<RandBrittain> I apologize for being late.
<RandBrittain> It was written.
<borogove> It is OK. We were talking about French.
<RandBrittain> More specifically, I was taken to see Slumdog Millionaire.
<borogove> Was that OK?
<RandBrittain> It was beyond fantastic.
<RandBrittain> I can no longer be angry at the slighting of WALL-E for Best Picture.
<RandBrittain> Hee hee! Heart won't stop racing!
- RandBrittain is such a sucker.
<crusher_bob> ?
<RandBrittain> You should go and see it also.
<RandBrittain> If they have such things in your many foreign lands!
<RandBrittain> The release date is a strange animal.
<HollyhockGod> Now, I think we're on part three of "Book of Tea With Moon."
<HollyhockGod> Which is what I decided to call this story.
<RyanSherbrig> (In which we just may actually bring up the reason we really visited good old Squigglymath.)
<Ebba> (Never! It is time for more digressions. :D)
<Alexa> (:D)
<HollyhockGod> Yes, I think you were arguing about shinma.
<HollyhockGod> No doubt you all took the opportunity to buy Exalted: the Fair Folk and remedy the shinma-shaped holes in your education!
<Alexa> (Talking! The Worldbuilders were arguing.)
<HollyhockGod> You're implicated.
<Ebba> About whether the thing that might define existence by not existing really exists or not…
- RyanSherbrig sips his tea.
- Alexa puffs on a cigarette.
<HollyhockGod> "Yes, as I was saying," as E'jah was saying, "I'm already perfectly familiar with a group of beings who anthopomorphize the basic concepts of existence. I don't see the need to muddy the philosophical waters with another level of personification entirely!"
- Fiona pays attention, sort of.
<Ebba> (But that's not what I came to tell you about. Came to talk about the draft.)
<RyanSherbrig> "Gentlemen! Surely we can agree that there are many varying perspectives on the shinma, but their exact natures makes verification or falsification of these theories difficult, if not impossible."
<HollyhockGod> "Surely that shouldn't frighten away a trained philosopher," says E'jah, raising two 1s.
<Ebba> "well, if you are able to create a wholly separate creation with different shinma; shouldn't proof by demonstration be possible?"
<Alexa> "Hey, can I have a closer look at your world-building machine?"
<RyanSherbrig> "I am afraid I'm a bit more of school of thought that favors applied knowledge."
- RyanSherbrig gestures to one of his stealthily hidden Daughters of Night to refill his cup of tea.
- Alexa looks at Ebba, with a slight 'go on, talk to them about…' kind of nod.
<Ebba> (:D)
<HollyhockGod> "It's a lovely machine, isn't it?" says Selim. He pets it like a cat.
<Alexa> (A cat the size of a moon?)
<HollyhockGod> "Let me crank her up again and I'll show you the works…"
<RyanSherbrig> (MEOW)
<Ebba> "But perhaps we should swing our conversation more towards the reason for our visit?"
<HollyhockGod> E'jah coughs. "Surely you've already overtaxed your strength today, Selim?"
<HollyhockGod> "Yes, the reason for your visit, Lady Ebba!"
<HollyhockGod> E'jah seizes upon this opening.
<Alexa> "You folks can carry on without me."
<HollyhockGod> "I am delighted to hear about this."
<Alexa> (I have to duck out for a couple of minutes.)
<HollyhockGod> "Please, tell us everything."
<RyanSherbrig> ("Just to hear your mathematically harmonious voice once again. Oh, and one other little thing.")
<Ebba> "As you may have inferred from our earlier prayers to you, along with the properties of my gift to you…"
<Ebba> "We found several large fragments of my world adrift in space."
<HollyhockGod> "Indeed? And, the state of preservation….?"
<Ebba> "I am unsure if they represent any danger to this world, as they are… highly reactive in my presence."
<Ebba> (And they also make me want to destroy the earth, but lets not mention that. :D)
<Ebba> "The fragments are currently being stored in our Chancel."
<HollyhockGod> "Lady Ebba, how remarkable!"
<HollyhockGod> "This would be a wonderful opportunity for an experiment in re-installing a planet, if you're willing to allow us to assist you."
- Ebba looks slightly uncomfortable.
<Ebba> "Your professional opinion on this matter would certainly help clarify my thinking."
<HollyhockGod> "If the essence of the world is still vibrant enough to support life, then it should be possible to reassemble it into a viable shape and find a place to graft it onto the tree."
<HollyhockGod> "I've never performed the operation before, but the theory is sound!"
<HollyhockGod> "We'd need to upgrade the equipment," Selim reminds him.
<HollyhockGod> "You've been wanting to upgrade the equipment for years," snaps E'jah.
<HollyhockGod> "It's true," says Selim happily.
- Alexa returns from a quick jaunt around the machine and lights another cigarette.
<HollyhockGod> Alexa's cigarette self-extinguishes. "Not around this sphere, please," asks E'jah.
<Ebba> "We would certainly welcome you to our Chancel, should you decide to examine the fragments."
<Alexa> (Hey, he said it was fine last time!)
<HollyhockGod> You were in the tea room then.
<Alexa> (Aren't we still in the tea room?)
<HollyhockGod> "We would be delighted to observe them. Today, even! Whenever it is convenient." E'jah starts shading into the pink as his voice grows more excited.
<HollyhockGod> (No, E'jah routed your table to the place where Selim was.)
<Ebba> (The moon floated over the the world-creation sphere, and we heard Selim's mad laughter.)
<RyanSherbrig> "It would be my pleasure to return your excellent hospitality, although I fear our chancel cannot compare to the grandeur of a world-building factory."
<Alexa> (Yeah, but we were still on the tea moon. Not important, though.)
<HollyhockGod> "The grandeur is entirely for practical purposes, I assure you. My personal preference would be for a much humbler abode.)
<HollyhockGod> (No, you were sent into orbit around Selim's sphere. It's like the mad tea party.)
<Alexa> (Ah!)
<Alexa> "So how much resources does it take to build a planet?"
<HollyhockGod> "Well, there's enough on Earth to make almost one, so as you can see we've had to make do."
<HollyhockGod> "But then, we're uniquely capable in that respect."
<Ebba> (Hmm, things seem to have stalled slightly; should I run off at the mouth some more?)
<HollyhockGod> "I can make anything out of anything; Selim can make more of anything out of anything, and Gloria can bring anything to life."
<HollyhockGod> (Sure, go ahead.)
<HollyhockGod> "So ultimately we really only need pebbles and patience."
<Alexa> "Make do? Are yours hollow or something?" Alexa smiles mischievously.
<HollyhockGod> "And vastly sophisticated equipment," adds Selim.
<HollyhockGod> "The hollow world is quite popular these days," admits E'jah. "It has added security."
<Fiona> (We should probably also ask about the stone-of-antiheroes at some point.)
<Alexa> "And more room, I guess! Where did you get the equipment?"
<RyanSherbrig> (Ryan's only not because every time he actually gets to the point, people get angry at him.)
<Ebba> (alexa, i thgouht you wanted to do that? 'speaking of re-birthing things…?"
<RyanSherbrig> (Of course, Ebba gets to blather about things the Phoenix explicitly told us to keep secret, and nobody chastises her. Stupid Exemplar-level blame-shifting.)
<Alexa> (I thought Ryan was going to mention it! :)
<RyanSherbrig> "Gentlemen. I'm curious as to your professional opinions, as experts on the defining properties of Creation, as to an idea that occurred to me recently. Are you familiar with the Stone of Heroes?"
<Fiona> (Fiona hasn't actually blamed Ryan for anything. Only OOC.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Ryan's tolerance for digression has been reached with "Tell me about your equipment.")
<Alexa> "Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about that!"
<HollyhockGod> "Ah, the Seat of Traitors? I have heard legends of it, naturally. Supposedly the Fallen Magister Idrax was sacrificed upon it."
<HollyhockGod> "At any rate he returned after a long disappearance fighting alongside the Dark Horsemen and wielding their impossible powers."
<RyanSherbrig> "Indeed. It occurred to us, upon natural discussion of the subject, that it would be a highly desirable thing to have a similar artifact which worked in reverse, transforming the subject's nature into alignment with Creation rather than the Lands Beyond."
<RyanSherbrig> "As I understand the principles involved, this would require, at the very least, the highest talents of Alchemy."
<Alexa> Alexa mutters to Selim, "Do you have anything to drink?"
<HollyhockGod> "At the very least."
<HollyhockGod> Selim tips a tiny drop out of his flask into your teacup.
<HollyhockGod> It expands to fill the cup to the brim!
<HollyhockGod> "Hm, yes. It would need…."
<HollyhockGod> "Hmm…."
<Alexa> "Ta."
<RyanSherbrig> "I would of course be willing to volunteer my own knowledge of the principles of those things which 'live' in the Lands Beyond Creation to aid in the construction."
<HollyhockGod> "You know, I think I'd have to experiment. Can you get me an…."
<HollyhockGod> "Well, maybe an Excrucian is too much to ask for at the start."
<HollyhockGod> "An Excrucian Anchor should do to start with, though."
<RyanSherbrig> ("Sure, let me just slip off my second skin and anchor one of these mortal servants hanging ar- oh, whoops.")
<RyanSherbrig> "Of course."
<HollyhockGod> "If I could just get one of those- or a shard would do nicely as well, obviously- I could do some tinkering and maybe make a preliminary analysis.
<HollyhockGod> "Of course, your advice is also important. Perhaps you could work up some sort of treatise on the nature of various creatures of Beyond capable of infecting the Creation-born with their nature?"
<RyanSherbrig> "Of course. Several candidates spring to mind immediately."
<HollyhockGod> "Excellent!"
<HollyhockGod> "Hm, who might be an appropriate contributor to such a project?"
<HollyhockGod> "Lady Barliman, certainly."
- Ebba uses various Aspect tricks to shade her small talk to indicate to E'jah that she would like a slightly more private meeting with him later.
<Ebba> (Assuming you can do this with Aspect?)
<RyanSherbrig> ("I would enjoy a private meeting later." Aspect 0!)
<HollyhockGod> (Sure, easily.)
<Ebba> (Reading up on alchemy, giving someone else the essential insight requires a Word of Command.)
<Alexa> ("How about you and me go upstairs?")
<RyanSherbrig> (Heck, considering E'Jah, a wink might do it.)
<Ebba> (if Ebba asked him about it here in front of everybody, she might give the impression of pressuring him to say yes; in front of everyone.)
<Ebba> (Asking privately allows him to say no without embarrassment.)
- RyanSherbrig begins jotting some notes on the developmental morphology of unleeches.
<HollyhockGod> Light erupts from the floor!
<RyanSherbrig> ("I didn't do it!")
<HollyhockGod> Gloria rises from out of nowhere, peeved that nobody told her there were guests.
<HollyhockGod> "You didn't tell me we had guests," she says.
<Alexa> ("Roll initiative!")
<Fiona> (we've actually only had one fight in what, 19 sessions?)
<HollyhockGod> "You were supposed to be busy with the equator," grumps E'jah.
<RyanSherbrig> (All of our 'enemies' have been surprisingly reasonable!)
- Alexa waves.
<HollyhockGod> "I think we've finally achieved asexual… um, whatever you want to call it."
<RyanSherbrig> (But then, we have been given a task that doesn't set us against the usual Dark Horse bogeymen of nobilis chronicles.)
<HollyhockGod> "Greetings, all; you're a much more pleasant sight than my current project."
<RyanSherbrig> (Well, up until right now.)
- Ebba bows
<HollyhockGod> (I need to bring Maliq back.)
<Alexa> "Hi, you must be Gloria. I'm Alexa."
<HollyhockGod> (Or somebody else awful.)
<HollyhockGod> "Lady Fire; it's a pleasure."
<Alexa> "Likewise!"
<HollyhockGod> "I hope E'jah hasn't talked too much shop to you on your first trip."
<HollyhockGod> "Lies!" says E'jah.
<RyanSherbrig> (Thorpe suddenly arrives, with her airship fleet! Roll initiative!)
<HollyhockGod> ("ACTIVATE MOON LASERS," says Gloria!)
<Alexa> "No, it's been fascinating."
<Ebba> "hardly, all his converstaion has been fascinationg"
<RyanSherbrig> "I would say just enough shop to keep us all both entertained and enlightened."
<RyanSherbrig> "Also, fascinating."
<HollyhockGod> (Better yet, "C DEADLY SHARRRRRRRRRRRRRP!")
<RyanSherbrig> (Okay, () that last comment.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Or heck, don't, Ryan's only got aspect 0 for keeping his asides asides.)
<Ebba> (we've learned to conceal our madness slighty better since our last diplomatic foray)
<RyanSherbrig> (Sidenote: I've just added "Asides" to my Big Estate List.)
<HollyhockGod> "No doubt you're eager to get a look at our equipment here," says Gloria, as E'jah tries to sign out NO SERIOUSLY WOMAN DON'T behind her.
<Alexa> (Who's he signing to?)
<HollyhockGod> "We're very proud of the Promathion protoshinmaic calculator. It's Selim's baby."
<HollyhockGod> Gloria.
<HollyhockGod> Selim pets it like a dog!
<RyanSherbrig> "Oh, we are!"
<HollyhockGod> The crystal sphere remains very spherical.
<Alexa> "Did you make it yourselves?"
<RyanSherbrig> (Ryan is suddenly curious as to why E'jah obviously doesn't want them to see the equipment.)
<HollyhockGod> "It was a joint construction between Selim, myself, and Lady Whitsunday."
<Alexa> "Lady Whitsunday?"
<HollyhockGod> "Selim, why don't we give them a tour?"
<HollyhockGod> (The Power of Eternity, hostess of Timeheart.)
<Ebba> (was that gloria?)
<HollyhockGod> That was.
<HollyhockGod> "This is the prime computational unit we use for designing new conceptional universes."
<HollyhockGod> "It's a major advance on the machinery Lady Whitsunday had been using up to that point."
<Alexa> "How does it work?"
<HollyhockGod> "Of course, it requires a lot of upkeep, but we already had a lot of maintenance staff, so it isn't much trouble to host it."
<HollyhockGod> "Essentially, it's an attempt to create an intelligence that processes entirely based on non-objective command stimuli."
<HollyhockGod> "That is to say, we input music, light, and other things of beauty and significance in order to shape our universes, rather than using imperfect linguistic transfer methods."
<Ebba> (so they are trying to make a computer that does what you mean, not what you say?)
<HollyhockGod> "It's even more sophisticated than that. It does what you want, not what you mean."
<HollyhockGod> "In theory," says Selim.
<Alexa> "Wow! Clever."
<RyanSherbrig> "Intriguing."
<HollyhockGod> "Selim is too modest. He's already created a five-Estate universe on the pipe organ."
<HollyhockGod> "Or at least the specs for it."
<Alexa> "Have you built any universes yet?"
<HollyhockGod> "We don't have the facilities for that kind of work yet," explains Selim. "When the time comes, we'll probably leave the Moon altogether and build some kind of communal Chancel to complete the work in tandem with some of our peers."
<Alexa> "Oh, do you have any idea if there's a minimum number of Estates required to support a fully functional humanity?"
<RyanSherbrig> "One would assume the estate of Humanity would suffice."
- Alexa rolls her eyes at Ryan.
- RyanSherbrig shrugs.
<HollyhockGod> "Ultimately, we'd need several hundred," explains Gloria.
<HollyhockGod> "Just humanity isn't enough," says Selim. "They also need to be, um, alive, and things."
<Alexa> "Yeah."
<HollyhockGod> "We're most likely still several hundred years away from the completion of this project, but I have high hopes," she tells you.
<RyanSherbrig> "I suppose. Especially if you wanted your universe to be compatible with people from this one."
<Alexa> "Well, of course. That's the point, right?"
<RyanSherbrig> "There would be a certain sense of accomplishment in creating an entire universe even if that particular design goal were unachieved."
<HollyhockGod> "Yes, but if it doesn't preserve humanity we don't get a cookie," Selim explains.
<Alexa> Alexa grins. "You get cookies?"
<Ebba> "You mean phoenix has never you given you cookies?"
<Ebba> :D
<RyanSherbrig> "I've made a few cookie-baking monsters in our chancel. I'll have to make more now, of course."
<HollyhockGod> The Phoenix burns the cookies! Burns them!
- Alexa pokes her tongue at Ebba.
<Fiona> (Fíona cheats and has a cookie tree hidden in the chancel)
<HollyhockGod> Gloria hums "Cookies are a Sometimes Food" to herself.
<RyanSherbrig> "However! Engrossing a topic as this is, we have an Excrucian Anchor, or possibly Shard, to procur."
<RyanSherbrig> (Gloria: "Wait, what?")
<HollyhockGod> "Ah, business!"
<Ebba> (I have simply trained my mind to [b]think[/b] about cookies…)
<RyanSherbrig> (Use a deep miracle! Mythically good cookies!)
<HollyhockGod> Then I guess we can call it a night for now while you discuss cookies.
<Alexa> "Oh, do we have to go? We haven't seen any of their projects yet!"
<RyanSherbrig> (Hmmm. Back on subject: You can use major miracles to detect when somebody else's estate is being Flower Rited, correct?)
<HollyhockGod> And how to procure an Excrucian.
<HollyhockGod> Major Divinations, yes.
<RyanSherbrig> (Maybe Alexa and Fiona can find one in progress and we can 'helpfully' intervene.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Or, even)
<RyanSherbrig> (Alternatively, Ryan can bust out a word of command and get a pen-3 knowledge of everything touched by light.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Also, ow.)
<HollyhockGod> Ow?
<RyanSherbrig> (Well, words of command are hurty. And with spirit 0, expensive. Although I could tap into our Dynasty Points.)
<RyanSherbrig> (We get, what, one per session, and nobody has spent any yet?)
<Ebba> (you get breaks in switching around MP at spirit 2 and 4, don't you?)
<HollyhockGod> You do.
<Alexa> (So we have 20 DPs including this session?)
<HollyhockGod> Dear me, that's a lot of DPs.
<HollyhockGod> Almost enough for a new Imperator quality.
<RyanSherbrig> (We really should have one of our high-spirit Nobilis start nettling some people.)
<HollyhockGod> Go to it!
<Ebba> but other than crazy pirate lady, who do we dislike enough?
<RyanSherbrig> (Greater Creation of Radiance inside the universe-building machine to induce a hostile AI forming! Somebody else with Spirit, hit it!)
<RyanSherbrig> (Well, the Dark.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Almost everybody's got Sanctity of their Estate, and we've got three powers we're going to have to piss off eventually.)
<HollyhockGod> Radiance can create hostile AI?
<Ebba> but isn't attacking the sancitity of someone's estate more something the excrutians do?
<RyanSherbrig> (Well, they said they fed their equipment information in the form of light.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Being the living embodiment of light… it's a bit of a pity I don't have more domain, really.)
<RyanSherbrig> Well, there's sanctity, then there's 'destroying'.
<RyanSherbrig> We could just, like, write a really popular self-help book decrying Shame.
<HollyhockGod> Then your mother becomes very disappointed in you.
<Alexa> Or we could pick up an Excrucian while we're out looking for Pandora!
<Alexa> There's bound to be heaps of them lying around Outside.
<RyanSherbrig> For certain definitions of 'pick up', yes.
<RyanSherbrig> Although we do have 20 DMP. That could be a lot of major miracles.
<Fiona> seems a waste, though.
<RyanSherbrig> Well.
<RyanSherbrig> Hmmm. If she's already turned, we could just capture /Pandora/.
<RyanSherbrig> Be awkward to explain.
<RyanSherbrig> But potentially more useful to our purposes if E'jah's test model is the subject we really want to convert.
<HollyhockGod> You can't just test things on a full Excrucian!
<Alexa> The Phoenix doesn't want us telling anyone about Pandora's betrayal.
<HollyhockGod> They're too big to fit in the testing microwave.
<Ebba> doesn't the stone theoretically make you a full excrutian?
<HollyhockGod> Yep!
<RyanSherbrig> The Phoenix /also/ didn't want us telling anyone about our brand new worldlet.
<RyanSherbrig> That didn't exactly stop us.
<Alexa> Didn't she?
<Fiona> I don't think we're very good at obeying the Pheonix
<RyanSherbrig> You've noticed.
<Alexa> I thought we were just keeping quiet about the worldlet off our own bat.
<HollyhockGod> It turned out nobody cared about the worldlet while it was secret, so it probably doesn't matter!
<RyanSherbrig> Nobody cares about Pandora's mysterious absence from our family expeditions either! Convenient!
<RyanSherbrig> Anyway, I'm off to work. Thanks for game, all.
<Alexa> Seeya!
- RyanSherbrig is now known as Benhimself
<Fiona> I should go too. laters people.
- You are now known as RandBrittain
- Fiona has quit (Disintegrated: Fiona)
<Alexa> Ciao!
<Ebba> byeybe
- Alexa is now known as Uqbarian
- Benhimself has quit (Disintegrated: Control? Eject! Eject now!)
- Ebba is now known as Crusher_bob
<Crusher_bob> and I've hopefully arranged a private meeting with E'jah later
<Crusher_bob> I wonder how off the rails it will go
<Uqbarian> Looking for some advanced calculus?
<Crusher_bob> since romantic entanglements are explicitly forbidden
<Crusher_bob> I figure we should go out and get some
<Uqbarian> Oo-er!
<RandBrittain> Poor Ebba; her romance is incorporeal.
<Crusher_bob> since we've mostly dis-obeyed the people we like so far
<Uqbarian> Presumably E'jah could make himself a physical body if required.
<Crusher_bob> (paraphrasing the last issue of lucifer "I've seem him without clothes plenty of times. How does he, err…")
<Uqbarian> (Well, how does he?)
<Crusher_bob> it shows mazikeen whispering into (hmm, who was it)'
<Crusher_bob> s ear
<Crusher_bob> the question askers eyes go wide, followed by an 'Oh!'
<Uqbarian> (I haven't read it.)
<Uqbarian> So, Vesper likes Fiona, Ebba likes E'jah. Have we set Ryan up with anyone yet? ;)
<Crusher_bob> (Wanda! :D)
<Uqbarian> :D
<RandBrittain> He's got a secret colleague!
<RandBrittain> But it's probably a dude.
<Uqbarian> Ryan's broadminded.
<Uqbarian> He's already sleeping with Enemies of Creation, after all.
<Crusher_bob> eh? can't stuff from outside just be indifferent to creation?
<Uqbarian> Sure it can. I was just being paranoid. :)
<RandBrittain> It's not his mind that's at issue!
<Uqbarian> He's Radiance. Perhaps he needs to meet the Lady of Mirrors. Or a Magical Crystal Girl.
<Uqbarian> Anyway, I'm off. Later, folks!
<Crusher_bob> byeybe
- Uqbarian has quit (Disintegrated: )
<Crusher_bob> sigh
<Crusher_bob> certain typed words have become simple gesutres instead of actually requiring forming the word then thinking of how to type it
<Crusher_bob> means the certain errors tend to repet themselves frequently
<RandBrittain> Difficult!