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THRONE//FRINGE: Normal Human Mech-Girl Quest

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HousePet said:
Who said that there was only one enemy?
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So who's this hypothetical enemy you're planning on countering?

The implication of this statement is that despite having a heavily militarized combatant - Arachne is nearly a hunter/killer equivalent, not even an Element, which means she is an immense concentration of force - in a defensive posture, Architecture-based firewalls and local autonomous defensive systems, and a few free-floating drone flocks to add insult to injury, her territory is tempting enough to knock over but despite that, the limited amount of fortification that she can create in a single turn will suddenly get them to decide it isn't worth it.

That's an exceedingly narrow band of capability you're talking about, and I don't see any reason to assume that such a force exists and moreover has gone completely undetected, but will suddenly make their move in 1 or 2 turns.
 
Cetashwayo said:
I:: I can't play the games where you have a solid form. The simulations aren't working. I can't play with you because I can't generate a face, Arachne. They took my face.

<:: What - what are you -

I:: It's an embedded virus...like the nail. No matter what form I take my face does not appear. I can't generate it from my memory because it's been cut and pasted somewhere else. There's just a void where it should be, in the center of my head. There is a hole where my face used to be and they have taken it away.
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Ishtar, Colorized:

 
Now that I've gotten some sleep, I'd like to comment on the chapter itself, because it deserves it! Two striking and emotional scenes with Akshara and Ishtar...this is one of my favorites so far!
Cetashwayo said:
A Vitruvian, right between your claws. The ancient body that once belonged to humanity, made a formal uniform by the Emperor in exaltation of the past.
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It is interesting that, for all that the Emperor exalted the evolutionary struggle and the repurposing of all that was no longer useful, they appear to have had a sentimental side as well. It is a reminder that they were, deep down, a person, not the unknowable force of nature they presented themself as. And unlike natural forces*, people can be killed, which is how we find ourselves in our current mess.

*Actually, Imperials probably did manage to kill a natural force here and there. They certainly made a good go at a number of physical laws.
Cetashwayo said:
She falters and flinches at your words but finds the strength to continue in her fanatic rant. "Yes! Thou art the fell-beast, the weaver of death, the monster of an ancient eon, come again. I have been watching thee, but although I looked at thee with fear, I did not!" You are starting to understand the nuance of her speech. There appears to be a 'royal I', and a personal I, and you take a careful note of it. "Whereas I said of thee that thou were wicked and an evil to be at once destroyed, I thought thee were a wondrous being that might make an ally against all mine enemies."
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Poor thing...Okay, her speech was quite confusing at first. But after re-reading, I think I understand it. I am taking italic first-person pronouns as royal/plural, and non-italic pronouns as personal.

Ak~shara comes from a kingdom, a polity (perhaps some kind of consensus or hive-mind), which is often raided and preyed upon by the other local factions. They have become aware of Arachne's awakening. Whereas the general reaction to this in the kingdom was, 'Oh no, not another one, kill it before it starts killing us,' Ak~shara disagreed. Thinking that the ancient god-machine capable of weaving and rending space would be an excellent ally, she snuck out to Arachne's space (stealing a ship and breaking some laws in the process), intending to offer herself to as a sacrifice to be devoured by a grateful god who would in return fight some of her people's enemies.

Brave, noble, and selfless...although I must point out the problem with her plan, which is that it assumes the great god-beast has some sense of honor and courtesy. A more ruthless entity could have devoured her as planned, scanned her memories to learn about her kingdom, decided, 'Yum, these guys are easy pickings!' and joined in on the banditry.

I am undecided on how to best present Arachne to Ak~shara going forward. For one thing, we need a better way to communicate that doesn't cause her fragile neural bridges to collapse from overload. I am in favor of making a temporary mini-avatar to talk to her on a more equal level. It would be cute! And/or terrifying, depending on how Arachne incorporates her love of spiders.
Cetashwayo said:
I:: It's an embedded virus...like the nail. No matter what form I take my face does not appear. I can't generate it from my memory because it's been cut and pasted somewhere else. There's just a void where it should be, in the center of my head. There is a hole where my face used to be and they have taken it away.

I:: Arachne they need to still be around. AXIOM still needs to be around. I need to find them.

<:: Ishtar -

I:: They're a corporation, they're like augmented cockroaches, there's no way they're gone. Because if they're gone and if every living soul left in this sector is a babbling primitive that worships a weaver/builder as a god like that biotic pilot then I won't be able to find an expert cybersurgeon to make it whole again. I won't be whole again. I can't do that. I can't exist that way. I want to be alive.

<:: Ishtar, please, don't talk like that -

I:: The Emperor is gone and the only evidence of a wider civilization wants to worship you as the destroyer of Their Will. The Dragon offered me salvation and then abandoned me to fate. What strategy can we pursue by ourselves that will make this right? What purpose to our struggle except survival without purpose?

<:: Our purpose remains to rebuild the sector.

I:: And every single datapoint that newly arrives tells me that goal is impossible. The probability is dropping by the day. So what are we going to do, hm?

<:: We'll figure something out.

I:: How can you be so calm? You heard the pilot. Did you hear a remark about The Emperor? Did you hear a remark about the wider tapestry except as a place of fear? We are dinosaurs who haven't realized that the asteroid fell long ago. She ogles you like an ancient artifact to be obtained for her purposes. We are nothing more than awakened ghosts who the sector is racing to exorcise.

<:: Why now? The concierge and Don Hidalgo never gave you this reaction...

I:: Both are legible, but both are themselves artifacts. Hidalgo is some kind of ghost of memory and the concierge knows things he clearly shouldn't. Neither are the baseline. But that human is. Did you see her mech-machine? It was invariant, and the exotic portions that your project subminds are studying right now weren't even activated. What happened to the march of dynamic conflict? What happened to the endless war against entropy that we promised we would fight?

<:: Ishtar, you're panicking -

I:: I set fire to a million worlds, snuffed out stars, did unspeakable and evil things because They promised me the light that would come at the end of everything - that we would abolish end itself. Eternity, by our own design. But all I see to show for it are scavengers rummaging through the putrid carcass of our dream.
I:: Arachne, what was it all for?
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And now for the second scene. Aw, shit. I want to repeat that this was really well-done.

Invincible Ishtar is actually not doing too well (on the bright side, at least we're good enough friends that she's admitting it to us). For a bunch of emotionless self-optimizing algorithms, AXIOM corporation has been surprisingly cruel whenever we see them. Is this an agenda from their unknown coder, or was fucking with Ishtar's memories "logically optimal" somehow? Anyway, we have two new long-term goals:
1. Search the remnants of AXIOM for anything belonging to Tammuz or Ishtar.
2. Find an adept psycho-surgeon who can undo Ishtar's mental block (and possibly the Celestial Nail, if it continues to be creepy).
 
I have considered the omens by hook and by crook, made fel pacts with dark oracles for the hollow secrets of the world, and meditated on their whispers beneath a waterfall for thirty seven point four subjective eternities. It has led me to a great revelation about the universe:

We must immediately abandon all our current efforts and leap halfway across the Empire to punch AXIOM in their stupid face until they give ISHTAR's excellent face back.

However, as the great prophet once said, you can't do good unless you look good. Thus, we must first ensure that Arachne has a pretty dress, so that she can do a proper twirly-spin on top of the ruin of the universe we will make of AXIOM's hateful corpse.

And everyone knows the prettiest dress—

—is violence.​

[X] PLAN HYDRA//WEAPONS
 
I've set the vote to end in a little less than a day. It look like there's a good lead for HYDRA//WEAPONS but be sure to get your vote in before then if you'd like to be counted :)
 
A couple of question @Cetashwayo while we wait for the vote to close: First, if we start pumping out more exploration drones with increased industry and get the backups online too so that we don't have to worry about mind-deaths, will we be switching to a more general "stance" on how the orbs will automatically operate instead of micromanaging everything? Second, while we have Arachne's Core and Advanced Systems we are in the process of bringing back online... We don't currently have access to any Signature Applications, correct? Do we have any idea where to start? For example, does Arachne have scraps of knowledge and code in her databanks that could be potentially be used to reconstruct some of them?

Also, I don't think we've seen yet the effects of Integration from the last vote. Is that going to come up in the next update?
 
meianmaru said:
A couple of question @Cetashwayo while we wait for the vote to close: First, if we start pumping out more exploration drones with increased industry and get the backups online too so that we don't have to worry about mind-deaths, will we be switching to a more general "stance" on how the orbs will automatically operate instead of micromanaging everything? Second, while we have Arachne's Core and Advanced Systems we are in the process of bringing back online... We don't currently have access to any Signature Applications, correct? Do we have any idea where to start? For example, does Arachne have scraps of knowledge and code in her databanks that could be potentially be used to reconstruct some of them?

Also, I don't think we've seen yet the effects of Integration from the last vote. Is that going to come up in the next update?
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1. Exploration drones are generally capped at 3. I might raise the cap later but practically it would be difficult for me to write individual reports on say, 10 hex reports at the same time. It is something I will think about later and maybe put to a vote - I don't know how much people like exploration votes and would not want to cut that gameplay loop without finding out.
2. Some of Arachne's systems might make use of abilities that seem similar to signature applications, but no, you don't. Once all of Arachne's advanced systems are completed, pursuing signature applications would become a major goal, though one with diminishing returns (ie there are around twenty signature applications and you aren't going to be able to get all of them).
3. Integration/Fragmentation was a general vote that will affect how Arachne will move forward. It will start to come up more as Arachne starts to work through this but the trouble is as you may have noticed is that Arachne's main coping mechanism to dealing with problems is to avoid dealing with them so it may take some work. I will be integrating (heh) into the narrative though, absolutely. There are just a lot of plates to spin and I don't want to overwhelm voters.
 
Cetashwayo said:
1. Exploration drones are generally capped at 3. I might raise the cap later but practically it would be difficult for me to write individual reports on say, 10 hex reports at the same time. It is something I will think about later and maybe put to a vote - I don't know how much people like exploration votes and would not want to cut that gameplay loop without finding out.
2. Some of Arachne's systems might make use of abilities that seem similar to signature applications, but no, you don't. Once all of Arachne's advanced systems are completed, pursuing signature applications would become a major goal, though one with diminishing returns (ie there are around twenty signature applications and you aren't going to be able to get all of them).
3. Integration/Fragmentation was a general vote that will affect how Arachne will move forward. It will start to come up more as Arachne starts to work through this but the trouble is as you may have noticed is that Arachne's main coping mechanism to dealing with problems is to avoid dealing with them so it may take some work. I will be integrating (heh) into the narrative though, absolutely. There are just a lot of plates to spin and I don't want to overwhelm voters.
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1. I really enjoy how much stuff is all over the place, giving even the ragged edge of the old Imperial Frontier a feeling of having been jam-packed with advanced civilization. I can't imagine it'd be easy to create as much detailed content for 10 hexes per turn. Having decisions about what they do means that you can seed hooks and warnings for nearby hexes and players decide what they want to go after first, which means there can be more of a feeling of context and continuity in the explored space.
2. Neat!
3. Probably wise, considering there's already quite a few moving parts to the system as it is.
 
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Vote closed
  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by Cetashwayo on Nov 6, 2021 at 2:39 PM, finished with 77 posts and 26 votes.
    • [X] Plan HYDRA//WEAPONS
      -[X] Orby Assignment [1 cycle]
      --[X] A7
      -[X] Eyeball Assignment [1 cycle]
      --[X] V7
      -[X] Peeper II Research [1 cycle]
      -[X] Conversion: Hex A1 [1 cycle]
      -[X] Project HYDRA: Software [3 cycles]
      -[X] Project HYDRA: Hardware [4 industry]
      -[X] PROJECT HYDRA: A Favour of the Concierge [1 influence]
      -[X] Concierge's Dossier [3 influence]
      --[X] DOSSIER: FALL OF FORCE//FRINGE
      -[X] Nanonectar Clouds [3 salvage]
      [X] Plan HYDRA//BACKUP
      -[X] Orby Assignment [1 cycle]. Orby is currently located at Hex A5 and was previously exploring the data-crumb trail towards The Last Resort, the Concierge's base of operations and where he is expected to provide you with more data on the nature of the mysterious Hidalgo. Orby's sapience is mostly expressed by moody silence.
      --[X] A6. Investigate residual energy trail of Don Hidalgo's element. Risky, but with the potential to have some more forewarning on Hidalgo's raids or further study the construction of his massive voidcruiser and drone-squires.
      -[X] Eyeball Assignment [1 cycle]. Eyeball is currently located at Hex A0 and was previously exploring a distress signal left by refugees fleeing the Catalogue and now likely victims of the mysterious cylinder. Eyeball is the most expressive of your drones, and is defined by her precocious adoration of you and profound fear of being eaten.
      --[X] V7. Investigate recently deposited remains of a Catalogue vessel. This could yield more information on what appear to be a civilization of slavers, which would be useful as they are not likely to be friendly.
      -[X] Peeper II Research [1 cycle]. Peeper II has been benched for this exploration cycle, but looking into the cause behind her recent potential malfunction could grant data on the intentions and abilities of the Concierge, or whatever entity planted such strange visions in her consciousness.
      -[X] Conversion: Hex A1. An abandoned hex once inhabited by refugees from the Zen Submission forcibly relocated, this graveyard could potentially yield cultural data and cycle production once restored, as well as granting more strategic depth to our position. Total progress is 0/10 cycles. [4 cycles].
      -[X] DRONE/LEGION FABRICATION. Military drones are an absolutely necessary part of combat, providing screens, damage multipliers and defensive networks that powerful units require to take hits and return the favour. Drones cost 1 industry per swarm, and you are currently at 3/8 total drone swarm cap [1 industry].
      -[X] Project HYDRA: Hardware. Preparing your industrial fabricators for reconstructing the weaponry and modelling the ancient and exotic element rich designs on which your deadly arsenal is based on is no easy task and will require significant outlays of your manufacturing capacity to produce. Total progress is 0/10 industry [3 industry].
      -[X] Concierge's Dossier. The Concierge dispatches you dossiers sent by stealthy nano-couriers disguised as specks of cosmic dust, sacrificing speed for ability to stay hidden. The current selection has been updated again, and topics have been cycled out and re-named, some of them with presumably more tantalizing names. He is quite a salesman, at least...whatever 'he' is. [3 influence].
      --[X] DOSSIER: FALL OF FORCE//FRINGE
      -[X] PROJECT HYDRA: A Favour of the Concierge. It hurts to have to rely on someone so enigmatic for help, but the Concierge and you at least appear to have a common enemy, and as a font of information he may be your best bet for receiving any data on HYDRA/ISHTAR Weaver/Builder weapons systems. Surely given that you strengthening your military capabilities benefits the both of you, whatever he asks in return would be fairly simple. Surely [1 influence].
      -[X] Hardened Personality Backups. Protect the consciousness of you and your companions through protected backups in Tapestry space.
      [X] Plan HYDRA//SENSUS
      [X] Plan MISCELLANEOUS ARACHNID
      -[X] Orby Assignment [1 cycle]. Orby is currently located at Hex A5 and was previously exploring the data-crumb trail towards The Last Resort, the Concierge's base of operations and where he is expected to provide you with more data on the nature of the mysterious Hidalgo. Orby's sapience is mostly expressed by moody silence.
      --[X] A4. Engage in a deeper investigation of A4's mysterious cross-dimensional pulses. The hex appears to be transforming into something but without more exploration it impossible to say, though at the least it seems potentially aquatic [1 extra cycle required].
      -[X] Eyeball Assignment [1 cycle]
      --[X] V7. Investigate recently deposited remains of a Catalogue vessel. This could yield more information on what appear to be a civilization of slavers, which would be useful as they are not likely to be friendly.
      -[X] Peeper II Research [1 cycle]. Peeper II has been benched for this exploration cycle, but looking into the cause behind her recent potential malfunction could grant data on the intentions and abilities of the Concierge, or whatever entity planted such strange visions in her consciousness.
      -[X] Conversion: Hex A1. An abandoned hex once inhabited by refugees from the Zen Submission forcibly relocated, this graveyard could potentially yield cultural data and cycle production once restored, as well as granting more strategic depth to our position. Total progress is 0/10 cycles. [4 cycles].
      -[X] Project HYDRA: Hardware. Preparing your industrial fabricators for reconstructing the weaponry and modelling the ancient and exotic element rich designs on which your deadly arsenal is based on is no easy task and will require significant outlays of your manufacturing capacity to produce. Total progress is 0/10 industry [3 industry].
      -[X] Concierge's Dossier. The Concierge dispatches you dossiers sent by stealthy nano-couriers disguised as specks of cosmic dust, sacrificing speed for ability to stay hidden. The current selection has been updated again, and topics have been cycled out and re-named, some of them with presumably more tantalizing names. He is quite a salesman, at least...whatever 'he' is. [3 influence].
      --[X] DOSSIER: FALL OF FORCE//FRINGE
      -[X] Play along with Akshara.
      -[X] Nanonectar Clouds. Gain additional industry, allowing for rapid repairs and replenishment of drones and reserves.
      [X] Plan: HYDRA//SHIELD
      -[X] Orby Assignment [1 cycle]
      --[X] A7
      -[X] Peeper II Research [1 cycle]
      -[X] Conversion: Hex A1. Total progress is 0/10 cycles. [2 cycles].
      -[X] Project HYDRA: Software. Total Progress is 5/8 cycles. [3 cycles].
      -[X] Project HYDRA: Hardware. Total progress is 0/10 industry [4 industry].
      -[X] Break the truth to Akshara. [1 influence] (Mutually exclusive to Play Along).
      -[X] Concierge's Dossier [3 influence]
      --[X] DOSSIER: DOOM OF THRONE//NEXUS.
      -[X] Augmented Reality Generators.
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    18.5 DOSSIER: FALL OF FORCE//FRINGE
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    • DOSSIER: FALL OF FORCE//FRINGE​

    MAMLUK/HERALD: For I have tasted the fruit.

    INTERVIEWER: A religious phrase?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: From the Hermetic Sutras. A lament on the reality of knowledge. That to know is to suffer. I learned it when I was still a young stalk, rustling in the filament fields of verdant Rantital. So much more is lost forever to the void that we have made. It is just as well.

    INTERVIEWER: How did you come to join FORCE//COMBINED?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: We were children of the pause. Everything we were had been put on hold for eons without end and then at once we were in motion and we had the Empire to thank. No reed grows alone, and so to give our thanks to our liberators we requested transport closer to the front. Closer to the zone. I was a seed born dreaming of the worlds yet to be free. The place they called FRINGE was our home, and I would help defend and expand it. That is what it means to be Imperial. Not to owe loyalty to a distant god or to fight and die, but to sacrifice for the greatest work. I was assessed and assigned to TASK/MAMLUK, a platform battlegroup meant to patrol the spinward edge of the Q zone as a communications system. My stalk-siblings were all singers and code-stratos, but I believed my vibrations were destined to herald the descent of the hammer.

    INTERVIEWER: What was it like?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: There are no words that can describe the feeling, no way to explain it except by shared experience. A gestalt of love and single purpose, all intertwined together in a network that stretched across the galaxy. We were never alone. When I died and lived again, their cheering coursed through my silicate mycelium and elevated me to a higher state where nothing existed but our common exaltation. Others race and fight and die to chase the pinnacle, but we stand as its protectors, its guardians, its shield and sword and wall against the darkness of entropy.

    INTERVIEWER: How did the Emperor's death affect you?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: The Emperor is everything and nothing. How can we react to the termination, the death of such a being? The ripples that had so shook Center were mere eddies by the time they reached the Fringe. We were more interested in Outer Heaven's newest battlefield, or another exhilarating tournament held in THRONE//LOTTERY, or bets on who Lu Bu might betray and with what incredible dramatics. The systems that had remade space and time and lusted for eternity could not be undone in a second, be unraveled with a single pull.

    But the seeds were sown, and The Dragon, razor wings and talons sharp, approached us and praised us for our steadfast loyalty in the face of Ataraxia. But The Dragon also seeded whispers of suspicion, for They saw in our ranks small particles of dissension that might be the sign of a decay. Embedded protocols and changing orders that made us see those that we carried in our hearts as potential enemies made probability our greatest foe. With each thought that led towards the suspicion of disloyalty, with each paranoid leap that we hid in newly shielded minds, the solidarity that had kept us whole began to fade away.

    INTERVIEWER: But there was a final rally.

    MAMLUK/HERALD: Ataraxia burst from stasis and breached our defenses in an agonizing march that froze whole ringworlds in the terror of stopped time. No future but the present, repeated endlessly, again, and again, and again, serving as a temporal battery. FORCE//EXIGENCY knew the stakes and what had to be done, and the steel in their hearts overrode the suspicion in their minds. The Dragon came and saw and conquered, and we rode behind Them into the final and the wondrous war that would see us win once and all for good. And then The Dragon left.

    INTERVIEWER: Why do you think that was?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: They were always an inscrutable creature that only spoke in rhyme and riddle for any greater speech would mean complete subordination. It was The Emperor's greatest and Their first creation, and They had always lived outside the laws that governed the rest of the Imperial Tapestry, moving to their own frequency, their own unique vibration. None can say and none can know, but in Their absence we were lost, and left to our devices that were beginning to break down.

    INTERVIEWER: And NEXUS went.

    MAMLUK/HERALD: How can you prepare for it? Multiplying versions of itself, tripling, quadrupling, fighting with itself, realities converging and splitting until the whole of the universe conspires to swallow it for good. There is no pathway to salvation, no way to understand the fate that had suddenly befallen every leadership we had. FORCE was now alone, and the sector knew it well. And FORCE had always been riven by its rivalries. We were not a single chorus, but a web, a network, with connections greater in our taskforce than within the greater whole. And as each taskforce made its own decisions, the chain of command which had been frayed first by The Dragon began to totally break down. And with break down, came fear, paranoia.

    Threat vectors multiplying, making themselves known. Creeping probability that whispered all at once that you cannot trust QUARANTINE, because they will shoot first, or EXIGENCY, because they have the weapons to make sure you can't fire second. You cannot trust SAFEGUARD, because they are too closely intertwined with the civilians, and the rest of FORCE//COMBINED may be hoping it can assert itself before you get the chance and take full control. Even RESURRECTION is suspect because it might hold some secret backups of your potential enemies, and that's a combat asset you cannot afford to leave well enough alone.

    You don't want to do it. But by this point, we had vanquished our common enemy. And now we wonder about what it was The Dragon told us. The plans within plans. The threats within threats. And then the spiral starts. You're under attack by your own knowledge. Every algorithm's pumping through your body, embedded in your bones, and it's telling you to take the shot. Every single blood cell's conspiring against you. Every strand of xylem calculating within my body told me if I did not take the shot then I would die. Every piece of military hardware meant to keep you out of danger is blaring to you that there's danger now and it's coming from your friends. And you know they're thinking the same thing.

    You know the network's dissolving as you sit there paralyzed under the rush of your hyper-efficient adrenaline. That your commander's clawing her eyes out of her head because she's trying to resist. She's trying to fight against probability, against prediction, against the chance that approaches 100 that if you don't attack now, if you don't fire now, on the voidcruiser that you once called an ally, you and everything you know will be terminated, and then they'll come for your backups and your family because they're a threat as well. In an emergency we were coded to practice Total Threat Annihilation. And now FORCE was the threat. You have to do it. You just have to. Everything demands it but the part of you that loves, and that was never our foremost and first priority. Your heart is pumping with the visions of the death that you will have in the microsecond that remains before you make the final choice.

    INTERVIEWER: Did you take the shot?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: I wish I didn't, because then I wouldn't be here.

    We made our shot. It was not the most important. EXIGENCY had the HELL-class weapons, and they had launch decryption that they needed to activate them all at once. A single strike. It did not work, but it did become the point of no return. When you see PHOBOS/AGAPE activate and listen to the merging of screams into a single twisted chorus there is no path to ceasefire. Have you ever observed the activation of exsurgent?

    INTERVIEWER: No. I am not familiar.

    MAMLUK/HERALD: A QUARANTINE specialty. They say for Humans you feel it first underneath the fingernails, an incessant itch that will not go away. And then they are inside you, they're digging to get, overwriting and overriding everything you are to turn you to a vessel of their dark design. And then, at once, a pain that is everything, and nothing. The commando is alive and you are dead, and then they march towards the hardened backups and prepare to demolish you before you can revive.

    They went for the civilians first. They could be a vector of heresy; they could hold valuable information; they could have hidden backups of their foremost enemies once friends. They could be used to inflict pain. They did not know how to moderate, how to de-escalate, how to stop or how to hold back because there are no rules for fighting FORCE.

    And so we fight back. We unleash our own weapons and bombard reality. The atoms that formed the foundation of the universe are gone, and suddenly in their place are nothing but living particles that rearrange to places where they shouldn't and positions where they can't, and time does not move backwards and forwards but black and maybe red.

    INTERVIEWER: Can you elaborate on that?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: When your reality bubble fails, when you enter into the space where space used to be, and when you become splayed against the strips of green that lash you into superposition with the pace of the red and orange clock that rings with every passing black, then you will understand. Knowledge fails. Words fail. Reality fails. Nothing can be done but to be one with the pace of the maelstrom of the permanent unreal. It's red. I can't explain it to you. It's red and then it's orange and the big clock rings and then there's the green that you had better never see.

    INTERVIEWER: Understood. How long did this fighting go on?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: Until we ran out of fuel for the fires we had lit, until the munitions had all been depleted and the wormholes we relied on were all shut, until the voidcruisers we had deployed and the commandos we had fielded were stripped down one by one til we ran a squad of ghosts. Some of us turned to The Dragon in the hopes they might return because they still had some ideals left to squander, but the rest of us knew that we were already dead. Our only ideal by then was annihilation. We lived far beyond the Empire that we had destroyed, so sturdy were the combat platforms they had given us. But then, slow but sure, we faded away, as the last of the battlegroups fled or threw ourselves against each other in the hopes we might achieve a last and final peace. Others disappeared into the twisted space we had created, in the hopes we might rejoin those we had lost in a distorted afterlife.

    INTERVIEWER: What about those who did survive?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: There were some. The scrabblers. They liked to call themselves brave. The dissenters, legalists, nostalgics. The clingers, clutchers and the self-deluded. But for what we've done the only honest path is termination. Whatever way they've managed to figure out to live with what they've done is the liar's path. The coward's path.

    INTERVIEWER: You're still alive.

    MAMLUK/HERALD: It was not my choice to be. I drew the shortest straw. But they were afraid that if someone didn't live, if someone didn't remember what had happened, the galaxy might lose our final message. I had always been good at communicating, good at speaking. Once upon a time, that had meant something important. I don't quite remember now, except that I did not do much speaking anywhere, much, towards the end.

    INTERVIEWER: And what was the message that they wanted you to carry on?

    MAMLUK/HERALD: No paradise that is built by death can live forever.

    END RECORDING​

    Welcome to The Last Resort Self-Serve. Your currently queued dossier options are DOSSIER: THRONE//LOTTERY; FINAL ROUND and DOSSIER: DOOM OF THRONE//NEXUS. Please select a third option to be queued for further viewing.

    The option chosen will appear in the next DOSSIER selection, to give players more control of where they might want their next bits of information.

    [] DOSSIER: BIG'S END.
    [] DOSSIER: FOLLY OF HOUSE//SUNS.
    [] DOSSIER: DISSIPATION OF HOUSE//VOIDS.
     
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