Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns

[MJ12 Commando]

Panopticon: The Abridged Series

This is, well, a compilation of posts from various users. Because of how the Quote function works here in XF 1.3, I'm not going to be using direct Quotes. Thanks to Nuts!, EarthScorpion, and everyone else who participated.

EarthScorpion:

Donald: "So..."

Jamelia: "Are you going to ask me to select Yinzheng Li and Serafina Rosalina because you're enjoying being the only male on the team, and want to add a fresh-faced 'girl next door' and someone who's yet another example of how the Progenitors appear to be the people who like putting the breast slider to 'max' when playing computer games?"

Donald: "Stop using hyperpsychology on me. It takes all the fun out of it."

Jamelia: "Donald, how many drugs are you on right now?"

Donald: "I have a note from my doctor. It's medically necessary destressing after the last incident. I am feeling all kinds of serene right now. And that's why I need to encourage the cause of genre."

Jamelia: "I see. And how long have you thought you were the protagonist of a harem anime?"

Donald: "Please, give me some taste. I'm not the protagonist. I'm the fan favourite secondary character who's much more likeable than the bland lead."

Jamelia: "So who is... no, I'm not even getting into this conversation with someone as high as you. Go lie down and sleep it off." *sigh* "It's like dealing with a bunch of children, sometimes."

Rose: "Um... Director! Director! Henriette is pulling my hair!"

Henriette: "I'm brushing it. Because it's a mess and... is that blood in your hair?"

Rose: "Um... yes? It's hard to get out."

Jamelia: "... Donald, I'd like the name of your doctor. I may need to visit him too."

Donald: "So. Yinzheng Li. I'm betting she has daddy issues. And wants to be you. We could set up a pool for the mental problems the new recruits they're fobbing on us have."

Jamelia: "To the first part, at least she's not hearing voices, and to the second part, that's not a mental problem. And thirdly, I don't bet against people who can lose my salary and shrug it off."

Donald: "Anyway, is the real reason you don't want Serafina Rosario around that the two of you would start making out if you came into close contact? After all, similar things attract each other."

Jamelia: "... and now we know why you joined the Syndicate rather than the science conventions. Don't let Henriette hear you say that kind of thing. We'll get a lecture on magnets."

Donald: "Fucking magnets, how do they..."

Henriette: *pokes head in door* "That joke is not funny! It never was! And I hate clowns!"

Rose: *also pokes head in door* "Did someone say clowns? Is there a circus? Can we go?"

Donald: "You need to start locking your door."

Jamelia: "This is your door. We're in your office. It's larger and has more comfortable chairs."

Donald: "Ah, sweet sweet capitalism. Requisition me a better lock for my door, boss."

Jamelia: "You mean from Secret Weapons? Do you really want to try that?"

Donald: "I like living dangerously."

..................................................

Stephanie: "Hey, ~Jane~?"

Jamelia: "Yes, Stephanie?"

Stephanie: "I think (Walper-Man)'s craaaaazy. One of the Mad, probably. Because, you know, the Sun hasn't been stolen."

Jamelia: "Well observed."

Stephanie: "Also, the usurper gods who live in the realm of forms are neither male nor female, because they're discarded such vestigial traces of their humanity. Instead, they turn men and women against each other because it's in their interest to keep mankind divided. He's just furthering their goals. Hey, that makes him a servant of the Lie."

Jamelia: "Gosh. Does it? You should probably do something about that."

Stephanie: "I know, right? I'll show him that there's no conspiracy of controlling women out to silence him! With a crowbar! And bleach!"

Jamelia: "You do that. I'm afraid I have to go now."

Stephanie: "Bye!" *hangs up*

Jamelia: "Sorry for having to take that call. Walperman will no longer be an issue. Where were we?"

Serafina: "Excellent. I owe you one."

.........................................................................................................................................................

Reina: "Ah! So I see. The Rose is akin to a role which this flesh was meant to play, like a costume worn by an actor upon the stage. But the role has become a person in its own right, and to remove those garments would be to kill a living being. She is an imaginary voice in my head who has become a full person while I slumbered in here. Of course, the Rose has developed the Thorn, who is a persona on top of that. Does that mean that the Thorn will in turn develop its own voice in its head? How far can this recursion go?"

Thorn: "... well, fuck. The long dead 'Crat is giving me an existential crisis."

Rose: "At least the voice in your head would not be as mean as you. Because no one is as mean as you."

Reina: "Ha! The Rose made a joke that was most astute! The Thorn, you are a giant bitch indeed!"

Thorn: "... I can't believe I'm being bullied."

MJ12 Commando:

(Serafina)...May occasionally make horrible abominations that need to be put down, like bland harem protagonists.

Serafina: I was fourteen at the time. The only reason Baptysme hasn't done it is because she doesn't know any bioengineering! And look at her, with her looks how is she going to find her ideal boyfriend or girlfriend without making them from scratch? Because moe only works in attracting skeevy nerds who smell like cat piss and weigh more than Kessler.

Baptysme: I don't know any bioengineering unlike my bratty sister because I didn't get any special attention from my tutors! And I'm still a better pilot and helmswoman than her! You wouldn't understand! Also, you Progenitor harlots are so obsessed with looks that it's rotted your brains!

Serafina: No, I'm pretty sure I actually do. And I'm pretty sure I'm smarter than you.

Baptysme: Can you calculate 10-dimensional spacetime translations in real-time? No? Thought so!

Serafina: That is not an actual evaluation of holistic intelligence.

Donald: Ladies, ladies, ladies. Stop fighting. You're both pretty. Well, maybe.

Baptysme: CURSE YOU LACK OF WORKING LEGS! *wheels after Donald with a mallet in hand*

Roth: "Hi Jamelia. My parents are deeeeeeeeeeead!"

Jamelia: "Yes, you've told me. You actually introduce yourself with that all the time."

Roth: "Look, that's because I'm now a minor character which means that any in-depth characterization is going to be avoided. No, it's just my parents are deeeeeeeeeeead."

Jamelia: "Yes, yes, now you'll tell us about how because your parents died when attacked by a blood-starved vampire and you were rescued by Agent Freeman, you dedicated your life to fighting vampires by training really hard, like Winston did. Also, you had a revelation that vampires feared the sun, so you dress up as Walper-Man, the Solar Hero." [1]

Roth: "Man, fuck that."

Jamelia: "You aren't Walper-Man? But I thought-"

Roth: "Nah, totally unrelated guy. Look, do I sound that crazy?"

Jamelia: "Um... now that you mention it..."

Roth: "Okay, so maybe I want to go full Holocaust on vampires and werewolves because they killed my parents. But honestly, are you seriously going to Godwin me?"

Jamelia: "Of course not. Hitler's parents weren't killed by Jews."

Roth: "Man, fuck this. Anyways, do I sound like the kind of crazy who dresses up in a costume and punches poor people?"

Jamelia: "No."

Roth: "Good."

Jamelia: "You wouldn't dress in a costume."

Roth: "Fuck. This. I'm out."

[1] Walper-Man is a Marauder, with the Quiet that he thinks the Matriarchal Union, an illuminati made out of the Five Feminist Conventions has secretly stolen the sun.

Panopticon Abridged: Iterator Lawrence Wong

Donald: "So. Iterator Wong? It says here you're trying to reverse engineer Reality Deviant ninjas. How does that work?"

Wong: "Well, like any normal reverse engineering. First, you need a lot of information on them. Then you capture a few subjects, disassemble them, label every part, and you say creepy things like 'in the name of profit, I condemn you to the Void' or something."

Donald: "Really?"

Wong: "Yes really. Actually no. I'm not a Progenitor, I know physics. So I avoid walking into moral event horizons."

Donald: "Actually I wasn't doubting your dissecting Reality Deviants. I was doubting that you would be condemning them to the Void in the name of profit."

Wong: "Look, just because we're all associated with Siddharth doesn't mean we're all terrible people. I haven't dissected one. Well, okay, I may have dissected one, but he was attacking me in a surgical lab and the only tool I had to defend myself was a surgical laser."

Donald: "Your file also says you also have logged 1000 hours in Sea Dart Online as an Oppressomancer. I don't see how you aren't a terrible person."

Wong: "Look, just because I play Sea Dart Online doesn't mean I want to jackboot everyone in real life, I'm not a Virtual Adept who has those confused."

Donald: "No. That's not the problem. It's that the Oppressomancer is objectively the weakest class and thus you are bad and should feel bad. You should play the Authoritrons instead."

Wong: "But they're robots. They remind me of Iteration X and thus my day job."

Donald: "Then you should play something else that doesn't, like Pimp: The Backhanding. Given Iteration X's luck with non-manufactured women, I bet that'd work for an escape from reality."

Wong: "High salaries. Lonely nerds with access to a lot of intelligence gathering tools. Prostitutes-in other words, women who will give them sex for money. Are you seeing why this might also remind me about the guys I work with?"

Donald: "Don't you have HITMarks for that?"

Wong: "There's a sign on the cybernetics lab. You do the deed, you clean the seed. Yeah."

Donald: "T. M. I."

Wong: "And now you know why I'm so desperate to get out of the Convention that I'm transferring to a Construct with Siddharth around."

Donald: "I take it you don't approve of orphan-burning from that statement?"

Wong: "Only if they're Japanese Reality Deviant orphans."

Donald: "For an Asian Technocrat that's awfully tolerant of you."

Wong: "Thanks."

Donald: "I am implying that you are all terrible people."

Wong: "I am going to retort that you, being a white anglo-saxon protestant, are attempting to call another race terrible people. This is not going to work."

 

[MJ12 Commando]

... Actually, you know what? I'll just thank Conjured Blade and link them directly from SB. This is taking way too much time. Everyone who made them is encouraged to bring them over if they want, and if I'm burning my stuff I'll bring it over.

I compiled an index of some of the posts from the hiring discussion.
Panopticon Abridged:
Donald wants to be a secondary character in a Harem Anime
Donald on Yinzheng Li
Panopticon Abridged: Baptysme and Serafina
Panopticon Abridged: Warren Roth
Panopticon Abridged: Iterator Lawrence Wong
Panopticon Abridged: Jamelia and Stephanie(I'm not sure if this is classified properly)
MJ12's IC reaction posts to hiring options:
Siddharth
Donald
Rose
Henriette
Nut's character fleshing out posts:
Space Oddity
Kessler One Liners
A Very Merry Unbirthday
Dr. Rosario
Kessler and Pay Phones
Endings and Beginnings
EarthScorpion's character fleshing out posts:
Baptysme
Winston Kingsley
Kiril
Yinzheng Li
MJ12's character fleshing out posts:
Old Dogs
Sins of the Mother
Alternate Universe Hiring Options
MJ12's Spell Notes:
Emergency Weaponization
Clothed In Spirit

Click to shrink...

 

[EarthScorpion]

Let us address the new recruits the second best way we know. Namely, through Panopticon Abridged skits.

(the best way, of course, would be to get the opinion of Centurion, but he's dead)

Operative Jason Brakowski, TAC-1 Leader

Jason: "So. How you doin'?"

Rose: "Um. I think you mean 'What are you doing?'. In which case I'm making myself a sandwich. Oh! I'm sorry! Do you mean 'How are you doing?'. I'm doing very nicely, thank you!"

Jason: "You know, this is the best looking Construct I've ever. Very attractive. Filled with... pretty things."

Rose: "Oh, I wouldn't say so. There are much more architecturally sound Constructs in other places. Have you seen some of the ones in LA? And it's very new and we haven't made it homey yet!"

Jason: "Heh! You're pretty good at these comebacks, you know. Well played."

Rose: "I beg your pardon?"

Serafina: "Ah, Operative Brakowski. Do you have a moment? My office, please. I'd just like to point out to you that firstly Rose could break every bone in your body, including the bones in the inner ear which are usually quite hard to get to, and that she makes your pharmaceutically altered self look like amateur New World Order work. And secondly, she's five. I hope that properly guides your future actions."

Corporal Jessica Hughes, TAC-2 Leader

Kessler: "Alright! Another Afghanistan veteran! Now we're talking!"

Jessica: "You served there too?"

Kessler: "Hell yeah. Me an' the Director've were both in that place. Locals shooting at you with AKs, Russians shooting at you with AKs, your own side shooting at you with hyper-v AKs... oh, Afghanistan."

Jessica: "... excuse me?"

Jamelia: "We were there in the eighties. He was hunting Taftani backers of the mujahideen. And I was also hunting Reality Deviants."

Jessica: "Ah. That's... I'm sorry, I'm still not used to how hard it is to tell people's ages. I mean, I should've guessed you two were older than you looked, but..."

Kessler: "Aww, don't be shy, boss! You were also thwarting the Commies by arming freedom fighters!"

Jessica: "..."

Jamelia: "Kessler, remember that talk we had about how we don't proudly tell people that the Western Union was arming the mujahideen to try to one-up the Russian Union? And how it's viewed as an embarrassment?"

Kessler: "Sorry. I'm just still not quite used to the idea that good ol' Osama could be a bad guy."

Jamelia: "Kessler, remember that talk we had about how the phrase 'good ol' Osama' is verboten?"

Watcher Rachael Williams, Investigative Support

Rose: "Hurray! Another idealist! It gets a little lonely, you know. Everyone else is busy trying to pretend that they're not idealists too! Like Henriette, who pretends to be mean so people don't get too close and she doesn't get hurt! Or Director Belltower, who pretends to be a heartless cynic who is only nice to people so she can use them, but she really does care!"

Rachael: "Ah! Vampire in the coffee area! Flee!"

Thorn: "Look at how they run from you. No one likes you. Poor lonely Rose. You should probably just kill yourself."

Reina: "Perchance, it might be wiser for the Rose to keep her mouth a bit more closed when making first introductions. Or, failing that, we might go to the mall of shopping and purchase a most cute scarf, which we can wear and which will cover our mouth."

Rose: "I like the scarf plan!"

Ricardo Vega, Esquire

Ricardo: "Just to check, you have declared all your assets properly to the Union?"

Donald: "Donald away!" *drops smoke bomb*

Biomechanic Arthur Patel

Henriette: "Oh, how cute. He got in through the Higher Education programme."

Serafina: "I know, right? Isn't it adorable. He probably thinks he had a special education. Even you, as a Grade 2, are better than him."

Henriette: "A Grade... oh, you Damian-educated bitch."

Serafina: "Look, it's not my fault you went to a second-class Union education facility. You didn't even go to the Other Place, and the Unity Academy is worse than Damian in every single way, especially on the playing field."

Henriette: "I didn't go because I wasn't a hot-housed bitch and anyway it wasn't my fault because Damian and Unity were flooded with orphans post 1999. I went to MIHT. Which is just as good! Our material sciences and applied physics scores are just as good as Damian's!"

Serafina: "Boston? Oh my. It's worse than I thought. You poor girl. Surrounded by Iterators. That explains so much. You completely missed out on a well-rounded education, I can see."

Henriette: "... was that a joke about my chest?"

Pharmacopeist Thomas Park

Donald: "You make drugs."

Thomas: "Yeah."

Donald: "We shall be the best of friends."

 

[EarthScorpion]

Being a Brief Treatise on the Junior Members of this Amalgam of the Technocratic Union, as Evaluated by the Centurion

(Written to this music)

Gentlemen and well-educated ladies, let me be brief. I am writing this document - and likely those which follow it! - to aid my good friend John Kessler, who is an admirable fellow who I owe a great debt to and so have taken it upon myself to aid in every way I possibly can. Indeed, his courage and bravery even overcomes the fact that he is a Yank! I am proud to call a man like him my brother in arms!

Of course, he said that I did not have to do this, showing his bravery and willingness to take work upon himself, but nay! Nay!, I told him. I too wish to provide the aid I must to the Union, for it is my duty! Even if it has fallen far from the ideals which once it held proud, for it fails to protect womenfolk from the nastier things in life, and promotes those who did not attend Damian, Oxford or Cambridge above their proper status.

Hence, I shall begin with my precise and calculated evaluation of those most junior of Unionists who have recently joined this amalgam. Naturally, with my keen insight I shall cut straight to the core of the men and women who oppose the Forces of Irrationality, and present him with the information he needs to advise the treacherous-yet-delicate flower of the Levant who commands this group (and her highly improper and decadently Italian henchwoman, etc etc), in the hope that such sound guidance shall temper their feminine irrationality.

Operative Jason Brakowski: Ah! Well, at least this one isn't utterly terrible. He's got a jolly good bit of pip and zim. In truth, what he reminds me most of is some young lieutenant just off the playing fields of Eton, full of vim and vigour and believing in the cause of the Union! Sadly, too many of them disdained my compatriots and I, calling us slow and clumsy, and so found themselves perforated or torn apart by the Forces of Irrationality. A lesson you perhaps all should learn!

Corporal Jessica Hughes: And here we have an example of one of the grievous sins of the modern Union. Women are delicate, and certainly should not be put in harm's way, as this poor young lady was. That she was so grievously injured is a mighty sin upon the back of the Union, and the fact that she fought well for a female and managed to not go into paroxysms of hysteria speaks well of her moral value. And with her extensive mechanisation, many of the flaws of her sex have been removed entirely! She is most likely unsuitable for any role which requires too-extensive cognition, but in her current position, as long as she is well-directed, she may well perform acceptably.

Watcher Rachael Williams: Now, it has been said by certain more conservative elements that the Technocratic Union is somehow like those detestable elements of the Forces of Irrationality which consider all women to be inferior beings. That is slander! It's simply that the average female brain is far less capable than the male one, and moreover even exceptional females are skilled at different things to men. Why, the treacherous flower of the Levant who runs this amalgam shows how dangerous the female brain can be when it is put towards dishonesty and backstabbing, and likewise, women are most excellent at meaningless conversation, for science has shown that the areas of their brain devoted to speech are enlarged relative to the parts which control logic. Such is with Miss Williams, who prior to her recruitment was a journalist - not a role a decent woman should take on, but only mildly scandalous. I'm sure that if the Union ever requires information on gossip or the like, she will be most capable of applying her female skills to wheedling out such things.

Ricardo Vega: A paper pusher? Well, I suppose all things like that must be done, even if it is a petty little career for petty little men. Now, if only he was more like my good friend John Kessler, or even Donald Sykes - who appreciates the finer things in life and despite being American has excellent taste in suits from Saville Row - he might be more than a grey little man, but alas! Few men can do such things. And that name sounds distinctly Hispanic, so beware of his likely grasping nature.

Biomechanic Arthur Patel: A doctor? A jolly solid career for a man of the upper middle classes who might never be able to reach the higher echelons of society but who needs a solid role in life where he will be of use. And certainly, your people should feel more secure with him around, for no one should trust Dr Rosario and her self-indulgent Italian ways - and possible Catholicism! - more than they have to. The only thing I feel wary of that surname. Patel? Sounds like he has blood from the Indian subcontinent, I'd say. It may be innocent, but you may have to watch him for fey moods or rebellious behaviour.

Pharmacopeist Thomas Park: Ah, a man of science who studies the ways of chemistry! Excellent. It is through the pursuits of heroic men who are willing to do the vital work in pushing the boundaries of knowledge further that we progress! And with his noted skill with drugs, no doubt you can help keep the Orientals in the amalgam happy! Folk of that nature just love opiates, donchaknow? I will leave it to Mister Sykes to arrange the sales, of course.

 

[EarthScorpion]

Being a Brief Treatise on the Senior Members of this Amalgam of the Technocratic Union, as Evaluated by the Centurion


Gentlemen and well-educated ladies, welcome again to another brief summary on the amalgam of my good friend John Kessler. Last time, of course, I introduced you to the junior members, but of course there are also more senior enlightened scientists who require a brief briefing - ah ha!

It should be noted that despite my use of the word 'senior' to describe them, in truth two of them are younger than any of the junior members. I had previously considered this a clear sign of overpromotion, but certain facts have made themselves self-evident to me in the mean time, and so consequentially I must concede that the so-called modern successors to the glory of the Union are not entirely incompetent in their hiring choices, even if they appear insane to any well-reasoned man, sufficiently intelligent woman, or animate suit of mechanised armour.

Senior Operative Jamelia Belltower

Miss Belltower (I suspect that surname is a fake - either that, or she is actually Mrs Belltower and has retained her husband's surname after his death) is the treacherous, sinister, Levantine flower of femininity who leads this amalgam. The Union has a long yet distasteful habit of employing morally lacking Arabs to carry out the dirty work, and I am afraid to say that she is another example of this shameful tradition, much like an inverted Turkish janissary. She is a murderer, a liar, and fundamentally and intrinsically untrustworthy. No doubt she even uses the righteous expectations of good-natured men to her best advantage. The Union would expect nothing less, even if I find it contemptible.

Candour forces me to admit that she is very good at what she does. As men of science have demonstrated through the arts of phrenology and other forms of advanced studies of the brain, the intelligence of women is naturally focussed towards manipulation of men, deceit, and temptation. Now, of course, this is just an inclination and there are some well-educated women who with the correct training from a young age can be perfectly passable in the sciences, but Miss Belltower has exploited her natural gifts to the full. Why, I have the fear she could even manipulate me if she worked at it. Fortunately, I have seen no sign that she has done so, but I am watchful indeed!

Doctor Serafina Rosario

I must confess I have mixed feelings about this woman, who is the second in command - I would consider the term 'henchwoman' to also be applicable - to Miss Belltower. On one hand, she is a beautiful woman and a Damian graduate who comes from a well-respected family who has shown aptitude at enlightened science from a young age and has such an understanding of the life sciences that she could - should she choose - mitigate many of her womanly weaknesses. On the other hand, she is flighty, distractible, self-indulgent, and worst of all - Italian! At least with her capabilities she could remove most of her negative qualities, but once an Italian, always an Italian.

Indeed, I have heard rumour that she engages in extra-marital carnal activities, which is a dreadful aspersion to cast upon a woman - even if she is unmarried in her thirties and an Italian on top of that. I fear there may be some truth to those rumours, though I must confess that they are somewhat mitigated by the fact that the apparent target of her weak-willed womanly lusts is Alexander Cross. Quite apart from being a fine figure of a man, he is also the homunculus-twin of Paris of Greek mythology, and the Ancient Greeks - quite unlike their shiftless degenerate descendants - were fine men! Indeed, one might even say that they were honorary... well, not honourary Englishmen, but perhaps honorary Scots.

Executive Financier Donald Sykes

Oh, I know about men like Donald. Traders, bankers, capitalists; they're always the same. And mostly, Donald is the acceptable sort. He understands the need for luxury and he's not some cheapskate in a grey suit who just sits in a room and adds up numbers. Noblesse oblige is a thing, donchaknow! He has excellent taste in suits - why, I have observed that he frequently wears Saville Row, and likewise although his styles are often a little too brashly American, he has displayed acceptable levels of taste when that handicap is taken into account. Likewise, his personal collection of artwork is quite admirable, although I must express my disgust at some of your 'modern art'.

Donald has also introduced me to your 'period dramas' and I must say that they are a jolly agreeable way of passing time. Donald says that they are a cunning way of educating people about the past and the way people used to live so that they improve themselves, and I cannot help but agree! That he has interests in firms which produce them is admirable indeed!

SSGT John Kessler

John Kessler! An altogether most fine man, who I owe a great debt of thanks to! Yes, he is an American, but he is also a solid and trustworthy ally and a good friend. And he has the proper rigid backbone of a man who can stand up and fight all kinds of monster. Primium is the emperor of materials, after all. I have read some of his files and I hold him in no small amount of awe for his survival for all those years in that dreadfully uncivilised alien world. Robinson Crusoe bears no comparison to John Kessler, for he did not have to fight dragons. Dragons are jolly uncivilised creatures and the world is a better place now the Union has forced what buggers that survive out into space. I was worn on a mission to slay a jolly horrible Cathayan dragon which was attacking British shipping trade. We showed that overgrown newt what for, I'll tell you that!

PLT Henriette Langley

To first inspections, one might be inclined to dismiss Miss Langley - incidentally, is every woman in this group completely incapable of finding themselves a husband? - as a crude, unrefined chit of a girl whose half-breed blood is tainted by Oriental decadence, who is slovenly, acts improperly, curses like a sailor, is prone to hysteria and irrationality (likely caused by a rebellion of her womb caused by travelling too quickly), and often makes grotesque and entirely unnecessary threats involving arc welders and orbital launches to perfectly innocent suits of mechanised armour. And indeed, she is and does all of those things.

But that is not all. She also shows considerable bravery especially considering her age and gender, is most skilled at study of mechanics and materials due to beginning young - perhaps her instability comes from grasping enlightened science at too young an age - and saved the world from malevolent aliens. She is flawed, yes, but she is not irredeemable. She is also wise enough to realise that her weak female body can be encased in strength-enhancing armour - and her TENNO mech is something I must proudly consider one of my descendants, for it at least does not hide like some coward! No, it stands face to face with its foes and shoots them repeatedly with a cannon! After all, she is one quarter German in her mongrel-like blood, and that is blood shared with nothing less than Queen Victoria herself! She just needs an etiquette teacher to teach her civilised standards of behaviour, starting with small things like 'not chewing with her mouth open' and 'not threatening to stick arc welders into the eye socket of someone who points this out'.

Also, importantly, she is not her sister, who has all her flaws and none of her redeeming features - and is a malevolent alien intelligence seeking to conquer the world on top of that! Her sister must take after her Oriental half.

CST Rose Ashford

Some might think that I might dismiss this lady as a weakling child, silly and foolish and needing firm care.

Nothing could be further from the truth! Miss Ashford is the homunculus-twin of none other than the Lady Lior herself! Did you not think I would recognise that face, even if she has both eyes and has been re-sculpted to the ideas of beauty of others? Did you not think I would not know the Mother of Mechanised Armour on sight? I exist because of the Lady Lior and her tireless work in her later years towards the cause of mechanised armour! She even touched me once, when she was examining a production line! Would you mistake me for some cur who cannot hold true loyalty to someone who is akin to a sister to her? Even if the mechanised armours of these later years hide their colours and do not raise their banner with pride, her legacy is clear to see! I have high hopes for Miss Ashford, and will do everything I can to aid her into living up to the expectations upon her.

 

[MJ12 Commando]

Alternate Ending 1: Control
California, United States of America
2015

Donald


Armature Donald Sykes is awoken by his ADEI telling him that it is 5 AM and that he should be awake. 3 hours of sleep is more than enough for him. He has to report to his new amalgam today. He vaguely remembers dreaming of wealth and power and sex, and wonders why he feels somewhat conflicted about that dream. It was a good dream, wasn't it? Just a power fantasy. He looks around the hotel room and blinks to clear his eyes.

"The orders said I should get my intern and report to my new assignment by 11 AM." He says out loud, to nobody in particular.

[This is correct. However, excess sleep is inefficient. This gives you time to accomplish more in the day. Such as biological maintenance.] His ADEI is designed with one of those semi-sapient research aides in it, which as one of his few allowed vices he has customized to have the appearance and voice of a beautiful young woman.

"Have you considered that I should maybe apply for one of those full-body conversions and ignore these biological aggravations?"

[Those conversions are combat-designed and inefficient for your current role in statistical modeling and future forecasting. You would be unlikely to succeed in doing so.]

"Fine. Fine. Fine." Sykes concedes. "No indulging in human weakness."

[Humanity should not wallow in its frailties, but rather seek to mitigate and then eventually remove them.]

He takes a five-minute shower, dresses himself-suit and tie this time, he wants to look formal for his new boss, and checks the news via his implanted computer systems. As a statistician, he's gotten into a habit of trawling these articles. There's a speech today by Professor An-Jin Choi, the man whose recommendations were instrumental in defeating the Code Ragnarok incident back in 1999. Donald makes sure to listen to the recorded version. He's a hero of the Technocracy in ways that most people strive for but never can make-he's only in his 30s and commands influence beyond many people twice his age. There's some jealousy there-he's seen and heard it, but nobody wants to speak out, because someone with his reputation is more of a legend than a person.

Next month is the 16th anniversary of the Dimensional Anomaly. It had cost them resources, time, but not nearly as much as it could have. They had been warned ahead of time by predictions of phase space destabilization, been looking for it, been ready to reinforce hyperspace corridors and do evacuation missions when it had happened. Losses had been... harsh but manageable. There's a monument to the lost, an obelisk in London and another one in the new Sol Central Station of black stone with the names and ranks of every lost member of the Technocracy engraved on them. What is good to know is that the Traditions have lost far more in terms of resources and support.

An an article titled "Exemplar of the past" catches his eye. It's about Colonel Rose Ashford of Iteration X's Shock Corps. He reads about how the synthetic reconstruction of the old heroine Reina Lior has demonstrated to everyone that constructs can succeed in command roles, leading to some debate on whether or not senior constructs should be retired from field duty. Sykes checks the InstaPoll and thinks that the chances of that are unlikely. Specific command constructs like the EXEMPLAR III series, perhaps. They're proxies for legendary heroes after all.

There's a picture of the woman there in a high-end suit of powered armor, hair cut in a short bob to fit under a helmet, and face an impassive mask. He pauses on it for longer than strictly necessary-and he doesn't quite know why. For some reason, he wonders how she'd look when she smiles. He mentally chastises himself for the distraction and goes on to more news. He scrolls down.

"The wanted terrorist Christopher Westin and his Reality Deviant allies, was cornered and eliminated by one of Colonel Ashford's recent operations. The ex-special forces commando had been conducting a guerilla warfare campaign against Technocratic assets in North America, leading to a cross-Convention assault team being deployed against him. With the help of Colonel Ashford, his killing spree of defenseless scientists, reformist politicians, and soft targets had finally been ended."

There's another article on Syndicate Internal Affairs-VPO Warren Roth and Senior Compliance Partner Catherine DeVries have been using the Enforcer methodology's newfound popularity in its 15-year covert war against the hemophages to demand more transparency in Syndicate internal operations. He wishes them luck-they're fighting an uphill battle there.

He reads a few more articles and turns to world news. The two-year anniversary of the Asian Trilateral Cooperation Treaty is today. A landmark treaty signed between China, the unified Korea, and Japan, formalizing how China has become part of the western order. Or perhaps, Donald should say, the new world order. A multiday multinational celebration in Neo Seoul will occur and Cooperation Day is looking likely to become a formal holiday for the three powers. A symbol of how even ancient rivalries are fading away to bring a new, brighter future to the world.

Oil prices have plateaued at the bottom, having fallen precipitiously due to widespread adoption of green technologies. The Middle East and Africa is wracked with instability and civil war with several newspapers beating the drums of humanitarian intervention, and it looks likely that a formal intervention via the UN might be required. An excuse, Donald concludes, to eliminate the last holdouts of the Traditions.

There are concerns that Russian financial issues may lead to a major recession in the European Union, a phenomenon which has not happened for over 30 years.

ICANN is being formally dismantled due to national security concerns leading to a distrust of an insecure internet where anyone can act, a formal acknowledgement of what has already been happening with the nationalization and securing of the internet. The United States is likely to repeal laws protecting encryption as 'free speech' and return to the policy where encryption is only authorized by the government starting sometime this year. The NSA's popularity is still immense, having skyrocketed ever since September 10, 2001, where NSA dragnet surveillance prevented a terrorist attack from occurring.

Asteroid mining proposals are being floated in Congress, as well as an international lunar base proposal that would allow for lunar regolith mining.

The "Name and Shame" Cyberbullying law, preventing anonymous message boards from existing and requiring that all online services require a real name and address, has survived a Supreme Court challenge, paving the way for tighter integration of personal information into the internet. Supporters suggest that improvements to internet security done by governments instead of the old "Wild West" of an unregulated net mean that this is unlikely to cause more identity theft.

One of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, now considered a cyberterrorist group, was found killed in his jail cell by his roommate after his conviction for pedophilia.

After last year's landmark victory for chemical rehabilitation techniques, several states including California are trialing methods of chemically reducing criminality in convicts. There's some vague concern about the moral implications, but most people support it as an alternative to jail, accepting Professor Li's assertion that criminality is fundamentally a mental illness, and that like any other mental illness it can be treated with medication.

All in all, the world looks like it's on the right track. He goes to pick up his new intern at the Los Angeles airport before driving to the SynGen Building where his new office will be.

Mari Langley is a young prodigy, the sister of Henriette Langley-Langara, the daughter of Yui Ayanami. He has minor concerns that she's been allowed to graduate from Damien early to go into a work-study program like this, but he doesn't file any formal complaints. The elite of the Union get their perks and men like him just work around them as best as they're able. Besides, how much of a problem can she really be?

An hour and a half later, having listened to Mari bitch about her sister and her meteoric rise to fame and how it's not fair that Henriette gets to pilot high-tech vehicles and the DSS system while she gets stuck studying-she's not that much younger , she can totally pilot just fine-look at her sim scores-all because of an idle comment about her family tree-Donald Sykes wishes to amend his initial complaint that yes, she can be a problem and he should resolve to never talk about her family around her ever again.

When he arrives at the tall SynGen building, he reviews what he knows about the company. It's a genetic engineering firm, doing genetic modification via retrovirals to reduce genetic problems. They cooperate significantly with various prosthetics companies, genetically modifying accident victims so that their bodies will accept augmentation more easily without gilal cell buildup or irritation. The building's face is a massive LED screen, projecting smiling accident victims and peacekeepers who have found their synthetic body parts to be at least as good-no, better-than the parts they had lost.

They're going to be working on marketing retroviral genetic upgrades to wealthy parents. He's here for the statistical analysis. Mari's here to learn the biology under the tutelage of the esteemed Dr. Rosario. He looks forward to this kind of work-something that's making a difference in people's lives, rather than the sort of statistical analysis that makes a difference to people's bottom lines. Something where he can always keep in mind what he does makes other people's days a little brighter.

A pretty Chinese woman whose nametag says "LI" waves them in as the elevator stops underground in the Construct proper. Donald recognizes her as the chief of security from his briefing. She smiles brilliantly. "Dr. Rosario is in her office. Take a right and then a left at the end of the corridor." They thank her and proceed on. Dr. Rosario tells them what she expects and needs from both of them and shows them to their respective offices. She gives Mari a simple assignment to keep her busy and then brings Donald back to her own office for a quick conversation.

"I'm curious as to why you're here." She says, leaning towards him slightly. "A lot of people," she continues in a husky drawl, "would love to be in the position you're in right now. To be given a chance to... further your career."

Donald nods obliviously. "The career prospects here did sound excellent."

"Was there any other reason for your choice? A lot of men and women would love to work under me."

"I just wanted to serve the Technocracy as best as I was able, ma'am." Donald says.

"Hm." Serafina says, leaning back in thought. "You seem a bit tense. Do you need a physical? I am a fully qualified doctor."

"I'm completely fine. I'm not suffering from implant rejection or any other interface issues." He answers obliviously.

"All right then. I'll see you tomorrow."

Serafina Rosario sighs in frustration as Iterator Sykes leaves.

​

***​

Rose

The augmented reconstruction of Lady Reina Lior, knight of the Order of Reason, looks out at the soldiers assembled in front of her. Like her, they are wearing heavy powered armor. Their helmets are already on, and she sends them her mission briefing via ADEI. Taftani and Batini elements have been found in this Saudi Arabian village, possibly with hemophage allies. Sweep the village, look for anyone suspicious, and eliminate any Reality Deviance. Attempt to minimize collateral damage-but collateral damage in and of itself is not unacceptable. She feels like she needs to say something to them. The future is a strange place, where stealth and guile are valued far more than straightforward force. Tactics that she would have opposed as dishonorable have become the standard of practice. It's a brave new world-but she understands it a lot better than she thinks she does.

"You're here because you're some of the best. You uphold a legacy," Rose says confidently, "of several hundred years. When the first knight of the Order of Reason took up his sword, he knew he was fighting for a better tomorrow. He knew that by studying war and the martial arts, he would give a chance for others after him to study other, more peaceful subjects. This is what you do. Generation after generation has taken up the call to defend civilization and humanity against the ravening beasts at the door, those we call 'Reality Deviants.' Do you want to let them win?"

"No, ma'am!" They shout out, initially surprised but now understanding.

"Do you wish to let the darkness consume everything you love, or do you wish to fight?"

"We fight!"

"Do you want to be remembered as heroes, or do you want to die in your beds?"

"We want to be remembered!"

She nods. "Make me proud. Make Iteration X proud. Make the Technocracy proud. Dismissed."

It takes a few hours of watching the operation unfold, by which time a small but sizable fraction of the village is on fire or leveled from heavy ordinance, before the doubts start trickling in. Her helmet is off-she doesn't need it for tactical updates and she's in an armored command vehicle anyhow. She can see her reflection in the mirror sheen of the armor visor.

Her reflection asks a question. It looks like her, but not like her-an innocent young woman with her face and her voice, hair worn long. An augmentation side effect-seeing things that aren't there. A minor, benign manifestation of her augmented neurology. "Is this all necessary?" She asks. Even her voice is more innocent, slightly higher and more childlike. "Not everyone in the village is a bad person."

Rose looks at the questioning reflection and gives her normal answer. "I know. But the enemy is hiding among them and this is the best way to preserve our forces."
The other-Rose looks back. "We could fight them outside of the village! Wait until they prepare for an attack. Taftani always make themselves obvious."

"I would, personally." She concedes. "But I am commanding, rather than leading from the front now," she sighs in distaste, "and I do not wish to gamble with the lives of anyone under my command. Those are not my lives to gamble with."

"Is this what you wanted? What you fought for for centuries?" Her reflection asks, gesturing at a HITMark torching a house with blue-white flame. A man, burning, leaps out of the window. "Is it really?"

Rose doesn't know. She can't answer that question, but she can give an answer. "It's what we have to do-we have to follow our orders for the greater good."

"Because?"

"Because we don't have a choice in it. If I get replaced-someone else takes my place, and that someone else might not take even these precautions." Rose says. "I wish we could stop this fighting, but pressures both internal and external mean we can't. I'm not sure if anyone can."

"No. There was always a choice. It's just that sometimes the choice was never yours to make." Her reflection says sadly. "And perhaps..."

"Perhaps?"

"Perhaps the alternative was too much to bear. Maybe that's why she chose this future. Maybe she was tired of being an old imperfect woman trying to hold together an imperfect world coming apart at the seams. So she chose this one. A world that isn't coming apart. The cost merely being a few more bloody hands in exchange for rent and shattered souls."

"Who's she?" Rose wonders. But there is no answer. Rose knows deep down that she knows the person her reflection was talking about, but Rose can't remember the name.​

***​

Kessler

The cybersoldier stalks through the drafty mansion alone. Ghosts and other Reality Deviant manifestations strike at him, but his will is made of the same unbreakable metal as his body, and he has weapons specifically for killing things like that. The mansion might come alive-doors sealing themselves with the strength of steel, but he is far stronger than that. His weapons and augmentations are the finest tools that Iteration X has created. Reality Deviance slides off of him like water, his primium endoskeleton blunting powerful strikes.

RD sympathizers attempt to ambush him with enchanted weapons that always hit their mark, but the crystalline-armored Kusanagi cybereyes he has are far tougher than the biology they emulate. He strikes them down with his weapon, a combination of heavy cyborg assault rifle and plasma caster. Standard rounds only-the plasma caster is only for Reality Deviants. He hunts them down methodically. Six becomes five, then four, then three, then two, and then finally one. The last one recognizes him.

"We saved you! We could have killed you but left you alone back on Xanadu! Why are you doing this?!" Adsilia asks. No, pleads. "We're not terrorists. We just want to live how we want!"

"Surrender and you can still live." Kessler says. He doesn't want to do this. He wants her to surrender. He already knows that she won't. She'll choose to fight rather than to go with the Technocracy. They almost always do. And she's proud and young and thinks herself invincible. He respects that.​

She brings her hand up, probably to cast some curse or incantation. He's faster with his rifle, a warrior by profession and a soldier by enhancement. A single gunshot and the mission is done. He takes stock of the shot. A single headshot, precisely where it needed to be to ensure difficulties in reprocessing her corpse for HITMark use. If anyone asks, he'll say that the mechanical stop was necessary. You never know how dangerous a Reality Deviant is.

"Is the mission complete?" His commander asks. "Have you eliminated the HVTs?"

"Yes." Kessler says flatly. "All HVTs eliminated." He looks at the young woman's corpse for a moment, then shifts her so she's lying on the floor instead of sprawled against the wall, closes her eyes.

"Look," the commander says. "you didn't have a choice. You didn't know what she was going to do. She made you do it."

Kessler nods, still unhappy. "Yeah, that choice was already made for us."

***​

The Bell Tower Cafe
2015

James Starling is turning 17 today. He's an orphan, but a wealthy one, taken care of by his butler after his parents perished in a mysterious fire. He's pale and handsome in an otherworldy fashion, having grown into manhood recently. He stands to inherit a fortune, and with his scores and talent, is likely to be able to do whatever he wants. Right now, what he wants is for one of the waitresses at this cafe to notice him. His money, his sophistication, and even his good looks, don't seem to have been effective. It makes him just a little bit annoyed that all this power can't get him everything he wants in life. But today, something happens. He gets lucky, perhaps, and she ends up coming to him.

"May I take your order?" A petite Middle Eastern girl wearing lilac says.

"Hi. Um..." he stammers. "...Jasmine, right?" He's obviously reading her nametag. "Um... er..."

"Yes?" She asks, impatient but also slightly interested.

"I just um... wanted to know if you were free sometime to get coffee. I just want to um..." he pauses, "...get to know you a little better."

"Sure?" Jasmine says nervously, smiling. "I'm free this weekend after lunchtimes."

He smiles. She likes me!

Sometimes he thinks that this world is not worth living, that it's rotten to the core and there is something fundamentally wrong with it. But for the moment, all those dark thoughts are forgotten in the joy of recognition.

---

"We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian." -Lionel Trilling

1 of ??? Endings Achieved

 

[MJ12 Commando]

Nope.

Or at least not necessarily.

We've been told that if he had succeed in getting a hard science degree he would have ended up in Iteration X before. It is entirely possible that in this future Iteration X, and the rest of the Union, has more time for supporting promising students.

Click to shrink...

Donald joined Iteration X and has had his biological desires damped (not fully suppressed, but damped) by an ADEI.

But what about Siddharth?

Click to shrink...

Captain Rajesh was decorated as a hero for bravery at the Battle of Gernsback when his space marine platoon bravely used stealth power armor to drift into and assault an Etherite battlecruiser, wresting control of it from the enemy. He now has a senior command position over the Border Control Division. In the 2030s, when the Void Engineers attempt to break away, his soldiers' loyalty will ensure that the majority of the Void Engineers stay where they are, and that the breakaway is merely an annoyance.

Gretkov, allowed to act without interference, eventually turns to the Nephandi as fewer and fewer opportunities for the messy wet work that he so loves come his way. He is responsible for "The Moscow Massacre," where hundreds of children are mutilated and killed during the winter months of 2011. Eventually, he is brought down by Ivan Rankovitch, killing Rankovitch in turn. The deaths are used to pass even more restrictive surveillance laws in Russia and strengthen the state security apparatus further.

Ivan Rankovitch finds that this new world, although one where the Technocracy is winning, is not one which he believes in. Still suffering from a conflict between his nationalism and his loyalty to the ideals of the Technocracy, when he finds that Gretkov has trapped him in a deathtrap as his last victim, makes no effort to escape, but rather commits suicide to avoid a worse fate. He is remembered as a hero and a symbol of perseverance, his internal conflicts papered over.

Elsa Naryshkin died in one of the multitude of battles involving the Technocracy reestablishing its control and dominance over Russia. Much like many of the Traditions magi who died during the 21st century purges, she is quietly forgotten.

Hannah Gladson joins the Traditions instead of the Rogue Council. This proves to be a foolish decision, as she is captured and reprocessed into an ATLAS unit by unsympathetic members of Iteration X.

Melody escapes capture when her friend does not. She eventually finds Hannah in an ATLAS chassis. Her last words, choked out from behind tears, are "Harmonious Purifier!" as she suicide bombs her former friend and the Construct in which she found Hannah.

Jamelia Belltower died of a stroke in late June 1999. It was later found that her codes were responsible for elevating An-Jin's authority so that his recommendations were followed. After a posthumous tribunal, it was decided that she would be given a decoration for heroism. Jeremiah Blanc saw it as vindication. His experiment succeeded. He had forged someone truly exceptional, someone who had changed history.

Jazmin Clock, Blanc's former right hand henchwoman, is intrigued by her donor-sister's history. With very little to do since Blanc's disappointment led her to be almost permanently sidelined, she asks for a transfer to the Watchers-and is surprised when it goes through. She becomes a popular reporter for the BBC, providing a Technocratic slant to human-interest stories and in her own way, becomes something more than a shadow of her donor-sister.

Alice Aristide felt when her real mother died, and spent the next decade trying to find who her real mother was. Recovering her memories and feeling some guilt at what happened, she eventually snuck into the London Geofront to pay her respects to the mother she never really knew. Narrowly escaping, she stays on the run, trying to rescue new mages from the clutches of the revitalized and immensely powerful Technocratic Union and teach them how to hide in this brave new world.

General Augustine Aleph, his mind unclouded by doubt, continues prosecuting the Technocracy's dirty shadow wars with peak effectiveness. Without the questions he had in the original time line, he sees nothing wrong with using the dirtiest tactics and the cruelest tortures. My Union, he thinks. My Union right or wrong.

Anyone else you might care about?

 

[MJ12 Commando]

What about Christos and Senex?

Click to shrink...

Senex is still a ghost. He knows that something has gone incredibly wrong with the Wheel of Fate, but he cannot understand what it was. It haunts him. He spends all his resources in a desperate attempt to understand what went wrong, but always hits a brick wall. He sometimes fears that the Technocracy has truly won, upended the Wheel of Fate and stopped it from turning, replacing it with a complex perpetual machine instead.

Christos fights a desperate shadow war with a slowly decreasing list of allies to find out what changed and how to revert it. He knows from his contacts that something has gone drastically, drastically wrong with the timeline but the Dimensional Anomaly makes it difficult to pinpoint what exactly it was.

Harlan Aristide

Click to shrink...

Psychic powers get pushed ever more out of Consensus with Control at the helm. Harlan Aristide dies a bitter drunk, full of unsaid regrets. His ghost eventually happens onto his adopted daughter, who forgives him for the lies and deceptions and arguments, and lets him finally pass on.

What about Stephanie? Is she still fighting against the Exarchs?

Click to shrink...

Stephanie turned her eyes onto the real hidden masters of reality-the Technocracy. In turn, they turned their eyes on her. She is still at large and causes chaos wherever she goes, but she is rapidly running out of places to run.

 

[MJ12 Commando]

Rose: "We are linked because I have her face."

Christos: "And she has King Arthur's face. As it turns out, Fate/Stay Night was actually factual."

Click to shrink...

This is literally your fault @Swordomatic

Tradwiki: Fate_Grand_Order(Videogame)/Discussion

Based on a True Story?
Why is this franchise categorized as [Fictionalized Historical Events]? -BobTheRogueBob
-> Based on a true story. -Thig4Life
--> Long story short, back in the old days you would sometimes settle disputes over wizard things using summoned heroes. Back then they figured the stronger willworker should be given concessions, so they had this contest to show which willworker was the top dog, back when House Bonisagus was important. You summoned up legendary beings and had them fight, kind of like Pokemon but with mythical creatures and heroes. -Thig4Life
---> So yes, it happened, but then the Order of Reason happened to it and well. It fell out of popularity for certamen-partly because some houses felt that it was a purer test of skill than this sort of fight, partly because after the Order of Reason happened, people didn't have the quintessence and time to waste on summoning powerful legends for things like this when you could summon them to die in the Ascension War instead. Think of it as more of a broad strokes thing. -Thig4Life.
----> If you want to know how some random guy in Japan with no actual ties to the Traditions or Technocracy as far as we can tell knows about it? Legends don't die, they just change form. -Thig4Life.
-----> And if you want to know why the Syndicate hasn't shut it down or something, I'm not even sure anyone on their end has bothered looking through their historical records to figure out that this is actually a mystic ritual, not a person with an overactive imagination. And I'm pretty sure even if they did, they'd just keep it running as an endless money fountain. -Thig4Life

So Does It Work?
If you summon seven legendary heroes and have them duel to the death until only one remains, do you get your wish granted? -BrythoniaReturns
-> Yes, if your wish is to be murdered by plasma cannons. -FightDamian.
--> Explain. -BrythoniaReturns
---> You're summoning seven extremely powerful spirits onto Earth through the Gauntlet in a way which is nearly impossible to hide. There are cheaper ways to commit suicide. -FightDamian

Was King Arthur A Girl?
So was King Arthur a girl or not? -AubreyMaturin
-> The past is just as mutable as the future or the present, so does it matter? -GrendelDidNothingWrong

Is Gilgamesh Actually That Much of a Dick?
Look. My Avatar is actually Gilgamesh and he's really, really offended at his portrayal here. So I'd like to know if, well... he was that much of a dick. -GayBakeryAu
-> I'm sorry but Gilgamesh is actually a mass rapist. So yeah. A dick. -WickedWitchofTheWeb
--> You can't judge him based on modern standards. -mraaa
---> So what, you're going to defend the Technocracy's genocides because they were done back when it was okay to kill millions of people too? -WickedWitchofTheWeb
--->Also, he was kind of actually recorded as a huge dick? Hello? That's why Enkidu had to show up? -LondonLass
---> Aaaand we're just going to cut this off here before it becomes "WickedWitchofTheWeb and mraaa get the figurative knives out for feminism discussion #950." -Protoko (Moderator)

Is This Game Run By Nephandi?
I have been trying to sacrifice gemstones to influence my luck on the random summoning rolls but it clearly isn't working. All I get are keys and random shit cards. Please explain. -RitsukaTohsaka
-> This sounds awfully like hubris. -MyOtherCarIsAnIndianUFO
--> Look it's actually simple. The game is secretly run by dragons. They're doing so they can: 1) Gain quintessence from all your worthless sacrifices of time and; 2) Destroy their natural enemy by degrading the legends of powerful dragonslayers. -ArtificialArchetype
---> Okay this explains why all the dragonslayers are actually pretty bad. -MyOtherCarIsAnIndianUFO

Georgios Patch?
So does anyone keep up with the new patch? Apparently they gave Georgios a whole host of buffs, including a rarity buff, and changed his artwork? Why? I thought they kept him trash tier on purpose. -GrendelDidNothingWrong
-> And they also gave him a mullet. Like, why the fuck does he have a mullet? -RitsukaTohsaka
--> Please see John_Kessler(Iteration_X)/Discussion. -ChristosBarberis
---> Okay what the literal fuck is going on here. -Wingz (moderator)
------> oh wow i guess i was right about John_Kessler(Iteration_X) being the dragonslayer. -imnotdrunkimexpandingmyconsciousness

 

[MJ12 Commando]

"But I wanted something more heartwarming and healing-type" you asked. Fortunately @Strypgia has an alternate version of that conversation! Choose your own canon.

JB CCXXII (Alt): To Take Away Her Pain

"He's dead, Ling," Henriette says.

"How?" Ling pleads, and even the tinny speakers can't mask how her voice cracks. "He couldn't have died! He had an experimental war machine, adaptable to anything. All you had was one ICONOCLAST and a handful of decent combat vehicles! He should have won! He-he couldn't have died. He said that-he said that we'd come back together."

Henriette has so many things she could say, wants to say. About how Ling was given a fake version of her own boyfriend, a flawed resurrection based on degraded data. How Sanjeet was transparently just a psychological warfare tool to keep Ling loyal even as they tinkered with her brain chemistry, a tool to ensure that if Henriette showed up, they might have another edge. How he was expendable and disposable, and had no purpose but as such a weapon. That Ling was being stupid nursing her child-like crush on him, and her stupidity was why she ended up fighting on the wrong side. Henriette chooses to say something else instead. "I miss him too. I'm actually here because of him."

"What?" Ling asks. "Are you here to gloat about how I had only an inferior copy? How you knew the real Sanjeet better than I did, and you're happy that- that- his copy was killed?"

"No." Henriette says slowly, breathing carefully to keep the emotion out of her voice. "I wanted to commiserate. And to tell you he was right. I shouldn't have been such a bitch to you, and I'm sorry that-" she catches herself before she makes that mistake. She's apologizing for real, not saying a few words to get some absolution. "I'm sorry that I didn't realize it until so recently."

"I… do not understand," Ling says after Henriette trails off and lets the silence hang.

"I was… stupid. I liked him, couldn't just spit it out, and instead just ripped into you for drawing his attention and him for giving it. He always was… so damn compassionate. That's one of the things I liked about him, and instead of saying so I was just an ass to you and him about it. So I'm sorry, you and he deserved better from me, and I should have been as mature as I kept loudly telling everyone I was."

"You did not deserve him!" Ling accused, her voice cracking again. "He was caring and kind to me and… you bitch! You took him and now he's dead?! You killed him!"

Henriette shakes her head. "No. He saved me. You're right, I didn't deserve him. I should have told him how I felt before Autocthonia. Not played bitchy games insulting you or waffling about him. But I didn't. And he died saving me from the same people who were using you and his clone."

Ling's camera just stares at her. "Explain."

The mission to Autocthonia. The puppets of her parents. Sanjeet rescuing her, dying to cut her a way out. Moscow. The Agent that tried to use a Control code on her. Fighting her sister in space. The 'Control' that was giving Ling her orders and cloning Sanjeet.

"You were used just like they tried to use me. To turn us against everything we're supposed to protect. They even cloned Sanjeet just to manipulate you and probably use him against me. So that's why I'm here. To apologize to you for all the shitty, bitchy things I said to you when the three of us were together, and admit that after all the shit I gave you, you and I are so damn alike it hurts."

Ling's voice is surprisingly flat and angry for someone who was until recently an emoneut and communicating through Masses-tech speakers. "I am not like you."

Henriette cocks her head. "We both loved him. I can admit it now. And recognize you did too, even with your emotions flattened out. That's why I want to apologize. Because you and I are the only ones left who remember the real him. And I don't want that to die. I want his memory to stay alive."

Ling is silent a long time. "If this is some interrogation ploy to trick me into speaking, I will kill you once I have a body again," she says eventually.

Henriette gives a sad, barked laugh. "This is me at my most painfully honest, Ling. You and I remember him. And we will continue to. I don't blame you for being tricked into fighting for the wrong side. It could easily have been me. If I hadn't been a bitch to you back then, maybe we three would have deployed as a team on that mission, and maybe that would have been enough we all could have made it home. I wish more than anything he was still here with us. But he's not. So I'll do my best to earn the life he saved for me, and this is part. You and I may not ever be precisely friends, but if and when they release you, look me up."

"That will be some time, if ever. If I am even permitted to retain memories of this."

"I'll remember."

"Why?" Ling sounded puzzled now. "Why are you doing this? You could easily just leave me to whatever punishment or wipe they decree."

"Because he would have. And we both loved that. That clone wasn't him. We know him. So… trade you things about him? Memories of the man we both wanted?"

Ling is silent for a moment. "Acceptable."