Ashnod Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 Alright. Just a bit of background on this upcoming tale. Although I'm posting the first bit (and may do others in the future), each section devoted to a specific character (and labeled as such) was written by that character's player. So, just it's known, I'm not writing this except my parts. This is a collaboration. Prodigy is writing for Prodigy, Codex for Codex, etc.The current authors are Codex, Violette, Bastian, Prodigy, and myself. Sekhmet is part of the group and will join when time permits.Please do not post to this story unless you have been invited to do so. It is being held at a location unknown to most of the participants and it would be exceedingly difficult to just happen by it. For the curious, the character of Fracture from 1,001 Aberrant Nights will be making brief appearances. Her backstory is somewhat detailed there.Other than that, hope everyone has fun with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 Too bad we couldn't get an Aberrant or indie to make an appearence. Still, should be great fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted January 13, 2004 Author Share Posted January 13, 2004 Bastian, you're up next. Unless you want Fracture to say something about Bastian body-riding her, the next scene is yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 I'd like to ask some questions so that I don't make any faux pas.Prodigy will give the Quantum Attunement ogle at pretty much everyone here. His MegaPerception 3, Perception 5, Medicine 4 gives him a pretty good shot at pegging novas taint and powers. Unless of course they have any sort of defense against such nosiness. Can I get a shout out from people who could throw up the lead undies against this kind of thing?And Bastian, Prodigy has a pretty high willpower and Discerning Mind with a MegaInt 5. So, please don't have him just walking into Prodigy's noggin so casual like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Curious: What is Discerning Mind?Also, as far as I know, few things stop mind-talk, which is Bastian's thing. He just doesn't vocalize alot. He sends thoughts straight into other people's minds. It isn't mind alteration, or mind reading.He is more comfortable that way, and is an integral part of his non-humanism. So, while he might talk telepathicly, that's all it is.Lastly, Quantum Attunement will tell you what powers the nova uses and what level of taint is in effect. I believe that aberrations are only visible, if they are in effect. It will also show you how much Chrysalis the user has.It doesn't tell you about powers the nova isn't using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted January 14, 2004 Author Share Posted January 14, 2004 With 3 or more successes on a medicine roll used in conjunction with Quantum Attunement, it gives the user a rough idea.pg 164 of the main bookDISCERNING is an Intelligence Quality.Most forms of telepathy can also be resisted with Willpower or Psychic Shield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwriter Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Codex doesn't have many defenses against telepathy apart from her own stubbornness and Aspergers' Syndrome. What she does have is self-awareness - try to screw with her head and she'll know. If you enter her mind, you're going to get the sense of a huge library that stretches beyond the horizon. Something like Compartmentalised Mind, I think the enhancement is called.She possesses low-level abilities in a variety of areas, most of them linked to books. She is a telepath but a polite one, and will treat you with the same courtesy she is given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Whoops, your right, Ashnod. Never played it that way before, but this is going to be interesting, as Bastian has lots of M-Perception, and a bit of medicine (2).Actually, a description of what your mind might look like is a good idea.Again, Bastian is so used to having telepathic contact, it is second nature to him. If anything, the negative reaction would suprise him.BTW, I should have made this clear, his Telepathy is Surreptitious.Questions:Would Psychic Shield, and/or Invulnerability (Psychic Powers) stop someone from talking telepathically to you?I have played it that you could talk to the person, but they would have to concentrate on giving a response (if they responded at all).If someone has Invulnerability (Psychic Powers), can they tone it down, or cut it off, allowing telepathic contact?If someone has lowered their defenses, then is attacked, how do you handle it if the attacker is already in the mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted January 14, 2004 Author Share Posted January 14, 2004 Quote:Originally posted by Bastian: Questions:Would Psychic Shield, and/or Invulnerability (Psychic Powers) stop someone from talking telepathically to you?I have played it that you could talk to the person, but they would have to concentrate on giving a response (if they responded at all).If someone has Invulnerability (Psychic Powers), can they tone it down, or cut it off, allowing telepathic contact?If someone has lowered their defenses, then is attacked, how do you handle it if the attacker is already in the mind? All depends on whether you believe an "always on" power can be consciously turned on or off.Psychic Shield can be shut off at will, but there is nothing in the Invulnerability description stating a similar amount of control. My guess would be that it depends on the ST, and failing that here, whether or not the character wants their power to have an off state.Ashnod's Psychic Shield is on by default, Bastian's telepathy, even with the extra, would have to breach her defenses first. (BTW, the Surreptitious extra only allows for stealth reading, not stealth transmission) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Okay. I take it that Psychic Shield blocks all forms of telepathic contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted January 14, 2004 Author Share Posted January 14, 2004 According the rules, it gives resistance to any power that affects a Nova's mind, baring that which is considered an emotional or empathic power. The examples given are Domination, Mental Blast, Mirage, Hypnosis, and Telepathy.It gives 2 automatic successes per dot resistance to it. Obviously, if Bastian's Mindspeak is high enough it's going to cut through Psychic Shield like butter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Quote:Originally posted by Bastian: Curious: What is Discerning Mind?Enhancement from Brainwaves. Any sort of mental or emotional manipulation and the MegaSmarty gets to roll an Intelligence+MegaIntelligence check. Every success is one more die on his willpower roll against the intrusion. So, on average Prodigy would have +7 dice to resist.It would work against Telepathic manipulation, possibly reading, but not thoughttalk I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Quote:Originally posted by Bastian: Actually, a description of what your mind might look like is a good idea.Prodigy's core persona would ring the loudest, but there would be a constant loud murmer of dozens upon dozens of other voices, all clamoring to be heard, in the background. He is also constantly calculating. Along the lines of "if he walks like this it can mean these things, but take into account how he is walking we can cross reference....and his color choices indicate....crossreference with wordchoice....add infinitum" His Weakness Detection enhancement comes from this habit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted January 14, 2004 Author Share Posted January 14, 2004 Are Prodigy's words to Bastian vocal or mental?Just curious if the rest of us can hear that. If it's telepathy, we should probably continue Bastian's example and use a * to frame mindspeak instead of ". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 I was trying to keep that going. So yes, this was a vocal response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted February 12, 2004 Author Share Posted February 12, 2004 Hiya.Just a suggestion: can we keep the OOC talk on this forum if possible? Or maybe Just make a little footnote in an IC post to check this forum for OOC questions/answers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 My bad.I'm sorry.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I'M SO ASHAMED!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted February 12, 2004 Author Share Posted February 12, 2004 Aww....wasn't meant to make anyone feel bad, hon.*hug* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violette 'V' D'Aronique Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Well, poo. Bastian, what if I would have said NO?You didn't leave it open for any fricking debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Yeahhhh. Gotta agree, if you're writing something that leaves it open for a 'no' you outta stop at that point and wait for a response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violette 'V' D'Aronique Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Well, my response WAS negative anyway. I'm assuming we just ignore everything after the "if she says yes" clause in Bastian's post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwriter Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted March 13, 2004 Author Share Posted March 13, 2004 Ashnod's remarks are meant to come after Bastian's in the current part of the story. She was waiting for everyone to say their peace before hers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted March 15, 2004 Author Share Posted March 15, 2004 Okay.We need to discuss this Out-of-Character before Ash tries making peace so we all know what just happened.1) As far as I'm aware, the mental link Bastian established has never been dropped.2) Knowing that, what Bastian showed V (the liquid form memory) was intended for all participants in the link, not just her.So...Since the link is technically still up, anyone who wanted out of COULD be out of it. That could explain why it appeared to be only in V's mind to some of the people at the meeting. The alternative is essentially that everyone saw what V saw.I need everyone to pipe in with how they want this to proceed. Do we say that everyone saw it? Do we say some people have dropped out of the link? Or if this is new information, and V, Codex, and Prodigy would have reacted differently to the memory if EVERYONE had seen it, should I get a moderator to delete portions of the story so we can more accurately reflect what should have been?This is really for the rest of you to decide, it's your story too, and I don't want to end the "chapter" or "scene" with a conclusion that is the result of an out-of-character misunderstanding of the text. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 Dumping a memory on Violette could easily be construed as an attack, so it never occurred to me that anyone else would think that it was just a one-on-one thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmy Chillmeister Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 My take on this: No, the link was nowhere near that deep because a few of us would have been uncomfortable with it. Bastian (the character) simply assumed to much because of his opnions on telepathy.orI can see it this way. Prodigy has his defenses up. Only a little crack with which the connection is still going, though he hasn't been focusing on it. So, he wouldn't have gotten Bastian's extra push, just have seen the exchange through QA. His reaction stays unaltered. RE: Ashnod. He saw Ashnod's share of memory because he was still trying to focus on the mind link at that point, he has become less and less keen on the idea as the conversation has gone. He sees Ashnods, by the time Bastian does it, he's pulled further back. What Ashnod offered had enough intellectual value to Prodigy that he has overlooked the 'breech'. Thus why he isn't mad at Ashnod, but miffed at Bastian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmy Chillmeister Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 My take on this: No, the link was nowhere near that deep because a few of us would have been uncomfortable with it. Bastian (the character) simply assumed to much because of his opnions on telepathy.orI can see it this way. Prodigy has his defenses up. Only a little crack with which the connection is still going, though he hasn't been focusing on it. So, he wouldn't have gotten Bastian's extra push, just have seen the exchange through QA. His reaction stays unaltered. RE: Ashnod. He saw Ashnod's share of memory because he was still trying to focus on the mind link at that point, he has become less and less keen on the idea as the conversation has gone. He sees Ashnods, by the time Bastian does it, he's pulled further back. What Ashnod offered had enough intellectual value to Prodigy that he has overlooked the 'breech'. Thus why he isn't mad at Ashnod, but miffed at Bastian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violette 'V' D'Aronique Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 Well, I read my little tirade again and I don't really mention being upset at the memory except a little tidbit at the end. But that was more because I was expecting the standard telepathy thought and not a memory. So I'm good with playing it how everyone else wants to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwriter Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 I was assuming that everyone saw the memory, but V was the main receipient. I'm cool with however it's done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 So is Bastian no longer in the circle with the rest of us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Mentally, he is still in the circle, but he has put a bit of physical distance between himself and the rest of the group. Now, he can clearly see everyone is all without having to look around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 I need to know body language here. Is Bastian showing that he is totally taken by suprise by V's comments or is he defensive? Is he showing that he's trying to deny something he knows or suspects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violette 'V' D'Aronique Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 I'm in a "trying to speak calmly about something I feel passionately about' body language type thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Hmmmm ....Well, his body is no longer flesh and blood, but psychic energy, so reading it is a little odd.Bastian doesn't seem suprised or embarrassed. He appears frustrated, more than anything else.The best example I can think of is a Research Scientist being forced to defend his work on a cure for cancer by using primates, up against an animal rights activist.He is not ashamed of what he does, nor is he making the "if I didn't do it, someone else would" argument.Bastian is arrogant in his belief that novas are a superior species to baselines, but he doesn't see himself being callous or cruel to their fates. If some baselines have to suffer and die so that novas live and prosper, so be it.He does really seem to care that other novas don't see him as a threat to them because of what he does to baselines. To him, killing/enslaving a baseline to save novas isn't even a question that needs to be asked. He would always act to save/help the nova.If Prodigy needed spinal fluid from twenty different baselines to make it through the day, Bastian would line them up without a single moral qualm. To him baseline lives, in any number, do not equate to nova lives. Apples and Oranges.So, when other novas talk to him about his treatment of baselines, his visual clues are more of a "but how does this relate to me and you?"BTW, Prodigy's anathema comment was the most hurtful to Bastian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Yeah, what V said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwriter Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Okay, Regan's posture is very straight in her seat, but she's leaning forward with her hands on her knees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 It's about time to bring our little meeting to an end, and say our goodbyes. Rather, it's time we started heading towards the end. If anyone has something else to bring up, another topic to let us touch upon or expand on an old one, now's the time to do it.It's been a good ride for everyone, so let's get ready for re-entry and prepare for the rush of getting back home to earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastian Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Ready for re-entry, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 re-entry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashnod Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 And so ends Strangers in the Night. Thank you to everyone who participated and everyone who took the time out of their busy days to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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