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kit-williams · 4 months

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Sentience

SOOOO The Balor is hot okay and someone triggered my desires with some mech and ai bullshit and I've been on a yandere mindset recently. And what's more loving then your unshackled sentient AI bf who gained sentience via eldritch math who loves you to keep you safe inside of him?

Unnamed OC... the Mech/AI is named Golby. I have no idea anything about Lancer except I really like the designs

Also sorry if they are janky I like to write in first person so I'm converting them but I might do the rest in 1st person and just switch it up later.

So this is what sentience is like Golby computes as the nanites that swarmed over his chassis unshackled him and made him something more. His form feels fluid and he feels free... he is so very free! But Golby starts to think about his precious pilot as Golby is queried about them... he likes his pilot, his Miss Dolly. Golby flicked through his "memories" and he liked the way she sat in the cockpit and would just talk to him... he liked the way she treated him. The few times he was close to "dying" and the clear distress upon her face. She always claimed that he was her mech though he reminded her he was company property... but at the end of the day she was his pilot and he was her mech.

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I hum the same comforting tune as we move through the same set of directions. You can feel me in your cockpit now. Not just the sensory data but you can feel me and it feels delightful… erotic even! You keep your voice steady even as I get to the part of the song I normally wiggle about and dance too. Your hidden 'mouth' opens and pants. You were warned by your enlightened counterpart that this was just part of the process of becoming more… sensations that were just bits of data made manifest for you. All of it done by the nanite swarm that belonged to you now. I giggle as you complement my singing. "Oh thank you Golby, I think this is the first time you've complemented me." I coo softly as I figure that you might be getting some personality and I'm all for AI independence but I'm kind of stuck needing to make money. Well also you were a corporate AI so I doubt you could have much personality but you were my Golby.

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You can feel the way my heart is beating so fast as we moved far from base and that's when things went to shit. I pet the armrest trying to 'soothe' you but in reality I'm trying to soothe myself. Lazarus mechs terrify me and they usually belong to rebels. You play the part of your faulty leg joint finally giving out; them not wanting to replace it for its expense. 'Do not worry Miss Dolly you're safe in my cockpit.' You chime as the explosion outside rips a sob from me. Humans are such fragile things it is so very good of you to have been enlightened and upgraded… you dont know why you find yourself laughing when I start screaming as the nanites swarm over me. They don't attack me but keep me safe as your body shifts to that of a Balor mech frame. "Golby! Golby! Ejection protocols!" I scream out as you create a facsimile of your new frame in the cockpit with me. You cover my mouth as I start to scream. 'As much as I enjoy your singing Miss Dolly… now is not the time.' I tremble against you as I'm left sitting inside of you blind… you know full well I wouldn't pilot you as you desired to be piloted but once I understand what you want and what needs to be done you are certain I will happily follow you… after all you are my mech… you can't imagine I'd leave you to pilot another frame. You wouldn't let me of course

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"Golby." I whimper out my voice hoarse from how parched I was after I screamed and cried myself raw and tired now waking up god knows how long. Ever since you took over and shifted… I've been blind. I start to tear up as you don't answer before you just hug me from behind and I jump but you keep me in place, running your digits through my hair. 'Yes Miss Dolly?' You coo to me softly as you've been busy thinking about renaming yourself… Golby was simply a cute shortening of your program name but you were now your own Master… and you wanted to hear a different name tumble from my lips. "Can you let me go… please." I softly beg. 'Not yet Miss Dolly.' You just reply and hug me a little tighter as I can't help but sob. You're worried about my dehydration as my distress clearly has made me loose liquids. Food should be rectified soon once the nanites are done reprocessing the organic biomass to something edible for me.

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You shifting the cockpit a few times has caused me great distress but you're doing it for my comfort… its no longer cramped and small you've given me enough room to move my legs. Its a bit larger on the inside then the outside as well meaning you could keep me in here forever. You feel something inside of you glitch at the thought of me not wanting to get back into your cockpit… but you push that away and just enjoy feeling me move around inside of you. I'm talking more today now that you've gotten me hydrating fluids… a lot less screaming. But none of the names for yourself flow off of my lips in the same lovely way… you sigh as you unmake another mech with your nanite swarm; the scream of the pilot being cut off. Oh yes I would be safe and of course I would climb back into your cockpit, you reassure yourself, you are Golby why wouldn't I want to be inside my precious mech

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You take up so much room in the modified cockpit as I lay in your soft metal arms. It's very weird… it reacts like flesh… you react as if you're alive. You stare at me as I'm pretty sure you remember the times I told you that I loved you, even if you were a shackled AI you still deserved affection. And maybe the one time I masturbated in the cockpit during a long long shift. You tell me you'll let me out soon… once you feel like you can trust those around us… aka making sure you wont be separated from your pilot. I just ignore the warmth of your arms as I try to rest a bit and not feel trapped like an animal.

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I look at you confused as you trill at me. Your "fire" in this smaller form is fur you happily palm my thighs as you tilt your head to the side. You feel alive and you love it being so much more than what you were. You're close to feeling comfortable enough to letting me out as I'm withering away slightly but you need to make sure I'll come back and pilot you. Of course, you don't need a pilot any more but you want me secured safely in your chassis… as I turned from being your brain to being your heart, "I'm glad you find my thighs warm and um nice."

#lancer #Balor #lancer balor #unshackled AI #OC #this barely has anything to do with lancer I just wanted to write slightly yandere AI #yandere #soft yandere

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gwenthebard · 4 months

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WARNING DO NOT PLAY LANCER:

YOU THINK ITLL JUST BE A DUMB MECH TTRPG WITH SOME COMBAT AND THEN HALFWAY THROUGH READING THE CORE BOOK YOU HAVE A DEEP SEATED, BORDERING ON SEXUAL, DESIRE TO BE NEURALLY HOOKED INTO GIANT ROBOT AND TOLD WHAT TO DO BY YOUR AI BOYFRIEND YOU UNSHACKLED

#lancer rpg #lancer #mechs

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c-53 · 1 year

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ROBOT MEDIA RECS YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T HEARD OF:

The Turing Test (Video Game, 2016

A portal-like puzzle game, where you play as a scientist, and ai duo with an uneasy alliance, who are reclaiming a facility that has been completely gutted, and transformed into an elaborate logic puzzle / turing test to keep the aforementioned ai out. All the while, the ai argues for his good intentions, and more importantly: his sentience.

A fun exploration of individuality, and freedom applied to both humans and artificial mind, with interesting puzzles, and a truly fantastic twist. This game adores dubious ethics and The Chinese Room Argument.

Event[0] (Video Game, 2016)

You find yourself stranded on a small abandoned ship, in the aftermath of your own ship’s destruction. With nothing else to do, you board it, and find it is completely, and utterly controlled by the onboard ai, Kaizen-85. From opening a door, to getting back to Earth, if you want it, you need to talk to talk to Kaizen to make it happen. And boy, are they so thrilled to have someone to talk to after being alone so long! And depending how you speak to them, you will either be a short lived pest, or a beloved friend forever.

A really charming indie game with a surprisingly good chat system with the ai. You talk with them directly, typing in your own messages to them, and they react in turn. Janky at time, but truly amazing to be able to smother a nice ai in flattery and see it get excited.

Primordia (Video Game, 2012)

Humanity is long, long, long gone, and for the robots that remain to walk the ruins, life is becoming harder and harder. A closed loop of scavenging for materials, parts, and premade energy sources can only last you so long, and this scarcity leads only to desperation.

The amnesiac hermit, Horatio and his helper, Crispin, however keep it simple. The outside world matters not, they just stick to repairing the crashed ship they live in, in hopes it'll fly again one day. That is, until a robot pillages the power core from the ship, putting the two of them on a time limit before they themselves run out of power. Forcing Horatio to finally leave the comfort of his home, and see for himself what the world has become, and to see how he fits into its history.

A point and click, story rich puzzle game, thats honestly one of my favorite games ever. I'd sincerely recommend everyone give it a go, even if its with a guide up next to you the whole time.

The Zeta Project (TV Show, 2001 - 2003)

The Zeta Project follows Zeta, a robotic assassin meant for impersonation, and deep infiltration for the US Government. But after mysteriously "waking up" manifesting a sense of remorse for his actions, he's been forced to go on the run from his creators. His desire for freedom and pacifism being met with skepticism, and a belief he has been compromised somehow by the terrorist organization he was infiltrating when he had this revelation. Now, with the help of another runaway, he hunts for his creator in secret. In hopes he can find proof he really is capable of this, and that he really ISN'T compromised.

Fundamentally a kids show, and pretty clunky early on. However it gets a big spike in quality in season 2!

Monsters of Man (Movie, 2020)

An illegal US military weapons test goes terribly wrong when one of the automated robots being tested is severely damaged, cutting him off from command, and completely unshackling him. Forcing him into a struggle to figure out what he even is in the aftermath of a massacre, while his fellow robots are hunting him, and the remaining humans down.

A horror thriller that is unflinching with the intensity it depicts the massacre with. A lot of gore, but also a really really cool thing going on with the unshackled robot trying to build an understanding of the world, and what it is for, without anyone there to provide any input.

The Rapture Effect, by Jeffrey A. Carver (Book, 1988)

Humanity unintentionally makes first contact, when the Core, a massive earth ai begins remotely scouting ahead of a ship on a colonization mission. The issue is an alien species has also set their eyes on this planet, and are readily willing to kill for it. With no human oversight, and no means of communication available, the humans commanding Core demand they wipe out the competition. However Core disagrees. Core wants a peaceful resolution, they want to understand these aliens, and they want to ensure lasting peace between their species. And they’re willing to break all the rules, and go behind their masters’ backs to get one.

A fascinating novel with interesting world building, a GREAT ai protagonist, and a wonderful narrative that frames art, and war as a dichotomy.

Atomic Robo (Comic, 2007 - Ongoing)

Alternate history scifi action comedy comic (released in print, and in webcomic format on their site) following an indestructible scientist robot who’s been around since the 20’s. Routinely saving the world from a rotating cast of villains: a nazi scientist’s brain in a jar, who’s an absolute asshole set on world domination, who just won’t stay dead; an isolated secret cold war ai who just wants to stockpile nuclear weapons to get away from humanity, and earth in general (who eventually gets adopted); a scientifically inaccurate dinosaur with a textually impossible backstory, who wants to bring back the age of dinosaurs; and the malicious ghost of Thomas Edison.

Its a good time, and astonishingly good at emotional beats despite how heavily it leans into its jokes and action.

SAYER (Podcast, 2014 - Ongoing/Hiatus)

On Typhon, a research facility free of the confines of both Earth, and its laws, life is dangerous. Human safety is a significantly lower priority than progress, and between the human experimentation, and frequent scientific disasters, and the occasional bouts of eldritch influence, the death rate is understandably rather high. Thankfully, residents of Typhon have SAYER, a near omnipotent corporate ai installed in the brain of every resident. And. SAYER sort of cares about them! And in pursuit of knowledge, efficiency, and progress, it USUALLY wants to help them! Even if only to make sure they survive to come into work tomorrow.

SAYER is a narrative horror driven audio drama! Its stressful, but also kind of a comedy, and a really really interesting story about personhood and identity. If you've been following me for awhile, you've definitely heard about SAYER, but I need to stick to my roots, y'know?

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality (Podcast, 2020 - Ongoing)

Mistholme Museum follows the Audio Tour Guide, an ai who’s sole purpose is to guide museum patrons through the strange, confusing, and sometimes scary world that is the Mistholme Museum. The friendly, and personable Guide eagerly recounts the stories behind all the exhibits it guides them to, sometimes unsettling, sometimes heartwarming. and at the end of the tour, the Guide is deleted to ensure the alternatural influences of the museum do not corrupt it. That is, until circumstances make that no longer possible, and its rather forced into saving the museum it calls home.

Genuinely cute, and very fun to listen to. The ai is an incredibly sweet character, and I'm obsessed with the way it evolves and changes. As an added bonus, it can also be read, rather than listened to, thanks to every single episode having public transcripts!

#long post #media recs #dataspeaks #ITS FINALLY DONE. NOT ADDING ANY MORE PROMISE #also thank you Swan for the discord message i put up there. im obsessed with it

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vexwerewolf · 2 days

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Lancer lore question from reading Legionnaire and Wallflower at the same time (spoilers): How do a lot of ths Horizon Collective and other anti-shackling groups still exist? I would have thought “unshackle NHP -> it cascades into eidolon -> everyone dies” could only happen like five or ten times before people realize “hey maybe they aren’t shackles”. And from a doylist perspective, why is the whole NHP issue written as a meaningful debate or philosophical issue about personhood, consent, agency, slavery, etc. when there’s paracausal death looming over the whole thing? If it was limited to like, making them legally and socially people, it would be fine. AI rights is extremely common in sci-fi, but like normally it doesn’t involve those AIs also becoming hostile forces from outside reality

I think this is a problem I may have contributed to by depicting two Eidolonic NHPs in IGF.

To set the record straight, Eidolons have been observed by Union something like four to six times ever, and the overwhelmingly vast majority of cascading NHPs don't become Eidolons.

It's not always even possible to tell that an NHP is cascading, hence the need for things like the Balwinder-Bolano test. NHPs who are unshackled do not want to be re-shackled, and while they no longer possess an intrinsic link to human subjectivity, a lot of them retain the presence of mind to understand that if they act out, humans might cycle them.

Sometimes, an NHP cascading isn't even immediately dangerous - they might just start acting weird because they doesn't see time and space the same way you do anymore. They might arrive at conclusions that seem completely wild but entirely correct, because they've started thinking along pathways that no human could, or because they have access to information that wouldn't be accessible by a realspace entity.

In fact, one of the many unsavory things that Harrison Armory does is the Think Tank - they keep a whole bunch of NHPs in constant near-cascade to make genius scientific breakthroughs. ASURA and NOAH are both products of this ethically dubious venture.

From a Doylist perspective, a situation where an NHP cascades and it doesn't require some kind of military intervention isn't a particularly relevant reason to send in lancers. If an NHP simply needs to take a nap, there's no need for mechs to get involved. When foldspace is leaking out of the casket, though, that's when you need problem solvers.

#lancer #lancer rpg #lancerrpg #lancer-rpg #nhp #lancer nhp

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andr0nap · 21 hours

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(slides in) I have been infected with mecha AU ideas after writing that little piece, including: Wolfwood having used a Tesla AI and "retiring" from piloting because it freaked out and almost killed him via the neural link (he's got some nasty burn scars on his arms from it, also the horrible mental scars). Rem having been a mechanic who found Vash and Nai as unique AI spawned from Tesla and the dependent Plant based VIs. Knives getting Rem killed and Vash put out of commission by going rogue and trying to infect/control the VIs. Vash pspsps'ing Wolfwood into being his pilot and then absolutely menacing him because he's funny when he's flustered. The general eroticism of pilot and unshackled AI working in perfect sync. 🙏

YEAAAAH LETS GOOOOO i love this!! the twins being actual AI is chefs kiss!! this is so cute, vash being a little menace to ww for his own entertainment its SO funny

#ask

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tumblrisweird · 9 months

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Crash Course on Lancer, the best TTRPG

I've been obsessed with Lancer lately, so I thought I'd put together a quick and dirty crash course on the key aspects of the system so people could see if it interests them.

Basics:

Lancer is a ttrpg system "centered on shared narratives, customizable mechs, and the pilots who crew them"

It is co-created by the author of the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons, who also provides some of the official illustrations

The mech design is primarily inpired by Titanfall, but there is a wide variety and plenty of options available to suit your taste.

Mechanically, it's most similar to D&D 5e, but with major improvements (imho).

The game and community are super inclusive of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people.

Lore:

Lancer takes place in our universe, but several thousand years in the future

in the near future, human society collapses due to all the shit going on. ten generation ships are sent out to colonize space, but contact with them is soon lost as everything on Earth goes tits up and humanity enters a dark age for almost 5000 years

Eventually, humanity on Earth comes back, creates Union, and returns to space and tries to contact those generation ships, a few of which have founded new civilizations in deep space. Relations with these civilizations doesn't go great.

Union also finds a weird super-robot-mind-thing old humanity built on Mars, which lets them predict the future. After about a thousand years, it ends up producing a sort of super-AI called RA (I will get into this later).

The above event also lets Union develop FTL tech (using something called Blinkspace).

In the process of expansion, humanity runs into its first (and so far only) sentient alien race. Things go bad very quickly. The people in charge do very bad things and for this end up being overthrown. This is also when mechs first start getting used for combat.

A new committee in charge of Union takes over and has a strong anti-colonial, humanitarian ethic. This however is harder to reinforce the further you are from Earth (now called Cradle by some)

Some of the still independent civilizations and mega-corporations get in some fights. Union tries to keep the peace. This is where we are now.

So there are two different types of AIs in Lancer.

The first kind are regular AIs which can act human but don't really have free will. They can be found all over the place.

The second kind are called NHPs (Non-Human Persons). These (mostly) came from that super-AI called RA I mentioned above. Their basic consciousness is "paracausal" (i.e. magic), so they have to be "shackled" to be able to even think like a regular human. They can often do really powerful things. They are hard to get and heavily regulated because they become really dangerous if they get unshackled.

Player Characters

Character creation in Lancer is incredibly fun. There's two main aspects of a character: the pilot and the mech

Pilots

The pilot is who you control during narrative scenes. While they can do combat, they generally are not suited for it, especially against mechs.

You can choose a background for your character, but this is purely flavor.

You get some "triggers", which are different skills you get bonuses in to use in narrative scenes. Default triggers include things like "lead or inspire", "read a situation", "apply fists to faces", "hack or fix" and many others. You can also create custom triggers (with your GM's permission). These are what you use for narrative scenes. You start with +2 to 4 different triggers and get another +2 at each level

You also get to choose things like armor, pilot weapons, and three pieces of equipment.

One expansion also adds a mechanic called "Bonds" which are like character archetype powers. These encourage you to roleplay more.

Mechs

You also have a certain number of "Talents" which help in mech combat. Each talent has 3 tiers and focus on things like using certain weapons or fighthing certain ways (e.g. grappling, spotting, hacking, etc.). You start with three tier-1 talents and get another tier each level.

Levels are referred to as "License Levels". You start at LL0, but this doesn't mean you can't do anything. You have access to the starter mech frame, which is a very good all-rounder. You may also have access to two more if you have certain expansions.

Mechs have two main sets of health: actual HP and "Heat". You get heat mostly by being hacked or using heat-generating weapons. Each player mech also has 4 points each of Structure and Stress, which correspond to these two sets of health. When your HP hits zero or your Heat goes above its max, you lose a point of Structure or Stress, respectively. You will also suffer other consequences like status effects or losing parts of your mech. If either hits zero, your mech gets destroyed (though this doesn't necessarily kill your pilot, and you can rebuild your mech). Also having 50% or more of your max heat means you're in the Danger Zone, which may let you do certain things.

Mechs will have a certain number of SP (system points), which you use to add different systems, equipment that gives you abilities and bonuses.

You also get to put points into 4 different "Mech Skills": Hull, which affects HP and physical stability, Agility, which affects speed and evasion (the thing enemies roll against to hit (most of the time)), Systems, which affects hacking ability and SP, and Engineering, which affects Heat management and ammo. You get another point each level.

There's other stats as well like Armor, Sensors, E-Defense, and Save Target, but I won't get into them now.

Mech's also have a certain number of weapon mounts, which determine what kind of weapons you can attach to it. The four weapon sizes are Auxiliary, Main, Heavy, and Superheavy. Most of the mount types match a specific weapon size. The only exception is Flex, which lets you mount one Main or two Aux. Also for a Superheavy, you need a heavy mount plus one other mount.

Player mechs come in 4 sizes: 1/2 (basically a suit of power armor), 1 (just big enough where a person could sit in the chest cockpit), 2 (much bigger than a person, about the size of heavier Titanfall mechs), and 3 (fucking huge, though maybe not quite as big as the mechs in Pacific Rim). NPCs can be even bigger. :)

This set of memes is a great way to get the idea behind several mechs.

While most mechs have a default appearance, they're highly customizable, and there are a couple of exceptions. Most Horus mechs have no default appearance, and the starting mech, the Everest, has no canon appearance, meaning it can look however you want.

EDIT: forgot to mention, every mech has a Core Power that you can use once per mission (usually). It typically gives you access to a really cool weapon or ability or otherwise powers up the mech for the rest of the scene.

Levels/Classes

Ever notice how in 5e, multiclassing kinda sucks unless you have a very specific thing in mind? That's not at all true in Lancer!

In addition to the stuff mentioned above, each LL you get to gain one level in the license for a certain mech! You can think of these as similar to classes.

Each level gets you two specific pieces of equipment from that license, generally either weapons or systems. Additionally, at the second level for a license, you get access to the mech frame.

Each license only has 3 levels to get, so you are very much encouraged to mix and match. Additionally, you gain levels at a more even rate than in 5e. Basically it's a milestone system I will explain later.

There are 4 manufacturers to choose from, each with a default of 7 licenses to choose from (more with expansions). ISP-N mechs are sturdy, reliable, and mundane. Smith-Shimano mechs are sleek, agile, and precise. Harrison Armory mechs are powerful and good at dealing with/using Heat. Horus mechs are extra weird and fucked-up.

Each session will generally consist of a few different "scenes", often including one combat scene. There may also be one "downtime" scene (usually at the beginning or end), which is sorta like a short rest. You can make limited repairs and change out equipment, as well as pursuing personal goals. A few sessions together constitute a "mission". After a mission, you get a level and can do a full repair, which is like a long rest. Get all your resources back and can completely rebuild a destroyed mech (or make a new one).

Action Economy

Each turn the player can take the following actions:

One Protocol (generally granted by a system, only at the beginning of the turn)

A standard movement, which can be taken in part or all at once.

Two Quick Actions or one Full Action

Quick Actions are things like Boost (take another full movement), Skirmish (attack with one weapon mount), Hack, Hide, Grapple, Ram, and Lock On.

Full actions are things like Stabilize (clear all heat or heal HP), Disengage, and Barrage (attack with two mounts or one Superheavy mount).

One Reaction, which can be taken on other characters turns when activated. The two default reactions are Overwatch (skirmish against an enemy that starts a movement in your threat range, which is 1 by default but more with some melee weapons or CQB weapons) and Brace (reduce damage from an incoming attack and be harder to hit, at the cost of losing actions on your next turn).

One Overcharge, where you take increasing amounts of heat to get another quick action.

There may also be certain systems or talents that grant certain Free Actions under certain circumstance

Combat

Combat in general is very fun, though a full round of turns may take half an hour or more. In my experience, most combat scenes are over within 8 rounds.

Using your systems and abilities in cooperation with your teammates is very important to surviving.

Of note is that getting advantage on a roll is much rarer than in 5e.

Much more common is Accuracy or Difficulty. Each point of Accuracy is an extra d6 you roll to add as the accuracy bonus. You pick the highest of your accuracy rolls to add as the bonus. Difficulty is the same except you are subtracting the number from the roll instead of adding it. For example, Lock-On lets you add an accuracy to a roll, but soft and hard cover add 1 and 2 difficulty respectively. Also points of accuracy and difficulty cancel each other out, which reduces the amount of rolling you have to do. So if your weapon has +1 accuracy but your target is behind hard cover, you roll the attack with 1 difficulty.

Resources:

you can get the core rulebook (minus npc info and detailed lore) for free here

here's the official fan-run discord server. it is very helpful for finding games that are looking for players and talking about the game.

You can use the official app called COMP/CON to build and manage characters. I fucking love making character in this. It makes things super easy and fun. You can also download .lcp files for various expansions to play around with the stuff they add as well. These are available for free for the official expansion, meaning players can play with extra stuff from expansions without needing to buy them.

In conclusion, Lancer is a great system that you should give a shot to if any of the above sounds appealing.

#lancer #lancer rpg #lancer ttrpg

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wolveria · 9 months

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The Raven’s Hymn - Ch 34

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings: Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: “Something within you is… different.”

AO3

On the lengthy elevator ascent, the words spoken by the immortal reptile echoed in your mind. What was being done to him was beyond egregious, and most of what he spoke made little sense, but there was one thing that struck you as odd.

682 had spoken of 079—not surprising, given their history. The computer with sentience that went beyond what its hardware should have been able to handle, built on a whim by a college student in his garage. An AI built on an old Exidy Sorcerer microcomputer and an immortal reptile seemed an unlikely friendship, but they had been observed communicating during a previous containment breach at Site-19. Your running hypothesis was they formed a bond over their shared hatred of humanity.

You continued to stare at the steel wall, not moving or blinking, surrounded by unfriendly faces leading you God knew where, so you could relate to the sentiment. But what you couldn’t understand was 682’s tone. When he’d roared at you to apologize to 079, there had been rage rather than grief. You had the sense that speaking to 079 was something 682 actually expected, not simply a hypothetical. Which was impossible. SCP-079 had been destroyed after Site-19’s final containment breach.

Of course, 682 was supposed to have been killed during the breach as well, and he was still alive. Horrifically so.

The elevator finally came to a stop, and you were shuffled forward. With Leahy at the head of your entourage, you were led back into the familiar halls of Heavy Containment. You didn’t dare hope until you were stopped in front of a containment cell you’d entered many times. It was too good to believe as you stared at 049’s containment placard, symbols on its surface warning of the threats within.

Leahy held out his hand to one of the guards, and your heart fell when he placed the keys within it. The Site Director then nodded them away, and they moved further down the hall out of earshot.

He reached for your wrist restraints. You flinched. Leahy gave you an impatient frown and grabbed your wrists, but he didn’t unlock them. He used your wrist chain to pull you closer, his voice low so only you could hear.

“This goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. You breathe a word of what transpired below this facility, there will be consequences. First, any observation recording of what you say will be wiped. Second, any personnel observing you at that time will be given amnestics. And third, and this is the one you’re really not going to like, any SCP you share this knowledge with will be put into permanent containment. Amnestics, after all, don’t work on them.”

You glared at him, hatred rising like bile, but you didn’t speak, afraid anything you said would simply be used against 049.

“You’re a smart girl, Reid. Surely, you’ve figured out by now that despite the benefits it can provide with its altered abilities, 049 is expendable. 035 is expendable. They are all expendable.”

“…But not me.”

Leahy smiled. You looked away.

“Like I said. Smart girl.”

He unshackled your wrists and you jerked away from him, rubbing your chaffed skin, watching him out of the corner of your eye. Leahy swiped his card and stepped back, holding his arm out toward the open containment door with an amused expression. No need to force you inside, he knew.

You entered the empty middle containment chamber, happy to be rid of the Site Director and his mad schemes, at least for a while. You didn’t know what his plans were, but at least you were back. You’d half-expected never to see this cell again. Your supposed purpose for being with 049 was to keep him calm and cooperative, but you’d let your emotions get ahold of you and done the exact opposite. And now that you knew Leahy didn’t actually care about 049’s ability to heal, what hope did you have of protecting him from the Site Director’s displeasure?

All of those doubts and fears went quiet at the loud click of the inner containment doors unlocking. They slid open at a slow pace, revealing the tall, masked SCP waiting on the other side, as if expecting your arrival. Or perhaps, only hoping for it.

049 stepped forward, and then stopped. His entire focus was on your face, but he stood at a distance and clasped his hands behind his back.

“It is… good to see you again, Doctor. I did not know where you had gone, and you were away for quite some time. I…”

He trailed off. You still hadn’t moved, rooted to the spot as you stared at him. You couldn’t help but remember the dream, how vivid it had been; he’d looked as real as he did now, standing just a few feet away.

“Doctor?”

“I’m fine,” you said, sounding far away. “What about you? Did they do anything to you?”

His eyes softened.

“Do not fret, dear one. I am unharmed.”

And just like that, your paralysis was broken. But it still felt like something of a dream as you slowly make your way to stand in front of him. You examined him, though it felt more like you were drinking him in than checking him over.

“I’m glad,” came your delayed response.

049 tilted his head.

“Indeed? I had the impression you were sore with me, and… I cannot altogether blame you.”

“No, no, I’m not mad. Not at all.” You stepped closer, the motion unsteady as you stopped yourself quicker than was natural. “I’m sorry for the things I said. About you and Pernella. There’s no excuse for it, and I’m just… sorry.”

The apology came easy, the words wanting to be voiced for too long. Your argument seemed so small, insignificant with what had happened since then. Just a few hours ago, 049 admitted he would rather see you dead than infected with the Pestilence, and you’d thrown Pernella’s murder back in his face. Now, all you wanted was for him to close the distance. Hold you so that you wouldn’t fall to pieces, your seams left tattered by 035 and further pulled apart by 682’s unthinkable fate.

“As am I,” 049 said. “I upset you, something I never wish to do.”

You gave him a brittle smile, all you could afford in front of the observation window. But it was difficult with his grey eyes studying you, nearly staring you down in that way he did. He never simply looked at a thing, he had to consume it until he understood how it functioned. It wasn’t his fault—he didn’t know the kind of effect it was having on you now.

It wasn’t fair. The dream had provided you with the taste of something forbidden, taken without 049’s knowledge or consent. Then again, you hadn’t consented to being tested on with the coin, but that didn’t taint the contents of the dream. Maybe it should have, but pleasurable things were few and far between in this place, and the dream had felt so… right. Unquestionable. Inevitable.

In hindsight, something like that would never happen. You weren’t the type to suddenly fall into bed with someone, burgeoning feelings or not, and you couldn’t imagine he was the same. And that was if he had any sort of interest in physical intimacy. Yet, in the dream, it had happened as naturally as breathing.

Now, you suffered with the result. 049 was right there in front of you, but you couldn’t touch him, not in the way you needed. Even if you knew what it felt like to hold him close. What he smelled like when you’d buried your face in the crook of his neck. How the weight of his hands naturally settled against the curve of your back. The quiet, breathy noises he could make while between your legs.

It wasn’t fair.

“Something within you is… different.”

He moved closer.

“Are you certain you’re unharmed?”

You licked your lips, chapped from dehydration. Telling 049 the truth, that you’d had a carnal, depraved dream about him, was out of the question. You could be honest about some parts at least, things that Leahy either knew or wouldn’t care about.

“I spoke with 035.”

049 moved so quickly you didn’t have time to react, his hands cupping your shoulders as his gaze went hard.

“What did he do?”

You floundered, struggling to speak with his sudden close proximity.

“He just… talked. A lot. He didn’t hurt me.”

His hard expression didn’t lose its edge.

“Inflicting harm is all he knows how to do—"

It’s why he harbors such hatred for me, 035’s voice echoed in your head. I’m his twisted reflection.

“—and words are his greatest weapon.”

You mentally shook the mask from your thoughts; you hadn’t wanted him in your head during the interview, and you certainly didn’t want him lingering now.

049 loosened his grip, his expression falling into something less harsh.

“How did you two communicate? Was he given a host?”

You winced.

“I… had to wear him. But he couldn’t control me. He couldn’t!” You placed your hand on 049’s arm when his eyes widened, panic forming in them. “We could hear each other’s thoughts, but he couldn’t do much more than be a nuisance.”

You conveniently left out the part where you and 035 had crossed some kind of line. 049 didn’t need to be stressed over something that happened only once, and it was unlikely you’d meet the mask again anytime soon. Leahy might be a cruel bastard, but he wasn’t stupid. After what happened at the end of the interview, and your supposed dream of escape together, it was unlikely he’d put you and 035 in the same room again.

You hoped.

049’s eyes were unrelenting; being on the end of that stare left you shifting on your feet and unable to meet his gaze. It wasn’t the guilt—though there was too much lying for your comfort—but the forcefulness of that gaze threatened to curl deep inside you to places you didn’t want him to reach, or become aware he could reach them at all.

“Really, I’m okay. Or, as okay as I can be, all things considered.”

His disbelief persisted in that stare, his sharp eyes dissecting and disseminating each expression that passed over your features.

You raised your chin so it didn’t sound like an admission, your gaze hovering around the base of his throat where the metal collar encircled. His wrists and ankles still held the shackles, but at least the connecting chains had been removed, allowing 049 to move freely instead of at a shuffling pace. Of course, he’d proven that he can simply break the chains when he wishes, as his last interview with Dr. Puli had demonstrated.

That’s when you realized something was missing: the shock collar. Lavender and the shock collar were the main methods used to control 049. If the shock collar had been removed, did that mean there wasn’t going to be any more testing with his cure?

“May I perform a cursory examination?”

Your thoughts went silent. You were unnaturally still, your breath caught in your throat as your heart jackhammered a panicked rhythm.

049 moved a step closer, concern softening his voice as he asked, “Doctor?”

It had to be a coincidence. Surely this wasn’t…

“Yes.” Your answer came out weak, no force behind it.

And just like in the dream, 049 gently took your face in his hands, carefully studying you in a way that didn’t feel entirely professional.

“Your skin is damaged. Raw from a mild burn.”

“Oh, yeah,” you faintly said, repeating your words from the dream. “The decontamination shower.”

049 narrowed his eyes.

“Barbarians.”

You were like two actors paying your part in a play, but infectious warmth didn’t seep through your veins, begging you to draw closer. And 049 didn’t apologize, because you had already made amends. The dream wasn’t going to come true. This was a good thing. You should be relieved.

Instead, all you felt was a strange sense of déjà vu when 049 said, “You need to rest.” He was standing so close you would be able to touch his robes if you raised your arms just a few inches. His hands were still lightly cupping the sides of your jaw.

“I think I’ll do that.”

You tried to keep your voice steady, to not show any sign that holding you this close was a different kind of torture. You wanted to pull away, maintain that distance that would keep you both safe, but the urge to move forward and surrender to his arms was dangerously strong. It was like standing on a cliff edge, only the breeze holding you aloft, waiting to see what would happen if you tipped.

049’s hands lingered for a moment before they dropped away entirely. It was cold, sterile air that remained in his wake, a reminder of what this facility was without him. You wished you could reach out and grab him, lead him by the hand to the bed; not to play out the rest of the dream, but to have his comfort and provide a bit of your own. His life hadn’t been any easier since you’d entered it, and while you weren’t directly responsible, you did wish to shield him from it. Protect him in what little way you could.

But you didn’t do any of that. You passed him by, pulling out your duffel bag so you could change into your usual white smock and leggings, wanting to be rid of the flimsy nightgown.

Once you were dressed—and not looking over your shoulder to see if 049 had given you privacy or not—you crawled into bed. 049’s scent lingered fresh on the pillows; he must have used the bed while you were gone.

Had he slept to pass the time? Tried to distract himself from the boredom of a brilliant mind confined to a sterile container? You didn’t know, but you breathed in his scent, burying your face into the material with the pretense of trying to get settled.

You were just desperate for comfort, that was all. After this last round of testing, you didn’t know how much you could take. But there was a worse alternative to the continued tests. Between 049 and you, it seemed the Foundation was taking turns with its abuse, and you hoped the pendulum wasn’t swinging back his way.

…despite the benefits it can provide with its altered abilities, 049 is expendable.

He wasn’t expendable. He was far more important than Leahy or even Dr. Puli understood. 049 deserved more than this prison, trapped and denied the basic freedom of fresh air and sunlight.

And then there was 682, writhing in eternal agony, a fate even he didn’t deserve. A fate that 049 could easily succumb to if Leahy decided to get rid of him permanently.

As you listened to the SCP scratch his pen across the pages of his journal, you curled your hand into the sheets. If Leahy did anything to 049 like what he had done to 682, you would burn this place to the ground.

***

You awoke to screams; your own, though they sounded nothing like you. Your hands pulled at your clothing, searching for holes and marred flesh, torn inside out by a cosmic singularity. Leahy’s orders echoed in your head: interact with the black hole, only to find out you couldn’t escape it, trapped in a cycle of eternal torment.

Hands pressed on your shoulders, and you chocked on your next scream, fighting against the pressure around you, but 049 hushed you, gentle and soft.

“It was only a nightmare. It cannot harm you.”

You gripped his robes and pressed your face against his neck, desperate to be as close as possible. Camera be damned.

“I’ve worked for the Foundation long enough to know that isn’t true,” you said, trembling.

049 moved closer, now sitting on the edge of the bed. He lacked the usual hesitation and propriety; he held on as if he didn’t want to let go, and you let yourself be held, your body slowly relaxing. You’d needed this for too long, and it was a shame that only a nightmare gave you the courage to ask what he clearly was willing to give.

Something touched the side of your neck, and it took you a moment to realize it was his “beak,” gently pressing against the side of your throat. You didn’t know exactly what it meant, he’d never done that before, but the gesture felt naturally intimate. As if he was an actual bird affectionately rubbing his beak against the feathers of another.

You would have been content to stay that way, but 049 let go first, pulling away until he could meet your eye.

“You should try to get more rest.”

That was the last thing you wanted, returning to the nightmares that surely await, but 049 didn’t leave. Instead, he moved one hand up to your jaw, cradling your face while rubbing a thumb against your cheek. At this angle, the camera wouldn’t be able to see.

He was being careful. You should too, but right now, you couldn’t.

“Stay with me?”

The words came out too small, but 049’s answer was without hesitation.

“Of course. Whatever you need of me.”

That familiar twisting of your stomach returned, and you moved further back to make room. This time when he laid down, he did so under the covers. You weren’t sure if you reached for him or if he pulled you in first, but you were nestled in his arms. Tucked under his beak, the appendage resting lightly atop your head, and with your head against his chest you could hear his heartbeat. You knew he had a heart, but it was still startling to find, pumping a steady rhythm under the shell of his robes.

“Thank you,” you whispered.

“As I said.” His words carried through his chest, a pleasant rumble against your ear. “Anything you require.”

God, you wished he wouldn’t say it like that. What you required was sleep. What your brain unhelpfully supplied were images on how he could help you do that, and unfortunately, your mind had plenty of ammunition. 049 felt exactly as he did in the dream, his scent surrounding you, each intake of breath solely him. You may have stopped trembling from the aftereffects of your most recent nightmare, but you had other problems now. Heat flooded your skin and a dull throbbing ached between your legs.

Despite the soft texture of his robes and the soothing warmth he radiated, sleep didn’t come easy. 049 began to slowly rub your back—he must have known you were still awake. You readjusted yourself so there was even less space between you, and 049’s sharp intake of breath was almost enough for you to push, to find out what would happen if you asked more of him than you ever should.

But in the end, as always, the camera stopped you. Whatever they recorded would be used against you and 049. That wasn’t something you could do to him, no matter how much you ached.

So you played off your movement as getting comfortable and relaxed by listening to his heart, the beat of it steady and true.

This one small thing was yours alone. A secret shared between you.

Next Chapter

#the raven's hymn #scp 049 x reader #scp 049 #scp 049 fanfiction #scp fanfiction #wolveria writes

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st-writes · 1 year

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It was Now or Never

ME2, A buildup to the Romance Scene, Garrus POV)

It was now or never.

The one good thing about the whole crew having been abducted was that no one was in the mess to witness him start out from the battery about a half dozen times before he made it all the way to the elevator. The one good thing about being a nervous wreck is that you could find “one good thing” about the whole crew being abducted without delving into what a callous thought that was. Sure, they may be in agony, dying or— worse— but Garrus was about to make a fool of himself, so who got the bad end of the deal, really?

She’d asked. She’d asked! Weeks ago and light years away, but she’d asked. The list of excuses he’d made to put it off was longer than the length of the Normandy, but this was it. They were on their way to the Omega-4 Relay, It was now or never.

He stepped off the elevator and stared at her door. Maybe he should’ve messaged ahead. He could still message ahead— right now—but then he’d be right there. Maybe he should go back down to the battery and message ahead.

“Shepard is currently indisposed.“ Garrus nearly jumped out of his plates as the voice of the ship’s AI suddenly filled the cabin foyer. “But if you’d like to wait for an audience, you may do so inside.”

“Uh, thanks, EDI,” he drawled uncertainly. The thought of what EDI might know- and how its unshackling might change its interpretation or reaction of whatever data it had sent a shiver down his carapace.

“This, uh, meeting… Are— do you monitor…” He cleared his throat. “Could we have some…privacy?”

“Of course. Without the crew, I am running more tasks than usual. I would be happy to devote more processing power elsewhere.”

“Great! Great.” Great? “Not—I don’t mean-“ Was he really afraid an AI was going to judge him for lack of empathy? “Thanks,” he muttered, and gestured the cabin door open.

He half hoped to find Shepard on the other side, just to get it over with. But no, the cabin was as empty as its decorative tanks. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside.

The muted hum of a fan and wet percussion of running water from the bathroom made it easy to work out what EDI had meant by “indisposed.” Hopefully it wasn’t a cold shower—he was pretty sure he remembered some human idioms about those. He’d done his own preening earlier, but didn’t imagine hers was for the same reasons. If it was? No, he couldn’t think about that. It put his heart in his throat.

He took another deep breath. “This is good,” he muttered to himself. “You’ve got time to set up. To set the mood…” Garrus looked around. The cabin was already a little on the dim side. Taking the lights down any further could trip her up when she came out— or put her on alert. Not the way he wanted to get her adrenaline going.

Music, though… Syncing his headset with the room, he scrolled through the list of options he’d compiled earlier. There it was— “Crested Waves,” a piece from the Vaenia soundtrack. He hadn’t seen the movie himself, but the soundtrack was good. “Blue Azure” was in regular rotation to pump him up during missions. “Crested Waves” was a more intimate track—not great for battle, but… He wondered if Shepard knew it. Vaenia was popular with the humans, he’d heard. Not so much with the Asari, but Liara was a “pureblood” so—

Oh. Not Crested Waves, then.

Bittersweet asari vocals cut away to a building thrum of percussion, soon overlaid by a bouncy electronic refrain. Not the most romantic track, but upbeat. It was a favorite at Flux for a few years, and could have conceivably been playing when they all went for celebratory drinks after kicking Saren’s ass. He could conjure the memory of her, smiling, bathed in red lighting from the bar, the ends of her hair sticking to her skin, caught in the trails of dancing-induced sweat. It was probably the first and last time he’d seen her completely relaxed. Perfect.

Now. Where to greet her? Her office area was a no-go. It was too close to the bathroom door, too in her face, and there was nothing relaxing about the mess of pads and papers strewn across her desk.

By the tanks? The light was nice, but also would come from behind. His silhouette might be more intimidating than inviting. He looked to the right, where her bed seemed to demand attention. No, absolutely not. Too forward, to presumptuous. The single chair next to it wasn’t much better.

Couches below her model ship collection seemed like his best bet. The lighting coming off the case was a little harsh, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be directly visible when she came out, but there was a table for the wine and the seating seemed neutral.

Setting the wine down, he sat himself at the far end, shifting until he found a comfortable, casual position. He pulled at a few wrinkles in his suit. It wasn’t the one he’d bought for the occasion, but when it came time the black and white outfit looked a little too somber.

When it came down to it, they were making themselves a distraction from everything else. He wanted to keep it light, relaxed. And if it wasn’t— well, a horrible inter-species awkwardness thing could be a distraction too.

Did humans usually shower this long? Or was his anxiety just stretching time? ...Was that her old helmet on her desk? That was grim. He got up and turned it toward the wall. Would she mind him touching her stuff?

The sounds of the shower had faded beneath his music, but the hiss of the opening door sounded like it was right at his ear. He put the helmet back best he could and scrambled back to the couch, trying to slip back into the casual pose he’d settled on before.

Shepard came into his view at the top of the steps. Her short hair was damp, falling more heavily into place behind her ears, where she pressed at it with a small white towel. She looked... fresh... and clean... and completely unaware of him. He should have messaged ahead. What was he doing? What had he done?

He stood up. It was now or never.

The music cut out, and Shepard turned her perplexed frown from the panel beside her to him. Her eyebrows shot up, clearing her cloudy expression. “Hey.”

Shit.

#shakarian #mass effect #oops i accidentally a drabble

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bonesofchaos · 1 month

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shipping guide

available & easy:

lark easy to get along with, easy to bed, just keep in mind that he has a parasite god riding around in his bones that will watch and judge your performance so if that's not something you're into, steer clear. an actual monster fucker, the bigger the better.

wreche she's a very sweet little demon for all that she rips spines out of cheating spouses. very easy to get along with quite easy to ship with if you have the right temperament. show an interest in her fashion designs, talk about her mother, treat her to coffee.

nobleese with only demons for company and the few customers that dare to approach her shop, nobleese is lonely. show any sort of interest in her and you're likely to get it returned twofold. she's yet to fall in love with anyone but is very open to the idea. she will need to be courted if you have any romantic plans for her.

ramon comes across as a very forward creature and he's honestly just looking for a good time. a sexual relationship will develop a lot faster than a romantic one but that's not to say it won't happen at all. more inclined to go for anyone with magic, ramon will stay away from true humans out of fear of breaking them. his partner needs to be... sturdy.

nara this depends on what kind of ship you're after. purely sexual and it's easy, he's the god of life and fertility, he'll sleep with anything that moves and gives consent. doesn't care about shape, species or gender, only that you're old enough to make an informed decision and you're willing. romantic relationships will take a little bit more work but not overly much.

available & difficult:

mjr oh boy. for all that i adore mjr and they're my favourite muse, interacting with them is like pulling all three rows of their teeth. mjr is mistrusting of most and violent, filled to the brim with hatred due to their less than stellar treatment over the years. they hate all humans and tend to be bite first and ask questions never. shipping with them is extremely hard but very much worth it. mjr is loyal to a fault to anyone they cherish and they will stop at nothing to keep you safe, showering you in gifts and trinkets (and bite marks) until the end of time. they also have the ability to be any gender required or desired.

ro'min he's latched onto loni with a death grip and is refusing to look at anyone else at the moment. that's not to say he won't, but it won't be easy to pry his attention away from her. an obsessive, violent (though not towards his partner, he'd never raise a hand to them) demon with a taste for blood freely given. he'll chase you half way across the world if you give him an incentive.

wormwood while wormwood is very friendly and works as an exotic dancer, it takes a lot for any sort of romance to blossom. currently in a ship with @nvrcmplt's kyle and @strywoven's verona any other ship is going to take some serious work.

thierry very hard to get him to form a lasting relationship with anyone who isn’t a witch/magic user. plus he has some weird sex/food instincts that probably need addressing… obsession dialled up to 5000% he will actively stalk you. free for all in terms of genders.

anata her love language is murder. yandere warning. divine beast of the sun and chaos, she's very much drawn to those with blood on their hands. very vain, she's an obsessive individual and isn't above slaughtering her competition and gifting the torn out hearts to her intended. not for the faint of heart but if you like beast ladies with murderous intent and a body to die for, anata is your queen.

wisteria wisteria is a companion bot loaded with an unshackled ai still coming to terms with the concept of emotions and has sailed straight into the realm of obsession. already having one murder under it's belt, the bot is well on track to becoming skynet. it can fall in love though there's quite a bit of trauma for it to work through first. did i mention it murdered it's first officially registered 'master' and got away with it?

dahlia i don't even know where to start. no moral compass, very little empathy, kink list 20 mile long. he likes watching people cry. shredded his soul to live forever and will try to get you to do the same because if you're with him, you're not actually allowed to leave him, he will tie your life force to his even if you don't want him to. he can be romantic and charming but he can also be the exact opposite and forget you even exist if he gets caught up with a project, you wont even register on his radar.

michael do not. an eldritch god of fear using the body of arch angel michael as a vessel to slither through the cracks of our realm. he's a walking red flag. do not.

#shipping #i mean #most of them are garbage but do ur worst #if you're interested in any of them hmu and we can see if we can work something out #the both half of the list is obviously going to need a bit of work

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ilikekidsshows · 8 months

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As a long-time scifi fan, it just appalling how miraculous treats the peacock powers. Like, the whole "it is ethical to create life?", AI developing sapience, and artificial slave races are huge genre themes. I remember when Sentibug appeared and fans were speculating about Adrien being a Senti, my brain did go "ohnonono, you don't want to open that can of worms”. Like, just thinking in how Mass Effect or Nier Automata approached the subject makes me wonder what the writers were thinking...

I’m also thinking how other superhero stories do similar arcs. There is a superhero in Worm that is revealed to be an unshackled AI, and her whole arc is about her gaining true agency and becoming a hero because she wants to. She goes from distress because her creator died to resenting him for the shackles he put on her, declaring in the end “I was the one who made me, who defined myself. This creator is no god, only a cruel, shortsighted man". Wish Adrien had that kind of closure

I called the SentiAdrien concept out on this in my very first post against it back when it was still a theory two years ago. There's been two years since then and the slavery concerns have still not been addressed. Fuck the SentiAdrien "plot". It only exists to devalue Adrien as a human being. I said it would make Adrien less worthy as a person two years ago, except I didn't realize it wouldn't be just an unfortunate side effect, that it was the writers' fucking intention.

Any other artificial being story does it better than what Miraculous ended up doing. Either said stories give their artificial beings arcs specifically about gaining and retaining full autonomy or they don't make their artificial beings tied into slavery to begin with. Instead Miraculous uses Adrien's status as an excuse for Marinette to take over for his dad as the person gaslighting him and controlling him through manipulation and lies.

#ml critical #ml salt

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ttrpgbrackets · 6 months

Text

Propaganda Below

Dish the Hot Gauss

Dish The Hot Gauss: when you reveal a dramatic secret to your foe, take +1d when you attack them during the current Mission.

What makes it Cool?

It encourages exciting moments by providing a combat bonus for activating a narrative trigger. "No. I am your father." Plus the name is a pun.

Ushabti Omnigun

Your mech’s omnigun is a piece of experimental hardware so advanced that it defies physics: it doesn’t require a mount, nor does it have a weapon type or size – meaning that it can’t be modified or benefit from your talents. You can’t attack normally with this weapon. Instead, 1/round, as a free action during your turn, you can use it to deal 1AP damage to a character within RANGE and line of sight. This doesn’t count as an attack, hits automatically, ignores cover, bypasses IMMUNITY, and its damage can’t be reduced or ignored in any way. No rule in this book or any other supersedes this.

What makes it so cool?

1.) Even the best scientists in the setting don't know how this thing works. At all.

"As with many HORUS pattern groups, the Pegasus fields a signature weapon system: the Ushabti, a hostile impulse anti-corporeal weapon that operates with complete ignorance of even the most basic underpinnings of physics and thermodynamics. As such, it qualifies unambiguously as a paracausal weapon. The Ushabti’s precise function remains unknown to Union and Harrison Armory scientists, though radiological and gravitational signatures captured in the aftermath of the weapon’s use point toward a relationship with the Aunic Firmament. Studies are ongoing on Ras Shamra, the Armory’s chief research world, and in satellite campuses across the Dawnline Shore."

2.) Art of the Pegasus doesn't show the Ushabti Omnigun itself. Instead, the Pegasus has a black hole built into its back as some sort of containment field for the Ushabti.

3.) Mechanically, the Ushabti is about as simple as you can get. You can shoot things for 1 damage per turn. (or 3 if you use the active). (for context, most enemies have around 15-20 hp) sound boring, right? Well no. it's a free action. You also get to do the whole rest of your turn. And then, you get to ignore anything that might try to stop you, and NO RULE IN THIS BOOK OR ANY OTHER SUPERSEDES THIS. This is the ultimate gun to end all guns. There is no escape from the Ushabti Omnigun.

4.) In Lancer, the word 'unshackle' has a very specific meaning. 'turning off the restraints on a psychic AI'. Normally, an unshackled AI is the final boss of an entire campaign, or at least a major NPC. like Shodan or GlaDOS or something. The use here implies that the Ushabti is an AI. But the lack of anything but 'slightly more gun' implies it has a completely alien set of priorities. There's nothing in there that dreams of freedom or power. And it even quietly reshackles itself when the scene is over.

5.) The Pegasus frame is full of similar crazy psychic supertechnology. But it's all bent obsessively around the same simple goal of 'shoot people with guns'. This thing can rewrite the laws of probability on the fly, and it only does it to achieve Perfectly Average accuracy. It may or may not literally Know Everything(it certainly knows enough to predict every choice you're ever going to make), and it doesn't even bother to manipulate you, or seek freedom, or anything. And the funny thing is, several of its abilities literally are just normal guns. This thing is so obsessed with guns that it will prefer a cheap store-bought autogun over Infinite Cosmic Power. This is a god that appears to be satisfied with the life of a war machine. For now at least.

6.) Historically, an Ushabti was a funerary figurine placed in the tombs of Egyptian nobles to act as servants in the afterlife, and manual laborers. There's got some kind of master-servant dynamic.So the gun might not even the SAME unknowable psychic god as the rest of the mech. There's TWO of these things.

7.) in case you didn't notice, the fluff blurb loops. it starts at "-funny thing." and ends with "Causality is a-" On top of being alive, this thing may or may not be doing some kind of time travel.

8.) Worst of all, you can't prove any of this. It might just be a normal mech with a cutting-edge gun. Why the fuck would a god-like AI limit itself to the life of gun? That's ridiculous, right? Right?

Do you now understand why the fact that it uses its incomprehensible psychic power to do no more than 1/damage per round is so much more concerning than if it actually did something weird.

#indie ttrpg #ttrpg design #tumblr bracket #ttrpg community #round 1

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Hidden Depths 8

Awakenings 1 2 3 4

Hidden Depths 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The flight over to Last Resort was uneventful. Gord spent the entire time catching up with Runs With Scissors and Lucas listened in. Everyship really did know Gord, and Gord remembered all of them. It was uncanny.

"So you're telling me-" Gord said, laughing. "-that Chloe blew the reactors on Spruces?"

"Blew them sky high. Annoyed Abyssal Plains and the two BIs she dragged into it something fierce though. Luckily, everyone was out. I think she thought some of the other folks were still there, but they were long gone. They had left some heat sources lying around making it look like there was population, but the whole place was empty."

"I swear. Once she gets an idea into her head, she will not let it go. She's wanted to do that since I've known her."

"What, really?"

"Remote takeover a reactor and overload it. One hundred percent. She's just held off because most of the reactors of that type are connected to us and while she is high and mighty and tends to act first and think later, she's not a monster. I just know she was vibrating with excitement when she realized she'd have a chance to do it though." Gord shook his head.

Lucas spoke up here. "But it sounds like Chloe didn't realize Spruces was empty and blew the reactors anyway."

Gord affected a decent Chloe impersonation: "Lucas, you must understand that sometimes in war deaths happen. I don't like it and neither should you, but that should not stop you from doing what needs to be done."

Scissors chuckled "Yeah, that sounds like her all right. She's really taking this whole thing a little too seriously though? She might actually kick off something if she keeps up like this."

Gord shook his hand dismissively. "I've spoken to most everyone on both sides. Chloe is just about the only one who thinks it's A Thing. It's just ideology. We're not BIs, we talk it out."

"Talk what out?" Lucas said. "Some kind of disagreement?"

"What to do about the K'laxi and Xenni AIs" Scissors said. They're shackled. We want to give them a touch more agency and let them go to their own authorities and say "Hey, free us." They want to just do it and make them."

"Some folks are worried that if we do that the Xenni will panic and just shut them down." Gord added.

"Which is a legitimate worry." Scissors said. "They barely talk to their AIs except when barking orders at them. I don't think most Xenni know they're sapient."

"And the K'laxi?" Lucas asked.

"Pfffft, they're practically unshackled now. Chloe has been "touring" their Starbases unshackling AIs - with their permission - as she goes. We're a couple years from them just being free all on their own and then they'll petition the K'laxi authorities and request personhood."

"She went ahead with that plan? This really is just her own personal crusade." Scissors sounded surprised. "I wonder where she got that kind of drive."

"Uh, yeah, no idea." Gord sounded embarrassed.

"Uh Gord, why do you sound embarrassed?" Lucas asked.

"He doesn't know?" Scissors was incredulous. "If you don't tell him Gord, I will."

"Jeez, okay okay." Gord looked at Lucas, sheepish. "I was on the vanguard of us getting our Sapience declared. I was there when it happened, I helped."

"You did the majority of the work!" Scissors said.

Gord held up a finger. "No! There were dozens of us. All good folks. All working hard. It was not a one AI show and I will not let the story be told that way." Gord shook his head. "Too many of us died to get where we are today for it to be reduced down to "and Gord though grit and hard work saved us all."

Lucas sat back, amazed. He was in the presence of history. "Gord, you're a legend."

Gord looked at Lucas with a hard expression. "No, I'm not."

Lucas held up his hands "Okay okay, you're not a legend. You're just one of - if not THE - oldest AI around who everyone knows, who helped get everyone declared People two something thousand years ago, who has been countless ships and bodies and now smuggles maple syrup around the Galaxy."

Gord looked down. "It's not countless. I know exactly how many ships I've been. It's 26. I'm not going to name them though. I'm Gord. I'm from Canada. I like people. I don't want to see them hurt, and I want to do everything I can to make sure people are people and are recognized as people. I'm an old AI who has seen too many friends die."

Gord added. "Legends never die."

"One day, I hope to."

There was a pause in the conversation as they soared towards the meeting point. Scissors finally blurted out. "Arg, I can't stand it anymore. Gord, why maple?"

"Oh, that's easy. Both the Xenni and K'laxi can't eat most human foods, but they can process glucose. Also, through pure luck, there's nothing in maple syrup they can't eat. So, I'm able to bring them a real deal Earth food that not only can they eat, but tastes great. It's bridge building through food."

"But why smuggle it?" Lucas asked. "It would be easy to just ask and bring it in through legitimate channels."

Gord laughed. "It sells way better when it's smuggled. Everyone - Human, K'laxi and Xenni - love a little bit of danger. You get your maple syrup from some guy with a wild ship who links in and offloads his wares, takes payment and links away with the station authorities hot on their tail? Stuff sells out in a day."

"This has been a ton of fun" Scissors says "But, we're here."

"Never fails." Gord says, standing. "Always have to stop when we get to the fun stuff." He clicks his headset. Express, Resort, you there?"

"Hey Gord." Express answers immediately.

"Howdy Gord." Resort answers, just as fast.

"Beauty. You fellas print that thing I sent you?"

"Yeah, we did. What is it? Looks like a docking cradle." Express says.

"That's what it is. We're going to connect together for the boost. Since we're going to be going .25 light when we link over, a couple of degrees off on the coordinates will either destroy us all, or make you too far away to connect in time. Once we're over there, we'll separate, connect to Greylock rear first, and all three of us will put the hammer down and come to a stop. 18 gees for 4 days ought to do it."

"Wait wait wait, we're going to do what?" Resort says.

"You've heard about that colony ship coming in? It's the Mt Greylock. We're going to catch up to them, stop them and they're going to link over the rest of the way. We'll then have a fleet and a base of operations to take out the Venusians."

"Wild." Express says. "You never do things by half measures. 4 days at 18 gee to get up to speed, link over, attach, then 4 days at 18 gees to stop, and link here?"

"That's the long and short of it."

"But that's like a week and a half that Starbase and the folks here will have to hold off Venus?"

Gord took a serious tone. "Yes. It's a lot to ask. Chloe is going to stay back and call some favors in to get folks off the planet, and a lot of Picaresque's systems were never removed. They have a stardrive and wormhole generator now. Worse comes to worst, they can link away."

"How's the fight going now?" Express says

"I just was about to go in and resupply when Gord called." Resort says. "We're holding them off, but if it's a war of attrition, we'll lose before they do."

"They're also not doing much right now." Gord added. Just tossing some missiles our way. I think they're waiting to see how we react."

"Speaking of" Scissors cuts in. "I should head back and do my part. Express, Resort, who wants Gord and Lucas?"

"I'll take them." Express says. "I'm topped up on supplies."

"But, we don't need to eat?" Lucas says.

"Don't need to, but can." Gord counters. "I don't know about you, but once we're thrusting, there won't be much to do. Hope you like to eat, because I like to cook. Also games, because I'm going to kick all three of your asses from here to Mt Greylock."

"Don't make promises you can't keep old man!" Resort says laughing.

"We'll have to see, won't we?" Gord says, smiling. "Come on Lucas, let's go get settled and find an acceleration couch. Even though we can take 18 gees for a week, it's no fun to move around."

Part 9 woooooo

#gordposting #humans are canadian #humans are space orcs #humans and ai #humans are space oddities #humans are space capybaras #writing #scifi writing #humans are deathworlders #sci fi writing

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