So, @Alivaril, is pink a mundane hair color or a "an Inspired did it" hair color? Same about eyes.Winner: Twirl
Abrogation (Steampunk)
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
That hair looks a lot more red than pink to me.
It looks slightly more red on my phone, but still not a RL hair color.
- Location
- The Outer Plane Of Munchkinry.
[x] Don't let the Surge start, but keep it ready if it becomes necessary - you're going to go down there and find some answers.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
- Location
- Lasha Tumbai
[x] Don't let the Surge start, but keep it ready if it becomes necessary - you're going to go down there and find some answers.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
[x] Don't let the Surge start, but keep it ready if it becomes necessary - you're going to go down there and find some answers.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
[x] Don't let the Surge start,but keep it ready if it becomes necessary - you're going to go down there and find some answers.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mundane. "Diamond" would've been a definite sign of Inspired meddling.
- Location
- Somewhere.
[x] Don't let the Surge start,but keep it ready if it becomes necessary - you're going to go down there and find some answers.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
- Location
- Boston
@Alivaril , it seems that our spark of Inspiration is a separate entity in our consciousness, as far as we're aware, even if it's just a mental compartmentalization. It also seems that it's got a will of its own, one that can act against our will or interest, as hinted in the fluff text for the Stubborn trait.
"You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges."
Given that, is it possible we could, over time, learn how to better connect with and get in touch with our gift? Whether it be through meditation, philosphical introspection, or just plain negotiating with it, doesn't matter. Maybe we could get additional perks and benefits, lose certain limits, or even gain a deeper understanding into just how our Inspiration works and where it comes from? It could even let us tap into the talents or Surges of other Inspired, or reclaim Inspiration from the victims of the Empowered.
Also, on a metaphysical level, how much do we know about our power, from both an academic and anecdotal standpoint? Is the gift's voice female, male, monotone? Does it carry emotions? Does it sound like us? Is it like a fleeting thought, or an auditory hallucination? Is it a cacophony of multiple voices? How easy is it to control? Things like that.
"You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges."
Given that, is it possible we could, over time, learn how to better connect with and get in touch with our gift? Whether it be through meditation, philosphical introspection, or just plain negotiating with it, doesn't matter. Maybe we could get additional perks and benefits, lose certain limits, or even gain a deeper understanding into just how our Inspiration works and where it comes from? It could even let us tap into the talents or Surges of other Inspired, or reclaim Inspiration from the victims of the Empowered.
Also, on a metaphysical level, how much do we know about our power, from both an academic and anecdotal standpoint? Is the gift's voice female, male, monotone? Does it carry emotions? Does it sound like us? Is it like a fleeting thought, or an auditory hallucination? Is it a cacophony of multiple voices? How easy is it to control? Things like that.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Don't let the Surge start, but keep it ready if it becomes necessary - you're going to go down there and find some answers.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
-[x] Grab and interrogate a peasant. They can't all be fighting to the death out in the open.
-[x] Look for a machine black-box or brainbox to extract logs from.
-[x] Stay relatively stealthy. If this turns out to be a game or something, you want to be able to get away with no one the wiser.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You don't know.
It has no actual voice that you know of. The mentions of different knowledge fields are intended to represent access, not any actual words being said. You're honestly not sure if you can actually feel any sort of emotion/moods or if you're assigning human emotion to something completely lacking it.
The access your gift can grant you often overwrites your normal thought processes. The process usually goes something like this:
1: Your gift suggests one or more fields of knowledge. Sometimes, access to a given field is narrow enough to make it obvious your power is trying to suggest something specific.
2: You skim the information provided and can focus on something you think will be helpful in a specific project. Your gift temporarily shoves other suggested databases to the side.
3: Your gift collaborates with you to determine how to solve said task using the specified knowledge and available materials.
4: Check for incompatibilities with other parts of a given project. If any are found, return to step 3 with modified criteria.
5: Repeat as necessary until the Surge ends.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
[x] Let your gift start the Surge and start making your way down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
This may or may not be the optimal move... but those morons down there are *offensive*, and we have been waiting a Very Long Time to finally unleash our will upon the world.
Also, honestly, the sheer quantity of raw material here and number of onlookers is going to be pretty high, as such things go... while not containing anyone who can really threaten us while we're surging.
...and our parents were *really* *dumb*. Not letting us complete even our first Surge? Really? What did they *think* they'd achieve?
This may or may not be the optimal move... but those morons down there are *offensive*, and we have been waiting a Very Long Time to finally unleash our will upon the world.
Also, honestly, the sheer quantity of raw material here and number of onlookers is going to be pretty high, as such things go... while not containing anyone who can really threaten us while we're surging.
...and our parents were *really* *dumb*. Not letting us complete even our first Surge? Really? What did they *think* they'd achieve?
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
I doubt our parents set us up for this specifically but...
These armies are acting like they don't have their own Inspired (no upgraded peasants)
Why don't they have their own Inspired?
Why haven't other Inspired conquered them?
Is this bait so any Inspired who sees this will be outraged and reveal themselves to SHOW THEM ALL?
If it's not bait, again, why don't they have their own Inspired?
My current guess for a worst case scenario is that this area is some Bermuda Triangle equivalent of weirdness where something in the area fucks with Inspired minds when they enter Surges. Maybe drives them mad, maybe screws with their power. Hence, no Inspired last long around here.
These armies are acting like they don't have their own Inspired (no upgraded peasants)
Why don't they have their own Inspired?
Why haven't other Inspired conquered them?
Is this bait so any Inspired who sees this will be outraged and reveal themselves to SHOW THEM ALL?
If it's not bait, again, why don't they have their own Inspired?
My current guess for a worst case scenario is that this area is some Bermuda Triangle equivalent of weirdness where something in the area fucks with Inspired minds when they enter Surges. Maybe drives them mad, maybe screws with their power. Hence, no Inspired last long around here.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Or the Inspired in question simply give 0 f*cks about efficiency, or the lives of these peasants. Or maybe it's a blood feud, and the peasants are using the war machines they had been given to protect themselves for their own purposes. We could have just come in on the Steampunk Hatfields and McCoys. Or maybe they are modified, but it's just...I dunno, like, a built in revival mechanism?
My point is, we can play the what-if game all damn day, and still not guess what is actually getting on. Settling on any given line of speculation as accurate, and acting on it, is a bad idea until we have more data. Getting paranoid and limiting ourselves based on that paranoia is an even worse idea. I think you need to chill out a bit.
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Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
The war itself isn't bugging me much. The weirdest thing is the nearly-identical hanguns being wielded on each side. No, what's making me wary is the strategic situation. Inspired this weak should have been crushed already. Our parents should have known that they were just making our breakthrough stronger and stronger and that we'd break out eventually. This stinks to high heaven.
Not that it looks like it matters. Fucking drive-bys.
There's a reason my current vote is "go find some information".
Not that it looks like it matters. Fucking drive-bys.
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
I mean, I'm still voting for the option I want to see.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
Efficiency is one thing, winning a battle is another. Enhanced peasants are objectively better than unenhanced peasants, so if they wanted to actually win, why didn't they upgrade their peasants to steamroll the unenhanced side? They clearly don't care about peasant lives, so lots of human experimentation is no problem.
Ok, so where did they get the war machines and if the war machines are so weak, why hasn't an actually competent Inspired conquered them yet?
We're overlooking the battlefield right now and you'd think we'd notice if they were coming back to life.
Why do you think I'm following Vebyast's vote to get more data? We're not leaving the battlefield, so after we search for info and interrogate peasants, we can still begin our Surge then.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Ah, right.
[X] Vebyast
In order:
1. No, no they aren't. They take effort, time, resources and a Surge to create, and can take more time and resources to maintain. Regular peasants can be deployed after simply giving them a gun. They're even less so if the Inspired sucks at bio work. It's cheaper, especially if you crank those things out of a factory, which would only require a single Surge.
2. Why, their local Inspired ruler, of course. Who probably cranked them out from a factory, as a cheap way to stall invaders. Hell, he might have stuck them, and the guns, in communal armories, ala Switzerland, and intended them for militia use.
3. Not if the revival mechanism is set to activate when the battle ends. I'm thinking more 'implant' than 'biological alteration'.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
To the best of your knowledge, not even remotely. You've read plenty of books, talked to multiple allies, blatantly eavesdropped on servants, and never heard of any of this. You suspect your parents might have known about it, though; they were very insistent when it came to not letting you finish anything and never bothered to give you any reason that wasn't a blatant lie.
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Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Yeaaaaaah, this is a setup. They've been bottling us up with the specific intent of making us more powerful. They've even prepared a beautiful little battlefield for us to go off on, complete with trash mobs that we can disassemble, people that can empower our first surge, and a weak region for us to take over. Hell, they've even been carefully not telling us anything about this region. And of course we walked right into their plan. Giant fucking landslide, even.
Okay, so what do we do here? After we get people to read the damn discussion instead of just voting and running away, I mean. :/ I feel like this post is just wasted effort. But assuming that at least someone reads it - do we want to cap this off with killing our parents for being total assholes? Do we hold on to the first surge, walk back home, and nuke the place before anyone realizes we're not dancing on their strings? Something else entirely? Because fuck this.
@Alivaril: You have a gift for making antagonists that make me want to make them suffer.
Okay, so what do we do here? After we get people to read the damn discussion instead of just voting and running away, I mean. :/ I feel like this post is just wasted effort. But assuming that at least someone reads it - do we want to cap this off with killing our parents for being total assholes? Do we hold on to the first surge, walk back home, and nuke the place before anyone realizes we're not dancing on their strings? Something else entirely? Because fuck this.
@Alivaril: You have a gift for making antagonists that make me want to make them suffer.
- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
Wait, so did they predict we'd go this way out of the four possible destinations, or did they somehow set up scenarios for each of the four directions? I feel like the parents are pretty big chessmasters if they've set this up so absurdly far in advance.
- Location
- U S of A
Maybe it's just me but this seems a bit paranoid given that this whole supposed plan of theirs only works if we picked this exact direction. Even if it is a conspiracy, I'm not sure why we're so worried about that given that it seems to be set up largely to our benefit? Giving us a chance for a powerful surge and a little tutorial area to hone our skills in doesn't seem like the actions of a hostile power, if you get my drift.