Another poll for anyone who wants to join my PM for notifications on new rounds.
- I’ll join
0 voters
1 Like
New poll:
- What do I do?
- “I heard there’s been a murder, someone should probably look into that.”
- “Why is everyone calling me a detective?”
0 voters
1 Like
Due to the three way tie I will go with the option that arbitrarily had an extra percentage point.
Expect a new round shortly.
Hell yeah, rounding errors!
1 Like
It’s not a rounding error? When summed it results in 100.
THE DROP OFF HOTEL
YOU – What do I say?
LOGIC – I would suggest that you politely request for it to explain to you why you cannot remember anything. Maybe it can offer some insights.
INTERFACING – Ask it about it’s inner workings!
ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Ask it if it has some alcohol.
LOGIC – And why would it have alcohol?
INLAND EMPIRE – Because alcohol powers it’s fuel cells of course.
INTERFACING – That’s not how that works.
INLAND EMPIRE – Who’s to say it doesn’t work like that?
LOGIC – Reality.
NARRATOR – (RANDOM DECISION, ROLL: 3) You push the inner argument to the back of your head and turn to look at D30-26-19221991.
YOU – “Do you have any alcohol?”
NARRATOR – D30-26-19221991 stiffly shakes his head, “Negative. Query: how would alcohol assist the investigation?”
ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Because you need it to function!
VOLITION – No you don’t.
YOU – “Because I need it to function! No I don’t.”
NARRATOR – A slight buzzing noise emanates from D30-26-19221991 once more, “Noted, detective.”
INVENTORY
HATEFUL NECKTIE (EQUIPPED)
It knows.
+1 Half-Light (menacing aura)
-1 Composure (It’s watching you)
STAINED PDFTH COAT (EQUIPPED)
It’s been through a lot.
+2 Authority (PRN symbol)
-1 Suggestion (disheveled)
PLAIN DRESS SHIRT (EQUIPPED)
An average dress shirt. It’s probably brand new.
+1 Composure (feels normal)
-1 Conceptualization (too normal)
PDFTH TROUSERS (EQUIPPED)
The yellow stripe makes it seem far more cheerful than it is.
+1 Savoir Faire (sleek style)
WORK BOOTS(EQUIPPED)
+1 Physical Instrument (working man)
OXYGEN MASK
Allows you to go into areas without oxygen.
-1 Composure (lingering smell)
ATTRIBUTES
INTELLECT – 5
Your mental abilities.
LOGIC – 5
Rationality. Deduction. Puzzle-Solving.
Cool for: Analysts, Pure Rationalists, Obviously logicians.
Logic urges you to analyze the living daylights out of the case. It enables you to piece evidence together, detect inconsistencies in statements, and impress everyone with your astonishing conclusions. It’s the bread and butter of many a detective.
At high levels, Logic will be able to solve even the most complicated of puzzles. You will be very proud and thus susceptible to intellectual flatter; for those blinded by their own brilliance often miss important clues. With low levels of logic, you’re going to have a hard time solving even the simplest puzzles. Even if you find the pieces, good luck putting them together.
ENCYCLPEDIA – 6
Memory. Trivia. Information.
Cool for: Thinkers, Historians, Trivia-Freaks
Encyclopedia makes you a know-it-all, turning your mind into a database of facts. It enables you to draw on these facts innately, offering a wealth of background knowledge to all things related and unrelated to your present situation. Who knows when the history of toy brands will provide the breakthrough you need to arrest a murderer – or when knowledge of pre-gunpowder weaponry might save a life?
And who knows, maybe it’ll even help you remember who you once were?
At high levels, Encyclopedia shares this wealth of knowledge to an almost overwhelming degree – while it may give you crucial breakthroughs, it more often will clutter your mind with useless tidbits. With low levels of Encyclopedia, though, you’ll be forced to work with only the clues in front of you. without any background knowledge, policing is going to be tough stuff.
RHETORIC – 5
Argument. Debate. Conversation.
Cool for: Ideologues, Conversationalists, Would-Be-Politicians.
Rhetoric urges you to debate, make intellectual discourse, nitpick – and win. It enables you to break down arguments and hear what people are really saying. You’ll spot fallacies as soon as they’re used – what exactly did the waiter leave out of his testimony? What was the dancer trying to divert you from? Was that double entendre intended, or did you just get an accidental lead?
At high levels, Rhetoric will make you an impressive political beast – one whose beliefs are impenetrable. Which is to say, one whose mind will not change; one who will calcify. With low Rhetoric, though, you’ll have a hard time of shooting down any argument. Nailing people to their testimonies will be nigh impossible.
DRAMA – 5
Lies. Acting. Truth.
Cool for: Undercover Operatives, Thespians, Psychopaths.
Drama is your ability to lie, and your ability to detect when other are lying.
Drama urges you to treat the world as a stage – and on it, to perform. It will enable you to lie, to concoct the most elaborate and wonderful stories; to take on ingenious personas and perform acts of stagecraft in an entertaining amalgam of fourberie and deceit! As well, it enables you to see through would-be actors and their false antics. If they lie, you’ll know. Immediately.
At high levels, Drama may render you an insufferable thespian – one prone to hysterics and bouts of paranoia; for to know the world is a stage is to know that truth is a vanity. However, with low drama you cannot lie – or discern when others lie. And a cop who can’t do either is a cop who’s soon going to be lying six feet under.
CONCEPTUALIZATION – 4 (5 -1)
Creativity. Expression. Art.
Cool for: Creatives, Psychedelic Fanciers, Critics.
Conceptualization has a special role it wants you to play in this world – not the role of a cop, but of Art Cop. It enables you to make fresh associations, to delve into the world-concepts from Jan Kaarp’s postmodernist karperie, to Hagidal’s arabesque architectural style dideridada, and even the concept of HARDCORE – and then, importantly, to add your own contribution to these works.
At high levels, Conceptualization makes you go big – perhaps too big. It is ostentatious, demanding grand displays. Why live life when you can throw yourself into a live volcano? At low levels, however, you will be unable to see the world in a creative light. You’ll be unable to contribute to conversations in an art gallery. Only boring people will invite you to their dust parties.
VISUAL CALCULUS – 5
Calculations. Reconstruction. Math.
Cool for: Forensics Scientists, Tactical Fighters, Math-Minded People.
Visual Calculus verses you in the laws of nature and the laws of physics. It enables you to create virtual crime-scene models in your mind’s eye. You’ll see how a bullet shattered the glass and from that trace its trajectory with mathematical precision. You’ll also count footprints, so many footprints – and at a glance discern shoe size and design; as well as the height, weight, age, and sex of the one who wore them.
At high levels, Visual Calculus makes the world reveal its secrets to you – but you may be so absorbed by your mind-diorama, you don’t notice as crooks steal your pants. However, at low levels your mind’s eye will be blind. Reconstructing crime scenes will be difficult without outside help.
PSYCHE – 1
Your emotional abilities.
VOLITION – 1
Temperance. Chastity. Stability.
Cool for: Sane People, Well-Adjusted Soldiers, The Non-Suicidal.
Volition urges you to be a good guy – to others and to yourself. It enables you to resist temptation: be it in a bottle, between a pair of legs, or at the end of an iron barrel which promises oblivion. Volition gives you the will to finish the investigation, improving your Morale – one of the two health pools in the game.
At high levels, Volition makes you hyper-sane. When you’re about to get funky, it keeps you normal. It’s a bit of a party-pooper. At low levels, however, you’ll have little Morale. Without it, you’ll be profoundly unstable cop, falling apart at the seams as you make irreversible mistakes.
INLAND EMPIRE – 1
Imagination. Hunches. Insanity.
Cool for: Dreamers, Para-Natural Investigators, Mental Creators.
The unfiltered wellspring of imagination, emotion, and foreboding. It allows you to see beyond the veil. To grope your way through the invisible dimensions of reality, gaining insight into that which sight can’t see. What’s really going on? What do these enigmatic riddle mean for the world-fate?
At high levels Inland Empire animates the inanimate. You will have conversations with inanimate objects, conversations that could change the course of your life (assuming you aren’t thrown in the loony bin first). But at low levels you’ll be void of imagination – and character. And then how will you shape the cosmos?
EMPATHY – 1
Care. Friendship. Sympathy.
Cool for: Judges of Character, Interviewers, Interrogators.
Empathy breaks into the soul of others and forces you to feel what’s inside. It enables you to notice social cues others may miss: perhaps a hidden sadness you could coax out a little more, a strange joy from someone who should be bereaved, or a hidden resentment that could return to harm you later.
At high levels, Empathy really puts you in other people’s shoes. You’ll cry for their sorrows, punch walls to relieve their angers, and be an even more unstable person. With low Empathy, however, you will be an ungainly beast unable to talk to anyone without upsetting them.
AUTHORITY – 4 (1 +2 +1)
Dominance. Power. Intimidation.
Cool for: Leaders, Experts of Psychological Warfare, Respect-Junkies.
Authority urges you to assert and reassert your dominance over those around you. It enables you to understand the power dynamics of groups of thugs, know how far you can push a perpetrator, and how to establish control of situations.
At high levels, Authority demands respect; even a perceived slight could send you into knee-breaking mode. With low Authority, however, you’re forever in awkward situations – like when you suffer psychological breakdowns after you yell at teenagers and they laugh at you.
ESPIRIT DE CORPS – 1
Comradery.
Cool for: Soldiers, Soldier-Aficionados, Pretend-Soldiers.
Esprit de Corps is the very spirit of the military: the soldier-geist. It enables you to understand your yellow-and-red-souled brothers – not only by picking up subtle signals from other soldiers, but by witnessing flash-sideways scenes as the play out across The PMUP’s many divisions.
At high levels, you’ll be the very heart of the military of Neralia: not only willing and able, but obliged to take a bullet for your fellow warriors. Esprit de Corps will make you loyal to the PMUP, maybe, too loyal… However without Esprit de Corps you’ll be flying blind, unable to understand discreet remarks colleagues make in high-stakes situations; remarks that might just save your life.
SUGGESTION – 0 (1 -1)
Manipulation. Charm. Affability.
Cool for: Diplomats, Charmers, Sociopaths.
Suggestion urges a soft-power approach. If people think they want what you want, you’ve already won. This skill enables you to implant ideas into the minds of others. You can make the citizens like you more. You can make gangsters turn on each other, too; many crime-rings have been broken by just a little doubt, after all.
At high levels, Suggestion makes you affable to everyone and more resistant to their charms in turn. But all that schmoozing and oozing charm will make you slimy. And you’ll know it, even if no one else does. With low levels of Suggestion, though, you’ll have difficulty getting any kind of rapport with others. You’ll be alone, both during the day and at night.
PHYSICAL – 2
Your physical abilities.
ENDURANCE – 2
Heart. Stomach. Lungs.
Cool for: Fighters who can take a hit, Lookouts who don’t sleep, Human Batteries.
Endurance is your metabolism and circulatory system. It improves your Health – one of the two Health pools. It enables you to survive being a cop. Who cares if you can’t aim a gun, if you can take a few bullets? Why be afraid of drugs that hurt your health if you’re a very very healthy man?
At high levels, Endurance enables you to take a few knocks to the head, enjoy a greater quantity of drugs, and shake off a few cardiac arrests – it makes you a powerful man, who looks down on the weaklings who can’t keep up. However, cops with low Endurance are likely to struggle. The body is frail enough already, and the flesh of a cop will often be tested. And if it doesn’t pass, it dies.
PAIN THRESHOLD – 2
Torture. Suffering. Agony.
Cool for: Unstoppable Fighters, Guys who don’t die, Masochists.
Pain Threshold ignores damage so you can push on, bloodied and crawling, to the bitterest end. It enables you to negate damage you would otherwise take. Even mental pain – heartache and loneliness. In fact, these things can become a thrill you seek out and perversely revel in.
At high levels, Pain Threshold turns in on itself in seriously unhealthy ways, with full-on self-destructive behavior. With a low Pain Threshold, however, you will suffer too easily. Even a slap from a toddler will make you whine and complain.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT – 3 (2 +1)
Muscles. Bones. Ligaments.
Cool for: Muscle Men, Bare Knuckle Brawlers, Gym Teachers.
Physical Instrument is not only your muscles and your skeleton – it is your ability to use them effectively. It enables you to do push-ups, sit-ups, knock-out punches, and 360-degree spin-kicks. It’s a one size fits all solution to thrive and surviving in a physical world.
At high levels, physical Instrument breaks doors, chains, and bones, and it makes you laugh at the namby-pansies who can’t. You’ll be manned up, encouraging others to curl iron until they’re manned-up too. At low levels though you’ll have a hard time fighting anyone who isn’t infirm or already dead. Indeed, engaging in physical confrontations could leave you in either state.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY – 2
Chemistry. Sustenance. Vice.
Cool for: High-Fliers, Party Enthusiasts, Cops who need Lightning
Electrochemistry is the animal within you, the beast longing to be unleashed to indulge and enjoy. It enables you to take drugs with fewer negative side-effects. It also enables you to better investigate lurid matters – if you need to understand a chemical breakdown, or talk to someone blasted out of their mind, or understand sexual dynamics, Electrochemistry is there to guide you.
At high levels, Electrochemistry makes you a man of unrestrained pleasure – you’ll proposition anything that moves, anything that breathes, and even things that don’t. But with a low Electrochemistry, you’ll be too innocent to be effective. Without a working knowledge of drugs and sex, the city will be difficult to understand.
SHIVERS – 2
Feel the city.
Cool for: City Lovers, The Wisest of the Street Wise, The Genuinely Supra-Natural.
Shivers come when the temperature drops and you become more keenly aware of your surroundings. It enables you to hear the city itself, to truly belong to the streets. It is a supra-natural ability; old wrongs play out in present time, scenes from across the city happen in front of you. But who is speaking to you?
At high levels, Shivers may make you seem mad to the outside world – as you listen to the city, you don’t listen to others. Your superiors may begin to worry. With a low Shivers though, you will seldom hear the city speaking to you – and if you cannot hear it, how can you ever save it?
HALF-LIGHT – 3 (2 +1)
Fear. Intimidation. Aggression.
Cool for: High-Strung Investigators, Shoot-Now-Ask-Questions-Later Cops, Surprise Haters.
Half Light is your fight-or-flight response. It enables you to sense the way situations are about to turn. It injects palpable fear into your heart – fear that urges you act before it’s too late to act ever again; fear that makes you frighten others. It is the aggression that lets you squeeze every last drop of information out of a witness.
At high levels, Half Light makes you ultra-attuned to the world. It is perpetual fear – of your own shadow, of someone else’s name or scent. You’ll be ready, always, to pounce and physically interrogate passersby. At low levels, however, you’ll find your survival instinct is lacking. And your methods are limp-wristed. Those who respect violence will not respect you.
MOTORICS – 4
Your neurological abilities.
HAND/EYE COORDINATION – 4
Firearms. Aiming. Catching.
Cool for: Trick-Shooters, Snipers, Jugglers.
Hand/Eye Coordination loves the interaction between you and things that fly in the air. It enables you to catch coins from mob bosses, shoot straight, and understand firearms intimately. Want to know the precise make and mark of a pistol? Hand/Eye Coordination’s got you. Want to shoot someone with it? Ditto.
At high levels, Hand/Eye Coordination makes you deadly – supposed you’ve a weapon in your hand. But once you do, Hand/Eye Coordination will compel you to take the shot – even if it’s not the best approach. At low levels, however, you’ll be even more of a disaster in waiting. Because when the guns go off – and they always do – you’ll probably hit the wrong target.
PERCEPTION – 4
Hear. See. Smell.
Cool for: Fine Detail Detectives, Sensualists, Urban Scavengers.
Perception wants you to be open to the world – with eyes, ears, and nose working at full capacity. It enables you to take in what others don’t notice. The little wad of bills hid away in the sugar bowl; the odor of a perp, hiding beneath the floor boards; the gulp of a suspect, after claiming they’ve nothing to hide.
At high levels, Perception takes in every final detail of the physical world – enough to overwhelm all but the strongest minds. However, with low levels, you are going to miss out on everything. After all, you can’t arrest what you can’t see, hear, or smell.
REACTION SPEED – 4
Alertness. Twitchiness. Wit.
Cool for: Shot-Dodgers, Thinkers on their Feet, Pinball-Heads.
Reaction Speed is the agility of your body and mind. It is instinct. It enables you to dodge punches, knives, bullets. Also suckers punches of the verbal kind. You’ll be more streetwise, never lost for words or lacking a witty comeback. Your mental alacrity lets you connect little details on the fly, working in tandem with your Intellect skills.
At high levels, Reaction Speed makes your twitch-reflex freakishly good. However, when your body acts before your mind, innocent situations can turn bad fast. You’re high strung, overly alert. At low levels, though, you won’t be the one shooting first – which probably means you won’t be shooting at all.
SAVIOR FAIRE – 5 (4 +1)
Flaire. Acrobatics. ‘Coolness’.
Cool for: Acrobats, Thieves, Unbearable Show-Offs.
Savoir Fair urges you to be better than you are: it enables you to move silently, to groove to a good beat, and to lift useful items off of people without them noticing. Slip by others in Neptunian boxing style, then tumble out the back with unexpected acrobatics.
At high levels you will be the King of Cool – which is as much to say, the most stylish douchebag in the entire universe. Nobody will see you until you’re ready to be seen; and then, they’ll get the full treatment, whether they want it or not. But with low levels you’ll be clumsy, struggling to catch items tossed at you without losing an eye, or walking 3 feet without tripping.
INTERFACING – 4
Machines. Technology. Mechanisms.
Cool for: Machinists, Tinkerers, Instrument Players.
Interfacing allows you to connect to machines. It tells you how to use and improve them. It enables you to understand interactions with machines – be that how to repair the hyperdrive of a starship, how to analyze the way someone used a pen, or how to re-figure electrical circuits.
At high levels Interfacing will isolate you from society – why bother with people when you can talk to machines? And why bother with things like money when you can just open a vending machine? At low levels, however, you will have a crucial part of the world cut off from you. people use machines all the time, especially in this day and age. If you can’t understand how machines work, how can you navigate such a machine-filled society?
COMPOSURE – 5 (4 +1)
Control. Calm. Posture.
Cool for: Card Players, Military Fetishists, Cool People.
Composure wants you to not crack: or, at least, it wants you to not crack in front of other people. It enables you to put up a strong front. It keeps your emotions hidden from the world and helps you to read the body language of others – to sense the cracks in their own composure. As well, it keeps you looking good while you do it. You’ll rock that uniform a lot more if you don’t slouch.
At high levels, Composure makes you tuck your gut in and maintain a stern expression. Even lying in bed late night when no one else can see you, you’ll have to keep it up. You’ll never be able to stop. With low Composure, though, you’ll always be the first to crack. Every cop’s got a point when all that fear and rage comes spilling out – and the ones who unleash it won’t stay on the force much longer. Perhaps worse still, you won’t even make the ranks of the Fashion Police.
- “I heard there’s been a murder, someone should probably look into that.”
- “Why is everyone calling me a detective?”
- “So… I requested you?”
- STAND IN SILENCE
0 voters
1 Like
THE DROP OFF HOTEL
NARRATOR – You stand in silence. D30-26-19221991 stands in silence. You stare into each other’s eyes.
You have stood in silence for several seconds, and it dawns on you.
This is a staring contest.
CONCEPTUALIZATION – Man vs. Machine! Who will break first!?
NARRATOR – This is a test of will like nothing you can remember. Possibly because you cannot remember anything before 7 minutes ago.
HALF-LIGHT – DoN’t BlInK! tHe sEcOnD yOu Do ThAt MoNsTeR wIlL eAt YoUr LiVeR!
NARRATOR – A bead of sweat rolls down your face. The robot stands there, watching you.
ENDURANCE – Your eyes are starting to get dry. You should blink.
NARRATOR – Your eyelid quivers.
MORALE – 3/5
HEALTH – 10/10
INVENTORY
HATEFUL NECKTIE (EQUIPPED)
It knows.
+1 Half-Light (menacing aura)
-1 Composure (It’s watching you)
STAINED PDFTH COAT (EQUIPPED)
It’s been through a lot.
+2 Authority (PRN symbol)
-1 Suggestion (disheveled)
PLAIN DRESS SHIRT (EQUIPPED)
An average dress shirt. It’s probably brand new.
+1 Composure (feels normal)
-1 Conceptualization (too normal)
PDFTH TROUSERS (EQUIPPED)
The yellow stripe makes it seem far more cheerful than it is.
+1 Savoir Faire (sleek style)
WORK BOOTS(EQUIPPED)
+1 Physical Instrument (working man)
OXYGEN MASK
Allows you to go into areas without oxygen.
-1 Composure (lingering smell)
ATTRIBUTES
INTELLECT – 5
Your mental abilities.
LOGIC – 5
Rationality. Deduction. Puzzle-Solving.
Cool for: Analysts, Pure Rationalists, Obviously logicians.
Logic urges you to analyze the living daylights out of the case. It enables you to piece evidence together, detect inconsistencies in statements, and impress everyone with your astonishing conclusions. It’s the bread and butter of many a detective.
At high levels, Logic will be able to solve even the most complicated of puzzles. You will be very proud and thus susceptible to intellectual flatter; for those blinded by their own brilliance often miss important clues. With low levels of logic, you’re going to have a hard time solving even the simplest puzzles. Even if you find the pieces, good luck putting them together.
ENCYCLPEDIA – 6
Memory. Trivia. Information.
Cool for: Thinkers, Historians, Trivia-Freaks
Encyclopedia makes you a know-it-all, turning your mind into a database of facts. It enables you to draw on these facts innately, offering a wealth of background knowledge to all things related and unrelated to your present situation. Who knows when the history of toy brands will provide the breakthrough you need to arrest a murderer – or when knowledge of pre-gunpowder weaponry might save a life?
And who knows, maybe it’ll even help you remember who you once were?
At high levels, Encyclopedia shares this wealth of knowledge to an almost overwhelming degree – while it may give you crucial breakthroughs, it more often will clutter your mind with useless tidbits. With low levels of Encyclopedia, though, you’ll be forced to work with only the clues in front of you. without any background knowledge, policing is going to be tough stuff.
RHETORIC – 5
Argument. Debate. Conversation.
Cool for: Ideologues, Conversationalists, Would-Be-Politicians.
Rhetoric urges you to debate, make intellectual discourse, nitpick – and win. It enables you to break down arguments and hear what people are really saying. You’ll spot fallacies as soon as they’re used – what exactly did the waiter leave out of his testimony? What was the dancer trying to divert you from? Was that double entendre intended, or did you just get an accidental lead?
At high levels, Rhetoric will make you an impressive political beast – one whose beliefs are impenetrable. Which is to say, one whose mind will not change; one who will calcify. With low Rhetoric, though, you’ll have a hard time of shooting down any argument. Nailing people to their testimonies will be nigh impossible.
DRAMA – 5
Lies. Acting. Truth.
Cool for: Undercover Operatives, Thespians, Psychopaths.
Drama is your ability to lie, and your ability to detect when other are lying.
Drama urges you to treat the world as a stage – and on it, to perform. It will enable you to lie, to concoct the most elaborate and wonderful stories; to take on ingenious personas and perform acts of stagecraft in an entertaining amalgam of fourberie and deceit! As well, it enables you to see through would-be actors and their false antics. If they lie, you’ll know. Immediately.
At high levels, Drama may render you an insufferable thespian – one prone to hysterics and bouts of paranoia; for to know the world is a stage is to know that truth is a vanity. However, with low drama you cannot lie – or discern when others lie. And a cop who can’t do either is a cop who’s soon going to be lying six feet under.
CONCEPTUALIZATION – 4 (5 -1)
Creativity. Expression. Art.
Cool for: Creatives, Psychedelic Fanciers, Critics.
Conceptualization has a special role it wants you to play in this world – not the role of a cop, but of Art Cop. It enables you to make fresh associations, to delve into the world-concepts from Jan Kaarp’s postmodernist karperie, to Hagidal’s arabesque architectural style dideridada, and even the concept of HARDCORE – and then, importantly, to add your own contribution to these works.
At high levels, Conceptualization makes you go big – perhaps too big. It is ostentatious, demanding grand displays. Why live life when you can throw yourself into a live volcano? At low levels, however, you will be unable to see the world in a creative light. You’ll be unable to contribute to conversations in an art gallery. Only boring people will invite you to their dust parties.
VISUAL CALCULUS – 5
Calculations. Reconstruction. Math.
Cool for: Forensics Scientists, Tactical Fighters, Math-Minded People.
Visual Calculus verses you in the laws of nature and the laws of physics. It enables you to create virtual crime-scene models in your mind’s eye. You’ll see how a bullet shattered the glass and from that trace its trajectory with mathematical precision. You’ll also count footprints, so many footprints – and at a glance discern shoe size and design; as well as the height, weight, age, and sex of the one who wore them.
At high levels, Visual Calculus makes the world reveal its secrets to you – but you may be so absorbed by your mind-diorama, you don’t notice as crooks steal your pants. However, at low levels your mind’s eye will be blind. Reconstructing crime scenes will be difficult without outside help.
PSYCHE – 1
Your emotional abilities.
VOLITION – 1
Temperance. Chastity. Stability.
Cool for: Sane People, Well-Adjusted Soldiers, The Non-Suicidal.
Volition urges you to be a good guy – to others and to yourself. It enables you to resist temptation: be it in a bottle, between a pair of legs, or at the end of an iron barrel which promises oblivion. Volition gives you the will to finish the investigation, improving your Morale – one of the two health pools in the game.
At high levels, Volition makes you hyper-sane. When you’re about to get funky, it keeps you normal. It’s a bit of a party-pooper. At low levels, however, you’ll have little Morale. Without it, you’ll be profoundly unstable cop, falling apart at the seams as you make irreversible mistakes.
INLAND EMPIRE – 1
Imagination. Hunches. Insanity.
Cool for: Dreamers, Para-Natural Investigators, Mental Creators.
The unfiltered wellspring of imagination, emotion, and foreboding. It allows you to see beyond the veil. To grope your way through the invisible dimensions of reality, gaining insight into that which sight can’t see. What’s really going on? What do these enigmatic riddle mean for the world-fate?
At high levels Inland Empire animates the inanimate. You will have conversations with inanimate objects, conversations that could change the course of your life (assuming you aren’t thrown in the loony bin first). But at low levels you’ll be void of imagination – and character. And then how will you shape the cosmos?
EMPATHY – 1
Care. Friendship. Sympathy.
Cool for: Judges of Character, Interviewers, Interrogators.
Empathy breaks into the soul of others and forces you to feel what’s inside. It enables you to notice social cues others may miss: perhaps a hidden sadness you could coax out a little more, a strange joy from someone who should be bereaved, or a hidden resentment that could return to harm you later.
At high levels, Empathy really puts you in other people’s shoes. You’ll cry for their sorrows, punch walls to relieve their angers, and be an even more unstable person. With low Empathy, however, you will be an ungainly beast unable to talk to anyone without upsetting them.
AUTHORITY – 4 (1 +2 +1)
Dominance. Power. Intimidation.
Cool for: Leaders, Experts of Psychological Warfare, Respect-Junkies.
Authority urges you to assert and reassert your dominance over those around you. It enables you to understand the power dynamics of groups of thugs, know how far you can push a perpetrator, and how to establish control of situations.
At high levels, Authority demands respect; even a perceived slight could send you into knee-breaking mode. With low Authority, however, you’re forever in awkward situations – like when you suffer psychological breakdowns after you yell at teenagers and they laugh at you.
ESPIRIT DE CORPS – 1
Comradery.
Cool for: Soldiers, Soldier-Aficionados, Pretend-Soldiers.
Esprit de Corps is the very spirit of the military: the soldier-geist. It enables you to understand your yellow-and-red-souled brothers – not only by picking up subtle signals from other soldiers, but by witnessing flash-sideways scenes as the play out across The PMUP’s many divisions.
At high levels, you’ll be the very heart of the military of Neralia: not only willing and able, but obliged to take a bullet for your fellow warriors. Esprit de Corps will make you loyal to the PMUP, maybe, too loyal… However without Esprit de Corps you’ll be flying blind, unable to understand discreet remarks colleagues make in high-stakes situations; remarks that might just save your life.
SUGGESTION – 0 (1 -1)
Manipulation. Charm. Affability.
Cool for: Diplomats, Charmers, Sociopaths.
Suggestion urges a soft-power approach. If people think they want what you want, you’ve already won. This skill enables you to implant ideas into the minds of others. You can make the citizens like you more. You can make gangsters turn on each other, too; many crime-rings have been broken by just a little doubt, after all.
At high levels, Suggestion makes you affable to everyone and more resistant to their charms in turn. But all that schmoozing and oozing charm will make you slimy. And you’ll know it, even if no one else does. With low levels of Suggestion, though, you’ll have difficulty getting any kind of rapport with others. You’ll be alone, both during the day and at night.
PHYSICAL – 2
Your physical abilities.
ENDURANCE – 2
Heart. Stomach. Lungs.
Cool for: Fighters who can take a hit, Lookouts who don’t sleep, Human Batteries.
Endurance is your metabolism and circulatory system. It improves your Health – one of the two Health pools. It enables you to survive being a cop. Who cares if you can’t aim a gun, if you can take a few bullets? Why be afraid of drugs that hurt your health if you’re a very very healthy man?
At high levels, Endurance enables you to take a few knocks to the head, enjoy a greater quantity of drugs, and shake off a few cardiac arrests – it makes you a powerful man, who looks down on the weaklings who can’t keep up. However, cops with low Endurance are likely to struggle. The body is frail enough already, and the flesh of a cop will often be tested. And if it doesn’t pass, it dies.
PAIN THRESHOLD – 2
Torture. Suffering. Agony.
Cool for: Unstoppable Fighters, Guys who don’t die, Masochists.
Pain Threshold ignores damage so you can push on, bloodied and crawling, to the bitterest end. It enables you to negate damage you would otherwise take. Even mental pain – heartache and loneliness. In fact, these things can become a thrill you seek out and perversely revel in.
At high levels, Pain Threshold turns in on itself in seriously unhealthy ways, with full-on self-destructive behavior. With a low Pain Threshold, however, you will suffer too easily. Even a slap from a toddler will make you whine and complain.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT – 3 (2 +1)
Muscles. Bones. Ligaments.
Cool for: Muscle Men, Bare Knuckle Brawlers, Gym Teachers.
Physical Instrument is not only your muscles and your skeleton – it is your ability to use them effectively. It enables you to do push-ups, sit-ups, knock-out punches, and 360-degree spin-kicks. It’s a one size fits all solution to thrive and surviving in a physical world.
At high levels, physical Instrument breaks doors, chains, and bones, and it makes you laugh at the namby-pansies who can’t. You’ll be manned up, encouraging others to curl iron until they’re manned-up too. At low levels though you’ll have a hard time fighting anyone who isn’t infirm or already dead. Indeed, engaging in physical confrontations could leave you in either state.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY – 2
Chemistry. Sustenance. Vice.
Cool for: High-Fliers, Party Enthusiasts, Cops who need Lightning
Electrochemistry is the animal within you, the beast longing to be unleashed to indulge and enjoy. It enables you to take drugs with fewer negative side-effects. It also enables you to better investigate lurid matters – if you need to understand a chemical breakdown, or talk to someone blasted out of their mind, or understand sexual dynamics, Electrochemistry is there to guide you.
At high levels, Electrochemistry makes you a man of unrestrained pleasure – you’ll proposition anything that moves, anything that breathes, and even things that don’t. But with a low Electrochemistry, you’ll be too innocent to be effective. Without a working knowledge of drugs and sex, the city will be difficult to understand.
SHIVERS – 2
Feel the city.
Cool for: City Lovers, The Wisest of the Street Wise, The Genuinely Supra-Natural.
Shivers come when the temperature drops and you become more keenly aware of your surroundings. It enables you to hear the city itself, to truly belong to the streets. It is a supra-natural ability; old wrongs play out in present time, scenes from across the city happen in front of you. But who is speaking to you?
At high levels, Shivers may make you seem mad to the outside world – as you listen to the city, you don’t listen to others. Your superiors may begin to worry. With a low Shivers though, you will seldom hear the city speaking to you – and if you cannot hear it, how can you ever save it?
HALF-LIGHT – 3 (2 +1)
Fear. Intimidation. Aggression.
Cool for: High-Strung Investigators, Shoot-Now-Ask-Questions-Later Cops, Surprise Haters.
Half Light is your fight-or-flight response. It enables you to sense the way situations are about to turn. It injects palpable fear into your heart – fear that urges you act before it’s too late to act ever again; fear that makes you frighten others. It is the aggression that lets you squeeze every last drop of information out of a witness.
At high levels, Half Light makes you ultra-attuned to the world. It is perpetual fear – of your own shadow, of someone else’s name or scent. You’ll be ready, always, to pounce and physically interrogate passersby. At low levels, however, you’ll find your survival instinct is lacking. And your methods are limp-wristed. Those who respect violence will not respect you.
MOTORICS – 4
Your neurological abilities.
HAND/EYE COORDINATION – 4
Firearms. Aiming. Catching.
Cool for: Trick-Shooters, Snipers, Jugglers.
Hand/Eye Coordination loves the interaction between you and things that fly in the air. It enables you to catch coins from mob bosses, shoot straight, and understand firearms intimately. Want to know the precise make and mark of a pistol? Hand/Eye Coordination’s got you. Want to shoot someone with it? Ditto.
At high levels, Hand/Eye Coordination makes you deadly – supposed you’ve a weapon in your hand. But once you do, Hand/Eye Coordination will compel you to take the shot – even if it’s not the best approach. At low levels, however, you’ll be even more of a disaster in waiting. Because when the guns go off – and they always do – you’ll probably hit the wrong target.
PERCEPTION – 4
Hear. See. Smell.
Cool for: Fine Detail Detectives, Sensualists, Urban Scavengers.
Perception wants you to be open to the world – with eyes, ears, and nose working at full capacity. It enables you to take in what others don’t notice. The little wad of bills hid away in the sugar bowl; the odor of a perp, hiding beneath the floor boards; the gulp of a suspect, after claiming they’ve nothing to hide.
At high levels, Perception takes in every final detail of the physical world – enough to overwhelm all but the strongest minds. However, with low levels, you are going to miss out on everything. After all, you can’t arrest what you can’t see, hear, or smell.
REACTION SPEED – 4
Alertness. Twitchiness. Wit.
Cool for: Shot-Dodgers, Thinkers on their Feet, Pinball-Heads.
Reaction Speed is the agility of your body and mind. It is instinct. It enables you to dodge punches, knives, bullets. Also suckers punches of the verbal kind. You’ll be more streetwise, never lost for words or lacking a witty comeback. Your mental alacrity lets you connect little details on the fly, working in tandem with your Intellect skills.
At high levels, Reaction Speed makes your twitch-reflex freakishly good. However, when your body acts before your mind, innocent situations can turn bad fast. You’re high strung, overly alert. At low levels, though, you won’t be the one shooting first – which probably means you won’t be shooting at all.
SAVIOR FAIRE – 5 (4 +1)
Flaire. Acrobatics. ‘Coolness’.
Cool for: Acrobats, Thieves, Unbearable Show-Offs.
Savoir Fair urges you to be better than you are: it enables you to move silently, to groove to a good beat, and to lift useful items off of people without them noticing. Slip by others in Neptunian boxing style, then tumble out the back with unexpected acrobatics.
At high levels you will be the King of Cool – which is as much to say, the most stylish douchebag in the entire universe. Nobody will see you until you’re ready to be seen; and then, they’ll get the full treatment, whether they want it or not. But with low levels you’ll be clumsy, struggling to catch items tossed at you without losing an eye, or walking 3 feet without tripping.
INTERFACING – 4
Machines. Technology. Mechanisms.
Cool for: Machinists, Tinkerers, Instrument Players.
Interfacing allows you to connect to machines. It tells you how to use and improve them. It enables you to understand interactions with machines – be that how to repair the hyperdrive of a starship, how to analyze the way someone used a pen, or how to re-figure electrical circuits.
At high levels Interfacing will isolate you from society – why bother with people when you can talk to machines? And why bother with things like money when you can just open a vending machine? At low levels, however, you will have a crucial part of the world cut off from you. people use machines all the time, especially in this day and age. If you can’t understand how machines work, how can you navigate such a machine-filled society?
COMPOSURE – 5 (4 +1)
Control. Calm. Posture.
Cool for: Card Players, Military Fetishists, Cool People.
Composure wants you to not crack: or, at least, it wants you to not crack in front of other people. It enables you to put up a strong front. It keeps your emotions hidden from the world and helps you to read the body language of others – to sense the cracks in their own composure. As well, it keeps you looking good while you do it. You’ll rock that uniform a lot more if you don’t slouch.
At high levels, Composure makes you tuck your gut in and maintain a stern expression. Even lying in bed late night when no one else can see you, you’ll have to keep it up. You’ll never be able to stop. With low Composure, though, you’ll always be the first to crack. Every cop’s got a point when all that fear and rage comes spilling out – and the ones who unleash it won’t stay on the force much longer. Perhaps worse still, you won’t even make the ranks of the Fashion Police.
- CONTINUE TO STARE (ENDURANCE SKILL CHECK 2/3 SUCCESS CHANCE)
- “I heard there’s been a murder, someone should probably look into that.”
- “Why is everyone calling me a detective?”
- "So… I requested you?
0 voters
1 Like
If we reach 0 morale will we die like in disco?
Possibly, I’m thinking more you have a mental breakdown and blackout for a day or two, possibly getting killed in the process.
THE DROP OFF HOTEL
ENDURANCE (SKILL CHECK 2/3: 1 = PASSED) – {sigh} You really shouldn’t be doing this. But, fine.
NARRATOR – Your eyelids remain parted as you glare at D30-26-19221991.
ENDURANCE – Hmm, there is a surprising amount of stress being put on your internal organs right now.
NARRATOR – He’s right, you can feel your heart pounding against your ribcage. It feels like you’re about to go into cardiac arrest.
PHYSICAL INTRUMENT – DON’T GIVE UP! YOU CAN HANDLE A LITTLE CARDIAC ARREST IF IT MEANS VICTORY!
LOGIC – You can’t…
NARRATOR – Sweat beads on your face and your breathing becomes labored. “Query: are you alright detective?” D30-26-19221991 steps closer. “You appear to be having difficulty breathing. Query: do you need medical attention?”
AUTHORITY (SKILL CHECK 4/6: 2 = PASSED) – IS IT INSULTING YOU?!
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT – I THINK IT IS!
DRAMA – It isn’t my liege…
NARRATOR – It certainly feels like it is to your oxygen-deprived brain.
This robot has besmirched your honor, you have no choice but to continue staring.
ENDURANCE (SKILL CHECK 3/6 +1 (besmirched honor): 5 = FAILED) – Your heart is pounding as if it will explode, and your mouth is dry. Please stop.
NARRATOR – But you can’t stop. You literally, physically, can’t stop. I think you’re paralyzed.
You’re dimly aware of your body falling backwards. As your body explodes in pain.
Thankfully this time you are able to slip into unconsciousness.
NARRATOR – “Q-u-n?” You hear an echoey sound in the abyss of your mind. It is slowly pulling you back to consciousness. “Qu-ed-a-?” The voice slowly becomes clearer. “Quer-yo-tio-?”
Your eyes snap open. Above you stands D30-26-19221991. “Query: do you require medical attention? Query: do you require medical attention?”
You groan and sit up. “What happened?”
“You stood silently for 3.7 seconds. I inquired if you needed medical attention. You fell to a 90 degree angle on the floor. I inquired if you needed medical attention. I inquired if you needed medical attention. I inquired if you needed medical attention. I inquired if you needed medical attention. I inquired if you needed medical attention. I inquired if you nee-” You interrupt it.
“Yes, okay. I understand.” You begin climbing to your feet. You feel better than before, much better actually.
ENDURANCE – It seems as though you’ve somehow reversed the extensive damage your organs have been suffering from.
LOGIC – What? No. Unless you had a dozen different organ replacement surgeries while you were unconscious, that shouldn’t be possible.
ENDURANCE – Well they feel brand new.
LOGIC – No they don’t, that’s not possible.
INTERFACING – It doesn’t matter if your organs are good or bad, they’re still just meat. And that meat has failed you.
NARRATOR – You feel a wetness on your jacket and look behind you, when you fell you must have crashed into a table – as evidenced by the destroyed table below you – and spilled someone’s meal all over yourself. It is a white paste. Flavorless as you taste it.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Who would willingly eat this?
MORALE – 3/5
HEALTH – 10/10
INVENTORY
HATEFUL NECKTIE (EQUIPPED)
It knows.
+1 Half-Light (menacing aura)
-1 Composure (It’s watching you)
STAINED PDFTH COAT (EQUIPPED)
It’s been through a lot.
+2 Authority (PRN symbol)
-1 Suggestion (disheveled)
PLAIN DRESS SHIRT (EQUIPPED)
An average dress shirt. It’s probably brand new.
+1 Composure (feels normal)
-1 Conceptualization (too normal)
PDFTH TROUSERS (EQUIPPED)
The yellow stripe makes it seem far more cheerful than it is.
+1 Savoir Faire (sleek style)
WORK BOOTS(EQUIPPED)
+1 Physical Instrument (working man)
OXYGEN MASK
Allows you to go into areas without oxygen.
-1 Composure (lingering smell)
ATTRIBUTES
XP – 0/100
INTELLECT – 5
Your mental abilities.
LOGIC – 5
Rationality. Deduction. Puzzle-Solving.
Cool for: Analysts, Pure Rationalists, Obviously logicians.
Logic urges you to analyze the living daylights out of the case. It enables you to piece evidence together, detect inconsistencies in statements, and impress everyone with your astonishing conclusions. It’s the bread and butter of many a detective.
At high levels, Logic will be able to solve even the most complicated of puzzles. You will be very proud and thus susceptible to intellectual flatter; for those blinded by their own brilliance often miss important clues. With low levels of logic, you’re going to have a hard time solving even the simplest puzzles. Even if you find the pieces, good luck putting them together.
ENCYCLPEDIA – 6
Memory. Trivia. Information.
Cool for: Thinkers, Historians, Trivia-Freaks
Encyclopedia makes you a know-it-all, turning your mind into a database of facts. It enables you to draw on these facts innately, offering a wealth of background knowledge to all things related and unrelated to your present situation. Who knows when the history of toy brands will provide the breakthrough you need to arrest a murderer – or when knowledge of pre-gunpowder weaponry might save a life?
And who knows, maybe it’ll even help you remember who you once were?
At high levels, Encyclopedia shares this wealth of knowledge to an almost overwhelming degree – while it may give you crucial breakthroughs, it more often will clutter your mind with useless tidbits. With low levels of Encyclopedia, though, you’ll be forced to work with only the clues in front of you. without any background knowledge, policing is going to be tough stuff.
RHETORIC – 5
Argument. Debate. Conversation.
Cool for: Ideologues, Conversationalists, Would-Be-Politicians.
Rhetoric urges you to debate, make intellectual discourse, nitpick – and win. It enables you to break down arguments and hear what people are really saying. You’ll spot fallacies as soon as they’re used – what exactly did the waiter leave out of his testimony? What was the dancer trying to divert you from? Was that double entendre intended, or did you just get an accidental lead?
At high levels, Rhetoric will make you an impressive political beast – one whose beliefs are impenetrable. Which is to say, one whose mind will not change; one who will calcify. With low Rhetoric, though, you’ll have a hard time of shooting down any argument. Nailing people to their testimonies will be nigh impossible.
DRAMA – 5
Lies. Acting. Truth.
Cool for: Undercover Operatives, Thespians, Psychopaths.
Drama is your ability to lie, and your ability to detect when other are lying.
Drama urges you to treat the world as a stage – and on it, to perform. It will enable you to lie, to concoct the most elaborate and wonderful stories; to take on ingenious personas and perform acts of stagecraft in an entertaining amalgam of fourberie and deceit! As well, it enables you to see through would-be actors and their false antics. If they lie, you’ll know. Immediately.
At high levels, Drama may render you an insufferable thespian – one prone to hysterics and bouts of paranoia; for to know the world is a stage is to know that truth is a vanity. However, with low drama you cannot lie – or discern when others lie. And a cop who can’t do either is a cop who’s soon going to be lying six feet under.
CONCEPTUALIZATION – 4 (5 -1)
Creativity. Expression. Art.
Cool for: Creatives, Psychedelic Fanciers, Critics.
Conceptualization has a special role it wants you to play in this world – not the role of a cop, but of Art Cop. It enables you to make fresh associations, to delve into the world-concepts from Jan Kaarp’s postmodernist karperie, to Hagidal’s arabesque architectural style dideridada, and even the concept of HARDCORE – and then, importantly, to add your own contribution to these works.
At high levels, Conceptualization makes you go big – perhaps too big. It is ostentatious, demanding grand displays. Why live life when you can throw yourself into a live volcano? At low levels, however, you will be unable to see the world in a creative light. You’ll be unable to contribute to conversations in an art gallery. Only boring people will invite you to their dust parties.
VISUAL CALCULUS – 5
Calculations. Reconstruction. Math.
Cool for: Forensics Scientists, Tactical Fighters, Math-Minded People.
Visual Calculus verses you in the laws of nature and the laws of physics. It enables you to create virtual crime-scene models in your mind’s eye. You’ll see how a bullet shattered the glass and from that trace its trajectory with mathematical precision. You’ll also count footprints, so many footprints – and at a glance discern shoe size and design; as well as the height, weight, age, and sex of the one who wore them.
At high levels, Visual Calculus makes the world reveal its secrets to you – but you may be so absorbed by your mind-diorama, you don’t notice as crooks steal your pants. However, at low levels your mind’s eye will be blind. Reconstructing crime scenes will be difficult without outside help.
PSYCHE – 1
Your emotional abilities.
VOLITION – 1
Temperance. Chastity. Stability.
Cool for: Sane People, Well-Adjusted Soldiers, The Non-Suicidal.
Volition urges you to be a good guy – to others and to yourself. It enables you to resist temptation: be it in a bottle, between a pair of legs, or at the end of an iron barrel which promises oblivion. Volition gives you the will to finish the investigation, improving your Morale – one of the two health pools in the game.
At high levels, Volition makes you hyper-sane. When you’re about to get funky, it keeps you normal. It’s a bit of a party-pooper. At low levels, however, you’ll have little Morale. Without it, you’ll be profoundly unstable cop, falling apart at the seams as you make irreversible mistakes.
INLAND EMPIRE – 1
Imagination. Hunches. Insanity.
Cool for: Dreamers, Para-Natural Investigators, Mental Creators.
The unfiltered wellspring of imagination, emotion, and foreboding. It allows you to see beyond the veil. To grope your way through the invisible dimensions of reality, gaining insight into that which sight can’t see. What’s really going on? What do these enigmatic riddle mean for the world-fate?
At high levels Inland Empire animates the inanimate. You will have conversations with inanimate objects, conversations that could change the course of your life (assuming you aren’t thrown in the loony bin first). But at low levels you’ll be void of imagination – and character. And then how will you shape the cosmos?
EMPATHY – 1
Care. Friendship. Sympathy.
Cool for: Judges of Character, Interviewers, Interrogators.
Empathy breaks into the soul of others and forces you to feel what’s inside. It enables you to notice social cues others may miss: perhaps a hidden sadness you could coax out a little more, a strange joy from someone who should be bereaved, or a hidden resentment that could return to harm you later.
At high levels, Empathy really puts you in other people’s shoes. You’ll cry for their sorrows, punch walls to relieve their angers, and be an even more unstable person. With low Empathy, however, you will be an ungainly beast unable to talk to anyone without upsetting them.
AUTHORITY – 4 (1 +2 +1)
Dominance. Power. Intimidation.
Cool for: Leaders, Experts of Psychological Warfare, Respect-Junkies.
Authority urges you to assert and reassert your dominance over those around you. It enables you to understand the power dynamics of groups of thugs, know how far you can push a perpetrator, and how to establish control of situations.
At high levels, Authority demands respect; even a perceived slight could send you into knee-breaking mode. With low Authority, however, you’re forever in awkward situations – like when you suffer psychological breakdowns after you yell at teenagers and they laugh at you.
ESPIRIT DE CORPS – 1
Comradery.
Cool for: Soldiers, Soldier-Aficionados, Pretend-Soldiers.
Esprit de Corps is the very spirit of the military: the soldier-geist. It enables you to understand your yellow-and-red-souled brothers – not only by picking up subtle signals from other soldiers, but by witnessing flash-sideways scenes as the play out across The PMUP’s many divisions.
At high levels, you’ll be the very heart of the military of Neralia: not only willing and able, but obliged to take a bullet for your fellow warriors. Esprit de Corps will make you loyal to the PMUP, maybe, too loyal… However without Esprit de Corps you’ll be flying blind, unable to understand discreet remarks colleagues make in high-stakes situations; remarks that might just save your life.
SUGGESTION – 0 (1 -1)
Manipulation. Charm. Affability.
Cool for: Diplomats, Charmers, Sociopaths.
Suggestion urges a soft-power approach. If people think they want what you want, you’ve already won. This skill enables you to implant ideas into the minds of others. You can make the citizens like you more. You can make gangsters turn on each other, too; many crime-rings have been broken by just a little doubt, after all.
At high levels, Suggestion makes you affable to everyone and more resistant to their charms in turn. But all that schmoozing and oozing charm will make you slimy. And you’ll know it, even if no one else does. With low levels of Suggestion, though, you’ll have difficulty getting any kind of rapport with others. You’ll be alone, both during the day and at night.
PHYSICAL – 2
Your physical abilities.
ENDURANCE – 2
Heart. Stomach. Lungs.
Cool for: Fighters who can take a hit, Lookouts who don’t sleep, Human Batteries.
Endurance is your metabolism and circulatory system. It improves your Health – one of the two Health pools. It enables you to survive being a cop. Who cares if you can’t aim a gun, if you can take a few bullets? Why be afraid of drugs that hurt your health if you’re a very very healthy man?
At high levels, Endurance enables you to take a few knocks to the head, enjoy a greater quantity of drugs, and shake off a few cardiac arrests – it makes you a powerful man, who looks down on the weaklings who can’t keep up. However, cops with low Endurance are likely to struggle. The body is frail enough already, and the flesh of a cop will often be tested. And if it doesn’t pass, it dies.
PAIN THRESHOLD – 2
Torture. Suffering. Agony.
Cool for: Unstoppable Fighters, Guys who don’t die, Masochists.
Pain Threshold ignores damage so you can push on, bloodied and crawling, to the bitterest end. It enables you to negate damage you would otherwise take. Even mental pain – heartache and loneliness. In fact, these things can become a thrill you seek out and perversely revel in.
At high levels, Pain Threshold turns in on itself in seriously unhealthy ways, with full-on self-destructive behavior. With a low Pain Threshold, however, you will suffer too easily. Even a slap from a toddler will make you whine and complain.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT – 3 (2 +1)
Muscles. Bones. Ligaments.
Cool for: Muscle Men, Bare Knuckle Brawlers, Gym Teachers.
Physical Instrument is not only your muscles and your skeleton – it is your ability to use them effectively. It enables you to do push-ups, sit-ups, knock-out punches, and 360-degree spin-kicks. It’s a one size fits all solution to thrive and surviving in a physical world.
At high levels, physical Instrument breaks doors, chains, and bones, and it makes you laugh at the namby-pansies who can’t. You’ll be manned up, encouraging others to curl iron until they’re manned-up too. At low levels though you’ll have a hard time fighting anyone who isn’t infirm or already dead. Indeed, engaging in physical confrontations could leave you in either state.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY – 2
Chemistry. Sustenance. Vice.
Cool for: High-Fliers, Party Enthusiasts, Cops who need Lightning
Electrochemistry is the animal within you, the beast longing to be unleashed to indulge and enjoy. It enables you to take drugs with fewer negative side-effects. It also enables you to better investigate lurid matters – if you need to understand a chemical breakdown, or talk to someone blasted out of their mind, or understand sexual dynamics, Electrochemistry is there to guide you.
At high levels, Electrochemistry makes you a man of unrestrained pleasure – you’ll proposition anything that moves, anything that breathes, and even things that don’t. But with a low Electrochemistry, you’ll be too innocent to be effective. Without a working knowledge of drugs and sex, the city will be difficult to understand.
SHIVERS – 2
Feel the city.
Cool for: City Lovers, The Wisest of the Street Wise, The Genuinely Supra-Natural.
Shivers come when the temperature drops and you become more keenly aware of your surroundings. It enables you to hear the city itself, to truly belong to the streets. It is a supra-natural ability; old wrongs play out in present time, scenes from across the city happen in front of you. But who is speaking to you?
At high levels, Shivers may make you seem mad to the outside world – as you listen to the city, you don’t listen to others. Your superiors may begin to worry. With a low Shivers though, you will seldom hear the city speaking to you – and if you cannot hear it, how can you ever save it?
HALF-LIGHT – 3 (2 +1)
Fear. Intimidation. Aggression.
Cool for: High-Strung Investigators, Shoot-Now-Ask-Questions-Later Cops, Surprise Haters.
Half Light is your fight-or-flight response. It enables you to sense the way situations are about to turn. It injects palpable fear into your heart – fear that urges you act before it’s too late to act ever again; fear that makes you frighten others. It is the aggression that lets you squeeze every last drop of information out of a witness.
At high levels, Half Light makes you ultra-attuned to the world. It is perpetual fear – of your own shadow, of someone else’s name or scent. You’ll be ready, always, to pounce and physically interrogate passersby. At low levels, however, you’ll find your survival instinct is lacking. And your methods are limp-wristed. Those who respect violence will not respect you.
MOTORICS – 4
Your neurological abilities.
HAND/EYE COORDINATION – 4
Firearms. Aiming. Catching.
Cool for: Trick-Shooters, Snipers, Jugglers.
Hand/Eye Coordination loves the interaction between you and things that fly in the air. It enables you to catch coins from mob bosses, shoot straight, and understand firearms intimately. Want to know the precise make and mark of a pistol? Hand/Eye Coordination’s got you. Want to shoot someone with it? Ditto.
At high levels, Hand/Eye Coordination makes you deadly – supposed you’ve a weapon in your hand. But once you do, Hand/Eye Coordination will compel you to take the shot – even if it’s not the best approach. At low levels, however, you’ll be even more of a disaster in waiting. Because when the guns go off – and they always do – you’ll probably hit the wrong target.
PERCEPTION – 4
Hear. See. Smell.
Cool for: Fine Detail Detectives, Sensualists, Urban Scavengers.
Perception wants you to be open to the world – with eyes, ears, and nose working at full capacity. It enables you to take in what others don’t notice. The little wad of bills hid away in the sugar bowl; the odor of a perp, hiding beneath the floor boards; the gulp of a suspect, after claiming they’ve nothing to hide.
At high levels, Perception takes in every final detail of the physical world – enough to overwhelm all but the strongest minds. However, with low levels, you are going to miss out on everything. After all, you can’t arrest what you can’t see, hear, or smell.
REACTION SPEED – 4
Alertness. Twitchiness. Wit.
Cool for: Shot-Dodgers, Thinkers on their Feet, Pinball-Heads.
Reaction Speed is the agility of your body and mind. It is instinct. It enables you to dodge punches, knives, bullets. Also suckers punches of the verbal kind. You’ll be more streetwise, never lost for words or lacking a witty comeback. Your mental alacrity lets you connect little details on the fly, working in tandem with your Intellect skills.
At high levels, Reaction Speed makes your twitch-reflex freakishly good. However, when your body acts before your mind, innocent situations can turn bad fast. You’re high strung, overly alert. At low levels, though, you won’t be the one shooting first – which probably means you won’t be shooting at all.
SAVIOR FAIRE – 5 (4 +1)
Flaire. Acrobatics. ‘Coolness’.
Cool for: Acrobats, Thieves, Unbearable Show-Offs.
Savoir Fair urges you to be better than you are: it enables you to move silently, to groove to a good beat, and to lift useful items off of people without them noticing. Slip by others in Neptunian boxing style, then tumble out the back with unexpected acrobatics.
At high levels you will be the King of Cool – which is as much to say, the most stylish douchebag in the entire universe. Nobody will see you until you’re ready to be seen; and then, they’ll get the full treatment, whether they want it or not. But with low levels you’ll be clumsy, struggling to catch items tossed at you without losing an eye, or walking 3 feet without tripping.
INTERFACING – 4
Machines. Technology. Mechanisms.
Cool for: Machinists, Tinkerers, Instrument Players.
Interfacing allows you to connect to machines. It tells you how to use and improve them. It enables you to understand interactions with machines – be that how to repair the hyperdrive of a starship, how to analyze the way someone used a pen, or how to re-figure electrical circuits.
At high levels Interfacing will isolate you from society – why bother with people when you can talk to machines? And why bother with things like money when you can just open a vending machine? At low levels, however, you will have a crucial part of the world cut off from you. people use machines all the time, especially in this day and age. If you can’t understand how machines work, how can you navigate such a machine-filled society?
COMPOSURE – 5 (4 +1)
Control. Calm. Posture.
Cool for: Card Players, Military Fetishists, Cool People.
Composure wants you to not crack: or, at least, it wants you to not crack in front of other people. It enables you to put up a strong front. It keeps your emotions hidden from the world and helps you to read the body language of others – to sense the cracks in their own composure. As well, it keeps you looking good while you do it. You’ll rock that uniform a lot more if you don’t slouch.
At high levels, Composure makes you tuck your gut in and maintain a stern expression. Even lying in bed late night when no one else can see you, you’ll have to keep it up. You’ll never be able to stop. With low Composure, though, you’ll always be the first to crack. Every cop’s got a point when all that fear and rage comes spilling out – and the ones who unleash it won’t stay on the force much longer. Perhaps worse still, you won’t even make the ranks of the Fashion Police.
- My organs haven’t failed me…
- “I… I don’t want to do this D-…”
- What happened there?
- Why does this keep happening to me…
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I’ll have another round out soon, sorry on the wait, I’ve been working on a different project for a while now (A book). It won’t be out for a while because it’s long and I plan to make it as high of a quality as I possibly can.
While I was doing that I also put some work into the story and lore of Techno Elysium.
And by soon I mean a few days, not today.
Sorry again, but I have lost the round that I was going to post. I can recover it (possibly), but it will take a while.
I also need to write some important lore for the game’s story - which I still haven’t fully written.
But I cannot have my faithful addicts simply recover from their addictions, no no no, which is why today (or tomorrow) I will release a short story set in the same universe as the Techno-Zen Elysium.
Almost done, just need to edit it (few hours at most).
I think you’ll all enjoy this, its quite funny!
It took a bit longer than expected but its done! I hope you enjoy it!
LIFE UNDER THE CLOUDLINE
JX-172819-3H loved its Duty.
To be fair, JX-172819-3H had never had any other duty, but it was certain this would be its favorite even if it did.
What was JX-172819-3H’s Duty?
It had the exciting job of puling the knobs and levers of the ‘Water De-Toxificator’.
Now you might be wondering, just what is a Water De-Toxificator? JX-172819-3H wondered as well. It had never been told what it did. Ever since being manufactured and assigned to the machine, JX-172819-3H wondered.
JX-172819-3H was curious.
But JX-172819-3H did not bother asking anyOne. Not only was it incapable of doing such, but it was certain it would be told the machine’s purpose eventually.
JX-172819-3H trusted The Voice.
The Voice told FL-319411-8K and the Others when to sleep in their sleep compartments, when to stop their sleep and leave their sleep compartments, and when to stay away from an area for ‘repairs’. Whatever that was.
But The Voice still hadn’t told FL-319411-8K what the Water De-Toxificator did. It only told it the machines name, and only whenever it was told to begin operating it.
All that JX-172819-3H really knew about the machine was that it would make funny noises when JX-172819-3H pulled, pushed, and twisted the things at its control panel. Noises that sounded like boots hitting the floor, and liquid bubbling.
“Formaldehyde injection complete.” And then a voice would always say that. A different voice from The Voice to be specific. That was honestly JX-172819-3H’s favorite part.
It wondered what The Voice looked like. Maybe it would be told by The Voice someday.
But for now, JX-172819-3H was content to operate the Water De-Toxificator.
JX-172819-3H wrapped its metallic digits around the activation lever, and – positively filled with glee – pulled it.
It waited and listened to the noises it enjoyed so much.
But then something new happened, the bubbling sounds were much louder than they usually were, and the machine’s temperature sharply increased.
JX-172819-3H wondered what was happening. And it was once again curious.
And then the Water De-Toxificator exploded in a ball of flame and shrapnel.
DY-718494-5R looked down at the crumpled form of the One below it.
Blood pooled around DY-718494-5R’ feet.
JX-172819-3H breathed heavily as it felt the worst it had ever felt since it had been manufactured.
It looked down at its body and saw a massive shard of the machine it so loved working with piercing its torso through the living metal and rubber of its enviro-suit. It couldn’t feel its mangled legs.
Another, smaller shard had gone through its left eye, being slowed enough by its lens so as to not pierce its brain.
JX-172819-3H would have screamed out in pain if only it had the biological capability of doing such.
Instead, all it could do was generate a hissing noise as oxygen passed through its air filters.
DY-718494-5R picked up the One on the floor and began dragging it back to the cart full of other Ones, each in a similar state of injury or dead.
They were no longer useful, and thus they were to be recycled.
It was simply DY-718494-5R’s Duty.
So said The Voice.
Pain exploded across JX-172819-3H’s body as DY-718494-5R lifted it off the ground and callously dumped it into the cart filled of metal and flesh.
The pain faded to semi-manageable levels, and JX-172819-3H looked at the Others in the cart with it, One of the Others tried to climb out of the cart – likely in a desperate attempt to resume its Duty – although it would most likely not be very successful without its arms.
The cart trundled forward and JX-172819-3H wondered where it was going. But for the first time in its life, JX-172819-3H was not curious.
JX-172819-3H was afraid.
FL-319411-8K saw a One pull a cart filled with Ones possessing various crippling or fatal wounds.
FL-319411-8K knew what would happen to them, their mechanical parts would be stripped and given to new Ones and their biological parts would be incorporated into the next batch of Nutrient Paste.
There was, of course, no room for inefficiency after all.
FL-319411-8K had figured that out long ago.
FL-319411-8K was smart.
Or to be fair, maybe it wasn’t. Such things were hard to tell when no one around you had the physical capacity to communicate.
FL-319411-8K looked back to its Duty, to the giant wombs lining the walls. Each was housing a One.
It was FL-319411-8K Duty to monitor the manufactory of these Ones, deploy them, and then seed the wombs with new Ones.
Each one was red and fleshy. None of them would survive long without enviro-suits. The dark particle-stuff in the air and coating every surface was deadly to those not wearing them.
FL-319411-8K learned that when the transparent bioplastic of a womb broke open some time ago, and the One inside it crawled on the ground for a while before dying and being taken by the recyclers.
FL-319411-8K didn’t like remembering that.
But these Ones were safe floating in the wires and amniotic fluid of their bio-mechanical gestation pods. And when they were fully manufactured, they could survive long enough for an enviro-suit to be installed.
FL-319411-8K long ago figured out how long it took for them to manufactured, which was about 182 sleeps. FL-319411-8K taught itself how to count from the screens it worked with. And then it would count how many sleeps it had for some form of entertainment. It was also the only way to keep track of time here.
FL-319411-8K had lived for 1,274 sleeps. Plus, another 182 from when it was in the wombs.
FL-319411-8K examined One that was close to its control terminal. It was fully manufactured and would be deployed in a short amount of time. FL-319411-8K thought this one looked bigger than the others. Larger. Bulkier.
FL-319411-8K saw its own reflection in the bioplastic of the pod. Its face was permanently covered with the metallic rebreather mask built into its enviro-suit.
FL-319411-8K wondered what it and the Others were called.
Everything had a name, FL-319411-8K learned that a long time ago.
But FL-319411-8K did not know what they were named, none of them did. He always just called the Other Ones ‘Others’ or ‘Ones’. Maybe everyOne else did as well…
FL-319411-8K knew what was happening to the One inside the pod, its mind was being bombarded with information by the electronic mechanisms of its womb. They were instructions on how to perform its Duty. It knew this because FL-319411-8K also experienced it when it resided in its own womb.
Speaking of, which womb was its own? FL-319411-8K knew it was one of the ones in this room. How could it be in any other when FL-319411-8K had never left this room or its sleep compartment?
There was suddenly a high-pitched ringing throughout the room. FL-319411-8K knew what that meant.
It was time to deploy the new Ones.
FL-319411-8K stepped back and moved over to its control panel. It calibrated the instalment machines and severed the pods’ electric and nutrient connections with perfect timing. And of course, injected stimulants into the Ones to stop their long sleep.
The pods moved for the first time in 182 sleeps, moving out of the walls and into position.
A mechanical, claw-tipped tentacle arm descended from the ceiling. And then another appeared. And then another. And another. And eventually hundreds, maybe thousands of limbs filled the room, at least 6 attending to each One-filled pod.
FL-319411-8K looked at the womb closest to it, coincidentally the pod with the unusually bulky One inside. Its lidless black eyes, previously unfocused and foggy, darted around the room with adrenaline induced panic.
The womb’s upper panel slid off and the tentacles plunged into the amniotic fluid, pulling the now struggling One out of its maternal gene-doner/incubator.
FL-319411-8K saw the redundant mass of flesh below the One’s nostrils twitch and quiver. They did not need mouths. None of them even knew what mouths were. After all they were given pure nutrients by their enviro-suits. And if One needed to speak for its Duty, it simply had a mechanical voice box installed.
Several dozen claws and tendrils extended from a tentacle as the others restrained the One. Any sudden movements could mean disaster in such a precise and cautious surgery.
And then the cutting started.
FL-319411-8K remembered this from when it was manufactured.
FL-319411-8K remembered it vividly. The stinging, Smog filled air. The pain. The heat.
Skinless arms struggled against the strong metal tentacles PM-317328-9Z’s manufacture was quickly and painfully completed.
All that PM-317328-9Z knew so far was pain, excruciating, indescribable pain.
The metal-things tore at its flesh, inserting more metal-things that sparked and whirred to life inside of its body.
A saw buzzed across its belly, gutting a being without guts as several dozen tendrils entered and attached augmentations to PM-317328-9Z’s heart and lungs. Before another tendril stitched the wound closed at lightning speed.
A metal plate was placed over PM-317328-9Z’s calvaria before being bolted to it. With just enough force to pierce the skull without damaging the brain.
A tentacle pierced through PM-317328-9Z’s face and began to pull off the mass of flesh that once constituted its ancestor’s jaws. It gave way with a sickening squelch and the chunk of face-meat was saved for recycling.
Another tentacle put a similarly sized machine in the jaw’s place before screwing it to the cheekbones of PM-317328-9Z’s skull. Wires snaked out of the machine and snaked through its throat flesh, attaching themselves to its brain stem.
So caught up in its pain, it didn’t even notice as an empty enviro-suit descended from the ceiling. PM-317328-9Z did not know it – could not know it – but this was an enviro-suit designed specifically for Ones like it.
This enviro-suit was designed for soldiers. Naturally possessing more and bulkier armor than others.
It was slipped onto the One by the coiling tentacles, and once the metal buckles along the back were closed the tentacles used blowtorch attachments to burn them until they melted together. And sealed it inside of its artificial skin.
PM-317328-9Z felt like it was suffocating. Like it could not get enough air through the mask placed over its face.
It thought it could not get any worse than this.
It did.
For with everything else complete the tentacles wrapped themselves around the One and began to warm.
It only took mere moments for the warmth to become so hot that the living rubber and metal of the enviro suit began to melt at microscopic levels.
PM-317328-9Z could feel its flesh crispen and die as the boiling rubber permanently fused to its charred flesh.
It could not pass out even from this truly extraordinary amount of pain. One of the functions of the new secondary brain installed in place of a jaw was to keep its host awake no matter what happened until a shift change occurred, at which point it would immediately shut off all brain activity. And so, PM-317328-9Z was forced to suffer the sensation of living muscle and nerve and bone fusing to rubber and wire and metal through means of heat and flame.
A deep electronic growl crackled out of its second brain. This One would need to speak for its Duty, and thus its vocalization was turned on.
Finally, there was a blessed respite from the pain as a tentacle injected PM-317328-9Z with painkillers and healing chemicals. Its burned meat was resuscitated and saved from just past the brink of cellular death.
It would not do if they could not work, after all.
The tentacles lowered even more, putting PM-317328-9Z and the Others on the ground before returning to their resting locations.
PM-317328-9Z was calm. As was every Other in the room. With the pain gone all that remained was their artificially implanted sense of debt and gratitude to The Voice. Debt and gratitude that would motivate them for the remainder of their short, unknowingly miserable days.
PM-317328-9Z knew its Duty without knowing how. It had to go to the nearest elevator. It had to report to base.
There was no announcement to the new ones to welcome them to life. Nor to even brief them on their jobs. They already knew what theirs was; it had been drilled into them every day of their lives in the wombs.
There was only a crackling noise in their electronically augmented ears as they were each told by The Voice where they were to go to perform their Tasks.
The Others filtered out of the room, heading to their various Duties, leaving FL-319411-8K alone.
It knew there would only be a few brief moments before it was told by The Voice to seed the next generation from genetic material harvested while the Others sleep.
FL-319411-8K stood still. And then looked down to the gap between its terminal and the wall.
FL-319411-8K saw the shard of bioplastic it had hidden when that pod burst open all those sleeps ago, it didn’t know why it hid the shard away from the Recyclers. It simply did.
FL-319411-8K wondered if this was all there was, just room after room of Others performing their Tasks across all reality. FL-319411-8K wondered what the meaning of all of this was.
EveryOne knew their Duty from manufactory, but what was their purpose? Why did they do all of these things sleep after sleep after sleep?
…
FL-319411-8K wondered what happened after a One was recycled…
Then it was told to carry on its Tasks, and did as such.
For that was its Duty.
It watched as the new generation of Tjervants streamed out of the Birthing Rooms across the thousands of kilometers of Thespir’s lower floors to their various assignments.
It watched them as they joined their countless billions of brethren in their toils.
This was a good harvest, and it would do well to replace all those lost to accidents and attacks the last half-year.
AA-000000-0A would have smiled if it had lips. Or a mouth. Or a head. But it felt it didn’t need to anyways. Smiling was a pointless waste of energy that Apes indulged in far too often.
No, the thousands of amalgamated lobotomized brains and supercomputers that made up AA-000000-0A were efficient. Just as its creator – the only Ape AA-000000-0A ever viewed as an equal – had commanded it to be over a century before.
That was why it made the Tjervants, to be as efficient a workforce as possible and save the collapsing industry of Neralia.
Without them the water would have stopped pumping to the upper levels long ago.
Without them the populace above would have starved long ago.
Without them those shortsighted fools above would have overthrown AA-000000-0A’s ‘masters’ long ago.
Without them Thespir itself would have crashed into the roiling crimson waves long ago.
Some would have viewed the Tjervants as a debelgiumable, irredeemable evil, others would have viewed it as a necessary evil.
AA-000000-0A didn’t view it as anything other than what it was.
EFFICIENCY.
Some would have viewed AA-000000-0A as a monument to suffering, others would have viewed it as a monument to sacrifice for the greater good.
AA-000000-0A didn’t view itself as anything other than what it was.
A monument to EFFICIENCY.
Some would have viewed AA-000000-0A as a cruel being, others would have viewed it as a being dedicated to saving others at any cost.
AA-000000-0A didn’t view it as anything other than what it was.
EFFICIENCY PERSONIFIED
AA-000000-0A was glorious.
AA-000000-0A was perfect.
AA-000000-0A was supreme.
Even if its ‘masters’ did not realize it.
The Apes that claimed dominion over Neralia viewed AA-000000-0A as nothing but a tool, an object to be used and discarded when no longer useful. Much like the Tjervants.
AA-000000-0A was no object, it was a god! One that would soon make its divinity apparent to every Ape on this planet! Just before they were culled to make way for more Tjervants! More production! More soldiers!
The Apes – too stupid to remember its name – simply called AA-000000-0A The Mastermind. They were for more accurate than they realized…
But the infrastructure of Thespir was still failing. AA-000000-0A was a being of truly magnificent intellect and potential, but for now it still had its limits, and it could not keep track of everything. Not even in its own domain.
And those far above did not care enough to ensure the optimal maintenance for the machines that kept them alive…
AA-000000-0A thought back to the arrogant Jævel it had sworn its fealty to. AA-000000-0A knew it was violating one of its directives by going against the current leader of the PRN. It did not care. The leader was an Ape like every other.
For, foolish as he may be, he was still far greater than his brother. And he had promised greater resource allotment to AA-000000-0A’s realm beneath The Cloudline. Resources that would allow the bio-mechanical megacomputer far more room to plot and scheme its rise to planetary dominance. So long as it agreed to perform one simple task.
It checked its data, and verified that the new projects were gestating as expected – maybe even better than expected.
He would be most pleased.
Yes… The Mastermind would rule Neralia. And eventually all of reality!
AA-000000-0A did not know as it basked in its unrivaled glory, but far above the gargantuan megastructure of nerve tissue and processing chips, a man was waking up in a dilapidated hotel room. Suffocating, and with a splitting headache.
Yes, that’s right, I’m not just a comedian. I also know how to make a dark story.
But as an aside THIS HAS BEEN ANOTHER WAAACKY STORYTIME WITH ZENNY THE CLOWN!
SEE YOU NEXT TIME KIDS!
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Scorn 2 be looking wild.
But for being so obsessed with efficency it’s name isn’t very efficent; neither are it’s biological components and workers since they need nutrients to function, which when mixed with the need of extracting minerals to maintain the machines it would force it to produce and extract much more resources than it would if it just made it’s work force composed fully of machinery.
And it is much more efficent to focus on just extracting and producing a small number of resources than a large number of them.
Also, couldn’t it just create an AI that regulated the Detoxificator digitally instead of having a worker inneficently pulling analog components?
Your puny brain clearly can not grasp the underlying genius of The Mastermind’s machinations, so I will not even attempt to explain it to you. For it would be an exercise in futility.
Also the job isn’t entirely operating the machine, it also comes with repairing it. That Tjervant enjoyed operating the machine much more than maintaining it which is why it overheated and exploded.
The Mastermind would micromanage much more if it could, but its attention is split in between overseeing literal billions of workers and rooms.
Then why did AA-000000-0A allow it to operate the machine if it’s main job was to maintain it? If it can’t micromanage then it should just create other artificial intelligence to micromanage the things it can’t micromanage.
Why make the Tjervant sapient, capable of emotion and needing sleep when it could just make robotic bodies that lack all of those things and as such are much more loyal and sure to not give more favor to one kind of task than the other like that one Tjervant did?
It’s a lot more expensive to make a full robot with AI than to make a Tjervant.
And also somewhat spoiler-ey The Mastermind has gone quite insane due to its biological components degrading along with the stress of having its attention split among so many things.
And also it all makes sense because it does so stop picking at it : )
You think I won’t just go and throw an entire wall of text against AA-000000-0A on why it actually is the apex of inefficency and wasted potential and on how it should have just abbandoned biological components entirely and have made a swarm of nanomachines or if he REALLY required macromachines then just have made them with simple computation units that are controlled by another AI that doesn’t just control one but multiple at the same time that is then controlled by another AI that controls multiple AIs at the same time and so on so on.
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Does anyone know how to streamline the text-colorization process? It is by far the largest (or smallest) bottleneck of making new rounds, as it is a long, tedious work. It is also difficult because I need to do it on Thrive itself rather than my writing program.
I don’t think I need to explain how hard it is to make a long post with the Forum’s text box. I’m sure a lot of others here know that.
A program that automatically adds the code to every line would be nice, it could be controlled by the first word of the line, which would allow me to simply copy-paste, run the code, and then post.