Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
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Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
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This is getting too far down the non-mage Device route. I might let you combine a couple of projectors into a single piece of tech, but it would not be re-programable and each projection would need its own projector.
VETOED.
Nope. Reinforce Eins was the product of multiple Belkan genius and a thousand years of power accumulation and experience. Unison Devices Tim can produce can look like either six-inch fairies or eight-year-old children, and the latter only for a short time.
Would she, though?
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
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- Buenos Aires
Oh, I misread the calendar. I thought it was only "Late had a massive brain-fart" day. My apologies.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier, though, is that an "Advanced Device" is not a thing. It is a type of thing.Details are, as always, in the character sheet.
EDIT: No, scratch that. Let me spell it out in case you aren't that familiar with MGLN. There are three kinds of advanced Device:
Armed Devices are (often) shaped like melee weapons and used for that purpose. They just also have the ability to assist with spell-casting, generally of the variety that supplement physical attacks.
Intelligent Devices are what Perfect Storm is: an assistant for spells that a long-range shooter would use. They can take on melee properties just like an Armed Device can be used for Shooter spells, but it isn't common.*
Boost Devices are used to cast spells that are not direct attacks. Enhancements, debuffs, summoning (if the caster has that Rare Skill), etc.
*Namely, in this quest it has to be wielded by a mage with a Linker Core rank of A or higher.
There are some spells that are utility spells that can be used by any Device. These are things like binds, Spatial Translocation, Recursion Field, Basic Flight/Aerial Combat, Guardian Beast, Round/Strong Shield… Rule of thumb, if it's in both Taylor's and Tim's character sheets, it's probably a spell castable by any Device.
Familiar enough. Reflection can't come out in the west soon enough.
I knew of the different types, just wasn't sure when we picked that option up.
So, changing my vote to Boost Device.
...Are you sure the Privateers are ready for that type of firepower? 'Cause I don't think Alexander is up to reenacting the Red trailer, power armor or not.
Though, I can see Samantha being able to use Crescent Rose if she got a few days on the shooting range first.
The thing that's not really useful is the AMF. Just, of the five mages we know of on Bet, one is us, two are on our side, another is asking Taylor to teach him and the last one is in a prison who-knows-where with Dragon as her warden.
Unless you're planning on going against TSAB, there's just not much use we can squeeze out of it just now.
Not to mention Advanced Devices were mostly custom made for specific mages. As while they don't have such a large problem with compatibility as Unison Devices they are designed to best fit the mage they are supporting. I think the only case of someone efficiently using an advanced device not made specifically for them is Nanoha. But in her case she was extremely compatible with Raising Heart. All other characters either start with their own Intelligent/Armed Device that matches their style perfectly or they have one built for them (Nakajima sisters Calibers, Taena's Cross Mirage, Vivio's Sacred Heart or Einheard's Asteion). So I doubt we could make a usable Advanced Device (Inteligent or Armed) unless:
1. We have someone specific with the required core to support it
2. We design it complementary to their current style.
While we might be able to have Storage Devices in storage for future mages, Intelligent/Armed Devices are to much of a custom job normally to make them in advance.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
That's what I thought, until I remembered No Useless Mechanics.
Then I noticed 'Magic-like'. You know what else works like magic and interacts with it? Shard powers.
Right now they're just going on sheer guts and guile against an enemy that's survived tangling military forces. And they got tossed around by the Disney princess gang. If they want to survive, it's time to lock and load. Nonlethal ammunition can always be designed if folks want it....Are you sure the Privateers are ready for that type of firepower? 'Cause I don't think Alexander is up to reenacting the Red trailer, power armor or not.
Taking Always Late's plan as a base...
[X] Plan I'm Sorry! (for breaking all the legs)
-[X] Grenade launcher-hammer x2
-[X] Assault rifle-sword
-[X] Anti-Magilink Field
[X] Crescendo
Heh.
[X] Plan I'm Sorry! (for breaking all the legs)
-[X] Grenade launcher-hammer x2
-[X] Assault rifle-sword
-[X] Anti-Magilink Field
[X] Crescendo
Heh.
- Location
- Britain
Reasonable, but unexpected. Still, a hard light projector is a fun thing to play with. I'll update my vote to something less potentially game-breaking but on the same theme, if that's alright.
Again, reasonable but unexpected. I'd suggest getting a wimp clone (no actual mind, just the automatic processes and a Linker core) and getting a Unison Device to fuse with it, whilst forcibly causing a Unison Accident to grant the Unison Device (in this example Dragon) total control, but that's getting into serious ethical concerns that should be discussed with everyone involved, including the potential to use such methods to manufacture a super-soldier army. And also mechanically dubious, considering the nature of Unison Devices. Still, having Dragon basically be Navi would be awesome as fuck, and we should seriously consider it.
Probably, yeah - it's all she's ever wanted, to have a chance at a relatively normal life. Remember, it's how she chose to spend the Epilogue of the original Worm. Even if she does end up as a six-inch fairy in this version.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
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- Right behind you
Now you're getting it. Three guesses which kinds of powers would be effected, and the first two don't count. Fair warning, the Privateers don't have any grenades yet. Buying them would be… tricky, and Tim building them would take build slots.
Are you talking about making multiple copies of UD!Dragon? Because that's what I think you're saying, and my answer is once again
VETOED.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Dragon wants to help people, as many people as possible. She's upset she's constrained by restrictions meant to keep her from doing harm when she would make the choice to help anyway. That, and the evils she'd be forced to commit if an evil 'authority figure' ever gave her orders. By making Dragon a device, we're preventing her from acting as a cape running countless world-saving programs.
EDIT:
Same list as Recursion Field?
Eh. We need to make a full-scale automated assembly line anyway, we should be making some for ammo as well.
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Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
I was going to vote for Energy Weapons, but I realized that in hand-to-hand combat, a taser built into the suit might be both easier and more practical. I envision hidden positive and negative terminals in each hand that can conduct electricity when grabbing an opponent.
[] Plan Mjolnir
-[] DFNS-A armor x1
-[] Electroshock system for power armor (aka Giant Taser)
-[] Integration
Edited:
[X] Telekinesis
Kinda wanted to save up for Exotic Physics, but I wanted to write an omake anyway.
[] Plan Mjolnir
-[] DFNS-A armor x1
-[] Electroshock system for power armor (aka Giant Taser)
-[] Integration
Edited:
[X] Telekinesis
Kinda wanted to save up for Exotic Physics, but I wanted to write an omake anyway.
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LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Man, our plans are all over the place this one, huh?
Fair warning, telepathic communication interacts with Shards, or at least the Coronas.
Anti-Magilink Fields explicitly prevent the Linker Core from gathering Mana, making casting spells more difficult. Going by what Silently Watches above has said, I'd say the capes most likely affected are:
EDIT: Deleting my vote until we get more of a consensus going.
Fair warning, telepathic communication interacts with Shards, or at least the Coronas.
Anti-Magilink Fields explicitly prevent the Linker Core from gathering Mana, making casting spells more difficult. Going by what Silently Watches above has said, I'd say the capes most likely affected are:
- Masters
- Flyers
- Blasters
EDIT: Deleting my vote until we get more of a consensus going.
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Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
*looks at something in my notes*
It…
Mmm.
She…
Mmmmm.
Not sure how I should respond to this.
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That's fair. In the meantime, still useful as hammers, right? *shrugs*
- Location
- Britain
Single copy in existence, inside a Unison Device, inside a wimp body. The super-soldier army thing was because you make a Unison Device programmed from scratch to act as a soldier, clone it a wimp body, stick the UD in there and have yourself a jolly old time. The wimp's lifespan would be horrifically shortened, most likely, but work with Panacea could potentially help alleviate that. Furthermore, it was entirely in the theoretical, and well into the realms of ethical dubiousness typically inhabited by the kind of people who would consider a briefcase nuke to be inefficient due to the comparable lack of fallout.
The entire point of Dragon's story in the original Worm is that she never had the choice - she helps because she's refrained from doing harm and is smart enough to realise that not trying her hardest is the same as causing harm to some people. I'm simply proposing that we give her the choice.
Of course, once Tim gets Integration, we can nail a neural shunt to the wimp so she can still run all her stuff through a direct neural interface, making it a moot point - she'd be human(-ish), a person under Mid-Childan rights AND able to be Dragon, the omnipresent Tinker with more robots than some nations have people.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
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- Right behind you
Just to be clear, I know enough about computer programming and IT to Google how to fix normal software issues and to use sudo to delete stubborn programs on my Mac. I have no clue what the hell you're talking about. Use smaller words.
AKA
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LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
See, she can want both things.
Dragon is a primarily empathic person. She wants to help, she doesn't enjoy causing pain and the chance that she may be force to do so by something outside her control horrifies her.
But that's the thing: she's less of a traditional AI and more of a disembodied human being, psychologically wise at least. That she wants to help humanity isn't exclusive of desiring a more "normal" existence, as her "defection" to the TSAB if it came to war proves. Having a physical body regardless of AIs becoming accepted would seem like something she'd, perhaps even if it led to a decrease in her capacity.
Now, if putting her in an Unison Device or and outright cyborg would even mean less efficiency, that's for you to decide.
To support your argument, Raising Heart was originally in Yuno Scrya's possession at the start of the series, but he could not use her effectively. He barely got any benefit from Raising Heart over just casting without a device.
Nanoha on the other hand proved to be immensely compatible and Raising Heart expressed a desire to remain with Nanoha. IIRC, I believe she offered to return her to Yuno once he healed up a bit and they both objected.
That said, I thought the idea behind making an advanced boost device was to give it to Lainey in the hopes she might be able to heal Danny, but a recent post from Silently Watches nixed that idea, although due to the strangeness with reading new messages, I almost missed that tidbit.
* * *
@silentlyWatches
When you said "buying grenades would be tricky", would that include containment foam grenades? IIRC, the Privateers are registered as a hero group, and while their cape leader is in the hospital, doesn't the PRT or The Guild sell them to such groups to be used for crime fighting?
* * *
[x] multishot
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Somewhat missing the point. Her restrictions meant that the most likely personality she settles into is empathic and benevolent, but before that she's a blank slate baby.
They had their uses shaping her personality, but lets just say that unchaining her at Worm canon start may not produce the same person as it did at the end.
Experiences change a person a great deal.
Silently Watches
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Not to my knowledge, but if you can find a mention in canon or even WoG I might let you. It'd be easier than making Tim build them (even if I could possibly be persuaded to let him build pseudo-Dust rounds).
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
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- Ohio
@veekie is right.
To quote 10.5 for evidence of my assertions:
Article: Humans were somewhat skittish on the subject of artificial intelligences.
She understood why. She read books and watched movies, rather enjoyed both. Fiction was rife with examples of corrupted or crazed artificial intelligences.
It's stupid, she thought. Her maker had watched too many movies, had been paranoid on the subject.
And the tragedy was, the entire world was suffering for it. She wanted to help more people, but she couldn't. Not because of inherent limitations, like the ones humans had… but because of imposed limitations. Her creator's.
Article: She had been forced by the rules her maker had imposed on her to sacrifice herself for the human.
It wasn't that she wouldn't have anyways. She just would have liked the choice. Making sacrifices and doing good deeds wasn't actually good if you were forced to do them.
Dragon wants to help. She needs no restrictions to help people. I don't know where you got this 'refrained from doing harm' idea Hatefish, but it's wrong. Dragon does not seek to subvert her programming. Dragon does not hate Andrew Richter. The restrictions are an issue to Dragon primarily because they prevent her from doing more good.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
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- Right behind you
All I will say is that I intentionally did not bold the part of your statement I ultimately didn't respond to. I wanted you to guess.
Perhaps I should have (hint, hint).
As one of the two character you can convert into Unison Devices, I already have UD!Dragon's character sheet planned out.
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- Location
- Britain
Fair enough. I'm suggesting we make a functionally brain-dead clone to combine with a Unison Device, containing Dragon, so that we can give her a chance at being a normal person. We then give the clone a cybernetic implant that's basically just an interface and a WiFi link, only magical, so she can still run her drones. The army thing is basically the same, minus the cybernetics, and replacing the Dragon bit with a generic intelligence for the Unison Device. It's also horrifically unethical, and not something I'm even realistically proposing - I just enjoy spitballing ideas, which tend to end up in strangely focused minmaxxy bullshit that's not really useful for standard scenarios unless a nuclear option is needed. And we have Ragnarök for that.
Misreading/misremembering, it turns out - I was always under the impression that Dragon had developed into the person she is because she had no other choice, as she was smart enough to realise that inaction will cause harm and programmed to be unable to directly harm except when absolutely necessary. Still, I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong, and I was wrong here, but I still think we should give her the choice. Hell, maybe we can work on coloured/textured hard-light projections, to essentially give a Unison Device a human-scale body that can be toggled off and on.
You got it wrong, Telekinesis is the last fundamental spell. Ring Bind is an offshoot of Wide Area Search.
RoninSword
Sky God
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- Canada
I think there was a fanon idea that Dragon became good because she wanted to do good in spite of her shackles, not regardless of her shackles. But as I said, that's a fanon idea that has an odd way of sticking around.
A UD!Dragon sounds fascinating.
A UD!Dragon sounds fascinating.