Sweet Words / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page Sweet Words.

Author Post

Zesc 31 Oct 2023 22:33

inb4 contest closes. This is even rougher than usualy and I can't gurantee I'll be able to smoothen the edges tomorow.

I also have the feeling that the "One person basically giving you a lecture for half an hour" is not a format that will be sucessful, but I always wanted to shine a light on the side of Foundation defectors. And this thing is filled to the brim with references and establishing world building, oh boy. The idea of seeing some of the pay-off one day is getting me all giddy.

("We're actualy mimic invaders who got stuck as humans" was supposed to be a throw-away one-line scare for the Vaults, but I decided to give it some more love. And yes, I always fully intended this to be a canon part of my world building.

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Eschew elucidation, espouse obfuscation.

Re: Author Post

Meta Wonderrat 01 Nov 2023 19:15

Well, a language component running out IS something I heard before, I had not yet considered it might leak through that particular avenue.

So, did the Insurgency write all those documents, did we replace the speaker beforehand or is someone making a power grab and just using our logo?

If human language dies out we might need to use one of the extra dimensional ones.

Anyway, I like it enough +1.

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Fighting Monsters and Language since 2016.

Re: Author Post

Zesc 02 Nov 2023 17:05

Hmm… not not the southern Word Hunters from AHoMD (the game I stole all my good articles from), perchance?

I wonder why you, out of all people, can't imagine people joining the Insurgency on their own volition.

Things not mentioned/considered:

1. Humans need that stuff for language acquisition, but do they have to be merely immersed in it, or is it being consumed from the enviroment?
2. If you can destroy it through an alchemical process, there stands to reason the inverse also possible.

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Eschew elucidation, espouse obfuscation.

Re: Author Post

Meta Wonderrat 03 Nov 2023 05:31

Joining the Insurgency is not the problem. Thinking "The world needs rescuing. Yes, Chaos Insurgency." Is what I do not get.

A skeleton crews of people all willing to defect, documents that make the foundation look bad, an old conference room that is not bugged to hell, a vice director still remembering her series of complains and concerns, when amnesics might as well be candy, the foundation losing sight of classified files within their facility, complaints being rejected without consideration or explanation even if it was senior staff complaining.

To many things light up for this to be natural. Usually people defect one by one or during moments of high stress for a reason.

There is always more than one plan.

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Fighting Monsters and Language since 2016.

Re: Author Post

Zesc 03 Nov 2023 06:40

"The Foundation turns out to be not as morally white as they seem to be, and the GOC approach of blowing-things-the-fuck-up seems no better in this case." is a valid stance.

A skeleton crews of people all willing to defect

Skeleton Crew because she's obviously been waiting for the chance and hand picked those not going early for All Saint's Day for willingness to jump ship.

documents that make the foundation look bad,

So, like… basically every document that isn't blatant Foundation propaganda?

+ Spoilers

It's clear Parroni has been overstepping her boundaries and undermining Director Hagen for some time by now, creating apparently a parralel, informal hierarchy within the Site. There's a reason the MTF member called her "Director".

I actually picked the old room because it is less likely to be bugged than the new one — it's directly mentioned in the tale. My original draft had everyone freeze their behinds off in room with LN2 storage tanks, but I kept that idea for some future stuff.

a vice director still remembering her series of complains and concerns, when amnes[t]ics might as well be candy,

Do you really think amnestics are the catch-all for situations like this? She either evaded them, or had some privileges from her rank. Kinda sucks if your Site Director got mind-wiped and now can't recall who was supposed to get briefed about that one very important thing… you know, the one, the one with the high clearance and stuff.

the foundation losing sight of classified files within their facility,

Guess it's easier to evade RAISA if you're a Vice Director. Also, "Digitized photocopy of a foreign-language Fax" just screams "made through official channels" to me, doesn't it? (My original draft had her use a overhead projector — my reason for cutting that was the assumption that even old Foundation stuff is probably 8 or so decades ahead of german schools in terms if going digital.)

complaints being rejected without consideration or explanation even if it was senior staff complaining.

Only her later ones were. And I'm not going to spell this out for others who might want to discover it themselves, but the O5 probably knew the risk involved and decided for it because the alternatives are far worse.

Oh c'mon, is there anything natural in the world of the anomalous?

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Eschew elucidation, espouse obfuscation.