>>374485

Recent recap:

> One of the TOL council of seven has been contacted, extracted, and seen to turn into a zombie.

> A believer was given MEC technology, and would have starved to death while blissed out of you hadn't melted his brain with wubs.

> Other groups have gained enough Internet dominance to start hacking attempts on your subsystems.

Intel:

Tsion is rumored to be wanting to return to Greater Jerusalem; he's not saying it, but his conversion efforts just haven't gotten very far in Osaze.

Ely LeVey has been preaching in Indonesia and China; you can expect an influx of missionary teams in the territories under your control.

Paul Stepola, having caught Styr Magnor, has been dedicating his time breaking up an underground illegal plastic surgery ring that "forces hormonal flooding and genital mutilation on people".

Cameron Williams is has recently interviewed Bahira Ababneh about her attempt to destroy the TOL computer that supposedly controls a shadow economy; she hopes that the governments of Osaze and Pacifica will crack down on cybercriminals and drug traffickers. The government of Osaze and Pacifica, as it is, are having a somewhat hard time staying relevant, although the situation in Osaze has gotten a little better.

>>372501

Your sysadmins and subsystems can handle the details on that stuff - that's why one cabal can do research one turn and construction the next; it's not necessarily the same physical people, although there tends to be some continuity.

>>372524
>>372544

Getting your propaganda out before the other guys do can probably help.

>>372603

You have 17 cabals total; 12 are available.

You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets (see picture). Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

Variable complexity:

# Launch an attack on a TOL base or government installation, or shore up defenses at a base if you expect an attack.

# Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.

Complexity 0

# Actively look for Jenny by telling people to keep an eye out, or just see if she shows up when she's OK with it.

# Try to produce drones in the Greenland base (60%) or just keep building it.

Complexity 1

# Foster pagan worship.

# Improve morale or spread targeted propaganda.

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up an enemy team.

# Perform a covert operation (such as scouting Antarctica or Greater Jerusalem).

Complexity 2

# Build the Emissary and deploy it with the Tabernacles representatives for Osaze or for Pacifica.

# Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.

# Produce drones at any base. Current focus: Medium-sized land drones. Current army size is marked on the bottom of the map.

# Work your Osaze or Pacifica base overtime to improve prosperity.

# Use the Australia or Eastern Europe base to start bringing the territory under your control (1/5)

# Seed super-grain in a territory. The hope is that it will make life more boring for the inhabitants.

# Complete the construction of Night City in Eastern Europe.

# Keep working on your production facility in Greenland.

# Build a land-bound radio jammer.

Complexity 3

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules, but the Cosmists will assist your efforts here, counting as one cabal regardless.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero or enemy team (by force or by cleverness).

# Use a launchpad for a canopy-breaching launch. Station structure: 0/8

# Build a land-bound transmitter.

Complexity 4

# Continue AI, nuclear or sonic research. (Nuclear research will focus on botany and engines ). (Sonic research needs a new direction: medium or heavy)

# Recruit. This has gotten a little harder across the board, mostly because of TOL taking credit for some of your work.

# Begin building a base in the Middle East, South Africa, or American Heartland.

Complexity 5

# Take over a TOL base by force.

>>374523
The Super Grain can thrive in any environment, right? What about a super arid, potentially airless and waterless environment?

>>374508

Your sysadmins have finished reconstructing the data from the floppy disk that Thursday provided. By the look of it, Sunday (the line of Sundays, which tend to start young and willingly go to Hell at 100, so much so that there's a bit of a lying-in-state ceremony for the death; the people holding the office are never related, whereas some nepotism has happened for other positions) have been ruling TOL pretty autocratically. On average, things come to a vote once or twice per each new Council member, and the votes are either unanimous or 6-1 or 5-2. Interestingly, Sunday does not have veto power.

Close votes:

* Focus on recruiting by persuasion and argument, rather than by offering a party scene: Year 97, 4-3 for, Sunday against.

* Support the Thousand Oaks Library's efforts to preserve and scanlate pre-Rapture literature: Year 220, 4-3 for, Sunday against.

* Establish a parallel trade-school and university system: Year 298, 4-3 for, Sunday against. (The effort fizzled).

* Create an air wing for the Final Army: Year 456, 4-3 against, Sunday against.

* Continue Cendrillon Jospin's efforts to get through the canopy: Year 697, 4-3 against, Sunday against.

* Establish a parallel trade-school and university system: Year 752, 4-3 for, Sunday against. (Worked better than last time).

* Create a computerized expert system for handling logistics and industrial coordination: Year 889, 4-3 for, Sunday against.


>>374581

The "super grain" is very easy to harvest, and somewhat invasive (it will push off other graminaceae species). It's a clever bit of hybridization, not a miracle of superscience. Building a greenhouse on top of the canopy, however, is definitely on the agenda.

>>374610
>Building a greenhouse on top of the canopy, however, is definitely on the agenda.
I was thinking more in line with "Fuck off to Mars." Still, some clever greenhouse work and some ice mining, we should be fine.

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>>374695

A quick consultation with Jeb shows that setting up a canopy-top greenhouse is a necessary first step, but he's all for fucking off to Mars, to the point where he and Valentina have drawn plans on how best to go about it, even. For what crops to bring along, he recommends starting with either vernalized potatos, or hops.

>>374709
Awesome. Depending on what happens after Year 1000, we might be able to recolonize Earth too if the Believers just up and vanish.

I think we should get to work on constructing the station then, don't want to lay down a plan though until the others get back.
I'm worried about fucking things up since I don't know what they're planning.

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>>374764

Given the size and shape of the canopy, building a station there would be an excellent starting point for interplanetary flights.

* The canopy water can be processed into fuel.

* There's no atmosphere above the canopy, which is good for Soyuz/Apollo style rocket stacks.

* The canopy itself is pretty much perfectly spherical, so rail launches are possible.

The problem would be reentering...

(If you play KSP: Basically imagine taking off and landing from Tylo)

>>374796
>The problem would be reentering...
What about Wubber walls? You could crack the ice, fire them into the water and use the sound walls to create a portal big enough for things to move through while holding the water back.

>>374806

Potentially feasible, now do all that with something moving several thousands of miles per second...

Valentina is worried about cracking the canopy in too many spots, as it could lead to it collapsing; Jeb, of course, thinks that it's the best thing that could happen to the people of Earth, being able to see the stars again.

The two argue a little about whether the canopy is better thought of as an obstacle or as a resource.

>>374816
Unless it Floods the Earth. Which I'm half expecting tyrant to try, since apparently we have Noah picking up a new Ark.
Than again, if it does we could call him on it.

Otherwise set up entrance gates in the canopy. Could probably do that while we're setting up the station, though that does limit entrance and exit to certain predefined points.

>>374485
((Ya forget to add the link on the last thread xb))

>>374835
Oh right. The law o dogma. Can't break that.

Posting soonish to help. SOrry, didn't seee the thread.

>>374835
>>374902

The one thing you're pretty sure that you are safe against, is a global flood. Then again, causing one might be enough to end the madness... if anyone survives.

>>374523
We can just keep our eyes out for Jenny. Guess we can actively look for her once in a while throughout the year. Meanwhile how many cabals to make hacking attempts even more difficult all the way up to impossible? And would one cabal be enough to spread outrage for the attempts to shut down the system that lets people selfgovern?
>>374915
Another question Thursday is 100% not recoverable right?

Sorry, in the middle of something, should be about 20. The reason we're holding off on a station is because we're close to nuclear reactors, which would help a lot. Just finishing up building these two bases then doing that.

Just uh, maybe please wait a minute for me and in the meantime just discuss options for the turn? Thanks!

>>374981
We need to focus on protecting ourselves too thus network protection.

>>374981
Nuclear reactors and we can put a self sustaining base on Mars. Indefinitely, potentially allowing us to invade earth again if we fail killing Tyrant. Or at least give humanity a chance to.

Secondly. I think we're going to need to negotiate with TOL we may not be able to stop their zombie MEC program but hopefully we will be able to get a few sonic tanks and our window at Armageddon. Just hope we can avoid him figuring out that we want to make a bum rush a year or two early.

Crap, we started already?
When do we usually start?

>>374523

># Try to produce drones in the Greenland base (60%) or just keep building it.
Working on itself.


># Actively look for Jenny by telling people to keep an eye out, or just see if she shows up when she's OK with it.
Keep an eye out for her.


># Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.
2 Cabals.


># Foster pagan worship.
1 Cabal.


># Build the Emissary and deploy it with the Tabernacles representatives for Osaze or for Pacifica.
2 Cabals. Jeb.


># Complete the construction of Night City in Eastern Europe.
2 Cabals. Jenny (if she shows up). Vee.


># Recruit. This has gotten a little harder across the board, mostly because of TOL taking credit for some of your work.
4 Cabals. Damien.


># Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.
1 Cabal in Australia. Assign Kat to it. All idle bases.


># Quinn finds some of the people responsible for killing those MECs in Australia, bring in a few as test subjects.


How long until Vee retires?


I feel this is a decent spread, but I want your critique, Anti. It puts us in a good position for next year, hopefully up a cabal or two with night city finished and ready to go on nuclear research + building an angel trap. Let's finish what we started and then get some of that done. If we don't stir shit up too much, maybe Tsion will fuck off, this should hopefully help lock out their hacker and start laying the groundwork for pagan bait. By fostering worship, we can build a temple to draw Tsion into our angel catcher in a year or two.

>>375075

We haven't done much, I JUST posted some ideas on votes. Looking for input now, so don't panic.

And, sky eyes say there's just the one TOL cabal in Europe, so that makes me feel a little more comfortable with just leaving a villain + 2 cabals there with a few assorted drones.

Do drones come in cabals? Can we get a counter for how many we have? We only need a bare minimum to test in Australia, the rest can do security in Europe.

>>375079
I don't know if we should bother with the emissary. What are the benefits?

>>375092

We might get to look around inside the temple. Get the lay of the land, possibly have some level of negotiation. Test some ideas about drones and like De La Nae said, something weird is going on in there with old figures.

If you don't want to do it this turn I can understand, we could do something else with those cabals.

Hey spirit, we still need a cabal cost on an angel trap like the old school maze one, to funnel something into an arena chasing a glorified.

Pacifica emissary, I should specify as well.

>>375107
If we can make it so all the internals get melted when we need them to melt and the system memory on the little RC car destroys as well. Then we have our infiltration machine.

Wonder what were going to end up getting the next thread named.

>>375322

I was wondering, was there a thread that didn't get archived? It would have been before my time.

>>375079
If I was to change anything about this plan it would be this.
Remove the 2 cabals working on global data network infrastructure. Add one more cabal to producing MECs for a total of 2 cabals there. Do not assign them to Australia. Assign the last cabal to guarding Australia.

I understand the need to guard Australia but MEC production is not the best way to do it because MEC is an international action. While I agree we need to work on global data infrastructure, it can wait till next turn when we could effectively have 4 more cabals available when Night City is done.

>>375372

I could see it. I'd change the last cabal from guarding Australia to instead producing propaganda there for us, aimed at making recruiting easier. They can run defence if bad stuff happens.

>>375395

I'll leave it up to Anti to decide.

>>375408
Alright then. I say change it.

>>374931

The idea there is, decide whether to keep an eye out ofr Jenny, or see if she shows up but otherwise leave it aline; the observer efect may be important.

>>374931

Thursday has been exposed to almost half an hour of Hell-pain. The LD50 for that is 90 seconds.

>>375016

Putting cabals on internet dominances makes large scale hacking attempts less likely, and eventually allows your own. You can also initiate a targeted attempt. Your sysadmins routinely have to deal with little bits of cyberwarfare, and do.

>>375040

Jeb answers that a Mars base would be better served by a mixture of nuclear power and solar panels; nuclear power alone may eventually run out before new deposits are discovered, and solar panels alone would be very heavy since the Sun's very far away from Mars so you'd need a lot of them.

>>375079

Vee retires at the end of 450. She already has been grooming a successor or three, but hasn't picked yet.

>>375085

You have a small complement of drones for base defense. However, if you want to build an army, there's a lot of work to do! (Army size is indicated on the bottom of the status screen; TOL's army size indicates vehicles and men, yours would indicate drones and maybe some personnel on ready reserve).

>>375172
>>375115

The Emissary is a custom build which is why it needs, and gets, special care. This does include a self-destruct, but you gotta pick if it's intended to cause damage, or just to destroy itself, which seems to be the case.

>>375329

I don't think so!

>>375395
>>375408
>>375431

Okay, so what's above stands (yes/no)

>>375564
One minute.

>>375079
We do this but move a cabal from recruitment over to finding jenny, we can also put Vee on that or recruitment and let night city keep building.

>>375598
What do you guys think?

>>375598

No, I don't want to risk a recruitment failure. And I think leaving Jenny alone and just keeping an eye out is for the best.

Anti, did you want to cut the infrastructure for more MEC work? It'd just be 1 cabal on that instead of 2, and better chances of MEC ticks that way. Not a bad deal I guess.

If you'd rather that I can write a new summary for spirit.

i just realized, we have both Lifetree and the underground monorail on our side, that should be countless LGBT and MEC individuals that we can simply pick up, don't risk the recruitment failure like >>375613
suggested. lets get as big a slice of the pie as we can with omega interacting himself on occasion, as well as sending raid stopping support like in the old days with our combat able cabal members.

>>375624

Yeah. We can focus recruiting there. Maybe it'll help leverage things or make it a bit easier in some way. Dunno.

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>>375598
>>375623
>>375613

Y'all tell me :)

>>375624
>>375631

That's true; the Lifetree guys have been instrumental in making the Mark X go mainstream and they will very likely help with getting rid of the Horde system -- they'll probably not help if you want to replace it with your own and let them know, though. The problem, as always, is that the more people you have (the work done to replace any attrition is being done in the background) the harder it is to find useful candidates.

Being in a cabal is a bit like being a minor-league superhero: most people have a day job, a life... and then the extra LED on their cell phone goes off and they have to go be somewhere.

The Underground Monorail have assisted in giving the Colossus systems a way to use contract law to quickly and cheaply give hospital visitation rights and other benefits to gay couples, so that a push for equal rights (which would be unrealistic in territories that you control only softly) is pretty much not needed; two guys or two girls who are married had an unsanctioned ceremony, their tax forms still say "single", and live together with no formal recognition -- usually in communities where most everyone respects that they're married. Recently, the system has been updated to give the option for a gay guy and a gay girl occasioanlly marry-on-paper each other for safety or tax reasons. (The situation is about what it was in, say Massachussets in 2005 where the local gov't recognized the marriage but the national gov't did not).

Working with these organizations, or others, is always possible, just say so!

>>375079
this plan, because we need the infanstructure to act on our own and reinforce our own safty and security to keep on fighting.>>375632
that's my vote.

>>375624
and throw in this on the recruitment action because working with the organizations will work better for us in the long run.

>>375645

Yeah, let's work with tree of life to recruit.

Anti, how do you feel about having them reach out to TOL members about the possible dangers of their metabolic extension controllers? Maybe we could nudge them to nudge them our way?

Do >>375079

But move 1 cabal from networks to building MECs and just leave Jenny alone but be ready to fix her up if she shows up in rough shape.

>>375645
>>375641

Sorry, I'm a bit confused as to which is which mow...

>>372521

(Heh, I could tell you stories about the FDA. I'm trying to get them to certify my handheld laser cutter and it's being a pain. Did you know that FDA is responsible for lasers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsPn-P4xzkc )

>>375658
mmmn, I still think it would be a better idea to focus on infrastructure so we don't get hacked, look at the bar, we are on the bottom. between TJ and TOLs group, we can stand to not make a MEC cabal this turn while I cant say the same about the infrastructure.

>>375664
(congrats on your laser and sorry bureaucracy sucks)

>>375671

Eh, fuck it. Sure, let's go with 2 on infrastructure then.

>>374508
also, Paul is going to be targeting sex change surgeons. that's more incentive to help both Lifetree and Underground Monorail. we can use the recruitment to do that right? help them and recruit from them while we do it. call it an exchange of manpower?

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Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>375658

OK!

>>375658
>>375564

You do not issue a "missing agent" bulletin for Jenny; Damien is a bit disheartened about her friend being gone, of course, but she and others report Jenny passing by briefly - enough for a meal with Damien, a couple times - usually in Night City, but in Misrayim a few times. You can't really tell if she's teleporting around, or just being elusive. When Damien asks flat out if Jenny is the Triple Goddess, Jenny says that she doesn't think so, for what it's worth, but don't gods pick their avatars regardless of what they want? I mean, Jesus didn't want to be TurboJesus, if you read the gospels....

>>375658
>>375671

You tell me! One side effect of your actions upon this world is that cyberwarfare has become somewhat more important.

The Greenland base work continues; Valentina manages to "sneak in" some ground-tests for an eventual canopy station, rather than just going with what's most efficient, but you expect to have a working almost-automated assembly line before the end of next year, at this rate. This can be used to build drones, launch vehicles, and pretty much all that ordinarily requires a full-fledged base; shipping happens by two narrow gauge rail lines that get to two small automated loading facilities on each side of Greenland. The place looks as cold as it is, but people enjoy being away from the otherwise mostly constant climate to work there.

>>375677
>>375685

Lifetree has some security, usually volunteers; the UM is providing some of it. They would definitely love help with keeping track on Paul's actions - remember that he has the official police and the psalties covering his back - so as to be able to move people around, and actual Infiltrator MECs or even heavies. Both Quinn and Kat volunteer.

(Can I have a summary?)

>>375697

># Try to produce drones in the Greenland base (60%) or just keep building it.
Working on itself.


># Leave Jenny be. Welcome her home if we see her.
Keep an eye out for her.


># Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.
2 Cabals.


># Foster pagan worship.
1 Cabal.


># Build the Emissary and deploy it with the Tabernacles representatives for Osaze or for Pacifica.
2 Cabals. Jeb.


># Complete the construction of Night City in Eastern Europe.
2 Cabals. Jenny (if she shows up). Vee.


># Recruit. This has gotten a little harder across the board, mostly because of TOL taking credit for some of your work.
4 Cabals. Damien.


># Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.
1 Cabal in Australia. All idle bases.


># Quinn finds some of the people responsible for killing those MECs in Australia, bring in a few as test subjects.


># Help tree of life
Kat. Do her desolaters count as a cabal? Are they just assumed to follow her?

How long until Vee retires?

>>375708

># Build the Emissary and deploy it with the Tabernacles representatives for Osaze or for Pacifica.

Pacifica.

>>375697
my end of the table

>infrastructure for security and reach
2 cabals Damien?

>produce MECs all idle bases.
1 cabal

>Recruitment. which will also be used to stop Paul's Raids.
4 cabals, Quinn and Kat.

>construct night city.
2 cabals. Jeb

>foster pagan worship
1 cabal. and focus on Triple Godess, Hephaestus, and Hermes.

>build the Emessary.
Vee and 2 cabals
I don't really know where I want Damien but I guess that's your call Sara. I hope that using the recruitment cabal as also the protect Lifetree and UM cabal at the same time is legal.

. . . . ohy the impass is real.

>>375708
>>375710
>>375712

Kat generally travels with a few Desolators, but she'd need support personnel to attack something. That said, she's pretty scary by herself.

Quinn will go prowling if she's assigned to Australia, but without a support squad, she can't take on any high value targets. Kidnapping someone is a lot harder than killing them.

>>375716

(Y'all tell me! Hard choices...)

>>375712

Damien knows more about drones than Vee does. Incidentally, Vee is due to retire in +950, so two years from now; unlike Ziggy, she doesn't want a year off.

>>375716
>>375712

I'm okay with moving Jeb to night city and Vee to the robot.

If we CAN use recruitment group to help tree of life sure, but I assumed we can't.

I want Quinn to get some test subjects and do those revenge kidnappings in Australia. We NEED to test the drones.

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>>375716

(Sorry for being here sporadically if anything, ti makes it harder to get other players in!

(Possible Omega army crest: the symbol is an omega that looks a bit like the humanist logo, and the whole thing is a slight modification to the EXALT logo in Enemy Within, which befits an unplanned-for third faction)

># Try to produce drones in the Greenland base (60%) or just keep building it.
Working on itself.


># Leave Jenny be. Welcome her home if we see her.
Keep an eye out for her.


># Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.
2 Cabals.


># Foster pagan worship.
1 Cabal.


># Build the Emissary and deploy it with the Tabernacles representatives for Osaze or for Pacifica.
2 Cabals. Vee.


># Complete the construction of Night City in Eastern Europe.
2 Cabals. Jenny (if she shows up). Jeb.


># Recruit. This has gotten a little harder across the board, mostly because of TOL taking credit for some of your work.
4 Cabals. Damien.


># Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.
1 Cabal in Australia. All idle bases.


># Quinn finds some of the people responsible for killing those MECs in Australia, bring in a few as test subjects.


># Help tree of life
Kat and whatever desolaters she can bring. She might not be able to deal with Paul, but they can stir up trouble, intimidate and lead them astray.

How do you feel about this, Anti?

>>375730
>>375731
ok, sara, we already know how drones work. we just need to make improvements. cool your jets, we will have our revenge and it will be delicious. id suggest letting Quinn and Kat both work on the recruit and protect job, ((if we get the protect job))

and spirit. we need to know if we can use the recruitment cabals as well as Quinn and Kat simultaneously as the protect BOTH LIFETREE AND UNDERGROUND MONORAIL.

>>375732
I like it, do that yourself?

>>375737
>Foster pagan
I was thinking maybe Damien can be used for the pagan worship, why do you want her on recruitment?

>>375738
>ok, sara, we already know how drones work.

We don't. The guy we shot was already in heaven. That could be a grave oversight if we opt to use those when we really need them without proper testing.

>I was thinking maybe Damien can be used for the pagan worship, why do you want her on recruitment?

Anything to help but, sure. How about Damien on the emissary (she knows drones), Vee on the pagan stuff? If she feels like it, anyway. We could also use Vee on infrastructure and just leave pagan without a villain. Thoughts?

>>375752
agreed to the bottom part, great thinking.

as of the top, we can use an auto turret in defense of Lifetree or UM. if its not effective, it can offer covering fire.

>>375759
>as of the top, we can use an auto turret in defense of Lifetree or UM. if its not effective, it can offer covering fire.

Let's see if we can send a couple of drones with the life tree guys then, I suppose.

>>375768

Sex change operations require modern facilities to do safely, and the Lifetree hospital in the southern San Francisco Bay is no exception. Due to the fact that Pacifica is under your control in a "soft" manner, the procedure is not advertised anywhere, but those who need it know where to go.

Paul Stepola is not one of these people; he's been driving up and down the coast a lot, harassing the occasional doctor in Oregon or Alaska, caused local police departments to get hit by civil lawsuits for breaking into prevention clinics without a warrant, and the like. He doesn't seem to be any closer to his target.

The Lifetree hospital is given a few drone tanks as autonomous crash carts, with the wubber somewhat disguised under the medical equipment that they carry.

>>375738

Yes, you can.

>>375779

>Yes, you can.

Sure. Recruit through them, cabals can double as security.

>>375779
ok, that's very informative. paul is causing problems and looks like a gun toting horses arse. id say play up that image, but. . . hmmmn, maybe if we do what we did last time back with Quinn and the TOL rave.

alrighty then, I think we got our list
_______________________

>infrastructure for security and reach
2 cabals Vee

>produce MECs all idle bases.
1 cabal

>Recruitment. which will also be used to stop Paul's Raids.
4 cabals, Quinn and Kat.

>construct night city.
2 cabals. Jeb

>foster pagan worship
1 cabal. and focus on Triple Godess, Hephaestus, and Hermes.

>build the Emessary.
Damien and 2 cabals.

>>375792

Sure. I guess the drones might get tested that way.

I just realized that one turn took a whole day, or even two.

((sorry Spirit T_T))

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Rolled 59, 80, 29 = 168 (3d100)

>>375752

That's a valid point... While Matthew's ordeal provided some useful data, it does not necessarily mean much over whether drones can kill believers without retaliation.

You've been tracking who built what; of the drones you have a vailable, a few have been made with automated labor which itself was assemble only with MEC labor.

# Wait for a deserving target.

# Kill a random believer (Misrayim, Pacifica, Australia, or Eastern Europe).

>>375792

Vee plays IT program manager again this year; her music goes down better with the nerdy types than with the general public, so she's actually pretty happy about it. While your systems have been inviolate, they take the time to patch some Colossus exploits that let a few people walk home with some free bitnicks every month, reverse the damage done to search engine rankings by CreationQuest and similar groups, and make sure that events like Bahira's intrusion attempt can be shored up against.

# Great, focus on that.

# Bait Bahira with a honeypot server.

>>375792

Since by now almost half of the unbelieving population has a basic Mark X, MEC production focuses on the lightning-hardened version. As part of normal maintenance, a few infiltrators have to be converted to heavies because of substance abuse causing widespread damage to muscle and cartilage; it's a lot easier to make someone go cold turkey if they can't move.

>>375792

Night City is never officially declared complete, but the end of major construction is marked by a recreation of Gagarin and Glenn's spaceflights in the big planetarium, concert to follow. The place is pretty sprawling, and there's even a reconstruction of what people think a city street pre-Rapture may have looked like. They went a bit heavy on the tech-noir in your opinion, but the place was attracting tourists even when under construction.

As you know, Jeb's space efforts have been fairly low key lately; even so, he's cooperated with interested believers, with some success. Among the many chambers, Night City has one decicated to his life's work - cosmonauts will have to learn to not fear the night, after all. Jenny has showed up a few times; her fireflies are doing pretty well, a portion of the original caverns has been preserved with great care and attention and a separate artificial habitat for breeding has been built. Looks like that indeed fireflies need the night to reproduce.

Night City has one main entrance which can be sealed, and two semi-hidden ones that are protected by heavy automated defenses.

# Announce the existence of Night City to the world.

# Don't. It's too big to keep secret, but not doing so will make it possible for the cognitvely dissonant to ignore it.

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>>375803

(Yeah, sorry for the slowdown)


>>375792

Some of your people take the time to act as countermissionaries; they play up Jenny's story, not outright saying that she is the Triple Goddess, but hinting at it. Before long, spinning skull gifs on personal webpages are being replaced by spinning winged sandals, which is arguably an improvement.

A lot of the places that do metalwork - even though it's CNC based nowadays - keep an old style forge for customers that want something done the traditional way; pagan worship has become its own niche industry. The Osaze government eventually figures that the triangle-flame-and-tongs is a pagan religious symbol, and reacts to it by mandating that any shop that displays it must also display a cross. Most workshops react by quickly welding together two pieces of rebar and putting that on the wall somewhere.

>>375792

The Emissary is intentionally built to look low-key; it's unarmed, and its self destruct system simply releases the chemicals in the batteries to fry most of the electronics. While the team document themselves about long-range rovers, they discover that a small rover had landed on Mars just after the Rapture, having been launched a couple of years before; the final design ends up looking a little like it.

Damien can't go to the Feast of Tabernacles, obviously.

# Send the Emissary by itself, as a gift, and then interact with people in the Temple courtyard.

# Accompany it with one or two agents; they'd have to be human.

>>375818
ok, here's what and why.

# Wait for a deserving target.
we are trying to become the "hero's" of the narrative and being the "malevolent conspiracy" is not a good way to do it. results should be made by opportunity here, not at all cost.


# Great, focus on that.
we can always go Glorified hunting later, and she should be an easy target. if not she seems to have a habit of making herself one.

# Don't. It's too big to keep secret, but not doing so will make it possible for the cognitive dissonant to ignore it.
if we take over the territory first we can keep it without ever having to fight over it.

>>375818

># Wait for a deserving target.

># Great, focus on that.

># Don't. It's too big to keep secret, but not doing so will make it possible for the cognitive dissonant to ignore it.

We can do it later. For now, let it pass around by word of mouth and attract non belivers.

># Send the Emissary by itself, as a gift, and then interact with people in the Temple courtyard.

>>375836
># Send the Emissary by itself, as a gift, and then interact with people in the Temple courtyard
this leaves a new question, do we outright say non-believers built it?

>>375833
>>375836
Wait what? You two actually agreed on something?
Oh, by the way, I agree with these choices.

All things considered, we agreed on most everything except villain distribution. We're generally pretty on the same page.

>>375839
>>375839

pffft hahhahahhahahaahahha. ok, my sides.

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>>375818

Enough unbelievers have used the Mark X to stick around after age 100 that recruiting among them is fairly easy - they already are experiencing the drawbacks of the MEC system, so offering them a significant upgrade isn't a hard sell.

On top of that, your recruitment effort in Pacifica goes well; Quinn gets people in and Kat makes sure that the valuable ones stick around and are directed where their expertise can help the most.

Paul Stepola has been harassing doctors that provide hormone replacement therapy up and down the Pacific coast; these people have been told to not resist, go to jail for a few days if required, and wait for Colossus to shift the whole economy just that little bit in favor of them being irreplaceable in the community and having a very easy time finding lawyers willing to work pro bono. Eventually, Stepola - while praised by the media in his effort to protect confused youth from an immoral lifestyle - ends up being considered an annoyance by the various PDs he tries to cooperate with.

One day, Stepola gets out of the car on the Vallejo ferry (the bay bridges were never rebuilt, although the Golden Gate was, with obvious Asian influences), climbs on top of the boat, prays loudly for guidance, and is joined in by almost all the believers on the ferry. Then, he demands that the ferry be diverted south so that he can make a quick landing at the pier nearest the Tree of Life hospital. The ferry's captain flat out refuses - there's no emergency or urgency - to which Stepola draws a gun on her. The Pacifican Colossus passes the silent alarm on to you.

# No, and in fact, activate counterterrorists measure, a hijacker with a badge is still a hijacker.

# No, he can get off in the city and then drive down the bay like any non-douchebag person.

# Yes, fine. The boat is slow anyway and Quinn and Kat will have plenty of time to brace for it anyway.

>>375836

The drone is marked usable for lethal response, and will be deployed against a deserving target.

# Oh look, one just showed up in Pacifica.

# Leave it on patrol in Misrayim, let's start with something a bit less high profile.

>>375836

Bahira keeps probing the Colossus systems; she's convinced that it's one supercomputer. Keeping her locked out is not particularly hard, so you do that. Her efforts to figure out who is profiting from this - she can't imagine it being autonomous - of course go nowhere.

>>375836

The government of Eastern Europe reacts to the tourist influx in a quite charming way; the people coming in are young, curious, willing to get preached at when they're at the airport waiting for their luggage as long as it's only for a few minutes, and tend to have money to spend. So, the government launches a beautification program, emphasizing the beautiful forests and the Bledow arid area. The place starts looking a bit less dull , although the kneeling stations on the forest paths are a bit much. They are sometimes put to other use by willing couples.

>>375861

># No, and in fact, activate counterterrorists measure, a hijacker with a badge is still a hijacker.

># Leave it on patrol in Misrayim, let's start with something a bit less high profile.

>They are sometimes put to other use by willing couples.

L-lewd.

I want to shoot this asshole, but I don't want trouble for tree of life. We ARE prosecuting though; fuck this guy.

>>375861
># No, and in fact, activate counterterrorists measure, a hijacker with a badge is still a hijacker.

># Oh look, one just showed up in Pacifica.


ok, lets handle this the proper way, by which I mean as treating him like a terrorist. and when they respond inevitably by decrying his death and demanding revenge we assist in generating the counter outrage that the NJ Government would promote such terrorist activity, but don't try and start an actual riot or we wont get them to play inquisition.

>>375867
who said anything about having to shoot to kill? well, we could shoot to kill if someone does something that could potentially kill someone else.

>>375868

>who said anything about having to shoot to kill?

Drone testing, I meant.

Actually;

># Oh look, one just showed up in Pacifica.

We can use the drone to help respond to this, cover story is that it's a colossus police prototype or such.

>>375867
we literally put a group to protect Lifetree AND the underground monorail. we can easily shift the focus to this being a case where the believers agents engaged in terrorism instead of the fact he was forcing her to go boating to the clinic.

>>375869
yup, new Colossus civil defense support platform CCDSP. or C-disp for short. it was designed "to respond to threats to the general safety of the public that are deemed to life threating for living beings to handle"

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>>375838

The trip from Pacifica to Greater Jerusalem is as uneventful as it's meticulously planned, with an airliner leg to Athens (logistic surveys shows that the world's remaining airliners are crapping out pretty fast, to the point that you expect that in 25 years they'll only be trotted out for these pilgrimages) and from there a sea trip to Greater Jerusalem; while airplanes work just fine in that area, it's considered uncouth to fly within a horizon of the Temple.

The Emissary is brought along as a curiosity, and it's expected that it will eventually end up in the Temple museum; since it's solar powered, able to climb stairs, and semiautonomous, it may be possible to reactivate it later on.

The Temple itself is a truly majestic sight; the base structure was miraculously raised from the bedrock, but skilled traditional craftsmen have been decorating it for a thousand years now. The grounds are spotless, and most of the groundskeepers are volunteers, even those wearing a cilice.

The place has a definitely barbaric splendor; the artwork is basic but clearly made and preserved with the love of hundreds of generation.

In the Courtyard, the Emissary is presented to the Levites...

# as it is.

# specifying that it is a gift from the unsaved.

>>375875
what do you guys think, ill let ya'll handle this one. I'm better with high risk tactical situations than high risk diplomacy.

>>375875
># as it is.

>>375875
I want to just say it's from "the people of Pacifica" or something, and just imply it's made by nonbelievers. That way, the believers won't destroy it early, but some of them might be butthurt, and we'll be able to laugh at them. Sarasti, what do you think?

>>375886
I'll vote
>#as it is
too, then.

>>375887

Sure.

>>375873
>>375869
>>375868

Captain Weaver tripped the silent alarm according to procedures; you redirect it to an official counterterrorism system while you order one of your drone tanks that are marked for kill testing to be helidropped on the ferry.

Paul Stepola tells Weaver to reroute the ferry; she does so, careful to keep the boat at the lowest speed she can get away with. She asks Paul if prayer has revealed to him an abortion clinic, and what the urgency is. He answers that no, but something almost as bad. He also tries to talk Weaver into converting. The captain is responsive to this, and the two have a moment in which she hugs him holding back tears. Two seconds later, Stepola is on the ground with a knee to his back.

"A hijacker with a badge is still a hijacker, Detective. Surrender now and you will be detained and turned over to your own PD. Don't and I will break your spine and toss you overboard."

Stepola protests that it's not a woman's lot to fight. "This is MY ship. I am HER captain. This is my sacred duty!"

Old age and treachery have a way of overcoming youth and skill; a few of the passengers get to the ferry's control point and offer to detain the wayward detective. Weaver lets them; the idea is to lock him in his car and have police pick him up at the dock. Unfortunately, enough of the passengers are sympathetic to Stepola that he is able to get to the other weapon he had in the car trunk, a submachine gun, and break out again. Inspired by a holy cause, the elderly detective moves very fast for his age.

Facing Stepola and an improvised posse, Weaver and her sailors tell everyone to stand down to avoid casualties that a burst-fire weapon in a crowded ship is likely to cause. "We're going to heave to and prepare to be boarded." When Stepola gets back to the control point (it's too small to be called a bridge) Weaver stands away from the controls with her hands raised up, and refuses to turn the ferry's engine back on.

It takes a few minutes for the people helping Stepola to figure out how to start a ship's engine, and the boat limps towards San Francisco. Above, police helicopters are circling, asking for the hijacker's demands. Stepola answers by identifying himself and stating that he is going to sail the boat into the Lifetree hospital (which is on the bayside) in order to shut it down. He commands the pursuers to pray for guidance; a few fly back, most keep circling.

# Land the drone on the ferry. It's not really designed for being used on a ship, but can probably take down Stepola and/or the pilot.

# Have the drone take out Stepola from the shore.

# This is escalating too much. Divert a tug to grapple the ferry and prevent it from causing any damage; Stepola will either make landfall or swim to shore anyway, but there will be no structural damage, other than maybe the ferry's engines.

# This is escalating WAY too much. Divert a cargo ship to plow into the ferry before it plows into the hospital.

>>375888
>>375886
>>375881

The Emissary is presented to the priest, Malluch. There is a definite air of age about this person despite him looking a very fit metabolic fifty, and he speaks slowly and deliberately. "We bring gifts from the people of Pacifica. Able artisans constructed this, as parts of the firstfruits offering." The Emissary had, in fact, been used to carry the gifts; the pallet covered its solar panels, but not for long.

"Ah, yes. I hear reports out of Pacifica. Their technology rivals that of any nation..." The priests recites what could be an executive summary of the Pacifican economy to the emissaries (who are from there!), to which they listen with genuine interest. The report is... somewhat inaccurate in that, well, it doesn't mention the Colossus-mediated half of the economy at all.

# Join the conversation in any way.

# The priest seems to think that the Emissary is just a motorized shopping cart; let him, and wander off to look around.

>>375894
I cant help but hear this every Paul does something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rvfH58YSzI


# Land the drone on the ferry. It's not really designed for being used on a ship, but can probably take down Stepola and/or the pilot.

it was made for high risk situations where a human or MEC operator might perish right? well then that's how its getting used. Focus on subduing or killing Stepola.

# This is escalating too much. Divert a tug to grapple the ferry and prevent it from causing any damage; Stepola will either make landfall or swim to shore anyway, but there will be no structural damage, other than maybe the ferry's engines.

we will have police on the land. police loyal to people against deranged madmen highjacking boats at gunpoint. if the drone doesn't stop him they will.

>>375894
># This is escalating too much. Divert a tug to grapple the ferry and prevent it from causing any damage; Stepola will either make landfall or swim to shore anyway, but there will be no structural damage, other than maybe the ferry's engines.

Land the drone wherever he ends up swimming to. I don't think we can trust an inaccurate sonic weapon on a packed ferry. We'll get him on the shore and stop a ram.

>>375904
nah man, drone on the boat, that way we can use it in the tense we are saying it will be used in, as well as ensure that one way or another this man can be stopped.

either on land or by sea.

>>375899
># The priest seems to think that the Emissary is just a motorized shopping cart; let him, and wander off to look around.

>>375907

Eh, I guess. Fair enough. I worry about collateral though.

>>375912
its a drone, we have to drive it into his kneecaps and then no collateral, you really need to work on your mixed arms and survivability calculating skills

;) <--please read that as a thumbs up

>>375916

>>375904
>>375902

The closest asset in your employ is the oceangoing tug Heidi Brusco, which carries barge trains up and down the coast. After a somewhat surreal conversation with her captain in which the Pacifican Colossus system tries to offer him payment for something that he's perfectly willing to do for free, the tug unchains all the barges it was towing except one, drops a beacon, and steams to intercept the ferry.

What follows is the slowest vehicle chase in history. The Brusco is towing a mile-long steel rope between itself and the barge; the tug is not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but has about sixteen times the engine output that the ferry does. Stepola's posse cheer when the tug passes them by, imagining that the ship is escorting them.

The Brusco does a lazy half turn and then crosses in front of the barge, having effectively lassoed the ferry in a loop, then deploys its bow knees and starts pushing on the barge as if it was lining it up in a harbor. Pretty soon, the steel wire gets lodged into one of the protrusions in the ferry's hull. Careful to not snap it, the tug's captain, Marco Dessy, increases the tension in the wire.

Unsurprisingly, a tug-of-war between a ferry and a tug will always go to the former; Dessy, however, lets the ferry continue moving towards the pier at barely more than a walking pace, reasoning that it's the safest thing to do to get the crazy person off the boat.

Police, psalties, and your own security forces are piling up on the pier, in a state of uneasy truce.

# Drone on shore.

# Drone on ferry anyway.

# Drone on barge.

>>375917
>>375916

Well, machinegun fire will probably fuck it up to some degree.

># Drone on ferry anyway.

This could get bad if psalties are involved on shore. Better to deal with him before it hits shore.

>>375917
do you mean latter, cause you would think a tug would be stronger than the ferry?

>>375908

The Emissary takes a good look at the courtyard of Ezekiel's Temple. It's YUUGE.

http://www.sonstoglory.com/ThirdTempleEzekielsMillennialTemple.htm#PhotosofEzekielsTemple

Being as the Feast of the Tabernacles is about to begin, emissaries from all territories are milling about and conversing with the Levites, some of which are actual Levites from Bible times; looks like none of the "important" Old Testament Saints are out and about, as they're probably getting ready. You note with some satisfaction that the "firstfruits offerings" from Osaze and Pacifica are far superior in terms of tech and at least as good in terms of craftsmanship.

Some Levites have set up a sort of panel informing emissaries that eating spicy veggies is permissible, even though their reappearance is a result of unbeliever techniques.

From a strategic standpoint, a tank charge makes a lot of sense; the courtyard is big and flat, but very exposed. You could probably land an airliner safely in here, and then turn it around and take off.

The Emissary wandering around alone eventually attracts some attention, from...

# Kids of diplomats.

# A wizened old Levite.

# One of the servant women.


>>375927

(Yeah, of course. Deeeerp. I rewrote that sentence and forgot to flip. The incident I described there has happened, just on a smaller scale and between fishing boats)

>>375917
>>375925
now hold on, if the tug is pulling the boat in, I believe that Paul would try to swap ships then we should drop it on the barge.

((lol, its ok))

>>375929
># Kids of diplomats.

Take Anti's vote here, though.

>>375929
Kids are impressionable, but have been known to tattle,

Old Levite may try and declare us destroyed on the spot, but is also likely to just be fascinated.

Servant woman may be submissive and try to declare us an enemy, but also likely to despise the way things are in NJ.

keep in mind that they are all in NJ so they are all believers.

good luck sara. your pick.

>>375930

The tug is pulling on the ferry in such a way that the ferry can only advance very slowly; it will hit the pier eventually, but stop before it can hit the warehouse-turned-hospital. Captain Dessy believes that it's the safest way to get Stepola off the boat, after which the landlubber police can handle it.

Interestingly, Dessy is a Christian; he's just not interested in talking to Stepola over the radio, and wants to make sure no crew or passengers get hurt. Besides, he hasn't had a genuinely interesting situation at sea to handle in centuries.

>>375930

Good thought. He wants into that building though.

>>375930
>>375937

# Drone on ferry: More rolling and heaving, target is just in the range that wubbers are happiest at.

# Drone on barge: Will need some aiming, but the barge is heavier and rolls around less.

# Drone on shore: Farthest distance, no movement to compensate for.

Given the focused-wave nature of wubbers, they cannnot be used as sniper rifles; the farthest you are, the more likely it is that the wubber will hurt, incapacitate or kill people around the target. Right now your forces use wubbers at short and medium range, neutron sources against Angels, and semi-smart mortars at long range; the closest thing you have to a sharpshooter doctrine are the neutron sources, in that they project a tight beam.

>>375935

REEEEEEE

Uh, let's stick with the kids, then.

>>375937
((we wont be able to move the drone I'm assuming))

we drop it off on the tug. that way Paul only has one way to go and we can work on resolving the situation in the safest way possible.

were going to thank Dessy for his actions through the drone when it lands. good public image and all.

>>375946
I change my mind. we put the Drone on the ferry and block his exit. and once again, right in the kneecaps. *what is with me and kneecaps.* we can do that. also we are giving everyone who aided in stoping Paul a Fricking Medal. ((not literaly, or maybe literaly. but they are being compensated.))

>>375947
>>375934

Naturally, the kids - three, two girls and one boy, from China as far as you can tell - want a ride. The Emissary can carry about three times their weight, so it's not a problem; they've seen RC vehicles before, even large ones, but never one whose pilot is not in sight.

You learn from one of the girls, the eldest, that the True Mandate Of Heaven territorial government wants to start reducing farm automation - a bunch of serious people paid a bunch of money to her Daddy to stop messing around with the RC tractor he recently bought, which she points out is bigger than the Emissary although it's slower, and put more people to work on the farm instead. She's happy about it because she'll probably get to play with the tractor more.

The second year after the firstfruits offering had been extended to manufactured goods, the Temple Courtyard had turned into a mini World's Fair, but that was corrected as an excess and now the atmosphere is calm and solemn.

>>375946

># Drone on ferry: More rolling and heaving, target is just in the range that wubbers are happiest at.

>>375955

Interesting and concerning. I wonder if super grain or weeds would be more effective here. Maybe we could devise something that's basically impossible to remove by hand?

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>375953
>>375948

The small helicopter swoops down on the ferry and uncerimoniously drops off the drone tank; it deploys a simple Rogallo wing and uses its wheels as momentum gyroscopes to steer onto the ferry's top deck, landing with a loud clang and then discarding the wing. People have the good sense of staying the hell away from the mini-tank as it rolls to the ferry's control point - the wubber on these is designed to look like a weapon.

Of course, the tank is just a bit too big to get through the control point's door, so it just vibrates the glass to pieces after pushing the wubber against it. You can now easily shoot at Stepola, his small posse, and Captain Weaver who has just ducked out of the way and may be hit by some of the beam.

# Brown or purple note. Someone'll have to swab the deck afterwards... hopefully Stepola.

# Crash all the glass in the control point enclosure, thus surrounding it with caltrops.

# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq1M_XwscEE

>>375962

What are the odds that we hit the captain?

>>375966

Pretty certain. However, Captain Weaver has dived out of the way and will only get part of the beam. She's less likely to be incapacitated by being sick, since she's a ship captain, and would only pass out if hit by the Brainmelter, although there is a chance of brain damage.

Anti? Are you around? Do you have input?

>>375962
we will say the following. "Freeze, Paul Stepola, you are charged with terrorist highjacking, assault with a lethal weapon, and unlawful use of police force.-" after singling out his compatriots we read them their rights. if he moves towards weaver at any point we cut ourselves off and wub him, brown note for Weavers safety.

>>375975
there will be other opportunity's for a lethal use of the drone.

>>375975

Well, just throw whatever charges our judicial circuits can come up with.

Aside from that, yeah, brown note and if he doesn't surrender (he won't) wub him.

If we get a clear line of fire at any point, or he gives us an excuse like going for his gun after he's down, I'm in favor of brain melting.

>>375975
>>375980

"Paul Stepola, you are being charged with-"

Stepola shoots half his magazine into the drone tank, with the bullets bouncing off and breaking glass. The contingency activates and the drone tank floods the ferry's control point with the brown note, leaving Paul and his posse convulsing on the floor.

Captain Weaver pukes into the hatch, stands up with some difficulty, and shouts something over the wubber which you don't pick up because the microphones cut off when the wubber is on. She slowly crouches behind Stepola and uses his own handcuffs on him, then moves her hands to her ears and mouths STOP IT.

# Stop it, it's over and you won with no casualties.

# Have Weaver hold Stepola up in front of the wubber and step out of the way to "incapacitate", so that only he gets brainmelted.

>>375987
># Stop it, it's over and you won with no casualties.

>>375987
# Stop it, it's over and you won with no casualties.

"Thank you miss Weaver. please get behind us for your own protection, and bring his firearm as well. sorry for the noise. the damages to your ship will be covered, as well as any necessary medical bills"

>She slowly crouches behind Stepola and uses his own handcuffs on him, then moves her hands to her ears and mouths STOP IT.

THERE IT IS AGAIN! that odd, abnormal reaction when things are not going tyrants way after they interact with his plans. maybe bring her into our care, hot coco and a blanket. see what we can gather?

>>375998

Well, that was because she was standing in the wubber field. Lel.

>>375999
yes. but the fact that she managed to interact with her environment normally before doing it indicates something else is wrong. the mind fog of great will is my guess.

>>376003
>>375962

It was said she'd be more resistant due to her sealegs.

>>375995
>>375994

Capt. Weaver regains control of the ferry and works with Capt. Dessy to safely dock the ferry to the pier near the Tree of Life hospital, which has been put in lockdown for safety anyway. The police, psalties and private security forces have been following the ferry's progress, and while there's really no love lost between any of them, they've been professional about it.

Stepola's posse surrendered with little difficulty, and Stepola is delivered to his supposed colleagues at gunpoint by Weaver.

For the ships' crews, the rest of the day is spent cleaning up (the ferry's passengers are dropped off, and the barges recovered) with the evening hosting a celebration for them at the port of Richmond; local authorities make a brief appearance to thank them for their service, but they'd rather party with their own people.

Charges against Stepola are dropped almost immediately and it's announced that he will be taking an unpaid leave of absence from the Pacifican police force; his "posse" are likewise let go. The situation has made it politically impossible for anyone to go after Tree of Life or the Underground Monorail for quite a while, however; a few days later a safety inspection is performed at the hospital and gives them "exceeds expectation" marks.

Lifetree and the UM are extremely grateful; the former promise help in restoring sensation to MECs, and the latter note that Capt. Weaver is a member.

You still don't know if a drone will kill a believer with no repercussions, but the technology has been showcased in the best possible way and there is now demand for these things from various law enforcement agencies. They want them in RC mode, of course, but slipping in an eye and an ear would not be difficult.

Ely LeVey rants and raves on the air about the need to pray together when believer goes against believer, and has Stepola come in for an interview after his badge is taken away. He insists that Tree Of Life are evil - just look at the name - and that he will do anything in his power to expose them. The restraining order comes in about two hours later.

The Pacifican Colossus is directed to make sure that the relevant shipping companies are compensated; unsurprisingly, the official government doesn't. Both captains receive plenty of gifts from the ferry passengers, as well as a medal by the Bay Area fire department.

>>376003
>>375999
>>376003
>>376008

You contact Capt. Weaver after the whole mess...

# Personally.

# Through one of your Villains.

# Through a sysadmin.

# Very briefly, to thank her, and that's it.

>>376013

# Stepola has been pretty thoroughly emasculated without his badge; it's sufficient for now.

# Nope, he still gets his face melted as soon as it's possible to do a stakeout.

>>376014
do we go for the kill, yes or no Sara?

>>376013
I'm thinking a mix of personally and with a Villain

also, I told you so Sara.

>>376016

Reading.

>>376013

># Personally.

># Nope, he still gets his face melted as soon as it's possible to do a stakeout.

>>376017

Told me what?

Pretty good outcome, all things considered. More eyes and ears and more importantly limbs everywhere. Tree of life is indebted, all is well for once.

Ok, what do we know about her. Does she have one of our mark x implants or is she full blown human. What are her political leanings and is she a member of any other groups outside of the monorail?

Questions:

Can we start laying some station work and integrate reactors later?

Can we get a cabal estimate on an angel trap? 2? Does this fall under just building the jammer/transmitter?

>>376022

She does not have a Mark X implant, but is not a believer; her beliefs are simple, in that she thinks that life is there to be lived, and the afterlife will be handled as its own problem. If she ends up in Hell, she plans to take up piracy. She's very much into literature, and has never quite made peace with the notion that the seas are a tranquil and safe place now.

>>376020

You call Capt. Weaver on her brand new videophone to thank her.

"You were driving the robot, weren't you. Not bad. But don't think you can put us out of business!" She seems in good humor. "You're the computer geeks who run interference for the Underground Monorail, right... Hmm, actually, you run a lot of stuff, don't you..."

Capt. Weaver turns out to be a bit of a Jeb fan (more of a Valentina fan, to tell the truth), and when you tell her that they work with you, she asks if you have a job for her.

# She'll have to work with your existing structure, and bring a crew along; effectively this gives you an extra cabal.

# She can work with you independently for the next 15 years or so.

# No thanks.

>>376023

Yes, the current plan is solar panels first, then reactor. Building an angel trap will require one team for construction and laying down weapons, and one for running them and the actual fighting. Adding a third team would allow a dogpile, which, well, worked last time.

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>>376020
>>376016

Finding out where Stepola lives is trivial; waiting for him to actually come home just as well. The drone can simply ring the bell and answer with a sound barrage.

# Kill Stepola. Let's get this over with.

# Don't make a martyr.

>>376026
((>She can work with you independently for the next 15 years or so.))

As in she retires, or as in that's when she'd due to die? She'd effectively count as a villain?

What do you think, Anti? I'm waiting on an answer to this to decide.

>Yes, the current plan is solar panels first, then reactor. Building an angel trap will require one team for construction and laying down weapons, and one for running them and the actual fighting. Adding a third team would allow a dogpile, which, well, worked last time.

#Ask Kat if she thinks that she could build an upscaled radiation emitter. Something mounted in a room on an arm, or perhaps bolted to drones.

># Kill Stepola. Let's get this over with.

We haven't done anything stupid in a while. Let's not break with tradition.

>>376028

Where does he live though? Somewhere a little out of the way?

>>376029

"Omega, I can make you something that'll sizzle an Angel's skin off, but it'll give cancer to everyone in the arena.... However, I do have a superheavy frame designed for me or Damien. We could mount a series of emitters on extendable actuators and focus them on the target from multiple angles. It's not an excuse to build a tentacle-monster body."

>>376029

(Either an extra cabal or an extra villain)

>>376030

A nice suburban home in Orange County, fairly secluded, with his wife Jae. She's in a wheelchair and rarely leaves. The drone can abort if she answers the door.

>>376026

# She'll have to work with your existing structure, and bring a crew along; effectively this gives you an extra cabal.

What do you think Sara?

"Actually there is something else you did that seemed a little off. After fireing the brown note you seemed to act normally, but then you held you head and mouthed "stop it". I've been building a case study of odd behaviors as of late and was curious if you heard something or had some kind of mental image flash in you head at that moment?"

>>376032

"Well, other than I was deafened and puking my guts out... You ever stand next to a fog horn? That was worse! But now that you think of it, I sort of ... I sort of imagined the old bastard kicking my ass. Very vividly. Just for a moment. Weird part? It didn't feel scary. It felt... calm."

She goes on a bit of a tirade about believers being mysogynistic, Stepola even told her that it wasn't her place to fight her.

"You know what? Thanks for intervening. I'd have tied the asshole up and thrown him overboard. And fuck the lightning bolt."

Also, Vee is retiring soon, Anti. I want to give her that flight with Jeb.

>A nice suburban home in Orange County, fairly secluded, with his wife Jae. She's in a wheelchair and rarely leaves. The drone can abort if she answers the door.

(Why must misguided people do things and behave in ways that make it difficult to dehumanize them?)

#Melt his fucking brain.


>However, I do have a superheavy frame designed for me or Damien. We could mount a series of emitters on extendable actuators and focus them on the target from multiple angles. It's not an excuse to build a tentacle-monster body."

Yeah, we can go for that.


>What do you think Sara?

I think we should take the villain. We missed Styr and they're hard to come by compared to cabals.

On that note, when is Jeb retiring?

>>376034
>>376036
Oh shit. Almost forgot to ask Vee if she had been having any nightmares, specifically ones like Thursdays.

Last thing on the year list would be me asking if we can have a MEC try out serotonin.

>>376038

I'd also like to leave a note wherever Jenny liked to hang out.

#I'm glad you've stopped by a few times, Tink, I hope you're well. If you'd like us to leave some supplies somewhere just let us know. It'd be nice to talk at some point, too.

Try to have some fun with your fireflies now that you can really move again.

-Omega.


>>376038

So, are you willing to go for the villain? If you have misgivings I'll gladly take the cabal.

>>376041
Nah, take the villian.

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>>376036

Jeb has not shared his age data with you. You can access it of course, but it'd violate his privacy settings. All you know is that it's more than 5 years away, because that's when the default shifts from no to yes.

>>376034

The drone drives itself to Stepola's house and nudges the doorbell with the hydraulic ram; a relatively convincing picture is held in front of the door spyhole.

Paul Stepola opens the door; he looks a bit unkempt. The blast is extremely focused, and only breaks the spyhole on the door.

Your personnel records indicate that nobody has been hit by a lightning bolt in the 30 minutes before or after the drone completing its mission; the machine drives off to hide into a moving van, and you call emergency services to make sure Paul's wife receives medical attention should she go into shock.

>>376038

Vee hasn't; she reports sleeping very well in Night City, if anything.

MECs are known for doing a bit too many drugs, but since their controller automatically intervenes to prevent damage, there have been very cases of anyone stealing ot buy drugs or the like. Quinn has a past as a drug addict, and thinks she can take withdrawal better than most; her brain is flooded with serotonin while she's... well, you're getting very good telemetry, but no audio and video, although she says it will be on PPV in a few days. Whatever she's doing must be very enjoyable.

When the stuff wears off, however, she ends up crashing hard; rather than the usual reaction to narcotic withdrawal, Quinn sinks into a deep depression, crying her heart out and feeling useless for a whole day.

>>376042
>>376041

(Cabal, or extra villain for 15 years).

>>376041

Damien decides to teach you handwriting by means of sharing control of a waldo arm, and you write the notes to Jenny. While there is no answer, the fireflies in both bays eat the note with gusto. Eventually, one of the notes is answered on the back of the paper. "Thank you! I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I think I can go home from here. If I do, I'll visit everyone to say goodbye. before I do, promise!"

The handwriting is a lot more sure than it used to be.

>>376046

>#Villain

>Damien decides to teach you handwriting by means of sharing control of a waldo arm, and you write the notes to Jenny. While there is no answer, the fireflies in both bays eat the note with gusto. Eventually, one of the notes is answered on the back of the paper. "Thank you! I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I think I can go home from here. If I do, I'll visit everyone to say goodbye. before I do, promise!"

The handwriting is a lot more sure than it used to be.

Well, that's potentially alarming. I mean, that's good for her if she can get home, whenever and wherever home is.

># If you do get home, and you find someone who could help with averting all of this, I would appreciate if you passed along our plight.
Goodluck.

>Quinn sinks into a deep depression, crying her heart out and feeling useless for a whole day.

Was it worth it, Quinn?

Also, fuck yeah, production run drones are maybe a go.

>>376046
Hmmnn serotonin is a no. And I predict dopamine is going to be just as bad. Guess we should see if there's anything we can do to cheer Quinn up.

Lets send Jenny with message from the future asking for help. We desperately need it. That is if she gets the message.

Question: What would collapsing the canopy actually do?

The Earth is flattened so, are we looking at only a slight rise in sea levels or, how thick is the canopy again? Are we talking about the world being a bog now?

God promised not to flood the Earth but, we could do it for him.

:^)

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>>376050

Quinn shares a few personal details about her pre-MEC life with you, on condition of secrecy, about her experiences with various chems. She feels that it'd be very easy to get MECs addicted to serotonin, and... well.

>>376050

The drone has done its job; its automation distance is three (humans built the machines that built the machines that built the drone), and you set it as standard. You have the beginnings of a drone army.

>>376052

Jeb does a bit of math: the canopy is not that thick, but it does ensphere the Earth. You're looking at a sea level rise of approximately fifteen meters, which yes, would turn the world into a bog or at least severely eat into every coastline and force a lot of relocations. Of course, if you know that it's coming, it's survivable; you've desalinated worse.

>>376051

Assuming that Jenny can indeed "go home", what will you ask for?

>>376054

>Assuming that Jenny can indeed "go home", what will you ask for?

Help. We don't know a lot about her home. I'd like to ask her more if she comes to say goodbye.

I'm assuming that transit isn't actually easy so

Line of regular contact>
Expert on narrative causality / trans(dimensional?) travel >
Information about narrative causality / trans(dimensional?) travel >
Anything else she thinks can help. Be it other people, information or maybe her Granny happens to own an army.

>She feels that it'd be very easy to get MECs addicted to serotonin, and... well.

Oh my.

Hey Anti, here's what I'm thinking:

Next year we give Vee and Jeb a launch.

We start preparing the transmitter and angel catcher with a 'go' the year after. Build all of that stuff and ready some drones to help with the catcher.

Establish more internet dominance to enhance the message penetration of the packet and to secure our hold before we jam the airwaves and force everyone online into our arms.

Keep encouraging pagan worship, and aside from that we'll see what needs doing as we go?

>>376057

Jenny shows up in one of your datacenters; she came out of the restroom, which is one of the few unmonitored area, with no record of her getting in from anywhere.

"I've already said goodbye to Kat and Damien and the others... except Jeb. I think that you're in a future. Maybe we can bury you a box of goodies, and you can find it? This started with a treasure hunt, it should end with one..."

Jenny tells you that her Granny does not own an army, but was really good at smuggling stuff in our out of things. "I don't know how it works here. Imagine one of your greenhouses, or... No, imagine one of your PC shops like they were when I first showed up. You know, big room full of wires, everyone sort of improvising, every thing sort of cobbled together? Okay, so that's what home looks like. Yours looks more like... Well, one of your PC shops now. It's all nice and clean and there's one thing in control and all the machines work nice together and all look the same. Only... My future's been around a lot less than yours."

http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/Tripocalypse.Tripocalypse.html

She thinks that she can tell Granny to leave you a care package. "What'd you like? Movies? Books? Seeds?"

>>376054

>Quinn shares a few personal details about her pre-MEC life with you, on condition of secrecy, about her experiences with various chems. She feels that it'd be very easy to get MECs addicted to serotonin, and... well

"I'll prepare a multilayer encryption, 100 number and letter password and admin lock the file myself. You can speak freely."

>>376061
Sounds good Sara.

>>376065

Quinn details a few stories about her life and the various stupid things she did in it. "There's actually something in what TOL are doing. If the fight continues.... well, you'll have a lot of MECs running around. And they'd be really easy to control. Serotonin, dopamine... no real ill effects other than the crash after. A patch to the metabolic controller and you could have everyone just love to obey you. Are we replacing a god-tyrant with another, Omega?"

>>376063
We need data files on magic,mythology,scientific developments, arms and armor, just about everything we don't have that can bring tyrant to kneel.

Also, any kind a weapon, armor, or technology that can fit and be reverse engineered. . . They do have floppy disk or USB drives in your time right?

>>376063

Books>Seeds>Advice from her Granny about how she manages it all>Anything she can think of after she's heard this tale.

Give your Granny a hug from future computer. Send Jenny back with some technical blueprints for useful stuff while we're at it.

>Are we replacing a god-tyrant with another, Omega?

No. We're going to become gods.

Besides, I think that in a thousand years once the house is in order, I'll take my leave for new horizons, up there somewhere.

>>376067
" . . . . You have a new order. If that becomes the case after we kill tyrant. Shut me off."

>>376072
You left out the not dummy!!

>>376070
>>376072

Jenny hugs the nearest technician in lieu of you, excuses herself to the restroom, and she's gone. She leaves coordinates that correspond with a small hamlet on the Ligurian coast.

>>376074

Quinn smiles. "Can do. I've fought the shakes off before."

>>376076

But I don't mean not. The best security against another tyrant is to engineer a god. Specifically, probably some uplifted post-humanity composite.

Not a god to rule over humanity, but humanity to become deified in capability.

>>376076
>>376072

(Freudian slip?)

>>376063

You have 19 cabals total; 14 are available. Coordinating more than 20 will increase overhead.

You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets (see picture). Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

Variable complexity:

# Launch an attack on a TOL base or government installation.

# Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.

Complexity 0

# Try to produce drones in the Greenland base (80%)

Complexity 1

# Survey out the Ligurian Coast for a time capsule.

# Foster pagan worship.

# Improve morale.

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up an enemy team.

# Perform a covert operation (such as scouting Antarctica or Greater Jerusalem).

Complexity 2

# Build the Emissary and deploy it with the Tabernacles representatives for Osaze or for Pacifica.

# Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.

# Produce drones at any base. Current focus: Medium-sized land drones. Current army size is marked on the bottom of the map.

# Work your Osaze or Pacifica base overtime to improve prosperity.

# Use the Australia or Eastern Europe base to start bringing the territory under your control (1/5)

# Seed super-grain in a territory. The hope is that it will make life more boring for the inhabitants.

# Keep working on your production facility in Greenland.

# Build a land-bound radio jammer.

# Build an angel trap.

Complexity 3

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules, but the Cosmists will assist your efforts here, counting as one cabal regardless.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero or enemy team (by force or by cleverness).

# Use a launchpad for a canopy-breaching launch. Station structure: 0/8

# Build a land-bound transmitter.

Complexity 4

# Continue AI, nuclear or sonic research. (Nuclear research will focus on botany and engines ). (Sonic research needs a new direction: medium or heavy)

# Begin building a base in the Middle East, South Africa, or American Heartland.

Complexity 5

# Recruit. This has gotten significantly harder across the board.

# Take over a TOL base by force.

>>376081
... yeah about that. It looks like the best security against a god is about to become a group of angry pissed off humans with their minds intact. I'd rather not rile the slumbering giant that is humanity against us.

>>376081

Your sysadmins indicate that eventually it will be possible to integrate experience-sharing telecom equipment in the metabolic extension controllers.

>>376061
>>376084
Ok Sara, how do you see this working? also let's get that cache.

>>376088
That would be good for missions where on group would have to break off with another. But.. the applications outside of that sound concerning.

>>376089

Putting together a post. I think we should build the transmitter and trap out in Australia. What do you think? Eastern Europe is tempting but, I really don't want to lose that base in the fighting and attention.

>>376090

Sometimes change is scary.

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>>376090

If the long term goal is expanding across space, it's a viable strategy.

>>376092

Oh come on now! We could choose blindsight for our cosmic horror!

Or the culture if we want to be optimistic!

Or maybe a fire upon the deep!

>>376095
I would rather go the warhammer route. Although the imperium would have no Emperor or church that preaches death to everything non human. Instead it would preach death to all that doesn't take a step back when humans are coming through.

>>376100

(So, The Culture?)

>>376095

(That's actually not to far from what MECs end up looking like when they're going to go pick a fight... or go without bio maintenance for too long, since it's easier to find a workshop than a clinic)

>>376084

># Finish the greenland base.
(self)


># Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.
3 Cabals. Damien.


># Survey out the Ligurian Coast for a time capsule.
1 Cabal. Capt. Weaver.


># Foster pagan worship.
1 Cabal. Quinn.


># Build an angel trap.
2 Cabals to get it built. We'll man it later. Set it up in Australia. Kat.


># Build a land-bound transmitter.
3 Cabals. (This can jam, correct?) Australia, probably pretty close to our angel trap.


># Use a launchpad for a canopy-breaching launch. Station structure: 0/8
3 Cabals. Jeb + Vee(Have fun).


># Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.
1 Cabal (night city). Any idle bases.


Thoughts, Anti?

>>376105
2 Cabals on network infanstructure. Put one onto MEC production. All bases possible.

>>376109

My thinking there was that:

1) We're going to need network infrastructure soon.

2) The next cabal is basically not a cabal because it just gets sucked into increased overhead when we hit 20.

3) Realistically, at best, we'll get 2/3 ticks. Which means next turn we need one anyway. This way we maybe get 1/3 this turn, then the next we can focus on getting 2/3 for a cabal.

Doing it my way means we get a cabal at about the same time, but we get our internet dominance before we switch on the transmitter.

>>376112
Ah, nice math work, we take yours.

>>376117

Cool.

Inb4 bad rolls and my plan is out the window. Lel.

On the plus side, greenland next turn! So if it doesn't build drones, it's probably a MEC tick for sure.

Also, spirit, is greenland going to be 1 MEC tick per turn or more?

>>376105
># Use a launchpad for a canopy-breaching launch. Station structure: 0/8
Is the space program still illegal in Osaze or did that change?

>>376123

I think it's okay? (Spirit?)

I mean, we basically legislated the federal government into oblivion, so they hopefully shouldn't have much jurisdiction in that area.

Otherwise, uh, we may need to replan some stuff.

#Move 3 degrees of separation drones to the launch facility, just in case we need some extra muscle besides the 2 cabals.

>>376123
Nah were going to have to pull off a caper. So we need to give out Cannopy breachers some heavy support and do it somewhere the authority won't expectt.

>>376130
>>376127
>>376120
Put Quinn and Damien on the launch.

>>376132

Let's wait for an answer from spirit, first. I think we need at least one villain on the networks. I can part with Quinn on pagan though.

>>376105
>>376109

(Y'all tell me!)

Weaver takes a speedboat and cruises up and down the Ligurian coast, armed with a set of coordinates. Unfortunately, it looks like that there's a small fishing hamlet where the time capsule is buried.

# Have her and her crew try to get permission to dig.

# The hamlet is mostly Christian, they'll have to be pushed off.

>>376105

Jeb and Vee don't often get to work together, but synergise pretty well. They start working on the launch; you have a launchpad in Misrayim, and one that canb e reached in the Caucasic region.

>>376120

The automated base in Greenland can be used to do anything that a base does with half the manpower. It would be best to build drones here, to make sure that nobody gets zapped if you fight believers, but it's not mandatory.

>>376127
>>376123

Manned space launches are still illegal in Osaze; enforcing the ban wouln't be particularly easy for the government.

>>376132
>>376127

Jeb and Vee train for the first sustained stay in space in almost a millennium; Valentina does most of the engineering that Jeb can't do, which relaxes Vee somewhat as the Cosmist is a bit less seat-of-her-pants-y than the test pilot is. The flight envelope is simple: the new capsule, named VG'r because it was the fastest way to end an argument between calling it Voshkod Redux or Gemini Redux, will carry Jeb and Vee to the canopy, deploy impellers, and swim to the ice layer. There, Vee will use a wubber to make a proper hole in it. Once the capsule emerges, it will let the ice reform around it. Jeb and Vee will go on EVA to deploy grapnels and a circular vibrating shroud which will be used to allow subsequent capsules to "dock through" and be able to pull themselves up through the canopy; from there on, building a station will be relatively easy. Unlike Skylab and MIR, the nature of this project will probably required manual work until construction robots can be sent up.

Val, Vee and Jeb are not at all worried about legal issues; what can the Osaze government do about it exactly?

As far as secuiryt goes... (Hope the above answers your questions, so you tell me who else works on this!)

>>376137
Have to be pushed off. What if we .... nah. What if we tried the grave robbers approach? A quick nighttime dig with several people standing watch.

>>376137

># Have her and her crew try to get permission to dig.

>Manned space launches are still illegal in Osaze; enforcing the ban wouln't be particularly easy for the government.


I'm willing to risk the ire of the government. Maybe god gets involved this time with more than lightning but I'd prefer doing it close to home, in a territory where we have the support of the people, with a proud memory of the last launch over the middle of nowhere with TOL snooping around.


>(Hope the above answers your questions, so you tell me who else works on this!)

#Move Quinn to it on security, and drumming up local favor so that we can just ask some cops to walk away on a promise that colossus will take care of them if they're fired.

>>376142

Let's ask nicely first. If we have to shove, then so be it.

#What would it cost to just buy the land?

>>376146
I doubt that would be an option. They. Might pray to God and ask if the purchase should be made. Then we would just get a veto.

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>>376142
>>376146

That's a little expensive, mostly because the people have been there a long time, and because they don't particularly want to sell land to unbelievers.

While this can be arranged, to avoid disrupting operations, you'd have to dedicate a base to producing consumer goods; if the region had a Colossus system of course you could get it immediately and let the subsystem absorb the inflation over the course of a couple of years.

The grave-robbing approach is cheaper, but has some danger to it; there was a global earthquake and centuries of subsidence, so the capsule will have moved, necessitating multiple attempts. You can tell that Weaver favors this option by the plushie parrot she's wearing on her shoulder.

>>376144

Quinn's approach to making sure the launch happens without any incidents is simple: very sloppily have a group of fans declare that they're occupying a warehouse owned by believers for an industrial concert the day of the launch, and that it's going to be the loudest bang since the big one.

The reaction is enormous; all the area's police force surrounds the warehouse, from which indeed very strange noises are coming, only to find Quinn banging on various tautly mounted metal sheets and using the whole warehouse as a resonator. She appears drunk off her ass and claims that this is half of her grudge match with Vee about who can be louder tonight.

The psalties swiftly move in to arrest her, and she lets them. She does a runway walk from the warehouse to the paddy wagon, at the end of which she effortlessly slips off the handcuffs by bending her hand in a way that required adding a few joints to it, points towards Timbuktu, makes a sad face, and says, "Oooh, look at that, I lose..."

The launch is successful; Jeb and Vee get to the canopy in a few minutes. This time around, the media coverage is handled much better - Sky Eyes triangulate the capsule's arrival, high resolution cameras document the event from the ground, and when government forces get to the launch pad, the complex has already been put back on shutdown, so they have little to do but put police lines around it.

# Broadcast the crap out of this.

# Citizens are filming; let them take the lead.

>>376151

Pretty much; the reason why a whole base-year worth of production is necessary is that you'd have to set up a chain of buyers, and at least some rings of the chain would have to actually need to get a very good deal.

>>376152

>>376152

Grave robbing it is. Pirate Cpt Weaver.

># Citizens are filming; let them take the lead.

May as well. It's sort of the culture of the place at this point.

Willing to bow out to Anti's vote if they'd prefer to broadcast.

RIP everyone.

Bed time?

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Rolled 34 (1d100)

(mind if I pass out in a bit?)

>>376155

The illegal launch is intentionally given scant media coverage and Osaze media indicates that should anything go wrong, no rescue attempt will be made. The podcast by Valentina offers a nuanced reply as to why that's Not Even Wrong, after which the livestream goes to various amateur planespotters who are monitoring the VG'r.

The capsule drops the second stage and dives into the canopy; Vee and Jeb sound cold and professional. A trailing wire works as an antenna and shows the surreal spectacle of a submarine at the edge of space.

The capsule anchors itself to the bottom of the ice, and Vee vibrates a hole in it to Also Sprach Zarathustra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLuW-GBaJ8k

The canopy cracks on the last notes, just a couple of beats early, and Jeb pushes the impellers to max. Vee is transfixed by the night sky, and this time, you're getting good video of it. Jeb is just grinning ear to ear.

The capsule gets to unbroken ice, and drags itself on shore with one of the grapples; the two cosmonauts put their vacuum suits on and get out hand in hand after bumping helmets. They quickly deploy the grapples and circumscribe the hole in the ice with the tensostructure designed for it; the grapples will be used to "ice fish" subsequent capsules. The two cosmonauts install the solar panels that will operate the winches, then set up a telescope, and finally lie down on the ice to just watch the stars while the automated instrument registers itself on star charts that haven't been updated in a thousand years. Valentina is a bit jealous, but she's up on the next flight.

The telescope is a fairly small half-meter aperture dealie, hooked up to a high res camera talking to the dangling antenna, and will remain there until a better one is brought up. For the first time in generations, people can get a current view of the Milky Way.

Ely LeVey's commentary is superimposed on the livestream, just for fun. "And God said, Let there be rips in the firmament, for signs and marking of the seasons.... This is a misguided effort, for no signs are necessary in this dispensation. How do they call this progress? They would bring us back to the age of superstition!"

The view is breathtaking. The relatively short air supply more so.

# Shore up the grapples and align the solar panels.

# See if the star charts are still accurate.

# Let Jeb and Vee stargaze a bit, what the hell.

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>>376183

(sorry, that took a bit to type in. I'm okay with going horizontal)

>>376188

>(mind if I pass out in a bit?)

Go for it. I'm not going to hold you here! I'll get some rest soon, too.


># Let Jeb and Vee stargaze a bit, what the hell.

I'm going to go ahead and hope that Vee decides she wants to stick around to see more of this.

>>376192

(Also, thanks for all the fun!).

Hope you're around tomorrow.

>>3761883

# Shore up the grapples and align the solar panels.

can we have them do this while on our end we or someone else

# See if the star charts are still accurate.

I want this done quick and proper. That way if anything goes wrong we can handle it.w e have no room for failure this time.

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Rolled 59, 91, 80 = 230 (3d100)

>>376196
>>376549

(Y'all tell me!)

>>376105
>>376117

While Jeb and Val poke a hole in the sky, Capt. Weaver is poking a hole in the sand; hopefully the capsule will be under the beach. She does ask the locals if they've found something like that, but they answer in the negative. The set of coordinates is pretty unambiguous; something must have moved around. Annoyed, they have to go home empty handed, at least for now.

Quinn has her own headcanon when it comes to mythology, drawing more from Sailor Moon than Selene, but keeps it mostly in her pants, so to speak, and lets her team do their work. By now, revivalist subcultures (with different levels of historical accuracy or care for it, and with different pantheons) are a fairly common sight in the territories under your soft control. In Night City, a shrine to Haephestus has been built over a small geothermal vent.

A dummy quarry is dug by Kat and her workers in the Australian base, starting from an unsuccessful prospecting point; various weapons, including neutron beams, are hid in the rock cliffs in such a way that they can quickly break out of it. The place ends up looking rather alien... or maybe it's just because it looks like those old Star Trek or Doctor Who sets. The quarry itself is a funnel; the actual trap is a cavern that opens up to the quarry. A small circular train track is built, just big enough for two mine carts used as bogies to carry a confinement pod; this will spin in circles around the rock strata in the quarry, being visible within the cavern where there's a little "station" for it; signs indicate that there's another "station" at the base proper, but in truth the subterranean track just goes round in a circle.

Nearby there, a transmitter is built; the design ends up marring the natural beauty of Ayer's Rock a little bit, consisting as it is of a series of horizontal antennas that are mounted atop the rock formation in a spiral pattern; ocean and canopy reflection should do the rest. The expectation is to be able to overpower one of the standard AM channels, number 18, or jam most radio transmissions on the planet for a little bit, forcing people to rely on the wired data network. Of course, this also disables your transmissions, although the jammer's "woodpecker" white noise bursts are timed to try and not mess with Sky Eye positioning signals.

The Only Light attacks the Australian base again, but with two concurrent projects there, they are soon surrounded by Heavy MECs who happen to be testing anti-Angel weapons. Kat doesn't hold a grudge, and lets the survivors limp away. Those who don't end up being used as natural scale skull-and-crossbones signs for the radioactive parts of the quarry.

>>376188
>>377124
# Shore up the grapples and align the solar panels.

We need the grapples and solars set up properly for the next space launch

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>>377124

Damien finds herself missing Jenny a little, but can symphatise with her wanting to go: her timeline, assuming it's not just all in her head, sounded like a less dreary place. She has her own way to keep your hackers motivated, and they shore up your systems enough that going on the attack makes sense again. You estimate that your systems underlie enough of the internet that you can perform 51% attacks on blockchains with little effort.

# Retaliate against Bahira, just for fun.

# Focus on defense instead.

# Mess with TOL.

# Mess with the Millennium Force; they've been quiet lately, but even so.

>>376549
>>376196

You use the telescope to find the North Star and start re-registering sidereal and planetary positions. Well, at least it looks like the Geocentrists were wrong and this isn't some sort of pocket dimension... (QM note: If you had gone for canopy weapons, that would have been the case).

One problem is that the canopy breach is right on top of the Timbuktu launch complex; it's a good spot for it, very close to the equator, but the launch complex itself has been formally seized and there's an arrest warrant out for Vee and Jeb (Quinn easily outran the police after her stunt; she took two bullets in the back, but that was a matter of spending twenty minutes in the infirmary and adding the bullets to the jar where she's been keeping them). Space launches are still glamorous enough that this won't be much of a problem, but as they become routine and the public loses enthusiasm as it happened pre-Rapture, this may become an issue.

>>377157
>>376549

After an innocently tender moment, Jeb and Vee are reminded that they're there to work, and double-check on the grapples and winches, discovering that one had not penetrated the ice correctly and may have caused an issue for the next load. They deploy solar panels, make sure that the telescope is set up correctly and can transmit, and do a quick walk-around of what will be the base site - right now it looks like a metal ring surrounding a hole in the ice, with three small derricks at 120 degrees to each other holding the winches.

All this done and with a few minutes left in the air tanks, they get back to the capsule, hoist it to the side of the "fishing hole", and swim down the canopy; once they're at the bottom end of it, they deploy the inflatable heat shields and let themselves drop. Jeb and Vee's parachutes open at the intended altitude, and the two glide down a little bit into the hands of a recovery truck; the capsule can be taken apart for materials by the next crew and added to the hab that will be built.

# Just get Jeb and Vee home quickly.

# Let's see what happens if they are arrested.

>>377220
# Focus on defense instead
Let's not kick the hornet's nest.

# Just get Jeb and Vee home quickly.
The more flustered the gov the better.

Also, how is public opinion on the new Jerusalem government and the treatment of non believers now?

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>>377290

The people in Misrayim are generally uninterested in the nominal government and are doing well without it; the occasional ultra-libertarian group makes some waves, but never quite manages to rise to prominence due to subtle interference by the Colossus system. Elections still happen, the voting age has been raised to 100, MECs are legally considered dead and forbidden from voting, ensuring that only Christians vote in territorial elections. This has very little effect on daily life; the nominal government is in Sharm-el-Sheik and has been pretty hogtied by the fact that it's bound to respect small-government principles. Greater Jerusalem is close geographically but distant in people's mind.

The people in Pacifica are more divided on the issue; Christians are no longer the majority but they are still by far the largest subculture. In general, people are more laid back than in Misrayim.

The people in most other territories are at peace the situation, partially because those who disagree with it move to one of your territories.

Jeb and Vee make a clean getaway and in a few weeks police presence in an otherwise deserted launch complex stops; you have some lawyers go in front of the court and point out that anything that Jeb and Vee did outside the canopy was outside territorial jurisdiction. This should tie things up for a while.

After the Feast of the Tabernacles, the Emissary is put in the museum just outside the Temple courtyard.

>>377367

You have 20 cabals total; 14 are available.

You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets (see picture). Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

Variable complexity:

# Launch an attack on a TOL base or government installation.

# Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.

Complexity 0

# Try to produce drones in the Greenland base (80%)

Complexity 1

# Keep looking for Jenny's time capsule.

# Foster pagan worship.

# Improve morale.

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up an enemy team.

# Perform a covert operation (such as scouting Antarctica or Greater Jerusalem).

Complexity 2

# Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.

# Produce drones at any base. Current focus: Medium-sized land drones. Current army size is marked on the bottom of the map.

# Work your Osaze or Pacifica base overtime to improve prosperity.

# Use the Australia or Eastern Europe base to start bringing the territory under your control (1/5) (1/5)

# Seed super-grain in a territory. The hope is that it will make life more boring for the inhabitants.

# Complete the construction of your production facility in Greenland.

Complexity 3

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules, but the Cosmists will assist your efforts here, counting as one cabal regardless.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero or enemy team (by force or by cleverness).

# Use a launchpad for a canopy-breaching launch. Station structure: 1/8

Complexity 4

# Continue AI, nuclear or sonic research. (Nuclear research will focus on botany and engines ). (Sonic research needs a new direction: medium or heavy)

# Begin building a base in the Middle East, South Africa, or American Heartland.

Complexity 5

# Recruit. This has gotten considerably harder across the board.

# Take over a TOL base by force.

>>377378
How many cabals would it take to start negotiations to end hostilities in Australia? Specificly through diplomacy.

Also, do we have enough infanstructure to steal some of TOLs designs for sonic tanks? Or did we already take those?

>>377395

Infiltrating TOL could be interesting in that sense. They've definitely done some work on your MEC tech that you haven't.

As for Australia, that depends on the general TOL plan. It is a different kind of "attack", and will benefit from more people and the appropriate Villains.

>>377378
Finish the Greenland base.
2 cabals.

2 cabals to find Jenny's time capsule Vee
She probably has a trick. She can pull with sonics to find the capsule.

2 cabals. And Damien on infanstructure.

Space research. 3 cabals. Jeb and ... what are Weaver's skills?

>>377482

Capt. Weaver is a skilled sailor and very good at getting a small crew to work together well. She's also pretty good with improvisation; unlike Quinn, she's human, which may made her more useful for some infiltration mission.

>>377482
No, let's use no villians on infanstructure.

>>377508
Alright. Thanks. Let's put Weaver on the production facility.

>>377378
Improve moral, Kat.

Tie up the missionary's in the territory where night city is. Quinn.

one cabal to foster pagan worship, Hephaestus. And keep an eye out for any sudden improvements in crafts.

Finally. Two cabals on MEC production. That should be fourteen .

>>377542
Moral and missionary ineffectiveness have one cabal. I think I may have left that very unclear. Sorry. Very sorry.

>>377367
Omegas personal bonus action.

Send a message to TOL, stating we are willing to negotiate a treatise to cease aggression in interest of conserving their manpower and letting focus on our work a little more.

>>377523
>>377482

Space research focuses on how to most efficiently launch into actual space from the canopy; an ISRU system that will turn canopy water into hydrogen and oxygen for propellant is designed and prototyped.

>>377542

Kat takes time to work with your MEC'd agents, making sure each has time to learn how to feel at least a bit of pleasure again; her own time is spent giving cooking lessons on OmegaTube.

>>377594

While there is no direct answer, an answer comes to the Australia base: leave or be forced out. It appears that TOL wants the nuclear mine... That said, their attacks haven't been particularly competent.

>>377523

The Greenland base is completed without much fanfare, and a test run of drones pulled out of the assembly line.

>>377482

Should Damien and her group work in Misrayim or Pacifica?

>>377542

Quinn rather enjoys playing hide-and-seek with missionaries in Eastern Europe; Night City isn't quite self-sufficient, nowhere really is, and the distraction makes it possible to build an ACTUAL underground monorail line to a nearby river port.

Vee begins her farewell tour; as a DJ, she's only so good, but she's a known and respected figure amongst your forces now. Her new ethereal style has been rather influenced by her space trip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX5qLHS83QM

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>>377623

Tsion ben-Judah has finally gotten around to looking at the Emissary drone; the drone has been carting people around the Temple Courtyard, giving you a pretty good map of the location and its surroundings.

He decides that the Emissary should be sacrificed.

# Talk to the guy first.

# Let it happen.

>>377378
># Keep looking for Jenny's time capsule.
1 cabal. Assign Weaver
># Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.
2 cabals. All bases. Assign Quinn
># Complete the construction of your production facility in Greenland.
2 cabals.
># Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.
2 cabals. Assign Vee.
># Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules, but the Cosmists will assist your efforts here, counting as one cabal regardless.
2 cabals in Australia. Assign Jeb.
># Build a launchpad in Australia.
Is this still a valid option? If so 2 cabals.
# Attempt to eliminate a Hero or enemy team (by force or by cleverness).
Eliminate an Australia TOL cabal. Assign Kat and Damien.

>>377634

(Not sure, should I go back, or is this for next turn?)

>>377634
Made a mistake. For this
># Attempt to eliminate a Hero or enemy team (by force or by cleverness).
That should be 3 cabals.

>>377639
Oh sorry, seems I got here too late.

>>377642
>>377649

(No worries! Next turn maybe?)

Should Damien do her infrastructure work in Osaze or Misrayim?

Should the Emissary try to talk to Tsion?

>>377642
It's alright. We're going to have fun pushing TOL out later.

>>377667
Do it in Misrayim.

And can we have the emissary do the r2d2 to indicate it's "scared of big mean mister Tsion"?

>>377667
>Should Damien do her infrastructure work in Osaze or Misrayim?
Pacifica
>Should the Emissary try to talk to Tsion?
No

>>377677
>>377694
Aww. But those whistles are funny.

>>377677

Damien's area of expertise is semiautonomous systems; she and her workgroup encourage using Sky Eye GPS to get people to build delivery 'bots and similar systems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urs68vf7ZFY

Tsion examines the beeping Emissary and orders it to drive itself to a side altar which has been designated to use with most of the unbelievers' non-food offerings that are to be dismantled; the altar is built in one of the Courtyard's corners and there's a discreet conveyor belt leading to a smelter.

>>377694
>>377677

(y'all tell me where Damien's working and what to do with Tsion!)

>>377719
Well. Just doing beeps and whistles while indicating the bot does not want to burn is technically not talking. Maybe have the bot backpeddle and lead Tsion on a chase through the city?

Ok Pacifica then. Although I though misrayim had a heavier Christian presence and I wanted to reduce it.

>>377719
I guess we can go with Anti's options.

.... it's going to be another long turn isn't it?

Let's just go with Pacifica. I don't really care what the robot does.

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>>377796
>>377677

Beep Boop! The Emissary is set to not speak unless spoken to (mostly because that way it doesn't need active monitoring) and meekly follows Tsion to the altar. Given how flat the Courtyard is, the wheeled chassis can definitely give a Glorified a good run.

# Run!

# The Emissary has done its job.

# Give Tsion some lip about it.

>>377795

Before long the streets of what used to be Portland and Seattle are invaded by a bunch of little robo-trucks delivering everything from coffee to zeppelin parts.


>>377719

Vee announces her retirement in favor of one Prokhor Zakharov; his approach is a bit more cerebral, and he's a better scientist than he's a team leader, but his knowledge of sonics is unrivaled. Vee's farewell tour is well attneded; that said, you don't know what happens to her - she gets one of those prototype stillsuits that never really worked that well, takes a very big dose of LSD with her (you've never known her for doing drugs) and walks into the desert.

>>377813

No. :P

>>377834
... that interesting. Guess that's one way to off yourself.


># Give Tsion some lip about it.
By doing a bunch oh frightened whistles and beeps at seeing the incinerator part of the alter and shaking.

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>>377858

The last images from the Emissary give a good indication of who is Glorified among the few onlookers for this sacrifice; they're the ones who aren't perturbed by the Emissary indicating distress. The natural priests and servants look away.

>>377897
Ummmm........ map please? Also I thought we put a cabal on searching for the cache this turn?

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>>377925

Yes, and the result was that Capt. Weaver and her team was asked to leave. Looks like digging won't do it...

You have 20 cabals total; 14 are available.

You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets (see picture). Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

Tsion Ben-Judah has been exhorting the Millennium Force to become more active in handling those who are beyond salvation, meaning MECs and drones.

Variable complexity:

# Launch an attack on a TOL base or government installation.

# Work on global data network infrastructure, incidentally making sure that you control more of it.

Complexity 0

# Produce drones in the Greenland base. This will eventually give you an automated army. (Each will give you 1/3rd of a tick)

# Build canopy station parts in the Greenland base.

Complexity 1

# Keep looking for Jenny's time capsule. Capt. Weaver's approach seems to have failed, in that she's been run out of town and asked to not come back.

# Foster pagan worship.

# Improve morale.

# Harass or sabotage a Hero, or tie up an enemy team.

# Perform a covert operation (such as scouting Antarctica or Greater Jerusalem).

Complexity 2

# Produce MECs at any base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base.

# Produce drones at any base. Current focus: Medium-sized land drones. Current army size is marked on the bottom of the map. (Each will give you 1/3rd of a tick)

# Work your Osaze or Pacifica base overtime to improve prosperity.

# Use the Australia base, or Night City, to start bringing the territory under your control (1/5) (1/5)

# Seed super-grain in a territory. The hope is that it will make life more boring for the inhabitants.

Complexity 3

# Continue pursuing space research. Space Race rules, but the Cosmists will assist your efforts here, counting as one cabal regardless.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero or enemy team (by force or by cleverness).

# Use a launchpad for a canopy-breaching launch. Station structure: 1/8

# Force an evacuation of the Ligurian hamlet (or kill everyone in it) then dig everything out.

# Trade a base's output for they ear in a complicate chain of deals that will result in friendlies owning the Ligurian village.

Complexity 4

# Continue AI, nuclear or sonic research. (Nuclear research will focus on botany and engines ). (Sonic research needs a new direction: medium or heavy)

# Begin building a base in the Middle East, South Africa, or American Heartland.

Complexity 5

# Recruit. This has gotten considerably harder across the board.

# Take over a TOL base by force.

>>377943
... didn't we send Vee instead of ... oh now I get it. Well let's busy. (One sec while I get to where I can swap devices.)