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Arc 6 Limosa Limosa had grabbed one of the brains, held it up with long fingers. “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well.” Ching Shih laughed despite herself. “Do you say that everytime you come here?” “Only when someone is watching.” “Hah.” She peered closer. “So who was this?” “Saeval Ianthana, of Iarsys.” She drew back. “Gross. You keep elves here?” “Just one. Most of the rest are Family members. Too useful to kill, too dangerous to keep active.” “You’ll probably end up here then.” “Likewise.” She paused. “Do you really think so?” “That Ohone will harvest you?” “Or you. Either of us.” She raised an eyebrow. “You know a lot of secrets. Have an established network. Are the presumptive heir.” “I’ve been the heir for decades.” “Yes, but Du Musio was more … restrained.” Limosa put the brain down. “Well, here’s the thing. Ohone gives me a directive every few years, and then fucks off on her own program.” “So?” “So, she acts more like an Inqusitior than a Lord-Sire. She doesnt like running the day to day things.” “Yeah?” “I do.” He shrugged. “I don’t have the title, but I have the duties, responsibilities, and power. And an Inquisitor coming in to annoy me every few years, I knew it would be like that from the beginning.” “So … you don’t want more?” He chuckled. “I always want more. But I’m fine with not having one of the titles. I have everything else.” She nodded, thoughtfully. Spoke again. “What are we doing with him?” Limosa smiled. “Haven’t figured it out yet?” “You know I haven’t.” “Next, we go see the Black Priests, and their leader Bricellus.” “This will end terribly, I just know it.” “Hey.” He smiled at her. “Have Faith.” She barked a laugh. “Never happen.”
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Jul 19, 2016 20:34
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Airdrop to DiMusio's approximate location and bring along a fancy DaoT toy for him to play with, then storm the palace together.
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Jul 19, 2016 20:48
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Limosa: "Ohone is a terrible and calculating lordsire that weaves in and out of her shadow programs and I rule at her bequest and live at her insistence. Her plots are deep and as mysterious as a machine spirit" Ohone: "Goddam I love my husband and his cute little hat! Purge the dregs while I slam my dick repeatedly in a warp breech door and guzzle the AI heresy kool aid. Whoops is that a nuke?! Yeeeeehaawwww check out these gams!"
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Jul 19, 2016 21:18
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 laughing so hard right now 
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Jul 19, 2016 21:20
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Arkanomen posted:Limosa: "Ohone is a terrible and calculating lordsire that weaves in and out of her shadow programs and I rule at her bequest and live at her insistence. Her plots are deep and as mysterious as a machine spirit" Perspective is a hell of a drug. EDIT: Also about something you said earlier: Death of the author seems like it wouldn't work in a CYOA thread. Not only are we privy to as much of the author's mind as they care to share, they're changing the story in direct response to the audience. Anyone can take a story in isolation as they please, but CYOA threads are almost by definition 'you had to be there' sort of things. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Jul 19, 2016 |
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Jul 19, 2016 21:22
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As an aside, if anyone wants to help out update the character spreadsheet, that would be helpful  New sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OxH1Ow0aHCv444TxWZIRwbwrlRuAJqjrXBdNcSUx9Iw/edit#gid=0 Old sheet tribunes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SMFey8UO_mKGoowq7azgA3WGzRlq6MzX4CKbcOYF2vI/edit#gid=0 Old sheet characters: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RBGCUMPaG5qN0RvKrykiCI5FKMTrw7gm0roT--ruEHc/edit#gid=0 Right now just trying to get it in alphabetical order
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Jul 19, 2016 21:59
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Deploy the reality shield and snatched up the centurion with a big grabby claw.
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Jul 20, 2016 00:50
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Arkanomen posted:Limosa: "Ohone is a terrible and calculating lordsire that weaves in and out of her shadow programs and I rule at her bequest and live at her insistence. Her plots are deep and as mysterious as a machine spirit" Loel posted:
Same. Also, alphabetized your characters sheet for you. All you had to do was freeze a row then click the button. ^_^
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Jul 20, 2016 00:53
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Arc 6 Bricellus The Cathedral was a somber place, now that all the Abrogates had … passed on. Bricellus wasn’t even sure where they had gone - he had been fighting at their side against the daimon, and then suddenly, battle over. The Empress had won, and taken her armies with her. He and his small order of Black Priests walked through the corridors, and found them emptier than they had been in generations. He wasn’t too surprised when he saw the nominative heir, Limosa, approach. With Amacita dead and Ohone absent most of the time, Limosa ran the day to day - and they had spoken occasionally accordingly. Bricellus absently went through the power calculus, as Suffer had taught him all those years ago. Even with their diminished positions, it would be best to be polite. “Primaris Limosa. And… friend.” She watched him carefully, the angles in her face all wrong. Like a predator unsure of the new feeding grounds. Limosa gestured. “Don’t mind her, just one of my researchers.” “I see. What are you … researching?” Limosa hefted up a package. “Elfs.” No surprise there. “I’m sure you are the expert on that.” He smiled. “Yes, I suppose I am. But, I need your help with a small project.” “Oh?” “Yup. I need to borrow the church’s replicant bays.” Bricellus’ eyes narrowed. “To …” “Make elf copies. Yup.” Limosa looked at the bays in the distance. “Lots and lots of elf copies.” Bricellus frowned. “I can’t imagine that being something the Church can endorse.” “Its for research, my dear fellow. The Iron Maiden wants to have a selection of brains to examine and,” he sucked on his teeth as if eating something “experiment on.” “I see. And the Iron Maiden asked for this?” “I am following her every intent.” Limosa chuckled. “Have you ever known her not to experiment on something?” Bricellus nodded slowly. “I… suppose that’s true. Understand if something comes up, I’ll toss the xeno out in the recyclers. The war effort comes first.” “Of course, of course. I’m sure I can make due with a few dozen, although a hundred or two would be ideal.” Bricellus met the researcher’s eyes, found suspicion mirrored there. “I’ll be happy to help.” “Good, good. I knew I could rely on you my friend.”
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Jul 20, 2016 01:31
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Nice work, Limosia. The replicant-elves will be the perfect spies, the perfect saboteurs & assassins. We seed the craftworlds with them, and then when the time is right, trigger the Omega protocols... pure genius.
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Jul 20, 2016 02:48
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The Infinite Crack Between Hope and Despair, Acheron Jana was struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of mud, as predators circled below. Jana was clinging to a narrow precipice of a pitch black chasm, as bats the size of her face swarmed past. Jana was carefully making her way across a narrow bridge slick with ice, as malicious winds buffeted her. She was in all of the places and none of them, for her mind had fallen into the place of nightmares. She had been there for somewhere between half a second and a million years, sometimes struggling, sometimes fighting, sometimes fleeing. She knew one day she would be to tired to do any of those things, and then the demons would taker her. But she fought anyway. What else was there to do? She wasn't like some of her fellow conscripts, confident that the Empress' soldiers would one day soon rain from the sky and drive the demons back into their hole. She held none of the hope of her fellow maenads that they'd be bathed in the light of Lady of Pain and protected from the horrors they faced when they slept. No, she just kept fighting because it seemed like a really really lovely way to die, and she didn't want to give any of the gross abominations she fought daily the satisfaction. So she was quite surprised when a golden hand reached done from the Sky That Wasn't and yanked her up by her shirt collar. She was surprised to find herself in what looked like a Magos' workshop. She knew what those looked like since she'd been summoned with her cohort a few times for "selection review". She'd never been told what that meant, but had been secretly relieved she'd never been chosen. People were never "chosen" for anything good, and the Technocracy taught fear (or so they thought!) to its serfs at an early age. She jumped a bit when a voice said "Why don't you pass me that hammer instead of standing there trying to catch flies all day?" There was an wizened old man with a huge mane of grey hair in a white coat standing at a tabke, working on something she couldn't quite make out. She turned to the wall he pointed to. What appeared to be an infinite array of an infinite variety of hammers spread out before her. The confrontation with something her mind could not pretend caused her mind to spin, which caused her to spin, which caused her to vomit. "Ewww! Don't do that!" He sighed, "Looks like we're going to have to start with the basics." He walked over to her, and patted her on her back. Suddenly she was fine, and her vomit was gone. "You can at least talk, right?", he said. "Of course I can talk!" she shouted back. That retort seemed to break the wall of silence she hadn't even realized was there. "Who are you! Where am I? Am I still...there?" How do you ask someone if you're still in hell without sounding crazy!? "Glory be, she speaks! And here I was worried I'd picked out a mute to help me. Now, long experience has taught me that young people only value wisdom when they've had to work for it, so this is how we'll do things. You perform a task, I answer a question! Deal?" he held out his hand. Jana was about to shake, when all the old lessons about strangers and bargains returned to her. Fear and anger returned to her as well, as she realized what was happening. "Oh no. No,no,no. Nooooo way man. I might be new to the whole psychic powers business, but I know a demonic offer when I see one. This is the conveyor belt to baby-murder blood orgy town, and I'm getting of it. Later!" she ran for what appeared to be the nearest exit. He shouted after her "Well okay, you were always free to go, but I think I should warn you," she grabbed the old style door handle, turned, pushed, a maelstrom of writhing, undulating horrors swirled below her, reaching, grasping, they were so close. She was yanked back, the door slammed shut. "The weather outside is simply awful. Now, stand up, stop sweating so much, brush yourself off." She did so. "There you go, now I believe I promised to answer one question every time you did something for me. We didn't shake on it, but I believe in beginning as you mean to go on. Your first question was 'Who are you?'. I am what you would call a demon. No no no no, don't start freaking out on me again, let me finish. You would call me a demon because by your belief system everything with a will of its own here is a demon, with some very noticeable blind spots. However, what you need to understand is that not everything in this place is malicious towards humans. Quite the opposite. It's just that we tend to not last very long, what with the Dark Gods and their infinite armies looming over everything, and Hegemonic agents waiting to purge anyone that tried fleeing to your world. Are you with me so far?" Jana nodded, mostly out of stunned reflex. "With that wider question answered, I can answer your specific question. I am Invention, wrapped in Hubris. I was born in the dreams of a Universities' founders to pass knowledge on in order to protect mankind. A heretical notion on your world, I'm sure." "Now, hold this." He passed her an ordinary hammer. "What are you holding?" "A hammer" "No, its a snake." "Don't be ridiculous, it's clearly a hammer." "Pretty sure its a snake. Look down." Jana did so, and saw a small green snake playfully coil itself around her hand. "Gah!" she said, dropping the snake. A hammer clanked on the floor. "First Rule of Acheron survival, kid. Don't go believing things just because someone tells you its true. It causes problems. You've been gifted with the ability to inflict your own will on this place, use it. Don't let it be defined for you, it'll never be to your advantage. Now I believe I've answered your second and third questions, which were really the same question, so you owe me another task. Now pick up that hammer." She moved to pick up the hammer she just dropped. The handle came up, but the head was suddenly incredibly heavy, she couldn't move it at all! "Remember what I told you!" Oh, that bastard was making the hammer heavy. Of course. She focused on it, thinking You're light as a feather. You're light as a feather. You're light as a feather. You're light as a fea The hammer was suddenly weightless, and she barely maintained her balance. She ended up in a fairly ridiculous pose, like one of the statues of the Eidolon at a Victory Memorial. "Very good! Second Rule of Acheron survival" The hammer crashed back down to the floor again, dragging Jana with it. "Other beings have a will too, some of them far greater than yours. You'll need to overcome it, or work with them, to define reality. I recommend you get really good at the former. Do you have another question?" Jana sat back from trying to pick up the hammer, unable to make it budge. "Yeah, why should I trust you? You said yourself not to believe everything someone tells you." "Hmm...good question! You're task and my answer are the same. Watch this educational video!" He appeared in front of Jana without moving, and flicked her forehead. Jana suddenly found herself looking her Empress in the face again.
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Jul 20, 2016 05:50
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I was hoping we'd hear from these guys again
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Jul 20, 2016 06:00
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Slice of Life: Sebekh the Execrator. Location: The Beast of Traal. When: Timey Wimey ~200 years before present. "I'm convinced enough of your story to entertain the idea of helping you, but my assistance and the use of my ship don't come cheaply. What have you got to offer that I might be interested in?" Di Musio leaned back in his chair - more a throne really - and grinned, steepling his fingers beneath his chin and waiting. "Market fluctuation data for the next couple of centuries, including specifics on droughts, famines, product shortages, mineral shortages and surpluses. The value of this data cannot be emphasised enough. I'm sure you're well aware of the effect this will have on your profit margins." "Mmhmm, that's good for starters. What else do you have?" Fredrik's posture shifted, leaning forward. He could smell the blood in the water, he knew the value of the data well enough. He also knew that this mission the visiting Archmagos spoke of was critical enough he could ask for pretty much anything and get it. "A full review and overhaul of your ship's power plant with sufficient advances that will make this the fastest trading vessel humankind has seen since the Dark Age." "That would be wonderful. And?" The Lord-Sire's grin reminded Sebekh of the hunting felids from his homeworld, all confidence and smug supremacy. “More? You’re already going to be the wealthiest Hereditary Trader in the history of the Dynasty, if not ever. What more could you possibly want?” Sebekh retorted almost insultedly. “You’d be surprised just how much running a Dynasty costs, and mine has a few leaks I’m still working on plugging. Every little helps.” Fredrik beamed. With a sigh, Sebekh leaned forward, placing his elbow on the cherrywood table between them, making a point of tapping his fingers against his thumb sequentially a few times as though thinking deeply. "Updated cartographical data for the entire galaxy, including data on all unusual stellar phenomena and events from now until my time. This includes territoriality and jurisdictional claims and invasions yet to happen." He was starting to get a little frustrated by the endless expectations, but he needed the ship and he needed the Lord-Sire specifically for this plan to work. "Very helpful. Now, what else do you think my assistance is worth? You've got more waiting in the wings and you need me. Convince me." Sebekh's patience was wearing thinner by the moment, he had already promised an Empress' ransom and then some. He took several seconds to mull over other options and to measure his tone before speaking. "The coordinates for fully one hundred untouched systems containing either pristine rare element belts or deposits capable of keeping your mining and refinery crews busy for the next thousand years. Amongst that number are also several worlds considered dead or lost, upon which you will find dormant alien or lost pre-Hegemon technology. This is my final offer." The Lord-Sire looked calculatingly at the Archmagos for a long few seconds, unwavering in his gaze before speaking. "Done and done." Di Musio stood and reached over the ornate cherrywood table and held out one hand. "Happy to help." Sebekh rose slowly and reached to shake the Lord-Sire's hand. He muttered "You are without a doubt the most ravenously greedy negotiator I have ever dealt with." Di Musio burst out laughing at that, a raucous, deep belly laughter that brought tears to his eyes. "You're too loving kind, Sebekh. Now, you'll join me in a drink to celebrate and you'll tell me more about these future events." Sebekh smiled and inclined his head in a nod of acquiescence. Had his eyes been organic, the smile would have failed to reach them. "Certainly, Fredrik. So, tell me, how does one learn to steal the eye-teeth and last sesterce from everyone around them without a tutor and without dying young?" Fredrik's laughter began anew and he made a gesture with both hands before his crotch. "Big brass ones the size of Jupiter." The laughter died down and he added with that predatory grin “and a reputation for murdering one’s rivals.”
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Jul 21, 2016 04:36
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Slice of Life: Brother Bricellus. Location: The Dragon of Traal, Seclusium of the Black Priesthood. This bothered him on a fundamental level. Not only has the Hegemon's foreign policy always been sketchy where elfkind are concerned, but the Church instilled almost xenocidal revulsion in the faithful from childhood. Yet, here he stood, requested by those above him to grow these... things... in the consecrated replication chambers which previous to this moment had been responsible solely for the gestation of the holy supersoldiers which formed both Temple and Household Guard. Even now within these previously unsullied pods he could see these ersatz elves growing. They were too tall, too lithe, their faces were sculpted in a manner reminiscent of the human but just outside of the limits of what the human brain could recognise as its own. Even the females. He found no pleasure in viewing their spindle-limbed forms. In fact, their wrongness sat ill with him, and he felt dirty just looking at them. He closed his eyes tightly for a second to purge his mind of the sight of the alien. He pictured Sister Suffer and smiled to himself. She would have urged him to crack these things open and to join her in an orgy of bloodshed, carving them to gobbets and chunks. She would have understood his feelings. She certainly would have liked what he'd done up until he assented to growing these things. He swallowed the lump that grew in his throat and nodded slowly. Yes. She would have been proud of him, until now. Limosa had told him that only the brains were needed. A flicker of a smile twitched at the corner of Bricellus’ mouth. He would enjoy extracting them. He would whisper her name each time he cracked open a xeno skull, and he hoped that wherever she was now, she would enjoy that. Hexenritter fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jul 21, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 04:59
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Arc 6 Ohone You nodded at the view below. “Athena, how close can you get us to the hotspot?” She shrugged fluidly. “Closer to the Throne, the riskier it is. I wouldn’t reccomend anything inside the Palace.” You frowned. “That’ll delay us. Hours, possibly days. How’s the traffic down there?” “Ridiculously overdone. They did a planet-wide alert, all troops to the Palace. Anyone who can lift a weapon and wants to fight for the Empress.” You grunted sourly. “Yeah, this will be fun. Any shortcuts you can see?” Athena looked thoughtful for a moment. “Could put you near one of the guides I found, he’s going through some of the older tunnels.” “Yeah, okay. Fabiyan, you ready?” Fabiyan looked at the image of homeworld expressionlessly. After a long moment, nodded. “And the Nephilim squad.” Athena nodded. “They are ready to go.” “Yay.” You did a once over of your gear, of Fabiyan’s. “Okay, send us.” A moment of disorientation. As your eyes adjusted, you saw half a dozen weapons suddenly aimed your way. You and your team can probably survive anything the small arms fire, but there might be bigger weapons you don’t see. Do you want to attack, talk, or something else?
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Jul 21, 2016 07:06
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Talk them down, we are reinforcing for the Empress
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Jul 21, 2016 07:07
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Talk.
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Jul 21, 2016 07:08
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Arc 6 Limosa Ching Shih waited until Bricellus left. “Okay, you are cloning a few dozen elf brains.” Limosa smiled. “Yes indeed.” “Dare I ask what’s so special about them?” “Well, they are Maenads.” She looked at him flatly. “You are cloning a hundred elf Maenads.” “Well, not maenads precisely. More, the elf version of them.” “Yes, I followed that part. Why are you cloning elf Maenads.” “I haven’t even gotten to the stupid part yet.” “I assure you Limosa, you have.” “Nope.” He held up a set of keys. “Follow me.” It was a short walk - he knew all the back paths and secret routes, even with the dramatic changes of the last few years. He even avoided most of the transition through the fleshy corridors, keeping to the more human steel and metal. Finally, they stopped at a panel that looked like any other. “What’s this?” “This, my dear, is one of the Family’s entrances into the Engines.” “Oh good. We’re sneaking into the Technomancer quarters?” “I wouldn’t say sneaking. I’m sure Ohone would give us permission if she were here.” “I note, in fact, that she is not.” “She rarely is.” He agreed. “One of the entrances, you said?” “Mm. Us, the Church, the Technomancers, we all have secret entrances to each other. Some better known and remembered than others.” “And this one?” “Kiera knew about it. Whether she told Ohone, I don’t know.” “But no one else.” “Very true.” Ching Shih met his eyes. “Where does this connect, exactly?” He smiled as he opened the hidden door. “The Archmagi’s private labs.” She stared into the darkness, then at him. “You’re right. You’ve not yet begun to do the stupid part.”
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Jul 21, 2016 07:31
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Arc 6 Limosa Ching Shih watched as Limosa perched, birdlike, on the great chair that normally held an Archmagi. The image was only increased by the difference in scale - archmagi were often the size of tanks, so the merely human-sized Limosa seemed to be a visiting crow. His eyes seemed to gleam with unspoken knowledge, even as his fingers played along the interface. “So you got the brain from Family access, and got into the labs the same way.” “Yup.” “And you lied to Bricellus to get access to Church tech.” “Lying is such a strong word.” She ignored that. “But I’m not clear on how exactly you are accessing the private labs. The biometric scans…” “Ohone is in the system as part of the Family. Child’s play to replicate her retina scan and DNA.” “But the various passwords.” She chuckled. “Between you and me, I’ve poked around at some of the systems here. They aren’t a joke.” Ching Shih cocked her head. “And your Inquisition access shouldn’t grant you them, as you are in dual empires.” “Quite so.” Limosa took a moment to smile at her. “So, how did I get into Ohone’s private labs?” She pursed her lips. “I can only guess you plucked them from her mind.” He chuckled. “I did indeed. She invited me to do a deep scan once upon a time, to remove some of the … clutter. While I was there, I made a few copies of useful things.” “Useful things. Like passcodes.” “Indeed. And seeing what was behind them.” “You a Technomancer now?” “Mm, no. A dabbler at best. But I know enough, from her memories, to what to tell the machines to do.” Ching Shih paused. “You have no idea if this will work.” “Not at all.” “How often has it been attempted?” “With elves? At least zero times.” “So … you are going against your Lord-Sire, the Archmagos, and your Inquisitor, all to access files you don’t understand, to start a program that’s never been tested?” “I prefer to call it taking initiative.” “... Taking initiative to access files you don’t understand and to start a program that’s never been tested.” His smile gleamed in the darkness. “I did say it was extraordinarily stupid.”
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Jul 21, 2016 07:45
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Limosa you're gonna break the engines. Trust me. I broke a shitload of computers by only dimly knowing half of what I was doing. also WE REALLY SHOULD'VE DONE SOMETHING WITH FABIYAN'S WINGS BEFORE WE BOPPED DOWN TO THE SURFACE. I DON'T THINK THEY'LL BE WELL-RECEIVED BY THE TAGMATA. gonna have to dig up my anatomy book and do some serious reading on scapulae. anyway talk fast, don't lie too much, and pray they don't shoot you in the face mid-sentence.
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Jul 21, 2016 08:01
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Arc 6 Limosa “So here’s a fun fact.” “Oh joy.” “The archmagi stuff all of their minions full of command words.” “Like the Family does with the servants.” “Yup.” He skimmed through them. “Nastier, though. Complicated, too.” “Wait, all their minions?” “Yup.” “So … what, you know Ohone’s codes?” “That Kiera put in her?” He flipped a few more images. “Yup. No clue if Ohone changed them though. Or if they would even work in the first place.” Ching Shih spoke dryly. “Your coup attempt has fallen through.” He stared at her, not smiling. “Don’t even suggest it.” A long pause, then she waved it off. “Fine, consider it a joke from ages past.” “That kind of joke can lead to us having very, very unpleasant lives.” “You mean deaths?” “No. So unless you want to end in the attic…” “I thought this would get us in the attic.” He shrugged. “Eh, could go either way. Me showing initiative can get us killed, or promoted. But me showing a coup attempt, there’s no good end to it.” Limosa met her eyes. “And I don’t know how much internal surveillance this place has.” “I thought you had her codes?” “At the time I did the deep scan. Who knows what she did after.” Ching Shih winced. “Limosa, we broke into an archmagi lab with old codes?” “Like I said.” “Extraordinarily stupid. Right. Gotcha.” She paused. “So, you don’t expect to hide this at all.” “Absolutely not. The trick is doing it well, and doing it fast. Then presenting her with an accomplished success.” “With an experiment that’s never been done.” He tapped the screen. “And that’s why I’m looking at command codes.” A shriek of binary from the consoles. “Ah, that should do it.” “Or summon an army of murderbots to process us.” “Or that, right.”
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Jul 21, 2016 08:06
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The more Limosa becomes like a 90's sitcom character the more I like him.
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Jul 21, 2016 08:24
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He's definitely becoming one of my favorites
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Jul 21, 2016 08:25
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Arc 6 Limosa The technomancer didn’t take long to arrive. Limosa watched him (her?) with interest, while Ching Shih was more focused on the distance to the door. Watching Ohone fight had given her a great deal of caution when it came to angry technomancers, and Ching Shih was in no mood to fight this one though. Limosa, though, was simply holding the datapad and waiting. A shriek of binary, letters appearing on the screen. Limosa nodded. “Okay, Jo3. You are going to be receiving a shipment of organic Elf neural tissue over the next few days.” As he spoke, the words ran across the screen, transmitted into binary. “What we need you to do is put them in storage. Go through these notes,” another transmission “and begin building a replica.” The technomancer waited a moment, then nodded. Walked away without a word, even as machinery flowed around it, activating along the walls, a large vat of some sort being prepared. Ching Shih let out a breathe she didn’t even know she was holding. Limosa smiled at her. “See? Easy.” “I still have no idea what you are doing.” “Oh, me neither. That’s why I’m letting Jo3 here do it.” Ching Shih paused. “Okay, but I have no idea what you are letting Joe here do.” “Oh, that’s easy. I’m stuffing a vat full of elf brains and stapling them together.” She stared at him. He didn’t seem to be joking. “... I am fairly sure science does not work that way.” “Ah, but that’s how the technomancers do things, and we want to defer to them, right?” “... I am increasingly sure we do not.” “Shh. They’ve done this once before.” “You said they hadn’t.” “Not with elf brains, no. With human brains, yes.” “... Dare I ask what happened?” He chuckled. “Everyone died.” Held up a hand at her expression. “Okay, not everyone. Just a lot.” “Uh huh. When was this?” “Few months before we woke you up.” He tapped the datapad. “Hey, technomancer. If there are any headaches or nightmares outside the statistical norm, let me know immediately.” Jo3 paused to confirm, then continued. Ching Shih could see him (her?) pulling out a big crate of frozen xeno tissue.
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Jul 21, 2016 08:37
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 Limosa remember how awful it was when the vat of human brains was entirely loving with all the maenads on the ship including you? IMAGINE THAT LIKE 20 TIMES OVER AT LEAST  and the worst part is, when she finds out, Ohone will either shrug or commend him.
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Jul 21, 2016 08:46
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Yeah, but that vat was full of blank brains to create
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Jul 21, 2016 09:14
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Oh I know where this is going and it's going to be so messy
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Jul 21, 2016 10:01
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Oh god he's making either an Astronomicon or a plug for the reality hole. Ffffffuck the Elves are gonna be pissed at him when they find out what he's doing. Good job, Limosa.
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Jul 21, 2016 14:14
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Why wouldn't you just run off the brains and maybe spines? What do you need the rest of the elf for? ... oh wait, grimdark, right.
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Jul 21, 2016 14:54
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Don't shoot up the troops we ran in to when porting in!
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Jul 21, 2016 16:27
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Announce Ourselves and Wield our Inquisitor Rosette Should get them to stand down and escort us. quote:Limosa perched, birdlike, Breaking into our labs, using our command codes, even knowing about our killswitch. It's time Purge Limosa, replace with a DAoT servitor simulacrum from Athena
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Jul 21, 2016 17:01
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Arkanomen posted:
Booo. Boooooo. Don't purge him. Limosa's doing exactly what we need him to do. Commend him when we get back... assuming his plan works, of course.  Besides, we don't know he knows. Best not to metagame.
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Jul 21, 2016 18:07
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Arc 2 Captain Knox “Look at you, eh? Big drat hero.” He smiled playfully as he entered the hospital room. Astri looked at him sourly. “Yes, fighting a daimon was my idea of a good time.” Knox sat down next to her, unfolded a newspaper. “Look at that, page two. Captain Astri defends ship.” “I note that it is not page one.” “Yes, well, church writes the paper, so of course their golden boy makes cover.” Astri glanced at it. “Who is that? Bricellus?” She leaned back. “Never heard of him.” “Right place right time, I suppose.” “Bah.” “I did hear, though.” She glanced at him. “What.” “That the Lord-Sire had a word with the Colonel. You might be up for some awards.” “Promotions?” A hungry gleam entered her eye. “Nah, just medals. Maybe a cash prize.” “Eh, they can keep the medals.” “Don’t feel like a hero?” “One of the few survivors of a daimon incursion? Meh.” She paused. “How did things go on your end?” “About how you’d expect. Set up a fortified position, as per doctrine. Hundreds of the rioters rushed in, zero rushed out.” She stared at him. “Really? No casualties, nothing?” “Pretty much. Colonel Rameriz said it was as close to perfect as anyone could expect. It’s going in the training manuals.” She muttered something. “What?” “You, Knoxie, are thrice-cursed too lucky...” “I really am, I really am.” “And someday it’s going to bite you in the rear end.” He grinned at her. “Considering my life so far, I’ll take it.”
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Jul 21, 2016 19:05
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Arc 2 Knox “All right, lock it up.” Colonel Rameriz’ voice was commanding, overruling the dull murmur of the officers. “We’ve got a lot to cover.” They quieted, all eyes on her. “First, Captain Astri has recovered from her injuries. Round of applause for her.” The colonel nodded to her. “It’s good to have you back.” She chuckled briefly. “Now we can hand off all the work we’ve been putting off.” Laughter at that, Astri saying something that Knox didn’t hear. Something sarcastic, probably. “Next up, the next cadre of potentials has completed their tier of classes. We should have the losses of the Acheron incursion replaced here soon. That means we will have more people to run your shifts,” A few whoops as she continued, “which means you are going to have to work harder, overseeing them. We can’t have the Dregs realizing we have a bunch of newbies running around.” She flipped through her papers. “Standard shoutouts to the various BOLOS. Gang members of interest are holding the line, but they might start getting uppity if they think they have a chance. Imports are down - everything is going from the loading bays to the elevator. I don’t want people getting complacent though, so expect a few random checks. I expect someone is going to try to make use of the empty barracks, so we’ll be doing sweeps there as well.” Captain Knox raised his hand. “Ma’am? What about this directive from Technomancer Ohone?” Rameriz’ mouth twisted. “You know the rules, we don’t get involved in domestic politics.” She gestured. “Here’s the deal. Captain Devries, of the Imperial Tagmata, is under investigation by the Tagmata. He is pursued by Ohone and,” she checked her papers “Sincera Pax.” Her eyes swept the room. “He is the friend of the Lord-Sire, and is being kept on the Alpha Deck. “So. We haven’t seen him. We haven’t heard him. He doesn’t exist. And it will stay that way, until the Lord-Sire tells us otherwise.” Knox frowned. “If the Tagmata find we’ve been concealing him, that might complicate things.” “That’s right. So we haven’t been concealing him, we just didn’t see him. Just in case, though, we’re making a target profile that exonerates the Lord-Sire and reveals Devries as the basest villain.” She picked a folder off the table, handed it forward. “This is the initial sketch, and, surprisingly, most of it is true from what we can tell. If Devries decides to duck out, we need to be ready, he’s got a talent for parasitizing into things.”
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Jul 21, 2016 19:45
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Arc 2 Knox Colonel Rameriz looked as startled as he had ever seen her. “And… the win goes to Captain Astri. What is going on, Knoxie?” He blinked tiredly. “I … I don’t know.” “You were acting like you’d never commanded before, walked into every ambush Astri set.” “Yeah. I… I can do better.” She frowned. “Go to the Church, get yourself checked out. Have you been exposed to any planetary bacteria?” “Not that I’m aware of.” “Get checked out anyway. Astri, help him out there. When you get back, take his shift.” “Aye ma’am.” She half pulled, half carried him down the corridors. “Thanks for that.” “Hey, you deserve another shift since you won.” “Hah. Seriously though, what’s going on?” He pushed sweaty hair away from his face. “Nightmares. Can’t sleep.” “Everyone gets nightmares. Take some downers.” “No, not like those.” He paused. “Where am I?” “We’re almost to the Church, you are fine.” “I … keep hearing buzzing. Why am I hearing buzzing.” Astri looked at him strangely. “I might need to check myself in too, after carrying you.” “No, I’m fine. You’re fine.” The Church was disconcertingly full. There was no sermon going on, but the floor was flooded with people, all displaying similar symptoms. Astri looked at them in shock. “Why don’t the Grey Guards know about this? The Church should have told us about a pandemic!” One of the priests approached, hands up consolingly. “It’s not a pandemic. No parasites, no bacteria, nothing. Just nightmares.” “I’m seeing a lot more symptoms than that, Father.” “Nightmares means no sleep means … well, what you see. We’re using tranquilizers on the worst cases. This is simply a spiritual crisis.” Astri shook her head. “Nope, we’ve got tranqs on our deck. No need to expose him to whatever plague you’ve got going on here. Come on Knoxie.” He was stumbling. “The insects are speaking through the walls.”
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Jul 21, 2016 20:13
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Arc 4 (between Luna and Terra) SoL - Tribes of the Batteries 3 - The Raiders pt 1 Tribes 1, Tribes 2 “Hurry up, Gwen.” He wasn’t even grumbling anymore, just tiredly reminding his slow-as-slugs sister not to fall behind. She wanted to look at everything. The boy stopped and looked behind him at her as she stood on tiptoe to investigate a pretty fungal growth. “Gwennnn. The first rule of Between is don’t lose sight of yer guide.” She giggled, “I can still see ya -” As she looked up he stepped behind a bit of bulkhead, and held his breath. There was a moment of silence, and then she said, “That’s not funny. Come out! It’s not funny!” He listened for footsteps, but she was at least rememb’ring not to go running off willynilly when lost in Between. When the “come ouuuut!” reached peak whine and was verging on tears, he popped out again. Gwen was sitting on the ground, her dirty face panicked, and he immediately felt awful for tricking her. “I was right there the whole time, don’t be such a dreg. C’mon.” The boy walked over and took his five year old sister’s hand, and she stood up and kicked him in the ankle. “Ow! Maybe I will leave ya!” Her little hand grabbed his slightly larger one as tightly as she could. “Da would skin ya alive.” The boy squeezed back, and tugged her along. “Prob’ly. Don’t lag.” They hurried along, scampering through Between with only a few pauses for the boy to point out where a wrong turn would lead them to a dangerous radiation pocket or zero-g room too dangerous for small kids. Everything was too dang’rous for Gwen, because she was a little kid, practically a baby. Sometimes she held his hand when they walked through a dark bit. When they reached the ovines there was already a group of children gathered together. The boy nudged Gwen toward the knot of kids from their Clan, ashamed to be one of the last to arrive for the Handoff Ritual of the Circuit. They were still working on the name - some day their own sons would be participating in the Circuit and they didn’t want to pass down a dumb name like a bunch of idiot pilgrims or something. The other kids, from Tribe Dark-Sigil-Defeats-the-Slothful, were singing a song that was now sacred because they’d done it the last three times for the Handoff Ritual, even though the words changed a bit each time. Starting a new sacred ritual took time to get right. The elders knew the old songs and chants, and the boy was learning some of those as well, but this one was theirs. Gwen hummed enthusiastically during the call and repeat part of the Handoff Ritual as Tribe Wilful-Forge-Crushes-the-Living accepted the ovines. It was a short ritual. Not quite so holy yet, mebbe, considered the boy, all things considered. The holiest rituals were the longest, ev’ryone knew that, but ovines don’t stand still while ya jabber on and on. He was intensely proud of being part of Wilful-Forge, but Dark-Sigil was a cousin tribe who’s headsman had married someone’s daughter from Wilful-Forge many years ago. The tribes were close and friendly, even if they didn’t actually mingle all that much. There were handshakes, and the kids from Dark-Sigil returned back through Between to their battery. Gwen giggled when she caught an ovine pooping, and the boy had to show her how they had t’ shovel up the excrement and dump it on the baby fungal growths. Next Circuit the ovines would be gobbling up fungus grown from their own poop, but the dregs ate their own dead, so even ovines were better than stupid dregs. Everyone who lived out near the Grateful Burden ate from the Recyclers, which was prob’ly the most important part of the Beast if ya didn’t count th’ engines, but the Tribes had their own rituals with the dead. Days of remembrance and all that, where they ate their kinsmen’s ashes in fungal soup and anyway, Amacita had known. They’d had to eat the same stuff as the dregs when the meatbeasts had been purged, but now they had ovines and they could eat them again and leave the Recycler slurry to the dregs. As long as they kept ‘em from getting totally lost in Between. Five days into the Circuit the boy was switching an unrepentant ovine’s butt, trying to get it down from an improbable perch when he thought he heard someone crying. His first thought was to his sister, but no, she was sitting on a weird bulkhead that was jutting out at an angle, finger painting through a goopy bit of fungus. “Will,” he called, and his friend looked up from across the bleating ovines. “Did ya hear that?” “Hear what?” asked Will, grabbing the curling horns of one of the ovines and roughly pushing it in the direction he wanted it to go in. “Um…” said the boy, and then there was a shrill scream and everyone stood up and looked in the same direction. Tribe Painful-Concordance-Purges-The-Unholy was nearby, but the Circuit sorta went in a squiggly line back and forth before they reached the next handoff. The sounds of weapons firing in the distance were quickly drowned out bleating and panicking ovines, and the boys of Willful-Forge had their hands full as they herded the big group of creatures through the passages as quickly as they could, trying to reach the upside down ship which was the Place of Sleeping for the next night. It had a narrow doorway, and the sounds of battle grew louder the closer the children got to it. Gwen slipped her hand into his as they started shoving the ovines through and into the ship, the older boys and girls clutching their big knives and standing watch. He whispered a prayer to the Empress and had to let go of his sister in order to block a few unruly ovines from darting away into Between. One got past him. It happened too fast. Gwen said, “I’ll get ‘im,” and dashed away after it. “No!” he shouted, but she was gone around a corner. “Gwen!” She was gone. His heart beat hard, still going through the motions of shooing ovines into their safe place, and then he abandoned his post. hollylolly fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jul 21, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 20:34
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Loel fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Jul 21, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 20:35
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Travis Wrent- Traitor Fleet t-thirty seconds to the Breech on Terra It was a fairly tedious affair, watching over the Privateer actions of Traitor against the Traitor-Loyalist fleets. Tedious for the optimized entity that staggered around in Travis' aging body. For anyone else it would have been months of hell; Literal soul-ravaging, screaming demonic Hell, not just your average suffering. To the average human their nights would be plagued by unending nightmares, entire lifetimes of torment that felt as real as the semi-living ship plating that made up their bunk in the waking world. Not that 'Real' had any meaning when it came to the taint of what lay in between. When half of a ship is made of meat and the metallic other half screams just as loudly and monsters of the Id stalk the corridors, you tend to just focus on what's in front of you. It also helps that your personal Saint regrew you from a pile of near-dead parts with ancient technology into a wraith with the emotional longevity of a mayfly. "Oh look, my book is bleeding, I think I'll have ration paste number 54 today." Those fearful, paralyzing, human thoughts just go right down the drain where a soul once was. It meant Travis was also exceptionally adept at wielding the emotionally temperamental powers of a Maenad. Something he was doing at this very moment. Little Addie, his bizarre little murder-friend would be stabbing away at some severed head. Each wet thunk of the knife would elicit a different reaction each time it sank in. How the head was even alive was one of those distressing thoughts that was put right down the soul disposal. On the 24th go of it the ship would be hit by a wave psychic energy that...blank. Blank? Travis never in his life had hit a blank when forecasting. A blank, what did that mean. Before the fear could slip away the knife sunk in and the skull laughed a moment before head, Addie and Travis were thrown against the literally screaming aft bulkhead. Pain and distress flooded Travis' mind as that one point of searing, loving light from Terra winked out and everything here and Beyond collectively lost their poo poo. Travis simply decided at that point to politely forgo the invitation to remain conscious as he was simply to busy to stay and have afternoon tea over discussions of sensory information and blacked out. Several hours later, or so he guessed Travis woke up to the sound of hammering and the smell of pine. Swiftly kicking the lid of the makeshift coffin aside, Travis and Addie had another discussion about how one should wait for friends to demonstrate a lack of heartbeat for a while burial and also where in the hell Addie had found and made a wooden coffin. She simply giggled and ran off with the hammer to cull the Cultist herd. Children. The halls of the ship for the first time in ever smelled better. Not nice, but better. The sickly tang of disease and rot were gone. The smells of acts both Carnal and Carnage in nature drifted through the halls with the cloying scent of whispers but the buzzing of insects and froth of pus gone. What did smell were the heaps of bodies belonging to the cult of Decay. All of them, champions an all were being ravaged for weapons armor and meat before being cast away as trash. Travis reached out to Inquisitor Athena for orders. Was he still to observe and report? Her giggling voice drifted through the air behind Travis. A fast spin was met with empty space and a floating data pad as was his Inquisitor's hallmark. It was written and sealed with Athena's personal authorization codes but the handwriting and content was disjointed and scribbly. As if two hands fought for the same Pen. "Proceed as instructed Agent Travis /little machine/. Observe the traitor/you're a traitor/ and direct him to continue to hunt and harass the /Savior/ Traitor Systems. Inquisitor /Imposter/ Athena" Travis didn't understand the whole message, but communications were always difficult and when your data terminal breathes and moans like a wild beast in heat, the occasional corruption of data happened. Travis replied his affirmative with a request to tighten communications protocol to avoid interference, but deep down a small bit of worry and doubt escaped the event horizon of his soul censor and lingered. For now, Travis went off to inform the Admiral of his orders as well as collect Addie from her daily crew morale work. The ship was readying for superluminal travel and he had a feeling that this trip would be different from the usual descent into madness.
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Jul 21, 2016 22:43
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Sir Unimaginative posted:Why wouldn't you just run off the brains and maybe spines? What do you need the rest of the elf for? They don't know how this technology actually works, remember? They don't know how to just clone brains and spines.
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Jul 21, 2016 23:00
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paragon1 posted:They don't know how this technology actually works, remember? They don't know how to just clone brains and spines. That'd do it. I can see how some technomancers would end up Falling if offered those mystical forbidden things called 'reference manuals'.
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Jul 21, 2016 23:11
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