[Jaunt] Testing, testing...

[vrepit_no]

All right, let's get a headcount. This is Shiro - Takashi, might be a better plan here. Speak up with your name, faction, and if you know anyone who's infiltrating or missing please!

I'm getting the feeling we were at least partly anticipated here. Can we get a run-down of which colors mean what and whether or not people expecting us is a good thing here? It was much clearer in Questing Country.

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

...No, that would be partial Automata corruption. [And it possibly says a few things about the nature of Shiro's prosthetic, but Naoki's not going to speculate about that on a public channel.] I'm not sure as of yet what's up with the Automata themselves at the moment.

In any case, we're not on the Grid proper - seems this is a joint mission to another system to try to revive it.

[vrepit_no]

Mm. Corruption. My favorite word. [no it's not.] There do seem to be a few Automata around as part of the crew, so something happened...

That's what I'm hearing too. Does ZODIAC mean anything to you? Other than the astrological system, that is.

[leftbehindagain]

Not from experience, no. We had our hands full with the Grid last time - other systems didn't really come up.

[vrepit_no]

A big mystery then. Should be interesting! Mm! I think I just saw Jean in Miner Blue. Does it feel like there are a lot of Cryptos around here?

[leftbehindagain]

...yes and no? Most of the ones I've seen so far are people who were Cryptos last time, so it's not necessarily a surprise that they would be again. Proportionally it might be a larger sample than you'd expect, but by the end of the last jaunt there weren't a lot of Miners left on the Grid, and the Defenders hadn't exactly made themselves popular.

[vrepit_no]

Really! I admit, I'm a little surprised about the Miners. Defenders almost never wind up popular unless there's a war going on that they can protect people in. But there are always explorers and information hounds out there. Was the incursion that bad? To lose so many of them?

[leftbehindagain]

It was less because of the fighting and more because of the other options. Most of them ended up refactioning into the rebellion, and a few joined the Cryptos.

[vrepit_no]

How does that work? Refactioning, I mean. That was definitely not a part of the movie.

[leftbehindagain]

[...what movie?]

SHIRO passed it on via Interface, so I'd assume the other factions would do the same thing - other than the Automata, anyway. That one's forcible. I'm not sure how other factions fold Priority in.

[vrepit_no]

So everyone else is voluntary, then? We don't have to worry about suddenly winding up conscripted?

[leftbehindagain]

Every other faction that I'm aware of, though... some of the Cryptos may not be above manipulating people into making the choice.

[Not all of them, but he can't not acknowledge that, even when Kanji can't respond.]