SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread IV

[Force Lord]

Wow. Major cutbacks, FL.

For the record, I'll have the next Zebes update tonight, at a minimum. A major part of that will be Centralist POV.

The Chiefs of Staff have learned long ago to expect sudden...fluctuations in the budgets of their services.

Looking foward to Zebes.

[Master_Baerne]

Lemme second Force Lord here - the preparations are awesome as it is, I'm practically drooling in anticipation over the actual battle.

[Kartr_Kana]

Huzzah the great Ape Escape! Funny stuff Shroom and Simon I must echo the sentiments of probably everyone who follows the game. Looking forward to the next installment of Zebes.

[Simon_Jester]

Working on it.

Wait till you see the commander-on-the-spot of the Boskonian core warships.

Truly, Boskone is an equal opportunity employer...

[Master_Baerne]

Is he/she/it... a Space Ant? Maybe a animate pile of jello? Write this part quickly; I'm dying of curiosity here!

[fgalkin]

My guess is bear or bug or craboid. Or N'sss.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Force Lord]

Working undercover is not always fun.

[fgalkin]

Mang, CIS training must have really hit rock bottom if any ESPer can identify their agents, even with the Bitchslag field active.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Simon_Jester]

If the Sister's good enough to reach Shroomka's mind, even on a glancing level, through the null field, she may well be good enough to do the same thing to other people.

[fgalkin]

If the Sister's good enough to reach Shroomka's mind, even on a glancing level, through the null field, she may well be good enough to do the same thing to other people.

Yes, but you'd imagine a secret agent's preparation would include measures to prevent other ESPers from realizing they're an agent? It's not a very "secret" agent if all it takes is a glancing mental probing.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Force Lord]

Mang, CIS training must have really hit rock bottom if any ESPer can identify their agents, even with the Bitchslag field active.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

To be fair, infiltrating Shadowshroom to find out a corrupt politico's dealings was not considered important enough by the CIS brass, since the original claim came from the CSB, and the CIS believes that the CSB's just fucking with them. The only reason the CIS bothered to do so is because of prodding by the Centrality government.

The fact is that anti-mind reading training for non-ESPers is restricted to basics since most of the Centrality's top leadership are either telepaths or empaths, and none of them want to be dealing with rouge agents capable of resisting them. Only Centralist ESPer agents and trusted non-ESPer agents receive proper anti-mind reading training, which takes them a few years. Fivi's neither an ESPer nor a valuable agent, so you can chalk it up to chauvinism and elitism on part of the ESP-only CIS leadership, which could be said for the other agencies and the Central government itself.

[Simon_Jester]

An interesting and well thought out rationale, FL; I like it. It does have implications about your ability to operate abroad, but then you never presented Centralist intelligence as having the sheer effectiveness outside its own borders that agencies like the CIA and KGB are infamous for.

My assessment of the Centrality has been, for some time, that they are a very internal-stability oriented state... but they have long since learned to avoid or resist the urge to do things that improve their short-term stability at the expense of their long-term stability. After all, they've managed a thousand year empire, something few fascist leaders ever had any hope of pulling off; that's a sign that the Party leadership has long since learned to take the long view.

In other news, behold the TRUE FORM of the admiral with tactical command of Boskone's core-fleet warships in Sector H-12!

[fgalkin]

Mang, CIS training must have really hit rock bottom if any ESPer can identify their agents, even with the Bitchslag field active.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

To be fair, infiltrating Shadowshroom to find out a corrupt politico's dealings was not considered important enough by the CIS brass, since the original claim came from the CSB, and the CIS believes that the CSB's just fucking with them. The only reason the CIS bothered to do so is because of prodding by the Centrality government.

The fact is that anti-mind reading training for non-ESPers is restricted to basics since most of the Centrality's top leadership are either telepaths or empaths, and none of them want to be dealing with rouge agents capable of resisting them. Only Centralist ESPer agents and trusted non-ESPer agents receive proper anti-mind reading training, which takes them a few years. Fivi's neither an ESPer nor a valuable agent, so you can chalk it up to chauvinism and elitism on part of the ESP-only CIS leadership, which could be said for the other agencies.

So, like I said, CIS training really did hit rock bottom. A legacy of the regime that sent an entire fleet to retrieve 10 dissidents from a warzone, I imagine, since there are much better ways to prevent an agent going rogue than not training them to resist ESP powers. But, I suppose it does make sense.

By the way, how the hell did she infiltrate Shadowshroom, then? Do you really think R. Julia doesn't have ESPers in his employ doing scans as part of background checks of new security hires to prevent exactly this sort of infiltration? The only way she could get in is if he knows she's there and decides to give her a chance to act while monitoring her closely, just to see what attracts the Centrality so. Which, of course, opens all sorts of story opportunities.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Force Lord]

Cosmog is the most adorable Admiral ever.

[fgalkin]

In other news, behold the TRUE FORM of the admiral with tactical command of Boskone's core-fleet warships in Sector H-12!

Mang, WTF is that thing? It's cute and creepy at the same time

And, good to see von Fuckenberger suddenly discovering that his head has other uses than wearing a hat.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Simon_Jester]

Cosmog is the most adorable Admiral ever.

You only say that because you haven't watched him fucking cackle at the sight of cities burning under macrobeam fire beneath his feet...

Remember, looks can be deceiving.

In other news, behold the TRUE FORM of the admiral with tactical command of Boskone's core-fleet warships in Sector H-12!

Mang, WTF is that thing? It's cute and creepy at the same time

Cosmog is a Moogle, a member of a species native to the planet Narshe in the Shinra Republic.

[Darkevilme]

Cosmog is ADORABLE, can we eat him? ^^

[Simon_Jester]

You have my permission to eat him, but remember that this is going to look like a recipe for rabbit stew. First, catch your rabbit.

[RogueIce]

In other news, behold the TRUE FORM of the admiral with tactical command of Boskone's core-fleet warships in Sector H-12!

You're dead to me.

[Simon_Jester]

No one complains if I have evil human admirals.

Why do you complain if I have evil moogle admirals?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

More xenos to add to the pet list.

[RogueIce]

No one complains if I have evil human admirals.

Why do you complain if I have evil moogle admirals?

Because Moogles are cute. And not evil.

[Shroom Man 777]

They are not mutually exclusive Kupo.

[Simon_Jester]

Re: Fin. Sure, pets list it is. But once again, remember: "First, catch your rabbit."

No one complains if I have evil human admirals.
Why do you complain if I have evil moogle admirals?

Because Moogles are cute. And not evil.

See, there you go with your offensive racial stereotypes. Or, since you're thinking well of them, maybe defensive racial stereotypes. I dunno. Anyway, granted that Cosmog is adorable, but that doesn't mean he's racially incapable of villainy.

I mean, if you're High Admiral Zokolova looking at Cosmog, you may have doubts about his evilness, subconsciously thinking he's too cute to be capable of suitable ruthlessness and backstabbery. Likewise, if you're Helmuth you may have doubts about Zokolova's capacity for evilness, subconsciously thinking she's too stupid-looking to be capable of suitable ruthlessness and backstabbery.

And in both cases, that would be wrong. This is one of the things you have to let go to understand Boskone: evil is not the province of one little ethnic group of bad guys; it can be an equal opportunity employer!

You must let go of your prejudices, mang.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Shinran humans once more display their callous speciesist discrimination towards our comrade alienoid comrades! Come, Comrade Kupos, join the Byzonist internationalist class struggle to overthrow these bourgeostigmasie oppressors!