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Post by Kishar on Sept 17, 2017 1:31:37 GMT
As I had been making a tactical retreat from that rather fascinating technology I definitely needed to get my hands on and pick apart to figure out how it works, I found myself in a rather large clearing in the middle of a rather desolate forest. My anima had long receded after I had stopped over in a cave with good echoes so that I could employ Without Assumption for free and wait for my personal pool to replenish so I could teleport. I had found myself here, and more interestingly, I found what appeared to be a rift much like the one I had created before. At least, it seemed like it at first glance but the energy profile was all off. That and I rather quickly realized that it wasn't giving off any traditional light signitures, isntead it seemed to be invisible without magical sight. It wasn't pure Essence, it was made of the same stuff that seemed to be used by the others I had run into and what seemed to be in the leylines in the ground. It was a bit of a mystery where it led, but honestly at this point I was probably better off heading through it than making my way slowly across this landmass. I didn't have my transport artifacts with me and I didn't want to be obvious when I was travelling, which limited my options rather severely. I wasn't a Night Caste, so if I wanted to tap into most of my power I ended up being extremely obvious. That was a bit of a problem here, as they seemed to take very badly to magic, for some inane reason I had yet to understand. Hopefully I could learn the language of this place that this rift led to as well, and even better would be if they shared a tongue with this place.
So, as it worked once, I decided to just go along with it and stepped through the portal. The transition was rather different from the one from before, likely due to less....distance for a lack of a better word between the connected points with this portal than the one I had made. I was sure I was still in the same dimension, just in a different place, as the way the world's magical energy was patterned was pretty much the same. The main difference was the sheer magnitude of it. The place I had been before ranged from almost no energy to rather low amounts, and this place seemed to be far closer to the volumes that naturally existed in Creation if I took into account the lessening of presence due to the theories I had on how the pattern compressed and locked the availability of a good amount of the energy that the Essence would normally carry. I could work with this far more than I could with the place that I had been before. It also seemed like reality was less...fixed than it had seemed in the other place. Either the presence of the large amounts of magical energy or something fundamentally different about this place made it far easier to shape and mold, as far as I could tell from the place.
That was definitely something good, that meant it would be easier to shape the land or even create demesnes with my Shaping rather directly. Right now though, I needed to find a good place where the leylines converged to make my job easier. Hopefully the place where they converged would be suited to my interests as well. With my plan of action decided, I quickly made my way to follow this leyline and look for the nearest place where it would intersect with another one, hopefully with even more nearby so I could hook a few manses together when all is said and done. I would probably need to just work on a single one first, which would slow me down more than a bit since I wouldn't be able to use Solar Sanctuary, partially due to the lack of the statues being ready, but also because it would be a waste to do without a few demesnes ready to be capped. Oh well, it wasn't bad to take things slow once in a while I guessed. A month wouldn't be too bad, I guessed.
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Post by shinzo on Sept 17, 2017 3:12:24 GMT
My task, such as it was, was slightly more roundabout than I'd prefer it to be. While my initial plan was much more simple than that, it wasn't any real trouble to get where I needed to now. It required the usage of several charms in order to do it over several different situations, but it was something that was pretty easy all told. After meeting one Mr. James Sullivan, an honorable civil servant in Sanctuary's employ, he performed a slight shift of my essence in order to accomplish a rather strange task...I stole his name. His identity. He wouldn't be any worse for it, of course, aside from having a rather long sleep imposed from another one of my techniques. If he had wandered around, he might find it difficult to interact with society without the use of his identity. Fortunately, my task should be over quickly, to the point that he would be able to rejoin society rather easily after I'd finished my usage of his name.
Going into his work, I spoke to his supervisor, stating to have heard the situation that heard last night, and wanting to deliver the location of the person who did it after some quick investigation work. It couldn't be hard, I argued. Surely, someone like that was very...loud. Very noisy. Very easy to track. The supervisor wasn't convinced, especially after I'd said I'd want it done within the day. Surely work took longer than that, didn't it? But when I said to the man that to just make the date today, and then to revise it as necessary, I was able to wrangle an agreement out of him. That, strange as it was, was necessary for another one of my charms. Truly, the fulfillment of strange, sometimes arbitrary requirements was a vital component of the Sidereal Exalted. Mastery of them, as well as of the Martial Arts that were our stock in trade, were what enabled us to be able to match the might and grandeur of the Solars....in a somewhat more subtle fashion. Fortunately for James Sullivan, I had used a different charm to make my existence less...stable in the eyes of Fate, at least temporarily. He shouldn't remember anything about the assignment when the real James wakes up the next morning, his name right where it was meant to be.
With that, I funnel essence into the formation of the Yellow Road, of the bending of fate to allow me to travel exactly where I needed to go to fulfill an appointment. I take a step through the myriad strands of fate, the only way to keep such an absurd appointment as to meet someone I don't know the location of and likely far, far away from my current location. Still, I didn't care about such things, and neither did the Charm. All that required was the fulfillment of an assignment or appointment. That was established, so I was able to step through to where I needed to go.
The place I wound up was quite different in feeling, though, as if it was someplace much more satisfying for my existence. Unfortuantely, at the same time, it also seemed considerably less civilized. Well, that didn't matter too much at the moment, as I was on business. More importantly, the Solar was only a short distance ahead of me. Heading up to meet her, I don't really hide my presence much at all. "Hey! Lady Kishar! Solar Exalted!" I call out, waving my hands as I run up to see her. I needed to play things quite naturally...not something that should be difficult.
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Post by Kishar on Sept 17, 2017 4:17:12 GMT
The Leylines here were rather fascinating, to say the least. Their flows, due to the patterns, worked much differently than the ones in Creation, that much was for sure. It would require further study, but I had a few different theories for it. I probably would need to develop an entirely different set of math and fundamental axioms to describe it all so I could properly work with it, but that much wasn't too difficult really. It just took a bit of time, experimentation, and observation. After all, at least basic logic seemed to still work similarly here, so the very basics of mathematics would work, even if the advanced magical field equations and such would need to be revised. That meant Calculus and Geometry likely were the same as well, which added more to what I could put together to make this world work to my whims. After all, that was what I was charged to do as a Twilight Caste. The Dawn Castes led the armies and were the champions of the Realm, the Zeniths were it's priests and leaders, the Nights its Assassins and Spies, and the Eclipse its adventurers and diplomats. As for the Twilights, it was our duty to understand and tame the worlds in which we found ourselves, be they Creation, the Wyld, or stranger realms. It always struck me as odd that we were all supposed to partake in the Zeniths job, and I rather disliked it since I had no real talent for it, at least by the standards of the Exalted. Sure the masses revered and respected me, I was one of the Chosen after all, but it wasn't something I really liked besides for the benefits of cult worship. It would have been so much easier to leave governance to the Zeniths and have the rest of us do our appointed duties. That was something that stuck with me about my time with the Sidereals. That was how they worked, functioning like a clockwork device, even if it was rusted and slow in places due to mismanagement, but that could be fixed. It wasn't a problem endemic to the system like forcing those who were not Chosen for a Job to do it.
As I considered that bit of what was on my mind, I heard a voice that sounded somewhat familiar calling out to me in Old Realm. I had not expected to hear that for a while, or perhaps ever again depending on how reliable my portals were. It was a sound that I was both happy and perplexed to hear, and they definitely seemed to know me. I turned around to see a rather familiar face, one of the Chosen of the Maidens in fact. His eyes quite immediately put him as a Chosen of Venus, the color rather quite striking and obvious to anyone who knew what to look for. His appearance was familiar...I recognized him but it had been quite a while since I had interacted with him or seen him personally, so he looked a good bit more handsome than the last time I had seen him. I believed his first name was Shinzo? His last name escaped me but that wasn't exactly important. What was more important was a bit of an odd thought about how he had gotten here. Perhaps the Portal had stayed open longer than intended and it connected to a specific moment in time here as well? Or perhaps the time only changed after I had moved through it, that explained it as well. Oh well, it wasn't exactly an exact science considering it was on the bleeding edge of motonic technology.
"Ah, yes? I believe your name was Shinzo, correct? Did you come all the way through the portal to deliver some message or try to call me to the feast or deliver some sort of message about the portal?" I asked, trying to figure out why exactly he was here in the first place. It struck me as a bit odd, but then again Sidereals could be quite attached to their duties, so it made enough sense if he was here to deliver a message that he might have ended up in this place. It was even possible it could have been on accident considering how some of their charms worked and if he had a deadline. "Or perhaps for some other reason? Oh well, it doesn't really matter. This place is quite fascinating, don't you agree? Things are so different and theres so much to learn and experiment on," I said, probably a bit more excitedly than one would expect a Solar to be. But then again, I was being a lot more lax in my image than usual, no other Solars were here to chastise me for it and my Sifu never cared for the preening and putting up appearances. "Even better, no damned politics to get in the way either, unless you're here to take me back."
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Post by shinzo on Sept 17, 2017 4:43:18 GMT
As she turns around and greets me, it seems there was no suspicion, no misgivings about my presence here. That was good. It was expected, but the Solar Exalted could be troublesome in all the most obnoxious ways. Still, I couldn't allow myself to grow careless. This was the most important part. First, I had to establish whether or not the Solar could return home as easily as she'd arrived...because I'd need to get back as well. Either way, the plan would depend on what her plans were. If they were a matter of returning home as quickly as possible, I would attempt to overwhelm her. If they were a matter of staying here over a longer period, I would do my best to ingratiate myself with her, increasing the strength of the Sapphire Veil of Passion before tying the bonds of ribbon I tied into a noose...though, perhaps just going all-out would be better? That...was a very cruel way to handle things, I think. I was settled on that...strange, I wasn't the type to second-guess myself.
Perhaps it was just inborn belief in the absurdity that was rebelling against the Solar Exalted? I couldn't let myself lose nerve, though. I had to remember I wasn't fighting for just myself. I was...I was working to be the hero to all Creation, to preserve it in it's time of need, when the Prophecy needed to be answered. I tried my best to put the Prophecy of Gold out of my head. It wouldn't work. Remember that. No matter how much you might want people to be as happy as they could be...you had to be realistic. But was being realistic what the Exalted were about? Shouldn't we try and find a way? Fortunately, I was able to mask the roiling doubt. After all...I was just here to do a job, wasn't I?
"Ah, no, coming to the Feast isn't necessary, I believe your mate was attending in your stead? We got your timely notice..." I say, responding to her point. "I actually arrived regarding a citation from the Bureau of Destiny, I'm afraid...I suppose it is about the Portal." Chuckling in a ingratiatingly awkward fashion, I look more than a little sorry for being the bearer of bad tidings. "I believe we sent a notice requesting proper notice and inspection of matters that use more than the prescribed number of motes, and that designs that rip tears in the fabric of Fate are to be done only after proper consultation with the Bureau?" All things that were quite true, but could only be enforced in the very loosest sense due to the utter defanging of the Bureau by the Deliberative. Citations? Ignored. If enough piled up, or if the offense was grave enough to warrant it, we could bring them before a tribunal. However, bribes and favors, outlawed in the Deliberative, were perfectly acceptable in the Bureaucracy, influence over gods that weren't even a part of the Bureau of Destiny could easily earn a solar a pardon.
As she goes on, I couldn't help but blink in surprise. The forthright eagerness and excitement was far different than what I'd expected, having seen this individual every now and then in Creation. She had always been...dismissive? I suppose that was the right word. Haughty. Prideful. Things one expected the Solar Exalted to be. But never this... "Things are quite different, yes. I saw your little spectacle in the city. I tried to get in contact with you, but you seemed to leave right when I was able to get close. Fortunately, bureaucracy and city life isn't so different than in Creation...though really, without Essence, everything is so much less convenient. A major city feels somewhat less civilized than a farming hab." I laugh at her complaint about politics. "Oh heavens no, I would never wish to tell a Solar Exalted what to do, at least, after we resolve the matter of the citation." He frowns. "Though...I suppose I would need a way back myself. I think I might have bitten off a bit more than I can chew...though, it's as good an excuse for a vacation as ever I've come across, so maybe that can wait a bit, hmm?"
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Post by Kishar on Sept 17, 2017 5:13:49 GMT
I sighed and shook my head when he mentioned why he was here, it was all that tiresome bureaucracy that always got in the way of research. So many bits of red tape that had no obvious signs of being supported by research as to why they needed to be there. It always seemed like they were just there so that it would make everything easier for the Bureaucracy. Laziness, Indolence, Corruption. Those were the things that came to mind when it came to the Bureaucracy at large, especially to the Gods of the Bureaucracy. Sidereals tended to be better, especially those who devoted themselves to the Martial Arts like my Sifu, but many a Sidereal was dragged into the mire and politics of heaven. It was akin to a swamp of corruption and nightmarish bureaucratic red tape. If I was in charge, I would drain that swamp in a heartbeat, making sure that everything ran as smoothly as one of my clockwork automata. Not that I could do that at the moment, I never really put too much effort into learning how to navigate Bureaucracies, but that was no issue. I was gifted enough in Lore to learn such a thing in the metaphorical blink of an eye compared to a mortal, as well as my fellow Solars who did not dip too heavily into the study of the Lore of the world and how knowledge works.
"Ah that tiresome thing. I had been half hoping that Salina was being an upstart as usual and trying to get everyone to the feast despite it being rather pointless ever since the invention of The Time is Now that allows us to bypass the need for a Calibration to summon Third Circle Demons," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head, "Its always sad to see the Chosen of the Maidens being forced to go along with the endless, pointless Bureaucracies of heaven. I just don't trust any of those regulations with all the absolute junk in them, and I have yet to see solid studies on the long term effects of essence knots in the loom so it just seems pointless to me. The spiders, and the gods in general frankly, could use a lot more work to do. It might help cut down on the indolence and corruption in Yu-Shan." That always bugged me, so I had more than a little bit of a bias against the Bureaucracy as a whole. It got in the way of my duties as a Solar, and it always seemed both superstitious and slow moving, leading it to always need to be dragged along the march of time if things were to ever change for the better.
"Ah! So you saw the pattern-disruption device that they were using? It was rather fascinating, it was done completely without any sort of essence use or use of the magical energies that pervade this land. It seemed to break apart the Essence from loose patterns like Essence Magic and probably our bodies, since we are rather loose compared to the natural composition of that area, and then convert it into some sort of mundane energy that seemed a bit like lightning. Perhaps that is how they power it. I'd need more samples to tell," I said, my speech rolling at a mile a minute as I explained what had happened to him in a rather undignified manner, a bit like an excited child who had seen something utterly new and different. I nodded at what he said about Essence and said, "Indeed, though I suppose without it theres a lot less threat from supernatural beings with that sort of technology. Most beings probably wouldn't be able to handle it."
I shrugged at what he said with the citation, "Being perfectly frank, I always hated the rigid and formal structure broken up entirely by what kind of Exaltation we are to be honest. I'm a Twilight, I'm a scientist not a leader of nations, yet I'm forced to take long breaks from my work to manage matters that my Mate isn't allowed to handle." I sighed as I said that and shook my head, "I always thought allotting roles based on capability would have made things work a lot better, but I guess that is just me looking at it from a Scientist's persepctive. A priest would probably go on about how as representatives of the Most High we have to rule like he does, but that always just rung wrong with me. Its just too much hassle not to act the part when the others are around. So don't worry about being too formal, I honestly don't care for it, perhaps its something I picked up from my Sifu." I pondered for a second about what he had said about getting back, "Well, my Mate was supposed to reopen it in a month or so but I'm not quite sure that will work now that Im over here and you seem to have ended up here far too close to me for Yu-Shan to have gotten the bureaucracy through for a Citation for time to flow similarly here and there, if there is any relation at all. I probably will need to build a portal from scratch due to the differences in coming and going from Creation," I said with a shrug, "So I guess a vacation is indeed in order. Probably nice to be away from all that red tape and formality I would imagine. I know I am glad to be rid of it."
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Post by shinzo on Sept 17, 2017 6:05:33 GMT
She...didn't trust the Regulations of Heaven. Of course she didn't. She couldn't trust the one damn thing that might pretend to have any authority over her actions. It made sense, after all, that was what Solars thought. They thought rules didn't apply to them, after all, they had the mandate to rule Creation, so why should anyone, even those in Heaven, have any sort of authority over them? "Well, I'm not just doing it because I'm forced to, you know...those rules -really- are there for a reason..." Seriously, what did she think the Sidereal Exalted were for but to manage the vagaries of Fate that Creation, that the very existence of the Exalted and the Wyld caused on the Loom? And that wasn't even mentioning the absurdity of saying the Spiders needed more work, beings so overworked and understaffed that when Sidereals, beings that they worked directly with came up with a Destiny that was too complex, they could grow so irate that they would bite that person's very strand of fate. I'd suffered Spider Bite on more than one occassion, and being told by this woman that it should be exacerbated further was rather infuriating. And, while I couldn't help but agree on the nature of the gods, but with Solars giving them cushy, protected positions with lavish amounts of wealth, who could blame them for growing indolent? It certainly wasn't something that she should be commenting on.
It was a miracle of my inner self-control that I managed to restrain myself then and there, and my desire to see the people of Creation gratified by a job excellently performed. Still, her explanation was rather interesting. I was no expert, but I did like dabbling in with the inteligencia of Yu-Shan, something of a trivia master while generally not the most explicitly solid on the fundamentals. It was enough, thankfully, to grasp what she was saying and respond with something resembling genuine enthusiasm, limited by hiding my distaste with her previous conversation topic. "I noticed that it was done without Essence, though how that's possible...I'd definitely like to see any results you come up with. Powering it with lightning...well, it's not the most absurd thing, I suppose...well, compared to an entire world that doesn't have Essence in anything close like the way Creation does."
Her commentary on Exaltations would be interesting to listen to, and it still was to a certain extent in spite of it, if it wasn't sounding suspiciously like the complaints of laziness and wishing that one simply focused on only what caught their fancy. Though, to an extent, perhaps I just couldn't relate. After all, it wasn't like a Sidereal had any real alternative to working in the Bureau of Destiny...those who took the path of the Ronin were cutting their lives drastically short chasing the illusion of freedom. So work outside of one's desires was not exactly something I found rare or unworkable. "I would posit that compared to the benefits that the possession of the Creation-Ruling Mandate grants, the few responsibilities it entails are not unreasonable." Her statement to dispense with pleasantries was a surprise, and I do so with pleasure. "Kishar, then." Well...that was tricky. Her mate was, if there was any causality between Creation and this place across the portal, dead. Killed at the Calibration Feast. "Hm...well, perhaps that's for the best then." It would be fine to let her operate under a misconception of a misconception, the Bureau of Destiny was one of the few segments that actually seemed to do it's job, and the citation that I used as my excuse was perfectly valid and legitimate, tendered almost immediately after her experiment activated. "And I could certainly stand to do so in worse company. I'm curious, did you know this place was here when you opened the portal? Or was it happenstance?"
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Post by Kishar on Sept 17, 2017 6:47:19 GMT
I sighed and shook my head about what he said, obviously more than a little exasperated. "Some of them, perhaps, but its hard to pick out the seed from the chaff when there is oh so much chaff and getting proper studies and results to verify the necessities of some of those regulations is so much of a hassle it's not even worth trying," I said with an exasperated sigh, "I'm a Devonian for Heaven's sake, I can't help but be more than a little skeptical about the entire thing when its so riddled with waste and corruption and I have yet to see actual studies for most of the rules on Essence use. Some regulations, like the issues with Salaries and how it could disrupt the Trade network and the other banking regulations for an Exalt of my kind of wealth are actually useful since they actually are rather obvious in how that would happen. Its more when there is little to no studies on something like the more long term effects on the Loom that make me skeptical when there's so much thrown in, not even counting Mandala bills." This was why I hardly bothered with the Deliberative and avoided it whenever possible. Too much pomp, preening, and politics for my liking and nothing of note ever seemed to get done. Not only that, but I had long ago noticed it was all a contest between Merela and the Hierophant, so I really didn't feel like getting in on their little fight. Nobody sane would probably want to get between those two, and I didn't exactly care for either of them. "Getting anything done in Heaven requires paying a bunch of indolent gods bribes that make them more indolent, hence I barely deal with them when I don't need to. I don't want to feed into the Malfeas damned system, its part of why I would rather take the citations than bother to get permission in advance," I said with a sigh and a shrug.
I nodded as I listened to him, his answer was mostly on point and only technicalities that were utterly irrelevant existed to be picked at, and I really could not be bothered right now. Too many other things were on my mind. "It does seem rather odd, though the directed weapons versions that you probably didn't get a good look at acted sort of like light. Perhaps its a similar phenomenon and they can excite some material with the lightning energy, then focus it with lens and mirrors to turn it into a laser beam. That might work for the directed energy, the bubble is a bit trickier, but with a bit larger sample size I should be able to figure it out," I said, only half talking to him as I thought to myself about it. That did seem like one of the more plausible hypothesis on how it worked, but I could not be sure until I got a closer look at it. Perhaps the bullets that they fired at me also worked in that manner, and perhaps it was that very same material that they used to do it? That would make the most sense, parsimony in theories was always the best. It would be odd for a metallic material to let out that kind of energy, but this was an odd world in general so I couldn't exactly rule anything out. I had to keep every possibility in mind until I managed to get more data and eliminate the impossibilities based on logic and empiricism.
I shrug, "I suppose, but I am unsure of why they place them on those who are not best suited for the job in the first place. Sure, I might not like it but my real objection is that I will never be as good at it as a Zenith unless I detract from the very purpose I was put on creation. Solars have the potential to be the best in almost every area, excepting things like Astrology, Martial Arts, and Shapeshifting, but each individual Solar has things they are good and bad at and they can be summed up in general by their caste, so it kind of is odd to me that things are not given more fine detail. It seems just to be sloppy design to me, like a clock with ill-fitting gears. Sometime it is bound to fail even if it manages to work for a short time," I said, shrugging as I said that. "As for the portal, well, I had an idea that some place was on the other side, though not much else. I prepared heavily before coming, setting myself with quite a few Vortices instead of hearthstones and preparing charges for my Hand and storing six spells on my phylactery along with stuffing as much as was physically possible, well more so than usual, into my elsewhere pockets. So, to get back to the point, a mix of both of them."
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Post by shinzo on Sept 17, 2017 7:21:54 GMT
What she said was...well, less nonsense than I expected. Sure, it wasn't like I was doing things arbitrarily, but it was also not the case that there was too much direct documentation besides the results of standard observation...though the observation was so clear that I'm surprised no one bothered to chronicle it. It was like requiring a dissertation that water was wet. I was more than a little confused when she brought up Mandala bills. "Erm...forgive me, but aren't Mandala bills the purview of Creation and the Deliberative? Celestial regulation is rather different, we do try and keep the rules as simple as possible, especially within the Bureau of Fate, where Sidereals are clustered and away from gods that can fall under..." I didn't want to say Solar. I didn't want this to become a direct, heated argument. "...influence." She might come to that conclusion, or she might not. It was difficult to say. "That's quite the problem if it's as you suggest, we do try to take care of Bureau of Fate concerns in a timely manner, but considering the fact that essence use is at levels that are frankly obscene, well, it might be hard to wait one's turn, but considering that tangles in the Loom, and the glitches in Creation they cause are a very serious concern, that it's best avoided whenever possible. Why it would be so difficult to accept this, I had no idea, but questioning Solars tended to give one a headache.
I listen to her explanation, nodding along. "That's certainly a possible theory...I apologize, I haven't focused on such matters, but then, you'd probably agree with me on why that's the case. One can only be specialized in so much, after all." It was all fascinating, but without access to the materials themselves one could hardly build anything more solid than an unfounded hypothesis, much less a theory or conclusion. "What sort of energy did the metallic have? It doesn't sound like the most odd thing, after all, given the myriad properties of the Five Magical Materials, it's not like there's some shortage of metals with strange effects. Maybe the bullets are just a condensed variation on the Magical Materials or some such." It wasn't the most solid explanation, but it was me working with what I had. Though, considering it was at the stage of tossing out hypotheses, it wouldn't be something too crazy as to be dismissed straight out of hand.
I nod as she explains things, but I shrug. "Perhaps the answer might be something as simple as the early Solar Exalted being greedy, and not wanting the Zenith Caste to have even functional power over them that rulership over a domain might engender? I can't imagine much reasoning is needed to see that's the case, after all, with a Dawn caste as Creation's queen for so long now, it's hard to imagine that power would cede over to the Zenith caste, even as Merela's power struggle with the Heirophant continues ever onward." I had to know a great deal about the Deliberative. After all...I was part of the Five Score Fellowship, and every single vote was necessary to provide united condemnation of the next great fiasco. Still, I nod as she explains her scientific analysis and the precautions she took. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing I was lucky. I didn't think anything like this would occur, so I was likely not as prepared as I should have been." I ruffle my hair, chuckling again, somewhat nervously.
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Post by Kishar on Sept 17, 2017 17:00:43 GMT
"Oh yes, the bills themselves are, but I believe the term is used in general for chaff and unnecessary bills and legislation? It has been quite a while since I bothered paying attention in the Deliberative even when I am obligated to be there. As I said, its a giant game of politics that I don't even have a vote in considering I long ago traded that for more autonomy over my domain, too much red tape for my liking within that," I said, sighing and shaking my head at that. "Its rather difficult to tell what is incompetence or inefficiency and what is the result of gods looking for bribery, at least from the outside when you aren't willing to even offer the bribes so many are looking for," I said with a shrug, "So please do forgive me if I'm a tad skeptical about that. Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations, but I was rather impressed with the capabilities of the Sidereals when I studied under my Sifu, so I suppose I might be asking far too much for things to go even a mote more quickly with all the graft and such in heaven. Even you can't duck all of that, it would be far too much Essence to have to use that charm all the time in Heaven after all." I chuckled a bit at my own joke and shrugged before adding, "It just seems like its a lot of interference in my duties as a Twilight without much documentation as to why its necessary. Taking things on faith is the purview of priests, not of Devonian scientists. It's not anything personal against the Sidereals, very much the opposite, perhaps I just have higher expectations due to my experiences with your competence."
I nodded, it made sense that he wouldn't be nearly as well versed in things as a Twilight like myself. His job was different, so it was no failing of his own that such was the case. After all, he was charged with the maintaining of Fate, not the pushing of all boundaries of knowledge like myself and my compatriots in the Twilight Caste. "Perfectly fine, you have other areas of study to focus on. Not a fault of your own, though I do think you probably have enough knowledge to understand with a bit more elucidation," I said, nodding to him before continuing, "The odd part was that I could not detect anything from it with my sorcerer's senses, it was as dark as a hunk of iron if not more so. Perhaps that was a result of it's properties, but such a thing cannot be sure unless I get my hands on a sample and run specific tests on it, and if it hides itself theres likely no way to tell if it is a strange mundane property or if it is like a magical metal. It was an entirely different paradigm of technology that I could only glimpse what I did off of it thanks to being so well versed in our own paradigm." I shrugged as I said that and added, "It is rather fascinating and I would love to see if I couldn't incorporate ideas from it at the very least into my own technology. Something like that would prove invaluable if I could tune it's sensitivity to choose for less rigid standards but within creation standards. It could be a valuable weapon against the Raksha if nothing else, and I figure it might be more modular than I am giving it credit for at the moment, it's just impossible to tell without more data."
I sighed and couldn't help but agree, "Bad design is bad design, despite how understandable the reasoning for it at least in my opinion. That would be like not criticizing and trying to fix an old clock with outmoded concepts simply because of it's age and the difficulty of doing it. now that Im out and away from all the taboos about talking bad about her, Merela might be a great warrior and general, but she is definitely not fit to have been given the Mandate personally. A single ruler will never work for the Solar Exalted, but I do think that having a government where issues are delegated to the different Exalts based on their specialties so long as it's all documented and argued is likely the best idea instead of having people who aren't related to things being brought into things instead of abstaining all because of the worth they can get for their votes in the Deliberative," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head. It was all a mess and it was something that I hated in general, why couldn't I and the other Twilights be left to handle the affairs related to our duties related to our Caste. I sighed and shook my head at that and said, "I have a replacement vortex or two laying around in sorcery induced stasis if you have skin mounts or don't mind me putting a few in you. It should help you with your Essence issues and let you regenerate it no matter where you are. I was also going to set up some manses when I had time, you actually found me while I was doing some scouting work to determine the area's geomancy so I could figure out how to properly direct it as well as doing some preliminary research into how to turn this magical energy into raw essence so that they become usable Dragon Lines. If you don't mind helping me with my work I would be glad to help you out, just a small favor really."
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Post by shinzo on Sept 17, 2017 17:50:39 GMT
She probably didn't mean it. I know I shouldn't take offense at it. But that little bit she slipped in at the end was very, very easy to mistake for a deliberate dig at the competence of the Chosen of the Maidens. As if we weren't beset by difficulty and obstruction on both the side of the gods of Yu-Shan, and by the Solar Exalted of Creation. Forced to straddle an uneasy middle ground...well, perhaps I could just say as much and judge what her reaction is. "Yes, it is rather difficult. After all, Sidereals are expected to operate both in Yu-Shan and in Creation, and well...the nature of our jobs doesn't win us many favors. It's a thankless, difficult job sometimes making sure Fate works without any snags or tangles. Even at the best of times, gods see us as upstarts or tyrants impeding on them, while a great many Solar and Lunar Exalted find our interferences annoying or unnecessary."
I laugh, trying to break the mood just a bit, though I'd likely dip back into it. "Don't worry about feeling that way, though, like I said, it's only natural. After all, as the rulers of Creation, it only makes sense that you wouldn't want any authority over you." I frown a bit. "But, considering you seem quite comfortable with leaving things to the experts, wouldn't you say what is and isn't the correct thing to do in regards to Fate and the Loom best left to the Maiden's Chosen? If you're going to second-guess the others all the way in regard to their respective focuses, it almost seems like it would be more troublesome than things as they are." I shrug. "If you'd actually put in a request to study or for such documentation, we likely could have provided it. Really, what you're suggesting is like someone writing a dissertation to prove that water is wet. It's something that is a matter of basic understanding that has gone back to the Maidens themselves."
Still...what she suggested was hard to pass up. The very idea, Cold Iron that acted with a power that was, if not on-par, but was comparable to that of the Magical Materials...there have been certainly attempts to alloy them together, but they almost always resulted in inferior results to both of them separately. "I can certainly see the appeal. Considering our work against the creatures outside Fate, I'd love to get my hands on some weapons that can more reliably destroy them then simply doing with mundane cold iron."
Coming back to the point on her ideas on how things should be arrange, I ponder what she said. "It sounds like you want to arrange the Deliberative into something closer to the Bureaucracy, if I'm being honest." It was likely something she would not take too well, considering her own misgivings about the Bureaucracy, but considering it was the truth, it wasn't hard to back up. "After all, the Bureaucracy is split into many different departments, with it being composed of Gods best fit for the individual goals, with a great deal of work going in to documenting necessary action and how it should proceed. The Sidereals only manage our own part, the Bureau of Fate, along with gods that operate under the Maidens' purview." I shrug. "I am only saying this because I feel like it has the very same, easy chance of deteriorating into cronyism and shadow government that the Bureau is under...though it's not like the Deliberative isn't that way currently, so it likely wouldn't be much of a change."
I shrug at her offer. "Sounds like an idea to me. I never bothered with skin mounts previously, mostly due to some probably superstitious fear and never truly needed them later. If they work fine and won't change me in ways that will disappoint the ladies back in Yu-Shan, of course...My looks are a pretty important asset to the Cerulean Lute of Harmony, after all." I laugh, showing that I was mostly joking. "Just tell me how I can best help you with what you're trying to do, then."
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Post by Kishar on Sept 17, 2017 18:37:17 GMT
I sighed and shook my head a bit at that, it was really a problem indeed. They needed to be able to do their job, but perhaps it was the way it was done that mattered. The main reason I was eternally frustrated with it was the amount of bureaucracy that went into the issue of getting documentation, really. It wasn't that I was second-guessing the effects of motonic exposure in the short term, it was more detailed long term consequences and proof that it was truly necessary to limit the experiments as much as they did to ensure that things were no longer detrimental to fate as a whole in an irreparable way. "I can imagine, though I do think we might be talking past each other here a little it seems. I am more talking about detailed long-term consequences of extreme motonic conditions on the Loom, rather than short term consequences such as tangling or the effects you refer to as glitches in Creation. Especially in regards to individual experiments and the differences in impact caused by the isolation precautions taken to prevent such things," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head, "I can only improve them so much without detailed information from experts in fate such as your kind and I can only divine so much from the speed of Citations and their severity, really. I'm not like some of my other colleagues, I do try my best to limit the side-effects of extreme motonic exposure, though admittedly it does stem more from the tainting of results that could come about as a result of it. So it is more than a little frustrating to see it treated the same way as my more reckless colleagues who don't even attempt to prevent such things," I added, a little bit vexed about how the Bureaucracy views things as utter categories instead of taking the time to process such things. There were only sixty twilights around, and only a handful of those were interested in or powerful enough to engage in the extreme end of high motonic experiments like myself. It couldn't be that difficult, now could it?
"It's less not wanting any sort of authority over me, it's more the nature of the authority that bothers me, to be frank. As I said, I'm a scientist, so more superstitious and tradition minded things like how the bureaucracy plays out nowadays just chaff on me since they don't even bother to give me the courtesy of the data on what the infraction was about from their end," I said with a sigh. It was easy enough to attach just even a raw data sample of how the motonic disruption affected the loom as a matter of course, "I had requested that at some point, but either it got lost in the bureaucracy or Ryzala decided to give me a hard time for my disdain of paperwork in general. I don't exactly have any proof and since I'm not willing to press the matter since I don't like paying bribes, I'm pretty much stuck where I am." That was what was infinitely frustrating to me, the few times that I had tried to submit paperwork, something happened to it or it just didn't get acted upon unless it was paying fines for citations or something similar. Quite understandably, I just decided to give up on the entire concept as a whole because of it. It really was rather just vexing in general and it wasn't worth the time as I could be spending it doing more productive things, like research into AIs or the like.
I nodded at what he said, it was a limited use of it but it made sense considering his work. "Indeed, that is just one of many applications of it. It would be entirely possible to create similar barriers to the one we saw to completely prevent the Raksha or their ilk from stepping foot in an area, and if done correctly, such a barrier could very well be put around Creation as a whole, making the Raksha only a problem to be dealt with when one traversed out into the Wyld," I said, my enthusiasm showing heavily once again as I said that and took a bit of a breath. "It's also not impossible that with enough experimentation and energy, such a thing could be used to....unweave, for lack of a better term, the Neverborn, removing their corruptive influence and perhaps even allowing us to eliminate the Underworld altogether if they aren't there to anchor it. It's rather ambitious and would take an extremely long time to devise a devise powerful enough to use such a thing on them, and it might not even work due to other variables, but it is still a possibility with time."
I nodded at what he said, having a bit of a more nuanced thought on it. "I have less problem with the Bureaucracy as an idea and more of a problem with how it is currently implemented, to be quite frank. And I probably wouldn't go as far as to assign individuals to specific posts, more breaking it down the lines of Exaltations and Castes and allowing those groups to work together in order to best accomplish the goals. After all, more room for leeway in the structure fits the Exalted a lot more than the Gods, at least looking at our natures. We were once mortal, so we share that spark of imagination that the Gods seem to have a lot less of, and it would be a waste not to take advantage of it," I said, pondering what my response to the rest of it would be before saying, "That is more an issue of culture rather than structure of the organization. At least with the Exalts, there are far less of us to impress such values on and we turn over more often, allowing us to incorporate it more heavily into the education of new Exalts. Gods are harder to do that with considering their nature, after all."
"Don't worry about the aesthetics, I designed my own and they look rather stylish if i say so myself," I said, showing off the one on my left hand which was beautifully sculpted and integrated, set with the beautiful, swirling vortex of primal energy known as a Protoshinmaic vortex. "I have five of them myself and they all work perfectly to be honest, and it's not even a risk considering I'm one of the leading experts on Medicine in Creation," I said with a shrug, "I'll figure something out, but acting as an assistant for my crafts and as a sparring partner to help me pick up some more martial arts and the like, as well as just generally making getting what I need easier would be nice. I'd also love to hear more about your areas of expertise, it would be rather useful to have more knowledge of the crafting of fate to more easily develop ways to insulate my experiments from the alteration to it caused by high motonic exposure to control for more variables."
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Post by shinzo on Sept 17, 2017 19:30:57 GMT
Long term, hrm? That was an issue. It was true that there wasn't any specific research done into the effects of long-term exposure to high amounts of Essence disruption on the permanent effect of the Loom, but... "It's not about direct documentation on the consequences. It's about simple logical outcomes that cause the issue." I shrug my shoulders. "The unfortunate truth is that the chief resources of the Bureau of Fate, the Pattern Spiders that repair and groom the Loom, and the Sidereal Exalted that maintain the loom and repair the damage on creation, are very, very finite. There are only one-hundred of us, and only twenty in each of our specializations. And the very way we work tends to point out further flaws in the Loom that need repair, so the work of the Sidereal Exalted creates a base level of necessary alterations, what we refer to as Paradox, that needs to be repaired." I sigh. "It's so bad for them, that when Sidereal Exalted go too far in their work...even in cases where it's necessary for fate's preservation, the Pattern Spiders may be driven to a rage that leads to them biting the fate of the individual that caused that stress. Pattern Spider venom is a rather painful experience, let me tell you." I shrug. "So it's a matter of that, really. Additional excesses in the short term lead to simple cases where the Pattern Spiders simply can't handle all of the strain coming at them. We've had cases where they die of overwork, and while more reproduce to fill the number, it taxes the reproduction to maintain the population of those that die off of natural causes." I laugh. "It's too bad, because that is actually something I have documentation on...but it's filed away in the Bureau library rather than in my pockets, I'm afraid."
I shrug as she complains about being treated the same as her less principled colleagues. True as it was, it didn't actually detract from the point of the censure. "I mean, I apologize, but frankly your experiments do tend to be on a more grandiose scale, aren't they? Even with the efforts to maintain limited motonic exposure, you can't exactly say you're staying within the numbers prescribed by the regulations. In such a case, the onus is, unfortunately, on you to provide that your research is actually less than harmful considering it is above the standards that we have set for what we tolerate without censure. Unfortunately, while we'd love to take your situation into account, and likely do, it's a matter of the result being what it is than anything regarding the methodology. While people being more responsible is good, it's rather comparable to, forgive the hyperbole, an individual murdering someone carefully so that no one else is involved, and someone swinging a sword wildly into a crowd. One is more dangerous to more people, but they're both still guilty of murder, are they not? And the punishment does fit the offense, you've never been summoned to Yu-Shan for a tribunal, have you?"
Shrugging as she complained about the nature of the Bureaucracy, I found it hard to be too sympathetic. "I can see how that might be helpful, and I'm quite sorry to hear that your petition was lost or terminated without notice. Still, that's not exactly what I'd call courtesy, that's mind-reading you're asking for. Most Solar Exalted either act like they believe we can do our own jobs better than they could, are content to let us be, or simply ignore us outright. Most don't request our internal documentation and experimentation." It was almost too bad. If she'd bothered to perhaps actually talk to one of us, something might have gotten done. Instead, she was wrapped in her own life, believing everyone else but her was at fault, which wouldn't be sad if it weren't for the comparatively reasonable nature of her request. I listen to her explanation of the potential applications for this modern technology with interest...much as it was hard to even imagine that what she was saying was the truth. "Well, that would be quite a help. The Neverborn and the progeny of the Underworld are potentially even more pernicious than the Raksha...at least, in times where a full invasion isn't occurring...which could also be stopped. Of course, building walls does have the effect of making further expansion difficult, but walls can be moved without too much trouble."
I nod as she expands on her point. "I agree. The Bureau of Fate is structured in a similar fashion. Each of our Castes has it's own specialty, and yet we all work underneath the same organization for the same purpose and all work together more often than not." I tilt my head on the prospect of her idea of turnaround. "Do they, Kishar? Gods turnaround on a not too uncommon basis...after all, if they didn't, where would we get our Starmetal from?" Still, matters of education and such were hard to argue with. "I can't help but feel that those who are hungry for power and domination would still find their way to the top, and would still exert undue influence on others. Perhaps I'm just a cynic, but I've seen how the Bureau changed itself over two thousand years, and I have a hard time believing that corruptive influence would be easier to avoid based on the simple change from Sidereal to Solar, and, frankly, have evidence to the contrary in the Heirophant's and Merela's machinations. After all...Exalts are very mortal in our way of thinking, and not only that, they are the -most- of the Mortals, the most ambitious, the most greedy, the most risk-taking...at least, depending on what traits earned the Exaltation. Those exist, and will not go away."
What she asked for was fine. "I don't mind that at all, Kishar. That sounds like a fun way to spend my time here, in fact. Talking with you is quite stimulating, and I can't help but think learning and teaching what we know is quite an agreeable way to spend a vacation." I laugh. "I suppose I'll have to trust you with it, then, expert and all. I can't wait to see how it will turn out myself." I frown a bit. "I can provide theory, but it's hard to engage in experimentation. It's very clear that this place lacks a Loom to work quite the same way...it has it's own system of causality that I can weave, but I'm not sure if things such as motonic exposure will result in the same effects. If that's fine, I'd be happy to advise where I can."
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Post by Kishar on Sept 18, 2017 0:20:11 GMT
I listened to him, and the more I heard the more I wished I had managed to get through that last seal to wherever Autochthon had managed to hide himself so that I could personally chew him out for his shoddy worksmanship. His design did not futureproof for large expenditures of Essence, and his Pattern Spiders were subpar if they could not just breed more of themselves to deal with the greater workload. Not only that, but he had made them temperamental enough to lash out at their betters. It was an absolutely horrid design philosophy despite the mind boggling amount of effort that must have gone into making such a thing. But to not take into account these rather basic flaws in his planning was inexcusable. It wasn't even anything complicated, if the loom itself was optimal then honestly making the spiders reproduce faster would be the best option, and its not even that hard to do for even complex beings in my experience, and I was not a Primordial whose very essence was creation. It was almost as if he was utterly terrible at futureproofing or implementing his designs, which to be honest would not surprise me given how single minded the Primordials tended to be, even those that we didn't kill or lobotomize and stuff into their leader.
"So subpar design philosophy on the part of the Autochthon in the most annoying ways causes resources to be stretched thin," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head, "That still doesn't help me take any data into account on how to prevent those outcomes while optimizing experimental progress. I suppose finding ways to simulate fate while being outside of it might be a good place to start, but I would need a more intimate understanding of how fate works as a whole to do that, and would need to either figure out how to draw more from Vortices or get more Manses hooked up to compensate for the power drain from such a feature on a manse as well as whatever other equipment I need to simulate Fate on top of the experiments, which themselves account for a rather hefty draw themselves..." I said, thinking to myself a bit out loud as I went over some options. "It would be easier if I had data on what factors of the Essence expenditure actually caused the effects, it would allow me to make my constraints less all-encompassing, which would reduce the power drain. This technology might be helpful with that if it has to escape from a certain area for it to make a difference, shielding with this might help prevent leakage into the environment, and could also likely allow me to direct wasted Essence back into the structure, which would be rather useful," I said, continuing my line of thought. "Oh well, all purely theoretical until I get data on the various things I mentioned so I can actually start working on potential designs and mechanisms," I said with a shrug.
"I still don't get the point of it all. It's an interference in the duties set upon me by my Exaltation to be forced to not participate in these experiments. I would liken it to the impudent bites from the Pattern Spiders your kind suffers," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head, "I can understand a bit of frustration as our duties seem to conflict, but the Twilight Caste is charged with finding the truth of the world and paving the way for even more glorious technology for Creation. Sometimes it affects people who deserve it, as you said that it only sometimes comes as a result of your basic duties, and I view it the same way I suppose. And I would assume the reason that such a thing has not happened is the difficulty of prosecuting an Essence 10 Solar for anything that would be detrimental to us in the long run considering fines would be laughable," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head, "But I suppose that could explain it as well. I just tend to have a dim view of how the Bureaucracy works in general."
"And that is terribly poor experimental design, if I am being perfectly honest. Its as if they don't want to adjust their experiments to be more accurate. After all, the practical blowbacks of temporary fate warping induces extra uncontrolled variables into an experimental model. It's likely what caused the break halfway in that portal bridge," I said, rubbing my temples a bit at what had happened before adding, "I'm pretty sure mind reading is a thing you guys can do, if not its fairly simple. But I suppose to do it on a bureaucratic level would be a bit much due to the sheer number of manses needs....Although maybe if I were to get an item from each of you and work on a ritual..." I said, thinking out loud a little as I devised a way to make it so that all of them could hear my thoughts. Would require too much experimentation and links. Oh well, will shelf it for later. "I just figured it would be terminated again by Ryzala before it got anywhere, that old bitch has it out for me a bit for being rather annoyed by her bureaucracies probably. And I asked one of the couriers once, but he basically told me in polite terms that he was busy and I should just submit some paperwork," I said with a sigh. Too many annoying hassles to get a simple bit of information.
"Oh, it would be difficult work, don't get me wrong, but it would be probably possible depending on the properties of this metal and how much I could play with what it worked on for its properties. Theres too many unknowns for me to say anything definitively, but it is a possibility," I said with a shrug. I wasn't particularly hopeful for it, but it was one of a myriad of different applications for this technology, almost all of which would put that bitch Bright back in her place. She was not the greatest of the Twilights, and I would show her that. I would show everyone that her claims of primacy among our kind were absolutely without base.
"I never really looked into the supply, but I figured it was the Terrestrial Gods who usually ended up that way. Far less rights than the ones in Yu-Shan and more easily framed for things so that they're executed. Gods are immortal after all, so the only way they die is by violence or execution," I said as I shrugged. Starmetal was rather rare comparatively as well so it made enough sense to me. I listened to what he said, and I couldn't help but agree, but at least things like that could be somewhat mitigated in my opinion. "That much makes sense, I do however think there is a bit of a source that lets them do that, though I hope you can keep your tongue on this," I said with a serious tone, "The Unconquered Sun has grown...detached from the world over time, those mysterious games of his eating more and more of his attention. Perhaps if he paid more attention to Creation, the same goes for the other Incarnae, perhaps things wouldn't be so corrupt." I sighed and shook my head as I said that, obviously distressed by the whole situation. "There are far too many issues to name them all to be honest. I just think we should get those good at such things to look at them to fix it rather than leaving things be," I said, giving my thoughts on the matter before continuing on.
I nodded at him, "That should be fine. I can take the principles you teach me and apply them to this realm and we can compare the differences from different points of view. That should be rather helpful, along with my stronger excellencies to help get more insight into it." If it came down to just sheer understanding and not manipulation, it would be my mind that would win the day once I managed to get the skill down as much as he did. "I'm glad to have someone to work with. It has been ages since the last time I did something like that."
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Post by shinzo on Sept 18, 2017 1:20:37 GMT
I think about what she said for a bit...subpar, was it? Surely it was inconvenient...but I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say subpar. "Well, that just depends on how you design subpar to be. There would be problems from an excess of Pattern Spiders just as much as there is from a small amount. Perhaps the inclusion of a way to induce death if things get crowded would be too much, but considering that they were designed to act within a rather large variation and handle jobs that had once been done by Incarnae, making them too powerful and able to grow beyond number is...a problem. Just the inefficiency of too many cooks in a kitchen could result in that sort of problem...though, for one thing, you are quite right. Experimentation that doesn't just result in people seeing just how much damage that could be done to the Loom could be quite valuable." As she ponders what to do, I wonder just how much I should promise or offer. After all, in all likelihood, she was not going back to Creation. After all, the events of the Calibration Feast, of the Bronze Prophecy, were going off. That much was an undeniable fact. The Gold Faction members willing to act on their belief had been put to death. These were facts. And, just as I wanted to build intimacy with her, the fact that I might grow soft on her by talking to her was something I had to think of. Argh...why didn't it feel right though? Why wasn't I as confident as I was? Why was I having these second thoughts...
Just as those second-thoughts might have overwhelmed me, though, I twitched slightly as she compared the work of the Bureau in regulating activities that caused damage to Fate as being comparable to Spider Bite. What arrogance! What absolute rubbish! To render the function of an entire Exaltation to nothing more than the impudent attacks born of pure vindictive spite? Just who did she think she is!? That was too much. I couldn't let that go without saying something. "Erm, I'd prefer if you didn't say that, I'm afraid. You see, Pattern Spiders are rather decidedly lower in the totem pole of the Bureau of Fate than Sidereal Exalted. Comparing it to Creation terms, comparing Sidereals to Pattern Spiders is less comparing Solars to Terrestrials, or Solars to Gods or half-blooded, but Solars to somewhere between humans and the cattle they farm." With that off my chest, I continue. "Besides, the Spiders bite out of spite, not out of power or out of a job they must perform. Despite the bite, fate is directed as we choose...but they get their petty little revenge out of it." I shrug. "And, if you find yourself in conflict, you could always reduce your mote use to acceptable levels and then do all the research and expansion of the truth of the world and glorious technology you might like."
Ignoring her point about mind-reading for being pointless and something that could be just as easily ignored by Solar charms often obtained by people who didn't quite like the idea of people snooping around their heads, I couldn't help but laugh in a bit of sympathy as she complains about that damned bitch Ryzala. "Man, wouldn't it be nice to slip a daiklave made out of her starmetal into the sheath. Believe me, I can perfectly understand if she wanted to ruin everything...but that's rather besides the point, isn't it?" As much as I hated that damned spider, that didn't change the fact that in this case, she might have been correct. "I mean, why did you send it to the chief bureaucrat and not directly to the Bureau of Fate? Those divisions exist for a reason, while it would have been more correct for it to be transferred over to our subdivision, she could just as easily have thrown it away for being improperly addressed. After all...she doesn't particularly like Sidereal Exalted on the best of days, thinks that we're just there to hound for executions or take jobs away from gods..." I sigh, but nod as she talks about the potential for the metal. Couldn't argue with that.
I shake my head at her summation of Yu-Shan. "There is constant competition in Yu-Shan. There are far too many indigent, unemployed gods for anyone to truly rest on their laurels...barring cases of corruption, of course. And sometimes gods simply tire of living on the dole...it commonly happens that those who subsist too long on only Quintessence, especially if they once held a prominent position and tasted Ambrosia, well..." I blink, then as she makes an incredible assertion. "Are you attempting to tell me it's the Games of Divinity that are causing his lack of concern?" Could...could I really have missed something that obvious? No. No no no. No, it had to be that his growing lack of faith in the Solar Exalted caused his seclusion, with his retreat to the Games merely being the thing that took his attention. I sigh. It was all so troublesome...that much I could agree on. "It makes sense, I suppose. One way or another, things really can't continue like this." The Vision of Darkness proved that much for sure. Nodding at her summation and desire to test the results here against Creation, I smile. "Then, I should work more on how to properly adjust this causality. On the fortunate side, without a Loom to impose limitations, I'm likely to be stronger here than I am in Creation after getting properly used to things, so I could be of even greater use."
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Post by Kishar on Sept 18, 2017 4:20:22 GMT
I listened to what he had to say on the spiders, and I nodded as I followed along, thinking heavily on how I would define the term here and how exactly I would have improved them, at least on a design philosophy standpoint. I wasn't quite sure what exactly was possible, but I figured that what I had in mind wouldn't be too hard to implement what I had in mind for someone as great as Autochthon. "Generally, what would be better would be to have made them able to expand and contract their numbers based on the amount of work for futureproofing reasons. It would probably be possible to tune their reproductive and life cycles to lengthen or shorten based on the amount of work they have to do, and set a baseline that would cause neither growth nor contraction of the population, causing the changes in work to shift them towards an equilibrium of workload so to speak. Artificial population selection factors that allow for a constant amount of work to be output by any individual Pattern Spider, optimizing their efficiency and mood. This may be a bit beyond what is possible, after all I am unsure of Autochthon's limits, but considering he helped make the Exaltations I can only imagine he would be capable of making anything we can conceive of and more," I said with a shrug as I put out how I would have better designed the Spiders. It was a bit of a tall order, but this was Autochthon we were talking about, this much was possible for him if he had thought of it, no?
Well, that analogy had been mischosen it seemed. Oh well, that kind of thing was bound to happen when I didn't talk to too many people I was not intimately familiar with, I supposed taking it back and making amends was in order, at least thats what the etiquette I remembered told me I ought to do. "Ah, that was a poorly chosen metaphor, I do apologize. I was mostly trying to explain that it seemed to be an issue of people's domains causing each other more work and everyone being more hostile to each other than they had to be because of it, I meant no offense by it," I said, giving the slight bow of apology that I remembered my sifu teaching me before continuing, "I'm unfortunately not the most eloquent with words, so when I'm distracted with other things like the designs I had in mind and the mapping of the dragon lines, I am prone to slips of the tongue. I'm an academic, not an orator, after all." That and I was utterly out of practice considering I generally just used my excellencies and artifacts when I was in creation to help make up for my general lack of natural speaking skill, and I was not doing anything like that here. So of course I had stuck my foot straight in my mouth, such a thing was the natural conclusion to doing things that one was not good at, after all.
"Thats the thing, I did send it to the Bureau of Fate. She must have used some of her charms or influence over bureaucracy to redirect it or something," I sighed as I responded to what he said, "Just because I tried to make an artifact to obliterate my need to fill out paperwork entirely so that I could automate responses to citations doesn't mean she has to redirect all my paperwork, especially when I didn't even get the blasted thing to work properly. Damned protective woman, I just wanted to spend more time on my experiments and not have to fill out tedious paperwork." As for his point about what he would use the starmetal for, I just chuckled and said, "My idea was to make her into a different kind of sheath so that everyone she had ever wronged could stick swords into her. Karmic justice, if you will." I had actually drawn up extensive plans for that sort of thing, and even taken into account the theoretical properties of what her particular starmetal might be like, since it tended to have very slight alterations in it depending on where it came from, and I also remembered another feature which I just had to share, "I was also looking for a way to awaken the mind of the god it was made from, just to make it even worse for her. She deserves everything she gets."
"And the ones in high power usually are corrupt enough to be able to," I said with a shrug at that and let the topic stand at that. It was all that really needed to be said, his question about that was odd however. Wasn't it obvious that it had something to do with it, it wasn't like he hadn't been getting less and less attentive over the years. "Well, at least partially. I'm unsure of how it interacts with his perfected virtues, but I am relatively certain that all the Incarnae are affected in some way shape or form by it. I haven't been allowed to see them, just like any Exalt, but I have seen what happens to other major deities that earn a turn and I have seen the addictions to the dream crystals that show the games. Something about them is addictive, so it makes sense to me that the Incarnae's decreasing attentions over the millennia are attributable to it. Others probably have seen it too, but I doubt anyone would say it in public where they might see it lest you get arrested for blasphemy of the Incarnae. Luckily, we aren't anywhere near a place where they have jurisdiction," I said with a shrug. That was what I had come up with, and I had been thinking about what I could maybe do to help break it, but without any data it was mostly a dead end. "Indeed, between everything going on, there really isn't an option to just leave things as they are. And its even impossible to predict all the things that could affect the future and make things go wrong, after all, I'm pretty sure that astrology of yours doesn't work on things outside fate like the Raksha, Yozi, and the Neverborn and their ilk. All we can do is prepare for anything that comes our way," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head.
"That's actually rather useful to know, it should be interesting to see what you can come up with. The charms that your kind come up with when you have the ability to are fascinating to study with essence sight, the flows are much different than anything that we would ever come up with," I said, giving him a nod as my interest obviously showed. I was always genuinely interested in new information, no matter what it was and how grand or small it was. I just wanted to know more, to add more to the annals of the great libraries of Creation. After all, wasn't that my job as an Exalt? To expand the knowledge of the realm at any cost? That was what it felt like to me, though the last part was murky and I remembered a time when it was different vaguely, but I dismissed it. That was what I knew, that was what I had to do, wasn't it?
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