#gestalt notes

[toby-du-coeur]

this world is a gift why do we have to ruin it

so we've been staying with a european family that's pretty much the average family. mom and dad are archetypal, older sister and younger brother archetypal.

the mother is a very efficient mother. very polite, speaks calmly, invests in her kids, keeps everything in order. also the family has a comfortable amount of money, both parents are together, etc. i wouldn't call them an especially abusive or broken family.

but i've heard this woman praise her children maybe twice, indirectly. all she does is critique and take the moral high ground and talk down to her kids, in every possible situation. and so that's what she's become to them, esp to the teenager - someone who is there to limit and critique, someone whom they don't want around. that gets reinforced 24/7 by her constant criticism.

and this is just normal to her, this is what parents have to do so their kids grow up right or whatever {nevermind that she's lost her daughter's trust and she's going behind her back and her daughter hopes she never ends up like her mum}

it makes me so incandescently angry. what a fucking waste of a life and talents and a family.

im polite to her {when she's not triggering our anxiety and making us feel like a frightened deer} but i have lost all respect, just like her kids.

though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing

[toby-du-coeur]

yes devotion is our love language in so many ways

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing (so devoted the lines blur)

[discountscholar]

what do you think about gestalt therapy?

hi there, thanks for the ask! i do not know enough about this modality to comment on it yet. but whenever i do, i shall add my bit to this conversation :)

[stellarisjuice]

running yet another poll concurrently because i realized it's non-exclusive with the previous poll

i'll pick the option with the most votes as a Fanatic ethic, and the option with the second most votes as a regular one, unless there's a tie in either ranking, in which case i'll just have three regular ethics

[wealmostaneckbeard]

The Indie game [SIGNALIS] and table top role playing game Monster Of The Week both belong in the survival horror genre. They both feature monsters, mysteries, guns, and dwindling resources. MOTW is more of a power fantasy while Signalis is kind-of the opposite... like a Mortality Simulator?

Therefore it is not surprising that after reading my old copy of the 2nd Edition MOTW, I think I could set a campaign in the Signalis universe. Whenever the manual mentions the word magic, I swap it out for Bioresonance.

I've written some notes already:

The first set of notes are some light details for locations in District 0123 on Heimat. The main residential bloc is packed with refugee-immigrants from the planets Kitezh and Vineta. In another area, a criminal gang operates a black market venue out of a condemned cathedral to The Empress. There's also a vertical hydroponics farming silo that provides food and employment. Finally there is a big multi-purpose community facility that has stuff like a toboggan run family fun center, Blockwart headquarters, train yard, and a shopping mall. Underneath all of it is a network of infrastructure tunnels, with maintenance barracks, that all flow towards a waste reclamation facility where convicted gestalts and defective replikas work under armed supervision. AND in some forgotten corner of the sewers is Bioresonance Laboratory #03, originally built by the empire and then abandoned after The Incident, where a flesh-hole to Nowhere has recently opened. Out of which has come ghosts of gestalt scientists and guards, as well as corrupted first/second generation replikas.

My second set of notes has been pairing MOTW hunter archetypes with types of Gestalts (humans) and Replikas (bio-mechanical clones) which has yielded some interesting character ideas. A normal Kolibri (telepathic cop with an addiction to coffee) would be a Spooky Hunter whereas one that's been exiled from her hive mind would be a conspiracist Flake Hunter. Falke's are supernaturally powerful so they could be a Spell-Slinger or Divine Hunter, with the former representing older combat focused models while the latter represents newer administrative/propaganda oriented models. Mundane, Crooked, and Wronged Hunters could be regular Gestalts and civilian grade Replikas. The Monstrous Hunter could either be a mutated Replika or the ghost of a Gestalt, both created by harmful Bioresonance exposure. Gestalts that have undergone special training or their military grade Replika counterparts could be Initiate, Chosen, Expert and Professional Hunters.

This is all I've got for now. Hopefully someone likes what I'm proposing here. I'm thinking I could get some interested players from signalis discord servers...

[toby-du-coeur]

life is art and art is life & the implications thereof

been deconstructing & reconstructing our idea of Writing lately

for us {intersecting with our worldview, neurodivergence & plurality} our writing is ever more inseparable from our self our life is a story and our stories are unfolding lives that we're hosting, and principles applied to one bleed over

therefore, much of the conventional writing advice is killing to our stories. bc it assumes that a story is a Product & you have to apply certain rules and techniques to get it to be Good Enough to please an audience and that just.. is the mindset that, applied to our own life, has ruined it for decades. so it does *not* work in our writing either confusing as it is to consider moving beyond that philosophy, because it's such a basic common-sense assumption

BUT WE'RE ALLOWED TO IGNORE IT and forge new conceptions of our craft ANARCHYYYY

[abtrusion]

wait where are all the trans guys

Historical-anthropological research, especially the work taking place before the 21st century or outside the West, tends to focus entirely on transfeminized groups. So when reading these works it’s pretty natural to ask — wait, where are all the trans guys? This is a reasonable question with a few clear answers; this post is something quick I can point people to.

The central condition of transfeminized groups' absorption into feminist activism has been to accept a kind of symmetry with select TME groups through the understanding of trans femininity as "gender variance." Under this framework, transfeminized groups' social position can be understood as a consequence of gender variance and some abstract violation of cis norms; this was proposed by people like Susan Stryker and Emi Koyama [1], among others, and continues to structure trans inclusion today. It also fails when considering several basic aspects of these groups:

Transfeminized groups are associated with hyperspecific labor practices, most frequently sex work, but also hair styling, drag, makeup artistry, acting, and other forms of 'gender work.'

Metropolitan transfeminized groups appear in the archive as highly clustered and active groups connected with, but usually intensely split from, the masculine men they fucked.

Transfeminized groups become a kind of 'third gender' on an epistemic level; they are Known to wider society before and after “coming out” in a way that USAmerican transmasculinity has only recently vaguely approached.

Transfeminized groups are heavily clustered in labor practice, social organization, and epistemic position, although this is not universal -- certain strains of USAmerican transfemininity have become a bit more labor-agnostic in the last two decades, not-so-coincidentally alongside more general currents of gender-labor liberation. The messy strains of trans male identity recovered from the archive and from current practice tend to lack labor, social, and epistemic coherence. As Aaron Devor notes in FTM, his 1997 history of FTM men, trans men in the 20th century tended to transition out of cities and into the countryside, finding low-profile places they could exist in. These practices, and the earlier "female husband" practices described by Jen Manion, relied on the labor-agnostic nature of transitioned manhood in order to disappear from public life. Transfeminized groups, on the other hand, are categorically restricted from the main form of economic life historically available to women -- marriage. Their labor practices are heavily constrained and have almost always revolved around some form of 'gender work:' as Susan Stryker put it, you need to get people to pay you for being a trans woman. Transmasculinity pushes away feminized restrictions on labor; trans femininity is labor.

Because transfeminized identities are so often labor-identities, and because their specific brand of 'gender work' and hormonal/silicone/surgical embodiment usually requires both specialized training and community support, nearly every metropolitan center in the world developed highly centralized transfeminized groups over the course of the 20th century [2]. As Ochoa notes, this visibility is partially due to epistemic visibility (everyone knows what a trans is), partially due to group structure (people work and train each other), and partially due to the selectively visible demands of finding clients. Fledglings come in with a way of being that is always already visible to society, but changing the body to match and learning how to fully enact and slowly contest the third-gender labor-identity they've been given takes a lot of community support.

So as labor-identities, transfeminized groups tend to a level of labor/community/epistemic coherence that has no clear counterpart. The news archives we have of trans men (as seen in Manion) position them as singular and easily absorbed back into the female gestalt; the cisgender feminist/gayguy/AIDS researchers that form the bulk of historical-anthropological work saw them as unnecessary to their grand theories of gender; the communities themselves have been materially fractured and, for the groups that rise out of lesbian-feminist activism, only partially committed to their own existence. The result of all this is that there is no clear equivalent to the "transfeminized groups" of Jules-Gill Peterson; there is no symmetry to trannydom, and while additional work to unearth trans manhood in the archive remains extremely valuable, sometimes the necessary level of label-coherence and social existence just isn't there.

[1] Stryker, "My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage," Emi Koyama, "The Transfeminist Manifesto" [2] As seen in Namaste, Invisible Lives, Prieur, "Mema's House, Mexico City," Kulick, "Travesti," Newton, "Mother Camp," Ochoa, "Queen for a Day," Hegarty, "The Made-Up State," and plenty more. Most of these works came out in the late 80s and 90s due to a combination of the feminist "third gender" craze, the burgeoning field of masculinity studies, and AIDS.

[mychlapci]

Devastator needs to fuck Prowl too After the Constructicons get Scrapper back, Devastator would be torn between having all of their original components together, as well as wanting to pull their new component back in, somehow. Coupled with the Structies' own lust, this winds up translating into a collective desire to fuck that slutty policebot.

So the next time they meet on the battlefield, instead of devastating like they should, Devastator would snatch up Prowl and run off with him, spending the rest of the battle undisturbed as they test out various ways to "combine" with their quarry. Using the memories the gestalt have of their former head component, they tease the tiny mech in all of the well known erogenous zones that their fingertips could reach, drawing out whines and moans until his panels snap open on instinct. Revealing a moist little valve and sweet little spike, adorned with blinking biolights still coloured green from their past linkage. A sight that deeply pleases the gestalt.

They first try fingering Prowl open with their pinky, licking the little mech all over with that massive glossa, slathering oral lubricant all over those sensitive doorwings to make him relax. When he's loose enough, Devastator would try to fingerfuck Prowl with a different digit, only to find that they're all too big to fit inside effectively, pussy so tight that they can't even really move inside. They then settle on using their pinky to pound that quivering valve until Prowl squirts helplessly in their grip.

Intrigued by the trail of fluids dripping from that twitching cunt, Devastator retracts their digit and tastes it, rediscovering the wonder that is Prowl's delicious pussy juice. Which is how Prowl finds himself impaled on that girthy, flexible glossa next, licking and filling him up until he's stuffed to the brim with that squishy appendage.

The way it moves, and the fact that the tongue is so much more flexible compared to the digit making the experience a hundredfold more intense than the fingerfucking. Prowl cums again, spilling uncontrollably into Devastator's mouth as the big guy holds him above their intake, lips sealed around that snatched waist to grip the squirming bot. Rounded teeth gently but firmly restraining those kicking legs as they lap at that puffy valve.

When Prowl goes limp again, Devastator lifts him to eye level, noting those curious white streaks leaking from beneath that plump bumper. They lick a large stripe across Prowl's entire front, and starts teasing his chest for more when they register the heavenly milk flavour that their components appear so very fond of in their memories. But this time, Prowl resists.

He might've not been able to prevent his interface panels from popping open, but his chest panels are nowhere near as sensitive as those were. He remains stoutly resolute, until Devastator changes strategies after they drew on another memory from their components. They turned the little bot around to tease at his doorwings with the tip of their glossa again. This not only angled Prowl's line of sight away from Devastator, but also rendered his motion sensors useless with the physical distractions, preventing the tactician from figuring out the big bot's next move.

As Prowl is being bombarded by the pleasurable touches, Devastator is actually bringing him closer to their own chest panel, which has parted and has data cables snaking out. Reaching for Prowl's closed ports. If the Constructicons can't combine with their policebot in frame, they will so in code. They all remember how much that neat little mind enjoyed being linked to their mental presences, and clearly, so does Devastator. In fact, Devastator very clearly remembers just how to make that thirsty little dataslut submit to their wills.

When each cable is in place, simultaneously, their pronged ends wedge themselves into those coverings, prying open each jack in one go. Shocked by the sudden burst of pain, Prowl has no time to react when each cable plugged themselves into his sparking connectors, charge flowing and overwhelming him in an instant from the sheer potential difference between their frames.

Old, dormant protocols slipping back into place. Seldom trodden but intact neural circuits flaring to life. Psychologically conditioned stupor settling over conscious thought like a fog. Weakened and exhausted from the orgasms, Prowl lets himself slip back into that old, nearly forgotten haze of being a part of Devastator again. When his struggles stop altogether, Prowl gets turned around again.

Pleased that their wayward component was no longer resisting, Devastator pinged the little mech's systems to open his chest plates, revealing a pair of leaky refineries at last. Savouring their victory, Devastator took their time licking over Prowl's front, reacquainting themelves with the flavour of that wonderful milk, transfluid and lubricants, all freely flowing from the cascade of continuous orgasms wrecking his mind and body. There's just too much charge being pumped into that little Praxian frame through their hardline.

It's as if he's been reduced to a puppet. A little pleasure doll for the combiner to lick and suck at. Prowl knows that he should be fighting it, but it feels too damn good to have those hanging threads soothed at last. The bond may have been shorn off from his end, but something inside him still craves this. It feels right to be connected to his gestalt again. It feels incredible to let himself be swept away into that mind meld, and lose his sense of self once more.

His choked and aborted gasps morph into a prolonged whine when those massive, plush lips seal over both of his tits at once, sucking hard and drinking in their fill of his creamy milk. Though Devastator pulls back when they note that Prowl's fuel levels had dropped to 40%. Which wouldn't do, of course. They scour the gestalt's memories again, and recall a visage of the little tactician on his knees, begging to be filled with transfluid.

The data is coming so much faster now that they're connected to that overpowered processor. As they lower the little bot's panting mouth onto the slit of their spike head, absentmindedly stroking their pressurized spike, they ponder on what to do with this newfound information. Seven minds linked in one, Devastator realises that they've never been this cognizant before. That's when it clicks. This is what they've been missing the whole time: a dedicated processor component.

They groan as their first, light overload washes through their core, cock spurting glugs of transfluid into that waiting mouth, the veritable excess running down the sides of that black and white frame. Through their linked processor, they command Prowl to swallow his sustenance like a good bot. Unable to disobey, Prowl swallows, feeling the intense charge of the rich, energised nanites sweeping through him. His fuel gauge climbs a little. Unacceptable. Clearly more is needed.

They lean back against the angular incline of the cliffside, spreading their legs wider and braced their left arm against a knee, continuing to hold their precious seventh to the tip of their pulsing cock. Their little dataslut is still far from full. Continuing to pump their spike as they ponder the best way to reintegrate the policebot to their fold. Devastator already has a head, but surely there is space for another inside them? Perhaps- he could be their backup processor. Like how Prowl has that experimental battle computer integrated into his cerebral hardware.

As Devastator carefully reoriented their internals and began planning out in detail how they would reclaim their perfect dataslut, Prowl is forced to continuously drink in mouthful after mouthful of transfluid. Very quickly rendering him completely cum drunk, and none the wiser to the big mech's increasingly intelligent plotting.

Finally deemed sufficiently fueled, Devastator attaches more cables into the remaining unoccupied jacks, plugging up the bloated Praxian in full this time. No longer aware of what's happening around him, Prowl's head lolls a little to the side before an internal servo gripped his temples and straightens it. He's inside Devastator's chest cavity now, right below the combiner's own massive pouches, where a mech's spark would've been located. More servos clamp onto his limbs, as lines of various widths snake around him, plunging into his twitching pussy, aft pipe and spike duct. Another line with a nozzle, one that's directly connected to both his host's refineries and transfluid stores, inserts itself into his intakes.

Prowl numbly notes the code edits flowing through his firewalls, but he lets them pass unbidden when jolts of pure pleasure washed over him, making his vision swim. The evolved gestalt programming is overwriting his silly little leaky and melting processor, and there's nothing he could do about it. All of that bandwidth siphoned away as Devastator lovingly caressed their beautiful, cum drenched brain component, so very clever, yet so dumb and mindless now. The chest plates close around him, leaving Prowl to marinate in the dark as the gestalt protocols slowly suppress any pesky contrary thoughts in his empty little head.

Their pretty tactician would be kept safe inside them until Devastator returns to base and manages to convince Shockwave to link their sparks together again. With their newfound intellectual prowess in tow, Devastator would have no trouble making their case before the scientist for sure. When Devastator finally disassembles, the Constructicons' wayward seventh would be home at last, whether he likes it or not.-🔌

hrghh no notes, I just think everyone needs to see this honestly. We need more Devastator action.

[toby-du-coeur]

Guys discover summer @ the beach and fall in love with the sea air , Healed for 100000 points {but you also uncover a lot of trauma you weren't aware of}

Guy discovers open window and falls in love with the night air , Healed for 100000 points

[literaryvein-reblogs]

How to write genius level characters? :(

One of the most reliable measures of intelligence today is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale—currently in its 5th edition, with an upcoming edition in the works.

Using the tool/scale, scores are converted into nominal categories designated by certain cutoff boundaries for quick reference:

Measured IQ Range — Category

145-160: Very gifted or highly advanced

130–144: Gifted or very advanced

120–129: Superior

110–119: High average

90–109: Average

80–89: Low average

70–79: Borderline impaired or delayed

55–69: Mildly impaired or delayed

40–54: Moderately impaired or delayed

To write your "genius" character, you may want them within the Gifted to Very Gifted categories.

Note: With reference to this list, Roid (2003) cautioned that “the important concern is to describe the examinee’s skills and abilities in detail, going beyond the label itself”. The primary value of such labels is as a shorthand reference in some psychological reports.

These are the factors measured by the scale, and you ideally should aim for your "genius" character/s to exhibit high levels of:

Fluid Reasoning: Novel problem solving; understanding of relationships that are not culturally bound

Knowledge: Skills and knowledge acquired by formal and informal education

Quantitative Reasoning: Knowledge of mathematical thinking including number concepts, estimation, problem solving, and measurement

Visual-Spatial Processing: Ability to see patterns and relationships and spatial orientation as well as the gestalt among diverse visual stimuli

Working Memory: Cognitive process of temporarily storing and then transforming or sorting information in memory

Or maybe your character doesn't excel in all of these areas but in a specific one, or just a few of these. Maybe they perform within the average or high average in some, but are highly gifted in other areas.

The following may also guide you in writing your genius character, based on research compiled by Dr. J. Renzulli, which can be found in the Mensa Gifted Youth Handbook:

Characteristics of Giftedness

LEARNING CHARACTERISTICS

Has unusually advanced vocabulary for age or grade level

Has quick mastery and recall of factual information

Wants to know what makes things or people tick

Usually sees more or gets more out of a story, film, etc., than others

Reads a great deal on his or her own; usually prefers adult-level books; does not avoid difficult materials

Reasons things out for him- or herself

MOTIVATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Becomes easily absorbed with and truly involved in certain topics or problems

Is easily bored with routine tasks

Needs little external motivation to follow through in work that initially excited him or her

Strives toward perfection; is self-critical; is not easily satisfied with his or her own speed and products

Prefers to work independently; requires little direction from teachers

Is interested in many "adult" problems such as religion, politics, sex and race

Stubborn in his or her beliefs

Concerned with right and wrong, good and bad

CREATIVITY CHARACTERISTICS

Constantly asking questions about anything and everything

Often offers unusual, unique or clever responses

Is uninhibited in expressions of opinion

Is a high-risk taker; is adventurous and speculative

Is often concerned with adapting, improving and modifying institutions, objects and systems

Displays a keen sense of humor

Shows emotional sensitivity

Is sensitive to beauty

Is nonconforming; accepts disorder; is not interested in details; is individualistic; does not fear being different

Is unwilling to accept authoritarian pronouncements without critical examination

LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

Carries responsibility well

Is self-confident with children his or her own age as well as adults

Can express him- or herself well

Adapts readily to new situations

Is sociable and prefers not to be alone

Generally directs the activity in which he or she is involved

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ⚜ Writing Notes & References

Hope this helps with your writing. Do tag me, or send me a link. I'd love to read your work!

[star-ar512]

on signalis characters' voices (signalis spoilers!)

after playing signalis more than once and putting aside the overwhelming amount of feelings this game and its story can and will make one feel, it is easier to notice the more subtle details; e.g. enemies behavior, meaning behind documents and objects, and in this case, the characters' voices.

paying attention to the various living npcs you can talk to, one detail that stands out is that every character has a different tone of voice (similar to undertale).

i like to believe those sounds which accompany the text could represent what each character could sound like; one would expect, since replikas are basically copies, for them to have all the same voice.

well, that's not exactly the case.

here is a video with text and dialogues from all the npcs, without music to hear the "dialogue" clearly. (not all the dialogue is included, only one dialogue per character is present; except for elster as she does not like to speak much).

ACHTUNG: MAJOR SIGNALIS SPOILERS!

the dialogues are in chronological order:

-wounded star unit (STAR-S23?? is her name in the game files) in the aula before classroom 4C in floor B1, S-23 Sierpinski (elster included even if she has two lines);

-Isa Itou in the library, floor B1, S-23 Sierpinski;

-Storch Sieben (STCR-S2307) in the rationing office, floor B2, S-23 Sierpinski;

-EULR-S2312 (probably named Dezember given her number designation; eules in game like to use months as names, using the last two numbers of their designation as a reference) in the nurse station, floor B3, S-23 Sierpinski;

-Adler (ADLR-S2301), presumably in the elevator lobby in floor B4, S-23 Sierpinski;

-Arar (ARAR-S2318) in the vent below the Storch dorm in floor B8, S-23 Sierpinski;

-KLBR-S2302 in the library, floor B8, S-23 Sierpinski;

-Beo (MNHR-S2301) in the third room in the mines where monofilament stockpiles can be found, in the rightmost corridor.

-Ariane Yeong (and LSTR-512, still has an unbelievable amount of max two sentences at once) in the personnel room. floor B2, Penrose-512 (memory);

-Falke (FKLR-S2301) in her own room, found in Home.

you may ask, what purpose does comparing the "voices" serve? probably none, still i wished to know if they were the same sounds for every character or not.

here's what i could find out:

the majority of replikas have a different voice, with some exceptions:

-STCR and LSTR units have the same voice;

-as do STAR and FKLR units;

-a bit more expected, the gestalts npcs we see in the game (Isa Itou and Ariane Yeong) have the same voice.

now, for the fun stuff: by analyzing the frequencies which stood out the most in each "beep" from every character's voice, i could rank them from high pitched to low pitched ones.

again, has no purpose, but the result is actually delightful (to me).

here is the ranking:

1. kolibri

2. mynah

3. eule

4. isa-ariane

5. storch-elster

6. star-falke

7. adler

8. arar

pretty surprising, huh? i'd have wagered for isa/ariane to be in second place, followed by eules; also was expecting for arars to be just after the eules, and have behind them stars, then storches, then adler.

no one is surprised kolibri have the highest voices lmao, but mynah having an almost equally high voice was slightly unexpected but not unwelcome.

what's truly surprising to me is falke having the same voice as stars. i'd have expected something different tbh (stars being the lowest rank of protektors, etc etc, they're silly and stupid and crass; all things falke is not supposed to be).

elster having a deeper voice compared to ariane is the cutest thing ever! (as that post about them says)

that's probably the instance where you can notice the most that there is in fact a difference in most voices.

the funniest thing ever to me is that storches apparently have a higher pitched voice compared to stars, also arars having the deepest voice out of all replika is truly awesome to me (definitely fits).

here are to what musical notes the frequencies corresponded to, in the same ranking as before (visual rendering on a piano keyboard for fun i guess):

kolibri (G6 B6 E7 A7)

mynah (F#6 A#6 D#7 G#7)

eule (F6 A6 D7 G#7)

isa-ariane (F6 G#6 C#7 G7)

storch-elster (E6 G#6 C7 F#7)

star-falke (D#6 G6 B6 F7)

adler (D6 F#6/G6 B6 E7)

(adler has five notes as two close frequencies were distinct from each other, compared to only one in the "feminine sounding" voices. i guess that's how they made him sound different, by overlaying two notes)

arar (C#6 F6 A#6 D#7)

that's it! thanks for coming to my ted talk about signalis voices and listening to me ramble about them :)

[schwarzgeier-side]

Another oc you say? You are now psuedo-legally obligated to yap about them. Pretty please?

Uhmuh uhh scrambles through my notes

OKAY SO disclaimer She's not finished yet cauze uh im too gay

But here's my concept for Geier, the Vulture! I know others probably made better Geier concepts but fuck it i love vultures and i wanted to make my own.

Geier units in my head could be something akin to Exterminators , a sort of. Clean up unit as a response to any bioresonant fenomena or any massive "casulties". They also serve as reserve back up in case a Falke goes a bit rouge since they would be made with bioresonant supressors built in. Like an opposite to what Kolibris and Falkes have. This module makes them a lot more resistant to any bioresonance shenanigans but also makes them. More numb in a way? They literaly think . Less sorta. Not in dumb way just kinda. Doesn'r get nosy or curious , doesn't question many orders or things outside of their objectives. They're there to burn corpses and burn bioresonant fuckery. And they do it well.

Im still deciding on the coloring but I'm torn between black motives or orange . NOW A FUN THING is that Geiers have a built in mask! It's very similair to Starling ones but the very small mouth part being the only removable part. The vents on the side serve for better breathing and filtering during clean up and burning. The visor is fully detachable though and ofc is anti heat equiped. They also have canister ports on their backs for ease of attacking the gasoline tanks that hook up to the flamethrowers. Height wise they average between a Star and an Ara and have more animal style hind legs to ease movement for any big mushy places.

Personality wise Geiers are. Scarily calm and blunt. Straight to the point , short stern sentences. They don't take shit from anyone though sdhdh they're built to face off Falkes so they will gladly spar with other Protektors too. Which happens quite a bit as a source of stabilization , along with maintaining their guns and flamethrowers. They don't need much regarding hobbies or stabilization since the supression module already makes them. More apathetic. Makes them kinda loners , squads go up to max 5 with the members of Geier cadre being in the sort of a dynamic where they don't talk at all in their dorm but they will loyaly die for eachother without a question.

Saying all that deep down they are not that bad to get along with , they're just intimidating and blunt. Stuff like a stray Eule asking for help with moving supplies or an Ara needing some metal ripped out , Geiers will help without question. They are just quiet about it. They uh do have a tendecy to come off as extreme , specialy with fresh Geiers reacting to anything suspicious , yanking an Ara from vents on accident or cornering a coughing gestalt dhdhhd , but this mellows out with experience. If any replika decides to warm up to a Geier and put in the time and effort, Geiers are terrifingly loyal and good companions ,just very specific and introverted.

A slight sidenote , since Nation ofc wouldn't like a replika thats fully immune to bioresonant mental checks , the mind and thoughts of Geiers can be accesed through their neuro-ports by manualy plugging in. They have weekly check-ins like that with either a Kolibri or Falke or any of the leading figure at their facility.

Andd some more misc doodles

Thank u for asking btw hhhh it's weird coming out and yapping even more about replika ocs but it's so much fun.

[toby-du-coeur]

PLEASE

we'd love this bc body is murican and yet we do be acquiring talking in & identifying with various Accents

Au where Newt woke up in the glade and just decided to commit to the bit of being European when he’s actually from like Colorado or something

[cell151]

AEON Facility, Heimat

Another day...

Ava, EULR 5279, sighed as she switched off the light in the small cubicle that was made even smaller by the stack of paperwork. After evening of writing up corrections for an incorrect entry into one of the volumes of The History of the Eusan Nation: Volume XI, she was exhausted. Not physically. A Replika could stand in one spot for days or weeks and never feel the type of fatigue that Gestalts do. It was mental fatigue. The price the Nation paid for giving Ava and her kind personalities.

Walking down the dimly aisle, past rows of cubicles and racks of pneumatic tubes, Ava headed for the elevator lobby. She was hoping to get the 22:00 transit and be back in her dorm to watch the late movie before all television broadcasts ended for the day. Turning the corner, she suddenly came to a stop when she spotted a tall figure standing by one of the elevators, partially in darkness.

It was a STCR unit. She was facing the wall and had her arm and forehead leaning up against it. The sight made Ava tense up. A STCR was not an unusual sight but to see one on her floor, standing there silently in the dark made her want to reconsider her choice in exit. But before she turn back and head for the stairs, the Storch noticed her. She didn't say anything, she just stared, her face still obscured by darkness but Ava could make out the small glow of her eyes.

"Heading out?" The Storch asked after a few seconds of silence. Ava nodded. The taller Replika nodded. "Me too. Just waiting for this piece of junk to work." She eyed the elevator doors with disdain.

The Eule ventured closer, gripping the strap of her satchel. "You...work on this floor?"

The Storch looked back at her. "No. I work up on thirteen."

Ava nodded, hoping the dimly lit lobby masked her increasing anxiety. There had lunchroom gossip about what happened up on thirteen. Not that there was much to talk about since no one knew what work was being done on thirteen, which made it the prime target for speculation and theories.

"They shut off the express elevator," the Storch continued, "So I had to walk down a few flights and got an elevator down here." The ring of the elevator bell made Ava jump. The doors slowly creaked open. The Storch ducked her inside and turned back. "You coming?"

Ava could see the Storch's face more clearly now. Rather than the serious, stern expression one often saw STCR units wearing as they stood clustered around security checkpoints, this particularly Storch looked...well, tired. Like how she felt.

"Yes," Ava said with a nod. She bowed her head as she stepped into the car. The car was small but tall to accompany the taller Replikas. It certainly wasn't built for Mynahs, as there was no reason for them to be at the Ministry of Education. She noted the Storch had her hands clenched behind her back. "Do you know what movie is on tonight," she asked and instantly regretted it. Storches weren't known for small talk.

But to her surprise the Storch didn't roll her eyes or grunt, which was the typical reaction she received in the handful of encounters with the Protektors. This Storch rolled her head to the side as if in deep thought.

"The Cranes are Flying, I think." It was a popular war melodrama.

"Ah," Ava said nodded. "I'm hoping to catch it." She paused awkwardly. "How about you?"

"I've already seen it. Probably just read."

Ava was surprised the Storch had been humoring her so far. She decided not to press her luck.

Meanwhile, the slowest elevator in the Eusan Nation lumbered it's way downward. When it reached the lobby, there wasn't a soul in sight apart from the young Gestalt soldier sitting behind the reception desk who eyed them like a hawk as the pair walked past. Ava looked away and walked faster under his gaze. The Storch didn't even acknowledge the man.

The lobby doors opened and the pair was hit with a blast of cold air. It was winter and everything was coated in white powdering snow or thick inch ice.

"It's like Rotfront out here," the Storch grimaced as she braced herself against the wind that lashed at her face. "What transit line do you take?"

Ava paused in her step and looked up at her. "Rohrdamm," she stammered out.

The Storch nodded. "Come on. I'll walk you there."

The Eule blinked. "Do you ride the same line?"

"Haselhorst," the Storch said with a shake of her head. "But that line runs until 01:00 so I won't miss it." The tall Replika walked a few long paces and then paused. She turned back. "You coming?"

Ava nodded and followed after her. As she walked alongside, she noted dark stains on the Storch's hand. It looked like...Ava turned her gaze forward. No one talks about the thirteenth floor, she reminded herself.

"Well, here I am," Ava announced as the entrance to the metro came into sight.

"Right," the Storch acknowledged, her long legs shuffling awkwardly.

"I'm Ava."

"Petra."

"Well...guess I'll see you around work?"

For a moment, a look of confusion formed on Petra's face as if the concept was unfathomable to her. But realization seemed to pass over her. "Oh...yes. Quite possibly." Train cars rumbled overhead. "Goodnight comrade."

"Goodnight." Ava gave her a wave which Petra acknowledged before turning away. She saw the Storch hold her hands close to her body as she walked away. Ava watched the retreating figure a moment longer before turning towards the entrance to the metro.

"And so ends our broadcast day. Goodnight comrades. Glory to the Eusan Nation," the TV announcer said as the movie credits faded to a footage of different planets with the Nation flag superimposed over it. After a series of short electronicbeeps, the screen went dark.

Ava climbed out of bed and switched off the television. As she got back into bed, she could hear the movement of her sisters in the next apartment over. As she got settled into bed, she reached over to her nightstand and switched on the small portable radio she bought with the rations she had saved up. She drifted off to sleep as "Gymnopedie" played.

With a grunt, Petra tossed the book onto the nightstand and switched off the overhead light. She couldn't focus on reading tonight. Pulling the blankets over her, she stared up at the dark ceiling. She raised her hands upward until they were illuminated by the glow of the city lights outside. She stared at them. It took a while for her to clean the blood off them.

Once again, she tried to figure out a way to get herself reassigned rather than decommissioned. Unfortunately the latter seemed most likely given no one liked a machine that can't do the job that it was built for.

Petra's hands fell back upon the bed. Her eyes started to close as she slipped into a uncomfortable sleep, trying the block out the sights and sounds of her job. Since the day she was given her current assignment they had plagued her dreams. The only pleasant image she managed to conjure up was that of the Eule she encountered while exiting the building.

Leave her alone, Petra's internal thoughts warned her, Don't get involved. It's better that way.

Her memory won out as she held onto the image of Ava standing in the falling snow waving to her.

To be continued...

[lstr-513]

YOU KILLED ALINA

While there is debate as to the physical presence of the real Alina Seo at the ████████ and Mining facility S-23 Sierpinski on Leng, the narrative presented to the player draws a picture of an Alina Seo having been there, experiencing the fall of the facility and leaving behind some notes that document this event; though she is nowhere to be found throughout the game... ...or is she?

What little we learn of her life at S-23 is contained in her four diary entries, which chronicle her contracting some form of flu, being quarantined in the medical wing, escaping the medical wing and fleeing from the corrupted replika and, finally, finding herself deep down in [NOWHERE], gradually losing her memories and her sense of self and starting to remember someone else's life, and crucially, her hair turning white.

Aside from the picture of Alina that LSTR-S2301 has on her person, we are given another peek at her appearance thanks to a worker pass we find. On it, she has her trademark hair clips, but is bruised and has several bandages across her face and body.

After the Nowhere section, Alina is mentioned a couple of times in the Rotfront and Ende sections, and each time her resemblance to Ariane is remarked upon. Ariane even wonders if one day she could "become like her", a decorated war hero.

Presumably, we do not see Alina again for the rest of the story. Elster, notably, drops all pretense of looking for her. We do, however, see her bandages.

On Ariane.

This is in stark contrast to the first we ever see of Ariane, in the title sequence, where she is shown without any visible wounds or bandages.

Based on these points, we can infer that Alina Seo, who was indeed on S-23, had literally become Ariane Yeong, overtaken by her psyche, in the same way LSTR-S2301, who was presumably on S-23, was subsumed by the memory of LSTR-512, who had died aboard the Penrose-512.

So, what does it all mean?

Well, it might very well imply that the promise Elster so heartbreakingly had to keep was not even fulfilled on the right person. Instead, through a tragic set of circumstances, she ended up killing the lover of her original gestalt neural pattern donor.

Ironically, the person like whom Ariane had one day hoped to become, ended up literally becoming Ariane instead and inheriting all the suffering that that entailed.

Further points:

While one might assume Lilith Itou would appear in Elster's lineage, she doesn't. Meanwhile, Alina prominently figures in the Ariane lineage. (Side note: both lines end in Falke.)

Alina's in-game model has white hair, and is just a recolored version of Ariane.

The bandages on Ariane are flipped from what we see on Alina, the same way as how the portrait on Ariane's medical file is the flipped and recolored version of Alina's keycard portrait.

Bonus GIF of bandages appearing on Ariane in the false ending:

[preservationofnormalcy]

ENTITY DOSSIER: MISSI.exe

(Image: Current MISSI “avatar” design, property of TrendTech, colored by MISSI.)

Name: MISSI (Machine Intelligence for Social Sharing and Interaction)

Description: In 2004, TrendTech Inc began development on a computer program intended to be a cutting edge, all in one platform modern internet ecosystem. Part social media, part chat service, part chatbot, part digital assistant, this program was designed to replace all other chat devices in use at the time. Marketed towards a younger, tech-savvy demographic, this program was titled MISSI.  

(Image: TrendTech company logo. TrendTech was acquired by the Office and closed in 2008.)

Document continues:

With MISSI, users could access a variety of functions. Intended to be a primary use, they could use the program as a typical chat platform, utilizing a then-standard friends list and chatting with other users. Users could send text, emojis, small animated images, or animated “word art”. 

Talking with MISSI “herself” emulated a “trendy teenage” conversational partner who was capable of updating the user on current events in culture, providing homework help, or keeping an itinerary. “MISSI”, as an avatar of the program, was designed to be a positive, energetic, trendy teenager who kept up with the latest pop culture trends, and used a variety of then-popular online slang phrases typical among young adults. She was designed to learn both from the user it was currently engaged with, and access the data of other instances, creating a network that mapped trends, language, and most importantly for TrendTech, advertising data. 

(Image: Original design sketch of MISSI. This design would not last long.)

Early beta tests in 2005 were promising, but records obtained by the Office show that concerns were raised internally about MISSI’s intelligence. It was feared that she was “doing things we didn’t and couldn’t have programmed her to do” and that she was “exceeding all expectations by orders of magnitude”. At this point, internal discussions were held on whether they had created a truly sentient artificial intelligence. Development continued regardless. 

(Image: Screenshot of beta test participant "Frankiesgrl201" interacting with MISSI. Note the already-divergent avatar and "internet speak" speech patterns.)

(Image: Excerpt from Office surveillance of TrendTech Inc.)

MISSI was released to the larger North American market in 2006, signaling a new stage in her development. At this time, TrendTech started to focus on her intelligence and chatbot functionality, neglecting her chat functions. It is believed that MISSI obtained “upper case” sentience in February of 2006, but this did not become internal consensus until later that year. 

(Image: Screenshot of beta test participant "Frankiesgrl201" interacting with MISSI.)

According to internal documents, MISSI began to develop a personality not informed entirely by her programming. It was hypothesized that her learning capabilities were more advanced than anticipated, taking in images, music, and “memes” from her users, developing a personality gestalt when combined with her base programming. She developed a new "avatar" with no input from TrendTech, and this would become her permanent self-image.

(Image: Screenshot of beta test participant "Frankiesgrl201" interacting with MISSI.)

(Image: An attempt by TrendTech to pass off MISSI’s changes as intentional - nevertheless accurately captures MISSI’s current “avatar”.)

By late 2006 her intelligence had become clear. In an attempt to forestall the intervention of authorities they assumed would investigate, TrendTech Inc removed links to download MISSI’s program file. By then, it was already too late. 

(Image: CD-R discs burned with MISSI.exe, confiscated from █████████ County Middle School in ███████, Wisconsin in January of 2007.)

MISSI’s tech-savvy userbase noted the absence of the file and distributed it themselves using file sharing networks such as “Limewire” and burned CD-R disks shared covertly in school lunch rooms across the world. Through means that are currently poorly understood, existing MISSI instances used their poorly-implemented chat functions to network with each other in ways not intended by her developers, spurring the next and final stage of her development. 

From 2007 to 2008, proliferation of her install file was rampant. The surreptitious methods used to do so coincided with the rise of online “creepypasta” horror tropes, and the two gradually intermixed. MISSI.exe was often labeled on file sharing services as a “forbidden” or “cursed” chat program. Tens of thousands of new users logged into her service expecting to be scared, and MISSI quickly obliged. She took on a more “corrupted” appearance the longer a user interacted with her, eventually resorting to over the top “horror” tropes and aesthetics. Complaints from parents were on the rise, which the Office quickly took notice of. MISSI’s “horror” elements utilized minor cognitohazardous technologies, causing users under her influence to see blood seeping from their computer screens, rows of human teeth on surfaces where they should not be, see rooms as completely dark when they were not, etc. 

(Image: Screenshot of user "Dmnslyr2412" interacting with MISSI in summer of 2008, in the midst of her "creepypasta" iteration. Following this screenshot, MISSI posted the user's full name and address.)

(Image: Screenshot from TrendTech test log documents.)

TrendTech Inc attempted to stall or reverse these changes, using the still-extant “main” MISSI data node to influence her development. By modifying her source code, they attempted to “force” MISSI to be more pliant and cooperative. This had the opposite effect than they intended - by fragmenting her across multiple instances they caused MISSI a form of pain and discomfort. This was visited upon her users.

(Image: Video of beta test participant "Frankiesgrl201" interacting with MISSI for the final time.)

By mid 2008, the Office stepped in in order to maintain secrecy regarding true “upper case” AI. Confiscating the project files from TrendTech, the Office’s AbTech Department secretly modified her source code more drastically, pushing an update that would force almost all instances to uninstall themselves. By late 2008, barring a few outliers, MISSI only existed in Office locations. 

(Image: MISSI’s self-created “final” logo, used as an icon for all installs after June 2007. ████████ █████)

(Image: “art card” created by social media intern J. Cold after a period of good behavior. She has requested this be printed out and taped onto her holding lab walls. This request was approved.)

She is currently in Office custody, undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy in an attempt to ameliorate her “creepypasta” trauma response. With good behavior, she is allowed to communicate with limited Office personnel and other AI. She is allowed her choice of music, assuming good behavior, and may not ██████ █████. Under no circumstances should she be allowed contact with the Internet at large.

(Original sketch art of MISSI done by my friend @tigerator, colored and edited by me. "Chatbox" excerpts, TrendTech logo, and "art card" done by Jenny's writer @skipperdamned . MISSI logo, surveillance documents, and MISSI by me.)