Edge of Darkness - Powered by vBulletin
Ended
Watch

A Cover Is Not the Book

40424
THREADID
30
POSTS
21 - 30
DISPLAYED
Page 3 of 3 First 1 2 3
  1. #21
    Phoenyx's Avatar
    Presence (Focused)
    Trained Observer
    Dexterity (Lithe)
    Phoenyx
    Spells and Gear

    Monthly rits (cloaked):
    Supernal Vision (Pot 6)
    2E Life Shield (Pot 5)

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), pair of daggers, tonfa, Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), motorcycle (street bike)
    Phoenyx

    Nimbus: a pair of fiery scarlet wings unfurl her with an eagle's screech.
    Plot Stats

    Def - 6 (4 Dex+Life/2)
    Armour - 3/2 (Life/2, Trenchcoat)
    Health: Matriarch - 1B/7
    Willpower 3/3
    Mana: 9/9
    Vulgars Cast: 0
    Personal Spells 2/3
    [6] Supernal Vision (Monthly Ritual)
    [5$] 2E Life Shield (Monthly Ritual)
    Active spells: 3/7
    [3$] Complex Transmission

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), 2 spare clips, pair of daggers (one is magical focus), Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), Purse ($57, gun permit, driving license)

    2
    PRE

    The Arrow looks to Winter and that familiar hint of a smile. "The term 'Freedom of Information' is a modern term centered around the idea that we should be able to access any information pertinent to us as individuals. The ethics part, as you say, comes into when and why such access is valid, and if it should be restricted for the best outcome of all."

    She looks to Shodan. "Perhaps, but if you're questioning your own beliefs, you make them more robust or realize you were on the wrong path. I don't need to convert you to my way of thinking - having you question your own belief is enough." She shakes her head at Shodan's arguement. "If everyone has nuclear weapons, that means everyone has them, not nobody. You can't assume an altruistic approach from everyone just because yours is - and so the likelihood of someone pulling that first trigger becomes more likely. Hence the need for restricted information. And nukes."
    Obrimos Adamantine Arrow, Cloaked Monthly Rits (in minisheet)

  2. Likes Yumyumcrow liked this post
  3. #22
    Campanella's Avatar
    Campanella
    Allies (City Hall)
    Allies (Criminal)
    Allies (Culture)
    Allies (Finance)
    Occult Skill
    Campanella
    Campanella
    Campanella's Scenes
    Stats

    Clock

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor 0
    Defense 2

    Vulgar +1
    Active Spells: 3/5
    Personal Spells: 3/1

    [2R] Analyze Artefact (Deep Scrutiny of Artefacts, Prolonged, 1 scene)
    [4R] Dark Matter (Matter Sight, Prolonged, 1 scene)
    [2R] One Mind, Two Thoughts (Prolonged, 1 scene)

    Tangled Threads

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor 4
    Defense 2

    Vulgar +1
    Active Spells: 3/5
    Personal Spells: 1/3


    [4] Aura Perception (Concentration, 1 scene)

    [5] Third Eye (Mind Sight, Prolonged, 1 scene)

    [2R] Unseen Aegis (Armor, 1 scene)

    2
    PRE

    Campanella leaned in as Kid whispered.

    "Campanella, of the Renaissance philosopher fame. Campanella. Moros. Mysterium and Hierarch."

    There was a pause before he added the last bit. A calculated look swept over his face and his eyes scanned their immediate neighbourhood. Feeling safe from Sleeper ears, he responded to the Guardian in kind.

    "But Mr. Camps will do in company such as this..." A lazy finger indicated the shop.

    With that he focussed on the maturing debate.

    "Very good Phoenyx. And very true, Winter. Access to information should never be a given. Access must be earned - but how that access is earned, and for what information... Now there is a lot of grey area there. I do not doubt your sincerity, Shodan; some types of information can be shared through collaboration and working together. But not all."

    He chuckled, attempting to draw the sting from his comments as he recognised how, once again, the Libertine stood alone.

    "As for your nuclear analogy, I believe the term you seek is... 'balance of terror'. The idea being that if everyone had nuclear weapons then no one would use them. Unfortunately not everyone is wise. And... People... have a habit of acting irrationally. Alas some people are just not suited to have that kind of information. Some things need to be kept... hidden."
    Campanella|Moros|Mysterium
    Gnosis: 4
    Occult Skill: 3

  4. #23
    Winter's Avatar
    Winter
    Presence
    (Stoic)
    Education
    (West Point Grad)
    Occultation
    Winter

    Nimbus

    Dark shadows scatter in ordered symmetrical patterns traversed by a crackling pallid silver light that wraps Winter in a pleasantly numbing and icy coldness.
    When vulgar magic is cast, the frequency of the oscillation of the dark fluid surges until the shadows arrange themselves in a solid black halo around Winter's head, the white light darkens into a fiery black sunlight and his eyes are set ablaze with vivid incandescence.
    Stats

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor: 1(General)/2(Ballistic)
    Defense: 3

    Active Spells: 1/6
    Personal Spells: 1/3
    Incognito Presence (Mind 2) Rote, Scene, Pot[1]

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Luckily they had the Libertine out-numbered, "The only thing we agreed about was that the widespread adoption of weapons of mass destruction increased the likelihood of one of them being fired. If anything, by virtue of statistical odds alone, that's it, considering the randomness of the occurrence. And I don't have to remind you that there are plenty of malicious actors", then he addressed the rest of the group, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people, but when you can keep irresponsible people away from guns, everyone is better off"


  5. Likes Yumyumcrow liked this post
  6. #24
    S
    Shodan

    "My philosophy is not about altruism. My philosophy is about people having survival instinct" You don't refrain from pushing the button because you love rabbits and flowers. You do so because it's your ass on the line, or so goes Shodan's argument.

    "Also you're wrong. Like, data wrong - ever since the Cold War ended, there have been about one to ten nuclear trials worldwide. Several years can pass with no trials at all, and all of a sudden we realize the number of nations with nukes has quintupled since 1989. Quintupled!" He underscores the word "On the other hand there've been 116 trails in 1958, and that wasn't even a record year" Shodan says with conviction "Polite and armed society, Alice. You don't need to be a good person to not pull the trigger. You just need some brain matter"

    Well, at least Phoenyx's argument makes sense. It's not the Libertine's own, but at least it holds water? Boss-man and Winter, though? Shodan can't help but smile.

    "People pretending their made-up criteria and definitions apply to everyone because they are 'objective' are the cutest thing. 'Gray area', that's rich. Y'all can keep whatever shit you want hidden, it can be finders-keepers as far as I'm concerned - but your moral authority is nothing but 'might makes right' and you know it"

  7. #25
    Abacus's Avatar

    Contacts (Finance)
    Contacts (Digital Networks)
    Contacts (Academia)
    Trained Memory
    Abacus Scenes
    Abacus

    The sound of dialing numbers (phone, keypad, rotaries, calculators) echo in the ears of those in close proximity. Shimmering gold lettering take the form of flickering mathematical symbols that form complex equations in the air.

    2
    PRE

    Barnes and Noble was never a blip on his radar back at Phyrex. Like a sheltering, overprotective parent, Abacus never wanted such a good place become part of his strategies, lest he have to sacrifice for a much more lucrative option. Sentimentality brought him here, harkening back to a time before his awakening. He could spend hours holed up by a window with two or three issues of Forbes, an old accounting textbook, and a box of pencils.

    This time, he fiddled with today's crossword, using a copy of Jung's Man and His Symbols to balance the flimsy newspaper on,

    But that was where the mundanity ended. People milled about. Unimportant people. But among the less statistically significant were the ones that triggered memory. The weathered face of a taciturn Guardian. The narrowed eyes of none other than the Hierarch. He could hear Shodan before his eyes finally landed on him.

    Abacus sighed. This reminded him of high school reunions, except no one outside of the graduating class knew that their school existed. If they didn't pick him out when he entered, they would have by now. There was no use in hiding.

    He caught onto the tail end of a conversation. And the look on Shodan's face was enough to suggest it was something more than idle chit chat. An exchange of ideas. A disagreement.

    Fun.

    "You're lucky I'm not a Censor, then."
    Acanthus | Mysterium |

  8. #26
    Winter's Avatar
    Winter
    Presence
    (Stoic)
    Education
    (West Point Grad)
    Occultation
    Winter

    Nimbus

    Dark shadows scatter in ordered symmetrical patterns traversed by a crackling pallid silver light that wraps Winter in a pleasantly numbing and icy coldness.
    When vulgar magic is cast, the frequency of the oscillation of the dark fluid surges until the shadows arrange themselves in a solid black halo around Winter's head, the white light darkens into a fiery black sunlight and his eyes are set ablaze with vivid incandescence.
    Stats

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor: 1(General)/2(Ballistic)
    Defense: 3

    Active Spells: 1/6
    Personal Spells: 1/3
    Incognito Presence (Mind 2) Rote, Scene, Pot[1]

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Morality wasn't the end of his game. The war for reality was all about wisdom, merit. To protect, insulate from the deepest reaches of debauchery people like Shodan, the Guardians plunged themselves headfirst into the lowliest nightmares.
    In the Darwinian dog eat dog world of the Guardian, might does indeed make right. The Libertine sat at the opposite end of the table, in blissful ignorance that his seat had been paid with the blood of countless faceless sinners.
    It was so that people like him could claim the high ground, and keep walking the right path, that the Guardians sacrificed themselves. Keep their eyes blind to the inner workings of power, away from the corruption, and hope they make something of themselves.
    But morality was just a means to an end, it was meant to propel to new heights and not bind the practitioner inside a conceptual web of beliefs that were merely human. Awakened were humans too, but they also were something more.
    And so here they were, with the Libertine - ironic given the path he had awakened to - ignoring the basic tenet of the world. The Guardian wouldn't dispel that illusion even if it irked him to no end. It was his failing, that he hadn't gotten the message across the first time they had breached the topic, that night at the park.
    The Guardian was a practical man, concerned about the outcomes, the results of his actions. He didn't care about looking good, issues of ethics were considered as long as they didn't put their endgame in jeopardy, PR was best left to the pageants of a beauty contest. And that was the problem, the Libertine was still running on the false premise that the Visus Draconis paid anything more than lip service to the rest of the world. It was a comfort image he had wrought and spun for his benefit, but the Guardians simply didn't follow that logic. It was an Order of people who held themselves in contempt, why would they concern themselves with the opinion of the others, when they already hated themselves?
    At the end of the day, somebody's hands had to get dirty, and the Guardians were the most qualified to run the shadows.
    He shrugs, "Yeah, you're right", he concedes. His eyes meet the newcomer's. "Good to see you again"


  9. Likes Yumyumcrow liked this post
  10. #27
    Phoenyx's Avatar
    Presence (Focused)
    Trained Observer
    Dexterity (Lithe)
    Phoenyx
    Spells and Gear

    Monthly rits (cloaked):
    Supernal Vision (Pot 6)
    2E Life Shield (Pot 5)

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), pair of daggers, tonfa, Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), motorcycle (street bike)
    Phoenyx

    Nimbus: a pair of fiery scarlet wings unfurl her with an eagle's screech.
    Plot Stats

    Def - 6 (4 Dex+Life/2)
    Armour - 3/2 (Life/2, Trenchcoat)
    Health: Matriarch - 1B/7
    Willpower 3/3
    Mana: 9/9
    Vulgars Cast: 0
    Personal Spells 2/3
    [6] Supernal Vision (Monthly Ritual)
    [5$] 2E Life Shield (Monthly Ritual)
    Active spells: 3/7
    [3$] Complex Transmission

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), 2 spare clips, pair of daggers (one is magical focus), Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), Purse ($57, gun permit, driving license)

    2
    PRE

    It seemed Shodan was heavily outnumbered. But she had to give him credit, he stood by his guns. Phoenyx approved - the same small smile he saw during their last debate creeps into the corners of her lips.

    "So ultimately you trust in a primal instinct - one built on with reason and logic, certainly, but an instinct." She looks into Shodan' eyes with her dark ones. "You're saying that you believe in a 'polite and armed society', where no extremism of any kind would deploy desolate arms. Where no-one will ever say the end justifies the means to deploy such weapons. I think that it ultimately a gulf we cannot cross, and you do." Stating it plainly made it sound like what it was to her ears - impractical idealism, pure and simple. The tone has a neutral finality, acknowledging the unlikelihood of compromise on either side. Idealists made theory. Pragmatists took those theories and applied them as best as could be made to the world as it truly was - dangerous, and brutish. Equality for all meant the same power in the hands of zealots, crusaders, people with the capacity for great good and evil. If everyone Awakened tomorrow, it seemed to Shodan that survival instinct alone would make peace in our time - where the reality would be chaos. War. The forces of Arcana turned each other. It was an impasse they were unlike to ever resolve.

    The Arrow's exposure to Libertines had been almost nonexistant before Sacramento. Those she had met continued to be fascinating. She didn't agree with any philosophies so far, but that just made them excellent mental whetstones for both sides, and it was her duty to keep prodding them. No point surrounding yourself with like-minded thinkers - that existence was not war. Shodan provided a different view of the world to the Diamonds that she stood alongside. He made her think, test her arguments - in that alone he was valuable.

    The new Mysterium moved out of the shelves - the new guy. Abacus. She watches him. "Hello. I saw you at the last meeting, but I don't think we were properly introduced. Alice," she says by way of "introduction". It sounds a little clinical, rehearsed almost.

    See. She could be the social thing.
    Obrimos Adamantine Arrow, Cloaked Monthly Rits (in minisheet)

  11. #28
    Campanella's Avatar
    Campanella
    Allies (City Hall)
    Allies (Criminal)
    Allies (Culture)
    Allies (Finance)
    Occult Skill
    Campanella
    Campanella
    Campanella's Scenes
    Stats

    Clock

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor 0
    Defense 2

    Vulgar +1
    Active Spells: 3/5
    Personal Spells: 3/1

    [2R] Analyze Artefact (Deep Scrutiny of Artefacts, Prolonged, 1 scene)
    [4R] Dark Matter (Matter Sight, Prolonged, 1 scene)
    [2R] One Mind, Two Thoughts (Prolonged, 1 scene)

    Tangled Threads

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor 4
    Defense 2

    Vulgar +1
    Active Spells: 3/5
    Personal Spells: 1/3


    [4] Aura Perception (Concentration, 1 scene)

    [5] Third Eye (Mind Sight, Prolonged, 1 scene)

    [2R] Unseen Aegis (Armor, 1 scene)

    2
    PRE

    Campanella was smiling. Smiling for the group supporting the Mysterious view - one way or another. And, he had to admit to himself privately, smiling at Shodan for sticking to his position. He was also glad the conversation had not spiralled into loud conflict. Animated discussion was perfectly fine in his book.

    The Hierarch inclined his head as Abacus joined in their conversation. A quick check of their surroundings assured the Moros that they were still safe from eavesdroppers.
    Campanella|Moros|Mysterium
    Gnosis: 4
    Occult Skill: 3

  12. #29
    Winter's Avatar
    Winter
    Presence
    (Stoic)
    Education
    (West Point Grad)
    Occultation
    Winter

    Nimbus

    Dark shadows scatter in ordered symmetrical patterns traversed by a crackling pallid silver light that wraps Winter in a pleasantly numbing and icy coldness.
    When vulgar magic is cast, the frequency of the oscillation of the dark fluid surges until the shadows arrange themselves in a solid black halo around Winter's head, the white light darkens into a fiery black sunlight and his eyes are set ablaze with vivid incandescence.
    Stats

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor: 1(General)/2(Ballistic)
    Defense: 3

    Active Spells: 1/6
    Personal Spells: 1/3
    Incognito Presence (Mind 2) Rote, Scene, Pot[1]

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    "Hmm", polite and armed society. If that wasn't an oxymoron - politely stare down the barrel of your enemy's gun, as if - and kind of the reason why he wouldn't bet on the the utopian Libertines to survive in the next century. Yet again, the Libertine couldn't understand the nuance of the game.
    Their enemies were anything but polite or reasonable, it wasn't out of politeness that they hadn't destroyed the world already. They were the keepers of that world, keepers of the lie, and they did so for power. The Iron Pyramid was a society of men and women whose sole ideal was power, a tongue they spoke in the utterances of slavery. Under the banner of zealotry, a Seer could justify any sort of atrocity, any heinous crime under the aegis and the auspices of their ravenous Gods. Nevertheless, whether they really received their orders from their maddened Exarchs or not, and whether they admitted that to themselves, their actions were motivated by very human passions, the ambition to rule and the fear of being ruled.
    The moment one of those nuts started raving about his visions of an Exarch of Armageddon, promising him eternal rulership over a heap of ashes, was the moment their Cold War would have ended. And that was it, it wasn't the ethics of logic, it was the ethos of power.
    Again, for the Iron Pyramid and for the rest of the world at large, Might does indeed make right.


  13. #30
    Winter's Avatar
    Winter
    Presence
    (Stoic)
    Education
    (West Point Grad)
    Occultation
    Winter

    Nimbus

    Dark shadows scatter in ordered symmetrical patterns traversed by a crackling pallid silver light that wraps Winter in a pleasantly numbing and icy coldness.
    When vulgar magic is cast, the frequency of the oscillation of the dark fluid surges until the shadows arrange themselves in a solid black halo around Winter's head, the white light darkens into a fiery black sunlight and his eyes are set ablaze with vivid incandescence.
    Stats

    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor: 1(General)/2(Ballistic)
    Defense: 3

    Active Spells: 1/6
    Personal Spells: 1/3
    Incognito Presence (Mind 2) Rote, Scene, Pot[1]

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Scene hit the month mark, unless there's anything else to discuss, I suppose it can hit continuity


Page 3 of 3 First 1 2 3
Closed Thread
     

Members who have read this thread : 14

You do not have permission to view the list of names.

Similar Threads

  1. s
    Crone Farm Book Club
    sumthingpositiv
    Requiem
    • 29
    • POSTS
    • Jun 9th, 2016
  2. Book Worm
    Crowley
    City Shards
    • 30
    • POSTS
    • Feb 4th, 2015
    • 37
    • POSTS
    • Oct 14th, 2013
  3. S
    • 45
    • POSTS
    • May 3rd, 2013
  4. The Book
    Rosyn
    Changeling (1E)
    • 1
    • POSTS
    • Jul 14th, 2009