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

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Hmm. So, let's look at what the Void Engineers would do - because they're the ones initiating this incident, not Jamelia and co, and it's their logic and rationales which will determine how things proceed.

Elsa's Vice is Thrill-Seeker. She's inclined to take risks. Wufan's is Traditionalist. He is very strongly incentivised to play things by the book and has to spend wp to trust things like "gut feeling" and "intuition".

So, hmm. By personality and combined with his Judge Virtue, Wufan is going to be inclined to be conservative and gather as much intelligence as he can before making his decision. He's going to be inclined to wait as long as possible before having to make the decision, because he's de-incentivised for acting rashly and he's rewarded with a 2WP hit if he manages to resolve things well and 'fairly' from his point of view. So having to shoot Jamelia because he acted too soon before he'd confirmed whether she knew will viewed as just as badly as delaying too long - but his Vice will incline him towards waiting because he's not good at leaps of faith. Which is, I suspect, why he was assigned to this mission - he's not inclined to take a risk and trust Jamelia because he has "a good feeling about this". Which is... you know, pretty goddamn sensible when dealing with a Senior Operative with her history of causing defections.

So, what do we think the Void Engineers know?
  • Jamelia is a Senior Operative, reporting directly to Professor Bastion. She's a cold professional killer who's been doing this for a long time, and is very good at using people to achieve her goals - specialist in social engineering.
  • Elsa also knows that Jamelia used to be an adorable little nwooblet called Illiyeen who was very curious and prone to poking her nose into things. This is more meaningful than it might seem otherwise, because it does show she has a habit of poking her nose into things and being too curious and asking questions she shouldn't.
  • Kessler is an Iteration X veteran. They know he was clean when they released him from their custody and not working for Threat Null. Elsa doesn't know if he's secretly working for the Void Engineers - Wufan may or may not know.
  • Henriette is a survivor of the ItX mission to Autochthonia. They probably have braintape backed up of her from her time with their psychologists, and they can confirm they should have cleaned her up and left her a patched-up wreck who's held together with psychosurgery. Could she be a source of a leak? Not in full, but there's a risk that Jamelia and the NWO managed to use her as a data point. From her recent behaviour they've seen that she's a lot more mentally stable, so there's a good chance the NWO have put her through Mind effects. That would normally mean she's ReConditioned, but Iterators normally flip as soon as they meet Autopolitans and... that didn't happen in Moscow and it didn't happen in space. Given she displays a lot of hatred for the Computer, clearly her level of Conditioning is low enough that the hatred lets her burn through it - that or the way that she's down to an ADEI in brain implants and the fact that the NWO put the Conditioning in means they should treat her as if she's an Operative in how she'll react to Threat Null, not an Iterator.
  • Harlan is another NWO spook working under Professor Bastion. He's an old psychic who's been reactivated - a clear sign the NWO is messing around with psychic powers again, possibly as a way of getting in-house DSci (which was what they used the old projects for). He's also an old associate of Jamelia's and seems to know her personally. He is also a Manipulation 6 psychic bastard, so they can't use him as a softer target as he can lie like a motherfucker.
Now, what do they know about our missions?
  • Hong Kong is mostly meaningless to them.
    • What makes it important is Siddharth. Siddharth was a Void Engineer who knew about Threat Null and who transferred to Earth-side operations because he hated working with RDs after a bad experience. He leaves the amalgam because he feels Jamelia is too willing to work with RDs to accomplish missions like "killing Nephandi" - and then shows up in the employment of Panopticon, working for Threat Null.
      • What does the Panopticon connection mean there?
  • Moscow is a clusterfuck and even they don't have a clear view of things.
    • Jamelia goes there following her previous mission. She has Henriette, Kessler, and Dr Serafina Rosario - a Progenitor expert at psychology and mental manipulation.
      • With Serafina there, she has the tools to produce Henriette's mental improvement. Did they pick up anything there?
    • She meets Elsa there, making an interim deal between the Technocracy and the Traditions to take down ex-Crat ghouls. She also... hmm, mentioned to the Traditions at the time that she thought someone was playing both sides, trying to get them to attack at the same time.
      • The VEs probably suspect Resident or Agency involvement, and may or may not have proof. Jamelia is paranoid enough to realise she was being played. Did she investigate further?
    • Then suddenly rogue 'Crats show up and start accusing the Union's higher-ups of being compromised by EDEs. That probably had the VEs panicking - no wonder they throw up everything to destroying them. Which, allegedly, Jamelia does.
      • Jamelia was talking to the rogue 'Crats. What did she learn from them?
      • Were they onto something, and how much did they tell her before she took them out?
    • Then there's a full on Threat Null incursion. Jamelia and her amalgam go and be Big Damn Heroes and basically hold the Technocracy and Traditions together in an alliance, while Henriette kicks Threat Null butt.
      • Jamelia fights Threat Null. Did she withstand Conditioning, or did she have a pretty low level because she was trusted well enough that they didn't bother to reinforce it?
      • Jamelia encounters Gretkov - she knows individual Technocrats can become exhumans.
      • Jamelia fights Siddharth down in by the scrying-jammed portal. How much did he tell her before he died? As he was working for Threat Null, did he try to flip her? Did he gloat that he was working for Control?
      • What's up with the Autopolitan field commander who looks like Henriette? The same one from space, who thought it was Henriette's sister? Henriette had a reason ("Oh, they probably used my mental data because I'm the best") which may be correct. Or given her parents were lost in the Anomaly, was she actually her sister... but that doesn't make sense because no Autopolitans resemble the humans they once were.
      • Kessler and Cross fight umbra-side with the Void Engineers. How much did he see there before they met up and how much did he tell Jamelia? What did she put together with it?
Hmm. And that's even before I get onto the space one.

Just looking at that, I think the Void Engineers are in a position to be worried. Just from those missions:
  • Jamelia knows that humans can become exhumans
  • Jamelia has a good chance of thinking that, at the very least, the MUSCOVITEs want people believing they're working for Control. That can be dismissed as a lie, but it's still data.
  • Jamelia knows something happened on Autochthonia and that the MUSCOVITEs use Autochthonian and Iteration X tech.
  • Jamelia has built up a specialist amalgam with an exceptionally high amount of non-VE DSci specialists.
  • Jamelia associates with NWO psychics and the NWO is doing things with psychics again.
  • Elements of Panopticon taking orders from Threat Null seem to want her dead. Personally, if the later "Adversary" thing is real.
On the other hand:
  • She doesn't seem to have any concrete proof.
  • She surrounds herself with misfits, indicating perhaps she doesn't trust the system even if she doesn't know exactly what the truth is.
  • She and Harlan are Bastion's minions. Does he know? Killing her might not remove that data.
  • The fact that Threat Null seems to personally want her dead is... a thing.
  • She seems to fight Threat Null forces when they show up, even if she might think they're MUSCOVITEs. Either there's Agency fuckery going on, or she genuinely has low enough Conditioning that she can't be casually flipped. Elsa knows that Jilliyeen had Conditioning at a level that she could be taken out - but they've never used that on modern Jamelia.
Hmm

I'm... not sure if they would approach them. Not least because there's the risk that if they misjudge things, then Kessler will happen to them - since if she knows, then she'll suspect that the VEs are willing to silence her, so she might pre-empt them.

They might not start with her. Henriette can be considered to be the weak spot - though not as weak as she was - but she doesn't like the Void Engineers and blames them for ruining her life.

Hmm. Wufan may ask her some questions about the MUSCOVITEs under the guise of trying to find out more to counter them - and he can't check VCOM records because they're undercover and they are in Moscow - what if they show up again? She has that Entropy 1 effect to hide when she's lying, but she's still not exactly socially great - certainly not compared to Jamelia or Harlan. Of course, she doesn't trust him so is likely to clam up and avoid talking to him.
 
Another point for Wufan: an assault mission against a Rogue Council stronghold is a good opportunity for an accident to happen to the obvious VE spy if JB knows too much and that includes how determined the VEs are to keep their secrets. A more active inquiry now might let him assess the risk of that and be safer overall because Elsa won't be distracted from what happens to him by the fight and as an ex-VA in a combat chassis she can get the word out.
 
So who are we gonna send in for retrieval?
I mean Jamelia + Harlan because this is a classic HELMETSHRIKE mission, possibly Elsa but she and Wufan will probaby have pointed questions about the WAR DAEMON. Kessler does have a sweet reactor so I assume he can be all "paradox pls go". But yeah who do we want?
 
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Tradwiki: Virtual Adepts
  • Informational
    • Page saved from en.tradwiki.trad/wiki/Technocratic_Union/Virtual_Adepts(Convention)/Summary

    Virtual Adepts (Convention) - Summary Article

    You might be looking for the main page on the Virtual Adepts or the page on the Virtual Adepts Tradition

    Introduction

    The modern Virtual Adepts have their origins as a Convention of the Technocratic Unions, with their roots dating back to the early 1800s. As a Convention, the Adepts served as the Union's SIGINT spies and medium combatants as well as researchers and propagandists talking about the wonders of science and technology.

    The Virtual Adepts would split from the Technocracy in 1956 and formally join the Council of Nine Traditions in 1960.

    Paradigm

    See Virtual Adepts Paradigm (Convention) for more details

    The early Virtual Adepts were proponents of the power of human mind and mathematics as well as the advanced computing techniques they would later become famous for. They sought to numericise everything so it could be handled as data. They were some of the most hardline supporters of Dimensional Science in the Great Dimensional Debate and they were instrumental in the discovery of the Technocracy rotes for Space Formatting. Their belief in the power of the human mind had led their predecessors into the study of psychic powers for self-enhancement and the direct mathematical manipulation of reality which led to some cooperation with the Operatives, but a divergence over the Dimensional Science versus Etheric Biology debate. Their computing technology would take Sleepers a hundred years to catch up with.

    Over the course of the 1910s and 1920s, increasing Iterator influence and advancements in computing technology led to a general shunning of the previous psychic focus of the Analytical Reckoners and more focus on machinery and cybernetics. Virtual Adepts simply found that the human mind was worse at handling the raw data they needed than machinery. Their Dimensional Universe project would lead to further focus on reality hacking and altering the Consensus.

    History

    Difference Engineers

    See the article on the Difference Engineers for more details

    The Difference Engineers began as part of a cross-Guild cooperative project between the Lighthouse Keepers and the Artificers, combining the mathematical abstraction and modelling of the Lighthouse Keeper academics with the practical details of the Artificers. They were acclaimed as a full Guild of the Order of Reason in 1823, owing to their success in early computing and also in social theories. Politically their departure from the Artificers was also linked to the integration of the militants of the Cabal of Pure Thought into the Artificers, under the command of Reina Lior, setting up a rivalry which would continue until the present day. The early Difference Engineers considered themselves to be academics and theorists above the soldiers who were wielding newfound influence in the Artificers.

    Analytical Reckoners

    See the article on the Analytical Reckoners for more details

    As part of Prince Albert's reformation of the Order of Reason into the Technocratic Union, the Difference Engineers renamed themselves as the Analytical Reckoners when they accepted Convention status. The Analytical Reckoners served as the statisticians and future-casters of the early Technocratic Union, specialising in Time and Entropy. With the escalation of the First Interplanetary War, they began to use increasing amounts of Correspondence and Dimensional Science as they were called on more for intelligence reports and modelling of Martian opponents. This led to a fascination with the mutability of physical law and the modelling of dimensional spaces and umbral realms, which would lead to the development of the Digital Web.

    The Analytical Reckoners worked closely with the Operatives and worked in the development of psychic powers and enhancing the human mind until the two Conventions came to blows. In the Great Dimensional Debate of the mid-late 1800s, the Analytical Reckoners sided with the supports of Dimensional Science over the proponents of Etheric Biology - who had included the Operatives. With their successes in the First Interplanetary War, the so-called Dimensionals supporters were able to comprehensively defeat the Etherics. This would set the later tensions for the departure of the Electrodyne Engineers.

    The Formation of the Virtual Adepts

    See The History of the Virtual Adept Convention for more details

    Following the successful conclusion to the First Interplanetary War and their advancements in computational modelling and their experiments in the proto-Digital Web and phase space manipulation, the Analytical Reckoners applied to change their name to the Virtual Adepts - on the grounds that they were no longer merely analysts and had graduated beyond their origins. This was approved, on the conditions that a militant wing was added and that they take over some of the combat duties of the Union, which they agreed to. This helped settle some of the tensions with the IBM.

    When the Electrodyne Engineers defected, the Virtual Adepts regrettably used the chance to settle some grudges. The newly created Sons of Ether found the new SPECTRE methodology of the Virtual Adepts working in close cooperation with the Operatives (and then with the NWO) and the newly renamed Iteration X. This was not helped by some of the nationalistic biases - the Virtual Adepts were closely tied to the Anglo-American sphere of influence and allegedly preferentially targeted non-anglophile members of the new Tradition. This hunt went on even through WW1 and also saw the foundation of SOUL as a counter-intelligence wing for monitoring for Traditionalist subversion.

    The Interwar Period

    See Virtual Adepts in the Interwar Period for more details

    With the end of WW1, SOUL and SPECTRE were subject to a pushback from the civilian wing of the Virtual Adepts. Instead, with an almost religious faith the scientists of the Adepts worked on the new Digital Universe project - something they claimed would rival the Computer of Iteration X and provide a whole new universe which could be configured however humanity wished. This led to once-again growing tensions with Iteration X as they warred over visions of Ascension.

    The Anglo-American bias of the Virtual Adepts meant that they saw little of the splitting of other Conventions as nationalistic tensions rose in the 1930s. Instead, they stayed unified and in the light of the Syndicate's economic mismanagement of the Great Depression pushed harder for the Digital Universe project. Records from the time are full of smug Adept comments about their unity. The Adepts also managed to alienate their previous supporters in the Void Engineers with several high profile transfers from the Engineers to the newly formed DEMON Methodology, devoted to the Digital Universe.

    WW2/Second Interplanetary War

    See The Second World War and The Second Interplanetary War for more details

    The Anglo-American-biased Virtual Adepts immediately threw their support behind the Allied cause in 1939 with the declaration of war, with a minority of the the Convention arguing for neutrality rather than wasting resources on war which could be spent on the Digital Universe. This had the unfortunate side effect of encouraging Japanese, German and Italian Technocrats to increase the support for the Axis powers to prevent what they saw as a gap from forming. The Virtual Adepts were formally censured by Control for their unauthorised action violating the Union's official "Stability & De-Escalation" policy which saw a strong Germany as a useful buffer and counterbalance to both the USSR and the anglosphere - which proved a sizable political embarrassment for Control when the full atrocities of the Nazi regime were discovered.

    Virtual Adepts from SPECTRE, SOUL and WRAITH saw extensive use on all battlefields of the ground war and the space war. DEMON were formally censured for denying assets to the Union, which was considered to be another attempt to shut down the Digital Universe project.

    Defection

    See The Defection of the Virtual Adepts for more details

    In the aftermath of the end of the war, the Virtual Adepts frequently came into conflict with Control and its new Union First policy. The Anglo-American Virtual Adepts did not see why they had to abide with the new policies when they considered themselves the victors of the war. Moreover, their aggressiveness of pushing the Digital Universe project in the rebuilding period and their complaints as the Syndicate cut their funds to support the Marshal Plan won them few friends. Increasing numbers of Virtual Adepts defected from the Union to the Traditions, ending in 1956 when approximately 65% of the Convention - including most of its senior staff - formally quit the Union and declared their status as an Unaligned movement. They were joined by other Technocrats from the New World Order, Progenitors, Syndicate, Void Engineers and Iteration X and declared that their doors were open to all other non-aligned groups. Suspicion about the large group of former Technocrats meant that almost no one responded.

    Their attempts to attract other Crafts to this new 'Third Way Movement' were unsuccessful, and Technocratic reprisals hit the Adepts hard. In 1960, the Virtual Adepts formally applied to join the Council of Nine Traditions and demanded the Seat of Correspondence (attempts to additionally claim a new Seat of Dimensional Science were vetoed by both the Dreamspeakers and the Sons of Ether). After an initial probationary period, they were accepted as a full Tradition.


    Organisation

    See Organisation of the Virtual Adepts (Convention) for more details

    As a research-primary Convention, the Virtual Adepts maintained a structure similar to the modern Progenitors. Individuals received respect for producing new mathematical theses, examples of hardware and other academic accomplishments. Academic titles were used such as Doctor, Professor, etc. With the addition of their active arms, a second advancement track was added. As the Adepts recruited heavily from the Anglo-American military traditions, army ranks were used. Both SPECTRE and SOUL used these military ranks - even the civilian members. Both the research and militant wings of the Virtual Adepts reported to the Command Prelate Unit, under the command of Professor Turing as a member of the Inner Circle.

    Their hierarchies would break down over the course of the sixties and seventies after they joined the Traditions, with the academic structure surviving to become their current peer-based respect systems.

    Methodologies

    These were the active Methodologies of the Virtual Adepts at the time of their split from the Union.

    SPEcial Combat Tactics, Rescue and Elimination (SPECTRE)

    Commanded by General Carter, SPECTRE was the special operations and human intelligence unit of the Virtual Adepts, as well as being responsible for the defence of Virtual Adept Constructs. Smaller and more dedicated than the Operatives, it was intimately tied to the early special forces community and made use of both Iteration X and Virtual Adept cybernetics for its stormtroopers. In operations, SPECTRE would often provide the heavy elements of a light Union force made out of Operatives and Enforcers. From a modern point of view, it resembled light Iterator units or heavy NWO ones. SPECTRE would evolve into the Cyberpunk faction of the Virtual Adept Tradition, although approximately over half stayed with the Union and would join the Operatives or Iteration X.

    Security Optimisation, Utilisation and Logistics (SOUL)

    The electronic warfare, counterintelligence and propaganda division of the Virtual Adepts, SOUL served as one of the foremost groups of code crackers and monitoring specialists in the Technocratic Union. They were instrumental in breaking the codes of the Nephandi in the Second Interplanetary War and Second World War under the command of General Polanski. SOUL's social side dwindled in the newly formed Tradition, as the Technocracy engaged in full-scale war against them and they found how much they had relied on their dominant position in society for their engineering. Elements remain in the Cypherpunks. Several prominent members of SOUL did not defect and instead remained with the Watchers of the NWO, who took over most of SOUL's old role.

    Working Research and Abstract Information THeorising (WRAITH)

    WRAITH was the oldest of the methodolgies and at the time of the defection comprised of approximately a third of the Adepts. WRAITH designed and built their technology, as well as devising the theories behind it. At the time of their defection, they were led by Professor Whitemore. They were the ones who discovered that information was the basic quantised principle of the universe despite the claims of the Etherites otherwise :Citation Needed: and served as a secondary source of Dimensional Science expertise in the Union. WRAITH split down the middle when the Virtual Adepts defected. Many of the experts on Dimensional Science stayed with the Union, integrating with Void Engineer Research & Execution (who most of them had been assigned to in the War), while considerable numbers joined Iteration X.

    Digital Exploration, Monitoring, Operation and Neutralisation (DEMON)

    Branched off from WRAITH, the Compilers of DEMON were tasked with the construction of what would become the Digital Web and the investigation of the phenomena therein. They were the most enthusiastic elements pushing outside the permitted Technocratic paradigm, exceeding even WRAITH, and were the foremost proponents of the 'full upload' principle which the Virtual Adepts would later be known for. DEMON were lead by Professor Turing directly, which explains the nearly total defection of the entire Methodology. The modern Reality Hackers evolved from them and the Compilers became the dominant mainstream of the new Tradition.

    See also:
    • History of the Technocracy
    • History of the Council of Nine Traditions
    • History of the Crafts
    • Western-Paradigm Factions
     
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  • Informational
    • 13th Fleet said:
    Eh, I wouldn't have it take place at IBM's place, @Kerrus, as they are one of the things the VEs don't know about. I don't think we've ever taken Elsa/Wufan there this arc. We also aren't actually staying there, but at some abandoned base in Siberia or something.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I know we aren't staying there/have a separate abandoned base, but I figured because we were spending a lot of time there AND borrowing assets from them for the mission that they might've loaned us a couple of the aboveground levels to use while we're preparing for the mission. It's impossible for Jamelia to really hide that a relationship exists with these Iterators, and it would seem really odd to Wufan especially that Jamelia trusts these iterators, when another Iterator heavy force was behind the attack on the LA Construct.

    The bit could happen at the Psyops center, certainly, though I'd have to drop the bits about the motor pool and the sweet ass war daemon. I sort of like the idea of it happening at Molotek though because there are a number of factors that Jamelia could use about that to engineer the sort of situation she prefers.

    I'll go over it and figure out if I can better fit it into the Siberian PsyOps base though, maybe that would be a better fit.
     
    Okay, revising my previous vote a bit. C&C appreciated.

    The Raid:
    [x] (?) Making a feint so that the camp is less guarded (write-in: What kind of feint?)
    [x] (?) Using guile to infiltrate, like talking your way in, bringing a Technocratic 'hostage' or two, and hoping you can lie your ass off.

    Combine these two. The "feint" is having the IBM use its heavy assets to crush the vampire party we bugged and the Rogue Council server farm under the house. We talk our way into the RC compound by tipping them off about the raid and providing them with information on details and force composition... information that we had the IBM folks tailor so that any RC assets attempting to set up a trap for our side are actually walking into a trap themselves, and will be slaughtered.

    Wufan/Elsa's Suspicion:
    [x] (1.2x) Yes

    But in a smart way, by first raising the issue of what the Rogue Council is. Once Jamelia says (albeit in greater detail) "the RC is what happened to the old Archmasters of the Traditions after the Dimensional Anomaly trapped them in the Deep Universe and they succumbed to Void Adaptation," they can try to obliquely hint that the same thing happened to Control. At which point Jamelia tells them she's encountered and fought agents of every single portion of Threat Null, she knows what Threat Null is, and the Void Engineers could really use some help setting up the secret conspiracy thing because right now it's obvious they aren't that good at it.

    Basically, Kerrus' write-in.

    Insurgent-Brutalizing Materiel:
    [x] Ghost: Mil Mi-24I Hind (IBM Variant)* + 4 Commando Skins

    Infantry, Bioenhanced, Multirole:
    [x] Assault: Expendable Combat Synthetics + ECS Printer + HITMark V-FD Facility Defense Variant

    Our attempted infiltration of the RC base where they're holding Jiminez will have Elsa as the one bringing the intel, with Jamelia as a bodyguard. Guo and Kessler will infiltrate the compound at this time, using DSci and Spirit rotes to subvert the EDE-based defenses; they'll also plant data taps that Henriette and Mari can use as Correspondence/Data foci to enter and subvert any electronic systems in the base. If possible, a similar tap will be planted on the enemy tank, so that it can be subverted and then remote-piloted by Henriette and/or Mari after we go loud. Elsa, Jamelia and Guo will all be wearing commando suits (under their regular clothes in the case of the first two); Elsa will have the fourth suit on hand to stuff Jiminez into after we rescue him.

    Once the party is inside, the spiritual/electronic defenses are dealt with, and (hopefully) the RCs have deployed some of their assets to counter the IBM raid, the Replica Expendable Combat Synthetics and the HITMark will launch an all-out assault on the topside of the base, along with whatever aspects of the base defences we've been able to subvert; at the same time, the party will attempt to rescue and extract Jiminez, along with any artifacts/other prisoners/heads of RC mages that can be acquired on the way out. Henriette and Mari, meanwhile, will copy as much data as possible from the base network for later analysis, then destroy/corrupt the original data and induce the physical infrastructure to destroy itself. After everyone's topside, we load our people onto the chopper and fly away, with the HITMark following as soon as it can extricate itself from combat without putting the chopper at risk; assuming we brought the ECS printer close enough to be feeding a steady stream of ECS into the battle (which may or may not be the case, depending on the degree to which we risk its destruction by doing so), it would be extracted as well. Individual ECS will continue to fight until incapable of doing so, then destroy themselves in such a way as to do maximum damage to the enemy.

    If the infiltration attempt fails, then we fall back on Plan Dalek and go loud immediately. Jamelia, Elsa and Guo will prioritize breaching the base and extracting Jiminez, while Kessler will remain topside and assist the ECS/HITMark-FD assault force (his first priority will be dealing with EDE threats, as that's the one thing the robots aren't at all equipped to handle.

    We might want to have Henriette piloting the Hind from inside its cockpit, so that she can use its E/M equipment to assist her hacking of the base's network. Not sure one way or the other on this one.

    Also not sure how best to use Harlan in this op, or if we should use him at all.

    Oh, and one more thing:

    Write-in:
    [x] Try to find the rest of Jiminez' cabal so that we can either contact them and integrate them into our plans or track them and at least not get blindsided when they attack the base and fuck up everything.

    We really, really, really need to do this. It's the one big potential complication that we should be able to plan for ahead-of-time.

    Anyway, thoughts on this? Questions? Reasons why my plan is bad and I should feel bad?
     
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    Too complicated with too many points of failure, takes too long to establish RC credentials to not make the approach suspicious, the target has too few avenues to physically infiltrate from, and if things fail the Hind is not suitable to supporting a head-on assault.
     
    Sarpedon said:
    So who are we gonna send in for retrieval?
    I mean Jamelia + Harlan because this is a classic HELMETSHRIKE mission, possibly Elsa but she and Wufan will probaby have pointed questions about the WAR DAEMON. Kessler does have a sweet reactor so I assume he can be all "paradox pls go". But yeah who do we want?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Without speaking as to actual viability, I'd like the mission to be the Grump Old Farts squad. So Jamelia, Harlan, and Kessler. Maybe Wufan depending on how old he is. As a tsundere Henriette is basically a grumpy young lady which means that it's only a matter of time before life takes its course and she transforms into a grumpy old lady (which is an extended PMMM joke just waiting to happen and I'm surprised that @EarthScorpion hasn't made it yet).
     
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    I imagine it'll be much harder for Brandon Jiminez to say "no guys, I'm really not a Technocrat spy, honest" if he was rescued by a very unsubtle, very heavily armed force that all but screams "TECHNOCRATS WERE HERE, LOOK AT OUR BLEEP BOOP ROBOTS AND OUR TRANSFORMING SUPERTANK"

    Also, hard on assaults usually aren't Jamelia's style, so anyone looking for us will hopefully be more inclined to think that this is just Iterators being Iterators, and won't trace things back to Jamelia and co.
     
    So. Hmm. The thought occurs to me that Henriette and Mari have the Twin Souls merit. That means they can, optionally, act as a single mage with the following traits for the purposes of casting:

    Arete 5, Correspondence 3, Entropy 2, Matter 5 (Metamaterials) (Military Equipment), Prime 4 (Reactors), Forces 4 (Heavy Weapons), Mind 1

    Now, by their powers combined, they are Captain Tsun. And more relevantly, they can create a Matter 5 (Metamaterials) + Forces 4 + Entropy 1 + Prime 4 metamaterial sheath Device [1] for the War Daemon [2] which means it only interacts with the electromagnetic force and Matter patterns when it wants to, on its own terms (as electromagnetism, in the full scientific fundamental force definition of the word is a major force, and the Entropy 1 lets the use of this power be selective so it doesn't fall through the floor).

    This allows it to be totally invisible all the time [3], impermeable to things like "solid walls" and "bullets" and "lasers" and be invisible to anything which detects Matter or Forces patterns. And if someone manages to bypass that regardless, it's still a war daemon, lol.

    Because sometimes the best form of stealth is being an invisible immaterial metamaterial daemonic tank. Honestly, a lot of the time that's the best kind of stealth.

    And technically it's Mari who has the Wild Magic flaw, not the combined Mari-Henriette casting team. Though that may be pushing it too far and I'm sure Captain Tsun's latest creation will be just as amusing if it only has half-effects from Wild Magic.

    [1] It probably looks like a Hyperion Phase suit when not actively cloaking interaction with electromagnetism.
    [2] I did consider it for the mass produced robots so they'd be Spectres literally as well as in the Titanfall sense of the word.
    [3] And more than invisible - an invalid target for electromagnetism.
     
    Hmm does Mari have to be there in person as it is for Sleepwalker to apply? Because a bunch of disposable robots that count as sleepers for RD bullshit would be amazing.
     
    [X] (?) Kicking down the front door, guns blazing.
    [X] Yes
    -[X] Kerrus write in.
    Wufan might be offended by Kessler in disguise since John is the one member he probably trusts the most but he's not the sort to let that screw up his decision making.
    [X] Assault: Autochthonian War Daemon*
    -[X] Invisible tank is the best tank
    [X] Assault: Expendable Combat Synthetics + ECS Printer + HITMark V-FD Facility Defense Variant
    Write-in:
    [x] Try to find the rest of Jiminez' cabal so that we can either contact them and integrate them into our plans or track them and at least not get blindsided when they attack the base and fuck up everything.
     
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    Sarpedon said:
    Pity, that would have been a hilarious way for ItX to get around their lack of Format Space/ DSci.
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    Well do remember that although Mari is a 16 year old girl and therefore a child soldier, she is also a completely inorganic combat chassis which is capable of murdering its way through many Constructs. Just... don't break her. Henriette might get mad. Even if she denies it.
     
    Cavalier said:
    Too complicated with too many points of failure, takes too long to establish RC credentials to not make the approach suspicious, the target has too few avenues to physically infiltrate from, and if things fail the Hind is not suitable to supporting a head-on assault.
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    Would it work better if I axed the Hind + Commando Suits and went with ES' Invisitank option?

    I really do think we should lead off with the infiltration attempt simply because it doesn't actually lose us anything if it fails; the RC not buying it just means we start the assault phase earlier. If it succeeds, on the other hand, we have a better shot of grabbing Jiminez before they shoot him, of getting other useful intel/loot from the base, and of actually winning the fight.

    MJ12 Commando said:
    Yes, yes she does. It would lead to incredible entertainment, though.
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    Further question: if Mari rides along inside the War Daemon, would that shield her against the "Paradox explodes her everything if she steps out of ultra-Technocratic reality zones" problem?
     
    The Sandman said:
    Further question: if Mari rides along inside the War Daemon, would that shield her against the "Paradox explodes her everything if she steps out of ultra-Technocratic reality zones" problem?
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    No. Prime 5, though, does-and IBM has a lot of Prime 5. Which really is one way of accomplishing this mission-just make everything Vulgar With Witnesses, but their witnesses are North Korean kung fu supersoldiers who have found their supersoldier-ness vulgar, while you have the Prime to tough it out until all the Sleepers on the other side die and it's only Vulgar Without Witnesses.
     
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    Wufan/Elsa's Suspicion:
    Are the Void Engineers going to confront Jamelia? If so, this might be a chance to get things out into the air.
    [X] No, not yet.

    If we don't yet have a good plan for how they handle this, then we should probably hold off on things for now.
    Sarpedon said:
    Hmm does Mari have to be there in person as it is for Sleepwalker to apply? Because a bunch of disposable robots that count as sleepers for RD bullshit would be amazing.
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    MJ12 Commando said:
    Yes, yes she does. It would lead to incredible entertainment, though.
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    Does "being in the War Daemon super-tank" count as being there in person? :drevil:

    Though that would combine two incredibly valuable and irreplaceable assets into one package. Hm.

    Actually, another question -- if Mari is piloting a War Daemon, if she has help from Henriette such as via tele-operation, can she benefit from Henriette's "Legendary Pilot" perk?
     
    Garlak said:
    Actually, another question -- if Mari is piloting a War Daemon, if she has help from Henriette such as via tele-operation, can she benefit from Henriette's "Legendary Pilot" perk?
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    That sounds a lot like backseat piloting, which I doubt Mari would appreciate.

    Henriette: Dodge left!
    Mari: Yes, I see it. Stop yelling!
    Henriette: I'm just making sure you noticed.
    Mari: You know, all this is really more distracting than helpful.
    Henriette: Hmmph. Well, far be it for me to give you the benefit of my superior expertise.
    Mari: That expertise is not appreciated when you keep screaming it while I'm trying to focus!
     
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    Henriette has rounded out her non-exosuit skills nicely. Maybe she's ready for us to look for a replacement for the suit that got totaled all the way back in Hong Kong. When we get Donald and his lovely lucre back, we could order a custom job from IBM.
     
    The Sandman said:
    Would it work better if I axed the Hind + Commando Suits and went with ES' Invisitank option?

    I really do think we should lead off with the infiltration attempt simply because it doesn't actually lose us anything if it fails; the RC not buying it just means we start the assault phase earlier. If it succeeds, on the other hand, we have a better shot of grabbing Jiminez before they shoot him, of getting other useful intel/loot from the base, and of actually winning the fight.
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    There are not many plans an invisible, selectively immaterial demonic supertank wouldn't improve.

    However the risk of infiltration failing is in fact very high given the limited approaches to the base, substantial RD presence with attendant detection capabilities, and likely presence of a hostile local paradigm. Failing the infiltration would leave the party exposed to all of those assets without them first being distracted by trying not to be killed by the robot onslaught. And a small infiltration and rescue party showing up first would draw attention to the prisoners in a way an oh-god-it's-like-1999 Technocratic assault wouldn't.
     
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