Senior Mals Weekly Aeonverse Question

[Senior Mal]

Right, now there are 68 registered members thats more than enough to get some half decent (or should that be half baked) responses to questions concerning the Aeonverse.

So in what will no doubt prove to be the most popular section of the forums, I proudly present

*trumpets and fanfare*

Senior Mals Weekly Aeonverse Question

Impressive, isn't it.

So, without further ado, on to this weeks question.

In the Trinity core rulebook when discussing Aberrants it mentions one Cestus Pax as one of the worst from the war.

my question is:

Is this a prime example of Project Rewrite with Aeon covering up its no. 1 poster boy in the most obvious manner or did old baldy really go 'bad' and if so why?

Your thoughts and opinions please...

I'll be posting my definitive answer next wednesday

[CHILL]

Good thread Mal, glad to see you have opened up shop.

OK.  Pax.

Personally I think that Pax has the greatest possibility of becomming a truly mad tainted product of the Aberrant War.  I see the things that slowly push him over the edge as being:

1) Discovering the truth about Utopia

2) Realising that he isn't actually in charge

3) Turning his hatred for Mal into an all consuming boiling rage

4) Doing anything possible to 'stay on top' - including pushing his powers to the point of severely increased taint

5) Realising that humanity 'doesn't' side with Novas as a whole in the end anyways (eg Ultimatum)

6) There's probably a good bit of rejection from both Nova's and humanity alike during the war years.

I think he went bad in a VERY big way - he quite possibly was one of the most dangerous and active 'Aberrants' during the Aberrant War.

It makes him into quite a tragic figure - at one point the figurehead of the Utopian ideal, and then 'the enemy' during the War.

I personally do not see how Pax will handle the upcoming years without going 'bad'.

So - PAX = BAD.

On a side note, there will no doubt be a lot of cover-up from Aeon as well at some point, in fact, they probably turn against him / he against them at some point.

Anyone else?

[Pax's_Pimp]

I would like to pose the following answer to this question as well. Here is a hypothetical theory:

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

After PAx loses the fight to Mal he becomes obcessed with being the biggest and baddest nova on the block and for once and for all showing Mal who is boss. To achieve this goal he goes into training he begins pushing his already supe rpowerful body to even greater heights of power thus exposing himself to having his quantum capabilities become more than he can handle. The end result is the Taint disease overcomes him and he falls to the twisted ways of quantum maddness. Eventually he begins to lose (okay okay finishes losing) touch with reality and dissolves into what he fought against for so long, an antihuman nova. So when Trinity rolls around he was one of the worst novas during the war...

So there is my theory what do you think...

-PP

[Pax's_Pimp]

:Blush  sorry admin I just realized that I posted exactly what you said there...

-PP

[CHILL]

LOL

You probably said it better though buddy

[Jackson Creed]

Clearly Cestus Pax is a baddie, while Caestus Pax is a goodie.

They are quite clearly two very different entities [Yeah...Right!!!!]

Trinity clearly had been rewriting history to carefully ignore the minor detail that Pax was one of the greatest heroes of the Nova age [as well as the fact that there actually was a Nova age] from the general public of the 2120's.

I agree with admin on the probable causes of his fall from grace, and of course as we all know; once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny!

Although it's interesting that in the Trinity core rulebook, it mentions that Cestus Pax was a known ally and associate of Divis Mal. This statement is probably more full of b*ll*cks than Tom Jones' underpants; it shows that Aeon wanted to put all the nasty Prime Threat Abberants into one neat little megalomaniacal package without covering the fact that most of them had nothing in common except the fact that they were mostly driven insane by their powers.

On a side note, reading through the colour background info in the Abberant rulebook, has anyone else noticed the striking resemblence of some of the featured Novas to certain proffesional wrestlers?

The "Stone Badass" Lance Stryker looks a lot like Hulk Hogan, with a heavy dose of Stone Cold Steve Austin's attitude

The Face [masked Nova]: His entire attitude is very similar to the personality of The Rock.

Has anyone else noticed any others at all?

[Quantum Promise]

I absolutley agree with all of you. I see Pax schizing out in a big way after his fight with Mal, and I never see him coming out of it. The name change is a noteable thing: Many will agree that Caestus Pax means "Fist of Peace", but it can also be translated as "Fortress of Peace". Decidedly nicer than Cestus Pax, or "Pointy Death Dealing Gauntlet of Peace ( Peace= Death). The pronunciation is identical, and thus the general public could be easily swayed by Aeon to assume his name had always been such.

Just a thought.

[CHILL]

I never knew that QP....... interesting.

me = ignorant web monkey

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Pax's big thing was to prove that he was the biggest and badest, and to up his public image.  I would argue that there wasn't a whole lot of difference between the later Pax and the eariler Pax.  He was already half mad, he was already a member of Project Pro, he might have killed Slider, he was certainly going to try to help kill Corbin, etc.  The difference between the two Paxes is more how the public treats & thinks about him than anything else.

And yes, I do think that he hated Mal beyond all reason after his loss, and that he could have pushed his powers and his taint much further.  But Pax, as he stands now, would already make a Prime threat Abby, and would turn against humanity if they turned against (or even away) from him.  He is already two thirds down that dark path.

[CHILL]

Hiya DBuss

*waves*

Welcome aboard!

:Thumbs Up

[DrInfinity]

Hey all, just a n00b here.  

I definitely agree that the two Paxi (Paxes?) are one in the same. While I'm 99.99% sure that he is most certainly a key nasty-abby from the Abberant war, I'm not so sure he changed right away... I'm willing to bet he kept on going along with the Utopians for as long as he could, but that rage of his wouldn'tve gotten them very good PR... ever see some of those movie-stars get pissed off at paparrazi (sp) and smashing in their cameras? I can definitely see Pax getting irritated at some in-his-face reporter for asking too many questions about something CP screwed up, and slugging him with enough force to bust open a submarine.

That'd go over -really- well with the PU guys, eh? Just drivin' the stake between Man and Nova in further.

:cool

[CHILL]

Hiya DrInfinity, welcome aboard!

[Thingmaker]

I don't buy into this business about Project Rewrite covering up the Trinity's involvement with Novas.

Look at page 26 of Trinity. The Æon Trinity fully admits to working with "the protectors of their era" for the benifit of humanity. (Practically brags about it.) It also speaks of the Terragen, calling them Aberrants.

Now look at page 13 of Aberrant - the word "Aberrant" is a popular epithet adopted by Corbin.

Project Rewrite may have done a little repackaging to make things "simpler for the common folk to understand," but I believe the primary focus was to bury the mistake they called "Thetis."

:naughtysmiley And before anyone cites Field Report: Media - I defy anyone to link the Trinity's 22nd century spin control and opinion swaying to anything that happened in the wake of the Kuwasha Pulse.

Obviously, Caestus Pax was one of the worst of the lot.

[Senior Mal]

ok here it is, the definitive answer (read as 'mals own idea).

Pax doesn't go bad. He is one of the novas who remains faithful to humanity and fights for them during the war (I couldn't help thinking that if pax went bad, there'd be an awful lot more damage done to major cities), however this does tax him and as already mentioned by pushing himself to become better he does generate some more taint.

At the end of the war Utopia knows its on a loser so sends Pax off into space with the other loyal novas and some Aeon society representitives (as stated in one of the books that some 'aberrants' were accompanied by humans when they left) with the promise that they'll bring him back ''when the time is right''. During project re-write they merely changed Pax into the bad guy so as to convince the ordinary folk that all aberrants turned bad (even the best like Pax). Now back to baldy, add a couple of decades waiting in deep space plus that taint build up and you've got one messed up individual and a great NPC for the Trinity era who could be very threatening to Aeons stability.

and thats that.

So without further ado, onto this weeks question.

Process 418. Yes its the biggie and with the release of Terra Verde more information has become available. So what and who is it? Whats Mercers connection? and is Vaughn Williams' death connected?

[Aeon]

Wait, I did not get to answer last week's question!

Well, actually, I (grudgingly) agree with Mal.  Pax is a true hero, though the tragic icon that Admin and a few others portrayed is pretty appealing too.  Anyway, me try and decide answer to this week's question now...  

[Tsukikage]

WARNING: SPOILERS AND RANDOM RAMBLING FOLLOW

Last week's question

While I fully believe that Pax will go nuts in the coming decades, I don't think its as important as the fact that he's a big name in the Aberrant time period. People are going to remember his name and they're going to remember him as an Aberrant and (most importantly) they're going to remember him as a powerful Aberrant. I think that's all that really matters. By the end of the Aberrant War, I imagine nobody's going to remember who the good guys and the bad guys are, they're going to be to busy huddling in their basements and hoping the sounds of explosions moves further away. When people in the Trinity timeline (mostly the elderly) speak of the Aberrant era, they're going to say "Hey remember that big guy Divis Mal? Of course! Do you remember Cestus Pax? How could I forget? He leveled my block!"

This week's question

Philip Vaughn Williams has been described as both a drunk and psionically dysfunctionate. Given that he is the Joycean Mashriq, I think its safe to say he's dysfunctionate in Psychometry (and therefore able to eventually answer just about any question if he can sift through the constant distractions). He makes an interesting report on Vision Process 418 in Luna Rising:

"A conclusion similar to that reached by Bhurano {*remember that Bhurano was possessed by a Doyen*}. Light seeping out of the universe - subquantum medium emptying - first slowly and then with gradual but inexorable acceleration. Holographic elements become muted and unenthusiastic. Dullness and progressive decay of the vital force (Koestler and the Darkness at Noon).

Earth might well be destroyed during this reconfiguration of the medium. I (and Herzog) lose the trace of Earth sometime around 2122. We are too far away by this point (remember: the eventual relocation of the Still Point into the newly discovered territories affects clarity), and is there is too much else going on to keep track of the cradle planet.

Darkness becomes day. Flaring brilliance. Looking into the blue light and finding the sin eater staring back. The Vision of ibn Arabi is significant here, as the creature appears to be flattening Bhurano's 'dimension of the subquantum waveform' itself - something the proxies believe is imposible.

Prognosis: Relocation of Still Point inevitable. Timetable apparently remains sound, despite minor gyre retrograde currents forming in the lower quanta. Perhaps adjustment plus or minus six months. Sharifiyya progress is still a bit too slow; confirm with HRH as the un-occulation of the "imam" remains the weak vector in the world stop. After next year, we will need all the help we can get."

Who or what is the "sin eater?" What is the Still Point? Who is ibn Arabi (this name sounds familiar, I'll dig through my other Trinity books) and what did they see?

I read somewhere a long time ago that the Coalition Ark coincidentally enters our system around the time Process 418 hits. Maybe this plays into it.

I know the people upstairs have said that Divis Mal is not responsible for Process 418, but I'd like to think he is. He's in Adventure!, he plays a huge part in Aberrant ... I don't like that he doesn't even take a bow in Trinity (I like the overly dramatic: I liked that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father, I like that the killer in Scream wakes up only to take a bullet in the end, etc.)

A lot of people have speculated that P. Vaughn Williams died because he lost his sight (he commits suicide at roughly the same time 418 breaks out in the skies over Venezuela), but if you ask me, I think he saw something that scared the pants off of him.

[Minerva]

Sorry this is for last weeks question....

I was poking around in the Latin/English dictionary online and I found quite a few names.  The thing I found interesting is in Trinity they spell his name Cestus, in Aberrant they spell it Caestus.  Now you think "What's the big deal?"  Well um Caestus means Gauntlet, Cestus means Girdle... a completely different word!  Now most of you are now laughing I'm sure about Girdle of Peace... no wonder he went over the edge  :animsmiley

As to this weeks question... sorry I have no relative comments... I could give an irrelivant one though... like the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow...

--Minerva

[Aeon]

African or European?

WAIT!

Lets not be going down that particular path!    :Alient

[Aeon]

Oh and Mal - would it not be easier to start a new thread for each weekly question?  Then we will not get spillover.

[Senior Mal]

Well excuse me! Mr 'I like to keep everything neat and tidy in the forums' man  

but I suppose its not a bad idea, I'll run with it from next week onwards.

Nee!

[Joseph]

Hey, Mal. I think Aeon's trying to oppress you.

:Devil

-Joseph

[Pax's_Pimp]

Ahhh Process 418 Brace yourselves my friends for this is about to get long involved and probably confusing...

oh an Spoiler alert

In TV (Terre Verde) it mentions that one of Del Fuego's clones is missing, In LR (Luna Rising) it says that Bue isn't herself so to speak.

Conclusion 1: Bue is the missing clone. The real Bue is either dead or worse. yes seemingly random but I will tie into it later Now onwards

In LR Process 418 is said to be a person, who better to have access to hidden lairs of Norca hideouts than Del Fuego himself, or a clone of Del Fuego. And we all know that the Process originated from a Sudamerican jungle that held a Norca lab.

Conclusion 2: The missing clone caused the Process explosion. simple you say? yes so far but here is where it will get confusing

My theory goes as follows:

The Ministry have found something that radically affects the power of taint maybe even removes it in Abberants, fearing a repeat of the Chib purge they hid it amongst paperwork and red tape. Some how the clone of Del Fuego gets his hands on the info of what they have and desires it for its obviously benificial uses for humanity. He impersonates Bue (see conclusion one) and grabs it. While testing this "thing" on some of the Abberants that work with the Norca maybe even with a chib scientist leading the project something goes wrong, and we get Process 418 the sudden influx of noetic energy that pours over the globe. This could lead to my tie in to the galata disaster and my alternate timeline idea but I will save that for another day.

So what do you think, a bit far fetched I agree

-Pax's Pimp

Some of my colleagues think that the chemicals we are experimenting with could potentially cause brain damage, however I think that fish crunchy bits of salami my new red hippie noodle. Naked pool frogs?

[harlequin]

well, i was going to say something but... well, pax's pimp's was more creative and entertaining...

-harle

[Aeon]

I think that John Zsolt has some connection to Process 418.  HE pops up in loadsa books for no real reason - but a lot of the different orders are desperate to gain his attention.  Varya is a Masriq at the moment - and I have a feeling that she is in that position so as to protect him.  Other than that, I could speculate all day.  I know that Bue and the clone of Del Fuego are mixed up in it somehow - and obviously the murder of Williams and Herzog are gaining more clues.

I just damn well hope that we get some more books and that this mystery is revealed to us!

[harlequin]

Warning! Long

I'm going to attempt to build on pimp boy's theory here... Sorry if it goes wahooni shaped or anything else strange...

For this I'm go to assume three things:

1. The Ministry gets their hands on some sort of taint related secret.

2. Bue is really the missing clone.

3. The missing clone caused the explosion.

I'm not a Trinity expert, if my info or conclusions are crap please let me know.

Conclusion One: Taint Secret

How the Ministry get their hands on a secret like this, or even what it might be I have no idea. I'll leave it  for the more informed to play with.

Conclusion Two: The Clone

-The Ministry gets hold of the secret relating to taint/aberrants. Terrified of a repeat of the Chib and Upie purges they bury the info.

-Bue eventually finds that the Norca not only have Chibs they have Aberrants working with them. (Try keeping secrets from a Telepath :cool ) She also realizes that they are not a threat.

-Attempting to use the information to aide humanity, she secretly contacts who she thinks is Del Feugo (the clone) they meet in private and she lays a few of her cards on the table, the Pai counters and the exchange continues.

-Until the Pai decides (for whatever reason) that he must take Bue's place to properly gain access to the information and utilize it.

-The Pai overpowers Bue, although he does not kill her, instead using his control of pheromones to keep her in a deep sleep.

-He then takes her form and returns to China. He decides that informing himself (the real Del Feugo) would put the whole operation (and possibly the Order) at too much risk, therefore  the clone decides to break contact.

Conclusion Three: The Conclusion/Explosion

-The immense amount of work, skill, and concentration needed to impersonate another proxy for months on end nearly kills the clone. Thus the disappearances and the sickly looking "Bue." See Trinity Core

-Again using his control of pheromones the fake Bue manages to keep the other telepaths from suspecting too much but the cost is high. Upper members of the Ministry now know something is wrong with Bue, what that is they can't agree on.

-"Bue" having learned everything that is possible returns to SudAmerica and puts the information to use.

-Either from incomplete or incorrect information the experiment goes horribly wrong, triggering a chain reaction that ends in the explosion.

- - -

How everything else that was mentioned fits in I'm not sure… If anyone wants to add anything to this theory have fun.

[Tsukikage]

Bue was sick back in 2119 and the clone doesn't disappear until 2121.

Its a bit OT, but I remember reading somewhere that ÆON no longer belives that the woman known as Rebecca Bue Li is the Ministry's Proxy. Does anybody recall which book this was in, or do I need to lay off the pixie stix?

[Aeon]

I remember that too, but I cannot remember where I read it...  me of to the bookshelf.    

[harlequin]

ah, thanks for the info... i didn't read it that close... that sounds familiar to me too, but i'm lost on where i heard it too...

-harle

[Senior Mal]

Evening all! well I can't believe its been a week already. We've had some great suggestions this week as to the solution to the enigmatic process 418 but its time for  Mals definitive answer:

Process 418 is an event and a person. The event is almost certainly the explosion and creation of new psi powered individuals described in Terra Verde. The person, slightly more tricky this one, I'd like to think that the person responsible is Mercer (My theory involves some leg work so bear with me) Max, the old man is definitely present as indicated by the e-mail message between him and Whitley and Adventure confirms that his younger self travels there from the past in order to gain insight.

I feel process 418 is perhaps the most tragic event in human history: The old man max decides to try to better arm humanity by causing the explosion (possibly through the Del Fuego/Bue Li ideas suggested above) with younger time travelling max arriving to late to point out the obvious, that the event is exactly like Divis Mals use of the Galatea to create Novas.

ooohhhhh spooky.

Right due to Aeons suggestion. each new question will get a new post, so ladies and gents if you care to follow me to the new posts section I'll meet you all there.

[Aeon]

But now I want to stay, its kinda comfy!     :Devil

[Tsukikage]

Hey Aeon, any luck with that Bue thing? I can't seem to find it ...  :crysmiley

I want to say it was in something recent (maybe AuAu?), but it might've been something old that I didn't read until recently.

[Senior Mal]

But now I want to stay, its kinda comfy!

Aeon... :naughtysmiley

[Aeon]

No, sorry Tsukikage.  I'll keep looking.