Arcana-talk time [A day or two into the new liminal]

[professorwolf]

We're still assuming that the liminal space before a Jaunt represents the Arcana competing in it, yes? I know someone's mentioned this earlier, but it definitely needs to be highlighted-- I think it's pretty obvious this time that the contest will be between Chariot and Tower. The giant wooden horse running through a thunderstorm really couldn't be more blatant. For once.

[He's not great at understanding symbolism, but damn if this wasn't an easy one.]

So if that's right, it'll be a contest of motion and persistence, versus dramatic change and catastrophe. I think it's easy enough to decide who we want to support, in this case. We'll just have to find ways to make sure we see what sort of conditions make for a win for each ideal.

Any ideas for what to look for and how to keep things from devolving into a catastrophe? Those seem to happen a lot when we're around, unfortunately.

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

I don't know about keeping things from devolving into a catastrophe, but I do know that while reverting to whatever the place's status quo is would stop Tower, it wouldn't be good enough for Chariot.

Basically it'll need affecting a change without setting everything on fire. [No pressure.]

[professorwolf]

Hmm. So keeping on keeping on isn't going to be enough for him? It has to be change, not just regular progress?

[leftbehindagain]

Well, it probably could be regular progress. But returning to the old way isn't likely to be of any use. Chariot's about keeping things moving, as is... abundantly clear right now.

[professorwolf]

Yes, but that doesn't require drastic change, I believe. So that's something to work with. We should definitely keep that in mind.

What we really need is a plan of... well, action. How to tackle a Jaunt ahead of time-- how to organize ourselves to learn the most, as quickly as possible, before a course is set.

[leftbehindagain]

Well, like Kanji said, the controlled action is part of it. I just really doubt a step backward would do anyone any good, where, say, Emperor might prefer the status quo if the status quo was orderly.

It's... difficult to make a plan of action when we don't even know who's going to be themselves when we get there. At least this time the giant wooden horse points to a likely destination, but even then we can't just say 'it'll be the Trojan War' because what happens if we plan for that and then it isn't?

[professorwolf]

There are plenty of things we can plan ahead of time. It doesn't matter where we're going, when all we want to do is discuss times for regular checking in, or means for sharing information that we learn-- do we want to leave notes in the Workshop library, or merely have conversations on the network?

And of course then there's organizing permissions when it comes to, say, reading each other's minds as infiltrators. I have that ability, and it might actually do some good, but I hesitate to use it without stated permission from the person I'm doing it to ahead of time.

[leftbehindagain]

Physical notes aren't a terrible idea, but not everyone can get back into Liminal Space from a jaunt, so the network's likely the easier way to go about things.

...Well, thank you for that discretion, at least. [It's more than some of their number can apparently be bothered to ask.]

[professorwolf]

It's really the only way to go about it. It's a useful skill, but terribly invasive. So permission seems necessary. We give up enough control over ourselves here without having to bare our private thoughts to strangers unexpectedly.

[There's a sense of a sigh. He's a teacher, okay. This stuff is drilled into him.]

So network remains the best option. Perhaps supplemented with notes during the Jaunt rather than a compilation afterwards? I know we've had some informal check-ins in the past, as well, where people not infiltrating list those who are. Those definitely need to keep up, with information on what we're all doing.

[leftbehindagain]

True. [And that's the most he has to say on the topic for now. Some of the things that can be done with the network are... kind of alarming.]

Maybe if we try to have a regular check-in? It'll also help clear up what happened if someone infiltrates themselves again, and help anyone whose overlay may die catch up.

[professorwolf]

Agreed. It's a place to start, anyhow. I'd suggest we all form official little groups to check up on certain people, but I think we already have unofficial groups of that nature, as it is, with people from the same or similar worlds, or with other connections.

[leftbehindagain]

I think there's enough overlap that the entirety of any given group isn't likely to be infiltrating, at least.