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hadriel2017-08-04 09:53 am
lingeringfear) wrote in hadriel2017-08-04 09:53 am
Entry tags:
seven ☠ voice/text
Well... seems like there's a few of you who are ready to sell us out.
[His voice is soft- not really angry, but there's a sinister lilt to it.]
And here I thought we were all growing to be one big, happy family. I can't say I'm fond of the necessity of weeding out spies in our city, but... listen, we're all in a flurry about this. We need to do something, and everyone wants a say in how we're supposed to move forward from here.
[Which has been a headache and a half for all of the gods. Sure, they get along in the grand scheme of things, but there's definitely a little clash of ideals going on, and frankly, Fear is tired of the arguing.]
So what I thought we'd do is to have you vote on who's in charge here. Who takes action and comes up with a game plan on how we're going to suss out what the Null are planning. Obviously, Sorrow wants to be our fearless leader, but his methods are a little... direct. Delight and Rage would probably have a little murder mystery party when they get back, Tranquility and Confusion- I'm not sure if they'd actually do anything at all, come to think of it.
[Christ, this is a mess.]
As far as Love and myself go... I can think of a few people I'd like to personally interrogate.
Anyway, cast your votes or ask your standard slew of questions. Yes, I realize that some of the dissenters will be voting, yeah I know that you all want to be in charge instead- there's probably a few of us who might bend our ears to you, but as we can't put a hundred people in charge, it's gonna be one of us.
[A pause.]
Sorry.
[Happy voting?]
[His voice is soft- not really angry, but there's a sinister lilt to it.]
And here I thought we were all growing to be one big, happy family. I can't say I'm fond of the necessity of weeding out spies in our city, but... listen, we're all in a flurry about this. We need to do something, and everyone wants a say in how we're supposed to move forward from here.
[Which has been a headache and a half for all of the gods. Sure, they get along in the grand scheme of things, but there's definitely a little clash of ideals going on, and frankly, Fear is tired of the arguing.]
So what I thought we'd do is to have you vote on who's in charge here. Who takes action and comes up with a game plan on how we're going to suss out what the Null are planning. Obviously, Sorrow wants to be our fearless leader, but his methods are a little... direct. Delight and Rage would probably have a little murder mystery party when they get back, Tranquility and Confusion- I'm not sure if they'd actually do anything at all, come to think of it.
[Christ, this is a mess.]
As far as Love and myself go... I can think of a few people I'd like to personally interrogate.
Anyway, cast your votes or ask your standard slew of questions. Yes, I realize that some of the dissenters will be voting, yeah I know that you all want to be in charge instead- there's probably a few of us who might bend our ears to you, but as we can't put a hundred people in charge, it's gonna be one of us.
[A pause.]
Sorry.
[Happy voting?]
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40
Who should lead the investigation?
View Answers
Sorrow and Hope
23 (57.5%)
Rage and Delight
2 (5.0%)
Fear and Love
7 (17.5%)
Confusion and Tranquility
8 (20.0%)
video
[ Curufin's voice is very quiet, and his eyes are like black diamonds. His son and his eldest brother were prisoners of war in their own world. The Fëanorians understand the concept of abuse. ]
I can tell you right now that you're barking up the wrong tree, as a mortal friend of mine used to say.
video
[Probably. Well, depending on how they vote.]
Have you read the Null post? I'm pretty sure that we have some justification to be barking at this tree.
video
[ In that case, if Curufin votes at all, he'll vote for Tranquility and Confusion. They'll most likely be ineffective, but thereby, they'll do the least harm to the residents. . . and to the gods themselves. ]
Of course I've read the Null post. [ And if Fear has read it himself, it's probable he has also read the responses and therefore knows that Curufin is among the ones those pesky synthetics have promised to contact again. Of course Curufin doesn't want the gods to know this, precisely because they might jump to conclusions about why he is doing this. He is highly ambivalent about this octet of deities, though he has had positive interactions with Tranquility, Delight, and Love. He wants all the Hadrielites out of here, except for the few that might choose to stay. But he thinks their chances are better in the long run if they stick with the gods for now. He despises the Null, believes they will ultimately betray any agreement they make with the residents. And he wants access to those vaguely described weapons. If they'll work on the gods, they'll surely work on the Null themselves. And he does believe it will come to that in the end. ]
Listen. . . I'm aware that you personally have made some sacrifices for your cohorts, and for us. I am one of the many who personally thanked you for your successful efforts to reunify the city when it was split. [ And there is nothing phony about his gratitude then or now. ]
I'm also well aware of your position. This is a bad situation and no mistake about it. But if you choose the path you seem to be heading for, you'll end up losing what little loyalty you have from us. You cannot afford to alienate us, and if you resort to extreme methods of extracting information from people, you will.
I think you should resort to making a bargain with us instead. [ He doesn't say more about this, because he thinks it's possible the Null are listening. He doesn't want them to realize he's a double-dealer, and if he starts making too many references to what they have been promising, they may be alerted to this. ]
video
[Mostly.]
I'm aware of what you're proposing- believe me, enough of you have yelled about striking some sort of truce that we're all aware of it. But what you talk about is trust, and from what I've seen, there's not a lot of that to go around.
[He shrugs.]
We're exploring our options. I'll be sure to keep this one in mind.
video
Actually, it doesn't require trust to begin a negotiation, only to end one with an agreement. Trust is built in certain very specific ways.
I see that in your conversation with Ikaruga, you say that you had a mutuality pact of some sort with your original hosts. If that is the truth, then your arrangements with them must have been very different than those you have with us? Because I cannot imagine anyone voluntarily agreeing to be toyed with the way you toy with us. Enlighten me if I am wrong about this. Can you tell me what the deal was?
video
[Fear: The OG shitposter.]
The former hosts didn't require our meddling, no. They were able to give their emotions freely to us in a way that you are not.
video -- long post advisory! danger!
[ He pauses, thinking of the possibility of the Null listening. But this moment is too important, and so he leaps ahead. Besides, his own personal estimate of the Null is that they are clever, in a narrow sort of way, but fundamentally stupid. That is what eschewing emotion will do, contrary to popular belief. On reflection, he doubts they are capable of the level of literary analysis that would be required to truly decode the conversations of emotional beings. Besides, if he's challenged on what he has said to Fear, he'll simply lie his head off, saying he was deceiving the gods as to his intentions. ]
And speaking of war and warriors, Rey seems flabbergasted that you don't know what else you could be doing besides what you are now. There is no mystery about that. It is perfectly obvious. To begin with, you could us seriously when we say that we are capable of much more than you think we are. You fear that we might try to kill you, but you don't credit that we might be willing to fight the Null, and capable of winning such a battle. I am a warrior, as I have said. War is my business, and I want to fight. Amongst the lot of us, I believe that we have the skills already, and probably all the technical knowledge. If you told us everything you know about your adversaries, and about the situation we are all in, I think that would cap it off. And I don't mean simply running polls, which give us a few tiny choices but nothing even approaching the collaboration that a free alliance would require. I mean sitting down to mutually devise a plan, train, rehearse, and carry it out.
And one more thing, for the future. Your former hosts could deliver emotions simply by intending to? A good actor can do that. Maybe they were an unusually theatrical species. Every day a festival of drama! In my original world, I used to watch the strolling players when they came around every summer. They were not just ham actors, putting on an appearance of feeling but with no substance. They were the real thing, and they could deliver the real thing. But you have not even considered the possibility that there might be such talent right here in Hadriel, and that these are skills that can be taught and learned. There are people here who do not want to leave. And in every new batch of arrivals, there are others who have reason not to want to return to their own worlds. If Hadriel were to become a place where such people could find refuge, and if they were able to negotiate mutually satisfactory terms of association with you, then you might hope to have something like the society you and your original hosts had.
It would take time to accomplish such a thing. But if you abandoned the cattle-herding approach to the Hadriel project and adopted a collaborative model, I think you'd find that wonders could be achieved.
Meantime, we have a mutual enemy to defeat. But if you ask for our help and extend us the kind of trust and transparency that you expect of us, then I think that together we could fight off or destroy the Null. And then we could make this a place worth staying in. You'll have a great many people on board with these ideas, in the end. And even in the beginning. I am sure of that.
video
Alright then, let's teleport ninety of you into a throng of several million Null. Will that make you happy? This conversation is boring- let's just allow you to fight then and then you can tell all of us that you were right the whole time after you destroy an entire race before they can kill a couple dozen of you. Does that sound good?
We've told you what we know. We've answered every single question asked of us. I still don't hear any actual strategy from any of you, besides "let's fight an entire race of genocidal robots"- so when you've got one, let me know.
[And with that being said...]
It's not the same thing. It has to be genuine, and acting isn't genuine, no matter how heartfelt it is. It can help I suppose, but it's a morsel compared to a feast. The fact of the matter is that your brains are wired differently than our hosts, and you cannot give us what they did willingly. That's the long and short of it.
Now, if you have anything else?
video
[ But then he answers seriously. ] Attacking an enemy directly when the odds are against you is the last resort, not the first. War is all about deception, tricking your opponents, luring them, trapping them into taking a disadvantageous position.
Strategy does not come out of thin air. It comes from having detailed knowledge of the enemy and the enemy's resources and plans. If you know these things, you can exploit their weaknesses. Yes, you've answered our questions to the extent that you were able. Thank you for that. You may get your strategy yet.
[ Suddenly his face goes still, his eyes shift sideways with a small gleam of light in them, and the smile comes back to his face. He has just thought of something. But he finishes the last thought. ]
Hmmm. . . you've never seen Elvish drama. It's not like mortal theatre. But I'll take your word for it that theatre would be an inadequate as anything but a snack for you.
[ He switches to private connection. ]
In one of the Null communications, they were asked if they were completely synthetic, and they admitted to being some small percentage organic. Do I remember that correctly? Can you confirm that as fact?
video | private
Detailed knowledge like sending spies into the enemy territory?
[But that's beside the point.]
Anyway, I don't know much about the Null themselves. I think that's right- they used to be less robotic, somehow? They had emotion at one point, which I think is why they hate it so much. Tranquility would know more than me.
video | private
The Null have a peculiar culture. They think that all emotion is pollution. But obviously, they are not completely free of it, as their actions indicate. They are in absolute terror of you and are acting out of terror, which is bound to affect their judgement. That is a weakness on their part, and I think there will come a moment when that weakness will cause them to make a bad mistake. Even better, if we manipulate the situation so that they have the opportunity to make that mistake, and then we exploit the hell out of it.
[ As for example, if the Hadriel residents report to the Null that they have killed Hope, and then when the Null arrive to kill the rest, they walk into an ambush. But Curufin will not suggest that yet, as he isn't yet willing to admit he told the Null he would be pleased to receive a god-killing weapon. ]
But more about that later. I have a few ideas but must consult an expert before I can judge whether one in particular is worth pursuing. [ Namely, Chris, the software developer. ] I will also ask Tranquility for more information about the Null.
Thanks for your time! [ Tiniest bit of sarcastic humor. It's not like either of them have anything but time -- provided the Null don't kill them both. ]
video | private
[He shakes his head.]
They're acting out of necessity. They believe emotions to cloud logic and therefore, we are a threat to their logical processing systems. In order to preserve the integrity of their logic, they eliminate the source of the threat. It isn't personal. It's... cold.
[But... alright, he's interested to hear of further ideas.]
Anyway, I suppose that's enough for now. Let me know if you think of anything else.
video | private
But you have known them longer than I have.
Yes, I will let you now if I think of anything else. And in the meantime, I'll ask Tranquility for his recollections and speak to the expert I mentioned.