[meta/ OGJ Finale]Outline of story, co-authors needed

[Kokuten]

So my frustration with the lack of plot-progress on OGJ has combined with my love of VROOM and my recent gameplay of Motherload to form..
Charles Darwin.

Wait, no, that's not right.
I have an idea for a story that I'd like some data and a co-author or two. The timeframe would be at the end of OGJ, as part of the finale. The current dev-title is "The Penultimate Peril"
The basic outline is thus - planetbuster bomb used to hold the Solar System hostage, defeated by a small crew of Fen and AI, who have to fight there way down to the depths of Mars through active boskonian resistance.
Current crew roster is myself, Mr. Sparky on heavy weapons, V on overwatch and EW, and I'm planning on running off a clone of G.O.D. from Hoplessly Lost for the prime mover of this convoy.
Temporaly, this will be happening simultaneously/slightly before the finale of OGJ, so characters should not be able to appear in both stories - though comms is always a possibility.

Current rough trope-plot includes realization, penetration, gauntlet, technobattle, humorous denoument, and lengthy-follow-up-problem.
Please reply in board or by email to wiregeek at tertiary dot net if interested, all characters and authors welcome.
Current plan is for this to be a Hephaestus flagged operation, though I am willing to give up the driver's seat in-story for good reason, and the driver's seat for the project for VERY good reason and proven performance.

Thank you for your interest.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[robkelk]

Hmmmmm...

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So my frustration with the lack of plot-progress on OGJ ...

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I suspect that's because everyone's waiting on Legend of Galactic Girls. (I'm writing it as fast as I can - chapter 2 is about 1/4 written.) But there's still the SOS-Con story that hasn't been completely told, and an attack on Crystal Osaka that's in progress, not to mention any short-story events that don't involve anyone else's characters.

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The basic outline is thus - planetbuster bomb used to hold the Solar System hostage ...

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Oh, boy. What sort of bomb is it?

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Temporaly, this will be happening simultaneously/slightly before the finale of OGJ, so characters should not be able to appear in both stories - though comms is always a possibility.

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Okay, that means everyone on Stellvia as of LoGG is unavailable for one reason or another...

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... and lengthy-follow-up-problem.

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...although they might be available via comms to help with this part of the story.

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Current plan is for this to be a Hephaestus flagged operation, though I am willing to give up the driver's seat in-story for good reason, and the driver's seat for the project for VERY good reason and proven performance.

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Your idea, your show. Have fun!

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Sirrocco]

*Hrrmms...*
Just noting that if you're interested in holding the Solar System hostage, you don't actually *need* a planetbuster. You just need to be able to convince people that you have a planetbuster - and if your plan is to bust a planet in order to convince them, then you need to be able to convince them that you have *another* planetbuster. People can be wrong in both directions
Of course, the ability to blackmail people at that level can still be used to do some serious damage, whether or not you actually have anything to back it up.
Beyond that, it sounds like some really neat ideas, and could be an excellent story - but I'm curious as to how you'd build an actual planetbuster without breaking the seal on weapons-grade handwavium.
...or did that get unsealed while I was off doing other things?

[robkelk]

Nope, that one's still sealed. The strongest explosive in Fenspace is still kaboomite, and only Stellvia and the Soviet Air Force (a) know that it's nuclear weaponry, and (b) have access to it.
Which is why I was wondering about the bomb...

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Kokuten]

the bomb may exist, may not exist, may be powerful enough to smear the population of the solar system, using Mars as the broom, may not be.
Has yet to be decided.
Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[Morganite]

Personally, I'm still wondering whether I can get away with doing the idea I have for the 'Haruhi reveal' issue. '.'(Though currently, I'm a bit confused on the timeline for some of this. Haven't had enough time to read everything...)
And I imagine that trying to figure out whether the bomb really exists could be a major part of the whole thing. You'd also probably have people who think it's impossible for various reasons.
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[Sirrocco]

...and people who "just aren't willing to risk it".
Also, notice that Handwavium is quite capable of having psychological effects on people - particularly mad-scientist-type people (Hi, Prof!). It's entirely possible that the folks that have it *think* that they have a planetbuster. For that matter, "stole something with an appropriate name from the Professor" is a great source for convincing yourself that you have a planetbuster.
Hmmm....

[Morganite]

Yeah, I knew there'd be an other side to that, I just couldn't think of how to describe it.
And it'd kind of be a difficult thing to test without giving away the game, wouldn't it? But then, that could be planned for. Build, test on planet you consider disposable. If it works, start making another, send out your threats. If it fails, back to the drawing board. Of course, that would reduce the number of surprises to play with once the plot starts rolling...
(For that matter, whether it's a good idea for the setting to have something like that really exist, stopped or not, could probably be argued. I don't really care, but you've still gotta *explain* the thing somehow if you're going down that road.)
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[Norgarth]

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Also, notice that Handwavium is quite capable of having psychological effects on people - particularly mad-scientist-type people (Hi, Prof!). It's entirely possible that the folks that have it *think* that they have a planetbuster. For that matter, "stole something with an appropriate name from the Professor" is a great source for convincing yourself that you have a planetbuster.

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Stole object marked 'Planetbuster' from Professor, but when activated mearly results in the entire planet getting cleaned (like a huge dustbuster) (Random Boskone comment: "that sucks.") __________________
"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it." - Terry Pratchett
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[Sirrocco]

Ooooh! *bounce bounce bounce*
I was just noticing the delightful synergies between the Cataclysm Balm version of this one and the Significant Concerns about runaway handwavium pollution. Even if the heroes *do* figure out that the thing the baddies are threatening people with is an aerosol disaster relief device, there's *still* some fairly significant reasons to try to keep them from setting it off.
Of course, if you want to go another path, is entirely up to you, but this would be so *pretty*.
"Oh no. It's not a planetbuster. What a horrible thought. I would *never* build something like *that*. It's just a little bit of disaster releif I was woking on."
"Oh, thank goodness."
"It's really just an aerosol handwavium dispersal device, with an area effect the size of a small country. Pakistan, maybe. Well, more than that with the right winds, but *most* of the handwavium would wind up in the target area. In any case, I'm certain that the resulting biomods would be extremely helpful to anyone who was endangered by a disaster or three."
"Okay. Okay. That's.... It's *WHAT*?"

[Feinan]

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"Okay. Okay. That's.... It's *WHAT*?"

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*cackles!* Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE the Professor? Only he would come up with disaster relief that for most people would be scarier than the disaster.....
And yes, this would be the perfect use for the Cataclysm Balm. Especially if the bad guys heard him mention it, and misheard it as a Cataclysm Bomb. If it's not clearly labeled, then the confusion would be easy to understand....and it's still not something that people would want in enemy hands. Lovely idea.
-Feinan

[CattyNebulart]

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*cackles!* Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE the Professor? Only he would come up with disaster relief that for most people would be scarier than the disaster.....

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*Grin* I love him too.
Hmm, considering how the UN feels about the prof, the Cataclysm Bomb is probably designed to evade most mundane countermeasures en route to target, it would not do for some beurocrats who are nice and safe to prevent aid for people in need.
Now unlike most mad scientists the Professor does label most of his inventions (with nametags at least), and the name 'Cataclysm Bomb ' is so nice and descriptive, it clearly indicates it's meant to bomb cataclysms, there is so little room for misunderstandings with that name...
Hmm, this brings me to a plot that I have been debating whether or not to use, and I'd want community approval for it before I used it, but it ties in neatly with this plot, so I might as well bring it up now.
I'm debating having the Professor captured by the Boskonians towards the end of the OGJ arc, which provides a good way to bring the story to a climax as the boskonians suddenly become a much bigger threat, and it makes the professor incommunicado for most of this story, making them believe it is a planet buster for a lot longer than they otherwise would.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[robkelk]

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I'm debating having the Professor captured by the Boskonians towards the end of the OGJ arc, which provides a good way to bring the story to a climax as the boskonians suddenly become a much bigger threat

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That would be one of the few things that would get the ##WHITENOISE## Foundation to willingly work with the SOS-dan so soon after they split apart. No objections here.

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Cobalt Greywalker]

"No Kohran, we can't just blow it up. Especially with a Kaboomite warhead fired by Eddie's rail cannon!" A.C. growled.
"Aww...!"
"Besides, it'd piss off Catty."
"Urk!"

"Not to mention the Professor if he survived. Which he probably would."
"Eek!"

[Sirrocco]

...just as long as you indicate that capturing him took a degree of intelligence/planning/effort/cost/amazing luck. He's not the hapless, bumbling Mad Scientist type. The capture of the Professor, if it is to occur, should be almost as scary in its implications about the prior state of their abilities as it is in its flat statement about the suddent increase.
I, personally, would ask for at least one Boskonian who is good at figuring out (largely true) justifications for how providing them with Impressive Things helps advance the cause of SCIENCE!. Not necessarily things that are actively, directly, and significantly harmful to decent folks - the Prof's hat is only a light gray - but things that are useful to the Boskonians nonetheless in a variety of ways, and perhaps a few things that make it more difficult (though not necessarily directly dangerous) on the forces that come after them later.
Mind you, you could also have a few Boskos who go about things the Wrong way, and reap the inevitable Fail, but....

[Norgarth]

possible idea:
A Boskonian who has had previous contact with the Professor (bought useful bits of tech for his fellow criminals) arranges to meet the Prof and try and get a suitable super-weapon.
When the Prof appears reluctant, inside man contacts a friend outside. The friend sends some expendable grunts in, Grunts try brute force approach. While Prof's assistants are mopping the floors with the grunts, inside man (and escorts?) grab the Prof and bug out, grabbing Cataclysm Bomb and other interesting sounding items enroute.__________________
"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it." - Terry Pratchett
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[CattyNebulart]

My plot was:
1) A ship calls for help, it's under attack by the boskonians. The attack is actually a feint to draw the partol that is supposed to be in the area into an ambush but with the whole revolt against the SOS-Dan the battlegroup is not where it's supposed to be, however the Sol Bianca is nearby and comes in to assist.
2) after a bit of waffling hoping for the battle group to arrive the boskonians spring the trap, since the Prof is quite the prize the orders are to capture him alive.
3) The battle in space doesn't go according to anyones plan but after a hughe mixup the original ship esapes while the Boskonians swarm the Sol Bianca whose main reactor has blown. Overall though the space battle is a clear victory for the Boskone.
4) The boarding of the Sol Bianca however goes considerably less well for the Boskone forces, I have some snippets written about a Boskone commenting to another about how he wishes that he didn't watch Aliens last night and when not getting an answer turning around to find himself alone.
In the end however in the tradition of 10 little indians one by one the defenders fall until the boskone win, but at a staggering cost.
5) The Professor is convinced to help the boskone out mostly by threatening to kill the other members of the crew.
As has been noted much earlier the Boskone are quite good at mundane methods of behavioral modification using threats, torture, and drugs, they do try that on the Prof, and they keep the Prof awake the entire time they have him, after all he doesn't need sleep right?
6) A few months later when it is finally found where the Boskone are keeping the Prof and a rescue expedition sets out... Well I'm not sure what happens I have various ideas but I'm not happy with any of them.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Feinan]

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...and they keep the Prof awake the entire time they have him, after all he doesn't need sleep right?

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*blinks* They don't let him sleep. Oh dear gods. There is no way this can end well. I'd rather deal with a Boskonian fleet by myself than the aftermath of a sleep-deprived Professor...and I LIKE the Professor.

[Sirrocco]

Actually, *enough* sleep-dep by the professor, and being pushed hard enough by the Boskos in unhappy enough ways *might* be enough to crack the seal a little on weapons-grade Handwavium.
Projected timeline
- Prof gets captured, treated poorly, and not permitted to sleep.
- Prof proceeds to go mad in Bad Ways over a period of time. Boskos maintain control, more or less, through progressively uglier techniques.
- Prof manages, in a way that can't really be described as On Purpose *or* By Mistake (because he's really too far gone at this point for either concept to make much sense) to effectively drive a chunk of handwavium mad in Bad Ways.
- The resulting devices (and they're in Named and Numbered quantities, and there is no more handwavium left over - or if there is it decays over time into an inert, non-handwave state) are appropriately scary, to both targets and users. On the one side, they're horrible and effective and all. On the other, they don't so much Have Quirk as occasionally turn on their masters in brutal ways. If anyone actually got biomodded, they'd almost certainly have bad things happen to their minds, they'd pick up some really Awful quirks, and they'd shift into some terrible battleform that would make them Very Scary Indeed in combat, but utterly destroy any chance they might have had of having a semi-normal life. (think hideous poisonous spines instead of hands and an enormous jaw with fearsome teeth that can bite through almost anything but cannot be made to talk. stuff like that). really, you'd only want one to survive the process, though. With this stuff, some people who tried to go for biomods might just die outright.
- the devices (and possible biomod) do their scary, scary thing, and are captured, destroyed, and/or used up over the course of the last few climactic battles. A number of them probably fail catastrophically in strange new ways, taking their crews/users with them. In any case, by the end, all or almost all are dead and gone, and any that remain are in the hands of people who don't want to use them, and *really* don't want to let anyone else use them... at which point they're probably jettisoned into the sun or something. Keeping them under Mighty Seals or the like would be appropriately dramatic and all, but when you have access to the sun as a disposal point for such things, there's really no reason to leave it lying around.
so, basically it fits dramatically, it makes sense, and by the end of the cycle we've *almost* returned to status quo - except that there are a few people who know that it is *possible* for at least one form of weapons-grade handwavium to exist, and perhaps even a few that know one (possibly reproducible) technique for making it. (Capture the professor, keep him imprisoned for a few months, torture him physically and psychologically, don't let him sleep, force him to create for you, and live through the experience. Easy, right?)
...oh, and keeping the Prof awake that long is going to require a *lot* of caffeine over time - which gives a great way for whoever to eventually track them down. For that matter, at some point he's probably going to start *trying* to fall asleep - to thwart their evil plans - and that means that they're going to have to figure out how to continue to regularly introduce huge amounts of caffeine to his system without his consent.

[Sirrocco]

Errr... it was just a thought. I didn't mean to kill the discusion or anything... feedback, please? good idea? bad idea? like it? hate it? not willing to write it? anything?

[CattyNebulart]

Sorry I have been razy busy, and add the 20 fanfiction writing days..
Anyway I'm not the best to comment on this sine I was waiting on feedbak from the comunity on your idea.I hadn't planned on breaching the no-weapons rule but it does make a certain amount of naratve sense. Hence why I was waiting for feedback to see if other people wanted it since I could go either way.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[robkelk]

Well... It's possible that people have simply forgotten the 'wavium abilities of one of my characters, so I'll re-quote the relevant bit here:

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Kohran Li
...
So that's how it works - Able to understand existing (but not create new) Mad Science if it makes things explode (a very rare occurrence).

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I've already said she'll be busy elsewhere during the story, but she'd come looking at the wreckage as soon afterward as she could. (A lot depends on the definition of "existing Mad Science", mind you.)
Do we really want to open this can of worms so soon? I'll bow to the will of the majority on this one.

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[CattyNebulart]

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I've already said she'll be busy elsewhere during the story, but she'd come looking at the wreckage as soon afterward as she could. (A lot depends on the definition of "existing Mad Science", mind you.)

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There are several ways around that and it can be taken into account when writing the story.
The easiest is probably to use the handwavium is like cat analogy, sure you might understand how soundwaves get transformed into neorochemical reactions and the complex interplay between sinews, muskles, bones and motor-neurons requiered for a cat to sit. Still doesn't make the cat sit when you tell it to though.
Or to use a more technobable example you might know you need to form the handwavium in a semistable crystal latice, without understanding how to do it. Knowing how a device works and being able to manufacture it are two very different things.
another solution is to keep her somehow away from the rubble until it's throw into the sun or use up the weapons during the attack.
Anyway is there anyone that actually cares? so far we have 1 person who suggested it and two people who will bow to the majority will.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Kokuten]

The trick is, there's no need for weapons-grade 'wavium to make this work, indeed it becomes a little more 'theme' when a conventional (non-wavium) Superweapon is the driver.
For that matter, even a crude hydrogen bomb would work here, the idea was that it'd be _down_. We're not talking cracking the planet in half, but instead making it unsuitable for terraforming, and a nice dirty dirty bomb would be perfect for that.
Planetary Denial!Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[CattyNebulart]

Sorry Kouten but I think you are talking about the original point of the thread, when we hijacked the thread to talk about another plot that has been gestating in my mind.
I like the idea of a cataclysm bomb, it seems a very Prof thing to do and the misunderstanding is easy to understand.
When we are talking about 'real' weapons we mean used in the big final battle of OGJ when the Prof stages his breakout.
hmm, we should possibly split the thread to avoid further confusion. I beseach thee oh great and powerful moderator...
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."