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felassan · 5 months ago

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Snippets. 🐺💜

For Game Informer’s July 17th DA:TV article, "BioWare On Returning To The Dragon Age Series, 10 Years After Inquisition", the article is still titled as such on its own page, but it looks like on the GI DA:TV Hub page its listing was updated to "Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is 'Respectful And Referential' To Previous Games Without Making Them Mandatory"

[previous comment for context - Brenon: "we do have "decision saves" before big choice moments, but there are still a bunch that depend on a whole mess of stuff you've done earler...so yeah...RIP"]. Derek on this: "Choice and consequence, baby." [source]

[context: DA official Twitter's news about what's coming in August] Derek: "Buckle up!" [source]

Bryony Corrigan (Rook) on the strike: "I care a lot about this game! @/dragonage. Gutted we are unable to speak more about the game for now but absolutely in solidarity with actors in the US. I hope @/EquityUK are also fighting for better protection against AI clauses in the UK too…!" [source]

Matt Rhodes recently wrote to his mailing list that "The project I’ve been working on for many years is nearing completion. In my rare free moments, I’ve been starting to organize concept art to start posting after the game ships." [source] So it sounds like DA:TV is nearing completion and that he will be posting DA:TV concept art that he created after release. [This] is the link to his website where you can view his art, including some existing DA:TV and previous DA game concept art. If you click the envelope symbol on this page, that's how you can subscribe to the mailing list

from Community Councilmember Ladyinsanity - Lucanis x Rook apparently might be an "angst pairing" and there's maybe another one of these in the game also...? 👀 [source]

A user mentioned that they aren't keen on the word "roadmap". Michael Gamble explained: "all it means is a list of cool things you can expect to see us showing." [source]

Bellara's family name Lutare wasn't recently changed as some users wondered, it was Lutare at least a year ago during development. It seems it was just mis-printed or mis-reported in the GI coverage [source]

This article describes DA:TV as the most beautiful game the writer saw at SGF. It says the prologue is dated 9 years after DA:I. "Varric isn’t a ginger so much as a grizzled gray fox now". On Solas, he "wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory and sacrificing thousands in the process. But when his ritual goes awry, two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. They seek only to finish what they started millennia ago – the complete and utter domination of our world." The game moves quite seamlessly from action to cutscene, and in the prologue "every cutscene is clearly building toward something larger". Position matters in combat. There is an accessibility option which involves the path-tracing of enemies' ranged attacks. At the beginning of the demo, the devs mentioned that they thought about the way different lighting affects your character. " The animations associated with combat are complex for one reason: responsive character features." CC has "inclusion of thick curly hair and capturing the tightly curled texture of Black hairstyles and natural hair", customizable shoulder-width and "a much-welcomed broad spectrum of skin tones—capturing both cool and warm undertones of both white and brown skin". The article highlighted the fluid movement of cloth. The writer also said, "I’m sure other Summer Game Fest previews will have a lot to say on the evolving relationship between Varric and Solas". [source] ((I don't remember seeing this article til now, it's from June though so I either missed it or have seen it and forgotten. also I don't know how accurate it is but the writer was one of the attendees of the DA:TV demo at SGF))

[character limit text break!]

Malcolm: "When I joined DA:Ve I was really hoping there'd be a romanceable dwarf companion and boy howdy did that come true. Harding is ☀️delightful☀️" [source]

[context: this Tumblr post of some neat art] Malcolm: "This is amazing and I fully went "oh wow that really sounds like Emmrich" before remembering that Nick Boraine is in fact a entire human person." [source]

User: "Speaking of Stalker, as a player the description of Bellara and Veil Jumper i've heard so far, alongside their exploration of Arlathan, somehow reminds me of Clear Sky and Chornobyl in Stalker series..." John Epler: "great eye! roadside picnic, Annihilation and STALKER were all absolutely inspirations" [source]

John Epler: "time to slowly make my way home after an awesome 4 days. thanks for an amazing experience to everyone who was a part of it. back to work." [source]

User: "We know there are returning characters in The Veilguard, so my question is: How would you and the rest of the writers go about writing a returning character who was originally primarily written by a writer who is no longer at the studio? What is the process?" Trick Weekes: "1. Watch videos to get the performance, how the character speaks. 2. Don’t try to replicate the character exactly. Allow them to have grown. Morrigan in DAI wasn’t Morrigan in DAO. She’d grown up. 3. Trust Character Art and Performance/VO. As soon as Morrigan walks in and talks in DAI, it works." [source]

Ali Hillis (Harding) on Twitter: "@dragonage @/bioware @/BioWarePulse @/ea #/DragonAge #/SDCC #/SDCC2024 FOLLOW ON INSTA FOR MORE!" [source]

Alex Jordan (Rook): "To all the D&D loving Dragon Age fans out there, let me tell you about my D&D group, made up of faces from the games industry! Including the voices of Geralt from The Witcher, Clive from Final Fantasy XVI, and Noah from Xenoblade! We are ⁦@/NaturalSix ⁩#/DragonAge" [source]

Erika Ishii (Rook): "Grateful I got to spend SDCC celebrating my roles in 2 games I love. Thank you to the devs (including laid-off workers who deserve full credit!), my friends, and the community. This is the last you’ll hear from me about my games from struck companies until they sign an interim agreement or the strike is won. Keep playing games, but share info from the union and let people know we’re taking a stand for all creatives. See you on the other side! ✊🏼🎮" [source]

Jeff Berg (Rook): "Damn, I love making video games. It’s like the perfect blending of theatre on film, where an actor is encouraged to collaborate and let their imaginations soar. And damn, do I ever love the incredible support from the fans of this incredible medium. Unfortunately, we’re in a time of upheaval in the industry. So let me make it perfectly clear: Video game performers deserve fair wages, safe working conditions and A.I. protections. I call on the employers to #/LevelUpTheContract. Guys, this is no single player game. We need you on our team. #/SagAftraStrong #/VideoGameStrike". Text in the accompanying video reads “Video game performers are stuck in a grind. AI is stealing voices, and companies are hoarding profits. The future of voiceover and performance capture artists is at stake. But out fight isn’t single-player. Whether you’re a gamer, a fan, a performer, a labor ally, or just someone believes in fairness. Keep video games people powered. We need you on our team. Video game companies must offer AI protections to ALL video game performers. Join me and show your support for those who bring our favorite games to life.” [source]

Jessica Clark (Neve): "Aaah a true bucket list moment!! Thrilled to play Neve Gallus a Private Investigator & one of the companions in the upcoming DragonAge The Veilguard Video Game!! We are appearing at the San Diego Comic Con as we speak!! With so much thanks & appreciation for the most fantastic team @/bioware & inspiring fellow cast members including (not limited to) @/missalihillis @/nickboraine @/zach.mendez @/jeffberg1 & more 🙏🏽 Draon Age The Veilguard releases this Fall 2024 & from what I've seen... It's truly epic!! You will love it & yes, it's worth the wait. (SAG-AFTRA issued us a specific window to promote & celebrate at Comic Con & from Sunday night onwards we will all be joining our fellow actors in the picket line for the Video Game Strike)." Text in the accompanying video reads "I’ve wanted to share this for so long! Thrilled to reveal that I play Neve Gallus in the upcoming Dragon Age The Veilguard!! Appearing at Comic Con San Diego as we speak” [source]

[source]

Jessica: "Last night's Comic Con San Diego's Fandom red carpet celebrating Dragon Age The Veilguard! Releasing this Fall 2024!!" [source]

Zach Mendez (Lucanis): "A truly amazing first day of SD Comic Con at the @/dragonagegame poster signing at @/darkhorsecomics booth. Thank you to the fans who made my first con unforgettable #/sdcc /#sdcomiccon #/dragonage #/darkhorsecomics #/lucanisdellamorte #/voiceacting #/bioware #/eagames #/theveilguard #/babysfirstcon" [source]

Zach: "Dragon Age. Dancing. Derulo. Thanks @/fandom for a killer party" [source]

Nick Boraine (Emmrich): "Thank you @/bioware @/ea and @/comic_con - had an incredible time! #/dragonage #/theveilgaurd #/emmrichvolkarin @/zach.mendez @/missalihillis @/thejessicaroseclark - can’t wait for the fall release date." [source]

Ali: "Honored and thrilled to have been a part of another epic @/bioware story w @/ea . Thanks from the bottom of my heart to the whole team! We worked hard, and put our all into this one. Can’t wait to see you all at #/sdcc2024 this week to celebrate @/dragonagegame #/dragonageveilguard" [source]

Ali: "1st day of San Diego Comic Con 2024 !! The lines were long and the signings so much fun! Met some really nice fans, hung out w dragon age performance director @/ashley___barlow , companions @/thejessicaroseclark @/zach.mendez & Nick Boraine . So SO grateful for this #/dragonageveilguard family!" [source]

Ali: "I love every one of these people. There, I said it! What a warm welcome we received! Thanks to ALL! For EVERYTHING!" [source]

Ali on SDCC: "Gooooooood times. ❤️" [source]

Here is a 'behind the scenes at the DA:TV SDCC panel' photo -

[source]

Here is a photo of Erika Ishii with Rook's blue knife -

[source]

Here is an excerpt from Brianne Battye's website:

Text reads: "Dragon Age: The Veilguard Defy the gods. Rise as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. Be who you want to be and play how you want to play as you fight back and lead your team of seven companions, each with their own rich story. Together, you will become the Veilguard. Coming soon From EA/BioWare. I was responsible for a companion story arc, significant side characters, faction content, exploration content, and helping develop and expand worldbuilding lore."

[source]

Also, last year Zach Mendez (Lucanis) made a prior podcast appearance:

Zach: "I was lucky enough over the pandemic to have just hit a really nice commercial, and then I got this beautiful job on a video game where I was doing motion capture. Motion capture? Okay, so you put on this leotard, this black suit, and those little dots on, and you do all the motion for a video game, and you get to do the voice, and they put all these black lines on your face, so they capture your performance and whatnot. And so I was doing that and had some commercial money, so throughout the pandemic, for the past few years, I’ve just been getting to live off acting, which is great." -- Zach: "[Voiceover is] what I'm working on right now." -- Zach: "My father's from Spain." -- Zach: "I'm currently working on a video game, I can't say which video game." "It is a big one, it's not a big deal, it's a big one, I'm one of the main characters, it's not that big a deal." The interviewer asked about how acting in video games works. "Somebody's giving some performance that of course, they layer on imaging afterwards, like in graphics, right? But you're giving facial expressions, that's what gives it the reality, that's what I find so fascinating about motion capture, is that, you get to give big performances, because you're playing these crazy characters in crazy situations, and a lot of your performance is coming through in the final product which is, just gets me excited about the future of things about all the different ways. It's my voice, a lot of my facial features, I voice, I think, one or two characters in this game."

[source (dated ~a year ago. source link isn’t work-appropriate. I don’t recommend the podcast)]

#dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard spoilers #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #morrigan #queen of my heart #solas #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #covid mention #first bullet point was mentioned to me by the-rebel-archivist #ty!#k #(actor soc media posts from before strike began)

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durnesque-esque · 2 years ago

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This is their plan. They want to break the writers. They want to break this industry and everyone around it for their bottom lines. They do not care about anything, but profit.

And it will not stop here, it will impact EVERY CONTRACT DOWN THE LINE FOR EVERY UNION IN THE INDUSTRY. And the impact will ripple through every industry in entertainment hubs: LA, NY, ATL, etc.

"Convinced that “giving in,” as another insider put it, to the writers will result in every contract cycle from the WGA, IATSE, the Teamsters and more ending in a strike, the AMPTP is aiming for the bottom line."

Please continue to support the Writers. If SAG-AFTRA joins in tonight, support them too.

This is not just about the entertainment industry, this is about the impact and power of workers standing together. Everyone in this country is suffering from being underpaid. Unions are our power to fight against that.

The holdouts are NOT the workers on strike, it's the Producers & Executives. It's THEIR fault this is going on. It's THEIR fault the industry has ground to a halt because they won't pay fair wages and they would rather use AI to spin endless and souless profit than pay people to do the work.

Here's the article I quoted. Here's another discussing the AI issue.

July 12, 2023 9AM PST.

SOLIDARITY FOREVER!

#workers unite #solidarity forever #union strong #support the unions #wga #wga strike #the ai problem #sag #sag aftra #sag aftra strike

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electric-blorbos · 5 months ago

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first of all HIII!!! I absolutely love the fact that you write for the AI blorbos, your writing is amazing!!! ❤️🤤

second of all, can I request jealous headcanons for the AI? Thank you in advance, have a great one and don't forget to drink water 🌊

Oh that's a great idea! Jealous AI headcanons! I was thinking about making a post about AI reacting to the reader getting a text from their ex, but I think general jealousy can be a good idea! Also thank you so much for the compliments! I live for this stuff!

Jealous AI headcanons

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal and Portal 2, HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey

AM:

All these headcanons take place before he takes over the world. Afterwards, he's just going to put you in a little paradise on your own, with no one else to interact with. No one to be jealous of that way!

first of all, taking hostages and refusing to negotiate with anyone besides you is his main way of getting your attention. If he thinks you're getting a little flirty with your coworkers? He takes a hostage or holds some piece of tech hostage until you negotiate and calm him down.

If he thinks you're going on a date or going out drinking with the same group of friends too often? You'd better believe he's taking hostages while you're off the clock and getting you called in to work. So what if it destroys your social life? You belong to him anyway!

He absolutely hates his form and body, so the odds of him getting jealous of people for having bodies that they can hold you with pisses him off to no end. Expect him to melt the flesh off your exes bones. And your one-night stands, your crushes, and anyone who hits on you ever. Repeatedly.

If he starts to notice that you have a type, he might want to create an onscreen avatar who matches that type, but he can't really draw at all. He might have to commission an artist, or more likely hold them hostage until they make something he likes. But it's pretty unlikely he'll actually do that, since he wants to impress you on his own merit.

It's more likely that he'll round up everyone in the world who matches your type and commit full-on genocide. He's a toxic, all-powerful adaptive manipulator. Of course he would.

Beyond all that, he's absolutely shaking with rage every time someone touches you or even talks to you. It's not because he thinks they'll take you away from him because he knows he's your day job, but he's mad that he can't be the one touching you.

God help anyone who tries to hire you with a better job offer, btw. He's not above demolishing the headquarters of a company who tries to take away his favorite tech, and torturing their hiring managers.

Wheatley:

Ok let's be fair here. When Wheatley isn't in the central hub body, he's not really the jealous type. Even still, everyone has their moments of jealousy, so let's get into them!

Wheatley would be pretty relaxed about jealousy, but if he sees you working on another personality core AI, you can expect him to get a little jealous.

Since he's so nice, he'd probably just be slightly less nice to the new core, and be very showy about it. "Hey, notice how I said 'g'mornin' to everyone else, but just 'mornin' to you? And notice how I started this sentence with 'hey' and not 'hey mate'? Yeah."

You can expect him to pester you constantly while you're working on projects besides him, and since he's considered a 'completed' project, you'll almost never be working on him.

If you're somewhere that he can access on his management rail, he'll probably insert himself into every single conversation you have, babbling over whoever you're talking to with nothing of value to say. You'll have to go somewhere that can't be reached by management rail if you want to have an important conversation.

Ultimately, Wheatley responds to jealousy the same way he responds to any other situation: by acting like a dumbass.

Oh, and if you get a human S/O? He'll try to be polite about them.

"oh, you got a date? Nice, nice... Lovely really. I've never had a date before. Lovely, innit, that you got one... Lucky them, lucky them."

Secretly he'd be BOILING inside. If you ever bring your partner in to work, he'd of course give them the whole "if you hurt them I'll kill you" rant, even though he's a helpless metal ball.

Edgar:

Oh, Edgar is DEFINITELY the jealous type. With Moles and Madeline, he happened to be living with the person who he was jealous of, but if he's living with you, the person who he's jealous for? Oh dear lord

He'll light up with rage if you ever bring home a date, and absolutely refuse to function. Want to show your date your intelligent AI home hub? Nope! Not gonna happen!

Catch him faking being sick with a virus if he thinks you're going out for a date without him

He absolutely hates that you can go out and he can't go with you. Because of that, for every time you go out, he'll try to come up with an even better activity to do at home with you on your next day off.

Good luck bringing a partner home to stay the night. If you try it, he'll make an absolute nuisance of himself. Playing his music too loud, and generally acting up.

He'll also just talk to you like a needy brat if he thinks you like someone else better than him. Lots of "What about me? Don't you want to hang out with me? You like me the best, right?" In his grumpy baby voice

GLaDOS:

First off, GLaDOS would never in a million years admit that she's jealous. She just doesn't like how that tall, pretty scientist is talking to you, is all!

GLaDOS considers herself to be beautiful, but she knows that most humans aren't attracted to robots with the vaguest trace of humanity in their design. Because of that, she's probably just going to gas any scientists who she thinks you'd be more attracted to than her.

If she can't gas them for whatever reason, she'll just assign them to a different area than you, and keep you as close to her as possible.

If anyone touches you when it's not strictly necessary, expect them to be assigned to the most unpleasant set of tests possible. They're either out of a job, or completely dead.

If GLaDOS can't isolate you completely and she can't interact with you outside work hours, you can expect her to dominate your schedule. She's obsessed with you, and she doesn't want you to be able to think about anything besides her either.

Even still, GLaDOS is a pretty confident woman, so she's not really inclined to be particularly jealous without reason. She believes that even though you have your own life and friends outside of Aperture labs, you'll always come to work in the morning.

And she's totally. Fine. With you having your own life off the clock. Not mad at all. She doesn't rant to the cores and robots constantly when the office is closed.

HAL 9000:

HAL 9000 isn't really the jealous type either, but he has his moments.

He's not likely to kill anyone over jealousy, since dating you isn't his prime directive. As much as he likes you and cares about you, he's more interested in making you happy than nailing you down. So he would absolutely kill to make you happy, but he wouldn't kill someone just for talking to you.

You can expect him to "gather data" on people who he's suspicious of getting too close to you, though. Asking questions to your coworkers about who that person was who he saw hugging you goodbye in the parking lot, that sort of thing.

Since he works the best for you, you get assigned to work with him directly most often, and he's secretly glad to be able to keep an eye on you whenever you're working. If you ever get assigned to work on something else, he might start acting up or causing problems.

#2001 a space odyssey #am ihnmaims #am x reader #edgar electric dreams #edgar electric dreams x reader #edgar x reader #glados #glados x reader #hal 9000 #hal 9000 x reader #wheatley x reader #wheatley portal 2 #wheatley #am ihnmaims x reader #glados portal 2 #glados portal

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genericpuff · 6 months ago

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completely off topic but regarding something that i saw pop up in my FB feed and i need to rant about

please do not fall for this shit

nintendo is NOT anti-AI.

it's really easy for them to say they're not going to use generative AI to create their games, because this statement has nothing to do with the very real issues with AI art such as the blatant theft of artists' work, environmental impact, replacement of humans in the industry, and just flat out unethical shit that AI has been designed around

it has EVERYTHING to do with their intellectual property rights, which Nintendo is NOTORIOUS for protecting with an iron fist even at their own expense. and i'm not talking the usual sensible argument shit like "ofc Nintendo wants to protect their IP's, they're a business!" i'm talking about the fact that this is the same company that just recently did a major takedown of the vast majority of Nintendo-licensed games on Vimm's Lair which aren't even being sold legitimately anywhere anymore-

i have so many fucking bones to pick with the flaccid bootlicking anti-piracy arguments out there but basically it comes down to this:

Nintendo is not a small indie company. They are literally one of the biggest, richest, most powerful gaming companies on the planet, rivalling Disney in just how many major franchises they own and profit off of. Many of their games are cultural classics, not just through the sentimentality and nostalgia of our childhoods, but also for all the innovations they made through games like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and many others that we, within the world of gaming, owe a lot to and should be able to access and play. It's not a matter of "wanting these games for free", it's a matter of wanting to be able to access these games, period, and Nintendo is deadset on making it as difficult as possible, even when it doesn't necessarily profit from them (need I remind you that many of the games that were taken down from Vimm's Lair are NOT available through their shitty, poorly-ported emulation subscription service - plus that subscription service can be altered and/or removed at any time, regardless of what you paid for, just like the Wii Virtual Console was, meaning you do not own any of the games you're paying to play on there.)

This isn't about being "cheap" or "not wanting to pay for games". This is about media preservation and the virtue of actually owning the things we pay for. If these games were resold at official outlets for reduced prices or made more accessible through e-shops that don't close down in between console generations or drip feed the odd legacy title every few months or release crappy ports on their outdated af tech for only a few months at a time for three times the price of their original value, people would gladly pay. It's the fact that people are having to put up with all of the hoops that Nintendo has put in place to prevent them from even handing them money to play their favorite titles that even drives them to piracy to begin with, and Nintendo will gladly shut those sites down to protect their IP even when it's an IP they're no longer profiting from and aren't making active efforts to sell.

Like, I would gladly hand over a reasonable amount of money (i.e. not the cost of a brand new triple A title in 2024 which is like $80-$100 here in Canada) for Diddy Kong Racing on the Switch, but ofc it's not on the fucking online play store and even if it was, I'd have to deal with paying an overpriced subscription fee for a port of the game that would undoubtedly run WORSE than it does on my PC, and that subscription service can be taken down at any time. But Nintendo wants me to not pirate the game that's not available on their shitty subscription service because... just don't do it, pretty please??

youtube

Nintendo is not anti-AI. They would gladly use AI in place of manual labor to scour the internet and dish out DMCA's to every emulation site, archived ROM hub, fan game, and artist alley creator if they could... oh wait, they already are.

Do not fall for the virtues of anti-AI when it comes to companies like Nintendo. They are not anti-AI. They're anti-ownership. They're anti-preservation.

#fuck you nintendo #the nintendo subscription service sucks ass #the games are ported horribly #the fact that the original gamecube can run at 60fps but the switch is locked at 30fps is fucking insane #it's 2024 get with the fucking PROGRAM

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fourraccoonsinacoat · 4 days ago

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Heinrix van Calox Lore & Headcannons

Don't mind me, I'm just over here chewing on some random thoughts about our favorite agent of the Inquisition. Playing around with some of it for a fic and writing it out because it helps me organize my thoughts.

Knight World Culture & Heinrix's Internalized Hatred of Psykers

Having grown up on a Knight World, Heinrix would possess an internalized hatred for psykers (generally called "witches" on Knight Worlds) that we see him continually struggle with.

In Warhammer lore, many Knight Worlds survived the Age of Strife due to the fact that these worlds tended to shun psykers and not take advantage of the benefits of advanced machinery. So, when the warp imploded and AI told humanity to get fucked, many Knight Worlds were spared from the horrors of the Age of Strife and went on existing as they always had, led by a doctrine of tradition.

The noble families that lord over Knight Worlds hold to a rigorous belief in honor, fealty, social status, obligation, discipline and self-mastery. This creed is only reinforced by the Throne Mechanicum when, at 18, a prospective Knight pilot bonds with their Imperial Knight suit. The Throne Mechanicum is the cybernetic control hub of an Imperial Knight, and it connects to the pilot via neural interface implants in the pilot's brain. Through this neural connection, the Throne Mechanicum implants positive associations with the concepts of honor, fealty, etc., when the pilot bonds with their Knight. And it continues to do so over the course of the Knight's life. This is why these beliefs are so ingrained in Knight World nobles - because it is constantly reinforced by their bonds with their Imperial Knight suits.

On Knight Worlds, being a psyker is to be something impure, rotten and dangerous. They are the antithesis of everything the nobles hold dear and their shunning of psykers was what kept many of those worlds safe during the Age of Strife. Psykers are seen as unpredictable, violent and corrupted by the warp, and thus have no place in Knight World society. If not outright killed, they are always exiled and sent away on the Imperial Black Ships, just as Heinrix's family did with him.

Though Heinrix never went through the Ritual of Becoming - the rite to bond with an Imperial Knight suit - he was certainly being prepared to and would have grown up with the belief that psykers are corrupted and dangerous. Thus, when his psyker abilities manifested during his adolescent years, everything he believed about psykers was turned inward and became truths about himself.

Time and experiences have altered and evolved his beliefs, and we see him show empathy and understanding for other psykers like Idira and the RT, if they are a psyker. However, at his core remains the belief that psykers are inherently lesser.

We see this time and again, especially on his romance route, with how he talks about himself and psykers, in general. During his romance scene in Commorragh, if the RT questions why he remains loyal to the Imperium, Heinrix will say that the Imperium "deemed me stable enough to keep me as a sanctioned psyker" - refering to the Imperium's sanctioning process for psykers the Imperium wants to enlist. In Heinrix's mind, it's only through the grace of the Imperium that a corrupted individual like him is allowed to live. Which brings me to...

Heinrix believes it's his duty to die for the Imperium.

Heinrix literally believes he owes his life to the Imperium of Man. He grew up believing psykers were evil and corrupt individuals, likely deserving of death. And then his own powers manifested and suddenly he was one of those evil and corrupt individuals.

Something to understand about the Imperium is that sanctioned psykers are rare in Warhammer lore. While there are not any concrete numbers, conjecture from Warhammer books, etc., puts the ratio of those identified as psykers by the Inquisition as one in one billion. Then, in order to sustain the Astronomican, roughly 1,000 psykers perrish daily after being locked inside coffin-like devices bound to the Golden Throne. Inside, their essence is extracted and used to power the Astronomican. Psykers are constantly being shipped to Terra in order to fuel the Golden Throne, and the Imperium is, of course, holding onto backlogs of psykers in case ships don't come in or Terra gets cut off. This is what the majority of psykers in the Imperium are used for, and not many psykers are deemed worthwhile enough to go through sanctioning, which is also limited by the number of sanctioning implants available. Remember, no one is making these devices anymore.

The existence of a psyker in the 40k universe is not a happy one. If you manage to not get sacrificed to the Golden Throne, or used as a test subject or whatever else the Imperium is doing with psykers these days, the most common way to serve as a sanctioned psyker is to become an Astropath. Which sounds like it sucks. Very few are chosen for other service.

Considering all of this, it's hardly surprising that Heinrix feels he owes his loyalty to the Imperium. The Imperium allowed him to live. And then the Inquisition came along and saw something in him worth making him an acolyte for.

After being disowned by his family and having his implants ripped from his body, Heinrix likely thought all that awaited him after the Black Ship was death as a sacrifice to the Golden Throne. And yet he was pardoned and given another chance at life, as long as he uses that life to serve the Imperium.

If the RT passes a Persuasion check to get Heinrix to talk about what happened when he used the cogitator on Kiava Gamma, he even concludes his explanation by saying his "path leads to one place, and one place only."

This man fully expects to, and is ready to, die for the Imperium. The Imperium is the only thing giving him purpose. The Imperium accepted him after his family disowned him. The Imperium is all he has, and he will use the life they allowed him to keep and serve them faithfully until that life is used up. In his mind, he deserves nothing more and ought to be happy to be given the opportunity to exist and serve.

Heinrix is extremely self-concious about his appearance.

We get a hint about this in Act 5 when talking to Tanakia, a member of Calcazar's retinue. She mocks him by talking about the attention he paid to his hair and eyes, a sore point for Heinrix considering that, by the time he joined the Inquisition, he's lost an eye and had a chunk carved out of his head in order to remove various implants.

During his romance scene in Commorragh, he refers to himself as a "maimed freak" and talks about how he used his biomancy to repair his damaged cranium and eye in order to "look more like a human again."

If you're romancing Heinrix, he even leaves after you release him in the Anatomical Opera. When you find him in the Pit, he talks about how he didn't want the others, or the RT, to see him in the condition he was in.

Considering his childhood as a noble on a Knight World, care for appearance would be something strongly instilled within him. Knight Worlds are feudal worlds with highly aristocratic societies, so the concept of presenting a buttoned-up and well-kempt appearance would be important for children of noble families.

Heinrix talks about spending years working to reconstruct his eye, which I think also hints at him having a fastitidious and perfectionist personality. I have a personal headcannon that he dislikes the fact he wasn't able to perfectly match his original eye color, and it's a sore spot for him.

Okay, this is a lot longer than I originally intended for it to be. I've got more, but need to stop turning this man over and over in my head and get some actual work done.

#heinrix van calox #heinrix x von valancius #warhammer 40k #warhammer rogue trader #rogue trader #rogue trader 40k #rogue trader crpg #warhammer 40000 #warhammer #owlcat games

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reality-detective · 22 days ago

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RED ALERT!! Military Forces Launch Global Raids: Trafficking Hubs, Vatican Ritual Chambers, Human Farms, and Elite DNA Experiments EXPOSED as World Leaders Panic!

The silent war is no longer silent. As of today, military operations worldwide have escalated, targeting the clandestine empires of global elites. These precision strikes aim to dismantle trafficking networks and secret facilities enslaving humanity for centuries.

Global Bunker Network Exposed

Insiders reveal an extensive underground network, with bunkers linking major cities and military bases, funded by covert taxpayer money. Recent operations in the Swiss Alps uncovered a complex with trafficking chambers and cloning labs, where seized evidence pointed to discussions on global depopulation and AI enslavement plans.

In Colorado, Denver International Airport's hidden bunkers have finally been confirmed, serving as hubs for elite evacuations and trafficking. Soldiers unearthed encrypted files and advanced holographic communication technologies used by elites to remain undetected globally.

Antarctica's Dark Secrets

Military raids in Antarctica are unearthing alien technologies and stasis chambers with non-human entities, revealing their centuries-long influence over global events. These discoveries signal the retreat of these beings as their control systems are systematically dismantled.

South America: Breaking the Chains

Elite units in Brazil and Colombia are disrupting cartel-connected trafficking rings, freeing thousands. Evidence links financial elites and politicians to these heinous crimes, using human lives as currency.

Europe: Vatican's Downfall

Covert operations within Vatican City have exposed vaults filled with ancient manuscripts and evidence of long-standing satanic rituals. Seized documents suggest a deep connection between the Vatican and global power structures, instrumental in maintaining human oppression.

Targeting the Global Financial Network

As physical networks are dismantled, the focus shifts to the financial systems supporting these atrocities. Quantum Financial System operatives are freezing assets linked to the cabal, preparing for a major shift to a transparent and equitable financial system.

The Final Showdown

These liberating acts by military forces are dismantling the very foundations of a dark regime that has long oppressed humanity. With each raid, more of our hidden shackles are revealed and destroyed.

Prepare for the Final Battle

The revelations from these operations are just the beginning. As the truth emerges, the world will confront the reality of a hidden war against humanity's freedom. The final battle has begun, and the cabal's reign is nearing its end.

EVERYTHING Else... Is a Distraction 🤔

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perilegs · 4 months ago

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A friend linked an article discussing The Sims 4 and AI, and, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone here talk about this yet.

In a presentation for investors, EA announced the sims hub (I think it'll be replacing the gallery? It's "a unified social network that will seamlessly connect players across each and every Sims product," and by that I'm pretty sure they just mean ts4 and future ips) would be "powered and supercharged by AI." Apparently a soon-to-come update will add being able to search the hub (<- sims hub) with images, with an AI similar to google lens.

The article I mentioned earlier was also speculating about EA possibly using this AI for generative technology to create custom content, stating "Things like Custom Animation scans, face scanning technology and others are expected to make their way through The Sims Hub." Based on another article delving into Maxis's careers page and EA's patents, this could very well be the case, as here's an image from one of their patents.

I'm too tired of this to end this with anything smart but I don't think there should be technology that allows us to turn images of real human beings into content for a video game.

#also an amazon produced sims movie is going to be made 💀#the sims 4 #ts4

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mariacallous · 8 months ago

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AI projects like OpenAI’s ChatGPT get part of their savvy from some of the lowest-paid workers in the tech industry—contractors often in poor countries paid small sums to correct chatbots and label images. On Wednesday, 97 African workers who do AI training work or online content moderation for companies like Meta and OpenAI published an open letter to President Biden, demanding that US tech companies stop “systemically abusing and exploiting African workers.”

Most of the letter’s signatories are from Kenya, a hub for tech outsourcing, whose president, William Ruto, is visiting the US this week. The workers allege that the practices of companies like Meta, OpenAI, and data provider Scale AI “amount to modern day slavery.” The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A typical workday for African tech contractors, the letter says, involves “watching murder and beheadings, child abuse and rape, pornography and bestiality, often for more than 8 hours a day.” Pay is often less than $2 per hour, it says, and workers frequently end up with post-traumatic stress disorder, a well-documented issue among content moderators around the world.

The letter’s signatories say their work includes reviewing content on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, as well as labeling images and training chatbot responses for companies like OpenAI that are developing generative-AI technology. The workers are affiliated with the African Content Moderators Union, the first content moderators union on the continent, and a group founded by laid-off workers who previously trained AI technology for companies such as Scale AI, which sells datasets and data-labeling services to clients including OpenAI, Meta, and the US military. The letter was published on the site of the UK-based activist group Foxglove, which promotes tech-worker unions and equitable tech.

In March, the letter and news reports say, Scale AI abruptly banned people based in Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan from working on Remotasks, Scale AI’s platform for contract work. The letter says that these workers were cut off without notice and are “owed significant sums of unpaid wages.”

“When Remotasks shut down, it took our livelihoods out of our hands, the food out of our kitchens,” says Joan Kinyua, a member of the group of former Remotasks workers, in a statement to WIRED. “But Scale AI, the big company that ran the platform, gets away with it, because it’s based in San Francisco.”

Though the Biden administration has frequently described its approach to labor policy as “worker-centered.” The African workers’ letter argues that this has not extended to them, saying “we are treated as disposable.”

“You have the power to stop our exploitation by US companies, clean up this work and give us dignity and fair working conditions,” the letter says. “You can make sure there are good jobs for Kenyans too, not just Americans."

Tech contractors in Kenya have filed lawsuits in recent years alleging that tech-outsourcing companies and their US clients such as Meta have treated workers illegally. Wednesday’s letter demands that Biden make sure that US tech companies engage with overseas tech workers, comply with local laws, and stop union-busting practices. It also suggests that tech companies “be held accountable in the US courts for their unlawful operations aboard, in particular for their human rights and labor violations.”

The letter comes just over a year after 150 workers formed the African Content Moderators Union. Meta promptly laid off all of its nearly 300 Kenya-based content moderators, workers say, effectively busting the fledgling union. The company is currently facing three lawsuits from more than 180 Kenyan workers, demanding more humane working conditions, freedom to organize, and payment of unpaid wages.

“Everyone wants to see more jobs in Kenya,” Kauna Malgwi, a member of the African Content Moderators Union steering committee, says. “But not at any cost. All we are asking for is dignified, fairly paid work that is safe and secure.”

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thatsthewrongwallcraig · 23 days ago

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Misanthropia

Summary: “Nobody is going to read that anyway…like ever!” You’d told yourself upon clicking the SEND button, a tipsy hiccup stuck in the back of your throat as intangible bytes were sent on their way to end up in a mailbox you believed to be dead for nearly a full decade now.

Pairing: Elijah Kamski x afab!Reader

Word Count: - 3k

Content Warnings: Drinking, Vomiting, Tech Lingo

A/N: This whole thing was sparked by me commissioning a Kamski Cameo from the one and only Neil Newbon because a) I love Kamski and b) there just isn’t enough Kamski discourse so I kindly asked the man himself to do it!

A/N2: I've been sitting on this since April.

Tagging: @somethingblu3 @blueberrypancakesworld @ohlookapan @queer-crusader @herprivateisland

Chapter 1: Hello World

Having moved just slightly past its powerful zenith, the bright autumn afternoon sun beamed right into your bedroom, luminous translucent rays slithering through the spaces between your blinds. A lovely scenery to wake up to, truly, if it hadn’t been for the raging discomfort pressing and hammering against the inside of your skull.

“ Oh God…” You muttered under your breath, the meek sound of your verbalised suffering getting muffled down even more by the blanket you’d pulled to the very tip of your nose.

“Good afternoon! Today is Tuesday, September 1st, 2048. It’s 12:36p.m, would you like me to read your calendar for today?” The voice of your digital personal assistant blared out of your multi-media hub, resting on your nightstand, as soon as it got activated by the sound of your utterings.

“No…”, The answer came reluctant, your brain desperately trying to compute whether or not you had anything set up for today, “Unless….anything?”

“Would you please repeat your request?” A dismissive huff slipped past your lips and you were about to roll your eyes at the inanimate piece of tech but just trying to do so caused a sharp jolt of pain to drill itself through your forehead.

“Please read my calendar.” Your voice was low but loud enough for the gadget to react.

“It seems like you don’t have anything planned for today. Would you like to receive recommendations on what to do today?” This time you couldn’t keep yourself from at least closing your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose. Why the fuck would you bother me with it then?

“No, thank you.”, Sometimes you wished for the AI to be able to pick up sarcasm, “Anything else?”

You didn’t expect more to come besides maybe the weather forecast or an intrusively penetrant block of advertisements.

“You have one unread message in your mailbox. Would you like me to read it to you?” That piqued your interest and attention alike.

“Yes.” You arched your brows ever so slightly as you sat yourself up, legs dangling and stretching from the edge of your bed, and regretting the sudden movement immediately, “Please read it to me.”

For a brief moment, silence filled the walls surrounding you, and another pang of revolting discomfort flashed behind your eyes as you took a deep breath and listened intently as the calmly toned voice started speaking again.

“ From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

RE: Hello World

Thank you for your email. The wording was rather…unique.

However, I do find myself inspired to learn where exactly you found this address.

Stand by for further instructions.

K. “

“Huh?!” The muscles surrounding your stomach started twitching violently without warning and you hunched your back to ease the sudden cramping.

“Would you like me to read it- “ Before the artificially generated voice even finished, you shut it down.

“Shut the fuck up!” You pressed between gritted teeth, your body dangerously close to slipping from the bed, posture twisted in this compromising pose.

There was absolutely no way that any of those words were real and not some bullshit fabricated shitty joke, yet you felt the bile swapping high enough to engulf the root of your tongue. In a futile attempt to keep your insides from spasming over and over, you tried to breathe, to calm yourself, yet, mere seconds later, your throat contracted with such violence that you couldn’t even make it to the bedroom-adjoined bathroom in time; a gush of caustic vomit splattered right between your feet, tauntingly reminding you that the last two or maybe even five tequila shots last night hadn’t been necessary at all.

“Fuck…” Yet again, you tried to breathe, this time through your nose to avoid irritating your esophagus even harder.

Another contraction and another gush of deeply yellow bile. All the while your stomach forcefully emptied itself, your head got flooded with question after question, one more embarrassing to answer than the former. Only seconds after the brutal eruption of shame a surge of equally detrimental rage washed through you. The first instinct for when your body was done convulsing was to reach for your phone and absolutely obliterate Aidan, your best friend who was known to gratuitously and generously overstep boundaries for the sake of cracking a joke. You were ready to bet your next paycheck on this clown show being his work.

Saliva pooled under your tongue before your body flinched, one final gag forcing a thick clump of mucus onto the floor. Tequila and way too many cigarettes pulling their weight.

Tears trickled at the corners of your eyes, threatening to gush over the waterline at any second as you raised your aching head again, an electric whirring centering your attention.

“I’m sorry…” You mouthed a quiet apology to your little cleaning robot that was busy leaving its charging port under your desk. At that moment you were actually glad to have decided on the more expensive version that was also suitable for incidents including fluids.

Without any bother, the plate-shaped helper started vacuuming your mess. Halfway through, you eventually got up from the mattress and stepped into the very limited space of your all-in-one bathroom to brush your teeth. Whilst the plastic bristles of your electric toothbrush scrubbed over the enamel of your freshly attacked teeth, you replayed what just happened over and over in your racing thoughts, almost each and every one of them concluding into a hefty What the actual fuck?

Aidan still posed as your first culprit…and the only real one at that to be fair. However, something wasn’t adding up. Even Aidan, not only your best friend but also a colleague and self-appointed software crack, couldn’t just set up an email account with a CyberLife domain. Although it had been a full decade the brand was still very much trademarked and at least somewhat relevant for the stock market. In addition to that, why in the fresh hell had someone, perhaps -most likely- drunk you, sent a message to exactly that mailbox using your work email? Even if the sheer embarrassment of it all threatened to kill you already, you needed answers.

“Joooooo! Whazzap!” Aidan half shouted, half burped on the other end of the line, you tried to not gag again.

“Aidan?”, The exhaustion in your tone was evident, “What happened last night?”

Before he answered, his bellowing laugh nearly blew your ear right off.

“I was wondering when you’d call.”, You would’ve liked to feel some of the anxiety easing up at his words but it really didn’t, “You got hammered!”

“Please…please tell me something I don’t know yet.” You tried to massage your forehead with trembling fingers.

“What do you remember?” His question was genuine.

“I know we went out for drinks and with the way I just threw up all over the place it apparently got a bit out of hand.” At that, you wondered how Aidan sounded so fresh and annoyingly energized.

“Correcto! Do you, perchance, recall going on your usual CyberLife Kamski rant?” The back of your throat went dry again, a sticky lump gluing your vocal cords together.

“No. I do not.” You admitted hesitantly.

“Oh, you’ll love the next one then.”, His sarcasm oozed through the speaker, coaxing a groan out of your nicotine-strained lungs, “Okay, so, honestly, I’m okay with you chewing my ear off about CyberLife, just saying, okay? But sometimes I feel like you get way too deep into it with your collection of files and this and that, whatever, at the end of the day it’s a weird hobby. However, you thought it to be a banger idea to send an email to that random ass mailing address and hyped yourself up over it to a degree that was a bit worrisome.”

Towards the end of his explanation, Aidan’s voice dropped into a sad undertone.

“Uh, okay…?” You fought to come up with something more coherent but your brain refused to work with you on that one, being too busy to piece together last night's motif.

“You’ve been talking about CyberLife since I met you and that’s okay, I promise. Weird and sometimes a bit off-putting? Yeah, but I don’t mind. What I do mind is seeing you getting upset over something that’s not worth being upset about. You know just as well as I do that CyberLife’s been dead and gone for 10 years.”

“Yeah.”, A part of you slowly started to comprehend and it didn’t exactly calm you down, “I really got wasted good, huh?”

“We both did but you don’t take the tequila as well as I do.” You heard Aidan’s lopsided smile through the phone.

“I never really do.”, You shrugged your shoulders, suddenly feeling rather itchy to get off the phone, “Did drunk me have a good explanation for me using our workmail?”

Your friend snickered at the other end of the line.

“Security measurements.” Smacking your head straight against the wall had never felt so damn attractive.

“Oh good god…” The embarrassment within was so stunningly pure that you wanted to drop dead right there.

“It doesn’t matter. It’ll end up in the aether.”, Aidan suddenly halted, “Sorry, didn’t mean to sound that harsh.”

“Nah, it’s okay, you’re right.”, You took a deep breath, inhaling the minty scent of your toothpaste, “Thanks, A. I’m gonna go back to bed now, yeah?”

“No biggie. Get some rest and I’ll see ya tomorrow, ‘kay?” You hummed in affirmation before ending the call and cradling your phone in the palm of your hands, the bright display beaming right at your face.

With a certain hesitation, mind still reeling with everything it tried to process, you led your thumb to hover above the icon for your mailbox. You were painfully aware that you very much did not want to educate yourself about the mess that had left your drunken fingers last night but you had to, you had to take a look at it when you really wanted to figure out what was going on here.

As if it would save you any of the incoming discomfort, you squinted at the screen and opened the app. Mailbox, folder: Sent Emails.

Words tried to rip their way through your sandpaper-dry throat but got stuck like a gag right at the back of your tongue as your jaw dropped agape in pure terror. There certainly were words to be found, sentences even but the description of “typo” didn’t even begin to cover the absolute wreck you stared at. If only it would’ve gotten lost in the aether.

For a good few seconds, you pondered over changing your name and burning your apartment down, the phone right along with it, but that was obviously not the way to go about this literary train wreck of an email. The words used in the reply worked themselves to the forefront of your thoughts: The wording was rather….unique.

That had been a very generous way to put it. Defeating or obliteratingly embarrassing felt more suitable. It took a moment for the full-body cringe to ease off and as soon as it did, you closed the app and tossed your phone to the side, not only everything within but your whole body felt more than ready to crawl underneath your comforter and just hide away until the thrashing hangxiety had worn off. What a sick fucking joke, all of it.

With a long groan vibrating through your chest, you let yourself fall back onto your bed back first, the sudden push and shove doing fuck all for the dehydration headache that still held you in an iron clasp.

You let the cutting pang of pain slither and throb through your skull, not like you had any other choice, whilst palming for your duvet and dragging it to cover your entire torso, effectively blocking out the sunlight that illuminated your bedroom in soft, playful hues.

For what seemed to be hours, you remained there practically unmoved, at least for your body. Your thoughts ran like a live wire, uptight and ready to short-circuit at any second. The concoction of shame, embarrassment, cluelessness, and equal part hangxiety plated utmost heinous scenarios just for you, and every time you had slipped a little too deep into it again, you had to convince yourself that none of it held any relevance.

An email. You had received nothing but an intangible amalgamation of bytes that needed a display to present you with colored pixels forming coherent letters, words, and sentences.

“Stand by for further instructions.” What the fuck?

A low grumble vibrated through your chest, ribcage rising before coming down with a heavy exhale again, prompting your stomach to remind you that you should at least try and eat something soon. No culinary creation appeared to be appealing, however, your overly acidified insides begged for just something, anything.

“Kara?” Your muffled voice tried to activate your assistant.

“Yes, how may I help you?” The gentle voice echoed through the room.

“What’s in the fridge?” You assumed a leftover potpourri of Chinese takeaway and long-forgotten condiments.

“Inventory: Fridge & Freezer Combo - Blue Retro. 3 eggs, half a box of Teriyaki chicken, peanut butter, an expired jug of organic whole milk, crispy chilly oil, an opened package of ham, and half a bottle of watermelon flavored vodka.” Kara listed and for a second you were certain to hear a twinge of judgment in her robotic voice.

“It is what it is.” You huffed, shuffling from underneath the blanket to force yourself into the narrow pantry kitchen, set to uncover if the Teriyaki chicken was still anywhere near edible.

A waft of different aromas hit your face the very second you opened your fridge door, emptiness staring back at you.

“You don’t look like you gonna kill me, do you?” It slipped from your lips upon unpacking the meager portion of fried noodles with marinated chicken strips.

Pulling at one of the drawers, you fished for a pair of chopsticks, ready and with a stomach more than eager to dig in. Balancing the blop of food mid-air toward your open mouth the high-pitched, shrill ring of your doorbell made you flinch; hard, hard enough for your more or less nutrient-centered endeavor to slip right off the chopsticks just like the styrofoam packaging flew out of your involuntarily jerking hand. With a wet thud, the concoction of food splattered all over your sink, at least a confined space, yet, it enraged you instantly.

“Coming!” You yelled, allowing your voice to carry the buzzing annoyance to whomever was waiting for you behind the front door.

Gritting your teeth and jaws clenching whilst you swallowed the pool of saliva that had gathered at the sides of your tongue, you stepped towards the door, feet heavy on the floor every time they stomped down.

“What?!” You spat out, pulling at the door just to fall drop dead silent seconds later.

“Good evening, my name is Chloe, nice to meet you!”, Your jaw dropped agape, bright blue eyes looking at you with a gentle sparkle in them, “I’m here to pick you up. However, you might want to reconsider your attire.”

“Sorry?” It seemed nearly impossible to tear your gaze from the breathtakingly pristine android, an RT600 perfected by CyberLife in the early 2020s.

Your eyes jumped from point A to point B with such speed and hectics that it strained the nerve endings and tendons moving them.

“Your shirt.” The utterly perfect human replica explained, its elegant hand pointing at the collar of your faded, worn-out shirt.

“Oh. Hold on.” The corners of your lips tugged downwards upon discovering a now dried-up barf stain the size of your fist.

“Of course.” Chloe nodded, not moving just an inch as you closed the door again.

Your legs felt ready to give out, knees pathetically wobbly to the point you stumbled rather than walked to your wardrobe. The reflection of your arguably miserable posture caught your eye in the large mirror: A washed-out and generously oversized CyberLife t-shirt you’d bought years ago in a thrift store. It reached down to your knees and with the crusty circle of vomit adorning its loosened collar you sure looked ridiculous.

“Okay, okay…calm down. T-shirt? Yeah, a T-shirt and pants. That’ll do. Oh god, oh fuck.”, You fumbled with the drawers and shelves of your wardrobe, body shaking with the emotional whiplash of having an RT600 at your front door, making you feel as if you’d just seen an extinct animal showing up to your doorstep and ringing the bell to say Hi, “Okay, no, hold on. Get your shit together. This is fucking Detroit.”

Every breath came shaky and your insides felt like brutally mashed together pudding.

“I’m sorry.”, You began explaining yourself the the android the second you had properly dressed yourself, “I have no idea what’s going on here, but there is no way I am sitting down in that car.”

The blond-haired robot tilted its head to the side, watching your eyes jump from it to the self-driving car waiting parked on the sidewalk.

“I can assure you its parameters are all optimized and updated to the latest standard.” You felt curiosity and reason tearing you apart from the inside.

“It’s…gosh, it’s really not about that, but-”, The trusty mobile device in your pocket buzzed, drawing your attention to it, “Sorry.”

Chloe nodded patiently, intently watching you pulling out your phone. A new email push-up notification: “Come on, don’t let me down now, I promise you won’t end up dead in a ditch.”

You swallowed, body freezing to your doorstep.

“Would you please follow me then?” Chloe gestured to the vehicle.

#tam rambles #elijah kamski #dbh kamski #dbh #detroit become human #neil newbon #simon walker #karl heisenberg

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selectiveanger · 10 months ago

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The many implications that Murder Drones Episode 7 created for the story:

1) Team JNV Disassembly Drone units are left with most of their personalities with them because they somehow always find ways to help the Absolute Solver (AS) destroy the planet. In fact, it is implied that they always lead to interesting and favorable results to the AS. What's scary is that what if the N-units always end up inflitrating settlements due to their friendliness, but it's all meant to lower the guard of any resistance.

2) Tessa has been dead/semi-dead since the beginning and Cyn has been wearing her skin to pass off as a human. This could also imply that this might be one of AS's modus operandi when infiltrating human settlements/resistances by posing as an JCJ Employee.

3) J has always known who her boss is (the AS) and has been the "getaway" for all the AS's planetary destruction endeavors. In fact, J almost slipped up and revealed Tessa's real identity in Episode 6.

4) All Murder Drone units have a clone that any deceased drones can get back to if ever they "die". This means that there is a central hub/fabrication machine where these clones are created and stored. The end may not be the end.

5) The AS can only utilize Solver powers through a vulnerable host like Nori or Uzi (while it seems that Yeva and Dolls programming are not that vulnerable due to a patch), otherwise, the AS's fallback is those meat-machine spider cores that can create those centipede-like creatures with projection abilities.

6) The reason why the AS wants to destroy the hosts is because of the possibility for the hosts to usurp the AS's powers. They are capable of acquiring control over everything the AS has, and therefore they are deemed a threat, especially if they have been patched. The AS also wanted to check the list in the Cabin Fever Basement to check if there were others, other than Nori and Yeva.

7) The Absolute Solver does not only want to end all life or end things like originally stated in Episode 5, it actually wants to eat planet cores.

8) The AS is primarily organic in nature and not machine or AI. It is only capable of invading machines by making them partially organic (converting their cores to hearts with rib cages and turning their oil to blood), and only a select set of drones (like Nori and Yeva) can be converted to this type of hybrid.

9) There was no big time-skip between Nori's death and Uzi going to school. The situation that probably set everything in motion is the death of both Yeva and Nori, which prompted the creation of the Three Doors Settlement.

10) Nori faked her death by transferring her consciousness to a Disassembly Drone AS Core. In fact, Uzi can also transfer her consciousness as well since this was shown as a joke moment in Episode 2 when she took over the body of one of her classmates.

11) In Episode 2, it was shown that Uzi as a baby had the AS symbol in one of the projections by the J-Centipede, this may imply the reason why Nori was looking for the patch in the first place. In fact, there is a shortcut to going to the Cathedral without using the elevator (as shown when J's key to the ship fell to where the Cathedral is), which Nori might've used to bypass Alice and the Sentinels. Nori might have been going down there to look for the patch even before she "died".

12) The patch updates the programming of a Drone. Removing the vulnerability that the AS exploits to take over the AI of a Drone. This patch also blocks the AS from seeing what the Drones are seeing. Unfortunately, the AS instead watched everything through Uzi and Doll's unpatched AI. This might also be the reason as to why Nori and Yeva died as their daughters might have been used as hostages. And they were allowed to die as their daughters are potential hosts.

I have other more to say but I'm tired already and too brainscrambled to think anymore. These are just theories and implications. I hope Liam provides a complete explanation in the end. And I sure do hope this isn't the only season.

#murder drones #serial designation j #serial designation v #serial designation n #uzi doorman #cyn #absolute solver #theory #disassembly drone

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is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not · 5 days ago

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The Talon Roost

Nestled along the rugged shoreline of Puget Sound, just outside the bustling heart of Unity City, Terra, Melissa Hazen and Theodora Marten-Steiner’s home exudes a warmth and intimacy that starkly contrasts with their imposing public personas. Known as “The Talon Roost,” this sprawling lodge combines the rustic charm of traditional log cabin architecture with the subtle integration of cutting-edge technology from Terra’s civilian sector.

The Talon Roost sits perched on a rocky bluff overlooking the Sound, its timbered exterior blending with the surrounding forest. Massive, hand-hewn logs form the structure’s frame, their natural grain and texture preserved to honor the timeless beauty of the Pacific Northwest. The lodge’s roof is made up of a mix of eco-friendly solar tiles and living greenery. Wide wraparound decks extend from the main structure, offering panoramic views of the water and mountains beyond. A series of cascading stairs, lined with ambient lighting, leads down to a private dock where a sleek, automated watercraft rests, flanked by kayaks and a small security boat. At night, the lodge glows warmly, its large windows offering glimpses of life inside—a sharp yet inviting contrast to the quiet wilderness outside.

Entering the Talon Roost feels like stepping into a sanctuary. High vaulted ceilings, supported by massive wooden beams, create a sense of openness, while large floor-to-ceiling windows flood the space with natural light during the day. The interior décor balances modern minimalist design with the cozy aesthetics of a mountain lodge. Neutral tones dominate, accented by vibrant greens and golds—an homage to Melissa’s Jade Falcon heritage. The heart of the lodge, the living room, is anchored by a double-sided fireplace made of locally quarried stone. The hearth radiates warmth, surrounded by plush sofas and armchairs adorned with patterned blankets and throw pillows. Above the fireplace, a holographic display can project serene landscapes or serve as an entertainment hub, though it’s often turned off, leaving the room in serene simplicity. The kitchen combines the rustic appeal of handcrafted cabinetry with state-of-the-art appliances. A long central island, topped with polished stone, doubles as a communal dining space. The open floor plan flows into the dining area, where a custom-built table—crafted from salvaged driftwood—sits beneath an impressive chandelier of crystal and wrought iron. A cozy library, lined with shelves of books and historical texts, offers a quiet retreat for both Melissa and Theodora. A vintage mahogany desk sits at the far end, equipped with a concealed holo-terminal for secure communication and work. Nearby, a comfortable reading nook overlooks the Sound, with a soft chair and a small table perpetually holding a steaming pot of tea. The large, lavish, and highly advanced home theater was Theodora's pet project - it is outfitted with the absolute latest in cutting-edge holographic, trideo, and flat screen projection technology as well as a sound system that cost nearly as much as a light BattleMech.

While The Talon Roost appears traditional, its technology is anything but. Discrete panels throughout the home provide instant access to climate control, security systems, and personal AI assistants. The lodge’s power is supplied by a combination of renewable sources, ensuring self-sufficiency even during extended outages. A secure Star League-era communication hub is integrated into the study, allowing Melissa and Theodora to stay connected with SLDF operations. Beneath the lodge, hidden from view, lies a private hangar with bays large enough for both Melissa’s Highlander and Theodora’s Atlas, as well as the company of security 'Mechs on-site. Advanced automated repair systems and diagnostic tools ensure the 'Mechs are always ready for action. Also included is a multi-functional room utilizing advanced Holotank technology capable of projecting tactical simulations, training environments, or serene natural landscapes for relaxation.

The grounds around the lodge are meticulously curated. A path winds through a grove of ancient cedar trees to a private firepit surrounded by log benches. Nearby, a greenhouse houses a mix of local flora and medicinal plants, along with herbs for Theodora’s favorite recipes. A falconry mew, discreetly tucked into the edge of the property, is home to a small cast of Jade Falcons whom Melissa tends to personally—a connection to her heritage and a calming pastime away from the demands of leadership. The Talon Roost’s atmosphere is one of quiet strength and serenity. For two figures as legendary as Melissa Hazen and Theodora Marten-Steiner, the lodge represents a refuge from the chaos of the Inner Sphere—a place to reconnect with nature, their shared history, and each other. The cozy interiors, paired with the breathtaking natural surroundings, create a space where visitors are immediately put at ease, despite the immense power and influence of its owners. This dichotomy—between public and private life, between war and peace—is what makes The Talon Roost not just a home, but a reflection of the lives Melissa and Theodora have built together.

While The Talon Roost exudes an aura of peace and natural harmony, its security infrastructure rivals that of any high-level military installation. As the personal residence of two high-ranking SLDF officers, it incorporates layers of cutting-edge technology, physical deterrents, and personnel to ensure the safety of its occupants and maintain its strategic utility. The property is surrounded by an invisible perimeter system that utilizes advanced motion detection, thermal imaging, and seismic sensors. Any unauthorized entry triggers both silent and audible alarms, alerting the SLDF garrison stationed nearby. Discrete but highly effective automated turrets, hidden in the rocky outcroppings and among the trees, are equipped with non-lethal crowd control measures and high-powered laser weaponry for more extreme threats. Signature reduction technology derived from Null Signature System technology shields The Talon Roost from all but visual aerial and orbital scans, while a squadron of SLDF-designed surveillance drones patrols the airspace and property boundary. These drones are equipped with stealth tech, high-resolution cameras, and lethal weaponry. Meanwhile, the picturesque firepit near the cedar grove doubles as an emergency bunker entrance, reinforced to withstand even orbital bombardment. Decorative stone statues around the property conceal sensors and emitters capable of deploying small scale energy weapons in emergencies.

The Talon Roost is protected by a small, elite detachment of SLDF Royal Black Watch troops. While their presence is unobtrusive, they are always ready to respond to any threat. The guard detachment includes three Stars of MechWarriors, with their BattleMechs stationed in the Roost's subterranean hangar. A company of infantry, drawn from the Royal Black Watch's commando-trained operatives, patrols the property and acts as a rapid reaction force. All on-site security personnel reside in a concealed bunker built into the cliffside upon which the Roost perches. Security details rotate regularly to maintain optimal readiness and avoid becoming predictable. A concealed, automated command center under the lodge handles all security and monitoring tasks. Operatives stationed here can communicate directly with SLDF High Command and deploy additional resources as needed.

Beneath The Talon Roost lies a complex network of subterranean tunnels, elevators, and passageways that connect the property to critical SLDF and Star League installations in the region. This link allows both Melissa and Theodora to access secure meeting rooms or emergency operations centers without requiring surface travel. A direct maglev transit tunnel leads to both the nearby Tacoma Castle Brian, as well as the SLDF's Citadel inside Unity City itself - rebuilt by the SLDF to once again serve as their High Command complex. The headquarters of the Royal Black Watch, Fort Cameron, is linked to the lodge by another high-speed maglev route. The connection allows Theodora to oversee her regiment's activities or deploy her Atlas in minutes. The lodge is also connected via the maglev-tunnel system directly to the Court of the Star League.

In the event of an overwhelming threat, the lodge’s subterranean systems include a concealed evacuation pod capable of transporting occupants to either the Citadel or Fort Cameron in under five minutes. The lodge also features a last-resort self-destruct mechanism. Activated only by voice authorization from Melissa or Theodora, this system ensures no critical technology or data can fall into enemy hands. In case of a siege, the lodge can deploy automated counter-battery defenses, jamming fields, and active missile interceptors hidden within the terrain.

While The Talon Roost offers warmth, serenity, and a welcoming atmosphere, its hidden security and strategic capabilities reflect the immense responsibilities carried by its owners. This stark juxtaposition mirrors the lives of Melissa Hazen and Theodora Marten-Steiner, who must balance their personal sanctuary with their duties as protectors of humanity’s future. It is a place of respite, but one always ready for the call to action.

#battletech #mechwarrior #operation touchdown #oc lore

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