- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns
Kerrus
Fractal Insanity
Hmm, with the clarification on t he security codes, that's actually possibly a good point. I mean it'd give her a narrow window, since the codes probably change fairly regularly... or it might not be useful information at all, since it's entirely possible the codes were changed the moment Jamelia was compromised, given that we did talk to Bastion...
Are we storing Jamelia at the LA construct? That seems like the main weakness to giving the codes away if Clock can get at her... but on the other hand, as far as Clock is concerned, Jamelia is dead, out of the picture. Getting the codes would let her walk in, probably fake being Jamelia as long as she doesn't run into any of the senior staff, but she wouldn't automatically know that Jamelia's being kept on ice in one of the storage closets... and looking at what might be dramatically appropriate, having Jamelia wake up while Clock is strutting around pretending to be her would be pretty cool...
Or maybe Clock finds and terminates Jamelia's physical body... but that isn't necessarily the end of the road for her either, I mean worst case scenario we can stuff her into an MIB while Serafina clones her a new body, best case... Jamelia and Clock battle for control of the only remaining Jamelia body.
I'm actually liking the narrative potential for this!
That puts my votes at:
[X]Donald has done the bad juju in London
[X]The Security Codes for the LA Construct
I'd also like to put a firm anti-vote down for
[-]Serafina is a Suicide Risk.
Are we storing Jamelia at the LA construct? That seems like the main weakness to giving the codes away if Clock can get at her... but on the other hand, as far as Clock is concerned, Jamelia is dead, out of the picture. Getting the codes would let her walk in, probably fake being Jamelia as long as she doesn't run into any of the senior staff, but she wouldn't automatically know that Jamelia's being kept on ice in one of the storage closets... and looking at what might be dramatically appropriate, having Jamelia wake up while Clock is strutting around pretending to be her would be pretty cool...
Or maybe Clock finds and terminates Jamelia's physical body... but that isn't necessarily the end of the road for her either, I mean worst case scenario we can stuff her into an MIB while Serafina clones her a new body, best case... Jamelia and Clock battle for control of the only remaining Jamelia body.
I'm actually liking the narrative potential for this!
That puts my votes at:
[X]Donald has done the bad juju in London
[X]The Security Codes for the LA Construct
I'd also like to put a firm anti-vote down for
[-]Serafina is a Suicide Risk.
Foyada
Chara Apologist
I dunno, the overly paranoid part of me read "Rose is also there" as "This puts Rose at risk"
Hmm,
[x] Jamelia's daughter is Alice Aristide.
[x] The security codes to the LA Construct
[x] Donald Sykes has done Reality Deviance in London in the form of EDE-binding.
Because Rose is still a moe-urder machine, and has more physical backup than Serafina has Social at the moment, I think.
Hmm,
[x] Jamelia's daughter is Alice Aristide.
[x] The security codes to the LA Construct
[x] Donald Sykes has done Reality Deviance in London in the form of EDE-binding.
Because Rose is still a moe-urder machine, and has more physical backup than Serafina has Social at the moment, I think.
Last edited:
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Yeah, concur. Donald is pretty good at taking care of himself, but Serafina is much more exposed.
[x] Jamelia's daughter is Alice Aristide.
[x] The security codes to the LA Construct
[x] Donald Sykes has done Reality Deviance in London in the form of EDE-binding.
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
You guys forget the Serafina is a bit busy keeping Jamelia's vegetative body from flat lining at the moment, she's not going to leave the consttuct.
The construct that is probably at general quarters with Jamelia bot pretending to be Jamelia.
The construct that is probably at general quarters with Jamelia bot pretending to be Jamelia.
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The issue is that all the heavy combat assets being HITMarks and a high-end Enlightened Combat Construct are pretty easy to suborn ranging from laughably easy (HITMarks) to LOL LETS SEE HOW LONG YOU CAN SPEND WP TO RESIST CONDITIONING HACKS (Rose). So uh yeah.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Have we still not changed out Rose's codes?
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Changing Roses Codes" involves Serafina taking the better part of a week to edit out killswitches and buried shutdown overrides inherent in high end combat constructs on top of specialist stuff that was put into EXEMPLAR. Add on to that however long it would take to UNDO Conditioning which is nontrivial.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
The fact that we have literally never had a week free to do that is probably indicative of something.
STASIS Ending: Control
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
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
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A non pervert Donald? Really? Suspension of disbelief blown.
Nah you can see that his libido and self indulgence has been strapped down tight by Conditioning and enforced by his AEDI.
For those curious, Christopher Westin is MJ12's Traditions character in IXJac's Mage the Ascension game. Euthanatos.
That definitely sounds like Kingsley at work. I believe MJ12 mentioned an incident just like that during one of the "the various characters give their opinion on the possible hires" pieces. Siddharth on Kingsley.
Eh, I would have said that criminality is a function of society, not mental illness. That's probably a more NWO viewpoint, to think of it that way.
Planet Hollywood might be a physical planet, but its space combat is shaped by Hollywood's rules. Drone-ships are cannon fodder for the main characters, to die in droves before the outnumbered heroes, while big doom ships exist to get asploded by the plucky protagonists in tiny X-Wings. Henrietta is on the side of the Big Bad Evil Guys, and we're the Rebels.
Now, that doesn't necessarily mean we should go charging straight at the metaphorical Death Star - Hollywood's paradigm still allows for plenty of protagonists to die even if the Good Guys win, after all. However, it does give us a significant edge in edge-of-our-teeth daring escapes and similar derring-do. It also plays to the narrative of Henriette being a better pilot than Henrietta, and I think we should use that to further drive our archnemesis up the wall.
At work now but can't do a write-in, but I'd suggest something along the lines of:
[X]Go Go
[X]My Stupid Fat Sister Can't Catch Me, Tee-Hee
[X]Why Yes That Is A Minefield
=>[X]I Love The Smell Of Antimatter In The Morning
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
And of course in that world, everything is totally awesome for Henriette Langley-Langara: Meteoric career, fame, glory, loving proud parents who are themselves Iteration X 'royalty', Perfect Princess of ItX status herself, glorious successful mission after mission, her fellow hotshot-Pilot as a husband/wingmate... everything as it should be.
The other world? Where she's lost everything, her sister is a twisted, insane puppet-thing of evil, and Henriette herself is nearly mad and broken from grief and pain? Panopticon-world is Henriette's dystopia.
The other world? Where she's lost everything, her sister is a twisted, insane puppet-thing of evil, and Henriette herself is nearly mad and broken from grief and pain? Panopticon-world is Henriette's dystopia.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
...bittersweet. I want to make a better future than this.
We have to. Choi's murder can't have been for nothing.
We have to. Choi's murder can't have been for nothing.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
I love how that world has plenty of hints of unpleasant things going on, but also shows things largely going more peacefully and cleaner for the sleepers, while raising the question of whether that is worth the bits of surveillance state and diminished freedom we also see.
because trade offs are a thing. Freedom or security?
Edit: I feel dumb for not realizing this, but the reason Donald is ItX in this verse rather than syndicate is because he didn't defect! He was captured and put through intensive conditioning, which is why he's got so much in the way of controls on him, and his ADEI is watchdogging him.
Or maybe he did defect, and RD defectors get treated more harshly in this verse.
because trade offs are a thing. Freedom or security?
Edit: I feel dumb for not realizing this, but the reason Donald is ItX in this verse rather than syndicate is because he didn't defect! He was captured and put through intensive conditioning, which is why he's got so much in the way of controls on him, and his ADEI is watchdogging him.
Or maybe he did defect, and RD defectors get treated more harshly in this verse.
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- Location
- in the trash
But what about Siddharth? 
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Think about how much of the VE's were ready to jump ship and leave the Union behind when the Dimensional Anomaly hit...But what about Siddharth?
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
Siddharth would be a hero for uncovering the VE rebellion.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
"Of course I would do it again. My conscience is clear. No compromise. Not with traitors. Not ever." -- Captain Siddarth Rajesh
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.
Quantumboost
Now with 50% more dots in Dimensional Science
- Location
- Ensemble Space
Siddharth's rabid anti-RDism is at least in part a result of that time the Hermetics fucked up on a joint operation against Autopolitans. Guess what Iteration X didn't become in that timeline?
So, no guarantee that he'd ever have become like that, any more than Donald being an outrageous flirt or Henriette needing to recover from being a mentally shattered wreck.
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
He was already very rabidly anti traditions. His interlude states as such.