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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

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Does anyone else think that Joe should, like, tell someone in the PRT that he has found a global master effect tied to the Nine? Specifically a normal human he has interacted with before and who can be trusted no to spill the beans early... because he has been a bit randomly impulsive from an outside perspective.
I mean: No-one but the Forge knows he went ham on that financial consultancy to rescue a little girl and had no idea about the ABB trading scheme until she told him about it. He just apparently decided completely out of nowhere that the best way to expose the scheme was to create a brand new landmark in BB.
Everyone 'knows' why he went to save the Undersiders but no-one knows why/how they got a full service contract from him and are making base and inappropriate assumptions bout him and Lady Khepri. Even if he said something about her mother killing him if he let her little girl come to harm, that wouldn't actually change much. Well, except Piggot would get the wrong idea entirely.
And so on.
So maybe just, y'know, giving a nice, sensible guy who understands OpSec and isn't on the Shard network a lil' heads-up to head off total panic might not be a bad idea overall.
 
Mr_Rose said:
Does anyone else think that Joe should, like, tell someone in the PRT that he has found a global master effect tied to the Nine? Specifically a normal human he has interacted with before and who can be trusted no to spill the beans early... because he has been a bit randomly impulsive from an outside perspective.
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How do you imagine that going?

Apeiron: Hey Armstrong, I'm planing to hit up the Nine, and they're mastering all capes so you can't tell any of them.
Armstrong: Who the fuck starts a conversation like that?! Sure, it's not like I don't have enough on my hands, let me just organize the meeting between non-cape members of PRT leadership to deal with that.
Apeiron: Only if you allow me to give you an antiprecog thing to protect from all cape thinkers, and also, my power says that PRT Chief Director is cape, so she can't know.
Armstrong: Oh geez, so all I can do is either do nothing with that information, which will not help in any shape or form, or gather all PRT leadership who would listen to me, all of which are most likely sympathetic to you due to my reputation, on the meeting with your mystery device, all without informing my direct superior? That sound sketchy as fuck like a wonderful Idea! Yay!
Apeiron: Yay!
Contessa: Yay!
Apeiron: What the fuck?
Contessa: I'm contractually obligated to take part in any sufficiently large scale conspiracy. That's the only way this world can work, apparently.
 
Just reread ch100 and my god was the iq of the group room temperature, I'm sure at that point skidmark was probably smarter than all of them combined. How did i read past that before? Like was i mastered or what. I've not seen a situation where a writer has gone through so much hoops just to not come to an obvious conclusion for plot reasons and his passenger being silent just made things more obvious.
 
The chapter where they are actively manipulating the Nine and deliberately pissing off Cherish while being annoyed at them for being lazy bastards?
 
Psiidmon said:
The chapter where they are actively manipulating the Nine and deliberately pissing off Cherish while being annoyed at them for being lazy bastards?
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Think they were referring to how Joe has more pieces of the puzzle than anyone in Worm ever did but still hasn't figured out that Scion is the threat he's looking for.

The obvious answer of course is that everyone but Joe has already cracked that one, but they haven't told him because they know how much he respects the unwritten rules./s

But more seriously that reveal needs to be put off for as long as possible because it would signal a possible end to this eternal-internal-monolog-fic and that cannot be allowed to happen under any circumstances.


Also adding one more threat to the docket would make the Bakuda location progress bar even sillier than it already is.
 
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Slentoru said:
How do you imagine that going?

Apeiron: Hey Armstrong, I'm planing to hit up the Nine, and they're mastering all capes so you can't tell any of them.
Armstrong: Who the fuck starts a conversation like that?! Sure, it's not like I don't have enough on my hands, let me just organize the meeting between non-cape members of PRT leadership to deal with that.
Apeiron: Only if you allow me to give you an antiprecog thing to protect from all cape thinkers, and also, my power says that PRT Chief Director is cape, so she can't know.
Armstrong: Oh geez, so all I can do is either do nothing with that information, which will not help in any shape or form, or gather all PRT leadership who would listen to me, all of which are most likely sympathetic to you due to my reputation, on the meeting with your mystery device, all without informing my direct superior? That sound sketchy as fuck like a wonderful Idea! Yay!
Apeiron: Yay!
Contessa: Yay!
Apeiron: What the fuck?
Contessa: I'm contractually obligated to take part in any sufficiently large scale conspiracy. That's the only way this world can work, apparently.
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I would LOVE a fic just all about that premise, like contesa is in every conspiracy meeting getting free cookies or something.
 
Seraph282 said:
Think they were referring to how Joe has more pieces of the puzzle than anyone in Worm ever did but still hasn't figured out that Scion is the threat he's looking for.

The obvious answer of course is that everyone but Joe has already cracked that one, but they haven't told him because they know how much he respects the unwritten rules./s

But more seriously that reveal needs to be put off for as long as possible because it would signal a possible end to this eternal-internal-monolog-fic and that cannot be allowed to happen under any circumstances.


Also adding one more threat to the docket would make the Bakuda location progress bar even sillier than it already is.
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On some level I think Joe is just ignoring it. Internationally. He's really good at that, so much so it's his semblance. It's not something he has to deal with right now, so he won't. Another thing to consider is that actually dealing with the Warrior Entity isn't dealing with Scion, it's dealing with the shard network as a whole. Scion, ironically, doesn't actually matter.
 
Seraph282 said:
signal a possible end to this eternal-internal-monolog-fic and that cannot be allowed to happen under any circumstances.
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I don't know how you yet to figure out where the start of the endgame of this fic is planed to be. It is so obvious that it boggles the mind that it has to be spelled out, but here we go:

LEVIATHAN

It tries to hit the Bay, fic hits it's final stretch(which might be longer then the rest of the fic, but that beside the point), until then Joe will not go agains S-class threats(other than the Nine, which is a test run), Endbringers or Zion, no matter what he does and doesn't figure out. Well, beyond the fact that Joe already goes agains Zion by being inside of him and subverting his net, but that again beside my point.

Actually, how would Joe figuring out that Scion is avatar of Zion (which is just a collective of all of passengers, and Joe already knows passengers are the threat) signal the end of fic at all? All it does is open a diplomatic solution of dealing with entity(talk with avatar to reach some sort of compromise), and as Passenger Space is way more convenient front of war solution than fighting avatar in meat space, it does nothing else. It will not force Joe to act or do anything that would initiate the endgame, so what is your point?
 
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Mr_Rose said:
So maybe just, y'know, giving a nice, sensible guy who understands OpSec and isn't on the Shard network a lil' heads-up to head off total panic might not be a bad idea overall.
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The problem is that unless Joe also gives them Thinker protection, that still introduces a risk of outside Thinkers finding out that Apeiron thinks about Jack Slash's power includes global Mastering of the cape community, which then runs the risk of that getting to Broadcast. And given how the list of Thinkers that are affected by Broadcast includes precogs like Contessa, there's a reason why Joe doesn't even mention Jack Slash much outside of the Workshop and all its protections. That's the thing that happens when Broadcast is essentially using the information advantage of the entire shard network to its own benefit.

And Joe can't exactly just hand out Thinker protection that easily either, because unless that someone has very very good reasons to not tell that particular trick of Joe's to the PRT, it could reveal that Apeiron has access to Thinker protections to the Thinktank, which would also cause the kind of panic that would make Jack Slash finding out a minor detail. Unfortunately, this means that the kind of people that would be very useful to forewarn about Jack's arrival would also be the kind of people that could report Apeiron's protections out of the same sense of duty.

The only time Joe can actually tell anyone about Broadcast is when he has already won. Not necessarily after taking down the Slaughterhouse Nine, since the actual goalpoint this time is to disable Jack Slash's powers so if he manages that before taking down the S9 he can probably give the heads up before they actually arrive in Brockton Bay, but before that happens he can't tell anyone but Aisha and most likely Doctor Campbell. Uppercrust does have the Thinker protections against precog already, but if Joe only needed something at the level of Thurin-Ist to protect a cape from Broadcast then he would've told Aisha much earlier. Instead it took something as powerful as a literal planet taking advantage of the information hiding capabilities of Aisha's shard to actually manage it, so Uppercrust would have to be surprised like everyone else.
 
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Slentoru said:
I don't know how you yet to figure out where the start of the endgame of this fic is planed to be. It is so obvious that it boggles the mind that it has to be spelled out, but here we go:

LEVIATHAN
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Actually, I think you are right. Flow-wise, Leviathan (if there are no last minute permutations) marks a situation where the Celestian Forge will have to show the world how strong they are, destroying a lot of delicate equilibrium at the same time.

I am also betting that the Forge bullies Leviathan so much (ex: by destroying the shard behind) that it triggers Scion (who goes out of his funk because of some anomalous readings he has since a while).
Scion will probably try to sucker-punch Apeiron with one of its golden beam, for it not to work (due to perks). Then, he will probably regret its life choices when Apeiron shows it how bullshit he can be, while ensuring no casualty (... if someone got revived afterward, this is not a casaulty, right? right?)
 
Brandark said:
If Joe was a regular person who customized that bike without any tinker abilities, losing it might have been a legitimate trigger event.
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Actually, are there anyone versed in Weaverdice power definitions? What type of power that would produce - loosing in an instant something precious, a technologically complex (relatively) object that took a lot of time and effort to turn into perfection?
 
TheQwertyOne said:
Actually, are there anyone versed in Weaverdice power definitions? What type of power that would produce - loosing in an instant something precious, a technologically complex (relatively) object that took a lot of time and effort to turn into perfection?
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IIRC, this would be where the nuance comes in.
Besides the obvious 'different shards will focus differently on their powers expressions', the details of what the bike meant would also come into play.
Was the bike a way of showing off a bit of skill at mechanical work and/or driving?
Was it the last attachment to a beloved friend/family member that the character hadn't fully gotten over their loss?
Was the bike intended to be sold, possibly rebuilt on the sly, to fund the characters escape from a bad situation (toxic home, crushing debt), or their only way to pay the entrance fee to a better situation (tuition, mortgage down payment)?

These could lead to a projection power, creating something that almost matches the abilities of the bike, but can't be worked on to make it better,
A Tinker power similar to Squealer or Chariot, but focused on single person vehicles,
A power that gives high speed or teleportation (Breaker, Changer, or pure Mover), or a Striker power that enhances any vehicle the character is using, making it faster, better handling, resistant to damage, but causing the vehicle to crumble/decay apart after a short time, the more it is enhanced the less time before it is a pile rust.
 
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TheQwertyOne said:
Actually, are there anyone versed in Weaverdice power definitions? What type of power that would produce - loosing in an instant something precious, a technologically complex (relatively) object that took a lot of time and effort to turn into perfection?
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Depends on how it was lost and the status in the owner's head. Broadly speaking something like a shaker master power maybe?
 
TheQwertyOne said:
Weaverdice
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I still can't help but laugh at Tay teaching a bunch of kids how to play D&D to motivate them 😁


rollobeast said:
Striker power that enhances any vehicle the character is using, making it faster, better handling, resistant to damage, but causing the vehicle to crumble/decay apart after a short time, the more it is enhanced the less time before it is a pile rust.
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"That day, a thousands fic were launched by that idea alone. Many would claim their idea was original, while others would credit each other, but only the chosen one will say were the Original Idea came from, many declaring them a lier. But they knew, they knew their words were nothing but the truth, and that's why they would come to be know as The Based One" - Lost Dead Sea Scroll
 
rollobeast said:
A power that gives high speed or teleportation (Breaker, Changer, or pure Mover), or a Striker power that enhances any vehicle the character is using, making it faster, better handling, resistant to damage, but causing the vehicle to crumble/decay apart after a short time, the more it is enhanced the less time before it is a pile rust.
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It occurs to me that this would be a really good power for someone interested in robbing banks. Hold up one of the cash vans, juice it up, the drive like a madman to your handover spot where the thing crumbles to dust leaving behind the contents. Who needs passcodes, bribery, or even a blowtorch…
 
rollobeast said:
IIRC, this would be where the nuance comes in.
Besides the obvious 'different shards will focus differently on their powers expressions', the details of what the bike meant would also come into play.
Was the bike a way of showing off a bit of skill at mechanical work and/or driving?
Was it the last attachment to a beloved friend/family member that the character hadn't fully gotten over their loss?
Was the bike intended to be sold, possibly rebuilt on the sly, to fund the characters escape from a bad situation (toxic home, crushing debt), or their only way to pay the entrance fee to a better situation (tuition, mortgage down payment)?

These could lead to a projection power, creating something that almost matches the abilities of the bike, but can't be worked on to make it better,
A Tinker power similar to Squealer or Chariot, but focused on single person vehicles,
A power that gives high speed or teleportation (Breaker, Changer, or pure Mover), or a Striker power that enhances any vehicle the character is using, making it faster, better handling, resistant to damage, but causing the vehicle to crumble/decay apart after a short time, the more it is enhanced the less time before it is a pile rust.
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Don't forget some likely trump aspect, since it would have been lost in a scenario involving massive conflict with other capes.
 
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24-hour Delay Announcement
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    • I have been out sick for most of the past week which, as you'd imagine, hasn't been great for my writing schedule. Fortunately I am on the mend and working to get the next chapter finished. Unfortunately, I am going to have to push the release by another day to give me time to wrap things up. Sorry for the additional delay, but there has been a lot for me to deal with recently.
     
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