Brotherhood of the Machine (OOC) [PG/14] - Open - New players welcome!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I suspect, tech, that the thought is that the team as it stands isn't ready, willing, or able to do any serious damage to The Brotherhood in a stand-up fight.

As such, they're much better used sneaking around under the radar, and trying to avoid being noticed. After all, you've got a tower full of folk who can, for example, almost accidentally wipe out two cameras, and have the spare bodies to send three out on a wild goose chase in their own back yard.


Paranoia may be your best friend, here. I know if -I- was playing, I'd be -damned- careful about kicking the hornets nest that that Tower is. Or even walking too close to it, in fact...

[techmaster-glitch]

Which is why I was thinking that instead of actually trying to fight the entire Tower, we simply plow right through until we zero in on the transmitter's location, then maybe plant a bomb of some kind.

As such, they're much better used sneaking around under the radar, and trying to avoid being noticed.

And just how the hell are we supposed to do that? It takes the rebellion's best operatives just to procure what little information they have. They aren't even in a position to covertly take out anything, and since we are nowhere near that level of expertise, we sure as hell can't do anything even close to what the rebellion can actually do in terms of stealth either.

As it stands, attack is simply our only viable option. Not just because it was what we are supposed to do, but because nothing else will work.

Propaganda/exposure? Ineffective and inconsequential.
Stealt/quite sabatouge? Right out. Period.
Attack/assault? Not a pretty prospect, but still the only one that has even a snowball's chance of being successfull. Especcially if, with Baiye and Gerald and his AIs, we turn the Tower's own automatic defences against them to thin out their numbers ahead of time.
That and the majority of our characters are geared mostly towards combat. A total of seven. Each can handle at least a few Brotherhood on their own no problem, if we all work together, especcially with a medic and mechanic to keep us cranking, we can take out a whole lot more. Even the charaters not geared primarilly towards combat can probably pick off one or two Brotherhood (Baiye and her wrench, gerald and his cham-pistol. I don't know about Dorcan, like someone said, he's just comedic relief)
Though, RP and story-wise, I'm actually expecting a boss battle showdown with the very Priest of the Tower before we actually manage to shut down the transmitter.

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan has had some basic training in swords and crossbows, neither of which are really relevant.  Most of his defensive training went into his wing-tentacles, which he has now lost.
Like most of my characters, he was really conceived as a problem-solver, not a combatant (and certainly not comic-relief, although you will see him doing that in FH 13 when it's ready).

As such, he is shit-scared at the prospect of doing anything that would get him killed, and lets be honest, from the available info, attacking the tower sounds like Moses going up on the mountain and giving God the finger.

It doesn't help that there is a certain amount of flipflopping among the team - the only real leader they have is Exo.  If Exo puts his foot down and settles on a plan, the others will have to fall in line.

I do have a couple of ideas for attacking the tower, but I'm not going to voice those yet because Morgan has just suggested not attacking the tower and I want to see how that pans out.

[techmaster-glitch]

but I'm not going to voice those yet because Morgan has just suggested not attacking the tower

Morgan suggested trying to expose the mindcontrol to the public. As I have already said, that idea is a complete bust, becase it will change nothing whatsoever.
Not to mention that 'exposing' is not 'freeing'.

Our objective, assigned by Jackson Phoenix (essentially Ryudo Lee himself): Free the townsfolk from the mind control.

We know the cause. We must free the people. To do that, we need to cut off the transmitter somehow. The only way to do that is to get to the transmitter itself, and destroy, disable, dismantle, ect. The only way to do that is...use your imagination.

[lucas marcone]

*price is right loseing music* im sorry but you cant see the trees for the forest in this case...... if they use emps it might work....thats up to ryudo.

and who said anywhere in this rp that the public is immune to shock from mind control?

you've been takeing some pretty considerable liberties with the opinion of the nations population. shouldn't ryudo be the one to tell us how it would affect their over all mood?

[techmaster-glitch]

im sorry but you cant see the trees for the forest in this case...if they use emps it might work

An EMP that would be able to cut through the Tower and get to the transmitter would have to be large enough to blow out the entire town, i.e., a freaking warhead sized EMP bomb. We, and I don't think even the rebellion, have that kind of firepower, idiot. If they did, they almost certainly would have beaten the Brotherhood by now, what with their utter depencancy on technology.
And besides, WHERE IS THE FREAKING RP POINT/FUN IN THAT?

As for the the population...you know what, I'm done trying to explain that. Where the hell is Ryudo? I don't even care anymore if he shoots down everything I've said, I just want this resolved, once and for all.

[lucas marcone]

calm down, there's no need for name calling... besides i was talking about localized emps to fry the chips insted of the signal generator.

[techmaster-glitch]

Like I said, it would still have to get through the Tower, weren't you listening? The only thing that could have that kind of magnitude would be the size of an ICBM warhead.
The only way a small EMP would work is if it was on the signal generator itslef. And that still continues to prove my point that an attack is our only option.

[lucas marcone]

first. calm the FIZZNUCK down you're starting to tick me off when the RP stops being fun for me ill just have my character eat a bullet so to speak.

second. no you dont have to pulse the generator to fry the chips.....the emp would render the chips in the citizen's necks un receptive and there fore the signel wouldn't be picked up.....ie the generateor is still pumping but the chips are dead much like typeing on a keyboard not hooked to a computer.....

[techmaster-glitch]

Oh, you meant the recieving chips. Why didn't you say so?
That's far more plausible, but still completely kills the fun of RPing. If it's gonna be that boring I might have my character eat bullets

[lucas marcone]

this rp, to my knowlege is not confined to northon. it is my characters view to use the paranoia of a bigbrother fiasco to wake up the nation and see JUST how progressively invasive the brotherhood is. when that's all said and done it is my understanding we will gain more support and the government might actually welcome armed strikes on the brotherhood. and we might just have the beefy support of the military on our side.

[Arcalane]

You both have valid points, just sit down and shut up for a bit. Or at least take a ten minute break.

I pulled the Etherume Act thing out of my ass - I figure it'd be a likely situation that would happen in such an advanced world. I mean, subliminal messaging is banned in advertising today, but imagine the compulsion behind subliminal advertising being pumped straight into your brain. There's no way anyone would let that stuff slide.

[lucas marcone]

i was just thinking of any NORMAL person's reaction to being that frigginfrackin cheerful and supportive of something they might not actually support against their will.

[techmaster-glitch]

Someone pointed out earlier that the effect of the mind control, or more accurately, mood control, is probably a gradual effect, both building up and wearing down. That way, if someone so much as passed behind a sheet of lead, they wouldn't immediately revert.
If we just take out the chips, the Brotherhood would realize instantly, reactivate them, and start a massive localized search just for us.

Arcalane: I don't mind the Etherume Act thing, I think it was perfectly within reason.

[lucas marcone]

not necessarily.... emps permenantly damage the equipment...also they only recive not send....so the brotherhood has no way of knowing if they're on or off.

[techmaster-glitch]

True, the chips don't send, but the Brotherhood still has to have some way on knowing weather or not they're working. A routine "checkup", maybe?

[lucas marcone]

we'll work this out with ryudo.... in this RP he is in a manner of speaking "god" not in a sackreligious way of course.

[Tapewolf]

Oh, you meant the recieving chips. Why didn't you say so?

Well, Dorcan has suggested this over and over...

Morgan suggested trying to expose the mindcontrol to the public. As I have already said, that idea is a complete bust, becase it will change nothing whatsoever.
Not to mention that 'exposing' is not 'freeing'.

Our objective, assigned by Jackson Phoenix (essentially Ryudo Lee himself): Free the townsfolk from the mind control.

As Dorcan has just pointed out, what they were actually told was "investigate the townsfolk and then report back to me."

We know the cause. We must free the people. To do that, we need to cut off the transmitter somehow. The only way to do that is to get to the transmitter itself, and destroy, disable, dismantle, ect. The only way to do that is...use your imagination.

As Dorcan has also pointed out earlier, we don't yet know if breaking the link will be fatal.  Burning out the chip in a test subject should be the next step.  It probably isn't, but if it is, switching off the tower could kill the entire town, so it's not the sort of thing you want to risk.

Actually a combined approach might be best.  Dorcan's plan involves drawing the Brotherhood out of the tower while the others infiltrate it.  There are a number of things that could achieve this.

[lucas marcone]

ya know i kindof have the feeling that the public is acting much like the public in V for vendetta. listen closely to what V says on air in the news staion and in the park when he is poseing as "rockwood". i suspect fear has them compliant like sheep who are promised order from chaos for the sacrifice of a few liberties.

[Ryudo Lee]

Sorry y'all.  It was the weekend from hell.  I was in no mental condition to be posting... or reading.

Bweeheeheehee. I like the smile. :-]

Edit:
Speaking of which, I note that the Zealots and Enforcers really don't fit in the general population - everyone else is cheerful and smiley, and they're downright grumpy.

Or perhaps that's just me...

That's the creepy factor.

I say 'was' because I actually haven't heard from him the past few weeks...he must've gone on some vacation and forgot to tell me about it.

If I told you what I have in store for you, it wouldn't be much of an RP, would it?


As for all the arguments of how to handle the mission... keep in mind a couple of things:

"Alright.  I'm sending you all up to Northon.  There's been some odd activity there.  The people there are pro-Brotherhood... almost to a fault.  The whole town is in love with them.  Reports I've gotten from there make it seem like it's unnatural, like a brainwashing or reprogramming or something along those lines.  I don't believe that a whole town would be dedicated wholly to the Brotherhood by choice.  So I'm sending you there to investigate." He says.

And

"This is where you all decide how you want to approach this mission.  Your objective is to investigate the townsfolk and then report back to me with your findings." He said.  "Keep in mind that we don't want any innocent people killed, if it can be helped."

And

Jackson nods.
"If it can be shut down, then do it.  If you feel that you can't shut it down with your own forces then call for reinforcements." He says.

And last but not least

Jackson cleared his throat to get attention focused back on him.
"Well, it appears you all seem to know what you're doing.  Use your best judgment.  Use discretion.  And above all, keep everyone safe.  We don't want any innocents caught in the crossfire." He says ...

The orders were to investigate.  Shutting the system down would be an optional thing, IF you think you can do it.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

That's the creepy factor.

Argh. You creep! ;-]

[lucas marcone]

and of the reactions of the people outside of northon?



by the way i just decided josh will meet an unfortunate end but that's just so i can bring in another less emo character.

[techmaster-glitch]

Ah. So our orders were to investigate? Gaw-dammit. And now we report back to Jackson? You know what I have a problem with that?
MORGAN IS THE ONLY CHARACTER WHO HAS ACTUALLY DONE ANYTHING! If investigating was our only objective, then the mission is already over! Morgan did it all already! That bites! Morgan is also the only one who has even come close to having a tussle with the Brotherhood. Not to mention that for the last nine pages the rest of us have done nothing but stand around the vans flappin our yaps. I am going out of my mind here, I just want something to happen. If Jackson said we can make a move against the Tower if we think we can...we damn well can.
I apologize if it sounds like I'm whining, but seriously; nine whole pages with only a single character getting a smidgen of anything resembling action? Come on.

[Tapewolf]

It's just the first mission.  I agree with pretty much all of your points, though.  The whole thing could have been accomplished by Morgan solo, and basically was.

So now the plan is to radio base and find out what Jackson thinks.  If he says attack, we attack.  As I say, I've got some ideas as to how to even the odds a bit.  And it would be fun, although Dorcan is liable to try and weasel out of it.  (And even if he stays behind, it doesn't make him safe from the Brotherhood...)

[techmaster-glitch]

So now basically we need Arcalane/Exo to use his perfect robot memory and remind everyone that our orders were to investigate, not neccessarilly attack. From a continuity perspective, on of us meatbags just pulling that line out of our ass after aruging attacking won't make much sense.

[Tapewolf]

So now basically we need Arcalane/Exo to use his perfect robot memory and remind everyone that our orders were to investigate, not neccessarilly attack. From a continuity perspective, on of us meatbags just pulling that line out of our ass after aruging attacking won't make much sense.

Why not?  The briefing was earlier that day - someone like Dorcan is going to have taken notes.  If violence gives him the willies, he may very well have latched onto the idea of just reporting rather than attacking 

This is ignoring the fact that his memory is likely to be better that it was when he was organic, although not perfect.  And admittedly he's trying to cover up the fact that he's synthetic.  And everyone seems to ignore what he says anyway 

[techmaster-glitch]

In that case, it would probably be best if you mention it to everyone now, before this degenerates even further than it already has...

[Tapewolf]

In that case, it would probably be best if you mention it to everyone now, before this degenerates even further than it already has...

He just did, though didn't he?


"Hold it, hold it," said Dorcan as tempers began to fray.

"Our mission, as assigned, was to investigate the townsfolk and report back to Jackson.  Thanks to Morgan we now have a pretty clear idea of what is going on, so our first priority should be to relay this information back to base.  Those were our orders.
Actually trying to attack the Brotherhood's stronghold is something that we were only supposed to attempt if we felt we could accomplish it on our own.  If not, we were to phone home for reinforcements.

"Now if you are dead-set on this plan, I have a few suggestions to add.  But first we need to relay what we have learned back to Jackson, and establish once and for all what we are going to do next."

[techmaster-glitch]

Shoot. Missed that. Thanks.

[Tapewolf]

Shoot. Missed that. Thanks.

No problem.  One of Dorcan's other roles so far seems to be to try and keep the peace within the group