[Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

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Sakuro
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[Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

This thread will be used for side stories and extended social interactions for "Geneforge: the Created", allowing the main thread to be used for progressing the primary story arcs at the same IRL time. This first post will be used as a table of contents, linking the start of a given side story. To keep things from getting confused, please list give the scene a marker or title you would like to use to distinguish it from other activities in the thread.


Table of Contents
A Beautiful Mind
Awakening
Just A Tool?
Last edited by Sakuro on Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Evelyn Gracen, in AEGIS Squad
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Doctor Malsyn
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]

When it was first aware, it did not know how to see.

It felt cold. It felt damp. It felt only physical.

There was something nearby. Something soft. Warm. Familiar. Itself? No. Different, but the same.

Sounds. It could hear... Sounds?

No. Words.
Last edited by Doctor Malsyn on Sat Jul 09, 2022 9:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Sakuro
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]


"Focus on me. Listen to me."

The words were spoken aloud while at the same time being pushed at the Mind's thoughts. There was an authority behind them. It could be felt. Physically. Mentally.

"You are safe. Focus. Show me that you understand."

The Voice came from a towering figure. It had limbs that reached down and out. It possessed grasping appendages. Lithe and standing with proudly. There was an aura about it. Order. Authority. Confidence. It had layers. Black and loose, separate from the whole. Then under it white and tight.

The Figure remained stationary. Expectant. The words repeated, as though willing the Mind into action.
OOC wrote:Please include a title tag when posting in this thread. Something to indicate what scene your post is part of and who is in it. I've chosen a title for this scene since you didn't. Eventually there will be more scenes in this thread. Perhaps more than one being played out at the same time. Hopefully this will help cut down on confusion.
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]

It saw for the first time.

Focus. Focus.

It could see now. The Voice. The... Who? Someone important.

The edges around the figure become more clear as it focused, the world expanding outward like a bubble.

Those words. Those... Thoughts? It latched on. Drug them closer. Consumed them.

Could it do the same?

Wrap the thoughts within. Secure. Pull them tight. Packaged. Then push outward. Push. Push. Push.

"I... Am. Understanding. Yes. I am understanding. I am understanding."
OOC: I am understanding, as well!
Am I dead? Am I alive? The answer may surprise you!
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"What a week, huh?" "Doc, it's only Wednesday."
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Sakuro
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]


The thoughts that the Mind touches are ordered, stable. controlled. But these thoughts are offered. They are at the peak of something vaster and deeper. If the Mind dares try to take more than these thoughts that are directed at them they find memories of heat. Intense, painful heat. Fire. Then piercing sharp pain digging into them. Teeth. Sharpness racking over them. Claws. Biting teeth. Raking claws. Burning flames. Again and again. When they cease efforts to dig deeper for more, the pain ceases as well.

"Good. I made you. You may address me as Shaper or Shaper D'Tan."

There is a pause. The Mind is observed intently by dark eyes. A moment of scrutiny, Then the Shaper brought up his left hand. Five digits wrapped in pale flesh. For some reason the Mind's attention focused on the palm. There were six tiny, pick prick, holes in it. Closely clustered together. The voice came again.

"There is much for you to learn. First you must get up off the floor. Now ... focus ... and rise."

OOC wrote:If the Mind tries to take more than what D'Tan projects at them in their exchange, the Shaper focuses on painful memories that trigger the Mind's Feed Back Flaw. This prevents D'Tan's thought from being read any more than they want them to be. If the Mind pushes too hard, they'd need to make Will based Damage checks.
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]

A first taste. A hint towards something greater. It is relishing. It wishes to seek more, grab deeply, pull everything into itself. There is so much. So much. So much.

PaIN! There is so much pain!

The first lesson The Mind learns is one that it will never forget. It learns to respect the mind of its maker. It's creator. It's Shaper.

A thought is wrapped, secured, given. 'Regret. I feel regret. I will not do so again. Not again. Shaper D'Tan.'

Unpleasant sensations fade, and a new instruction is given. It listens. It considers. Analyzes. Formulates.

Expand its focus outward. Further, further. To consider itself. Yes. That... thing. So small, fleshy, weak, vulnerable. Itself. Focus on itself. Weave the inner glow around itself like it would a thought, pull tight to secure. Then lift.

It rises. It feels strange. Weightless. Unsecured. Yet at the same time, it feels free. It will not forget this sensation either.

'Shaper D'tan. I have understood. I have listened. I have risen.'
Am I dead? Am I alive? The answer may surprise you!
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Tony Jones »

Awakening
[Meat Shield]

Out of nothing, they swim upwards towards consciousness for the first time.

Sights and sounds begin to penetrate their mind. Sensations of hardness on their back.

Something leaning over them. A face. Two eyes, nose, mouth, hair.

"Hello! What is going on? Who are you?" they ask, sitting up, their head turning as their enormous iridescent blue compound eye takes in everything around them.

Then they pause as a thought strikes them.

"And who am I?"
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Sakuro
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]


The Shaper's pale pink lips pressed together into a tense thin line. There was a hardness to the emotion coming from him. Disapproval. D'Tan was quiet a moment. After the Mind voiced it's regret and gave assurances that it would not repeat the offense Shaper D'Tan seemed to accept this. The hardness diminished and he spoke further.

"I made you to coordinate my future Creations and to gather knowledge and information for me. You will learn, in time. Do not rush this. Some things will be forbidden to you. I will tell you of this later. For now, follow me."

The young Shaper watched as the Creation rose into the air. Then he turned and exited the room, entering a short hallway with two doors at each side and one at the other end of the hall. The stone barrier slid downward at D'Tan's approach and radiance spilled into the hall from outside.

Overhead the sky was blue with dots of white clouds. A yellow light, the sun, shone from above. In the terrain was rough and rugged. Wild vegetation sprouted up in the distance creating a ringed wall of plant matter around the clearing where the Shaping Hall was situated. The Shaper walked through tall grass for a time before stopping a hundred meters from a group of oinking large pink skinned quadrupeds with long tusks. Shaper D'Tan directed the Mind's attention to them.

"These are ornks. My people, the Shapers, created them for the purpose of consumption. For now you may take what you need from them."

The ornks were simple. Easy to draw from. They were intelligent, in an animalistic way. They thought, had memory, and were able to learn. But it bland, Dull. Sustaining, fulfilling a need, but otherwise unsatisfying for the Mind.

OOC wrote:The things Creations are forbidden to learn about, which D'Tan will eventually tell all the PCs, are: technology, magic, and Shaping. There may be others that I am forgetting, but those are the big ones.

We are not going to play out all seven days. Unless there is something specific you are looking to achieve during this point in time in my next post I'll do a time jump, days later, where D'Tan is teaching the Mind some for the Skills you selected.

Awakening
[Meat Shield and Shaper D'Tan]


Faintly green tinted light washes on the stone room from bioluminescent moss growing in patches on the ceiling. There is a door on one wall. In front of each of the other three walls are two four foot tall empty glass canisters with silver bands at the top and base. On the top of Each canister is a short needle. Meat Shield lies at the center or a circle of symbols drawn into the floor.

The other person in the room looms over them. They're shorter and less broad than Meat Shield, but they feel imposing. Intense. Their fair skin contrasts with the dark second layer of unnatural skin. Clothes. They're worn. Not an actual part of the person. Strange shapes like the cuffs of the sleeves. Gold on black. When they finally speak, there is authority in their voice.

"You may address me as either Shaper or Shaper D'Tan. I made you. You are my meat shield. You were made to protect me from harm."

After offering this brief introduction and explanation the Shaper looks over his creation intently. Inspecting Meat Shield. One hand rose, the finger pointing upwards, the palm facing Meat Shield. In that palm he sees six tightly cluster holes. Very tiny. But his keen eye notices them.

"Look at my hand. Follow it without moving your head or body."

Slowly he moved his hand right to left, moving it far to the periphery before swinging backing to the other direction.
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]

It observed the panorama of the world without an unrestrained sense of curiosity. There was much everywhere, much that was new, much that was strange. Smears of white stretched across the curve of its upper visualizations. An orb of light that gave off nearly the same oppressive omniscient glow of its Shaper. Thousands of green objects blanketed the ground outside the... Where it was. There were things even further beyond.

The pace they moved was slow enough that it had little trouble dipping down so that it may gently brush the greenery below it, the things attached to its side twisting in curious ways Shaper D'Tan's own appendages did not. Pointy, it determined. Springy, it verified further. Fragile, it easily gathered once it wrapped around a dozen stalks and then tore upwards.

It was all very interesting.

'Ornks. Sustenance. I understand.'

Bland, it discovered without fanfare. Nothing like what was initially offered by its Shaper. It would never forget the pleasure it experienced with it's first meal.

There it hung, gathering its fill, observing both the Creatures and the Shaper. There it finally dawned to ask the thought that'd been lingering since the moment it could conceptualize the concept.

'Why?'
Am I dead? Am I alive? The answer may surprise you!
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Sakuro
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]


Throughout the newly made Creations early explorations in sensory input it is observed by it's maker. No interruption or commentary is made. It's actions merely monitored. After the Mind asks 'why' there is a long silence. The space between is littered with expectant waiting. Though D'Tan is patient, he eventually speaks, his tone an even timber.

"Finish the question."
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]

It was a simple request. It should've been simple to answer. Instead, several simultaneous queries became entangled in a confusing mishmash of thought as each one struggled for dominance. One after the other was drafted and then subsequently torn apart in a self-contained battle of attrition.

'Why? [Why- Why am I here/Why do I think/Why do I see/Why do I exist/Why can I think/Why can I experience/Why are we here/Why is there a here/Why was I created why was I created why was I created why was I created why was I created-]'
Am I dead? Am I alive? The answer may surprise you!
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Sakuro
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]


Before the Mind could get lost in an existential loop, or turn it into an imploding crisis, the Shaper's voice cut in. Calm. Confident. Assertive.

"That is enough."

D'Tan paused for a short time. Given the newly Shaped Creation a chance to compose itself before he went on.

"You already have the answer to your question. Think back."

The young Shaper went silent then, allowing the Creation to reflect on events. It wasn't hard. The mind was designed to remember. To store information. It was one of the first things that Shaper D'Tan had said.
Shaper D'Tan wrote:"I made you to coordinate my future Creations and to gather knowledge and information for me ..."
After a while he spoke again, as though to reinforce the memory he had asked the Mind to look back on.

"You are here, you exist, everything you are, everything you are able to do ... is because I made you. I made you to serve me. Now, tell me what your purpose is."
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]

The pressure building up within itself flitted away into nothing. The presence of its Shaper smoothed out the worries it held within, leaving only reason and memory in its place.

It remembered. 'My purpose. Is to serve Shaper D'Tan. To coordinate our movements. To learn.

Something within itself finally seemed to snap into place. When it nect packaged it's thoughts, it did so with absolute confidence. An unshakable sense of determination. 'My purpose is to learn.'

It will never forget its core purpose again.
You probably have a response in mind, but other than that, I think this little scene is finished! I enjoyed that, thank you.
Am I dead? Am I alive? The answer may surprise you!
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Sakuro
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Sakuro »

A Beautiful Mind
[The Mind and Shaper D'Tan]


The young Shaper listens. Quietly studying the Creation as it regains it's composure and accepts it's role. It's purpose. D'Tan offers a singular nod of approval. The positive emotion rolls off of him like a warm wave. After that D'Tan helps the Mind grow accustomed to being. Basic things are taught at first. Shaper D'Tan is patient, and though he never claims to be all knowing, he clearly knows a great deal. As the days go on the Mind meets the other Creations, but they are never allowed to observe their Shaping. Shaper D'Tan does this in private. Even though D'Tan spends time with the others, the Mind is not neglected.
OOC wrote:That is a fitting place to end the scene. Good role playing. The Mind will receive 1 HP for this character building scene.
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Re: [Interludes IC] MnM 3e - Geneforge: the Created

Post by Tony Jones »

Sakuro wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 11:13 pm Awakening
[Meat Shield and Shaper D'Tan]

"You may address me as either Shaper or Shaper D'Tan. I made you. You are my meat shield. You were made to protect me from harm."
"I understand, oh Shaper!" they say enthusiastically. "No one while harm you while I am able to protect you!"
Sakuro wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 11:13 pm "Look at my hand. Follow it without moving your head or body."

Slowly he moved his hand right to left, moving it far to the periphery before swinging backing to the other direction.
"I can see your hand moving!" says Meat Shield, not moving at all.

[OOC: Though D'Tan may have more trouble telling that they can see his hand, given that their single compound eye does not actually move in any way, just is made up of thousands of tiny simple eyes pointing in all directions.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/417075615463764477/]
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