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The Practice War [Complete]

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MTB said:
Most conflict-related items tend to break things. That's a nice prerequisite for 'mending', but a little out-of-character for a Mending focussed Potential, isn't it?
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I mean, I expected there to be at least one person who would push for something in a protective/defensive bent. This is SV, after all. Then again, this thread has a pronounced tendency to subvert the general trends of the site, so I've learned to try and not put too much stock in them. Not that I always succeed xD

Coda said:
I mean, it's not like these are Worm powers. :p
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Indeed they are not. For all that my first foray into work on this site was Worm based (betaing and then co-authoring a piece) I never read the web serial as I just couldn't stand its tone. As I believe @Faraway-R quoted another: Fuck. Tragedy. Pain and loss are key parts to most stories, with a lack of them there's no tension, the protagonist simply wins. But there's a place for misfortune and failure where it doesn't drown the rest of the story in it. And to avoid going off on a (highly polished) rant about postmodernism, I'll just stop writing here.

We're currently sitting at ten votes, and I'd kind of like to see a few more before I close this. That said, I'm already working on the next post anyway, as it doesn't actually involve this vote. Touching on the state of affairs with upgrading Iris, and then...some other things.
 
Okay, good, then we don't have to worry about
nasty psychological effects pushing people to seek out reasons to use their powers
in this quest. ;)
 
Yes, thankfully our powers just make humans superhuman and can be boosted by faith. Nothing could go wrong here ...

@Snowfire - were there any Potentials that became mentally unstable? Going on a powertrip?
 
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Snowfire said:
None. Potentials are almost unusually stable when you consider how central their Focus is to their very existence.
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Now, the selection process that makes(?) a Potential may have something to do with that. So, for criteria, we'd have a near-suicidal drive to help/protect humanity, coupled with enough stability to not go on a rampage.
 
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Snowfire said:
I'm absolutely positive that apparently benevolent forces that gave power have never once come back to haunt those who received it. Not once! :whistle:
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Well, let's be brutally honest here: if the guiding intelligence behind Practice wanted to screw over humanity, all it would have had to do was... nothing.

I'd like to think of myself as an optimistic futurist most of the time, but frankly I can't see any scenario where Humanity 1.0 would have had any chance of bouncing back from the Week of Sorrows. A few million adults left to raise a billion children? Without Practice the species would be eating each other in weeks, if not days. The best possible scenario for fifty years out that I could think of would be some sort of Fallout-style post-apocalyptic wasteland, with a few hundred thousand scrappy survivors ekeing out a living among the ruins of the various melted down nuclear reactors and failed dams and other horrible disasters that would have befallen post-Sorrows humanity. There certainly wouldn't have been any ability to project force into space a mere fifty years out, let alone anything capable of giving a Tribute Fleet any trouble, and so I'd fully expect the Shiplords to sweep in, shake their heads, and finish off the survivors.

It's, frankly, a bit hard to overstate the sheer magnitude that Humanity 2.0 differs from Humanity 1.0, and all because of Practice. The actual Practiced objects are basically toys compared to how much the collective psyche of Practice Wars-era Humanity has been changed and improved: empathy has grown to the point that tribal barriers have essentially fallen by the wayside; greed has fallen as a motivating factor to the point that one of the most corruptible forms of government imaginable has been smoothly put into place without any noticable amount of corruption; even our weird group of Amanda-focused religious fanatics haven't exhibited any antisocial behaviors. It's uncanny, really, and all because of Practice.

TLDR: If the guiding intelligence behind Practice turns out to be malevolent it doesn't matter because we're already dead, so we may as well not worry about it.
 
[X] World's Remedy (Multitool)

Humans are tool users, and tools do not only build, they may also analyse.
I like the image of the tool which has multiple applications, and which can be used to create, repair or analyse stuff at need.
Like how Doctor Who has his sonic screwdriver which has seen use in all sorts of fields.

Given how one of the things the last update was talking about included upgrades for Iris, this probably has a higher payoff/priority for the PC.

I would have voted for the crystal mystery box to be honest, but the DC is too high, AND it requires Mary, who has already gotten her fair share of screentime.
It can keep for another time.
And hopefully the multitool helps improve our chances of getting

As for communication, wasn't that what our first Practiced artifact was for?
Adhoc vote count started by uju32 on Jan 18, 2018 at 7:29 PM, finished with 9146 posts and 13 votes.
  • [x] World's Remedy (Multitool)
    [X] A Mender's Forge (Write-in) - DC varies depending on write-in.
    -[X] An oscilloscope
    --[X] An ordinary oscilloscope is used to measure voltage waveforms, and can be adapted to observe other signals. Amanda's Practiced oscilloscope can observe... somewhat more esoteric phenomena.
    [X] A Mender's Forge (Write-in) - DC varies depending on write-in.
    -[X] A pantograph
    --[X] Sometimes, it's necessary to work at a different scale than you're used to - with unsurpassed control and attention to detail, or with sweeping motions that set out a pattern greater than yourself. A normal pantograph allows creating the most delicate of engravings and the most faithful of enlargings - what better for you, now that you are free to focus more closely than the Presidency ever allowed, on studies which may yet have a greater impact than any before?
    [X] double helix - evolution as next level of mending
    [X] A Mender's Forge (Write-in) - DC varies depending on write-in.
    -[X] A compass.
    --[X] The compass is a simple device, allowing one to find their way with the barest of reference points. No matter what lies ahead, this will keep Amanda true.
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TheEyes said:
Hmm. Well, let's not forget what we chose for Amanda last year; she's a Mender, but she's not just a Mender.
*SNIP*
And so, we don't really need a multi-tool again; we need something new, more related to discovery and science, something that will help us delve into the infinite mysteries that Amanda finds herself surrounded by. We need:

[X] A Mender's Forge (Write-in) - DC varies depending on write-in.
-[X] An oscilloscope
--[X] An ordinary oscilloscope is used to measure voltage waveforms, and can be adapted to observe other signals. Amanda's Practiced oscilloscope can observe... somewhat more esoteric phenomena.
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Waited and read the arguments. I don't think that works thematically to be honest.

As portrayed so far, Amanda is not really an observer, or someone who has the modern scientific mindset.
The discrete measurements implied by the o-scope don't really work for someone who is more likely to be fiddling with any phenomena and thus changing it's very nature, than passively observing it.

And Practice is all about doing; even Insight, the most passive of the lot, still requires reaching out past countermeasures and into the Dark, not looking through a scope. If I was going with a strictly observational artifact for Amanda, it would probably be along the lines of a jeweller's loupe.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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