>>Should adventurers with 100+ favors be suffering from extreme memory loss, or are we meant to not really know?

They don't take long-term memories or anything like Neverending Story II. Arguably they're taking short-term memory (undigested experience), but that's never been set in stone.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino

I just figured it was a system-mechanical way of representing "I am performing these actions as an act of worship toward X, as opposed for my own benefit."

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Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.

>I just figured it was a system-mechanical way of representing "I am performing these actions as an act of worship toward X, as opposed for my own benefit."

I view it in the same way. It's not that my character doesn't remember doing the actions that allow him to power the orb; it's more that my character chooses not to gain personal benefit from doing those things, and instead offers that potential personal gain as gratitude for divine protection.

>I was poking around for info and couldn't really find any. Has anything been specified about what's going on? Like, why Immortals like short-term memories, how that impacts Adventurers, if short-term memories constitute spirit/soul/mortal experiences, that sort of thing? Or has it always just been 'its a mechanical system with a lore spin, don't look at it too hard'?

I actually really like the ambiguity in what accepting favor orbs does for the gods. Are they reliant on consuming some part of their worshipers for their power/existence? Are those sacrifices (of exp) utterly meaningless, except as a way of humbling one's self before one's protector and/or creator? Do they contribute in some way to the protection of the planes?

The lack of an objective answer is cool because it allows one to think of the immortals as beings truly beyond the comprehension of mortals (if one is so inclined), or as super powered parasites. The answers a character tends to find most satisfying often say a lot about the character, which to me is more interesting than simply being right or wrong in an absolute sense.

>I actually really like the ambiguity in what accepting favor orbs does for the gods.

Oh, absolutely, which is why I tried to ask the question with the caveat of 'but if this is intentionally vague that's cool too'. I can totally get behind 'it was a mechanical thing with good flavor text, and was never really fleshed out, so fill in the blanks as you see fit!'.

>Are they reliant on consuming some part of their worshipers for their power/existence? Are those sacrifices (of exp) utterly meaningless, except as a way of humbling one's self before one's protector and/or creator? Do they contribute in some way to the protection of the planes? The answers a character tends to find most satisfying often say a lot about the character, which to me is more interesting than simply being right or wrong in an absolute sense.

I super agree with the above last sentence!

So, reading the Craft Sequence recently and Necromancer-main-biased viewpoints here, but I feel the set up is that the Immortals are from another plane, and now they're on this plane, and one of the Things They've Done is to try and stabilize things, more or less, and Another Thing They've Done is to strike a bargain with Adventurers wherein the Adventurer gives them some of their memories, and the Immortals help keep that Adventurer around. This exchange is transactional, perhaps analogous to depositing money in a bank so that you can later take that money out again. The term 'transactional' here is not meant to diminish the exchange, but only to note that it does not necessarily require love/respect/adoration of the Immortal. One can have no faith in an Immortal in the sense that we IRL think of faith, and still earn favors with that Immortal. 'Applied Theology' is a funny term that may fit here. The Immortals, like the bank, have the better part of this deal.

>I've had at least one player character that thought the Immortals have been around a LONG time, and they have run out of "new" experiences they can have - so they experience new things vicariously by soaking up some of the things we've done. I mean, in OUR way of seeing time, we might not think anything we've done is new, but to the Immortals it is all fresh and shiny.

That makes sense. The only way to contextualize the flow of time for an ancient Immortal being is to gain snapshots into the lives of mortals.

>>'it was a mechanical thing with good flavor text, and was never really fleshed out, so fill in the blanks as you see fit!'.

That's not entirely the case, no. However it is purposefully left vague for players. Lore-wise, characters really don't know the particulars, not even the most ardent scholars. That's entirely intentional, but that doesn't mean that there is no background lore that exists.

What is known ICly for certain is this:

* The Kermorian Immortals, and at least some other gods like those of the Prydaen, accept offerings of short-term memories in exchange for their protection when their worshiper is dead.

* Other gods, like those of the Rakash, seem to provide that protection for entirely different types of offerings.

* Still other gods don't seem interested in providing that sort of protection at all.

* Rumors of other extra-planar beings providing somewhat similar protection exist, though the 'costs' for such are not fully known. The biggest example of this is the conjecture surrounding the Profane Aegis of the Necromancers potentially being provided to them by a demon to which they are all presumed to be enslaved somehow.

Mind you, the reality that nobody on Elanthia seems able to confirm anything more than the above bits hasn't stopped many, many Elanthians from coming up with their own suppositions that they sometimes pass off as facts, though, so your character is free to RP out a belief in anything they might want as far as these things go. They might not even necessarily face horrendous backlash from scholarly society and/or the Temple if it's not too terribly far out of line with the sorts of positive things most folks want to believe about the Immortals and the other gods in general.

-Persida

>The Kermorian Immortals, and at least some other gods like those of the Prydaen, accept offerings of short-term memories in exchange for their protection when their worshiper is dead.

>Right. My question was as to the extent of the short-term memory loss from these offerings. Is it 'completely forget what you did in the last hour' or 'where did I leave my keys'?

> Arguably they're taking short-term memory (undigested experience), but that's never been set in stone.

One of the things I'm most curious about is how literally to take the words "short-term memories?" Is that an OOC term used to describe stuff in the exp pool that has not yet drained (similar to how ranks describe a character's skill level, or stat points indicate how strong she is)? Or is it meant to be taken literally, as in, I rubbed an orb and now I do not remember what I had been doing recently (including conversations held, feelings and thoughts experienced by the character while performing exp gaining actions that are offered in an orb)?

Game mechanics (including messaging from cleric spells, departs and the types of actions that allow one to gain exp for sacrifice) seem to offer a variety of interpretations.

Whoa. So in the context of non-Adventurer Elanthians gaining Favors, would this be something that only someone training 'skills of note' be able to do? Like, I can kind of understand that the Immortals have tired of the memories of FarmerBob or HorseShoeMakingBlackSmithJoe, but perhaps it says something that the memories of MonsterSlayerSam are interesting to them? The memories of 'people of note', perhaps those whose actions may affect history, are more useful than the memories of people who are just numbers in the history books? Would for example, a Prydaen that crossed rivers and mountains (trained Athletics) to escape Lyras be able to fill a Favor orb?

#AllTheQuibbles

Elanthia does not appear to be a very egalitarian place to be!

You rub the lamp and the genie materializes.
"And for your third wish?"
"Third? I've wished before?"
"Yes. Your last wish was to forget."
"Huh. Well, I guess my last wish will be to remember."
"Funny, that was your first wish."

I understand that our characters might not know the specifics of the extent of the memories taken, only that the immortals want memories, the orbs convey them, and the exchange produces results. But that the memory cost is in field experience, the process takes a slightly different twist, given that it's taking learning or surface memories. Things not yet committed to long term memory.

How dangerous a place is Elanthia for the non-adventurer?

Would a person living in Crossing look at going to Arthe Dale as a really big deal? Riverhaven? Muspar'i?

Mazrian

I'd also add to the list magical favors like those provided by items called favor savers. However they work they appear to perform the same function as immortals favors or even demonic assistance without requiring any attention be paid to any entity (Immortal or demon) providing the service behind the scenes. They simply have an extended cooldown to recharge, from what we may never know.

The fact that we're giving up the experience means that retroactively, the action that generated the experience was done for no other purpose than to propitiate the god. So it's kind of like saying, "I dedicate this act to Faenella."

That post mostly being in jest.

The God of Regrets accepts your... regret... and regrets to inform you that you will not be saved from the Red Spiral.