[week 3] [day 326, after the nation eater battle] More matters of perspective

[razorblade_empress]

So... during the big fight this morning I tried to see if the Nation Eaters had any perspectives to read. Turns out they did.

First off, they use bioelectricity and psionic signatures to track their prey, more than any other sense, but those senses also include thermal and pressure. Turns out all that lightning we're using on them is actually blinding them. It also turns out that what they're detecting is food - which makes sense, but for them, 'food' means psychic energy. Flesh is just... kinda there.

Also, I compared the little ones to the big one, and it turns out that first of all, they're not babies and adults - they're actually all adults, many generations apart. They're different subspecies, different phenotypes, and it took them only a century of evolution to get there. Which implies that they have biological processes completely unlike any other beings. They can't be engineered - they're too different for scientists to have created them out of anything that exists. And if they can vary that much in size in a century, then there's no reason to believe the biggest ones we know of are as large as they can get. If they have an upper boundary, it's probably beyond what we've seen. Maybe far beyond.

I don't know how much any of that helps, but I figured I'd throw it out there for the more scientifically minded Travelers to mull over.

Comments

[desperate_times_right]

Okay. That at least rules out "superweapon that got out of hand", right?

... Didn't someone say that the Nation-Eaters adapted to be smaller because their food source is smaller? How big could a Nation-Eater have become when billions of people lived on the Earth?

[razorblade_empress]

Seems so, yeah.

Billions of people all using psychic energy? Probably pretty damned big.

[desperate_times_right]

Big as the Vale? Big as the world?

Good thinking, kid, but I can't say I like this.

[razorblade_empress]

What's to like?

[Her mental 'voice' is flip, but there's a noticeable thread of tension underlying it. There is, honestly, nothing she likes about this Jaunt or this world. Even as upbeat as the people of Fallen Wrath are, it's hard for her to feel any kind of hope at all.]

[desperate_times_right]

God, I don't think either of us is the right one to be asking that question.

How are you handling being back here?

[razorblade_empress]

Probably not.

[There's the mental equivalent of a sigh.]

So far it's mostly reminding me of why we ended up striking the first time. Which... yay for recovering memories, I guess, but it's not having the greatest effect on my ability to do anything. I'm tempted to just stick to building things in Liminal Space to pass on to everyone else.

[desperate_times_right]

I doubt anyone would blame you for that. What we actually need is kind of a big question mark right now, though.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, that's a problem. I could work on survival gear, but without knowing just what we need to be surviving, that'd be a crapshoot.

[desperate_times_right]

Do you know how to make anything that would protect us from radiation? That's one hazard we're all pretty sure is up there.

[razorblade_empress]

[She thinks for a moment.]

I could probably use CE to come up with something for that. And we're definitely going to need breathing apparatuses - well, most of us are.

[desperate_times_right]

Yeah, I'm good on that front, but I don't know how many of the rest of us are.

[razorblade_empress]

Same.

[desperate_times_right]

We'll have to do something about the mounts, too, unless we want to leave them.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, it doesn't seem fair to let them get sick after they do the work getting us there - that and I think these people need all the animals they can get, not to have them die on them.

[desperate_times_right]

And we don't have to worry about it, but if they find anything or someone gets hurt, without mounts how will they get back?

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, that too.

On the plus side, I think I can make templates now.

[desperate_times_right]

Oh, that's a good one to know. I picked it up at the salon and it's been surprisingly useful.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, that seems like a really useful one.

Might be able to upload my schematics to the network too, once I've got something.

[desperate_times_right]

Oh, like a blueprint? That might be useful. My weight limit is a little low for a survival suit, but lots of people can make more than that.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, like a blueprint. I mean, I can probably make hard copies of those too, for people who can't download 'em, but still.

[desperate_times_right]

Seems like people are pretty all or nothing with the network in general.

It'd be a big help if we had something like that. I'd like some reliable recon method too but you can't have everything.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, I think most people tend to favor one or the other.

...What kind of recon?

[desperate_times_right]

Oh, for sure. I certainly can't download anything.

Something without a brain in it. I was talking to Raidou on the break and he thought psychic defences might detect projections, or astral tripping or whatever. Those little bugs from the Beastfolk jaunt would be ideal.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, something like that might be useful... especially if it can do scans of the environment for things like radiation levels or other hazards.

[desperate_times_right]

Right. Then we'd know what kind of protective equipment to make.