ooc OOC Deep Science 1x1 with Blitz Boom

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

On 2024-07-18 at 3:06 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Or she would recall as they passed the area and saw the building.

I think that would work best, the dragons are curious, but aren't going to insist if Null doesn't respond.

On 2024-07-18 at 3:06 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Sorry for the delays too btw. Between work, panic attacks, and general tiredness, I am somewhat behind on a lot here.

No worries!

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

I just remembered, we had two other teachers lined up for the school! Lyft the changeling and Opal the dragon.
We can wait until Null and those with her are back to run another day at school if you want, but I do have some ideas as to lessons with Lyft.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

Ooooh, good call. I forgot about them too. We can use them for something in school related topics for sure. ^^

We can eait until they're back, as perhaps these two can be useful in the stories regarding the cutie marks of the other young ponies?

Even if not, there's certainly something to learn from their interaction.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

I should specify, Null have not used any of the three coins. She have them stashed, while she is thinking about what to do about them, which is not easy, as she have no idea what it is. She have seen and heard of a few things, but it's mostly just magic ore to her. The full breath of why it is so valuable, how it's found or made, or what she's supposed to do with it, is currently beyond her.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

I've been reading back through old sections while I wait, so I've found other hooks we might need to address:

Cherish's friend Crow, there was a thought that there'd be an encounter between her and Elef on a hunt one night. We can wrap this into the Elef arc.

Sharing the bounty. Null promised a portion of the debt to the three changelings, but given how things shook out she might not be as generous as she had initially planned. How much she gives will determine if she's cleared her debt or not.

She'll get her official reward for the griffon she killed on her first journey to the cloud district, Firebird.

Arcade is due some reward as well, since he took out one of Basher's lieutenants, but he'll probably just give that reward over to Null

There is one other lieutenant that Null has met, so if she doesn't clear her debt now she could go after her next. Otherwise we could have the changelings go after her.

 

That's all I remember so far, I don't think this changes anything about the present, just reminders for the near future once Null is done talking to Basher.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

On 2024-08-01 at 10:20 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Cherish's friend Crow, there was a thought that there'd be an encounter between her and Elef on a hunt one night. We can wrap this into the Elef arc.

I've mostly just been waiting for them to find themselves in the desert.  I figured we got to it soon enough, but we can deffo use her in Elef's arc.

On 2024-08-01 at 10:20 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Sharing the bounty. Null promised a portion of the debt to the three changelings, but given how things shook out she might not be as generous as she had initially planned. How much she gives will determine if she's cleared her debt or not.

Null intends to keep her word. She still have several years ahead of her, to clear off what little debt she actually has.

On 2024-08-01 at 10:20 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Arcade is due some reward as well, since he took out one of Basher's lieutenants, but he'll probably just give that reward over to Null

There is one other lieutenant that Null has met, so if she doesn't clear her debt now she could go after her next. Otherwise we could have the changelings go after her.

I totally forgot about there being others. Might be best for the changelings, to flesh them out more. I think we had enough with Null hunting for now at least.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

Forgot to write it, but Null's odd rant? It was because I had no idea what to respond at all, so I just picked the only thing that came to mind. Sorry if it seemed odd.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

I didn't think it was that odd, at least what she said wasn't odd, and it did give me some ideas for the future. Both for Null and Arcade's relationship and for the Grey moving forward.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

I'm finding that there is a lot of lore I'd love to share, like Basher's history, the Consul's history with Luna, Nine's history with Luna, among other things, but Null and Void aren't often in a position or disposition to want to learn about those sorts of things. I also don't think it would make sense to just have one of my characters ask about it for Null or Void to hear.

Any thoughts on that? I was considering that, at least for the histories surrounding the Grey maybe one of your changeling characters would be interested? One of them could try to get to know Basher, or be assigned to watch him and end up getting him to open up a bit?

I'm also planning an arc for the Grey involving Mercy, which will loop in Void temporarily (Her getting to see a Mercy ceremony like Null got to watch a Vengeance one.) So I figure one of your changelings might also agree to work on the new Mercy side of the Grey rather than sticking with Vengeance?

Further, you could have one be Vengeance, one be Mercy, and one be both, but that's up to you and how you think they would react when the option is presented to them later in the arc. I'm setting up for them to go up against Moth (Basher's second lieutenant, and that will let me swing in some of the ideas that I didn't get to use between Null and Basher, like an actual fight at the penthouse party.)

 

Second thing, I'm getting ready to reformat the earlier sections of the story into something that can be posted on FiMFiction. Looking at the first arc, which is the first seven pages of this RP, there are only two changes I have in mind, and I don't think they'll have any long reaching effects.

1. I want to spread out the events before they get frozen to take a few more days. Presently they're only there for like 48 hours before getting frozen, and do a bunch of testing in a short period. I'm planning to just spread the major events into their own days and put in filler small tests in between just to pace out the story a bit.
2. I want to clarify what 990 is and their effect on the story. Originally I didn't have big plans for that aspect, but on reading back through I found an interesting through line I could use:
   1. 990 in the original papers is a sort of harbinger, an entity that warns of future events. Who plays that role in this universe? The same entity that gave them their curse, and thus would be able to interact with them magically despite the curse. I'm talking about Phi. 
   2. This only changes some descriptions, and there's enough time between this arc and when they go to the dead oasis to maybe forget having seen him before.
   3. This also adds in a better way to distinguish between 990/Phi, and Nine pretending to be Phi in Null's mind. Phi can be seen and talked to by both Void and Null, but only Null can see Nine. So the first dream is unchanged, but in the second dream (When they get separated) Null sees something different than Void as Nine taints the prophecy. Given the two of them never talk about this later the difference is not detected. 

Any thoughts / concerns about this? I'll send you a copy to read through before I post it if you want. The working title I have is "Null & Void: Escape from Deep Science" I plan to have "Null & Void" precede the titles for each story in the series, so the second book would be "Null & Void: The Gates of Tartarus" Or something like that.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

Unedited, the first seven pages on the forums is 335 pages of text. Granted, a lot of it is quotes and extras, so the real amount of text is likely closer to 100 pages, but still, that means we've likely written over a thousand pages between us by this point.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

One last comment, I fixed the timeline!

Rereading earlier information I found that on page 8 I set the current time as about 1-2 years after the crisis, or about 4-5 years since Null and Void were abducted.  I think that's where I got the five years in my mind in later points of the story. This change only affects the numbers, and makes many events, like the state of the clones, a bit more believable (Since now they only had to survive 1 year rather than 5 on their own, and makes the ages of the foals correct without adjustment.)

We'll say that when they closed the gates marks 2 years since the crisis, and use that as the measuring stick for anything else that needs a time reference. We can also say that the crisis made keeping track of time difficult, so many are confused as to how much time has actually passed, to better explain when different creatures think its been different amounts of time.

Alright, that's all for now, don't want to overwhelm you with information.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

Sorry for not responding to things here. I don't always see the notifications. I will look it over tomorrow probably. A bit of insomnia draining my mind right now, but I'll get to it.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

On 2024-08-18 at 7:19 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Any thoughts on that? I was considering that, at least for the histories surrounding the Grey maybe one of your changeling characters would be interested? One of them could try to get to know Basher, or be assigned to watch him and end up getting him to open up a bit?

One of them could be assigned, yes. Probably not Mongoose, as he's not the best for this kind of thing, but Craven could work well. He doesn't have any intention of working off his debt and then leaving The Grey. He's there for the long haul, as he can see the good they're doing, and want to do more than just atone for what deaths he caused. He could well be assigned while the others work on Mongoose getting more specific training to make him less prone to cracking under pressure, or just had something else to do, that only required two. Maybe when they go to collect their reward, he would be informed that he were assigned to Basher for the time being? He's the sort who'd try to connect with others if he could, barring Mongoose at first, due to him having a distaste for the other changeling's *artwork*.

On 2024-08-18 at 7:19 PM, Illiad Easle said:

I'm also planning an arc for the Grey involving Mercy, which will loop in Void temporarily (Her getting to see a Mercy ceremony like Null got to watch a Vengeance one.) So I figure one of your changelings might also agree to work on the new Mercy side of the Grey rather than sticking with Vengeance?

Now this is interesting. So splitting them up essentially? That would be... Difficult again, with Mongoose. I have him written fully as needing oversight for the time being, lest he goes back to old habits, even if he is improving. Yannit, are a calculating sort, but she did provide mercy in the past. Mercy kills, but that is still part of their duties, as it were.

Maybe Craven honestly? He's the least bloodthirsty of the lot, and would suit well in being the voice of mercy in their group. Mongoose have been shown as being somewhat petty, and holding grudges. More stable in his mind eventually, I could see him enjoying the aspect of them serving vengeance more, as someone has to pay when bad stuff happens. (hypocrisy, considering his history, but that's how it can go), and then Yannit could be the equalizer. Directing and making decisions on mercy or vengeance, as they approach things, unless they are given specific orders on what to do. It could add some more nuance to how she sees things too, when she is able to be told both how much mercy and vengeance certain beings would have.

If they need to split off from the group, it would likely have to be Craven, as he can function on his own, and would follow the ideals of mercy over vengeance in many cases. But Yannit could also be it, depending on how nuanced you want mercy to be. Craven is the more kind, forgiving and warm sort, whereas Yannit can embody both the helpful and forgiving aspect, as well as the one who needs to give the sort of mercy that takes life. She have done both, and can keep doing so. But she would direct her group with that in mind too.

It sorta depends on if they need to split or not, and what kind of Mercy you want to be followed.

On 2024-08-18 at 7:19 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Further, you could have one be Vengeance, one be Mercy, and one be both, but that's up to you and how you think they would react when the option is presented to them later in the arc. I'm setting up for them to go up against Moth (Basher's second lieutenant, and that will let me swing in some of the ideas that I didn't get to use between Null and Basher, like an actual fight at the penthouse party.)

Ah, you said something about that here too. xD They can work as a functional trio well enough, with Mongoose being vengeance, Craven mercy, and Yannit impartial enough to balance the scale as required. She'd a leader sort, so she would do well in being the balance between them.

On 2024-08-18 at 7:19 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Second thing, I'm getting ready to reformat the earlier sections of the story into something that can be posted on FiMFiction. Looking at the first arc, which is the first seven pages of this RP, there are only two changes I have in mind, and I don't think they'll have any long reaching effects.

1. I want to spread out the events before they get frozen to take a few more days. Presently they're only there for like 48 hours before getting frozen, and do a bunch of testing in a short period. I'm planning to just spread the major events into their own days and put in filler small tests in between just to pace out the story a bit.
2. I want to clarify what 990 is and their effect on the story. Originally I didn't have big plans for that aspect, but on reading back through I found an interesting through line I could use:
   1. 990 in the original papers is a sort of harbinger, an entity that warns of future events. Who plays that role in this universe? The same entity that gave them their curse, and thus would be able to interact with them magically despite the curse. I'm talking about Phi. 
   2. This only changes some descriptions, and there's enough time between this arc and when they go to the dead oasis to maybe forget having seen him before.
   3. This also adds in a better way to distinguish between 990/Phi, and Nine pretending to be Phi in Null's mind. Phi can be seen and talked to by both Void and Null, but only Null can see Nine. So the first dream is unchanged, but in the second dream (When they get separated) Null sees something different than Void as Nine taints the prophecy. Given the two of them never talk about this later the difference is not detected. 

Any thoughts / concerns about this? I'll send you a copy to read through before I post it if you want. The working title I have is "Null & Void: Escape from Deep Science" I plan to have "Null & Void" precede the titles for each story in the series, so the second book would be "Null & Void: The Gates of Tartarus" Or something like that.

Looks fine to me, and the title sounds cool.  I'm aware some minor differences have to be there, when it comes to stories such as this (and that I have been inconsistent in a few things) so minor changes like you mentioned here, isn't an issue in my eyes. In many ways, it would clarify things, and them having more time doing tests, would just make their escape plan make more sense. They'd be desperate, as time went on, and the coin is something that they know would cause widespread destruction in this place, and maybe even beyond. Given some more days, they would know they had no other option, if they wanted to get out of there alive, and Null would rationalize it as her being able to retrieve it again some other time, if she had to. Especially after Void would almost lose her last eye, she'd be less caring about the loss of life that might occur.

On 2024-08-18 at 7:34 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Unedited, the first seven pages on the forums is 335 pages of text. Granted, a lot of it is quotes and extras, so the real amount of text is likely closer to 100 pages, but still, that means we've likely written over a thousand pages between us by this point.

Yeah, it's been going for a time, so lots of story there. A thousand pages sounds about right.

On 2024-08-19 at 6:09 PM, Illiad Easle said:

One last comment, I fixed the timeline!

Rereading earlier information I found that on page 8 I set the current time as about 1-2 years after the crisis, or about 4-5 years since Null and Void were abducted.  I think that's where I got the five years in my mind in later points of the story. This change only affects the numbers, and makes many events, like the state of the clones, a bit more believable (Since now they only had to survive 1 year rather than 5 on their own, and makes the ages of the foals correct without adjustment.)

We'll say that when they closed the gates marks 2 years since the crisis, and use that as the measuring stick for anything else that needs a time reference. We can also say that the crisis made keeping track of time difficult, so many are confused as to how much time has actually passed, to better explain when different creatures think its been different amounts of time.

Alright, that's all for now, don't want to overwhelm you with information.

Seems like it'd smoothen things out a lot to have the timeline like that, yes. Seems good to me. Looking forward to how things will go.

Again, sorry for not responding before. I really outta check manually if I missed something here, every now and again, rather than just see if I notice a notification.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

I found a fun picture of an origami fox. I'm thinking regardless of size, it would look like this, after it were altered. Just y'know, with wings.

[Blitz Boom 4,626]

@Illiad Easle

Sorry for being well behind on posts these days. I had some things I was trying to sort, so things have been a bit hectic.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Blitz Boom

This won't come up until later, but I wanted to get it written down so I don't forget.

Per Arcade's genetics:

1. Dwarfism
   • That's a recessive trait, so there would only be an issue if Null also carried it, and her stature was due more to malnutrition than genetics, and actually there is a bit of gigantism in her ancestry (As evidenced by Void's tall stature) so their foals may end up taller than average, but will be carriers for dwarfism.
2. Horn defect
   • A rare genetic issue due to inbreeding among noble unicorn houses, it is a recessive phenotype based on several recessive genes, while their children will be carriers, this will only have issues down the line if inbreeding continues.
3. Resurrective anomaly 
   • Arcade isn't immortal, he just can't be killed. He will still age like any other pony and will eventually die of old age.
   • This is not genetic nor is it a family curse. Illiad will be able to confirm that it will not be passed on to offspring.
   • He'll also comment that you'll never know if it wasn't passed down unless tragedy strikes anyway.

So that's all clear on those children, no genetic issues to be received from Arcade!