Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

[Kraftykidd]

Apeiron's Assorted Accoutrements and Appurtenances. For your super tinker needs!

Use his one tech tree he got that is basically super home items that are black boxes so hard they can't be cracked. Have an actual physical location where he can be safe as it's super reinforced with everything including magic.

But aside from healing stuff what could he sell that's make good money and shiz and be popular?

Edit: Also, his hurt for money could lead into finally picking up that lost plot point conceding the number man who left like an equation or something when Joe interacted with him while hitting the ABB accounts during the Aisha save and all

 

[RogerDodger123]

How insightful. Why did he wasted his time with saving and healing Weld, when he could've use that time help dozens of people!
And his duplicate, obviously, shouldn't have going to save Chen, when his help would've saved a lot of people from Bakuda's bombs instead.
I didn't notice your complaining about either of those actions (though, maybe I just missed it).

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Weld is a hero. The Undersiders are villains. There is a difference. Despite fanon perception, they really aren't good people. Weld is shown to be a good person. There is a difference. Taylor really isn't a good person either. She just thinks she is when where reading from her perspective. Seriously, there is only so many bad decisions you can make in a row before you have to stop lying to yourself Taylor. It is actually really funny how no matter how many times she is clearly the villain in the scenario, she justifies it as her trying to be a hero. Like, maybe at the start of the book, but afterwards she is just lying to herself.

 

[Kraftykidd]

Like Hmmm... with his different alchemy potions, he can do different stuff. Maybe some fun recreational portions? Like Mood Color Eyes, Kalaeidoscope Hair. Definitely should have a fun line of merchandise. Also should have Apeiron merchandise of his stuff, like his Transformer as a Plushie.

Hmmm... maybe a brand new game system that has amazing run speed and works with computer or console controls seamlessly?

 

[andreykl]

But aside from healing stuff what could he sell that's make good money and shiz and be popular?

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1. Power cells and other compact power sources, he has access to lots of different and safe ones (and his perks make them Last), market (demand?) for reliable, portable and cheap power sources is growing constantly due to failing economy and industry
2. Single use powers in bottles - potions. Depends on which he is comfortable trading, but PRT is going to be very happy to buy those.
3. Materials, he has access to lots of different ones, all useful. For example heat absorbing one would have solved the issue with Armsmaster's nano-thorn. The likes of folded-carbon, adamantium and cybertronium probably aren't safe to sell.
4. Fertilizers, soil and harvest enchanting trinkets - agricultural industry is going down the drain and as long as Joe proves that his trinkets are safe, he will be golden
5. Tectonic cores (or whatever the things that are enchanting his workshop's selfrepair are called), as I understand it, they can be very flexible and at least some of the effects are safe to distribute and are marketable.
6. Medigel
7. Omni gel based printers with some preprogramed blueprints like medical appliances, emergency related items (good even for civilian market as long as Joe hardware locks those from printing weapons) and recyclers that make omni-gel.
8. Weather control stations (he has a theory in Star Treck tech plus a lot of other tech bases and magic, weather control should be trivial)
9. Sensor equipment, real science is probably at the low, but still should enjoy high precision sensors.

P.S. The question is not what he can make, but who is the buyer, because Joe can offer something to almost anybody.

 

[zerak]

Snip

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He can probably also sell a software subscription or just make an open source software library.

He can also sell artwork

 

[Kraftykidd]

He could also make the purely electrical/alternative long lasting power versions of vehicles, and other machines used in building, digging, etc. make them out of materials that aren't exotic but still very strong and the like, and use his artistic stuff to make them really good looking. No magic or anything else, just really really good machines. Maybe some super fast with amazing storage ships to restart the shipping industry? What about doing some roadwork where he installs something that at the moment of an accident stops the vehicles involved and reduces the force to help those hit survive? What about stuff for firefighters to work better be it protective suits or fire extinguishing gear? Advanced workout equipment that with some of his perks and maybe some magic(Elven Enchanting?) make working out a lot better and easier?

Man, thinking about it he could literally make any and everything and they'd but it up and he'd do well. Idea, what about buying some automated but still perk affected farmland, that he then processed all the ingredients into produce and ingredient packs that get the benefit of his crafting perks so he has a good brand concerning so many different things that is super good while being easily affordable?

 

[ZalgoAlter]

3. Materials, he has access to lots of different ones, all useful. For example heat absorbing one would have solved the issue with Armsmaster's nano-thorn. The likes of folded-carbon, adamantium and cybertronium probably aren't safe to sell.

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The problem with this is the difficulty of working with these materials when you can't treat them like Iron using perks. Without the Machinery needed you will only get a shiny and expensive piece of Junk.

 

[Kraftykidd]

The problem with this is the difficulty of working with these materials when you can't treat them like Iron using perks. Without the Machinery needed you will only get a shiny and expensive piece of Junk.

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I mean then at that point he can either sell machines to handle the materials, or do made to order parts of said materials. Maybe send out samples with what they can do, and a pricing of general shape and size of parts others would want to use?

 

[prussiangrandier]

Um but there's an issue with either because Ziz is not a mind reader she can't read minds at all she just a Post- and Pre-cog that can pretend to be one, like tattletale tries to do every time and it wouldn't work with Jack because broadcast only works on shards, which again Joe doesn't have to worry about Jack being to pull he's a usual thing because Joe isn't a Parahuman.

Edit: tho then again it may be useful against masters, not all of them but some.

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He has a shard, that shard however is human and will not be telling stuff to jacks shard cuz that shard can go fuck itself

Huh, it looks like there are paths to minimize or deal with a lot of the (current; there'll be more, no doubt) issues.

As @Savoled noted, Tetra can be a way to explain away the transformation. She just needs some way to communicate with others (perhaps an Apeiron-built translator device that goes from IR pulses to speech) and she can be a Case 53 (in fiber form) that can transform Apeiron through a kind of merging - after all, the one time the transformation was seen involved her being tangled up with him.

There wouldn't even need to be much if any lying on her part if ever asked about her origins - "Apeiron didn't make me - he found me and helped me" is fairly accurate if a bit misleading. And her form is rather more extreme than but not *that* far off Garrotes. Like Garment, she'd fit the circumstances of a Case 53 fairly closely - and if Apeiron helps out a couple more Case 53s, then there's an easy enough pattern for someone to 'see'.

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there are other string-like case 53s like Black Forest made of antennae and chantilly that looked like lace, she even accessorized with real lace as a fashion statement

heck she may already be coming to BB just to commission clothes from Garment

Indeed. But to take any position he need to interact with them.

Even our modern science know how and able to do so. So yes - he definitely can do it without any effort.

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on this case just a miss milita with a flyer and do cloud seeding

I genuinely have no idea if that would work. Being in a state of superposition effectively means you are both present and not present and are only confirmed to be one or the other when interacted with by an outside force. The issue is that I think Sting would still interact with both potentialities, both hitting you and missing you at the same time.

In short, I don't think superposition would be a valid defence against String, mainly because of Sting's multiversal nature. In regards to something like Siberian or other annihilator capes, it might work.

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sting affects breakers so it porbably works

the siberian should be incapable of defeating a breaker or high enough power

like acid bath and fog, but them again they cant stop her either

I'm pretty sure that the lack of bloat was because of how he has Perks that let him remove excess complexity. Realistically he'd never be able to do that and end up with a functional program without other Perks like the modularity one or the scrap-salvaging one. It'd be so rigid that imperfections in substrate stability would tear it apart. It'd fall apart the second that a bit was out of its expected location.

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yes but its Apeirons substrate e within a Aperions protective barrier on Apeirons pocket dimension,there wont be a bit out of place

1. NEPEA-5 is USA only, if Joe starts selling advanced tech and materials aboard (he is perfectly capable of living in USA and 'working' aboard) the result is likely to ruin NEPEA-5 simply because everybody will question 'why can they have cool things made by USA citizen and we can't?'
2. Uppercrust clearly can work without being arrested. So at minimum there are workarounds around NEPEA-5. Same is true for Dragon, Parian, Scapegoat, Strider.
3. Joe can focus on tinkers and sell materials and tech to tinkers and PRT, selling to those shouldn't be limited by NEPEA-5, otherwise it will seriously harm both protectorate and PRT (like Dragon's foam)
4. Joe isn't hurting for cash all that much, he should be capable of setting donation-based system and run a 'healing charity', it will bring enough cash even if somewhat unstable.

P.S. I suspect that the moment Joe presents some of the materials he has access to, NEPEA-5 will be waved away for him, nobody in their right mind will ignore parts from adamantium, which's anti-and bringer rated material and will be distributed as such (with haste and quite often with zero f***s given).

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first selling tinker tech across international borders is likely super illegal, and one of the first rules on tinker tech

the protectorate in fanon will stop on international criminals like a sack of brick

and it's also fanon that parahuman law is mostly a case-by-case basis that generally benefits the PRT

the key phrase in their right mind, and with the Simurgh and conflict drives that isn't a thing

the angel did target the biggest most powerful rogue on the planet after all and turn him into a puppet mass murder

the PRT hates rogues because they buck the party line, villains give the PRT a reason to exist, heros give the protectorate a reason to exist

rouges don't, it basic cannon that the PRT does that, if you are an unrepented murder they will play ball and "let" you escape, if you are just a normal guy that committed a mistake then they will do everything in their power to ruin your life

 

[Tisaku]

wanted to go for size of quantity I was

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or

was paying between 2.5% or 0.5% of the mana cost of

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either

 

[JamesRick29]

He has a shard, that shard however is human and will not be telling stuff to jacks shard cuz that shard can go fuck itself

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See that's the thing, Lord explain that Jack broadcast shard wouldn't work on Joe at all because what Joe have isn't a shard, because the fact is Joe isn't actually a Parahuman in the sense others in universe think so. Heck Lord said Jack is getting nothing, zero from Joe from his power. Joe is already immune to Jack, the same way Chen(the guy who got his aura unlock) is immune to Jack, because neither aren't actually Parahumans and both can wipe the floor with Jack in a one on one fight.

Edit: Just making a suggestion on the Jack thing.

 

[Utterly Depraved]

Well, there was a lot more of the chapter devoted to magic (and Fate magic in particular) then I'd have liked...but it wasn't all that. The rest was also mostly 'meh' in impact, though that as least had nothing to do with it's delivery. It's just that 'review' is indeed an apt title, and it mostly just covered issues we have known about for quite some time now. With only a few more details to spice things up and no plans to resolve them? Well, it makes sense in the context of the character (who just had surgery and desperately needs sleep), but it is still all largely stuff we've seen before.

That just leaves the phone-call to come. This I'm more ambivalent about. Obviously I personally prefer more time-progression and character interaction, but saving the Weld call for the next fic could mean we see it through other characters, and that is always nice.

On a separate note, Joe is branching out...his FASHION. Seriously.



These are all critical components of Joe's developing style. An edgy weapon with aura-resonant aesthetics, dominant military garb, and an instinct to pose that combined with the other two leans towards 'Dominant'.


Now we have this:


Combined with the recently earned (but harder to find) Perks that give Joe some of Hestia's empathy, a more normalized build, and kemonomimi, and he has become cute. What now is the true style? Military dominance and an Aura that responds to edge do not mix well with Natural Puppy. Classy Contortionist might still fit all too well, but the tone would be entirely different. But all of these perks still apply. So what will it be?

Personally I'm betting on the more non-combat Natural Puppy being a 'home' look while the edge stays on the super suit. The advantage edgy gear gives to Aura is too useful in combat to give up, while NP blends inherently well with Joe's new features. Ones that he will be most comfortable having out (i.e not restricted by armor) in a private setting (no public or bio-tinker shenanigans), and in need of magical senses (mostly in study and creation). Now the question is who (besides the already inoculated like Imp or the AI) will first be exposed to this dichotomy?

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I beg to differ. A military themed aesthetic combined with a humble one should naturally result in a civil servant looking theme.

Also I would just like to point out that there's no reason why he couldn't make his transforming weapon come with deployable spikes rather then permanently deployed ones like he currently has.

1. NEPEA-5 is USA only, if Joe starts selling advanced tech and materials aboard (he is perfectly capable of living in USA and 'working' aboard) the result is likely to ruin NEPEA-5 simply because everybody will question 'why can they have cool things made by USA citizen and we can't?'
2. Uppercrust clearly can work without being arrested. So at minimum there are workarounds around NEPEA-5. Same is true for Dragon, Parian, Scapegoat, Strider.
3. Joe can focus on tinkers and sell materials and tech to tinkers and PRT, selling to those shouldn't be limited by NEPEA-5, otherwise it will seriosly harm both protectorate and PRT (like Dragon's foam)
4. Joe isn't hurting for cash all that much, he should be capable of setting donation based system and run 'healing charity', it will bring enough cash even if somewhat unstable.

P.S. I suspect that the moment Joe presents some of the materials he has access to, NEPEA-5 will be waved away for him, nobody in their right mind will ignore parts from adamantium, that's anti-endbringer rated material and will be distributed as such (with haste and quite often with zero f***s given).

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Funnily enough I believe that this would already be covered by anti-dumping laws that protect unexploitative businesses from needing to compete with products that are only able to be as cheap as they are because of exploitative business practices.

that depends on what your power can do.

NEPEA-5 seems to restrict parahumans from competing with "normal" businesses, but does not stop them from offering "unique" services, especially in regards to dealing with other parahumans.



Dragon makes her money by selling to the PRT (confoam especially) which of course counts as such a unique service.
(I have read a lot of Fanon about Dragonphones, but was unable to find a mention of them in canon.)

Parian makes puppet shows and bespoke clothing. Her powers also don't grant her any advantage in the later.

It's unknown how legal Scapegoats services are. Tats lowered her voice when she said she was paying him well.

How Striders supposed business works is wholly unknown, we only ever see him teleporting during the Endbringer battle.

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...This actually gives me a thought. How would Dragon be forced to respond to containment foam production being made a mundane business? Especially since she's forced to comply with local laws.

How much focus do you think the Undersiders need exactly? He could handle most of their needs twenty minutes tops if he actually focused on them. Brian--you want your little sister safe? She works for me and Garment now, I give her the really good tech. She's the safest person in the city. Rachel--you want to save all the doggos? Here's a half ton of gold. Buy as much land as you need for shelters, we'll raid the Empires fighting rings and I'll spend 10 minutes healing them all completely. Alec--you want to be safe from your father/family? Have a seat on that couch right over there, he'll never find you. Taylor--you want to take down Coil? So do I. Here's our plan. I.. actually don't know what Lisa wants, don't really care either, she can run off and do whatever after Coil is defeated.

And you know what? While he is doing all that, his clones and AIs can be doing all the other things you have listed, with no delays at all caused by the Undersiders. Lets face it--the only reason not to help them is because some people are tired of reading about them. That's fair, they can be a bit monotonous after reading your 95th fanfic that stars them. But there really isn't any reason to discard what could be made into useful tools against all the troubles facing Earth Bet. Apeiron can doubtless defeat any of the enemies, but maybe not all at once. He will need allies. And why not start with the ones that are already almost your underlings anyway? I really don't see how he would have to decide between the Undersiders or literally anything else. He is the great Apeiron. He can do it all, and make you like it.

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I thought that it was in character concerns about knock-on effects from helping them.

Also I would have thought that a multi-story bunker full of some AR technology would have been best for storing large amounts of animals humanely and enjoyable. That or go full The Matrix and put them into some pods. That'd probably save massively on space. There'd be no reason not to do that if Rachel was fine with it.

I stand corrected about NEPEA-5. My point went a bit off the rails at the end, but ultimately, as said above, Joe assisting the undersiders is not a massive hinderance, and what else do you want him to do at the moment?
I think Apeiron running a business would actually be pretty helpful to BB, but obviously it will be hard to get there. Might end up having to pull a Defiant if the villain accusations stick; "I am Boundless. Apeiron? Do I look anything like him? I mean I get that I have great quality too, but I'm much better than that scrub. Shop at Boundless' Bartering! We accept many things as pay!"

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To be entirely fair it might actually be worth it to set up some system for categorizing and facilitating the trade of resources and services between individuals on a larger scale. Like Joe currently is kind of trash at figuring out what he can do for others and what others can do for him but there's also the fact that the city he's in is sucks at trading goods and services and generating supply in response to demand.

Seriously though you've got a surplus of laborers and a demand for what money can buy but they struggle to a insane degree to turn the former into the latter and to coordinate to make the job of doing so easier.

Weld is a hero. The Undersiders are villains. There is a difference. Despite fanon perception, they really aren't good people. Weld is shown to be a good person. There is a difference. Taylor really isn't a good person either. She just thinks she is when where reading from her perspective. Seriously, there is only so many bad decisions you can make in a row before you have to stop lying to yourself Taylor. It is actually really funny how no matter how many times she is clearly the villain in the scenario, she justifies it as her trying to be a hero. Like, maybe at the start of the book, but afterwards she is just lying to herself.

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Hey you remember that time that Weld led a mob of Case 53s to the people trying to prevent the end of humanity and then acted all surprised when they wanted to murder them?

Like Hmmm... with his different alchemy potions, he can do different stuff. Maybe some fun recreational portions? Like Mood Color Eyes, Kalaeidoscope Hair. Definitely should have a fun line of merchandise. Also should have Apeiron merchandise of his stuff, like his Transformer as a Plushie.

Hmmm... maybe a brand new game system that has amazing run speed and works with computer or console controls seamlessly?

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He could probably make a factory able to make party favors like that for him.

sting affects breakers so it porbably works

the siberian should be incapable of defeating a breaker or high enough power

like acid bath and fog, but them again they cant stop her either

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The thing about that is that effecting that particular pseudo-Breaker State would prevent it from effecting the subject in that Breaker State is what I was getting at. Like it should actually be more harmful to the thing itself if it was able to interact with the thing according to the mechanics of the pseudo-Breaker State. Effecting the State should define the effected area as where the subject of the State couldn't/wouldn't be.

See that's the thing, Lord explain that Jack broadcast shard wouldn't work on Joe at all because what Joe have isn't a shard, because the fact is Joe isn't actually a Parahuman in the sense others in universe think so. Heck Lord said Jack is getting nothing, zero from Joe from his power. Joe is already immune to Jack, the same way Chen(the guy who got his aura unlock) is immune to Jack, because neither aren't actually Parahumans and both can wipe the floor with Jack in a one on one fight.

Edit: Just making a suggestion on the Jack thing.

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That actually gives me the thought that Joe could get a Shard of his own at some point.

 

[JamesRick29]

That actually gives me the thought that Joe could get a Shard of his own at some point.

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I mean it is a possibility(I could be wrong) but it's doubtful Joe unlike every Parahuman in that setting is seeking to improve his mental health, and a few of his powers(plus AI, Clones and Garment) more or less is pushing him into a better headspace then compare to the good chunk pf people in Worm. With Spiral power and a few others it more or less guarantees will not trigger, well not that easily, his mind is slowly but surely changing and becoming stronger.

 

[Utterly Depraved]

I mean it is a possibility(I could be wrong) but it's doubtful Joe unlike every Parahuman in that setting is seeking to improve his mental health, and a few of his powers(plus AI, Clones and Garment) more or less is pushing him into a better headspace then compare to the good chunk pf people in Worm. With Spiral power and a few others it more or less guarantees will not trigger, well not that easily, his mind is slowly but surely changing and becoming stronger.

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Well I don't exactly mean that he'd get a Shard by natural means or even a entirely natural or pristine Shard at all. It's just that he does somewhat have access to a bunch of types of highly advanced pseudo-crystalline wetware. Specifically wetware that's developed a highly refined method of connecting to beings transdimensionally. It'd be a shame not to use it for something.

My personal preference would be that he gets his hands on something like the Butchers Shard since he'd almost definitely be able to prevent the side-effects of having it, even just the standard side-effects of being a parahuman and at the Host side of the connection, and be able to really dig into the Shard itself to get what he might want out of it.

 

[andreykl]

first selling tinker tech across international borders is likely super illegal, and one of the first rules on tinker tech

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That should only be relevant if tinkertech crosses border. Which means there are at least two workarounds:
1. Sell not tinkertech. While Joe by this point can not make not tinkertech, he can easily make a small factory that will be churring out reproducible futuretech that he can't sell in USA because of his unfair advantage, but can ship into other countries. Tinker made advanced materials also shouldn't count as tinkertech.
2. Make tinkertech not in USA (or move out entirely). Joe should have a number of options to travel long distances fast. Plus a factory in other country is still a possibility - stay at home while your legal factory across border churs out tinkertech.

P. S. If Joe takes a flight to somewhere in Europe, builds and cells something, Joe's biggest obstacles will be paperwork. But ultimately that is not nessesary, selling a single knife to Elite or PRT will make him enough income to cover his needs for a while.

The problem with this is the difficulty of working with these materials when you can't treat them like Iron using perks.

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That's true only on a case by case basis. Joe has access to lots of different materials. Some of Dust-metals should be feasible to work with without aura or advanced machinery. Some of Warhammer materials can be worked with little relative difficulty. Gundanium is only producible in zero G, but otherwise it can be treated like regular super-alloy. ME ceramics (unless they need to be gravity pressed) should be as workable as any other ceramics. Etc...
And in case of materials that can't be treated normally, like heat absorbing dust-metal or ME gravity pressed alloys, Joe can set a small printer, a site to upload blueprints to and earn money by printing and shipping ready parts without personally making those parts. Funnily enough that shouldn't count as selling tinkertech

I wanted to point out that Joe is hurting for cash

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I meant it more like he doesn't need cash to stay active, and things can stay that way almost indefinitely (minus tax services) . And in a sense that a tiny or unstable income is likely to cover his needs completely.

 

[Chronocidal]

...This actually gives me a thought. How would Dragon be forced to respond to containment foam production being made a mundane business? Especially since she's forced to comply with local laws.

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By quoting Patent Law, and refusing to have it manufactured in any country that tries to make such a ridiculous law? The only country that could come anywhere close to forcing her to continue containment foam production would be Canada (since that's where she lives), and I'm pretty sure that the precedent it would set means that other people would fight to have the law repealed and declared unconstitutional on Dragon's behalf, if only to prevent similar laws being targeted at them.

 

[Vyrexuviel]

By quoting Patent Law, and refusing to have it manufactured in any country that tries to make such a ridiculous law? The only country that could come anywhere close to forcing her to continue containment foam production would be Canada (since that's where she lives), and I'm pretty sure that the precedent it would set means that other people would fight to have the law repealed and declared unconstitutional on Dragon's behalf, if only to prevent similar laws being targeted at them.

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Uhhh, I thought that the question was "what if people found a way to start manufacturing Confoam without tinkertech involvement, as a completely mundane product that didn't need Dragon's tinker-level manufacturing equipment?"

Would the already passed NEPEA-5 laws then force Dragon to stop making confoam in order to comply with the law?

 

[Utterly Depraved]

By quoting Patent Law, and refusing to have it manufactured in any country that tries to make such a ridiculous law? The only country that could come anywhere close to forcing her to continue containment foam production would be Canada (since that's where she lives), and I'm pretty sure that the precedent it would set means that other people would fight to have the law repealed and declared unconstitutional on Dragon's behalf, if only to prevent similar laws being targeted at them.

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Uhhh, I thought that the question was "what if people found a way to start manufacturing Confoam without tinkertech involvement, as a completely mundane product that didn't need Dragon's tinker-level manufacturing equipment?"

Would the already passed NEPEA-5 laws then force Dragon to stop making confoam in order to comply with the law?

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To be fair though it'd probably need to be something effectively identical but distinctly different to avoid patent laws. That being said though yeah once she was a parahuman competing with local mundane businesses that law would almost definitely be in effect so I'd have to wonder how it'd impact her.

Edit: that being said it'd probably not prevent her from producing it for personal use. It's just that the exchange of it would be of questionable legality.

 

[Chronocidal]

Uhhh, I thought that the question was "what if people found a way to start manufacturing Confoam without tinkertech involvement, as a completely mundane product that didn't need Dragon's tinker-level manufacturing equipment?"

Would the already passed NEPEA-5 laws then force Dragon to stop making confoam in order to comply with the law?

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Perhaps in America, but Dragon still owns the patent — so it is illegal to manufacture without her permission/approval — and can move any production in the USA to Canada (where she lives) which isn't covered by NEPEA-5. And, since Dragon doesn't maintain a civilian identity, this means that at least one parahuman (Dragon) must, by law, be involved in the production of ConFoam (at the bare minimum level of "licensing the patent")

All that might do is make it illegal for Dragon to sell ConFoam to the PRT, unless they pass an exception or repeal NEPEA-5.

(Dragon, being Dragon, is likely to coöperate and assist with creation of a company to produce ConFoam via the non-parahuman method, if only to ensure that it maintains reasonable limitations on who it — or, more importantly, the release agent — can be sold to, especially if the method can be scaled until cheaper or more efficient than her existing method. But, the opportunity to legally hit back against a law she might disagree with could also appeal to her.)

 

[LuxPurplishGreen]

Ignoring the legal derail and going back to the cash question:

The thing is that Aperion has a bunch of ways of making money quickly, but ironically enough he doesn't really need any cash. He has or can make more or less anything in his workshop - including multiplication of food, plus a place to live.

It is Joe, the normal unemployed college dropout guy, that is short on cash. Or more specifically: cash that he can explain where it came from. I mean, he could easily make money in his cape identity and use it in his civilian life, but that might rise questions and pull attention to Joe if he isn't careful.

X chapters back he mentioned that he thought that as long as he only used a small amount of "unexplained cash" it would simply look like he had some sort of under the table work. That wouldn't be unusual with BB being what it is - but if he started to do big purchases, like moving to a better apartment or owning up to having that awesome restored bike, then it clearly looks like he is involved in something criminal. It's the most likely way to get that much money fast after all.

An amusing solution to this going forward would be to have Joe be officially employed by Garment once she get her shop up and running. He could be put down as a part timer and that small income would be enough to explain how he can pay his rent and so on - plus it would confirm the gym guys idea that he's doing henching in a completely unexpected way (does it count as henching if the cape is a rogue?).

 

[theflyingbiscuit]

P.S. The question is not what he can make, but who is the buyer, because Joe can offer something to almost anybody.

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10. "Behold my real money making machine."
*whirling sound*
*thunk*
" ... Isn't that just counterfeiting?"
"Perfect counterfeiting, even pops up on the government accounts."

11.
"Behold Apecoin. Backed by my full faith and credit."

I meant it more like he doesn't need cash to stay active, and things can stay that way almost indefinitely (minus tax services) . And in a sense that a tiny or unstable income is likely to cover his needs completely

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Joe vs the IRS.

 

[Utterly Depraved]

Perhaps in America, but Dragon still owns the patent — so it is illegal to manufacture without her permission/approval — and can move any production in the USA to Canada (where she lives) which isn't covered by NEPEA-5. And, since Dragon doesn't maintain a civilian identity, this means that at least one parahuman (Dragon) must, by law, be involved in the production of ConFoam (at the bare minimum level of "licensing the patent")

All that might do is make it illegal for Dragon to sell ConFoam to the PRT, unless they pass an exception or repeal NEPEA-5.

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Yeah as I said change that requirement, or make something equivalent that would be in competition with it, and shit would get fucky. Probably the only way around it would be to claim that Dragon Brand Containment Foam was a Veblen Good and thus that it couldn't compete with a off-brand product by definition.

Ignoring the legal derail and going back to the cash question:

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It's a tangent instead of a derail since it's still on topic for the thread itself but don't worry.

The thing is that Aperion has a bunch of ways of making money quickly, but ironically enough he doesn't really need any cash. He has or can make more or less anything in his workshop - including multiplication of food, plus a place to live.

It is Joe, the normal unemployed college dropout guy, that is short on cash. Or more specifically: cash that he can explain where it came from. I mean, he could easily make money in his cape identity and use it in his civilian life, but that might rise questions and pull attention to Joe if he isn't careful.

X chapters back he mentioned that he thought that as long as he only used a small amount of "unexplained cash" it would simply look like he had some sort of under the table work. That wouldn't be unusual with BB being what it is - but if he started to do big purchases, like moving to a better apartment or owning up to having that awesome restored bike, then it clearly looks like he is involved in something criminal. It's the most likely way to get that much money fast after all.

An amusing solution to this going forward would be to have Joe be officially employed by Garment once she get her shop up and running. He could be put down as a part timer and that small income would be enough to explain how he can pay his rent and so on - plus it would confirm the gym guys idea that he's doing henching in a completely unexpected way (does it count as henching if the cape is a rogue?).

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Probably a bad idea. Hiring your own civilian identity is probably old hat for the Cape community.

What else would work...Would possibly be getting employed by Danny.

11.
"Behold Apecoin. Backed by my full faith and credit."

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Survey would totally be good at managing a cryptocurrency.

Joe vs the IRS.

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I legitimately wonder what the logistics of declaring independence would be and whether it would be more trouble then being subject to national laws.

 

[LuxPurplishGreen]

It's a tangent instead of a derail since it's still on topic for the thread itself but don't worry.

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*Wince* Forgot that derail has a specific meaning on a forum. (my bad)

Anyway, you're right that having Joe be hired by Garment might be too obvious. Damn. It would have been fun to see the reactions to his new boss.

Getting hired by Danny probably isn't very likely at this point - the man has enough trouble finding work for his dockworkers as it is. Joe needs to find (or fake) some minor work elsewhere. He just need a tiny income for the books...

So what talents does Joe have that can be used for a small job? He did engineering at college, could he spin that to make it look like he is good with computers? Have Survey write some simple software and sell?

 

[Utterly Depraved]

*Wince* Forgot that derail has a specific meaning on a forum. (my bad)

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As I said don't worry.

Anyway, you're right that having Joe be hired by Garment might be too obvious. Damn. It would have been fun to see the reactions to his new boss.

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They could probably stand to be a bit more yelled at then Garment can manage though. Like I get that she could probably curse out someones entire bloodline with a pose but Danny seems like he'd be better getting the point across to Joes family.

Getting hired by Danny probably isn't very likely at this point - the man has enough trouble finding work for his dockworkers as it is. Joe needs to find (or fake) some minor work elsewhere. He just need a tiny income for the books...

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Well you say that but I bet that there's going to be a lot of construction work and whatnot to be done soon enough.

So what talents does Joe have that can be used for a small job? He did engineering at college, could he spin that to make it look like he is good with computers? Have Survey write some simple software and sell?

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Set up a few vending machines around the place?

 

[LuxPurplishGreen]

Vending machines would absolutely give him money, but he need legal on-the-books money for tax and stuff. He would need to start some kind of vending machine company to get it on paper. Not sure if it's worth it.

Although it would fulfill one of the main criteria for Joe's potential work... He need his civilian work to be something that doesn't take up hours of his time and force him to be at a specific place. That would both be an awful waste of time, and he might actually have a hard time not outing himself as a cape because of his always-on perks.

Maybe make a Joe-bot and send it to work retail? It could be programmed to have the insane patience needed

Edit: Retail would actually be a bad idea. the social interaction would possibly be too much for a VI driven bot and Murphy's Law states that someone he knows would show up and try to talk with Joe...

Refining the idea: Make a bot that is driven by a decent VI but has a quantum communicator linking it back to Joe's main computer. That way Joe or any of his copies can "drive" the bot during any tricky social situations but still leave it on autopilot for repetitive work. Doing pizza-delivery would actually work great. Just personally control the bot when he clocks in and out, then have Fleet do the driving during delivery, and make the VI do the rest.