As far as manipulating fate itself, a good example comes from Remilia Scarlet from the Tohou-verse. Remi's ability is the manipulation of fate, but we never really see it openly used. It's thought by the fandom that she uses it for very subtle things rather than overt, vulgar displays. The way I see it, manipulating fate is just changing a road slightly, like putting up a detour sign so something that's meant to happen happens sooner rather than later, or later rather than sooner. You have to re-merge back into the main road. For example. If someone is fated to be killed by being shot, the Astromancer reads the cards and sees that their fate is destined to happen tomorrow. That person has something important to do tomorrow, so the Astromancer manipulates fate. The person *is* shot, but survives. However, they're still fated to die by being shot, and from that point on it's unknown whether it's tomorrow, or ten years form now. The way I see fate manipulation working is, you can only detour the same road once, twice at most. However, once someone knows their fate, they can actively try to change it themselves after it's been once changed for them. Awareness is half of fate, destination the other half.
In the previous example, the person's fate to die by being shot remains. However, other questions are unanswered, such as 'will it be the same person', or 'is it going to be an accident rather than willful', and so on. Learning your fate and manipulating it to a degree makes for even better roleplay if it's handled properly. I tend to go by the rule of three; a single person's fate cannot be changed by magic like Astromancy more than three times before the stars simply fail to answer again. I like to think this is reasonable as it goes by known rules of magic in other mythologies and faiths; some might also argue that the stars, like the gods, might be fickle and only answer if they feel like it, or in ways that aren't *quite* what is asked for.
Back on the tarot card topic, it also fits in with using the cards IRL (I've been a reader as well in my past). In the sense that there are various interpretations of what each card means. They can be taken as a literal event or as a figurative meaning depending on the actual reading itself as well. The pattern the cards are laid in, the question asked, or event accessed..it's all subjective, because fate is not ironclad or concrete. It's a road with a thousand branches.
In the previous example, the person's fate to die by being shot remains. However, other questions are unanswered, such as 'will it be the same person', or 'is it going to be an accident rather than willful', and so on. Learning your fate and manipulating it to a degree makes for even better roleplay if it's handled properly. I tend to go by the rule of three; a single person's fate cannot be changed by magic like Astromancy more than three times before the stars simply fail to answer again. I like to think this is reasonable as it goes by known rules of magic in other mythologies and faiths; some might also argue that the stars, like the gods, might be fickle and only answer if they feel like it, or in ways that aren't *quite* what is asked for.
Back on the tarot card topic, it also fits in with using the cards IRL (I've been a reader as well in my past). In the sense that there are various interpretations of what each card means. They can be taken as a literal event or as a figurative meaning depending on the actual reading itself as well. The pattern the cards are laid in, the question asked, or event accessed..it's all subjective, because fate is not ironclad or concrete. It's a road with a thousand branches.
![[Image: ihatehim2.jpg]](http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc129/Inverse_Entropy/ihatehim2.jpg)
