But there are people who derive pleasure, or at least excitement, from some degree of pain. Seems like it’d be that much more likely among the nendrai, who can shrug off such massive amounts of pain as it is.

(It’s curious that Draught of the Rassimel Mother was painful; it was described as being, I think, one of three safe ways, versus over a hundred total, to accomplish that task. But it’s a less drastic change than many gentler Mutoc spells – it’s convincing the body to do something it is equipped to do, just at a time that it normally isn’t ready for it. Though I could understand it being at the least a surprising sensation, and of course a non-Rassimel-female wouldn’t personally know what it really felt like… Ah well. This is the analyst in me coming out to play.)

Though, come to think of it, Orren would be a more obvious exception, since they can boost the power of any wanted MuCo effects applied to them.

Tangentially: It strikes me as interesting that most people who have an inherent affinity to Mutoc(i.e. Sleeth) also have a significantly more potent affinity for the specific combination of Ruloc and Corpador. There are, of course, some other people who are favoured by Gnarn… but by and large, it seems that Orren, rather than Sleeth, would be most likely to use MuCo in place of RuCo, all else equal.

All else rarely is, so that’s probably not a very meaningful statement. I guess this is what academia does to a mind!

I wouldn’t describe Ready Adulterer as painful exactly. It feels more ‘tight’ to me. I don’t use it very often though; perhaps it feels different to someone who is actually fertile.

Nendrai don’t actually enjoy pain. Well, don’t enjoy *their own* pain; Vae can be quite sleethy at times. They do not mind it as much as the rest of us, and they do seem to understand that constantly training their vitality is crucial for their survival.

At least, this is true of the ones I know best, Vae and Oixe. Other individuals may differ.

There has never been any mention of Cloak of Another God being painful – quite the opposite, it was contrasted to the nendrai’s shapechange spells as being quite gentle(feeling rather like changing clothes). The only time zir journal mentioned Mutoc as being painful was starting around the time zie met Vae. I don’t recall a single such mention prior to the first time Vae healed herself with Mutoc.

And this doesn’t answer the question: why use the MuCo spell when a RuCo will do the same thing, if the MuCo is painful? They’re identical in complexity.

It could be, of course, that those spells are specifically designed to be gentle… but on the face, it seems rather puzzling that MuCo has acquired a reputation for pain since it came to light that Mutoc-based healing hurt.