X-COM/XSDF RP THINK TANK (part3)

DarkGemini24601

Well-Known Member
Alright, people. I hath an announcement. The schedule for Vanguard of Forseti has been altered based on consultation and introspection. Judging by my predictions, the story is set to run until sometime in March. Four more months, as opposed to 5 or 6. The reason for this is because I feel that VoF is bogging down for me and others a little, and we need to cut out the extraneous stuff. Have no fear, a quality story is still going to be delivered, but concise and to the point rather than packing it chalk full of excess missions.

What does this mean for all of you? Be mindful of your character development. That's a solid projection on how much time you have. You may not get to do everything you'd ever dreamed, but trust me, neither will I. I'm on the precipice of canceling a planned character if I can't introduce them soon. Zmby has canceled a character (who may make a minor appearance in this story, but likely will get a better chance at stardom in the highly-anticipated XCOM2 story), and... sorry, Ramma and Alz. But the Adrammalech characters are going to weigh people down if they're taken. I have plans for how to deal with them, though if Ramma would rather they just fade into the background he is free to adjoin that. But they're not being added to anyone else's rosters.

If you have any characters of your OWN that you'd like to introduce, inform me now and if I approve of them, try to get them with us soon. By the end of November-ish we should have any player characters we're going to have.

And now, I'm going to go work on homework until I sleep so I can finally get out the Hermes solos I wanted to in the coming 3 days, and a collab with Marine and a collab with Blackout.
 

DarkGemini24601

Well-Known Member
I won't be staying up too late tonight due to a bit of weariness, but I'm on to post a collab with Pixy/finish and post one with Marine. From there I have a fresh collab with Marine, one with Blackout, and I might do one with Zmby if I feel the need to do so to keep my brain working from multiple stimuli.
 

MarineAvenger

Operator 21O
Staff member
I won't be staying up too late tonight due to a bit of weariness, but I'm on to post a collab with Pixy/finish and post one with Marine. From there I have a fresh collab with Marine, one with Blackout, and I might do one with Zmby if I feel the need to do so to keep my brain working from multiple stimuli.
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Taxor_the_First

Well-Known Member
I'm around for the day if anyone wants to give me something to do btw. If you don't, I'll just end up playing Afterbirth and getting mad.

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You see this?
Face of the godamn devil.
 

DarkGemini24601

Well-Known Member
Last night I didn't get a chance to read "Trying to Change" . What did I miss?
"Yeah. Just lost." The cyborg responded gloomily, before looking up at the figure. An Ethereal. Great. Just what I needed. A power-hungry alien, that, if given the chance, would enslave the whole damn ship! The medic thought angrily, his face betraying no emotion. A memory flashed through Wolfe's eyes, making him remember his promise. With a resigned sigh, Wolfe asked, "Could you tell me where I've ended up?"
Thomas is the sort of racist that, while he has an actual reason for being that way, he still blows it out of proportion. I like it. It's unique as opposed to (despite what some of you might think) Astasha's partially justified xenophobia or someone that's racist for no expositionized reason (that goddamn Texan Zmby made to give Alice crap >.>).
Volupta hesitated as she opened the door. "Yes... it was... such a terrible waste of life. " She held the door open for Thomas. "Please. Come in."
I like the rising tension building up to here. Zmby and Black played off of each other well, and that's always the sign of a good rapport.
Wolfe jumped, the voice startling him. As if by instinct, Thomas' twin Gauss pistols popped out of their respective slots. Turning around, the medic put his hands in front of him, as if to ward the voice away from him.
I like the visual imagery of how his guns works. I'm a sucker for arm-mounted guns, what can I say?
ZombieSplitter53 & Black0ut present:
Trying to Change: Part Two
In general, this one really struck me as an interesting conversation. We get to see Tee of all people characterized heavily. And it furthers develops Thomas by comparison.
Tee continued to stare at Wolfe for a while longer. When he finally looked away, he said, "I can not read your mind. I could only hear what you just thought now because you wanted me to. I am a type four Sectoid. The DNA used to make Sectoids like me is all but gone now, as it was deemed useless during the Ethereal Path through the galaxy. Do you know why?" He reached over to a water jug, pouring some of its contents into the pot he had been carrying. "It is because we can not openly read minds, our mind fray was weak at best, and we had practically no potential for reaching the 'Commander' status. We were intelligent, more so than most other Sectoids, but my people were the front liners. We didn't need to know how to think. We needed to be able to take down an enemy or two before we were inevitably killed, and all the other Sectoid types could do that better. But that didn't matter to my mistress. I became her favorite, even if I am not the strongest of her Sectoids, and she was devastated when the DNA storage for the type fours was contaminated. Even though she is hundreds of years older than me... I care for her like a daughter. Do you understand?"

Wolfe expression softened, "Yes, I understand. I'd probably act very similar if I was in your position. But, instead of acting with the aggression you showed me, I'd act with caution. You had no knowledge that I was a threat in any way, shape, or form, except by the 'color' I gave off and then you proceeded to verbally attacked me without a second's thought, which is unacceptable. I did nothing to gain your ire, except by standing here in the...Hydroponics room. Now, please, answer my question: what was so horrible about this 'color' I gave off that you decided I was here hurt your daughter?" Wolfe said calmly. If you had started out by explaining this situation in a calm manner, we wouldn't be at each other's throat. The medic thought.

"Type 4 Sectoids of a combination of empathic psionics and what humans call synesthesia. I can perceive the emotions of another in the form of a aura of color given of by that person. It is automatic, working on everyone except extremely high level psions and certain species, like Tamearins." Tee looked Wolfe up and down. "The deep red aura you've given off, combined with the manner in which it fluctuates, tells me you are being deceptive about how you feel around us. You are angry. You do not much care for my mistress, even if you are good at hiding it. Regardless of your actual intentions, it is the color of one who would see her harmed." He turned back to his plant, what appeared to be an over sized, orange tulip. "But I can not read you thoughts. I do not know exactly what is causing these negative emotions. So I must be cautious, because even now, the red is strong."

The only reason I don't care about you, or Volupta, or anyone of either of your races, is because of the war. The Subjugation War. Your race, maybe not your type, killed many of my friends and half of my family. Those same Sectoids proceeded to take my right arm. I wonder why I would still harbor some resentment against Sectoids, or the Ethereals, the race that decided to launch the whole damn campaign in the first place! The medic thought angrily. I...am trying to become a better person, one that can accept you and your 'master', without any resentment. But I'm not that person yet. And for that, I apologize profusely. But when all of the things you suffered through, all of the bullshit circumstances happened when you were 16, It doesn't go away. Traumatic events take a long time to heal... Wolfe turned away, trying to conceal his pain.

Tee shook his head, and looked back at Wolfe. I can sense that you are being honest. I understand... I really do. I have to. Volupta still harbors the same negative feelings towards her family, even her mother, and she has had much longer to get over them. I just hope you understand that... when I call her my mistress, it is not the same as calling her my master. She is not like the Ethereals from the war, or even the Humiliata now. A fact that often gets her in trouble. Even if you can not forgive the others... even if you can not forgive me personally, regardless of my lack of participation... she has suffered enough. Excommunicated from her planet and race, hunted, forced into seclusion, and now the victim of death threats for who her father has been revealed to be. It is unfair... and I honestly do not know how she has handled it for so long.
Lord in heaven. This is probably the most detailed, lengthy, and descriptive section I've seen in quite some time. The concept of Type Fours not only develops Tee but also is really interesting to think about. I like that Zmby found a use for the whole "seeing emotional colors" thing that he didn't get to fully utilize with Jessica last season. And it makes Tom remind me of Desmond last season, going back to @Frostlich1228 's line with Ammelia Cross about Dessy that really struck me as insightful to his character at the time:
Ammelia stays seated and watches him walk around the corner into the doctors office, " Red Eyes... " She says quietly to herself, " Marissa told me that red feels like fire and pain... I'm kind of glad the SAaIDA can't see colors... I'm not sure I'd want to see a color like that... "

Tee's nod said he appreciated as much, and Volupta slowly brought Wolfe the letters. "Okay, but... they're kind of... personal..." The letters depicted wrath and vengfulness in a variety of languages. What ones Wolfe could read were of a variety of threats, from simple urges for her to leave to blatant death threats. Some spoke of her as "The seed of Phobos" or "Thantos'Mictlanmacaria's whore granddaughter, while others referred to her as "Traitor of the Ethereals" or "Thantos'Mictlanmacaria's usurper". They were all typed, and it looked like someone, likely Tee, had already checked them for fingerprints.
Yikes. Maybe a bit over the top, but I do wonder if any of the latter letters can be applied to her new 'friends'.
 

ZombieSplitter53

Game Master
Staff member
Last night I didn't get a chance to read "Trying to Change" . What did I miss?

Thomas is the sort of racist that, while he has an actual reason for being that way, he still blows it out of proportion. I like it. It's unique as opposed to (despite what some of you might think) Astasha's partially justified xenophobia or someone that's racist for no expositionized reason (that goddamn Texan Zmby made to give Alice crap >.>).

I like the rising tension building up to here. Zmby and Black played off of each other well, and that's always the sign of a good rapport.

I like the visual imagery of how his guns works. I'm a sucker for arm-mounted guns, what can I say?

In general, this one really struck me as an interesting conversation. We get to see Tee of all people characterized heavily. And it furthers develops Thomas by comparison.

Lord in heaven. This is probably the most detailed, lengthy, and descriptive section I've seen in quite some time. The concept of Type Fours not only develops Tee but also is really interesting to think about. I like that Zmby found a use for the whole "seeing emotional colors" thing that he didn't get to fully utilize with Jessica last season. And it makes Tom remind me of Desmond last season, going back to @Frostlich1228 's line with Ammelia Cross about Dessy that really struck me as insightful to his character at the time:



Yikes. Maybe a bit over the top, but I do wonder if any of the latter letters can be applied to her new 'friends'.
Wow, Gem. Thanks. That is really flattering. I really appreciate that you appreciate our hard work... um... ignore the redundancy of that sentence.
 
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