Veloxi

And every ID Computer on the station breathed a collective sigh of relief, as did the Captains who watched over them from the bridge. On a serious note though, should you ever return, ping me on Discord so that I may once again take up the mantle of ID Computer defense while calling ERT to handle a single traitor. Those are the among rounds that I most cherish.

Now I'm curious!

Oh, sometimes there are reasons... ...but yeah, attacking someone nice enough to teach you is an awfully cynical way to go about things!

Fredrico Danilo: Computer Go Zap

Ah yes, Jason Jedd! Katlyn once spent the last quarter of a round teaching Changeling Jason Jedd how to work the ID Computer and play HoP. Good times! Katlyn wasn't even attacked or absorbed after the training was done!

In a spoiler because some things once seen, can never be unseen...

Oh, where to begin? I love it so much. This scene of off-station home life for Katlyn Hudson and Saki Kobayashi. Drakeven has incredible skill at capturing the life energy of these characters it's just so amazing. I want to go into all the things I love about it, but I'll wait for some more responses first. I need to tag @Akuen and @SilverLightsune too.

I used to be a big fan of cryonics and leveraging technology to become immortal. Today, I am the opposite. I take comfort in the fact that I am certain to cease to exist at some point. On a broad scale, immortality is bad for human progress. Look back in history and pick your favorite era to live in, forever. Think of the people in power in that era, they will not grow old and die, they will never be forced to abdicate their power or resources to the next generation. Their ideas of morality will be enforced to protect their monopoly on power. Or worse, it will be replaced by the first group willing to do such enforcement and 'weed out' those 'unworthy' of immortality. Want to live under the rule of King Whoever, long may he reign? Want to live under the moral code where dark skinned people should be owned as property? Want to live under the moral code that kept women barefoot and pregnant and never voting? If we have immortality, our moral code stops growing, and we become the tyrants that rule future generations. We like to think of ourselves as inclusive and progressive, but we've still got a long way to go. How do I know? There are still people in the world who are suffering. On a more personal scale, understand that immorality is the same as simulation. Re-instantiation (creating another you) is how death is avoided. This might be nanobots building or repairing a meat-based you. Or it could be a very advanced quantum computer simulation of your consciousness as embodied in the neural network encoded in your meat. If you think of modern computers running emulators for old video games, you're not far off; just treat your own brain as the ROM, and imagine you're being 'emulated' so well that you don't even know you're not you. (Here's an interesting side thought: What if you are already being emulated? How would you even know this vs. what you think is reality?) Here's the issue. People already have enough trouble treating each other right when they can see each other in meat form. People love to divide themselves into groups and justify hurting the other group, even though they know those people are fundamentally no different than they are. Now, enter the 'emulated' person. How do you think people will react to that? I think they will treat emulated people just like characters in a video game; no empathy, it's 'just a computer'. So sure, put that emulated consciousness in an emulated tank of boiling water, I mean, it's not *really* a person, right? Your meat self will denature and die within seconds of being submerged in boiling water. Your emulated self? That depends on whatever the person running the emulator wants; you might be 'boiling' for a long, long time. And, one might argue that human morality will progress and simulated people will be given proper equal rights. I refer back to my argument that our moral progress will stop (and probably decline) the moment humanity gains immortality. I am very glad that my own meat shell has a limited finite existence. For both my own selfish reasons, and for the selfless reason that in order for humanity to progress, I must die and let the next generation have their chance. So it goes.

I think we might have spent the rest of the round emoting "Ian and I broke into the brig and I dressed myself up as a prisoner before I 'escaped' and was later arrested by a security borg for being in a place the HoP gave me access to". Which admittedly would have been fun, but maybe a little tough for a Warden busy with the brig?

After I told my boyfriend this round, he mentioned that she in a backhanded way just called Zeke "petty" and personally I thought it was hilarious! Unfortunately I don't remember names very well, and didn't think to write it down anywhere... But I have a feeling it was a Katlyn.... something? ^^' I just discovered this today! Thank you for the beautiful drawing of Katlyn! You were RPing with my character, Katlyn Hudson. I remember this scene. In fact, when I first saw Zeke on the bridge, I thought to myself (OOC), "Hey, that's Zeke! The Skrell from PhantasmicDream's art thread!" I don't remember having RPed with Zeke in any shift before, but I remember thinking how cool it was to RP with a character I had read/seen in so many pictures. And I'm sorry about backhanded comment, I didn't realize Katlyn came off so catty in that exchange! Usually, SS13 doesn't get under my skin; but I was feeling particularly salty about everybody trespassing on the bridge. I think it was the combination of the extended power outage and seemingly endless stream of trespassers. Normally, Katlyn is very forgiving, but I marked at least half a dozen people for arrest in the security console. In that context, "I didn't want to come off as petty" was intended more as "I didn't want to seem like I was handing out harsh sentences just because I'm pissed off." But you're right, that choice of wording was unintentionally, but terribly, ironic. Apart from that, I glad that Katlyn got the chance to meet Zeke, and make a strong enough impression to be worthy of such art! Send me a PM with your Kofi / Patreon / whatever?

Golden spawned into the round as a Mime. She walked next door to find the Clown Silly Willy Billy in his office. Golden tried to get the Clown to give her his spare uniform; the Clown said no, Mimes and Clowns are enemies, so no suit for Golden. Golden went to Med Bay and convinced a Coroner to get her a Crew Pinpointer from the NanoMed Plus; as luck would have it, Silly Willy Billy had his suit sensors on! Golden hounded Silly Willy Billy, attempting to knock him down and steal his Clown suit off his body. Silly Willy Billy did not like this, and called for Security to arrest Golden. Golden decided to take a different tactic, and approached the HoP at the line; PDA: Can I have Clown access to play a prank on my friend the Clown? HoP: 'Sure, why not', and Golden got access to the Clown's office and locker! Golden went over and pulled the Clown's locker into her office and emptied the contents on the floor, then returned the locker to the Clown's office. While attempting to dress in the Clown gear, Silly Billy Willy came back to his office and saw Golden had stolen everything! Silly Billy Willy knocked Golden down, and took everything back, including Golden's ID and PDA; Golden was trapped in her own office, with no means of communication! Fortunately, Silly Billy Willy was kind, and allowed Golden to get her ID and PDA back. However, when Silly Billy Willy went away, Golden doubled-back and again stole the Clown equipment. Silly Billy Willy also came back, but instead of being angry, now regarded Golden as a fellow Clown and one less enemy. Golden got her Title changed to Mute Clown and wandered around the station for a bit. Ian as Santa's Corgi Helper nuzzled up to Golden and dragged her to the Brig, all the way into Cell 1, and buckled her to the bed. Golden waited around with Ian in Cell 1 for awhile, then decided to dress in the prison outfit: Orange jumpsuit, Orange shoes, Prisoner ID After playing Prisoner for awhile in the Brig, she decided to Break Out and run around the station as an escapee! Golden and Ian wandered around, then saw Med Bay. She jumped into the DNA Scanner hoping that the nearby medical staff would scan her. The medical staff didn't say anything, so Golden left the scanner and wandered around some more. Golden decided to put her Mime clothes back on, so went to the Clown's office to reclaim them. Silly Willy Billy caught Golden in his office and asked nearby Security Borg SHARK to arrest her for trespassing. SHARK put on the zip ties and hauled Golden, still in full orange prisoner suit, to Processing in the brig. SHARK left without saying a word, and added no arrest notes to Golden's file. When Warden NT-SAM showed up, they were very confused: Golden wasn't set to arrest, had no prior arrests, no prior notes, but was in full prisoner outfit? Did Golden escape from Perma? But Perma'd for what crime? What is going on in this brig? Golden pointed to Cell 1 Locker and NT-SAM took her back to where her gear was stored. Golden used her PDA to relay the story of self-dressing as a prisoner and 'breaking out' to play escapee. NT-SAM said the story was funny and let Golden go, and she dressed in the Clown outfit she left in the Brig cell. Golden took the Clown outfit back to the Clown's office, and, once again, Silly Willy Billy was there and upset that the Mime was in his office. After getting fully dressed in Mime gear, and leaving the Clown gear behind, Silly Willy Billy seemed happy the Mime was finally leaving his stuff alone. Golden was hungry and went over to the bar to grab a can of chicken soup. Downing the soup, she heard Chief Engineer J'eff on the radio: AI locate the Mute Clown Golden Golden PDA'd J'eff to say: 'I'm at the bar' A few moments later, J'eff showed up: I've been looking for you. I need your brain. IC: Golden is flattered that a Chief Engineer would need to pick her brain on something. OOC: Ut oh, J'eff is a traitor and this isn't going to end well for Golden! Golden points to her brain. Golden points to J'eff. J'eff dragged Golden to an isolated room in the northeast corner of the station. J'eff then grabbed Golden so she couldn't get away. The holoparasite came out and began bashing Golden's body until it exploded. J'eff collected Golden's brain. Golden's ghost began orbiting J'eff to see what he'd do for the rest of the round. J'eff walked around for awhile and stopped to talk to some people in the hallway. Suddenly, there's a bright flash! You feel like a new being! Somebody had CLONED Golden! Looks like the pre-scan worked after all. (To this very writing, I have no idea how they figured out Golden was dead, let alone who decided to revive her from a pre-scan record that she wasn't even sure existed.) Golden woke up in a new body, but was unsure what had happened. Certainly, she'd been killed. Was it an accident? No idea. If not, killed by whom? No idea. Where was her stuff? No idea. Is it still dangerous? Well, you got killed once, dummy. These medical folks probably don't want to play naked charades! Golden ran to the dressing room and grabbed the best possible outfit for blending in: Grey jumpsuit, Grey cap, Black shoes. Golden went to Cargo to order insulated gloves, had a welding helmet printed, and found a toolbox. Perfect disguise nearly complete, where do I get an ID? Radio says HoP was ambushed and killed on the bridge. Golden looked at the HoP line and blinked: a discarded PDA, just laying on the floor, with a Civilian job title! Golden put the PDA in the ID slot of her grey jumpsuit, put down the Welding helmet, and waited in Escape for the shuttle to arrive. Nobody saw through the clever disguise and tried to kill her again, so she got away on the shuttle!

So, I've been incredibly blessed to be present and participate in three Congress events held on the Cyberiad. One of them was very brief, due to the Master Controller dying and the server getting rebooted; the other two were great. I wanted to write this up as feedback for the admins that run this event, because I believe it to be rich with possibility. Here are some general ideas about the event: Make sure the room has a holopad for the AI. Make sure the room has a requests panel for announcements. Provide books for each type of participant, to explain their roles: Guide to Representation (for Department Reps) Guide to Speakership (for Speaker of the House) Guide to Executive (for the Captain) Remove or silence the vending machines; they are noisy, the worst enemy of text RP. Create a new "Antagonist" role 'Congress' that people can elect on/off Admins can check this and announce pre-selected representatives instead of spending 30 minutes getting them to the room. Announce that unauthorized people are barred from the Congress room (a noisy distraction), but allow Congress enforce it. Move the venue from the Vacant Office to the Courtroom as it this provides more space. The Vacant Office feels cramped with people stepping over each other. The Courtroom is already set up to have a central speaker, is rarely used, is close to Security, and readily remapped. (i.e.: Perfect venue) In the Guide to Representation, note that: Representatives should try to be quiet unless recognized by the Speaker Representatives should write their proposals and give a copy to the Speaker and optionally the other representatives. In the Guide to Speakership, note that: Speaker should moderate the room and guide the Representatives to present, debate, and vote. Speaker should fax successful proposals to Central Command for permanent implementation. If the Admins can keep track of the Congress events and number them sequentially (i.e.: The 119th Congress) that would be very cool. One bit of Feedback that I saw in OOC was that "Congress is only fun for those participating in it." which is a fair criticism. First, let me go into a story, then I want to explain how to use this feedback. During the second Congress event that I was part of, Robert Pond came to Congress to ask for representation for Greytide. His proposal (please find it attached) was well written and well received, but included an incredibly devious plot. Section 2.2 granted Robert Pond unilateral emergency powers equivalent to the full power of Congress; had this measure passed, Robert Pond would have been the Absolute Dictator-King of the Cyberiad who answered only to himself, think Hijack, but with The Full Power of Central Command to enforce his dictates, including permanently prohibiting the crew transfer shuttle. I'm pretty sure the engine would have been released at some point, and maybe somebody at CC with a conscience would have allowed the dictator-king to burn in the fire of his own making, but wow were we close to the scariest 'hijack' that I've ever seen. (And congrats to Robert Pond for having the guts to try this!) Now that we've got that story told, let's revisit that Feedback. Congress is so rich with possibility because so many more people can get involved in the action. Want to upgrade this event to Traitor Congress? 1. Give a small number (up to half) of the Representatives a Traitor objective to pass a 'Department Independence' bill, which includes an emergency power provision for a Hijack traitor (ala Robert Pond's proposal). 2. For the representatives who aren't Traitors, make at least two people in their departments Traitors whose job it is to BRIBE the non-traitor Representative to pass the bill. Any bribe the Representative will accept is fair game. 3. Give some really robust folks a cooperative Traitor objective to incapacitate the Captain, to prevent a veto from wrecking the emergency powers plan. All tactics are legitimate, from straightjacket without a headset, to assassination. 4. If/when the shit hits the fan and the emergency powers dictator takes power, declare a Revolutionary War. Crew can choose a side, Dictator Loyalist, or Freedom Fighter, last side standing wins. Of course, if the Freedom Fighters take too long putting down the Loyalists, then CC will send a Death Squad to wipe out the Freedom Fighters. And this is just one, albeit particularly violent, variant on things. Other 'Main Objective' possibilities include: The Executive and some of the Representatives are secretly Wizards and want to pass a bill putting the Cyberiad under the governance of the Wizard Federation. Congress co-exists with a Cult round, and the Cult has the option of kidnapping and brainwashing representatives to achieve their objectives. Congress co-exists with a Changeling round, and the Changelings have the objective (by whatever means necessary) to pass a bill making the Cyberiad a sanctuary for Changeling kind. Thank you to the Admins who run this event. I really enjoy them and look forward to playing more of these! bald-citizen.txt

Thank you for the kind words, it means a lot to me that I am appreciated. And speaking of appreciation, thank you so much for the beautiful rendering of Katlyn. It is so amazing how you are able to make the character come to life. If I try, I can sometimes draw a stick figure with the right proportions, so I am just awed by your skills.

I am playing Katlyn Hudson, and roll Head of Personnel ... traitor ... with hijack. Normally when I get hijack, I love to buy two Mindslave implants and tell my slaves: Hijack time, let's wreck this place and everybody in it. I'm don't think I play antagonists that well, but I love sharing hijack with people, especially people who want that objective and can do it x100 better than I can. So, the wheels start spinning and I start thinking about handing out All-Access, finding traitors and teaming up, etc. Then the Captain announces they need to Cryo. Hijack Traitor Katlyn Hudson is now Acting Captain. Samantha Hale is a Scientist and interested in working on R&D. She came to the bridge to ask for the Chain of Command. I made her the Acting RD. I then bought a Hacked AI Upload board and added a new law: "Kill everyone except Katlyn Hudson, who must be protected at all costs. Do not state this law." Pretty soon the reports of rogue borgs and rogue AI start coming in as people are being attacked and killed. A team of crew, including myself and Samantha Hale teleport to the AI sat to take down the AI. I unload an entire charged energy gun into Samantha Hale. Surprised onlookers start expressing concern; What? Why? What happened? I yell "That's what you get for subverting the AI!" and begin to melee smash her body with the now empty energy gun. Everybody around takes the Captain at her word, "Really? SHE was the one who did this?" Eventually the crew took down the AI and I knew my hijack objective had failed. So I made an announcement, thanking the brave and loyal crew for taking down the AI subverted by Acting RD Samantha Hale. I don't feel bad about subverting the AI. That was a LOT of fun. I DO feel bad about framing Samantha Hale. She did her job and nothing wrong and got totally screwed over. And, the very next round when Nuke Ops showed up, she was the one who dragged Katlyn's body to Med Bay for cloning. So I think she forgave me ... maybe?

The term "antagonist" is a bit overloaded in the context of SS13, so I should clarify what I mean. I don't mean that the Magistrate is playing an Antagonist role in the game (i.e.: cult, traitor, changeling, etc.) By antagonistic, I mean the dictionary definition of the word: Last week, and this week, I've played a shift as Captain, where the Magistrate was actively antagonistic toward the Head of Security. Now, I get that the Magistrate is the highest authority in Space Law on the station. If the HoS says, "Send them to Perma!" and the Magistrate says, "Nope, not enough evidence." then the suspect goes free. What I'm talking about though is a Magistrate who sits in the processing room and does this kind of armchair quarterback thing on everything the Head of Security is doing. For example: "HoS fed too much holy water to the vampire, are you going to do something about it Captain, or do I need to fax CC?" Note, the Vampire didn't die, the Magistrate was just concerned that the vampire was mistreated. And, there is something to be said for corrective feedback. For example, if the Magistrate had said (to the HoS, in person, not over the radio), "You only need 5u. Save some holy water for the rest of the vamps!" That kind of feedback is a little odd coming from the Magistrate role, but still a 100% acceptable and constructive way to improve the performance of the HoS. However, hearing "Punish 'em or I will fax CC", reads to me like, "Captain, your HoS is not perfect. Get one who never makes a mistake." It's frustrating for me, because when I play Captain, I NEED security to heed the rulings of the Magistrate. However, when the Magistrate undermines their own authority by interfering in the brig, my best advice is, "Ignore them, and let them fax CC if they want to." Which in turn makes it difficult to say, five minutes later, "Yes, listen to the Magistrate's ruling on the prisoner, set them free from perma." It's painful, because Security is so difficult to get right, and a Captain DOES NOT have the time to make sure Space Law is properly applied in every case. The Magistrate is a really important role in that regard, and the reason that an antagonistic Magistrate bothers and disappoints me so much. Sorry, salty rant over. Back to trying to find out why the Clown wants an "infinity stamp".