Is Jen's Origin Story in the game

[Chuck Ironstag]

I remember how everyone else unlocked their powers, but I guess Jen's might've been lowkey if it was mentioned at all. Admittedly, Bank's is hard to remember too, but I can recall the ghist, or the how or why of it. Zan, Dall, and the 5th party member had dramatic tellings, although Zan's was a bit more humorous because of his Mother being there while the story was being told.

I have no idea how Jen could possibly need lightning so bad she gets her powers. Is she actually the only party member that doesn't have one? A lot of her past was glossed over too, which is shocking for the heart of the party that over 900% of beta players called their favorite character, whatever that means.

[CrazyMLC]

I don't remember it being brought up. I like to assume her phone died.

[Chuck Ironstag]

Początkowo opublikowane przez CrazyMLC:

I don't remember it being brought up. I like to assume her phone died.

Oh yeah, we do really need our phones on an instinctual level these days. I could see a ♥♥♥♥ ton of electric witches being made daily, it'd probably be a huge problem.

Although doesn't this take place in the tech equivalent of the 90's? Do they HAVE cell phones? They have servers, which means they have computers, and no doubt cyberdruids have hacked the planet by now.

[CrazyMLC]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Chuck Ironstag:

Do they HAVE cell phones?

Huh, that's a good question. I think at one point there was a reveal that Zan had Liv's phone number the whole time. Didn't he call her on a cell phone then? I'm a bit fuzzy on that.

[Chuck Ironstag]

Początkowo opublikowane przez CrazyMLC:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Chuck Ironstag:

Do they HAVE cell phones?

Huh, that's a good question. I think at one point there was a reveal that Zan had Liv's phone number the whole time. Didn't he call her on a cell phone then? I'm a bit fuzzy on that.

Oh, now I remember, it was a text specifically. Ok, the tech is at least 2010's ish then.

[Truth]

Considering that we're unclear on what "Storm Witch" powers Jen unlocked with and which she's trained or concocted after the fact it's hard to guess what her origin would've been. Guess it's as simple as "shoot lightning that doesn't hurt but does push" which might require a pretty specific set of emotions / circumstances...

[Paul.Power]

I was wondering that myself after learning of the rest of the protagonists' origins and yeah, I guess we just don't really know. Her general knowledge of magic and Banks' "we don't all get to go to Wizard School" quip made me wonder if she's been a witch most of her life. Maybe she would have got struck by lightning as a kid but managed to redirect it, or something else that wouldn't make a particularly good story beat, so it never really came up.

[Summersong]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Truth:

Considering that we're unclear on what "Storm Witch" powers Jen unlocked with and which she's trained or concocted after the fact it's hard to guess what her origin would've been. Guess it's as simple as "shoot lightning that doesn't hurt but does push" which might require a pretty specific set of emotions / circumstances...

Yeah, the way 'Storm Witch' was phrased almost makes me think it might be an actual institution/cultural tradition rather than just a convenient term. Like she's not just a 'lightning mage'.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Paul.Power:

I was wondering that myself after learning of the rest of the protagonists' origins and yeah, I guess we just don't really know. Her general knowledge of magic and Banks' "we don't all get to go to Wizard School" quip made me wonder if she's been a witch most of her life. Maybe she would have got struck by lightning as a kid but managed to redirect it, or something else that wouldn't make a particularly good story beat, so it never really came up.

Or got zapped by something messing about. Electric fence on a farm, sticking something in a power outlet, falling on some railway tracks, etc.

[Patroklos]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Summersong:

sticking something in a power outlet

I like this idea - presumably she unlocked before she turned 2? Unless you think Jen is a lot stupider than I do.

[kia256]

I think in one of the conversation Jen says that she knew a guy in College.
So i guess she went to one.

Which kinda brings an interesting question on the purpose of such institutions.
Is there a baseline level of magic that can be used by pretty much anyone with the right training? Not powerful enough to be used in combat, but enough to be used in everyday life?

The police have a whole building of freezers with blood that can be used to track convicts. Would be strange if all that was just for 2-3 guys with right blood related craft.

Jen's broom also doesn't seem particularly storm related, so maybe it's a general magical tool.

Or maybe magical organizations have training regimens that increase the chances of you getting a specific craft unlocking.

Druid mafia has a ton of druids - way too much for it to be just a collection of individual wizards with plant themed powers to randomly come together.

In one of the conversation Zan mentions the book about anti-armor monks and their impact on fourth world war (entirely about the mechanics and armor piercing stats). This kinda hints on the fact that with a proper regimen you can both train people with specific craft and do it in significant numbers.


So in closing off the ramblings - maybe Jen didn't have some sort of a dramatic backstory? She was just an upper middle class girl whose parents could afford to send her to a magic college and she was one of the lucky people who unlocked after proper education and training.

[Patroklos]

The broom is explicitly a vessel from another wizard, that's revealed in an early conversation with Banks. Also established there is that it does seem there are certain potions and ingredients that seem likely to be useful to anyone with craft.

Given the nature of the game - "Tactical Breach Wizards sounds like a good title for a game, let's make that" I think we're probably overanalyzing things, but that's fine. I'm not sure whether anyone with craft can do certain ritual based spells, or if some crafts come with that and any crafts that can do rituals get the same rituals. It seems unlikely that there's going to be massive variation in what ingredient and ritual based magic needs from person to person, but I didn't get the impression that Zan could have performed the rituals even with Jen telling him how.

It might also be possible that those rituals could be done by anyone with certain vessels, which would make it easier. Maybe the cops have a vessel so any cop can grab that vessel and cast the tracking spell?

[Truth]

Also implied in Jen's anxiety dream that being a Storm Witch is a noteworthy achievement, so it's not quite in the same realm as unlocking as other characters are. So maybe she plain hadn't unlocked, she just learned how to do magic through regular ol' Witchy means.

Though she ALSO toured with Zan at some unspecified point for an unspecified reason, so she probably also has a military background which seem rife for unlocking situations...

[Patroklos]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Truth:

Also implied in Jen's anxiety dream that being a Storm Witch is a noteworthy achievement, so it's not quite in the same realm as unlocking as other characters are. So maybe she plain hadn't unlocked, she just learned how to do magic through regular ol' Witchy means.

Though she ALSO toured with Zan at some unspecified point for an unspecified reason, so she probably also has a military background which seem rife for unlocking situations...

I got the impression they were in a country with mandatory military service? Although I thought that was Liboli, which was where Zan was originally from, but he served for the DSR? So maybe my impression was wrong.

I wasn't sure if the anxiety dream thing was about trying to imply she'd worked hard and earned that title, or just that it was proof she was someone with value to society and the ability to make a difference. Either way, she definitely put a lot of effort into learning about her craft, so there's definitely more to it than just unlocking and getting everything.

[Summersong]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Patroklos:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Summersong:

sticking something in a power outlet

I like this idea - presumably she unlocked before she turned 2? Unless you think Jen is a lot stupider than I do.

I mean she mentions doing 'compulsory service' where she got mage training, and it's implied she at least did a bit of Uni, so I'd say yeah, she unlocked quite young.

[Summersong]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Patroklos:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Truth:

Also implied in Jen's anxiety dream that being a Storm Witch is a noteworthy achievement, so it's not quite in the same realm as unlocking as other characters are. So maybe she plain hadn't unlocked, she just learned how to do magic through regular ol' Witchy means.

Though she ALSO toured with Zan at some unspecified point for an unspecified reason, so she probably also has a military background which seem rife for unlocking situations...

I got the impression they were in a country with mandatory military service? Although I thought that was Liboli, which was where Zan was originally from, but he served for the DSR? So maybe my impression was wrong.

I wasn't sure if the anxiety dream thing was about trying to imply she'd worked hard and earned that title, or just that it was proof she was someone with value to society and the ability to make a difference. Either way, she definitely put a lot of effort into learning about her craft, so there's definitely more to it than just unlocking and getting everything.

I think it was more of a sense of her just feeling listless and without purpose in her life, is all. She wanted to do something that mattered, that reflected her own skills, and generally feel pride in what she was doing, and she hadn't managed that yet. A lot of her comments are orientated around the fact that her PI work seems to be a dead end and failing as a buisness, so if nothing else that'd be a significant hit to the self esteem. But she also mentioned that unfulfilled need for feeling like she's doing well since she was a kid. Full transactional self image issues.

You mention it being about more than unlocking and I think that's bang on. For a lot of people, those exceptional achievements don't feel like achievements, just the bare minimum, or 'not enough', or 'not living up to your full potential', or 'not making a REAL difference/having your life mean something' etc etc.

[Cutlass Jack]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Patroklos:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Summersong:

sticking something in a power outlet

I like this idea - presumably she unlocked before she turned 2? Unless you think Jen is a lot stupider than I do.

My vote is that Darryl knocked a lamp off a shelf into her bathtub.