hexarchate_rpg | meeting minutes/ between-move planning

zuhrovet posting in

Sasha's first team meeting will cover the following points:

Sasha is now in charge; Ashari is on another mission.
Sulen is second-in-command. Talk to them if you have interpersonal problems or questions about the heptarchate.
Sulen has posted brief profiles of the team members, including the dates they are from, to the internal grid.
The ship is going to spend a couple of days reconfiguring and taking on supplies, then head through the rift to 852.
Our first goal on arrival is to collect as much information as possible about rebellion activities.
We will arrive approximately two weeks before the battle of Candle Arc.
We will pose as arms traders reporting to the woman codenamed Flute.
We are selling designs for personal armor with embedded weapons.
Reshad will pose as our salesperson.

Move 2.2 will be posted sometime next week, so now is a good time to wrap up things you wanted to do before we go through a rift into a new century. Move 2.1 is ongoing. However, if there's miscellaneous prep stuff you want to accomplish before heading to 852 (supplies to purchase, training to access, data to hunt for in the grid), please post it here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

hoardingpearls

Reshad will offer training in cover stories for anyone and everyone. This includes coaching on false names, rehearsal of stories with questions she can think of, and review of What Not To Say. (In particular, references to any individuals whose names may be known, such as the infamous Immolation Fox.)

She researches whatever she can find of Lanterner culture, immersing herself in dramas, brochures, and the local grid to try and understand what signals will be exotic and off-putting.

She'd very much like to talk to Fyedlet, as she has an idea, and it may be terrible.

From:

yhlee

[Do you have specific questions re: Lanterner culture, or are you happy making stuff up on the fly based on this summary?]

From:

hoardingpearls

I'm happy to make stuff up! Thanks - wasn't sure how much latitude I should assume.

I'll make another post in this thread when I have some appropriate stuff made up.

From:

yhlee

[I'll make a separate post clarifying this, but generally, you should assume pretty broad latitude for worldbuilding! The exception is with material that impinges on other people's characters; in that case you should run things by the affected player. But for other material, if you feel inventive, have fun. :) ]

From:

hoardingpearls

Ah sweet, thanks! :D

Insert one of those loading bars here...

From:

kese_seyli

As much as Seyli isn't fond of foxes, they'd likely take Reshad up on offers, begrudgingly and with some inattentiveness to the answers. (As well as catching up on information on their own).

[[Open to playing any of this out, but if not Seyli will leave the impression of an obvious basis against Shuos trained folks and a mixed result as if they're going to be any good at undercover work, as they're regularly inattentive to what's going on when it doesn't involve weapons etc]]

From:

hoardingpearls

[[summing up is fine, I'm likely to be in and out for the next little bit anyway.]]

Reshad isn't interested in getting people to do what they're not going to want or succeed at; as soon as Seyli shows that inattentiveness, she switches tack.

How would Seyli /prefer/ to disguise themself? After all, the idea of a false name and identity is to protect oneself in situations where the real ones are known.

This may not be that; the value of disguising it is minimal if that's true. She instead focuses on finding out Seyli's skills. Weapons skills may well be needed, and she'd like to learn more of them herself. Perhaps Seyli can demonstrate.

From:

kese_seyli

Seyli is comfortable with playing the role of a hired gun/muscle, do best when allowed to use their own name or a variation on that (which shouldn't be an issue going back in time). They happily demo their skills, if they've managed to set up a shooting range. If not they'd be game for a bit of hand to hand (they're not above fighting dirty).

From:

zuhrovet

[Let's definitely assume that we got a shooting range set up & Mafyyil got some practice time in.

We've been varying our names to cut down on the risk of someone realizing we're rebellion agents through historical analysis, but for the sake of player memories I think we shouldn't be perfectionistic. In particular, theming all the ship names around bees and wasps would be a bad idea if we were really serious about this.]

From:

mafyyil

[I'll assume Mafyyil had some shooting practice and some basic cultural explanations. What I'm interested in is whether she even counts as "human" according to Lanterner culture...]

From:

hoardingpearls

That name should be fine, in truth. Reflex had prompted Reshad to look for other options, but there's no use trying to teach everyone to use false identities when they're not actually necessary. And hired muscle ought to be fine, too; every mercenary troupe needs some, no?

Reshad has moderate marksmanship skills, the sort of thing you'd expect from someone who keeps up on training but doesn't live by her gun. Her hand to hand skills are poor, and while she won't hesitate to fight dirty or grab whatever she thinks might be useful to whack an opponent with, it's clear this isn't how she should plan on getting out of a pinch.

From:

lleullawgyffes

Virmad also has an established interest in Lanterner culture; I was going to write up some more detailed notes on the Lanterners for the wiki (in addition to the notes we got from Yoon) at some point when it's not three days before Christmas — I'd be happy to chat about it with you.

From:

hoardingpearls

Yes please! I'd love to see the material you have once the holiday rush is past. :)

This might be a good excuse to get Reshad and Virmad collaborating, too.

From:

venndaai

Sulen sends Sasha a message inquiring on a convenient time to get in-person advice re: space internet security.

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha messages, "Come by the common room, am just breaking in the new printer."

From:

venndaai

Sulen is there very quickly, clearly having been waiting for Sasha's response. They come over to observe the printer. "How is it doing so far?"

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha shows them the body armor she's testing. "This is boring, basic black, which means it's already more predictable than our previous model. What sort of information were you looking for?"

From:

venndaai

They clasp their hands together behind their back. "When we exit the rift, I'd like to find out if our trip to the past has changed anything. For... my home planet. But I don't want to alert anyone potentially looking for me with suspicious searches. I was also thinking I might try accessing my old Rahal resources. My credentials will be seventeen years old and were almost certainly purged after my defection, but you never know, sometimes mistakes are made."

From:

zuhrovet

"For the search on the history of your planet, there's a protocol called Skein of Finches that a lot of financial analysts use, to avoid tipping people off about the investments they're considering. The details of implementation vary depending on time and place, of course, but it bounces the search through a few planets and encrypts at every stage. Of course the Shuos optimize the search tools they can monitor directly, so it will be a little slower, but with all the uncertainty in usual lattice use you might not even notice the difference. Aymad should be able to set you up--tell him I authorized rolling out the tool for everyone."

The Rahal question is more interesting, and potentially more complicated. "For your Rahal materials, it's possible that they did fail to purge your information, but it's also possible that they've left something working as a honeypot. I'd want to be very careful, which probably means faking an access attempt in a different system and waiting to see if anyone responds. More general information about the type of credentials they were using could be very helpful, though. You should probably sit down with Aymad and walk him through what you remember."

From:

venndaai

"Thank you," Sulen says, with real gratitude. "I appreciate it."

From:

redshiftnova

Aymad's head - hair spiking in seven distinct cowlicks, eyes bleary - pops around the corner of the common room's doorway, shortly followed by the rest of him. "I heard 'Shuos' and 'encrypt' and my name - what sort of glorious trouble am I getting us into, now?"

From:

zuhrovet

Either Aymad's sleep schedule is more fucked than Sasha's, which would take some serious effort, or he hasn't found the stims yet. "You're rolling out Skein of Finches, and showing people how to use it. But first you're going to talk to Sulen about their old Rahal login. They were an Inquisitor until they defected, seventeen years before when we're going next. If we can access heptarchate information, that will be a huge advantage, especially since we know Shuos Jedao will draw on Rahal resources. But we can't risk alerting them that a time traveler is looking."

From:

venndaai

"We might have better luck with Virmad's credentials, then," Sulen admits. "He's still active in this period, and not a heretic. But I was more senior and was part of the investigation into the rebellion. Also, meddling in Virmad's timestream seems unwise."

From:

zuhrovet

"If Aymad and I between us cannot obscure the use of a legitimate set of credentials, this mission has larger problems than Virmad's timeline," Sasha observes. "What we need from you is information about how the investigation's files were organized. It's typically not so hard to expand access privileges once you're in a system, but I'd rather not waste time downloading some magistrate's holiday pictures."

From:

venndaai

"I can certainly give you that." After all, it's only been a few weeks since they last logged in. According to their memories, anyway. "Oh- and there's one more additional risk." Something that's only just occurred to them. "When I defected I was interrogated under drugs. I don't have many clear memories of it, but you should assume Quill also knows whatever I do."

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha nods. "Of course: Quill's only incompetent when it suits her."

From:

redshiftnova

"Well." Aymad rubs a hand over his scalp, which does nothing for the professionalism of his appearance. "Do we specifically need Sulen's account, or will any Rahal login do? What's the scope, here?"

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha's not a cat, so she won't actually glean any extra information by smiling with her mouth open and all her teeth showing. She's just enjoying herself. "Haven't you always wanted to dig through an Inquisitor's network? It would be useful to know what they know about the rebellion. But our particular mandate is to find out what Quill wants and why she's interfering in this timeline. If we can establish a foothold with the Rahal, we can monitor changes on the heptarchate side. We'll deal with the Lanterners separately."

From:

redshiftnova

"I've been inside a Rahal network before," he says with an oddly wistful smile. "But, Sulen's biometrics would likely be handy for gathering specialized information. So, first the outdated lattice-bouncing tools, and then the grid diving."

He stops and squints around the common room. "And where *is* the tea kept?"

From:

zuhrovet

"It must be so sad, not living in the future," Sasha says. "Remember we've got Virmad's details to work with, as well. The tea's in one of the upper galley cupboards, along with the sugar. Jam's in the fridge if you want it."

Edited (we probably have a nice refrigerator) Date: 2018-12-24 11:00 pm (UTC)

From:

redshiftnova

"So sad. Terrible." Aymad shakes his head in mock disapproval, then sketches a vague salute/goodbye in Sasha's direction and shuffles towards the galley.

From:

venndaai

Sulen raises their eyebrows at Sasha. "I'll send him a message to remind him to set aside some time to teach me that protocol."

From:

hoardingpearls

"Lanterner cordial - was there anything else?" Not that people are incapable of doing their own shopping, but not everyone likes to get their feet on the deckplates or their face on the security systems before a mission.

Reshad has gone flamboyantly colorful for the occasion, in a green jacket with long sleeves that droop to an improbable point below her hands and trousers loose enough to look like a skirt from a distance. Her facial makeup sweeps up in streaks of white and shimmering green from her eyes, giving her a raptoral expression.

She may technically be on duty and thus normally wouldn't indulge, but most people will remember the dramatic additions and bright colors, and not the face or the body that wears them.

From:

yhlee

Remi shows up in elaborate layers of gray and violet, and expertly applied makeup and gilt, along with a scary amount of filigree jewelry. He smiles wryly at Reshad. "I think the cordial was the main item," he says, "but I bet Sasha would appreciate some more flavors of jam, if we can find it."

From:

mafyyil

Mafyyil shows up slightly underdressed, having decided on a practical and perfectly reasonable outfit - trousers and a comfortable blouse in a cheerful, sunny orange. She has braided her flowers into her hair to avoid people staring too much, and added some nice pink ribbons for effect. Mafyyil has no clear idea what she's supposed to shop for, but she's looking forward to the trip.

From:

hoardingpearls

"Very nice," Reshad compliments Remi, with a nod for his glamorous appearance. She smiles encouragement at Mafyyil as well. "Your flowers look particularly vivid today." She doesn't stare, with the discipline of practice; that doesn't mean she isn't curious.

"What sort of flavors does Sasha like, do you know? I'm becoming worried we won't get along, so perhaps a gift would help."

From:

yhlee

Remi consults his tablet. "Let me check the moth's stores," he says. "Presumably the flavors we're low on are the ones that Sasha has been consuming, unless there's someone else who's secretly been snacking on the jam."

[

zuhrovet, any insights here? Or does Sasha do something perverse like eating the flavors she likes least first? :) ]

From:

zuhrovet

[Sasha has been choosing based on texture: she doesn't like ending up with big undissolved lumps of fruit at the bottom of her mug. Plum, sour cherry, and pine-resin flavors are generally popular in her part of Naxarat.

If the moth's collection of preserves is anything like mine, there is a strange oversupply of hot-pepper jelly.]

From:

yhlee

Remi looks at the record. "We should probably find out if anyone actually likes the hot pepper jelly," he notes, "but we're low on plum, sour cherry, and pine-resin, so those seem like safe bets. And maybe a few new flavors in case she likes trying new things. Worst case I'll have them with toast."

From:

hoardingpearls

"I've been eating the ginger, but I left the hot pepper alone until I can find someone who admits to eating it, who might tell me how hot it is." Reshad smiles, a more honest expression than most of hers. "The sour cherry is definitely a favorite. If Sasha likes it too, maybe we do have something in common."

She marks down the mentioned flavors on her list next to the cordial. "I have a few things I might like to find, but I'm not sure what the trades look like right now." She darts a quick look at Remi, as if trying to ascertain whether the temporal shift has affected him this way.

Edited (Terribly sorry for my late reply! I had a guest who unexpectedly took /all/ of my time, and then faceplanted in exhaustion after they went home.) Date: 2019-03-04 04:43 pm (UTC)

From:

yhlee

Remi returns her smile. "I don't find spicy food particularly interesting, but I can tolerate it pretty well. I'll try the pepper jelly and let you know."

He considers Reshad's implied question. "It looks like the most popular items for which we can get something are either information, which is something we should probably run by Sasha, and novelties--whether that's food goods or the latest hottest cocktails or the like. Also entertainment items; games and game variants are pretty popular." He emphasizes "games" only slightly, in invitation.

From:

hoardingpearls

"My thanks. If it's too hot for you, it's definitely too much for me." She seems amused at herself, there: not ashamed, nor particularly considering it a flaw, merely the sort of quirk one might safely offer to a new acquaintance.

She visibly brightens at the mention of games. "New games would be marvelous." As well as constituting a form of information all their own. "Is there anything in particular you like to play? I'm a fan of strategic board games in particular."

From:

yhlee

"I especially enjoy Prisons and Pangolins and all the tabletop roleplaying games that it spawned," Remi says, very seriously. "I'm afraid strategic games are not my forte, although I've certainly dabbled in them."

From:

hoardingpearls

Reshad brightens at a familiar name. "Ah! Someone at the Academy claimed to have a set of fourth-edition books for that. I never did find a group I particularly enjoyed, but the game itself seems interesting."

She eyes him in more overt curiosity. "What sort of character do you play?"

From:

yhlee

"I like mages or alchemists," Remi says. "I believe Ankat GMs sometimes, if you're interested in giving it a try. The Cantata is still figuring out what it wants to do with its druid character. I wonder if it thinks it can take humans as pets?"

From:

hoardingpearls

"If there's room at the table, I'd be curious. Thanks." It always feels good to be invited to something. But the next thing Remi says is twice as interesting.

"The Cantata plays, too?" She seems curious, not aghast - and even that, with a playful sort of twist to it. "I suppose it has human pets, anyway."

From:

yhlee

"I'm sure Ankat would welcome another player," Remi says. He's smiling, although it looks like it's not something he does often.

"As for the Cantata, it's been asking me questions about some of the rules when Ankat is busy. And you're right--from its standpoint, it already has human pets. I guess I can't blame it for wanting to play something familiar. I had this one Shuos friend who always wanted to play an assassin..."