Skitterdoc 2077
- Thread starter SpiraSpira
- Start date
- Crossover
I don't know if it was intended this way but I quite like datums over data in this sort of context. Data as the correct plural implies a cohesiveness to the data whereas datums seems to get at the discrete nature of the each individual datum. Probably just a mistake but language should be played with as long as it doesn't reduce comprehension (unless that itself is a desirable thing in context).
If you take it from Latin, personally, I prefer if you use it right:
the plural form of -um is -a
So even though the correct English plural of status is statuses, I personally consider said correct English plural form to be stupid. Do the right thing and start using stati instead, if enough people do so, the Oxford Dictionary must give in
- Location
- Germany
I really do not get it. Those guys are not maelstrom gangers with much gun battle experience.
Being a "scary tech wizard in corpo world outback" is basically being a legal dictator and they KNOW people who can implant them and LET THEM GO have a reason to be confident. Just an unaffiliated member scouting trip around the "dead zone" of Taylors Digs would be enough to make any "angry gun-gamer gang scum" think twice about coming back for "revenge" since they can look up some of the specs of even only the "open" defences.
Being a "scary tech wizard in corpo world outback" is basically being a legal dictator and they KNOW people who can implant them and LET THEM GO have a reason to be confident. Just an unaffiliated member scouting trip around the "dead zone" of Taylors Digs would be enough to make any "angry gun-gamer gang scum" think twice about coming back for "revenge" since they can look up some of the specs of even only the "open" defences.
She mentioned many times in this chapter that she doesn't have enough security to protect the building until she puts this borg gang together. She clearly values the lives of Kiwi and her team more than a bunch of scavs, why would she even take the risk if she can make sure that group will never be an issue ever again.
You clearly don't have enough faith in her if you think she will let the bombs go off for any reason other than physical proximity to her building, it's not like that function would require net access. Also she is definitely skilled enough to make sure no one can remove the bomb without killing the person anyway.
This entire story she has been slowly going more and more native. Ever since she spared those scavs while working as an EMT and the cops said that she should have just killed them, she has known that you can't apply Earth Bet morals to NC. Also if you have forgotten, she has literally pulled out the brains of her enemies to use as spider-bots before.
Also I don't know what makes you think it is only an off-chance for those gang members who clearly enjoyed the use of that specific building with all it's BD tech working inside. Taylor's whole NC motto is "never give an enemy a small injury." If they think they have a chance to take it back, they will try.
- Location
- France
- Pronouns
- She/They
The guys are clearly not an issue? She took all of them down despite being constrained to nonlethal means. A merc squad would make mincemeat of them if they ignored a warning that doesn't come with bombs.
Making the bomb explode if you try to remove it makes what she did much worse, I hope you get that? Like, this is what slavers do in fiction.
And I have no idea how you'd remotely activate a bomb without some kind of input. And if you have an input, someone can hack it.
Also, if we have faith in her and her shard powered answers, she could easily have made something that makes them feel ill if they approach the building instead. The fact she went to this specific comic book villain answer is what disturbs me, not the slow slide into native pragmatism which I think is a solid part of the story.
Going native would be just shooting them. She's going Earth Bet villain on them here, with an unnecessarily convoluted answer that will follow them for the rest of their life for the crime of... Being on property that wasn't even hers when they started squatting?
She went to the whole effort of taking them down nonlethally before doing this, which feels completely jarring. It's not pragmatically going native. It's an incongruous blend of mercy and over the top villain scheme.
I think there is a big difference between a group not being an issue when they have no idea someone is after them, stealthily going through and taking them one by one and catching many of them mid-BD while they are completely defenceless and an entire group of 20+ members actively attacking a fixed location guarded by a much smaller security team. The security team has to sleep while doing 'round the clock shifts, an entire crew attacking them at the right time could do major damage to Kiwi's crew and Taylor obviously values them more.
I didn't say the bomb would go off if they tried to take it out, I said that whatever street ripper that gang can afford would likely kill them trying to get it out. My understanding is that the bomb itself only contains a geo-pin that will activate automatically if they get close, not an open net connection that they manually trigger when the scavs get close.
Also I don't think this is a use of her shard powers except for maybe the installation, if she actually implemented a system to make them sick if they get close she would have to constantly maintain that device the same way she does the Haywire pairs, because that's how tinkertech works.
Yes going native would be just killing them and taking any parts out that she wants. That she hasn't done that means that she still has some Bet morals. From her perspective she is allowing those scavs to go on living and maybe even turn their lives around. She's not dumb though, if she doesn't put the fear in them they will just gather strength and attack the building to take it back. Whether they succeed or not, people and things she actually cares about will be hurt by it.
I think you are underestimating them because she took them out so easily, but she had the element of surprise. If they attack back it will be them who surprise her.
- Location
- SoCal
They were easy because she ninja'd them while they were totally unaware. They're not unaware any more. She has few defenses and knows it will be difficult to add more due to the current war. The mercs haven't moved in yet and one is a friend so she doesn't want to take unnecessary risks. This was her compromise between her morals and pragmatism.
Sure, but I don't know why you think she did?
AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Just wanna say, they aren't Scavs... they're literally just some squatters. Probably workers from one of Pacifica's stalled construction projects or shut-down businesses to be exact. Taylor herself even says the most they've done is "Drugs and break things." Especially since they've been squatting there before she owned the place, wouldn't be surprised if they used to work there or something, or somewhere else nearby.
So if they do have buddies I wouldn't expect a full-on gang war or something to pop up, unless some of them were Haitian. In that case the Voodoo Boys might decide to make themselves her problem.
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Because she is an extremely skilled ripperdoc and anyone else that gang tries to hire/extort to remove their bombs likely won't be skilled enough to remove a bomb from within someone's brain without killing them anyway.
That doesn't make sense at all, moving devices in or out of people's brains is normal cyberpunk work.
Taylor could probably make implant bombs with overwhelming countermeasures if she wanted. But could isn't did.
Okay, you're right that they are not necessarily scavs. In the previous chapter she described them as a "drug gang similar to the Merchants". I really doubt they are former construction workers though, because they would have pulled out when the Corps did. Even if they were former workers, the comparison to the Merchants is not a good one, and anyone who stays in Pacifica knowing what's happening there is likely no longer looking for gainful employment.
Edit:
It is my (possibly incorrect) understanding that a lot of the cybernetics in Cyberpunk are essentially plug-and-play. They also generally attach to the brain rather than being installed within the brain. I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't trust Doc Borg from edgerunners or other street-level rippers to go rooting around inside my brain and then put it all back together properly.
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MageOhki on SB asked me a question in a DM that I thought I would answer here too:
From their perspective, her upbringing in Brockton Bay unintentionally puts out a lot of signals that she isn't interested in any relationships, kind of like if one of us from the modern era tried to flirt with a Victorian lady snatched out of time and placed in the 2000s.
In this story, she is borderline asexual. I suppose the term is "demisexual." She might be open to a relationship with a few people (Gloria, Evelyn, Kiwi maybe Jean or Ruslan before they betrayed her) but she both finds it difficult to make any first moves, as well she gets "comfortable" with them just being friends and doesn't want to ruin that either.
From their perspective, her upbringing in Brockton Bay unintentionally puts out a lot of signals that she isn't interested in any relationships, kind of like if one of us from the modern era tried to flirt with a Victorian lady snatched out of time and placed in the 2000s.
AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Not really, that's how Pacifica became so full of Haitian refugees in canon, they were all there working jobs in the businesses and construction. Then when all the money and Corps pulled out, they 'let go' of all the workers as a cost-saving measure.
A lot of people didn't leave Pacifica when it went to shit, simply because they didn't have money to go anywhere else. So them forming into gangs/groups, claiming territory, and starting to diversify their portfolios is all basically survival 101.
While I could be reading into it too much, I think it's more Taylor's bias towards drugs as a whole that she'd label a gang of people constantly using drugs as 'like the Merchants' rather than her saying they go around forcefully addicting people and stuff like the Merchants do back in BB. I mean, I'm sure they would if they could to get the Eddies rolling in, but like 35 people isn't much and Pacifica at this point in time is devolving into a Combat Zone.
Which means if you so much as look at people funny you should probably expect to get shot/stabbed/etc. So I don't think they'd be willing to risk themselves like that, they seemingly mostly chill out in their hideout with Joytoys, Drugs, BDs, XBDs and play games.
- Location
- Aperture Laboratories
Personally I find the story perfectly fine and I like the whole focus on technology, cyberpunk dystopia nad transhumanism in general. I feel like romance would just complicate everything further.
I want to see her make crazy things and become a famous scientist in Arasaka that everyone looks for solutions and new inventions (maybe even rub shoulders with some actual Arasakas and work on secret projects that could change Japan and the world in general), I want to see her become a legendary doctor in Night City with people looking at her like they do Vik or Jhonny, to do whatever she's doing in space and who knows what more. I don't really want to see a drama of relationships between characters xD.
Mind you it's also probably because I personally have no interest in romance so I always see it as a complete waste of time in stories.
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- Location
- Philippines
Why the hell would you want to date someone from the Victorian era? I've heard horrible things about hygiene from that time, one of them being that one of the primary deterrent to rape is the smell.
On a more serious note, I have no idea how sex and relationships work in Cyberpunk. I wonder if Taylor is getting propositioned left and right but she doesn't quite understand.
Brains don't come with ports to attach stuff to. I don't think the street docs limit themselves to not installing new machine-meat interfaces.
Aurora Moon
Verfied Insomniac with too much time on her hands
- Location
- USA, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I can definitely see culture shifts and clashes at work here with that. like, have you seen what women from the 1921s were going gaga over?
an actor named Valentino, and his verison of what a Sheik was. And in those movies, he did everything varying from kidnapping women to what would be counted as Sexual assault, with the woman "learning" to love it eventually.
Today, it wouldn't be seen as very romantic at all but women were going gaga for it back then.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz7S4tCQhvo
Pretty sure she has been propositioned a number of times in the text, did understand, and declined.
Remember, Night City Taylor didn't entirely blend but she was raised to be functional in corp society. She's not socially clueless even if she's not a natural.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
I would like to see romance, or something: having all her relationships being her taking care of people gets kinda flat, seeing someone take care of Taylor would open a lot more new ground. We'd get to see how she works herself up to trusting, when she doesn't have leverage over the other person.
Idk if she can actually do it, at this point- paranoia from kidnapping, alienation from having too many secrets, general distain for rest and recreation. Plus the sense of superiority from being a super hero with multiple bodies- can she trust and be vulnerable to someone she regards as fundamentally lesser?
Who is Taylor with someone who isn't trying to use her, who she isn't trying to use? That's what I would like from a romance arc.
Idk if she can actually do it, at this point- paranoia from kidnapping, alienation from having too many secrets, general distain for rest and recreation. Plus the sense of superiority from being a super hero with multiple bodies- can she trust and be vulnerable to someone she regards as fundamentally lesser?
Who is Taylor with someone who isn't trying to use her, who she isn't trying to use? That's what I would like from a romance arc.
Akasha
The Only Truth
- Location
- 「̛̛́́ ͏̨҉̕͏ ͏̶̴」
And I just want to see her turn herself into an Entity. She's already well on her way, with multiple bodies that contribute knowledge, specialties and processing power to the Colony, and with her being able to understand Entity Speech with minimal strain (something that would probably melt the brain of a normal human). Mama Eden would be proud, if she wasn't a drooling vegetable.
That being said, Taylor/Kiwi OTP. I will go down with this ship.
That being said, Taylor/Kiwi OTP. I will go down with this ship.
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I personally ship The Taylor Hivemind with Edgecrusher. It would be a fitting sign of teenage rebellion for her to date a badboy with an edgy nickname like Edgecrusher. This would have some nice symmetry with the Eden x Zion pair from Worm. A Hivemind having sex with an AGI in cyberspace would probably look like two Entities spiraling around each other as seen during a trigger event (and cause brain damage to people watching 
).
).
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nicoo
Malfunctioning neurochemistry, please be kind.
- Location
- Europe
- Pronouns
- They/She/Meow
Thanks for the superb update, @SpiraSpira ! 😻
Also, it's a bit concerning you are seeing Yuki as being explicitly your pet, kind of dangerous to distance yourself from humanity. :3
If you succeed not just as the clinical work, but also spinning it right and surviving the political mud-flinging without too much egg on your face, I suspect Oxford will suddenly compete with shard-chan for who believes you to be the besthost alumnus. 
Seriously, though, this might get big:
- Economically, I suspect there's a lot of services that make sense for borgs and other highly-augmented individuals, that just do not currently exist except maybe "underground," like Taylor's word-of-mouth clinic. Having a "chrome district" where such things can openly exist, might bring in a lot of businesses, and possibly create a new form of medical- and services-tourism in Pacifica ;3
- Socially, giving people a space where they can be safe (without rejecting or hiding being a borg) and have constructive things to do, is going to be direly needed, to say nothing of the free healthcare.
- Politically, showing a borg community having a mostly-positive effect in their local area, with mostly sane members, is pretty much the opposite of the mainstream narrative.
Weather forecast for the coming episodes: high chance of shitstorm, localized high-intensity winds of change, and political hail leaving nobody unbruised. Night City denizens are asked to seek shelter as soon as possible, and remain calm until the situation is over.
Don't call it a gang, though, but something like a "neighborhood association" or such, maybe also get a PR firm. ;3
I'd worry about too openly "being the government" and rubbing it on Night City's council and Night Corp's collective face. 😬
The opposition I expect Taylor really has to worry about, is going to be governmental and corporate. Still, I guess Kiwi and her will take some measures that will be useful anyhow: for instance, entirely (and properly) air-gapping the security network will no-sell any sort of remote cyberattack... but that does take discipline most organizations do not have.
IRL, air-gapped networks have been breached because users were moving thumbdrives (or even entire computers) across the airgap. I would expect that in-story, people might think the boss is a bit of an idiot if she asks them to only interact with the security network (say, in the guard's cubby) over physical keyboards and screens. OTOH, mechanical keyboard time. ;3
It would be interesting to see Taylor tinker with a netrunner, like Kiwi, on novel black ICE etc. Assuming ICE is a mix of "traditional" computer security and cyber-neurology, first gaining access to the target's brain-computer interface then delivering signals to induce biological effects (from Taylor's short coma, to the standard heart attack, to the brain broiler) they could potentially do some cool stuff together, even though shard-chan has no interest in netrunning.
Could some Tinkertech black ICE do something similar to an interrogation under a trainable brain scanner? Or rather, adapt whatever Taylor pondered that would do it with an unconscious target, to keep the intruder unaware while pumping them for information about who they are, work for, what their target is, etc. and generally completely wreck their opsec. I guess the logical extreme would be packaging Soulkiller as a black ICE, killing the intruder and rendering them into a software emulation that can be interrogated, but that would be a lot less stealthy... and Taylor might not be willing to unleash that on random netrunners, or at least those who haven't made it deep into her web.
... wait a moment, is Taylor becoming Lolth, Queen of Spiders, Weaver of Webs, Lady of Shadows, Mistress of Lies, the... Fleshcarver? 🙀
Ohno. notes to always keep instant, wordless, stilled Plane Shift ready to go, but is too invested in the story to "pre-emptively escape."
Makes me wonder what kind of reputation Little Owl will have in some years, once the hottest netrunners around whisper rumors that breaching into her systems, is just forfeiting Her all your secrets, a fitting tribute toBig Brother Dark Mother.
Taylor, kink-shaming yourself isn't healthy. 😼
Also, it's a bit concerning you are seeing Yuki as being explicitly your pet, kind of dangerous to distance yourself from humanity. :3
Oooh, is that foreshadowing I see? It would be cool to see skill chips that better retain the original practitioners' proficiency, and maybe adapt/map it to the user so it feels more "natural" and integrates more easily with the user's own skillset; perhaps even break the blackbox around Tay's neural plasticity Tinkertech, and apply it selectively so people learn/internalize faster the chip's skills.
So, Taylor, you are basically running a study of noteworthy scale, for a novel treatment of cyberpsychosis, among Night City's borg population? I'm sure shard-chan is ecstatic, especially if you plan to take credit for the darn thing. Be careful, though: cyberpsychos are an oppressed minority, so deconstructing their othering (by showing there is no cohesive concept of "cyberpsychosis," as a pathology) and showing how to effectively and humanely treat it, is IMO likely to turn political very quickly.
If you succeed not just as the clinical work, but also spinning it right and surviving the political mud-flinging without too much egg on your face, I suspect Oxford will suddenly compete with shard-chan for who believes you to be the best
Mmmh. Socialized healthcare and housing, and creating a borg community where cyberpsychosis (and glitchy hardware in general) isn't normalized? Not a surprise that would help, but some (poorly-informed people) might call you communist for it. 😼
Seriously, though, this might get big:
- Economically, I suspect there's a lot of services that make sense for borgs and other highly-augmented individuals, that just do not currently exist except maybe "underground," like Taylor's word-of-mouth clinic. Having a "chrome district" where such things can openly exist, might bring in a lot of businesses, and possibly create a new form of medical- and services-tourism in Pacifica ;3
- Socially, giving people a space where they can be safe (without rejecting or hiding being a borg) and have constructive things to do, is going to be direly needed, to say nothing of the free healthcare.
- Politically, showing a borg community having a mostly-positive effect in their local area, with mostly sane members, is pretty much the opposite of the mainstream narrative.
Weather forecast for the coming episodes: high chance of shitstorm, localized high-intensity winds of change, and political hail leaving nobody unbruised. Night City denizens are asked to seek shelter as soon as possible, and remain calm until the situation is over.
Oh, Tay-tay, you sweet summer child: if you run the socialized housing, healthcare, and policing, you basically become... the government. You really took Kobayashi's lessons to heart, and I doubt Jin-sama will let you live it down. 😹
Don't call it a gang, though, but something like a "neighborhood association" or such, maybe also get a PR firm. ;3
I'd worry about too openly "being the government" and rubbing it on Night City's council and Night Corp's collective face. 😬
Oh dear, remember the wise word of Mr. Kobayashi:
The opposition I expect Taylor really has to worry about, is going to be governmental and corporate. Still, I guess Kiwi and her will take some measures that will be useful anyhow: for instance, entirely (and properly) air-gapping the security network will no-sell any sort of remote cyberattack... but that does take discipline most organizations do not have.
IRL, air-gapped networks have been breached because users were moving thumbdrives (or even entire computers) across the airgap. I would expect that in-story, people might think the boss is a bit of an idiot if she asks them to only interact with the security network (say, in the guard's cubby) over physical keyboards and screens. OTOH, mechanical keyboard time. ;3
It would be interesting to see Taylor tinker with a netrunner, like Kiwi, on novel black ICE etc. Assuming ICE is a mix of "traditional" computer security and cyber-neurology, first gaining access to the target's brain-computer interface then delivering signals to induce biological effects (from Taylor's short coma, to the standard heart attack, to the brain broiler) they could potentially do some cool stuff together, even though shard-chan has no interest in netrunning.
Could some Tinkertech black ICE do something similar to an interrogation under a trainable brain scanner? Or rather, adapt whatever Taylor pondered that would do it with an unconscious target, to keep the intruder unaware while pumping them for information about who they are, work for, what their target is, etc. and generally completely wreck their opsec. I guess the logical extreme would be packaging Soulkiller as a black ICE, killing the intruder and rendering them into a software emulation that can be interrogated, but that would be a lot less stealthy... and Taylor might not be willing to unleash that on random netrunners, or at least those who haven't made it deep into her web.
... wait a moment, is Taylor becoming Lolth, Queen of Spiders, Weaver of Webs, Lady of Shadows, Mistress of Lies, the... Fleshcarver? 🙀
Ohno. notes to always keep instant, wordless, stilled Plane Shift ready to go, but is too invested in the story to "pre-emptively escape."
Makes me wonder what kind of reputation Little Owl will have in some years, once the hottest netrunners around whisper rumors that breaching into her systems, is just forfeiting Her all your secrets, a fitting tribute to