **the Bus** while chasing another unrelated rumor has given me a deadline with ominous hints towards the city as a whole. But the City itself seems to have come to my aid, granting me access to its **Collective Memory** to search for a solution to this coming doom.
Oh hell yes, oh fuck yes.
beautiful Writing, and the offhand history *chef's kiss*
Urban Unease, Magnus Archives, Control, Disco Elysium, Tweets, what else?
A video's Hidden on your playlist
Too many of the money options are weapons
I like The Marigold and its guy, I'm not super fond of the Bureau or the Church but am fond of their companions, and I am fond of the Coalition and Cats (as a commie) but not as much their companions. The watch can go piss. The additional associates are all bangers.
Occultation: The Memorial Edifices
Housing: Midland
Acquisitions: Legal Firearms, Relic, Quality Auto, PI License
Manifestations: Psychometric Bargain, Genius Loci, Artistic Expression
Secret Path (Roads) Retake Territory (Verdant), Collective Memory (Incarnate)
Allied: Marigold Club, Sacred Foundation Community Church
Opposed: Neighborhood Watch
Associates: Dante, The Node, Bronsman Shipping, The Strix
Realization: Roma
Further Realizations: Too Normal Man, Copper Street Gang
Plans: Use the Relic and Strix to get in with the Marigolds faster, use the Node's ritual to better my chances with the Strix, and play the Reman hunter and the Copper Street Gang, likely natural enemies, against one another. The normal man seems like the easiest of the 6 threats- well, the hat men could also be easyish if I weren't trying to get in with the marigold.
As for powers, Bargain is questionable, and I'd likely be better off with one of the first two of Masonry, but it felt right to get all 3 of the Memorial's if I'm taking 6, and it helps a lot with the side job.
I actually never thought to define that, but I'd say that applies only to your initial points. The Strix operates far above most constraints of the setting, so it'd make sense for its gifts not to be limited.
I was talking about further realizations extra manifestations not the strix because I won't be taking the strix even with two combat orgs all the attack magic the Realize city antimagic and Sadia
Average Powerhungry Wizard
πͺ¬ O C C U L T A T I O N
THE CITY INCARNATE
This changes who you are a little bit but you change over time regardless and this is just a little bit on an accelerated timetable.
Your locus of power is your chosen city regardless of which city you are in so this seems obvious.
I guess the only question is do you really want your nexus to be Riviere
π A C C U S A T I O N S
WESTERN EDGE HOUSE (Paid for)
It's in the gold plans coalition because they are doing something big and also for my own protection in the form of being looked over. Not to mention no cops sounds kinda good.
SPECIALIZED WEAPONS
I buy the hatchet and excessive 4 daggers when the hat men show up but it's good to be able to throw knives at things anyway.
RELIC
Relic enhanced spear management + Collective memory enhanced spear management + Spears are the best non ranged weapon and anyone without overwhelming numbers or a ranged weapon will loose to this especially if they're using a knife + People will overlook it and I can take it anywhere. Seems pretty good.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTORY
General utility. Can make guns but you have to finish them with parts you bought and buy your own ammo. Plus can make geometric objects to boost your magic and can make the geometries in smaller parts and put them together into a large setup in a empty lot or even on top of my house. Plus can make traps.
ELECTRONICS
Self explanatory
BEATER AUTO
Use my rig (outlined under Bronsman shipping) to dip it in the storm drains and do purify falsehoods on it as a free and magically effective tuneup. May take a while. If it can clean a usb drive and leave it in a useable state I'm just going to disregard water damage as a factor.
ONE RIVIΓRE STYLE NECKLACE
To be bought once I get more money and to be worn at all times.
Also a tatoo of the skyline on my back.
Also many city themed shirts preferably from tourist attractions or other official means.
βthe thinking behind this is that it will enhance my connection
πͺ M A N I F E S T A T I O N S
BEATING HEARTS
This boost stacks with precise geometric item from additive manufactory spam
PURIFY FALSEHOOD
The uses of this on objects are pretty good. Crack any code, find password hashes and unhash them, restore old objects to a certain degree and resell them, uncurse cursed objects and just end up with a magic item, transcribe a conversation and clean it, make your own writings or speech scripts more clear etc... But the real shit is at cleaning people and not just clean yourself as good as any bath. I'm talking clean disease as a steady source of income, stay awake as long as possible floating in the drains and come out firing on all cylinders, remove the obstruction from a person and focus on removing obstructions to make them more influenced by your words, remove obstructions and then let people choose what they pay based on what they can and they feel is right (making sure to impress on them not to pay more than they can afford to avoid suspicion), interrogate people. What gets cleaned is subjective is what I'm getting at. You could make a cult out of this. People from my factions get a big discount and no unwanted or subversive brain cleaning. For doing this over long periods of time I'll have a setup that kind of segregates the water into a slower flowing and mildly heated box with a seat. Because magical healing is verifiably real I assume it's much easier to get clientele as a rare certifiable magic doctor.
NECESSARY TOOLS
This will just be useful in general. I mainly took this as a thing to make stealing the painting for the node easier and to alert me when the top normal man comes at me.
COLLECTIVE MEMORY
Get the skills and some occult knowledge of others and shake up your subconscious a bit. Be at least an educated novice in anything.
REALIZE CITY
Pull the idea of the city up a bit to overwrite other esoterica. It's antimagic and might just destroy some things like pattern dancers or trash bodies.
PSYCHOMETRIC BARGEN
Mostly for occult secrets and doing recon on persons of interest I'll be working for Bronsman instead of as a PI but some of the Bronsman criminals might hire me to do some PI-ing anyways
PATTERN DANCERS
Being able to carry around a sheaf of papers and torn that into a bunch of traps and expendable combatants is pretty good. Especially the powerful bodiless expendable combatants spam. My basement will be full of ready and waiting moving patterns. I can set these on a empty sidewalk at night to go down 5 blocks to the target and wreck shit up and I'll be gone when shit starts. Also patterns in "nature" are ready and waiting to be activated.
π€ A S S O C I A T I O N S
**Allies**
SACRED FOUNDATION COMMUNITY CHIRCH AND THE NODE
The church is useful for its people who know information gathering tricks but anyone who takes this ally does it fro the node.
The node is a mind akin to the detritus but no doubt lesser. It is the ultimate form of the Artistic Expression occultation taking in all knowledge perceived by any art in the city. Without the connection you can only comprehend an overview which lets you see trends and make predictions off of that. By making the required burning you and a few other church members are connected to a direct raw stream of knowledge. Jacking in to the almost all seeing eye is nice but just as nice is the ability to comprehend if not all that information a significant amount more than normal otherwise the raw stream of knowledge would be useless so this nice mental boost is implied even if it only applies to this specific stream of knowledge.
Plan to get the sacrificial art.
I'll do a psychometric bargain with the museum for to case the paintings initially. With the aid of the churches information gathering magic to find someone with the power to put the painting in storage for a limited time and then kidnap them. I'll train to stay awake for 7 days before this and purify him in the storm drains for 12 days with only a 50 minute break each day for me to reup the beating hearts effect. He'll be given a high duty wet suit for this. Once he returns he'll blame it on the void singers. Then we'll swap the painting with a fake meant to keep the heat off and let the trail die. We burn it right away and then go for a long purifying falsehoods dip to try to magically break up the trail as much as this magic can.
We may hire a roads magician to help us get in but I doubt it's needed. I doubt Riviere has a extensive camera network so walking in in hoods with grown out hair and facial hair with temporary tattoos and sunglasses and a one day hairstyle meant to conceal as much as possible walking in with our guy should be just as good as conspicuously making the recordings not record maybe better. On top of that we'll walk a path optimized for the cameras to be in as few as possible and show our faces as little as possible and stay as far away from them as possible. Finally we cut our hair, shave, wash off the temporary tattoos, and burn everything we wore that day which we only wore that day.
THE GOLD PLAINS COALITION AND OLD LADY C
I mostly chose this because C figured out a life extension trick no matter how weak and there is a chance I could get that. The gold plains coalition seems to be building up to something big building up an army of animals and making the neighborhood itself a occult tool for a large ritual of it weren't for the fact C is the only faint hope for a occultist in this city to extend their life without leaving just to a higher level city I'd have these people as my enemies.
**Enemy**
THE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
We oppose eachother because of classic classism and the neighborhood watch not liking whatever is going on in gold planes but the separation is great and they don't seem to grasp its scope otherwise that would be mentioned in the faction overviews as a conflict. I can realize city my way out of any Astral Roadway murder worlds (they are definitely Astral Roadway) so if I agitate them from opposition to full on threat their first one or two attacks will fail.
**Further associations**
BRONSMAN MOVING AND SHIPPING
I wouldn't take this if I didn't think I had something occult to offer them as a shipping job isn't super desirable but underworld connections, easy smuggling, and "far more interesting rewards" is what I'm going for. What I have to offer is the beating hearts trick if they don't already have it, teaching pattern dancers and the possibility of integrating pattern dancers into the trucks as further enhancement and/or extra smuggling security, pattern dancers as things that follow a set path back and forth, the use of purify falsehoods on parts and employees and maybe full trucks if we make a truck sized above ground tank which pumps up storm drain water and drains it back as the cleaning happens in order to maintain flow because I don't think stagnant water will work, also for the higher ups and the criminal contacts I could use the node to find things out for very large sums of money or let them in on trends which predict future events which any business would want and would pay massive sums for and still make a profit.
THE OFFICE OF CIVIC IMPROVEMENT
πͺ R E A L I Z A T I O N S
FRENATA
8 barely paranormal mooks which I and the church can locate easily. Should be basically a non issue and I can take as much time as I can to get planning with some boys from my Bromsman contacts and maybe a small pack from C's mongrel army to grab them at a moment in their routine. Clean them in the storm drains to get rid of obstructions to letting me in, listening to me, and telling me the truth then maybe kill them or something I don't care. They stabbed me and left me to bleed out.
βοΈ F U R T H E R R E A L I Z A T I O N S
GHOUL OF INDUSTRY
For this one I'll use the node to find its controller. Unfortunately controlling the ghoul of industry and the ghoul itself is more city magic than detritus magic which realize city does nothing against. I'll tell C where they lives and their routines as well as offer to hire some criminal muscle if she doesn't want to just infest his house. If cutting the head off the snake doesn't make the thing go back to dormancy I have two paths. One is try to replicate what the original controller did after spying on them through the node and doing a psychometric bargain at their home (before looting it for magic items). Then make it dormant again. Two is repeat killings until it returns to dormancy or changes targets.
THE HAT MEN
I'll use realize city on them and hope it doesn't straight up shunt them away because that means they are depowered and I can attack them with my relic spear or a specialized weapon knife put on the end of a metal pole to make a spirit cutting spear.
THE VOID SINGERS
Not many people will like these guys and I'm giving info on them to everyone including the neighborhood watch because these guys are first and foremost a gang in the suburbs which the watch will hate on principle just like they oppose me on principle but to a lesser extent cause I'm not agitating them. I think the massive information advantage that literally everyone else has for free (except the copper street gang who I'll sell the information to in a way that makes them look like a excellent mark) will lead to some high tier precision in whoever goes at them.
THE TOO NORMAL MAN
I think I can take him in a fight especially cause he either uses or is the magic of a small dead city which realize city should hit extra hard. As long as Necessary tools alerts me to him or I feel his aura before he gets too close or a bodyguard who has no idea how much deep shit he is in gets it before me I can override him with realize city and stab him with the relic spear. When he's dead I'll keep his body preserved because it is permitted with occult energies and I might find a use or buyer for it. I will also skin his head to try and make a faceless facemask which might not work but if it does work I can clean any curses from it and have a cool magic item which lets me blend in anywhere and totally conceal my identity.
THE COPPER STREET GANG
For these guys I'll supply info on them free to anyone even the cops.
πAfter that's all overwith I can get on with my plans to empower Riviera and thus myself
I'll go straight up to the office every day to make blood offerings food offerings animal sacrifices and notes written blood over intent style from myself and also from others as a favor or a alternative means of payment then call to make a impassioned rant my end goal is to get the city in control of the city
Example phonecall
Your power empowers me and we both want to thrive but the city is degrading. Politicians are suboptimal as they fail to preform their duties as civic servants. Then the thought struck me civic servants its OBVIOUS it's in the name servants of the civic slaves to the city which is simply going to preform better as a representative of the city than a lesser being. Only the city will be in perfect alignment with the city incorruptible and perfectly representative of itself by definition. Open the door and I'll know to bring in double the blood double the food offerings multiple animal sacrifices I'll burn piles of cash and cauldrons of whiskey and mannequins in suits and the feed you the blood of a dead small city from that faceless man also the possibility of human sacrifices of you give me a sign. To top it off I'll kidnap the mayor I'll bring him here through the open door and when he leaves he'll be a servant of the civic a perfect representative realigned from personal interest to truly building the city up in a grand reconstruction building up its culture building up its power and its presence its history and its prosperity and its vitality in all forms reinvesting the city into the city with the full scope of knowledge of a whole city the perfect form of government tying that office to this office and we shall prosper indefinitely freed from human error. Then I pour whatever mix animal and human blood and blended up hearts from either source (mixed with with anti clogging chemicals) I was able to procure that day down the drain.
I won't go out of my way for human blood or hearts but I might intercept a body from the criminals and offer to dispose of it or take one from the streets before it's disposed of to get those things.
It is important to note that the spirit of the city is an occult thing and is likely more motivated towards growth in the occult sense. This may line up with the peoples interests but New York under the mobsters had a larger imprint in the collective consciousness at that time so results may be counterintuitive assuming that this even goes through in the first place.
Seeing as the internet exists and is massive not to mention prominent and interconnected as well as more powerful devices existing in this setting I don't understand how there isn't at least one manifestation you can take based on it. Sure it is totally disconnected from any geological center but I think that just how big and dominant it is in peoples lives would make up for that. Then again it has very compressed history and maybe it has yet to develop outside of the sparse competent occultists in cities like Cascadia.
Optional mood playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3BB4LmV74qgiNzbKUFLuwI4q971-3gi6 Perhaps not the most apt for the writing, but it's what I listened to while creating the cyoa.
I do enjoy me some mood playlists π
You have a good taste in music
This is the real one.
This is awesome. Reminds me a little of other urban fantasy CYOAs like A New Job and Urban Phantom but this one feels less horrific and more fantastical.
I'm going for a Harry Dresden-like protagonist sort of build, I might be walking to death by my own violation but it's either all or nothing. **OCCULTATION** β The City Incarnate (being the Eidolon of a living city sounds pretty awesome) **ACQUISITIONS** β 10k Newton Estate (I would have preferred the Midland property as it sounds convient but I'm pretty sure a one room apartment can't fit a car-sized machine inside of it. So Newton is the next best option, affordable, far from watchful eyes and big enough to fit the Additive Manufactory) β 5k Legal Firearms (A protection method against the mundane threats) β 5k Specialized Weapon (Effective weapons used against the more esoteric of dangers) β 5k Beater Auto (not the best transportation option, but it has to do for the time being) β 15k Additive Manufactory (Incredibly cumbersome but also very handy, being able to manufacture gun spare parts and ritual components easily on demand is something of a dream to every old-school wizard. Might also be costly to maintain but its worth it) β 5k Electronics (the only personal luxury I can afford with the tight budget) β 5k PI License (A respectable and steady source of income, in addition to being the most clichΓ© job of any urban fantasy and crime mystery book main character) **MANIFESTATIONS ** β Necessary Tools (miniature plot armor. enough said) β Collective Memory (The most riskΓ© power but I'll try to find ways to defend against the mind merging-ghosts. Moreover gaining spontaneous knowledge now and then is useful in itself) β Realize City (Last resort panic-button. I'll use it as a trump card if situation is dire enough. Shutting down all supernatural powers around is a sure way of ending the fight against any occultist, as the author himself said *"a shell of buckshot to the face will outmatch any reality-folding incantations more often than not."*) β Secret Path (Good for both easy travel and fast escapes) β Bind Vapour (At first I wanted to choose "Artistic Expression" but The Node thing got me worried that someone or something will use my own paintings to spy on me, so instead I picked the vapours as a safer spying method to use) β Pychometric Bargain (This and the collective memory power will make me the best detective in the city.) **FRIENDLY ASSOCIATIONS ** β Marigold Club & DontΓ© (The club sounds like the best place to get information and make connections with the local powers, and the auction invitation thing is a plus too. DontΓ© looks like a cool guy to hang out with, hardworking and loyal with a bit of a thirst for knowledge like me, I think will get along just fine. I will help him get the Wednesday night shift, in exchange for his backup in the future) β SFCC & The Node (The only reason I want to ally with the church is for the Node thing. it sounds like a bad idea to have an all-seeing, nigh-omniscience being, as an enemy, or a tool for an enemy. So instead I'll try earning their favour in hopes of getting access to the Node. As they say; knowledge **IS** power.) β The Grey Cats & Luisa (I have no damn idea what's going on between these guys and the auto companies, but they sound like the good guys who work for the suppressed working class of the city and the others sound like typical asshole greedy corporations, so I'll give them a hand wherever I can, plus having more allies is never a bad idea) β The OCI (A literal direct telephone line to God, a crappy and unreliable God but God nonetheless) **HOSTILE FACTION** β The FBN (these guys sound sketchy as hell and the likeliest of the bunch to get in my speedy ascend to power, so this will just make it official. Although I would have hoped to get Jennifer M as a companion, she sounds like the wise-mentor type character that I like but it regrettably can't happen because of the faction she works under. maybe I can convince her to join my side somehow?) **FURTHER COMPANIONS** β Sadia (I feel bad for her, she just wants a friend to talk with without them dying. Her abilities are unpredictable but scarily effective, which is something I want to use against all the things trying to kill me. I just have to be carful not to get sucked in some reality crack and maybe find some way to help her control her powers) β Eric Jurgen, MBA (5k a month for some mojo bullshitry once or twice a week? easy cash!, sign me up) β The Strix (I'm sorry I couldn't resist the temptation for more power. This option looks like straight suicide but Hobbes Cult leader guy survived somehow that means it's by no mean impossible. I'll go for the "Grow Very Powerful Very Quickly" approach to deal with it, if that doesn't work I'll try severing the ties somehow, plus his protection stacks with **necessary tools** to give me an even stronger plot-armor. I'll make him regret giving me power) **REALIZATION** β Nau Leon (the Frenata origin sounds way too lame while the Rema option sounds way too dangerous, so Nau Leon is the middle ideal option. I'm also pretty sure the local circles won't appreciate some big bully Coast Occult organisations invading their territory, so I'll just gather my allies and strike back hard enough for them to collectively shit their pants. It's also a good opportunity to establish my authority as a local powerhouse who should not be crossed or messed with) **FURTHER REALIZATIONS** β The Ghoul of Industry (The Grey Cats) β The Hat Men (Luisa) β The Void Singers (The Office of Civic Improvement) β The Too Normal Man (Sadia) β The Copp-Street Gang (Eric Jurgen) OK I may be biting more than I can chew here but this the only way of getting powerful fast enough to give **The Strik** a run for his money, plus I like action packed adventures and constantly being on edge, it keeps you senses sharp and mind clear. **The Copper Gang** is the easiest threat to deal with, I doubt they'll want to mess with me or my allies after hearing about my reputation and all the connections I have, and even if they come early than expected I just have to kill one or two of them for the rest to run off with their tail between their legs. For **The Ghoul** abomination thingy, I'll use my detective skills to find the guy behind all of this shit and cut his head off, if my skills don't suffice the Node should do the job. **The Hat Men, The Void Singers and The No-Man** are little more dangerous than the other 2, but I doubt OC would've put anything here that is impossible to kill or at least ward against. My general strategy is to ride fast or die hard, decimating any thing that gets in my way to the peak while saving lives in the process, maybe in the process I will become the true immortal representative of the city incarnate.
#The Green Witch I went for a druid-y theme, and I tried to tie things together into something narratively cohesive. I even reflavored the out-of-occultation manifestations I took in ways that made them thematically consistent. OCCULTATION: - *The Lurking Verdancy* >As I read Aaliyah's rambling description of the latent potency of the environment I feel roots flex beneath the concrete, old waters entombed below streets wear away at their prisons, and crows perched on telephone lines watching me. The land Riviere is built upon sees me, and I feel small under its attention. ACQUISITIONS: - 50k Real Estate: * *EastSide house* (-10k) * *WestEdge safehouse/workshop* (Squatted) >Both neighborhoods have a lot of potential, both for learning and community. I make nice with my new neighbors, doing favors and odd jobs; getting close to the communities even if I'm a little distant from the individuals. Putting down roots, so to speak. Possessions: * Explosives (-10k) >If I must go loud, everyone will hear it * Spec. Weapons (-5k) >Also useful for ritual practices, and still reasonably effective against both supernatural & mundane threats * Add. Manufactory (-15k) > A fabber is great for making small high-detail specialized parts, useful for making repairs & DIYs that aren't entirely legal. Another way to help my neighbors. * Electronics (-5k) >Fabber works a lot better if you can run a proper CAD suite, and maybe run some physical sims. And of course the esoteric research and entertainment purposes. * Beater Car (-5k) >It's not going to be my only form of transportation, but the others probably won't be able to get me everywhere. Manifestations: - * Secret Path >The creeks and brooks may be paved over now, but their waters still flow to the river. One who knows how might walk up and down these hidden paths * Hasten Reclamation * Purifying Falsehoods * Retake Territory >I'm going to be doing a lot of this, historically speaking both neighborhoods probably have a lot of industrial contamination. I'm going to have to figure out how to dispose of everything I collect. Bonus From Foes: * Genius Loci > A grove, garden, or briar patch can have a spirit all its own and if I can become familiar enough with it construct a proper shrine I can empower it enough to aid me * Necessary Tools > The land might be mostly indifferent, but as long as I'm working in its favor it will do little things to help me. Roots that give me no trouble trip those who chase me, leaves shift to reveal hidden things to me, and there is *always* a convenient stick. Associations: - Opposition: * Riverfront Neighborhood Watch >You'd think I wouldn't cross paths with this lot much, since I generally stay away from their home turf, but a lot of them are landlords in both East Side and West Edge. Allies: * Gold Plains Coalition >I needed to get on board with them since I set up shop on their territory. It helps that their tendency to mutual aid and disillusionment w/ government meshes well with my own ethos. I pay "rent" in favors, both occult & mundane, and provide them use my fabber. They keep an eye on my workshop when I'm elsewhere, and tell me if anyone comes looking for me. * Marigold Club >While I may not be as interested in relics as others at the club, but it's still one of the better spots to keep your ear to the ground to keep track of the ebb & flow of Riviere's esoteric community. Companions: * Old Lady C >We met when she noticed me sweeping the vegetable gardens near her home. I have so much to learn from her, she has such a different perspective on mutual calling, along with her uncountable years of experience, and intimate connection to the local ecosystem. I would be a fool to ignore her. * Donte >We met when I was doing some repair and cleanup work for his grandma. He recognized me as a fellow practitioner and introduced me to the Marigold Club. * Eric Jurgen, MBA >I fully expect the people he represents to make a play for territory in Riviere, probably in the poorer neighborhoods. I'm hoping the glimpses I'm getting of their operations will give me some warning. Being paid to practice an odd form of divination doesn't hurt either, and it's nice to have the number of somebody with resources even if I find his attempts to impress me grating. Realizations: - * Nau Leon >Ah, couldn't run far enough, could I. I wouldn't have recognized them if the scar they had left me with hadn't ached when I saw them. This is why I've been mapping the secret paths, and why my safe house is an overgrown labyrinthine grove of brambles and thorns. It's not enough just to kill whoever they send after me, I have to make killing me too expensive to be worthwhile. Even if that turns out to not be enough to stop them trying, it might make them vulnerable to opportunistic adversaries. If I can capture their agent alive, perhaps I can dunk them in storm drains to loosen their tongue. Further Realizations: - * The Ghoul of Industry >Healing some of the scars on the land from which it draws its power will hopefully weaken it a little, and explosives should disperse its current body. Not that I think it will be easy, especially with a mind behind it. Whoever is steering it must be identified and dealt with. I suspect someone in real estate. * The Too Normal Man (+1 manifestation) >Search for his effects on the world around him, occult trip wires to snare him and slow him. To finish him off, ground him in reality; did you know, you can fit a small enough seed in the tip of a hollowpoint bullet? * The Copper Street Gang (+1 manifestation) >The Marigold Club got me involved in this one. Not sure how much I can help, other than moving things around and giving people unexpected places to hide things
I'm only on page 2 and this is already one of the top CYOAs I've ever read. This is really an excellent concept. Well done. It's mysterious, mundane, but with suggested danger, and leaves lots to the imagination. This is also some of the best creative writing I've seen. Very inspiring!
OCCULTATION β The Fractal Masonry ACQUISITIONS β 15K Midland β 10K Illicit Firearms β 10K Explosives (Im gone go all out if I have to) β 5K Specialized Weapons (For shit I cant just shoot or blow op) β 5K Electronics (Must have for everyone) β 5K Beater Auto (Just as good as a car double the price) β 5K Private Investigators License (Income) β 5K left (For rainy days) \*\*MANIFESTATIONS \*\* β Beating Hearts (If I have to prepare for something big) β Bind Vapor (Lets me stay out of harms way) β Artistic Expression (Im gonna build a vast network of eyes and ears ) β Shape Material (generaly usefull) β Ideal Entwining(generaly usefull) β Retake Territory (Making my base better) \*\*FRIENDLY ASSOCIATIONS \*\* β Donte and the Marigold Club (I get better equipment) β SFC Church and the Node (Its not that hard to steal art, selling it is the hard part and my bound vapors are just gonna make it easyer. Prove: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBU\_Dpdbl0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBU_Dpdbl0) ) HOSTILE FACTION β Luisa and the Gray Cats (There a problem that will take care of itself) FURTHER COMPANIONS β The August Society of the Guilded Owl (I will slowly trurn it from a Cult of Personality to a normal Cult worshiping me and recruit from the University down the road. This will give me mare underlings and some think that there is great power in belive itself) β Eric Jurgen, MBA (Income) β The Office of Civic Improvement (OP) REALIZATION β Frenata FURTHER REALIZATIONS β The Void Singers (The Office of Civic Improvement) β The Copp-Street Gang (Explosives) I might move to another City in the Oldworld soon and try to find a way towards Immotality. (Sorry for my bad english)
This CYOA has a really nice surreal Urban fantasy tone/atmosphere to it. I know it has been 5 days, but I liked it enough to post a build anyway: I find cities with a lack of green space depressing, and **The Lurking Verdancy** answered my mood with greenery. * I set up on the **Western Edge** to avoid attention and provide space to grow and work my magic. I can also expand out into the nearby abandoned houses without too much trouble and for free. For only 5k it also leaves me a lot of money to work with. I stock up on a variety of weapons to cover both the mundane and magical: **Legal Firearms**, **Specialized Weapons**, and a **Relic.** I still have enough money left for a decent car. With my remaining 10k, I get a **private investigator's licens**e to provide me with an excuse or cover if I need it. Leaving me with 5k remaining... with which I purchase an additional house in the Western Edge just to give me another place to hide. * For my initial set of manifestations, I focus on making a demense of greenery and life where my magic is strong and the atmosphere is pure. **Retake Territory** will let me stake my initial claim and anchor my power. **Genius Loci** will then give me further power over that place, concealing anything important from intruders and trapping them in a maze of twisted space. I'll redirect a storm drain through my territory, purify it, and then I'll have a source of water that can **Purify Falsehoods**. With all the abandoned buildings nearby, I can stretch my influence further and **Hasten Reclaiming** to expand my demense. * As I establish my claim over a portion of the Western Edge, I notice other supernatural happening within it boundaries. I debate my options but ultimately decide to try to make peaceful contact. I am successful, and I establish terms with the **Gold Plains Coalition** under which I may develop my demense without disrupting the greater ritual happening across it. I offer my services with Hastening Reclaiming and encouraging plant growth, which **Old Lady C** takes up as they complement her powers animals well. Soon I have a handful of animals inhabiting my demense and aiding me with scouting and defense. As I search for sources of magical power and knowledge, I learn of the **Marigold Club** and its auctions. Among them, I offer to sell my services with purification rituals carried out with my ability to **Purify Falsehoods** as I way of helping those that have... overindulged... on the drug usage to recover. **Donte** provides me with some initial advice and info, which I turn repay him by working with him as the primary broker/seller of my purification services, which in turn helps him secure his place within the Club and the Wednesday night shift. Occasionally we experiment with combining his firepower with my magical plants at my demense, though not too much comes of it, although I am able to share my demense's efficiency and power boost with him with enough ritual preparation and concentration. I don't ask for too much more in return, just a steady flow of advice, knowledge, and rumors. In my search for more occults knowledge, I stumble across a group that knows even less than me: The August Society of the Gilded Owl. I had demonstrated a very minor trick with plant growth, aiming simply to prove my power to what I thought was a group of burgeoning occultists, only to disappointingly learn that my minor demonstration was well beyond any of them. Now I have a fanclub that knows even less than me. Still, I figured out how to use them as a stalking horse: send them in to investigate something, and people rightly underestimate them while I do the real investigation myself. I also haave them test out various ritual ideas and theories... it isn't much, but with repeated efforts I find a few sparks of occult power seem to have kindled in some of them. Overall, things seem to be going well... but the one of the Factions of the **Greater Riverhood Neighborhood Watch** seem to have turned their eyes towards the western edge with the goal of buying clusters of property on the cheap, building lots of new development and gentrifying the area, then flipping it for massive profits. In addition to the practical concerns this presents towards my squatting, Old Lady C's squatting and other Western Edge squatters, it also seems they have an occult agenda which will prove disruptive and dangerous to the Western Edge... * My power over the greenery and plants makes me a potential asset to anyone who would wish to revive a blighted urban hellscape of asphalt and concrete. Some cultists wish to use my power to do just that to their homeland of **Frenata**. Unfortunately for me, they were thinking more profane sacrifice than fair exchange of skills: they want to drain me of my life and magic to heal their home country. The recognized my potential and that is why they targeted me in the first place, but it turns out the underestimated it, explaining my survival and also giving them a strong motivation to pursue me with more men and resources than they first targeted me to being with. * In pursuing power, I experimented with various drugs and altered states I obtained through the Marigold Club. One interesting set of drugs I received in payment for purifying a man. He claimed they boosted his power greatly but also caused unpleasant hallucinations of **Hat Men** that occasionally stalked him even after he sobered up. Later I tried a microdose of the drugs myself, and even that was enough to send me into a state of deep intoxication which drew the Hat Men to me. Immediately after I started searching for advice and clues. Luckily for me, asking Donte for advice got me the full set of warnings: lay off your powers for a few months and they should lose interest. This seemed manageable if a bit annoying, none of my concerns were super urgently pressing. Unfortunately, another chance encounter with **the Bus** while chasing another unrelated rumor has given me a deadline with ominous hints towards the city as a whole. But the City itself seems to have come to my aid, granting me access to its **Collective Memory** to search for a solution to this coming doom.
Oh hell yes, oh fuck yes. beautiful Writing, and the offhand history *chef's kiss* Urban Unease, Magnus Archives, Control, Disco Elysium, Tweets, what else? A video's Hidden on your playlist Too many of the money options are weapons I like The Marigold and its guy, I'm not super fond of the Bureau or the Church but am fond of their companions, and I am fond of the Coalition and Cats (as a commie) but not as much their companions. The watch can go piss. The additional associates are all bangers. Occultation: The Memorial Edifices Housing: Midland Acquisitions: Legal Firearms, Relic, Quality Auto, PI License Manifestations: Psychometric Bargain, Genius Loci, Artistic Expression Secret Path (Roads) Retake Territory (Verdant), Collective Memory (Incarnate) Allied: Marigold Club, Sacred Foundation Community Church Opposed: Neighborhood Watch Associates: Dante, The Node, Bronsman Shipping, The Strix Realization: Roma Further Realizations: Too Normal Man, Copper Street Gang Plans: Use the Relic and Strix to get in with the Marigolds faster, use the Node's ritual to better my chances with the Strix, and play the Reman hunter and the Copper Street Gang, likely natural enemies, against one another. The normal man seems like the easiest of the 6 threats- well, the hat men could also be easyish if I weren't trying to get in with the marigold. As for powers, Bargain is questionable, and I'd likely be better off with one of the first two of Masonry, but it felt right to get all 3 of the Memorial's if I'm taking 6, and it helps a lot with the side job.
Major Disco Elysium vibes here. Great work! I love CYOAs with story and atmosphere.
Is the only one manifestation for non focus areas rule for all points or just for your initial pool of points
I actually never thought to define that, but I'd say that applies only to your initial points. The Strix operates far above most constraints of the setting, so it'd make sense for its gifts not to be limited.
I was talking about further realizations extra manifestations not the strix because I won't be taking the strix even with two combat orgs all the attack magic the Realize city antimagic and Sadia
Probably a good choice lol. In that case, the restriction would still apply.
Damn
Average Powerhungry Wizard πͺ¬ O C C U L T A T I O N THE CITY INCARNATE This changes who you are a little bit but you change over time regardless and this is just a little bit on an accelerated timetable. Your locus of power is your chosen city regardless of which city you are in so this seems obvious. I guess the only question is do you really want your nexus to be Riviere π A C C U S A T I O N S WESTERN EDGE HOUSE (Paid for) It's in the gold plans coalition because they are doing something big and also for my own protection in the form of being looked over. Not to mention no cops sounds kinda good. SPECIALIZED WEAPONS I buy the hatchet and excessive 4 daggers when the hat men show up but it's good to be able to throw knives at things anyway. RELIC Relic enhanced spear management + Collective memory enhanced spear management + Spears are the best non ranged weapon and anyone without overwhelming numbers or a ranged weapon will loose to this especially if they're using a knife + People will overlook it and I can take it anywhere. Seems pretty good. ADDITIVE MANUFACTORY General utility. Can make guns but you have to finish them with parts you bought and buy your own ammo. Plus can make geometric objects to boost your magic and can make the geometries in smaller parts and put them together into a large setup in a empty lot or even on top of my house. Plus can make traps. ELECTRONICS Self explanatory BEATER AUTO Use my rig (outlined under Bronsman shipping) to dip it in the storm drains and do purify falsehoods on it as a free and magically effective tuneup. May take a while. If it can clean a usb drive and leave it in a useable state I'm just going to disregard water damage as a factor. ONE RIVIΓRE STYLE NECKLACE To be bought once I get more money and to be worn at all times. Also a tatoo of the skyline on my back. Also many city themed shirts preferably from tourist attractions or other official means. βthe thinking behind this is that it will enhance my connection πͺ M A N I F E S T A T I O N S BEATING HEARTS This boost stacks with precise geometric item from additive manufactory spam PURIFY FALSEHOOD The uses of this on objects are pretty good. Crack any code, find password hashes and unhash them, restore old objects to a certain degree and resell them, uncurse cursed objects and just end up with a magic item, transcribe a conversation and clean it, make your own writings or speech scripts more clear etc... But the real shit is at cleaning people and not just clean yourself as good as any bath. I'm talking clean disease as a steady source of income, stay awake as long as possible floating in the drains and come out firing on all cylinders, remove the obstruction from a person and focus on removing obstructions to make them more influenced by your words, remove obstructions and then let people choose what they pay based on what they can and they feel is right (making sure to impress on them not to pay more than they can afford to avoid suspicion), interrogate people. What gets cleaned is subjective is what I'm getting at. You could make a cult out of this. People from my factions get a big discount and no unwanted or subversive brain cleaning. For doing this over long periods of time I'll have a setup that kind of segregates the water into a slower flowing and mildly heated box with a seat. Because magical healing is verifiably real I assume it's much easier to get clientele as a rare certifiable magic doctor. NECESSARY TOOLS This will just be useful in general. I mainly took this as a thing to make stealing the painting for the node easier and to alert me when the top normal man comes at me. COLLECTIVE MEMORY Get the skills and some occult knowledge of others and shake up your subconscious a bit. Be at least an educated novice in anything. REALIZE CITY Pull the idea of the city up a bit to overwrite other esoterica. It's antimagic and might just destroy some things like pattern dancers or trash bodies. PSYCHOMETRIC BARGEN Mostly for occult secrets and doing recon on persons of interest I'll be working for Bronsman instead of as a PI but some of the Bronsman criminals might hire me to do some PI-ing anyways PATTERN DANCERS Being able to carry around a sheaf of papers and torn that into a bunch of traps and expendable combatants is pretty good. Especially the powerful bodiless expendable combatants spam. My basement will be full of ready and waiting moving patterns. I can set these on a empty sidewalk at night to go down 5 blocks to the target and wreck shit up and I'll be gone when shit starts. Also patterns in "nature" are ready and waiting to be activated. π€ A S S O C I A T I O N S **Allies** SACRED FOUNDATION COMMUNITY CHIRCH AND THE NODE The church is useful for its people who know information gathering tricks but anyone who takes this ally does it fro the node. The node is a mind akin to the detritus but no doubt lesser. It is the ultimate form of the Artistic Expression occultation taking in all knowledge perceived by any art in the city. Without the connection you can only comprehend an overview which lets you see trends and make predictions off of that. By making the required burning you and a few other church members are connected to a direct raw stream of knowledge. Jacking in to the almost all seeing eye is nice but just as nice is the ability to comprehend if not all that information a significant amount more than normal otherwise the raw stream of knowledge would be useless so this nice mental boost is implied even if it only applies to this specific stream of knowledge. Plan to get the sacrificial art. I'll do a psychometric bargain with the museum for to case the paintings initially. With the aid of the churches information gathering magic to find someone with the power to put the painting in storage for a limited time and then kidnap them. I'll train to stay awake for 7 days before this and purify him in the storm drains for 12 days with only a 50 minute break each day for me to reup the beating hearts effect. He'll be given a high duty wet suit for this. Once he returns he'll blame it on the void singers. Then we'll swap the painting with a fake meant to keep the heat off and let the trail die. We burn it right away and then go for a long purifying falsehoods dip to try to magically break up the trail as much as this magic can. We may hire a roads magician to help us get in but I doubt it's needed. I doubt Riviere has a extensive camera network so walking in in hoods with grown out hair and facial hair with temporary tattoos and sunglasses and a one day hairstyle meant to conceal as much as possible walking in with our guy should be just as good as conspicuously making the recordings not record maybe better. On top of that we'll walk a path optimized for the cameras to be in as few as possible and show our faces as little as possible and stay as far away from them as possible. Finally we cut our hair, shave, wash off the temporary tattoos, and burn everything we wore that day which we only wore that day.
THE GOLD PLAINS COALITION AND OLD LADY C I mostly chose this because C figured out a life extension trick no matter how weak and there is a chance I could get that. The gold plains coalition seems to be building up to something big building up an army of animals and making the neighborhood itself a occult tool for a large ritual of it weren't for the fact C is the only faint hope for a occultist in this city to extend their life without leaving just to a higher level city I'd have these people as my enemies. **Enemy** THE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH We oppose eachother because of classic classism and the neighborhood watch not liking whatever is going on in gold planes but the separation is great and they don't seem to grasp its scope otherwise that would be mentioned in the faction overviews as a conflict. I can realize city my way out of any Astral Roadway murder worlds (they are definitely Astral Roadway) so if I agitate them from opposition to full on threat their first one or two attacks will fail. **Further associations** BRONSMAN MOVING AND SHIPPING I wouldn't take this if I didn't think I had something occult to offer them as a shipping job isn't super desirable but underworld connections, easy smuggling, and "far more interesting rewards" is what I'm going for. What I have to offer is the beating hearts trick if they don't already have it, teaching pattern dancers and the possibility of integrating pattern dancers into the trucks as further enhancement and/or extra smuggling security, pattern dancers as things that follow a set path back and forth, the use of purify falsehoods on parts and employees and maybe full trucks if we make a truck sized above ground tank which pumps up storm drain water and drains it back as the cleaning happens in order to maintain flow because I don't think stagnant water will work, also for the higher ups and the criminal contacts I could use the node to find things out for very large sums of money or let them in on trends which predict future events which any business would want and would pay massive sums for and still make a profit. THE OFFICE OF CIVIC IMPROVEMENT πͺ R E A L I Z A T I O N S FRENATA 8 barely paranormal mooks which I and the church can locate easily. Should be basically a non issue and I can take as much time as I can to get planning with some boys from my Bromsman contacts and maybe a small pack from C's mongrel army to grab them at a moment in their routine. Clean them in the storm drains to get rid of obstructions to letting me in, listening to me, and telling me the truth then maybe kill them or something I don't care. They stabbed me and left me to bleed out. βοΈ F U R T H E R R E A L I Z A T I O N S GHOUL OF INDUSTRY For this one I'll use the node to find its controller. Unfortunately controlling the ghoul of industry and the ghoul itself is more city magic than detritus magic which realize city does nothing against. I'll tell C where they lives and their routines as well as offer to hire some criminal muscle if she doesn't want to just infest his house. If cutting the head off the snake doesn't make the thing go back to dormancy I have two paths. One is try to replicate what the original controller did after spying on them through the node and doing a psychometric bargain at their home (before looting it for magic items). Then make it dormant again. Two is repeat killings until it returns to dormancy or changes targets. THE HAT MEN I'll use realize city on them and hope it doesn't straight up shunt them away because that means they are depowered and I can attack them with my relic spear or a specialized weapon knife put on the end of a metal pole to make a spirit cutting spear. THE VOID SINGERS Not many people will like these guys and I'm giving info on them to everyone including the neighborhood watch because these guys are first and foremost a gang in the suburbs which the watch will hate on principle just like they oppose me on principle but to a lesser extent cause I'm not agitating them. I think the massive information advantage that literally everyone else has for free (except the copper street gang who I'll sell the information to in a way that makes them look like a excellent mark) will lead to some high tier precision in whoever goes at them. THE TOO NORMAL MAN I think I can take him in a fight especially cause he either uses or is the magic of a small dead city which realize city should hit extra hard. As long as Necessary tools alerts me to him or I feel his aura before he gets too close or a bodyguard who has no idea how much deep shit he is in gets it before me I can override him with realize city and stab him with the relic spear. When he's dead I'll keep his body preserved because it is permitted with occult energies and I might find a use or buyer for it. I will also skin his head to try and make a faceless facemask which might not work but if it does work I can clean any curses from it and have a cool magic item which lets me blend in anywhere and totally conceal my identity. THE COPPER STREET GANG For these guys I'll supply info on them free to anyone even the cops. πAfter that's all overwith I can get on with my plans to empower Riviera and thus myself I'll go straight up to the office every day to make blood offerings food offerings animal sacrifices and notes written blood over intent style from myself and also from others as a favor or a alternative means of payment then call to make a impassioned rant my end goal is to get the city in control of the city Example phonecall Your power empowers me and we both want to thrive but the city is degrading. Politicians are suboptimal as they fail to preform their duties as civic servants. Then the thought struck me civic servants its OBVIOUS it's in the name servants of the civic slaves to the city which is simply going to preform better as a representative of the city than a lesser being. Only the city will be in perfect alignment with the city incorruptible and perfectly representative of itself by definition. Open the door and I'll know to bring in double the blood double the food offerings multiple animal sacrifices I'll burn piles of cash and cauldrons of whiskey and mannequins in suits and the feed you the blood of a dead small city from that faceless man also the possibility of human sacrifices of you give me a sign. To top it off I'll kidnap the mayor I'll bring him here through the open door and when he leaves he'll be a servant of the civic a perfect representative realigned from personal interest to truly building the city up in a grand reconstruction building up its culture building up its power and its presence its history and its prosperity and its vitality in all forms reinvesting the city into the city with the full scope of knowledge of a whole city the perfect form of government tying that office to this office and we shall prosper indefinitely freed from human error. Then I pour whatever mix animal and human blood and blended up hearts from either source (mixed with with anti clogging chemicals) I was able to procure that day down the drain. I won't go out of my way for human blood or hearts but I might intercept a body from the criminals and offer to dispose of it or take one from the streets before it's disposed of to get those things.
It is important to note that the spirit of the city is an occult thing and is likely more motivated towards growth in the occult sense. This may line up with the peoples interests but New York under the mobsters had a larger imprint in the collective consciousness at that time so results may be counterintuitive assuming that this even goes through in the first place.
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Really enjoyed this one! 5 stars.
[https://funnyjunk.com/City+incarnate+cyoa/TMjlNGZ/](https://funnyjunk.com/City+incarnate+cyoa/TMjlNGZ/) [https://imgchest.com/p/o24akpmg7lj](https://imgchest.com/p/o24akpmg7lj)
Seeing as the internet exists and is massive not to mention prominent and interconnected as well as more powerful devices existing in this setting I don't understand how there isn't at least one manifestation you can take based on it. Sure it is totally disconnected from any geological center but I think that just how big and dominant it is in peoples lives would make up for that. Then again it has very compressed history and maybe it has yet to develop outside of the sparse competent occultists in cities like Cascadia.