Remove ads

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

Reader mode
Iteration X
[ ] SN-1 Sub-Nuclear Cruise Missile System

Useful, doesn't start WW3.

New World Order
[ ] PERIMETER Anti-Ballistic Missile System

In reserve if somebody does something stupid.

Void Engineers
[ ] OMeN Targeting

Do we get the paradox?

[ ] X156 QLM-08 Duchess of Light

Useful, doesn't start WW3.

EDIT:
MJ12 Commando said:
I will allow more than 2 with a good stunt. Otherwise pick 2 or fewer.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
In this case I'd suggest we go with SN-1 Sub-Nuclear Cruise Missile System and X156 QLM-08 Duchess of Light while asking nicely that they prep the PERIMETER Anti-Ballistic Missile System in case our enemies do something stupid.
 
Last edited:
MJ12 Commando said:
"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains-" its voicebox screeches out.

Gretkov walks towards it unhurriedly, in the mad lust of target fixation. "Kipling won't save you now."

Kipling, Henriette thinks, and her ADEI finds the rest of the poem's contents. And she checks Centurion's position. Right next to an anti-vehicle mine.

"And go to your God like a soldier." Henriette says the last line of the poem, as Gretkov steps over the command-detonated mine. She sends a mental trigger, and the room, Centurion, and Gretkov are all consumed by fire, moments before the Iteration X killsat's impactors turn Red Square into a hellscape.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...




I tried to find a way to work some Shakespeare's "he that stands with me to-day" in there, but I couldn't think of how to do it right. Major kudos for thinking of Kipling, though - he's way more fitting than Shakespeare for an angry 19th-century British war-spirit.
 
Last edited:
You know, if we could think up good excuses for The Dragonslayer is might be the game clincher for us. We could use it to close that Wormhole which should severely weaken the Machine God and make Henriette's job easier. Who's the one summoning the whole Incarna anyway?

Also, Henrietta and Henriette, really? Are their parents naturally that uncreative or does getting turn into Hyper-post human nano machines do horrible things to the ability to name kids?
 
Can we deploy OMeN in the Umbra?

if so [x]OMeN (Umbral Deployment)
and [x] Tech Support

because if we don't disrupt her supply of Primal Energy she can easily outlast the APOCALYPSE CANCELLER or just laugh off direct attacks.
 
Last edited:
[x] The Dragonslayer
[x] X156 QLM-08 Duchess of Light

I'll go with these. The Solar war charms and extra mecha are going to go along way to support Henriette in a fight while also providing support for our own troops. Same with the Duchess of Light.

I'd steer away from the high power, single shot stuff. If she has a Alter-Tensor Field like Henrietta's [Altered Tensor Field (Correspondence 5) provides total protection against incoming attacks at cost of power (5 Prime Energy/use)] she can definitely no sell the attacks, rendering it useless. Are best bet too fight it is too take out the worm-hole, to cut it's Prime reserves.
 
Actually yea. I'm thinking that we need to support the VEs in taking down that worm hole. Not to mention that we could probably hurt cheap knock off more if we splattered her umbra body.

[x] The Dragonslayer
[x] X156 QLM-08 Duchess of Light
 
MJ12 Commando said:
No, you can't. Escalation locks you out of some options and gives you new ones. The fact that these escalated options are all awful is more of an indication of what 'delaying for an extended period of time while a powerful machine-god charges up her TRUE FORM' results in.

Also, the "giant robot fight" thing implies that yes, Apocalypse Canceller is dropping.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Wait, so Henrietta spent this entire time charging up energy so she could deploy her giant robot? Goddamnit.

Dragonslayer looks really useful and freaking rad besides, so I'm leaning on that, but we need excuses. Hence I'll echo Garlak questioning where the danger is coming from for it.
 
Important questions we might ask the resident DSci experts, the VEs we have on comms.

*Do EDEs have a limit on spending Prime Energy to mitigate paradox?
*Can the OMEN satellite's metric-alteration be used to disrupt the quantum tunnel between Autochthonia and the EDE groundside?

And something I want to bring to everyone's attention:

>It glows with a powerful shield flare as it deflects another barrage of osmium RAIN.
A.) Henrietta's Warform body probably has an Altered Tensor field. Which renders her completely invulnerable.
B.) The biggest weakness of the AT field, its power draw, is offset by Henrietta drawing from the essentially unlimited stores of Autochthonia. (Stores not actually unlimited, but so vast as to render difference meaningless)
C.) If this is actually so, Henriette's success requires shutting down Henrietta's extrasolar power supply.
 
dash931 said:
Dragonslayer looks really useful and freaking rad besides, so I'm leaning on that, but we need excuses. Hence I'll echo Garlak questioning where the danger is coming from for it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm pretty sure the danger is from us summoning a literal Godlike Spirit, which is blatantly magic and so Reality Deviant you can't even bullshit it in your own mind.

The Union has enough issues these days without having several high ranking members seeing things that might lead to them questioning the Union's idea of magic not existing, potentially spreading those doubts and defecting.

Someone like Jamelia potentially defecting would be pretty big.
 
So, the best idea I've come up with is, thus far...

1. Autobot is on the other end of that wormhole link.
2. Autobot is scared shitless of Solars.
3. So if we summon an Orichalcum warstrider with Solar Charms, Friend Computer may be worried that some glowing asshole with a surfboard sized sword is going to follow that link right back to him and hit him right in the fetich with Ghost-Eating Technique.

Or maybe the Dragonslayer gets a Perfect Attack, and since Henrietta almost certainly doesn't have a Perfect Defense, he can wreck her receiving terminal.

And this is probably not a serious line of speculation.
 
Deadly Snark said:
I'm pretty sure the danger is from us summoning a literal Godlike Spirit, which is blatantly magic and so Reality Deviant you can't even bullshit it in your own mind.

The Union has enough issues these days without having several high ranking members seeing things that might lead to them questioning the Union's idea of magic not existing, potentially spreading those doubts and defecting.

Someone like Jamelia potentially defecting would be pretty big.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Eh, the Technocratic paradigm accommodates for the existence of EDE's, even one's as strong as Incarna (part of the basics of there Dimensional Science sphere), and it helps that this one comes in the form of a Warstrider, aka Mecha. If the problem is a member of Jamelia's team doing it, then I suppose excuse would be making sure nobody see's Kessler doing it who isn't a reality deviant or maybe a VE. Blame it on the large number of RD's summoning it to fight the thing leveling Moscow, if we have too. Even better if we can use our alliance with the VA too get one of the traditions too actively claim the credit.
 
Last edited:
Raumgespenst said:
Eh, the Technocratic paradigm accommodates for the existence of EDE's, even one's as strong as Incarna, and it helps that this one comes in the form of a Warstrider, aka Mecha. If the problem is a member of Jamelia's team doing it, then I suppose excuse would be making sure nobody see's Kessler doing it who isn't a reality deviant or maybe a VE. Blame it on the large number of RD's summoning it to fight the thing leveling Moscow, if we have too. Even better if we can use our alliance with the VA too get one of the traditions too actively claim the credit.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The GM disagrees with you, frankly Command would be worry, and I wouldn't blame them, they should, something like the Dragonslayer is not something that can be waved away, if it's so godlike powerful that it might just convince people of the Traditions' point of view.

And yeah, as for the excuses, if would be helpful to know who's summoning it. *Hint, hint, nudge*
 
Last edited:
"Look, it's not our fault that the Reality Deviants worked together to summon this extra large EDE to fight the other hostile EDE hell bent on killing us. It did it's job and there's no complaints all around."
 
Deadly Snark said:
The GM disagrees with you,
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

He did? Where?



Deadly Snark said:
frankly Command would be worry, and I wouldn't blame them, they should, something like the Dragonslayer is not something that can be waved away, if it's so godlike powerful that it might just convince people of the Traditions' point of view.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Why can't it "Just be waved away?" We know that the technocracy at large accepts the existence of EDE's, werewolves, vampire's, ect. It might have 'godlike' power but that could be argued for a lot of the things the technocracy has. Even better, it's stated as being made of orichalcium (a metal), which makes it even easier too explain it away as a ridiculously advanced piece of machinery. Maybe play it off a ridiculously powerful Etherite Mecha?

Deadly Snark said:
And yeah, as for the excuses, if would be helpful to know who's summoning it. *Hint, hint, nudge*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes. I would assume Kessler, but the description (and the fact it comes from the VE side of the shockwave codes) implies it isn't.
 
Last edited:
Sarpedon said:
Can we deploy OMeN in the Umbra?

if so [x]OMeN (Umbral Deployment)
and [x] DRAGONSLAYER

because if we don't disrupt her supply of Primal Energy she can easily outlast the APOCALYPSE CANCELLER or just laugh off direct attacks.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes, yes you can.

Cornuthaum said:
Important questions we might ask the resident DSci experts, the VEs we have on comms.

*Do EDEs have a limit on spending Prime Energy to mitigate paradox?
*Can the OMEN satellite's metric-alteration be used to disrupt the quantum tunnel between Autochthonia and the EDE groundside?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The limit is "how much Prime Energy they have access to", which in this case is "a fuck of a lot". And yes, the OMEN can be used to shut down Gauntlet breaches, that's what it's generally used for.

And something I want to bring to everyone's attention:

>It glows with a powerful shield flare as it deflects another barrage of osmium RAIN.
A.) Henrietta's Warform body probably has an Altered Tensor field. Which renders her completely invulnerable.
B.) The biggest weakness of the AT field, its power draw, is offset by Henrietta drawing from the essentially unlimited stores of Autochthonia. (Stores not actually unlimited, but so vast as to render difference meaningless)
C.) If this is actually so, Henriette's success requires shutting down Henrietta's extrasolar power supply.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The Altered Tensor mechanism can be canceled via another unit's Altered Tensor mechanism, which renders both units vulnerable to relatively weedy things like "multiple hits from hypervelocity railguns" and "sub-nuke warheads" and "deorbiting a satellite on someone". Of course, your local machine-god has multiple bodies...

You can alternatively make it significantly less efficient via Correspondence countermagic.
 
Hmmmmm.

Doesn't Kessler have the lesser version of the Dragonslayer he could use? What are the circumstances around that again?

And what kind of sanctions or complications might we be looking at if we have Kessler going Super-Saiyajin?
 
Raumgespenst said:
He did? Where?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The part where it says explicitly that summoning him will likely get Command to kill everyone present at a later date.

Why else do you think Command would kill people like Jamelia, Serafina, Achilles, Cross and others if they didn't think that there could be a potential of them being subverted by seeing the Dragonslayer?
Why can't it "Just be waved away?" We know that the technocracy at large accepts the existence of EDE's, werewolves, vampire's, ect. It might have 'godlike' power but that could be argued for a lot of the things the technocracy has. Even better, it's stated as being made of orichalcium (a metal), which makes it even easier too explain it away as a ridiculously advanced piece of machinery. Maybe play it off a ridiculously powerful Etherite Mecha?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Because Werewolves and Vampires and the Traditions can be easily explained away by the Union paradigm. Werewolves are bioweapons gone rogue, Vampires have some kind of disease, Traditions do science but they just think it's magic and yada yada.

But the Dragonslayer? It has literally Godlike power which means that once it's in action no one would be able to say that it's working because of some Union paradigm gone wrong, and presumably godlike presence and glory, having been compared to a Solar, meaning that those who see it will likely have some kind of religious revelation or someshit and thus become inspired, which in turn would let Command use the excuse that everyone present have been potentially hit with some kind of memetic mental effect from the thing and this no longer be reliable, etc etc etc...
 
Last edited:
MJ12 Commando said:
Yes, yes you can.



The limit is "how much Prime Energy they have access to", which in this case is "a fuck of a lot". And yes, the OMEN can be used to shut down Gauntlet breaches, that's what it's generally used for.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This sounds like a amazing reason to pick the OMEN, and easy to stunt on too choices we already want if we can get someone to give Jamelia knowledge of the wormhole.




MJ12 Commando said:
You can alternatively make it significantly less efficient via Correspondence countermagic.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Fun fact for those who don't know. The Virtual Adepts hold the seat of Correspondence among the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions. Now which tradition did we spend the last arc trying to create a stable alliance with, and who have a common enemy with us?
 
Last edited:
Deadly Snark said:
The part where it says explicitly that summoning him will likely get Command to kill everyone present at a later date.

Why else do you think Command would kill people like Jamelia, Serafina, Achilles, Cross and others if they didn't think that there could be a potential of them being subverted by seeing the Dragonslayer?

Because Werewolves and Vampires and the Traditions can be easily explained away by the Union paradigm. Werewolves are bioweapons gone rogue, Vampires have some kind of disease, Traditions do science but they just think it's magic and yada yada.

But the Dragonslayer? It has literally Godlike power which means that once it's in action no one would be able to say that it's working because of some Union paradigm gone wrong, and presumably godlike presence and glory, having been compared to a Solar, meaning that those who see it will likely have some kind of religious revelation or someshit and thus become inspired, which in turn would let Command use the excuse that everyone present have been potentially hit with some kind of memetic mental effect from the thing and this no longer be reliable, etc etc etc...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You're assuming 400% more people will want to kill you than the actual number. More or less.
 
That makes it sound like it's the Void Engineers that would want to wipe them out, possibly to leave no witnesses. And thus nobody to doubt the VEs loyalty or orthodoxy.


Though, again, could you remind us of what Kessler's version of the Dragonslayer is like?

And what the effects of its use might lead to?
 
Garlak said:
That makes it sound like it's the Void Engineers that would want to wipe them out, possibly to leave no witnesses. And thus nobody to doubt the VEs loyalty or orthodoxy.


Though, again, could you remind us of what Kessler's version of the Dragonslayer is like?

And what the effects of its use might lead to?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Kessler's version is tactical-scale and at this point is basically irrelevant. You're seeing the strategic scale of the Technocracy. If Hong Kong was a story about typical Technocracy operations, Moscow is a story of extremes-the absolute most firepower the Union can bring to bear and the absolute least control the Union can have.

In fact, after Jamelia resolves her Plot (i.e. whether she hunts down Siddharth or not), we'll be zooming out to focus on Henriette, as the only person currently playing on that scale.
 
21.3m war body. Ladies, and gents, I do believe this is the signal we've been waiting for.



[x] Giant Death Robot, LAUNCH!

[x] The Dragonslayer
Obviously we just need to figure out how to shunt the war body into the Umbra so that we can have a giganto robo + gojira tag-team battle vs the evil AI.

[X] PERIMETER Anti-Ballistic Missile System
I'm sorry, no idiot is going to start WW III to interrupt my giant robot death battle.
 
Last edited:
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top