aberrantangels | Entries tagged with aberrant core rules

I'm running late, but I'm running.

June 15
[Aberrant] official beginning of the Aberrant timeframe. There are approximately 40 Aberrants worldwide, all in either deep cover or hiding. To date, neither Corbin nor Rousseau has been captured, and the identity of Slider's assassin remains an official mystery.

Happy birthday,

aeonaberrant!

The Democratic Party, searching for a candidate who will make their two major PR liabilities (the "character" issue, still lingering from the Clinton years, and the similarity of their program to the Utopian plan) meaningless, concludes that a nova candidate would solve both problems, and begins scouting Randel Portman.

etherlad has mentioned this as actually happening slightly earlier, but my obsession with every last detail of the TU isn't so deep as to cover every individual date of the 2008 (TU) primary season.

Charlotte "Ghostdancer" Holden, ex-Utopian and one of Slider's contacts, retreats to Ibiza, where she is hunted by Chiraben. A group of Aberrants seeks to find her before Proteus can disappear her. Utopian agents are sent to bring her into custody. Additional Proteus personnel are sent to capture Holden and keep Chiraben in line.

All this in "Permanent Vacation", the mini-adventure story arc included in the ~~Aberrant Storytellers Companion~~ book that came with the Aberrant Storytellers Screen.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Sepultura, "Sepulnation"

And this is why I had to have the conversation with Thetis up no later than yesterday.

June 9
[Aberrant] Director Ozaki reminds Chiraben, gently but firmly, that Project Proteus is not (supposed to be) an organization of torturers and psychopaths. "If word comes to me again of you misusing your power to get your own sadistic kicks, then I swear to God that you will be the next designated liability."

When I say "gently but firmly," I mean that he leads off with the sentence "I would very politely like to remind you to keep in fucking line." He then explains that Proteus has "been entrusted with the task of doing what needs to be done in order to better the whole goddamn planet":

Our operating principles are here in order to prevent us from paralyzing ourselves with every last ethical question; they were instituted by necessity so that we can achieve actual, regular progress on the betterment of human society as a whole. They do not give you carte blanche to do whatever the hell you like to somebody that has been designated a liability.

(Even in 1999 when I read it in the Aberrant, that repeated abstraction about general betterment struck me as the rationalization of a man trying to maintain his belief that what he's doing is not only the necessary thing, but the right thing. In the light of yesterday's post, I also see it as him trying to convince himself that Proteus has ever been about anything more than One Planet Under Thetis' Unaccountable Control — and to attempt to steer the actions of someone who will listen to him, since Thetis, being Thetis, won't.)

He further advises Chiraben:

don't even fucking think of trying to blow our cover to save your own skin. That didn't save Slider — who was one of the sweetest girls I've ever known — and it by God will not save you. I know where you live, and I know where you sleep.

Basically, if Chiraben even looks like taking any action that might compromise Proteus, Ozaki says "what you did to your last 'assignment' will look like a picnic with your grandmother" in ways that would make Satan weep.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Lisa Stansfield, "Wake Up Baby"

Here is a riddle to guess if you can: what makes a monster and what makes a man?

June 5
[Aberrant] Orzaiz sends an encrypted OpMail <12inch@smokingslut.net> to Synapse <burning-candy@hotnode.com> wondering how the net.Terat managed to lose Saxon. "I fear that we're back to square one regarding Fong....If we can find her and confirm precisely how Saxon discovered her whereabouts, we might be able to nail Delorimier once and for all."

I initially had this as the last item, but Orzaiz fears that if the Apostle can bring Shrapnel (and thus the Primacy) into the Cult of Mal, "we'll have a bloody farce on our hands, at least until Mal returns." (It's that last clause that was the clincher.) He also suggests continued attempts to get in touch with Corbin, though admitting that'd be easier if Geryon and Epoch hadn't attacked the Scotsman. "Oh well. This isn't the first time a revolution has attracted idiots."

In a Navajo Daedalus 3 communique to agent Nyeung, Director Thetis gives him his next assignment — preparing "Ishida and Fashoud" (presumably Proteus novas) to support T2M Asia/Pacific at Sop Moei. Thetis also requests an updated full report on the Æon Council, who have recently done some things that surprised her.

The agents' support for T2MA/P's plant closure is to involve "wetworking among the local government and military in order to make certain that the closedown is permanent." Which, well, Proteus.

Divis Mal arrives at the Pantheon meeting to exhort his fellow Terats to seek their true greatness.

He makes all kinds of metaphorical pronunciamenti about the way they're failing to live up to their potential; they're mostly focused on power, but Teras is about

the enlightenment, of which only Jeremiah Scripture and Raoul Orzaiz appear to have attained any modicum. You are not the equals I have been waiting for. You are baselines with undeserved power and boorish, petty natures. When will you speak to the angels with me? When?! My gods feed me blood and mangoes, and I laugh, I weep, I dance. Your gods feed you Kool-Aid and white bread, and you crawl, you buzz and you quarrel like fractious children.

One of the quotes that helped define Mal, for me and probably a lot of other TU fans, came soon after: "I am a visionary, a warrior and a lover of life, but unlike my father, I do not enjoy the role of teacher." At first, I thought the father he was referring to was

max_a_mercer; after I learned Michael's surname, that sentence was one of the reasons I determined that

md_donighal's father had been one of Max's teachers at Harvard.

"You are my children," he tells the Pantheon, "but in time you must grow beyond me.... The essence of our future is struggle. We must be ready."

NV and the Primacy are to continue as terrible angels, the fists of the One Race. The Harvesters are charged to be the monsters in the shadows, but cautioned not to "so worship the monster in yourselves that you misplace the seeds of your godhood." Scripture and the Mathematician are to continue in a leadership role, "but know that I am back." The Count is to "[g]et them accustomed to honoring us", and Narcosis to "[m]ake them love the One Race more than they love their own."

Current Mood: geeky

Enemies again.

June 3
[Aberrant] The Pantheon (consisting, at this point, of the Apostle, the Apothecary, Bounty, the Confederate [filling in for Epoch], Geryon, ibn'Mahmoud, Leviathan, the Mathematician, Narcosis, Orzaiz, Scripture, Shrapnel, Sin-Eater, Swarm Queen and Synapse) meet in council at a hidden retreat hosted by the Count (they are brought in by Blinker, the only Terat with whom Orzaiz shares the location). Topics of discussion include a review of the various Teragen cliques, what precisely is going on with Project Utopia, and how to use Utopia's newly-revealed weaknesses against it.

Actually, this first day is/was mostly about "catching up with fellow Terats we haven't seen in months and meeting newcomers to the movement," as the count will describe it when he opens discussions tomorrow. Today's discussions have been mostly civil, but with tense undercurrents among the various cliques, according to Leviathan's epilogue to the second of two essays circulating among Terats at mid-year. (The first, by Santiago, covered the movement's history from N-Day to the Null Manifesto; de la Rocha takes it from the Halloween Surprise to the present.)

Synapse logs in and out of the meeting, as he is spending much of his time trying to persuade Saxon to join the Teragen.

~~I'm not sure where I got this impression; the evidence for it seems to have evaporated from my copy of Aberrant: Teragen, even though I swear I've found it on other readings.~~

Edit June 4: I've since realized wherein the evidentiary basis consists, and it's not much. (It'll be in tomorrow's posting.) We don't actually get datestamps for either day of Saxon's captivity, so in fact, it may already be over by the time the meeting starts. ( Here's what happens during it, anyway. )

In a communique to Director Thetis (double-encrypted, Navajo Daedalus 3), baseline Proteus agent Ruiz gives an overview of his interactions with two Utopian novas: engineer Dr. Piotr Enrikssen and someone referred to only as Cocharin.

Enrikssen's ever-expanding intellect needs new stimulation, and Ruiz suggests "the new games of chance from Hattori's pet project" as an option. Cocharin's on "a schedule that allows her to use her matter-transmutation abilities on a regular basis without any real quantum-bleeding or signs of stress." She's taking Slidergate in a Proteus-approved way, having "expressed worry as to what the 'rogues' might indeed try." He's working hard on being friendly to her, and "regular non-nova company... seems to break down any self-imposed feelings of 'being different.'"

Current Mood: geeky

I sometimes think everything important in the TU happens out of sight of the average citizen. Then again, I sometimes think that about the Primary World.

May 31
[Aberrant] Director Thetis sends a memo to Director Ozaki, informing him that it's his responsibility to track down the Aberrants and "silence them however possible" (preferably bringing them back under Utopia's wings), without letting Proteus' existence become generally known or distracting the Æon Council from their other responsibilities.

I use the Teragen icon because Thetis refers to Slider as having "put a somewhat histrionic, possibly Teragen-inspired, spin on the data," and because she suspects the movement of having arranged Jennifer's discoveries. "The good news in this situation, of course, is that the renegades have very few options at this point." They must know how wide Proteus' net is, and they'd be fools to go to the main organizations with which Utopia has "tense relations" (the US government and the Teragen). As part of the subtlety, she warns him "don't let any of your agents get too enthusiastic. Especially not Chiraben."

Sophia Rousseau meets with Giuseppe "Sloppy Joe" Benatti to get inside information on the Teragen, particularly about the Pantheon (which Benatti summarizes as "Take the Greek gods and put them on Springer").

She's stringing him along with promises of a cure, promises every bit as bogus as the ones with which Utopia lured him onto a plane bound for Bahrain. In the in-depth discussion (which she summarizes in an encoded OpCall to Meztiszo), he explained what passes for a hierarchy in the Pantheon. The first tier is those Terats who've never undergone Chrysalis, but are nonetheless important to the movement (such as Narcosis, Count Orzaiz, Sin-Eater, Synapse and Tarik). Ranked above them are those who have elevated at least once, with multiple Chrysales bringing greater standing.

Second stage: the Apothecary, Bounty, Epoch, Geryon, Leviathan, Shrapnel
Third stage: the Apostle, the Mathematician, Scripture
Fourth stage: Divis Mal

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Lisa Stansfield, "You Can't Deny It"

News from opposite sides of the divide.

May 30
[Aberrant] The mysterious Sophia Rousseau contacts the fugitive Corbin (Proteus had feared she might get in touch with Slider). Their underground organization immediately begins contacting friends and acquaintances in the nova community, as well as newly erupting novas. The group's goal is to expose the hidden corruption in Project Utopia, and Corbin dubs its members "Aberrants" in an ironic usage of the anti-nova epithet.

It starts when she calls him at a public phone terminal, identifying herself only as "[s]omeone who's well aware of who you are and what you're running from." She then says, after pointing out that this isn't necessarily a secure line,

I have resources enough to keep you hidden — but I also have resources enough to back you on a more aggressive course of action, one that stands to help you correct some of your current problems.

After that, she sends a "telecom virus" to those friends and acquaintances, stating that Corbin's folder of Slider's evidence makes a strong case "that elements within Utopia seek to subjugate or regulate, possibly even systematically eliminate, novas as a whole." But they need more than a strong case; with Utopia's presence "in every aspect of normal life", they can't go to any authorities, and "to overturn public confidence in [Utopia] could lead to catastrophic panic worldwide." They don't even know for sure to what extent Utopia is compromised. "Nonetheless, we cannot remain passive against a clear and present threat", so she's inviting "[n]ovas interested in defending their rights as individuals" to meet on Sunday at the Amp Room.

Caestus Pax fires off an angry memo to William F. Reed, director of T2M Americas, ordering him to reprimand Ana Graça Texeira and Gvuthbjörg Danielsdottir for their participation in a recent Queer Nova Alliance demonstration.

A T2M agent has no business getting involved in political or social issues. You will immediately remind them that they represent Team Tomorrow and that they do not have the authority to use their T2M status to further their own agendas without getting prior approval through the proper channels.

He recommends they be sent out on widely separate assignments (Ana to hound the Medellín in Colombia, "Guggie" to handle a matter in Ontario). "You let this kind of thing continue and your agents will start thinking they have rights."

Oh, Shelby... just because you're in the closet, you want the whole queer world to stay there with you. ("A T2M agent has no business getting involved in political or social issues"? Then what the hell business does T2M have even existing?)

[Everything from here down was added in an edit June 4.]

Jesus "Matador" Morales, a Terat mascara in Mexico City, sends an encoded message to his mentor Feathered Serpent about his recent meeting with Meztiszo, of the Aberrants, to open ties between the two anti-Upie groups.

I was thinking of posting this June 30, as it seems to make more chronological sense and be less sudden, but as Ian points out below, Aberrant: Teragen has it taking place today, so there it is. (Of course, now I come to make this edit, I can't actually find the passage in A:T.)

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Lisa Stansfield, "This is the Right Time"

May 19
[Aberrant] Scandal rocks Project Utopia as unconfirmed reports of mercenary novas, government infiltration and nova black ops leak to the media. Æon Society and Project Utopia spokespeople immediately counter with evidence of a Teragen frame-up involving the dead Slider. Wary observers and conspiracy theorists see themselves as vindicated and deluge the media with dire predictions.

Some people have their reactions already planned.

( Unfortunately, in light of the recent Slider tragedy, such laissez-faire management would be in nobody's best interest. )

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Vertical Horizon, "Everything You Want"

Once you start running, they won't let you stop.

May 16
[Aberrant] UN and Utopia investigations finger Slider's murder as the handiwork of Corbin, whom they allege is linked to the Teragen. This revelation comes as part of a worldwide public broadcast on all major news networks.

So... yeah. No "teragen" tag because they was not actually in said crime.

Current Mood: geeky

The precise control of thought, feeling and apparent sensory impression.

( May 15 [Aberrant] )

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: EBN-OZN, "AEIOU Sometimes Y"

The tragedy I mentioned is, inevitably, upon us.

May 13
[Aberrant] Slider is incapacitated in Calcutta by a single blow from a super-strong assailant for whom she evidently opened the door, which implies that she knew her killer (who apparently broke her neck once he'd rendered her hors de combat) or at least recognized his face. (The most popular suspect among those in the know is Chiraben, a Proteus wet-op and professional Creepy Little Fuck™ whose powers include super-strength and shapeshifting, the latter of which would have enabled him to take on a face she'd trust.)

The official report lists Apoorva Chowdiah and Edgar Rhys (the UN/Calcutta PD liaisons, both on Utopia staff) as the responding officers; in fact, the first actual cops on the scene are Prasan Mandavilli (investigating neighbors' reports of a single loud noise) and Det. Thaunanon Kalsi. The world is so shocked at the murder of its "sweetheart" that most media outlets don't dig deep enough to notice the contradiction between Utopia claiming they hadn't known where Slider was and a pair of Utopians being among the first people on the murder scene.

Kalsi later says that, if he hadn't seen nova violence before, he'd have guessed that what hit her in the back was some piece of industrial machinery. He wishes the killer had at least had the decency to close her eyes.

At 4:02 AM Calcutta time on the 14th (6:32 PM EDT today), after an eight-hour medical struggle, Jennifer Landers will die at the UN's Franklin Moran field hospital. Apoorvah Chowdiah is transferred to Utopia's European HQ; Rhys leaves no forwarding address.

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Of our elaborate plans, the end / Of everything that stands, the end...

Whom do you serve, and whom do you trust?

May 11
[Aberrant] Slider leaves a note for Rourke, a fellow Utopian with microscopic vision, telling him of her discoveries. She also goes to four others: Utopia rep Albert Petalan, somebody from the Calcutta police, an AP reporter, and her liaison with Novelty — all of whom are (she comes to believe) either openly hostile to her telling them about or part of the Proteus cover-up, whether actively or through ignorance.

The money quote is paraphrased here, in paragraphs four through seven (from "Then I took a job" through "things he needs you alive to do"). (She doesn't know for sure about Rourke, but he is either already a Proteus member or recruited shortly thereafter.)

She leaves a handwritten note for Corbin, telling him all this and more:

The bottom line is, we can't go to anyone. Get everyone together and let them know the scale of this thing, but keep it hush-hush. Obviously, if you're not part of Utopia's "solution," you're part of the problem. And Utopia's got almost everyone involved as part of the solution on some level.

The Matrix hadn't been released to cinemas when the Aberrant core-book came out, so they couldn't write Jen making that comparison. The author of the LJ I linked above is under no such disadvantage (he said modestly).

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: dreaming of Zion awake, can't stop sleeping awake...

Dammit, how'd I miss this one? No matter; as promised, here it is now.

May 6, 2007
[Aberrant] In an interview prior to his resolution of the Corpus Christi incident, Lance Stryker advises the hostage-takers that he's about to school them in a big way: "[Y]ou're about to get Lance Stryker's boot so far up your ass that your moral superiority's gonna be fired on out your nose, and that's a damn fact!"

The Teragen tag is because I suspect his opponents to have been Terats, judging from his scoffing at their "fancy-ass press releases about how you think your sorry asses are so superior to normal people".

Current Mood: geeky

< you have forgotten something > </kosh>

early May
[Aberrant] While in Calcutta under NSI contract to Novelty Consulting, allegedly to investigate rumors of Teragen infiltration, Slider begins backtracking one of Novelty's middlemen and discovers that he has "orders to cooperate" with at least three elites, including DeVries' Joseph "Pursuer" Simms (known for a public rivalry with Pax). She follows their contact trails and finds they end up in Utopia offices. She learns the fringes of Project Proteus' activities (the experiments on the patients in Bahrain, the doping of adrenocilin with sterilizing drugs, funding of the very groups Utopia is supposed to stop in Kashmir) and, understandably, becomes convinced that she's discovered an "anti-nova" conspiracy. She goes to André Corbin with her suspicions, but he mostly dismisses them as ranting paranoid shite.

For the record, NSI is Nova Services International, the division of Utopia that handles the subcontracting of Utopian novas to outside firms.

At this point, Jennifer doesn't know the name "Project Proteus". All she knows is that people inside Utopia are not just within six degrees of Utopia's enemies, they're giving those enemies their marching orders. Although the novas who work for Proteus would scoff at the notion that they're working for a conspiracy to exterminate their own kind, I for one can't fault Jennifer for reaching the conclusion she did, and I openly scoff at

cricharddavies for calling her "a deluded woman on the verge of accepting the Null Manifesto as part of her personal philosophy."

Current Mood: geeky

...of the Aberrant corebook's "Setting" section, that is)

March 23
[Aberrant] The Fireman is interviewed for the N! documentary Reaching the Stars: A Decade of Novas.

One of the delays in posting this was the difficulty in finding the motivation to look at Portman's words. They're the very first text piece in the rulebook, and as such, there's a fair amount of as-you-know-Bob; also, the artist who drew the accompanying images of Portman gives him a hebephrenic grin that really gets on my tits.

There was also a lot of sincere Utopia boosterism, meant to sucker the reader on his initial encounter with the book, but annoying as hell on revisitation: Utopia has done nothing but good for the world, only right-wing cranks have any reason to object to Utopia, blah blah blah. Oh, and

if [Divis Mal] really believes that [novas aren't bound by human laws], and it's not just a publicity stunt or ratings gimmick, then... his mom should have spanked him more often.... [T]he Teragen is... nothing but a gang of thugs, the Manson Family with super-powers.... They are the ones who are putting this smear-campaign crap on the Project.

He ended with the irony-licious prediction that "the next 10 years will be even better than the last. I really believe that the 21st century will be the dawn of a golden age for mankind."

March 24
[Aberrant] A DeVries agency employee named Khalif sends elite Jeffries a briefing letter on the Nakato-gumi.

This is preparatory to what Jeffries may think of as "a simple extraction", warning him that it's no such thing. He warns Jeffries that the blacktech the Nakato (probably) have at their disposal is likely to have military applications, and might even be capable of taking down Geryon. Having already reminded him that "half the zaibatsu in Osaka are likely in their pockets", he points out that the Nakato are popular with Jiro Sixpack as well; the number three manga series in the country is about a yakuza nova who, when not engaged in his employment, can be found "helping out the little guy and tweaking the noses of foreign authorities." (Although it's been made into an anime, it sounds to me less like the original version of Gumi Nova Tragic than like some Nova Age version of One Piece.) And you can bet your node that they've got at least one real nova, "and we have no idea what sort of powers they're packing. That comic shows somebody with superspeed, but" it's not necessarily reliable.

Current Mood: demotivated lately

"Good evening, this is Violet Cameron..."

March 20
[Aberrant] N!'s Nova Planet looks at four prominent Utopians: Caestus Pax, Slider, Ana Graça Texeira and Antaeus.

The transcript quotes the standard description of Pax (who'll be seen through a typical day in his life) as possibly the most powerful nova on Earth (I can almost hear

md_donighal's derisive snort at that). It also describes him as "the ideal of dedication — he is the voice of Project Utopia's vision of hope, peace and the betterment of life on Earth." (And now, for anyone who knows the real Shelby Eisenfaust*, the laughter becomes uncontrollable.)

Jennifer is cited as "the living counterargument to the Null Manifesto — the girl who proves that no matter what, novas and baselines are not so very different after all." N! goes to places where she's done her thing and talks to those whose lives she's saved.

A Texeira is "equally at home scouring the ocean bed, taking guns away from terrorist guerrillas or helping in the construction of new housing for the homeless." The show recaps her career from eruption to now.

The good Dr. Balmer is the only one for whom they seem to be focusing forward: "Everything he touches turns to green — so what's next on this hypergenius's schedule?" (Though they do mention his role in Operation Eden and such phenomena.)

* Not to be confused with the real Primary World

eisenfaust, even if the Shelb is the reason I friended the LJ guy.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Red House Painters, "Byrd Joel"

The lot of man is ceaseless labor, or ceaseless idleness, which is still harder, or irregular labor, which is not pleasant.

January 21
[Aberrant] Appearances on N!'s Two Minutes Hate segment include Count Dragunov (popularity rating 62%), who swears "to become the ravager of humanity, harbinger of misery and the reaper of souls", and Rocky "The Face" Elizondo (98%), who calls out Dan Miller and Crystalhawk.

The Face (either an elite or an XWF star, I'm not sure which but I think the latter) is one of two ~~expies~~ Captain Ersatzes for Dwayne Johnson in Aberrant canon (we'll be meeting the other soon enough). Ironically, the other one has the Rock's actual face; Elizondo has his speech patterns. "So what the Face wants to know is if you two pansy-ass chuckleheads don't have too much powder in your panties," he says, offering to meet them both right at Hollywood and Vine and

commence on laying the almighty beatdown on both your punk asses. Now, what the Face will do after that, is he's gonna hulk up the Face Hammer, he's gonna drop the Face Anvil and one of you loudmouth chesters is gonna suffer the Atomic Face Genocide right in the middle of the street. And then the Face will proceed to climb the N! broadcast tower foot by foot by God-blessed foot.

Dragunov, on the other hand, is a heavily-armed Goth poet. "I will eat only bones and drink only blood." (Wasn't that one of the angels' curses on Caineeeee?) "My footsteps leave flame and I travel at the velocity of pain." (How does that compare to the speed of swords?) I'm sure I found this stuff surpassingly cool in 1999, but in 2008, it's as narmful to minors as the Face.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Atlanta Rhythm Section, "So Into You"

Interrupted for different reasons, but still...

January 16
[Aberrant] On Week in Perspective with Walter Donovan, a man named Culpepper expresses doubts about the long-term damage Operation Eden may have done to the Ethiopian ecosystem, while a man named Bryant insists his counterpart is just being a worrywart and rattles off a laundry-list of Utopia's accomplishments.

Culpepper points out that the prominent ecologists who've praised the Ethiopian reclamation were hired by Utopia: "Isn't that something like the tobacco companies' hired health experts of last century?" Bryant's list of "the other positive works that Project Utopia has completed" includes the overthrow of Yaroslav Radocani, "the virtual elimination of Bangkok's child prostitution trade", the AIDS and cancer cures, hypercombustion, Operation Clean Sweep— "Maybe you like the idea of the UN granting virtually total latitude to a group with all the potential military power of any two European nations, but I happen to think—" Donovan interrupts the interruption to ask if he might change the subject.

In an OpNet chat room Vancouver RCMP Officer Brian Chu, Officer Bernard ter Haar [@brill.op], Officer Laurence Posner [@opamerica], Officer Ma Sik Yu of the Hong Kong Triad Society Bureau, and Officer Georgina M. Shrubbe [of Interpol] discuss the difficulty of getting someone inside the triads in general, and the Heaven Thunder Triad in particular, until "trace1@?.gov.op" [Operator W1, presumably of Branch 9] sees the discussion straying into sensitive areas and shuts it down. Afterward, W1 and "nereid@directive" wonder whether the triads picked up on the discussion, and also wonder who exactly was playing whom.

(Well, the datestamp on the transcript in Aberrant: Underworld says 2008, but the sensitive topic was an Australian government attempt to put a shapeshifter into one of the triads, which Posner thinks took place around 2009 or '10. Also, the conversation between trace1 and ~~Thetis~~ "nereid" reads like she was the one who called the halt to the chat; maybe she spoofed trace1's name onto the warning "Gentlemen, none of this is cleared for these channels, and this discussion needs to end right now. Log off, boys.")

And I've never mentioned Branch 9 before, have I? According to the Adventure! corebook (for those of you who don't have it), it was founded by Teddy Roosevelt during his Presidency to deal with crimes that crossed state lines, and soon shifted its ambit to crimes that crossed the lines of consensus reality. In the Inspiration Age, at least four other countries — the UK, Mexico, China and France were all known — had their own Branches with cryptic-yet-bland names, "such as Britain's Supplemental Resources Office and France's Field Research and Development Unit". The Chinese Branch was compromised by the Ubiquitous Dragon, but it's not known whether this persisted past the end of the Inspiration Age, let alone into the Nova Age.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: something by Don Ho playing in the next room

Yeah, I've been dragging my heels on this. Mostly the transition to a new flashdrive, with a possible subconscious dose of "Maybe if I don't do it this year, I can pretend that the tragedy of May 13 doesn't happen."

January
[Aberrant] This month's issue of Humanity magazine (v.1 #4) contains Gwan Myung-sun's article "The Day the Coconuts Fell Without a Sound", on the disappointing reaction of Utopia to a personal complaint by the families of people killed in a T2MA/P raid on a Nakato-gumi warehouse.

The name sounds Korean, but somehow, I don't think of Koreans as using metaphors like "the ripe coconuts of our hearts". Then again, given what White Wolf's writers of the time were able to say straight-faced about northern Europe and the southwestern US, it probably shouldn't be surprising that they can be equally de-informed about Asia.

[Aberrant] Nathan Black hosts the N! special The New Gods: Humanity's Next Step.

It includes a demonstration of electrical power by Detroit franchisee* and part-time Utopian Jonas "Kikjak" Kincaid.

January 3
[Aberrant] This week's issue of Newsweek carries an article "Eruption of Wonder: Science in the Nova Age" by Dr. Paul Tandy.

Here in OTL, I'm not sure there was an issue of Newsweek for that week (it would've been cover-dated January 7, I think).

January 7
[Aberrant] Amanda Wu, CEO of Novelty Consulting, sends congratulations to all researchers and analysts working on "the Kim project" (a planned land-grab by North Korea).

First time I've had occasion to mention her, and I wish it were going to be the last.

* Licensed urban defender.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: KRS-ONE, "Get! Your! Self! Up!"

The next generation.

December 31
[Aberrant] Æon Society census reports approximately 6000 known novas in the world population. As yet, no nova is known to have been impregnated or to have impregnated others, either baseline or nova. Utopia-affiliated scientists vow to study this phenomenon, at the behest of nova would-be parents.

"In fact," I go on to point out in the long version, "every nova who enters a Rashoud facility receives, in her doses of adrenocilin and/or monoxiquantamine, a drug developed by Project Proteus which induces his enhanced immune system to regard gametes as hostile pathogens. Bounty has reversed this effect for Terats who request it, and Proteus has spliced together 'the Children' in Bahrain from Utopian DNA."

I've already mentioned Bene's contributions to nova fertility, and why they're probably a bad idea in the long run. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one to speculate that these children of Teras (will have) made the first Aberrant War inevitable.

Current Mood: geeky

Due to the international dateline, this actually happened yesterday.

November 15
[Aberrant] Seven Osaka schoolchildren are found dead of an adrenocilin overdose. Less than an hour later, SHIGEMATSU Toshiro, 14, a nova for three months, turns himself over to the police as the source of the adrenocilin his schoolmates took, calling it his duty as a demon to reap the souls of the innocent. Bodhisattva Masato censures Shigematsu-kun, but adds, "With good must come evil, and the asuras wickedly follow the paths the bodhisattvas tread."

He had promised them that they'd become novas if they took the pills. As far as I know, only one nova can guarantee anyone eruption, and at this point in the TU timeline, he's not returning calls.

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Current Music: Garbage, "Metal Heart"

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the true meaning of Klordny

May 2013

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Page Summary

Today in the Trinity Universe: what's past is prologue
Today in the Trinity Universe: kiss up, kick down
Today in the Trinity Universe: gods and monsters
Today in the Trinity Universe: both sides now
Today in the Trinity Universe: we drive each other crazy
Today in the Trinity Universe: the light shining inside us
Today in the Trinity Universe: there's always another wound to discover
Today in the Trinity Universe: you should be hanging in the Louvre
Today in the Trinity Universe: To~to, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! [sic]
Today in the Trinity Universe: This is the end, beautiful friend
Today in the Trinity Universe: no safety or surprise, the end
A year ago today in the Trinity Universe: your ass is living on borrowed time...
About now in the Trinity Universe: and so it begins
Recently in the Trinity Universe: From beginning to end
Tonight in the Trinity Universe: meet the pressed
Today in the Trinity Universe: the Rock, who will perhaps answer our doubtings
Today in the Trinity Universe: Interrupted dialogues...
Recently in the Trinity Universe
Today in the Trinity Universe: I believe the children are our future
Today in the Trinity Universe: now that we know for sure they're telling lies...

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We're celebrating Klordny Week, Superboy!

If you don't know, why should I spoil the fun?

Entries tagged with aberrant core rules

Today in the Trinity Universe: what's past is prologue

Today in the Trinity Universe: kiss up, kick down

Today in the Trinity Universe: gods and monsters

Today in the Trinity Universe: both sides now

Today in the Trinity Universe: we drive each other crazy

Today in the Trinity Universe: the light shining inside us

Today in the Trinity Universe: there's always another wound to discover

Today in the Trinity Universe: you should be hanging in the Louvre

Today in the Trinity Universe: To~to, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! [sic]

Today in the Trinity Universe: This is the end, beautiful friend

Today in the Trinity Universe: no safety or surprise, the end

A year ago today in the Trinity Universe: your ass is living on borrowed time...

About now in the Trinity Universe: and so it begins

Recently in the Trinity Universe: From beginning to end

Tonight in the Trinity Universe: meet the pressed

Today in the Trinity Universe: the Rock, who will perhaps answer our doubtings

Today in the Trinity Universe: Interrupted dialogues...

Recently in the Trinity Universe

Today in the Trinity Universe: I believe the children are our future

Today in the Trinity Universe: now that we know for sure they're telling lies...