Old Ishara Conversation Finds

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Old Ishara Conversation Finds

Postby HorribleApparition » Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:39 pm

A few months ago BradRepko was searching his old AOL e-mail account and came across a few conversations he had saved between him and Duamutef regarding Ishara. He had initially given these works to another to be posted here, but there was animosity over whether or not they should be published since the conversation was done privately. Ultimately the person Bradley had given them to had chosen not to release them. Brad has since given these conversations to me, and I have taken a look at them and have found nothing of a personal nature in them, as the conversation focuses on Ishara. Therefore, I will be releasing these conversations in an edited format. There are three E-mails in all, and the conversation spans from May 2, 2009 through May 7, 2009.

Belly Bulger and Gastro Grappler Classes (gurglemeister only)

Duamutef wrote:
BradRepko wrote:well, it is an experienced fighter from a gurglemeister village called a Gastro Grappeler. She is experienced in physical combat, hand to hand and with weapons, and is strong and powerful, like an amazoness, but she uses her Gastric Chakra in a clever way to utilize it like a weapon. acid burps, sonic belches, and the like. she will grab her enemy and pull her close, and unleash a torrent of acid all over her, doing nice damage, stinging her skin, and damaging her armor but, a gastro grappeler is never complete without their partner, known as a Belly Bulger. These belly bulgers are usually quite a bit more acid resistant than most girls, and are experts at squirming in the the belly. They squirm in just the right way to help stimulate the stomach to produce more acids additionally, the bulge they make in the stomach provides for some belly slams and additional weight for the grappeler, who is an expert at fighting with a bulging belly and typically has some level of giant stomach skill and when the Grappeler scarfs down an opponent, the Bulger is in their to make sure she doesn't escape plus, having her in the tummy provides the Grappeler with a steady stream of nutrients, meaning steady healing and mana recovery after battle, she regurgitates her comrade (provided she hasn't already slipped into her intestines) frequently the bulger is pretty beaten up, with skin missing in various places and even some limbs missing. Of course, they heal and grow back if they slip into the intestines, they can survive to make it out the other end, provided the battle doesn't draw on to long, as the body will absorb and digest much faster during the strains of battle. to keep the Grappeler at full strength through out naturally, the Belly Bulger has to have incredible endurance to survive more than a few battles in this way. thankfully, there always seems to be the same number of grappelers and buldgers in a village, and when a bulger is digested, a new one is usually born in the next couple days naturally, a bond forms between the grappeler and her bulger, evolving to a deep love if the bulger survives long enough the greatest bulgers can survive as long as their grappeler does, and are so skilled they almost form a symbiosis with the stomach, becoming one with it and actually controlling the digestion and how the energy is used, making it more efficient. These truly skilled bulgers will usually only die when the grappeler is in over her head, providing the right boost of strength needed for the grappeler to overcome, but at the cost of her life, but she willfully gives it to her love. younger, less experienced bulgers are nervous about it and don't want to be digested, but as they become experienced and bond with the grappeler, they become used to it are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice if it will help their grappeler live on the best grappelers usually have two or three of these cherished bulgers in their life time, and it's painful to lose one, but they go on, and are all the wiser for it, as grappelers are usually arrogant and tend to pick battles without realizing they can't win until it's to late, so those that have lossed a long time bulger often become that much wiser and better for it.


Well now, you certainly have an eye for unorthodox tactics...and
that's saying something coming from me.

It does make me wonder about the question of how an Isharan's stomach
responds if it's owner doesn't want it to actually digest
something...they aren't smart enough to actually recognize the fact
per se, but an Isharan with sufficient self-control could keep herself
from half-consciously stimulating it to digest, at least...though that
wouldn't be applicable in this case, since stimulating the stomach to
produce nastiness is what the belly bulger is doing in the first
place.

You know what might be a good tactic...have both grapplers and
bulgers-to-be start out as grapplers, since having a veteran bulger
inside them would give them a buffer against damage so they would be
more likely to survive their first few fights. That would make them
stronger, including boosting their HP, and once they had enough HP
they could potentially switch to serving as bulgers themselves
(without having such a high risk of being digested by their own
grappler their first time out).

I suppose gastroteurgy on the part of the grappeler could partially
protect the bulger, and burping acid on people is one of the stock
gastroteurge attacks anyway. Gastroteurgy is basically just magic
that involves the gastric chakra, so a grappeler's attacks would fall
under that category anyway. Using it to stop yourself from digesting
someone is definately a new concept, though. One for which I suspect
few foes would be prepared...while it's easy enough to predict that
half of them are going to be eating each other in the middle of any
given battle, it's not exactly easy to predict how they plan to
*benefit* from it.

I just got this hilarious image of grappelers being used as siege
weapons, belching their bulgers so hard that they fly clean over a
castle's walls...not that there aren't easier ways (air magic, for one
thing) but still.


Siege Tactics (more gastromancy tactics)

Duamutef wrote:
BradRepko wrote:The most common and frequently seen form of magic in Ishara would be gastromancy. Even monster tribes and various other factions and classes that don't really use magic might use gastromancy. Siege tactics on girl cities with walls, for example, might involve specialized units who belch huge blasts of specialized acids at the walls of the city. Ironically, this specialized acid is great for tearing down metal, wood, and various other types of material, but doesn't work as well on fabrics and skin. On Faneglut, Bonefane hoards siege large walled cities of other fanes with their huge armies, but they use powerful smashing units and high powered gastomages to get through the powerful enchanted walls of demon steel. Artillery units also use gastromancy, belching huge bubbles of acids over over city walls that land in the city and burst, letting out a shockwave of sonic belch as well as blasting highly potent acid everywhere. Sure, launching fireballs that explode in a wave of fire work, but a bubble of acid that crashes down and bursts, sending out an echoing blast of belch air with the classic 'Buuuurrrrap!' sound and globs of vicious acids everywhere just screams Ishara. That's right, the force and sound of the belch are also compacted in the bubble and release upon bursting, sending out a shockwave as well as the explosion of acids. Devastating!


Gastromancy/Gastroteurgy (which are the same thing) is simultaneously
ubiquitous and rare. Instinctual and unconscious uses of the stomach
chakra, such as adjusting a creature's size to the person's stomach
and vice-versa, are used by just about everybody--even mindless
creatures who are otherwise incapable of magic.

Proper Gastroteurgy--that is, consciously making use of the stomach
chakras--is far less common. It is a difficult skill to learn simply
because it actually has to *be* learned; it's not hardwired into
Isharans like normal chakra magic is, so it isn't nearly as intuitive.
That being said, Gastroteurgy can be part of a birth class or part of
a creature's instincts, so it's not unheard of--merely uncommon.

Most of the power of an Isharan's stomach comes from the stomach
chakras and the miscellaneous organs inside it. Stomach acid, while
still potent, loses much of it's power once expelled from the support
mechanisms, enzymes, and magical enhancements the stomach contains.
The stomach weakens everything to acid; without that, it can be much
more difficult to melt through things. Taken alone, Gastroteurgy is
no more effective than Earth magic at destroying armor or
fortifications, and is a lot less efficient. Earth magic is the magic
of choice for siege warfare, on both attack and defense. Though
clever or powerful mages can use just about any magic type to crack a
castle's defenses, the fact that Earth magic can directly conjure or
disintegrate earths and metals makes it the simplest.

Nonetheless, I must admit your ideas are consistantly more Isharan
than mine. I've pretty much lost my balls when it comes to the more
blatantly vorish aspects of it, as the increasingly voreless chapters
of Shells are beginning to prove. I see vore more as the basis of the
ecology...which is, of course, pathetic. I have thoroughly lost
myself to my world-builder syndrome.

But anyway. Gastroteurgy is primarily used to eat people, keep them
in your stomach, and digest them. While one of the first things often
learned is short-ranged bile attacks, it is more useful in yanking
people who are stronger than you into your stomach and keeping them
there. More advanced forms also allow the user to gain specific
benefits from digesting people; the Cartovore cards that give
characters bonuses whenever they digest another character (such as
Strength Absorption) are decent examples of that.

I can certainly see groups using it in just the ways you describe;
just not the majority of armies.


Gastromancy Discussion

Duamutef wrote:
BradRepko wrote:You underestimate your creations, I reckons. For every rule, there is an exception, and every time you try to control something in a certain way, it evolves in a completely different path from how you intended. All that aside, I think accidental use of Gastromancy is much more common than you anticipated, particularly in more voracious individuals. With their stomachs so active and ready to go, it sometimes gets ahead of itself and *beeelch* a trail of goo all over the enemy, which although accidental and quickly losing it's power, it manages to corrode and melt the foe's armor. Perhaps it's the fact that it is so rapidly losing it's potency that makes it so able to melt metals, the decaying magical energies in a material designed to melt away things creates a very brief but powerful corroding affect on things not alive.


That would certainly be an interesting replacement to the traditional
"peeing your pants" panic reaction.

"Holy shiBLEEAAARCH!"

Hee hee...terror-induced vomiting...somebody shaking in their boots,
their hands over their mouths as they try to hold it in...a strangely
compelling image.

Giving rise, perhaps, to an ages-old taunt: "You're only tasting where
you're going..."

Don't want to make acid too powerful, though. If anybody can ruin
armor by spitting up a bit on it, it's not going to be particularly
practical to create or use.

Of course, better your armor than you...and a layer of fabric over the
armor might absorb the brunt of the first hurl, meaning a cheap shot
by a non-Gastromancer wouldn't rob you of your protection. And it's
not like wearing a cloth tunic over a suit of armor is a strange and
exotic concept.

You are right that Gastroteurges are basically the bane of warriors
who rely heavily on armor, however. While Earth mages are usually
superior at tearing down fortifications and just as good at piercing
armor with any given attack (i.e. both basically ignore it),
Gastroteurges are often better at actually destroying suits of armor,
particularly when they're enchanted or otherwise resistant to being
disintegrated or shattered with magic. This can be important in large
battles, particularly against enemies who are used to fighting battles
of attrition. The Ironbellies, for example, would be screwed by
Gastroteurges because they rely on having tons of armor on the field.
Their tactics don't work nearly as well if their individual warriors
can't stand up for long against physical attacks, and while it would
be hard to field an army of Gastroteurges, you only need to melt
somebody's armor off once. After that, any old soldier can start
whacking their defenseless asses.

Not that Blue Adamant is easy to melt. Quite the contrary. Which is
why you'd typically need a genuine Gastroteurge before you could
reasonably expect to destroy it.

Weaker materials can be quite vulnerable, however. A gastroteurge who
belched out an acidic mist, for example, may cause every arrow in
someone's quiver to corrode into splinters, along with their bowstring
(and all of their spares, unless they're protected). A more powerful
Gastroteurge may be able to hit an entire squad of archers with such
an attack. (This is one of the reasons that both bows and arrows
alike are often made out of metals.)
I'd be careful if I were you... what the goddess tells you is the truth... may not always be the whole story...
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Re: Old Ishara Conversation Finds

Postby addme » Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:55 am

It hasn't given me AIDs, but it might have given me syphilis as i don't think the link is working anymore..... :(
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