Plotbunny for sale - cheap

[CattyNebulart]

---

I'd been thinking of using Mikuru for Billy's contact point. Of course, there's four of them and more than four main characters here, so they'll have to talk to more than one each...

---

There are 5 of them. You need to remember Haruni is also a member of the SOS-dan. She also 'briefed' the Professor, which is a conversation I really want to write but which I don't think I can.
Clearly they get along great, and both become more hyper as the conversation goes on. Yes it's a scary thought.
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."

[Sirrocco]

Hmmm...
Hokay. Have been thinking about my objections to the whole "making this a Haruhi fanfic" plan (and note that having any SOS-dan characters know The Truth About Handwavium - and how to properly exploit it to best effect - would force us to that track rather thoroughly, given the universe as structured.)
My objections are as follows.
- First, it means that their story is simply More Important than anyone else's story. They are more significant, they are more meaningful, and everyone else just Isn't As Cool. Canon Haruhi defines the universe by her very thoughts and emotions. This makes her, inherently, the most important thing in any universe that contains her. The quest of "don't let her get bored" is more significant than every other quest there is - because if that one fails catastrophically, none of the rest will matter. More than that, you're introducing characters around her who can do things that were originally set in the "no one can do this" box. They are cool in ways that no one else is allowed to be cool (Time Travel, psychic powers not dependant on the 'wave, and Full Knowledge of Handwavium are all clearly in this category. Even wave-derivative psionics are suspect at best.) In their light, all other characters are lesser.
- Second, by similar process, it will have a strong tendency towards meaning that They're Right - and, by extension, that if you disagree with them, it's because You're Wrong. No one else gets this. All other morality is subjective.
- Third, tying into the first two, as soon as you have a group of people who are Just Plain Cooler, then the things they involve themselves in are Just Plain More Important. Anything that does not tie into the SOS-dan arc in some way is suddenly a "background flavor" story.
- Fourth, it takes a universe that was original fic and turns it into fanfic, and does so to no real purpose (to my mind, at least). The point of going with fanfic rather than original fiction seems (to me, at least) to be the following: first, to provide inspiration and emotional investment to the authors, helping them to write. It seems to me, by the production so far, that we have plenty of both - and I don't see that turning it into a haruhi fic really adds all that much. Second, it provides a universe and characters for those writers who aren't as good at coming up with their own (hey, we all have shortfalls somewhere) - again, it seems to me that we have the beginnings of a nice, complex, thriving universe, and a bunch of interesting characters to populate it - as well as a veritable mine of inspirations to draw new characters from. third, the ready-made characters that it provides are ones that the readers already know and care about. The need for exposition is reduced, and you've got a bit of emotional investment (sometimes more than a bit) going in. For here - well, we're not really dealing with the SOS-dan as characters in enough focus to bring out the emotional investment (at least, not yet) and I don't see that the prior knowledge aspects are all that helpful, as we have *loads* of unknowing characters to do the learning onscreen with, in appropriately interesting, non-exposition-block ways.
On the disadvantage side, if it *is* fanfic, then you don't own it. Not completely, anyway. Always you are beholden to another. Here, I see we still get the disadvantage, but not the advantage to go with it.
- Fifth, we're just getting started. The world is yet unformed - and already we're into Uberplot. Once you give in to the Uberplot, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Essentially, then, it takes a wide-open, semi-lifelike, everybody bouncing around doing their own thing, building a shared history universe, and turns it into The Story of the SOS-dan, with being told from the POV of support characters of varying levels of importance and connection.
I have said things like this before, but I will reiterate. As I am not actually contributing a character, or actual writing, I do not feel that I have direct influence in my own person here. I do not get a vote. I cannot stand for my words. My words stand for themselves.

[KJ]

I casually waved to Mal as I wandered off to the marketplace; given his inclinations he was going to go track down news of what was going on. Fine by me, really... there were a few things that I wanted to try to find. For instance, I heard that Red Steel was neat, and I wanted to get a Wii. Oh, and processors for biological stuff. I could probably tinker something together, but it wasn't really my area of expertise and I'd much prefer to work on stuff that was more fun.
Of course, before that I snagged another beer, as wandering around without a drink in hand at this point in the con would almost be against protocol. The various stalls setup were featuring all sorts of wares, both mundane and not. Which was all well and good, and would provide hours of browsing entertainment later, but right now I wanted to get my Wii. While I'd made reservation arrangements while we were enroute, there was probably going to be enough of a demand for the things that it might get sold out from under me.
"Hey Dee," I muttered, apparently to thin air. A 3" tall holographic girl popped into existence at shoulder height, a bit off to the side of my field of vision. She was looking more or less like Cortana this week.
"Yeah boss?" she replied.
"There any maps around? Looking for Stan's."
"Hang on a sec... yeah, second row, couple back."
"Domo." Best PDA ever, really. Nevermind that I was trying for something completely different at the time, it all worked out fine. Mostly. I sipped the bottle of Guinness as I walked that way. Really, I suppose I didn't actually have to ask how to find Stan.
"Welcome, welcome to Stan's Kwalitee Danegoods!" he shouted from his stall. "The finest new and used goods from..." Dee had hid at the first sign I was getting close. Smart girl
"Just, please, stop talking," I muttered, wincing. Stan was a fixture, and had been picked because, among other things, he was the most likely to be able to hang onto the merchandise. But his voice gave me a headache... and that suit...
"What can I do for you, sir? There's a wide selection of current fashions, but today I'm selling them below cost to pass on the savings!"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked, with a bit of an edge. He looked me up and down, taking in the Hawaiian shirt, the camoflage fatigue pants, the combat boots and the pair of swords crossed at my left hip.
"Nothing at all, sir," he answered smoothly. "Perhaps you'd be interested in..."
"No, stop... I'm KJ, I arranged shipment of a Wii, it's prepaid, could you get it so I can be on my way?" I interrupted, rattling off the statement all at once before he could start talking.
"Right away sir," he said, disappearing behind the booth. "And if you'd be interested in anything else, feel free to browse and... here we go!" He produced the boxed Wii, which I hurriedly crammed into my duffle bag. Before he could start talking again, I had fled the scene.
"Like hell I'm going to buy clothes from someone in lime green pants, a blue shirt, red tie, sombrero, and a purple and green checkerboard jacket," I muttered to myself, as I put my head down and proceeded away from the scene. Which is why I didn't notice when I ran into another congoer.
"Oh, geez, I'm sorry," I said as I helped him up, then paused and noted my shirt was soaked, my voice was higher and... oh yeah, I had breasts now. Great. "Uh... do you know where the nearest restroom is?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and mentally cursing the effects of cumulative handwavium exposure. He gestured to a corner of the room and I hurried off.
Really, I don't know why that happened. Okay, so I end up using handwavium a lot to make machine tools to make other things, and breaking them down afterwards sends some of the stuff in dust form around the section of the Explain Star's cargo bay that I sectioned off for the shop. But a pseudo-Jusenkyo curse? Personally, I vaguely blamed Dee, though I didn't hold it against her or bring it up. What's done is, and hell it vastly increased the number of characters I could cosplay as.
"Hey," she spoke up, appearing in the side of my vision again. "Ptichka sent out a message saying Mal wants to see us back at the Star."
"Just as well, only dry shirt I've got in here is too tight on me in girlform," I replied as I pulled on the Zim t-shirt in question and headed back.

[Foxboy]

It's simple really.
The SOS-dan?
Recipients of a "guacamole party." Plus the fact that Haruhi, as fun as the series is... isn't as VISCERAL as a lot of the other Fen favorite anime, so they aren't registering as quickly to the fen as say Team Seven or the Voltron Force.
"Haruhi" may not be the cosmic force that the rest of the SOS thinks she is, but their 'wavium mods twisted their psyches enough that they think they really are the characters. In this instance.... Haruhi is REALLY perceptive and her perception makes her ping as interested/playful Haruhi to the SOS.
And time travel... sorta already exists if any Fen have made it to superluminal, due to relativity, but not as reliable as Doc Brown's DeLorean.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[CattyNebulart]

A little something me and hunterterminator worked on.
Go a few posts back to where Griever threw the panty grenade.
----
 I look over the crowd which has degenerated into utter chaos, trying to find out where that many pitchforks had come from when I notice a pair of Drones selling them and a guy trying to hide them. Igniting my rocket boots I fly towards the guy, my lab-coat billowing dramatically behind me, while calling out: "Hey! You there!"

^_^

The instant the.... panty grenade (didn't the drones buy a box of those?) exploded, I knew that the authorities would come by later, so I rushed to the drones and started trying to hide the proof, or at the very least get them to stop waving it in the air and trying to sell it. I suddenly heard a loud whoosh, "Hey! You there!" Hoping that, against all odds, I was not the one being addressed, I turn my head and, aghast, saw a man flying, with genuine rocket boots, towards me.
I probably shouldn't have been surprised, I could probably cobble up something similar with liberal applications of handwavium, but the chances of meeting someone crazy enough to use rocket boots are just... beyond understanding. I had spent a full minute in flabbergasted surprise when I suddenly recognized the man and let out a loud mental scream, "Fuck, the Professor. Quick, have to hide the drones somehow."
And, of course, the drone with the pitchforks chose that moment to pipe up, "Greetings good sir. Would you be interested in one of our genuine wood pitchfork and torch combo? It's our lynch mob special right now, 25% off if you buy both."
Landing in front of me and looking me over we an unreadable expression, he says. "I assume these drones are yours?"
I look down at the drone, sigh, and reply, "Yeah, I guess so."
He suddenly grabs my hand and pump's it while congratulating me on a job well done. "Excellent for setting the mood, I really must commend your work. Lynch mobs just aren't the same without torches and pitchforks."

^_^

Weaving through the crowd who where getting out of my way for some reason, really I didn't expect fen to be this easily intimidated, I followed after the Professor. Only to see him shaking the hand of some blond guy who looks somewhat nervous and completely befuddled. He must have heard one of the bad rumors about the Professor. At least he looks harmless and the mob doesn't look like it will reform, so I shift back to normal mode.
I guess I better help this guy out, the Professor can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially when you are not used to him. Grabbing the Professor's shoulder I introduce him and myself.

^_^

I knew, or rather had heard, that the Professor was odd, but getting congratulated for setting the right mood for his own lynch mob just caused my brain to do the biological equivalent of a GPF error and I couldn't do much more than mumble thanks as my arm was shaken. Thankfully, someone grabbed the Professor's shoulder and interrupted him long enough for my brain to reboot. I turned my head and saw that the psycho from earlier had put her gun-arm away, "I'm sorry the Professor gets a little excited sometimes. My name is Miyu, and this is the Professor, you probably have heard about him already."
Although she was polite, the way she looked at me gave the distinct feeling that she somehow felt that I was just an insect and should be glad she lowered herself to talk to me. For a moment I had to fight the urge to reprogram her with a sledgehammer and a monkey wrench. Outwardly, I only smiled, "Hello Miyu. I'm Laurent Veilleux, Captain of the Schrottplatz. I did hear much about the Professor, but little of it was flattering, so I'm withholding judgment for now."
The torch drone handed Miyu and the Professor business cards reading, "Schrottplatz Transportation and Construction Company. Fine suppliers of your heart's desire since 2009."

^_^

"Put one little death ray on the Eiffel tower and they never let you forget it." Mumbled the Professor. I ignored him and took the card, so he'd been one year in business then. "It's a pleasure to meet you Captain Veilleux. Can I offer you a cup of coffee?" I ask gesturing to the cafe of to the side, doing the bare minimum of politeness. After all we had accosted him, not the other way around.

^_^

I was going to reply, but I noticed that the drones seemed to be plotting together and gesturing the Professors way. Deciding to pre-empt further trouble, I turned to them, "And you two, that's enough trouble. Get back to the ship right now."
They seemed to be thinking of refusing to obey me, but I had pulled my monkey wrench from my belt and was not very discrete in my intentions towards them. They wisely chose to run off. I turned back to the Professor and Miss Psycho, "Coffee would be great, thank you."
As we settled down in the cafe Miyu went to get our orders, the Professor tried to strike up a conversation with me. "Lau, do you mind if I call you Lau? Anyway Lau those are fascinating drones you have there, how do you power them? They seem to have excellent initiative, what algorithm did you use for the Alpha-Beta pruning?"
The Professor seemed to be the sort to ask questions without stopping for answers, so I quickly interrupted him, "I don't mind Lau. The drones use a power source of their own devising; they used to just run around with extension cords behind them. And I have no idea what Alpha-Beta pruning is, but as for their initiative, well, I had built a few of them and one day, they started exchanging ideas and, before I could react, they had modified each other beyond whatever plans I had for them."
I sighed, "To be perfectly honest, Professor, I don't understand them anymore. They are an experiment that spun wildly out of control. They even reproduce for christ's...!" My mind caught up to what I was saying and I sighed again, "Sorry about that."
"Ah the power of Science, no need to be sorry, I am a fellow man of Science! I understand how frustrating it is to not being able to gather all the data on your creations, but that is the beauty of SCIENCE! Eventually we all need to let our creations go into the wide world, but there is always the next experiment!" The Professor got up and was pacing around waving my arms for emphasis. "Trust in the Power of SCIENCE!"
I looked dubiously at the Professor, "Science? Cobbling together whatever I can scrounge up from various junkyards and coating it with several coatings of Handwavium is science?" I shook my head, "I really don't think it is Professor. I'm far from Scientist material. I'm just a guy who was tired of washing the dishes and built drones to do it for him, nothing more, nothing less."
"But of course it is Science, you formed a hypothesis, that handwavium could animate drones to do the dishes, and tested it by building the. Oh sure it was just a small step for mankind, but we can't all be Neil Armstrong. By gradually advancing step-by-step we push forward the boundaries of knowledge! That is the power of SCIENCE!"
At that point Miyu returned with the drinks, interrupting the professors rant before it could really get started.
"Oi Prof! We are done on our end. How did your meeting with those SOS-dan people go?" Asked a pink haired girl in some sort of uniform, shouting to be heard over the crowd as she and a blue haired girl headed towards us.
"Their leader appreciates the power of SCIENCE!" Answered the professor at an unnecessary volume now that they where sitting down next to us, drawing quite a bit of attention from the crowd, especially since many where wondering about the mysterious SOS-dan.
"Catty, Ryoko this is Captain Laurent Veilleux. Captain Veilleux, this is Catty Nebulart," Miyu interjected, gesturing towards the pink haired girl, "and that is Ryoko Asakura." Gesturing this time to the smiling girl with long blue hair in a schoolgirl uniform.
I rose an eyebrow at the mention of the organisation that called the convention. The Professors reaction, though, made me think that their leader might be as odd as him. I had to check though; maybe I was simply mistaken, "Is that leader you mention as..." I tried to find a more diplomatic word than odd, "enthusiastic as you are?"
I should probably have asked about the goals of the organisation instead but, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really care all that much and could wait patiently for them to tell me on their own.

"Haruhi-sama is one of the rare few that understand the greatness of my work, her enthusiasm is even greater than mine. She is truly an inspiration, if only there were more leaders with her vision." Said the Professor. I did notice that all three of the Professors assistant reacted to the honorific. In Miyu's case it was a rising of the eyebrows, Her expression showing surprise. Catty blinked and seemed pleased about something, but Ryoko reacted the most. She froze, only for a moment and her serene smile never slipped, but now I could see it for the mask it was.
"Sama? Isn't that an awfully respectful form of address for the leader of an organisation he isn't even a member of?" I thought. And judging by the reactions of the Professor's androids, I wasn't the only one to think so.
It was at that point that my brain caught up to the rest of the sentence, "Greater!!!"
Only a slight sharpening of my breathing betrayed my horror at the thought of someone being worse than the Professor.
It was at that point that I noticed that my silence would soon stretch too far, "Really? She sounds like a very... impressive person."
"Oh she is. I hope you will support her tomorrow." Before the professor could continue though someone behind me called out. "Laurent old buddy! How have you been? Won't you introduce me to these three beauties here?"
I definitely knew that voice, and a glance confirmed it. Roguish smile, red hair, a rifle on the back and so, bloody, tall. I waved without turning around and replied, "Hey Taesha, meet Miyu, Ryoko, Catty and the Professor." I pointed to each person as I named them.
I then looked at the Professor and his assistants and hooked my thumb back towards Taesha, "Don't mind her, she's just likes attention"
"So, how's been life treating you these days?" I finally turned around to look at Taesha, and noticed that she had stopped listening to me at some point, instead openly leering at Miyu.
Miyu just looked Taesha over and deliberately schooled her features into a dismissal while answering in a frosty but polite tone "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Taesha." While making it abundantly clear that this was not the case.
"Oh no the pleasure is all mine. What do you say to a little private meeting, just the two of us?"
"I would be delighted, however I have a duty to protect the Professor."
"Oh don't worry yourself on my account Miyu. Go and have some fun for a change."
"Of course professor. In that case I'll finish the report for the Beta-404 series of tests. After all I'm sure I can persuade Taesha to volunteer for a few tests." Agreed Miyu her voice much warmer than before but with a strong undercurrent of danger. The psychotic little smile on her face caused half the fen in attendance to take a step back.
"Gulp, eh why don't we stay here for a bit, I am curious about these SOS-dan people." Answered a suddenly very nervous looking Taesha.
"I believe that is my cue." said a smiling guy in a business suit as he stepped forward. "My name is Itsuki Koizumi, and I am a member of the SOS-dan."
"Ah Koizumi a pleasure to meet you again." Said the Professor as he got up, "Unfortunately duty calls, and I must get back to work. Please convince these people of the rightness of our cause in the name of SCIENCE!"
"Captain Veilleux, it was a pleasure to meet you. Taesha" Said Miyu getting up and giving a short bow to both of us.
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."

[M Fnord]

---

Essentially, then, it takes a wide-open, semi-lifelike, everybody bouncing around doing their own thing, building a shared history universe, and turns it into The Story of the SOS-dan, with being told from the POV of support characters of varying levels of importance and connection.

---

In the end, my question is: will it be a good story?
The early returns so far suggest it will. Is it the Story of the SOS-dan? Well, yeah. But it's also the story of all these other people who get swept up in their vortex.
We're still starting out, and so far even with the SOS-dan at the heart of the storm they're really not much more than plot devices in and of themselves. Will that change eventually? Probably to some extent. I guess I just don't see why that's a bad thing.
Edit: Or Foxboy's solution works, too. Admittedly, this could be a CLUELESS chicken/egg situation that our heroes have to unravel over the course of the main plot. Which might be even more fun than a straight Space Heroes storyline. Moo hoo ha ha ha.
That said, there is one thing I agree with you on: the SOS-dan should not - N-O-T not know The Truth Behind Handwavium or how to use it to best effect. If anything, they should be just as in the dark (or moreso) about the stuff than our heroes. Just because they're the central characters doesn't mean we have to give them all the toys at once.
---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Valles]

My take is... without direction, a story is nothing. The SOS-dan provide one such that is at once clear and interestingly nuanced - and without them, so far as I can see, the setting itself lacks any such traits.
That said, I think that shoveling as much mud as possible over the basic, actual facts of the matter until the moment of final revelation comes is a very good idea.
I suggest that Nagato and Mikuru have information on our Black Ooze Boxes because I simply can't see any logically consistent way for them to lack it. DITE can identify details of an individual human's life from halfway across the bloody galaxy, as well as produce lesser agents capable of doing things like warping spacetime at will. And, unless Mikuru's people are from millenia ahead, past the other side of a serious technological fall, everything learned in 'the present day', in this time frame, is a matter of historical record, something they need only go look up.
IOW, I think that having them not know would be forcing them to act impossibly stupid for no other reason that allowing the plot to go forwards.
If you can come up with a convincing justification for such a lack, or, more likely, for their hiding said abilities, I'd be happy to hear it.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[M Fnord]

---

I suggest that Nagato and Mikuru have information on our Black Ooze Boxes because I simply can't see any logically consistent way for them to lack it.

---

Just like they have full knowledge and understanding of Haruhi's abilities at the same time, yes?
The whole thing, starting with Haruhi and accelerating into the handwavium and fenspace and everything else is a singularity. The future's in flux, historical records shift and meld, stuff that was real becomes fictional and vice versa, things are accelerating beyond what DITE can predict with any real accuracy, the falcon cannot hear the falconer, etc.
Nagato and Mikuru might think they know the answers (and even be able to provide some in the earlier stages) but as things spiral further and further away from the semi-stable situation we see in Melancholy the less accurate those answers become. They're just as trapped in a fog of singularity as our heroes.
The grand destiny of fenspace has not yet been written. That's our job.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Foxboy]

Another point...
If we have a canon Haruhi instead of a 'waved fan...
She doesn't want to know EXACTLY what happens next, because THAT would be BORING, and thus is just as apparently clueless as everyone else.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Feinan]

Transferred.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

ObWarning: I haven't read all the way through the first novel yet, nor have I seen the anime at all, so if I'm blatantly wrong about aspects of HS canon, feel free to call me on it.
Here's my take on the whole Haruhi thing:
It DOESN'T MATTER.
Even assuming the SOS-dan's worst-case scenario -- that she really is God the Creator of All Things and doesn't know it (and they're not committed to that belief, at least in what I've read so far) -- an arc involving that doesn't have to mean the end of the setting, or even that everything subsequent will focus on her. The universe can remain goofy, fen will still be out there doing fennish things. Even the Data Entities and the Agency could go public at some point, without telling anyone a damn thing about their interest in Haruhi. Assuming that only a few hardcore fen get the word, and fewer fully believe it, there can be the occasional story in which she has to be protected/reined in... but life goes on in her absence from the main stage.
Am I making any sense here?
As far as The Truth About Handwavium goes, knowing that Haruhi's responsible doesn't in and of itself give them any special powers over it. And I can't believe that DITE can exercise total control over 'wavium, either, if it's in any sense a manifestation of her subconscious, any more than they'd dare try to control her. They might be able to pull a few advanced tricks, as could the travelers (do we know, in canon, how far in the future they're from?) but... I honestly think that on a fundamental level it should be impossible to fully tame Handwavium. There'll always be something just a little bit off, at best; it's a law of physics.
And the SOS-dan don't always have to be right, either. They may misjudge what it takes to keep Haruhi happy and ignorant, in which case others might have to clean up the mess.
Also:

---

- Fourth, it takes a universe that was original fic and turns it into fanfic, and does so to no real purpose (to my mind, at least).

---

Incorrect, in the first half anyway. Haruhi was intended as the cause of handwavium and general weirdness right from the original proposal.
I guess what I'd like to say is: Sirrocco, I note your objections and yes, it would be easy to fall into those traps... but now that you've pointed them out for us, I think we can avoid them while maintaining Haruhi-canon as the core of the setting.
I hope all this sounds reasonable...
--Sam
"Can you destroy the world?"
"Egad, I hope not! That's where I keep all my stuff!"

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

---

Lurker, drakensis: I hope this works for the two of you. I'd already been playing with the Doc terms, so I got a cackle out of the Boskone, Lurker...and drak, see if the thionite bit works for you? I'd originally intended it to be what they wanted made, but if there's a native plant on Venus, then a user-friendly version of broadleaf makes even more sense. Timewise....this probably took place a month or two before the Convention, I'd think? Enjoy!

---

I think we need to work out a coherent picture of exactly what's going on with Venus, first of all.
When I think of terraforming Venus, my first image is of seeding the clouds with tailored bacteria to start altering the atmosphere into something livable. If 'wavium speeds the process of designing those critters up, and enhances their efficiency, then maybe we can already be up to the level of "native plants" by this point--it's still a Trenconian hellhole, but it may be possible to send ships down there and harvest stuff. Is that what people have in mind?
But yeah, this works for me. What really amuses me is that the poor bastard probably had no idea what Kev's terminology even meant -- the last thoughts in his head would have been "zwil-what?"
Similarly, the raiders may at first not have a clue why people are suddenly referring to them as Reavers, or Boskonians... or Boskonian Reavers, which I think should be the term that is ultimately applied. Of course, even in the source material Boskone took its name from the code-word Civilization applied to their operations...
--Sam
"My powers are weak, my intellect feeble."

[Feinan]

---

When I think of terraforming Venus, my first image is of seeding the clouds with tailored bacteria to start altering the atmosphere into something livable. If 'wavium speeds the process of designing those critters up, and enhances their efficiency, then maybe we can already be up to the level of "native plants" by this point--it's still a Trenconian hellhole, but it may be possible to send ships down there and harvest stuff. Is that what people have in mind?

---

That's what comes to mind when I think of terraforming Venus, too. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae (even better). If you modded it - you could add in extremophilic tendencies from bacteria from deep-sea vents, which would let it process sulphuric acid in the clouds. Since it's got chlorophyll, it'd also start to work on converting CO2 to O2 as well. The most you'd have to do is find a way to keep it floating, and there should be something a good biomodder could kitbash together. As for 'native plants'....my take on this would be that given the harsh conditions, it's quite probable that the handwavium has speeded up evolution in the algae. It's also possible there were versions of extremophilic bacteria that were native to Venus and that got fused with the algae. With the handwavium adding a boost, you could get plants that really were partially native to Venus in a few years, I'd say.
As for sending ships down - yes, you could. Or remote drones like my Scout-class buddies. Of course, it's possible there are some domed outposts or at least a few buildings on the surface that the Senshi use. *grin* I doubt they'd be amused by the zwilniks, however. Which is fine by me.
Oh - for those who might wonder why Atropos snorted at my song choice in the snippet: the Scout/Sword-class drones are not true AIs, though they do exhibit vague hints of personality from the handwavium. They're remote-controlled by the AIs in my ship. Since Atropos (the crone archetype for the Sisters in my vehicle) was handling Spare/Saber at the time, I was actually teasing her a bit.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Works for me. A possible addition:
Even with atmospheric alteration, another problem is that there's simply too much air -- it'll remain far too dense for human habitation.
But what about exporting the excess air to where it's needed?
The niftiest item the Masaka sports, assuming I can get it to work in my head (and assign it appropriate quirks), is the Jupiter Scoop -- a frigging HUGE "net" designed to capture vast quantities of gas giant atmosphere and then sift for the desired elements or compounds, and compact them for ease of transport. (It has inevitably been nicknamed the Jooper Scooper.)
If a number of near-duplicates of that could be built, you could have a small fleet dedicated to shipping atmospheric gases from Venus to Mars... ^.^
--Sam
"Roof pig! Most unexpected."

[drakensis]

Well, after cursory examination of the wikipedia entry for Venus (or in other words, the average research carried out by a Fen before beginning a project ;-) ) I've come up with a few ideas.
The long range plan for terraforming Venus is to bind a large percentage of the carbon now in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide into solids (diamonds, for example) and much of the associated oxygen with hydrogen (shipped in from the gas giants) to create water. This should also reduce the atmospheric pressure to something a bit more survivable. Exporting it is also an option, although who would want vast amounts of carbon dioxide is a small problem.
The current atmosphere (90 times as dense as Earths) makes it difficult and dangerous to actually get down to surface level (but not to the extent that Fen and other interested parties can't do so). Some rather random work with plants has in fact begun spreading plants across the highland regions, particularly the northern continent (which is being sold off slowly to land speculators to fund the whole business). Venusian broadleaf is a mutant strain and one of the most successful in suvival terms, which is a pity because it's not fantasically useful for anything that the terraformers care about. Still, it's breaking the ground for other plants.
The current headquarters of the Venus Terraforming Project is Crystal Tokyo, which is suspended by it's own atmosphere about 50km above the surface (an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere is a lifting gas on Venus, roughly equivalent to helium on Earth). Crystal Tokyo is a wonder of the solar system and is in fact a single huge (industrial-grade) diamond. It's predominantly made up of terraforming machinery, however, so few outsiders are allowed close enough to discover this.
Other interesting things about Venus include the work on an orbital elevator, which looks like it might beat it's rival project on Mars.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

If it's a crystal city orbiting Venus, shouldn't it be Magellan Castle instead? ^.^
--Sam
"Sidekicks don't kiss!"

[drakensis]

I stand corrected. It is indeed correctly called Magellan Castle. Morden, being bad with names, refers to it as Crystal Tokyo (although he's not unique in this).
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

transferred
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Valles]

I'm tremendously amused by the discussion of the Venus project that's broken out... because, while I was AFK for my sister's sake, I'd written up the first part of an idea of my own.

---

Castle Magellan was the first and still most ambitious of the Venusian Cloud Cities, a shallow dish of rock scooped from the surface of the far side of Earth's moon and thoroughly honeycombed through with tunnels. The carefully-built handwaved machine that had bored them had coated their walls with a transparent materiel that had so far resisted analysis but proved stronger than steel. A variation of the same design had covered the isalnd's surface in a roomy, transparent tent that spiraled out in sealed chambers like an ammonite's shell.
The tunnels and chambers that had simultaneously lightened and strengthened the mass of rock were filled with the constantly laboring machinery of the Venusian Terraformation Project, while the sealed surface above had been landscaped into a sprawling garden of fields, lakes, forests, and a small town clustered around the soaring central towers that speared up through and past the protective roof.
With the lightening of the rock underlayer and the lofty height of the segmented dome and the relative densities of Terran and Venusian air, Magellan didn't need any further 'waved help to tug taunt the kilometers-long cable that anchored it to the burning planet's surface so far below.
The compartmentalisation of the dome and the sheer scale of the structure made it almost impossible for any single accident to 'sink' the flying city, but it still sported flight-control regs that were strict even by 'Danelaw standards. Most of the docking facilities were small bays along the underside, but larger craft had to settle on pads cantilevered out from the island's rim.
Besides being small targets, those platforms were fully exposed to the strongest gusts the platform had to offer, making landing a large ship at Castle Magellan and... interesting experience.
Doing so in a ship whose diameter was greater than the pad's, and whose mass was enough to tear the entire thing free if set down too hard, and which maneuvered in a way that the dockside watcher's couldn't predict or assiste with, was downright exciting.
It always gave me a tension headache, let alone the cramps that tended to go off in my shoulders when I tried to relax after we were down.
On the other hand, the Senshi were among the biggest importers of bulk finished goods in the system. Every additional Cloud City they could finish speeded the project considerably, but most of the terraforming machinery was hardtech, complicated and technically demanding enough that it had to be produced on Earth and shipped to Venus in a ship with an environmentally sealed hold. Heck, a few types were big enough that Moondance was the only hold roomy enough to carry them whole; the cost and time savings from not having to piece them back together from being shipped dissassembled would have had the VTP willing to pay a hefty bonus to get us to run the route, if it had been neccessary.
Which, honestly, it wasn't. I like Magellan, even if landing there is enough of a cast-iron bitch to make me forget the fact most times. It's comfortable and relaxing and a lot more restrained and tasteful than the usual fennish design, and the scenery is nearly as spectacular as the view out the windows.
The Dancer's drive isn't really a reaction type, of course, but it acts a lot like one and we tend to talk about it as though it were, particularly since it's unsteerable - that is, Moondance accelerates along the axis of her poles, period. Steering and rotation has to be handled by reaction thrusters, if 'waved ones.
Overall, getting her safely onto one of Magellan's pads is something like trying to balance a water balloon on the tip of a pencil in a windstorm, using nothing but your fingertips. Without external camera feeds, I'd dare say it'd be pretty much impossible.
Finally, when the fifth and last landing leg gave the soft 'chunk' that indicated it had locked down to the pad's surface, I was able to relax. Something between my shoulderblades shifted and went pop! as I stretched, noticably louder than the distant machinery had been.
"Damn, I love watching that," Stacy said after she'd logged us off of the flight controller's scopes.
I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "Oh, yeah. Scared to death I've been and you're getting turned on. Why is it I'm only now finding out you're a sadist?"
"You never were very observant... but no. I'm nearly as busy in landing as you are, but watching you stretch out after is worth it!"
I blushed and fumbled for what to say, and then she laughed and started to tug me off of the bridge. "C'mon. Let's get this cargo signed for and then we can catch lunch and start working on this drug thing they've set us on. I'll even tell the crew."
"You'd want to do that anyway; you like watching Kramer get all twitchy."
"Of course I do, he's an ass."
"Of course."

---

...so it's obviously not quite the same thing. But definitely close enough to mix together without much trouble.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[CattyNebulart]

Drak, I love the Morden bit. It seems so ...Mr. Morden.
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."

[M Fnord]

---

Throwing up, rinsing out my mouth, and a large glass of Johnnie Walker Black in the Garden sounded good right now.

---

Totally random tangent, but between the drones, the plant business and this line, I've sort of got the image of the Fateful Lightning looking like a miniaturized Valley Forge, which is cool because that was a great movie. %)---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[The Hunterminator]

Man, I'm working on my next part, but it's talking a while because:
A Laurent is fighting to not become a part of that taskforce and
B I don't like Koizumi, I think he's annoying.

[M Fnord]

I'll get back to the Con in a bit. For now, this is... something else. I like it, lemmie know what you think.

---

Life aboard the Explain Star can be a bit trying sometimes. The difficulty lies in space issues. You have to remember that although she certainly *looks* impressive, she's not all that big. Sure, she towers over most fencraft, but most of those are converted automobiles and light trucks. In terms of size, she's actually not much bigger than a smallish airliner.
The Star's original design specs - the Soviet blueprints imported over without change from the American originals - had only the front of the ship pressurized and rigged for habitation. When we got our hands on her we scrapped most of the original crew compartment and extended it all the way back through the old cargo bay to the engine spaces. We had to practically fill the wings and lower deck spaces with handwavium to compensate for the larger pressure hull, but it gave us more room to work with.
Unfortunately, "more" doesn't equate to "unlimited." The Star is still only 40 meters long, and the available fuselage area is only four and a half meters wide. That sounds like a lot, and when you're standing in a stripped-bare fuselage it feels positively cavernous. Once you start adding in compartment bulkheads, flooring, a proper ceiling, plumbing, and all the rest that wide open space starts to shrink very quickly. Between the "cabins" (not much more than double-occupancy coffin hotel cubicles), the bathroom facilities, consumables storage, EVA lockers, some light cargo storage and a workshop for KJ... well.
For one person, it's spacious. For two or three, it's comfortable. For six, the euphemisim is "cozy." And when you're cooped up in it for weeks at a time orbiting some distant rock without a breathable atmosphere, it can change from cozy to confining very quickly. Frankly, a lot of our "first man on whatever" exploits come from our burning desire to just get the hell *outside* the Star for a little bit.
Sometimes, though, that option isn't available.
Like today.
We're halfway between Saturn and Mars, on our way to the Convention. Crossing Jupiter's orbit, but Jupiter's on the wrong side of the sun for us to see it. We're taking a leisurely approach route - the Con doesn't start for another day, so there's no point in hauling ass at full speed down into the inner system. We'll be there in 18 hours. Plenty of time to relax.
I can't relax. Ptichka's watching our course, keeping us on track. Elena's in the copilot's seat, watching Ptichka do her thing and getting a few piloting lessions in the bargan. I'm in the left seat trying to focus on the readouts, the Con notice and the book du jour (The Atrocity Archive by Charles Stross, for the curious) and failing to comprehend all three of them. Boredom and cabin fever are starting to set in.
I need to get out of here for a bit.
With that thought, I'm out of my seat and heading down towards the middeck. Elena yelps, startled, but that doesn't really register as I slide down the ladder and head aft to the EVA locker. I grab my softsuit off the rack and slip into the bathroom to put it on.
Softsuits are a marvel. Not quite the super-skintight stuff that a lot of inner system fen like to use, but not the big, bulky danetech suits either. The softsuits are old pressure suits (Russian of course, like so much of our gear) augmented with wavetech. Much more comfortable and independent than the original models, plus the retro-commie look is very fashionable.
I lock the helmet down and check the telltales. Everything's running green, full charge on life support and the emergency thruster pack. Thus armed, I head forward.
Half the crew are relaxing in the lounge, and none of them bat an eye when I come marching through in a full pressure suit. They all understand the urge, and most of them have done the same thing, so they don't mind as I make my way to the access hatch in the far forward bulkhead.
Did you know that the space shuttles were originally supposed to have an airlock and docking port in the nose, just below the forward windows? Unless you're an obsessive shuttle geek (like me) you probably didn't. But it's the truth; the original design had the main airlock and docking port in the nose. They eventually scrapped that design and went with the one we all know today, but when we got out hands on the Explain Star, we decided that the nose port was useful enough to retrofit into the airframe. We didn't know what it would be useful *for* mind you, just that it would be useful.
I get into the airlock, crouching because the damned thing is tiny, seal it up and let the air cycle out. Telltales on my suit are still green, everything's fine. I grab a tether - can't be too careful - and clip one end to my belt, the other to the outside of the lock. The outer hatch opens up and I uncurl a little, letting my head and shoulders emerge.
The hull slopes down around me to the rounded point of the nose. The sun is to my left, a burning penny casting sharp shadows. The automatic glare compensators in my helmet switch on, blanking out the worst of the light. I glance backwards, seeing the flight deck from this angle for the first time in months. Elena spots me, gives me a cheery little wave and goes back to whatever she's doing.
This next part is tricky. I climb most of the way out of the airlock and carefully orient myself into a crawling position on the hull. I have to be careful not to damage anything. The hull's been treated with handwavium varnish, so it's tougher than the average space shuttle. I'm not in any danger of breaking anything vitally important off or anything like that, but there aren't any good handholds for this part and Ptichka *and* KJ would kill me if I so much as scuffed the paint.
Inching my way forward, careful to keep one hand on the hull, I make may way for the nosecap. I reach the cap and give it a careful nudge. A section swings open, revealing an empty compartment. A kick of my emergency thrusters sends me up over the hatch, another kick stops my relative velocity with my feet hanging inches over the bare metal. I touch a control on my belt, and the magnets in the boots activate, gluing my feet to the frame.
The Explain Star is "beneath" me now, a swiftly-moving mountain of glass and metal. Above and around me are the stars. I'm looking away from the Sun, and the flat black of the Star's belly absorbs much of the reflected light. I can see the stars all round me, clear and bright.
All the worries and fatigue of the last day drain away as I stand on top of the Explain Star, arms outstretched, soaking up the starlight. I'll spend the next hour or so standing out here in freefall, watching the cosmos go by. When I go back inside all the problems and pitfalls of living in space will still be there, as will this mystery Convention and all the problems inherent in *that.*
But for the moment, that doesn't matter.
I have the stars.
I am content.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[drakensis]

I guess great minds think alike?
Well, if we swap the 'transparent material' for diamond created from the carbon in Venus' atmosphere, I think that we have a match.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

transferred
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.