[X] Depth - Focus on the connection, try to follow it, to understand.

I am tempted by Neither. But I feel like this quest has excelled by constantly choosing the Depth of knowledge options and then exploiting that understanding to the maximum.
 
[X] Neither - Mary is safe now. Let this grow into whatever it ought to be.

I'm of the opinion that Mary growing into this connection organically is the better option that going into Depth, but I will not begrudge anyone if Depth wins. After all we have been alternating between Depth and organic growth throughout this entire story so far.
 
Oh, the structure that Amanda and Vega found absolutely was purpose built. It's just wrecked.
Right, but connecting to Mary is definitely not what it is supposed to be doing, so… what is it and why is it connecting to Mary? It's apparently beside the connection point for Animus, so is it some kind of backup? Is Mary the closest thing it could find to an actual Consolat to connect with and it went "emergency has lasted X years beyond tolerance. Contacting first lifeform capable of receiving."
 
It bears remembering that when the Consolat were building up all this metaphysical 'architecture' that formed a giant reality-warping engine, they had every reason to expect to be able to go on working on the project, and no reason to expect any other race capable of doing anything with the project's apparatus to arise for millennia if not even longer ages.

When we think of a car, we take for granted that a car will have a keyed ignition. That you cannot even turn the car on without a little piece of metal that "belongs" to you and that specifically matches that unique vehicle.

But imagine a world where only one prototype car existed, and where the idea of anyone even thinking of stealing a car, let alone being able to drive it if they did, was unthinkable. Why not build the only car in the world with no locks on the doors, except perhaps a safety latch to keep you from falling out while the thing's in motion? Why not build the ignition to start with the simple push of a button?

Maybe the Consolat system was not designed to be 'picky' about who it works for, the Consolat simply took for granted that, at least for their 'now,' no one other than Animus would exist in the entire universe who was capable of activating the system. In that case, it's not an active backup procedure. The architecture can't tell whether it's weakly trying to connect to Animus or to Mary, it's just trying to connect to anything vaguely resembling the kind of entity that's supposed to be controlling it.
 
[X] Depth - Focus on the connection, try to follow it, to understand.

[X] Neither - Mary is safe now. Let this grow into whatever it ought to be.
 
[x] Depth
//
If Animus took that much out of them - will repairing the damaged structure require the outright sacrifice of souls?
 
A lack of "construction material" shouldn't be an issue; the Secrets are already omnipresent. On the other hand we don't know for sure how the Secrets connect to souls or how they were built, but… that's what this is about. We'll figure it out.
 
If Animus took that much out of them - will repairing the damaged structure require the outright sacrifice of souls?
The current body of opinion is that this may actually be less taxing than Animus, at least in effort vs 'area' terms. The soulspace end of the control plane appears complex, yes, but according to Animus it was never meant to be alive. Which means 'all' you need to do is restore and repair the system.

The work you've done fixing the infrastructure around Mary's soul should prove good experience for that, funnily enough.
 
[X] Depth - Focus on the connection, try to follow it, to understand.

This is Mary we're talking about...I cannot comprehend her letting something develop in/around her soul and not try to understand it as deeply as possible.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Killer_Whale on Dec 13, 2024 at 7:28 PM, finished with 28 posts and 18 votes.
 
[X] Depth - Focus on the connection, try to follow it, to understand.

I suspect "Daughter of Secrets," as a trait title, isn't just for show.
 
It's a tie right now between the two votes.
 
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