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The Secrets' Crusade

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[X] Mary D'Reve

A miracle already, the dice are most generous. Let's hope it keeps up when we most need it. Amazing writing as always, so does the miracle mean that Iris can do this fragmenting and remain whole again and again, or was it something that can only happen in cooperation with Amanda?
 
Zfglx said:
A miracle already, the dice are most generous. Let's hope it keeps up when we most need it. Amazing writing as always, so does the miracle mean that Iris can do this fragmenting and remain whole again and again, or was it something that can only happen in cooperation with Amanda?
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She can't repeat this without a lot of work put into understanding how she did it. Outside of these circumstances, Iris is amazing at multitasking, but has a lot of issues where it comes to forking. If you know Eclipse Phase, this section involved her essentially splitting off endless beta forks. And it...did some things to her. Fortunately, Amanda was there to keep her together, and Mary recorded the entire thing. There's a huge amount of data there, unfortunately, and the major issue is working out why Iris was having searing pain episodes before Amanda's Mending patched her up.

<Iris> A vision of a future that might. We'll see if it comes to pass. Now I'm just going to go...cry some more. That was horrible.
 
Vortex279 said:
I have to admit, that memorial prose just brings to mind the question, Just what is so absolutely horrifying that the Shiplords are willing to utterly erase species, even though they consider such a failure on their part to the point where they make a memorial consisting of an entire STAR SYSTEM? The character and modus operandi of the Shiplords has me so confused . . .
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I'm more interested in what's special about the Zlathbu that the Shiplords were willing to memorialize them. You know, because it certainly wasn't just the fact that the Shiplords erased the species - Shiplords have been erasing species that don't fend off their first Tribute Fleet well enough for a very, very long time. If it was just getting completely erased like that that justified the effort there'd be dead systems acting as memorials littered all over the galaxy.
 
me.me.here said:
I'm more interested in what's special about the Zlathbu that the Shiplords were willing to memorialize them. You know, because it certainly wasn't just the fact that the Shiplords erased the species - Shiplords have been erasing species that don't fend off their first Tribute Fleet well enough for a very, very long time. If it was just getting completely erased like that that justified the effort there'd be dead systems acting as memorials littered all over the galaxy.
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My guess is that they managed to find a secret that elevated them above other races, one that once mastered would allow them to understand why the shiplords do what they do, but if misused would doom life in the entire galaxy. I'd say that those that find that secret and fail to use it "correctly" in the eyes of the shiplords would get such a memorial.
 
[X] Amanda Hawk

I know I'm likely gonna be the only one voting for her, but for this she's actually the perspective I want to see.

Also, *hugs Iris forever*
 
Alright. That was interesting. I have no stake in this vote so later. Next on should be something I have stuff to say on. Brace yourself @Snowfire I'm in a permanent philosophical mood for your answers about Shiplords. Starting with why they call themselves the Lords of Ships.
 
I want to know implications for the mission dissociated from whatever else people may think personally.

[x] The Adamant's intelligence section
 
Snowfire said:
She can't repeat this without a lot of work put into understanding how she did it. Outside of these circumstances, Iris is amazing at multitasking, but has a lot of issues where it comes to forking. If you know Eclipse Phase, this section involved her essentially splitting off endless beta forks. And it...did some things to her. Fortunately, Amanda was there to keep her together, and Mary recorded the entire thing. There's a huge amount of data there, unfortunately, and the major issue is working out why Iris was having searing pain episodes before Amanda's Mending patched her up.

<Iris> A vision of a future that might. We'll see if it comes to pass. Now I'm just going to go...cry some more. That was horrible.
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I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that the pain is because her soul is literally being torn apart by trying and failing to simultaneously be multiple copies of herself. In software terms, her mind forks properly, but a shared resource (her soul) isn't set up for that kind of abuse and it causes major problems. I can see two ways around it: the Jane solution (figure out how to get her soul to multitask across beta-selves) and the Naruto solution (figure out how to safely fragment and then rejoin her soul). Either way I can see the Shiplords getting rather upset about it.
 
Running a quick tally before bed, I'll close this vote tomorrow. Aim is for the update to be out to you midweek - we'll see if they cooperate. Currently landsliding towards the Intel section of the Adamant.
Adhoc vote count started by Snowfire on Jul 19, 2020 at 5:07 PM, finished with 34 posts and 21 votes.
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spikethehobbit said:
I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that the pain is because her soul is literally being torn apart by trying and failing to simultaneously be multiple copies of herself. In software terms, her mind forks properly, but a shared resource (her soul) isn't set up for that kind of abuse and it causes major problems. I can see two ways around it: the Jane solution (figure out how to get her soul to multitask across beta-selves) and the Naruto solution (figure out how to safely fragment and then rejoin her soul). Either way I can see the Shiplords getting rather upset about it.
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There's another reason for her to feel horrible pain.

She just violated the deepest core of another AI's self.
 
Snowfire said:
Fortunately, Amanda was there to keep her together, and Mary recorded the entire thing. There's a huge amount of data there, unfortunately, and the major issue is working out why Iris was having searing pain episodes before Amanda's Mending patched her up.
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I interpreted that as birthing pains - she literally went from 'one unit identity' to 'hive mind, but not really, but I lack the words to accurately describe that'. And went back to the familiar one after the Miracle ended.
//
[X] Jane Cyneburg
The most 'normal' person on board.
 
MTB said:
The most 'normal' person on board.
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The Adamant's spooks will remember this :V

Vote Closed.
Adhoc vote count started by Snowfire on Jul 20, 2020 at 10:43 AM, finished with 39 posts and 23 votes.
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Nice scene of Iris going HAL-9000 for a moment, there. She definitely was right that turning off those processes would be a bad idea.

We have more confirmation that from the Shiplord's point of view, they are saving the galaxy from something.

Nonetheless, when you contrast they deeds with these words:
Snowfire said:
Be welcome in this place, those who have come to remember our failures. Here is the last in many cycles. They could have been so much more, yet we could not make them listen, and in that lies the same failing as the rest
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there is another conclusion that starts raising it's head: maybe they just suck at explaining
 
That would be a 'misunderstanding' to make all epic communication errors go into the corner and be ashamed.
Would Snowfire do something like that?
...
Of course he would.
 
I went and updated two of my previous omake.

Not a whole lot has changed. Mostly I did this because I was never perfectly happy with them, in particular with how Michiru presented herself -- she may be a minor side character in the overall story, but she's a protagonist in her own mind. I wasn't originally able to write out her thinking, however, and I'm still not. I still think the update improved on her a lot, however...

To the degree the changes are notable, it's because they were written with AI assistance. It feels appropriate, for Iris' first meeting with the gang, to have it narrated by the first VI truly capable enough to be a useful co-writer. Or writer, for that matter.

If you just want to see what that looks like, it's Michiru's narration in italics. ;-)

I will regretfully admit she's an unreliable narrator.
 
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