Editing Session 76.75

Knockwood: After all we're about to ... uh ... go up against the ... orcs.  Mutants.  Mutant orcs.  What's my class again?<br>
Random_Nerd: So, what do you guys think of where this current story arc is going?<br>
Random_Nerd: *snort*<br>
BethE: I believe when last we left off, we were told we'd have a day before the Imperator might talk to us?<br>
Etheric: I liked the general concept of the mission.  I'm less sure about the way things have gone -- it's seemed like we keep stalling over the tiniest things.  Par for the course in this game I guess, but...  This is even worse than usual.<br>
Random_Nerd: Did they give a specific figure?  I thought it was more "I'll talk to him to get him to talk to you, soon."<br>
Random_Nerd: Yeah, the demonboxing is an issue.<br>
Etheric: I don't remember, honestly.<br>
Random_Nerd: That's one reason I like having Sara in the group, as when she's present we seemed to get less demonboxing.<br>
BethE: Because Capriciousness can't sit still?  :)<br>
BethE: But yeah, we seem to be hitting the lag stuff regularly in the recent few episodes.  And it's not fair to put the burden on you, RN, to keep having the Spirit of Guns run in every five minutes to get us going again.<br>
Knockwood: we're lucky this isn't the kind of game where they can send in two guys with guns...<br>
Knockwood: jinx<br>
Random_Nerd: Well...<br>
Etheric: I think part of the problem is that I don't seem to have a clear picture of things.  Which is odd, since the descriptions have been as descriptive and interesting as ever.  But I can't seem to build a visual for this game in my own head.<br>
Random_Nerd: I have made certain preparations for if I need to use the Chandler Technique this story.<br>
Etheric: Chandler Technique?<br>
Random_Nerd: "Two guys with guns come in the door."<br>
Knockwood: you can, but I'd make them wet themselves, Brian would reduce their ammo to 0, and Theresa would make them get her a cookie.<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.  Is it the hell-world you don't have a clear view of, or the palace-world, or some combination of both?<br>
BethE: ...  I wanna cookie.  Darn it, Knock!  :P<br>
Etheric: It's more that for some reason when I try to imagine them outside the gate, I get a grey background.<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.<br>
Etheric: And I can imagine the hell-world and palace-world, but somehow our characters don't seem to be there...  Hard to make sense of really.  It's probably my problem.<br>
Random_Nerd: So, it's the part outside the walls you have trouble envisioning, rather than the stuff inside?<br>
Knockwood: the background is technically the Great Red Spot,. isn't it?<br>
Random_Nerd: You know, I wish there was an easy way to send the proper descriptions to the folks viewing each world.<br>
Random_Nerd: But that'd take a lot of typing on my part, and slow things down.<br>
BethE: It sounds more like a problem of fitting ourselves into the different versions.  Kind of like whether we're tourist-looking or if we fit in or just the body language of us being involved in these places, rather than being paperdolls or photshopped onto a background.<br>
Random_Nerd: You guys look like yourselves.<br>
Random_Nerd: The differences aren't sufficient to change you.<br>
Etheric: I think we were still outside when we ended last time, right?<br>
Random_Nerd: No, you'd been shown to a suite of rooms.<br>
*** Knockwood has signed off IRC (Connection reset by peer).<br>
BethE: Yeah, I remember being shown into a suite and how they were becoming more 'balanced' between the two worlds the more we were in it.  Lesson even noticed the change from it being Helllike to him.<br>
Etheric: I'm really out of touch, then...  Don't remember that at all.<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.  Were you there that session?<br>
Etheric: Huh...<br>
BethE: *looks*<br>
Etheric: Balanced?  Sounds almost like something a Dionyl Domination would do.<br>
Etheric: And I don't remember a session like that, but it's possible I was there and forgot about it.<br>
*** Knockwood has joined #nobilis.<br>
Knockwood: damn computer glitches<br>
Knockwood: what did I miss?<br>
Random_Nerd: Also, Consequences talked some about certain things you shouldn't do, due to some of the High Summonings they practice.<br>
BethE: Eth - you were there but we lost you about an hour in or so?<br>
Random_Nerd: Oh, yeah.<br>
Random_Nerd: That was the one where you were there, but not saying anything or reacting at all?<br>
BethE: Quoting the last part of the last session:<br>
 DanteE: "Hm... that may mean it's up to us to change Barakiel's view of humanity."<br>
 DanteE: (Depends.  Was there a DA-DUUUUUM! from nowhere after my last statement? :) ) <br>
 Random_Nerd: (Perhaps a small one.) <br>
 Theresa: (From one of the Things we shouldn't be paying attention to?  :)  <br>
 Random_Nerd: (They haven't shown up yet.  Let me foreshadow, woman!) <br>
 <br>
Knockwood: (Speaking of which, _somebody_ needs to load the logs onto the wiki :) )<br>
Etheric: I think I may have been distracted by something, but I honestly don't remember.  If I didn't ping out it should be in my archives.  I'll just have to reread.<br>
Random_Nerd: Dude.  Knock.  If you care that much about the logs, do it yourself already.<br>
BethE: (Someone will do so once she had found where she has packed the drive with her first efforts on it and also the box where her brain is packed.)<br>
BethE: It's my own fault.  Knock's offered to do it before and I've turned him down.  I haven't been good at managing it.<br>
Random_Nerd: Oh, and the bit on the things you shouldn't do:<br>
Random_Nerd: [21:04] Random_Nerd: C: "Now, there are a few small rules that should be obeyed while you're here.  Don't respond to voices that seem to come from nowhere, don't look into the bottom of any deep pit, and don't look at your own reflection." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:04] Brian: "... why not?" <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:05] Brian: "insanity or death?" <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:05] Theresa: "Hmm, the reflection one is interesting.  Good thing I'm not normally vain..." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:05] Random_Nerd: C: "It's just a bad idea to do these things here.  But don't worry, we don't have mirrors around most places, and we try to keep any wells and so on covered." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:06] Brian: "I'm interested to know what the consequence thereof would be" <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:07] Brian: "Not, of course, enough to do so myself.  I mean, I don't want to turn into a puddle of lava or anything.  I may follow the Wild Code, but I like my body as is." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:07] Random_Nerd: C: "There are things kept in this chancel that aren't of Creation.  They have various uses, but there are certain strange rules associated with their keeping.  I doubt any of them would pose a serious danger to you, but it would be difficult to rebind them, and they might hurt your servants or the chancelfolk." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:08] Brian: "Ah.  Interesting." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:08] DanteE: "Hm... stolen soul, animate doppelganger, feedback loop?" <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:08] Theresa: "Huh." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:09] Random_Nerd: "More like changes in one of your essences.  Or altered perceptual effects." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:10] Random_Nerd: "Some of them can't see properly here, so they don't know the way back.  But if they can get into someone's head through the eyes, they can rearrange things to let the person see like they do." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:10] Brian: "so, the insanity of the someone else owns your body now kind, then?" <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:10] DanteE: "It's powerful enough to affect Nobles?  Huh." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:10] Random_Nerd: "Well, I'm sure you would be able to ward them off of yourselves." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:11] Brian: "Thank you for the warning, then." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:11] Random_Nerd: "But I'm just warning you that these things may happen, and if they do, they're not an attack by us." <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:11] Theresa: "Thank you for the consideration.  Do they dislike being within Creation?" <br>
Random_Nerd: [21:11] Random_Nerd: "I'm not sure I could answer that.  My sister could probably explain it better, but she's away on business."<br>
Etheric: Thanks, RN.<br>
Knockwood: now, do we have a definitive answer on Barakiel's position<br>
Etheric: Sorry for not really being very here recently.  I'm hoping we can get this game moving again fairly well.<br>
Random_Nerd: You do not yet have a definative answer.<br>
BethE: I hope so too.  With the moving and the various sicknesses this summer, it seems like a lot of my gaming has fallen short or by the wayside.<br>
Random_Nerd: You have a theory with a reasonably solid basis, but you haven't actually had it confirmed yet.<br>
Knockwood: OK, so, it's a good bet that Barakiel wants to set the clock back somehow...<br>
Knockwood: and since Kudzu figures he's wrong and embodies Hope and Courage, figure he's in favor of letting humanity face whatever's coming... right?<br>
Random_Nerd: From what Kudzu said, he doesn't actually know what Barakiel's plan is.<br>
Etheric: Indeed.<br>
Random_Nerd: He just figured that there was a pretty solid bet that he'd consider it to be wrong.<br>
Etheric: My guess is that whatever assumptions we make about Barakiel, they'll turn out wrong, so it's likely not the best idea to make too many assumptions.  ;)<br>
BethE: We assume he's going to be arrogant and just a hair shy of being slightly more understandable than Kudzu.<br>
Knockwood: (Is that a guess based on Kudzu and Barakiel, or based on RN and RSB? :) )<br>
BethE: ( *grin*  A little of all of that.  Basically that he's an Angel, so he's going to be arrogant at a level of 7.  And slightly more understandable simply because he's not a Wildlord.)<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.  What do you guys think of Kudzu, these days?<br>
Knockwood: haven't dealt with him much except for assigning this mission...<br>
Etheric: Kudzu?  He's been slightly more incomprehensible than usual lately.  Not out of character for him, though.<br>
BethE: He's become more open, I guess?  His talk about humanity and their potential.  Him and Snow.  I guess I've softened toward him too, but that may be nostalgia and I'm sure once I'm in his presence again I'll be thinking "vagueleafybastard!<br>
BethE: " at him again.<br>
Random_Nerd: Anything you guys particularly dislike about the way the game's been going lately?  Or particularly like?<br>
BethE: Demonboxing gets on my nerves when I have a lack of patience.  I like it when we get on a roll, either conversationally or in action.  When we just mesh together and forge ahead and it's all fluid.<br>
Knockwood: maybe if we had a handle on how much butt we can kick<br>
Knockwood: the original demonboxing thing was because we didn't know what would happen if the demon got loose<br>
Knockwood: we were assuming a horrific hellspawn would spring forth and eat most of Detroit<br>
Random_Nerd: Ah!<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.<br>
Knockwood: silly in retrospect, sure...<br>
Random_Nerd: Okay, what do you want to know about how powerful you guys are in relation to the setting?<br>
Random_Nerd: Well, part of the demon thing there was deliberate, as a sort of way to get you guys accustomed to your place in the setting.<br>
BethE: We got a bit too intimidated, though.<br>
Random_Nerd: There's a demon in the box, and it's all ominous and whatnot... and then you get him out, he realizes you're Nobles, and goes "Not in the face!  Not in the face!"<br>
Random_Nerd: Was meant to be sort of a show-don't-tell example of what Nobles are like.<br>
Etheric: Make sense, in retrospect.<br>
Etheric: *Makes sense<br>
Random_Nerd: Are there any things like that now, where you don't know where you are in the food chain?<br>
Knockwood: of course, now we know we could take the little suckups like Lesson, but what about the big demons?<br>
BethE: Where do visiting Nobles stand in the order of things?<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.<br>
Random_Nerd: Pretty important.<br>
Random_Nerd: In some ways, you're like a visiting monarch who happened to bring a fair-sized army with him.<br>
Random_Nerd: Because, while you're not in your Chancel, and don't have access to all your support structure, most of a Noble's power is based on his own miraculous capabilities.<br>
BethE: Good point.  I mean, I have no Realm, so I'm not really at any more loss at being outside of the Chancel as being inside.<br>
Random_Nerd: In some ways, you're receiving less pomp and whatnot than might be excpected, due to the fact that you arrived on short notice, and that Locus Barakiel is weird.<br>
Knockwood: not necessarily.  You can still do a Realm LC as a Deep Miracle.<br>
BethE: Yeah, but that would leave me much more vunerable.  And I couldn't get a hamburger from Brian's fans.<br>
BethE: Locus B is weird?  I know that as a Wild Chancel-Noble, this is saying something, but how so?<br>
BethE: The viewpoints?<br>
Random_Nerd: That, and that Barakiel might as well have been mainlining Wildlord Juice for how weird he is.<br>
Random_Nerd: He's at least as loopy as Kudzu, although in different directions.<br>
Knockwood: well, he likes Hell so much he made his own little corner of it<br>
Knockwood: one thing, tho...<br>
Random_Nerd: That's part of why Consequences has a bit more prestige and authority than some Nobles, because he's a lot easier to deal with than Barakiel, and due to his age and station he can represent his chancel.<br>
Random_Nerd: Yes?<br>
Knockwood: if Lesson was a resident of Locus Barakiel, wouldn't that mean he's _not_ a denizen of Hell?<br>
BethE: (Do Angels look down on their Nobles for being lesser beings?)<br>
Random_Nerd: (They don't precisely look down on them in the same way a human would... but to some degree, yes.)<br>
Random_Nerd: (Anyone who follows the full code of Heaven is constantly conscious of the whole Great Chain of Being thing)<br>
Random_Nerd: (Heck, even the Fallen haven't dropped that part, just changed it.)<br>
BethE: (The Angels would love Jeeves, wouldn't they?  He always knows everyone's place _exactly_.)<br>
Etheric: Power justifies itself...  Heh.<br>
Etheric: And, Jeeves?<br>
Random_Nerd: Wodehouse character.<br>
Random_Nerd: Superb, nigh-omnipotent valet.<br>
BethE: The Platonic Ideal of a valet.  <br>
Etheric: Ah.<br>
Random_Nerd: In many ways, the basis of Luc.<br>
Etheric: Now, I hve to ask...  Who's Wodehouse?  A writer?<br>
Random_Nerd: Yes.<br>
BethE: Played by Stephen Fry in a British tv show opposite Hugh Laurie (playing Bertie Wooster).<br>
Random_Nerd: Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.<br>
Etheric: Huh, haven't heard of him.<br>
Random_Nerd: British humor writer.  Very good.<br>
Etheric: Contemporary?<br>
Random_Nerd: Best known for the Bertie Wooster and Jeeves stories.<br>
Random_Nerd: No, died about thirty years ago.<br>
BethE: I had heard of various butlers called Jeeves in culture but had never known the background.<br>
Etheric: Ah, okay, that helps get a time period to him.<br>
Random_Nerd: There was a BBC series based on his stuff that was quite good.<br>
Knockwood: Can we get a sense of what's happening in the Chancel?<br>
Random_Nerd: (Oh, yes, one moment, Knock.)<br>
Random_Nerd: Lesson wasn't in Locus B.<br>
Random_Nerd: He was in Hell, during the most recent period that Barakiel was there.<br>
Random_Nerd: Barakiel packed him up, along with a bunch of other demons, in case he needed some later.<br>
Knockwood: do we have a timeline on Lesson?<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.<br>
Random_Nerd: You know, rouhgly speaking, in what order things happened to him.<br>
Random_Nerd: But he doesn't really have dates to associate with those events.<br>
BethE: We just know he hasn't seen an Age start or end.<br>
Random_Nerd: You know some of the details from a div of Numbers.<br>
Random_Nerd: Part of the tough part is that time isn't always constant.<br>
Knockwood: so he's less than 999?<br>
Random_Nerd: He's about 600 years old subjectively, but only 200 years old by heaven's time.<br>
Random_Nerd: And he was in the box a little over a decade.<br>
Random_Nerd: He's certainly less than an age old.<br>
Knockwood: Hell uses the Celestial clock?<br>
Random_Nerd: No, it doesn't.<br>
BethE: By heaven's time?  Oh, wait, the missing 500 years?<br>
Knockwood: oh, forgot about that<br>
Random_Nerd: Time, ultimately, runs based on how it works with Heaven.  That's where they invented Time, and the imperator of it is an Angel.<br>
Random_Nerd: Yeah, that's why you can't just go based on Earth time.<br>
Random_Nerd: And that's why the missing 500 years didn't turn back the Age clock.<br>
Random_Nerd: Because that was just a twist of Earth, not a universal one.<br>
Knockwood: wait... so Lesson lived through the missing years?<br>
Random_Nerd: Sort of.<br>
Random_Nerd: The turning-back-the-clock occurred during his lifetime.<br>
Random_Nerd: Or...<br>
Random_Nerd: Yeah, it happened at nearly exactly when he came into being.<br>
Random_Nerd: Huh.<br>
Random_Nerd: Interesting!<br>
BethE: *looks at RN*  I know that tone of voice.<br>
Knockwood: wait, so he was created, lived 500 years, saw the clock get run back so he was only 100, got grabbed by Barakiel, lived on Jupiter, would up in a box, got traded for a Courage miracle, and now runs our Really Special Squad?<br>
BethE: Dibs on the front row seat for his episode of "This is Your Life!".<br>
Knockwood: oops, make that "got the clock turned back to near his birth, lived another 90 years"<br>
BethE: Oh and he got Anchored.<br>
Random_Nerd: No, it's that he was created about 200 years ago, give or take a handful.<br>
Knockwood: Beth: you want to see the memories of not only Hell but technologically advanced Hell?<br>
Random_Nerd: The clock was turned back either about when he came into existance, a little before, or a little after.<br>
Knockwood: Obviously he caused it! :)<br>
BethE: No, but I figure that trying to pull off all of that in just an hour show would be interesting.  :) <br>
Random_Nerd: But, during the 200 years (Celestial Time) that he has existed, he has /experienced/ 600 years of subjective time.<br>
BethE: Well, we don't really know how or why it was turned back, right?<br>
BethE: Ouch.<br>
Random_Nerd: Partly due to time differences between Heaven and Hell, and partly because, as he said, sometimes shifting of subjective time is used as a punishment by Angels or Nobles of Hell.<br>
Random_Nerd: The difference between his objective and subjective age has more to do with time-flow distortion than to do with clocks being turned back.<br>
Knockwood: so, he could have run through 400 subjective years last week?<br>
BethE: That is quite the grounding.<br>
Random_Nerd: Well, not last week.<br>
Random_Nerd: He was in Amyra last week.<br>
Random_Nerd: It would have been during the time he was in Hell.<br>
Knockwood: you never know...<br>
Random_Nerd: Which means a bit over a decade ago.<br>
Random_Nerd: But it could have been relatively recent, in his lifetime.<br>
BethE: What does it take to survive something like that?  <br>
Random_Nerd: Like what?<br>
Knockwood: we know Lesson heals quick<br>
BethE: Just thinking about how someone could even try to hold up under a kind of punishment that feels like hundreds of years and at the end, you would be told that oh, it was only an hour, really.<br>
Random_Nerd: Quickly, but not perfectly.  His one leg wasn't always longer than the other.<br>
Knockwood: we are talking about a demon... they're made for it<br>
Random_Nerd: Well, demons are better than most folks at experiencing punishment.  These days, it's half of what they're /for/.<br>
Knockwood: a human probably couldn't survive<br>
Random_Nerd: Oh, hmm!<br>
Random_Nerd: Had I previously brought up the fact that not all of Lesson's deformities are just because he's a demon?<br>
Knockwood: nope<br>
BethE: Nope.<br>
Random_Nerd: Okay, yeah.<br>
Random_Nerd: Some of them are.<br>
Random_Nerd: But some are more of the "Get beaten to within an inch of your life, and then don't get the bones set properly in time" sort of thing.<br>
BethE: The leg thing and what else?<br>
Random_Nerd: Some of how his face looks.  Some of the shape of his feet.  Probably the angle of one shoulder.<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.  Are there any NPCs you guys would like to see more or less focus on?<br>
BethE: I'm liking Sam.  I'm intrigued with the whole blessing thing he got from Blue Shock (?).    I think that we spread a lot of our NPCness out?<br>
Knockwood: Theresa wants the tree explained. :)<br>
BethE: I think I know a bunch more than I used to.<br>
BethE: That he's been asked to watch Kudzu for Mimic tendencies.<br>
Random_Nerd: You know pretty much everything about the Maple himself.<br>
Random_Nerd: Just not who made him the way he is, and what's up with why.<br>
Random_Nerd: Hmm.  We seem to be winding down.<br>
Random_Nerd: Anything else?<br>
BethE: I figure the why has to do with how some folks view Wildlords as on par with Mimics, just waiting for the chance to skip over into Destroy the Universe mode.<br>
Knockwood: RN is still waiting to spring that trap involving the spear... :)<br>
Random_Nerd: Well, that does raise questions, though,.<br>
Random_Nerd: Like... is it all Wildlords, or just Kudzu?<br>
Random_Nerd: And... how did they know that he'd Enchancel Amyra?<br>
BethE: I wouldn't be surprised if Kudzu hadn't been Enchanceled before and if he had picked Amyra before.<br>
Knockwood: that would mean a Wildlord did something predictable.<br>
BethE: It has to happen at least sometimes.  <g><br>
BethE: And who would enChancel the same place twice?  That's insane!  :)<br>
Random_Nerd: Okay.  You guys mind if I head out now?<br>
Knockwood: who would unEnChancel a place?<br>
Etheric: Thanks for the planning session, everyone.  Take care, RN.<br>
Knockwood: there's a question... any record of a place returning to the World?<br>
Random_Nerd: No.<br>
Random_Nerd: It's done by an Imperator's miracle.<br>
Random_Nerd: So, the world reshapes itself around it.<br>
Random_Nerd: Same way as, if a Serpent eats the sun, it shows up prosaically as a normal eclipse that was predicted ahead of time.<br>
Random_Nerd: Only Nobles, Anchors, and Imperators who were alive at the time would remember differently.<br>
Knockwood: hm...<br>
Random_Nerd: Now, if people who fall into those classes told people, it wouldn't be impossible for mortals to remember once they'd been told.<br>
Random_Nerd: But they wouldn't know it without at least quasi-miraculous intervention.
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Chancel_Amyra]]<br>
-[[Amyra:Chapter_10|Chapter 10]]
-<br><br>
 Knockwood: After all we're about to ... uh ... go up against the ... orcs.  Mutants.  Mutant orcs.  What's my class again?<br>
 Random_Nerd: So, what do you guys think of where this current story arc is going?<br>
@@ Line 263: / Line 260: @@
 Random_Nerd: Now, if people who fall into those classes told people, it wouldn't be impossible for mortals to remember once they'd been told.<br>
 Random_Nerd: But they wouldn't know it without at least quasi-miraculous intervention.
-<br><br>
-[[Chancel_Amyra]]<br>
-[[Amyra:Chapter_10|Chapter 10]]