AlphaBlueWolf
Moonchaser
Mateo isn't a fighter, he's a support-oriented character, so he's definitely getting those support elements amped up. I just have a very slow burn way of doing my development for characters, which I feel sometimes do overstay their welcome, and something that I do have to work on. Like, Mateo was the teen that was along for the ride who had nothing really to contribute for soooo long there. And I really harped on that a lot. That was in part, because of my slow burn way of doing development and in part keeping things under lock and key with his curse. He wasn't competent yet because he was still underdeveloped. He didn't even have all too much fighting experience at that point, really known at all in the early stage of the game. Hell, in the tournament Cora was his secret weapon that he was gonna pretend was part of his nature magic. And him being a healer kind of fell flat in the beginning because there was really no stakes, that's why it came off as a fun little ability he had, because there was nothing for him to really use it for. No one really got hurt from the fighting. Nothing major that could show case his abilities, which did lead to his feelings of inadequacy among the group of powerful fighters. I also live for secrets with my characters lol Mateo couldn't control his curse so he couldn't use it because he was afraid of hurting the group, and afraid of the group hurting him. All of these aspects led to him never using the curse until he used it to Decay the Junk Dragon. He was always hella strong in his cursed form, from day one, but there were limitations in which he would rather die than use it, so he could never really help in fights. And that's still the case with his cursed form.
Now, when they're beginning to start fighting the Death Knight, there will be actual, life-threatening stakes. The death mist thing is a perfect example of that. Mateo can spot that and heal them completely without it being an issue for them, and it makes him have so much more importance within the group. He can combat instant death spells, or death within an hour spells, and be an immense frustration for the Death Knight. That's something no one at this point can do, which makes the Death Knight almost unstoppable if he spams those spells, but Mateo essentially takes away that OP aspect of him, because if he's around its never a problem, though that does paint a huge target on his back. Though, the Death Knight could still see a use in him, if he could trigger the curse and make him slaughter his own allies. Middle and endgame stuff is gonna make the slow development worth it. Even if said slow development was so in your face at the beginning. Is this were a tabletop game, Mateo would've shinned more at the beginning, though that may have taken away the feeling at middle and endgame of his true development, and also maybe almost completely gotten rid of the 'Mateo feels inadequate' arc.
But the slow development also adds to the surprise of literally everyone, us included, as Mateo starts countering immensely powerful attacks from the Death Knight. Imagine the pride Rai and Skyla will have at seeing him grow like that. They saw him through his weakest stages at the beginning of the journey, when he actively stayed out of fights because he was 'just the healer', and had no powerful moves to attack their adversaries, and now he's combating the effects of instant death spells.
That's exactly why I did things that way with him. We're seeing him grow as a healer, and a mage. He may be support, with less power loads, but he's a damn good support. Like I said before, he's slowly building up his healing abilities, and will be able to battle the forces of death with those powers. He's also a mage, which I happen to forget about really building that lol But, so far, he's a mage who manipulates powerful magical artifacts. And let's just say that area of his support will also get an upgrade. Like I said, he's a very slow build up, but he's really gonna shine this arc and forward. He's gonna become a far more powerful support character. Up until Luminosa, we were seeing a teen with immense potential, during Luminosa and after, we're seeing a teen harness his potential to become a powerful adversary and ally.
The curse does amplify his healing abilities, in a way. It makes him have a closer link to death, and thus a potential to manipulate it with his healing abilties, should he train hard at it and develop that. Though, that's part of the slow burn development as well. Such powerful abilities take long to master and develop. He's not immediately OP in combating the Death Knight, and that's another thrill of his 'useless teen' phase. Death Knight won't see it coming either. He'll completely skip over Mateo as a threat until that first moment when he's combating his spells. Because he was never a threat before, not in the ways Skyla or Rai were to him. In a way, they've been the shield for his development, so that he can come in for the surprise attack. Death Knight already knows Skyla and Rai are huge problems in their group, could think even Cora is more powerful as an immortal spirit and with his saber tooth tiger form, but he completely skips over the small little healer until it's too late. He's an afterthought, just someone who's within the group but that's all, until he shows his true might to the Death Knight in the future chapters. Little detour from the main point here, but all Cabrera's of the curse generations were born connected to death because of their curse, though Mateo is the only one to really start turning it into a gift because he happens to be a healer. As it happens to suit his needs that he can grow strong enough to rival the powers of death itself and save those he cares about. Trust me, this connection to death is gonna make him beyond powerful.
Damn, I went on a Mateo oriented rant there huh XD
Holy Nova sounds incredible for Mateo. Eventually, he's gonna start studying the phoenix book to learn fire spells, and that would be a really good example of one for him. The book could potentially even orient itself to its master's will, like I made the phoenix do, with each time Mateo summons it he has to speak its will to it. Mateo would want to learn spells to protect his friends. Good offensive spells would be the easy answer, and some of what he gets, but he also learns something that would be suited for his healer traits. A fireball that has a cleansing flame towards the people he wants to protect, and a damaging fire blast for those he wants to hurt is just perfect.
I know that she wouldn't, I understand that fact. It's just the fact that she could that I'm hung up about. Not that she would do that to Mateo, but how if the situation had been different, she very well could have screwed him over. Makes me think about any past pacts that she's made and how those went between her and potential parties.
It's still a fucked-up thing, if you really chose to think about it. Let's take Mateo out of the equation here, since that's not what I'm hung up over. Say someone in the past, a random ass character, had a pact with Serena. Serena promised to do something for this person, in exchange for a service from them. Now, this person completes their part of the bargain before Serena completes hers. And now Serena gets to turn around and nullify the entire thing because the thing she wanted is done. That's my thought process here. And it's a terrible situation for that mortal involved. It's basically Serena stringing them along, knowing full well that she could end the pact after what she wants is done, but that the mortal doesn't have the power to. Or, at least, she makes it seem like it's this all-powerful thing that they cannot get away from. That's how I understood it before, now I know differently, and that's how I think I'm gonna continue to have Mateo understand it unless Serena says otherwise and explains it to him in better detail, because that's just a fun dynamic, and also that's honestly how Serena made it sound. There's no way that he would understand he could choose to break off the pact with her wording. Say what you want about Serena never screwing over Mateo, but that wording was definitely of a manipulative behavior. If Mateo agrees, then he automatically thinks a certain fact that is untrue about the nature of the pact, and the wording just makes it seem like Serena was intentionally skirting the truth and not revealing the full nature of the pact to Mateo. Which would make sense for her, since she's in a position that makes her absolutely desperate for Mateo's help, since he's the only one who can see her. It just seems like a raw deal for anyone if this is how pacts work. If it's not a binding thing, how could you ever trust the other person to hold through on their end if you've already done yours? They could cancel it and completely screw the other person over.
But the first rp was spirit and mortal pacts. In my mind, I associate that to be a different thing entirely to the pact that Mateo and Serena have. Not to mention that mortal and spirit pacts aren't even a thing yet in this rp. We're in a part of history of the world where spirts are still discriminated against, and pacts are neither explored nor even known about as a thing that can happen. It's an inconceivable possibility right now, nor something any mortal or spirit would think about with their current relations.
So, in my mind, I had differentiated them altogether. Spirit and mortal pacts were a mutualistic thing. The two came to a conclusion that they trusted each other enough to form a pact, and essentially become brothers in arms. While, I had originally thought mortal and god pacts would look more like Dnd warlocks. The mortal agrees to do something for a god, and the mortal gets powers granted to them, although with this pact in mind it's a job that is done as well. Spirit and mortal pacts are in fact different, because it is not reliant on a business transaction, it's just that the two trust and like each other enough to form a pact which gains each something of the other's abilities (for mortals it's some of the spirit's powers, don't remember what spirits got out of the deal though. Or if they really got anything). Of course spirit and mortal pacts can be broken off, it only makes sense with it more of a relationship thing than a business transaction. But the type of pact Mateo and Serena has is more of a business transaction. They're pact can end with the completion of each side of the bargain, it's not a relationship like spirit and mortal pacts, since they really didn't have a relationship before. Again, they are both relying on each other for a job done. It appears like an entirely different thing from how mortal and spirit pacts worked in the first rp.
That is, at least, my thought process.
(I guess I'm really basing too much of this off Dnd warlocks lol There are also no written rules in the current edition about breaking off pacts between a warlock and their patron god, hence my thought process towards this. Again, too much of Dnd on the brain I guess.)
