Floor 3: Floor of Grouping

> *In the early days of the Tower's ascendancy system, tests were primarily individual-focused, emphasizing the strength, agility, and intellect of individual Ascenders. However, as the system matured, the Testing Committee began to realize that these tests failed to account for a critical element of success within the Tower: teamwork and cooperation.*
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> *The Tower has always been a complex system of competing factions, alliances, and shared goals. Ascenders who could not work together, who lacked the ability to form productive relationships, found themselves at a significant disadvantage. In light of this, the Committee decided to introduce a new type of test that would prioritize and incentivize cooperative action.*
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> *Thus, the concept of the Floor of Grouping was born. The floor would be a space where Ascenders would not only be allowed but required to join forces with others. The tests on this floor were deliberately designed to be near-impossible to pass alone, emphasizing the importance of collaboration.*
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> *However, this was not a decision made lightly. The Testing Committee had heated debates over the concept. Critics argued that it would favor Ascenders who already had powerful alliances and disadvantage those who were loners or who came from smaller factions. Others felt that it was an artificial manipulation of the Ascendancy process.*
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> *Despite these concerns, the idea was eventually approved, primarily due to two reasons. Firstly, it reflected the Tower's reality. The ability to form alliances and work in groups was a vital survival skill, and it made sense for the tests to reflect this. Secondly, it would encourage inter-group cooperation and communication, potentially easing some of the Tower's tensions and conflicts.*
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> *Over time, the Floor of Grouping has proven its worth. The initial concerns, while not entirely unfounded, were largely alleviated as numerous Ascenders found the strength in numbers and leveraged this floor as an opportunity to make new allies and learn the value of collaboration. The Floor of Grouping stands as a testament to the power of unity within the Tower, a power that shapes its past, present, and future.*
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> ***"On Floor #3" - Written by Artol Ur***
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# **Floor 3: Floor of Grouping**

The floor of grouping is the third floor of the tower; and similar to the first floors, is renowned for it's more tame nature in terms of testing conditions. This floor requires you to join up with another Ascender group in order to take the test.

## **History of Floor #3**

### **Two 1/2 Men's Travels**

This is **Vortex Bluesong'**s floor of origin. On the floor, a lot had taken place, Vortex saved his sister **Breeze Horizon**, **Gearby** had first met and saved **Maxwell Darke**'s life and was provided the vial of **Ichor**, alongside the introduction to **Gurben Grimke**, **Adeus Grimm**, **Red Thorburn**, and **Creed**; the initial members of the **Gilded Hand**. In the end, the group was able to save Breeze Bluesong with the assistance of Garruk & Vortex killing several slaves whose plasma was being transmuted into a magical reagent. This particular factory that was doing so, was a division of **Stink Corp**.