Year 14, 2118
With the decisions of your future made, you approach this year lighter than you've been in many years, buoyed by the awareness that you won't be facing at least another six years as President. There's some uncertainty behind that, how the world will react to your decisions weighs perhaps a little too heavily on your mind, but you're hopeful. Of course, just because you're planning on stepping down doesn't make the work of the job go away. Lina's come up with an entirely new initiative on top of everything else her Ministry's dealing with, and various other options have sprouted out the woodwork too. Which doesn't even count the issues of a new Awakening. It's neverending, really.
Fortunately, through a combination of personal effort, increased electronic handling, and what you're certain has to be blood sorcery; your Ministers have squeezed in more time for you to focus on more personal matters this year. You'd be lying if you said you weren't thankful.
You have Fourteen (14) Action dice available with Six (6) currently locked. Unless an option states otherwise, there is no limit to the number of dice you may spend on an option.
Advisor Score after Congressional modifiers: 84%
Military
Practiced Leadership: you have One (1) free dice for Military actions.
From the Ashes: The Second Battle of Sol has taught you a great deal, and Lina isn't planning to waste any time putting that knowledge into action. Even with the salvage operations off her plate, there's a huge amount to get done, but her office has been working on plans ever since the battle came to a close. They know what they need to do, now they just need the resources to see it done.
[] A Fleet Reborn: The FSN took heavy casualties in the battle, but as horrible as its losses might seem they've paved the way for far greater things. New designs are already being drafted, drawing on a decade of experience and new developments but in the interim First Fleet must be rebuilt. [60%, 1 years, Recovery Action]
[] Blood in the Walls: Almost a quarter of a million wounded or dead makes for grim reading, but even more grim is the possibility that all the experience gained by the survivors might be for naught. Lina will not allow the new influx of personnel into the FSN to weaken its edge, she cannot, and this is the only way she knows to ensure it; lots of training. [40%, 1 year]
[] The Paper Forge: As the return of the Tribute Fleet grew closer, many new design possibilities had to be shelved to all for more preparation for the war about to descend on humanity. Designs that might have saved countless lives, but could never have been deployed in time. First Fleet might need to be rebuilt, but it's the job of the War Office to learn from its losses, and they plan to do just that. [35%, 2 years, Design Action]
[] The Fallen Circles: More than one Circle of the First fell in battle against the Shiplords, and Lina is keenly aware of the need for more of them if she's to expand the FSN's capital ship numbers at present. There are Potentials you could tap for this, but convincing them could be a little difficult. [25%, 2 years, Recovery Action]
Blinding Eyes: The sensor net you've set up across the system is excellent, there is little doubt of that, but Vision has some particular insight to put to work on that task that Lina wishes she'd had five years ago, let alone now. With the defeat of the Tribute Fleet, there's some time now to really beef up the system.
[] Curtain Call: Your eyes at the edge of the heliopause are excellent pieces of hardware, but they lack some of the finer accuracy that might allow them to detect the delicate distortion patterns of a First Secret jump. It's a matter of upgrading some hardware so it can handle the new analysis software, but if you do it right you'll have a bit more in the way of warning for any arrivals to the star system. [40%, 1 year]
*New* The Orrery: The Lux Sagum is a minor miracle of human ingenuity, created without the help of a single Potential, but it's also only the beginning of the impossibilities that the Sixth Secret brings into the realms of reality. Over the last few years, Lina and her advisors have planned out a vision of solar security unlike anything you'd ever imagined, in direct response to the terrifying capabilities of a Shiplord War Fleet. You won't see its finish as President, but you can give it a good start whilst you are still.
[] Argus Protocol: The sensor stations you built in your early years as President have performed admirably since their construction, but with the addition of the Lux Sagum to Sol's detection net, their relative vulnerability has become increasingly obvious. Something like the Lux isn't possible right now given the complexity of a lagless array, but a more distributed set of platforms should be well within your capabilities. [30%, 3 years, Megastructure Action]
[] The Beltway: The placement of Sol's asteroid belt is surprisingly fortuitous, with the star's FTL exclusion zone beginning at the heart of the belt. In general, fixed defences won't be much use against a War Fleet, but with your unique foreknowledge of their capabilities and Practice, countermeasures might be possible. Securing the edge of the exclusion zone is a good first step. [45%, 3 years]
[] Promethia Unbound: Although a proper understanding of how to create true AIs remains beyond you, the knowledge gleaned from Iris's creation/birth has been anything but useless. War Fleets are so feared for being nigh untouchable by the younger races of the galaxy, a wave of death that sweeps across star systems and renders them lifeless shells. But now you know how they do that, the required processing capacity is no longer completely impossible. Just almost. [15%, 4 years]
Diplomacy
Ministerial VI: you have One (1) free dice for Diplomacy actions.
[X] Babylon: Another result of last year's analysis is the conclusion that you need a place to host any guests. Earth's climate and atmosphere, whilst well suited to humanity, may be hostile or entirely toxic to any extra-terrestrial guests. Designing and building an orbital platform to cater to all the complex needs of other species won't be easy, or cheap, but according to your analysis it's likely to be a requirement more than a choice. [50%, locked 1 year]
*New* Wishes Spoken: You know what you want to do now, but a big part of leaving the Presidency will be making sure that everyone understands why you're doing it and where you'll be going. Talk to Congress, to the people, and lay your voice beside their own. [You may not apply Practice Dice to these actions]
[] The Centre: The World Congress will be split on your choice to step down, you know this, but there will also be many who understand. The fact that you don't plan to spend too long away will help a great deal with them, even if your wish for your future is not as closely linked to the levers of power as some might wish. Still, they could be an invaluable source of advice and support for your plans, if you simply take the time to address them. [60%, 1 year]
[] World's Heart: As the Congress, so in many ways the people. The strength of the movement seeking your continuing power has lessened some, but there's no easy consensus here. You aren't inexperienced with forging harmony, but you've never been the source of the discord also. [40%, 1 year]
[] One Last Time: Walking among the vastness of humanity is sure to help you in charting your future, but the simplest way of making your thoughts clear is something you've done only rarely; a formal speech to the star system. [Automatic success, roll made to determine effectiveness. Write in how you'd like to frame your stepping down, talking points are fine. But if you write me a good speech you'll get a nice bonus on the check]
Stewardship
Ministerial VI: you have One (1) free dice for Stewardship actions.
Skylark Reborn: The Miracle of Skylark. First Practiced Miracle since the discovery of the Pattern, that many had believed had signalled the end of those glories. It's impossible to understate the value of Vega's Miracle as a symbol, but it does leave you in the rather interesting position of having to decide what to do with it.
[] Streetwise: Skylark was a centre of science before the Shiplords came, but it was old science, born of the Secrets that the Shiplords decreed forbidden. Much of it seems to have been changed, replaced with objects of Practice, but it might be a good idea to make sure. [30%, 1 year]
[] The Miracle of Air: The steady work of the atmospheric conversion systems built into the Red Tower have been having a steady effect, even if you still haven't had time to figure out how it's doing it. With the area of breathable air now much larger, a second colonisation wave could be on the cards. [50%, 1 year]
Revolution of the Small: The Sixth Secret has the potential to utterly revolutionise the way in which humanity sees industry, resource gathering and production. Although the Ministry of Science is still working on getting the bugs out of some more advanced models, there's definitely enough there to get started.
[] Asteroid Eaters: Design and test a nanite swarm program designed to digest an asteroid and process it into raw materials for use in construction [25%, 1 year]
[] Fine Manipulation: Although molecular manipulation is still too complex for the current generation of nanomachines, there are some things that they could definitely help with. Fabber technology is great for building new things, but they have their limits. Right now, the main one is the need for other systems to put together the components they produce. Adriana thinks she has a way to fix that. [45%, 2 years]
[] Infinite Parallel Processing: Departmental VIs: Create a copy of your Ministerial VI for exclusive use by another department [50%, 1 year. Specify a department. The Ministry of Practice is not a valid department for this.]
*New* [] Infinite Parallel Processing, Phase 3: The virtual agents that you've created have already proven their worth, saving some of your operations managers from critical errors that could have been disastrous, but new technologies have opened a path to improve further. Rather than running a single virtual agent per person, an upgrade in capacity could let you run multiple virtual agents per person and even let them run slightly ahead of the human being they are simulating, to catch errors two, even three decision branches down the line. [30%, 2 years]
*New* [] Infinite Parallel Processing, Personal VIs: With the Sixth Secret's ability to blow Moore's Law out of the water, it should be a relatively simple matter to have your Phase 2+ virtual assistants run on mass-produced local hardware instead of on the cloud. Not only does this alleviate some of the potential privacy issues of the new technology, but it frees up the cloud server systems to run simulations and perform calculation trees that may have been put on the back burner in recent years. [40%, 2 years]
[] Solar Conversion: Antimatter power provided the high-density energy medium that allowed you to construct and power your larger vessels, as well as numerous installations. Although your supply is currently quite steady, Adriana has suggested a new facility around the orbit of Mercury to allow for steady expansion of the FSN. It's not going to be easy, but she's shown some aptitude in this before. [40%, 3 years, Megastructure Action]
[] Glimmering in the Dark: With the limits on humanity abruptly pulled back by the new Directives discovered in the Shiplord systems, Adriana and others have suggested finally starting to explore the universe beyond Sol once again. The project technically lies under the jurisdiction of the Home Office, but if approved it will take input from almost every major Ministry. It'll require a few of the FTL drives you've recovered, but knowing even a little of what's 'out there' could be very useful. [50%, 2 years]
Intrigue
Restricted Bandwidth: Cannot select more than Three (3) actions.
Ministerial VI: you have One (1) free dice for Intrigue actions.
Voices from the Grave: You have several Tombstone platforms now, but the true prize is the few active Shiplord computer systems that have been identified by your initial salvage teams. And with the Shiplord presence in the star system utterly destroyed by Vision, Marcus has little to focus on.
[] Darkling Plain: Although the data might be exceptionally important, the stealth coating on the platforms could be incredibly useful as an enhancement for your own small craft and also to get a firmer understanding of how it works. [30%, 1 year]
[] System Architecture: Although it probably won't be finished in time to help with breaking into the active databases, a thorough analysis of the dead Shiplord information systems could yield valuable information for the next time Marcus goes toe to toe with them in cyberspace. [45%, 3 years]
[X] Transliterate Dominion: The translation software discovered within the Shiplord databases is unlike anything you've ever seen, but Marcus and Vision both agree that whilst it's incredibly useful it also probably shouldn't be entirely trusted. They'd like to take an instance of it, take it apart, and try to build their own model. [45%, locked 1 year]
[] Sweeping the Board: In a remarkable example of the reason why a significant amount of the Ministry of Security is contemplating outright worship, Vision was able to isolate the readback pings from dozens of Tombstone platforms scattered across the solar system. Let's go get them. [50%, 1 year]
[] Wishes and Prayer: The abruptly far more powerful Faith movement hasn't caused any trouble, but everyone knows the danger of fanaticism from history. No one is accusing your citizens of that, but Marcus would rather to be safe rather than sorry on the matter. Snooping is off the table, he promises, but he'd like to insert a few people into the movement to make sure all is well. [70%, 1 year]
*New* [] Analytic Scraping: Although you only got fragments, the remains of the Shiplord databases recovered by Alexandria may hold some hints on the true nature of your enemy. You can't imagine that knowing more about them would be a bad thing, at least where it comes to fighting. [40%, 2 years]
Learning
Daughter of Secrets: you have One (1) free dice for Learning actions.
Iris: you have One (1) free dice for Learning actions
Neverending Journey, Second Step: All of the scientists on Mary's list have settled into their new working and living environment now, and you can see how happy your friend is to be surrounded by those just as passionate as she is. Now that they're all integrated however, they need a direction.
[] Future Proof: Now that everyone is working together, it should be relatively simple to work the relevant pieces of knowledge that they've found over the years into general study. It would give some of the stranger theories a lot more traction, and Mary has spoken before about how the Institute curriculum needs an update. [40%, 2 years]
[] For its Own Sake: Between them, Mary's new top flight staff brought petabytes of complex theoretical work with them. You had to build an entirely new server centre just to store it all. These people are probably the only ones really capable of parsing it out into something usable, and some of what they've been working on could be revolutionary. The problem is finding it. [30% chance of unlocking a new action chain, 2 years]
[] Reinforced: The armour you created for Lina and her staff is unlike anything that the Ministry has seen before, and if even a small part of their capabilities can be replicated, Lina would cheerfully sacrifice every suit. Toss them at Mary's top-flight, and then stand well back. [35%, 4 years]
*New* [] Arcadia: Now that you've made your choice, it's time to start putting the pieces together and given your choice this is the most important of them all. Although it's a few steps down the line, the eventual plan that Mary had come up with for her and her contemporaries had been to create a copy of the vast research centres of Mars, that had brought humanity the greatest of their technological advances. Such an initiative would serve your own wishes well, as well as the needs of all humanity [Variable difficulty, 1 year, synergises with Wishes Spoken, cannot assign a Practice Dice to this action]
The Red Tower: One of the main centres of research on Mars before the Burning, the Red Tower was also one of the primary conversion points for the atmospheric conversion system better known as Clear Skies. Fully restored and online after the Miracle of Skylark, it is a treasure trove waiting to be unlocked.
[] Clear Skies: The atmospheric conversion systems that made Mars habitable were miracles of the Second Secret, but it was swiftly confirmed that the system now in its place is not a product of bioengineering. If the device can be understood, it could be replicated, and the entire program could be started anew. [40%, 2 years, requires a Practice dice]
[X] The Secured Unknown: No one alive really knows everything that the vast scientific enclaves on Mars were researching before they were destroyed by the Shiplords, but Mary's successful unlock of the sealed databases has revealed a great deal of theoretical research. There could be some very interesting data left in there, you just need to go looking for it. [50%, locked 1 year]
[] The Sealed Secrets: You know that the Red Tower contains information on the First and Second Secrets, and also that Mary has proven adamant in her refusal to open them for study. As far as you're aware, she's the only person in the star system with access. You don't necessarily disagree, but having something set up in the event she's put out of commission could be beyond vital in years to come. [35%, 1 year]
Practiced Power: The Potentials are the most powerful weapon humanity has ever possessed, but it's a weapon that you still know frighteningly little about. Mary's understanding of it has been vastly increased over the last few years, but it'll still take time and effort to translate that from theory into practical use.
[] The Shining Cities: The cities of Earth are stunning examples of Practice used to create living environments that can protect the vast majority of humanity's population and also give them places to live that are entirely theirs. In recent months, casual mentions of how the cities themselves seem to be almost adapting to their inhabitants have become more frequent. What exactly is going on here? [40%, 2 years]
*New*[] Tapping The Well: The energy source behind Practice, a manifestation of the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of souls and an entire sentient species with it, is unlike anything ever seen. Limited in size, yet also inexhaustible, it also passes power to every member of humanity. Before you go telling everyone that, however, it might be wise to test possible applications. Having no idea where to start just makes it more pertinent to begin now. [???, ???, requires a Practice dice]
Void Secrets: The research levels of the Red Tower, those open to you, have yielded many secrets. Between those, and the other work Mary has done, you have some new directions of research to explore. If the Ministry is right, there are new Secrets to be found here.
[] The Longest Force: Gravity manipulation is something that humanity is capable of, but only thanks to creations of Practice. Some of what has been discovered within the Red Tower points to theoretical ability to harness that force without the need of Practiced items. [40%, 3 years]
[] From the Other Side: You and the other Potentials know, without a doubt, that your power is a high secret of the Void, and old research supports this. Have all pre-Sorrows research on the subject compiled and added as a proper resource. They had ways of looking at things that you do not, after all. [40%, 1 year]
The Sixth Secret: It's hard to describe how huge the potential of this technology is, matching the capabilities of the First Practiced Miracle, even if that was carried out decades ago. But whilst Adriana is drooling over first-gen platforms, Mary has some much grander plans.
[] Repair? I Prefer Reconfiguration: The idea sounds insane when she raises it, but the more you think about it, the more you can see the potential benefits. Using nanotech, it might be possible to allow military systems to reconfigure almost seamlessly on the fly, adapting to battlefield conditions and damage all at once. [25%, 2 years]
*New* [] Sub-atomic Management: Conventional physics tells us this is both impossible and inconceivable, but thanks to the Sixth Secret "impossible" is not much of a barrier and "inconceivable" is starting to stand on shaky ground as well. Mary's explanation of the tech proposal involved phrases like "probabilistic imprints on hyper-compacted phase spaces" and got more confusing from there, but the long and short of it is that she is convinced that the Sixth Secret can, with work, create nanomachines that exist and operate on volumes smaller than a single atom, down to the size of a single electron. [30%, 3 years]
*New* [] Practiced Forms: Now that Mary has confirmed that yes, it is in fact safe to use Practice on Sixth Secret nanotech, she's getting inventive. It's well known that Practice has limits in how it can be applied, you learnt this yourself during the Prologue project, so instead of trying to build a perfect singular system, she's laid out trials to follow different focus paths before trying a universal run. [30%, 2 years, requires a Practice dice]
*New* Bio-inorganics: The Second Secret, and therefore a lot of the biological enhancements discovered by pre-Sorrows humanity, is forbidden, but as Prologue showed many of the more important things that the Second did can be replicated, even further enhanced, by Sixth Secret nanomachines. [40%, 1 year]
The Elder's Vault: The vault left behind by the Elder First is a treasure trove of data and devices, but you need ways to fight, or defend against the oncoming invasion. There's not much in the way of an index however, so it's going to be a slow process.
[] Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She's promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe. [30%, 1 year]
[] Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn't beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions 'normal' Elder First devices should be quite enough. [50%, 2 years]
[] Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you'd ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Shiplords. Getting access to them might be hard, however. [20%, 1 year]
Alexandria: The name given to the new orbital constructed so swiftly near Mars, slaved to the planet's orbital path, Alexandria will be the heart of your salvage and reverse-engineering operations. There's a great deal of work to do, and you can't afford to waste a second.
[] Touching Light: Some of the Tribute Fleet wreckage definitely contain First Secret drives, and if you're lucky they might also have some surviving courier drones you can strip for the systems. Now that you're no longer limited to Sol, getting as many of them as you can has become a little more important. [70/45%, 1 year]
[] Shiplord Arms: Not actual arms, but the weapons systems of the fleet. Lina is ecstatic about the possibility of getting her hands on functional Shiplord grav disruptors, as even if they're low tech in Shiplord terms, they're functional examples of gravity manipulation without the use of Practice. That means you can reverse engineer them. Probably. [45/15%, 2 years]
[] Shells of Death: The Shiplords use Tributary species to create the biomass that makes up the majority of their vessels. The entire concept sickens you, but although she seems just as disgusted, Mary is starting to ask questions about how it works. It might even lead to a why, someday. [40%, 2 years]
[] Unravelling the Impossible: Trying to understand, let alone replicate, the creations of Practice would to most be a truly impossible task verging on insane. Unfortunately, someone said that in Mary's hearing. She's taken it as a challenge. [40%, 3 years]
[] Secrets of Unison: Now that Mary has finally managed to get more accurate imaging of the soul working, it gives her the opportunity to begin the complex dive into the theoretical and practical understanding required to analyse, repair or even recreate Unison Platforms. [55%, 1 year]
[] Souls and Circuits: With the creation of Iris, humanity has taken its very step down the path of creating true life again, although it seems far more complicated than the Second Secret's easy ability to create bioforms. Trying to understand how to replicate this process, will take time, but the rewards if you succeed... [20%, 2 years]
Practice Actions
You have Four (4) Practice Dice to assign to actions with One (1) locked. Unless explicitly stated, you may not assign Practice Dice to Practice Actions.
Project Harmony: With the Harmonic Archive unravelled and in her hands, Vega now stands in a position as unique as your own within the Potentials, with a practical guide to her work, even if the ability to distribute it is highly limited.
*New* [] Learned Amity: Vega will focus on teaching more Harmonials how she does some of what she does, expanding their ability to match her own. Her apprentices first, then others; given enough time, you'll have a proper teaching staff for the new Harmonials. [40%, 1 year, cannot be taken with The Links Between, Repeatable]
*New* [] The Links Between: Or you can have her focus on helping you with your efforts to understand the fragile and faint links that you can sometimes see and feel around and between you. If you can learn to understand them, your explanation can be passed on to many more than one at a time. The problem is getting to that point. [35%, 1 year, must be taken with Ties That Bind, Repeatable]
[] The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter. [30%, 1 year]
[X] Realising the Soul: Thanks to the data that the Ministry has been able to put together on what they think Marcus did to himself, they're able to put together a set of techniques. It's not much, and the chances of any breakthrough like Marcus is low, especially with the need to train the Two Twenty-Three. It's still better than no chance at all. [20%, locked 1 year]
The Two Twenty-Three: The newly founded group, taking its name from the number of Unison Platforms available for the foreseeable future, has come into its own in the aftermath of the Second Battle of Sol. Now at full strength, it was the most effective weapon of humanity's arsenal during the battle, and that with only a few short years of training. There is a great deal more you can do.
[] The Unmatched Blade: Of all the units committed to the Second Battle of Sol, only one emerged from the action intact. The Two Twenty Three, in their victory, have proved fully their worth. Yet they are still, all of them, so terribly new to the field of battle and its ever-shifting ways. This could do with being fixed. [45%, 2 years]
[] Miracles of Being: Although your group within the 223 continues to chart a different path, the vast majority of the unit has dived into the field of integrating their creations with their Unison platform with an almost desperate abandon. Training is all well and good, but to fight effectively they must find it in themselves to fight with everything they have created. [30%, 1 year]
Shattered Sight: Project Insight is broken, the entire vast array of Practiced systems destroyed by the surge of energy the Shiplord released into it before Phoebe triggered an emergency disconnect. There's a lot of work to do, but there's no time like the present.
[X] Restoring the Observatory: The first part of the physical rebuild will almost feel like a demolition, but that's just how it has to be. All the components, decades of work, have to be ripped out and then painstakingly replaced. You'll be pulling a lot from Insight's own experience, as well as Vision's hardware architecture for this though, so it'll actually be the simplest part of the whole business. [65%, locked 2 years]
[X] Cracked Souls: The real difficult however, is that even if the restoration goes perfectly and you can fuse it all together into a functioning whole afterwards, you need the Insight Focused to actually run it. Project Insight, and Phoebe especially, were dealt a terrible blow. And not just to their minds, but to their souls. Vega has fixed this before, but never on such a vast scale, and she's going to need help. [50%, locked 2 years, requires a Practice dice]
*New* The Woken Fourth: The latest generation of Potentials is only beginning to Awaken, but with their coming Vega abruptly disappeared into her Minister for a week straight, emerging with a short list on the matter.
[] Old Lessons: The curriculum for Potentials, such as it is, is a complex and rather messy thing that has only properly accounted for new understandings of Practice with every Awakening. Vega would like to take the time to do it right this time, and you agree with her, but it'll take a lot of work. [40%, 1 year]
[] The Aegis: Among the Protection Focused of the Fourth, there are a small handful of Potentials who find their Focus so much better applied to the greater methods of combat that they're more alike to Insight Focused in that regard. The possibilities inherent in their capabilities are massive, but they'll need a specialised program. [35%, 1 year]
[] Teaching and Tutors: On top of the theoretical concerns, you're also going to need teachers for the Fourth, and there are certain lessons that only Potentials will be able to teach. Prying them away from other matters without weakening the ability of Vega's Ministry won't be easy, but it might be possible. [35%, 1 year]
Hero Actions
Only one option may be selected per Hero, requires Action dice. You may not assign Practice dice to these actions.
Kalilah: One of the most visible heroes of the Second Battle of Sol, Kalilah has taken her abrupt transition into the limelight far better than you'd hoped. She's still short with her words, and has made very clear that her past is not a subject for questions from the media, but she's cooperating with them. Fortunately, according to her, the attention finally seems to be passing.
[] Valkyrie: More directly relatable to the battlefield, she could dedicate her time to the Two Twenty Three. Passing on her vast knowledge of personal Practiced combat, that has only grown deeper from the Second Battle of Sol, could go a long way towards enhancing the organisation's combat capability. [Rolls as The Unmatched Blade]
[] Passing the Edge: Or instead, she could apply that knowledge to the training of new Combat Focused Circles for the FSN. It's not a role she's all that used to, and it would remove the connection supplied by Asi from the equation, but it would be far less stressful than facing the entire world. [Rolls as The Fallen Circles, 1 year]
Vision: Following the battle, Vision is eager to aid in any way she can now that the immediate danger has passed. Still unsuited for military work she might be, but she doesn't have to be suited to that to be enormously useful.
[] Broken Bindings: The database of the Elder's Vault is a ravaged and tattered thing, but Vision was there when much of the data inside it was ordered and the filing system whole. Given that memory, and your desperate need for information, asking her to rebuild the library that the Elder First left behind could be a potentially priceless advantage. Vision herself has shown interest recently, and has voiced a curious opinion that the system should not be anywhere near as damaged as it currently is. [Rolls as Databank Sweep, 1 year]
*New* [] Restraining Sight: The first artificial intelligence created since the Elder First, Iris is taking to the role for which she was initially designed with inexhaustible energy. Sometimes a little too inexhaustible, but the sheer enthusiasm of the young intelligence is almost infectious. That said, she probably needs a little talk about certain things she shouldn't be doing in the network, given that almost nothing can keep her out. She hasn't been breaching anyone's privacy, but there have been...some incidents. [???, 1 year, amusement guaranteed]
Personal Actions
You may select Four (4) Personal actions this year.
[] Make Something: You're a Potential, capable of working items into artefacts so far removed from their original form and function that they might as well be considered magic. It will take time, but the results will be worth it. [Start Practicing an object, write-in a general idea of what you want to make.]
[] Work with a Minister: Your Ministers are all experts in their fields, excellent on the job teachers for matters that you have little experience with. [Write-in which Minister. Chance to raise stats and/or gain Traits.]
[] Powerful Words: Your words have a Practiced strength to them, but that's a cheap thing to say when you have no real understanding of what's involved. In some ways it's exhilarating, being able to draw so easily on the strength of your Focus. But you worry about what could happen if you put Practice behind a wrong word. You need to hone this gift, learn its limits and strengths. [162/???]
[] Artifact Examination: Mary found several devices that you'd created in your youth, to take with you through the Elder's Door. Although you remember most of what you could do with them quite clearly, you also remember that there were some more complex functions, and you've grown a great deal in your understanding of Practice since then. Perhaps you could use them? [Write-in an item on your inventory list, will unlock its traits for use. Cannot be taken more than once a year.]
[] Inheritor: Although others may access it, the master control for the Elder's Vault remains with you. This may make you far better suited to finding what you need in there, as any limits that remain should be far less restrictive to yourself than any other. It will take time, however. [Write-in a selected Elder's Vault action to boost.]
[] Unison Training: Training with Siddhartha and the Two Twenty-Three will be vital if you plan on being involved in the battles to come. The way in which Unison platforms and their users synergise in their training would also be lessened by your absence, according to Vega and Siddhartha both. And to be frank, knowing how to use what Sidra's given you could be a literal lifesaver if the Shiplords are somehow able to attack you directly again. [Will synergise with any Two Twenty-Three actions chosen]
[] Ties That Bind: Towards the very end of the Second Battle of Sol, your nascent ability to conceptualise the links that tie your world together expanded in ways you'd never imagined it could. Although whatever let you do that has passed, and your own memories of it are hazy, some knowledge remains. [233/???]
[] The Spoken Word: With your success in helping Vega expand her ability to Speak, and an expanded understanding of just how powerful that ability can be, she's suggested that you think on a way to teach Speaking more widely. Not everyone is Vega, in fairness, but even if only a fraction of Potentials can learn how to speak, the scale on which Words seems to let you act on is awesome. [40%, 2 years]
*New* [] Talk with a Minister: Now that you've chosen to step down, talking to your Ministers about what they'd like to do in future seems like a good idea. They've proved their worth and potential, but knowing what they want could let you help them. [Write-in two (2) Ministers. May be taken multiple times.]
*New* Blood Ties: Your family. It's years since you've really had the chance to even talk to them properly. Although you've told them that you plan to step down, you know they won't tell anyone until you do, you could take this opportunity to have a sit down with them and talk. You haven't had one of those for far too long.
*New* Second Eldest: The Elder First taught your generation a great deal, and over the last few years there's been some quiet discussion within the Potentials of the Second Eldest; the best and brightest of the Second Awakening. As you'd half-feared, you're on the list, but it gives you an opportunity. The Elder First taught you. Perhaps you could set an example for the 'Second Eldest' to teach the Woken Fourth. [???, synergises with Teaching and Tutors]
), so to prevent confusion by fusing it with the post above:
