"When the wind no longer calls to you..." Discussion

[GDP_ST]

I have left the thread open for anyone who wants to post their own character's thoughts, feelings or reactions to the events therein. A single little vignette is all that is necessary, though of course if you want to write more, I won't stop you

Needless to say, Procyon's experienced a shift in his world view somewhat, and the repercussions will be forthcoming...

Watch this space.

Edit: Supplemental - By all means feel free to post your own ideas, story thoughts and anything you feel might spring from this incident. Try to avoid "Mal's gonna come kick yo' ass", please. I'm trying to provoke change and development in the storyline, not take on the Mary-Sue's of said storyline.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

I'm working on a reply for GMoT. I think she's going to be conflicted by this. On the one hand, Procyon's taking her idea for a "third way" into the spotlight and trying to gain support for it. On the other hand Procyon took her idea!

I'll have a post later today.

[Hugin]

I'll be responding sometime today.

[Timeslip]

Responded and responded.

And frankly, if anything N!Primeish going to trigger the Night of the Long Knives, this bloody well should.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

Seconded.

[Hugin]

Ask Chosen. His site, his decision.

And, if you wanna be real blunt about this being a spark for NoLK, then Procyon should likely be one of the very first casualties.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

That's a hard way to start a revolution, but you're right.

As an aside: did I read correctly that Hugin's gunning for cute little GMoT now?

[Hugin]

No, but I think that would be the natural result. Anyone Procyon teaches that isn't a Terat themselves would likely be a victim as well.

[Regina Newcastle]

I'll be posting something, as well, but I really don't think this would trigger the Night of Long Knives. If anything, I think this might be a good opportunity for Mal to watch the scuffle and see who stands where when the dust settles. Also, I don't think he'd ever operate on anybody's schedule except his own.

[TeleRhyde]

I also vote for recommending to Chosen that this start the NoLK scenario.

I've posted TeleRhyde interacting his mentor within the Teragen, Shrapnel. Take a look if you like and let me know if their interaction works for you.

Also, the problem with Procyon is that he is damn hard to catch and even harder to kill. Its doable, but should be terrifically difficult and flashy.

[Timeslip]

Acutally... I sent such a recommendation to Chosen sometime yesterday.

Shrapnel's reaction sounds about right. Acting as a brake against the kind of stupidity The Confederation would pull, so that forces can be gathered and things done right.

That said, I think she's a bit over-optimistic about NV. NV isn't on the greatest of terms with the Primacy at this point, and Procyon effectively gave "mad props" (gods, I hope I got that phrase right) to NV while "dissing" (again, crossing my fingers) the Primacy and Harvesters. When the nastiness comes down, I'm expecting a fair chunk of NV to side with Procyon and his "Third Way".

The Casas... are almost certain to either try to stay on the sideline, or to lean toward the more non-violent approach of the Third Way if forced to choose sides. It would, at any rate, place them in the correct stance regarding others for NotLK, if this turns into that, and it sure as hell sounds like how Orzaiz would handle things. That said: TeleRhyde, I'd ask that Timeslip be allowed to be more or less one of the primary PC vehicles for moving the Casa faction forward.

And just a note: everyone does realize that this is fated to result in the establishment of a new Teragen faction called The Third Way, right? That would be the second N!Prime-fostered faction, methinks, with Ashnod's Catalysts being the first.

[Titan A9F]

I added my "Where were you when" post for Titan-A9F. Not much of an effect on him but that's usually the way it is when really big things are still just a train whistle in the distance.

[Neil Preston]

I like the fact that I had a charcter there doing his job (Jager) as an Municipal Defender. He just happened to have the duty that day of watching over a powerful nova making a prepared statement. Nothing big, right?

[Velvet]

Actually, Regina makes some excellent points. It's possible that we're jumping the gun a bit, here. Currently, Procyon is one man. No one's stood up and publicly supported him, and it would make sense to either simply discredit him, or ensure that he fails. Taking him out only makes him a martyr for his cause. I'm not saying people shouldn't panic IC- well, those close to him, anyway- but it could develop into nothing more than the creation of another faction, rather than a war between all of them.

[Hugin]

I can still see this as the first dominoe. How people react to Procyon could very well be the last straw for Mal on whether or not it was time to start busting heads. And also, he's not the only start to the Night, some of it comes from his reaction to infighting. So, this could start the infighting.

[Velvet]

It could be, sure. But we have so many different people here with so many ideas of what the canon NPCs would do, it's hard to say. On N!Prime, I haven't noticed any "infighting" unless you guys (playing Terat PCs) are writing fics and discussing things on your own, and I'm really hoping, as I've mentioned in chat, that this isn't an excuse to get some action going. It's a huge event in terms of repercussions, especially in this medium, when a significant portion of the active players stand to lose one or more characters, and I think it should be treated with more circumspection than, "Ohh! Fight! Kick their asses!."

[Ashnod]

I'm in Regina & Velvet's camp. I don't this would spark anything more than Orzaiz spin-doctoring it, something along the line of "Disagreements among like-minded individuals are always heated and passionate, and often when they cannot be resolved one party takes it upon themself to publicly paint the other the worst light possible. Nothing more than a case of sour grapes, my dear."

Internally, sure, someone might go after him for this - NV isn't necessarily on Procyon's side despite his defense of them. Some of NV *is* the Primacy and vice versa, and the two groups are closer to each other than farther away. If anything, Pro might be a target but this isn't going to spark the whole thing. Later down the line the remaining Terats might look at how this is a sign of what was later to come, but this in itself isn't going to push the NoLK into effect.

Pro is going to find himself with very few friends in this inside the Teragen - it has always had a "me against my brother but my brother and I against the world" mentality and the Teragen will, very likely, consider this a matter of Pro no longer being a "brother," and have a kind of unified stance against this tard who is seemingly trying to tear them apart.

There is, as Hugin has also pointed out, the messier matter of taking Chrysalis outside of the movement, which more are going to have to issue with.

Single nova - single issue. it's not going to go past that.

[Y.T.]

Well, the thing is that some other tergan would agreew ith pro. Van most deffently does. He would if it came to a fight side with Pro. This is my point of view. I am not the best liked or listened to voice on this site but hey. THis topic is about epoeple disagreeing. You Ashnod may disagree with me and other but that is most likely the reason for the conflict.

[Timeslip]

Ashnod, while you've been on this board since the dawn of time, it doesn't give you any more or less say to how various bits of the Teragen react to things than anyone else (or at least, anyone else with a Terat character). You're making some very... absolutist statements there, without seemingly taking into account the fact that not everyone agrees with your interpretation of the situation.

All that said, the simple fact of the matter is that we are supposedly on the cusp of the Night of the Long Knives. The Teragen is currently a power-keg. And while Procyon is indeed just one Terat with a handful of students, he could very well be the spark that ignites the whole bloody thing.

After all, who would have believed that some no-name assassin hitting a two-bit royal in the farthest back of Europe's backwaters could and would spark a world war?

[Jager]

How about this:

A few nutjobs actually attack Procyon and get stomped in short order.

Calmer voices prevail, for now, to find out exactly what Procyon is doing, and how far he will go. Depending on how hard a line Procyon takes leads to more difficulty in keeping more radical elements from attempting something serious (poor Chicago)

[kestrel404]

Well, I can see this going in many directions.

Procyon's public disassociation with some part of the Teragen is entirely new for a Teragen matter, and likely to get blown out of proportion by the media. Beyond that, I'm in agreement with Ashnod. Orzaiz will play internal (and external) spin doctor, and that alone isn't likely to start NoLK.

Alchemist at the very least is going to be asking for lessons on Teras. He's been flirting with it long enough, and now he has a chance to make it mean something. Some of the other Knights may well end up in the same boat, I don't know yet. But none of them are going to be Terats. Which will be the first real breach in that front, and that will mean something. It may be enough to get Mal involved, but I doubt it. I think he'd be more interested in seeing how this shakes out.

What's certain to happen: An immediate retribution by some fledgeling terats/terat wannabes. Taking out Procyon would be a real feather in their caps. Not gonna happen, but if nobody even tries it would be strange.

A longer term retribution of some sort. Subtle, from an unexpected direction, and aimed at sending a message instead of leaving a martyr. Possibly a warning to the Knights that learn Teras to join up or die. Possibly several factions will take independent action. I'm not sure, and it depends on what other players do as much as anything.

Will this lead to massive bloodshed? I honestly don't think so, unless this really does spark off NoLK. It's a possibility, but not by any means a guarantee. My vote is a tentative no - tentative, because I think that after Procyon ignores all the warnings, THAT could spark it off.

That's my $0.04 (weak dollar, you know).

[Ashnod]

I never claimed my opinion was sacrosanct, nor was I aware that I had to preface it with the disclaimer "My opinion only."

Nobody else did and nobody else took flack for making their opinion known.

[Regina Newcastle]

Timeslip, who says we're on the "cusp" of the Night of Long Knives? The Teragen is formally only eleven years old; that's a little early for a culling purge. The Trinity era doesn't dawn for scores of years, yet, so what makes you think that Divis Mal, who waited over sixty years just to start N-Day, would be so impatient and impetuous as to trigger his final purge of the Terat pretenders based on the ravings of a lone Terat? If Mal really found what Procyon said affrontable, he'd quietly kill him and nobody would ever know about it. He is the nearest thing to God you're apt to find; he operates on nobody's time but his own.

That said, why is everyone so hot to get the Night of Long Knives started? Don't a lot of people here play Terats? What the deuce makes them think they'd be among the survivors? Starting the Night of Long Knives guarantees little more than that half to most of the people here playing members of the Teragen end up with dead characters.

[z-Silvestru]

Regina: I refer you to the Teragen book if you have a copy. Mal has very little to do with NotLK, unless someone goes after Scripture. In truth, he lets the Teragen sort itself out. It's the radicals in the Teragen, who feel the division is weakening their goals, who start it off.

And I don't know why people want to kick it off. I'm certainly in no hurry for my two Terats to get caught up in this.

[The White Rat]

Judging from what I have read of Procyon's intentions, the Harvesters won't be pleased. Since it involves the WCK themselves, the White Rat would take a special interest in it.

Reading the teragen book, I get the impression that it is many of the 'Old guard' who perish. They are replaced by newer and 'less human' (more radical) Terats.

Would the situation involving Procyon spark NotLK? Maybe...maybe not. But it would at least attract the attention of certain Terat factions (and members). This could heighten tensions among the factions, however. At that point, all it would take is a small spark to se things going.

If running a NotLK fiction, it might be better to have its format like a play. It could have many acts, in which culling could occur within each faction. Each of those fictions could start with a short story line in which players insert their characters and expound on the base story line. Each act would be written by a different author.

Unfortunately, I don't have an idea as to how, or who would write the climax that brings the separate acts together. It could simply be a matter of integrating the survivors from the acts, with each character having small vignettes describing their characters in the aftermath.

[Warren Verona]

Mal's gonna come kick yo' ass.

[GDP_ST]

"Ravings"? "Tard"?

I feel so.. *sniff* ...marginalised.

Oh, and Rev? He's gonna kick yo' ass first for being more angsty.

[Titan A9F]

Quote:

Originally posted by Revenant:
Mal's gonna come kick yo' ass.

That's what I was thinking but everyone seemed so sure it was going another way.

I think Mal could less about the split in the Teragen and would just sit back to see how they dealt with it. Chrysalis doesn't come from the Teragen though. It comes from Mal and was his gift to the Teragen to secure his place at the head of the table. Mess with that and yeah I think Mal would remove you, your students, anyone that ever knew you and then pour his drink on your smoking ash. That messes directly with his views of being the all-father among the new gods that are his children whether they know it or not.

As far as Night Of The Long Knives... that's the bon fire of the vanities playing out. The spark that sets the fire can be anything. It doesn't have much to do with what the original cause was, it has to do with people (novas and terats) taking the opportunity to "clean house" or take some "payback".

[Timeslip]

Regina,

It's worth noting that only one of the three published routes for the Night of the Long Knives results in a bloodbath (appropriately enough, the one titled, "Bloodbath").

It's also worth noting that the odds of "half of the Teragen players dying" even in the event that things follow the Bloodbath scenario is pretty slim; the death of half the combattants in any war is simply unheard of. (Dont forget: the term "decimate" means to lose one in ten, and it's relatively rare for one side or the other in the course of a conflict to be decimated.) Add in the fact that defense is much more effective than offense in this system (given how soak works, the ability to teleport/warp/etc away from a losing fight, etc), and you wind up with lots of conflict, plenty of injury, but relatively few actual deaths.

As for the other options, there's the Chosen of Mal route, in which it comes down to an ideological conflict moreso than a physical one, as well as A Quiet of Screams, which is primarily focused on intrigue.

Given my choice, I'd go with A Quiet of Screams for N!Prime, simply because, as is noted in the description, "individuals and their agendas rule the day, much more than any matters of dogma or factions." If ever there was an option custom-built for the N!Prime Terats - many of whom are only losely affilitated with the factions, if affiliated at all - this one is it.

And as for why people want to get Night of the Long Knives started... it's to get it finished, to get "off the map" with regard to canon, to no longer have this particular sword hanging over our collective heads.

[Cosmic Comet]

Very aptly put there Timeslip. I would also go with the A Quite of Screams scenario for most of the same reasons you have stated. Hopefully there will be enough who agree with this type setting as the way to go.

[Timeslip]

By the way, it doesn't help that the book is self-contradictory regarding the timing of the Night of the Long Knives. In the description on page 97, it says "This 'Night of the Long Knives' will occur somewhere in the next one to five years." On page 111, it gives the start date as "sometime between 2009 and 2040".

Just one more reason that I hate having N!Prime strapped to the canon; the canon is pretty damned flimsy.

[Dr. Zero]

Ok someone get Blackwelder strapped to a chair and dont let him have any water or sleep till we get some answers... its cool, the US goverment says we can do this stuff now.

[GDP_ST]

I think it's a little presumptuous to declare that Mal himself will come down from on high and smite me for the sin of sharing Teras, and by extension Chrysalis, with novas.

The points which Procyon hopes Mal, Scripture, and the other few Terats he genuinely respects get is this:

1: To utilize the principles of Chrysalis is practically impossible without the peculiar mental discipline and outlook that Teras gives a nova. To have the benefits of Chrysalis without believing oneself other than human and embracing the possibilities of being a nova cannot happen. Unless you're a munchkin, in which case have fun, its only a game.

2: Anyone who adopts the philosophies of Teras becomes, by literal definition, a TERAT! *gasp-shock-horror-ohnoes* The only difference being that this way, Mal will have a better chance of finding those equals he famously seeks: a bunch of individually-minded, self-starting Terats who aren't part of the established Teragen status quo, rather than a bunch of sheep who ask things like "How shall we fuck off, oh Lord?". Terats who can, and will, act as they see fit without buying into a hate culture.

3: I don't recall any 'rules' in the Teragen book background material that a Terat has to get clearance from on high before deciding who he or she will teach the principles of the supposedly FREE-THINKING and LIBERATING philosophy. While I think people are dead right about how the hate-blinkered factions will react (Primacy, Harvesters, some N.V, the Cult et al) somehow, I have this mental image of Mal sitting back and grinning like a loon. Don't forget, the only people he credits with 'getting it' when he's tearing the kiddies a new butthole are Scripture and Orzaiz. "You think it is about the power, and it is not about the power. It is about the understanding, which only Scripture and Orzaiz seem to possess." (I might be a little off on the wording there: my Teragen book is at home as I write this) What the Teragen mainstream factions are doing is treating the knowledge of Chrysalis as power, power over other novas, rather than treating it as a tool of understanding. Admittedly, this is only my opinion, but I think it makes sense.

This last point is for the players out there:

Of course there's no guarantee that 'The Third Way' is going to change a damned thing, but hey! I'm a player, I have a character with some clout, some power and a really nice ass, and I'm going to go for the gold.

[Titan A9F]

I thought opinions were being asked for. I offered mine. I'm sorry it came across to you as hysteria. I hope the story works out.

[GDP_ST]

I'm sorry. The hysteria I was referring to was a joke, a play on words of the usual phrase "The rest is history."

I wasn't actually directing that at anyone.

My bad, I'll remove it.

[Timeslip]

Ashnod, I owe you an apology. I overreacted to your statements, taking them as a condescending statement of "How Things Are" when they were not, in fact, intended or even presented as such. For this I apologize, and I will endeavor to refrain from said overreaction and misinterpretation in the future.

[Ashnod]

Thank you, Timeslip.