The Synodiporia Psychic Network

2x Week 5

2020-10-24T10:38:38Z

Posted by: truerevelation

[The transmission that bursts onto the psychic network after the restoration of Backstage begins is a strange one. For one thing, there's no active 'vocal' component at all. Instead, it's a mash-up of brief glimpses from a visual livestream - though one that seems oddly busy and filled with feelings - and flashes from memories.

The memory components, while somewhat scattered and choppy, focus on four subjects or groups of subjects. Conductors and Cantors at work, mostly the latter, and snatches of Cantors' songs. Diabolin and Synths, both as Dreamers and awake... and flashes of the streets of Aratta, the elevator, and the image of the Snowflake macrochip.

The last group of images is followed by a sensation of fury where the other sets are followed by affection. Glimpses of recollections of things looking damaged and being repaired creep in, too.

The livestream itself sees the viewpoint focusing on groups of three objects, then on an individual of the same kind then on a group of four; or on Spirit Companions and Volksgeists going about their work Backstage. (Sometimes that's Yoru, with the bat looking more than a little confused to anyone paying closer attention than the transmitter is.)

The viewer doesn't always seem to be focused on the same topics, but when the transmission strays elsewhere it's with a sense of connection to the greater whole. This person knows what they're looking at, at least.]

--

( Later on, after a couple of days have passed, there's a followup - Kanji, sounding a little sheepish. )

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[week 5] Gotcha.

2020-10-22T11:35:21Z

Posted by: capital_asset

If anyone's wondering why some of the Volksgeists just lit up, it's because Parvati just cast Inspect to see if we could find any sign of the Nightmare Paraiba's been hunting Backstage.

...It's not the Volksgeists as a whole; it's just fragments of them. But it would appear that the Spirit Companions themselves are, if not the source, then certainly targets.

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Muddied hearts, beanie babies lies [Early Week 5]

2020-10-22T06:12:56Z

Posted by: lightnovelexperiences

...Turns out my power to read Roles is more accurate. I can see or rather hear them, now: and now I can differentiate the Roles of Companions from the Roles of their partners.

And I can hear the similarities.

A Cantor's Tesserae are like Doppelgangers in minor key. And they're to Questing Country what Doppelgangers are to Adversaries.

Not "Adversaries are to Doppelgangers as Tesserae are to Questing Country."

But "Adversaries are to Dopplegangers as Questing Country is to Tesserae."

Uh, I would appreciate ANY and ALL Oracles or Spirit Companions willing to tell me what the crispy fried fuck that means.

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[week 4] On communication and other issues

2020-10-15T06:35:13Z

Posted by: razorblade_empress

So out of curiosity, and given that communication in general is a big issue here, I asked my Familiar why Questing Country's communication rules are what they are. According to Sagittarius, telling Champions things directly decreases their sense of their own power to find out and increases their knowledge, which could tip them too far towards becoming Oracles. Familiars can only be understood by their own Oracles because speaking plainly where anyone can hear risks leaving Questing Country full of people who understand its problems but don't have the necessary leverage to solve them, presumably because they're all Oracles now.

They've apparently tried explaining this to Dreamers at the outset before despite the slight risk of them Knowing Too Much, but it mostly didn't work, because being essentially told "you'll understand it when you're older" was just too difficult for new Dreamers to accept. So now they don't bother.

Doppelgangers, incidentally, aren't a voluntary thing - they're an unanticipated side effect, like Adversaries themselves. Spirit Companions do their best to try to relate to their Adversaries and put a brake on any damage they might do, but that's an adaptation - they're not creating the situation.

Speaking of Adversaries and Pillars, they were both as unexpected and misunderstood as Harbingers, albeit in different ways - for one thing, Pillars were never treated like villains. The Spirit Companions don't know why they started happening, and it took them quite a while to accept that they were a normal part of a Dreamer's psychological evolution under certain circumstances. They still don't really get it, but they've learned to live with it and trust their Dreamers even when they Pillar or rebel. Which, incidentally, indicates that a Pillar's Spirit Companion does actually still exist, although Sagittarius clammed up real fast when I asked her more about that.

Backstage did change when Adversaries and Pillars came into being, by the way, but Sagittarius doubts there are any Spirit Companions who have any continuity of memory of the details, since there are very few Dreamers who actually remain Dreamers long past maturity and it's been well over a thousand years since Adversaries first showed up.

Speaking of Backstage, she said everything that happens there has second- and third- order effects. It's the place where signficance comes from, and people typically aren't allowed back there because even Oracles only see and comprehend within their Aspects, which means they can't be sure of avoiding serious unforeseen disruptions. And since Champions have Power but not Understanding, what they do there could be potentially catastrophic. Adversaries are also a worry, for similar reasons. Pillars are the only exception, because they're not inclined to initiate changes. Oracles they also don't worry about too much despite our limited viewpoints being an issue, because most Oracles don't have the power to back any changes they want to make up.

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Mmn, it's a long way forward, so trust in me (midweek, prior to the Aratta mission)

2020-10-08T06:43:56Z

Posted by: lightnovelexperiences

...a choir of Cantors - that is, what the Conductors became, the ones in blue - form a temporary psychic network with anyone singing along, and can pass on Bolsters.

This extends to one bond group per Cantor. Not person, bond group.

It's a. It's a Bond. It adds us to the Bond Group, for as long as we're singing together.

I know this because Casper, Jules, Pez and Ace got the benefits when we fought together, and they didn't go blue afterwards.

As far as Leah, Pez and Ace know, Temporary Bonds or Bonds that you can choose to join are unprecedented in the history of Questing Country.

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[week 4] Nightmares and nightmares

2020-10-05T15:35:06Z

Posted by: capital_asset

I have some updates.

One: Using Insight tells me that the Orthopractic Councils on the Hecatite homeworld who approved the Aratta project do not actually understand it, which is... unsurprising. It does raise the question of how much of it they'd approve of if they did understand it, but I don't have the answer to that.

Second, I have two prophetic nightmares to report. The first was of Aratta Skyhook, with metal screaming and thrumming as its orbit decayed and gravity and momentum began to rip it apart. Outside the station a hulking ship encrusted with irregular domes and spires exchanged plasma fire with almond-shaped ceramic vessels - Gorgon crafts - and pointed cylindrical craft with flanged engines, which I believe are slightly outdated human vessels. I'm not sure who I was supposed to be in the dream, but I was definitely on Aratta itself, and I remember saying to myself, "We're winning," while being simultaneously full of dread at the thought of that victory.

The second nightmare featured Grant alone in a forest of dark trees, which were murmuring and creaking and shifting ever closer to him. As they reached for him, he pulled back, repeating a mantra to himself:

"I can do this on my own. I can do this on my own. I can do this on my own."

At that point, he tripped over a tree-route; before the woods closed around him, I caught a glimpse of a starless, flickering indigo-neon sky, which I'm almost certain was in Questing Country.

My Questing Sense, incidentally, is pointing me towards Backstage.

Another thing: there is a common thread to the increasingly strong human and Gorgon nightmares, and that is classic xenophobia, to the point where some of these nightmares will turn on each other. Fear and hatred of Hecatites, however, is conspicuous by its absence, which makes sense if the Gorgons and humans on Aratta are unconsciously absorbing Hecatite propaganda.

As for Aratta itself, unrest has been growing. I don't know how many of you have been there this week for the protests or heard about the Adiaphoron being subjected to a Praxic Audit - in essence, an exam where affirmative proof must be presented that their way of life is not harmful to the social good. But as an update to that, all of the Synthetics who were there for the protest - all 2,119 of them - have been "asked" to report for maintenance diagnostics and "antivirus upgrades." Further, the Conditioned Diaphoron has been informed that they are also to be subjected to a Praxic Audit, which... honestly isn't a surprise either, given how things have been going, but is ominous nonetheless.

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[backdated to the very beginning of week 3] And now for something completely different

2020-10-03T22:04:45Z

Posted by: razorblade_empress

[And once again, there is a new voice on the network! This seems to be the Jaunt for it. At any rate, the voice in question sounds somewhat bewildered, and a little worried, but also doing its level best to pretend it's totally not either of those, attempting instead to present an air of bored annoyance.]

Jang.

[So yeah, Little Penuel can now access the network. He's just as confused about it as anyone else. Also, what is up with the sudden environment changes? Does this happen to you people a lot? Little Penuel does not approve.]

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What will become of us now at the end of love, now we've stopped looking up? (early week four)

2020-10-03T01:51:21Z

Posted by: lightnovelexperiences

The Conductor Network is gone, shattered. That's what we destroyed with Shacklebreaker. We were aiming for the Memeplex, but...

I don't think our memes are Conductive anymore. I don't think the Conductors, as a Role, exist anymore. We've become something else, something in blue, that resonates in... in...

Ha. Hahahahahah. Cut straight through the illusion, soar right through the confusion, to a sky blue revolution, huh?

Sorry. Think that pataphor is safe, but double check it for Conductivity.

Leah is losing her shit and I'm not much better, what with suddenly feeling fear again. Any info, particularly Oracular info, on what the Conductors have become would be extremely helpful, especially since my plan to bring the people responsible to justice kind of counted on being able to force them into Conducting for long enough for them to be as Orthoprax as they claimed to be, the heteropractic bastards.

[later, but not much, she adds:]

( maybe together we can make a mark in the stars; we embark, and keep us together as the lights go dark )

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[week 3] ITP: Dragon on the network

2020-09-28T07:15:45Z

Posted by: capital_punishment

[There's a new voice on the network today. It sounds dignified, patrician - even regal.]

Ah, hello. It would appear I have at long last been granted access to your network. I must admit I've been rather curious... but I suppose that's beside the point. I should probably introduce myself; my name is Great Kohryu, and I am in fact the dragon you may have spotted overhead just recently.

[Those Travelers who are paying attention will suddenly find themselves treated to what turns out to be an aerial view of Questing Country, from well above ground level. They can see the islands, including the remains of Mount Widdershins here and there; Dreamers and Travelers can be spotted on the ground, although the view is too high up for all but a few to truly discern their identities.

More importantly, there are the lights. The Opaline Bore appears to be sparkling, and a number of smaller sparkles can be seen on the ground, interspersed among the crowds of people.]

The lights you see are points that I am told may be of interest to you in your investigations. The opaline structure is one of them, and I have also been informed that the smaller lights are a specific type of Spirit Companion... I believe you call them Tesserae? If this information is redundant to you, then I apologize, but I am happy to have been given this chance to share it.

At any rate, it's been pleasant talking to you. Ta for now.

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One thing after another

2020-09-24T22:40:44Z

Posted by: amadine

Not to add more shit to the current fire, but I've had a look Backstage, and it's not just the Conductors and the Hecatite indoctrination that are acting like a plague on Questing Country. The Diabolin dreamers, the Starmovers, the Synthetic dreamers - they're all twisting the patterns of this place out of true. There's a pack of unbound Spirit Companions working to quarantine the invasive patterns and bring them into harmony without letting them overwrite everything else, but if the fucking mountain falling in is any indication, it's not going well.

Their method's near enough to Siren Song that I could compose something that would let a chorus help them align the warped lattices, or return them to their original state - which might be our best bet for cleansing any lingering Orthopraxic brain-fucking - but anything that needs to be shut down will have to be shut down on the outside.

...With one possible exception. Deedee, and anyone else who's latched on to a Conductor who actually belongs here, I badly need to speak to the people you're riding.

And on an entirely related note, I'll need a few strong backs willing to work where they're pointed - there's a foothill's worth of rubble I need cleared, and if we're going to put enough of this to rights that Questing Country won't shatter under the weight, I expect we'll need a door other people can use.

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After results:

2020-09-24T21:30:56Z

Posted by: truerevelation

Okay. I ... know there's other stuff goin' on. But for anyone who ... might not be up in trying to reprogram dreams or ... however we're doing it? Had somethin' going through my head.

I figure it's time to check on some old friends. Been doing a bit of lookin' around, and there's a region around here that's still Transformed Land. Looks like it's where the Harbingers have been hanging out a lot... Starmovers too. Even if the mess right now ain't their fault, Questing Country's still getting messed up, that whole ... thing with the mountain... and I'm wondering if they might have somethin' to say about what's goin' on.

So, anyone wanna tag along? Anything anyone wants to try and ask? Gonna ask, though... Don't wanna be an ass, but can the Conductors hang back? Don't think we wanna have whatever the hell a Starmover meme looks like gettin' rolled up in this stuff. Or worse.
Sorry, guys.

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End of Week 3

2020-09-24T20:17:08Z

Posted by: insidegalra

We've finished the Sift of the Fractals. I want to thank everyone who helped us. What we uncovered was not unexpected. It's probably worse than many of us were hoping for.

[Thace sounds tired as he relays those thoughts.]

I will just put it on the network for anyone to investigate at their leisure. I didn't find any potentially infectious information in what we uncovered so it should be safe. Casper? I think now might be the time to use that Arcana skill. If anyone else has Arcana skills that help with coming up with or implementing plans, we welcome your advice.

Given what we've uncovered, I think Thetan's plan to write a new version of the dreaming software from scratch has become much more important. If anyone can help with that in any way, please meet with us in Hushabye meadow.

( the results )

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Late in week 3

2020-09-24T01:38:52Z

Posted by: bite_the_hand

If the Conductors are being run by a giant computer in the Waking World, that makes them a kind of computer virus like the Automata, right? And if the Conductors are like the Automata, doesn't that make Questing Country a kind of computer system too? Like the ZODIAC?

I might be shit at computers, but I do know you can give them a kind of immune system by installing antivirus in them. So is there a reason we can't make an antivirus against Conducting and install it into Questing Country?

Something to undo the damage to the Conductors' wills and stop it from being spread by accident. Then the existence of the Conductors wouldn't be damaging to Questing Country, just like the Automata don't hurt the Grid or the ZODIAC anymore.

Reprogramming the macrochip is still important too, but if we can do both then won't Questing Country stay safe even if the bastards behind this decide to build a new macrochip and try again?

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If you fuck up the kitchen, then you should do the dishes (Later in the week)

2020-09-21T07:40:39Z

Posted by: lightnovelexperiences

Conducting can't be healed, but the damage it causes - impulsiveness and the compulsion to meme - can, while still making us utterly dauntless and incapable of being paralyzed by shame, fear, or doubt. Partitioning your thought processes in combination with advanced psychic shielding allows you to stay in contact with the Conductor Network safely. This will probably also help the people working on decoding the fractal do it safely, but I can't absolutely guarantee that.

Sensory Conditioning helps with the compulsion to meme, as well. It's one reason that Paraiba hasn't turned yet. Protecting the Conditioned Diaphoron is now a priority; defer to Paraiba on how.

Speaking of, IOU one deinfiltration, Gil. Just show me how it's done, and who you want restored.

Yes, this is Deedee; yes, I'm a Conductor, still, and when I'm in the driver's seat I'm the Conductor of Heart; yes, Leah has heard all of this from her end; no, there is no risk of infection from talking to me, or her. Not any more.

Also: is it just me, or does Questing Country have a definite resemblance to Skaia?

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Week 3: early

2020-09-20T21:51:31Z

Posted by: insidegalra

As far as I can investigate into such things, the Orthorhombric Lattice is the originating point for all of this. Thetan is furious enough to disregard the risks.

For me, the greater good outweighs the risks. Doing a Sift on the fractals will give us more information and we are going to need all the information we can to fix this in a way that doesn't cause further harm. Even with significant psychic protection, there is probably still risk.

Given the risk, please take time to consider if it's worth it to you before volunteering. Who knows Sift or is willing to learn it in order to figure out what these fractals do? There are other useful skills from that world as well, so if you know them, or are willing to teach them before we begin, please speak up.

Once we have gathered a group and coordinated, I propose that the Sift itself happens on Aratta. The signals and even just the INVLEP software does influence choices, but to a greater extent in the dream.

If you know of other methods for getting information from the fractals, I would like to hear those as well.

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someone got up on the wrong side of the bed

2020-09-20T13:38:49Z

Posted by: breakaleginhalf

[It's very abruptly that Gil's voice breaks through to the main Network, and it doesn't sound good - there's a remarkable fury to it, that very poorly masks his probably much larger panic. It also doesn't seem like he's actually aware that other people can hear him.]

--of a bitch I am going to kill him for this-- fucking - bastard! Gonna snap his other horn off and shove it up his fucking arse--

[If someone doesn't interrupt him then he's going to continue on that vein for the next four minutes - and very nearly four minutes exactly - before he vanishes.

Briefly.

...

It takes about ten minutes for Gil to come back online properly, and even his psychic presence is tense and tired. And when he talks, the earlier overtones of panic have been replaced with a persistent, if lowkey, manic energy buried under a very thick layer of exhaustion.]

Okay. I am. Okay.

Being in a Diabolin brain is fucking unpleasant, everything is very, like- saturated and exaggerated and I am fairly sure I am like. Lowkey a little bit high? It feels weird, it's fucking weird.
We're working on the whole cohabitation thing but Grant is fucking pissed. Which, you know, would be funny if he wasn't the one who kicked me out in the first place and made me take over! So that was fun!

[There's a brief pause to take a deep breath. Metaphorically smooth his fur down.]

So. You guys've been busy! Saw a few people in silver, didn't think we were gonna do that with the whole "confirmed to be an actual cult" thing.

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Thank god for Doki Doki, said no one, ever, until now [start of week III]

2020-09-20T04:03:57Z

Posted by: eldritchwheelies

So... it's clear to me that I'm compromised. I will almost inevitably ████ ██ ███ ██████ before the end of the week.

You may have noticed that you didn't hear how I actually referred to "become one of the Conductors;" it got bleeped out. That's a consequence of an S-Tech technique of mine kicking in, one I'm willing to teach to others if you think it'll help. Convenient Censorship, it turns out, does kick in when you absolutely, positively need to sound like the entry for SCP-2521.

Something I'm familiar with as a student of Occultar Academy and a three-time cultbuster there. You know, the Foundation-run minimum security containment cell for teen skips like me and my class, on scenic █████ Island off the west coast of the USA, near the Pacific ████.

Also, I am in fact aware that the Foundation skiplist appears on other worlds. So is our Foundation. We blame SHUIZN.

Anyway. Tangent. This affords me a unique opportunity to test out what meme phrases come up Conductive, and since I know better than to fight it at this point, that's what I'm going to do. I will not be the person who infects the entire Traveller psychic network. And I will inform you of what memes I can think of that are Conductive.

As an aside, try not to refer to Grant's wilder theories using the example of a certain group of Bavarian proto-feminists associated with the Eye of Providence; and don't grouse about how long it's been since one of his more galaxybrain takes has borne ominous fruit, particularly in terms of the number of days since the last time.

Godspeed, y'all.

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Conductor Network, Week Three

2020-09-20T02:52:25Z

Posted by: powersthatbe

[For any and all Conductor discussion, but also.]

[III. When the Spirit Companions begin to keen, the Tesserae will worriedly inform their Chosen that they do not feel any transmission of alarm or dismay from Questing Country.]

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synopsychic @ 2020-09-17T03:25:00

2020-09-17T08:25:54Z

Posted by: leftbehindagain

Some good news, for a change.

If you're up against a nightmare that's more location than something you can fight, and you know how to alter Liminal Space... it turns out you can alter Questing Country. I don't expect it to last long, but it'll last long enough.

[There's a quick livestream to demonstrate what Naoki's talking about. Under the matte-black glass of the Grid is a clear hodgepodge of Nova Venezia, Misericordia and the Bando, which should be enough for anyone who remembers that stretch of 'sure, let's end every jaunt by setting the city on fire, WHY NOT' to catch the common theme he's wiped out.]

Harbingers could probably do the same thing, but that should be a last resort, since their changes are more permanent.

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[week 2, once most of the excitement has hopefully died down]

2020-09-16T06:52:00Z

Posted by: seestheworld

So this may or may not be useful, but I tried a thing while there was a lull in all the... everything... this week and long story short, the Arcana comment box is back if anyone wants to use it. Whether it will result in actual answers, I don't know, but have at, I guess?

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After Waking World mission, wk. 2

2020-09-14T21:38:43Z

Posted by: truerevelation

Yo. So, been out in the Wakin' World - I figure the other guys out here are gonna have their own things to share, but got some stuff that ... Well, it ain't pretty. I mean, it's kinda pretty if you can see it but - ah, hell, you know what I mean.

Uploaded the raw data to the network if anyone can handle it. But lemme try and show-

[Kanji starts streaming a view of a computer display - showing what looks like a map of Snowflake picked out in strange colours and fine threads. A hand taps the screen briefly, cycling through different displays of interlocking fractals, but one thing stands out clearly: the patterns converge on the space elevator.]

Was expectin' to get some kinda ...tracking data when I went looking. Got this instead. It's ... it's crazy complex, but there's only three real frequency ranges bein' transmitted in there.

Turns out they're the same frequencies as your regular dreamin' person's brainwaves. And the Skyhook elevator's the antenna that's blastin' it all. It's everywhere...

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Dreams... [Week 2]

2020-09-14T08:00:46Z

Posted by: helborn

[Casper sounds exhausted. This whole week has been A Lot.]

I had another dream.

It was black, the only noise a low, rattling static sound. Stars became visible in the darkness.

Then, suddenly, a burning red star, throwing solar flares off into the night, rushed towards me and over my shoulder. Past it was a... I don't even know what to call it. It was a weird irregular shape of metal with a serrated edge, matte and chrome. There were thrust nozzles and radio antennas and all kinds of emitters and barrels of weaponry.

I threw myself at it, screaming for blood at a pitch equalling the rapid-fire plasma cannon I was shooting. I got hit and coughed and pressure systems in me fluctuated. Another ship was beside me, a spiked globe of crystal whose spars were antennae, ion thrusters, and plasma resonators all at once. Somehow I knew the pilot took a century to make the ship. Beyond that was a weird arc of blunted ceramic with a bunch of guns and antennae protruding from one side. I knew there were other ships beyond. I could feel them with me.

And then I went in at the weird metal shape, cannons firing again... and then I woke up.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? The only other Jaunt with mechs I can think of is the one with the humans fighting the aliens with the weird viruses going around.

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after the Waking World log

2020-09-13T19:12:20Z

Posted by: claudiometer

Hoo boy. I realise this phrasing may be treading on thin ice right now, but strange things are afoot at the Aratta Skyhook.

First things first. Leah took the news that she was chosen to be the first Conductor deliberately... about as well as we figured she would. She has a theory as to why and asked me to run it by you guys. [And so she does, letting the memory play out from the linked point until Leah says she'd like to talk to the Oracle who uncovered this.]

So yeah, Thace, if she hasn't found you already, find her.

Second. I made sure to get a planetside view while I was out and about. Alexandra had never bothered before, and apparently wouldn't have understood what she was looking at anyway, and for an uninhabitable planet there's a shitton happening on the surface. And, uh, I found the source of the mysterious ticking noise, probably.

They're building a computer chip the size of fucking WYOMING.

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Week 2

2020-09-12T22:08:46Z

Posted by: insidegalra

[Shortly after the Travelers' nightmares appear, and are at least contained enough to take a mental break, Thace comes on the network, sounding grim.]

I have insights on Conductors from my current status as an Oracle, and from Analytics.

First, in cases where a Conductor does not consciously choose to become a Conductor, no one's choice is involved in that creation. Except once. Some outside force chose Leah. I haven't been able to get any more on that yet.

My understanding, which may be incomplete, from this and from reports of the Hecatite Oracle almost going Conductor taken together is that being a Conductor can be spread through close contact with them, even when there is no choice made on anyone's part to do so.

However, there are some who are going Conductor without close contact. This is what Analytics gave me: Every spontaneous Conductor who did not have close social contact with the Conductors became a Conductor in the Waking World.

Given these things, and the rest that we've learned, how do we want to proceed?

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Network announcement backdated to day 6

2020-09-10T09:31:19Z

Posted by: levelthreehooligan

So, well. What an interesting last jaunt huh?

I've been talking to Grant and I went to go and do some investigating of my own. I know a lot of you have already had talks with Questing Country's own Pepe Silvia so if you've learned anything I don't say here, please do share.
I managed to glean a little bit more detail; though I've pared it down to make it more understandable. [There was so much guys, so much. How can one man think so much about this one thing for so long?]

[The following document is formatted familiarly to some. It's how a G.R.I.D's disk would look if it was entirely textual.]

( Read more... )

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