The Intolerable Clock: A Non-Canon Hexarchate RPG

a farewell

2020-05-17T14:54:09Z

Posted by: yhlee

I'm sorry for the abruptness of the previous two posts. For personal reasons, I need to make a clean break from the game. I am stepping down as GM of the game and admin of this community, effective immediately.
ursula (zuhrovet) will continue to have admin status as before, and can add more admins as needed.

If someone else wants to take up the GM mantle, that's fine, but I will no longer be in any way involved in the game. If the players want to continue it, I hope people can do so in a way that makes them happy.

One administrative note: I can no longer offer support for the Game wiki, as that was maintained by a friend of mine as a favor to me, and I can't guarantee how long the wiki will remain available although we'll leave it up for now. It's been known to break in the past for technical reasons beyond my ken, so if you have information there that you want to preserve, I advise making a copy of it sooner rather than later.

Thank you all for three years of stories--that's a great run for any campaign!

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PSA: announcement

2020-04-17T03:40:30Z

Posted by: yhlee

This game is on hiatus indefinitely, effective immediately. Please disregard the previous post.

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PSA: announcement

2020-04-16T06:33:28Z

Posted by: yhlee

EDIT: This game is on hiatus indefinitely. Please disregard the below.

This game is canceled effective immediately. I will be deleting both this comm and the associated wiki by the end of May. Please save anything that you wish to preserve before then.

Thank you for all the stories, and happy gaming elsewhere.

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move 3.3 recap

2020-04-04T00:01:40Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

A recap of move 3.3 is here.

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crowdsourcing songs for our characters

2020-03-31T18:21:39Z

Posted by: yhlee

Let's suggest theme songs for other people's characters! If you want to participate, post a comment asking for [X theme] for your character. I'll start us off.

(Thanks to ursula / zuhrovet for the suggestion!)

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Chapter 3.4: Breaking down the base

2020-03-23T12:56:00Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

As the meeting ends, the team members move to their assigned tasks.

Dar, Deyna, Seyli and Sulen collect some heavy-duty servitors and begin transferring supplies to the Cantata.

Alaric, Reshad, Shess, and the Cantata's drone prepare to remove the harness from Ankat's moth, The Sedulous Eel.

Back on the Cantata, Sasha goes to her office and starts remotely wiping memory nodes on the base's grid. Jedao is in the Communications/Gunnery room, controlling the weapons. Xiulan acts as his backup. Remi has been instructed to look for patterns or causes of the missing interstellar signals.

Meanwhile, Hana and Eddox look after the mothlings, perhaps joined by Mafyyil, who for some reason has not received clear instructions. Gerae and Ione divide their attention between the mothlings and the nest of pseudo-dragons.

[Welcome to a new move!

I know that things are stressful and uncertain for all of us right now. Please don't fret if you suddenly find yourself with less or more free time than usual--we will adjust! If you would like to give your character a node of peace where they drink tea and admire baby aliens for the next while, this can be arranged. Conversely, if you want a plotty distraction, we will bring you one!

My own focus is unreliable of late, but I'll work on a recap of the previous move as I can.]

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complete move 3.2 recap

2020-03-09T01:22:13Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

Here is the full recap of Move 3.2.

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PSA

2020-03-08T01:34:02Z

Posted by: yhlee

Due to circumstances that you have probably figured out, I am not in fact traveling over the coming week, having canceled my travel plans, and am at home, able to GM and respond to moves. :p The latest active thread is this one in Chapter 3.2 where planning is going on; I reckon the next move can go out after basic plans have been settled to y'all's satisfaction.

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fun & games: sorting characters

2020-03-05T02:44:09Z

Posted by: yhlee

You probably have an idea of what h*archate faction matches your character. But what about their Hogwarts House? Or D&D alignment? Or Myers-Brigg type? Tell us here!

(can you tell I'm procrastinating on responses to the current move, which I will get to soon--I have a house guest so things have been a bit hectic)

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partial 3.2 recap

2020-03-03T02:14:05Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

I have been chewing away at the Move 3.2 Recap. It's not finished yet, but the current version includes lots of plot-relevant material, and the table of contents is a pretty good guide for who talked to whom.

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PSA: out of town next week

2020-03-02T06:47:28Z

Posted by: yhlee

Heads-up that I will be out of town (more like out of the country?!) for a week, from Friday, March 6 through Saturday, March 14. I will be on a cruise [1] and I am informed that the internet will be (a) super duper expensive (b) super duper unreliable. So the game is likely to be on semi-hiatus during that week since I can't guarantee being online. I'll try to leave some sort of fun-and-games activity post for that week as an optional thing for people who are so inclined.

[1] JoCo Cruise! It should be fun. Or more accurately, work for me (I'm on some panels and am giving a workshop on worldbuilding using TV Tropes), fun for my husband. XD

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PSA

2020-02-26T19:55:34Z

Posted by: yhlee

Sorry for delays in catching up on responses--I've been having migraines, and while I do have meds for the migraines, the meds...knock me out for 24 hours. I will respond when I'm able, and apologies for the inconvenience.

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Chapter 3.3: a belated meeting

2020-02-23T22:39:42Z

Posted by: yhlee

At 0800 local time, Ashari sends out a notice that everyone [= all the PCs and associated NPCs] should assemble for a planning meeting at 0830 in Conference Room A (the ballroom from last night).

At the same time, Ashari specifically messages Dar and asks her to set out a quick breakfast for the meeting, "nothing elaborate necessary, sorry about the short notice." [Dar is free to argue with this over the messaging system.]

Ashari will be in Conference Room A at 08,00 themself, pacing around and muttering and looking agitated, for anyone who shows up early. Among the early birds are Gerae, who keeps checking a nanny-cam app on his slate that keeps an eye on Fluffy and the baby Vraselian pseudo-dragons, and Istradez, who is looking around wistfully for non-sweet food.

ETA:
When most of the group has assembled, Ashari, still clearly ill at ease, says abruptly, "Some of you may be aware of the staggering emptiness of this timeline. I have decided that we need to evacuate, and soon, even though it means abandoning the base. Discuss."

[Please feel free to continue/wrap up threads from the previous move, Ch. 3.2. I will be responding to some threads there shortly.]

[Jedao's report to Sasha and Reshad will be forthcoming in a comment to this post shortly, once I remove a certain catten from my desk.]

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[admin] a GM affirmation

2020-02-13T17:38:21Z

Posted by: yhlee

The GM (Yoon Ha Lee)
I attest that the characters and settings in hexarchate-rpg are not canonical Machineries of Empire characters or settings. Although I may use or modify characters or settings created by players within hexarchate-rpg, the characters that players create will remain their own. I am not entitled to any credit or income associated with player-created characters beyond the game itself. Any similarities between my professional writing and hexarchate-rpg player characters or character-created settings are coincidental.
--YHL

For players:
I recognize that the characters and settings in hexarchate-rpg are not canonical Machineries of Empire characters or settings. Participation in hexarchate-rpg does not entitle me to any credit or income associated with Machineries of Empire beyond hexarchate-rpg itself. I recognize that characters or settings that I create within hexarchate-rpg may be used or modified within hexarchate-rpg by other players or the GM (Yoon Ha Lee), but characters I create will remain my own. Any similarities between my professional writing and Machineries of Empire are coincidental.

(You can also find this agreement in the profile.)

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chapter 3.1 recap

2020-02-02T01:05:15Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

Here is a full recap of Chapter 3.1, complete with the traditional pseudo-Shuos-analyst notes on team-building.

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recap in progress

2020-01-30T01:55:29Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

I've started a recap of Chapter 3.1 on the wiki. There are lots of comments on this move, so it will take me a while to finish! But there's already enough to get some sense of what other characters were up to at the beginning of the party, if you're wondering about the shape of Chapter 3 thus far.

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end of Chapter 2 recap

2020-01-21T03:16:23Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

Here is a recap of the final move in Chapter 2.

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GM note re: signifiers

2020-01-20T02:52:38Z

Posted by: yhlee

POLICY CHANGE, effective immediately: If you need an additional signifier for game purposes, please run them by me first. Otherwise please stick to the ones that are already in use (list here).

In general, signifiers are stable/global indications of gestalt personality. They shouldn't usually be changing mid-scene unless the character is in crisis; they're not mood rings, they're closer to your Myers-Brigg type. Variable signifiers are a partial exception and even then, characters should be cycling between a small number of known signifiers.

EDIT: A signifier equivalence chart used to be on the page with the list, incorporating signifiers invented by people from outside the game without my knowledge or approval. I have deleted the list; please don't add it back. Only signifiers invented by players and approved for play should be considered eligible for use.

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Chapter 3.2: Old and new friends, old and new enemies

2020-01-19T19:02:55Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

Sasha has distributed flutes of sparkling water and small glasses filled with a clear liquor. She finds a clear place to stand near the edge of the party--Jedao and Alaric are to her left, the cluster of people around the mothlings falls at about 3π/8--and signals the grid to adjust the light so that she is highlighted and the other partygoers are very slightly in shadow. She asks the grid for a ringing sound and waits for people to quiet. Her voice slightly amplified by the grid, she says, "Welcome, everyone. We have a unique combination of expertise, on the Cantata. I'm glad that you are here." (It's a formal situation, so she uses the plural 'you'.) "While we are gathered, let us toast to the success of the rebellion."

Sasha waits for an answering murmur, then raises her own glass and knocks it back. The liquor tastes like snow and homesickness; but these are her people now. A slight gesture of her left hand makes illumination linger on Jedao for a moment, before the room lights return to normal.

Sasha sees Remi trying to explain that shot glasses are not for mothlings, and grins in genuine amusement.

[We have some really fascinating conversations running in the previous move. I don't want to cut them off, but please put new threads here!

Also, an out-of-character public service announcement: Remi is a youthful, apparently non-sociopathic version of Kujen, plucked from an earlier timeline. He has not yet interacted with Jedao.]

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Chapter 3.1: The party begins

2020-01-09T23:03:38Z

Posted by: yhlee

EDIT: The base is sited in the year 951, in a very odd timeline that has NO h*archate. Supplies have to be brought in via rift from other timelines. Thread here.

Ashari's new base features variable layout, which has been put to use in creating an extravagant ballroom. Tables to one side boast a variety of foods, drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the occasional euphoric drugs. Candlevines glow blue and violet, and flower arrangements interspersed with fantastic sculptures of lace-woven wire adorn the tables. The arrangements mean various sarcastic things, if you're familiar with the Andan petal language.

Music plays softly enough not to overwhelm conversation, loudly enough to set a mood complementing the low-key lighting.

Remi is one of the first arrivals from the Cantata, shepherding the mothlings. Because he's a Nirai, he has a slate and is taking notes, although he is happy enough to talk to anyone who approaches him.

The kitchen is currently adjacent to the ballroom. Ashari's voice can be heard, raised in some kind of argument with...a caterer?

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[Character RP] throwing things at science wall

2020-01-06T17:01:46Z

Posted by: bariolage

[During the travel time between moves!]

Ione has managed to cajole herself a lab space, though since it's a neurology lab space it doesn't take much -- just an excitingly green-and-pink colored wireless EEG transmitter (it's a little plastic headband thing) produced by the matter printer, her tablet hooked up to it, a couple of chairs, a table, a mirror, and ... a series of other unusual objects.

A deck of cards, a few dishes, and juggling beanbags.

Of course all of these things go together, why wouldn't they?

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[Character RP] On Hexarchate Planet Sindol, 64 Days Before the Party

2020-01-05T02:38:33Z

Posted by: chomiji

[Hope I'm doing this correctly.]

Dawn was breaking over Port Honjin when Dar finished her business at the fish market, having arranged for her selections to be delivered to the restaurant where she worked.

She left the bustle on the fishing docks and walked along the waterfront until the sun was clear of the horizon and she had reached the still-empty swimming beach. Wooden chairs, their fabric sunshades furled for the night, stretched in neat rows. The colorful patterns on the canvas gathered brightness as the sun rose, and the air was warm and sweet, blowing in from the forest park up the coast.

It was so easy to pretend that she was back in Baryam, that instead of rising from her lonely single bed in the rooming house, she had left Gali and Dov sleeping in the big bed they preferred. The drowsing bulk of the island across the bay could have been Em'yit, not Biyori, and she could pretend that the carefully tended street trees were ylans, not neuti.

But the days were growing shorter, and autumn would soon come. At home, the weather would barely change until midwinter, but in sixty days, the wind would be cold here in Port Honjin. She was lightyears and centuries away from her birthplace.

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Generalized Art Post #3

2020-01-04T01:55:22Z

Posted by: yhlee

Art may be posted as comments here. :) Please limit width to 600 pixels (and for on-screen viewing you probably want to limit to 72 dpi as well, so the filesizes don't blow up).

For reference:
- Generalized Art Post #1
- Generalized Art Post #2

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preparation post

2019-12-29T19:29:09Z

Posted by: zuhrovet

This post is for out-of-character notes on things you want your character to accomplish before the next move. For continuing players: is your character making something, building something, studying something, or trying to foster a personal connection? For new players: does your character have prior experience with the rebellion, backstory with another character, or a particular skill they like to practice?

We also have a silly character quiz post and a music post, if you'd like to share some things about your character!

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introductions post for new players

2019-12-13T03:13:37Z

Posted by: yhlee

Hello! Here's where new players can introduce themselves OOC--you may say as much or as little as you want to; in particularly, this is a good place to optionally let us know which pronouns you want used for you-the-player, if that's information you want us to have. (I will default to "they/them/theirs" otherwise.)

Old players, please say hi and make the new players welcome!

We'll start up with Chapter 3 in January.

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