MARATHON II: The Alien cometh. A CVnU event, the OOC.

@the_roman: *Props his corpse in front of a computer* now write that post!

In a bit. Gonna go shopping.
I require sustenance!

@guardian_of_gravity: Okay, that's what you get when I'm fueled on cheeseburgers and chocolate ice cream.

I may post today.

@dell_conagher: Good, because we're going to kill ourselves a Grand Overseer so prepare for a

BOOOOOOOSSSSS BAAAAATTTTLLLLLEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111

@guardian_of_gravity: Actually, Dell is staying with the guilty spark. Probably gather knowledge on the enemies and sh!t.

@dell_conagher: Right, then he will soon run into the Thoughtsin and Girik in the race for the index. But the monitors will be all too glad to provide information to a retributor.

@guardian_of_gravity: (Whatever retributor means, I'm glad to be one lol)

Yep. Then Dell kills any possible enemies and aids you guys to destroy the fleet.

@dell_conagher: Retributor means those species designated to inherit all the Masari left behind.

Their technology, their magic, their psionics. They're all programmed to allow humans and human like species to effortlessly be able to access them and be easily reverse engineered.

It's their dying gift to us.

@guardian_of_gravity: Good. Something more to ask about.

@dell_conagher: Although the thought of Dell with a Masari tech suit is somewhat terrifying.

@guardian_of_gravity: >_> Link me to this so called Masari's and I'll decide what is terrifying =P

@dell_conagher: They built the rings, their basic sentinel drones could fight mid level metas on even terms and they're like the lowest of the low, their power armored civilians could take on Superman and give him a fight, their actual soldiers would beat him like a football player's wife, their starships crushed entire galaxies, they could make entire artificial observable universe bubbles or shrink them into the size of a football, for energy they sucked all the power out of big bangs across the multiverse.

They were basically gods, not comic booky gods who may as well be other superheroes, but gods in the meaningful sense of the term.

A video a mashed up for the old site works really well for this LOL, just wanted to post it cause I am bored and thought it is worth a watch.

But can't link to Photobucket... so I will just add a link.

http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/Christopher_Drylie/media/LWPromo.mp4.html

@guardian_of_gravity: Gimme some tech! =P

@dell_conagher: Soon(TM)

@final_arrow:

Thanks for dropping by old chum!

@guardian_of_gravity: Yay \o/

@guardian_of_gravity: Is Tyrant 13 human enough for the Masari? He's technically dominated by and was born like his demon side, but is truly a human with a demon bonded to him, shifted to fit his demonic needs.

@web_flotsam: Enough for easy access to their tech? Probably.

@guardian_of_gravity: Rawr! Slightly off topic for this thread but would you mind if I used Project Frankenstein in some of my characters backstories?

@lady_liberty: Certainly not! Although this may be time for a bit of a history lesson.

Starting in the inter-war era by supergeniuses hired by the governments of France and Britain, the very beginnings of the process that eventually made the A.N.S.C's supersoldiers could be recognized as having come from the @death_harbinger, which while successful in that it created a great warrior, didn't really make anything that could be controlled. Effectively making Death Harbinger and those like him 0th generation Frankensteins which featured universally grotesque body modifications and sanity shattering alterations.

1st Generation Frankensteins served throughout the second world war against similar projects made by the axis powers and in space, these were more variable, effectively the radial phase where just about anything was tried out.

Most of the 1st generation is dead, many not quite making the jump from human to supersoldier very well, especially since the early process wasn't particularly standardized and safety regulations were minimal, but some remain. A rare few didn't have the personality flaws that characterized this generation, and about two thirds wouldn't be able to pass for human.

The second generation was more solidified and lasted to about the early sixties, and was where they started to shift to be able to deal with alien and supernatural foes as well as superpowered human ones It was here that human shaped Frankensteins started to really outnumber the highly physically altered and that the rate of creating "stables" was better than even, but still most had personality flaws.

The third generation, which Dornan and Jannet are a part of, are the first "modern" generation, with inhumans now only making about a fourth of the population. Now is where they started to really be mass produced rather than being tailored for each physiology. Those who were truly compatible at this stage were went and made megagauges which let them meet or exceed the high end tailormade Frankensteins of previous generations.

The fourth generation began in the eighties and ended at the turn of the millenium and is when Frankensteins started to become more like commandos rather than superweapons, fourth generation Frankensteins however, are very numerous and are the first "Hierarchy war" generation (first to be the main brunt against the Hierarchy), and were made to be rather expendable. Cid is a late fourth generation Frankenstein with a lot of the traits that would make up the fifth generation.

The fifth generation are the most standardized, and as time went on the fifth would be the most numerous, and least survivable of the generations. Carol is a fifth generationer and one of the few who's survived long enough in the Hierarchy to really be considered a Veteran from this generation. Otherwise the downward trend from Superweapon to Elite Mook is largely complete. 5th Generationers are generally rather normal people mentally speaking, just with some odd but non-debilitating quirks.

Essentially the trade offs have been less raw power in favor of mass producability and controllability.

@guardian_of_gravity: Awesome, thank you!

@lady_liberty: In any case, Frankensteins breed true and their genetics are lethal to human embryos and sperm cells. They've effectively become their own species because their bodily fluids are so ladened with toxins, nanomachines, catalytic agents, and whatnot that mixing them will kill their partners if they themselves don't have a physiology on a similar level, and nanoreplication and mixture of enhancements into viable embryos.

It's not secret that the A.N.S.C regards 5th and 4th Generation Frankensteins as the new step forward for humanity.

They're not humans or mutants, nor even transhuman as they've already gotten past the point of improving humanity, they're outright posthuman. Something different made by technology rather than a fluke of genetics.

They aren't seeking to improve humanity as they're already better. They're the end result for the entire genus. Once they're less needed at the frontlines anyway.

Some Frankensteins are very much smug about this, much like their counterparts from other similar posthuman warrior projects. Others are a bit uncomfortable with the thought of one day replacing the rest of the genus.

@guardian_of_gravity: Cool. I was thinking a first generation Frankenstein when they were throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck. Basically he was a mutant and somehow the process didn't work out. Although it froze his aging process and gave him mild superhuman abilities he never developed anywhere -near- the power that the others did. But he was hit with the mental instability of the early Frankenstein's. His patriotism was magnified by a thousand until he went insane. Think Nuke (who I'm gonna use as the look).

@lady_liberty: Right, very few of the first three generations could be called "long term successes" and the few that remain are hoarded like treasures that the A.N.S.C is actually quite afraid of losing, so the few remaining stable 1st and 2nd generationers who haven't gone AWOL, died, or dropped somewhere and forgotten are usually kept around as teachers for newer Frankensteins.

I'm presuming this is one of those who has either been dropped out of or slipped from the A.N.S.C's grasp?

@guardian_of_gravity: Yeah I was thinking they considered him a big flop because in the beginning he wasn't controllable or powerful. The worst of both worlds, so the ANSC eventually traded him to another organization, probably the CIA. They learned how to control him and he's been a loyal super soldier ever since.

@lady_liberty: The A.N.S.C does trade off some assets to Earthbound governments in return for favors earthside. Handing him off to the F.B.I once the need for supersoldiers started fading following the exile of the Axis Powers into space would be logical. And once J. Edgar Hoover starts shouting

It would probably be seen as a bad idea to let the F.B.I keep him, so he gets given to the nascent C.I.A as part of the split.

@guardian_of_gravity: Makes sense to me :-)

@lady_liberty: Although to be fair, if anyone in a position of authority starts ranting about unlimited power and shoots lightning out of his fingers he may just be unfit for office. :P

@guardian_of_gravity: Hehe, they just may be!

@lady_liberty: Unless the metric for leadership is awesomeness, which may lead to a very badass country, but not a particularly well run one.

@guardian_of_gravity: Hehe, truth.

@lady_liberty: That being said, C-SPAN would be far more interesting to watch if everyone was a martial arts master and broke out into kung-fu fights over bills.

@guardian_of_gravity: Well, Preston Brooks once beat another Senator with his cane on the floor of the Senate!

@lady_liberty: Well I mean like, every debate over a bill turns into a live action game of street fighter.

@guardian_of_gravity: That would be a lot more exciting. Though I'm not sure if it would be better or worse lol. They've just shut down most of the Federal government [sorta].

@lady_liberty: So congress has gone full retard?

@guardian_of_gravity: Rofl! But not exactly. Full retard is defaulting on our debts. The shutdown isn't actually that bad; most of the important stuff stays open but defaulting is -insane-.

@lady_liberty: I blame your average congresscritter having an IQ somewhere between a rock and some stale meatloaf.

@guardian_of_gravity: Sadly they're all pretty smart. If it was just stupid people we could fix that problem pretty easily. Sadly its MUCH worse than just ignorant people.

It goes back to the ACA. In America there is an unspoken rule that no party passes major legislation without bipartisan support. You just don't do it. When the democratic party wanted to pass the ACA they felt it was worth breaking that unspoken rule, as well as changing some of the procedural rules to allow them to pass everything they wanted.

Fast forward to now and we have the republican party which is really three parties; social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and constitutional conservatives.

Social conservatives are what use to be called the RR, the religious right. Not to many years ago they were the singly most powerful faction in politics, bar NONE. They are concerned about prayer in classrooms, abortion, gay marriage and those kinds of issues.

Fiscal conservatives care about free markets, free trade, deregulation, and so forth. Basically the money party. Although they are not great in number they are were a lot of the republican financing comes from, so without them the GOP would be in a lot of trouble, because they'd be broke.

Constitutional conservatives care about following the Constitution. Basically they are classical liberals. Their issues are 2nd amendment rights, and so forth.

So the problem for the GOP is, and has always been, the divisions between these factions. Fiscal and constitutionalists have to preach the party line about gay marriage, god, and abortion or they can't win primaries. But when they get to the general election they have to drop all that stuff, or they can't win the center. Remember McCain and Romney? Both were pretty centrist.. until they primary then they swerved HARD to the right until the primary ended then they went back to the center.

Which takes me to now. The social conservatives are dying. Demographics are against them, popular opinion is against them, everything is against them. The republican party will soon have no need for them. As a group they have nothing left to do but vote TEA party and take down the ACA. Shutdowns, defaults, doesn't matter to them because in the long term they have nothing left to lose.

Cut to the fiscal and constitutional conservatives. Normally they wouldn't go for it, they'd cross party lines, fund the ACA and let that be that. But if they do then they'll suffer in the median term as they'll lose the support of the social conservatives. Plus they have no reason to compromise with the democrats now, as they feel democrats screwed them on the ACA.

The democrats have no reason to compromise because they look at the polls and see the GOP is going to take the blame for the mess. So the worse the mess is, the better.

GOP leadership may go ahead and fund the ACA anytime, but then again they might not either. Neither side has much to gain from compromising.

@lady_liberty: But aren't there congressmen who think that wind power will make the wind stop?

@guardian_of_gravity: Sure. But don't confuse scientific knowledge, or statements made to appease a base, with a lack of political and social intelligence. One does not make it to the US Congress without being a political machine just the same as one doesn't become champion of the world without having a lot of kinesthetic intelligence.

There are state senates, state houses, state governors, local mayors, aldermen, representatives, town councilmen and so on that absorb everyone but the very best and the brightest politically.

@lady_liberty: In any case, should I go with a more action-y feel with the Thoughtsin or for maximum creepiness?

@guardian_of_gravity: Hrm hrm hrm. Personally I'd say maximum creepiness. There's plenty of action-y stuff but the scary movie aspect of the Thoughtsin isn't as common.

@lady_liberty: Space parasite zombie pawns of eldritch gods is pretty scary. Also, I thought that the @the_thoughtsin_malpsyche should often lapse between comprehensibility and just plain weird nonsense that doesn't make sense until you put it into context.

Like so.

That's some interesting stuff! I can say, CV has taught me something yet again lol

@lady_liberty: Have I ever told you you're really smart?

@guardian_of_gravity: That sounds interesting dialog wise.

@pyrogram: Thanks lol. Well informed citizenry, the cornerstone of democracy, and all that ;-)

@ramjam I believe that you may have, once or twice hehe.