Brotherhood of the Machine (OOC Thread) {03}

[techmaster-glitch]

That's actually pretty much what I'm gonna have my character do, as soon as I'm able to actually finish the post.

[Azlan]

the first OOC page has links to profiles, I've read up a little. Azlan has a fox char, and tapewolf has a doberman, prof has a otter.

Oh yeah, and Morgan is actually human.

Morgan is technically a fox who looks human.  He is a genetically alter fox with lots of human DNA sequences inserted into his genome.  Please Ignore the fact that this is not possible in genetics.  He is very human in appearance, but he will smell much like a fox (no musk), his aura is very foxy, and in the etherscape/psi-scape he has a lot of fox traits.

So technically both are right, but he only appears human. 

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Oh, he has eyes. The question is, how does he know that he's looking for an otter, a doberman with wings, and a fox?

(let's just let Prof being elsewhere slide for the moment)

I had to follow the instruction for Jexx character, for a reference.   Dr Sally is a sea otter..

Shadow has not met the good Doctor, yet, and she is playing a little loose with the rules wandering around HQ, as she should be in the Medical ward in bed.  But we'll see what happens in the Mess hall.

  I will try to draw every character with the good doctor or Jathon as time goes on.

when I can think of a good laugh.


PBH

[Ryudo Lee]

Very nice picture PBH, but let's see if we can put stuff like that into this thread, okay?

[Prof B Hunnydew]

What?   It is related to the story....

Well, Okay
PBH

[Ryudo Lee]

I understand that, and art is encouraged, but let's put stuff like that here in the OOC thread and reserve the IC thread for RP'ing.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Yes, GM  I will post here any future visional aids....


PBH

[Jer-oh-me]

Hi, I'd like to join this RP! What do I need to do?

aside from filling in the following I mean.

Name Pontus
Age 24
Sex Male
Magic User? No
Psychic? Very vaguely
Tech usage (if any - implants, nanomachines, cybernetic limbs, etc) Prosthetic right arm.
Faction (Rebellion, mercenary group, individual) Individual
Physical Description Pontus is a Squirrel, he is therefore on the short side (Think Jyrras and Wildy from DMFA on size), lithe in his case (he's thin). He has a green left eye and a grey right eye. He has a pair of dark brown markings on his face that trail from either side of his face at the base of his eyes. His ears are of course round and small but very aurally acute. Tends toward a functional over fashion wardrobe and so frequently wears a set of coveralls of either blue, green, or grey colour. All are equipped with cargo pockets just above the knees. Usually he will tie off the top of the coveralls at his waist and wear a t-shirt, usually a dark colour with either a 'cool' logo or something funny (Basically if it would be sellable on thinkgeek.com he will eventually have it on). Usually wears a pair of slip on sneakers that are a black and white (or green) checker pattern. His tail is floofy and bigger than the rest of him. His right arm, up to the elbow, was lost in an accident in which he attempted to fix something that was quicker than him once it was fixed. That said he is very very quick with his hands and fleet of foot, but then he's a squirrel (Don't know if that  qualifies as physical description but I would max out any speed stat if this were an RPG).

[Tapewolf]

Just FYI, my net access will be a little patchy over the next couple of days.

[Ryudo Lee]

Jer, that looks good to me.  I would assume that you'd meet the group at the site they're going to?

[Jer-oh-me]

Jer, that looks good to me.  I would assume that you'd meet the group at the site they're going to?

Okay, sounds good to me, I'll just make sure I read up...

[Eibborn]

Heya. I'm considering joining, and I'm just wondering if anything has been done with cloning yet. I've come up with a psychic character who controls two or three clone-children. Although they do each have a little bit of distinct personality, they obey his orders without question. They're more or less extensions of the character, lacking free-will.

Is this kind of thing workable in this setting, do you guys think? And are you still at a good time for someone to join up?

EDIT: Also, do you guys think it's necessary to read the whole RP from the start? It would help me get a feel for what the world and scenario are like, but... well. That's rather a lot to read.

[Ryudo Lee]

Hm... cloning.  Well I don't see a problem with the technology, although the psychic control would have to be downplayed.  Perhaps you could go more towards droids or something along those lines.  Psychic powers and magic are weak at this point of the game, but as the game progresses then those powers would get stronger.  Can you work with that?

Also, reading the whole story is a fairly good idea, although it's not necessary.  The first post of the first IC thread sets the mood and setting, and you should be able to just jump in where necessary.  Perhaps I should put a summary of everything that's been accomplished in the first post of the OOC thread.

[Eibborn]

Well, I'm already midway through the first thread, so I may as well continue reading! XD The summary might be a good idea anyway, though, when you've got time.

Hm, how about cyborgs? If it'll work, they can have a borg-like link rather than a psychic one. I'm just a little unclear on exactly what kind of technology is available.

Are there any other organizations working against the Brotherhood? I'm considering that my character and his little friends may be a (rather glitchy) prototype fighting force and it would help to have a logical source. I guess there could be a lone mad scientist sympathizer...

[Ryudo Lee]

Cyborgs would work.  EXO is a bot so the technology certainly exists.  And wireless communications are viable as well.

[Azlan]

I think I have a copy of the schematics on a thumb drive in my key ring.  After the mission We'll have to see if we can figure out a way to read it on your computer systems."

You make a very large assumption that your thumb drive has a compatible interface to this world's technology... that the power requirements to run the unit will be sufficient (say... 5V at 100mA) or that you will easily be able to engineer an entirely new piece of technology as an adapter.  USB might stand for Universal Serial Bus, but I think you misunderstand the use of the word "Universal" here.  Not saying this world or whatever one Dorcan comes from uses USB, but it was funny when I said it to Neni.

Barring this interface and operational difficulty, there is the file system issue.  Linux guys would love to claim that their superior OS and all its flavors are used across universes, but I have yet to see evidence of that.  I do hope, because that will make first encounter situations really easy... 

Another complication is the file type... there might be a minor loss of fidelity in the translation.  Granted its all 1 and 0s... but it is hard to suspend this much disbelief Tape.

[Tapewolf]

....
Another complication is the file type... there might be a minor loss of fidelity in the translation.  Granted its all 1 and 0s... but it is hard to suspend this much disbelief Tape.

In my defence, there's a fair bit of that going on already.  The fact that Dorcan is able to speak and understand their language, or for that matter, that furs and humans within the same world are able to talk to each other, given the morphological differences in their throats and mouths.  We brush that under the carpet because otherwise the RP would just fall flat, or we'd be stuck with human characters.
I was hoping we could do the same here.  In the end, it's up to Ryudo, though if he agrees that it's a stretch too far, I can edit it so that Dorcan sketches out some of the key subsystems on paper.  Who knows... they might try to decode the disk and give it up as infeasible.

If you're interested, I did actually consider most of the above points when I wrote that bit.  The plan I had in my head was this:

1. Reverse engineer physical layer, the device being based on +5v TTL, probably set out in a parallel interface a'la CompactFlash.  Assume that Dorcan, who has spent the last 30 years learning electronics, knows the pinout and underlying protocol to talk to the disk controller, at least at a basic level.  Alternatively, it might be easier for them to access the memory chip directly - bypassing the controller - and pull the data off that way, though it might make reassembling the data image harder.

2. Pull raw data off the disk sector-by-sector.

3. Reassemble the files as close as possible.  The filesystem is FAT32 or something equally trivial.  The schematics are raw, 1bpp bitmap data.  It'll take them a while (days, hopefully not too many) to reconstruct the bitmaps.

4. Study and understand the schematics.  From a suspension-of-disbelief point of view, this was the one that I most concerned about...

A possible point in their favour is that Jakob and company are quite likely to have deliberately chosen a disk protocol that is easy to reverse-engineer, since Creatures have long lives and may wish to recall the data long after the manufacture has folded and the designers have died and the standard itself has fallen into general disuse.  (Yes, I'm ignoring the deterioration of the storage media itself)

[Ryudo Lee]

In my defence, there's a fair bit of that going on already.  The fact that Dorcan is able to speak and understand their language, or for that matter, that furs and humans within the same world are able to talk to each other, given the morphological differences in their throats and mouths.  We brush that under the carpet because otherwise the RP would just fall flat, or we'd be stuck with human characters.

For Doran's situation, I'm thinking of this as more like a parallel universe.  I don't want to go into parallel universe theory, but for the sake of the game, everyone speaks the same languages across dimensions.

I was hoping we could do the same here.  In the end, it's up to Ryudo, though if he agrees that it's a stretch too far, I can edit it so that Dorcan sketches out some of the key subsystems on paper.  Who knows... they might try to decode the disk and give it up as infeasible.

For this, if Dorcan would allow for it, significant reverse engineering would have to be done by the Rebel's engineering/science staff.  I'd rather not go into the details of what they'd be doing, but rather say that Dorcan hands over the drive, they fiddle with it for a day or three (or more) and then come back with an adapter and file translator/readers.

Any technology can be made compatible if you put enough effort into it.

[Tapewolf]

For this, if Dorcan would allow for it, significant reverse engineering would have to be done by the Rebel's engineering/science staff.  I'd rather not go into the details of what they'd be doing, but rather say that Dorcan hands over the drive, they fiddle with it for a day or three (or more) and then come back with an adapter and file translator/readers.

That's fine by me.
At first I thought you meant Dorcan submitting himself to reverse-engineering, which the rebels would presumably have done for Exo, to a degree.  That is something he might go for at a pinch, but obviously that depends on them knowing that he's synthetic.  They might already know, depending on who and how much the Doctor has told - but it's a secret Dorcan is trying hard to keep from all and sundry (slip-up with Morgan aside).  Paranoid or not, he's afraid they'll think he's a tool of the Brotherhood or something.

[Ryudo Lee]

Paranoid or not, he's afraid they'll think he's a tool of the Brotherhood or something.

Right, and that's something to be found out in play.  Although that would make an interesting side-track, what with the engineering/science staff trying to poke around in Dorcan to see what makes him tick.   

[Tapewolf]

Well, if we're all relatively happy with that, I guess it's Izzie's turn.

[Ryudo Lee]

I put up a summary of everything that's been done so far in the first post of this thread.  This way, new folks don't have to read through 40-someodd pages of IC posts to get caught up.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

I know Exo is still the head guy of this team and all but I should think he should ask if we all are ready to go...

PBH

[Arcalane]

Exo is busy dealing with requisitioning equipment and vehicles, just as a reminder. At this point he'll probably be in the garage or whatever passes for such a structure, loading the vans up and giving the non-player personnel a quick briefing.

[Ryudo Lee]

Tape, here's a question... not to sound demeaning or sound like I'm taking sides or anything like that, but why is it that Dorcan felt that he should keep his nature a secret from the people he fights alongside with, but when a completely new person comes in and says he's an engineer, Dorcan opens up to him almost completely?  It seems to me that that kind of behaviour is a bit, well, strange.  Is there an underlying reason for that?

One of the things that I always ask of other players is that their characters flow well with the rest of the party.  Conflicts between characters tend to break my games.  If there's a good reason for this behaviour then there's obviously not much I can do about it.  I can't dictate to you how to play your character, and neither can anyone else.  But if he's just doing it for the sake of doing it, then perhaps something there needs to be changed.

Also, it seems to me that the game is being dominated by two or three players at a time.  I understand that conversations can run long, but everyone should keep in mind that we do have other players in this game and they should all be included.  At the same time, if all the players posted as much as the others, this wouldn't be an issue.  Just putting that out there.

[Tapewolf]

Tape, here's a question... not to sound demeaning or sound like I'm taking sides or anything like that, but why is it that Dorcan felt that he should keep his nature a secret from the people he fights alongside with, but when a completely new person comes in and says he's an engineer, Dorcan opens up to him almost completely?  It seems to me that that kind of behaviour is a bit, well, strange.  Is there an underlying reason for that?

The way I see it there are three opposing forces at work.
Firstly, he's afraid of letting everyone know for the reasons he's told Izzie.
On the other hand, he realises that he has to tell someone in case he's damaged.  That's a conflict which he hasn't really been able to resolve and so he would be acting in rather confused manner.
In some ways, talking to Izzie was a bit like a confession... once he started, it was difficult to stop.  He might realise that he's said too much a little while later.
Finally,what Morgan said back at the mess is starting to sink in.  Dorcan is coming to realise that he can't keep it secret forever, and that even if he could it probably isn't the best approach for the team as a whole.

If you can think of an alternative approach, suggestions are welcome.  That said, I feel he's behaving in about the same way I would in his position... which is not necessarily entirely rationally.

[shadowterm]

And to be completely fair, a character that is always rational isn't quite believable.

[Ryudo Lee]

Well I can understand your reasoning.  But there is one thing that does sorta bother me.  Dorcan has had ample time to observe the rest of the group, most specifically, Exo.  Obviously, Exo is a machine with an advanced AI.  Everyone appears to treat Exo as though he's another living entity, rather than as one would treat a non-autonomous robot, or a household computer.  So it should seem blatantly obvious that autonomous machines are widely accepted.  And Dorcan coming out and saying "hey, I'm a machine too" wouldn't be met with too much negative responses.  At least, that's how I view things.

[Tapewolf]

Well I can understand your reasoning.  But there is one thing that does sorta bother me.  Dorcan has had ample time to observe the rest of the group, most specifically, Exo.  Obviously, Exo is a machine with an advanced AI.  Everyone appears to treat Exo as though he's another living entity, rather than as one would treat a non-autonomous robot, or a household computer.  So it should seem blatantly obvious that autonomous machines are widely accepted.  And Dorcan coming out and saying "hey, I'm a machine too" wouldn't be met with too much negative responses.  At least, that's how I view things.

That's something that's been bugging me over the last few days as well, truth be told.  Somehow it didn't really register until quite recently, I don't know why.  In some ways I'm stuck with it, because that's the attitude Dorcan has been taking from day one.  I'd label it a character quirk.

Thinking about it, Exo was a product of the Brotherhood.  From Dorcan's point of view it would reinforce the notion that the Brothers have a lock on true AI, hence he should keep quiet.
There is a flaw in that reasoning too, mind - it ignores Baiye's dog and Gerald's AIs.

It might be fun - once Dorcan's cover is blown - for one of the higher-ups to take him to task or otherwise admonish him over the fact that he's seen no less than three other AIs and still thinks that he'd be in danger...

[Ryudo Lee]

I had Baiye's dog and Gerald's AI's in mind as well, but didn't mention them as they're no longer active.  And Dorcan can also consider that those characters were not of Brotherhood design, but rather that of Baiye and Gerald, so it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that the Brotherhood doesn't have a true lock on AI programming.  After all, Exo's programming was altered by the Rebels.