Lets try to create genetically modified man-eating plants.

This seems random, but we need to create annoying distractions for God.

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>>338953

Very brief tl;dr recap.

> You are a distributed AI that exists within Misrayim, the Northern African territory.
> The Other Light are hunting for you.
> Despite this, you've got more done in 30 years than they in 900.
> You took over Northern Africa, and started a Renaissance.
> You invented a way to make people skip out on Hell by turning them into cyborg zombies who, by now, look pretty good. Or torsos in jars operating giant robots, you're not picky.
> God sent a drought to stop you. It didn't.
> God sent the Ten Plagues to stop you. They didn't.
> God sent a prophet to warn your nation. You got him to calm his tits, but he's demanding more...
> You have recently found a mysterious little girl. Is it a trap? (Not that kind of trap).
> 1 turn = 1 year. When the clock hits +1000, the Last Judgement takes place, God wins, and the universe is over. Some turns may be zoomed into and roleplayed.


Dramatis Personae:

Yahweh: The good guy. Plans to destroy the universe in 67 years.

Lucifer: The Devil. Currently locked up in Hell, or so the story goes. Plans unknown.

TOL: The Other Light. The designated bad guys. Not very good at their job. Plan to get rid of you to reclaim their role. They are run by a council of seven.

Omega: The bad guy. You. Plans to pwn the QM.

Rahab "Ely" LeVey: Natural preacher. Currently trying to get women back in the kitchen, except possibly herself.

Tsion Ben-Judah: Glorified theologioan. Currently walking back and forth across the country you've taken over, for mysterious purposes.

Quinn: Posthuman postergirl. Vain and manic, but good at recruiting and spycraft.

Kat: Desolator. Took over after Ziggy left for a twilightmoon with Damien. Head in a jar in charge of your nuclear program. Good at cooking and toxin production.

Damien: Another Heavy MEC. Seems happy to no longer have a body. Good at steering a large number of drones all by him/herself. Also good in bed, apparently.

Jeb: Wants to go to space. Space. Did I mention space? Problem: Yahweh has put a water canopy between the Earth and the rest of the universe. Space. Good at engineering and piloting.

Vee: Sonic weapons specialist and Only Sane Woman. Good at research and being the party face.

Jenny/Tinkerbell: A strange girl with strange ideas about geography. Helped out your archeology teams. Is not on anyone's side.

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>>338961

> Your theology program is fledgling. Jenny wants to borrow one of your new GPS systems for a demonstration - that and a small construction crew.

> Your botany program has brought back spicy food to the world! Also, coca and opium poppies, but the former are selling slightly better than the latter so far.

> Your MEC program is mature; your agents can cheat death, at the price of losing most of their senses of pain, pleasure, and touch.

> Your space program hasn't reached space yet, but it has given you a foothold on the water canopy, which you have used to implement spy subsatellites and GPS.

> Your nuclear weapons program is fledgling and has given you Farnsworth fusors and neutron sources.

> Your sonic program is doing well, and has given you Wubbing Modules for your forces, and a smattering of Sonic Piledriver demolition vehicles.

> Your AI program has kept you alive when TOL figured out how to shut you down, and given you access to early 2000s style drones.

>>338961

Now that you've ascertained that 1950s style "atomic gardens" work, it becomes possible to start a genetics program. However, keep in mind that you only have 63 years!

>>334529

Jenny demonstrates by having a couple of your construction guys build a hotel-style square staircase, with three floors, in the middle of an open field. Then, she borrows a GPS; the units are optimized for 2D performance, since most of the world has been flattened, and don't generally try to calculate altitude in default mode.

She walks around in the field, saying things like "Going west 10 steps" and "Going north 20 steps".

The GPS, of course, tracks her accurately. She points out that as long as she's in the field, the order of her movements doesn't change her start and ending point, and demonstrates this.

"And that's normal walking around! But let me show you granny's geography."

That's when she includes the staircase in her movements. Given how the staircase has been built, walking up it westward leads to a little balcony, and walking down it eastwards leads to a little sort of cellar that was quickly dug. Moving through the middle of the stairway north and south involves climbing over the hand rail, but it's possible. She demonstrates.

"See, now it matters the order in which I did my movements. I can end up one floor above, or below, or on the same floor, depending on it. Basically Granny did the same thing but without the staircase, because the staircases are already there, just not up and down, there's two more words for it..." She can't find an equivalent word in the standard language of the Millennial Kingdom. "And, the staircases are very narrow, so you have to get EXACTLY the direction and number of steps right to climb them."

>>324767

You have quietly encouraged people looking at pre-Christian mythologies, so Hecate has a small following. So far, Haephestus and Prometheus are doing best, mostly because they symbolise progress.

>>324762

You divert a few resources and a little time to follow the daily life of some of your MEC agents that hold day jobs.

# Keep the project indie/volunteer.

# Make it a complexity-1 job to at least produce a proper web documentary.

# Make it a complexity-2 to produce a documentary AND ensure analog distribution.

((yay it's back!))

>>339052

Guys. We're doing this religion thing all wrong. Lets spread Judaism and convince the world that God is the Antichrist and real Jesus is yet to come. We've all been tricked!

> develop man-eating, fast-growing vines on the side

>>339069
That will definitely not work In a setting where divine smite happens 24/7

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>>339052

Tsion has taken residence in the church built where the Citadel was, and has been preaching to anyone who wants to make the trip... which is surprisingly many, overall, enough that it becomes profitable for some locals to run a shuttle service from Amman. He isn't saying anything new, other than that he's demanding that this year's elections be restricted to people above 100, and that believing citizens should petition this to the government. Some do. He also wants to hand-pick Misrayim's representatives to the Feast of Tabernacles. Ordinarily, the secular government has given the job to whichever believers want it, via a raffle if there were too many volunteers.

# Do not interfere.

# Manipulate the raffle to make sure moderates are sent in.

# Send your own agents, or at least some of them.

>>339065

(Sorry, had a heck of a week last week and had to hit the sack for a couple days)

>>339069

That's an interesting approach. So far, your theology program indicates that narrative causality is very much a thing; this has caused a resurgence in popularity of the works of Terry Pratchett. So far, your botany program has resulted in some drugs becoming available once again (they're selling fairly well) and in some spices likewise becoming available (they're selling overall a bit better than the drugs).

http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.Spice.html

>>339072

Throughout the years, you have compiled a case study on when divine smite happens.

>>339052
Complexity one to ensure quality and to prevent it from becoming about how horrible the MECs are. Remember if it doesn't humanize them it fails to set back TOL and GJs efforts.

>>339080
Manipulate the raffles to ensure some moderates are sent. Let's see what happens. Also I believe "Colossus" should be finished by now.

>>339080
((Nah. It's alright, we all need a few days rest time to time.))

Rolled 94, 59, 7, 36, 10, 48 = 254 (6d100)

>>339094
>>339097

Subtle manipulation of the raffle ensures that those sent to the Feast of Tabernacles will try to enjoy the experience instead of lobbying.

You have 12 cabals available. Since you have more than 9, two of them are required to maintain your systems. You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets. Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

There are 2 missionary teams in Misrayim. One of them has assisting Tsion in his church. The other has finished their report on Misrayim and are combing the desert, apparently looking for your particle accelerator installation. Ely is lobbying for other territories to stop trading with you, to little success so far. There are 2 TOL teams there, campaigning for their own candidate.

There is one missionary team and one TOL team in the Pacific coast, both campaigning.

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.

# Campaign in a territory that has democracy.

Complexity 0


Complexity 1

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

# Send a cabal to the Middle East, to see what unique opportunities that region offers (see below)

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see below).

# Produce a documentary on MEC life and distribute it on the web.

Complexity 2

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

# Work your Misrayim base overtime to improve prosperity.

# Use the California base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to keep bringing its territory under your control (4/5).

# Use the Misrayim base and launchpad for a manned canopy launch.

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

Complexity 3

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

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

# Continue AI, nuclear, or sonic research.

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

Complexity 4

# Continue pursuing MEC research.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population or from TOL.

# Set up a drug production system and start selling.

Complexity 5

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contacts

# Take over a TOL base by force.

Surveyed opportunities:

Southern America: Darwin's Finches look alike again, but have not homogenized genetically. As above, this may help prove that evolution isn't a fairy tale.

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

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

Unsurveyed territories: Middle East.

>>339127
(And thus the dicking of the dice is also back.)

>>339127

Can we set up a base in Nepal? They practically invented guerrilla warfare.

>>339143

Yes; there's no TOL base in Central Asia. Sadly, there's no Himalayas anymore either... the places where the great mountains used to be still experience snow in winter, but the only winter sport that you can do there now is cross-country skiing.

>>339153

All the more reason to set up a front there.

> also continue abomination creation through GMOs

>>339127
1-produce documentary. Any MECs when not under my service. Defiantly Damien while she is running that daycare.

2-work on California takeover. Send Vee.

Handle the Misrayim election. Have Jeb on It with Omega orchestrating

4-Start drug production. Quinn.

2-Produce MECs

I guess that leaves a single cabal.

Have Kat defending the Australian base.

>>339187
>>339158

Should the leftover cabal investigate the former Himalayas or work on botany?

>>339226

Botany. We need bio-weapons.

On the side OP- are you Christian? I've always wondered.

This quest is obviously anti-Christianity, but you seem so passionate and involved with the lore.

>>339233
Hmmnn. I still want to make flesh hulk gauntlets for the heavys. Call it project angel breaker. Nah, want to but will hold off on that. Unless it's in the bio weapons tree.

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>>339233

I'm not anti-Christianity, I'm anti-representing a monotheistic god as basically Immortan Joe, which a lot of militant religious people do... and then insist that he's still the good guy.

>>339233
>>339187

>produce documentary. Any MECs when not under my service. Defiantly Damien while she is running that daycare.

The documentary opens with a few shots of Quinn's older and recent stunts as well as various MECs of both models performing feats of superhuman endurance, does a record screech, and promises to show the viewer what these people are like in every day life.

Kat is shown running her deli: her MECpod sits on a pedestal in the middle of the kitchen, which is actually 4-5 residential kitchens mounted together rather than a commercial setup. This is possible due to the various obsolete MEC arms that Kat's collected and installed on the walls; some run basic routines (whip and stir for example) and some she can control directly, resulting in uniform quality homestyle cooking. Playfully, she has the interviewer tie up all but two of the hands to demonstraate how to fry garlic and red pepper properly for the viewers at home.

Damien is interviewed at the end of the work day, which Damien spent with his MECpod stuffed in a teddy bear (with a few servos for minimal motion) in a day care. The other day care workers note that kids will on average, be more open to Damien when it's about their worries and even their little secrets, since she's smaller and innocuous. What Damien does after hours is glossed over. Damien's gender is likewise not addressed.

To provide contrast, Bothan is seen in the MEC frame, doing carpentry and masonry work; he's the boss of his little enterprise, and notes that maintenance on the MEC frame is about as costly as it would be for a small earthmover or a forklift -- that's not true, but you're subsidizing it. Much attention is given to the one time where Bothan ended up holding a building on his back when the foundations cracked; this didn't save anyone's life directly, but allowed an orderly evacuation.

Most "infiltrator" MECs can't really talk about the work they do, of course, but a couple are rounded up and interviewed; there's one doing maintenance on a submarine cable -- the interviewer has some problems convincing the cyborg merman to put on a shirt, but it gets done -- and a few working as firefighters, since they're immune to oxygen displacing gases.

Quinn is briefly interviewed about the MEC condition, and explains that she remembers the few minutes she spent in Hell very vividly. She adds that, like those who took the Mark during the Tribulation, current theology has her damned regardless of what she does and even incapable of converting if she wanted to, and shares a story of a young man during the Tribulation who took the Mark to be able to trade for food for his starving kid brother. "Tsion says that we are cursed, or demons, or whatever. We're people. We're rescues. And we are grateful."

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>339267

The MEC project has still a few avenues of research that need attention.

>>339233

> Botany. We need bio-weapons.

Some of your botanists further improve the potency of the peppers you've been growing, eventually obtaining some passable pepper spray. There's no way to tell if it would work on the Glorified of course, but it makes for a low-tech alternative to wubbing modules, and it can be deployed in canisters by drones if necessary.

One interesting avenue of research that shows up serendipitously is that of making a particularly unpalatable plant (it can't be made inedible or poisonous) that can expand to take over cropland. On the opposite side of things, making staples grow easily enough that even what little farming is currently done becomes redundant should also be possible; this would leave much of the believing population with nothing to do.

# Gross them out.

# Bore them.

# Ignore for now, it'd take too long to grow.

> Produce MECs

The process by now is basically routine, to the point that some former TOL agents, pushed into conversion, instead decide to get a second life with you as cyborgs. This trickles in a bit of intel: TOL are basically doing what they've been doing the whole time, building up the Army, but are taking advantage of your attempts to subvert a territory to try to get their own people in. Annoyingly, this effectively splits the unbeliever vote, making the job harder.

> 2-work on California takeover. Send Vee.

The Pacific Coast's voting age has been lowered, so your people have a chance of calling an election in the near future. Vee notes that a bit of entrepreneurial culture is starting to come back in what were its former hotbeds. She also makes the point that there's a chance of TOL winning the next election, not you.

> Handle the Misrayim election. Have Jeb on It with Omega orchestrating

(No cabals assigned to this?)

>>339298
Nicely done and (yeah, that's something that needs to stop in this day and age. Peaceful loving divinity shouldn't look like great will from devil survivor.)

>>339320
Im thinking we let TOL and GJ Duke it out in California. And is it possible to campaign without a cabal?

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>339326

The documentary spreads pretty far out on the interwebs, and garners various responses. One thing that your filmmakers had a very hard time with, was getting positive feedback from believers; even one of the people living in a house that MEC firefighters protected from a blaze only had to say "We are not to consort with evil spirits; I sent a case of wine to the firehouse as thanks, of course, and how they shared is their problem." Others quip that firefighters may rescue but only TurboJesus saves.

One believing mother takes her child out of the daycare after she becomes aware that Damien is a MEC and not, as she had thought, an animatronic, although she has no actual complaints to present. The filmmakers get a nice long shot of the kid throwing a giant tantrum about being separated from his friends, which includes Damien.

>>339338

Some support staff would be required. Jeb can do some stump speeches and endorse a politician you control, but that doesn't do much without a minimum of ground game. It may be useful to underman the drug efforts and switch cabals to campaigning.

>>339344
Yeah. Swap out one cabal. And pray to whatever version of whatever god you believe in that quinn doesn't turn into Pam during Archer's vice season.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>339369

Jeb is fairly well known as the manager of the space program - of course, he points out that his celebrity power would be much greater if he'd actually done the manned launch he's been lobbying you for, but that's expected. He's not bitter about it, and campaigns in earnest.

"Tsion calls us lost. But is he telling the truth? Any hobbyist can use the canopy beacons and a bit of DIY skill to know exactly where they are, better than any ship's captain using radio lighthouses. Look at Misrayim ten years ago, from the sky, and look at it now - the Nile is dry but the fields are greener than ever. Are we promising more of the same? Yes. Yes we are. We have come far, and we can go even farther - to infinity and beyond!"

It's a little cheesy, but it works. The elections in Misrayim leave your faction with control over the territory; the TOL-backed party quickly forms a coalition government with your politicians, and the Christian party spokesman notes that at this rate, this "licentious" form of democracy where everyone gets one vote may soon be rendered obsolete by the central government. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2SkJOyzvJg The representatives sent to the Tabernacles note that they will obey the Judges, but as it is, the people have spoken and it would be a greater violation of the law to override the law itself.

>>339412

Quinn is fairly amused by being asked to set up a drugs distribution ring after having had to tone down her sinful image, and manages to make a game out of it, instituting a sort of dress code that imitates 1970s and 1980s gangsters for her pushers, and generally turning up the neon and disco balls.

# Legalize all the things and let's not have an actual organized crime problem.

# Keeping a black market going is both more profitable and gives you plausible deniability.

>>339431
The goal is to be the only supplier. Legalizing it would capitalize on being the sole distributor... can we make one of the drugs legal, And the other illegal?

>>339474

Definitely. (I don't want to get into an argument as for what would be best IRL, this isn't our world. I don't do drugs but I don't mind other people doing drugs as long as it's not on my property and it's not a danger to driving).

>>339490
Legalize the weed. Less addictive and a lot of money. Start black market selling the opium. Far more addictive and will mess TOL UP!

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>>339497

Setting up parallel distribution channels is a bit of a chore, but you manage it; before long, TOL is recruiting the dopers and alkies while Omega gets the smart people. Cannabis becomes yet another thing that Misrayim can export; notably, in the absence of a Temple ruling, it's one of the few things that various territories end up disagreeing about. TOL activity diminishes as a result, and Misrayim's prosperity improves.

Ely LeVey moves to what used to be Spain; she's trying to convince people to stop trading with Misrayim. As it stands, the stereotype of "unbelievers do a better job because they're focused on this world and not the next" is starting to take hold.

Things look fairly peaceful, for now...

Missionaries in Misrayim have been involved in small incidents where some old god worship has been disrupted, but never violently; usually, the disruption involves audibly getting in the way using trumpets, vuvuzelas, and the like. Sometimes, your police force defuses the situation by using wubbers to vibrate the instruments into silence; sometimes, this particularly difficult trick doesn't succeed, which generally results in headaches and queasiness for everyone involved.

Coming back from the Tabernacles, the representatives carry a formal document indicating this year's demands from Greater Jerusalem:

* That missionaries be granted the right to "challenge" other worshipers in the street or even outside, but not in, their temple.
* That in your universities at least one mandatory class (1 credit hour) cover the issue of eternal salvation, and be taught by a believer. This may lead to reaccreditation.
* That in the next election, to represent the weight of life experience, people vote by age (one year, one vote).

Interestingly, the first demand is on papyrus in quill, while the other two use a modern format.


After giving her geography demo, Jenny stated her desire to go back to looking for "staircases" so she can go home.

>>339603
Define challenge, OP?

>>339630

The quotes from Exodus and 1 Kings indicate that they want to either challenge other believers as in have a discussion with them, or challenge them to perform miracles. That's... at the very least new.

One of the side effects of God's reaction when Tsion, and you assume other glorifieds, lose an argument is that nobody wants to talk to them - even natural believers have become uneasy.

Tsion, for himself, seems to be content in staying in the church built on top of the Citadel and deliver his sermons twice a week; of course, the place has a Sky Eye pointed right at it.

>>339642
Missionary's are already allowed to talk to other believers and anyone else. so challenging other believers might not be a problem. So long as it doesn't get violent or dangerous. Universities don't have mandatory classes. And I'm still thinking anything beyond one vote is asking for to much. Anyone else have any objections?

>>339653

By now it's pretty obvious that they are looking for an excuse to put the hammer down on Misrayim. That in itself is puzzling; both in Bible times and historically, they simply... did, there were no ultimatums.

Have you managed to change the narrative this much?

>>339653
Alright. Let's let them know they still have the right to start an on campus club for their belief system. And politely decline the suggested change to the election process, letting them know that such a change would require a citizens vote.

Can the narrative be changed by defeating predicted results?

>>339674
No. They can't attack us outright because then they would lose the position of heros in their own narrative. We locked them into proper behavior, they literally cant flex their muscles.

>>339761
*Que evil anime laughter*

(Also I'm trying to do three things at once xb help! lol)

>>339732

That's the hope, yes. Unfortunately, most prophecies have come and gone.

What's expected to happen in the last handful of years before the end is:

* Wickedness and sin returning to the world.

* The Other Light amassing a great army and surrounding the Temple, effectively laying siege to it.

* Satan being released to lead this army and tempt the nations "for a little while".

* TurboJesus eliminating this army with a phrase, and then the judgement.

As usual, there is no direct reply from Greater Jerusalem. However, Sky Eye survey indicates that Tsion has called in most of those who historically have volunteered to represent Misrayim for the Feast of Tabernacles, and talked to them one to one for a brief amount of time.

Quinn has been spending a bit too much time getting high lately, and her combat effectiveness has suffered; either that, or her brain is starting to deteriorate after 38 years of artificial life. On the other hand, even though Misrayim is getting a lot of tourists who are only there to get high, some end up staying for the interest of a smarter society.

Jeb believes that a manned launch will at least answer the question as to whether the water canopy has an outer edge at all; you're gearing up to do canopy-breaking, but can change direction and focus on colonizing that high ground instead.

Vee knows that she's going to have to retire at some point, and has started writing down her theory of music.

Kat has definitely enjoyed the boost in popularity from her deli being featured in a documentary.

Damien is a little bummed about being asked to quit the day care after some parents complained, and has decided to focus on her other hobby. That, and driving drones.

Ely LeVey is meeting scant success in getting people to not trade with Misrayim, but is having an easier time with proposing restrictions on travel.

>>339786
Might want to look into brain deterioration, if it comes up that is not what it is were going to have to look into rehab. How old are Vee and Jeb? Finally, anything happing outside the primary territories?

>>339832

Site survey indicates that TOL is having a somewhat easier time recruiting, but the quality of the recruits has decreased -- not surprising given how much of the secondary drugs market they have moved into.

A quick look at Quinn's brain (she insists that she's fine) indicates that she's just been spending a significant amount of time stoned. Her brain scans are consistent with those of a Natural believer her age. Managing to get a MRI of a Glorified would be a coup indeed.

# Get Quinn back in shape.

# Leave her be, being a MEC is hard enough.

>>339867
Show her the results compared to her peak performance. Then tell her to consider getting back into shape and leave it at that for now.

>>339898

Quinn examines the old-style continuous paper printouts and takes them home without a word. Her telemetry indicates that she's exercising (which doesn't do much for mechanical limbs, but does improve her organic muscle tone and endurance).

You have 12 cabals available. Since you have more than 9, two of them are required to maintain your systems. You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets. Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

There are 3 missionary teams in Misrayim. One of them has assisting Tsion in his church. One is looking at your installations. One is proselytising.

There is one missionary team and one TOL team in the Pacific coast, both campaigning.

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.

# Campaign in a territory that has democracy.

Complexity 0


Complexity 1

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

# Send a cabal to the Middle East, to see what unique opportunities that region offers (see below)

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see below).

Complexity 2

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

# Work your Misrayim base overtime to improve prosperity.

# Use the California base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to sway the next elections, in 940 (5/5).

# Use the Misrayim base and launchpad for a manned canopy launch.

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

Complexity 3

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

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

# Continue AI, nuclear, or sonic research.

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

Complexity 4

# Continue pursuing MEC research.

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population or from TOL.

Complexity 5

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contacts

# Take over a TOL base by force.

Surveyed opportunities:

Southern America: Darwin's Finches look alike again, but have not homogenized genetically. As above, this may help prove that evolution isn't a fairy tale.

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

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

Unsurveyed territories: Middle East.

>>339988

Jenny has been looking at most sacred sites, trail crossroads, and what not by now. She says she can't find any "stairways".

>>339988

Also, derp, that's 13 cabals. Sorry!

>>339988
Shouldn't that be thirteen, or was one of the failed rolls for MEC recruitment?

>>339996
Ask her what she is looking for and that we are more than willing to help.
>>339988
Global infrastructure, how does cabal assignment affect that?

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>340004

Yeah my bad

>>340021

She's looking for "stairways", like she demonstrated, except, well, her demo was in 2D and she means it in 3D. She says that you have to be in a particular frame of mind for them, and without night, it's hard.

Also, she confirms that there's no fireflies anywhere. That's bad because her granny used those to find the stairways. "You know, catch a bunch of fireflies, let them go at a crossroads, see if they blink in our out?" That's not a story you are familiar with.

>>340021

The more cabals are spent on that, the better the internet gets, and the more you are in control of it. Believers tend to stick to broadcast media, but this has begun to change lately.

Sorry, lol. I Don't mean to be a jerk. Um. . . Also what's happening in Australia?

>>340039

So far surprisingly little; while the TOL teams there prevented you from doing any work on the land, you've got a stable hold on the base and the mine. There are 2 teams there. This said, they are likely gun-shy because when they tried to retake the base last, they were attacked by the Desolators.

I have a bit of an idea. Send quinn and Jenny to Eastern Europe, to look for the salt mine. Tell Jenny I think I know what she's doing and that the cabal I'm sending with her will assist, maybe see if she can train a few people to enter that state of mind she was talking about.

>>340081

You help Quinn pick a survey team, and they take Jenny along.

Finding the place isn't particularly difficult - it's well-marked on the map. The problem is gaining access to it safely, which takes a while...

You have 12 cabals available.

>>340109
Continue MEC research four cabals. Put both Damien and Kat on it. And give Damien another bowl of NORMAL cookies and an apology about the daycare fiasco.

Another round of MEC production two cabals. Three left.

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>>340128

One thing that had been floated before was a "wall of flesh" system for Heavy MECs. The first results look very gruesome, but there is nothing preventing the installation of an organic superstrate on top of a mechanical endoskeleton. Whether this is effective against Angels, will have to be tested in the field... a few units get built, and kept on life support except for the one time when one of your agents gets involved in a Frankenstein remake. If you want a terror unit, these are it; the heavies look, if possible, more reassuring in their regular frame.

Research and production synergise well and it isn't long before your MEC agents are seen wiring their spines or MECpods to drones of various types, to the point where Jeb makes each and every one of your heavies promise that they won't operate a space capsule until he's had his flight.

>>340333
I guess project angelbreaker did happen after all. And a side note. Wouldn't that make them manned drones, which renders them simply MEC operated vehicles? The terminology is killing me :b

>>340346

(Yeah, you're right. The idea is that one MEC can operate multiple vehicles, by paying attention to each in turn and letting them be autonomous for a few seconds. Kinda like a RTS)

>>340353
(It's like StarCraft. But with real people and vehicles.... ok that is more horrifying than the heavy MECs new frame.)

>>340109
>>340128
If nobody else is going to add anything let's give Jeb his manned Cannopy launch, the two cabals will assist and if I have Jeb givin heightened security and have it highly publicized would that cost a cabal?

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>340637
>>340128

Damien, while genuinely bummed out, soon finds other things (and people, adults of course) to do.

The MEC video has been successful in explaining to the public what a MEC is, although there are a few incidents afterwards of people disemboweling large teddy bears in case there's a demon in it. These incidents being publicized help with the late trend of associating conversion with going slightly crazy; it's entirely possible that the last generation of humans will be majority nonbeliever. While that is a success on your part, it's also in line with the prophecies.


>>340363

Further work on AI will synergise well with this; small semiautonomous platforms that carry a wubber can't hold a territory like infantry, but if you're only after shock and awe....

>>340333

Who's the girl in the picture? Did I miss out on us allying with demons?

>>340971

Now is the time to perfect those Not!Triffids.

>>340971
((Ouch bad dice. Also a little busy.))

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Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>340637

The launch system is a modification of the Mercury-Redstone design; it is intended to impact on the canopy, deploy stabilizing ballonets to stay in place, and use a series of impellers where the peroxide thrusters used to be, to keep attitude and hopefully move through the canopy.

You were expecting protests and possibly sabotage; while the launch countdown happens opposite to Ely LeVey having staged a dramatic reading of the Tower of Babel story, and there are a few protesters outside the launch site in Timbuktu, it doesn't look like there is any drama.

Jeb has had years to get ready for this. Heightened security catches one "Styr Magnor" trying to plant a small bomb inside one of the ground control computers; the device is poorly built, and would not have put the launch in danger even if it had gone off. The man is now in custody.

Liftoff! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzeeV_Dl9gw

Twenty seconds after the loudest noise anyone present at the launch remembers, a blue-sky bolt of lightning hits the rocket.

One of the Cosmists, Valentina, takes over CAPCOM. "Try SCE to aux".

Jeb transfers power from the rocket to the capsule battery for the flight attitude computer, and the rocket continues on its way up. (This really happened on Apollo 12!)

The first stage separates much lower than people expected, but right on schedule according to the math; Sky Eyes have been launched with a single-stage rocket so far, so this is new. The rocket engine and bipropellant tank opens a large parachute and starts floating lazily to the ground; most bystanders switch from watching the sky to watching the screen connected to a telescope following the capsule and second stage. Jeb reports that all systems are go so far.
>>340989

(That'd be Quinn. She has her own preference in looks)

Some of your botanists further improve the potency of the peppers you've been growing, eventually obtaining some passable pepper spray. There's no way to tell if it would work on the Glorified of course, but it makes for a low-tech alternative to wubbing modules, and it can be deployed in canisters by drones if necessary.

One interesting avenue of research that shows up serendipitously is that of making a particularly unpalatable plant (it can't be made inedible or poisonous) that can expand to take over cropland. On the opposite side of things, making staples grow easily enough that even what little farming is currently done becomes redundant should also be possible; this would leave much of the believing population with nothing to do.

# Officially start a botany program. Gross them out.

# Officially start a botany program. Bore them.

# Ignore for now, it'd take too long to grow.

>>341023

> Officially start a botany program. Gross them out.

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>>341028

Work begins on coming up with the grossest tasting weed possible.

>>341023

The capsule impacts the canopy at a respectable four meters per second of velocity, poking it into the canopy - which you know to be ordinary water, again with the same strange perfect purity that the Angelic weapons displayed - at which point Jeb jettisons the second stage and deploys the impellers. Upon jettison, the second stage drags out a wire antenna that lets you receive low resolution video and audio from the capsule.

Jeb reports that the inside of the canopy is intensely blue, he can see the moon's projection far away, also an intense blue. He's worried that there may be ice on top.

The capsule's battery is a little low due to having had to carry the first stage's flight computer, but within parameters.

Then there's a clunk, and you lose video for a moment.

"Guys? There's a layer of ice here. I think I'm near the top of the canopy. I don't know how thick it is. I can blow out the retro rockets to try and poke through it and see if I can come home with just the impellers..."

# Abort and return.

# Keep going.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>341053

Due to wind, the first stage lands safely - in the Central African territory. The engine is somewhat damaged, but it may be worth repairing it Within minutes, local police and Moral Forces have surrounded it and called in a tow truck.

# Request it back politely.

# Demand it back.

# Let them have it, the design is open source anyway.

Radio survey shows that Jeb's attempt is being broadcast on a few of the global television channels.

# Announce Magnor's sabotage attempt.

# Not yet.

>>340998

(getcha)

>>341028
I would have gone with bore. Idle hands and all.

>>341124
>>341028

(Fair enough... can I get a tie breaker on this one? Also, work time)

>>341074
Announce the failed sabatoge attempt. "There will be more on this story at eleven"

Request it back politely and apologize for the debris, "It was supposed to hit a lake."

>>341053
And how exactly does Jebs return system work? I kinda don't want to drop the man into space, but we do need to know how deep that ice sheet is.

>>341193

The return system for the Cinderella capsule works as such:


* Use impellers to go back to the canopy's inner surface.

* Use retro rockets for push-off in case the capsule decides to "stick" to the canopy, since gravity seems normal but the water is sticking up there anyway.

* Angle the Mercury style capsule in such a way that it will glide inland towards the desert.

* Open the (round) parachute and wait for pickup.

Jeb can, in an emergency, ditch the capsule and deploy a parafoil to go home independently.

>>341202
In that case it sounds good enough. Let him keep going.

(I'm just hoping that he doesn't get chopped by an angel for leaving the containment zone.)

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After having had some time to consider options, I feel the best course of action in terms of narrative causality research is to double down on AI research and Hephaestus worship. He provides frequent and easily quantifiable results when compared to some of the other pagan options, obviously he's also already somewhat worshiped within the nation which simplifies things greatly. I'd be interested in attempting different rituals and checking different outcomes for separate products. We know the effect he has on circuit production, but I'd be interested in testing the tolerances for different alloys and metals produced by:

Workers versus worshiping, believing workers.

Automated assembly/refinement line versus blessed automated assembly/refinement.
Shrines (made of metal or pottery) were the general go to for this sort of thing.

Then repeating the tests after having brought everyone involved up to speed on the nature of the meta causality field, or at least what we know of it. Record results and see if we learn anything.

I'd like to pursue AI for a few reasons:

1) Having a network of drones capable of tasks that would normally require a human would allow us to test how smite functions against us. Given that we're now distributed, I'm more willing to take risks in this department. If these machines are imperceptible or otherwise ignored by glorified and angels, it offers some unorthodox options for infiltration.

2) Using smite proof drones to tie up preachers basically forever, assign them to follow them around to argue with them and generally be annoying.

3) Allows for an even greater population spike of sorts and plays well into our need for exponential growth. They won't be as versatile as cabals probably, but we could simply produces bots at a base to gain something that does most of the stuff cabals normally do; thus freeing up real cabals to do work that specifically requires a human.

4) Hephaestus is strongly and directly associated with automatons. If there were ever a way to call in direct, angel equivalent divine assistance, it would be through 'possessed' bots. Cut the programming, run a ritual and see what works and what doesn't.

I think that it's important we produce a case study of sorts with a wide variety of data on the effect. This allows us to consider releasing this knowledge to our population at some point. Although much more likely to bring down divine retribution on us, it's not really saying anything Christians don't believe. If demons can tempt people, they obviously must have some measure of power. The underlying reasons behind it might piss them off, as well as the surge in worship of 'false idols', but if we ever want to Ragnarok... it's best to start early.

Attempting to incite specific events may also prove useful, perhaps an eruption at (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Etna)? It's said that Hephaestus' forge is beneath it, and when angry it erupts as he furiously pounds at his work.

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I'd also like to test how non-human worship works. We know that we failed to produce results ourselves, but that doesn't discount other organic entities. Now, this is going to get a bit long term but;

Are African Grey Parrots still around? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot))

I suppose chimps or bonobos might do, but Greys are a very easy option given their intelligence and ability to use spoken language. They're at least as intelligent as children and it remains to be seen what their full potential is. Given that they've demonstrated the ability to both use language in novel, creative ways in at least some capacity, and their ability to grasp concepts, not just words for physical things; it bears investigating whether their belief counts.

If we get better at biotech, I also wouldn't be opposed to growing platters of human neurons as processors wired into us. It would be interesting to determine whether a silicon-organic hybrid mind's belief does count? Perhaps only the organic processors do? If we can, optical and quantum computing nodes could do with testing as well. Perhaps even mechanical?

On the note of assisting biodiversity and the genetics program:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Plant_Industry

"National Seed Storage Laboratory ", Fort Collins, Colorado. It was built in 1958 and should have still been operational when bad stuff happened.

Possibly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Seed_Bank_Partnership

The project was granted in '95 and commenced in '96, I'm unsure what would be there.


I'm still interested in rounding up some Hecate worshipers and performing a ritual outside the nation, if anyone else wants to murder some puppies, anyway. If nothing, one way or another, the results should be spectacular be it from her or God. I'd like to set up some high power recording equipment and gather as much data on... whatever happens, or some lightning/combustion.

>>341628
>>341632
Welcome back Sara.also sorry but
>Having a network of drones capable of tasks that would normally require a human would allow us to test how smite functions against us.

This has already been tested. Smite kills whoever prepared the automaton. Machines may be immune but nobody said anything about the people who make them.

>>341679
>This has already been tested. Smite kills whoever prepared the automaton. Machines may be immune but nobody said anything about the people who make them.

Who prepares them if the entire production line is automated? Have the automated line assembled by retiring volunteers that don't plan to MEC or convert. At worst, the initial group that put it together goes up in flames, and then... who knows? Maybe our nodes explode? It's something I really do want to understand once you completely remove the human from the equation.

After the first batch is done, do the maintenance on it ourselves using the drones that roll off.

>>341684
Good idea. We should also install a remote termination system, just in case.

That reminds me. Vee is going to be planning on retirement, wonder if she will MEC. In addition, we need a tie breaker on the botany.

>>341702

Bore.

I'd rather we didn't have trouble with it in our own fields. It also probably wouldn't go over very well for exports if the country becomes associated with an invasive and disgusting weed. A place so sinful that it's the only place on the planet with vile plants, etc, etc.

At least boring is, y'know. We can also move up to gross later, I guess.

Also, did we ever start excavating using the scythe?

Did we ever get the results on production quota changes from foremen in places where we quietly encourages Hephaestus worship?

>Welcome back Sara

And, thanks. I'm glad OP's not dead.

>>341758
Not yet. Haven't had use for it.

>>341212

Jeb turns the capsule, does something which telemetry doesn't quite report correctly, and for a moment the external cameras show only orange.

"I'm using the capsule parachutes and the retro rockets to make a gas bubble, the expansion should put some pressure on the ice..."

The video feed cuts to black. Jeb screams. The very last frame shows some white dots on the black field...


>>341684

That's a great idea! Your systems are not at the point where they can do this just yet, but you can outsource some of the production to machine shops run by believers. It will still take a full year to do this, but building some smite-proof drones should be feasible.

# Focus on sentry guns.

# Focus on Reaper style aircraft.

# Focus on autonomous tanks.

>>341632

Sending a cabal to investigate sounds like a great idea.

>>341632

Murdering puppies is... well, a lot of people work for you or with you; finding some that are interested in doing that shouldn't be too hard. Jenny is surprisingly not squeamish about it, like, at all.

>>341702

Vee is due to retire in 10 years (950).

>>341758

The scythe is currently in storage. The results with those who worship a god of the forge are slightly better than those who do not, but you cannot yet tell if it's due to supernatural interference, internal narrative causality, or simply a matter of using rituals as a focus for mindfulness.

(Also, thank you!)

>>341752

This would have the advanage of making your own food supply more secure. The opportunity cost of course is that it would cause other territories to maybe do something with their extra time.

>>341788

Your organization spends three minutes in awe and apprehension until your telemetry confirms that the capsule is falling back down to Earth. It looks badly mangled.

Reporting live from the expected crash site is, unsurprisingly, Cameron Kirk Williams, who introduces this modern-day Tower of Babel effort as misguided.

"Stars are, after all, for signs and wonders, and there is no more need for that now that the Lord is with us directly..."

# Send a recovery team.

# Wait.

# CamCam is standing close to where the "Cinderella" is predicted to crash. It'd be a shame if something happened and he was right under the wreck, no?

>>341788

Hm, normally I'd say reaper but; tanks are MUCH more attractive in a world where everything is flat and there are relatively few cities. In addition, cutting out the crew compartment lets you do some very interesting things.

What do you think, Anti? I suppose tanks make a more interesting platform to mount a variety of radiation and sonic weapons on. My concern with reapers is that we:

1) Can't really use them to assassinate people in other nations.

2) Already have sky eyes.

3) They can't carry terribly large exotic payloads, unless OP allows us to build some pretty monstrous drones.

4) Are pretty fragile.

Tanks on the other hand can easily adapt to carry a wide range of retrofitted weaponry as we develop it.

>Sending a cabal to investigate sounds like a great idea.

I am in favor.

>Jenny is surprisingly not squeamish about it, like, at all.

Ask her why? Also, do we know the year she was born? If not, have someone ask, because that makes me wonder.

>This would have the advanage of making your own food supply more secure. The opportunity cost of course is that it would cause other territories to maybe do something with their extra time.

So, they'd also be seeing benefits the same as we would?

# Send a recovery team.

Also, tfw I come back after the Jeb decision was already made.

Remember what happened to the other girl who went to space?

>>341826
Send the recovery team.

I'm agreeing with tanks. Their value as cover is going to be ridiculous in any warfare scenario.

Sending a cabal to investigate sounds fun.

And how is project Cave Jenny working out?

>>341856
Yeah. But narrative causality didn't have a hole in it last time.

Also, just chopping treads and unnecessary stuff off of tanks gives you a sort of (large) sentry gun. Those two projects are probably easier to cross develop from than a reaper would be.

>Yeah. But narrative causality didn't have a hole in it last time.

True. I mean, the capsule came back, that's a start. We'll see how it works out. It's probably something that had to happen at some point for canopy breach to progress, going for it wasn't the worst decision.

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>>341826

The difference is that most people in Misrayim have better things to do than till the fields. Other places.... less so.

>>341859

Jenny and her survey teams have found the salt mine, and are mapping it. Building a base here would allow for simulating the night sky with a high degree of accuracy - the ceiling is tall enough that it's possible for eyes to focus roughly at infinity.

>>341863

Sentry guns are installed in your bases and buildings; since you control the base and buildings, it's easy to "trim" the sentry gun to the environment it's in, so that it can do things like avoid friendly fire. A tank type 'bot would be less discriminating when ordered to shoot things.

>>341863
>>341859

You order the recovery team to move southwards from the expected landing location, since the capsule is just plummeting instead of trying to glide. There they find a helicopter with Cameron, a cameraman, and a pilot; they've landed and are following the thing's slow fall.

The broadcast is interspersing Ely's reading of the Tower of Babel story with Cameron's on-site reporting; they even show the last frame that came out of the capsule, mostly black with some white spot which both your guys and theirs are trying to figure out if it's stars, or dead pixels.

The capsule lands unceremoniously a hundred metres away from Cameron; the recovery team, hats in hand, start loading up the wreck as Cameron "eulogizes" Jeb by reminding the global audience that the would-be spaceman is probably in Hell wishing that he could undo the last few minutes of his life.

Flags are lowered at half mast, and some households or businesses that helped in building the capsule or were interested in space look up Jeb's food preferences for the TOL tradition of a going-away meal, which has remained amongst your forces.

"...How do you describe both the beginning and an end? He should have known better, but he didn't. What does it matter if we think we know? In the end, there's no denying the truth."

"YO! Camera guy! Look up!"

A very fast blip is coming down at or near terminal velocity.

>>341752

At this stage, changing focus from weeds to super-corn is easy.

>>341859

You can assemble electronics automatically, and delegate the chassis machining to various shops headed by believers - they charge you a premium, of course, but are told that the parts will be used for tractors and the like. The final assembly is automated in the same way that Kat's deli is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSzEpGYWBE&feature=youtu.be (Check it out on Battlebots, I did the control system for this guy)

>>341901

>(Check it out on Battlebots, I did the control system for this guy)

Neat.

>At this stage, changing focus from weeds to super-corn is easy.

How do you feel, Anti? I think that less time in the fields, combined with spreading internet infrastructure should hopefully mean they spend more time bumping into opposing ideas and less time in the field and praying. More time to think, I hope, means more time for seeds of dissent to grow. I think I still lean towards crops rather than weeds.

We could tie up more of their population farming with weeds, but that's more of a depopulation route than a conversion route. Do we want to kill them or Ragnarok?

Also, we might consider the possibility of blowing up some believers at the end approaches, equalize the number of prayers going out somewhat.

>A very fast blip is coming down at or near terminal velocity.

Oh my. I hope he has a parachute, or a pagan entity is feeling generous.

>>341924
Super corn I say!

(Also, I loved battlebots!)

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>>341887

"Definitely getting something there... It's the capsule's heat shield."

"33 kilometers and coming down."

"Was it lodged in the ice?"

The sky above is, other than a few clouds, still its usual shade of immutable cyan.

"Can't make it out, it's shedding water vapor."

Cameron hands the audio over to Ely, who warns people to not harbor false hope.

A few hundred feet above the ground, the heat shield releases the remains of Jeb's personal parachiute into a sort of ribbon, starts tumbling, and then settles into a steep glide before smashing into the sand and leaving a huge skid mark, narrowly missing both Cameron and crew, and your recovery people. Cameron tells the cameraman to look back to him and away from the recovery team who are running towards where the heat shield stopped.

Cameron and Ely jointly give a heartfelt plea for the government of Osaze to stop these dangerous experiment lets more of the territory's best and brightest, however misguided, fall from the sky into the fiery pit.

Jeb's suit had a range of a few tens of meters; now that it's back in range of one of your vehicles, you get signal again. Nobody is getting this signal yet, the mission control systems having already been shut down for mourning.

He's suffering from hypothermia and trying to get up. No major tissue damage other than possibly frostbite on the feet.

# Have the recovery crew take him home and to a hospital, the media can wait.

# Have the recovery crew help him stand up and pwn Cameron Kirk Williams on his own camera.

>>341933
Own him on his own camra, then ignore him. Then we rush jeb to a medical center.

>>341933

># Have the recovery crew take him home and to a hospital, the media can wait.

If Anti wants to take the risk with him, then take their vote.

>>341944
Eh. Actually, is jeb going to live either way?

>>341949

>He's suffering from hypothermia and trying to get up. No major tissue damage other than possibly frostbite on the feet.

I guess I'm in favor of making a show? I mean, that's not good, but if he isn't going to drop dead we can just MEC his legs if need be. And he LOVES walking away from landings.

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>>341949
>>341953


Telemetry indicates that Jeb is suffering from mild hypothermia and possibly frostbite in the lower extremities. The desert is warm and will take care of the former, the latter may require medical attention lest he lose some toes or maybe a foot if he is very unlucky. He may have a couple of broken ribs. He's also trying to get back up without assistance.

The recovery team are celebrating, but they aren't visible on Cameron's camera as he is alternating between himself and the wreckage.

>>341953
>>341944

(your call!)

>>341985

Make a show.

>>341998
Give him assistance. Over the broadcast someone says. "cancel the funeral, crazy kid rode the heat shield like a skateboard. Mission accomplished!"

>>341953
Hey it wouldn't even be a full MECing! LoL!

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>>341998

Cameron gets a news flash on his earphone and, while showing te capsule wreck having been hoisted on the recovery truck, says that there are encouraging news, in that Osaze's parliament is studying a proposal to limit high-altitude manned flight.

"Today we have seen a stark reminder of the excesses of this so-called Renaissance. Mr. Kerman was a passionated, gifted individual whose talents might have brought great glory to the Lord, if only-"

The cameraman tilts to show the last piece of wreckage, only to see the recovery team drag the heat shield back to the truck, save for one person who's helping Jeb stand up and walk towards the newscopter.

"... uh, hang on Ely, we have some activity here at the crash site..."

Of course, you're streaming this back out on the net, as a public service. Your own video is superimposed with Jeb's telemetry and digitally zoomed in, showing a pixelated Jeb take his helmet off and handing it off to the recovery crew person. The recovery truck is set up to do basic data recovery.

Hesitantly but picking up the pace, Jeb limps towards Cameron while the guy who helped him up takes the helmet and its camera to the truck's PC.

Jeb raises a hand and two gloved fingers in a victory sign, and the cheer at the launch facility is loud enough to trip seismometers.

The somber announcer at Mission Control, without skipping a beat, proclaims "... cancel the funeral, crazy kid rode the heat shield in like a skateboard! MIssion accomplished!"

Your video splits between the celebration at mission control and what's going on at the crash site.

Up close, it's pretty visible that Jeb is much worse for wear, from frost and fire; the cameraman keeps recording him and the picture-perfect Cameron. Jeb grabs the Glorified reporter by the shoulders, and gives him a big hug that the man wiggles out of, then faces the camera.

"People of Earth!" he says straight into the camera "It's still full of stars!"

That's when the video feed from Cameron's cameraman cuts, going back to Ely LeVey who says that she hopes that Jeb is undoubtedly, under Cameron's guidance, giving some thoughts to converting after escaping that death-trap of a capsule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4n-CiwIZcY

Your media show a hastily assembled infographic of the flight envelope, interspersed with people celebrating, and Valentina answering questions as best as she can. Halfway through her explanation of a better ice-breaker stage for the NEXT rocket, recovered pictures from Jeb's helmet camera start to come in from the data recovery system; they show Jeb basically crashing the capsule into the ice layer, and wriggling out of it, walking on all fours on the outside of the canopy. There, the sky is black, the stars and the Milky Way are visible in all their beauty, and the canopy itself looks like a large, icy blue expanse that covers the globe; seen from afar Earth looks like a larger version of Jupiter's moon Europa.

>>342081
(Fucking epic.... I wish it could last.)*Manly tears*

>>342081

Celebrations begin everywhere in Misrayim and in most of the TOL installations where you have telemetry, even elsewhere in other territories; to some surprise, believers are also seen thanking Yahweh for sparing the young man.

Styr Magnor is seen ranting from the conference room where he's been temporarily detained that there is no time and that this is distracting people from what's really important.

After a quick shot of Cameron returning to Amman ahead of the recovery truck, during which he says that Jeb is returning to base with the wreckage of his capsule, LeVey's transmitter has nothing more to show and switches over to your video coverage, although she keeps the audio and occasionally bleeps out or adds comments to what people are saying.

Jeb has been doused with warm water from the recovery team's canteens (which is also seen as celebratory, since the Nile is still dry) and tells all about what he did and how he did it, knowing that it's being recorded.

Of note, the Sun that you see from the Earth seems to be at an angle from the Sun seen from outside the canopy (Jeb didn't look at it directly, to avoid frying the camera, but held up an arm and did a slow pan over the shadow).

The last shot he recorded before the ice started closing up was him jamming a small iron spike into the top of the canopy. No plaque; no symbols; just a nail; but it's enough.

# Declare a holiday? Offer Cameron an interview with Jeb or Valentina? Anything else?

Of course, it couldn't be a perfect moment: which of these to handle first?

# Red blip on the telemetry board: Tsion.

# Red blip on the telemetry board: Jenny.

>>342112

Nice.

# Red blip on the telemetry board: Jenny.

>>342115
Quinn can report in quickly, she is with Jenny, check Tsion first.

Eh, what do you think Sara? Holiday? Interview?

>>342130

>Holiday

Sure. I think he could use a hospital though, rather than an interview.

Will we get both blips anyways or is this blink and you miss it?

>>342112

"Omega, it's all up there! Cendrillon was right! We can leave. We can LEAVE!"

Jeb instructs you to cache one of the pictures. "Red dot, twinkling! It's Mars! Like the old textbooks say. And that's Venus! Big white dot!"

He didn't have time to see if any of the old satellites were still there; they'd all be 900 years old, and probably inoperative by now.

"... Right, but what does this do for us?"

Valentina describes an ice station that could be built in stages, and used as a space port. It may even be possible to "mine" the canopy ice for hydrogen and oxygen.

>>342130
>>342125

(you tell me!)

>>342137

Even as the measure limiting space travel is still being discussed, that declaring the 14th day of the 11th month to be Canopy Breach Day passes almost unanimously.

Christian pundits everywhere note that living outside the canopy would have very deleterious health effects. Warehouses are quickly emptied and the windows covered with blackout curtains so that disco nights and laser shows can take place. The Cosmists report that Yuri Gagarin's statue in Baikonur smiled, but they have no proof, which is admittedly too bad. The Temple Trbunal begins a special session.

Jeb flippantly offers Cameron an exclusive interview and is then carted off to the Timbuktu facility's medical wing, who recommend a warm bath and note that there's probably a line of people wanting to give up part of their daily water ration to let it happen.

Cameron Kirk Williams "prayerfully and respectfully declines" to interview Jeb, much to the derision of jorunalists and bloggers that are practically mobbing the medical center.

Most notable is that in quite a few places even believers are thanking Yahweh and celebrating. A number of places break out and launch fireworks. Even TOL bases are in agitation; your hooks into their network indicate that there's going to be a lot of hangovers tomorrow.

>>342157

Dealing with one immediately will result in more data points and a higher capacity to extrapolate and plan about it. The other will have to wait, but can be responded to.

>>342187
So what more important. Tsions shit or Jenny's big discovery or loss.?

>>342212
I'm voting Jenny

>>342212

Jenny is my vote.

>>342226
>>342227

Quinn reports that while exploring, a few minutes ago, Jenny disappeared. Jenny pokes her head on the video window; she is smiling almost as much as Jeb is, in the bathtub.

Jenny, Quinn and the survey team were exploring the cave when they heard about Jeb's crash and survival; Quinn reports Jenny jumping to the side, behind a corner in the underground salt mine, and disappearing for a few minutes. Jenny reports Quinn doing the same thing. The rest of the team were mapping elsewhere, and didn't see this.

>>342274

Interesting. Let's hear both of their accounts? Ask what Jenny thinks happened?

>>342274
Bah. Put the team on standby swap to Tsion. We can get full debriefings later.

>>342347

At the same time - literally at the same time, margin of error of twenty seconds - Tsion has left the church he's based in and, with surprising largesse from his expense account, rented a STOL taxi to Cairo. Once on the plane, he has radioed ATC indicating that he is headed to the parliament building and they are to shut down a nearby soccer field so that he may land; the place is not hosting an event at this time.

>>342298

Jenny says that she got it to work, but the staircase didn't really go anywhere. She yanks the camera off the mount and aims it towards a piece of cave fungus that seems to be happily inhabited by glow worms. Zooming in shows that they have stubby wings.

>>342581

>Zooming in shows that they have stubby wings.

Nice. Time to breed them.

>>342632
Sounds so wrong but is so right. "Quinn, Jenny, congratulations, you both discovered teleportation."

>>342653

Quinn laughs good naturedly. Jenny gets a little upset: it's her granny's idea.

>>342632

Building a base in and around the salt mine would require extra effort to keep this chamber sealed, but it would make it easier to conduct systematic breeding efforts.

>>342581

Jeb has, according to reports, fallen asleep after letting the bathtub drain off, asked for a number of towels, and let Damien be brought in for a visit. All over the world, people are still celebrating.

Tsion is flying to Cairo and has demanded that a currently unused soccer field near the parliament building be emptied for his landing.

# Direct the air taxi to abort.

# Direct the air taxi to land at the regular airfield.

# Clear the landing area.

>>342686
Direct to normal airfield. No special treatment.

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>>342711

The small airplane keeps flying towards Cairo. The pilot is directed to head towards the reglar airfield; Tsion gets on the radio and indicates that he is bound by a higher Authority. After a bit of back and forth, Tsion tells the pilot to fly on top of Parliament instead.

Naturally, that raises all sort of red flags; Misrayim doesn't really have an air force, but a police helicopter quickly chases the small airplane, and so do a few of your drones. The pilot is instructed to fly well above the parliament building, and then land as soon as possible.

He complies. When he's dead above the high-rise, Tsion simply jumps off, and lands on the roof while the poor pilot is escorted to the airfield.

# You have a number of assets in Cairo; Quinn, Jeb, and Damien are elsewhere but Kat and Vee are available. A small group of agents of any type can be russled up in minutes.

# Let this play out for now.

# Order an evacuation.

>>342775

So, Anti? Right now we need to think very hard before we do anything. The world at large is looking for an excuse, casus belli, right now. So far we've fairly effectively avoided that, but this could be it if we mishandle it.

That also said, we need to have red lines, do not cross lines. Flying straight to the parliament building and dropping onto the roof is probably one of those things, especially depending on what he decides to do. If we allow ourselves to be bullied too much, that's potentially nearly as bad as a Sodom situation.

At the very least we need a team on the way. Heavy MECs, Kat, Vee and whatever we can rustle up. We need to bring pepper spray if we have any available and immediately start prepping a containment system similar to what we had with the last glorified, even if we may need to try improvising a way to wrestle him into it.

I think evacuating the parliament might not be a bad idea, that's generally what one does in this sort of situation, and it hopefully gets them out of the line of fire.

Christ, this guy is a fucking headache.

>>342775
Evac Omegas agents. Let this play out.

>>342814
Have a group with non lethals outside. Regular police.

(Gah. Five things at once)

Let's compromise and have a team standing by while it plays out?

>>342828
Sure.

QM, the regular police have a few heavy MECs with non lethal gear right?

>>342828
(Sara, I'm going to need to rely on you to handle it. In going to be absent in a few. "Don't blow up the country while I'm gone.")

>>342872

Just fuck my shit up. WELL UH, I'LL TRY.

>>342850

Not normally; they were called out during the Plagues because, well, civil emergency. In general, Misrayim police has standardized on wubbers and tasers instead of pistols, with snipers called in for serious threats if a long-range weapon is required.

>>342872
>>342828

"Firebrand preacher doing a Superhero Landing on top of Parliament" is definitely something that warrants an evacuation; when Tsion marches into the legislative hall, most of the MPs have left - including some of the Christian party. If Tsion was hoping to have a quorum, he'd be sorely disappointed.

He walks in the middle of the auditorium, and speaks loud and clear despite not having a megaphone.

“Woe to you, says the Lord God of Israel! For years you have permitted all kinds of wickedness and lawlessness! In His mercy He sent warnings to you, and you ignored them! Today, you brazenly allowed a misguided young man to compound upon the error of Babel.

The Lord has restored upon you a pure language, and does not wish to sully it! But your lawlessness stops today. Return to your homes, and pray for forgiveness! Delight in His ways. Seek His face. Follow His statutes. Never again disobey His commands.

And henceforth this land shall be known as Osaze once more. Lest you fear that His wrath evidences something other than His love, imagine what He could have done in the face of this ultimate insult.

Now, come forth those of stalwart faith! Your rebukes had too little power, your reproach too little strength. But you served, and for this you shall bear the reward and the burden!"

Picking from the few legislators that had remained, and sticking exclusively to Christians over the age of 100, Tsion reassigns various government posts, from finance minister to transportation secretary, all under the leadership of Zaki Ababneh (Smitty's son) after revealing that he has been appointed by God as the territory's moral guardian when the Plagues began. The new transportation secretary is given instructions to draft legislation outlawing space travel.

All this happens in a few minutes; Tsion speaks quickly and with no hesitation. The other legislators are safely in the lobby, and your squad is ready to intervene. Unbeknownst to most, you also directly control the building's doors (it's a parliament building, so they are bulletproof and can be deadbolted), extinguishers, lights, and internal cameras.

# Intervene.

# Lock them in.

# Have the parliament use another building for the time being, and ignore these clowns.

Speaking of clowns, Cameron Williams has showed up again on the air to cover this event. He's not in the building, and merely commenting over the automated Parliament feed (think C-SPAN).


https://studyingbibleprophecy.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/the-glorified-ones-in-the-coming-millennial-government/

>>342987

How much of our hardware is outside of the nation? What would be the result in the event of say, 80% hardware loss inside the country?

# Have the parliament use another building for the time being, and ignore these clowns.

>>343033

You have two bases elsewhere, and should remain functional. Of course, you could easily fake your own demise, if you were to capitulate.

Politically, Tsion couldn't have picked a worse moment, but he doesn't seem to particularly care about politics...

You have a number of options here, one of which being waking up Jeb.

Right now we need to not explode, moving them to another building would be a start, but that doesn't prevent a forecast of rain with a chance of meteors.

This is going to seem a bit odd but, what are Misrayim's crime statistics like? Are any of the essentials like water, electricity, food, sanitation, transport, etc handled by the government? How hands on is it?

And, whatever happened with that colossus program? Is it just a cover for our existence in effect, just extra hardware for us, or what?

Did we even finish it? I can't recall.

>>343066

Misrayim's crime statistics are the worst in the world. This is simply due to the fact that the rest of the world is very tightly controlled. The glaring exception is murder: people will fight and fight rough, but very few people hate someone enough to send them to Hell. That, and older Marks of wubbers being easily available make firearms less attractive - a gun is kill or nothing, a wubber can be used to hurt an enemy, humiliate them, or all sort of things. Crime rates are much lower in North Korea than they are in Canada, for example.

Water discipline is still in effect, to the point that for example, a freshwater bath is considered a luxury; given that Misrayim used to be arid countries, this has actually helped the people living there rediscover their roots.

Misrayim's relative prosperity is high enough that most infrastructure works better than pretty much anywhere else. The current economic system is somewhat dirigistic, reminiscent of post-WW2 France, or modern Germany or Denmark.

>>343081

The Colossus program was part of your AI research. It was concluded when the many systems that constitute your core were taken away from TOL. You have been redistributing them ever since, with some success -- as long as you keep control of any one base, you will remain active, just off the routers and network switches all over the Earth.

>>343043

Appropriately enough, one of the adjacent buildings is a shopping centre with an indoors tennis court. http://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/tennis-court-oath/

(We could cede the government and try to use the resulting wave of fury to fuel recruitment and operate as a shadow organization, sabotaging and generally making the official government irrelevant.Alternatively we could obviously fight, but I worry about the possibility of meteors when we're still really not in a good place to take that kind of hit.)

(Crazier idea: Concede but have the last act of parliament be the dissolution of the government. Send out a speech to play on the general atmosphere right now and hope that the general goodness of human beings combined with the internet means that given some time, they can self organize. Obviously we'd help the transitional period. Essentially, self organizing, bottom up anarchy).

That said, having read the new post

>dirigistic

Yikes. Such a transition would hurt.

Any thoughts from anyone? Is this something parliament would even attempt?

>>343120

(Well, effectively, Misrayim's economy has been run by a giant computer for ten years... there definitely is a lot of competition between small companies and contractors, but for big jobs, they are made to cooperate. Again, France post-WW2 would be a good model. Today we'd call it data-driven government. Colossus is of course from the movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt_i-aW4s9A )

You estimate that under Christian rule, Misrayim would not suffer, as such; scientific and engineering progress would slow down and eventually cease, and the economy would revert towards pastoralization. Water discipline would likely become unnecessary.

Given that the world is going to end in sixty years, this does not detract from humanity's chances of survival, if taken by itself. Or improve it.

>>343146

Mhm, I caught the colossus reference. It was a good one.

Would losing the Misrayim hardware slow us down a lot?

My current thought process is that if given over to anarchy, the country can continue to (hopefully) tie up Christian resources in the region while we refocus on other areas. I am concerned about the propaganda potential if it spirals out of control, other areas being more hesitant to openly declare themselves as breaking from the dogma if Misrayim ends up this way. If it explodes, that's going to be the same effect but worse, however. Given that unless we're willing to risk meteor rain we'll be losing control of the country anyway, losing the launch facility anyway and seeing pagan worship outlawed anyway... I am tempted to dissolve the government and see where the cards fall.

I think that at BEST, bagging tsion would just put us on a timer to the whole "My people leave Misrayim", then "Find me five righteous men in Misrayim, etc" bit. We know how that one ends.
Hopefully we can operate in the chaos. Perhaps anarchy with a "basic amenities will be handed over to colossus, taxes replaced with subscription analogous to taxes" addendum with colossus (read: us) effectively operating as a shell organization to make sure the trains run on time while also neutering the legislative capabilities of the government. In effect, Tsion appointed these people to positions that no longer exist.

I guess we form an organization under colossus and offer to hire most of the police, firefighters, etc by emptying the treasury until income starts flowing to us again. It's a good thing that parliament is next door to pass these emergency measures!

The Romans totally had private fire departments (ignore the part where they started the fires)!

>>343120
Why not just ignore them?

>>343211

>>342987


>“Woe to you, says the Lord God of Israel! For years you have permitted all kinds of wickedness and lawlessness! In His mercy He sent warnings to you, and you ignored them! Today, you brazenly allowed a misguided young man to compound upon the error of Babel.

>In His mercy He sent warnings to you, and you ignored them!

If we continue to openly stick it to them, we will end up like Sodom and Gomorrah. Realistically it's only a matter of time and I feel that we're already riding the razor's edge with these people. This is the closest thing to ignoring them that we can do. Given what the 10th angel did, and the descriptions of S&G in scripture, it's functionally an out of context problem for us right now; which means we can only mitigate and avoid.

If nothing else, I need Misrayim to keep selling electronics abroad.

>>343204
>>343196

For now, Misrayim's legislative body sets up shop in the tennis court.

In the meantieme, Jenny and Quinn compare notes: it seems that in the intense emotional moment from thinking that Jeb was dead to knowing that he was alive and he had succeeded, Jenny was able to access one of those "staircases" into what amounts to be a pocket dimension. Unfortunately, it was basically empty.

>>343204
>>343211

Since you control most of the channels by which government instructions are relayed, ignoring Tsion and company is feasible, at least until they notice that their commands are not being obeyed. Encouraging people to ignore a nonrepresentative government is also possible. The problem is that Tsion can call all manners of wrath of God upon the land, at least in theory.

For now, the main reason why there isn't complete chaos is that most everyone is too busy celebrating the first man in space in 900 years. Foreign news are treating this as a government reshuffle, so far, and internal news are treating it as a bunch of protesters having done a sit-in in the parliament building. You can, of course, have the latter do otherwise.

>>343226

The secular parliament passes a resolution indicating that until the takeover attempt is over, business should continue as usual; the Christian parliament is writing a series of resolution that try to harmonize the reality of a modern country with Levitical law. They can't actually publish them without your help, at least until they notice that the teletype in Parliament goes nowhere unless it's routed by you.

You estimate that they will notice in 24 hours if you simply leave them incommunicado, or in 36 if you generate written reports that falsify a country aquiescing to their demands (you cannot generate convincing audio or video reports, your GPUs are still early 2000s level).

In terms of mitigating total economic collapse:

Is our currency backed by a physical object?

Is our currency printed and backed by the government, or by a private bank? (E.G., bank of Canada).

How easily can criminal law be divorced from the rest of civil legislation and ported to a new, more basic constitution? Ideally hammered into a new constitution that can operate in the intern with the courts as things regionalize.

Anarchist communities, at least hypothetically, should be electing people that they agree to have authority to enforce laws. In that instance, at least for the beginning we're going to treat colossus as elected. If communities decide to leave and start up their own enforcement and courts independent of us, then so be it provided they keep to basic human rights.

I suppose we can codify based on http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/, but scratch the non applicable bits about democracy and governance. Just hand the bare essentials like primary education, emergency services, courts and such over to colossus.

>>343243
>In the meantieme, Jenny and Quinn compare notes: it seems that in the intense emotional moment from thinking that Jeb was dead to knowing that he was alive and he had succeeded, Jenny was able to access one of those "staircases" into what amounts to be a pocket dimension. Unfortunately, it was basically empty.

Interesting. Ask Jenny if she's ever found one of these without fireflies? Say, moments of trauma or excitement?

And no, I swear I'm not a pushy anarchist attempting to inject politics into the quest; I just don't want to hand the country away but I also don't want to take a virtual certainty that it might explode.

This will piss them off I'm sure, but I think it might piss them off less than just shooting tsion. If nothing else it might buy time.

>>343283

Everyone is on the gold standard (because this world was written by a friend of Glenn Beck).

Since the whole "one currency" deal was the Antichrist's schtick, but the Millennial Kingdom is intended to be unified, the problem was solved by each territory making banknotes of the same value backed by the same quantity of gold. By convention, Israeli currency is taken everywhere, but territorial currency must be exchanged upon travel (at a very nominal fee).

http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.LBStuff.html

>>343283

Having the emergency provisions indicate that right now each community should handle matters locally is not a great stretch; e-voting can be handled by the infrastructure, although you can expect some hacking to happen. Likely, it will go in directions that you would want anyway.

>>343296

The parliament building has been cordoned off, and you can send in a squad.

(Hey, same. But, you definitely DO have the option of playing as Friend Computer if you can get away with it!)

>>343285

Jenny says that you have to have a certain attitude to use the "staircases". It depends between people. For her, it's always been fulfilling her desire to explore, which made it easy, but this Earth is really, really uniform - if you've seen one place, you've seen all of them; that's why she was hunting down ruins.

Knowing that space exploration was possible definitely did the trick, at least once.

She notes that it used to be a lot easier.

>>343283

Dennis, one of the junior members of your political faction, starts drafting a self-government system which you can mediate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0

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>>343307

>Everyone is on the gold standard

That's pretty awful, but in this case it's actually possibly useful.

Eh, fuck it. Let's do something wild.

#Have the government legislate themselves out of existence, transfer control to friend comp- I uh, I mean coloussus! It will handle the bare minimum to keep society running until private alternatives pop up. If communities wish to depart the union and legislate independently, they may provided they follow the (modified) linked page of rights.

>Dennis

Thanks, Dennis. Friend computer will remember your work in bringing about the new dawn.

>>343318
I like it, doing good man. Remove the government and keep society going without it. That should put a twitch in great wills eyebrows.

Also if Colossus has a social media connection, I vote he says "so much for cool CPUs. :( Going to be busy"

>>343307
(Damn I love Monty Python)

>>343318
>>343339

# Have Misrayim's secular parliament formally dissolve after turning over most powers to local communities, or not?

# Allow the Christian directorate to broadcast their laws, or not?

>>343375

># Have Misrayim's secular parliament formally dissolve after turning over most powers to local communities, or not?

Yes.

Local communities/friend computer. If it's not something that can effectively be turned over to a local community, give it to friend computer. Also, charter in those human rights, no one is legalizing rape and if they try, then friend computer has a word for that.

While the local communities are sorting shit out, friend computer can handle the transition and help to organize, thus avoiding blackouts, breakdown of law and order, etc.

>>343375

># Allow the Christian directorate to broadcast their laws, or not?

They can broadcast if they can find some working equipment. Don't stop them, but legislate the federal government effectively out of existence and don't help them broadcast.

>>343404
Agreed.

>>343404
>>343401

The legislators under your control quickly convince the rest that this is the safest course of action; even the Christian parliamentarians who left the buildings quickly come around, after it's pointed out to them that this lets them build intentional communities.

While Parliament legislates itself out of commission, your sysadmins spin off some of your systems to run a nonsentient Master Control Program that can coordinate e-voting, inter-settlement commerce, and other details of modern life. Your sysadmins estimate that from an efficiency standpoint you could run things 900-1200 times better than any human.

A round of e-voting is set immediately, with a 36 hour closing time, for people to accept the terms; the libertarian wing of your party does so almost too readily.

Finally, Dennis moves that Parliament be dissolved, sine die. Someone throws the ceremonial mace into a window of the old parliament building, where at least according to your telemetry, it remains.

* Your systems are now more intimately involved with running the territory, which ties up a cabal.

* You retain control of the territory, at least most of the time.

* Zaki Ababneh and Tsion Ben-Judah are now nominally in control of "Osaze" again. It remains to be seen whether the Nile will flow again.

# Focus on fine-tuning the new system and move forward to next year.

# Take time to help manage Jeb's newfound celebrity.

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>>343404

Security forces keep the Parliament building surrounded, but the ones who are trying to be conspicuous are given dress uniforms. After a few hours, your telemetry indicates that a few refrigerators in the Parliament building have been raided. The Misrayim flag is lowered, and comes back up with the Christian flag on top of it; Tsion mostly picked elderly legislators, some of them more than 800 years old, and has to do the flag-raising himself.

>>343444
I vote fine tune the system. Jebs celebrity status better not go to his head.

>>343444

># Take time to help manage Jeb's newfound celebrity.

#Offer to run the essentials of society for communities. Schools, firefighting, policing, etc. They can vote to have us make a trial run and then if happy with our increased efficiency, we can do it full time for them.

(and one day, we will return, and nothing will stop the march against that mind flaying beard on a stick! Unless of course they develop EMPs)

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>>343453

Reactions to this are mixed. Most people don't like taking direct orders from a machine, but most people are very happy to delegate things like requisition forms for firefighting gear, accounting, and so on to one.

A few communities end up being directly managed by the MCP, most only take up the offer to have the MCP act as a comptroller, and a few refuse the offer. Interestingly, a handful of Christian communities excitedly email Tsion (on his private email, which he probably won't check for a couple of days at least) that they have convinced the central government to leave them alone, finally!

>>343454

Very few of your systems are EMP hardened; in fact, it would be one easy way to get rid of a Heavy MEC. Infiltrator MECs are more robust, since they have more biological components.

>>343453

After a sound ten hours of sleep, Jeb gives a few quick interviews in which he (and Valentina) show off what their plans for the outer side of the canopy is. "We could have a man on the Moon in ten years". "And a woman on Mars in twenty."

Asked about the parliamentary crisis, the astronaut and the Cosmist den-mother answer that they haven't really paid attention.

Oddly, the news of Tsion's takeover doesn't seem to have hit the foreign airwaves yet.

# Wrap up the year.

# Check in onto something else.

>>343465

># Wrap up the year.

>>343472
2nded

Somehow I don't think it gets better until more territories rebel.

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>>343478
>>343472

By the time Tsion and the new directorate realize that none of their proclamation have gone through, the rest of the territory, divided by communities in the desert and by neighborhood in the cities, has uniformly agreed to the new Charter as a voluntary binding contract of mutual cooperation; if anything, you have slightly better control of the economy than you did before. You have effectively lost control of the villages that were majority-believer, but even they have agreed to the decentralized government system.

The Secretary for Spiritual Health and Hygiene figures out that no orders have gone out of the building only after a day, when he pops out of the front door to tell the police still cordoning the building that they've run out of snacks. The officer explains that they are a honor guard (which is believable, given the dress uniform, but then why are the police line markers all turned inwards?) and has to ask the dignitary what his position is. Catering shows up, but not before the directorate figures out that their phone and data lines are down.

In the month or so left before the end of the year, the Directorate manage to repeal the Charter (which by now pretty much all of your citizens have signed on to), revise the higher education curricula (which by now have been largely supplanted by e-learning, the university campuses having been largely turned classrooms into labs or joined them together into auditoria for the rare in-person seminar), reinstate the Millennium Force as a sort of vice police (think Saudi Arabia) giving them partial law enforcement status, which means that under community guideline they have to carry a trackable GPS and a body camera, and so on. Effectively, Tsion and Zaki are only in control of the criminal court system, which results in most communities deciding to bring most matters including petty theft and vandalism under civil or contractual law.

Quinn and Jenny return from Eastern Europe to find some more MFers on the street, a lot of libertarian "preachers" extolling the virtues of the new system, and quite a few missionaries with their tongues tied since their 1980s-era literature advocates exactly this sort of limited government as the Godly option.

>>343499

(Crisis pretty much averted, actually!)

>>343511

o7

I DIDN'T FUCK IT UP COMPLETELY.

>>343525
No, it's pretty fucked. But seeing as a Glorified was involved you gave us the best possible result. Nice job man, you deserve to be proud. :)

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>>343511

You have 13 cabals available. Since you have more than 9, two of them are required to maintain your systems. Since you are in a soft-takeover state in Osaze, one is tied up running interference with the nominal government. You are actively tracking enemy teams where you have assets. Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.QuestRules.html

There are 2 missionary teams in Osaze. Both are going crazy trying to get people to recognize their official status and mostly getting pats on the shoulders in return. Ely has been uncharacteristically quiet.

There is one missionary team and one TOL team in the Pacific coast, both are mostly messing with each other.

The Nile has not yet resumed flowing.

Styr Magnor has escaped custody, being as everyone was too busy partying.

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

Complexity 1

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

# Send a cabal to the Middle East, to see what unique opportunities that region offers (see below)

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties (see below).

Complexity 2

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

# Work your Osaze base overtime to improve prosperity.

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

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

# Use a base to build a launch pad.

Complexity 3

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

# Continue AI, nuclear, or sonic research.

# 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

Complexity 4

# Continue pursuing MEC research.

# Recruit. This has gotten a little harder across the board.

Complexity 5

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contacts. Eastern Europe is ripe for this.

# Take over a TOL base by force.

Surveyed opportunities:

Southern America: Darwin's Finches look alike again, but have not homogenized genetically. As above, this may help prove that evolution isn't a fairy tale.

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

American Heartland: Search for a seed vault.

>>343539

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

1 Cabal? I'm not sure what variable difficulty would require.

># Send a cabal to the Middle East, to see what unique opportunities that region offers

1 Cabal, put Quinn and Jenny on it.

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

2 Cabals, put Jeb on it. Hero status could gain us some ground perhaps.

># Continue AI

3 Cabals, put Vee on it.

># Continue nuclear

3 Cabals, put Kat on it.

I think that we could do with some research right now, given that recruiting is harder now. We'll get back to that in a bit, but our tech doesn't feel adequate right now; if bad things come from the sky, we can't afford the losses we took to deal with Azrael, and this tech helps with basically everything we want to do.

If data network infrastructure won't work with 1, let me know and I'll reassign that group.

>>343567

>I'm not sure what variable difficulty would require.

Actually, you just mentioned it simply goes faster with more, yeah?

If that's the case, that's fine. Sorry about that, brain is being shit again.

Would stabbing some puppies require a cabal?

>>343567
I think we should find styr asap. No idea what's going on with him but it sounds like something to look into.

We should build a base in that cave soon. Nothing like a central command we can teleport from and keep secret.

>>343572
>>343577

Styr Magnor is an enigmatic figure; he looked older than 100, so that would make him a believer, but trying to plant a bomb isn't really something they would do.

Performing a ritual to Hecate is something that the group that Quinn and Jenny are with can do while they do other things.

>>343577

>We should build a base in that cave soon. Nothing like a central command we can teleport from and keep secret.

Sure. Cali is 5/5 next year, we'll get on that.

Also, put Damien in Australia for security. Did I miss any other villains?

Change middle east search to:

# American Heartland: Search for a seed vault.

# Do some Hecate rituals while they're there, puppies, ritual circle, crossroads, hecate believers. I trust you to have some idea of what to try.

>>343591

All your key personnel is assigned with the current proposed lalocation.

Finding Styr Magnor would be difficult: putting a cabal on it would give a chance to, but putting more manpower on the same job would not help particularly much. It's a matter of monitoring your existing surveillance network and doing last-mile stuff in person; a big group would actually get in the way.

>>343567

Doing data network infrastructure with one cabal can help; they'll mostly focus on promoting Osaze's products. (The territory has, of course, officially been renamed; you estimate that there are at least three search-and-replace "tapeworm"-type viruses running around your network. By now, most software recognizes both names as valid.)

>>343617

Sure. Forward we go, then!

>>343577
>>343567

(Is anybody looking for Styr Magnor?)

>>343649

No, not for now. Unless we happen to trip over him.

>>343655
>>343577

Anti, confirm?

>>343665
Sorry, been a little busy, and going to get busier. Confirm.

>>343567

It's not particularly difficult to advertise Misray electronics, since they're objectively better than anything currently made in the Pacific Islands or in Eastern Asia. Some people just won't buy something without a Jesus fish on it, though; the problem is simply solved by routing some of your domestic production towards resellers who don't mind laser-cutting one in place. You sold them the laser cutter, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsPn-P4xzkc

Jeb leaves for the Pacific Coast and finds that he's been put on a no-fly list by the nominal government.; he cannot be a passenger on one of the few airliners that still cross the skies. The problem is quickly solved when the co-pilot decides to take the day off and Jeb is quickly offered a job. The airframe is derived from the venerable Boeing 707; upon arrival, Jeb characterizes the flight as "sort of boring", but none of the passengers do. http://www.military.com/video/commercial-aviation/civil-aviation/boeing-707-does-barrel-roll-1955/2935290602001 Jeb lets himself enjoy his celebrity status for a while, tours the territory, and after every talk he gives about aerospace, he notes that historically the US and Canada were proud of their spacefaring status. He comes home with a lot of space related fan art, a few marriage proposals - one from a believer even - and a bit of a hang over.

# Jeb propagandized an arrangement like Osaze's today.

# Jeb propagandized a full takeover.
Quinn, Jenny and a survey team end up scouring the endless grasslands and corn field that make up the American heartland. It's one of the most boring jobs any of them have ever done, to the point that even finding a crossroads to perform a sacrifice to Hecate to is difficult. The team is a little squeamish about literally killing a puppy, and they only do so after giving about a tenth of their mission budget to an animal shelter. Half hoping that it may help them find the seed vault (it may be where the map says it is, but the territory here is incredibly uniform and your GPS system uses a different map datum than the pre-Rapture one) they eventually come to a cross between two farm roads, and set up. https://paganconnection.me/2014/07/25/pagan-prayer-hecate/ Jenny doesn't have the stomach to go through with killing a puppy, especially not with a ritual knife.

# Jenny should do it.

# Quinn doesn't mind as much, she should do it.

# A human surveyor that happens to want to do this, mostly out of frustration, should do it.

# As an AI, your prime purpose is to make sure Humanity endures past +1000. But killing a puppy is a bit excessive. Abort ritual and focus on searching for the seed vault.


Vee is, as you know, a good manager; she assists in integrating wubbers into the drone tanks that you have standardized on. Most importantly, she works out the supply chain issues that will allow building drones with no, or only believer, labor, performed on them. Standard size is...

# 100~250lbs.

# 500~2000lbs.

>>343721

># Jeb propagandized an arrangement like Osaze's today.

## A human surveyor that happens to want to do this, mostly out of frustration, should do it.

# 500~2000lbs.

>>343731
Confirm but doesn't it have to be a sincere sacrifice to work?

>>343733

This is why I want the guy who, y'know, wants to do it to do it.

Well, if the gods are ok with frustrated people then so am I. LoL.

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>>343567

Kat travels back and forth between Australia and Osaze (she's also on a no-fly list, but her and her Desolators end up chartering a cargo plane anyway) to make use of the particle accelerator and the nuclear ore mine. After having a Sky Eye abort its mission and scoop up some of the canopy water while doing so, she determines that it also is completely free of isotopes, in this case deuterium, tritium and oxygen other than oxygen-16. This doesn't seem to give canopy water any special properties. However, she does find out that water from other sources has a lot more deuterium atoms than described in textbooks, perhaps as a result of there being none in the canopy; a readily available source of heavy water will make further research easier and safer. Also, pancakes made with heavy water don't taste any different.

Coming back, Kat finds that a small group of Millennium Force surveyors have found your particle accelerator. They are worried that the complex does not have a chapel. Kat would like to test the new, safer neutron emitter on the surveyors.

# Nuke 'em.

# Sure, they can set up a chapel.

>>343731

Jeb points out to TOL cells and the like that it's a good way to keep the psalties off one's back, and to the general public that small, locally focused government is something that has been in the faith-based playbook for years. You estimate that a takeover will be possible, but with TOL having a 20% chance of hijacking the process.

>>343733
>>343735

The survey team has been made out of people who do believe in Hecate. However, they're fairly frustrated - the Millennial Earth is flat, but Middle America is if possible even flatter; there are just no landmarks. Quinn's opinion on the old gods is that she'll work with them if they show up and she'll kick them in the face if they act up. Jenny has read all your texts on mythology, which seems to have confused her memory a bit.

The prayer is recited, the defenseless furry creature dies very quickly, so there's that. Nothing seems to happen. Unsurprisingly, Jenny breaks out in tears. Surprisingly, after it's all done, she sets her wubber to "heat" (itself a difficult feat) and cooks the puppy, then starts eating it. When asked what she's doing, she explains that well, Hecate obviously isn't going to appear and eat any, and her granny said that wasting food was one of the few sins that really were sins. Your records show that it's the first time a human eats meat in centuries without instantly throwing up. The rest of the team, including Quinn and the surveyor who killed the puppy, manage a small morsel before feeling sick. There's no sign of the seed vault, but you do get a tissue sample from the cooked puppy.

Vee focuses on heavier drone tanks, reasoning that a commonality of mounts with heavy MECs makes sense strategically. Your MEC and AI programs have advanced enough that you can begin building a drone force that can, at least to start with, supplement your sentient agents.

>>343744
I think it's time to ask Jenny who her granny was a bit more specifically and make some apologies.

I'm on the fence on this one. How likely will anyone know that the missionary's died and is there anything compromising In the accelerator?

>>343748

Jenny says that her granny's name was Alma. Jenny's either not very good at drawing, or her granny was -very- curvy; probably both. And, apparently, the old woman had hairy legs, which would make sense if she's Mediterranean.

The missionaries disappearing will be known; the only thing in the accelerator that's of some worry is that it has been used to double-check Einstein's numbers when the GPS system was built, which disproves creationism, and the fact that Azrael's scythe is kept there in a lead-lined vault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRmJbP25m-Y

>>343748

>The prayer is recited, the defenseless furry creature dies very quickly, so there's that. Nothing seems to happen. Unsurprisingly, Jenny breaks out in tears. Surprisingly, after it's all done, she sets her wubber to "heat" (itself a difficult feat) and cooks the puppy, then starts eating it. When asked what she's doing, she explains that well, Hecate obviously isn't going to appear and eat any, and her granny said that wasting food was one of the few sins that really were sins. Your records show that it's the first time a human eats meat in centuries without instantly throwing up. The rest of the team, including Quinn and the surveyor who killed the puppy, manage a small morsel before feeling sick. There's no sign of the seed vault, but you do get a tissue sample from the cooked puppy.

Well uh, that happened! I suppose we can infer it takes some significant belief.

#Say sorry.

>supplement your sentient agents.

Nice.

# Sure, they can set up a chapel.

>>343760
Cost benifit analysis, how long would it take to remove everything not tied to the building and make another somewhere else?

Is there a territory where there is little to no Christian presence.

If we kill them here can their body's be moved elsewhere and the evidence destroyed with the building?

>>343770

>Is there a territory where there is little to no Christian presence.

Svalbard. Greenland.

>>343770

It's a particle accelerator; you'd pretty much have to build a new one.

Staging an accident there would not be particularly difficult.

>>343773
>>343770

The Sahara desert is already pretty good for that. Islands would do it, quite a few are uninhabited. The australian outback, too.

>>343769

Jenny solemnly accepts the apology. Very solemnly, in fact.

>>343769

Letting the MFers set up a chapel means that they'd probably have a chance to end up with a copy of your research; the rate of conversion to a young-earth-creationist belief among people who are actively investigating modern physics is nil, although a few would like to just march to the Temple and ask God what He is hiding.

>>343777

What research are we doing there?

>>343782
We're an AI that made angel weakening layers with neutron cores and your asking why we built a partical accelerator?

Good cause I'm curious too.

"Sure, just work quickly and get out." (Give them the cam cam treatment)

>>343784
LAZERS! We made angel weakening lasers!

I'd just tell them to fuck off and not let them into private property.

Let them build the church nearby though, just don't give them entry I guess?

>>343788
That works better.

>>343782
>>343784

A linear and then a circular accelerators have been used to repeat some famous experiments to verify that some laws of physics were still the same in the Millennial Kingdom; this has been used to calibrate instruments used in your sonic and nuclear work. Also, a somewhat large accelerator is necessary to determine isotope composition of materials by comparison. Also, Ziggy wanted one; neutron sources and linear accelerator designs have much in common.

>>343788

The MFers are permitted to build a chapel on the surface, near the power plant that feeds the accelerator. When they insist upon visiting, they are told that the system is running at nominal power and cannot be shut down safely; ominous Geiget counter clicking and a little bit of the brown note applied with discreet wubber use makes sure that the visit is brief.

(Done for the turn I think, and also done for the day, good night! Sorry for disappearing.)

>>343798

>(Done for the turn I think, and also done for the day, good night! Sorry for disappearing.)

Night, I'll go crash too. Thanks for coming back!

>>343798
(Alright. Also Sara, I'm going to be VERY sporadic for the next few days. Might not post for a day or two even. So good luck and happy deicide)

>>343809

Goodluck with whatever's up.

>>343812
>>343809

Y'all let me know if you'd rather pause, OK?

>>344115