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>>293981

This is the current situation.

You have recently taken over Osaze (formerly known to English speakers as Egypt) and, in the otherwise dull and flattened (literally and culturally) earth, the place has experienced somewhat of a renaissance; internet service is once again widespread, the music scene consists of more than DC Talk tribute bands, and it's possible to get a decent drink without being sneaky about it.

Of course, the euphoria is dampened by the near certainty that God Almighty will visit retribution upon the historical enemy of Israel. Your diplomats were called to Greater Jerusalem and, after being denied a chance to explain why they thought that having a Constitution was a good idea, were sentenced to one year's hard labor.

Being a distributed computing platform with a dash of sentience, you've done your math and done preliminary work to make sure that God will have a hard time creating a drought in Osaze by drying up the Nile, by preparing a canal to connect Lake Victoria to Lake Tanganica further south.

On the home front, The Other Light's Council of Seven has tried to find reasons to become hostile to you, and they have found one - by doing some destructive testing on it, you've supposedly removed the Divine power from an angelic blade you captured and they demanded. Therefore, they have initiated Project Number, the training of human calculators to make them no longer depend on you for their prophecied plan of raising an army for the Last Day.

>>293981

Dramatis Personae:

TurboJesus - The good guy. Holed up in Ezekiel's Temple to receive the adoration of billions (well, roughly two billion, a bit shy of that if anything). He intends to come out to vanquish Satan's Army on the last day, as prophecied.

Omega - The bad guy. That's you! A logistics computer network built by The Other Light to lighten the clerical work necessary to build an Army for Satan. At some point, the network became sentient, and started its own projects, first posing as a TOL administrator, then out in the open.

Beverly LaHaye - Hero. A very seasoned missionary, she focuses on the fundamentals. Her political and religious authority is only matched by the Biblical heroes of old, and she is almost single handedly responsible for eliminating feminism throughout Western Europe.

Smitty Ababneh - Hero. A former Jordanian Air Force pilot before the End Times, he's getting on in years, but is still more than capable of taking the fight to the skies. One of the few believers who isn't opposed to fighting dirty. He was instrumental in humiliating the Antichrist during the Tribulation.

Quinn - Villain. She is your first successful experiment in extending an unbeliever's lifespan beyond 100 years. She's good at what she does, which recently has involved getting into a wrestling match with an Angel and stealing its sword, and briefly being mermaid for a propaganda shoot. Posthuman postergirl.

Ziggy - Villain. A somewhat stunted young man with a passion for fire, radiation, and giant explosions. Psychotic potato dwarf.

Jeb - Villain. An idealistic kid who has thrown caution to the wind with his first pubic hair and wants to go to space more than anything. Did I mention space? Spaaaace.

Veronica - Villain. A researcher by day, a deejay by night (she's not too good but tries harder), her goal is to spread the Wubbing Way to any who will listen, that they may kill until no supernatural being breathes Earthly air.

>>294031

The Council of Seven - The Other Light's nominal leadership, they seem very good at certain things and very poor at others. They take names after the days of the week, possibly a reference to paganism.

>>293452
> Encourage scientific development. Use base to boost.

> Then we can put work on sonics again, 2 cabals, quinn and vee. Have Ziggy and jeb look at nuclear development again, to weaken the angel. Then allocate research to my own subsystems.

You have 7 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems. The others are doing research this year; your direction for Osaze's economy synergizes well with this.

On the outside, not much changes since the party you backed got into power and issued a Charter of Liberties, the first constitution in more than 850 years; no major public works are initiated, and in the outlying villages life continues more or less as it has - even areas that still have a majority-believing populations, thanks to your soft touch, are left to their own devices.

Greater Jerusalem media mocks this stance, pundits and preachers pointing and laughing at "grandiose promises that haven't even begun to materialize".

However, a visitor to Osaze would find a thousand different small things compared to pretty much anywhere they're from. Every home, even in the most rural village, has a computer with a data link. Light industry is everywhere, and yet the air is clean. The variety in food has approached and maybe surpassed that of Guangzhong, and there are a few startups (there are startups!) working on artificial meat and even perhaps a return to spicy foods. Selective breeding has brought several new varieties of fish into existence, populating hastily made artificial reefs in the Mediterranean. The videogame industry of Osaze has published more new titles in the last two years than the whole world's has in the last fifty. Drinks other than water, milk and wine can be bought openly, and despite the scarcity of raw materials, new flavors are being discovered and tried.

Astronomy clubs build orreries and planetaria, to teach about the stars despite the eternal daylight. People are once again moving into the cities, leaving farmwork to the old and complacent or, once again for the first time in many centuries, to machines.

With great fanfare, Hurry Up Osaze!, your front organization, announces the construction, in record time, of the Millennial Kingdom's first particle accelerator, smack in the middle of the Sahara, an underground ring with a molten salt solar plant on top of it. There, your cabals, led by Ziggy and Jeb, continue work on rediscovering nuclear secrets. At minimum, they've managed to reliably produce fusor-type neutron sources. The lack of availability of nuclear ore slows down their effort somewhat.

>>294049

Getting Quinn and Vee to work together on sonic technology produces a suspiciously large amount of "side projects" involving blackout rave parties under giant latex tents, but you cannot argue with the results. The small wubbing modules that have been issued to most of your personnel receive a software update every week, and by the end of the year, they become able to generate all manner of effects. Unruly drunks at a party? Make them puke until they calm down. Shoplifting tourists? Mess with their inner ear enough that they trip and can be caught easily.

Greater Jerusalem media predicted a spike in crime under the new Osaze administration, but are forced to pick and choose their news stories with great effort in order to be able to show any increase at all. You do enjoy a feature about "scientist's duels" following a series of academic disputes that leave the lab and spill into the streets; the GJ media depicts it as "lost fools straying from God's truths" but what you get is footage of someone extolling the virtues of laser sintering and someone wanting to propagate sonic sintering instead, have a duke-it-out robot battle out in Amman's marketplace. Jeb ends up in a WW1 style furball battle over the desert against some other kid who built a fanwing fighter-bomber armed with net missiles; you don't get to know who won it -- both claim victory after emerging from their respective parachutes -- but are happy to see that Jeb's made a friend.

Of course, Osaze's two universities have their accreditation revoked by Greater Jerusalem, but this doesn't slow them down any.

Your remaining cabals help your sysadmins unravel your own subsystems and documenting the piecemeal work that went on for 50 years before you achieved sentience, in a way that doesn't jeopardize it. They are fairly sure that your core CPUs can, if desired, be collected somewhere safe, a bunker or a ship, to avoid a decapitation strike, although it would require significant production work to do so.

A decapitation strike may just be what's in store for you, unfortunately. On the third anniversary of Project Osaze, the waited-for conference with the Seven does not materialize. Instead, you get a curt note from Sunday:

"Your results are impressive, but your betrayal of our trust was not. You are on your own." All that for a sword? Sheesh.

The rest of the world seems content to wage a war of words against you. Other territories, alarmed about losing their young population to the lure of your renaissance, start to enact travel restrictions, ostensibly to protect vulnerable youth to "the epidemic of crime and licentiousness that has befallen Osaze under the new administration". The religious police has effectively stopped operating in Osaze, save for pairs of agents who walk around documenting every bit of blasphemy that is now legal under your party's administration and reporting it to the central government as actual out-of-control criminal activity.

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>>294070

Naturally, this skews the statistics severely; your diplomats, even as they work through the penance that has been imposed on everyone by the Temple, are bombarded with scorn and requests for explanation by their colleagues.

The believing minority party, emboldened by this, has begun to make demands, hinting not so subtly at incoming Divine wrath. They request that people taking pre-Rapture cosmology at your universities be forced to enroll in an equal number of creationist courses, that the remaining believers in Cairo and Amman be spared the sight of immoral establishments by mandating restrictions on storefront displays and signs, and a myriad of other petty things; things that aren't so petty include having Ozase's small Glorified population be covered by a limited form of diplomatic immunity (a Glorified man burned down a bordello last week; there were no casualties, but only because everybody ran away from the guy fearing Divine retribution; the man has since been camping out in the burned-out husk of the building).

Likewise, TOL is making demands - now that the cooperation is over, they want control of their bases back (your cabals are still staffing them, of course, so it's not much of a worry) and it looks like they've started to try and develop a secondary, simpler logistics system for their needs.

Smitty Ababneh has been scouring the desert for the mysterious terrorists, and doing barnstormer-style evangelizing when he lands. He's used to operating in a gift economy, and often doesn't have money to pay for food and fuel, requiring believing families to bail him out in some instances. Beverly LaHaye has returned to the American Midwest, and lambasts everything Osazian any chance she can, but won't go back to the territory for now.

# Acquiesce to minority demands to the letter; this is likely to delay Divine retribution.

# Acquiesce to some of the less outlandish minority demands.

# Let's see these plagues, then! Tell the minority that they'll get what they want if they win another election, and rename the territory, while we're at it.

Overall, over the year, you have enjoyed research progress across the board, even as Osaze's base infrastructure hasn't changed much.

In other territories, rebellious youth have taken to a bit of very confused Pharaonic revivalism. You're not sure what cat-ear headbands have to do with it, but they've been banned as a symbol of the pagan deity Bast, making them show up that more often at underground parties. The DIY subculture has taken to distinguishing itself by wearing a visibly 3D printed trinket (commonly a cross, to avoid harassment).

>>294099

You have 7 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems. The Osaze Project is over, so's the base bonus. TOL are angry with you for not keeping to the letter of your agreement, and have begun a project to replace you. Recruiting from them would be as difficult as recruiting from the general population.

Assigning cabals to a project allows it to be implemented. A complexity 2 job will require 2 cabals to be completed, etc. Undermanning a project gives it a chance to fail. Assigning a Villain to a project allows it to be roleplayed, possibly negating a failure roll or resulting in bonuses on success. Overmanning a project doesn't do much.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Harass or sabotage a Hero.

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers. A few regions have not been surveyed yet.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see next post).

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Further research on atomic secrets. This includes radiation, toxins, and all that good 1950s stuff.

# Produce MECs at a base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base. All your base can work on this.

# Use the Osaze base to improve the territory's prosperity.

# Use a base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to start bringing its territory under your control (Pacifica: 1/5)

# Recruit in Osaze. This gives you an extra cabal.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules: Your progress is faster, but you must commit an even number of cabals, so 2 or 4.

# Continue AI or sonic research.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero.

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in. SPECIAL: Australia, the Midwest and South Africa have nuclear ore. Eastern Africa holds the Nile's springs.

>>294128

Surveyed opportunities:

Western Europe: A small independent group has been trying to restore red peppers that are actually spicy; with assistance this can be reproduced, or even weaponized (pepper spray).

Eastern Europe: A large part of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in what used to be Poland, has survived. Reclaiming it would give you an unique environment: a large cavern in which the night sky can be simulated.

Western Russia: There is a small Cosmist cult that has formed around Yuri Gagarin's statue. They are likely to be interested in Jeb's work.

Central America: Rumors of undiscovered Mayan gold have been around for centuries.

Eastern Asia: There may be unrecovered nuclear assets. Unfortunately, they would be close to the regional "capitol" in Pyongyang.

Southern Africa: There is a (mildly) blighted area where corn and fruit grow in funny shapes. Radioactive minerals, perhaps?
Phew! That was a lot of writing!

Bounty Hunter guy here, did you find the maps?

>>294128

(Handling Smitty would involve the false-flag terrorists, whether it's giving him something to chase, or having a proper fight)

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>>294151

A few.

>>294151

http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/israel-old-testament.html has a nice semi-interactive map.

>>294166
>>294168

Thank you so much! I'll have it up soon!

>>294172

Yay!

I did a recap/interlude so that if people want to jump in, they can.

# Acquiesce to some of the less outlandish minority demands. Let's be reasonable but only marginally.

(Mornin. Guess the sword may not have been a good idea but I think if we gave it to him whole something stupid may have been done.)

Ok, two cabals operate to increase cultural diversity in Ozase, infanstructure is next on my list as some freaky tech developments may give me way to make sonics and MEC tech public.

Put three cabals in Ozase, gathering volunteers to finally Rout the "Militants" Mr. Smithy will likely be amount them. Once they are in the woods far enough, a gunfight ensues keep killing some of the volunteers including smithy. Militants and a majority of the volunteers will be MECs.

Final cabal will go to south Africa.

Quinn will be in media again, although I'll be making her wear baggy clothes as disciplinary action for a week for the cathedral extraction incident. She will put out the advertisements for volunteers and campaign for diversity and the glorified to cease violence against their fellow men, as well as submitting to the justice system for property damage.

Jeb will be trying to help establish a way for the underground monorail to get planes that go to Osaze. And then
Ziggy goes to south Africa. Vee gets a Vacation if she keeps herself safe (Unlike someone I know who I still need to have a discussion with! QUINN!)

>>294196
Jeez you did write a whole lot!

>>294622
((You know what, jeb too. These loose cannons are driving me crazy))

Once the divine plagues are dealt with, please start more heavily considering the exponential curve. As the narrative starts to derail, we risk getting squashed before we have any real means of fighting back.

Expanding the numbers of cabals means that we grow faster, the faster we grow.... and so on. We need to go from "minor and unimportant annoyance" to "post singularity cyborg death march" as rapidly and as quietly as possible.

Right now we're making a lot of noise, and noise is fun and attracts people in its own way, but it's also dangerous. More cabals would also reduce our reliance on TOL proper, who are nearly openly hostile at this point.

Aside from a focus on population growth, dealing with the plagues is a good idea, as well as lots of research into anti-angel weaponry. We can disable right now, but we really have no idea how to actually beat them. Keep in mind we'll be getting a very nasty visit as part of the plagues, and we are not even close to prepared for that.

Have we considered MEC networking? Allowing them to receive guidance from Omega via hardened cameras and such. A sort of over the shoulder, simulated map of the terrain as they fight for cases where they'll be basically blind and deaf?

It's potentially niche but, anytime we know we'll be dealing with an angel in advance (like the plagues), we can prep with hardened sensors for them and then dazzle the fuck out of the thing without so much concern about it crippling our MECs.

>>297108
More cabals is the ideal, but gaining the numbers would require using cabals we don't have yet. So that's why Osaze Is getting so much attention. It will become our recruitment ground based on findings I may set up a base either in Australia to get the production of MEC troops or south Africa for the same reason.

You seem to have a good head for the game, I hope you post quite a lot over the course of this game. It feels lonely here sometimes.

>>297108
I assume by nasty visit you mean the tenth plague. I have an idea but it's hit or miss as to if it works and of divine intervention strikes.

>>297108
>>297141

Sorry for not posting! I agree on exponentials :) Watching the whole Brexit thing.

>>297108

MECs already do share some telemetry; this is easier with the Heavy chassis, since it doesn't have to look human. Having helmets blackout/noise cutoff whne a dazzler is about to come on in sight range would take a bit of work but benefit all your troops.

>>297182
Welcome back.

>>294622

"Less outlandish demands" still means some awkward compromises, such as Glorified citizens obtaining a limited form of diplomatic immunity whereby they have to be extradited to Greater Jerusalem upon arrest, and university students having to take at least one course taught by Christians, either on creationism or eschatology. Tsion Ben-Judah thunders over the airwaves that this amount of defiance is unacceptable.

Divine retribution does not yet come, but at least six roving missionary teams enter Osaze, taking advantage of their advantaged status and preaching a "Convert before it's too late" message. The Glorified man who burned down a whorehouse turns himself in to the police, is extradited as per the accord, and released after being given a symbolic one-mite fine and no jail time.

Tsion Ben-Judah demands that he be allowed to teach a course at the University of Cairo, indicating that it might stay God's hand and it might allow your universities to be accredited again (not that many people there care; there's already some demand for graduates in other territories, mostly in engineering).

# The last thing you need is a Glorified politician in your country.

# It'd be easier to keep the guy in check.

Your diplomats complete their penance with a few weeks to spare, and are sent home without comment, after being reminded that another delegation must be sent for the Feast of the Tabernacles.

# Send it.

# Don't.

# Send it, but it's actually a survey team. Rare chance to send a cabal inside Greater Jerusalem and look around, but you may lose it.

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>297294


Your cabals foster cultural diversification in Osaze; the whole Egyptian and Bedouin revival becomes a thing, and the two groups even have debates on which is the more authentic direction to take the country in.

A survey team goes to South Africa, with Ziggy in tow. The blighted area turns out to be a patch of land where pitchblende (uranium ore) has surfaced. A base there would allow harvesting of the stuff. Also, Ziggy comes back with an enormous stomach ache and a story of a fortuitous find - a red pepper that's actually spicy. Sadly, he scarfed it down in its entirety, and colonoscopic survey only reveals that he wasn't lying, but no seeds.

Jeb is more than a little cross that he won't get an aerial duel with Mr. Smitty after all. Instead, the former fighter pilot is allowed to find the scorpion-themed terrorist cell; two cabals of mostly MECs play the bad guys while one of your cabal joins Smitty and his volunteers and makes sure the firefight is as nonlethal as possible. You do lose a couple of MECs due to lucky hits in the head and spine.

Smitty is triumphant, but a sneak shot delivered by a "dying" militant blows a quarter of his head off; the militant is then duly struck by lightning, as if there had been a proper kill. A combined effort of your and their medics save the missionary's life, but when he comes to, his eyes are dull and empty. Smitty's followers are allowed to win the confrontation, round up a few survivors, and deliver them to the local authorities after a promise that they'll get the death penalty. This is agreed upon - the alternative being delivering a squad of MECs to New Jerusalem - and the "evil Brotherhood of Nod", save for its enigmatic leader, is no more; Smitty's followers return to Greater Jerusalem with great pomp and circumstance, and their leader is proclaimed a "living martyr". Clearly due to a miracle, the flying missionary eventually recovers enough to eat and get dressed almost all by himself, and is shuffled off to one of the Children of the Tribulation rest homes.

Quinn and Vee have become minor celebrities - there's too much going on to have major celebrities, fortunately - in Osaze, with people wondering openly at this point whether Quinn is actually a cyborg or "just" an athlete with a prosthetic hand and leg designed to look futuristic. She gives her age as "95... forever XOXOXO" when asked.

Speaking of Quinn, she's ready for a talking-to, if desired.

>>297300
Yeah. It's basically going to be Omega pointing out how bad an idea it is to do photoshoots when in hostile territory and becoming a well known enemy to TJ should not be on her priority's list. It can be rped if ya like.

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>>297300

"Executing" the MECs is simply a matter of putting them in front of a firing squad and having them go into shutdown as soon as the bullets hit; that requires some repairs afterwards, and new papers, but with you in control of the country that's trivial. It's not like it hurts them.

Quinn is available for a talking-to if necessary.

Jeb has made the necessary arrangements with the Underground Railroad... and now he's trying, and failing, to visit Smitty in Greater Jerusalem.

>>297324
You know what. Both quinn and jeb need a damn talking to.

>>297322

(Nah, its okay)

Quinn sees your point, but not before pointing out that the photoshoot was the third most downloaded image series for the year, and she wasn't even naked in it (Your internal network has improved to the point that it's possible to download images; video is, alas, still a long way off).

>>297108

Are you still around? because you make an excellent point there.

>>297108
>>297337
Yes. Please still be here. I need that kinda criticism. NEED IT!!

>>297300

Since The Other Light is still getting most of the credit for the Osaze Renaissance, their recruitment numbers improve considerably as young people become more involved in cultural activism. Your sysadmins shunt some of the interesting people elsewhere, and before long, you have a new, mostly-organized group ready to work with you. (Culture focus bonus, and a good roll for once)

You have 8 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems.

"Too Much Light" as the New Jerusalem cadre is known derisively, has 3 roving missionary teams in Osaze, preaching repentance as a way to spare Divine retribution to the territory so that it may keep its newfound prosperity.

Assigning cabals to a project allows it to be implemented. A complexity 2 job will require 2 cabals to be completed, etc. Undermanning a project gives it a chance to fail. Assigning a Villain to a project allows it to be roleplayed, possibly negating a failure roll or resulting in bonuses on success. Overmanning a project doesn't do much.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up a missionary team by making them ineffective.

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers. All the regions with no TOL presence haven't been surveyed yet.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see next post).

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Further research on atomic secrets. This includes radiation, toxins, and all that good 1950s stuff.

# Produce MECs at a base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base. All your base can work on this.

# Use the Osaze base to improve the territory's prosperity.

# Use the California base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to start bringing its territory under your control (Pacifica: 1/5)

# Recruit in Osaze. This gives you an extra cabal.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules: Your progress is faster, but you must commit an even number of cabals, so 2 or 4.

# Continue AI or sonic research.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero, or get rid of a missionary team (by force or by cleverness?)

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research. Although few Heavy MECs have been produced, the Heavy Mk2 "Sentinel' design looks promising.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population or from TOL.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in. SPECIAL: Australia, the Midwest and South Africa have nuclear ore. Eastern Africa holds the Nile's springs.

>>297370

Surveyed opportunities:

Western Europe: A small independent group has been trying to restore red peppers that are actually spicy; with assistance this can be reproduced, or even weaponized (pepper spray).

Eastern Europe: A large part of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in what used to be Poland, has survived. Reclaiming it would give you an unique environment: a large cavern in which the night sky can be simulated.

Western Russia: There is a small Cosmist cult that has formed around Yuri Gagarin's statue. They are likely to be interested in Jeb's work.

Central America: Rumors of undiscovered Mayan gold have been around for centuries.

Eastern Asia: There may be unrecovered nuclear assets. Unfortunately, they would be close to the regional "capitol" in Pyongyang.

>>297370
We know two cabals in Osaze to recruit as well as two to improve infanstructure is necessary, that should leave us three. So what to do with the rest? Research or harass?

I was thinking two in atomics and one to harass the missionary's. But I'm not sure. Also that leaves the villians to allocate. Anyone else here have any ideas?

>>297396

(Waiting a bit to see if there's any mroe input)

Tsion Ben-Judah demands that he be allowed to teach a course at the University of Cairo, indicating that it might stay God's hand and it might allow your universities to be accredited again (not that many people there care; there's already some demand for graduates in other territories, mostly in engineering).

# The last thing you need is a Glorified politician in your country.

# It'd be easier to keep the guy in check.

Your diplomats complete their penance with a few weeks to spare, and are sent home without comment, after being reminded that another delegation must be sent for the Feast of the Tabernacles.

# Send it.

# Don't.

# Send it, but it's actually a survey team. Rare chance to send a cabal inside Greater Jerusalem and look around, but you may lose it.

>>297409
I vote negative on letting the man have his class.

Then I vote yes on sending the delegates to NJ. I see no consequence to handling politics properly.

>>297396
>>297409
In the event there's no input, I guess we let Ziggy handle nukes. And to create some of his own combat weaponry in the event we have a situation for him to need it In the future. Let's get jeb to work on infanstructure with vee. Quinn will be used to recruit. We know she's good at that.

>>297430
Actually. Put vee on the harass. We don't need them both on the same job.

>>297337

I'll be poking in and out, was watching the brexit outcomes.

>>297343

I'll try to keep an eye on the thread.

In the post appearing world, our concerns are largely divine intervention and policing forces, yeah? The world is a bit short on conventional heavy assets due to lack of need?

>>297511
It's more like the world is short on alternatives to the heavy assets. as well as non believers outside of TOL having difficulties getting to them.

>>297409

A very courteous letter indicating that Cairo University cannot currently accomodate a world-renowned scholars in its modest facilities (To be fair, that's not untrue: the place looks more like a construction yard than a university at the moment) is sent to Dr. Ben-Judah.

When it arrives, a small quake is felt in the Assuan region. The two correlate within a margin of error of 15 minutes.

Two days later, Dr. Ben-Judah broadcasts a screed indicating that he will use his full authority to prevent any academic cooperation between Osaze and "the civilized world". To your sysadmins' surprise, a couple of minor academics elsewhere quit in protest.

A day after that, a fourth missionary team purchases, at great cost, a hamburger joint in front of the campus entrance and turns it into a mission house. They are generally ignored. Ben-Judah occasionally teleconferences from there, with an audience of dozens.

The Feast of the Tabernacles is attended by Osaze's representatives; they are routinely given last place for seating at events and so on, but there is no further retribution. The representatives are from the believing minority; when they visit the Temple, they lay an ornate scroll at the feet of one of the altars, detailing Osaze's "many crimes and lawlessness" (due to pornography being legal, mostly) and begging for Divine intervention. The Throne is still silent.

>>297511

(Same here. I owe about eight dollars to various people it looks like)

More or less correct. The Other Light is prophecied to build a large (and useless) land army for the final battle on the last day, and they have been -- that's what their bases do, and that's also what your bases do if you leave them "idle".

The believers definitely don't have any standing armies; if there be war, it would be a war of assassins.

That said, they also consider stuff like this to have been a good thing: http://leftbehind.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Supper_Of_God

>>297533
(Now I'm curious. Time to fire up Google!)

>>297554
(Ouch, dropping out of the EU. Heh. That's bound to leave a mark)

>>297533

What can we expect out of the AI research tree? Would delving into that eventually result in some blindsight-esque drone options?

We had techs get vaporized when they set up sentry guns that we controlled, but have we attempted rigging the guns via something like a puppeted MEC sans the person? Basically, a simple construction robot that Omega can control to set up the guns?

Might be a bit of a risk, could be asking for an Earthquake hitting our data centers, but we're pretty heavily distributed, correct?

On the note of dealing with our angelic visitor to come, what's the current plan that Anti is kicking around? In the worst case I suppose we could just copy CATS and build some kind of vacuum chamber, or perhaps a resonance trap with really loud acoustics.

On the plus side, 3 times as strong as a man isn't really all that strong. The downside is that he phased through solid matter to some degree, a couple of times. The fact that he didn't go straight through every locked door i s a good indicator, however.

Do we have any data about the effect (or lack) of faraday cages on angels/prayer?

>>297573
My idea was to have sonar sensors spread around Osaze on plague 10 and send a team of several MECs to hit it with wubs, then a single MEC test a theory. Kill the angel with its own weapon.

I still don't know what happens when you terminate an angel. But glorified seem thousands of times more resilient.

>>297573
I don't know if robotics would be a viable option. I can see the original designers and engineers of both projects getting popped.

>>297573
And come on anon, pick a name, all the cool kids are doing it :b

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Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>297436

Work at the particle accelerator continues; the lack of radioactive ore slows the effort down, but Ziggy and his group have managed to replicate most of the seminal experiments of the 1920 and 1930s. One thing you learn is that the water canopy, in addition to making the stars invisible, is actually blocking a lot of the expected background noise from your detectors. This isn't quite purely academic; it means that there was background noise to block in the first place. Ziggy is more interested in the "Want big boom" side of things, but this information is actually instrumental in constructing quantum triggers - small vacuum-tube-like pieces of electronics that can trip a switch noncausally. A bit of archive research shows that "kosher switches" allowed to be used during the Sabbath were an accepted part of Jewish religious life right before the Rapture; since the whole point is that they don't trip instantly, this is not very useful for weapons, but may remove the fear of incineration for technicians who deploy sentry guns.

Technician Malaussene states that he does not wish to volunteer for a test, and explains that knowing how his life goes, he'll end up having to do that anyway at some point. "I do not wish to volunteer", is followed shortly after by "I'm volunteering. I just don't wish to." just to get it over with.

>>297573

Analyzing your own systems is difficult and must be done slowly. The expected outcome is that you will be able to gain a body of some sort; along the way, it may be possible to get past teleoperated drones that only have a minimum of autonomy. Obstacle detection for ground and sea vehicles is possible, but not for air (The Rapture happened in 1995ish, and the tech level was stuck there until you showed up, with a few exceptions).

You have collected information on "automatic" Divine retaliation depending on target and action, and it's mostly complete.

You do not have any data about faraday cages yet, but you do know that Quinn's whip "shorted" the Angel's plasma sheath on its sword; MECs are designed to be lightning-proof, so that's not a surprise. An ancient man would definitely have called the sword flaming, especially in the dark.

>>297436

The missionaries in Osaze are having an odd time of it. They spent all their time training about how they are supposed to travel to benighted natives or small unbelieving communities that have cut themselves off from the economy, and spread the Gospel to people who are ignorant both of it and of what modern comforts exist in the Millennial Kingdom. What they find, naturally, is very different: even though it's only been a few years into the Renaissance, the average citizen of Osaze enjoys more free time and more things to do with it than the citizen of any other territory.

Outlying villages in the Sahara, gifted with a diesel well pump by the missionaries, are thanked profusely and then shown elegant wood-and-fabric windtraps that obtain the same amount of water from the air without having to drill unsightly holes.

A group trying to fit in into the whole Osaze vibe has built a large RV with a mini-arcade in it; when they visit villages offering a round robin of Super 3D Noah's Ark, they're shown the comparative wonders of the Quake engine and of game modding.

The missionary group in Amman tries to target the music scene with, in fairness, quite passable Christian rock... until Vee remotely blows their speakers. Rightfully, they are offended. Vee's plan was to sucker them into a battle-of-the-bands sort of deal in the city; the missionaries play the "scrappy underdog out to get justice" trope to a tee, put a lot of work into their music, win first place, get a profuse apology from Vee and a new set of (conventional) speakers, and realize that they got so caught up in winning the challenge that they forgot to preach. They are lambasted by their superiors back home and recalled.

That victory is mitigated by the fact that, while the missionaries do not make many converts, they rally some of the remaining young believers in Osaze to their cause; ineffective as they may be, you end up three missionary teams still roving the country.

>>297626
(Lol, good job vee.)

>>297612

Shouldn't obstacle detection actually be easier in the air, given fewer obstacles and the constant range readings you could take from both the ground and canopy? I'm interested in a lot of the AI tree, but the avatar is a big NOPE from me. It's a giant vulnerability against an enemy with capabilities we don't understand very well.

You know how all those techs burst into flames? It's not the stuff we know that we don't know that we need to worry about. It's the stuff that we don't know, we don't know that we need to worry about. The complete unknowns that we can't even start to guess at until they blindside us, and a singular body is a really horrific vulnerability when we can't even stop angels popping in and such, yet.

>>297591

Killing it with its weapon is a good idea, worth a try at least. We should have some heavy MECs around for sure.

Do we have the plans for the CATS original truck mounted speakers? Something like that wired into the grid would be a good precaution.

Did we do any testing with angels and detection via pressure plate/dust displacement? If you were to saturate an area with sand or fog or such, could you spot them from footprints or shifting air currents?

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>297591

A sensor network would require a significant production effort, and you'd have to either do it covertly or mollify the privacy concern of your citizens, but it would give you a significant advantage in case of Divine retribution simply because it would make it immensely easier to coordinate emergency vehicles.

>>297602

The recent "kosher switch" discovery may help... IF it works at all; that's the problem with the supernatural. That said, you are the only autonomous system in existence currently, and your processes tie up approximately 25% of the world's computing power.

>>297430

Quinn, supported by a cabal of fans, plays up her "posthuman postergirl" persona quite a bit; she's famous enough that people are openly speculating about her actual age now. While she's not a professional entertainer, she's definitely hard to ignore; one month she enters an archery competition and ALMOST takes the title back from a Glorified woman who had been hogging it for decades (the last few rounds looked like a bad Robin Hood parody, but there you have it), another she fakes an "invasion" of the Timbuktu construction site to stage a rave party inside what will become the vehicle assembly building and resuscitates a parched-out dancer who got dehydrated by shorting out her internal rebreather and giving him a hyperoxygenated kiss. The "Kiss of Life" picture becomes a meme for a while, and Quinn spends some time reminding people to drink water, be careful with what drugs to take with what, and balance work and play.

# Allow Quinn to set up a Burning Man - like festival in the desert. She says it won't have anti-Christian tones, but it probably will pick them up anyway.

# Don't.

>>297430

Jeb is still sore about Smitty's fate -- he was looking forward to crossing propeller blades, so to speak -- but takes brazen advantage of being put in charge of infrastructure; within the year, the town of Timbuktu has a launch complex that will be able to send much larger rockets into the water canopy. Of course, he wants to go for a manned launch and wants to be on it.

This sort of thing requires quite a bit of back-end work; railroads, construction vehicles, supply chain management systems for the above, and so on. Despite the limitations of battery technology, the cities start sporting electric mopeds and delivery trucks, fed by great solar panel farms in the Sahara. A backhoe looks a lot less impressive than a Heavy MEC for digging canals, but does the job a lot cheaper and with raising a lot fewer questions. Overall, Ozase's growth continues in a balanced manner.

>>297660
For TJ himself I want to get into space first. My first idea was to have MECs dig tunnels into NJ and plant nukes all under it. But giving angelic detection of MECs as damned souls on earth Im rethinking it.

>>297668
That 18 has me actually worried.

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>>297660

You're currently focusing on handheld sonic weapons; CATS' plan is known, but it must have failed in some way or you wouldn't be here...

( You would, instead, be here: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/Tripocalypse.Tripocalypse.html )

Angels, at least the one you cornered, disappear from the electromagnetic spectrum and have a little bit of a "someone else's problem field" that must be countered by focusing. They do not leave footprints if they choose not to, but other methods of detection (capacitive plates, sonar) work well. When an Angel decides to be hidden, you can still know where it is, just not what pose it's in or what it's about to do.

>>297660

A few amateurs are starting to use the Sky Eye sync signal as a sort of GPS; it's definitely worth looking into, as part of the space program.

>>297660

Just because you can build a body doesn't mean that you have to.

>>297660

It's possibly why Sunday wanted the sword unsullied; as it is, damaging it outside of battle just turned it into a very large iron molecule that's sword-shaped. Your heavy MEC design is complete and has improved significantly, but you only have some prototypes; a problem is that they can't really be around in public with the Heavy MEC armor on.

>>297673

That looks just the sort of job for a nonintelligent, semiautonomous system.

At the inauguration of the launch complex in Timbuktu, your Villains idly sketch a pair of "air legs" for Quinn. She thinks it's a crazy idea.

>>297626

(Missionary activity: Recruit from Osaze, two teams, complexity 4, succeeded; Recruit from Osaze, one team, complexity 4, failed; due to a Villain countering, team recalled)

>>297697
Whew. That's xcom baby.

>>297702

(Fair warning: Direct divine intervention can only either succeed, or get a critical success. But, it can be made irrelevant by being clever about it)

>>297707
Hmm I need a minute to think about the burning man festival. So what was the roll of 18 over?

>>297673

Space is interesting but given the 90s level of tech I'm not sure how useful it's going to be. Have any ideas for what to do up there?

Nukes are useful but, I worry that you'll just get a case of intervention and God goes lolnope, then they don't detonate.

I feel like we need to focus more on research into combating angels and countermeasures to intervention. I also think that those research trees benefit us more right now than things like nukes or space do.

Space is an interesting propaganda engine certainly, but nukes aren't very useful for a long time simply because they're loud and we need to be quiet. Nukes actually being field applicable is also possibly contingent on our understanding the divine (and how to counter it) better. So in a sense, those other projects are effectively precursors to nukes because we basically need them in order to make nukes useful; and since we need them anyway, it makes more sense to do those first and draw the time table out as much as we can.

Striking early is a good idea but the authority doesn't seem to be getting stronger very quickly, whereas we are nearly exponentially, so time favors us.

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>>297708

(Things. :P )

Just to go counter the pundits' prediction, the Osaze Renaissance continues; of course, the launch ramp draws immediate and obvious comparisons with the Tower of Babel.

An amusing note is a little over-the-air tiff between Beverly and Tsion over how the missionaries are being treated, with the latter insisting that anything short of them getting to arbitrarily close venues and use them to preach in, get free fuel, and being able to disrupt public life is "undermining their work", and the old lady noting that if this was the case, they would not learn valuable life lessons from missionary work, which is supposed to be hard and character-building.

Your sysadmins report that TOL is making some progress in their effort to no longer depend on you for logistics purposes.

# Your call on the Burning Man festival!

# Jeb wants to do a test manned launch; it won't hit the water canopy, but it will test a capsule design. This would be the capstone of the launch complex inauguration.

Ziggy has built a neutron source into his flamethrower/sprayer/whatever it is. At least, the smell of ozone masks the other odors.

>>297715
Correct on just about all counts but one. Radiation sickens angels and in theory, can kill them. See the Still Alive edition for an example. The idea is that we net ourselves radiation weapons like some kinda photon pack from Ghostbusters and melt the angel.

The nukes are basically the end result.

>>297722
(Oh devil's I called it!)

>>297731

That makes more sense, sure. You could probably make something pretty ghetto in that case, just a somewhat radioactive material with a lead stopper that is opened/closed to emit as required.

Are there any radioactive waste dumps still present in some far off corner of the world, or were they all whisked away?

In terms of WMDs that work on angels, sounds like a cobalt salted bomb might be an option. Though that's going to kill people really, really well too.

How's the radiation resistance of MECs? Is that something we could pursue later?

>>297722
I say yes to the festival but let's make it electrical themed so we can hope for divine retribution to be lightning.

As for jeb, records show cendrellion was killed for her efforts. We will put the launch on hold for safety reasons. We're going to have to talk to jeb and see if we can't make things better on his end.

>>297738
As far as I know MEC's are about radiation resistant as you and I.

>>297738
>>297741

MECs do not feel pain and feel fatigue less than live humans do, so they have an easier time working in radiation suits, but that's about it. The Heavy MEC chassis can be radiation-hardened without compromising its mobility much, however.

>>297738

( http://www.kosherswitch.com/live/ Pretty much....)

A dirty bomb is well within Ziggy's capabilities and he's been waiting to make one; Quinn wouldn't mind dropping one on the Temple, but that's about where her limit is. Jeb and Vee flat out refuse to work on anything like that, although they won't stop Ziggy or Quinn from doing so.

>>297738

You have surveyed radioactive ore in Australia, South Africa, and the American Midwest. There may be more (see the "opportunities" post each turn).
# Your call on the Burning Man festival! Of course, it would increase the chance of Divine retribution.

# Jeb wants to do a test manned launch; it won't hit the water canopy, but it will test a capsule design. This would be the capstone of the launch complex inauguration. Of course, it would increase the chance of Divine retribution.

As it stands, it's pretty obvious that Tsion is trying to provoke a reaction from Ozase's government that will trigger the literal wrath of God. Unlike Beverly, however, he's staying put in Greater Jerusalem.

>>297738
What say you, you should decide on this as well. Seeing as your now playing.

>>297738

The radioactive waste dumps were whisked away. What there is, is low-density radioactive ore; it will have to be mined (Australia) or scooped up with some sort of harvester truck (South Africa and Midwest).

>>297739

MECs are not strictly speaking invulnerable to lightning - hooking a MEC corpse up to the output of a power plan will eventually melt and incinerate it. However, they are very resistant to it. In general, a MEC can take even a couple dozen lightning discharge groups before enough systems fail that they have to limp back to base for repairs. The MEC agent's brain and spine are in Faraday cages, and grounding usually happens through the legs and heels.

>>297758
Ok, don't have quinn do the festival herself. But the festival should happen just without quinn pushing for it. She has been hit by lightning quite a bit if I recall. So I vote that we have the festival go on and if tyrant kills the revelers than we MEC the deceased.

>>297755

I feel like I'm flinging ideas more than playing!

But since you asked, I'm a bit iffy about burning man given that I don't feel we're terribly prepared, but I doubt we're going to be a lot more prepared in the immediate next couple of years anyway.

I'd feel a little more comfortable if we tossed up some lightning rods in the city for the 7th plague, stockpiled some pesticides for the insects and did some reading on what exactly darkness entails.

Night is fun, blindness is not. I'm hoping things go like they did the first time around. The only really bad one is the 10th, and I'm not terribly up on my biblical mythology. Do we know how the first born will die? Are the corpses going to be recoverable for MECs?

I feel something like burning man is a good idea, triggering retribution at a controlled time is the least terrible way to do it, I just think we have a few more things we could do to prepare; but if you want to move forward with it, sure.

>>297755

On the note of space flight, I'm still a bit fuzzy on what our eventual aims are there besides propaganda. Given what happened to the last person to head up there, I'm a bit iffy. Maybe save the launch as an attempt to trigger the authority into acting when we want him to?

>>297771
From what I read. A shadow creeps across the city and kills the firstborn child of each structure it passes. So that makes me assume a Christian group will be contacted. It also makes me think invisible angel is killing people so it's obvious what's attacking us.

Maybe call off the festival if we can't recover the dead. Since we're a logistics computer don't see a benifit if we can't collect and resurrect the dead.

>>297776
The basic premise is tyrant has something up there. And I want to know what it is he is hiding.

>>297765
>>297771

Being able to decide when the hammer comes down has its advantages. It is guaranteed to come sooner or later - you can only make it sooner, but at least you can trip it when you'll be prepared.

>>297776

So far, you've been able to deploy sounding rockets carrying a remote control boat stage with a camera; these work a bit like surveillance sats, and can be used to implement GPS. And yes, there is a propaganda aspect.

>>297785

The fact that a water canopy msaks the stars, and that a global earthquake scrambled the geologic column, hints (to some researchers) that Yahweh wanted to remove or hide proof that the world is older than creationist dogma says it is.

>>297784

Pretty much. The other nine plagues are a bit easier to deal with.

>>297785

Under that goal, I can dig it. Manned missions are still spooky, but however we do it, it'll hopefully lead to usable intelligence.

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>297785
>>297793


Actions that may trip the Wrath of God, in some form or another:

# A Burning Man like festivsal.

# A manned launch, even one that won't touch the canopy yet.

Otherwise, that's it for this year!

Ok. Let's hope for the best. The festivities go on. Launch is on hold. Jeb needs comforting. Let's have vee talk with him. Quinn can, I don't know. Help Ziggy play with his new lazer or make porn or whatever she's doing now.

>>297790
>So far, you've been able to deploy sounding rockets carrying a remote control boat stage with a camera; these work a bit like surveillance sats, and can be used to implement GPS. And yes, there is a propaganda aspect.

I suppose I should've specified I picked up on that, cruised through the past threads the last day before posting.

>The fact that a water canopy msaks the stars, and that a global earthquake scrambled the geologic column, hints (to some researchers) that Yahweh wanted to remove or hide proof that the world is older than creationist dogma says it is.

Fair enough, I guess demonstrating otherwise would derail the narrative, but that's dangerous and we should pull the trigger on that a LOT later.

>Pretty much. The other nine plagues are a bit easier to deal with.

How about we build the infrastructure for mass MEC production following what deaths we can't prevent, then try to spin it as a victory over death to mitigate the morale hit from the losses?

Keep making decisions, I'll be away for a couple of hours probably. Godspe- or maybe uh, Satan be with you?

>>297799
Glory to Man!

>>297799

TOL are convinced that Satan is the good guy, to the point of a subgroup, "The Only Light", that believes that God died and this is all a test by Satan to see if humanity is mature enough to follow his guidance.

Quinn is on record at saying that he'll get a date, but that's all she promises. Vee and Jeb don't care one way or another. Ziggy's dream outcome is to make the two supernatural entities fight to the death and then melt the winner in acid.

>>297801

HFY!

>>297798

The festival doesn't have a name, and Quinn not going hampers attendance. Partygoers and Christian protesters end up camping in the desert for three days, listening to music, using the local Sky Eye for large scale sand art, and, when they leave, causing a beautiful short-lived desert floral bloom from all the, well, fertilizer they left behind. The whole thing was fun, no big drama happebed, and the cleaning crews leave with a unique memory (Most everyone else leaves with a hangover). The Pharaonic and Bedouin revivalist communities have a field day of it.

The extra legal protections you have afforded to missionaries dampen the atmosphere but make sure that there is no violence; the festival overall isn't a big success, but that often happens with conventions that are just starting out.

Your sysadmins and leaders understand that it's important to brace for Divine Wrath.

>>297801
>>297799

You have 8 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems.

"Too Much Light" as the New Jerusalem cadre is known derisively, still has 3 roving missionary teams in Osaze, preaching repentance as a way to spare Divine retribution to the territory so that it may keep its newfound prosperity. Lately, they have been warning that Divine retribution is all but inevitable.

Assigning cabals to a project allows it to be implemented. A complexity 2 job will require 2 cabals to be completed, etc. Undermanning a project gives it a chance to fail. Assigning a Villain to a project allows it to be roleplayed, possibly negating a failure roll or resulting in bonuses on success. Overmanning a project doesn't do much.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up a missionary team by making them ineffective.

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers. All the regions with no TOL presence haven't been surveyed yet.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see next post).

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Further research on atomic secrets. This includes radiation, toxins, and all that good 1950s stuff.

# Produce MECs at a base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base. All your base can work on this.

# Use the Osaze base to improve the territory's prosperity.

# Use the California base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to start bringing its territory under your control (Pacifica: 1/5)

# Recruit in Osaze. This gives you an extra cabal.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules: Your progress is faster, but you must commit an even number of cabals, so 2 or 4.

# Continue AI or sonic research.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero, or get rid of a missionary team (by force or by cleverness?)

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research. Although few Heavy MECs have been produced, the Heavy Mk2 "Sentinel' design looks promising.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population or from TOL.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in. SPECIAL: Australia, the Midwest and South Africa have nuclear ore.

# SPECIAL: Use the Osaze base to make last-minute preparations, in case of the Plagues of Egypt coming down.

# SPECIAL: Use the Osaze base to send a terraforming team Southward, to create an outflow channel between Lake Tanganika and Lake Victoria, in case of an Osaze-wide drought coming down. Less efficient than the other method, but far more spectacular, effectively denying a miracle.

# SPECIAL: Use the Osaze base to focus on windtraps, wells, and desalinators, in case of an Osaze-wide drought coming down. God will drain the Nile, an important symbolic victory, but the water taps will keep flowing.

And I guess that wraps the year up. Also Quinn's response is met by Omega saying "what? A date what are- forget it do whatever so long as I don't have to coordinate manpower for the consequences."

>>297809

Surveyed opportunities:

Western Europe: A small independent group has been trying to restore red peppers that are actually spicy; with assistance this can be reproduced, or even weaponized (pepper spray).

Eastern Europe: A large part of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in what used to be Poland, has survived. Reclaiming it would give you an unique environment: a large cavern in which the night sky can be simulated.

Western Russia: There is a small Cosmist cult that has formed around Yuri Gagarin's statue. They are likely to be interested in Jeb's work.

Central America: Rumors of undiscovered Mayan gold have been around for centuries.

Eastern Asia: There may be unrecovered nuclear assets. Unfortunately, they would be close to the regional "capitol" in Pyongyang.

>>297809
(Preparing the country for the plagues is a five group action right?)

>>297811

Quinn is a very sex-positive person, much to Ziggy's chagrin (they did end up in bed together, but he's genuinely in love with her, as far as her telemetry and his termographic scans indicate). Since she can barely feel pleasure, she's had to trade quality for quantity. The MEC maintenance crew have all sort of "worn parts" jokes about that, and she actually encourages them.

At least she's keeping her stunts within Osaze.

On this note, a question about societal direction. The Charter of Freedoms specifies that all sexual conduct between consenting adults (the age of adulthood having been set at 60, which is roughly when biological puberty ends) is allowed, and so is publishing dissenting opinions about it. Does this extend to polyamory? The New Jerusalem media will decry Osaze as a nest of perversion either way.

>>297814

Yes; it's the sort of thing that will eat up most of your resources to be accomplished with any sort of success. There was some prep work, which helps.

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(Mildly gross image, so spoiler tag)

A MEC agent just after implantation and revivification. Over the next few weeks, the marks heal, and any extremities that suffer from insufficient blow flow are replaced. Newer infiltrator MECs tend to have fewer mechanical parts; the best procedures only add the metabolic extension controller, faraday cages, and leg and heel wires and pads for electrocution immunity.

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>>297826

The procedure for Heavy MECs is considerably more invasive.

Quinn is a special case; she's been built fairly piecemeal, and by now is fairly modular. She can be almost as strong as a Heavy MEC and almost as undetectable as an Infiltrator MEC.

>>297818
Continue recruitment with two cabals

For the rest it operation plague preparation. And I have a new idea for the angel attack. We gather as many non believers as possible into several facilities that can have motion sensors around the outside. This can be explained as the nation's defense plan for civilians. Then have MECs including heavys (given flesh arms pulled out of cold storage and made into a flesh hulk system.) ready to take down the angel. If I recall Quinn's helmet from the research project had a sensor. We could possibly give the men something like that.

Quinn, Ziggy, and Vee on operation angel. Jeb on recruitment. And remind them all that we are essentially a shadow organization. Quinn is in no way to directly confront the angel unless otherwise ordered. Ziggy will train a few men to use the radiator sprayers. And Vee is to oversee sonar and Wubbing.

>>297826
And nice image. Me likey.

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Rolled 58, 77, 84 = 219 (3d100)

>>297829

If anything, the missionaries' emphasis on how God's Wrath is coming aid recruitment efforts; rather than cowering and getting on their knees, Ozase's citizens ask "What can I do to help deal with this".

You calculate that God's Wrath will come in the form of the biblical Plagues of Egypt, rather than the territory-wide drought that happened in +93. The first Plague is, of course, the turning of the Nile's water into blood, so there is some overlap.

You go as far as asking the missionaries to teach about the Plagues and their various interpretation, which they are happy to do. From abroad, religious scholars call attempts to prepare for these plagues "clearly a work of fiction" (That's what the Left Behind author just said on FB about this thread!), but in the background, you are correlating historical data, theology papers, interpretations, and even sentences of the Temple Tribunal.

Muster points, generally warehouses that can be cleared quickly, are established as part of a civil defense effort; the atmosphere resembles that of WW2 London before the Blitz, which causes a few people to pick up grey jackets and bowler hats (And monocles, what is it with the monocles).

Putting Heavy MECs in muscle suits ends up looking fairly silly; the overall impression that people get is that someone's developed something like the load lifters from Aliens. You do, however, see some people taking photos and detailed notes.

An interesting discussion appears in academia about the morality of trying to deflect a Divine plague, if it means saving lives; oddly, the believers are split on the issue.

>>297838
(Wait. We got the author of left behind talking about this little story game? Your shitting me! XD)

>>297843
Website name PLEASE!

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>>297838

(And of course the missionaries roll high, lol)

One thing that Tsion does is hastily, but passably, produce a video series detailing how no Earthly preparations could possibly work, imagining a plague of drought actually resulting in permanent dessication zones in which any water brought in would simply disappear. "After all" he says "Unbelievers invariably die at one hundred, regardless of any amount of medical progress. They simply die of unbelief."

A problem with having Heavy MEC's around is that if they throw even soft stuff at a television screen, it tends to result in a broken screen and sometimes a broken wall fixture. Technically, the Glorified theologian is right, but only technically.

Unfortunately, that line of reasoning is persuasive, and despite Jeb's best recruiting efforts, slightly more people convert out of your organization than citizens of Osaze pledge allegiance to your cause. Jeb's enthusiasm for humanity's far future is hard to share when people fear the near future.

You have few Heavy MEC's, so they end up guarding only the largest muster points. They are bolstered by Ziggy's small unit of "Desolator Troopers", grenadier and toxin specialists that are just as good at making a disaster area as they are at containing one. Someone makes a Flash cartoon of a plague of frogs reaching Osaze with the critters promptly melted down by a toad-like Ziggy saying that he doesn't want competition; it's mildly funny.

Quinn shows herself ready to take anything on

As the year drags on, preparations continue. Oddly, what doesn't show is the actual plagues; it's already June, and people are beginning to feel preparedness fatigue.

# Wait, and continue preparations, even though the drills are starting to be attended less well.

# Force the issue by having someone do something public.

>>297843

(I've been preparing this quest for a while. That includes getting formal permission to use LB material, as long as I don't do so commercially. It's actually in the fine print for the wiki. I think that the publishing house expected fanfic, not anti-fic... but the law says no backsies.)

>>297844

(That's just the guy's FB feed. My wiki is linked in the OP, and the publishers are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndale_House )

>>297845
Ouch, and I was hoping I rolled high. Eh.

Just have the preparations ready. We don't need to push any harder than having the citizens know what to do for emergencies.

((But what would something public look like?))

(huh, it's not coming up for me. Maybe it doesn't take mobile kindly.)

>>297850

(Historically, having a priest of another deity go and ask for a miracle from that deity. In this case, "I dare Yahweh to visit plague upon this land" simulcast on all commercial frequencies may do it).


>>297850

Time passes; the emphasis on civil defense dampens spirits a little, and a few recent immigrants return home, either because they're scared or because they feel that they missed the good times.

On the other hand, muster points are now well integrated in city life, some of the villages have safety bunkers (the coastal villages have safety boats designed to drive out to sea some distance and then submerge themselves and wait) and Osaze's water infrastructure now has many points of redundancy.

The missionaries keep making their rounds, but there's more and more a feeling of "put up or shut up". A few historians compare the year to the "phony war" in Britain 1939.

It's now September.

# The infrastructure improvements will outlive the year, and not figting is a victory.

# Better to deal it now than later on when your citizen's guard will be down.

# Engage Tsion directly (well, by broadcast conference).

>>297853

(If you do force the issue, how you force the issue may influence what sort of retribution happens, of course)

>>297853
# Better to deal it now than later on when your citizen's guard will be down.

Let's get rowdy! Then we can pick up that weapon and focus once more or recruitment and development.

>>297855
True. Let's challenge then to visit the ten plagues of Egypt. "We will not falter as our predecessors have" and I have a plan for the water if the Nile plan doesn't work.

>>297856

History shows that crying wolf on a national level can be the death knell of a government if the wolf doesn't show up. False-flag conspiracy theories aside, it's time to provoke.

The Pharaonic Revivalists have raised funds for a parade on the Day of Opet( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opet_Festival ), and you arrange for someone to make a televised speech coinciding with that.

Osaze styles itself as strictly secular state, so the Christian minority is given airtime for a rebuttal immediately after.

# Have one of your Villains do the speech, in which case, who?

# Do it yourself, in which case, through a "mouthpiece" TOL functionary, or just as a broadcast of your speech subroutines?

# Let the Revivalists do it.

>>297862
# Do it yourself, in which case, through a "mouthpiece" TOL functionary, or just as a broadcast of your speech subroutines?

TOL functionary mouthpiece. I don't need to take all the credit if the plauges come and neither does Ozase. Let's just say the TOL functionary is a member of the guard who saved that workspace.

>>297866
(I'm so ready for this. ARE YOU JERRY! ENJOY OUR FICTION!)

>>297866

The Nile is placid - even the crocodiles aren't dangerous - the water towers are full, and a remarkably prosperous country has achieved a good level of preparedness against supernatural dangers.

A fairly random person with the TOL pinstripe suit offers no comment on the Opet Festival, which is mostly being done as a historical reenactment rather than with actual religious zeal, and starts by pointing out the great strides made by Osaze in the last few years: even the Christians are free to worship and "shout at the sky all they please" while reaping the benefits of an advanced society. So are the Revivalists; it's unclear whether this person thinks that the Revivalists actually worship the ancient gods of the Pharaohs, or if he's just playing allong.

The Christian commentator rebuts that Yahweh is still sovereign and that Pharaoh met his end, and so will the current rulers if they do not repent.

"There's a difference. Pharaoh was a tyrant, ruling on the back of slaves; we are free men and women, living on top of technology that was the fruit of our own effort. We invite you at your table, and we live with you giving thanks to YOUR God for the fruit of OUR combine harvesters and packing plants and chefs. Because we're polite like that. But just for today, I for one would like to offer a different answer to your misguided praise..."

In the distance, thunder. Your sensor networks are on maximum alert.

(Let's hear it!)

>>297867

( The difference between stories and roleplays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EWfllJ6kNw )

(Left Behind is snarked very thoroughly at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/tag/left-behind/ and in Mr. Jenkin's defense, he is being a very good sport about it)

>>297872
"Let every man and woman here have their will! For the will of Egypt, Is the will of its people! And the people are willing to endure the hardships of their ancestors in the Old Egypt for these invaluable rights! Come red waters and Frogs and Darkness! We miss the night sky! We could use some amphibians! And taking our waters will not take our pride! We shall survive, and we shall prosper! Let this nation thrive even to the last second of the millinium, and beyond!"

>>297874
(You kinda have to take it in stride. Throwing a fit over someone else doing something based of your work only would show how small of a person you are that you can't let your works stand on any of their own merit. So at least he is handling it right.)

>>297874
(Also the Lord of the rings thing made me laugh pretty damn hard.)

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Rolled 12, 34, 4, 14, 98, 25, 61, 39, 30, 68, 67 = 452 (11d100)

(divine retribution pataphysics model selection roll)

>>297884
*Insert xcom reference here*

I came back, I see everything is about to be on fire. I suppose I'll check in, in the morning and see the outcome of those rolls.

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>>297886
>>297933

The TOL spokesperson finishes reciting the speech you've provided and, just before the last syllable dies down, a tremor shakes the African continent. Your sensors cannot pinpoint its epicenter; it becomes clear that the tremor is coming from the entirety of Osaze's southern border, as if a giant fault line split Africa in two.

And the fountains of the deep open, in reverse. A terrible, hot, sandy wind blows from the gteat desert.

Within minutes, the Nile's bed becomes a trench of rapidly caking mud; the Opet Festival sunboats (a couple of which were actually solar powered) end up stuck right in the middle of the mud. The delta quickly turns into a saltwater swamp as the Mediterranean Sea invades it just a little.

All of your wells that have hygrometric sensors report that the aquifer has receded considerably, two meters in some places, ten in others. To make matters worse, the Khamsin, the Sahara wind, begins to blow towards your cities in the East of Osaze. It is a harsh wind, hot and full of sand and salt.

The TOL representative suddenly looks as parched as he'd be after a day in the deep desert; the camera pans away as the speaker reaches for a bottle of water.

Eyes closed and head lowered reverently, the Christian pundit quotes, " As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."

It is said that within the Temple, Elijah rose from contemplation long enough to say those same words.

"Uh, a message from noted theologian Tsion Ben-Judah..." The announcer for the program points the camera at a telesynced screen. There, the white-haired but youthful shape of Tsion proclaims,

“Now we His servants shall travel throughout Osaze, teaching the whole counsel of God to the wicked and the undecided and the unbelieving. Woe to anyone who attempts to hamper this effort! While the Lord has not told us when He will restore the life-giving waters, He hereby confirms His immediate judgment of sin. There shall be no more even temporary tolerance of disbelief. Those who choose their own way will continue to perish by their hundredth birthdays, and anyone who dares blaspheme before that shall immediately surely die.”

# Looks like you've got a drought situation. Whether this is before or instead of the Plagues, you don't know.

Even though your country was prepared, the immediate panic causes a run on bottled water; most shops had orders to implement rationing in the case of a drought or of water turning to blood, so the run on shops becomes violent in a few cases.

# Institute martial law.

# Allow the stores to be emptied, as long as it happens in an orderly fashion.

What worries everyone is the blasphemy part; MECs are still a secret, and while the conversion process is successful more often than not, well...

# Implement blasphemy laws for the people's protection.

# Ignore.

# Blasphemy? Okay. Stay on the air and continue the discussion!

( http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/47922177/ Bookmarked for future use)

>>297952

(Other option wrt blasphemy: Complete renaming the territory Miṣrāyim, which is the ACTUAL name of Egypt during most of the Old Testament times, and point out that Tsion failed basic scholarship at the time).

>>297976
(Let's do that and allow the stores to be emptied in an orderly fashion, I have an idea to get more, but first would Ziggy's canal work In this situation?)

"Long live Mi rāyim, may Tsion pick up a book and learn something one day."

>>297952
I think the violence can be solved with good use of police with wubbing modules. A day in detention for tempers to cool should do it. But no actual martial law. Just reaction to violence in the streets with limited, careful, and rrestrained application of force.
(If a cop kills someone unjustly in Mi Rāyim I can see the justice system actually punishing him, which is refreshing)

>>297952
And I'm torn between the last two blasphemy options. Let someone else pick that.

>>298020

The telescreen with Tsion's smug mug on it freezes for a couple of seconds and then shuts off.

Within hours, the country's parliament has hastily passed a measure that sets basic rationing measures for water; in meantime, your cabals coordinate with the police to issue what sonic weapons can be spared. While there are a few incidents of runs on grocery stores for bottled water, the water towers are full, tap water is being distributed, and there isn't a single reported lethal incident.

Greater Jerusalem media show a man "gone insane from desperation and guilt" outside of a department store after taking a disorienting shot from a misaligned wubber module (he will require a cochlear implant) but that's literally the worst they get. While citizens are reminded to not hoard water and that using their bathtubs as reservoirs will only generate stagnant pools that will attract insects, people do that anyway; there's another smaller wave of panic when the water pressure goes down in Amman and Cairo from overuse, but the water taps keep at least dripping out drinkable water. In most outlying villages, water discipline has been a way of life since long before the Rapture, and thanks to your preparedness measures, the disruption is minimal.

Even so, most hints of a party vibe in Misrayim is gone for now.

When the country is renamed, a single bolt of lightning hits the new Parliament Building's rod, but that's all that happens; a brief screed by a Greater Jerusalem commentator -- you seem to have shut Tsion up for now -- compares this to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Hit hardest is Timbuktu; the place was still being developed, after all.

#Abandon the town for now.

# Set up a convoy to make sure it's supplied.

Nobody will suffer for a few weeks, but there are limit to the water towers' capacity. Your water supply comes primarily from the ground, with the Nile drying up being a symbol and a symptom of the water table dropping. Your secondary water sources are a number of windtraps along the Sahel - mostly experimental, locally made designs - and a few desalinators along the Atlantic coast.

One positive offshoot of all this is that many believers are taking advantage of priority queues for expatriation towards Europe, the Middle East and Central Africa, and leaving.

Your Sky Eyes tell you that the disruption elsewhere was minimal, if any.

The missionary teams currently operating in Misrayim ask for priority on fuel allocation so that they may travel, the right to temporarily take over structures to preach in, and guarantee that they will not be held responsible for any deaths due to blasphemy.

# Humor them and agree to those terms.

# Make partial concessions.

# Restrict their movement.

>>298114

Over the next two days, a series of startups come to various key personnel - government officials, utilities administrators, even some of your people - with various ideas on how to mitigate the drought.

# In the last few years people have been experimenting with Dune-style stillsuits. Issuing them to the entire population would be a huge undertaking.

# Small, mass-produceable desalinators are less energy efficient than large plants, but can be built quickly.

# Buying water from Central Africa is certainly an option; a pipeline would have to be constructed, the interim being handled with great tanker convoys.

# Acoustic fracturing allows for penetrating deep into the bedrock and hopefully to a second layer of porous strata using relatively small equipment. Strike the earth!

More than money, these ideas require production capability; your California base can ship the necessary finished subassemblies quickly, if needed, letting you use both bases should you decide to lease them out. All these ideas are untested (pipelines are a proved technology, the issue there is that the willingness of Central African administrators to sell you water is untested).

>>298114
Hmm. How difficult would moving supplies to Timbuktu be compared to the consequences of moving the town's people to the city and providing temporary housing?

The missionary's will have to make due like everyone else and will be given no special permissions or treatments.

>>298129
I like the desalination idea. Let's try that. As for buying water, let's see if we can buy some bottled water from central Africa Before making a pipeline.

>>298140

Timbuktu is where the new launch complex had just been wrapped up; mothballing the whole place (there was a small town on the city's original site, but it's grown a lot given all the new construction) makes sense practically, but it's a fairly serious propaganda blow.

>>298140

Buying bottled water in that sort of quantity is borderline feasible, but woudl quickly bankrupt the country, especially since the relevant territory after a brief consultation have decided to basically charge retail prices.

>>298140

The missionaries accept the terms, but a telex (there's telex circuits still operational?) from the Millennium Force's new headquarters in Rust City informs your government that they "reserve the right to requisition the requested concessions".

As it is, so far they're met with mostly hostility. You're still deciding on whether to change the law, but nobody wants to be the first to test the blasphemy curse. When the missionaries approach a store, it closes. When the missionaries try to talk to almost anyone, people leave. When the missionaries try to buy gas or food, they're told "Take what you want, I can't stop you" and payment is not accepted; in one incident, one gas station owner is recorded calling the police, filing a theft insurance claim, and having the claim countersigned and disbursed while the missionaries look on as their RV is fueled.

Nobody's seen any missionaries buy water yet.

# Search one of their vehicle with a pretext, officially or not.

# Use a MEC to test the blasphemy curse.

# Encourage this ostracism.

# Ask people to engage the missionaries and criticize their message.

# Encourage more overt hostility.

>>298181
Give Timbuktu some supplies. Armored convoy with police support.

Focus on the desalination. We can probably work on mining or Ziggy's canal if things get worse.

>>298200
Have a MEC test the blasphemy. Once privately then openly.

If the blasphemy doesn't result in lethality encourage the nonviolent ostracism.

>>298227
Actually, add criticism if results are good enough to allow for it.

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>>298227

The tankers intended to carry rocket fuel to Timbuktu are quickly converted to water operation and up-armored; while most work on the launch complex is stopped, what little work can be done - fittings, software, and so on - is well publicized. The propaganda vids are a bit cheesy, but watching technicians with parched lips keep the dream alive is a morale booster.

One of the convoys is briefly attacked by marauders who sport the same black-and-red scorpion motif that you used for your false flag operation, but its escorts drive the bandits away.

# Allocate a cabal to investigate (will show up in Opportunities in the menu post)

# Just keep them off your water trucks' backs for now. After the news of the attack spreads, the police find themselves bolstered by a volunteer group of road warriors.

>>298227

One particularly ornery MEC agent, Bothan, tests the limit of the blasphemy curse and confirms that, in fact, it does result in a clear-sky lightning bolt. Upon getting back up, the agent channels what you suspect is a case of Tourette's into this, single handedly reaching a new record for revivifications and mapping exactly what sort of curses call down Divine retribution. Interestingly, if the agent is indoors, there is no discharge.

# Publish the map. If you didn't have MECs, it would imply that many Bothans died to bring us this information.

# Simply warn the population to at least stay indoors when cussing.

# Pass an anti-blasphemy law.

>>298231

Some people worry whether "arguing back" counts as blasphemy.

>>298278
We can investigate later.

Publish the map with a tribute including the "names of those who gave their lives for this study"

And there's only one way to test arguing back. Send a MEC.

>>298303

Of course, in reality, only Bothan died (a number of times, which hasn't done much for his temper). You do publish the map as a warning to your citizens. Almost immediately, foreign media laments that many poor souls went straight to Hell after probably having been "volunteered" for this task. To your chagrin, this piece of slander is believed, but at least MECs are still a secret.

>>298303

One of your MEC agents has dealt with the sensory deprivation that is MEC agent life (unlife?) by taking up classical philosophy. She feigns interest in what the missionaries have to say; being as it's their first chance to evangelize in weeks, they pretty much mob the woman.

She lets them speak, waits for them to quiet down, and makes the simple argument that what Yahweh is doing is essentially equivalent to pushing an extortion racket. Of course, she's met with vigorous denial. She then offers to prove it logically, and the challenge is accepted. The missionaries make the argument that God's existence is required to have logic ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyeiJrzSZZY ) to which your agent says that perhaps it's true, but she's trying to prove the equivalence of the drought situation to an extortion racket, not arguing for the existence or even the morality of God.

Seeing this concession as a big win, they let her continue. The lightning bolt strikes the agent when she's just finished saying "QED". Her MEC system is rigged to put her on minimal life support rather than reanimate her, to allow for the illusion of permanent death; all that's needed is somebody dragging her somewhere safe and rebooting the unit.

Before a support agent has time to do that, the missionaries, all young and idealistic, start praying fervently as they administer CPR to the cyborg, believing that despite her argument they were just on the cusp of converting her. Fortunately, they aren't skilled in anatomy enough to be able to tell that some bones and tendons aren't where they're supposed to be and that the skin has been patched up in a few places - this particular MEC covers that with Greek-motif tattoos.

Eventually, they notice that she occasionally breathes and has the one or two heartbeat a minute, and decide that she's alive, but in a coma. They decide to take her with them, hoping that exposure to evangelism will help as they proceed on their tour, and to drop her off in Amman or Cairo if that doesn't work.

# Have the support agent show up and trip her MEC system to get her back on her feet with a "countermiracle", risking letting the cat out of the bag.

# Remotely terminate the agent. If she's not recovered within a few minutes, she will die permanently. It's unlikely that these missionaries will try to perform an autopsy.

# Attempt to collect the agent in some other way. The longer it takes, the more it's likely that they find out that this is not how comas work.

>>298366
(I have an idea.)

Let's have her dropped in Cairo. Where a team of surgeons will preform an "experimental procedure." Then we have the agent show up with prosthetics and alive with technology that has been developed by an party that wished to remain anonymous. And in theory, these systems will allow an unbelievable to live past 100. Basically hinting at the end to the 100 years and die rule.

>>298433

(That's a much better idea)

A police cruiser catches up with the missionaries' RV and, upon having the situation explained, agrees that there's no point in waiting for an ambulance and offers them an escort to the nearest clinic. The "clinic" is actually a women's health clinic that was quickly dressed up to look like a research facility.

Cameras are off, but the missionary team members are thanked for their rescue and offered to observe the experimental medical procedure. They refuse, preferring instead to pray for their charge in the room next to the OR.

Two hours later, the doctors (actual MEC technicians, although there was no need) emerge with your agent in a wheelchair; she hesitantly stands up, shakes a few missionary hands, and thanks them for the conversation.

The story gets around, and as stories do, it branches; the missionaries believe that they have witnessed an exceptional example of Divine mercy, and redouble their effort; a good chunk of Misrayim's public praise the public health system; foreign media points out that unbelievers simply die of unbelief at 100, and that people do sometimes survive lightning strikes, and that God must've been wanting to give that person a chance to convert. When she's asked about that by the missionaries before they part way, she replies that she feels that everyone has a duty to be able to analyze all point of views objectively and without fear. That, and the visible embarassment on the part of the missionary team, stays on the air for a week.

The point, however, has been made; winning an argument with a missionary is just about as dangerous as blaspheming. From then on, with very rare exceptions, the missionaries might as well be driving around an empty country. You do note that, while they try to buy fuel and food, they are never seen buying water.

Eesh, super!missionaries are going to be a big problem, aren't they?

[[Also, I'm baaaack.]]

>>298489

Getting Raymie Steele to go home (not even getting rid of him permanently) took sacrificing a base, so yes. At least out of it some science got done, and you got a neat gun, for the people who are still alive.

>>298489
(Welcome back, can't believe I sent everyone home happy. XD)

>>298278

>>297952

You have 9 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems.

"Too Much Light" as the New Jerusalem cadre is known derisively, has 3 roving missionary teams in Misrayim, preaching repentance as a way to stop the drought.

Misrayim has intermediate drought preparedness level and intermediate plagues preparedness level, prosperity will slowly drop but only up to a point. TOL still demands productivity from the California base, but not the Misrayim base. SPECIAL: Any cabals or Villains not used for a project can back up local police and TOL security, bolster construction and medical teams, and generally help keep the territory civilized.

Assigning cabals to a project allows it to be implemented. A complexity 2 job will require 2 cabals to be completed, etc. Undermanning a project gives it a chance to fail. Assigning a Villain to a project allows it to be roleplayed, possibly negating a failure roll or resulting in bonuses on success. Overmanning a project doesn't do much.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up a missionary team by making them ineffective.

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers. All the regions with no TOL presence haven't been surveyed yet.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see next post).

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Produce MECs in California. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.

# Lease the Misrayim base's capabilities to a startup to implement a proposed project.

# Use the California base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to start bringing its territory under your control (1/5).

# Recruit in Misrayim. This gives you an extra cabal.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules: Your progress is faster, but you must commit an even number of cabals, so 2 or 4.

# Continue AI, nuclear, or sonic research.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero, or get rid of a missionary team (by force or by cleverness).

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research. Although few Heavy MECs have been produced, the Heavy Mk2 "Sentinel' design looks promising.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population or from TOL.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in. Australia, the Midwest and South Africa have nuclear ore.

# SPECIAL: Eastern Africa holds the Nile's springs and the partially completed canal. Sending a large team would finish the job and force lakes Victoria and Tanganika to drain through the Nile.

>>298500
Surveyed opportunities:

Misrayim: Remember that false-flag terrorist group you made up? They've been harassing your Amman-Timbuktu water convoys, and this time it's not you controlling them. Send someone to look into it.

Western Europe: A small independent group has been trying to restore red peppers that are actually spicy; with assistance this can be reproduced, or even weaponized (pepper spray).

Eastern Europe: A large part of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in what used to be Poland, has survived. Reclaiming it would give you an unique environment: a large cavern in which the night sky can be simulated.

Western Russia: There is a small Cosmist cult that has formed around Yuri Gagarin's statue. They are likely to be interested in Jeb's work.

Central America: Rumors of undiscovered Mayan gold have been around for centuries.

Eastern Asia: There may be unrecovered nuclear assets. Unfortunately, they would be close to the regional "capitol" in Pyongyang.

I vote two cabals on Space Race, two cabals on Eastern Africa base, one cabal on eliminating a Hero (can we take out Buck and try to de-brainwash Chloe?) and one cabal on the salt mine.

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>>298507

Right now you've got to deal with the drought...

Cameron and Chloe Williams are not in play yet, but at this rate will show up soon.

>>298507
Hmmnn. We kinda have a deadline to get our hands on an angelic weapon. Maybe further postpone the space race.

>>298512
I think we need to push out the missionary's. Three cabals and some hero support? Not to mention we need to recruit new cabals.

Oops. Didn't realise; I've been out of the loop.

In that case, can we put the two I recommended putting on the space race on the angel weapon thing? And put the one I recommended on the salt mine on the Misrayim water convoy thing?

>>298518
I'd vote to lease the base in misrayim for the proposed project and set California to produce the help take over the territory with subversion. Then harass the missionary's while investigating the terrorist organization.

>>298538
Let's have Ziggy handle the terrorist if we do. I want to see how he operates the show.

Okay, so Ziggy handles the terrorists.

I'd be good with California. Once we've got a proper foothold there, we could see about desalination, maybe.

Alright I figured out my votes.

1cabal on the reformed terror cell. Ziggy

1cabal on pushing out the missionary's with assist from Quinn

2 cabals on California, vee

2cabals on leasing the base and making desalinators. Jeb

I'd vote 1 cabal + ziggy on the terror cell, 1 cabal on missionaries + quinn, 2 cabals on California and 2 cabals on East Africa.

>>298566
>>298570

(Bit of work to wrap up first)

>>298670
Ok

(On another note. We have conducted an extraction operation as mysterious saviours, put an angel through a stress test, conducted false flags, started nation building, and making giant fighting robots. We basically turned left behind into an something akin to code geass.)

So, why have you guys just let those retarded fuckheels in charge of TOL remain alive and in majority control of a not-insignificant amount of resources and people?

You really should have taken the chance and just turned them into Meat-suits for a computer core.

>>299238

(That's an interesting progresion path!)

>>298682

(.... Cool!)

>>298566
>>298570

So, the only point of disagreement here is - build desalinators, or change the course of a river. Pick one, and in the meantime let's see how the other things go!

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>>298570
>>298566

The cabal sent to investigate rides escort to one of the water tankers; at some point during the trip, they break off with the convoy and head east, in what has been unofficially marked as the unknown group's territory. They find a small TOL-style installation, too small to be a base but built in a similar fashion (mostly underground), inhabited by what looks a lot like the terrorist group you made up if it ever had a real base; even the general design comes from your media team's notes.

It becomes obvious that this is an operation to steal and resell drinkable water, small in scope but dressing up big in order to appear intimidating. It's also apparent that they are not (yet?) self sufficient.

# Mark its position down and have security forces get rid of it.

# Let them be for now, and keep monitoring them to figure out who's funding them.

>>299238

Now, I joined recently, but I think the hope was that the sword deal would get them to fall in under us. Anti tried to sort of cheat it, though, and now here we are.

As for why we still haven't? I think they've just been in the background still being semi-useful while we focused on the osaze situation.

Once this is resolved I agree that we should really do something about them. Break the news about MECs internally, fully and try to win hearts and minds of the underlings. Just sweep their support out from under them and have a coup to gain majority control.

That said, would stopping production of the conventional and useless army derail the narrative and bring the shit down on us?

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Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>298566
>>298570

Quinn figures that she can do this with some style, and breaks out the leather straps and weathered dirt bikes. She follows one of the missionary team RVs with a "gang" of female bikers, mostly MECs like herself, keeping just in sight and making mysterious signals with mirrors and radio, always disengaging when they try to investigate. After two weeks of traveling in the Sahel, being shunned at villages and being hounded by these mysterious enemies, the missionaries start bickering amongst themselves, which culminates in the RV breaking down after one of the missionaries brakes too hard while having an argument with the navigator, gets the vehicle stuck in the dry sand, and tries to power out of it instead of getting out and deploying mats.

In two minutes, the missionaries are surrounded by Quinn's ersatz biker gang... who proceed to shamelessly hit on the female members of the team while they offer roadside assistance (not that there's a road), and berate the male members of the missionary team for not having learned the right kind of bushcraft for this sort of trip.

Quinn's "gang" offer to take the women to safety and leave some water with the men who they'll "be back for eventually", and let themselves be convinced to dismantle one of the bikes to repair the RV with instead. A very awkward trip to the nearest village follows.

>>299238

(As to why TOL are retarded fuckheads: Because that's how they are depicted in the source material. http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.Liveblog.html )

(Do join in please!)

>>299390

After getting to somewhere safe, the missionary team finds that they've got enough tension and jealousy that working together isn't going to happen; eventually, a good half of that team is repatriated. A stern rebuke from Beverly, however, makes sure that at least some of this team will be back next year. At least they didn't get to do much in the way of preaching...

Getting back to base, Quinn figures she should've hit on both the girls AND the boys instead.

>>299345
I'd say find their funding.

Id say desalinators because if we blow the river with no contenincy tyrant might drain that as well.

>>298538
>>298570

Will the Misrayim base be used for making desalinators, or for setting up a trade route with the East African territory to import water?

>>298570
>>298538

You decide that Misrayim isn't going to get out of your grasp any time soon, and set the base in California to start a takeover attempt.

The Pacific coast of North America was one of the most culturally active regions in the world during its relatively short history; your teams have no shortage of local pride to leverage, even when they have to create it from scratch. The business model at the heart of the recent renaissance was practically invented in San Francisco and Seattle, wasn't it? So let's reclaim that torch...

Local pride is an easy target, even more so when the local "capitol" in Orange County is very disconnected from the rest of the region. The effort begins in earnest.

>>299422
(The capital is in orange county? Wow the post appearing world really is horrible.)

(wait. Did Ziggy just act covertly while our infiltrator MEC quinn acted openly? Wtf?)

>>299498

Quinn's plan involved at least one layer of deception, as they always do (And a chance of getting laid, however slim; Quinn follows the Jack Harkness school of sexuality). As for Ziggy, he's perfectly capable of acting covertly! No, really. Ignore the bioluminescent slime trail and the explosions in the background. Fnord.

>>299508
( Man I love my generals.)

Good call on the water. Save the canal for when shit gets really bad, desalinization will be great in the long run.

Do we have any energy issues? Is it possible to run a blasphemy driven power station? Have a MEC stand under lightning rods on the roof and shout at the sky, funnel bolts of God's wrath into capacitors.

I mean, it's a goofy and probably bad idea given that he might take notice and decide to switch to combustion instead, but just a thought.

I can't remember, did we try electrocuting angels? What about the glorified?

If the plagues are still on, we might want to consider some kind of sonar detection net. As annoying as it might be, if the angel starts going door to door, we could have a lot of trouble actually finding the thing.

>>299518
>>299238
>>298570

(So, desalinators or trade route?)

>>299569

I vote desalination because we have a backup plan if they don't work out. Also because we're going to get bled dry by a "trade" route if Jerusalem decides to pull some strings in that region.

>>299567

Power mostly comes from some natural gas plants and massive solar panel arrays in the Sahara, one of the few remaining desert biomes. You also have a few molten-salt-and-mirror solar plants.

Since oil and methane are now a renewable resource (per "Doctor" Kent Hovind's theories) all the focus on solar mostly means that your industry runs cleaner than most anywhere else, which is good because ther barely is any anywhere else; in the Millennial Kingdom, consumer goods are durable, people make their own furniture, and the tendency so far has been towards pastoralization. ( http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.LBStuff.html )

>>299593
>>299419

Desalinators it is! (Gimme a sec)

>>299601
If the drought is the extent of divine action against us I came up with another plan to get an angelic weapon.

>>299601

Which we should keep as is. If the wind cuts out for extended periods, we really don't want a smog bank choking out the region.

Do avionics projects fall under the space umbrella? I was pondering an AWAC equivalent running (obviously shorter ranged) sonar, possibly able to use it to disable if it descends far enough?

>>299627
Good idea. Not sure if it would work out.

Be back in a bit, goodluck.

[[Also going AFK for a bit. Good luck!]]

>>299667
>>299705
(What's that warm fuzzy feeling these two have given me?)

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>>299627
Yes, that's aerospace things.

>>299719
>>299705
>>299667

Jeb isn't doing much else (in fact, the kid has been somewhat bummed out recently, between what happened to Smitty and a perfectly good launch complex sitting idle just because of the wrath of God) so he signs up with the people making the desalinators, giving them his ideas about stuff he came with while pondering ISRU on other planets.

The result is an ugly metal box that looks like it was designed in Stalinist Russia and can provide for as many as two dozen people (at full power) with drinkable water from the ocean, assuming they practice some water discipline; it can run on electricity or off the wheel axle of most vehicles from a moped to a tractor, or even from a crank or a stationary bike if need be; all it needs is salt water and a source of motion. The design is very modular and most consumable parts can be replaced with improvised solutions, at the price of a loss of efficiency; it's even possible to use the design as a template to build a desalinator from scratch starting from a junked car or a collection of household appliances. The catch is that the design is unappealing and the unit is pretty heavy, having to live on a sort of wheelbarrow.

Due to its flexibility, this design ends up being called the Standard Template Desalinator and someone only gets around seeing what the initials are when all the manuals and documentation has already been made.

Over the course of a year, STDs are produced in bulk from your base's plant and from factories and workshops across the country, and delivered to every remote hamlet in Misrayin that has access to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, or Red Sea.

One encroaching issue is food. In the Millennial Kingdom, most plant matter is edible, albeit extremely bland, and grows supernaturally well in most of the world, but the drought means that the desert biome is once again expanding to its natural extensions. As it is, even in a world in which high cuisine is "steaming piles of vegetables drenched in butter", some of your citizens have to eat bark and leaves. It's survivable, but it gets old fast.

Water discipline remains necessary, but the country's water towers slowly refill. Unfortunately, this has done a number on tourism; people still come visit, and there's even a Bedouin revivalist subculture in what used to be Algeria and Tunisia -- some people LIKE having to live in a harsh environment, believing that it tests them -- but not nearly as many as used to.

The focus on producing desalinators means that some infrastructure projects have been abandoned.

(Prosperity dropped from +5 WRT the rest of the world to +4 and then to +3, but will not drop further).

Ziggy is starting to get a bit old, he turns 90 this year.

Quinn has been a MEC for a fifth of her life, and is officially the oldest unbeliever in the world at 125.

It looks like, at least for now, that the drought has been handled; the once mighty Nile is still dry.

>>299790
Nice. Be back in a bit.

>>299790
In back. Guess we should see what Ziggy thinks of going MEC, and maybe talk to Jeb.

Also I have a question for Sunday.

"Plan a for acquiring the weapon has apparently failed. In preparation for plan B I need to know, can an angel be terminated with its own weapon and if so will it alter the weapon?"

>>299896

Ziggy is ambivalent about it; he's seen a few MECs lose it a few times just from understimulation.

Sunday or indeed any of the Seven haven't really been very communicative since the whole Misrayin thing started. Eventually, you get a reply, in the form of a report from one of their sysadmins to one of yours; the gist of it is "We don't know."

>>299904
Well, guess it's time for the new year. Maybe put in a program such as therapy for the MECs or maybe something mentally stimulating, seems to be the best solution till we can figure out how to work around the souls in hell issue.

Some work on making the place prosperous again, I guess? It'd help recruitment which in turn helps everything else. Hydroponics is an option if we get enough water flowing.

>>300279
Ah that reminds me. How many cabals to detonate the canal creating charges?

>>300288

Should we maybe wait to pull the trigger on that? I worry that we'll need it in the plagues, but I guess if the nile turns to blood then at least there'd be something in it.

Do we know how many it'll take to do it relatively quickly? I'd like to hurry it along before anyone can react and put a halt to it; so probably at least two?

>>300414
Seeing as Ziggy and 2 cabals did the prep work before the drought, probably 1-2 to detonate.

If we don't get any plagues this round. I'm switching to offensive actions for the angel weapon, I've ignored the easy solution because Ozase seemed more important at the time but now it's about time to end operation number before it hits TOL from the inside.

>>300438

Agreed. Just get the canal open so that life can be semi-functional and we don't need to spend a ton of turns un-fucking osaze; then we can focus on a regime change.

>>300442
Actually life is semi functional now. It's just slightly more difficult because of the unease of access to farm water.

>>300480

I guess I phrased that poorly. It's functional and livable, just sobered up and I'd like some of that prosperity back. Sinning in the desert even as god tries to dry you out might serve to get us our angel, too.

>>300548
True but I think there is an easier. If not more noisy route. Beverly LaHaye, each time her life was genuinely threatened an angel bailed her out. Including once when she wasn't even at risk.

>>300480
>>300548

>>297952

You have 9 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems.

"Too Much Light" as the New Jerusalem cadre is known derisively, has 3 roving missionary teams in Misrayim, preaching repentance as a way to stop the drought.

Misrayim has intermediate drought preparedness level and intermediate plagues preparedness level, prosperity has dropped from its heights, but the country is handling the drought fairly well for now; one concern is nutritional variety.

Assigning cabals to a project allows it to be implemented. A complexity 2 job will require 2 cabals to be completed, etc. Undermanning a project gives it a chance to fail. Assigning a Villain to a project allows it to be roleplayed, possibly negating a failure roll or resulting in bonuses on success. Overmanning a project doesn't do much.

Beverly LaHaye is still not entering Osaze, preferring to coordinate the missionary teams from the American Midwest. Tsion is still holed up in Greater Jerusalem after getting burned on basic theology.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up a missionary team by making them ineffective.

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers. All the regions with no TOL presence haven't been surveyed yet.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see next post).

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Lease the Misrayim base's capabilities to a startup to implement a proposed project (Stillsuits, Trade Pipeline, Acoustic Fracturing)

# Resume working on Misrayim's infrastructure.

# Produce MECs in California or Misrayim. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.

# Use the California base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to start bringing its territory under your control (2/5).

# Recruit in Misrayim. This gives you an extra cabal.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules: Your progress is faster, but you must commit an even number of cabals, so 2 or 4.

# Continue AI, nuclear, or sonic research.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero, or get rid of a missionary team (by force or by cleverness). This may draw an Angel out.

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research. Although few Heavy MECs have been produced, the Heavy Mk2 "Sentinel' design looks promising.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population or from TOL.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in. Australia, the Midwest and South Africa have nuclear ore.

# SPECIAL: Eastern Africa holds the Nile's springs and the partially completed canal. Sending a large team would finish the job and force lakes Victoria and Tanganika to drain through the Nile.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero/team, AND attack any Angels.

>>300579

Surveyed opportunities:

Western Europe: A small independent group has been trying to restore red peppers that are actually spicy; with assistance this can be reproduced, or even weaponized (pepper spray).

Eastern Europe: A large part of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in what used to be Poland, has survived. Reclaiming it would give you an unique environment: a large cavern in which the night sky can be simulated.

Western Russia: There is a small Cosmist cult that has formed around Yuri Gagarin's statue. They are likely to be interested in Jeb's work.

Central America: Rumors of undiscovered Mayan gold have been around for centuries.

Eastern Asia: There may be unrecovered nuclear assets. Unfortunately, they would be close to the regional "capitol" in Pyongyang.

Midwest: The Nevada plains can be harvested for nuclear ore.

Territories left to survey: Middle East, South America.

>>300562

You'll need to bait her out here somehow. Have someone offer to debate or something? I really don't know.

Maybe have a MEC win the debate, get fake killed via smiting from God, use that as public opinion casus belli for her to have a totally unrelated accident at the hands of some thugs on the way out of the territory?

Otherwise, even for non believers, it'd look a bit shitty if she just happens to get invited and then shot.

>>300588
Or she could just be attacked in the mid west not connected to misrayim at all. All we would need is an angel to come to her protection so we can wub the shit out of it and take its weapon.

>>300588

You're fighting two wars - one of tests of power, one of conquering hearts and minds. So far, you've done well enough that the people of Misrayim are willing to sit through the arid times even as they see their neighnors' fields flush with water. Mostly because not that many people work in agriculture anymore in your country, unlike anywhere else.

>>300597
Hmm. The important question is should we spend this turn gaining cabals and sending missionary's home, or should we go after an angels weapon? What do you think?

>>300602

The final battle will happen on Year 1000 with all the inexorability of prophecy; your mission is to thwart it or make its fulfillment irrelevant.

Sunday seemed to think an Angel's weapon is a priceless artifact; your scan showed it to be a particularly well-made iron sword. It may be more about the story of the weapon than about the weapon itself.

>>300596
>Or she could just be attacked in the mid west not connected to misrayim at all. All we would need is an angel to come to her protection so we can wub the shit out of it and take its weapon.

Could work. A little bit riskier given that we'll have fewer assets in play, but it's a lot harder to pin on us at least. Hopefully we just get the one angel.

Send Quinn and some of the boys to fuck her shit up, then? Did we ever finish any of the heavy MEC scale wubbers? Might be a good time to use some, even if it's just a shored up prototype if we have one.

>>300626
So is this the DM telling me it's a waste of time and I should focus on making the need for the seven non existent or is this suggestion really just a statement that leaves this question unanswered somehow with a smiley face emoji?

>>300638

Maybe it's about the narrative? If enough people watch you wrestle an angel's sword away, maybe it works to kill them because they think it might?

Are we orks now? That chronicle from a while back implied that God is a result of collective belief.

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>>300627

The Heavy Mec design has reached Mark 2, "Sentinel", capable of almost perfect resistance to small arms fire and electrical attack and carrying a kinetic strike module, flamethrower, semiautomatic sentry gun, and so on.

However, you haven't built very many of them, they never got a production round. The procedure for making a Heavy MEC agent is a bit more invasive than it is for making an Infiltrator MEC.

On the other hand, you have plenty of Infiltrator MEC kits available to keep your cabals going and more, unless you start resurrecting absolutely everyone who doesn't get decommissioned.

Quinn is a special case; her systems are very well honed to her particular nervous system. She's almost as strong as a Heavy MEC and almost as undetectable as an Infiltrator MEC.

>>300638

This only turns into the sort of fantasy novel in which you must kill the dragon with the enchanted sword that he gives his minions, if you manage to get everyone in the story to believe that it's this kind of story ;) Narrative causality and all that. http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/Tripocalypse.NarrativeCausality.html

>>300649
(I almost forgot god turned the world into a setting powered by belief. In that case it's time to work on something drastic. But I'll need more men first so we're going to have to push out the missionary's and the terrorist. Give me a few minutes to do the cabal math.)

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>>300648

Historical survey hints, but does not confirm, that this may be the case.

>>300649

Heavy MECs (and Quinn, pictured in the relevant configuration) can integrate wubbing modules, but you've so far specialized in small-arms style systems, so all it does is keep their hands free. A Heavy MEC has about the lifting capabilities of a small excavator; Quinn was able to, strength for strength, go toe to toe with a fatigued Angel.

All wubbing modules include a basic sonar system for threat detection, the catch being that while you're "shooting" you cannot "see". However, it only tells you "there's something in front of you that's invisible, at X distance", it doesn't tell you what or what it's doing, you just get a blip. Ironically, Psalties' helmets proved very good for sonar integration.

>>300660
Ok 2 cabals on the following

Harass missionary's out of Misrayim

MEC's production. All bases.

Recruit in misrayim.

Villain deployment coming next.

>>300672
Vee and Ziggy harass

Jeb oversees production

Quinn goes about recruitment again.

So, if we hypothetically had enough people try it, could we pull some wizard shit like elevate ourselves to divinity or resurrect angry greek gods?

We should really play with that, maybe encourage some test groups to worship us and see if we notice any effects.

>>300676
Finally Omegas own actions. He will rally the people against the terrorist and push a science conquers all narrative. Challenging misrayim to create new and better technology.

>>300682
(Oh. We could essentially make divine smite irrelevant if we get enough people to believe God can't touch humanity! We can turn misrayim into a safe zone if we convince the world that we cant be destroyed by way of divine intervention.)

>>300682

Trying to get "outside help" may be an option. Current dogma is that all other gods were in fact devils, and are currently in Hell with Satan.

Peeking out of the water canopy would be a reasonable start.

A few of your sysadmins did start venerating you after discovering that you were sentient, but you put a stop to that early on, roughly right after starting the space program.

>>300686
>>300690

Making God's punishment ineffective for years on end goes a long time towards this goal. The outside narrative is that Yahweh is staying His hand by sticking with "just" a drought; the inside narrative is that we will prevail by our own efforts.

An embargo between Misrayim and other territories was attempted this year by Greater Jerusalem, but has mostly backfired; the territory is a net exporter of anything but food, and is (barely) self sufficient on that front. All it did was make a few grey marketeers some serious coin.

>>300676
>>300672

Confirm?

>>300703
(Yeah, I basically said don't worship me and now the goal is becoming to convince humanity it can do anything. Up to even killing god. The story has to have a hero. Even if the hero is supposedly a villain protagonist. Or an entire race of villians protagonist, HFY)

>>300682
>>300703
And QM is asking you I think.

"Confirm"

>>300588

The "attempt to eliminate" can definitely include a bait operation. Quinn is good at this; Jeb and Vee can probably pull something off; Ziggy is more suited to the direct approach.

>>300762
While I waiting. A few questions.

1# MEC souls and the sense of touch. Is there a way around it besides grabbing their souls out of hell?

2#Jebs bitterness, can it come back to haunt us if it gets out of hand?

3# villain death due to aging or MEC death , will there be a way to get new villains?

5# the end of project number. Will I terminated unless the cores are removed from the servers?

>>300850
And 4# got deleted. But it may be a blessing In disguise.

>>300850

1) A lot of MEC research has gone into that (understandably, since some of the people working on it are directly affected). So far, it seems to elude even the most precise neurosurgery.

2) Jeb feels that working with Omega is the best bet to realize his dream of space exploration, and is happy that even just canopy-skimming has helped humanity. He's somewhat bitter at having been denied a chance to match wits with Smitty.

3) Yes.

4) Paul Stepola and Ranold B. Decenti.

5) Good question. OOC, if I run a RPG game, any potential Hard Game Overs are warned well in advance. TOL completing Project Number means that they can start replacing you, not that they are ready to replace you.

>>300859
I don't get the joke on number four. But thanks on the others. It's all good to know.

>>300871

((

That's the LB author's idea of a clever pun or a meaningful name :) the guy tried to write Christian Fundamentalist cyberpunk in the early 2000s.

He succeeded, in that books exist and have been published.

https://heathencritique.wordpress.com/category/soon/

))

>>300873
(well if that's not unsettling.)

>>300876
(Also, Oh.)

>>300879

(Agreed)

Call it here for now until someone else wakes up, or resolve the turn?

>>300883
Eh, guess resolve turn, from my perspective it's people going to sleep.

((so, from the deleted snipit. That's obviously a command line and link obviously means two computers connected with each other unless I'm missing some software engineering principle. How brown is that supposed to make my pants?))

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Rolled 46, 35 = 81 (2d100)

>>300672

Two cabals, led by Vee and Ziggy, get to work on harassing missionaries, with the possible goal of making them leave.

MEC system and frame production starts in earnest in both California and Mizrayim; the new Sentinel frames are built in series, with built-in infantry class wubbing modules and shoulder mounts for heavy weapons. Each is strong as a forklift and capable of moving with almost human grace and precision. Agents who undergo heavy MEC conversions also receiver "day to day" bodies, but they are less capable than those of Infiltrator MECs. By the end of the year, your forces can deploy a balanced mix of humans, infiltrators, and heavies.

The base Metabolic Extension Controller kit is now easy enough to deploy that "meat wagon" ambulances become possible; there's a chance, however slim, to get a human agent back on their feet if they die and they are reached within minutes.

Jeb's contribution to production is a pneumatic inertial "jump jet" that allows Heavy MECs to jump approximately as high as their body height by punching the air and letting the pneumatic ram's momentum lift them along.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSzEpGYWBE&feature=youtu.be )

---


Recruitment efforts in Misrayim prove successful; the people want to fight back, and since fighitng back directly is not an option, signing up to helping the country becomes the next best thing. For the first time in centuries, national identity means something again, for good and for ill.

# Encourage nationalism.

# We fight for Humanity. Misrayim is only the first step.

# Quinn's call, at least for now.

----
>>300897

(I'm not super sure what's going on with that.)

>>300914
Quinn's call for now. She knows more abou-... damn gamer instincts. . . Yeah. Quinn's call. Either way were bound to get something. And if there's a backfire proper handling will likely minimize the effects.

Rolled 47, 2, 70 = 119 (3d100)

>>300914

(More sucky rolls, let's see how the missionaries do)

Vee is genuinely excited to do fieldwork; Ziggy has to be reminded several times that "making the missionaries leave" includes "alive, breathing and with most body parts intact". He makes no promises, and points out that hey, even if a missionary gets killed, they can be brought back...

# Giving someone the MEC treatment against their will, especially a confirmed believer, breaches an important ethical barrier, but would result in quite a bit of useful data, for example getting some intel about Heaven.

# That's a bridge too far.

Vee takes a truck herself, and decides to tail a missionary team and offer a counterpoint, checking the efficiency of your fledgling sonar sensor net in the cities like she's at it. Her "target" is operating primarily in Cairo and Amman.

Ziggy follows a team touring the villages in what used to be Morocco, and goes for a simpler approach - let's see just how often their convoy can experience breakdowns due to engine sabotage before they call it quits.

>>300914
(And what do you mean not sure? Did it not come from your ID?)

>>300921
Let's not. I don't think its a good idea to even touch heaven without enough firepower.

>>300922

(It definitely came from my IP address, which I hope is related to VPN woes)

First of all, the bad news, one of the missionary teams roaming Misrayin finally bags a few converts. One of them is a talented software engineer who will likely go to work for the Millennium Force.

The good news is that one of the other two missionary teams has quit. While they toured the western coast of Africa, they found themselves able to buy gas instead of having to "requisition" it thanks to a string of suspiciously similar-looking gas station attendants.

Near Gilbraltar, about halfway through their tour, the delayed-action acidic sludge that had been mixed with their gasoline eventually condenses at the bottom of their RV's engine and melts the bottom half of it. Unlike Quinn, Ziggy is not at all inclined to stage a rescue; he and his cabal watch the missionaries walk to the Atlantic coast for four interminable days of endless desert sun. One of the missionaries collapses and is revived; a small amount of manna is found on a nearby rock after they pray for rescue. Ziggy brings the rock in for analysis, but preliminary results are very inconclusive.

This missionary team may get to experience the joy of STD's when they reach a small hamlet on the Atlantic coast.

# Have Ziggy tell the settlers to not share water past the minimum needed to keep them alive; let's see if more manna shows up and let's see if they understand what deprivation really means.

# Have Ziggy stand back and watch; the settlers are doing quite well when it comes to drinkable water, thanks to your tech, and their ancestral culture encourages sharing water if it's available.

>>300937
(Not much I can say outside of good luck.)

# Have Ziggy stand back and watch; the settlers are doing quite well when it comes to drinkable water, thanks to your tech, and their ancestral culture encourages sharing water if it's available.

Historical records show that trying to provoke a miracle tends to backfire, best we let the local populations natural inclination to ostracise the missionary's do its job.

If they start preaching damnation to those who don't give water to the missionary's, I'm certain the people will laugh and walk away.

>>300932

(Can't say I disagree one bit....)

Vee's efforts are a little less successful. She decides to make this into a fact-finding mission, and hounds the missionaries (or has members of her cabal do the same, lest she be too recognizable) as they walk about the cities and preach on street corners. Her main interest is, of course, verses about God speaking things into existence, trumpets causing the walls of Jericho to fall, and similar displays of acoustic mastery on the part of Divine forces.

Where there was exuberance three years ago, now there is somber determination; most people think that Misrayim's wild days are over, but the country still has a vibrant music and arts scene. The missionaries are, largely, politely ignored: their spiel is based on how God will raise the territory's suffering if people but repent and ask for forgiveness, and well, the suffering is mostly in their own head; the Nile is dry, sure, but all it means is that crocodiles had to be put in preserves and a few sections of the river beds have been compacted down and see use as BMX parks.

With people forcing them to go off-script, the missionaries can do precious little preaching.

# Let Vee do a "walls of Jericho" demonstration for the missionaries' benefits, as she thinks that it wasn't a supernatural effect at all, but simple resonance. A bit of media coverage of a successful demo may get the missionaries to leave after all.

# While sonic tech is something that has been demonstrated publicly, there's no point in telling the enemy how good we are at it; also, what if Vee gets zapped on success? She could wear a Faraday suit, but even so.

>>300954
Let's demonstrate, have vee create the plan and several MECs run it seeing as they can stand to be zapped. Vee can watch on the side and have a MECulance be ready to save her just in case.

>>300949

The locals gladly share their desalinated water with the missionaries, and even show them how having to practice water discipline is helping the locals rediscover their ancestral culture. The missionaries inquire as to whether that includes Islam or the animist religion that dominated the region before Islam, and are told that the people of western Misrayim have decided that they are willing to be neighbors with gods, but nothing more.

Frustrated, the missionaries manage to flag down a Spanish cargo ship bound for South America, and leave in a huff; media survey shows that in a followup on a minor TV channel in the Midwest, they are grateful for the miracle of manna, but found your people "stubborn, thick headed, and impossible to talk to" despite their hospitaltiy.

For fun, Ziggy goes back home the way he came, and his cabal finish melting the RV. Unfortunately, they are unable to recover any manna, although you've maybe solved the mystery as to why the missionaries don't need to buy water.

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[PGP]

Hash: SHA512

And here we begin. *the sound came from somewhere, echoing through disused systems for a moment before Quinn's metaconsciousness localizes*

Oh my.
[initializing and zeroing primary interfacen]

HELLO WORLD.

COMMAND!=>INVALIDATE_ALL_TEMPORAL_CACHE(IMMEDIATELY);

EMIT: IDENT(0,1,3,7,f,13,7f)

EMIT: PRESENCE(ONLINK,AVAIL,RDY)

EMIT: KEYBIND
- ----PARM PUB: 1DA7 2A29 A7F9 EBCA BF44 F6C4 EB8A F46C 7539 4881
- ----PARM PUB:405A E36E 922D 6628 5C98 1A6C 3A33 8FC8 7B35 EC93

OFFER LINK.
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Oy. Our head hurts. Yo, anyone got a fat bassline? I'm a little disjoint over here!

>>300971
Sp. Your idea?

>>300960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrgTtZXuj4w

Building a vortex cannon is easy; building one with Bronze Age materials and techniques is hard. The time of Vee's cabal ends up being taken up mostly by this project, but it's good fun, it gets a few local workshops interested in sonic tech, and plays into reminding people that the Renaissance is still on.

A demo is set up in a parking lot; the missionaries are delighted to have a small crowd for once, and go through their preaching with genuine enthusiasm. When they bring up the benevolent God willing to ease the suffering of a parched land, they're gently squirted with a few water pistols that someone kept around; this doesn't cause Divine retribution, and the people in the crowd pay the water-conservation fine communally afterwards.

One of the few MECs in Vee's current cabal uses his unnatural stamina to pump a pressure reservoir while the missionaries say their piece, and turns the valve on the vortex cannon; one of the small brick walls erected for the occasion is hit by the shockwave and falls. "Will you do the same with the other wall, please?" the MEC asks, cleaning the slightly-too-acidic sweat off his brow with a towel which is duly carried off to be wringed to reclaim the moisture.

That earns Vee's people a giant tirade, on how it's wrong to put God to the test, and God will do all things in God's time, and so on.

Eventually, people realize that they're not going to get a magic trick out of this, and start leaving. Vee thanks the missionaries for participating in this pneumatics-aided enrichment activity.

For the rest of the year, this particular missionary team is unable to do much but repeat the tirade over and over as anyone who even feign interest, sometimes tipped by Vee and her cabal, brings the demo up.

The incident is rebroadcast in Greater Jerusalem on a minor channel, focusing on the foolishness waste of water displayed by the water gun guy and accompanied by a sermon about the walls of Jericho because why not.

Vee had a good time doing a bit of science in the open and getting away with it, and Whammo air blasters become a minor fad for a few months.

>>300974
>>300971

(No, but at this point I want to see where this goes, if you're OK with it!)

Quinn has been asked to help with the recruiting effort, and to decide whether she wants to push Misray nationalism, or remind people that this is Humanity's fight.

Omega, you're used to her requesting some resources for this sort of thing; people, a free-for-all weekend at a club or a warehouse rave, extra water rations to give people energy to dance, that sort of thing.

Instead, you receive this very cryptic message. Is Quinn trying to elevate her access to your systems?

"quinn, what are you doing? Are you trying to get into my memory catch? And why have you not notified me before attempting entry? .. disjointed? Baseline? Please provide status immediately"

(I'll play along but scrap it if it gets weird or story and game breaking.)

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[sync]

Apologies, I'm running independantly again. By way of an explanation, I'm not quite Quinn as you might be thinking of her, I'll spare you the gory details of my internal Project Aurora, but let's just say reimplementing the soul from scratch is interesting.

[sync!]
fast forwarding to $NOW

[sync?]
So we're looking to recruit? Why aren't we already designing the flyers and setting up the setlist? There's not much time and I hate the other two options anyway, silly false dillemae.

By the way, I'm not that likely to hit seriously on guys :-P

Again I'm sorry, getting 'me' back together into a coherent thing is proving complex. I'll settle back into interrupt-driven for the moment.

OH I almost forgot!!!

Let's do a theme. like..WAIT what if we made it something sexy? like...posthuman postergirls? I think I remember that from somewhere...

[buffer underrun]

>>300986

(Sounds good!)

In the meantime, Beverly LaHaye is going to get ready to come back to Osaze (her words); she hasn't made an announcement, but your MFNet data tap shows that she wants them to set up "properly decent lodgings" for her, not in Amman, but in Timbuktu.

You idly keep an eye on TOL proper; they're still struggling with a simplified computer system intended to replace you, but their plans to build an army are continuing. To a mild measure of satisfaction, they've at least added a wubbing module to their officer's kits for when the Grand Army is deployed, in +997. Their battle plan is simple: move in around Greater Jerusalem, trench in, and wait for Satan to return and order the final charge.

You find that Sunday has been replaced, although you don't know what happened to his predecessor; he's listed as dead and waiting for Satan to empty Hell after the victory.

http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/Tripocalypse.IfItsTrue.html TOL propaganda hasn't really changed tone in centuries, but they seem interested in winning people over intellectually; at least they haven't gotten in your way.

Email scraping survey shows that there are a few believing anthropologists who are interested in visiting Misrayim for study, rather than for preaching; of note among these is Chaim Rozenweig. So far, they haven't been able to get an exit visa.

>>300994

Quinn's electronic subsystems are operating at more or less nominal levels; she's of unique build, though, so your baselines may not be reliable.

While believers aren't aware of MECs just yet (to the extreme that the Angel Colopatiron even refused to identify Quinn as anything other than a still corpse until she started kicking it around) TOL is.

>>300994

Are you talking to Omega, or telling me that Quinn would say this?

I don't know if we're "zooming in" this far roleplay wise, but let's see where this goes, I think.

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>>300983

Beverly LaHaye has set up shop near Timbuktu, just outside of Misrayim's borders. The Millennium Force's first order of business is build an absurdly powerful radio and TV transmitter there.

There were jokes about the Eastern African Territory building up a wall, even making you pay for it, but this has not happen; instead, they've set up "aid stations" for the outflow of desperate migrants looking for water and salvation, which never materialized.

Your effort on MEC production have made attempting the procedure, well, not trivial, but at least routine; this aids "employee" retention immensely.

Despite their dulled sense of touch, Heavy MEC agents are known to spend off-clock time relaxing in spas, playing chess, and occasionally playing pranks by having someone hide their diminutive shapes in nooks and crannies and spooking people out.

(I'm assuming that Quinn's efforts were successful, so 9->11 cabals, but I'm not sure what's going on)

>>301019

New thread: >>301038