Proginoskes Wrote:Yes, the broad strokes of the Message from Saeletra are perfectly obvious, but the details are mysterious. What does "strong async activity" mean? What about "Comstock Spike"?
Let's break it down!
ITG: a group who have a stake in the Convention. Appear to be analysts of some sort.
async: this is darksci researcher lingo. It's a contraction of "asynchronous waveform" which is technobabble for "freaky shit that might involve brains and quantum mechanics."
(If you know the plot of Peshawar Lancers, you can probably guess what this means vis a vis Secundus. If not, I'll explain it later.)
Comstock Spike: Comstock here refers to Zachary Comstock, the cult leader who (re)invented/discovered a handwavium analogue in the 1880s, used it to build the floating city of Columbia and eventually (probably) met a very bad end somewhere in the skies just before World War I.
So, knowing this we can discern that Saeletra's message is "we've found evidence of freaky quantum brain shit going on down on Secundus, and if they get their hands on handwavium blackboxes it may set off an explosion of nasty people with advanced technology, so don't bring any blackboxes to the surface. Derived tech is OK, though."
The Order's ride will work out well enough, since it's built by blackboxes but doesn't incorporate blackboxes into the design, if that makes sense.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
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