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cat_herder posted:no judgement here, I just had an edible. writing is best when intoxicated, right? write drunk edit sober (I dont edit  )
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Feb 23, 2018 05:45
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mepstein73 posted:This sounds like the Sentinel Comics Oblivaeon solution. Kill the thing causing schisms in time, and everything auto-fixes. What is the thing, and when in time is it 
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Mar 6, 2018 05:25
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Basically, watch Groundhog Day, and then watch Looper  You keep going back in time to restart things, and you remember things, but the ending/beginning is always the same. Ohone and Fabiyan, circling circling ...Django Jane You could only stare at her wordlessly. Anna angrily wiped at her face. “Never mind. We need to get going soon.” You blinked. “This is Hades, I thought no one could find us here.” “Us, yes. The Beast, we need to get moving.” “Why? We killed the Acheronic fleet, and then your … public event.” “And such a fine job, too. Nonetheless, we should be leaving soon.” You narrowed your eyes. “Why.” “Just trust me, all right?” She was looking elsewhere, distracted. “That has to be the stupidest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She blinked, ran the words back. Barked a laugh. “Fair enough. But you’ve got a pretty good bind on me, and I would rather be out of here before Sol wakes up.” You looked at her curiously. “What even is in there?” “Never gotten close enough to find out. But when I see a mountain get up and start moving, I decide to leave.” You nodded. “Your biggest failure, in my opinion. You gotta jump at that mountain. And challenge it to a fight.” She stared at you. You nodded again, more firmly. “Just walk right up to it. Punch it in the face.”
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Mar 23, 2018 03:58
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Hera: nope, not doing it Loki: going nowhere near it Anna: leaving right now Ohone: ... Ohone: imma kill it 
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Mar 24, 2018 04:28
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Punch reality in the face You cocked your head. “Don’t think, however, that you’ve distracted me fully with this new and interesting thing. You brought it up right as we got to the interesting questions of who you are, and we’re coming back to it.” A ghost of a smile flickered across her face. “Of course.” “Now then. Drive me closer so I can hit it with my sword.” “Can’t say I know what sword you’d use on it, sister. It’s a time-accelerated black hole born in the death of a trillion souls.” You pursed your lips. “It’s a thing the Commissars say … never mind. Probably a few years since you heard Fabiyan say it.” Anna paused. “That was rude.” “Good, we’ve reestablished who is in charge. And I want to investigate this thing.” She gave a small shrug. “I am compelled to obey. Traditional approaches to get closer would be using Loki or Hera to teleport closer, my Acheronic powers, or an actual ship such as the Beast or Olympus. The Beast will take months, and Loki and Hera refused last time I checked. As for myself … I would prefer not to.” “Be calling yourself a scrivener next. No, I might have you come along.” “Anyone else you want to bring on this highly probably ride to death? Or will it be just us girls?”
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Mar 28, 2018 17:04
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You would have frowned, if you had the muscles to connect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Internal Diagnostic check complete> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <All sensors functional.> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Apr 12, 2018 01:12
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Sensory report> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Gravities: 0> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Temperature: 0 >
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Apr 12, 2018 01:18
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Inquiry: Functionality> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Functionality: 100%.> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Apr 12, 2018 01:23
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cat_herder posted:yes let's totally shoot blindly into the void I waited like 2 weeks, but the vote speaks for itself 
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Apr 12, 2018 01:26
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Inquiry: Last observed event> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <“Anyone else you want to bring on this highly probably ride to death? Or will it be just us girls?”> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Apr 12, 2018 01:28
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <All frequency broadcast: Hello> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <Hello?> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You would have sighed, had you lungs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Really have no idea what’s going on at this point.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Don’t you?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
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Apr 12, 2018 01:37
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Loki stopped me from entering the event horizon. I’m in a brain box.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ”Incorrect. Loki viewed your actions as an odd but not unexpected consequence of your Faith.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “You are a new creature of Acheron, fed by the trillions of souls of lost Terra.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Incorrect.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Acheron was a new creation of ME.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
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Apr 13, 2018 02:38
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “You created Acheron? Why?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Ask gravity why it exists. The answer is the same.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Why show yourself now, if you are that powerful?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ”I have always been, and will always be.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ”When the first cephalopod first imagined striking its rival, half a universe from here, I was there." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
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Apr 14, 2018 03:35
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Blasphemaster posted:Huh. You have no sensory data (everything reads 0, even the heat) so how would you know which one
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Apr 15, 2018 04:14
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You were getting a better sense of this place, now. Not physical, then, a place-that-was-not-a-place. There were no physical sensations to be received, only will and memory. You willed intent and question, and images formed. “Rivals imply rivalry, and imagination suggests strategy. What is your game?”  You could feel the otherness consider the board, examine it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perhaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  You swallowed, or would have. A vast array of game boards before you, interlaced into infinity, a billion possibilities blossoming into uncounted decision trees. “Perhaps the first move to you, then. You have pulled me to this place, I am listening.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You do not remember why you came here? . . . . . . . . .  The infinite boards spun and wove around you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You do not remember that this is where you have always attempted to start a new game? Loel fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Apr 22, 2018 |
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Apr 22, 2018 22:17
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Blasphemaster posted:Flip the drat table. What does that mean in this context
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Apr 22, 2018 23:33
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Flip table: ark Blasphemaster Karia Van sandman Dont be mean to me Get more info: cat_herder Vore bane Courvalant Compromise: randompaul Well now you’ve done it
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May 13, 2018 04:10
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Well now you’ve done it You shook your head. “You mistake me. This is not where I bargain, where I set up a new game, where we play another round. This is the final match. The game has reached its conclusion. This nexus has reached its terminus. Time will not be rewound for another pass nor will it be at any of the player's behest.” All the pieces stopped, in all the games, as if in shock. The entire universe of pieces, watching to see what you would say next. “I will offer what has never been offered to you. Take my hand, little bird and step with me. Fear not the coming change, but let it wash over us. What will be, will be. Do not resist yourself and ride the wave. “ A pause that could have lasted for eternity. A voice, echoing through your soul. ”I accept.” She gave a small shrug. “I am compelled to obey. Traditional approaches to get closer would be using Loki or Hera to teleport closer, my Acheronic powers, or an actual ship such as the Beast or Olympus. The Beast will take months, and Loki and Hera refused last time I checked. As for myself … I would prefer not to.” “Be calling yourself a scrivener next. No, I might have you come along.” “Anyone else you want to bring on this highly probably ride to death? Or will it be just us girls?” A voice, echoing through your soul. What will be, will be… “No.” You spoke firmly, Anna watching you through curious eyes. “I have found what I needed. We are leaving this place.” A voice, echoing through your soul. What will be, will be…
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May 13, 2018 04:17
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Local Assets: One (1) Beast, wraithbone upgrades One (1) Olympus, DAoT tier One (1) Eminent Domain branch of dynasty Loki (withdrawn), Hera (active), Athena (hiding) Titan (planet) with chapter of Grey Knight Space Marines Luna (planet) graveyards / shipyards Distant Assets: Dozen or so munition systems that Wintersilk set up Allies: Elves Known powerblocs Golgotha (Imperial Navy) Footfall (Thrassos Consortium) Janissary space (ze enemy) Loel fucked around with this message at 18:55 on May 13, 2018 |
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May 13, 2018 18:40
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Some pretty creative forms of protest “Oh lord.” Elenora looked over. “Hm?” Blackfinger gestured. “You watching this?” “That … looks like the Olympus.” A brief smile. “Nice ship. I took it for an adventure few weeks back.” “Sure. But who would be on it?” Her smile faded. “Not too many I can think who would hijack it. Me, Limosa.” “And we know where Limosa is.” “That makes it Ohone.” “Yeah.” Elenora watched the screen. “She’s taking it towards the Sol blackhole.” “And there’s all sorts of weird poo poo going on around there. Acheronic maybe? Sensors aren’t sure.” He tapped his fingers. “I gotta call it.” “What do you mean?” “She can take care of herself, but our fleet can’t risk whatever is happening near the event horizon. We need to go.” Elenora raised her eyebrows at him. “Leaving the Lord-Sire behind?” “She’s not being left behind. That’s the best ship in the fleet, and she’s the one who survives things no one else can.” “A brave defense. I hope it works, I’d hate to be your widow.” He snorted. “Please, she’d probably execute you with me.” Elenora smiled faintly. “Help, help, the pirate is kidnapping me. I couldn’t stop him.” He reached for the console, spoke to the fleet. “All units, fall back beyond the Oort Cloud. Prepare for Acheronic transit.” “And then?” Blackfinger smiled toothily. “I need to get started on that kidnapping.”
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May 15, 2018 04:14
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The Rabbit Plan “She appears to be heading directly into the black hole.” Only someone who knew him well would have noticed the tension in Fabiyan’s voice. Centurion’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “Patience.” A bit more tension, this time. “I would prefer not to have to resurrect her again. That kind of thing has always been touch and go.” A faint smile. “She’s come back, what, four times now? Five? More lives than her flourocats.” “Still. Asking the universe to blink again feels a bit much.” A pause, and then Centurion nodded. “Ah, there it is.” Fabiyan focused, his face showing the faintest startlement. “She … didn’t go in?” “She didn’t go in. Whatever she was looking for, she found it in Mars space. Well before the event horizon. Now she’s heading back.” A flood of relief swept through Fabiyan’s body. “Oh. Good.” - They had assembled the full welcoming, of course. Twenty one members of the chamber orchestra, playing the traditional pieces of the Beast. Limosa, Fabiyan, Centurion. A gaggle of other staffers and Family members. Bricellus and his Black Priests. They filled the great room, making it almost feel cramped in comparison to the usual vastness. The airlocks opened, and Anna strolled out, smiling. Most of the crowd fell back a step, even as they remembered her chain. A bound sorceress was still a sorceress, and she had been attacking the fleet only a few days ago. She tipped an imaginary hat to them, smiling all the while, and Fabiyan was watching her with cold eyes. And then, Ohone. Still wearing her combat gear, still bloody from the fight, her eyes were bright with an almost feverish intensity. She looked like she had gone up the mountain and come back with a whole bunch of divine truths she wasn’t expecting. In some ways, it was even scarier than Anna, but the Family held their ground. They had sworn their oaths, and she was the Lord-Sire. “Permission to come aboard?” Fabiyan could feel that almost-smile play across his face. “Granted.” - kay, we're done with timey-wimey. from everyone else's viewpoint (even Anna), we approached the blackhole and came back. for us, we remember our conversation with spooky voice
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May 16, 2018 16:30
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Man thatd really explain so much
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May 18, 2018 05:39
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Kay, lets get a pulse check. Who we want to be at the
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May 28, 2018 01:13
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Viva Miriya posted:hi loel, you're a loving retard (unrelated to the contents of this thread) DONT GO BACK IN!!!!! Lawl. But if I have a better job I could write more
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Jun 7, 2018 00:38
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dont be mean to me posted:And you could end up ordered to hunt down other CYOA goons like dogs. Removing the competition 
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Jun 7, 2018 02:27
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Toughy posted:I'm not competition but I'll be your huckleberry. Aww 
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Jun 7, 2018 03:06
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Searching for the Other Blackfinger was gazing into the black, hands crossed behind him. Symbolic images were scattered across the viewport - Titan, the Beast, their various support craft. They couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, of course - but they were highlighted, tagged with distance and velocity. It might take minutes for a civilian to read all the notations, but someone like Blackfinger could take the measure of it at a glance. Elenora was by his side, watching it with half an eye. Every few moments a messenger came to her, a quiet word, a nod. Internal management of the fleet was her focus, much as the external movements were his. Even though they had been apart for decades, they acted like they had never left each other. Data flowed to them, and orders flowed out, as natural as breathing. Scattered across the plot, dozens of minor outposts, days or weeks away. The Oort Cloud was comprehensively vast, and the largest asteroids had been colonized millennia ago. Given two tasks, written into them for hundreds of generations. Send comets to the interior system, and protect against invasion fleets. Feed Terra and Mars - defend Terra and Mars. Now both were gone. They weren’t taking it well. Messages poured in by the thousands, demands for aid, pleas for pickup, requests for explanation. Where had the Holy Worlds gone? A trillion humans or more, scattered across tens of thousands of AU. The sensor net here was one of the oldest in the galaxy, and information was transmitted across it like a vast web. Now Titan was leaving what was once Sol, and the last remaining survivors could only watch them go. Blackfinger declined to answer. What could be said?
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Jun 15, 2018 05:51
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I’ll seek you out / Flay you Alive Another note passed to Elenora. “And there it is.” Blackfinger didn’t look away from the screen. “Our leader calls.” “You going to tell her about … all this?” She waved at the screen. “No real point. It’ll go on the written notes for the week, but other than that.” “Right.” Elenora looked at the screen a little bit longer. “They’ll be okay, I think.” “They’ve spent three hundred centuries in the dark, they’ll handle a few more.” “Just another forgotten colony, away from any of the major routes.” He chuckled humorlessly. “They are all like that now.” Elenora paused, nodded. “I guess that’s true.” They watched the screen silently. - There were Nephilim guarding the Alpha Deck. Not that it was really needed. Between the two Eidolons and two Minds, there was probably nothing in a thousand light years who could even threaten Ohone. Still, it showed that showed that someone was taking security seriously. If he had to guess, it would be Fabiyan. The new elven walls and decks were aesthetically pleasing, but Blackfinger noticed that they were built in such away to provide an extremely challenging defense. Which wasn’t particularly surprising, to be honest. Alpha Deck had been destroyed almost every year for the last five, and each rebuilding tried to improve on the lessons of the last. This was a new take - more open, perhaps more whimsical. But no one had ever accused elves of being easy to fight. He knew that the whole place would be built with subsonics, harmonics, and mind bending hallucinogens. He sighed. Not that reality didn’t feel mind-bending enough, at times. The meeting, if it was to be called that, had several people he approved of. Fabiyan and Centurion, Limosa and Ching Shih. Hera and Loki. Someone he didn’t recognize - an older woman with knitting needles - but she had the type. Military Police of some sort. But a few were there that were less reliable. Anna, the insane sorceress who had just tried to conquer the Dynasty. Amacita, the ousted leader. An unknown - one of the Imperial child soldiers, and holding a sniper rifle. He didn’t know where she had come from. He wasn’t sure why they were at a high level meeting like this. Yes, he was all about strange allies - one glance at his command staff would show that! But he found it better to get everyone on the same page before bringing in the outsiders. Ohone was at the center of them, mechanical tendrils swaying behind her. They had been given woolen faces, making it seem like a child’s puppet show. They all looked like variants of her - feral, or elven. A couple looked like they had dabbled too deep in teksorcery. Inwardly, he sighed. She was in one of her moods.
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Jun 15, 2018 06:11
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One of her moods You smiled genially. “Welcome, one and all. We’ve been in Sol more than a year, and I think we’ve performed quite well. One Acheron excursion from Blackheart, which we forced to retreat. One Acheron excursion from Anna, who is bound.” She nodded amiably. “And, of course, we’ve had substantial upgrades in combat power, fleet numbers, and the newly acquired support of Titan.” Amacita narrowed her eyes. “What happened at the black hole?” You looked at her expressionlessly. “What do you mean?” She gestured. “You went halfway there. Left the fleet behind, took Anna with you. Approached the black hole, stopped, came back. What happened?” You held out your hands expansively. “Upon closer examination, I thought the risk outweighed the reward.” A number of side-glances around the table. You ignored them magnificently. Amacita bulled on regardless. “Since showing up, we’ve lost Mars, Terra, Luna, Sol, and the Empress. I don’t know how you can sit there with loving handpuppets and pretend that everything is okay.” You tapped your fingers. “Yes, thank you. I was coming to that. I know you feel that you have a second chance on life now that Anna tied the important people to you being alive, but please don’t pretend I won’t kill them all if I felt the need.” She shifted sullenly, but didn’t reply. Sincera quirked a smile as she met your eyes, but didn’t speak. “Now then.” You looked about you. “Elenora, you said you built up some resources while we were here.” Elenora shuffled her papers in front of her. “Yes, they should be coming along nicely. If they didn’t deviate from their instructions - and Loki and I were quite firm - then we should have nearly a billion entry level infantry, combined arms, zero-g forces. They aren’t elite, or even that capable, but with a stiffening of NCOs they should fit your needs.” “Excellent. Now, my intent is to take the fleet, gather those extra troops, and head for this system.” You pulled it up on the map. “A useless little world, but Loki says that is one of the last major places in the galaxy with Dark Age tech. And I, for one, could use the upgrades.” Any questions while we got the council here?
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Jun 16, 2018 05:28
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Not yet, Elenora went on a side quest and set up a bunch of cloning bays on old Family colonies. We'll need to hyperjump there, and they (should) have built support craft for them.
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Jun 16, 2018 23:40
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Sure why not
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Jun 17, 2018 01:05
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Second String Bricellus tapped the wooden hammer to the desk in front of him. “Hear ye, hear ye, calling the Greater Council to order.” Frederik di Musio II snorted. “Greater council. Everytime, you start with that.” Bricellus stared at him frostily. “It’s protection. We formalize it, Caroline writes everything down, and we’re all above board. The Seneschal gets a copy.” Another snort. “Please. If our mistress wanted us dead, she wouldn’t care that Caroline kept the minutes.” He looked about him exaggeratedly. “I don’t see Elenora around here anyway, maybe the stormtroopers are already on their way.” The two military people in the room shifted uneasily. Colonel Astri, commander of the Grey Guard, and Colonel Wolfgang, in charge of training. Astri spoke first. “I am unaware of any new purge lists at this time.” Frederik rolled his eyes. “She shot your predecessor in the face.” “She hasn’t shot me in the face yet.” Astri furrowed her eyebrows. “Why do you insist on doing this every meeting?” He paused, leaned back in his chair. “I’m bored.” “But you insist on showing up everytime.” “That’s how bored I am. This is better than the alternative.” He sighed. “Months, just sailing away from what used to be Terra.” “You could help out you know.” Wolfgang’s tone was frosty. “Oh, no, I couldn’t. You are doing great, I’m sure.” ”Moving on.” Bricellus tapped the hammer again. “How is the integration of the Terrans going?” Heirophant Isaac leaned forward. The territorial disputes between him and Bricellus were fierce, but in this they were in agreement. “They have a good background in scriptural teachings, for the most part. Adapting them to Saint Fabiyan has not been difficult. Primarily, it’s been a matter of discovering what Limosa did to the ship, more so than designating tasks. We aren’t sure what a lot of the elven mysteries do, and he hasn’t been sharing.” Bricellus and Claudius both grimaced at that, similar images of revulsion. Sister Katarina spoke up. “For the rest - primarily former nobles and the like. They don’t adapt well to the more … rustic … traditions, and I am working on bringing them into the Beast aristocracy.” Young Henderson shook his head. “Ohone would never allow so many strangers into the inner Family.” “Well, no, but they expect a certain level of comfort. I’ve established a diplomatic quarters, given them human servants.” Frederik tapped his fingers. “Oh good, another wing of parasites.” Katarina stared at him. “What do you do here again?” He met her gaze with a stone gaze of his own, and then smiled meaninglessly. “Entertain you with my wit, of course.” Bricellus sighed. “Moving on…” Loel fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Jun 17, 2018 |
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Jun 17, 2018 07:40
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Meanwhile Staff Sergeant Dela Torres looked about the bar of the Gilded Fish confusedly. “Man, where is everybody?” Captain Skade poked her. “That pretend meeting they go to every week to pretend they are important.” Dela Torres considered this. “Why don’t we ever go to that meeting?” “Because we don’t need to pretend, we already know.” “... Ah. Is that why Di Musio the Lesser isn’t here?” Anamaria snorted, needlessly wiped the bar one more time. “I think he mostly goes there to heckle people. He doesn’t like responsibility, just the easy life.” Skade laughed. “Which is why he has you running his bar.” She made a face. “Well, yes. He pays me.” The two Family members at the other side of the bar shook their heads. One of them, Astin de Merode spoke. “Trust me, it’s boring as hell. We went to the first couple, but why do more paperwork than you have to?” The other, Oskar Ravensburg, nodded. “I don’t think Cromwell has spoken once since he got there. Losing Diachenko didn’t help him much.” Skade paused. “Remind me.” “Cromwell was the psyker who can take calls. Diachenko was the psyker who could read a map.” “... Ah. And when Terra fell…” “Yeah. Diachenko died or went insane or something. Doesn’t matter.” “Fair enough.” She turned to look at her drinking companion. “I’m surprised you aren’t up there.” He shrugged. “I died.” “Me too, but so what?” Di Musio - the original - paused. “Ah, right. I forgot, people around Ohone keep coming back.” “Look who’s talking.” Another shrug. “I pretended to be dead long enough for her to get full control of the Dynasty. Now, no one cares about another man in a bar.” Jeb nodded at that. Di Musio considered his words. “Know who I’d like to see back though?” Skade gestured. “Who?” “Dwarf.” She blinked. “Oh, yeah. What happened to him?” “Edourd killed him couple weeks ago. RIght before he went insane.” “Yeeowch. Awkward.” “Yeah. And Edourd got possessed and bound, so it’s not like he knows about it.” “He was a good guy.” “Yeah. They both were.”
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Jun 17, 2018 08:10
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Engine Room <beep boop beep beep boop> said Chi 313. <boop beep> disagreed Jo3. <beep beep beep beep beep> proclaimed Lux. Theta and Tibus immediately interjected. <boop boop beep boop.> <BEEP BEEP BEEP> shouted Null excitedly. Omega, observing from Eminent Domain, simply shook his head. <We’re going to need a bigger laser.>
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Jun 17, 2018 17:46
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Deadmeat5150 posted:Finally caught up.  (Also, just waiting for Wednesday which is my next day off. Big things planned)
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Aug 6, 2018 17:13
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 Let’s talk about theory. Even when I was writing at my peak quantity, I still had occasions of writer’s block. Sometimes the scene wasn’t right, the opening wouldn’t start, what have you. There’s a lot of easy fixes I’ve used for that. It can be something interior to the story - change point of views, jump to a different location, time skip a bit, a sudden twist or reveal. A lot of the Slices of Life came from that. And a lot of writer’s block, it’s something external. Changing pandora stations, getting a new cup of coffee, quick fixes. Or, if I need to brainstorm, it might be something unrelated. Walk for a mile or two, unclutter the house. Maybe toss ideas out in one of the chatrooms, see what drew people’s interest. And when I was in college, that was as far as it went. Entering the workforce, though, that was a whole … thing Suddenly I didn’t have predictable hours during the day when I could write - it was after work, when I was already tired. And car dealerships are … their whole other thing. Lot of hours, so I couldn’t even brainstorm.Changed jobs, of course. Been at this new one for two months now. And suddenly I have free time again, and times during the workday when I can walk around, and I can brainstorm and give myself notes during the day. And I had thought that was the main thing I needed. But the words still weren’t coming. Had a nice couple days where Anna did her sudden event at the wedding, which was a lot of fun, and then the inspiration went away again. The problem was that we had, for the most part, hit the end of my notes. The Reveal was that Anna is future us, and we’re locked into the Cycle. But we’re also Prometheus, the one who ends the Imperium and brings about the Technocracy. Or breaks the Cycle. We’ll see. But the original outline, the one I wrote 3-4 years ago - we’re at the end, except for one other thing. And a one liner I left for myself doesnt give you an Arc. So … what to do. The link post in the OP was a mess, who knows how far behind. The official timeline is the same state, and so is the character matrix. Everything is out of date - I don’t know who is around, or what they are doing, and I can’t look it up easily. So what I really needed to do was redo the link post, and go collect all the characters again. But … well, here’s the other thing about writing. You hate your work. Particularly the early stuff. I was terrible at dialogue when I started, and while it works with Ohone’s autistic beep boop intro, it still feels really clumsy. And … there are a lot of plot twists I still think are shoddy. And I didn’t want to reread them. The other part of writing, the part that gets you, is that it stares at you. Guilty stares of not writing, not telling the story, not telling the story the right way the way it is in your head. I’ve got this epic massive mythos in my head, this platonic ideal, but I read what I write, and I can’t do it justice. So it’s nasty feedback of hating what you write and hating when you don’t. And it gets worse the more you put it off. You end up putting a lot of pressure on yourself. So, I told myself. “Its on hiatus. Its okay.” And weirdly enough, it really helped. I deleted the old bookmarks that stared at me, and just put this google doc. “Fresh Start.” Blank page. I knew it was there, when I was ready. And then I did other things. Played some old steam games. Cleaned the house, the car, my bookmarks, my music list. Read some DMing guides. Didn’t try to force the story. Like I said, the big problem was that I’d run out of outline. I know ‘Arc 7’ ‘Arc 8’ or whatever, but not the 5 page outline I had for Arc1 when I started. So. We’re going to go right to the beginning. I’ve got an alt tab where Im taking notes on every character, and the post they are in. Down the line, I want to turn that into the wiki. And now I’m going to read the fic, from the beginning, and make highlights here while I work. Today’s music Help Im Alive, by Metric The first real post is still really enjoyable. I really like how it gets the idea of this overwhelmingly huge starship, high tech and kilometers long … but also stupidly old and decrepit. Gold letters emblazoned a hundred meters high, but … misspelled. One thing that the early Beast has that we’ve lost is the ancient history and traditions. Everything’s been blown up or replaced multiple times, and now it’s been regrown in this shiny elf magic. All the people expats from Terra, and it pushes away from a lot of the central theme of story. Vast expanses, numberless hordes, and age. We want a sense of confusion, claustrophobia, and anxiousness, and we just turned the ship into a fae court. This will come up later. - Reading the Family meeting, I really enjoy how it quickly establishes how ruthless/pragmatic the universe is. “As it turned out, he wasn’t compliant and manipulable - he simply preferred a consensus based approach to leadership - some softness of ideology he had picked up somewhere in his youth. That didn’t mean he couldn’t bring the Emperor’s Justice down on the mutineers though.” Democracy is weird and foolish, and thats been a core tenet of the story ever since. Oh hey, turns out Diogines was the one who named us Ohone. Good call there. One thing I’m really noticing is how these early posts are pages long. A lot of my more recent effort is 1000 words - I think it’s because in the early days I was establishing every detail, and now I assume the reader has the broad strokes down. I think I should Get back to longer posts. I really like how goddamn vibrant everything is. Multiple cultures, ancient histories, rituals and ceremonies wherever you turn. Early Beast is alive in a lot of ways it isn’t now. [static] was such a good gimmick. Abraxus and mother both have such style to them. We need to see more Gorgon. Tran posted:I agree we should be circumspect. Lord sire would only think we're a clumsy idiot if we start screaming about the obvious. However, calling our hilariously reckless enginseer a scalpel is just a -tad- off the mark. We've been in three confrontations in as many days, all of which involved explosions. Lawl. So, I stopped reading to go to work, and mulled this next bit over. This whole bit with the Damork, and Amacita, and then Abraxus, I feel like it’s trying too hard to be clever. I can see why I did it that way, red herrings and mystery novels, but evil cross-fit cult doesn’t click for the style we develop later. But Arc 2, Arc 2 is the bread and butter of the fic. It’s where we meet a lot of the most important/favorite characters. Fabiyan, Lokithena, Sincera, the Kriegers. The combat scenes are raw and vivid, and everything is terrifying. There’s a couple strong takeaways from this - Dont overcomplicate the story with red herrings, and Keep combat in-your-face. What do I mean by this? As we got powered up, we started becoming a general of armies, which makes sense for our political rank, and we also had a lot less to fear. One, we keep coming back from the dead, and two, we’ve lost most of what we were attached to. So, a lot of the tension is removed from the scenes. What this means is that future combat is going to need to be narrowed down in a couple ways. We’ve already got the Minds and Empress in a cold war, and we’ve started seeing resurrected characters (Sincera et al), which means we have something to lose. Parallel to that, Ohone is going to be need to put into situations where a) millions of troops don’t matter, and b) she is personally at risk. How that plays into the new sector we are visiting, and the mysteries that have been building there? Well, you’ll see.
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Aug 8, 2018 05:49
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Let’s talk about theory II So, let’s see who would have been taken aboard the newly reincarnated Beast. We rebuilt the ship from the frame up on Luna, and that woke Hera. Then we went into battle against Typhus, and he filled the ship with acheronic changes. Then we regrew the wreck with elven magic. More technically, Bricellus (our psychotic cultist of Ohone) cloned a bunch of elf brains, glued em together, and Limosa used them as a battery to build some new hallways. So we’ve got two - well, three - conflicting designs going into it. The central spine, Hera, isn’t going to surrender her identity, period. So we can say that aspects of the Alpha Deck and the Heart are still there. There were a ton of stacked guns, missiles and railguns that either survived the battle or we looted from Typhus, and they are idiosyncratic at best. Beyond that, we have some flexibility. Limosa knows we need large cargo-bays and residential areas, so those are curled around reinforcing spars in giant cells. The guns are pushed to the exterior of the ship, the engines and core systems reinforced and layered in elven chitin. Hera has set up vast hydroponics, and expanded the personal zoo. There are large factories operated by the Church, and extensive private labs. But the little details, the way those big chambers reach other … well. They are grown by a thousand disembodied elf brains, cloned by a mad cultist. So the central theme here is disorientation. Not that it isn’t mapped, but that it can’t be mapped. The corridors have a mind of their own, and that mind is in Bricellus’ labs. The Abrogates vanished during the battle, so the Church is the main group that is left organized. Immediately start carving out niches and sidepaths and tunnels behind the coral. I picture the material as ultra-slow moving liquid. You don’t notice it day to day, but after a month doors are shifting, rooms getting lost. And the people who arrive after the battle, well. They could have been involved in the battle itself, which means they happened to be in that location when it occurred. Which means a lot of them are going to be pilgrims on generation-ships. Super fanatics, bewildered, in a crisis of faith. Terra is gone, Empress is gone, and the Church run by Bricellus is the welcoming arms. A large number of other expats will be ones rescued by the elves. During and after the battle, the elves scooped up millions of people, and dumped as many as they could aboard the Beast. But … elves can see the future, and have different values of what is important. So, a lot of artists, a lot of creative types … or perhaps, people who are Important. Or their great grandkids are. The big thing we won’t see is a lot of Navy military types. They all left for Golgotha, so any orbital capable ships will be the rich or the ruthless. It’ll be a grab bag of useless fops and gangers from the depths of Terra. The Church will try to process them too, but it’s an overwhelming task, and that isn’t the core demographics. So, we’ve got three big new groups. Creative, wealthy, and violent, in a completely new and unexplored location. What kind of culture are we going to be seeing grow, in the long months of leaving Terra and heading for the rim? And what influence will nearby Titan place on it?
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Aug 8, 2018 06:18
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Lets talk about theory III We’ve got our destabilized groups - pilgrims, creative, violent, wealthy. And we’ve got our stabilizer - the Church. But that’s not going to be the only one. We have the Family, of course, but a few hundred bluebloods won’t have a big cultural influence on things, at least not immediately. Fabiyan, Kozilek, and Elenora/Blackfinger are all major players in how things cook. If I were to do a second run through, I would have a lot of exposition on how they managed to keep things at the right boil, but let’s get some takeaways. We do know that Hera has the food situation under control. We aren’t going to be at a famine level at any period of the Sol trip, so we can work from there. What would people value, and how would they go about getting it? The violent and the wealthy are the ones to consider first, primarily because they have the means to get it. More precisely, the violent have access to a ton of weapons post-war-zone. I expect the weeks after the battle were wracked by violent spasms as personalities rose against each other. Blackfinger’s crew would be organized, and have a large deployable force of marines. But large (thousands) don’t mean much when outnumbered by several hundred times. So their main strength is a pre-existing coordination, but they would only be the calming edge of the chaos. Inside, what’s going on? Well, a lot of shooting. I suspect, in absence of other valuables, a lot of it was over human terrain. Slaves, or more cannon fodder, or whatever. And everything is in flux, so the names don’t really matter. If they push against the Church or Blackfinger’s excursions they’d get diced, so they avoid it. Let’s look at it that way, then. The stable areas are Church, Alpha Deck, and food distribution. The church is becoming a massive thing, the beating heart where tens of thousands of pilgrims are finding their new meaning. Food distribution is Hera’s, and it’s a peace zone where nothing else is. Act up, die. In the early days gangers would rush in by the hundreds, and they died without any sign of injury. The wealthy, of course, head for those zones, particularly Alpha Deck, and Elenora is quick to adopt them. The nobles come with their own shuttles, their own retinues, ancient items and bits of treasure. They could easily be their own powerbase - she subverts them, brings them in. Not married to the Family, not conditioned like they could in the old days, but kept at Court. They are an irritant, and Elenora spends most of her time shielding Ohone from them. Or them from Ohone.
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Aug 8, 2018 06:34
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Guardians of Asgard by Amon Amarth Destiny Carved in Stone  As long as the Charon Screens didn’t fail, transit through Acheron wasn’t that noticeable. Indeed, entire generations could and have lived within the depths of a big cruiser and never really know they were in space. A hive where you never see the sun and a ship where you never see the sun weren’t that different, when you got right down to it, and most of your time would be spent watching recyclers and surrounded by people in cramped spaces. The typical person, then, would never know that a transit was occuring. Some of the more paranoid officers in what used to be the Navy preferred not to tell them it was even possible - have them perform the functions of their caste without explanation or reason. The warship leaps the light-years, but for you, you are just making sure the warning light keeps beeping. What it’s warning about, who knows. The tense people, well. Those are the ones who knew what was going on. In the engine room, Technomancers conversed continuously with the machines, making sure there were no changes. In the defense batteries, the Charon screens were watched with a focused dedication of the truly disturbed. And on the bridges of all the ships in the fleet, professional sailors ... blinked. Blackfinger frowned. “Did we not transit?” Elenora shook her head. “We did.” He pursed his lips. “My love, we are clearly not in Acheron. We are still surrounded by the inky-black.” “Oh. Yes, we definitely are not in Acheron.” She considered the digital map. “Jump is successful, looks like. At the first stop.” “Just like that.” “Mm.” Blackfinger looked about the deck. “Hear that? Now I can fire half of you, if jumps are going to be that easy.”
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Aug 8, 2018 17:26
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 05:21 |
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Senses Tied by Dark Tranquility Outskirts of Sincerity and Pride  “We are observing multiple ships in orbit, Ma’am.” The sensor officer’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “Of course we are.” Elenora’s voice was serene, if pleased. “I do good work.” “You certainly do.” Blackfinger looked at them warily. “Engines are warming up, looks like they saw us coming in.” Around him, the deck didn’t need to be encouraged. Flight plans were mapped, anti-missile defenses readied. Beneath them, thousands of crew readied for another battle with the easy competence of the true professional. Even before the upgrades, the Eminent Domain was a nasty knife-fighter - after, well. The enemy ships wouldn’t last long. If they decided they were enemies in the first place. “Receiving comms. They are using friendly designations a couple months old.” Elenora nudged him. “See? Those are mine.” “They still could change their mind.” Blackfinger considered their orientation. “Although … they could only aim about ten percent of their batteries at us. So either they are friendly or incompetent.” He snorted. “Or both. Empress, wouldn’t that be embarrassing. ‘Yes Ohone, we found you a navy, but they are about as good at flying as a barrel of monkeys.’” Elenora blinked quizzically. “When have you seen a flying barrel of monkeys?” “Explosives were involved. It was a whole thing.” He tapped the comm. “Lord-Sire, the local navy requests permission to join the fleet. Do you want to meet and greet, or have me take care of it?”
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Aug 8, 2018 18:11
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