Let me be the first to welcome you all to what I believe is a true Sufficient Velocity rarity: a quest sequel.
For those coming from Practice War, you already know most of what I'm about to say, so bear with me for a few moments. I'm not entirely set on the system I'm going to use for this quest, but that's mostly due to how this is unlikely to be the same sort of primarily turn-based quest as Practice War was. The story laid out ahead of us, and Amanda, might not work so well for that. I'll keep you updated on this as we go, but in general, we're leaping straight into the action from where we left off.
For those of you who are clicking on this out of curiosity, I hope you don't feel overwhelmed. To be clear, I do not intend having read Practice War to be a requirement to take part in or enjoy this quest. There is a link to a wiki for the universe in a reserved post below, however, if you're curious.
Moving on, something to keep in mind is that this is an original setting. Whilst I hope for Secrets' Crusade to be the story that charts humanity's discovery of many of the hidden truths of the world, you aren't going to know those going in. And although I've done my best to explain things in the Wiki, there will always be questions that I've failed to answer.
Equally, there are things that humanity within the quest simply doesn't know, and I will be holding to the rule I set myself in Practice War on that score. You can always feel free to ask questions, and I will strive to answer them as fully as I can, but sometimes that answer is going to be 'You don't know'.
Your name is Amanda Hawk, and you have been many things.
You are a child of a world broken seventy-five years ago by a brutal attack that brought humanity to its knees. Discovery of two Secrets had broken Einstein's cage and granted humanity what were believed to be perfect protectors. The Week of Sorrows proved that wrong. The Shiplords tore down that world, and left only after three quarters of humanity was dead or taken. In their wake were left only shattered orbitals, a burning Mars, and the extinction of a race that had only wished to protect you.
The Dragons gave their lives, together with those who flew them, so that your race might survive. And somewhere in all that blood, they succeeded in leaving something behind. A gift, far greater than any Secret, that came to a handful of a broken humanity less than a year after it had fallen. Those which remained called it Practice, its wielders Potentials. And it was the vehicle of humanity's redemption.
You became a Potential as all others since the First Awoken have, as a teenager, Awakening to a Focus that suited you well: Mending. With it, you took the foundation that your predecessors had laid in humanity, and strove to turn all the hopes they'd left you into reality. A process only interrupted by the discovery that the Shiplords would not simply leave you to recover. Ten years, Insight told you, until they returned.
You became a leader, then, of a people that already loved you but had never been yours. The Circles you'd crafted, artefacts woven into the fabric of human society, won you the Presidency with ease. And you led your species into the teeth of a storm that would seek to devour you. It has been twenty-five years since then. And the storm which sought to break you has itself been shattered by the artefacts of your people's creation. Yet you would not remain a leader through it all, for no one is immune to the corruption of power.
You were an explorer, in your youth, restoring the world lost to the Sorrows. You became that again after the Second Battle of Sol was won. You sought out the mysteries that humanity had only begun to uncover before the Shiplords returned, and searched for them in the hopes of finding weapons that could protect your world from those who held the galaxy in thrall.
Yet the actions of humanity were not unnoticed by that galaxy, and some few races who found the truth travelled to meet with you. You became an envoy then, not a diplomat, but an icon of humanity's strength in compassion. You gave them hope, and truth, that those who had so long dominated the stars were not invincible.
Your daughter found adulthood in the years before the Shiplords came upon you again, having chosen to limit her nature as an infomorph and become more human. When your enemies arrived a third time, she was there to stand against them, just as you were. That battle ended very differently to the one which had preceded it. Practice carried the day, but it did not allow so total a victory.
The Shiplords knew you now, knew the strength you had found. A power which they had learnt to fight and, if one reaction was true, to hate. Yet even with all of that, they had still lost. And soon, that truth would ignite a firestorm of revolution across the galaxy. The Shiplords could defeat any one, or two, or even three races that stood against them. But if enough chose to rise in defiance, knowing what they truly faced…then victory was possible.
The cost might be horrific, when all was accounted for. But between freedom and death, there are few choices.
Now, you stood in a place that you thought was a dream, a grand vista of the endlessness of space woven into a gallery of starlight. You glimpsed it once before, during the last battle, still less than a day old. Your body, you knew, was at home, sleeping beside your closest friend. Yet you were here, too, in mind and soul. Practice is of the latter, and it answers your call here without hesitation.
There is a figure there with you, standing before the vista of stars in a cloak of dark crimson. They are not human, you know that now. They are something much older, born of a choice to escape the sad reality that was all they could see of the galaxy under the Shiplords. How old, you cannot know: the gestalt they'd given you, an understanding passed in a single look, had carried no usable reference points. You knew of their kind, how they have risen over thousands of millennia, yet never once challenged those who oppressed them in the physical world.
Some of that, you understand now. The Third Battle of Sol revealed that the Shiplords possess weapons which can strike against power born of the soul. But you know what Practice is capable of, and that humanity's power is only a fraction of what the Dragons sought to grant you. That fraction has unleashed the energy of a star upon your foes, more than once. And it has restrained that searing strength as well, so as to leave the planets of Sol unscorched.
All this you know, yet the words this being has spoken to you now have left you reeling. You demanded to know what it was, and its answer is proof beyond contestation. Then the figure bowed its head, almost human in the motion, and apologised.
"We are sorry for this intrusion." It said, and you believed it. "But we need to talk. Of you, and how this war might end."
This war to come, that you had seen no choice but to lead humanity towards. That, if the best projections were right, could only end with no less than a third of the galaxy ablaze or in ruins. These beings that had allowed all the atrocities of the Shiplords to pass now spoke of ending it? How could they do that, when they had done nothing before?
Yet surely, the more rational part of you argued, if they are contacting you now there must be a reason. Something that humanity offers, perhaps. You could let yourself believe in the possibility; that is not hard. But believe it in truth…that was the mistake humanity made before the Sorrows. And in this, there is no knowledge from Project Insight to guide you. None have ever conversed with an Uninvolved.
A time for firsts, this is, then. A rebellion, that might even win. A power unseen in eons, yet somehow known to your enemy. And those beings who might be older than it all, taking seeming notice of you only now that you were committed. And yet...their gestalt, that had been true. They had suffered, without a gift like Practice to defend them, and nothing in their past would support the Shiplords.
You had extended words to the greatest enemy humanity had ever known when granted with the opportunity to speak, when you could have hurled destruction. To do less for this creature was not in you.
What say you?
[] Who are you?
[] Why are you here?
[] Why have you waited so long?
[] Why should we listen to you?
[] Write-in
The vote here dictates the initial direction of conversation taken with this being, and the tone that Amanda sets in her interaction with it. For this reason, write-ins are encouraged. This conversation will take only a few updates.
Name: Amanda Hawk
Awakening: Second
Focus: Mending
Age: 75 (Physical Age: 25) - Amanda Hawk in casual clothes, 2120
Martial: 8+2+2+4+2 = 18 (Though you still rely deeply on your Unison Platform in true battle, your skill as a tactician has increased steadily, mostly thanks to the Two Twenty Three. You may not quite be a master of that art, but you are steadily closing that distance.)
Diplomacy: 18+2+2+2+1+2+4 = 33 (You built the Circles and acted as a capable leader for the Prologue project. You've also started to delve into the esoteric side of your Focus, granting your natural charisma a truly supernatural edge.)
Stewardship: 16+2+2+2 = 22 (There is no such thing as 'broken'. That statement underpins everything you do in this arena, and thanks to your Focus it often pays considerable dividends.)
Intrigue: 12+2 = 14 (You're not really suited to wheeler-dealing or politics, but you had to have some successful interaction with EGOV before you ended up in charge of it. Running what is for all intents and purposes a military operation has given some insight to the situation as well.)
Learning: 16+2+2+2+4 = 26 (You soaked up your lessons as a child like a sponge, and Mary has ensured that your knowledge base never had the chance to degrade. You are not a prodigy like her, but you do well enough.)
Practice: 16+2+2+2+2+4+2+2+2+2 = 36 (Your skill as a Potential rivals some of the First, and you're one of the only Potentials alive who is able to sense the strange patterns that you can now feel and hear woven through the very fabric of the world that surrounds you.)
Traits: Child of the Second Secret: You were born before the Week of Sorrows, and so benefit from the basic bioengineering package that almost all children were modified with before birth. +2 Martial
Heart of Circles: As a child you fought to restore the peace that you were so lucky to have with your family to others, leading to the founding of the first of your Circles. +2 Diplomacy
- Your time spent as an adult founding more Circles across the world won you praise from many quarters, and was the first time you felt the taste of more exotic Practice. +2 Diplomacy, +2 Practice
A Practiced Form: Like all Potentials, the natural application of Practice to your body through actions have granted you some arguably supernatural advantages. In your case, you heal swiftly and are incredibly hard to kill. +2 Martial, significant increase to survival chance if attacked personally
Childhood Tutor: She might not have been an adult, but your friendship with Mary meant that you never once failed to ace your exams, if not perhaps as spectacularly as she would. +2 Learning
Singer: You have a fine and melodious voice, which has a way of putting people at ease. +2 Diplomacy - You've spent time improving your voice, and have begun to delve in the complexities of its use. +1 Diplomacy
Project Prologue: You worked as a leader for the Prologue project, and were a major part of the first Practiced Miracle. +2 Learning, +2 Practice
Restorer of the Old World: You spent a decade rebuilding the cities of the world before the Week of Sorrows, becoming as one with your Focus and doing all you could to restore a world that many thought lost. +2 Stewardship, +2 Practice
Touching the Forgotten: Time spent working with Mary kept you up to date with some of the less complex scientific advancements of the times, and also gave you the opportunity to delve into the far stranger side of your Focus. +2 Learning, +2 Practice
Untapped Depths: You took a plasma lance to chest, ablated as it was by a body in front of you, and lived through the power of your Potential. Something has been shaken loose by that experience, and you now know that there is far more to discover about what you are capable of. +4 Practice
Speaker of Practice: You've taken your first step into a world suddenly much bigger than it was before. Although it still isn't reliable, or even properly understood, your ability to work Practice with words rather than action is something exciting as it is strange.
- Knower of Words: As part of your teaching Vega how to reliably weave Practice into her words, you've worked with Mary to learn a great deal about some of the underlying theory of Practice. Not as much as your Spoken Miracle gave her, but far more than you had before. +4 Learning, +2 Practice -- Healer's Edge: Learning to speak was anything but easy. Finding a way to replicate its use in battle as you'd , against the very nature of your focus, was the work of over a decade. You will never like doing so, but you have found that way.
Founder of the 223: Creating and leading the Two Twenty Three with Vega has been an experience unlike anything else you've been part of. It has expanded your knowledge in ways you're not quite sure you like, sometimes, but people don't always get what they like. +4 Martial, +2 Intrigue
The Promised Future: Knowing what the Shiplords use at least some of their Tributary biomass for is a terrible burden, but it has not broken you. In this, as all things, you remember the words Vega reminded you of. Justice, freedom and peace. For those, you would bear the weight of the universe. +4 Diplomacy, +2 Stewardship
Envoy of Humanity: When Second Contact came, you answered the call that Adri placed at your feet without hesitation, and surpassed all expectations. In a month, you took the most important potential allies in human history from unknown hopefuls to tentative friends. +2 Diplomacy
A Song of Bonds: After humanity fell, something was forged from the ashes to take the place of what failed you. Now, deep contemplation and study has led you to that new creation, a melody so encompassing that it is a tangible presence. In this, lies the truth of Purify, and perhaps much more. +2 Practice, ???
Risen Focus: Your Focus now lies far closer to the surface of your soul, changing both the reality of what you can do, and what your body truly is. Bringing your Focus closer to physical reality has made you stronger, more capable, and yet also far more what you were from the beginning. A Mender. +2 Practice, Touched By The Uninvolved, ???
Unison Platform (Ace): The experience of the Second Battle of Sol has given the Two Twenty Three an edge that's hard to properly express. You didn't fly with them in the void battle, but you did face a Shiplord in personal combat and live. That, combined with the far more intense training since has brought you to leading edge of the Unisonbound. There are few indeed who can match you in this.
Inventory: Concert Set: This detached headset was something you made in the Institute, one of your first Practiced creations. You wanted a way to be heard more clearly, and to put your words into people's hearts. You thought you'd lost it during your time founding the rest of the Circles, but it had been invaluable pursuing that task.
- Now integrated with Sidra, the set grants you skill on par with Vega's at navigating and bolstering social harmony. It also has allowed you to key more precisely into the Harmonial connections between the Two Twenty Three, and without it you may well have failed to help Kalilah realise her synchronisation. +2 Diplomacy, +2 Practice, ???
Multi-tooI: A leftover from your time rebuilding the broken cities of Earth, this is probably one of the most Practiced items you ever created. A decade spent using it to channel your Focus into physical change has turned the basic device into a sleek thing of almost dizzying utility. Now time, and integration with Sidra, has recovered your knowledge of the Artefact. +2 Stewardship
- Integration with your Unison Platform, and the intelligence behind it, has given you access to depths of combination that a human mind simply could not follow, and you've had the time to test them. It is still fundamentally a tool of Mending, but that definition has stretched a little now. Into Creation. +2 Martial, major boost to certain uses of Amanda's Practice. + 20 to construction actions
Void Crystal: Even now neither you nor Mary are sure how you created this, or what it's meant to do. A seemingly featureless black-body crystal, its remained completely impervious to analysis, classification, or physical damage. Mary kept it ever since you created it with her after your first decade as a Restorer, now it's yours.
- In truth a creation that allows Uninvolved action without detection, your crystal was sacrificed to the task of creating more. In time, this Artefact may prove the most important one you ever created.
Unison Platform: The physical housing of the Unison Platform, and Siddhartha's electronic home. Physical contact with this device is required to extend your Aegis, and utilise the Platform's other functions.
Mender's Eye: Built upon the bones of a highly capable medical scanner, in becoming the Eye it became capable of piercing the veil of Shiplord subversion, and much more.
- Now integrated with Sidra, the Eye adds a layer of perceptual depth to your world that you can't quite believe you'd been missing, and its presence in your Aegis can't be discounted from your greater awareness of the ties and bonds that hold humanity together. +20 to analysis actions
Many thanks go to @Coda and @Queen Kit for starting this and resolutely kicking me to continue working on it. It you see something missing, don't hesitate to do their work for them.
A light-skinned example of humanity, with the faint elegance of a Martian birth, Mary is your closest friend and a true member of your family. Tall and slender, she wears her brown hair up most of the time, as befits a laboratory environment. Rarely without a set of AR glasses, the green eyes behind them hide a deep sadness and pain for her past. She dresses rather conservatively, but has picked up a little of your flair in clothing after years of living together.
Character Synopsis: Mary is your closest friend, a member of your family, and the woman with whom you raised your daughter. She is a scientist of truly rare skill, the child of the couple who unravelled the very first of the Secrets, and who has herself led the teams which have discovered three more within mere decades. Though the Sorrows scarred her, in ways that haunt her even now, she has reclaimed those pieces of herself. A tenacious inventor and brilliant scientist, she was the co-lead of the Arcadia Institute with you in the lead-up to the Third Battle of Sol. A battle that would not have been won nearly so easily without the fruits of her peerless mind.
Martial: 9+2+1+2 = 14 (Utterly average, Mary's intellect has never been one to take well to conflict.)
Diplomacy: 14+3+2 = 19 (More than just average, time with the Circles has helped hone her shuttered talent with others into a spark)
Stewardship: 14+2+2 = 18 (There's a reason that you pursued the construction of the VI that became Iris. For all her brilliance, Mary's talents as an organiser lag heavily behind her understanding of science. She does well enough, yes, but she needed more than that.)
Intrigue: 11+2+2 = 15 (Years spent hiding herself from the world taught your friend the usefulness of subterfuge. You can still read her like a book, as she can you, but to others it can be harder.)
Learning: 20+2+2+4+7+1 =36 (Your friend always possessed a powerful analytic mind, with a grasp for the sciences that often left you grasping at dust. Following the Metaconcert event, she now stands without peer or equal among the children of Sol.) Traits: Child of the Second Secret: Born before the Week of Sorrows, Mary benefitted from the same basic bioengineering package as you. +2 Martial Prologue: A complex set of nano-based enhancements and other upgrades, the standard nanite set grants a wide array of benefits, and once that was enough on its own. With the discovery of the Sixth Secret, however, things have changed. +1 Martial
- Ministerial Enhancement Package: Another part of the modular Sixth Secret systems that have become so much a part of life with the continuing Third Revolution, the Ministerial systems extend multi-tasking again, and are the baseline for the prototype network interface system pioneered during the arrival of the Contact Fleet. +2 Diplomacy, +2 Intrigue
- Prototype Neural Network Link: A very recent development, the neural interface created by this system is still in final testing. Enough has been done for it to be safely installed in those who can benefit the most from it, however. Getting onto that list was trivial for Mary. +3 Learning reduced to +1 Learning due to native score, +2 Stewardship
- Nanomaterial Defence Skin: Designed and built with the same techniques as Iris' Avatar upgrades, the NDS forms a layer of active Sixth Secret nanites around Mary's body. Although primarily defensive in purpose, the system is quite capable of forming weaponry as required. It's also equipped with a Fifth Secret based flight system to match that of her daughters'. +2 Martial, major increase to survival chance if attacked. Legacy of Discovery: The only daughter of the man who unlocked the First Secret, Mary inherited his intelligence and drive in full. +2 Stewardship, +2 Learning. - Void Prodigy: Decades of studying the abilities of yourself and other Potentials have expanded the world of your friend across whole new continents of possibility. +4 Learning A Scarred Past: Transported from Mars to Earth before the Burning by the genius of her father, Mary was able to watch as her entire family were burnt to ashes millions of kilometers away. She buried the pain of this experience for years, beneath layers of fear, focus and self-loathing, until you were able to help free her of them. +2 Intrigue, +2 Learning Of The Circle: Brought into the Circles at the very beginning, Mary was the hardest to convince of all the children you asked. For all that suspicion, she quickly grew to be a deeply integral part of the First Circle. And learnt a great deal about herself and others in the process. There's a reason that there are still 'interest pieces' on your relationship, after all. +3 Diplomacy Daughter of Secrets: Mary's understanding of the Secrets is second to none, and she is one of a bare handful of humanity capable of pursuing study into the field of Reality Physics. As the lines between the sciences warp and bend, Mary is a rare example of one capable of tracing them still, allowing for rapid study of topics even when they seem entirely disconnected. +15 to Secret based research. Sister of Truth: There is science, and there is the truth that it uncovers. Mary has spent decades learning to tell the difference, and can apply this ability to salvage work gone wrong. Her own or, far more often, that of others. Reroll 1 failed Learning based action per turn. Touched By Word: The Metaconcert event is one that you've struggled to fully understand every since it happened, but it's made Mary even more your best hope for doing so. A Word spoken by two Potentials was cast into her soul, and the results gifted her with something incredible. A memory of the Dragons' great sacrifice, and a rudimentary understanding of what they created. +7 Learning
Relationship: Family
Given her nature as an informorph housed in an avatar of highly advanced nanotechnology, it is hard to really describe your daughter on a permanent basis, as she changes things about herself so easily and often. The basic frame of any form she takes rarely diverge from the outlines she has of you and Mary, her parents. Colouration and exact dimensions can vary wildly, of course, but those core attributes almost always remain.
Character Synopsis: The second AI created by humanity, and the first one truly born into it, Iris is the name taken by your daughter before she even became it. Initially planned to be a highly advanced personal assistant program to Mary, the actions of Vision and a certain Potential led to a very different result. Despite her being an infomorph, Iris is very human, and could easily be mistaken for any young woman on the street. Assuming, of course, that she wasn't using her avatar to fly. The bond she shares with you and Mary is a powerful thing, and from her you learnt what it felt like to want to protect a world not for all that was in it, but for one person in particular; your child. Raising her taught you to be a mother, something you never expected to have the time to do, yet you would never once regret the time it cost you.
Martial: 7+4+12 = 23 (With her shell fully upgraded into much more than just a means to interact with physical reality, Iris has come as close to the combat prowess of a Unisonbound as it is possible for human technology to create. You can't say you're entirely happy about that, but she's an adult now. And this was her choice.)
Diplomacy: 14+5+2+3 = 24 (With time and experience, Iris has refined the social algorithms that she was initially given by Vision. Although not a match for you, few are. And she's more than simply competent.)
Stewardship: 22+2 = 24 (Iris was designed for as a processing and support VI, and much of that capacity has transferred over to her new existence as a sentient being. There is still considerable room for these abilities to grow.)
Intrigue: 12+2+2+2+2+2 = 22 (As with her ability to interact, Iris has also refined the other half of the algorithms, granting both more advanced capabilities, but also far greater control over them. With the Third Battle of Sol approaching, she now stands ready to face the Shiplords in her first home, and with all the skill available to her)
Learning: 28+3+2 = 33 (Like any child, and she has been and still remains nothing less, Iris has grown. From a baseline that touched the very edge of normal human capacity, she's learnt to use her integral systems as the parts of her that they are. She's even started to build on them, something that fills Mary and you with pride.)
Traits: Artificial Intelligence: A true Infomorph, Iris is capable of feats inside Network environments that only Vision can truly keep up with. +20 to Network related actions Child of Terra: Human or no, Iris is as much a child of Earth as any other child born to humanity. The mechanism of her existence matters little, and she knows that now. The belief has given her the confidence to grow and connect with others emotionally like every child needs to. With those, and with time, she's learnt not just about humanity, but how to become one. +5 Diplomacy, +2 Intrigue, +3 Learning Mothered by the Heart: Every child has parents. Yours were taken from you, along with billions more. Since then, none have been allowed to suffer the same fate until Iris did, for longer than she ever should have. But now she has you, and Mary, and so much more. +3 Diplomacy, +2 Intrigue Incarnate: One of the greatest things that Iris lacked an Infomorph was the ability to experience the world as fully as a human. In 2115, after three years, that changed. No longer a creature of pure thought and code, she now has a body of her own. Even if feeling everything all at once was a little too much at first. - Avatar: The Avatar upgrades bring Iris' incarnate form up to even higher standards than they already were. Now almost entirely nanobased, her upgraded shell contains a slew of upgrades. Skipping the more cosmetic enhancements, a Fifth Secret flight system has been integrated and the shell is quite capable of flash-forging military grade combat systems if necessary. +4 Martial, +2 Diplomacy, +2 Intrigue -- Caliburn: The sword to the Avatar upgrade's shield, this swathe of modifications have elevated Iris' shell to as close to an Aegis as it is possible for human technology to reach, utilising several systems that pioneered by Iris herself. She is not a match for a Unisonbound, but she comes far closer than any human could. +12 Martial, +2 Intrigue, +2 Learning Echo of Nabu: The result of code found in the depths of the Olympus College infosphere, Iris has integrated the remnants of one of the pre-Sorrows intelligences used by humanity to oversee and process their research. This gave her complete access to the College databases, but has also subtly changed her. +10 to Network based actions, +2 Intrigue
Relationship: Daughter
Vega is often said to be a study in contradictions, and so it's been ever since childhood. A soft face, with warm, hazel eyes shot thought with tiny sparks of bright power. Her dark hair falls freely to below the shoulder, and yet the curls have never been once been awry in all the time you've known her. She dresses simply, but there is an elegance to her movements all at odds with how she often seems less than focused on the reality around her.
Character Synopsis: One of the most skilled Harmonials in all humanity, Vega is a woman much possessed by her Focus, even for a Potential. You still remember when she was hesitant, unsure of what her Focus could truly do. That person has long since faded, however, in the wake of the Miracle of Skylark, Restoration of Mytikas, and a score of other, less obvious, successes. As the woman who essentially made Unison Platforms into what they are today, it is arguable that she's the source of an entire new section of humanity, in the intelligences created by the synchronisation process. A child of the Golden Generation, when the miracles of Practice were turned only to making the world a better place, she has held to the optimism of her childhood with a relentless belief.
Martial: 12+2+4 = 18 (From simple beginnings, Vega has learnt the lessons of battle in ways that none were quite sure she could, and without weakness or failure.)
Diplomacy: 20+2 = 22 (A product of the Golden Generation, and a Harmonial too, gifted with words was an apt description. The only problem was her lack of confidence in using them.)
Stewardship: 17 (Effective, and highly so, but less than a master of the art. She did run a Ministry for over a decade, though, and handily by all accounts.)
Intrigue: 16+2= 18 (Slippery with the truth, perhaps. But Vega's true gift was in reading those around her. There's a reason that Vega's often acted as a stopgap against your own stupidity.)
Learning: 21 (Well educated, as befitted one of her generation, but as with most Harmonials her knowledge is less applicable than some might believe. There's no doubting her intelligence, but how it applies itself is often haphazard.
Practice: 18+1+2+2+4 = 27 (Vega was gifted with a strong start in Practice, but it took her a long time to begin to work past that.
Traits: Child of the Second Secret: Although she was born after the Week of Sorrows, Vega gained the benefits of the same basic bioengineering package as you from her parents. +2 Martial Proven Miracle: The Miracle of Skylark was more than proof that Vega was right about what she could do. It validated her entire existence, in a way that's hard to understand. From that, she gained more than skill in Practice, she gained confidence that what she thought was possible truly was. And that Miracles could be, even in the face of extinction. +1 Practice, increased chance of harmonising Miracles. Maker of the Unison: The Unison Platforms were Vega's before they were yours, Kagiso the first of them, and the most incredible for being some so utterly new. She became a friend, advisor, and an example of the wonders Practice could create in a way no other Miracle had matched. +2 Diplomacy, +2 Practice Founder of the 223: Creating and leading the Two Twenty Three with Vega has been an experience unlike anything else you've been part of. It has expanded your knowledge in ways you're not quite sure you like, sometimes, but people don't always get what they like. +4 Martial, +2 Intrigue Speaker of Practice: Vega, like you did years before, has taken her first steps into an entirely new world of possibilities. Although it remains irregular, she now shares your ability to work Practice with words rather than actions. The Harmonic Record: A semi-autonomous data archive suffused with Harmonial Practice in search of answers to what Vega and those like her can truly do. Knowledge, given form, without it the Harmonic Circle very well might never have existed. Grants bonuses to teaching Harmonials Ring of Harmony: The Harmonic Circle that Vega created was more than a teaching exercise, and taken together with the Restoration of Mytikas, she has come far in understanding her own gifts of Practice. +4 Practice Unison Platform (Ace): Vega's skill in working with her platform has only grown in the decade since the Second battle of Sol, and as ever, she remains at the leading edge of the group. What she can do with her Practice with Kagiso's help can often appear to be nothing short of magic, and this skill has extended far further than it ever had before.
Relationship: Friend
Character Synopsis: The first AI created by humanity, though not born to it, Vision began existence as an analysis and processing system for the Elder First. Long exposure to Practice since that moment led to her realising her sentience, but she chose to remain in the background, hidden from much of the world. When the Elder First sealed their Vault away, Vision was placed on standby to wait for an Inheritor to reclaim it, and specific sections of her memory were wiped. The reasons for the Elder Firsts' choice to do this remain unknown. Vision is not as human as Iris, with her origin of sentience being steady development rather than a moment of birth. But time spent since her reawakening by Amanda Hawk has worn away the edges of her relative inhumanity.
Martial: 9 (She has records within her database of combat, but no real understanding of how to put that into practice)
Diplomacy: 12+2+2 = 16 (Vision is competent at simulating a human conversational interface, but the manner of her form and some of what she's casually capable of can make that a hard facade to maintain.)
Stewardship: 16+1 = 17 (A program designed to collect, analyze and collate data. Of course she's good at this.)
Intrigue: 28+2 = 30 (Vision was designed to see things. She does so extremely well.)
Learning: 19+6 = 25 (As the platform and being that parsed the vast majority of the Elder First's discoveries whilst she was active, she has a deep reservoir of knowledge, which as now been properly updated.)
Traits: Artificial Intelligence: A true artificial intelligence, Vision is capable of feats inside Network environments, as fitting for a being who has only ever existed within them. +20 to Network related actions Eldest's Insight: Designed to translate and work with the complex strands of Practice that form a Thoughtcast, it is arguable that Vision knows more about Project Insight than Phoebe herself. The value of this knowledge in rebuilding all that has been lost is likely to be incalculable. The Invisible Aegis: During the Second Battle of Sol, Vision's ability to multitask across the entire Network proved incalculably valuable. She was everywhere at once, utilising the links she'd sunk deep into the Network to block every charge and counter every strike made by the Shiplord AIs. Humanity's secrets are theirs to hold, and she will protect them unto death. +2 Intrigue, +2 Diplomacy, +1 Stewardship Archive of Terra: Having delved fully into the collected knowledge of humanity, Vision's capabilities as a scholar are now fully recognisable. She is no Mary, and Practice continues to elude her ability to effectively understand, but there's more to human science than that. In those fields, she proves to be a powerful force of progress. +6 Learning, ??? Echo of Nabu: The result of code found in the depths of the Olympus College infosphere, Vision has integrated the remnants of one of the pre-Sorrows intelligences used by humanity to oversee and process their research. This gave her complete access to the College databases, but has also subtly changed her. +10 to Network based actions, +2 Diplomacy
Relationship: Colleague
Character Synopsis: Among the First Awoken, Kalilah represents perhaps the most deeply personally wounded by the Week of Sorrows, and even now she never speaks of the specifics. Awakening to a Focus of Destruction changed the course of her life completely, as the reflection of what she truly desired swept aside the that trauma, giving her a new clarity to her life. Kalilah has trained for half a century to perfect her skills as an embodiment of her Focus, and it was her swift action that saved you from assassination at the hands of the Shiplord infiltration system left behind by their Tribute Fleet. Utterly dedicated to the cause of humanity, it has only been in the last few years that she has begun to show interest in anything beyond that. Her actions in the Second and Third Battles of Sol were key to final human victory, yet the latter almost destroyed her. Her survival, and your part in it, has changed her world. If you are lucky, you will be able to be there to help her as she explores what it has become.
Martial: 32+2+4+2+5+3 = 48 (Kalilah is arguably the single most dangerous Potential in existence, although her expertise lies in personal combat, not strategy)
Diplomacy: 12 (She never had much use for words, but being part of the Two Twenty Three has helped with that a little.)
Stewardship: 12+2 = 14 (She lives, that is enough.)
Intrigue: 8 (Kalilah does not thrive in the shadows. She never has, for her light burns too brightly for them.)
Learning: 14 (She's definitely smarter than she appears, but she's never spoken of her old profession. And you've never asked.)
Practice: 25+4+2+4+4 = 39 (Fully grown into her power, in some ways more than any other. She lacks your finesse, for she has never needed it, but what she can do within her Focus is nothing short of terrifying.)
Traits: First Awoken: Among the first Potentials to Awaken, she has had fifty years to practice and refine her craft and prepare for the war to come. +2 Martial, +4 Practice The Lance: The most powerful weapon on mass to energy basis in the star system. Bar none. Integration into Asi has only made it stronger. +4 Martial, +2 Practice The Long War: For Kalilah, and many like her, the war with the Shiplord never ended. Where others built weapons and crafted designs and stratagems to defeat them, she sought to create in herself a weapon without peer. She knows Practice in some ways better than even you, and far more of war. +2 Martial, +4 Practice Destroyer: She has tested herself against the works of the Shiplords, and they have fallen before her. In space and in person, none of her enemies have survived. If she has her way, none ever will. +5 Martial, increased damage Unison Platform (Ace): Kalilah and Asi as a unit were always uniquely well suited to each other, more so than almost any other synchronisation on record, despite the complications that arose in the process. You doubt she will ever be a true match to Vega or you in the ability to extend the reach of her Focus. But where that Focus is concerned, she is utterly without peer. Sword of Practice: By her hands, shall worlds be broken. By her will, shall vengeance be wrought upon those who took her world from her. By her power, she shall see it done. +3 Martial, +4 Practice
Relationship: Heartcircle
Character Synopsis: One of the most influential Insight Focused in all humanity, Phoebe is the leader and arguably creator of Project Insight, the Practice-based observation system that provided so much of humanity's knowledge on the Shiplords. It was her work that allowed your species to prepare for the Shiplords' return, and the skill and bravery of her working group laid the foundation for every victory humanity has won.
Martial: 14+2 = 16 (A childhood spent fighting for her life after everything she knew was snatched away by the Sorrows shaped a mind of cold precision to a sharpness so fine that it would often cut itself. Not a novice, but she has no desire to master war. It would cost her too much)
Diplomacy: 12-4+4+2 = 14 (Since she the Sorrows, Phoebe barely interacted with her classmates, and there was no Circle in her Institute to draw her out. In time she learnt to overcome the barriers she placed around herself, but it was always the work of necessity. Until Nightfalls, at least.)
Stewardship: 14-2+2+2 = 16 (Generally capable, her place as a leader for Insight was responsible for honing her skills as an administrator.)
Intrigue: 18+2 = 20 (Making it appear that everything was fine even when it wasn't was something Phoebe had always been good at. After the Sorrows, it became her only defence from a world gone mad. Few have ever pierced the cloak she wraps around her sorrow, but for those sensitive enough, it's easy to see.)
Learning: 17+4+2 =23 (Gifted with a mind a match to your own, Phoebe has followed a very focused path in her studies since Awakening as a Potential. She isn't your equal in general knowledge, but where it comes to Insight, she has few peers.)
Practice: 19+4+2+2 = 27 (The strength of a mind drawn in around itself lent well to Phoebe's Focus when she Awakened, and she's grown stronger in its use ever since, rising with Vega's help from the pain of Nightfalls even more so.)
Traits: Child of the Second Secret: Born before the Week of Sorrows, Phoebe benefitted from the same basic bioengineering package as you. +2 Martial
A Mind of Ice and Steel: Phoebe lost everything in the Sorrows. Family, wealth, home, all burned out beneath her feet leaving her with nothing and no one. In response, her mind turned in on itself, searching deeper and deeper for clarity that could free her from the pain. +4 Learning, +4 Practice - Lost to the World: She spent much of her early life after the Sorrows knowing better the cool hands of synthetic tutors, the most common staff in the Institutes. It sharpened her mind, but it also lost her much of her humanity. +2 Intrigue, +2 Learning, +2 Practice, -4 Diplomacy, -2 Stewardship - Found by Miracle: Not all of it, though. She'll never be one well suited to friends, but as the world flowered, she was found by one of the true miracles that flowed into the world between the Elder's passing and the Third's waking. Reaching out to find a path, she found one among many others. +4 Diplomacy
Seeker of Insight: That path was Insight, even though she'd never imagined being so much a part of it. For all that she will try to hide it, without Phoebe, Project Insight would never have existed. And from leading it, she learnt much. +4 Stewardship
The Reforged: And never more than in the aftermath of the event that almost shattered her world a second. The consequences of Nightfalls were catastrophic for Insight, and Phoebe herself. Yet she endured and, with Vega's help, rebuilt not just herself but the project that had become alike to a second family. +2 Diplomacy, +2 Practice
Elil is the Insight support within your Heartcircle, and often considered less capable in your obvious operations, he is highly competent within his own focus. Together with Vega he provides the Adamant with crucial mission support, allowing its stealth systems to operate properly. Outside of those duties, he's the only Insight Focused among your crew, and his Focus is likely to be of crucial importance.
Your daughter, and one of the few non-Unisonbound on this list. An embodied AI, the second humanity ever created, her avatar is fully capable of interfacing with a Masque. Although her physical capabilities still lag behind a Unisonbound, she can think even faster than you can. Without question the most capable infospace asset you have access to, so long as she has lagless signal, she should never be in any real danger. The ability to literally transmit herself out of harms way is a considerable advantage.
The single most deadly human being in known history, Kalilah has wiped ships and entire fleets from reality with the singular power of her Focus. But she also paid a terrible price for that power, one that has taken eight decades to even begin healing from. Without question the most skilled fighter among the Unisonbound, her purpose on this mission is twofold. To protect it, and you, and to try to understand how the Shiplords could possibly justify tearing her world down around her.
A Mender like you, Lea approaches your shared Focus from a very different perspective, accepting that sometimes things must be broken for them to truly heal. Gifted, though understandably not your equal, she acts as the primary support and healing component for your Heartcircle with your attention often required elsewhere. Entirely your superior in the fields of medical science, she has a keen eye for detail, and one that serves her well in acting as a sounding board.
Apart from you and Vega, Mir is the only Speaker on this mission. Awakening to a truly rare Focus of Peace, Mir has proven to possess something even more so: the strength of will to use it to fight. His Focus makes a natural at resolving conflict, and lessons from Vega have taught him how to apply these in ways she never imagined could work.
The Harmonial solely responsible for discovering the grander abilities of her Focus, and the most experienced Potential in their use alive. One of the most elusively deadly fighters among the Unisonbound as well as a talented Speaker, Vega's true talents lie elsewhere. Her ability to bring together scattered elements into a unified whole is legendary. She holds a spot among the consciousness of humanity very close to your own, and with good reason.
Hype! This is going to be one heck of a ride, I'm sure of it. Welcome to any new readers coming this way!
[x] Why should we listen to you?
Yeah, the gestalt gave a lot of information, but a mysterious individual interrupts our sleep wanting our help... an individual that didn't help us when WE needed it... It's got some 'splainin' to do!
'i honestly can't help but think that this is the most poignant question that can be asked here. The Ship Lords have been at this for HOW long now? Surely they could have guided other species by this point?
We already know, or have deduced, what they are; their ancient age and Uninvolved character makes who they are largely irrelevant now. They have their own goals for this conversation that will no doubt make it apparent why they are here, and present reasons for why we should listen to them. I can think of a good reason off the top of my head:
They may well be no wiser than we are, but they most certainly have more knowledge regarding important matters of which we are ignorant.
I have to recommend including that gorgeous image used in the update at the end of The Practice War - it's a spectacular piece that words don't really do justice.
Not sure what to vote for, here. Might sleep on it.
And I don't want that tone to be accusatory, like "Why have you waited so long" or "Why should we listen to you" seem to me. I want us to have a conversation. So the polite thing to do is to ask who we are speaking with. If we don't like what they have to say we can adjust as needed.
(As a side note, woo it's Practice War 2: Electric Boogaloo! Looking forward to seeing what you have in store, @Snowfire !)
And I don't want that tone to be accusatory, like "Why have you waited so long" or "Why should we listen to you" seem to me. I want us to have a conversation. So the polite thing to do is to ask who we are speaking with. If we don't like what they have to say we can adjust as needed.
I mean, I guess... but on the other hand, "why have you waited so long" is a really good question, and humanity (along with, like, all extant sapient life in the galaxy besides the Shiplords) has very good reason to want to know- and arguably a right to insist on an explanation.
Humanity has hurt because of the galactic status quo, and while the Uninvolved may be essentially benevolent, we can't go into this without at least questioning their motives, given that they've famously (it's in the name) shown no signs of being willing to do anything about that status quo until now.
If nothing else, we'll probably learn a lot about the moral compass of this particular Uninvolved (Uninvolved gestalt entity?) and whether we can trust what it's saying from how it reacts to the question. Some possible answers may alert us to the Uninvolved maybe not having our best interests at heart, while others may help allay such fears.
I have a hunch that this is a gateway to a fair bit of knowledge about how Things work, but it's only a hunch and the other options will probable end up there anyway, but I figured I'd split the vote some more by writing in another option.
I mean, I guess... but on the other hand, "why have you waited so long" is a really good question, and humanity (along with, like, all extant sapient life in the galaxy besides the Shiplords) has very good reason to want to know- and arguably a right to insist on an explanation.
Humanity has hurt because of the galactic status quo, and while the Uninvolved may be essentially benevolent, we can't go into this without at least questioning their motives, given that they've famously (it's in the name) shown no signs of being willing to do anything about that status quo until now.
If nothing else, we'll probably learn a lot about the moral compass of this particular Uninvolved (Uninvolved gestalt entity?) and whether we can trust what it's saying from how it reacts to the question. Some possible answers may alert us to the Uninvolved maybe not having our best interests at heart, while others may help allay such fears.
Honestly it's the tone, the accusatory nature of it that puts me off the most. That's not a good opener for what I'm hoping is a fruitful meeting, and it seems at odds with Amanda's experience as an Actual Diplomat to Aliens. I'd be less opposed if the question were "Why now?" - same information sought, but less antagonistically.
I'd try to come up with a good original write-in, but I'm grading exams so I'm a bit distracted atm.
