- Location
- in the trash
Well, if enough people believe hard enough, then it may always have been.
Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns
Well, if enough people believe hard enough, then it may always have been.
... probably. Most of the Traditions paradigms don't lend themselves well to large-scale improvements - maybe you could try and do something like some of the Solar Bureaucracy Charms, or an equivalent of the Order-Enforcing Trade Patterns (sp?), but those would all be pretty big rituals.
Though as an upside, since the unEnlightened wouldn't expect to understand magic, Paradox might not hit you as hard...
... Hm, now I want to try actually writing a Traditions-run world made vaguely pleasant by large-scale rituals and linear artificers.
Though as an upside, since the unEnlightened wouldn't expect to understand magic, Paradox might not hit you as hard...
... Hm, now I want to try actually writing a Traditions-run world made vaguely pleasant by large-scale rituals and linear artificers.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Sounds like Exalted first age.
... Yeah, it kind of does, doesn't it?
Which... heh, is not the greatest thing, really. If you wanted it to be actually utopian, you're going to want to give Mages a decent turnover rate for whatever reason... The increased rates of Awakening vs. Exaltation would also help, since you're getting more young, idealistic-ish Mages who aren't so horrendously bored with life that they try to make crystal church organs out of the living kind.
So, I edited the front page with William and Elsa's spheres, Virtue/Vice combinations, and their major traits. The main important news is Elsa and William's Virtue/Vice combinations and why Elsa keeps surviving impossible odds yet keeps joining up with people who want to throw her into more impossible odds. It's in her very nature. I suppose might edit it with Harlan's as well, since he's effectively going to be another party member because of circumstances. Besides, what's more touching than a family reunion?
Oh, and I have a surprise for you.
Oh, and I have a surprise for you.
Dossier: Anathema Autopsy
Surprise!
Void Engineer Intelligence Guide:
Autopolitan Aspect-"Anathema" class Autopsy Report
The Anathema-class Autopolitan Aspect is a limited shard of the Autopolitans' own networked intelligence, an independent combat terminal intended for operations which the Autopolitan archailect believes is too important to leave to networks of semi-autonomous assets but where electronic warfare interference prevents the Autopolitans from real-time communication with Autochthonia. This is the second smallest and weakest class of Aspect-only the "Devourer" class is less capable. Standing barely 2.3 meters tall, the Anathema-class is generally found leading high-risk small unit operations on behalf of the Autopolitans, either assisting covert operations by Earthside Threat Null assets or against hostile EDEs in the Void. Anathema are far too expensive to simply use as line infantry, and various optimizations of their body imply they were designed for terrestrial operation.
The Anathema is technically alive, although it is a carbosilicate-based life form rather than a purely organic one, and its internal electronics and cybernetics are fused so closely to the flesh components that the Anathema must have been created with its augmentations already installed. This is a common trait of dedicated Autopolitan platforms, rather than the reprocessed units which the Autopolitans tend to send-it is impossible to tell where the machine ends and the flesh begins. Of course, the flesh is little more natural than the machine. The Anathema's flesh consists of its musculature and its various organs, all of which are clearly artificial creations rather than evolved.
Starting from the skin and exoskeletal carapace, the advanced technology going into the Anathema is already visible. The Anathema's carapace, although apparently solid, is made up of a network of tiny (no more than .5mm diameter) semi-rigid hexagonal composite plates or tiles, each plate having limited self-repair and self-modification ability. This allows the Anathema to interlock its outer shell for maximum protection or to loosen it to improve flexibility. If struck with sufficient force, these plates can ablate to reduce the effect of hypervelocity kinetic or thermal weapons-as Sergeant Schmidt discovered to his detriment when the Anathema survived a direct hit from a heavy anti-tank missile's tandem-charge. The Anathema can even use these plates as an offensive weapon, discarding them like dead skin and allowing them to self-modify into hyper-sharp caltrops with weighted sides. These improvised caltrops can slice through even armored shoes, although medium-weight powered combat armor is sufficient to mitigate risk. Each of these plates is rich with organic circuitry and sensor equipment, and several 3D printers protrude from the Anathema's skin to create more of these ablative plates. The composition and defensive characteristics of plates from different Anathema units are different, often drastically so. This research team theorizes that this is because the Aspect dynamically regenerates its outer defensive layers and adapts them to threats and the environment.
For example, this most recent Anathema, found Earthside, lacks the electromagnetic field emitters and miniaturized plasma guides in its exoskeletal tiling that the ones recovered on LV-599 did. Furthermore, this Anathema, Subject 010, has optimized its tiles for increased hardness and resistance against shock at the cost of reduced effectiveness against plasma weaponry. It is likely that these adaptations were done post-construction, discarding the plasma shield system of Subjects 006-009 due to its unreliability in terrestrial environs, and its tiling was further adapted to resist the high-explosive antitank weapons which it would likely encounter.
Underneath this tiling is the Anathema's skin, a secondary shielding layer. Its skin is one of the few things still recognizable as Iteration X technology-it is a variant of the flexible piezoelectric armor layer used in Iteration X electrically-powered impact armor. The primium mesh layers in the dermal layers are reminiscent of the NOBLE NOVEMBER's flexible piezoelectric carapace-but have been arranged into primium microcircuitry. When powered, the skin creates a low-power dispersion field which serves to reduce the accuracy of incoming weapons fire. One of the weaknesses of the Anathema is that the doping variation used here may provide superior protection to the N2's skin but require continuous power input to remain flexible. Instead of hardening when charged, the skin is flexible when charged and hardens when charge is removed. Disabling this flexibility is relatively easy (insofar as any hostile action against an Autopolitan Aspect can be easy) but the Anathema's shielded internals make it very difficult to permanently disable via Enlightened Science. Any disablement of an Anathema should be considered a temporary respite rather than a mission kill and should be treated as such.
The Anathema's musculature is a complex nanotube weave that provides it with the strength necessary for its physical feats-running faster than a cheetah for extended periods of time, punching through reinforced doors, and charging through hardened concrete are all easy for an Anathema. Anathema can disassemble armored vehicles with their claws alone and can overpower even exojocks. The musculature itself is an organism on its own. Clever use of vasculoid principles means that the musculature can power itself and function at a 'low' level even with the total destruction of the Anathema's supporting organs, although if the Anathema cannot repair itself before its nutrient reserves and power cells are depleted this guarantees its death. Even at this low level of function, the Anathema is easily stronger than a great ape and is a lethal unarmed threat. Subject 008 was recorded as having been critically wounded in the initial combat by multiple heavy plasma lance strikes, overwhelming its self-repair capability and condemning it to a slow death. It was finally terminated 80 hours later, having killed no less than 2 marines and 15 of the G-type units in hit and run attacks.
The Anathema uses a combined circulatory system and smartblood nanofluid to power its biology normally. Its vital organs are distributed and difficult to destroy, but there is one weakness-the heavily armored chest contains the Anathema's microfusion core, which powers its high-energy functions such as internal energy weaponry, its active defense systems, the electromagnetic effector array, the electromagnetic motors that allow for the Anathema to boost its strength beyond even its absurd baseline indices, energy shielding, and self-repair. Should this be disabled or destroyed, the Anathema will have to run on backup metabolic power from its digestive tract and supercharged biology, which drastically reduces its practical endurance and disables the Anathema's high-power functions. Because of this weakness, the Anathema's chest is heavily shielded both with physical armoring and with multiple low-power internal field generators. Anti-vehicle weaponry is practically required to have a chance at penetrating to vital systems.
Other important "organs" (although most of them are artificial implants) include the lensing field generator which creates its holographic camouflage field, its digestive system (which it requires for the biomass and raw materials to self-repair and maintain itself), the morphic weapons systems mounted in its lower arms, its multifaceted ocular array, and its tokamak plasma generator. All of these systems cannot be fully replaced by internal redundancies and will reduce the Anathema's combat effectiveness until its self-repair nanomachinery can fix the problem. The self-repair systems cannot be easily disabled by applied firepower-they exist as hundreds of rice grain sized nanohives, each of which is capable of regenerating the entire system. Disabling the self-repair system will take sufficient firepower to destroy the Anathema.
The Anathema's skeleton itself is built out of high-grade pure Primium, reinforced with amorphous diamondoid. This renders it extremely difficult to harm via Reality Deviant magic and energy weaponry and provides superb resistance to kinetic energy. Subject 005 is an example of said resistance-it survived continuous fire from an Etherite Havoc Gun-a high energy automatic 'blaster' weapon that fires individual shots capable of killing heavy armor-for several seconds, more than long enough for it to decapitate the Etherite and one of his allies via its forearm-mounted monomolecular blades before finally being killed by a direct hit from a RPG-7 wielded by a Euthanatos to its neck joint.
Most dangerous is not the Anathema's body, but its mind. The Anathema effectively has two intellects-its primary mind, in its skull, and a secondary distributed mind. The primary mind is a solid-state quantum computer system moderately larger than a human brain. This is housed in a pure-Primium bathtub inside the Anathema's skull, as it is the most valuable component in the body. Although not much larger than a human brain, it is far denser, a black sphere of hypercomputing circuitry that houses a superhuman intelligence. Although only an infinitesimal fraction of the greater Autopolitan mind can be downloaded into this sphere, it is more than enough to make the Anathema a dangerous expert in a multitude of areas. More dangerously, the Anathema can somehow apply Enlightened Science and its Genius to its own ends. Every Anathema that has been spotted so far has been, effectively, a Class-III or Class-IV Enlightened Scientist. This is actually a unique feature to the Anathema. Most Aspects use a fairly limited selection of Enlightened Science procedures instead, although some of these procedures can be quite powerful. Disabling this primary mind is another weak point in the Anathema's design. Should this happen, the Anathema will have to rely on its backup intelligence-a distributed optical computer network throughout its body which gives it human-equivalent intelligence and superhuman reaction speeds. This backup is an idiot-savant tactical intelligence, and can take over should the Anathema suffer destruction or disablement of the primary mind.
The Anathema is a special forces assassin design, intended for phenomenal adaptability and flexibility in even hostile environments. The powerful self-repair system, its adaptability, and its self-modification capabilities make it capable of functioning in chaotic environments in a way other Autopolitan designs cannot. The Autopolitans are likely to only commit such units in high-priority situations where heavy firepower is either counterproductive or difficult to apply.
An Anathema is a wealth of salvage. Its skeleton, if carefully melted down, can be diluted into standard-grade Primium and used to create an entire platoon of HITMarks. Its augmentations can be salvaged for use in combat robotics. Even though its plasma tokamak is unlikely to survive intact, it can be salvaged for use in plasma weapons systems. Research team believes that it may be able to reverse-engineer and implant Aspect components into agents to improve their combat effectiveness. These high-end agents will suffer greater rejection and incompatibility problems due to jury-rigged firmware and wetware but will provide a significant asset in combating infantry-scale Autopolitan Aspects such as the Anathema and Devourer. Approval of human experimentation is requested.
[REPORT RECEIVED 03/09/2014]
[FURTHER STUDIES APPROVED BY DR. XIANGBIN WEN UNDER PROJECT "COUNTRY CLUB"]
Notes to Self:
-Thank the team for getting this off of VE servers. It explains a lot of what the Computer's been doing with our research.
-I'm certainly glad they didn't have these operational in '99.
-Lots of this technology similar to the ones found in Mari Langley. Major similarities in the hardtech systems. Primary difference-Langley uses a full combat endoskeleton covered in polymimetic nanotech, Autopolitan Aspect is biosynthetic integration with hardtech. Langley a HITMark-equivalent? A combat endoskeleton with a disguise system? Aspect something else entirely?
Void Engineer Intelligence Guide:
Autopolitan Aspect-"Anathema" class Autopsy Report
The Anathema-class Autopolitan Aspect is a limited shard of the Autopolitans' own networked intelligence, an independent combat terminal intended for operations which the Autopolitan archailect believes is too important to leave to networks of semi-autonomous assets but where electronic warfare interference prevents the Autopolitans from real-time communication with Autochthonia. This is the second smallest and weakest class of Aspect-only the "Devourer" class is less capable. Standing barely 2.3 meters tall, the Anathema-class is generally found leading high-risk small unit operations on behalf of the Autopolitans, either assisting covert operations by Earthside Threat Null assets or against hostile EDEs in the Void. Anathema are far too expensive to simply use as line infantry, and various optimizations of their body imply they were designed for terrestrial operation.
The Anathema is technically alive, although it is a carbosilicate-based life form rather than a purely organic one, and its internal electronics and cybernetics are fused so closely to the flesh components that the Anathema must have been created with its augmentations already installed. This is a common trait of dedicated Autopolitan platforms, rather than the reprocessed units which the Autopolitans tend to send-it is impossible to tell where the machine ends and the flesh begins. Of course, the flesh is little more natural than the machine. The Anathema's flesh consists of its musculature and its various organs, all of which are clearly artificial creations rather than evolved.
Starting from the skin and exoskeletal carapace, the advanced technology going into the Anathema is already visible. The Anathema's carapace, although apparently solid, is made up of a network of tiny (no more than .5mm diameter) semi-rigid hexagonal composite plates or tiles, each plate having limited self-repair and self-modification ability. This allows the Anathema to interlock its outer shell for maximum protection or to loosen it to improve flexibility. If struck with sufficient force, these plates can ablate to reduce the effect of hypervelocity kinetic or thermal weapons-as Sergeant Schmidt discovered to his detriment when the Anathema survived a direct hit from a heavy anti-tank missile's tandem-charge. The Anathema can even use these plates as an offensive weapon, discarding them like dead skin and allowing them to self-modify into hyper-sharp caltrops with weighted sides. These improvised caltrops can slice through even armored shoes, although medium-weight powered combat armor is sufficient to mitigate risk. Each of these plates is rich with organic circuitry and sensor equipment, and several 3D printers protrude from the Anathema's skin to create more of these ablative plates. The composition and defensive characteristics of plates from different Anathema units are different, often drastically so. This research team theorizes that this is because the Aspect dynamically regenerates its outer defensive layers and adapts them to threats and the environment.
For example, this most recent Anathema, found Earthside, lacks the electromagnetic field emitters and miniaturized plasma guides in its exoskeletal tiling that the ones recovered on LV-599 did. Furthermore, this Anathema, Subject 010, has optimized its tiles for increased hardness and resistance against shock at the cost of reduced effectiveness against plasma weaponry. It is likely that these adaptations were done post-construction, discarding the plasma shield system of Subjects 006-009 due to its unreliability in terrestrial environs, and its tiling was further adapted to resist the high-explosive antitank weapons which it would likely encounter.
Underneath this tiling is the Anathema's skin, a secondary shielding layer. Its skin is one of the few things still recognizable as Iteration X technology-it is a variant of the flexible piezoelectric armor layer used in Iteration X electrically-powered impact armor. The primium mesh layers in the dermal layers are reminiscent of the NOBLE NOVEMBER's flexible piezoelectric carapace-but have been arranged into primium microcircuitry. When powered, the skin creates a low-power dispersion field which serves to reduce the accuracy of incoming weapons fire. One of the weaknesses of the Anathema is that the doping variation used here may provide superior protection to the N2's skin but require continuous power input to remain flexible. Instead of hardening when charged, the skin is flexible when charged and hardens when charge is removed. Disabling this flexibility is relatively easy (insofar as any hostile action against an Autopolitan Aspect can be easy) but the Anathema's shielded internals make it very difficult to permanently disable via Enlightened Science. Any disablement of an Anathema should be considered a temporary respite rather than a mission kill and should be treated as such.
The Anathema's musculature is a complex nanotube weave that provides it with the strength necessary for its physical feats-running faster than a cheetah for extended periods of time, punching through reinforced doors, and charging through hardened concrete are all easy for an Anathema. Anathema can disassemble armored vehicles with their claws alone and can overpower even exojocks. The musculature itself is an organism on its own. Clever use of vasculoid principles means that the musculature can power itself and function at a 'low' level even with the total destruction of the Anathema's supporting organs, although if the Anathema cannot repair itself before its nutrient reserves and power cells are depleted this guarantees its death. Even at this low level of function, the Anathema is easily stronger than a great ape and is a lethal unarmed threat. Subject 008 was recorded as having been critically wounded in the initial combat by multiple heavy plasma lance strikes, overwhelming its self-repair capability and condemning it to a slow death. It was finally terminated 80 hours later, having killed no less than 2 marines and 15 of the G-type units in hit and run attacks.
The Anathema uses a combined circulatory system and smartblood nanofluid to power its biology normally. Its vital organs are distributed and difficult to destroy, but there is one weakness-the heavily armored chest contains the Anathema's microfusion core, which powers its high-energy functions such as internal energy weaponry, its active defense systems, the electromagnetic effector array, the electromagnetic motors that allow for the Anathema to boost its strength beyond even its absurd baseline indices, energy shielding, and self-repair. Should this be disabled or destroyed, the Anathema will have to run on backup metabolic power from its digestive tract and supercharged biology, which drastically reduces its practical endurance and disables the Anathema's high-power functions. Because of this weakness, the Anathema's chest is heavily shielded both with physical armoring and with multiple low-power internal field generators. Anti-vehicle weaponry is practically required to have a chance at penetrating to vital systems.
Other important "organs" (although most of them are artificial implants) include the lensing field generator which creates its holographic camouflage field, its digestive system (which it requires for the biomass and raw materials to self-repair and maintain itself), the morphic weapons systems mounted in its lower arms, its multifaceted ocular array, and its tokamak plasma generator. All of these systems cannot be fully replaced by internal redundancies and will reduce the Anathema's combat effectiveness until its self-repair nanomachinery can fix the problem. The self-repair systems cannot be easily disabled by applied firepower-they exist as hundreds of rice grain sized nanohives, each of which is capable of regenerating the entire system. Disabling the self-repair system will take sufficient firepower to destroy the Anathema.
The Anathema's skeleton itself is built out of high-grade pure Primium, reinforced with amorphous diamondoid. This renders it extremely difficult to harm via Reality Deviant magic and energy weaponry and provides superb resistance to kinetic energy. Subject 005 is an example of said resistance-it survived continuous fire from an Etherite Havoc Gun-a high energy automatic 'blaster' weapon that fires individual shots capable of killing heavy armor-for several seconds, more than long enough for it to decapitate the Etherite and one of his allies via its forearm-mounted monomolecular blades before finally being killed by a direct hit from a RPG-7 wielded by a Euthanatos to its neck joint.
Most dangerous is not the Anathema's body, but its mind. The Anathema effectively has two intellects-its primary mind, in its skull, and a secondary distributed mind. The primary mind is a solid-state quantum computer system moderately larger than a human brain. This is housed in a pure-Primium bathtub inside the Anathema's skull, as it is the most valuable component in the body. Although not much larger than a human brain, it is far denser, a black sphere of hypercomputing circuitry that houses a superhuman intelligence. Although only an infinitesimal fraction of the greater Autopolitan mind can be downloaded into this sphere, it is more than enough to make the Anathema a dangerous expert in a multitude of areas. More dangerously, the Anathema can somehow apply Enlightened Science and its Genius to its own ends. Every Anathema that has been spotted so far has been, effectively, a Class-III or Class-IV Enlightened Scientist. This is actually a unique feature to the Anathema. Most Aspects use a fairly limited selection of Enlightened Science procedures instead, although some of these procedures can be quite powerful. Disabling this primary mind is another weak point in the Anathema's design. Should this happen, the Anathema will have to rely on its backup intelligence-a distributed optical computer network throughout its body which gives it human-equivalent intelligence and superhuman reaction speeds. This backup is an idiot-savant tactical intelligence, and can take over should the Anathema suffer destruction or disablement of the primary mind.
The Anathema is a special forces assassin design, intended for phenomenal adaptability and flexibility in even hostile environments. The powerful self-repair system, its adaptability, and its self-modification capabilities make it capable of functioning in chaotic environments in a way other Autopolitan designs cannot. The Autopolitans are likely to only commit such units in high-priority situations where heavy firepower is either counterproductive or difficult to apply.
An Anathema is a wealth of salvage. Its skeleton, if carefully melted down, can be diluted into standard-grade Primium and used to create an entire platoon of HITMarks. Its augmentations can be salvaged for use in combat robotics. Even though its plasma tokamak is unlikely to survive intact, it can be salvaged for use in plasma weapons systems. Research team believes that it may be able to reverse-engineer and implant Aspect components into agents to improve their combat effectiveness. These high-end agents will suffer greater rejection and incompatibility problems due to jury-rigged firmware and wetware but will provide a significant asset in combating infantry-scale Autopolitan Aspects such as the Anathema and Devourer. Approval of human experimentation is requested.
[REPORT RECEIVED 03/09/2014]
[FURTHER STUDIES APPROVED BY DR. XIANGBIN WEN UNDER PROJECT "COUNTRY CLUB"]
Notes to Self:
-Thank the team for getting this off of VE servers. It explains a lot of what the Computer's been doing with our research.
-I'm certainly glad they didn't have these operational in '99.
-Lots of this technology similar to the ones found in Mari Langley. Major similarities in the hardtech systems. Primary difference-Langley uses a full combat endoskeleton covered in polymimetic nanotech, Autopolitan Aspect is biosynthetic integration with hardtech. Langley a HITMark-equivalent? A combat endoskeleton with a disguise system? Aspect something else entirely?
-possibly an extreme posthuman rather than a dedicated weapon.
-possibly biosynthetic is there merely for cost-effectiveness. The DSS project used noetic seed-cultures to bring costs down compared to the pure-tech competitors. Same with BioVARGs.
-are they making these out of Enlightened Scientists which the Computer assimilated?
-Maybe need to get the more detailed files rather than just the research summary if we want to figure out what happened last week. They don't go into much detail as to the primary cognitive core.-possibly biosynthetic is there merely for cost-effectiveness. The DSS project used noetic seed-cultures to bring costs down compared to the pure-tech competitors. Same with BioVARGs.
-are they making these out of Enlightened Scientists which the Computer assimilated?
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Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
How on god's green earth does this thing not violently explode, melt and otherwise break down within moments from accruing Paradox? That thing looks almost as broken as Achilles, and Piero needed a giant support staff to not just explodimelt from all the 'dox.
- Location
- in the trash
The Computer cares not for your puny Paradox. As if the collective disbelief of billions of inferior meatbags means anything to it.
- Location
- Singapore
Hubrisssssssssssss
Hmm. Well, "reactors" are a common Iterator/VE focus for Prime, because they're a way of powering things. Maybe the fusion core in it is basically mechanically a Matrix (ie, something you can store 'Dox in, called peripats by Traditionalists) attached to something which generates PE, and so is handling the balance between Dox and PE for the moments when it's actually active, buying off the Dox it stores in its Matrix with a constant slow dribble of PE. Given that most of its Enhancements and Devices seem to shut down if the reactor is destroyed (therefore reducing its Permadox), that might suggest that to be the case.
Moreover, since it almost certainly can't generate PE faster than it can build up Dox, if the Dox overwhelms the storage capacity of the Matrix, the Matrix will break and releases all the Dox at once. Hilarity therefore ensues.
(It's probably playing by even harsher rules than I-50, who 'merely' got kicked back into the Umbra if she ever 'Dox backlashed. And the thing, as we already know, between Iterator and Progenitor hardware is that Progenitor hardware is usually weaker, but more stable)
- Location
- in the trash
Nitpick: It isn't anywhere as hax as Achilles (or a HITMark VI). After all, one died to an RPG to the neck, and it can't toss a giant robot.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Because it's a spirit thing and not a creation of Enlightened Science?
Acatalepsy
Firewall Proxy
- Location
- The Diamond Age
Okay, so now I'm wondering what IBM has been up to. We should, uh, probably get on that.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Getting rekt by an Anathema and hacking the VEs, apparently.
actually I believe that they are referring to what happened to Mari when Henrietta turned herself into spirit and are trying to figure just what the fuck happened (Henrietta prime turned herself into spirit which equaled death as far as awakened avatar/Enlightened Genius is concerned and then Mari inherited the Genius/avatar)
Last edited:
- Location
- in the trash
More likely it would have been the other way around.
The IBM has more than enough firepower to handle a single Anathema.
Last edited:
Donald:
[X] Entropy to 2, Mind to 2
[X] Primal Utility to 4
Donald wraps his jacket around himself tighter and shivers. When he exhales, he can see his breath.
It's cold in here in the most secure part of the Construct. The sentry turrets and the HITMarks think they're protecting a quantum computer. As far as the records go, Director Belltower is in the medical bay. The body there is actually just a modified pre-conscious Bob that Serafina's done some work to. The real woman is here. Or at least her body is, floating in a tank of chilled biogel.
The man sighs. He doesn't like thinking about… about things like this. About how her body can be here, but her mind can be out in space. Jamelia's asshole psychic friend says that her psychic presence has been forcefully disassociated from her biological body, and while he wouldn't put it exactly like that if he was forcefully pressed, he considers it a useful metaphor.
Not least because a NWO Director said it, which means it isn't his fault.
"Hi, boss," he says, hands in his pockets. "How're you doing? Still chilling?"
There's no response from the mindless lump of cooled meat.
"So, things are going pretty well," he says. "Well, sort of well. Ish. Maybe." He smiles wryly. "Yay optimism?"
Still no response.
"So, just reminding you once again that time spent unconscious or mindless does not count as your yearly leave," he says. "So given the fact it's now mid December, you have a lot of leave you'll need to take. I'll arrange for it to be carried over, okay?"
Shockingly, he doesn't get an answer.
Donald sighs. "I need to stop using you for practicing my standup comedy," he says.
He can almost convince himself that her expression shifted to one of disapproval. In fact - he frowns. It does look like she looks more disapproving than last time. Something about her expression doesn't match how it was last time. He quickly checks the output feed and confirms that she hasn't been touched since last time he - ah, Serafina gave her a checkup a few days ago. No wonder her facial expression looks slightly different.
He must be feeling edgy. Well, no surprise. He's been feeling off for day. He's been feeling a sense of deja vu he just can't shake off. Like, he was rereading a report on the raid on the werewolf node back in the UK, and he has this gut feeling that... that he doesn't remember the assistance the Void Engineers gave. Despite the fact that it's down on paper that he was giving them orders, that there's no reason the Void Engineers wouldn't have been helping, and he remembers giving them orders to seal off the extradimensional paths the werewolves would have used to try to escape.
He'll need to get Rose to nurse him. Uh. he means, Rose play doctor for him. Uh.
... dammit.
"Don't glare at me like that," he tells Director Belltower.
She doesn't say anything.
Donald is not entirely sure why talking to Director Belltower's body makes him feel better, but it does. Maybe it's because it lets him pretend that he's reporting to someone and that he's not basically running this amalgam because Serafina is busy with the Progenitor labwork. Responsibility is a terrible curse. In fact, he clearly pissed off Christos Barberi, who's laid a literal terrible curse on him forcing him to look after Director Belltower and work longer hours than he'd prefer.
Clear evidence of how wicked and depraved RDs can be. It's almost enough to make him a Pogromite.
Returning to his desk, Donald turns on the giant floating holographic globe for the look of the thing and then puts his feet up. Back to work.
Or maybe not. Idly, he pulls out his copy of the Q Division catalogue. The NWO insists on printing the version other Conventions can access out on glossy paper, which is wasteful and inefficient. On the other hand, it is very stylish. And you can't circle things you want to buy on screens.
Well, you can, but it just doesn't feel the same. And even though he knows it would be wasteful and unnecessary and be a bad use of the amalgam's - which is to say his - funds, he really does adore the new O11 Archbishop. It presses all the little buttons that basically any boy who loves fast cars has. And then all the buttons that any little boy who loved James Bond had. Intellectually he knows the O11 is an overpriced model for non-Orderites made to fleece Syndics who were once little boys with a thing for James Bond, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want it!
But he will be a good boy while Belltower is away, and restrain himself. He's merely been picking up quite a nice little collection of spy gadgets from the Q Division and the Research & Acquisitions (they're trialling another rebanding) catalogues. He learned his lesson in Brighton. If he can't guarantee that he won't be jumped by Rogue Council maniacs when he's having a perfectly civil dinner, then he'll keep some preparations on him.
Like a totally freakin' sweet laser watch.
[Donald - Primal Utility 4 - Laser watches, man! They're great! They can cut through cheap materials really easily, even if they have more problems with expensive things like secured blast doors. Enhanced by Appearance + Style because come on, it's a laser watch]
Lasers are sweet. Expensive watches are sweet. That makes laser watches sweet-squared. He didn't get the high power model because he's not qualified in energy weapons and was a bit scared off by the descriptions of what can happen to high-density batteries if something goes wrong when you're wearing them on your wrist, but it still has enough power to do things like melt locks and cut holes in thin walls.
He has no idea why his boss is so… so wasteful of Q Division! She doesn't appreciate them at all! He's already left them a very good user review and recommended it to others, because it doesn't just come with lasers. It also has a modern Union computer system, EM jamming, an EDEdar, links to satellites, command authorisation, and - best of all - a built-in bioinjector in case he has to dose himself up with something in the field.
Or, you know, he's bored.
His pen hovers over a bulk of programmable utility microgrenades from R&A. Some people think the Syndicate might be going too far and playing to stereotypes by disguising their microgrenades as coins, but those people are wrong. Or possibly Director Belltower. Coins are a great disguise for microgrenades, so you always have an excuse to have some in your pocket. Oooh! They have a smoke function! He can have smoke grenades and run off after dropping one! Does he really need them, though? Would it be better to get something more suited to his talents?
And then he remembers that he can totally afford them, so buys them and gets them delivered on same hour delivery, along with the rest of his order. Like the pen with the drug reservoir. And the credit card with the jamming field which prevents over-the-horizon laser lock-ons. And a few other things.
Hmm. He needs to kill an hour until his new toys arrive.
Well, you know, he thinks, he might as well get some healthy, wholesome, morally upstanding entertainment at the same time.
"Hey, Brakowski. Grab some of TAC-1 who aren't doing anything. You're coming with me to Adonis." Donald pauses. "You can consider it a security detail if you really want to. For the purposes of timesheets. We need to burn off some stress, anyway."
Jason looks momentarily caught. "It's the middle of the day," he says warily. "I shouldn't be drinking."
Donald blinks, affecting a bemused air. "It's a gym," he says. "What did you think it was?"
The younger man coughs. "Oh. I thought... never mind. Yeah, I'm totally down with a workout."
Keeping the expression of honest confusion on his face, Donald hides his amusement. Ah, nothing like making Operatives squirm. It's just much less fun without Jamelia around to poke. She's a challenge, and when he breaks her shell, it's an accomplishment. This is too easy.
[X] Entropy to 2, Mind to 2
[X] Primal Utility to 4
Donald wraps his jacket around himself tighter and shivers. When he exhales, he can see his breath.
It's cold in here in the most secure part of the Construct. The sentry turrets and the HITMarks think they're protecting a quantum computer. As far as the records go, Director Belltower is in the medical bay. The body there is actually just a modified pre-conscious Bob that Serafina's done some work to. The real woman is here. Or at least her body is, floating in a tank of chilled biogel.
The man sighs. He doesn't like thinking about… about things like this. About how her body can be here, but her mind can be out in space. Jamelia's asshole psychic friend says that her psychic presence has been forcefully disassociated from her biological body, and while he wouldn't put it exactly like that if he was forcefully pressed, he considers it a useful metaphor.
Not least because a NWO Director said it, which means it isn't his fault.
"Hi, boss," he says, hands in his pockets. "How're you doing? Still chilling?"
There's no response from the mindless lump of cooled meat.
"So, things are going pretty well," he says. "Well, sort of well. Ish. Maybe." He smiles wryly. "Yay optimism?"
Still no response.
"So, just reminding you once again that time spent unconscious or mindless does not count as your yearly leave," he says. "So given the fact it's now mid December, you have a lot of leave you'll need to take. I'll arrange for it to be carried over, okay?"
Shockingly, he doesn't get an answer.
Donald sighs. "I need to stop using you for practicing my standup comedy," he says.
He can almost convince himself that her expression shifted to one of disapproval. In fact - he frowns. It does look like she looks more disapproving than last time. Something about her expression doesn't match how it was last time. He quickly checks the output feed and confirms that she hasn't been touched since last time he - ah, Serafina gave her a checkup a few days ago. No wonder her facial expression looks slightly different.
He must be feeling edgy. Well, no surprise. He's been feeling off for day. He's been feeling a sense of deja vu he just can't shake off. Like, he was rereading a report on the raid on the werewolf node back in the UK, and he has this gut feeling that... that he doesn't remember the assistance the Void Engineers gave. Despite the fact that it's down on paper that he was giving them orders, that there's no reason the Void Engineers wouldn't have been helping, and he remembers giving them orders to seal off the extradimensional paths the werewolves would have used to try to escape.
He'll need to get Rose to nurse him. Uh. he means, Rose play doctor for him. Uh.
... dammit.
"Don't glare at me like that," he tells Director Belltower.
She doesn't say anything.
Donald is not entirely sure why talking to Director Belltower's body makes him feel better, but it does. Maybe it's because it lets him pretend that he's reporting to someone and that he's not basically running this amalgam because Serafina is busy with the Progenitor labwork. Responsibility is a terrible curse. In fact, he clearly pissed off Christos Barberi, who's laid a literal terrible curse on him forcing him to look after Director Belltower and work longer hours than he'd prefer.
Clear evidence of how wicked and depraved RDs can be. It's almost enough to make him a Pogromite.
Returning to his desk, Donald turns on the giant floating holographic globe for the look of the thing and then puts his feet up. Back to work.
Or maybe not. Idly, he pulls out his copy of the Q Division catalogue. The NWO insists on printing the version other Conventions can access out on glossy paper, which is wasteful and inefficient. On the other hand, it is very stylish. And you can't circle things you want to buy on screens.
Well, you can, but it just doesn't feel the same. And even though he knows it would be wasteful and unnecessary and be a bad use of the amalgam's - which is to say his - funds, he really does adore the new O11 Archbishop. It presses all the little buttons that basically any boy who loves fast cars has. And then all the buttons that any little boy who loved James Bond had. Intellectually he knows the O11 is an overpriced model for non-Orderites made to fleece Syndics who were once little boys with a thing for James Bond, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want it!
But he will be a good boy while Belltower is away, and restrain himself. He's merely been picking up quite a nice little collection of spy gadgets from the Q Division and the Research & Acquisitions (they're trialling another rebanding) catalogues. He learned his lesson in Brighton. If he can't guarantee that he won't be jumped by Rogue Council maniacs when he's having a perfectly civil dinner, then he'll keep some preparations on him.
Like a totally freakin' sweet laser watch.
[Donald - Primal Utility 4 - Laser watches, man! They're great! They can cut through cheap materials really easily, even if they have more problems with expensive things like secured blast doors. Enhanced by Appearance + Style because come on, it's a laser watch]
Lasers are sweet. Expensive watches are sweet. That makes laser watches sweet-squared. He didn't get the high power model because he's not qualified in energy weapons and was a bit scared off by the descriptions of what can happen to high-density batteries if something goes wrong when you're wearing them on your wrist, but it still has enough power to do things like melt locks and cut holes in thin walls.
He has no idea why his boss is so… so wasteful of Q Division! She doesn't appreciate them at all! He's already left them a very good user review and recommended it to others, because it doesn't just come with lasers. It also has a modern Union computer system, EM jamming, an EDEdar, links to satellites, command authorisation, and - best of all - a built-in bioinjector in case he has to dose himself up with something in the field.
Or, you know, he's bored.
His pen hovers over a bulk of programmable utility microgrenades from R&A. Some people think the Syndicate might be going too far and playing to stereotypes by disguising their microgrenades as coins, but those people are wrong. Or possibly Director Belltower. Coins are a great disguise for microgrenades, so you always have an excuse to have some in your pocket. Oooh! They have a smoke function! He can have smoke grenades and run off after dropping one! Does he really need them, though? Would it be better to get something more suited to his talents?
And then he remembers that he can totally afford them, so buys them and gets them delivered on same hour delivery, along with the rest of his order. Like the pen with the drug reservoir. And the credit card with the jamming field which prevents over-the-horizon laser lock-ons. And a few other things.
Hmm. He needs to kill an hour until his new toys arrive.
Well, you know, he thinks, he might as well get some healthy, wholesome, morally upstanding entertainment at the same time.
"Hey, Brakowski. Grab some of TAC-1 who aren't doing anything. You're coming with me to Adonis." Donald pauses. "You can consider it a security detail if you really want to. For the purposes of timesheets. We need to burn off some stress, anyway."
Jason looks momentarily caught. "It's the middle of the day," he says warily. "I shouldn't be drinking."
Donald blinks, affecting a bemused air. "It's a gym," he says. "What did you think it was?"
The younger man coughs. "Oh. I thought... never mind. Yeah, I'm totally down with a workout."
Keeping the expression of honest confusion on his face, Donald hides his amusement. Ah, nothing like making Operatives squirm. It's just much less fun without Jamelia around to poke. She's a challenge, and when he breaks her shell, it's an accomplishment. This is too easy.
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Aleph
Princess of Stabbity
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That would be because Cemal pissed off their predecessors and they blacklisted him and his entire geneline/mindfork-lineage with an Entropy 5 curse on his ability to get convenient and easy-to-use Requisitions. Emphatically enough that it carried over to his reincarnation.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Primal Utility 4 is what you use to buy gadgets? I thought that was Resources.
Well, you can make gadgets with Primal Utility 3.
What PU4 lets you do is convert things into primal energy and release that energy back into the Tapestry, destroying them. Which means that PU4 can basically be used like Entropy 3 to destroy Matter and Forces patterns, although it becomes more difficult as they become more expensive. Donald, because he isn't a quant, finds it much easier to destroy such things by buying a totally sweet laser watch rather than doing something abstract using mathematical logic.
Also, it's possible Donald can use PU4 Spirit 4 to melt spirits and scatter their essence, perma-killing them. Possibly using tanks of Dip. After all, they are in Los Angeles and the destruction of the LA Toontown still echoes in the local spirit world.
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She's already stolen it, lol. She just put a replacement in place. That's why Donald noticed it was subtly off, but wound up dismissing it.
She stole it and left a decoy behind, which means that there's a decoy in the labs, a decoy which everyone thinks is real in the secret place in the construct, and knowing Nichols there's probably some malicious surprise left in it waiting for someone who tries to install a new mind in it. Like a backdoor which lets her subvert it. Or possibly a song looping on repeat inside its head. Or that most magical of surprises, a bomb.
I just really want to see Donald's reaction to chibi!Jamelia.
And Rose's.
(Rose: I want to take her home with me~!
Jamelia: That's my Amalgam you're taking me "home" to!)
And Rose's.
(Rose: I want to take her home with me~!
Jamelia: That's my Amalgam you're taking me "home" to!)
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
We got a free decoy and magical trap (in the local paradigm, of course, since Nichols haet Paradox) with our body retrieval? Nice. Not that eating Permadox instead of her deserves anything less.
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No. I don't know that there's a trap for sure. It's just extrapolating from the fact that Nichols is an asshole.
But of course she's going to cover up that she's stolen Jamelia's body. Because it suddenly vanishing from inside the party's construct would make Shit Go Down and they'd run all over the place and might tell Professor Bastion and trouble would therefore ensue. And that might lead to attention she doesn't want, especially when Jamelia is like... her queen, as a valuable piece who moves all over the board and smashes things.
Jamelia: "She says I'm her queen... and she's had her hands on my body when I wasn't present." *beat* "I hope I'm still suitable for marriage."
Nichols: "If you're unsuitable for marriage, grasshopper, that's entirely your fault. And was true long before I got my hands on you."
Jamelia: "I feel so violated."
Nichols: "Don't flatter yourself. I prefer them taller. And also male, but it's mostly the height thing. I just couldn't be with someone who has to stand on tiptoes to reach most cupboards."
Jamelia: "Very funny."
Nichol: "I'd overlook you in a crowd."
Jamelia: "Yes, yes, get the height jokes out of the way."
Nichols: "Give me a chance for a little amusement."
Jamelia: "... you know what, I'll come back when you're done."
Nichols: "Well, sorry! But there's no need to be short-tempered with me!"
Jamelia: "Your clones are much better people than you. You must be the evil one."
Nichols: "I could say that about you too. Well, the Woman In Black was a better person than you. The other clone is... basically just you. And is the most effective villain this story has seen. Hint hint."
Jamelia: "It's not my fault it takes someone like me to do things properly."