ooc OOC Deep Science 1x1 with Blitz Boom

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

 

Just in case then, here's the link to the OOC.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Won't be able to respond tonight mate. Family time's constant, so I will have to postpone until Monday. Sorry.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Wasn't much, but managed to scrape something up quickly before bed.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

Aww, you didn't have to do that for me, but I do appreciate it.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

It were warm, and it didn't take long, so I figured I could keep the flow going while waiting to cool down after all.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Here you go. Another little tidbit of info about Null and Void's travels, pulled straight from my rear.  Hope it'll entertain ya.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

In defense of the bat, it was already pretty worn when Null got it off of the Basher, he had cobbled it together in Tartarus and the ruins after all so it wasn't the best quality he could have gotten.

Anyway, I'm glad you seem to be enjoying the story so far!

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

I am, but still, shoddy hoofwork.  Definitely need to get this replaced eventually, or majorly reforged, though at this point, it seems likely that it will be destroyed before they even get back to camp.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

New Las Pegasus does have a fine welcome committee.  Figured this was as perfect a place to put in these two, as any. Left out the third in case you felt like toying with that one at some point. And yes, singing and theatrical performances is a cannon flair at this point. You should see what I did with them in my own RP thread, when Cheshire were actually involved. Had them work on the opening act of a changeling musical.

Also, sorry for the corny song they're going with. but in my defense, I am not a professional song writer, so please bear with me on that.  Looking forward to what happens now that we're in town.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

To be honest I had completely forgotten about them, but I think they make an excellent inclusion here.

Though, only three survivors? That's kind of sad, by any definition that's a dead hive, but it's not like there's a regulatory body anymore so...

I was going to get into how I consider changelings to be, but it's mostly small details and not likely to change anything in this story, so I won't get into it. I'll simply recommend A Novel Tale to explain the basis for my version of Changelings.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

As mentioned, they were a very small hive to begin with. Only a dozen strong, plus their queen. When the attack happened, she had four out with her to scout the location, who are also presumed dead. A few more got struck down when they in a panic, rushed out of town to try and get to the forest before the attackers made it to town. They didn't make it far.

And then the aftermath of the attack, along with what happened as New Las Pegasus got taken and established, claimed some more. Depression took one as well. Not like with Null. She were just sulking profoundly and not paying attention, which is not a good thing in the middle of a warzone.

The few that are left have their own spouts of depression and feeling sad, but they force a smile on their faces, because they know Cheshire would want them to continue to cheer others up  and in a sense, keep the show going.

They lean on one another to make it through the worst days, both physically and especially mentally, so long as they have one another, and hope in a time when their queen returns, they can make it through things. It will test their resolve, were it to turn out she were proven dead, but if they made it through, they would try to find some way to keep her legacy, and bloodline, intact. Even if it meant joining another hive, or recruiting other lost ones to a sort of *adopted hive*.

But those are just logical leaps in my mind. I doubt it will come anywhere close to that in this thread. Just didn't know what else to put in when they reached New Las Pegasus, and this seemed an easy solution.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

All good, I look forward to seeing how you use them later. If we get to a point where your changelings contradict my changelings we'll address it, but for now I don't see any issues between them.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Sure thing, though I don't think it's much of an issue, unless the changes are radically different. Not every hive can be the same after all.  But just poke me if there is anything, and I can change things around. My primary skill in RP have always been my ability to BS my way through a lot of stuff.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

Of course every hive is different, but fundamentally changelings are the same across the world.

Perhaps I should outline some things in case there's conflicts:

Changelings feed primarily off of emotional energy given off naturally by sentient creatures, while they can subsist on the energy directly they typically combine it with changeling gel and consume it that way, making gel is the only way to transfer harvested energy from one changeling to another.

Changelings can drain this energy from others, but it is very damaging to the psyche of the drained creature, and as such is only used in emergency or starvation situations.

In most hives, outside changelings fill roles of either cultivator or harvester, the first does what they can to stimulate the hive's preferred emotions in the local populous, the second ensures that as much as possible of the energy given off is collected, typically a job that sees many creatures every day. (Not required but it's a decent backstory idea for the two you've presented, one may have been a harvester and the other a cultivator or something)

Only Changeling Queens can reproduce, without a queen no new changelings can be made.

    Attaching to that, I had the idea that any changeling could become a queen in the absence of a queen via the same process in which a queen is made, which would require a hive to support them during the transition. So if a hive lost their queen they could make a new one through supreme effort. (I don't think this is likely to occur here given they still believe their queen is alive and they don't have the resources to transform one of their remaining into a new queen, but if they adopted enough a new queen could be made.)

Given only a Queen can reproduce, and any changeling can disguise as either gender, changelings are mostly gender neutral physiologically, but tend to lean towards one gender as a predisposition, often having a more physical resemblance. (In your case they look masculine and feminine despite not literally being male and female. For all intents and purposes outside of reproduction they are male and female.)

Gender identity varies in importance depending on the changeling, those with stronger identities tend to favor single disguises while those more detached from a gender identity tend to have more varied, impermanent, disguises.

 

Hopefully that makes sense? Again, I don't see any conflicts at the moment between what you've presented and what I have in mind, but this can be a groundwork for future interactions. Furthermore these aren't fully set in stone for me, I could adapt some of these maxims given enough convincing.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Seems fine enough to me, though the process of queen should probably be more well defined. As you say, a large hive can essentially create their own queen, which gives hope foe the shattered remains of the ones who lost their hives currently, and have not joined another. In my opinion, the process would not just take a substantial amount of *gel* as you put it, but also a process in which a certain number of changelings gathered up and fed their own emotional link towards the one in control. A sort of certain level of adoration, and willingness to follow, where they could then open their minds for the new queen. This will establish the new hive's connection, and at the center, is the one whom have earned the title as queen. Or made sure that others fear the one chosen enough, if need be.

It could impact what the hive feeds on really. Admiration and joy is one thing, whereas ascending through fear for example, would make that your primary, emotional food.

To put an example here: The remaining members of Hive Cheshire have found out their queen is dead, and have come to terms with it. Since the remaining members are seen as pillars of the community, and keep extra gel around that are gathered from the joy others feel from their performances (Upbeat being one of the gatherers currently), other changelings that stray into the town eventually gets drawn to them, and look to them for food, protection, and tips on how to make it in the society, without relying on the usual changeling tactics of hiding in the shadows and manipulating others, or changing shapes, etc.

Eventually a flock of say, fifty or so changelings, have gathered up, and among the ones who used to be from Hive Cheshire, Bling are looked upon as the de facto leader, despite more or less co-leading with Upbeat, since she's more decisive and tends to be the front figure as is anyway.

IN time, the gathered gel, and combination of changelings looking to her for leadership, and opening themselves to her, would cause a transformation, ascending her to the new position of a changeling queen. All who partook and opened up to the new leader, will in turn become part of that hive, and have some minor changes because of it. One of them being that their eye and chitin colors will change to fit the hive, and they will be more aligned towards the primary specialty of their new queen. In the case of the newly formed Hive Bouncer/Bling (Or potentially Unity, as I do like the idea that a new queen might take a new name upon ascension) it will be their primary performer traits. That meaning less muscle mass and nimbler builds in the next generation, and in the current one, a potency for performance arts of varied degrees, with singing being a primary. Next generation will have this more ingrained, but the current one will find they have some proficiency for this, and more of the pacifistic nature of their queen.

This is an example of the process as I could see it function.

As for gender, I do think that yes, the nymphs are born essentially genderless, but will eventually either chose, or be assigned a suitable gender based on roles (depends on the hive's strictness levels), and evolve from there on as one of said genders. As could be seen with Thorax, one does not simply switch genders all of a sudden, or he would've become a queen, instead of a king, so I think that once the gender is set and the last maturity stage have happened in their development, it will be set what they are. This does also mean though, that it is possible to have a genderless, or hermaphroditic member, as some members might chose that, if they are part of hives that allow that. Or were made unable to do so, due to external means. (open for discussion on this though, of course. Just think it makes sense that they have a maturity stage in their growth, that would cause genders to be assigned, though not saying your suggestion would not function as well. It very well could)

And gathered and cultivator seems fine to me, and fits well with Hive Cheshire in general, as they are performers, and they live through that. Harvesting passively the joy that comes from this, and then stockpiling it for consumption, and storage for a rainy day. These days, as they don't have many members, yet in a town that gets refugees at times, and not every day can be cheerful, the remaining members make sure to keep a fair stash laying around. Not enough to cause harm from over-harvesting, but enough so that they have for a rainy day, and a fair bit to share with the less fortunate, that might come into town.

Again, Hive Cheshire were an extremely pacifistic hive. They are more supporters in the background, and... Y'know what? Lemme baseline this.

Hive Cheshire is made of Bards, but with better hats, and less lutes.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

Good Ideas, adding to that:

4 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

the process of queen should probably be more well defined.

I didn't want to through in details if they didn't interest you, there is a clearer description:

When a Queen is born it is a similar process to how a standard changeling is made, which is when the queen deposits an egg in a cocoon of liquid gel which is periodically charged with emotional energy throughout the gestation process. Standard changelings are made typically in batches of 1 to 12 depending on the size of the hive, while queens can only be made individually. Standard changelings gestate in a period of months while a queen can take 1 to two years to fully form.

I'd indicate that becoming a queen is a similar investment to making a queen, the prospective queen would be sealed in a cocoon which would be charged by the collected emotions of their subjects, triggering a sort of metamorphosis to become a queen and thus changing physically over a period of several months in the gel.

This process is nearly identical to the process by which a pony can become a changeling king, but somewhat faster as the input is already a changeling, but we can get into that later. Null and Void met a changeling king at the gates, the one called Spy, who stabbed the unicorn in the back before leaving.

In the case of the story you've presented, rather than an instantaneous transformation Bling would willingly enter a cocoon once the hive was large and stable enough to manage itself for the time she spends transforming, through said process changing colors if they are harvesting different emotions from before, then her offspring would share in her colorset. I don't know about the adopted ones changing color by her transformation though, But I do envision changelings being a bit more disconnected than I think you do. However, we could say that changelings, similar to flamingos, get their color from the gel they eat, so if they start gathering a different emotion, which would change the color of their gel, they would start to change color themselves?

4 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

As for gender, I do think that yes, the nymphs

(I've decided to call nymphs foalings)

I think there's some confusion between physical and mental gender here, to clarify what I meant: Physically all changelings are neutral, having the parts of both but also entirely sterile as they cannot reproduce. Physically they can pass as either gender. However, every changeling cocoon batch has different predispositions as they call it, physical traits like larger wings, masculine features, etc. that in turn tend to define the sort of disguise they are most comfortable with both in gender and appearance, but it is not a set rule. IE a changeling predisposed with large wings and feminine features would most closely identify as a pegasus mare and thus consider herself female despite being able to disguise as a male, and a changeling predisposed with more magic and masculine features would most closely identify as a unicorn stallion and likely consider himself male. Some would not be too predisposed in either direction and would then choose to pick one or simply find themselves comfortable in either. They can pick what they'd like the only thing I'm against in this case is them being assigned a gender, they ought to be free to chose whichever they feel most comfortable with. (A good example of this is the changeling race for D&D)

Hope that makes sense? Short version: They have birth traits that may shape their gender identity, but they are free to choose or not for themselves.

5 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

Hive Cheshire is made of Bards, but with better hats, and less lutes.

And that's a very good way to have it, no problem with their MO and I think it's a great way to cultivate (The actors) and harvest (The ushers) without doing a lot of groundwork like larger hives, they have the benefit of bringing their food to them instead of going out to get it. I like this hive and it makes me sad that they've almost died out, but this future plan for their rebirth over time excites me.

 

I look forward to their interactions in Null's quest if you plan to use them at all.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Egg things sounds reasonable, and very on point. Same with the gestation period.

As for the colors, I have no issues saying it is mainly the next generation that goes by that, and not so much the current ones. I put it up more as a hypothesis, though one could argue that if varied color changelings came and added in the energy to the egg, rather than just the members of the hive gathering to ascend a new queen, their colors might have an influence on that of the new queen, changing it. I'd say though, that since Joy were still the predominant emotion Bling would have eaten and shared among her fellow changelings, it would likely still remain the primary food source for the hive in further generations. Basically, most affects those who comes, not those who are. I don't see an issue with that.

I mostly based things off the transformation scene with Thorax, and how that went all shiny, connected, and stuff. One of the very few scenes I have seen from the show.

As for the name off the small ones, I don't see an issue with both names being technically cannon. Different folks, different names for things.

As for gender, I don't think they normally would be assigned one, but just put it there in the case of more strict, rigid hives. With the variant put out there, I can't imagine there wouldn't be at least one micro-manager who would try and make everything fit into how she wants things, rather than care about her changeling's want on the matter. That being said, the changelings likely revolted against someone like that eventually, but a changeling rebellion would be an interesting little thing to think about I'd say, and e a fun little lesson that other hives might have kept in mind as an example of some limits not being wise to trifle with. ^^

I still like the idea of a maturity stage developing them the last step, but eh, no skin off my back. Still doesn't change how to me, for example Bling is an obvious appearance female, and Deadpan more male, even if effeminate. Just means their developing stages included traits that made it more visible, and helped them decide in the long run. This is important to point out to me, since they are not in disguise, and generally speaking, do not wrap themselves in it outside of making a performance, or messing with others. It's a part of their self imposed *open and honest* policy, that Cheshire encouraged for them after they got accepted into the original Las Pegasus.

On 7/20/2020 at 4:26 AM, Illiad Easle said:

And that's a very good way to have it, no problem with their MO and I think it's a great way to cultivate (The actors) and harvest (The ushers) without doing a lot of groundwork like larger hives, they have the benefit of bringing their food to them instead of going out to get it. I like this hive and it makes me sad that they've almost died out, but this future plan for their rebirth over time excites me.

 

I look forward to their interactions in Null's quest if you plan to use them at all.

And yes, this were one of Cheshire's thinking of it all too. Performing were always something she had her offspring enjoyed, and they utilized that to the fullest, by putting on glorious shows that would bring their food to them, and they could enjoy both that, and the glory of the stage, and the voices of adoring fans. It helps a pacifist hive when they don't need to hunt for the food, but gives them something that more or less cultivates a healthy way of gaining it, without harming anyone.

As for using them... I dunno, seems likely they could come in use. They are connected to practically every changeling in New Las Pegasus, as well as being overall pretty liked, due to them keeping the spirit high, and helping where they can. If you're looking for someone, it sure doesn't hurt that there's a faction of being that have an easy time infiltrating and seeing a lot of things, without being spotted themselves.  Also, they run all over the place, and one might have heard something from another, who heard it from another, etc. You hear a lot of things, roaming around like this.

Remember, still one left that's a blank so far, so if you want in on the game, that one's all yours.

Also, if a rebirth will be planned, the groundwork have been set. What with them being basically caretakers of the lost and lonely changelings that gets to town, and helping them get back on their hooves. It fits their nature, and would surely foster the sort of following that could in time, lead to a flock approaching them about picking one that could carry on the torch, so to speak.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

I think you may have misunderstood. What Void's saying is not that she wants the foals to stay hidden until they're grown. She's arguing for why it is a bad idea, since she feels like that might be where their thinking is, since they talk about it being problematic.

Also, a thought that's been going through my head recently. Not something I need an answer to in full, spoiler wise. Just a thought about The Grey.

What if he had already been judged? It might be where you are going already, which is why I'm being paranoid about it. I get the increasing feeling that they're gonna meet, and she will end up being unable to exact vengeance upon him, since the rules states that she cannot judge an already judged one. If I understood it right, anyway.

Basically, just wanna know if I understood it right, and what would happen then, if she still tried to judge him? Would Nine stop her? Would she have to chose between judging him, and all the others that might come for them out there? She'd probably resent Vengeance for not letting her know this, but it could be a tough lesson that were planned in advance.

Anyway, rambling on, no spoilers needed. Just curious about the rules about being judged, in relations to another judge then coming along.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

An interesting quandry to be sure, it's one of the reasons why one must resolve their personal vendettas prior to becoming a full-fledged member of the Vengeance, so you don't have a personal desire to judge others outside of the desire to see justice fulfilled.

In her case, Illiad would not have dispatched her if Grey wasn't in need of being judged, but don't worry... I have other troubles in store.

If there were a case like you described, even if Grey had been judged he wouldn't be wholly safe until his punishment was fulfilled given Null is not fully accepted yet. If Grey had been judged and fulfilled his punishment, then Nine would recommend against her doing anything, but wouldn't be able to overcome her determination to attack, Null's debt would be increased by however much credit Grey had managed to accrue after fulfilling his punishment.

The only official judges in the world at the moment are Illiad, Selena, and Mercena, so no need to worry about another judge beating her there.

Though exactly what Grey is being punished for may not be what Null expects.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Need to get up early to open at work, so gonna have to postpone my current reply. Have a half one ready, so it shouldn't take long for me to finish it tomorrow.

Also, thank you for just making me more paranoid about what is gonna happen, once we meet up with The Grey. xD Gonna be loads of fun, I bet.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

No worries, I prefer delayed quality to a rushed post any day.

Be warned though, the longer you take the more time I have to plot something truly devious.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

Well, got through today with burning my hand, which only stopped hurting about two hours ago, and the site refused to save the half post I had done yesterday... Well, time to see if I can scrounge the remnants from my mind. Gonna see if I can't get something out there.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

There you go. My take on some desert animals that might be around Troy.

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Blitz Boom

Very Impressive! I never really thought about what sort of things lived or grew in the area when making it up, I much appreciate the helpful additions. Feel free to add more as you feel inspired!

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Illiad Easle

I figured some sorta animals had to be there, for the foals to look at, so I looked up what sort of animals lived in the desert, and took it from there.

Some lizards tend to have a range of auditory noises they can go with, so I tok that idea, amplified it, and tried to figure out how they could fit in a town setting.

Vultures are another desert stable, but obviously too big for a normal household. Hence, selective breeding to make a more condensed, docile version, made sense to me. It was also needed to keep the lizards from entering every house they saw, in search of scraps.

As for the foxes... Well, needed a third one, and figured a scorpion wasn't something friendly to show off, so... Desert puppy, more or less. Plus a future issue because it just logically made sense, that adaptive creatures would take advantage of the ruined, abandoned cities, and use them to grow in numbers.

We'll see what else I can BS through, when more mosaics are done.