[x] Plan: Goodwill and time-critical investigations.
-[x][Science] Follow that robot!
-[x][Science] You keep hearing something, just on the edge of perception. What is going on?
-[x][Social] Discuss: Truthfully share your current discoveries. Generates goodwill but may speed up Angela's investigation.
--[x] Ship layout: Share your overall knowledge of the ship layout.
Both of these science picks seem both interesting and potentially time-critical. The social side of things is puttering along nicely, and the Science side is doing it no harm. We can afford to leave it with only one action. Meanwhile, "We're chasing a robot through the ship and trying to figure out what it's doing." seems like an almost ideal time to bust out with what we know about the ship layout, as part of that happy, sparky process of feeding information and ideas off of one another. Sure, it's giving away something for nothing for the moment, but at this point there's enough overall goodwill between us that I suspect that it'll pay off one way or another.
I'm still struggling with the goal a bit. I'm not sure I'm exactly happy with any of the existing options, but I don't currently have one better. That said, from what I can see the Goal vote isn't part of the Plan vote, so I feel like I can leave it be for the moment.
For those of you out there making plans... remember, it's one science, one social, and one from either, for a total of three.
edit:
I came back in a later post and figured out a goal that I like. If you want the logic, just scan down a few.
[x][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[x] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
[x] -to contact every god in the world!
-[x]"And then write a complete Mythology detailing all of them! The definitive work! Such that Gods with contact people just because they have read it because they all know that that those who have read it have potential!"
[X] Plan: Sublime Symmetry
-[X] -to build a new civilization, grander than any seen before!
-[X][Science] Follow that robot!
—[X][Social] Converse: Talk about something unrelated or semi-related. May result in increased knowledge of your rival, and visa versa.
--[X] The price of fish. Why are the chicken packaged meals one credit cheaper? How are the prices set when everything is just grown in a vat? What other food related conundrums do you face in your daily life?
[X]Plan:Talking and walking
-[X][Science] Follow that robot!
-[x][Social] Converse: Talk about something unrelated or semi-related. May result in increased knowledge of your rival, and visa versa.
-[x]Gods. Share info,maybe she knows of some we dont, maybe she doesnt know about some we know.
-[x]Contact. We should challenge each other, a challenged mind is a growing mind, but waiting for fate to arrange a meeting is not logical. Request a way to contact her to challenge her, or be challenged. Does not have to personal. A forum were we can post,a shop were we can leave a message.
[x] Plan: Goodwill and time-critical investigations.
-[X][Science] Follow that robot! -[x][Science] You keep hearing something, just on the edge of perception. What is going on? -[x][Social] Discuss: Truthfully share your current discoveries. Generates goodwill but may speed up Angela's investigation. --[x] Ship layout: Share your overall knowledge of the ship layout.
scattered right now. Not enough to clearly define a winner. I'll leave things open for a few more days. May or may not drop a few tidbits of City world-building/side story in that time if my muse cooperates.
edit:
[x][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[x] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
I'm a pragmatic sort. Leviathan deserves a goal that's dramatic and over-the-top, but I also want it to be plausible, and to be something that we can reasonably work towards. Like, Angela's ambition is plausible. It won't be easy to get a bunch of mad scientists to acknowledge that physical ability has meaning and value, but it's not impossibly outside of her scope. Let's look at the options.
I'm just not feeling this one. It's not the implausible scope (though the scope is implausible), I just don't feel like expeditions should be Leviathan's be-all and end-all. They're a means to an end, not an end unto themselves.
[] -to build a new civilization, grander than any seen before! Infrastructure and society. Take it apart, and put it back together like little blocks.
Leviathan... really doesn't feel like a civilization-builder. Also, again, this is pretty implausible. Leviathan is fully capable of becoming someone awesome. She's almost certainly never going to be the most awesome person in the city, though, let alone becoming someone who can create an even more awesome city by her own efforts, let alone create a civilization grander than any seen. This kind of ambition just isn't in scope at all. It's also kind of outside of her current skillset and inclinations. Her only minion right now is a raven. If she was a civilization-builder, she'd have more of a team by now.
[] -to comprehend the true Laws of the world! Deep secrets and cosmic mysteries. Upon what foundation does the world truly rest?
[] -to contact every god in the world! Reach beyond the local gods. Trade for power. Trade for knowledge. Walk the path that brought you here.
These two are a kind of "maybe, I guess?" Like, if that was her True Ambition, she should have been pursuing it better. They aren't bad ambitions to have, in a game like this, but I feel like... well, given how we've been playing her thus far, they sound like "I had to say *something*" answers, you know? I mean, yeah, this basically *is* the moment where Leviathan is caught flat-footed and needs to have an answer to the "What is your ambition really?" question, but these two feel a bit like grasping at straws, and I'd like our girl to have a better answer than that.
[] -whatever I want! Who needs a goal? You do what you want.
...and if the last two are grasping at straws, this one is effectively admitting defeat outright. So that's not great.
So... what do we have? What has Leviathan been doing?
Well, she's been doing a lot of "build the tools to build the tools" work. She put in a lot of effort to drag herself out of the danger zone on debt and give herself a decent income and train up her skills and contract a few gods, and in general she's been working on pulling herself up from clinging by the fingernails to having some sort of solid grounding.
I feel like... Leviathan is the kind of girl who likes power. She likes power and she likes being one of the awesome people. She enjoyed being the obviously smartest person in the room while she was doing her classes. She follows this whole "contracting the Gods" thing because that, too, is a source of power. She likes knowing how to work the system because power. She's into this whole scientific invention thing because she's really good at it, and that makes it an obvious road to walk to gain power, especially in the city she's in. She wants to thrive and be awesome, and that's probably about as far as she'd thought by this point, before Angela lobbed that question at her. Suddenly, there's this thing that every good Mad Scientist should have, and she doesn't really have it in a coherent way, but she can't just admit that. So what has she got?
Eh... folks may disagree, but I guess I'm going to go for the thing I want. I also think that it's a plausible outgrowth of where she's been thus far.
[][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
It's a bit over-the-top, but "get really good at augmentation, develop ways to spread availability of same, and then bask in the pride of the second and third-order effects" seems like the sort of thing that would be within Leviathan's reach over the course of a reasonable but ambitious career. It's something fairly concrete that she can work towards, more or less in line with our current strategies, it sounds appropriately awesome, and it's the kind of thing that she might have been daydreaming about from time to time before.
I'm leaving it unchecked here, because I'm going to edit it back in to my previous vote post so that I don't overwrite my own vote.
[x][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[x] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
University Campus
↳ Amygdala Building
↳↳ Office of assistant adjunct professor Jörmungandr Grimm
↳↳↳ Main desk
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTS
#1
BRASS NAMEPLATE MANUFACTURED BY Studious Generics Workshop
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TEXT Jörmungandr Grimm
#2
ACADEMIC NEWSLETTER DATED [CURRENT TIME] – 1121726
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TEXT General Academic Notice 172
The following subjects will remain available for the coming quarter up to the fifth Difficulty Order Threshold
The fundamentals of Science
The fundamentals of Academics
Mechanical Engineering
Energistics
Chemistry
Materials science
Computer Science
Biology
LIST CONTINUES
With additional classes to be established as demand necessitates.
Class materials may now be requested in the following formats:
Digital text file
Hardcover book
Braille book
Analogue audio recording
Digital audio recording
Punch card
Microfilm
Stone tablet
Holographic text file
LIST CONTINUES
Additionally, in accordance with City Directive #3 Ordnance 673. Self study materials will be made available up to the seventh Difficulty Order Threshold.
For advanced studies, the following professors are currently accepting applications:
Professor Stress
Professor Piperine
Professor Cooker
LIST CONTINUES
All facility is reminded that classes will be suspended for duration of the primary expedition initiative. Applications for extended suspensions may be sent to the office of the dean.
#3
RED AND WHITE COFFEE MUG MANUFACTURED BY Laughing Balloon Workshop
STATUS: HALF FULL
#4
[5] x INK PEN MANUFACTURED BY Studious Generics Workshop
#5
INK PEN WITH REPLACEABLE CARTAGE MANUFACTURED BY Laughing Balloon Workshop
#6
[84] x LARGE PAPERCLIP MANUFACTURED BY Studious Generics Workshop
#7
[4] x MEMORY STICK MANUFACTURED BY Studious Generics Workshop
#8
[2] x MEMORY STICK MANUFACTURED BY Laughing Balloon Workshop
#9
HOLOGRAPHIC WORKSTATION MANUFACTURED BY Laughing Balloon Workshop
#10
UNIVERSAL HOLOGRAPHIC DIGITAL FILE CONVERTER MANUFACTURED BY Laughing Balloon Workshop
#11
[17] x Applied Sociology 101 GRADED ASSIGNMENTS IN VARIED FORMATS.
STATUS: PARTLY GRADED
#12
SCRAWLED NOTE ON LINKED ELECTROCHROMIC FILM
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TEXT
you have to help me. im gonna fail. im totally screwed. please please please can you give me an extension or something?
HANDWRITING CHANGES Submit form 3-17-D. Read it first or you will regret it. Consider it extra-credit practical. I'll put yours on the bottom of my pile so you'll have plenty of time.
HANDWRITING CHANGES thanks a bunch. you won't get trouble?
HANDWRITING CHANGES Nah, they wouldn't dare.
#13
HANDWRITTEN MEMO ON UNIVERSITY LETTERHEAD FRAMED IN ACRYLIC
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TEXT Mr. Grimm, while the work assigned to you was technically graded within the required time frame, I find myself highly dissatisfied with your work ethic! I expect you in my office immediately to explain yourself!
- Professor Cranium
Professor Cranium STATUS: RETIRED AS OF [CURRENT TIME] – 15318268 DUE TO THE FRAUDULENT BALONEY SCANDAL
University Campus
↳ Amygdala Building
↳↳ Office of assistant adjunct professor Jörmungandr Grimm
↳↳↳ Main desk
↳↳↳↳Hidden compartment
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTS
#1
PAINTED WOODEN MASK MANUFACTURED BY [UNKNOWN]
#2
[4] x INK CARTAGE MANUFACTURED BY Laughing Balloon Workshop
#3
UNIDENTIFIED NOTE ON ANOMALOUS MATERIAL
CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TEXT Hey fat noodle! Thanks for lending me that book. You up for a meeting Monday?
STEGANOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS REVEALS THE FOLLOWING CIPHERTEXT afsrryasopretd
rnlaegbobtoiasxnrl
DECRYPTION PRIORITY: MINIMUM
[] Plan: Sublime Symmetry
-[] -to build a new civilization, grander than any seen before!
-[][Science] Follow that robot!
—[][Social] Converse: Talk about something unrelated or semi-related. May result in increased knowledge of your rival, and visa versa.
--[] The price of fish. Why are the chicken packaged meals one credit cheaper? How are the prices set when everything is just grown in a vat? What other food related conundrums do you face in your daily life?
@Taut_Templar has an action plan vote that is not valid. It has one science and one social, and what it needs to have is one science, one social, and a third entry that's either a second science or a second social.
[]Plan:Talking and walking
-[][Science] Follow that robot!
-[][Social] Converse: Talk about something unrelated or semi-related. May result in increased knowledge of your rival, and visa versa.
-[]Gods. Share info,maybe she knows of some we dont, maybe she doesnt know about some we know.
-[]Contact. We should challenge each other, a challenged mind is a growing mind, but waiting for fate to arrange a meeting is not logical. Request a way to contact her to challenge her, or be challenged. Does not have to personal. A forum were we can post,a shop were we can leave a message.
A valid plan vote - one science and two social. The way SV voting works, this (as it is @Narasan's latest post in this voting cycle that includes a vote) overwrites their earlier goal vote. That may not have been intentional on their part.
[] Plan: Goodwill and time-critical investigations.
-[][Science] Follow that robot!
-[][Science] You keep hearing something, just on the edge of perception. What is going on?
-[][Social] Discuss: Truthfully share your current discoveries. Generates goodwill but may speed up Angela's investigation.
--[] Ship layout: Share your overall knowledge of the ship layout.
...
[][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
edit:
[][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
Gives a second vote to @Narasan's plan vote while also voting for both "Ascenscion" and my own write-in as goal votes. Technically, by standard SV vote counting, The strikethrough doesnt' matter. It needs to either have the "x" removed from wihtin the brackets (as I have here) or be deleted entirely.
[][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
Gives a second vote to my goal vote. This overwrites their original goal vote, but that was probably intentional.
So, currently...
Plan votes: We are tied. We have two votes for mine (Goodwill and Time-Critical investigations), two for @Narasan's (Talking and Walking) and one for @Taut_Templar's currently invalid plan (Sublime Symmetry)
Goal votes: We have three votes for my write-in (To really push the envelope on biological augmentation), two for Ascenscion, and one for "to build a new civilization, grander than any seen before!". If we go off of probable intent rather than official SV voting rules, the numbers do not actually change, but who is providing the votes for Ascension shuffles around a little.
Now, what's the difference between the options? If you're sitting there and not knowing what to vote for, then maybe I can help you out a bit. In particular, I'm going to talk about the two front-runners in each category.
Plans: First, both plans follow the robot.
Plan Goodwill and Time-Critical Investigations also tries to figure out what the funny noise is, and freely provides information on the layout of the vessel as we follow the robot in question. It assumes that the noise is going to be important sooner rather than later, and tries to maximize the value of our previous knowledge as a gift for our rival. Speaking as the author, it is honestly probably simping at least a little. If we assume that Angela is going to respond to such things in good faith, though, it really is leveraging the goodwill value of that particular information about as efficiently as can be managed. Further, this vote sort of quietly assumes that we will have more opportunities for social actions with Angela later.
Plan Talking and Walking does not assume the same things. It assumes that the noise is either not time-critical or not incredibly important, and that we should not necessarily expect to have all that much more time to talk with our rival. It prioritizes hitting the conversational topics with long-term payoff right now. (Specifically, it asks about God options and also sets up some way to get in touch later.)
Really, neither of these plans are bad or obviously wrong. They just make slightly different assumptions about things that right now we can only really guess about.
As for Goals... the differences are a lot wider.
To really push the envelope on biological augmentation is a conclusive in-character decision to the overall techdev strategy debate that we've been back and forth on for some time. It says that we're going the biological augmentation path, that we're going into it deeply, and that we should generally expect to be focusing on that part. It further says that we intend both to seriously push the envelope on what can be done with such things and come up with a way to mass-produce them so that we can sell them to lots of people, and thus have a significant impact on our city as a whole. (Is good way to get extra weight, yes?) It says that our greatest scientific achievements will be in the field of augmentations. When we make fighting monsters, our overall strategy will tend towards making a relatively simple base monster and then cramming them full of biological augmentations rather than building them as a powerhouse on their own. We can and will be doing other things for practice, or for short-term benefits, or things like that, but our overall focus is pretty much being decided here.
Ascension means that we're dedicated to going heavy on the God side of things. This whole "technological development" thing is just one of many tools that we pick up and use along the way to our true goals. It means paying a lot less attention to cranking our tech and a lot more attention to pushing the God thing, exploring the Deep Mysteries, and so forth. It says nothing in particular about which tech we're going to be pursuing, and why would it? By its nature, it's saying that the distinctions there aren't the most important thing.
I would say thats acurrate. Im fine with any plan or goal winning. My thoughts about the goal is mainly, we are playing a crazy, egomanaical ,brilliant scientist.
This is the perfect opportunity to go all in on hubris.
I want our relationship with advancement( any advancement) to be like an orks relationship with war:
A single button, that says GO!
And no idea what a brake is.
[x] Plan: Goodwill and time-critical investigations.
-[x][Science] Follow that robot!
-[x][Science] You keep hearing something, just on the edge of perception. What is going on?
-[x][Social] Discuss: Truthfully share your current discoveries. Generates goodwill but may speed up Angela's investigation.
--[x] Ship layout: Share your overall knowledge of the ship layout.
Been trying to avoid influencing the vote one way or another. Really enjoying the discussion though!
Regarding the goals there is also a small undercurrent of me the QM asking you all "What do you want to read about". Do you want more science and tech stuff? Do you want more contracts? Do you want more deep lore?
It's not all-or-nothing by any means. This isn't a contract. It just means Leviathan (and by extension I the author) will be looking out for more opportunities in that direction.
Anyway, setting the vote to close in roughly 24 hours.
Scheduled vote count started by JayTar on Nov 13, 2024 at 12:40 AM, finished with 20 posts and 7 votes.
[x] Plan: Goodwill and time-critical investigations.
-[X][Science] Follow that robot! -[x][Science] You keep hearing something, just on the edge of perception. What is going on? -[x][Social] Discuss: Truthfully share your current discoveries. Generates goodwill but may speed up Angela's investigation. --[x] Ship layout: Share your overall knowledge of the ship layout.
[x][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation. -[x] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
[X]Plan:Talking and walking
-[X][Science] Follow that robot!
-[x][Social] Converse: Talk about something unrelated or semi-related. May result in increased knowledge of your rival, and visa versa.
-[x]Gods. Share info,maybe she knows of some we dont, maybe she doesnt know about some we know.
-[x]Contact. We should challenge each other, a challenged mind is a growing mind, but waiting for fate to arrange a meeting is not logical. Request a way to contact her to challenge her, or be challenged. Does not have to personal. A forum were we can post,a shop were we can leave a message.
Chapter 1 Turn 4.9, The Expedition - T=4 (Week 18):
[x] Plan: Goodwill and time-critical investigations.
-[X][Science] Follow that robot!
-[x][Science] You keep hearing something, just on the edge of perception. What is going on?
-[x][Social] Discuss: Truthfully share your current discoveries. Generates goodwill but may speed up Angela's investigation.
--[x] Ship layout: Share your overall knowledge of the ship layout.
[x][Goal] To really push the envelope on biological augmentation.
-[x] I want to design and build and grow ways to improve living things. I want to design and build and grow ways to improve *people*. Biological augmentation has enormous untapped potential, and I want to be the one to unlock it. The mind and body are ever the first tools that we must use to wield anything else in the world, and we have left the honing of those first and most important tools to the crude processes of nature for far too long. I want to be the one to rebuild them better. Everything we do is built on a foundation of what we are. If we can strengthen that foundation, then the ripple effects could revolutionize our society. I want to be the engine that drives that revolution. I want thousands of people to take my work into themselves and have it push them forward and help them succeed, and to have them know that they owe a portion of that success to *me*.
Previously:
"-is to revolutionize biological augmentation." You seize a handful of air and begin pacing. "The body is a machine? Our first and most important tool? Then leaving its development to the crude processes of nature is unforgivable! We can do better, I can do better!"
Angela stares intently at you, and you match her gaze. "All I see from the city is hypertension in rhetoric but hypoxia in action. Every grand monument, every technological convenience, yet none within our bodies. Can you name single a biological mega-project since Genome Jack?" You slam a hand on the wall "No!"
You take a breath and draw yourself up. "It will be my masterpiece for the city, built not upon a foundation of crystal and steel, but upon it's very people."
Angela grins. Wide, and toothy. "Fitting." Now:
Catching up with the robot isn't hard. There were only so many directions it could go.
BREACH DETECTED?
With that accomplished all you have to do is match its plodding rate. You pass the time updating Angela on your observations of the ship's layout.
Poor thing.
"A giant sphere hanging from the ceiling? Makes me curious what your teammates are doing there." She ponders.
HULL BREACH?
Unfortunately the stumbling figure isn't headed there. Instead the double doors to the upstairs peel open for it. The empty shaft is much as you left it, except for a star patterned scorch mark on the floor. An explosion.
Vant Dewpoint. Angela said he specialized in chemistry. Did he use explosives to scale the shaft? "Do you think your teammate..." you trail off, gesturing at the mark. Almost a stereotype.
"Ah, they would do that wouldn't they." She replies, completely unperturbed.
Lift is absent. Manual it is.
The robot pays it no mind and walks up to the far wall to plant its head against it.
The two of you watch it for a moment, but whatever it's doing is slow enough for your attention to wander. You'll take the chance to figure out that incessant whispering that has been bothering you.
It's not tinnitus. That was the first thing you checked. Hallucinations are more difficult to disprove, but it doesn't feel right.
But you have another theory. One much closer to your own work. You pull out the Auditory Training Aid, with a few quick tweaks you can tune it to detect-
I hope they are okay.
"You know what? Give me a moment, I'll be right back!" Angela declares and bounces off.
"Hey, wait-" you chase after her but only make it to the door. The moment you cross the threshold, that unidentifiable sound changes. If you weren't paying attention you would have missed it.
BREACH HULL?
What was once a wandering murmur is replaced with a harsh grating. No not replaced, you heard this before when you walked through this room previously, it was just masked by the whispering.
But the only variable was the robot.
Cautiously you step back into the vertical shaft room. The murmur immediately returns.
Oh Dream Mother grant this figment the imagination to comprehend.
You check the Auditory Training Aid. No detections.
A mad scientist trusts their intuition.
You approach the robot, the sound gets just a little clearer with every step. You can nearly understand it.
Not quite. Missing something. What am I missing?
Nearly understand.
Did I forget? Am I doomed?
Reach forwards. You grab the frame's head. It squirms in your hand.
Huh?
It squirms in your head.
Oh, buried ember?
Who is this?
I am The-beauty-of-flowers-in-engineering's engram fragment.
What are you doing?
Something is broken. I seek answers.
What is this?
A basic dream bridge. Are you not familiar?
No. How does this work?
A dream bridge connects your meta-phantasic field with a pseudo-dream bubble allowing for direct information transfer.
That's nonsense. What are-
The strain grows too much and the connection snaps. You stumble back, a splitting headache assaulting your cerebral cortex. For a split second you black out. Then cool relief washes from the ineffable place where your contracts exist and MD Old Bones's gift stitches your aching brain meat back together.
Ah how invigorating.
You reflexively check for a nose bleed and come back empty. One two three four five. Twelve times seven is eighty-four. Smile. Frown. Face moves correctly. Hold out your arms. Keep them steady. No drooping. "The kvik-" you cough and start again. "The quick brown clock skips over the lazy cog." Better. "The quick brown clock skips over the lazy cog." You say it again just to be sure.
Okay Leviathan. What just happened. Process it.
The pain is mostly faded and your thoughts settled when Angela skips back into the room. "So I checked in with your- Wait, what happened?" She pivots and looks at you in concern.
You rub your forehead one last time and smile victoriously "Communicated with the robot. They call themselves ugh, something-flowers-something." You are just going to call them Flower.
"Wait you've established communication?!" Anglea exclaims, bouncing up on her toes. "Tell me, tell me. How? What did they say?"
"I went up and grabbed their head. I'm not sure exactly what happened, it was odd. Some sort of direct thought interface." Some sort of neuron electrostimulation? Their explanation was nonsense. At this point you are entirely guessing. Or. Is it not even science?
The thought pools in your gut unpleasantly. "Angela, are you familiar with any god or contracts which could have done it?" You ask, hesitantly.
She frowns but gives the question an appropriate amount of thought. "No. Do you think that's what it was?"
Wait, I can't get distracted. I can't forget what I need to do.
You shake your head "I don't know. The terminology sounded scientific, but like nothing I had ever heard of. Largely nonsensical."
"Then we must not be discouraged! Did they say anything else?"
How do I make the lift work?
"That they were looking for something, because something was broken. That's all I had a chance for. The connection was mentally strenuous."
Angela hums and stares off into space. "You were saying something when you walked in?" you eventually prompt.
"Right, I was smug!" She spins a full 270 degrees to point at you. "I checked in with your teammates. Seems like that hanging sphere thing is actually the reactor core."
What. "They just told you this?" You ask incredulously.
"Yup! Said they were working on a startup procedure? They were a little panicked about it actually. Something about it being necessary to counteract the destructive resonance buildup?"
Wait, a dream bridge! Now I remember.
"They were what? Should we do something?"
"Eh. They said it was slow. I'm sure we have time. They just popped a gear because the first thing they tried to fix it didn't work."
You think for a moment, trying to connect the dots. "Do you think what Flower is doing might be related?"
"Something broke, so now the reactor is going to go kaboom? Plausible I guess."
How far gone am I?
As if taking the cue Flower finally moves. Or rather the wall does. It squishes out, wrapping around their robot body, and pulls them up the wall.
"Uh. Huh." You prod the wall a few times to make sure, but it doesn't do anything. Looks like you will need to make your own way up.
With utterly inadequate warning Angela takes a running leap, bounces off the wall in front of you, bounces off the wall above you, and conquers the ledge with only a minimum of struggle.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Toss up a rope!"
Well. That simplifies things. You draw yourself up the shaft with your rope, which Angela anchors an arm length into the wall.
The upstairs is disappointingly ordinary, or at least for what passes as ordinary here. The first room you pass through has a good half dozen seats facing a blank wall.
It's when you follow Flower out into the hallway things get interesting.
From a side door ahead of you a tall cloaked figure emerges. "Oh Angela just what have you brought me?" He rasps out, slightly muffled by his long beaked mask. This is undoubtedly Vant Dewpoint.
Crystal sharp metallic clinking follows in his footsteps and moves to stand beside him. You struggle to see even a glint of humanity though Anne Anneal's visor, even as her armor glitters in the half-light.
Flower barely pauses at the new obstacles and slips through the narrow gap between them. Not that they make much effort to block Flower.
More buried embers? A shame I cannot pause.
"Dewpoint." Angela offers neutrally " Your exploration has been fruitful I hope?".
You tap your fingers in frustration. As much as you would like to stop and dissect their personalities, you can't lose track of Flower. Who knows what you might miss.
Dewpoint tilts his to look at Flower. "Reasonably so. But it's looking up." His tone carries a hint of smugness.
Oh you don't like where this is going. "Hey. I'm sure your busy, and so are we. Mind stepping aside so we can get to it?" You cut in, tired of being ignored.
"Hmm, no." Dewpoint sneers, then dismisses you. "Listen Angela. Ditch this loser and we can split your find three ways. Wouldn't want to make the ride back too awkward."
"Excuse me?" How dare he. Anger. Worry. You rapidly try to approximate the odds of Angela turning on you, and scramble for what you can offer her to keep her on your side.
Angela laughs in his face. "I'd rather gargle a gearbox." she breezily quips.
You regret that you can't see the no doubt hilarious expression Dewpoint is making and settle for inferring it from his whole-body flinch. Now if only he scurries off, tail between his legs.
Regrettably reality will disappoint. Pride punctured, his reaction is predictable. He will escalate. The way his hands shake and unconsciously drift toward the many colored bottles hanging from his cloak tell you so.
You'll just have preempt that won't you?
+5 ???
???: 22/100
What do you do?
[] Perhaps a show of force will encourage them to back off?
-[] Pulling a gun is an excellent way to make people reconsider their life choices
-[] Perhaps Kutkh could fetch one of those wonderful colored bottles for you?
[] It's not quite too late to smooth certain ruffled feathers, if you talk quickly.
-[] No fight has started yet. Perhaps some logical rational arguments for why it isn't in anybody's interest to fight now will keep things cool?
-[] Perhaps they could be tempted away by a different find instead? After all it's not like you haven't discovered other things.
--[] Lie and bullshit to waste their time and keep them distracted.
--[] No actually give them some of your hard won discoveries.
[] Flip the script. If you can get Anneal to back off, Dewpoint won't have a leg to stand on.
-[] Intimidation. Scare her enough so she folds.
-[] Bribery. Offer her something to back off. (What?)
-[] Just words. Dewpoint may be beyond the point of rationality, but Anneal might not be.
[] Diplomacy is pointless. Skip to teaching these dullards a lesson.
-[] Focus on Vant Dewpoint
-[] Focus on Anne Anneal
[] Follow Flower's example and try to slip past them. If you can make it to the next door you can barricade it behind you.
[] This isn't worth it. Turn around and give up
[] Something else? (Write in) AN: So long as there are votes I will never let this quest die! Even if um, it takes me longer then I would like sometimes. And this arc is already dragging on, bleh.
[X] Follow Flower's example and try to slip past them. If you can make it to the next door you can barricade it behind you.
This is my choice, leave the idiots behind to follow Flowers, they matter more than dumb and dumber over there...
Oh and our rival can come along if she wishes to.
Well, we managed to get our rival on our side enough that she chose us over the folks she came in with. That's good!
The folks she came in with are older and more powerful scientists who have decided to take what they want by force. That's bad!
Let's look at our priorities here. They way I see it....
1 - Don't die. At the end of the day, we want to get back to the city safe and sound. That is... not currently guaranteed.
2 - Support Angela. A willingness to tell off more powerful mad scientists in our defense should be rewarded. Also, we like her.
3 - Put ourselves in a position where we can keep studying the robot.
...in that order.
Now, we have two (potentially) opposed scientists.
- Vant Dewpoint. He desires to steal everything we have done and found, effectively using status and the threat of violence to set Angela in a subordinate position and kick us out entirely, and bribing Anneal with enough of the credit that she goes along with it. Angela told him off for being the paper-thin carrion-feeding ******* that he is, and his pride is wounded. He's currently going through mental processes which, if uninterrupted, will result in violence. He has a bunch of bottles of Stuff and a mask that likely makes him largely immune to the fumes from said Stuff.
Vant is posturing and insecure. When Angela told him off, he flinched. He's not moving to violence in a decisive, controlled way, but as an evolution of injured pride. His hands are shaking. This is an obvious vulnerability.
- Anne Anneal, who... is walking around in clinking armor, and had been previously working with Vant. No other information about her is given in this scene.
We also have the following quote from Angela about the two of them.
"Vant Dewpoint was the one in the cloak and Anne Anneal the armor. Chemistry and materials science specializations respectively."
"And as people?"
Angela hums and tilts her head. "Anne? Don't tell her I said this but she's super cute under her armor. I don't just mean in appearance, it's how she acts. I woke up early yesterday to do some last minute repairs, turns out she did too. Ah. It was like talking to a whole different person. Shy."
"Shy, really?" That doesn't sound like any mad scientist you know of, though that may be sampling bias.
"Not normally." Angela leans in close, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Uh. Don't mention it to her. I sparred her a few times, with her armor she's no joke."
You hum vaguely back. "What about the other one? Vant Dewpoint?"
"Eh. Kinda proud? Very convinced of the importance of his 'mission'. Whatever that is."
"Like a goal? Ambition is a virtue."
Angela snorts a little in response. "Well yes, but. He tried to order the Prof around like a nav bot. Briefly."
"Ah." You digest that for a moment. Well audacity is a virtue too. He seemed fully intact at least.
Vant is emotionally fragile, posturing, and insecure. He habitually tries to grab more social status than he really deserves. He inflates himself, and becomes enraged when that's popped. His most meaningful vulnerabilities right now are psychological. He's facing off against two girls who are lower-status than he is. He will absolutely keep escalating until he can get something that he considers a win as long as he thinks he has any chance of actually doing it.
As long as he thinks he has Anne on his side, he'll think he can win the physical altercation, and will therefore be willing to escalate to the physical altercation. That's not great. We'd prefer that not happen, especially since he's basically right. Anne can pretty much take Angela, and Levi is really not great at the "Actual fighting" part. Anything that involves pulling a gun or going for the bottles or whatever takes this into a realm that is not our strength.
Anne is currently largely unreadable. That's bad because we don't know what's going on inside her head. It's good because Vant doesn't know what's going on inside her head. She isn't the sort of person who shows much of herself to the world. She's shy, and the armor provides her social protection. Vant, meanwhile, isn't the kind of guy who'd have had any chance of pulling her out of her shell. Angela, on the other hand, is, and has done. They've sparred together, they've met at a time when Anne wasn't wearing armor, and Angela didn't botch it. Vant has almost certainly been being Vant at her for the time they've been working together, and she's been offering relatively little pushback because she doesn't like the social engagement and conflict. Regardless, she probably isn't enjoying his company, and she has some sympathy for Angela. Vant's suggestion that Angela ditch us and then the three of them take credit was an instinctive attempt to pull Anne into things, but that doesn't mean that it's anything that she would have wanted... and right now she's using the insulation of her armor to let her reserve judgement and not commit until others have committed, like she almost certainly does all the time.
Our current pertinent social skills are Social Knowledge/Rhetoric(3/3), Performance/Acting(3/3), and Perception/Body Language(3/3). Side note: I love how I only just now went back to check that out and as soon as I saw the Perception/Body Language I could immediately see how it had an impact on the update. It was delicious. Anyway, Body Language has already had its payoff. If we want to handle this via social (and I think we do) we're going to need to leverage the other two.
So... my take is that we want to make a social attack against Vant that flips the script from "two older Mad Scientists ganging up on two younger Mad Scientists" to "Three women standing there judging one obnoxious man." His social position is fragile and based on assumptions. He knows it, and he doesn't have any of the skills or tools to fix it. His play in this situation is to shout his assumptions as loudly as he can and push through, hoping that they'll hold. We need to undermine them. At the same time, while we want to make siding with us as appealing as we can for Anne, we don't want to try to force her to commit. She doesn't like having to socially commit before she's ready, and we want to be as considerate of her desires as we can in exactly the way that Vant isn't.
so... something like....
[x] Plan Attack him where he is Weak
-[x] Flip the script. If you can get Anneal to back off, Dewpoint won't have a leg to stand on.
--[x] Call Vant out for his failings. Make him look bad in front of Anneal. Give him cause to doubt her support.
---[x] He might be so desperate as to steal the achievements of his juniors, but that doesn't mean Anneal is. Does he have no pride? How many of his other achievements have been stolen from his betters?
--[x] Mention offhand to Anneal that you found this cool thing with the spheres downstairs that she might find useful for a bit of rapid prototyping, and you'll be happy to share further once this unpleasantness is dealt with. (Yes, we will actually talk about the small spheres and how to use them and what we discovered about them once this is done.)
--[x] If Vant gives you enough time, you can also call him out for how he seems to just assume that he's in charge and that others will go along with it, and how that's rude and really makes him unpleasant to be around. Does he think that acting like that makes him look better rather than worse? Is he really that clueless?
--[x] If possible, move away from Angela so that the attack reflex of his wounded pride has to pick between you.
That's really just a first pass, though. I'd be happy for any suggestions and/or alternate constructions.
Well, we managed to get our rival on our side enough that she chose us over the folks she came in with. That's good!
The folks she came in with are older and more powerful scientists who have decided to take what they want by force. That's bad!
Let's look at our priorities here. They way I see it....
1 - Don't die. At the end of the day, we want to get back to the city safe and sound. That is... not currently guaranteed.
2 - Support Angela. A willingness to tell off more powerful mad scientists in our defense should be rewarded. Also, we like her.
3 - Put ourselves in a position where we can keep studying the robot.
...in that order.
Now, we have two (potentially) opposed scientists.
- Vant Dewpoint. He desires to steal everything we have done and found, effectively using status and the threat of violence to set Angela in a subordinate position and kick us out entirely, and bribing Anneal with enough of the credit that she goes along with it. Angela told him off for being the paper-thin carrion-feeding ******* that he is, and his pride is wounded. He's currently going through mental processes which, if uninterrupted, will result in violence. He has a bunch of bottles of Stuff and a mask that likely makes him largely immune to the fumes from said Stuff.
Vant is posturing and insecure. When Angela told him off, he flinched. He's not moving to violence in a decisive, controlled way, but as an evolution of injured pride. His hands are shaking. This is an obvious vulnerability.
- Anne Anneal, who... is walking around in clinking armor, and had been previously working with Vant. No other information about her is given in this scene.
We also have the following quote from Angela about the two of them.
I will have to think about implications further.
edit: I have thought further.
So... implications.
Vant is emotionally fragile, posturing, and insecure. He habitually tries to grab more social status than he really deserves. He inflates himself, and becomes enrages when that's popped. His most meaningful vulnerabilities right now are psychological. He's facing off against two girls who are lower-status than he is. He will absolutely keep escalating until he can get something that he considers a win as long as he thinks he has any chance of actually doing it.
As long as he thinks he has Anne on his side, he'll think he can win the physical altercation, and will therefore be willing to escalate to the physical altercation. That's not great. We'd prefer that not happen, especially since he's basically right. Anne can pretty much take Angela, and Levi is really not great at the "Actual fighting" part. Anything that involves pulling a gun or going for the bottles or whatever takes this into a realm that is not our strength.
Anne is currently largely unreadable. That's bad because we don't know what's going on inside her head. It's good because Vant doesn't know what's going on inside her head. She isn't the sort of person who shows much of herself to the world. She's shy, and the armor provides her social protection. Vant, meanwhile, isn't the kind of guy who'd have had any chance of pulling her out of her shell. Angela, on the other hand, is, and has done. They've sparred together, they've met at a time when Anne wasn't wearing armor, and Angela didn't botch it. Vant has almost certainly been being Vant at her for the time they've been working together, and she's been offering relatively little pushback because she doesn't like the social engagement and conflict. Regardless, she probably isn't enjoying his company, and she has some sympathy for Angela. Vant's suggestion that Angela ditch us and then the three of them take credit was an instinctive attempt to pull Anne into things, but that doesn't mean that it's anything that she would have wanted... and right now she's using the insulation of her armor to let her reserve judgement and not commit until others have committed, like she almost certainly does all the time.
Our current pertinent social skills are Social Knowledge/Rhetoric(3/3, Performance/Acting(3/3), and Perception/Body Language(3/3). Side note: I love how I only just now went back to check that out and as soon as I saw the Perception/Body Language I could immediately see how it had an impact on the update. It was delicious. Anyway, Body Language has already had its payoff. If we want to handle this via social (and I think we do) we're going to need to leverage the other two.
So... my take is that we want to make a social attack against Vant that flips the script from "two older Mad Scientists ganging up on two younger Mad Scientists" to "Three women standing there judging one obnoxious man." His social position is fragile and based on assumptions. He knows it, and he doesn't have any of the skills or tools to fix it. His play in this situation is to shout his assumptions as loudly as he can and push through, hoping that they'll hold. We need to undermine them. At the same time, while we want to make siding with us as appealing as we can for Anne, we don't want to try to force her to commit. She doesn't like having to socially commit before she's ready, and we want to be as considerate of her desires as we can in exactly the way that Vant isn't.
so... something like....
[x] Flip the script. If you can get Anneal to back off, Dewpoint won't have a leg to stand on.
-[x] Call Vant out for his failings. Make him look bad in front of Anneal. Give him cause to doubt her support.
--[x] He might be so desperate as to steal the achievements of his juniors, but that doesn't mean Anneal is. Does he have no pride? How many of his other achievements have been stolen from his betters?
-[x] Mention offhand to Anneal that you found this cool thing with the spheres downstairs that she might find useful for a bit of rapid prototyping, and you'll be happy to share further once this unpleasantness is dealt with. (Yes, we will actually talk about the small spheres and how to use them and what we discovered about them once this is done.)
-[x] If Vant gives you enough time, you can also call him out for how he seems to just assume that he's in charge and that others will go along with it, and how that's rude and really makes him unpleasant to be around. Does he think that acting like that makes him look better rather than worse? Is he really that clueless?
-[x] If possible, move away from Angela so that the attack reflex of his wounded pride has to pick between you.
That's really just a first pass, though. I'd be happy for any suggestions and/or alternate constructions.
Now, I'll note that this plan is not safe. In particular, we are looking at two more powerful scientists who have an implied alliance, one of whom is moments from resorting to violence, and doubling down by attacking the violent one psychlogically. It's the best plan I was able to come up with, but it's very much doubling down on an already dangerous situation in the hopes of pulling out a win.
I'm also thinking... once this is done, Angela and Vant are not going to be on good terms. Her trying to return home with the same group she left with might not end well. On the bright side... well, I'm quite certain that Angela is eager to learn, so....
Oh, and it just hit me. Ms Frizzle is deep on Professor Tweed. It makes so much of her behavior make sense.
Yes, but it is a plan focusing on our strengths and hopefully focusing on his weaknesses. If it doesn't work I don't really know what would. Violence seems even less likely.
You didn't have to be nearly as friendly and cooperative as you did. It was a choice and a tradeoff, so it's only fair for it to have benefits when the circumstances align.
To note: While the other expedition members might be more experienced, the power gap shouldn't be considered insurmountable. They have their tricks, but they are still roughly in the same weight class as you. (Excepting the expedition leaders of course)
Not that there isn't wisdom in avoiding a fight too.
Vant is emotionally fragile, posturing, and insecure. He habitually tries to grab more social status than he really deserves. He inflates himself, and becomes enrages when that's popped. His most meaningful vulnerabilities right now are psychological. He's facing off against two girls who are lower-status than he is. He will absolutely keep escalating until he can get something that he considers a win as long as he thinks he has any chance of actually doing it.
As long as he thinks he has Anne on his side, he'll think he can win the physical altercation, and will therefore be willing to escalate to the physical altercation. That's not great. We'd prefer that not happen, especially since he's basically right. Anne can pretty much take Angela, and Levi is really not great at the "Actual fighting" part. Anything that involves pulling a gun or going for the bottles or whatever takes this into a realm that is not our strength.
Anne is currently largely unreadable. That's bad because we don't know what's going on inside her head. It's good because Vant doesn't know what's going on inside her head. She isn't the sort of person who shows much of herself to the world. She's shy, and the armor provides her social protection. Vant, meanwhile, isn't the kind of guy who'd have had any chance of pulling her out of her shell. Angela, on the other hand, is, and has done. They've sparred together, they've met at a time when Anne wasn't wearing armor, and Angela didn't botch it. Vant has almost certainly been being Vant at her for the time they've been working together, and she's been offering relatively little pushback because she doesn't like the social engagement and conflict. Regardless, she probably isn't enjoying his company, and she has some sympathy for Angela. Vant's suggestion that Angela ditch us and then the three of them take credit was an instinctive attempt to pull Anne into things, but that doesn't mean that it's anything that she would have wanted... and right now she's using the insulation of her armor to let her reserve judgement and not commit until others have committed, like she almost certainly does all the time.
I just want to say I absolutely adore the level of analysis and thought you are putting in here. Knowing that someone is going to put serious thought into digging into my writing does a lot to motivate me in thinking about and writing about those things in the first place.
Side note: I love how I only just now went back to check that out and as soon as I saw the Perception/Body Language I could immediately see how it had an impact on the update. It was delicious.
This makes me super glad to hear as well. I try to weave in people's skills beyond just the outright rolls, because they aren't just abstract measures of what you can do, but are also a big influence on what people see and think.
So if you know parkour and look at a building you see handholds or climbing routes. If you know architecture you might see the choices and compromises that went into it's design. And if you know combat you might note the choke points and firing lines.
This goes double for everything that was picked in character creation. I look to it as a sort of background or base state.
I'd rather share everything we found on the ship so far with Anneal than get into a fight, and I'd rather get into a fight than share anything with Vaunt. If we communicate that clearly, I figure Anneal won't be all that interested in fighting us.
"-is to revolutionize biological augmentation." You seize a handful of air and begin pacing. "The body is a machine? Our first and most important tool? Then leaving its development to the crude processes of nature is unforgivable! We can do better, I can do better!"
Angela stares intently at you, and you match her gaze. "All I see from the city is hypertension in rhetoric but hypoxia in action. Every grand monument, every technological convince, yet none within our bodies. Can you name single a biological mega-project since Genome Jack?" You slam a hand on the wall "No!"
You take a breath and draw yourself up. "It will be my masterpiece for the city, built not upon a foundation of crystal and steel, but upon it's very people."
