[NEXUS] OoC 18: Where the Females are Foxy and the Sirs, Superfluous.

[happyturtle]

It's up to TS to choose Phil's defense attorney. Once the decision is made OOC, we'll arrange for the characters to be made aware of the situation and hired for the role IC.

[Zefir]

Sad that none of my chars ever heared of Phil ever befor, but on the other hand he don't know mines as well^^. So is there something up I could throw in a char?

[Gullara]

Object related people please read.

Now, before people go crazy calling Objects. It's probably a good idea to keep in mind that the best course of action would be to obtain the Object in character. No just suddenly having Objects. You can go about this in many ways I'm sure. You could go through the process of detailed on the Holders site, either with someone acting as a GM or type up a long self RP post. Maybe you could have your character kill another Seeker for it. Of course you're free to get creative and come up with another way of getting one. It would be nice, in my opinion, that you put a little effort into it.

I would like to request that people put some effort into following the defined mythos of the Objects. To be blunt, play them properly. Now, far be it for me to say what properly is, but there are some things to keep in mind.

The Objects want to come together. They aren't self aware per say, but there is an overall force pulling them together. Often time this is in the form of manipulating the Seekers to gather more and more of them. This translates as mentally influencing them. Seekers always want to gather more Objects, even if they know that reality will be destroyed when they come together. Maybe it's the promise of power, maybe they are convinced that they are gathering them to keep them away from those that want to use them for evil. Do whatever works for you.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Objects tend to have a negative effect on their Seeker's mental state. This varies wildly of course. It maybe be as little as the mental compulsion, or it might be as serious as... well, *points at Moff Prime*

One more thing to keep in mind is that Seekers tend to be very very possessive of their Objects. They don't really want to give them up to anyone. In some cases they might value their Objects more than their very lives.

As for people trying to get rid of the Objects. To put it simply, it's not easy. Destroying them causes them to return to their Holder. Same with putting them somewhere no one can get to them. Keep in mind that these are not just run of the mill artifacts. They are part of a much bigger whole and are tied to the very fabric of reality. Also, most people involved with them so far have agreed that if a character that can completely resist the mental effects, the Object will cease to be one of the Objects and a new Object will appear with the Holder. This operates on the same logic as destroying them of hiding them away. One last thing to note here. They can be hidden away. Just not in a place where no one can ever get to them. But if you do hide them away, expect Seekers to try and take them from you.

Now, I have some additional thoughts to add. Some concerns have been raised that this is a plot that cannot end. Essentially there is no way to permanently stop the Objects from together, but it is also highly unlikely that they will ever come together. My opinion on the matter is that that is true. But I think that it shouldn't be thought of as a plot, and more of an RP enabler.

I'd also like to clarify some of the terminology used.
Object - Refers to any of the artifacts listed in the Holders site.
Seeker - Refers to a person that possesses at least one Object and will more than likely trying to find more.
Holder - These are the guardians of the Objects. They are the people/things that keep the Objects safe when they aren't in the possession of a Seeker.
Please note that Holders and Seekers are very different things. Generally if your PC has an Object, s/he will be a Seeker.
The words Seeker, Holder, and Object when used to refer to the Objects are capitalized. Additionally one might say "They" in reference to the Objects. That and other words used in that way should be capitalized as well.

Of course, these are just my thoughts on the matter. It's not any sort of rigidly defined rule set. Feel free to discuss it and argue your own opinions. We'll come to an agreeable decision I'm sure.

[Zefir]

Well Zefir had a change of mind related to chaos he is not so outgoing and destructiv he just isn't as he was befo, but I prefent the seeking cause well people with to many Objeks are OP and you can die if you don't do the right tings.

[ThirdEmperor]

Prometheus has actually, oddly enough, been getting more and more human thanks to his exposure to the Objects. Of course, eventually, he's going to start becoming more and more inhuman.

[Maxios]

My creating of acronyms is weak, so would anyone be interested in coming up with an acronym for the NCRCF? It's for the Nexus Mods I'm making, btw.

[Beans]

Variable-Experience Nexus (something beginning with O) Modification?

VENOM.

No idea what could be O.

If you have Inclusion instead of an O, you get VENIM... dunno.

[Maxios]

I forgot to mention, it's for a prison belonging to the Empire (Or at least, once did. The prisoners have taken over)

[Recaiden]

Understood, Gulaghar. I intend for any Seeker of mine to be seriously changed.

And I'm around again, TE, if you've time to post.

[happyturtle]

OOC recruitment call:

We need characters willing to act as attorneys for either the prosecution or defense in Phil's trial. Legal education not required, and I expect we'll be practicing Trope Law rather than anything related to actual law, given that none of us have a law education.

The only real requirements are that you'll be online a lot over the next couple of days, and that your character is acceptable to the characters in the plot.

Anyway, I offer

Mainframe, the AI, who is willing to act as an attorney for either side. It is completely unbiased because it has not been programmed to care about Inside at all.

I nominate Lawerence for defense attorney in Phil's trial. Why? Because he has never encountered any of the participants in the trial and wants "Justice!" to be served.

If he isn't accepted for this position (which is quite understandable, given my lengthy disappearance from the forums) he does have a few words of advice for the character who will be the defense attorney.

"Use math."

Cryptic, succinct, and useful.

That's two characters who have been offered. Surely there are more available than that.

[FireFox]

"Remnant is responsible for the security of the city, under the oversight of the Council, as agreed in the manifesto. If you, as a Council member, believe that responsibility is being abused, you are welcome to raise that issue in a future meeting. I saw no need to notify you of something that your subordinate could easily notify you of herself, nor do I think it appropriate or even possible for every action taken by Remnant, or any other organization represented, to be vetted by the Council." Delisle says, her voice still professional and almost bored sounding. She is looking down at her clipboard and sketching out a few notes as she speaks.

Emphasis mine. See, this is the problem with having a montage instead of an manifesto. Because I was under the impression that the Council would be working how Poise suggested, since nobody objected or offered other ideas.

"I have a proposal in mind."
Poise says to Cessie before looking around to the rest of the group.
"And since it seems like no one is going to leave, I think I'll go ahead and share it."

She sketches quickly on her notepad as she speaks, drawing up a bit of a diagram as well as a rough overview of her plan.
"It has already been repeatedly noted that different organizations and people here have far different skills, resources, and preferences in solving problems, and I feel the best route is to acknowledge that. Yet, we also want to the council to be about cooperation, and it would be best if we did not have to maintain a precise number of individuals. Further, given Nexus's chaotic and unpredictable nature, it would also be wise to ensure that no one had sole control over certain powers and responsibilities, giving us some redundancy to fall back on in times of need. With that also in mind, each member on the council should have their own set of resources and powers to fall back on. Even if they cooperate with another member, they should be able to perform their duty on their own.
"Therefore, I propose we create a few basic divisions within the council, to recognize our specialties and give each person a little explicit direction to focus in. I have three divisions in mind, but I'm quite willing to see them reviewed and changed."

Poise flips out her pen, and draws a piece of a circle in the air in glittering red ink for each section of the government she mentions.
"The Military division, to defend and protect, and of course, to react to any problematic forces that arise within. I believe Vasquez's forces, as well as WATCHTOWER, would be well suited to this.
"The Public Outreach division. This would be for assessing the needs and desires of the community, and attempting to carry them out. PR and civil works, basically. I imagine Zee and Aurora and would be suited towards this.
"Intelligence division. It would handle investigations, management and general gathering of intelligence. It would also likely deal with internal affairs, attempting to ensure a lack of corruption, and perhaps handle some of the judicial aspects of government that aren't suitable for the council as a whole to handle. This, I believe would be a prime place for Magtok, with his satellites and vast network of connections."

"I want to note that I don't want to limit what anyone on the council can do with these divisions. Just because you're not in the military division does not mean you can't assist or act in that way, for example. But, that would be the primary focus of people in that group, giving them a clear direction to head in. It also just acknowledges what resources we have."

She looks over to Vasquez.
"Putting my full view into action would require placing you on even footing with the rest of the council. The Remnants would obviously still be yours to command, but you would not have more power than any other member of the council, to help ensure a balance of power."

Emphasis mine, again. Remnant is just part of the military division. So is HALO. They are supposed to be working together. If Remnant can't even be bothered to keep their colleagues in the loop, then what's the point? Look at any example of military branches, intelligence agencies, or law enforcement organizations working together. In any sort of joint operation or taskforce, the leaders are supposed to cooperate. Another example: I'm one of two assistant course leaders at a leadership training course this summer. I run the youth service team. If I wanted to borrow a staff member from the program team to help me do something I make sure to, at the very least, let the assistant course leader know what's going on. That is how two or more different groups working together is supposed to be.

So, Happyturtle, is Remnant the only group responsible for Inside's security? I thought we had all agreed on what the new political situation was going to be. That's why we just did a montage. But I guess we need to come up with an actual manifesto, lest people abuse the ambiguity to do whatever they want.

[Haruki-kun]

OOC recruitment call:

We need characters willing to act as attorneys for either the prosecution or defense in Phil's trial. Legal education not required, and I expect we'll be practicing Trope Law rather than anything related to actual law, given that none of us have a law education.

The only real requirements are that you'll be online a lot over the next couple of days, and that your character is acceptable to the characters in the plot.

Anyway, I offer

Mainframe, the AI, who is willing to act as an attorney for either side. It is completely unbiased because it has not been programmed to care about Inside at all.

I would like to offer Haruki to prosecute.

[happyturtle]

If you want to write an actual manifesto, go ahead, Firefox. But I'm not really sure I understand your objection. HALO and Remnant both have authority to conduct security operations within the city, but that doesn't mean that they should both have to clear every action with the council first.

[FireFox]

Nobody is saying anything about clearing every action with the Council.

I apologise, I was under the impression that Remnant and HALO were equal parts of this council. Tobias smiles. My problem isn't with your perfectly appropriate safeguards. My advice was to be careful, lest Remnant always act without interorganizational communication. I don't expect you to ask my permission every time you wish to do something to a member of HALO, but I do expect to be notified. Casually letting me know what you have done to one of my subordinates and why... that's not too much to ask for, between colleagues, is it?

What is so difficult about picking up one of the Council communicators and saying something like "Mr. Vulpan, be advised that your subordinate has safely apprehended the suspect and delivered him into our custody. Also be advised that your subordinate shows an emotional attachment to the suspect and we have taken the completely reasonable security precaution of suppressing her abilities so long as accompanies him"? Or, if that is really too much for you to fit in a post, what about something like: Delisle picks up a comm and makes sure Tobias is notified about stuff.

[The Bushranger]

Well it was less than five minutes before they arrived in the Council chambers. They probably figured it would be best for him to just find out in person. Since Erin didn't object to it.

[happyturtle]

Because IC it occurred only a few minutes ago.

Erin folded in with Phil, security measures were taken, they were brought to the Council building. I guess she could have called him in advance, but he only would have learned maybe five or ten minutes earlier than he found out anyway.

Edit: NInjad!

Also, keep in mind that Delisle is very sharp and on top of things, but her player is very very not.

[Maxios]

Hey Rae, do you think you could re-post your last post for UnRae, in the new thread?

[FireFox]

Well, that makes sense, but it is always better to keep the higher ups informed. Most bosses I've worked for have not appreciated being surprised. Tobias did not like having to ask, because it showed he didn't know what was going on. And that bruised his ego. A very serious crime, don'tcha know.

[happyturtle]

And to answer your bolded part, see my bolded part.

"Remnant is responsible for the security of the city, under the oversight of the Council, as agreed in the manifesto. If you, as a Council member, believe that responsibility is being abused, you are welcome to raise that issue in a future meeting. I saw no need to notify you of something that your subordinate could easily notify you of herself, nor do I think it appropriate or even possible for every action taken by Remnant, or any other organization represented, to be vetted by the Council." Delisle says, her voice still professional and almost bored sounding. She is looking down at her clipboard and sketching out a few notes as she speaks.

Basically, it occurred a few minutes ago, and Erin and Phil were being taken directly to the place where Tobias was. If she was being held overnight somewhere, yeah, notification would take place (assuming player competence and undeadtimeness >.> ) but in this case, it didn't seem necessary to Delisle.

@^: Ah. Well, it is Erin's job to make sure her superior's ego isn't bruised, not Delisle's. Erin could have asked for a communicator.

[The Bushranger]

And that bruised his ego. A very serious crime, don'tcha know.

Spoiler

Show

[ThirdEmperor]

I hereby offer Ponzi, the Mouse Mafia's top lawyer, as defense attorney! Not only does he have a law school degree, but he can also look really cute and even cry adorably! No jury can resist that amount of cuteness.

[AmberVael]

Okay, time for a few updates.

First, I posted in Thorn and Sword. Deb, Murkus, wxdruid, Ape- you all know where to post. Sorry for the little wait!

Second, I'm offering Grace as prosecution attorney. It's fun stuff, after all, and she's the type of character for it. She'll be acting in a non-Council capacity if she is their representative, if that makes it more palatable IC.

Third, I feel like I should make some clarification.

Emphasis mine, again. Remnant is just part of the military division. So is HALO. They are supposed to be working together. If Remnant can't even be bothered to keep their colleagues in the loop, then what's the point?

In context, Grace's goal was indeed to make sure that no one could just take complete control over a certain aspect of Inside... but she wasn't exactly asking for complete internal cooperation. The point was more about redundant layers capable of acting autonomously and keeping others in check.

I don't say this to give any specific judgment on the situation in hand, just to clarify the more basic and underlying point of the suggestions and divisions made.

[Earl of Purple]

Apologies for my absense over the previous two days; Friday was decided to be a film day & my sister had a sleep over so I had to go to bed early to keep the cat company. Yesterday was very busy and I was unable to power up either. But I am here now I believe I have caught up everywhere I have characters except Inside and GLoG which went too fast for me to bother.

[ThePhantom]

For another possible lawyer, Ren 'Rookie' Truss. Sure, he's a rookie lawyer, but techically, most lawyers in the Nexus would be rookies, since trials are so rare.

[Rae Artemi]

Hmm... Has anyone had a Black Ribboner character in the Nexus, because I have had the urge to make one and unlike my other character urges this one doesn't seem to be going away.

[Murkus]

Apologies for my absense over the previous two days; Friday was decided to be a film day & my sister had a sleep over so I had to go to bed early to keep the cat company. Yesterday was very busy and I was unable to power up either. But I am here now I believe I have caught up everywhere I have characters except Inside and GLoG which went too fast for me to bother.

Oh, if you're still interested, the girls from GLoG are off to Underside to visit Brinika's cave.

Also, does anyone need a violent bandit/outlaw character? I'm making a rather... exotic one.

[Earl of Purple]

OK, thank you Murkus.

I don't think I need a bandit-type character, though if you wish to build a character for the Cult of Dalachrech, feel free to do so .

[Halae]

Oh, if you're still interested, the girls from GLoG are off to Underside to visit Brinika's cave.

Also, does anyone need a violent bandit/outlaw character? I'm making a rather... exotic one.

that depends... what exactly do you want to do with this character?

[Murkus]

He's a thief, a liar, and a brutish thug that uses drugs to enhance his physical abilities to superhuman levels. I imagine he's good for a lot of things.

@Earl: I'll keep that in mind. I do like how developed the cult is.

[Halae]

Alright, what kind of world does he come from? I've been developing an idea for my first female character and I wanted her to be some sort of thief or other individual outside the law