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Ares Macrotechnology and Insect Spirits

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CanRay

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« Reply #30 on: <11-28-11/0003:45> »
Oh my God! Who cares!?!
Some folks, apparently.

The Horrors were ahead of schedule, and Dunkie, hopefully, has put them back on the old time table.  But, yes, the Bugs are here now.  So most groups that don't plan in centuries (IE:  Non-Dragons/Immortal Elves) are more concerned about them now.  And Shedim.  And Toxics.  And other shadowy and dark things that are slowly working their way through the Astral that we haven't seen yet and have no concept in human history.
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Crimsondude

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« Reply #31 on: <11-28-11/0032:42> »
Obviously.

This is why people hate me.


But Patrick is right. They aren't here. The bugs are. The bugs are a fun threat also because we get to play with the idea that you cannot kill them all, and what does not kill them really does make them stronger. The idea that there are nuke-proof, FAB III-proof, insecticide-proof insect spirits that can create Perfect Merges that are used to infiltrate the highest echelons of power is just ... It's swell.
« Last Edit: <11-28-11/0040:37> by James Meiers »

CanRay

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« Reply #32 on: <11-28-11/0036:32> »
*Looks at your rank*  Don't hate you too bad it appears.  That FastJack (No, not him, the other one) guy, on the other hand...  ;D

*Dodges the BanHammer*
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Mirikon

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« Reply #33 on: <11-28-11/0112:50> »
Some of us like the extended history linking SR and ED. But I agree, the mana levels aren't high enough for Horrors yet. We don't have the lizardmen or obsidimen yet. Or windlings (unless Pixies are the new Windlings). But if I had to lay money, I'd say that the first hints at horrors will come from people investigating the Deep Lacuna. The elves are too secretive to spring that kind of knowledge on the world, and the dragons moreso, unless one of them decides to pick up a page of Dunkelzhan's playbook, and say, "All right, now that you've stopped freaking out (mostly) about magic being back in the world, we've got a bit of bad news for ya..."

Or the cyberzombie D's ghost possessed could always come back from the bridge to say hello.
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Crimsondude

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« Reply #34 on: <11-28-11/0127:06> »
Yeah, I can get passionate about it. I didn't mean to be such a dick.

It's just that, yes, it doesn't strike me as a really big deal. There should be little things here and there, but I especially don't get the whole "Oh my God! They're going to be here RIGHT NOW if we don't do something!" That's just ... anticlimactic, for one thing. It's not in the cards. At least as far as I have ever seen it. I can't imagine the idea of us blowing up the world. And that's exactly what that would do. So it's just about as likely as Evil winning in any of these big comic book events. The world keeps rolling along because you can't change things like that.

But the bugs ... They're here, they're patient, and they don't stop coming. Ever.


I'm also obsessed with the idea that virtually no one who encounters any ED artifacts knows what they are, or can do. And like how the street will figure out it's own uses for everything, so will metahumanity figure out its own uses for whatever it finds. So ... Let's see what happens when people who know more about string theory than Barsaive take a look at this stuff.
« Last Edit: <11-28-11/0138:27> by James Meiers »

Crash_00

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« Reply #35 on: <11-28-11/0133:33> »
Evil winning? I love it when evil wins. Now I feel the need to watch Swordfish and Jeepers Creepers again. Its going to be a long long night.

Crimsondude

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« Reply #36 on: <11-28-11/0139:09> »
If I want to watch Evil win, I'll read the news.

Fizzygoo

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« Reply #37 on: <11-28-11/0248:35> »
The occasional mana spike that makes Horrors an issue, every fifty to a hundred years maaaybeee, can be a nice bit of spice, but for dealing with the Horrors in-their-totality-of-terribleness, well, that's something the Shadowrun writers of somewhere between 3,000 AD - 4,000 AD (in real life) will have to deal with (so long as the Shadowrun timeline keeps progressing along at current time + ~60 years. Even though the Horrors can be fun to talk about, imo.

Yeah, I can get passionate about it. I didn't mean to be such a dick.

Better to be a passionate dick that's open and known about than one that's lurking all Spanish Inquisition style ;)

It's just that, yes, it doesn't strike me as a really big deal. There should be little things here and there, but I especially don't get the whole "Oh my God! They're going to be here RIGHT NOW if we don't do something!" That's just ... anticlimactic, for one thing. It's not in the cards. At least as far as I have ever seen it. I can't imagine the idea of us blowing up the world. And that's exactly what that would do. So it's just about as likely as Evil winning in any of these big comic book events. The world keeps rolling along because you can't change things like that.

But the bugs ... They're here, they're patient, and they don't stop coming. Ever.

Totally agree.

Little things, tiny little things, that are here and there,
Only after years, fighting hives o' the Bug
And toxic spirits of water, earth, air
The runners may glimpse what's under the rug.

They may perceive an extra eye or nine
In the mirror in the dead of the night.
Or a walking nightmare, the secret sign,
While murdering friends in a firefight.

Yet these are but gold moments in the sun.
Trifle worries; whispers born on the wind
Not ev'n hinting the massacre to come.
B'yond the pale o' every mortal who's sinned.

This is the horror that is in store, though
Not for you, for your children's children's marrow.

I'm also obsessed with the idea that virtually no one who encounters any ED artifacts knows what they are, or can do.

Snopes is quoted as saying, "The leading theory of magic is that it has a cyclical nature. Magic was part of the world, then it was not, now it is, and someday it will leave again." (CT pg 67). So at least, amongst magical academia, it is widely thought (hypothesized) that these magical artifacts come from the 4th world (or mana spikes in the 5th). But what meaning, significance, and magical-use is lost until cultural records surface (if ever) or an immortal in-the-know steps forward and makes public.

And like how the street will figure out it's own uses for everything, so will metahumanity figure out its own uses for whatever it finds. So ... Let's see what happens when people who know more about string theory than Barsaive take a look at this stuff.

I like that too. What happens when magical theorists bring to bear the computational power of a 2070 era super computer to run statistical and probability analysis of mana flow in and around an artifact, how is the mass-energy changed, etc. Ahhh, science and magic together at last :)

And how will the bugs use all of this to build a better hive :D
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Nath

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« Reply #38 on: <11-28-11/0452:53> »
Well Aztechnology hates Ares for its support of teh Yucatan rebels and the Amazonians and see Ares firmly behind the CAS.
Still, according to War! (see page 68), Aztlan is nonetheless hiring Ares Macrotechnology troops to operate in Bogota. Don't have t love them to work with them.

Crimsondude

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« Reply #39 on: <11-28-11/0459:14> »
Fellow Corporate Court board member vs. BRA holdout.

Hmm ... That scale doesn't look too even.


Actually, let's be honest. Someone might be getting a curb stomping because Giants walk among us, and don't ever forget it.
« Last Edit: <11-28-11/0501:17> by James Meiers »

bobo69

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« Reply #40 on: <11-28-11/1138:46> »
well if you bring the Equinox RPG into the table from Red  Brick, yeah the horrors are like a few thousand years into the future.


CanRay

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« Reply #41 on: <11-28-11/1224:19> »
Evil winning? I love it when evil wins. Now I feel the need to watch Swordfish and Jeepers Creepers again. Its going to be a long long night.
Um, who are the good guys again?
If I want to watch Evil win, I'll read the news.
That depends...  Things are changing.  We might see not-so-evil win for once.  Let's face it, the world has always been a matter of the lesser of two evils.  Vlad the Impaler is a hero in his home country, for example.  (His odd eating habits are politely ignored.).
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Crimsondude

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« Reply #42 on: <11-28-11/1427:34> »
Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chosé.

Bull

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« Reply #43 on: <11-28-11/1628:48> »
Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chosé.

The more things change, the more things become a Meme on the internet and piss off Bull? :)

(Seriously, fraggin' 4Chan and LolCats.  I blame them for the deplorable state the internet is in today)

Mirikon

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« Reply #44 on: <11-28-11/1712:05> »
Really? You're letting bloggers, chatrooms, and wannabe hackers off the hook?
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