Siiracai The Supernal
Shadows and Balance
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2019
- Messages
- 51
- Likes received
- 139
All in favor of officially naming all of the enlightened Pauls "Big [insert colour]"? Because I think it is hilarious.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I know you said that Kalmin is super territorial about his machines, but he probably has a really excellent grasp of the actual mechanics of ring construction that could still make him super helpful for a mortal trying to learn how to do it even without access to machines.
It's unclear how many of the Pauls died here - it might have been zero, but it's definitely possible there are some surplus power rings around.
Very neat thing, though feel it's a bit of a shame that Krona didn't throw out more exotic attacks rather then mostly just use exotic physics based defenses and such.
Look forward for more exotic light manipulation stuff.
I step inside, firmly shut the door behind me and telekinetically grip the air around the walls of the office,
Maybe they're distributing lanterns.So Krona vs Kronos or the Paul Corps are exploring the multi-verse?
Someone opened a portal to him using the orange light?
So Krona vs Kronos or the Paul Corps are exploring the multi-verse?
Probably not seeing as Paul said they sent him to a universe where his powers or rings won't work, but this version was able to use his ring, so either it is something else, or the various Paul's screwed up.
Thank you, corrected.
If that's Krona it looks like the other Paul's miscalculated.The ring on my necklace lights up in brilliant orange.
Oh, heck. Broadcast!
**This is Krono. Highest defensive condition. Bring the Dream Twister online at once.**
Douglas winces at the force of my mental intrusion. "What-? That some kinda alien-?"
"It was foolish to think that humans were alone in the universe. It was even more foolish to assume that the zetans were the only others. I think that the people who abducted me are coming back."
Good to see his field of operations has improved. The equivalent of a late-game turn, I suppose.Early spring, 2280
Late morning
**PeoplePlaceConversationsThoughtsActionsEvents.**
I lay the zetan thought storage unit back down on my desk. My agents on the East Coast have done a heroic job, especially under the circumstances. But… Things have come to a point I was hoping to avoid, at least for a little while.
When it wastes good people and useful resources, you always should. Unfortunately, many people aren't so sharp.Thirty seven years since the destruction of the Poseidon oil rig. Thirty five or so since the NCR/Brotherhood alliance overran the main Enclave base at Navarro, killing everyone they could, military or civilian. Three years since the 'death' of President Eden, leaving President Franklin Anderson in charge of the only significant cohesive group of Enclave-loyalists on the continent.
I do so hate pointless killing.
It's always tempting, isn't it? To skip the diplomatic path and just make people do what you think they should?I **erase** the storage device and slide it back into its compartment in my desk. I'm going to have to accelerate things. Which is going to be awkward, but if I want to continue not being that sort of telepath, nudging people into doing the right thing is the most I can do. And it does have certain limits as a method.
Ah. This is going to involve someone's real name, isn't it? It never feels good to have to expose someone's secrets and regrets.I get up and walk out of the former base commander's office, heading towards where I can feel the mind of one of Groom Lake's refugees-turned-citizens. 'Chuck Holtz' and his small band of companions arrived out of the desert from the direction of Desert Ranger territory three years ago, though for perfectly understandable reasons they avoided the base itself until after I removed the Whisperers from power. Though none of them have been willing to take advantage of the neurotropic initiator, they're all far more technically competent than most of the region's other inhabitants and they're all perfectly willing to pitch in. Good people, all of them.
I doubt he cares to use it. Krono!Paul strikes me as the sort of person who prefers face-to-face conversations. If only to avoid confusion.I knock on the open door to his office for a moment before I stick my head inside, causing him to look up from his work orders with a smile.
"Krono. Intercom busted again?"
A discreet word, if you will. And not something you'd want to risk anyone overhearing due to a glitchy intercom?I bow my head with a smile. If I'm honest, I don't understand micro vacuum tube based technology much better than the tribals do. The system which the zetans use operates rather differently, but I've hesitated to completely rework Groom Lane so most of the systems -though up upgraded- are essentially still made of pre-war technology.
"No. Alright, I didn't check. Have you got a moment? I need a quick word."
Now that's a cone of silence. And visible enough that he can see it? That's a strong effect.He makes a shrugging movement with his hands. "Sure thing, chief. What do you need?"
I step inside, firmly shut the door behind me and telekinetically grip the air around the walls of the office, causing what little external sound reaches us here to drop away. His smile fades a little and he straightens up.
Dun-dun-Duuuun! Uh, who? Not a Fallout player... I'm guessing an original character, regardless."Serious talk, then."
"Yes, Captain Douglas Granite, I'm rather afraid that it is."
Gee, you think? Even if they have a code of ethics, sometimes you can just think too 'loud' about something...His expression grows a little distant as I use his real name, then he nods slowly.
"Yeah, I guess it was a bit much to think we could keep a secret from a bunch of mind readers."
Ah, part of a unit with a reputation. And he's worried that Krono is going to judge him on that reputation first? I thought he knew Krono."I try not to read too deeply, but I needed to make sure that the squad of unusually well educated men and women weren't Brotherhood Knights here to sabotage us. Most of what I know about you actually comes from my personal interactions with you. And.. reports from the people I've had keeping tabs on Doctor Anderson."
He looks.. torn for a moment, then-.
Now, how violent was that action? Was it the sort of 'I've seen things' violent? Enough to make someone, and his loyal squadmates, decide to desert?I raise my right hand.
"Conquering Vault City was a severe misstep. There aren't enough caps in the wasteland to make the New California Republic miss two major trading partner being overrun by people with stars-on-blue emblems on their power armour."
Ah. That kind of violent, indeed.He nods sadly. "I scrubbed it off mine before I ditched it."
"We can pick it up, if you like."
Inferring from references, this Anderson guy is practically the second coming of Hitler? Or at least the last person you want in charge of a major polity.He shakes his head. "It won't be good for anything now. Sand will have wrecked it." He looks at me for a moment. "I guess your… Friends in the NCR clued you in?"
"No, but it.. hardly matters. Given.. Doctor Anderson, I'm not exactly going to be sad to see him defeated."
Depending on where he was deployed, I assume it does?He sighs, and nods. "He said on the campaign trail that the only thing Richardson did wrong was lose."
"Quite. But I'm.. disquieted at the idea of the NCR carrying out another extermination campaign, which is almost certainly what will happen when they finally win. And… Then there's the East Coast. Tell me, does the name 'Augustus Autumn' mean anything to you?"
So, a nice guy, or just someone wanting privacy for Science!?He hesitates, then appears to concede to himself that there's very little point in trying to hide anything from me.
"Yeah. He was a.. senior researcher at one of the Enclave's science facilities. I don't know exactly what he did there. I just.. remember him because after the fall of Navarro he rallied a whole lot of Enclave personnel and headed for the east coast. Don't think I ever heard why. I guess he wanted to try and set up camp somewhere away from anyone who already had a grudge. Do you know what happened to him?"
I know enough Fallout to recognise that. Part of Fallout 3's DLC, yes? And Liberty Prime is... 'Curbstomp' is a charitable result of it being deployed..."Oh, he died of a stroke over a decade ago. His son Colonel Augustus Autumn Junior leads the Enclave survivors in the area now. He's.. more your sort. Unfortunately, he got into a fight with the local Brotherhood chapter over a novel water purification technology, and… They had Liberty Prime."
"They-." His eyes light up. "Hot damn! I didn't think that thing every really got built! I had a toy-." He cuts himself off and takes a moment to calm himself. "Sorry."
I'm guessing send 'Chuck' here east with a care package of tech."Apparently, the Brotherhood weren't feeling particularly vengeful. Autumn and his surviving soldiers were allowed to evacuate the region, but with the destruction of their headquarters they're…" How to put this? "Feeling lost. And while the east coast doesn't have quite the same level of hatred for the Enclave that the west coast does, they didn't exactly make themselves popular."
"You got a plan to help them?"
"What the NCR doesn't know won't hurt them. Unless it needs to."I nod. "And it depends on you. I can get the materials required for them to set up a settlement well away from any of the many people out for their-. Your blood. But I need someone dependable to ride herd on them. The FEV Plague wouldn't have hurt me, but I'm rather attached to a lot of people it would have killed."
"And the NCR's okay with you doing that."
A quite retirement probably sounds nice, but this world... It isn't that pleasant..."The NCR… Are aware that upon occasion people come to me… Who have fought them in the past and no longer wish to do so, but who will not surrender to them. They accept that, as long as no one does anything too blatant."
He thinks for a moment. "So, what? We just settle down and fade out of history? I mean, that's what I was planning on doing, but I wasn't going to do that until all the other choices got snatched away."
Interesting question. It puts me in mind of OL's "What do you want?" Is Krono planning on setting him up to forge a more civilised East Coast?"Captain-."
He shakes his head. "Douglas is fine."
"Douglas. Do you believe in the ideal of America, or the reality of America?"
Direct, isn't he? Man's got a sense of politics."What do you mean by that?"
"Is it enough to establish a thing you can call 'America', regardless of its characteristics, or do you actually want to restore America as it should be?"
"You wouldn't be talking to me if it was the first one."
I think it might go better if you greet with an open hand, and a gun in close reach. It's a nice dream, though."Oh, I might." I look away for a moment. "It would be a rather different conversation… The point is, I think that between the west coast and the east coast we've established that the quick and violent method isn't going to work for the Enclave. But, there's nothing to stop you re-establishing the United States of America in the way it was originally established. Build up and spread out. Teach your people idealism and have them share it. Greet your neighbours with an open hand and not a gun barrel. It will take generations, but the difference is that it might actually work."
Silly idea, anyway. I suspect this Anderson fellow might not give up what power he's claimed, even if the people asked him to."The NCR?"
"The legitimate successor to the State of California, a state in the United States. Anderson might call himself 'President', but he wasn't elected by the pre-war electoral college."
In other words, Krono is encouraging Dougie here to establish peace and freedom, the polite way."That would have been a little difficult to run."
"Then to become the legitimate president, one would need to fix that first."
I take it that's something very useful. The equivalent of a small-scale terraforming system?He nods slowly. "What sort of supplies have you got for us?"
"Enough to see you through the first year. I also managed to acquire a Gardens of Eden Creation Kit-."
I take it that's impressive?"Where the hell did you get that from?"
"From Tlaloc, as part payment for maintenance that was two hundred years overdue. Do you-?"
Oh, dear. That's... not good? I'm guessing a portal from Time Trapper got a little diverted?The ring on my necklace lights up in brilliant orange.
Oh, heck. Broadcast!
**This is Krono. Highest defensive condition. Bring the Dream Twister online at once.**
Ooh. I doubt he can cadge some charge off the other Pauls, unless one of them has a Lantern... Still, I expect this is going to be interesting...Douglas winces at the force of my mental intrusion. "What-? That some kinda alien-?"
"It was foolish to think that humans were alone in the universe. It was even more foolish to assume that the zetans were the only others. I think that the people who abducted me are coming back."
If that's Korona it looks like the other Paul's miscalculated.
too many ups?
I don't think a new disease would be a big problem for the wasteland.
Thank you, corrected.
Interesting. The Old World Blues, digging around Area 51 can cause a New Plague outbreak... Which each nation can cure within a few months, something that was impossible before the war. Which struck me as odd when I got the event, because medical technology, communication and transportation should all be worse post-war than pre-war. Maybe the lack of people means that diseases don't spread that efficiently?I don't think a new disease would be a big problem for the wasteland.
The SI..? Talk to common sense?Hey Zoat is paragon going to talk to his common sense counterpart in the next few chapters?
I haven't thought about it in much detail.What sort of things has common sense been doing to improve his version of Earth 16, aside from getting governments more interested in what the wider universe holds after talking to that politician about Apokalips and Byalia and why the US doesn't have records on alien species and cultures despite the fact Atlantis does?
You might be thinking of something else, because there wasn't really much about the New Plague in the game outside of cut Van Buren stuff.Interesting. The Old World Blues, digging around Area 51 can cause a New Plague outbreak... Which each nation can cure within a few months, something that was impossible before the war. Which struck me as odd when I got the event, because medical technology, communication and transportation should all be worse post-war than pre-war. Maybe the lack of people means that diseases don't spread that efficiently?
Link please?
Assuming you're not making a joke
"You know Batman probably had her on the defensive from the start, right? Turning up in the room with no warning, doing that intimidating loom thing he does. And it's not like she actually knew what you'd been doing."
How is it possible to looming without loom? You'd just be ing.
What??? Is this some British joke I'm too uncivilised to understand?How is it possible to looming without loom? You'd just be ing.