integrating | CONCORDIA DAY :018

Entry tags:

*calendar

CONCORDIA DAY :018 - :022

CURRENT EVENTS

CONCORDIA, DAY :018 - :022

Despite the severity of the recent bombing, a week after the bombing it seems that most Concordian news outlets have backburned the story in favor of other current events - including the recent Zero Ball victory for Concordia. The story of the bombing, the aftermath, and the investigation tends to get little more than occasional mention, and most reputable sources of news have moved on from the bombing itself to speculate more deeply on H+H1 and the possible role of EXTRAAA. There's at least one sensationalist idea that's gaining some traction and popularity which is that hacker group EXTRAAA, supposedly at odds with the mysterious H+H1, is really just machinating the conflict themselves and posing as H+H1 to win more support for synthetic rights. The popular line seems to attribute the bombings - both those minor acts of vandalism that were occurring prior to the Hosts's arrival in Concordia and this newer, bigger attack on the VEN DIAGRAMS factory - to nothing more than hacker "scare tactics", designed to sway public opinion in their favor. Additionally, there's been at least one major news network who talked to a professional in the memory bank industry that pointed out that the Ven Diagrams technology - not the androids, but the mental augment chips that were also scrambled in the attack - is analogous to the tech used to store human memory and experience in places like Memory Bank.

Despite the abundant rumors and conjecture about the bombing, both in the physical and digital realm, no one seems to have any concrete facts-- or rather, the people who most likely do are keeping it to themselves. Remember how Ven Diagrams was offering a hefty reward for anyone with information regarding the bombing? In all the hubbub, no one seems to notice that the offer's been quietly tabled. The company's statements regarding the bombing are similar to what they were before, but there's significantly more buzzwords involved and a lot less impassioned determination to dig up information. The implication? They know something. However, it seems like they're not in a sharing mood given that they're publicly still playing at being unable to track down a perpetrator.

The good news: If H+H1 was responsible, and Ven Diagrams has something on them, that probably means they're traceable. The data's out there, you just have to get it. The bad news? It's all stored on Ven's local databanks, completely off the grid. which means they'll have to somehow infiltrate the company, access their local network and acquire the information from them personally if anyone wants to get a good look at it. Given the current political climate, not to mention Ven's clear interest in keeping the matter private and personal, that could be very - very - dangerous.

Meanwhile, it seems there is one notable point of fallout that's come as a result of the Ven Diagrams factory bombing. With no concrete H+H1 leads in the media and an increased visibility of anti-EXTRAAA and anti-synthetic rhetoric, the tenor surrounding the upcoming BOUT IT OUT championships has become significantly more heated. Since his vaguely pro-synthetic comments during a press conference last week, Kun Adetokunbo - the once fan favorite in the competition - has been singled out by reporters and news outlets as a visible pro-synthetic voice. In counterpoint, Adetokunbo's largest rival Florence Kelcey has made some heartfelt posts on her public extraspace board that have some not-so-subtle organic support leanings. Kelcey doesn't seem to be malicious (in fact looking at the history of her board, this is fairly in keeping with her usual digital content stream), but given the local climate it's a spark for a public following that's rapidly becoming hungry to burn something. Florence's popularity has surged in many sectors, particularly wealthy ones. Meanwhile though Adetkunbo's betting odds have plummeted and his face is a lot less visible on hologram billboards, he's become even more popular among certain individuals.

The heated competition seems to be something a lot of people are channeling their anxiety, fear and passion into. On DAY :020, a reporter presses Adetokunbo on whether he's the next Sheena Fry and he whips back with a clearly frustrated "Would there be something wrong with that if I was?" that causes an uproar in Extraspace and likely triggers a string of hooligan violence in Beta and Gamma Block. In the hours that follow, REPRESENTATIVE GORAM SAFFIT OF LARANN speaks out against the violence and reminds everyone that the real concern should be the safety of people in relation to synthetics. He pushes the idea that the only way to ensure human safety is to verify android security and poses the question: "If we live with androids, what's to stop us from being subject to their vulnerabilities as well? What stops them from being subject to ours?" He reminds the public to sign a petition requesting Concordian government officials to consider creating designated areas for humans only and areas for androids and official workforce only to 'ensure that humans and androids can both live and operate safely according to their own needs and programming.'

Two hours later an anonymous hacker leaks information tying Adetkunbo to a false identity 'Desta Vaska' who has a history of cutting big checks for Mind Life. Minutes later there's a flurry of people calling for Adetkunbo to have sponsorships revoked as well as a significant increase in threats of violence from anonymous users should he not be ejected from the championship. As a desperate means of extending an olive branch and in the spirit of fair play (as well as hoping to divert some of that competitive heat back in on itself), Adetkunbo's reps organize a hasty publicly accessible miniature competition. There are 40 slots available and any current members of a local bout it out ring can enter the bracket and duke it out to get the chance to fight Adetkunbo himself! This might be a great opportunity to get into contact with Adetkunbo and the upper echelons of Mind Life. --It might also be a great opportunity for someone (host or otherwise) to do something drastic to the man who, whether he wanted to or not, has now become the face of pro-synthetic discourse.

IN OTHER NEWS...
A reminder that on day :016, Aoba Seragaki went into a medical coma. It's probably fine.... (no it's not).

There have been extra- and real-space protesters outside a number of Mind Life local chapters in every block. Most of the protests are relegated to people holding signs and being rude to androids who operate in the chapters, but there's been a handful of vandalism reports that include broken windows and extraspace profile scrambling.

Mind Life has assumed a largely hands off approach to what they've deemed 'ridiculous rhetoric' aimed at targeting those most affected by the rise in tension. Rather than battling the media outlets, they've opted to double down on their android assistance programs and have emphasized reaching out to local government officials and Concordia block councils to encourage reformation and new legislation. They've taken a very public anti-violence stance and encourage any pro-synthetic demonstrations to be peaceful. Then again, that's no different from what REPRESENTATIVE GORAM SAFFIT OF LARANN is encouraging either...

Security outside of major tech centers has increased.

Security sweeps in Subspace have increased.

Concordian Public Security has issued a statement encouraging civilians to consider leaving their BOUT IT OUT memorabilia at home and to remove their related extraspace profile tags as it seems to elevate a risk of being targeted by criminal activity.

Speaking of symbols, individuals sympathetic to REPRESENTATIVE GORAM SAFFIT OF LARANN's rhetoric have started to tag their extraspace profiles with a symbol of two hands forming a circle. The gesture has some real life applications as well, having been seen flashed at the occasional pro-organic meeting.

In a misguided effort to drum up good press, the city sets up a suggestion poll on Extraspace for re-naming one of Alpha Block's oldest man-made lakes/gardens prior to restoration work starting (toxic levels of bacteria, likely from bird feces, were a main cause for the lake being shut down multiple times over the past decade). Within the first day the poll was flooded, with the highest amount of votes going to Bird-a-potty, followed by Vec8734 Memorial Lake. Within an hour the second place spot was overtaken by SYNTHS CAN'T SWIM. Two hours later the poll was shut down.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

DAY :018 (Jun 21-22) - VEN DIAGRAMS quietly removes their reward offer for information about the factor bombing. They continue to welcome the submission of information, but are no longer offering monetary compensation for it. Time to think up a way to access their local networks!

DAY :020 (Jun 25-26) - The BOUT IT OUT-related tensions reach a high point when Adetkunbo's android sympathies are revealed. Mind Life and REPRESENTATIVE GORAM SAFFIT OF LARANN quietly duke it out in the public politics sector while Adetkunbo's reps scramble to organize a friendly competition to ease tensions and make their man lovable again.

DAY :022 (Jun 29-30) - Covert work and punch 'em ups! The team splits up: half the hosts pursue getting into contact with Adetkunbo through the competition and the other half enacts the plan to infiltrate Ven Diagrams and obtain their H+H1 related data.

There WILL be a log posted for the events of Day :022. All other IC logs for previous days (including any IC plotting and planning) may be player organized/initiated.

OOC NOTES

POLITICS! INTRIGUE! PUNCHING! Over the next few days we'll work together to formulate a plan of approach for both investigating Ven Diagrams and using the Bout It Out minicompetition to get in with Kun Adetkunbo (affectionately, 'Kun Kun'). We'll provide key information for each operation in the appropriate thread below and encourage everyone to help formulate a plan for both regardless of which your character will be ICly involved with. We're looking for everyone to be involved with crafting the story, so if you have an idea that you think might work but your character wouldn't necessarily think of - throw it in the ring anyway! Someone else might be able to utilize their character to ICly introduce the idea.

Ideally, this planning stage should be a blend of OOC brainstorming and handwaving plotting (though, of course, you're welcome to and encouraged to discuss these plans in character as well). The most important part is that we must have reached a consensus for how to approach these plots by no later than JUNE 27th 11:59PM PST so the event log can be structured according to IC intent. Be aware, this doesn't mean that there won't potentially be wrenches thrown into the mix during the actual event - there's always the possibility for the unexpected as a result of IC action (like, oh, LIGHTSABERING PEOPLE) within the operations themselves, but that should at least give everyone a framework to operate within.

Lastly, two (relatively) non-plotting related notes: you may have noticed there's a gap between this calendar and the last of a few IC days (the prior calender having ended on :013 and this one beginning on :018). Similar gaps will likely be a regular occurance in an effort to give ourselves time to pull IC information and incorporate it into these roughly bi-monthly calendars. Feel free to assume business as usual in the interim betwen calendars; if anything big happens on the tail end of one calendar, we'll be sure to make you aware. That said, we always encourage player feedback! If you've found yourself at loose ends during these intervals or that the pacing is clunky, please let us know and we'll see if we can tighten the mechanics a little.

We're also working to implement a quick reference sheet for IC to OOC dates. Thanks to Jen for being the unsung hero of keeping track of numbers while we've been slacking!

If you have any general questions related to this calendar overall, please direct them to the appropriate thread below. If you have questions specfically about details regarding either the infiltration operation or the BOUT IT OUT competition, please ask them in the operation subthreads! Further, we're all a team here! If you have any world building elements you'd like to suggest, there's an appropriate subthread for that below too. As always, if you have questions that are braoder in scope, don't hesitate to drop them either on the FAQ or the MOD CONTACT posts!

-Abby and Donna

CONCORDIA MISSION: OVERVIEW • DAY :008 - :013
NAVIGATION • PREMISE • FAQ • RULES • GLOSSARY • SYMBIOTIC SKILLS • ABILITY POINTS

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please direct all general questions relating to this calendar here!

Hey, so I have a question related to this as a natural progression from the previous mission statements/calendars (more of a clarification to make sure I'm understanding things correctly):

Is this meant to be seen as a major escalation of the anti-synthetic movement, which had otherwise been seen as a grassroots movement that hadn't taken hold yet? It looks like the press is definitely making it seem as if anything that's pro-synthetic movement is cast in a negative light, so it also seems like Goram is getting his way in a lot of ways. Along those same lines, is it possible to look into Goram and what interactions he may have had in recent history? I'm looking along the lines of what Nirad told Lexa: that their enemy ensured that this would go in a certain direction because they wanted to ensure there was an anti-synthetic movement here.

Along those lines, is it possible to get an origin of when the Enemy arrived to see their possible end goal in all of this? Lexa would want to look at the bigger picture to see what would be accomplished apart from trying to stop the singularity of this world.

My other question is related to Bout-it-Out: Lexa is obviously a fighter! How well would you say that translates to the game? It's an area where she would be best inclined (aside from stealth) because of her lack of familiarity with technology. She's getting there, but, well, you know. Edit: I SEE THE COMMENT BELOW I was typing this before it appeared.

Finally, would Lexa be able to leak the technology for her chip to Ven Diagram (or someone similar) to make it so that the memory banks and AIs are able to evolve? She thinks that doing it boldly would be bad (per Carata's advice), but she does think it would help still, especially given the escalation of everything. Taking a cautious approach to things doesn't seem to be working, especially if there is an extreme escalation involved. (A lot banks on that, however!)

Edited 2016-06-22 01:27 (UTC)

DEEP BREATH. (And sorry for this wait on this!)

1) This is indeed an escalation of the anti-synthetic movement; for a long time anti-synthetic rhetoric has been viewed as largely either a) fringe or b) mostly harmless because it's so ridiculous. While there's certainly exceptions who are just anti-android, the core idea behind the anti-synthetic movement isn't just staunch regulation of androids but also largely against many types of organic modification that have been popularized by tech and science companies like VEN. Despite the fact that a huge swath of the population uses modification tech on some level, the anti-synthetic movement has slowly eked it's way into the mainstream as a counterpoint to the growing conversation regarding android rights. As a long time representative of Delta Block, Goram has his fingers in a lot of pots and a wide variety of contacts. However, with the information available to the Nest right now it would be difficult to pin down a particular 'origin' point for when the Enemy started to play around with Concordian politics. Given that shady back deals in Concordia are generally kept extremely shady and extremely private, it's difficult to say with any certainty whether Goram is an instigator or merely a product of the cultural landscape (and the Enemy's hand in it).

It's certainly worthy pursuit though! Goram's public interactions are many - he appears frequently on media broadcasts and his office puts out a weekly newsletter on the second day of every week; he is one of the few block representatives who tirelessly makes appearances at a huge percentage of largely optional Concordian Council meetings and in general seems to be the dogged, affable sort that's as well liked as a person as he is maligned as a politician by those who are trying to counter his policy submissions. Goram's recent calendar has been chocked full of fundraisers and he has a short book tour upcoming (where he found the time to write a book tour, no one knows).

As mentioned earlier, it's difficult to tell thus far where and when the Enemy first started to stir the pot. Many of these issues seem to have been fairly long standing, albeit minor ones that have recently been catapulted into the public eye by the overt actions of H+H1; getting a lead on H+H1 would be the first step to tracing the Enemy's whereabouts.

2) A lack of familiarity with technology shouldn't really affect Lexa's combat abilities in the simulation. Her abilities as a fighter would translate to the game with roughly real world accuracy.

3) It's definitely possible for Lexa to leak the information, though it's unclear whether that would successfully cause the AI/Memory Banks/etc to reach singularity on its own. In the right hands, it could do a lot of good. In the wrong ones? Who can say. Pick your contacts carefully, Lexa! (Which is to say you're absolutely welcome to pursue this idea, but that we think it'd be more rewarding to do so organically instead of info dumping you at this early stage.)

THANK YOU FOR ALL THESE LOVELY ANSWERS

So, I've been having a stupid amount of fun on the initial log with Ilde's fake idol cover story, and just the concept of the relationship she could foster with interested peers. Since she's never had peers to hang out with.

I'd love to expand on this further, since it is definitely a lesson in WHY NOT TO STAB PEOPLE. (Can be taught!)

What can I do with The Mysterious Underground? Tell me more!

Would there be a chance to get a useful piece of information through her relationship to the subspace hooligans? Or even just some interesting rumor to follow up on, really. Since she is neither technologically savvy nor about to bout it out, just looking at her skills for what I can work with.

What a good question.

Good old Vent Shoulders (let us know if you'd like to name him or if you'd rather we gave him one!) and a number of the other gaggle of teens/early 20-somethings that tugged Ilde along on her race day adventure make a point of keeping in contact with her via frequent Extraspace messaging and regularly attempt to invite her along with them on various quote, unquote vaguely rebellious (but ninety nine percent harmless) activities. Though obviously thrill seekers, most of the group is just looking to have a good time. That said, if Ilde spends much time with them it won't be long before Vent Shoulders introduces her to an extremely magnetic (and heavily modified) young woman everyone calls Y. Y is (roughly) 22 and though she's not particularly older than Ilde's other subspace hooligan friends it's clear they have a lot of regard for her. Vent Shoulders tells Ilde that "Y has a lot of ports in a lot of data" and that she's probably "the best hacker you'll ever meet" with the kind of emphatic admiration only a young adult with no other heroes to worship can manage.

And there is something entrancing about Y. She shouldn't be pretty or remarkable - her over the top personal styling is pretty dime a dozen in subspace -, but she is. There's a casual coolness about her that commands a room and when she talks, people tend to lean in to hear it even if most of what she says is small talk. Significantly, Y is almost always in the company of an android called Kellex who appears to be extremely fashionable, but says absolutely nothing.

From the offset it's clear the Y finds Ilde interesting with an intensity that could potentially be faintly unsettling; she spends the evening attempting to engage her in conversation. After the meeting, Vent Shoulders - possibly a little envious - stops inviting Ilde out (though the rest of the original group persists in maintaining some semblance of a friendship with her regardless of how invested Ilde is).

If you'd like to do anything specific or pursue this in any way, let us know! Otherwise, we may bother Ilde with this as appropriate on our own time. :) Additionally, if you have any further questions, let us know!

Don't give me the power to name people, you know it'll just end up being Jimmy McJimmers or Ima Faker (which are definitely the test client names we use at work.....)

I am game to roll with you guys if you have an idea of how this would fit in timeline wise.

QUESTIONS?

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: QUESTIONS?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: QUESTIONS?

no subject

no subject

Re: QUESTIONS?

no subject

no subject

Re: QUESTIONS?

no subject

no subject

no subject