[Text] (Voice replies are also fine!) (A day or so after Jayce's post)

[constantvrunning]

If you touched anything in the shrines - why?

[Sure, the messages were informative - in terms of explaining how some of the people from this world think, if nothing else - but:]

We've run into how many traps, now? Of course the shrines themselves are rigged.

I do have pictures of the contents of one of them, though. And another of those strange messages, besides.

[They'd have shared with Jayce by this point, but they do want to know if Jayce intends on sharing the results first. In the meantime, V has their own two cents to offer.]

Comments

voice

[thetatters]

[ John heaves an exasperated sigh in his deep, oddly distorted voice. ]

Let me guess. It says something about cult worship and the gods of this world? We would be better off without it.

Text for V, voice for John?

[constantvrunning]

Gods, no; worship, yes.

[V has to do some fiddling, but they do manage to transmit a temporary secured text file through the network: I will not be constrained by family, nations, or even the material world. I shall look to the moon, and understand how far that reach truly extends. I can become so much more, if I do not tie myself down.

Yeah, they're not keen on saying that aloud.]

Faith has never been part of my world experience, but having lived with an oppressive government before, it does strike me as similar to that.

[The Red Empire never fixated on the moon, though. They were insidious in other ways, usually not magical ones.]

voice!

[thetatters]

[ John has no experience with a typing interface, his hunt-and-peck game is pitiful, and no one has ever told him not to text and drive. He irritably reads whatever is sent to him, and there is an unsettling familiarity to the imagery. It wakes a flash of memory— city spires rising impossibly behind strange moons— to which John grits his teeth and responds by radio. ]

You presume there is a difference between the two. Those who demand faith are often asking for obedience. Or perhaps those who wish to pledge themselves in one way are easily manipulated into more.

Re: voice!

[constantvrunning]

It sounds like you have experience, and I'm willing to defer to you that much.

Do you also have a sigil? It seems we all woke up with one, in the garage. Whatever is running this seems perfectly willing to make the first move.

[Which, while it doesn't mean they should just give up and become - what's the word, heralds? V is not certain - does mean they're playing with loaded dice, so to speak. Some options are harder to achieve than others.]

[thetatters]

[ John doesn't want to talk about his experience. There is an awkward pause, then: ]

Yes, I have a sigil. [ Admitted in impatient tones. Whoever stamped this mark upon his face was making a cruel joke: it is a mark John has been trying to avoid for months now. ] Currently I assume it to be a side-effect of whatever summoning brought us here.

[ That's mostly a lie. John thinks he knows who brought him here, and that bastard is powerful enough not to need written magic as a crutch. ]

[constantvrunning]

[Not knowing why John is reluctant, V chalks it up to 'probably similar to why they dislike brands', and figures it's a bad idea to push either way.]

Seeing as we arrived with them, rather than them only appearing afterwards, that's a reasonable assumption.

[But the fact remains that, for all of the Drifters, they simply don't know what they don't know. And that bothers V in its own way.]

They somehow provide information on the monsters we fight. I would like a way to stop that. It doesn't act like a proper database.

[On that particular matter, letting something have access to their mind in that way, without permission... V would 100% agree with John's stated preference.

Just, if it turns out to be feasible.]

[thetatters]

[ John has no idea what 'a proper database' may be, but he can agree with the sentiment. ]

Perhaps that knowledge stems from a connection with the person or entity that drew us here. Such ties may not be easily broken.

[ But he sounds uncertain, thoughtful. He... he truly doesn't know what the cause might be. It's unsettling. ]

[constantvrunning]

Up until this point, the bulk of my experience with mystical beings was on a much smaller scale. And none of them had paid enough attention to me to mark me.

[V hadn't been their problem and - mostly - vice-versa.]

Back where I am from, certain of my teammates were better suited to understanding how to work with them, when the matter came up at all.

[Which wasn't always.]

[thetatters]

Some can withstand the knowledge better than others. As for whether the same holds true here... I suppose we will find out.

[ Said grimly. He's used to gods being fundamentally dangerous to comprehend. ]

text

[wereperrito]

what is the strange message?

Re: text

[constantvrunning]

[V does the same as they did for John Doe: a secured temporary message across the rudimentary Network: I will not be constrained by family, nations, or even the material world. I shall look to the moon, and understand how far that reach truly extends. I can become so much more, if I do not tie myself down.]

It was labeled the 'Sixth Tenant'. It's not clear how many there are.

Re: text

[wereperrito]

it sounds like someone made a religion about the broken moon

[Jack is not surprised. If a world was falling apart, people would cling to whatever they could to make sense of it.]

Re: text

[constantvrunning]

I wonder how long the moon has been broken, then.

[V doesn't study religious movements, sane ones or otherwise, but there could be arguments for both quick growth and for there having been something pre-existing.]

Or if we'll find anything that'll tell us things plainly.

[That is, phrased in such a way as to inform and not persuade.]

Re: text

[wereperrito]

it has to have been a while. years at least, maybe a couple decades

a religion may spring up quickly but a whole countryside does not become this abandoned and empty overnight

I am not expecting anything to speak plainly about anything though

Re: text

[constantvrunning]

That scans.

[Sure, V doesn't have to like it, but Jack's conclusion makes sense.]

There appears to be some degree of recording technology still intact, if that broadcast was any indication.

[The one that first greeted the Drifters, they mean.]

So there might be computers somewhere. Or paper.

[There were arguments for both types of information storage to have degraded after however much time it's been, however.]

Re: text

[wereperrito]

Oh I am sure there must be paper at least. Computers, maybe, but they are not much use without power or an active network, I think. The garage we started off in didn't seem to have power.

But paper, there must be. We just have to stop somewhere that might have some that wasn't, er, exposed to elements or torn apart.

Re: text

[constantvrunning]

We've seen a lot of overgrown buildings-

[Mostly the shrines, but the garage/convenience store sort of counts...]

This road does look to have been in place for a long time, however, so it makes sense that there should be something sooner or later.

voice

[bufudine]

[There really isn't that much to do while driving, sooo...]

...So you also touched a shrine?

[ :| ]

Re: voice

[constantvrunning]

[V's knee-jerk reaction is to talk, this time, not text:]

Touch, no. Was inside, yes. But not to move anything.

I was able to take pictures with M-Bot from standing outside as well, though those are blurry.

[Probably some sort of magical-filter effect.]

[bufudine]

How did you obtain the message?

[The message that may be, perhaps, burned into your arm, V?]

[constantvrunning]

It appeared as I was leaving.

[And they hadn't heard anything fall.]

I was- rather startled.

[Hence running the heck away from there!]

[bufudine]

[Maybe knocked something over in the process of fleeing? He could see it; his own burn had come from merely picking up one of the objects placed on a shrine.]

What was your message?

[constantvrunning]

[V switches to text, sending the same secure message they have to John Doe and Jack: I will not be constrained by family, nations, or even the material world. I shall look to the moon, and understand how far that reach truly extends. I can become so much more, if I do not tie myself down.]

The way of thinking expressed seems strange, to me. Not completely alien, but still very different.

[And, in light of other conversations, very concerning.]

[bufudine]

[Serph stays on voice; it's easier for him to talk and drive than to type and drive. Strange, though. It's the first message he's seen that hasn't mentioned aspects at all.]

What's a nation?

[constantvrunning]

A... union of people.

[V has to think hard on the most basic, non-accidentally-circular definition.]

Usually in the same geographic area, where they clearly define their own borders.