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The Practice War [Complete]

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Sorry, meant to get to this at the time, it slipped.

Faraway-R said:
On a slightly different note: @Snowfire, what is the status of Mandy's Artifacts? The character sheet isn't quite as informational as I'd like, so - I'd like to know how well are they integrated into Sidra, how comfortable and skilled is Mandy at using them, are there any amusing quirks or stories to share, are there any specific Tinker actions to take?
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I'll look into updating the Inventory section of Amanda's sheet...sometime this week. I think. Probably. In general, though, they're all pretty much fully integrated and Amanda is learning steadily how to utilise them all either singularly or in concert - she has a Set that helps her do that even better! :V

There are no specific Tinker actions left to take beyond Blackbody Mystery or seeking to build a new Artefact of some sort.

As to amusing stories or quirks, that could be a rather fun Answer, I think. Amanda, like most Potentials, has had her share of ultimately harmless accidents with her Artefacts.
 
Snowfire said:
As to amusing stories or quirks, that could be a rather fun Answer, I think. Amanda, like most Potentials, has had her share of ultimately harmless accidents with her Artefacts.
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Gotta remember to add that one to list of [Answer] options then.

Also, possible other ideas include:
stories about Mandy's singing carreer;
general tastes of Humanity 2.0 in art, and how it progressed since The Week of Sorrows and to present.
 
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We have Defense in our Aegis, and Communication and Creation/Support among our Artifacts.

With our Focus being difficult to lend itself to Offense, we will need Artifacts for either exotic effects, or for "more of the same" effects.
I have only one clear idea.

Idea 1: Assuming that the Circles-as-Artifact pans out, building a focusing/channeling Artifact for all that power sounds nice.

Otherwise, nothing comes to mind.
 
MTB said:
So, something(???) that allows us to speak easier/more forcefully?
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Concert set already does that. If you wanted to enhance Amanda's theoretical Defence stat, the best thing to do would be to try and produce an Artefact designed to make her harder to hurt. Something to enhance her Aegis, or make it regenerate faster perhaps.

To be clear, this isn't necessary. But it's something you could do.
 
Snowfire said:
Concert set already does that. If you wanted to enhance Amanda's theoretical Defence stat, the best thing to do would be to try and produce an Artefact designed to make her harder to hurt. Something to enhance her Aegis, or make it regenerate faster perhaps.

To be clear, this isn't necessary. But it's something you could do.
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Make quantum uncertainty a macroscopic effect ...
 
MTB said:
Make quantum uncertainty a macroscopic effect ...
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It's been tried before.
Starts here:
Casey and Andy



And lasts for all of three strips.
BTW, the spoilered webcomic isn't the only place I've seen it. I think it was a quantum physics edutainment textbook, that had "macro-quantum physics" lion run through the forest in an interference pattern and need to have lots of bullets shot into it to raise the odds of hitting it before it ate the main character and their guide.
 
Snowfire said:
I mean, more defence is never a bad thing, you know.
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Hmm.
Svalinn - Wikipedia
Svalinn is his name,
he stands a shield before the sun,
the shining deity.
I know that the hills and
the sea would burn,
if it were to fall from its place.
- Grímnismál 38,
William Herbert's translation

In front of the sun
does Svalinn stand,
The shield for the shining god;
Mountains and sea
would be set in flames
If it fell from before the sun.
- Grímnismál 38,
Henry Bellows' translation

Shiver is its name,
he stands before the sun,
a shield for the shining goddess.
Mountain and main
I know must burn,
if he falls off.
- Grímnismál 38,
Ursula Dronke's Translation
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Ancile - Wikipedia
When the original ancile fell, a voice was heard which declared that Rome should be mistress of the world while the shield was preserved. The Ancile was, as it were, the palladium of Rome. Numa, by the advice, as it is said, of the nymph Egeria, ordered eleven others, perfectly like the first, to be made. This was so that if anyone should attempt to steal it, as Ulysses did the Palladium, they might not be able to distinguish the true Ancile from the false ones.
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Rho Aias
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There's thematic mythological space for such a thing.
This being a Magical Girl Show a piece with conceptual effects, this should be apropos


:p
 
uju32 said:
There's thematic mythological space for such a thing.
This being a Magical Girl Show a piece with conceptual effects, this should be apropos


:p
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Except all of the Unisonbound actually wear clothes. Unlike pretty much every character in that show :V

More seriously, if you want to build a conceptual defence Artefact, next turn is pretty much your last chance assuming you want to be certain about finishing it before the Regulars show up.
 
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Snowfire said:
Except all of the Unisonbound actually wear clothes. Unlike pretty much every character in that show :V
More seriously, if you want to build a conceptual defence Artefact, next turn is pretty much your last chance assuming you want to be certain about finish it before the Regulars show up.
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Noted.
Amanda even layered ptotections the last time, so a shield is an appropriate weapon of war for her.
That Void Crystal is still a goddamn irritating nut, though.
 
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Snowfire said:
More seriously, if you want to build a conceptual defence Artefact, next turn is pretty much your last chance assuming you want to be certain about finishing it before the Regulars show up.
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While true, I'm thinking we want to pour more effort into Web and Circles, given what the Elder First just gave us. That's one weapon we know is effective against Regular Fleet ships, after all.
 
Oh...huh, guess I actually caught up.

@Snowfire I gotta admit I wasn't sure about getting into this - been burned on SF empire-building stories before. But what you've made, it's so much more than that, and I'm so very glad I gave it a try. It's currently past 3am so all the things I'd like to say and all the details I picked up along the way are currently whirling around my head like cartoon birds, so I'll sum up my reaction with the word that popped into my head halfway through, and has remained apt throughout:

Magnificent.
 
Shwaggy said:
Oh...huh, guess I actually caught up.

@Snowfire I gotta admit I wasn't sure about getting into this - been burned on SF empire-building stories before. But what you've made, it's so much more than that, and I'm so very glad I gave it a try. It's currently past 3am so all the things I'd like to say and all the details I picked up along the way are currently whirling around my head like cartoon birds, so I'll sum up my reaction with the word that popped into my head halfway through, and has remained apt throughout:

Magnificent.
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Really glad you've enjoyed it and that it defied your past expectations. Now get some sleep, geez! I'm all for enjoyment of my work, but not to the expense of another's health.

DragonParadox said:
Given what we know of the Shiplords I suspect suffering may be a pretty natural state for them.
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How are you tracking that, if you don't mind my asking?

I'm not confirming or denying anything, but I am curious as to how you arrived at this conclusion.
 
Snowfire said:
How are you tracking that, if you don't mind my asking?

I'm not confirming or denying anything, but I am curious as to how you arrived at this conclusion.
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Their society seems very set into highly destructive patterns with regards to the universe around them, and they are people with at will suicide, and a tradition of both genocide and sacrificing their own as part of the Tribute System. Neither of those feel like signs of happiness to me
 
Okay, I've slept and that was long enough for some of those thought-birdies to let their guard down. So let's see how much of what I was trying to think I can put together. (I also do still need to go through the omakes and extras, I was trying to get caught up to the main quest so I only read the rest of the thread for the last...15-20 pages? Something like that.)

First, just the whole of it. Like I mentioned, I've got reasons not to be fond of the Sci-fi empire-building genre. But even during President Mandy's extended term, it never felt like just an empire builder. Part of that was the way that many of the advances and policy decisions were shown as more personal interactions, but I think it's also the nature of Practice. The biggest, most important aspect of humanity's power in this 'verse is tied directly to both self-understanding and interpersonal connection. Looking back, I think that helped make sure that "research this, research that, MORE DAKKA" not only didn't but couldn't take the story away from the "smaller", character driven moments. I don't know if that was intentional from the get-go, but it's really cool.

Iris is best girl.

Relating to that, I've also really enjoyed the focus on those beings humanity creates being our children, in truth and not just in name. Having some be born with intent and some by happy accident, and looking at them all not with fear of what they might become or that they'll outgrow us, but with the fear of any parent that we might not be providing them with everything they need, and seeing the chance that they'd outgrow us with "Well, yes, if we do out jobs right children are supposed to reach higher than their parents."

In short (HA! I call anything about this short?) PW's humanity reminds me of the ideal that Star Trek was reaching for, in all the great ways. I do note, though, one piece of cynicism lurking in the background that despite myself I just can't disagree with - we couldn't get there naturally. Humanity had to be forcibly changed, at its core, to be able to come together like this. That's...well, yeah, without some deep universal way of "un-Othering", I have a hard time seeing us get there.

Pertaining to that, I do have a question: When the Elder First made that change, were they included in it?

Even if they were, before that it seems like they were kind of their own stage of humanity. Like
humanity 1.0: us
humanity 1.5: The Elder First, potentials without the core change
humanity 2.0: most of humanity after the core change
humanity 2.5: Potentials with the core change

Other than that, let's see - digging the Babylon 5 callout with Concordia, and absolutely loving the alien reactions to humans and our shenanigans. Looking forward to more of that. All kinds of thoughts about the Shiplords, their (as far as we know) self-appointed task, and whatever they warned about in the vasty dark, but nothing coherent enough to really set down yet.

Anyway, that's what I've got so far. Still boils down to Magnificent in the end. Kudos to you and the players for constructing such a rich, wonderful galaxy. Let's see if I can be helpful at all in contributing to it!
 
I have more to say in reply, but yesterday became unexpectedly busy.

Shwaggy said:
Pertaining to that, I do have a question: When the Elder First made that change, were they included in it?

Even if they were, before that it seems like they were kind of their own stage of humanity. Like
humanity 1.0: us
humanity 1.5: The Elder First, potentials without the core change
humanity 2.0: most of humanity after the core change
humanity 2.5: Potentials with the core change
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The Elder First included themselves in the changes that created Humanity 2.0, however those changes were somewhat less effective wholesale due to the remnants of pre-Sorrows humanity having all grown up and developed in a different cultural state.

As for progression, it goes kinda like this:

Humanity 1.0: Current humanity
Humanity 1.2: Pre-Sorrows humanity
Humanity 1.5: Post-Sorrows humanity
Humanity 1.7-9: Adult humanity immediately after Elder First changes.
Humanity 2.0: Amanda's contemporaries.
Humanity 2.3: Vega's contemporaries
Humanity 2.5: Humanity as of the day Amanda was sworn in as President.
Humanity 2.8: Humanity post SBOS, as Amanda stood down.
Humanity 2.9: Current PW timeline humanity.

Edit: and I can already tell that you're going to try and get to 3.0 because perfectionism :V
 
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Snowfire said:
I have more to say in reply, but yesterday became unexpectedly busy.



The Elder First included themselves in the changes that created Humanity 2.0, however those changes were somewhat less effective wholesale due to the remnants of pre-Sorrows humanity having all grown up and developed in a different cultural state.

As for progression, it goes kinda like this:

Humanity 1.0: us
Humanity 1.2: Pre-Sorrows humanity
Humanity 1.5: Post-Sorrows humanity
Humanity 1.7-9: Adult humanity immediately after Elder First changes.
Humanity 2.0: Amanda's contemporaries.
Humanity 2.3: Vega's contemporaries
Humanity 2.5: Humanity as of the day Amanda was sworn in as President.
Humanity 2.8: Humanity post SBOS, as Amanda stood down.
Humanity 2.9: Current PW timeline humanity.

Edit: and I can already tell that you're going to try and get to 3.0 because perfectionism :V
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What I want to ask is can that even be prevented at this point? Humanity in this story doesn't strike me as likely to sit on it's laurels, even if Amanda and her friends were to sit on their butts and develop nothing else truly game-changing.
 
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