synopsychic | Entries tagged with matthew swift

I'm sure some of you have already discovered the reason for Liminal Space's current shape, but for those who haven't, Star is one of the living Arcana once more. Their restoration wasn't my work alone, but it was my idea to make the attempt, and my plan that we followed. The resurrection, and any consequences it might have on the Jaunt or Jaunts to follow is my responsibility. Not my team's, not the result of some plot by the Arcana or any outside forces. Mine.

Before anyone asks, I don't have any intention of resurrecting the rest of the fallen Arcana. I don't think it could even be done the same way a second time. With one exception, we don't know enough about how and where they died - and I suspect even making the attempt would be so against the idiom of that exception as to guarantee failure.

comebewe

Um.

Why does liminal look a lot like Star's deadspace? Did the Arcana do something?

leftbehindagain

Since it's likely been another of those jaunts, anyone who went up to the Mystic Spire should come by for a radiation antidote, just in case. I'm still not unconvinced the first apocalypse wasn't nuclear in nature.

If it's not necessary, it won't hurt you. But there's no point in taking a risk if we don't have to.

capital_asset

I know we've only just gotten back and all, but during the Jaunt I had two more prophetic nightmares. Neither of them had anything to do with the Jaunt - in fact, one of them was very explicitly not about it - so I opted to hold back on reporting them until it was over and we were all back to ourselves.

The first nightmare featured a shattered masonry wall in mountainous terrain, engulfed in incredible flames. It looked familiar, but it took me a bit to place it once I woke up: it looked like the wall separating the Bando Peninsula from the rest of En Zhenming.

The second nightmare was an extreme close-up of a black reptilian scale with an etched line on it slowly being filled with molten metal, which eventually revealed the shape of a clawed hand grasping an egg.

Whether those have to do with the final Jaunt or not I couldn't say, but having them during this past Jaunt would seem to imply that it's not that simple.

thornsofmalkav

Hey. So. I used my secret-discovering skill I got from Shekinah to learn something Chara doesn't know about the Protectorate-That-Was and it turns out? Great-Grandpa Malion and the rest of the house of Broken Stone had access to the Mystic Spires. They were, like, privately raiding them for secret weapons and luxury technology.

Anyway, it's kinda too late for Chara to get on the Expedition seeing that they left yesterday, but if any of you on the expedition get inside a Spire and the place is safe enough, could we work out some shit with Portals to get me and Chara there? I dunno if there's any biometric shit, but it can't hurt to have us. And she'd definitely like to see the place--she just didn't go on the expedition because of the whole keeping herself alive to continue the dynasty thing.

And. Like. There's a very slim chance that Chara and I might be able to get more information on that shit? Hopefully anyway.

Also, I've got an idea for distributing shit to every spire pretty damn fast, but I'm gonna need Matthew's help? I'll private message him about it in a sec, but if he's up for it, let me know if there's shit we need brought over besides, like, Gil's special batteries and basic literacy and shit.

( Locked to Matthew )

comebewe

Who knows how to Sift or Assist, from the Grid? I’ve got data from one of the Shadow Towers I want analysed.

helborn

Okay, two things. First of all, that raider they found all messed up in the dunes is physically stabilized but probably needs more healing... something seems messed up with her mind. I'm not great at psychic stuff, so if someone wants to see what they can do she's in the Factor tower.

Second - those kids they found today near the Shadow District? I peeked in on what the one who died saw. Some kind of blast at neck range, but there was one of those isopod things on the wall at the same height so I think it distinguishes between sapient minds and not. I don't know if that's helpful for anyone... I can pass the memory on if you want, though... you know. You'd be seeing from the perspective of someone who died, and I know not everyone's okay with that.

razorblade_empress

Met Chloe's overlay a little while ago. She gave me a warning about a pair of siblings, Ghalib and Chara. Says the brother, Ghalib, spends a lot of time recruiting people to Dreampush for him, and oddly enough, the people he recruits become really enthusiastic about Dreampushing for him, to the point that they go out recruiting for him. Given that whoever you're Dreampushing for has total access to your mind while you're 'Pushing and can basically do whatever the hell they want to your thoughts and emotions, I've gotta say that this sounds a little suspicious.

I mean, I'm not sure I trust Chloe's overlay either, but still.

The sister, Chara, supposedly only approaches guys, but she actually did come over and talk to me earlier. I did a quick perspective read on her, and that added another wrinkle to all this: she's royalty. Specifically, she's sister to the king in hiding, who I'm assuming is Ghalib, unless they've got another sibling hidden away somewhere. Chara feels her purpose is to support her brother, the 'rightful Protector of the Umbrian Vale,' and to ensure the line of Malion doesn't end with them. Which probably explains why she primarily approaches men - they need an heir, and responsibility for that's fallen on her. Everything else is secondary to her responsibilities.

Malion, incidentally, was the last god-king. My memory of our last trip here is woefully incomplete, but assuming I'm matching dates correctly in my head, he was still in charge when we were here last, and the Overmind was still a thing.

For the record, Chara is Thorne's overlay. I'm blanking on who 'Ghalib' is normally, but he's also one of us. Short guy, overlay walks with a limp. [There's a short pause while she shares the memory of the likenesses Hana had shown her; 'Chara' is indeed Thorne, while 'Ghalib' is Gil.] These two. Be careful about letting them into your minds, especially him.

leftbehindagain

Who's here and what happened? Other than the sandstorm. You've probably heard it first.

[A few minutes later:]

...right, sorry, this is going to be a weird one for half-infiltrating, I can already tell. The locals are limited to four sentences of no more than six words each, but you can get a lot into six words.

This is Naoki. Or... Longstory, if you ask the locals, because I guess someone was feeling literal-minded. I'm already in town.

We should probably keep this brief, in the event of native eavesdroppers.

awondrousplace

Alright, everyone! I know Joscelyn is warning people of our location, but we do rather need to know who we have, not just where we are.

So, in the spirit of... oh, what's the phrase, getting our waterfowl in a queue?

Please let us all know who's here, and if you're sharing a mind with an overlay! Also, if anyone needs help with a cover story of sorts, I am always available for creative writing.

[Helena, plz.]

In case there are those who don't know me, I am Helena Wells, and my story is that I was cursed to eternal life for being just a bit too clever with researching time travel. It's... close enough to the truth that it will do in a pinch.

dino_zarf

I swore never again with cows. And it's even cows on a frontier colony. Don't suppose there's a chance of it switching them over to beagles...

[But he's getting off topic]

Most kids don't get any milk once it's not from their Mama. That's bad.

Rose and I are both investigating and are looking to work out who else is too. So far this doesn't seem too different from home. Closer to Earth That Was, but the resemblance is still uncanny.

Everyone be sure to dress warm up here.

whydoyoushine

Oi, I need someone to get me out of a room. I didn't do anything this time, and here you go, locking me up for absolutely no reason. This is a violation of my civil rights.

[Zed is referring to the end results of a certain throw down with Matthew, which did not go the way he'd anticipated. But hey, at least he's proven he's learned something from Traveling, like the phrase "civil rights."]

You really want to fight over this, Matthew? Just get it all out there?

professorwolf

Pardon, everyone, it's Lyall again. But I thought people might like to hear about my conversation with Judgment, our current Jaunt winner. They were kind enough to bring me into their conversation space for a little while, though I am not sure they will do it again. They weren't particularly pleased with me, by the end.

I asked about the conditions for winning, first, and about why Fool considered her dangerous to leave intruding Travelers with. The first answer was fairly straight-forward: there weren't enough "new beginnings", and everyone moved on with what they learned rather than change things up, I suppose. Their exact words were that the various crises "were resolved within the bounds available, rather than forged into new beginnings."

They were less forthcoming about the dangerous part. I believe they did not consider themselves dangerous, they said they would merely "dismiss" Thorne and Matthew, but they... hesitated in a rather human sort of way before answering. I'm fairly sure that didn't mean they were lying... but they could have been reluctant to reply, or uncertain of a proper response, or else dancing about the truth a bit. Said they would just "dismiss" Thorne and Matthew, but not the method they would have used. They are apparently concerned with us staying in our roles, because "taking action" beyond our roles and "exploiting" our roles, is what killed Fortuna and Hoshiko-- Fortune and Star, I believe, yes?

I know there have been discussions about their deaths, but I had been under the impression that it had been less an issue of anything we did and more an issue of their particular idioms waning too much to sustain them. Am I remembering it wrong, was there some sort of action on our part that was taken to bring about their deaths?

I'm willing to share the memory of the conversation, if anyone wants it. It was a bit frustrating. Like they wanted me to understand them without them ever actually explaining themselves.

comebewe

[Before the rebellion, before liminal space changes, Matthew speaks to the network]

We have information to share.

First: This is Fool and Judgement's jaunt. They're still in liminal space, by the way. It's all the other ones that are in the jaunt, being a giant rock. They are, according to Fool, pursuing a 'possibility'. One that has 'a chance to restore many worlds whose possibilities have been forever lost' to them. Don't ask me what that means beyond that; Fool's allergic to answering questions and Judgement is a prissy bitch.

I believe that to pursue this possibility, they are draining the dreamworld of it's power, and stealing it's secrets. Fucking the place up in the process is apparently an unintended side effect. [and why yes, Matthew does indeed sound rather dry when he says this particular point. Someone is not impressed.]

We also have reason to believe that whatever is behind the Starquakes, they are...similar, but not the same, as the Arcana. Something on the same scale, perhaps. Or perhaps the Arcana are also more like places than people. Or maybe they all just really like fucking up this place! Seems to be common theme at this point, really.

failgoyle

[Late in the week, an image appears on the network.]

( Cut for Image )

So, uh, yeah, this is Jules, I'm, ah, back to myself, no longer re-living my teenage years only about a thousand times more obnoxious and in the future. Sorry about all the pop-ups and Rickrolls and all that crap. You know how teenagers are--no subtlety with the meme game.

So what all have I missed while I was trolling?

awondrousplace

Has anyone other than myself noticed that Liminal Space has not changed since we got here?

Generally it goes through at least one or two changes, but this time, nothing has happened.

Can someone who was here before tell me if this happened last time, or is this something completely different?

That aside, if anyone wishes to step away from the chaos, my rooms are, as always, open.

leftbehindagain

I'm helping track down where that amalgam monster came from and got to wondering what grew it. It's... the ideas in it are ones that belong here, but it's like something kicked them closer to the surface, and that allowed them to take root.

Whatever stirred this up, it's pretty deep.

thornsofmalkav

Wait. Shit. No. This isn't how my vision went. I'm not supposed to be Charoite again!

[That little speech comes almost immediately upon arriving in Questing Country. After that, Thorne is almost completely silent for the next couple hours. When she finally contacts the network again, she sounds much less upset. Tired and a little giddy, but not upset.]

Okay. So. I think I might have figured out how Empress managed to pull the Skittles out of people two years ago.

morethanashadow

Hey guys. So two things.

First, apparently the Oracles and everybody were worried about us after we left last time out of nowhere and so they tried to figure out what happened to us? Which is nice. It's nice they cared. So that's why they knew we were coming. Should we, like, figure out how much we should tell or just... go with it?

Second, if you're an Adversary, you might want to be careful. Apparently the earlier generation just started having those and think it's like a corruption or a 'fall' from Champion status and are being real dicks about the whole thing. Such as just binding their 'fallen Champions' and fighting them.

papacerberus

At this point, there are some things we can confirm that have happened. Somehow the last Jaunt ended in a tie, and that Lovers was returned because of it. Before this, I briefly spoke on my belief that a single Arcana winning this game is not the best outcome, but I was unsure of the possibility of encouraging ties, and bringing back those who’ve been eliminated.

Now that both of those things have been confirmed, I think it’s time to open the discussion again.

My thoughts are this: That the Arcana are all important in their own ways, and for a truly balanced world, they should all be reflected equally. There are obstacles to this in that some of them have been killed, but Emperor confirmed that completing the game will bring the dead back. There are also obstacles in the fact that the Arcana themselves don’t seem aware or willing to consider the possibility of joint wins. Of course, to succeed, we would need to find a way to alter the rules, and gain the cooperation of at least one of the Arcana.

That last point I think should be the first step, but before I proceed, I wanted to hold a discussion. There may be things I’ve missed, or don’t have the experience to properly understand, and coming together to share ideas will make us stronger and more cohesive for it.

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Page Summary

reallymean - coming clean (starplot)
comebewe - Just after liminal space changes
leftbehindagain - (no subject)
capital_asset - [forward-dated to after the Jaunt] Fire and Metal
thornsofmalkav - Day 335
comebewe - (no subject)
helborn - [Week 2] [Day 315]
razorblade_empress - [jaunt] [week 1 - backdated to before Jules's death] Royally screwed up
leftbehindagain - ye olde check-in
awondrousplace - [Jaunt] Check-in
dino_zarf - [Jaunt] Check-In
whydoyoushine - Rude, Matthew
professorwolf - [A few days into liminal space] Judged Conversations
comebewe - (no subject)
failgoyle - [Jaunt] It was as though a great many memes cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced
awondrousplace - We interrupt your thoughts on communication with an observation
leftbehindagain - a report from the forest
thornsofmalkav - Introducing Ectoplasmic Embodiment
morethanashadow - (no subject)
papacerberus - Towards the end of Drive-In Liminal

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The Synodiporia Psychic Network

Entries tagged with matthew swift

coming clean (starplot)

Just after liminal space changes

(no subject)

[forward-dated to after the Jaunt] Fire and Metal

Day 335

(no subject)

[Week 2] [Day 315]

[jaunt] [week 1 - backdated to before Jules's death] Royally screwed up

ye olde check-in

[Jaunt] Check-in

[Jaunt] Check-In

Rude, Matthew

[A few days into liminal space] Judged Conversations

(no subject)

[Jaunt] It was as though a great many memes cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced

We interrupt your thoughts on communication with an observation

a report from the forest

Introducing Ectoplasmic Embodiment

(no subject)

Towards the end of Drive-In Liminal

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