#vince macdonell

[seawardboundsammy]

anybody ever think about vince macdonell...

[master-0f-s0rcerers]

"The more I think about it, the more I wonder what happened to my old professor. He was the founder of The Gear Project and yet he gave it to me and left. I'm sure he didn't even have any relatives."

[gear-project]

When exactly does Asuka become known as "That Man"?

Is it the alias he takes on when the Gear Project restarts or is it just a moniker used for him as the unknowable "creator of all gears and therefore all this misery we're in"

Interesting question, but sadly it isn't really history that is well-documented.

Only close friends like Frederick and Aria (and his Superiors at University, like Vince MacDonell) referred to him as "Asuka" directly back in 2015-2016 events (post 1999's Dawn of Revival).

When the Gear Project was restarted in 2040-2060, he went under an "alias", but it's never specified what name that was… even his colleagues at that time only respectfully referred to him as "sir" or "the project leader" (since it was a black weapon project, not many scientists wanted to use their names publicly).

Asuka later admitted to Frederick that he had as "many aliases" as suited his purposes (adapting and conforming to many different tasks and agendas for a time). It was only during the events of Guilty Gear Strive, where Asuka actually "acts as himself under his own name". Of course, by doing this, Asuka takes on the Onus of his past and admits he feels guilt for "not taking action" and simply "taking other names and fading in the background of history".

So really, the name "That Man" was more or less a convenience to him, even if the rest of history ultimately blamed anyone with that alias as the creators of the Gears and any dubious science and tragedy involved with them.

I can say for certain that "Happy Chaos" used the name "That Man" sometime AFTER the events of 2074 when Justice destroyed the continent of Japan, as he was to blame for what happened to Baiken's village shortly thereafter (and he might also have something to do with Bedman and Delilah as well, depending on how things are revealed).

[solradguy]

did frederick work in academia or in industry for the gear project?

It's kind of vague... Frederick, Aria, and Asuka started the initial Gear cell research at a university under professor Vince MacDonell, who then hired them onto Ecosystem Evolution Project (presumably at the Next Generation Medical Research Institute, the lab in Begin) so initially it was in academia but after that it gets blurry.

I think it's implied that they might have gotten funding from some kind of medical for-profit but it never goes into depth about it. Asuka does eventual betray everyone by handing it off to government military contractors but its never said how long he had been working with them. It might be that the entire project after Vince left and made Asuka director—and after Asuka publicly stated his four conditions about the research usage—was secretly funded through those contractors. At the very least, once Asuka made the public statement multiple countries apparently supplied funding.

So I guess technically industrial but more likely government.

[spirallingshape]

I don’t often toot my own horn on here, but..... The Globe and Mail just published a glowing profile on my dad’s press! I’ve been doing editing and design work for him for almost 10 years, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of the family business. 

This article is available in the print edition for today (February 29 2020). The above link is behind a paywall, but I’ve copied the article below the cut. 

By Naben Ruthnum

The Shirley Jackson Award is one of the most prestigious prizes in horror, with recipients ranging from genre legends Stephen King and Neil Gaiman to literary crossover writers such as Emma Cline. In 2018, a Canadian publisher of horror fiction claimed their second Jackson. But you may never have heard of Undertow Publications, which is based in the small Ontario city of Pickering.

There are as many types of horror fiction as there are ways to be scared. The particular subgenre of horror that Undertow specializes in is “weird fiction”: a style that tends toward the high literary, enfolding the supernatural, tales of malaise in urban, rural and wild settings, and a sense of discomfort and eeriness that has more to do with atmosphere than reddened fangs.

While Undertow isn’t purely a one-man show, publisher Michael Kelly is the guiding acquiring and editorial eye on all books. “I always liked the literary sort of horror, weird fiction, and I wasn’t seeing it published.” As his inspirations, he cites the writers he was reading in 2009, around the time he started the press, "things like Arthur Machen, Oliver Onions, Walter De la Mare, Violet Paget.” Kelly was also reading Britain-based magazines such as Black Static and Supernatural Tales, pages that would introduce him to the authors he would eventually publish.

The press’s business operations began in his basement, and remain there, although the initial one-book-a-year output has grown to seven scheduled for 2020 and six planned for 2021. The prestigious small publishers of supernatural fiction that dot Britain and Ireland quickly recognized a peer in Kelly. Brian J. Showers, who runs Dublin’s Swan River Press, points to Kelly’s specific vision as a defining strength: “Michael Kelly guides Undertow with both taste and style, and with a dedication characteristic of only the very best small presses.”

Kelly, who is now focusing on Undertow full-time after his recent retirement from a 30-year career at the Toronto Star that ranged from the darkroom to syndicated sales, knew that keeping an eye on scale would be a crucial part of Undertow’s continued existence.

“I was reading stuff that really intrigued me in the small press, niche stuff, but there were only a couple of venues. I did my first anthology in 2009, and it was called Apparitions. Really – copies of the book were terrible. It was on very white, photocopy paper, done at one of those Espresso Book Machines – I knew a guy at McMaster who ran one. It was a bound book, but poorly bound.”

Despite the humble appearance of this first offering from a press that would soon be known for their beautifully designed and printed trade paperbacks, overseen by art director Vince Haig, Apparitions was nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. The prestigious American award is well known to genre fans, and Undertow was quickly noticed by both readers and writers eager for a new venue for their weird fiction interests. But Kelly continued to grow the press slowly, guided by his own tastes and reading. Short-story collections – anthologies or single-author collections – form almost the entirety of Undertow’s output. One anthology series, Shadows and Tall Trees, has been going since the second year of the press’s existence, with the latest edition garnering awards recognition and the eighth volume appearing as Undertow’s first 2020 publication.

For years, Kelly has been finding authors in small magazines, online and in print – and while Undertow is a Canadian small-press success story, Kelly isn’t willing to let borders dictate what he’s going to publish. “I have published Canadian authors – Simon Strantzas, and Helen Marshall, and this year I’m publishing Richard Gavin. But I don’t do enough to get grant money, and I sort of want to publish what I want to publish.” Strantzas is a Canadian weird-fiction fixture, and his contribution to Shadows and Tall Trees 8 is definitively weird: “The Somnambulists” is the story of a hotel constructed from collaborative dreams. It’s a fantastical concept anchored by banality – a Ministry hotel inspector is being taken on a tour of the hotel – but even the dullness of the inspector’s official function doesn’t protect him from the creeping atmosphere of the place, and the possibility that his own family may be deeply involved in the dream that he is touring.

In selecting individual stories and collections, Kelly lets excitement guide him, as it did in the case of Kay Chronister, a young American writer whose first collection emerges from Undertow in March.

“Kay published a story I read online in a magazine called Shimmer that’s not around anymore. It was called ‘The Fifth Gable,’ and it knocked me flat. Last year, she had a story appear in Black Static, called ‘Roiling and Without Form.’ So I reached out to her, and asked her if she had any others, and she did.” Chronister’s stories, wide-ranging as they are, often seat horror in patriarchal traps of marriage and domestic expectations, while other elements in the same stories draw on horror mainstays such as witchcraft and or hereditary curses. As with other Undertow books, it’s the prose – in Chronister’s case, rich, descriptive, clean and never-purple prose – that melds horror elements that could work in a Hammer film with thematic content that would be at home in a New Yorker short story.

Kelly’s patience in growing his publishing list from year to year has also helped him wait on authors he particularly wanted. Priya Sharma, a UK-based writer who also works as a doctor, had been publishing stories for almost a decade before Undertow Press put out her first collection, All the Fabulous Beasts. “I was bugging her for years, then I gave up,” Kelly says. “Then, eventually, she emailed me. That book did very well.” Sharma’s collection won both the British Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Award, and the book is Undertow’s best-selling single-author collection.Unable to offer the large advances of a trade publisher, Kelly is also emphatic about leaving all ancillary rights with his authors. “We don’t take any audio rights, film rights – some of these presses grab everything they can.” In an era where industries from podcasts to film are hungry for intellectual property, keeping these rights author-exclusive matters, and Undertow’s books have attracted the interest of scouts from Netflix, among other companies.

“I’ve never put any commercial thinking into the press. I don’t look at a writer and think I want to publish them because they’ll sell a lot of books. I publish books that I want to read.” In addition to Haig, the Undertow team is rounded out by two family members – Courtney Kelly, Michael’s publishing-program graduate daughter, who works on typesetting, interior layout and design, and Carolyn Macdonell-Kelly, Michael’s wife, who takes on proofreading and bookkeeping duties, in addition to joining him in the ever-important sales efforts of the press. Kelly is currently trying to buck the enforced reliance that many small presses have on a particular online behemoth.

“I have to sort of play ball with Amazon, which drives me crazy, but otherwise the books don’t get any distribution. As a small press, I’m sending out stuff to independent bookstores all the time, trying to get them to stock the books … percentage-wise, probably about 70 per cent of my sales are Amazon. I do have quite a few loyal customers – my e-mail list is close to 1,000 – and I have loyal readers who will buy all of my stuff directly.”

Kelly is excited to expand the range of horror subgenres Undertow publishes, moving beyond the subtle, literary weird that they are known for. Kelly describes a forthcoming collection by Steve Topes as “visceral, straight-out horror. Not really what I usually publish, but he does it so well. The writing is so descriptive, I liked it.” And Undertow is contributing to a longstanding horror subgenre with a coming collection of ghost stories from A.C. Wise, a Canadian who lives in the United States. Wise was excited at the chance to have a book with a press she’d long admired. “Simply put, Undertow publishes gorgeous books. When Michael approached me about doing a collection, I jumped at the chance, knowing the care that goes into everything he produces.”

Coinciding with Kelly’s full-time commitment to Undertow is a change in how the press sources its publications: They recently opened to submissions for the first time, and received hundreds of manuscripts. But Kelly’s efforts to move toward publishing novels instead of the short fiction that the press established itself with have not been altogether successful, yet. “We got hundreds of submissions, and only three of them were novels. We’re known for our short-story collections [and our anthologies], so that’s what we got. We were surprised, because we specifically asked for novels and novellas. Three novels, two novellas … and the rest were short-story collections.”

What hasn’t changed is Undertow’s selection process, as Kelly admits. “We ended up taking one novella and three short-story collections. We didn’t like any of the novels … and by ‘we,’ I mean me.”

[gear-project]

I think Robbie is actually a minor character from Guilty Gear Begin. A friend of mine has been working on translating the novel. Apparently he's a polish (?) researcher that was loosely involved with the gear project and had some kind of familial (?) relationship with Vince. I'm not entirely sure on this (Also, Robbie might not be his direct name, you know how it is with accurately transcribing character names from japanese), but this seems to be the most likely case.

Mhhhh... must’ve missed that part.  Yeah that’s pretty obscure.  Thanks for picking up on it and correcting me.

I haven’t fully read through the Spanish translation yet, I just had a rough summary to go on.

SPOILERS TO THE GGBEGIN NOVEL AHEAD, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Okay, as far as I understand things were supposed to go like this:

1. Asuka made a contingency plan in case the U.S. Government or some other group would make an attempt on stealing his Gear Cell Research.

2. He entrusted Frederick with the job of sending that data to Vince MacDonell before the military could get their hands on it.  He also framed Frederick as the “leaker” of that data (stating that the Military group supporting him would need to kill Frederick as a witness).

3. Just after Frederick was successful in “sending” the data he smuggled out of the lab, he was “assassinated” by Asuka with a group of Military Soldiers present, but what they didn’t know was that the Bullet that killed Frederick also contained the Flame of Corruption Seed/Gear Cell information that would transform Frederick’s body in to a Gear.

After the conversion was complete, Frederick woke up in a pool of his own blood.  A good amount of time had passed between when he was “killed” and when he “woke up” again, and he had a case of amnesia as a result.

4. After the “data” from Frederick was sent to Vince, it was intercepted by the CIA who were investigating rogue military elements that had broken off from their organization in order to steal the Gear Cell Research.

In an attempt to investigate what happened, they sent in CIA agent member Viidia.  Viidia tried to find out what happened (disguised as a Scientist) but got locked in one of the labs until Frederick found her.

5. After the Gear Owls incident and the elevator shaft incident, they found the entrance to Section Gamma but it’s flooded and has Gear Crocodiles which force them to retreat back up the stairs just as another explosion in the underground complex occurs.

6. Confirming his suspicions of Viidia, Frederick interrogates her, and she finally confesses the truth about being a CIA agent, but also that Sarge is not a Scientist either, but one of the rogue soldiers that was trying to steal Gear Cell Research.

Out of options, Sarge shoots Dustin Barrie (one of the surviving scientists) and tries to kill Viidia, but Frederick breaks his wrist.

The remaining scientists in the group feel compelled to rely on Sarge as their main method of escaping the facility, but Sarge reveals there isn’t much time left before the Facility is destroyed.  Sarge also reveals that it was Asuka who shot Frederick and was probably the one who turned him in to a monster Gear.

Unable to believe Sarge’s words, Frederick decides to confront Asuka directly.

Later, entering a T-junction near Section Gamma, Sarge set a trap for the surviving Scientists, as he had anticipated another complex explosion and had them caught up in it... using the hole from the blast to escape in to Section Gamma proper.

Frederick and Viidia managed to survive the blast, but give chase after Sarge when he escapes.

7. Frederick and Viidia chased Sarge to the 6th Special Laboratory where they see a lot of dead bodies.  Sarge unleashes a Gear Grizzly Bear from one of the research pods, and its ability to heal rivals Frederick’s.

During the struggle, they try to engage the Bear, but nothing works.  They even tried getting the bear to attack Sarge, but he was wearing a bracelet that allowed him to give orders to the Bear, and so the Bear would never attack him.

Frederick is knocked near a hole in the lab, and Viidia gets an idea to trick the Bear in to falling in to the hole... it works, but only temporarily.  The Bear grows Gear tentacles and pierces Viidia’s chest climbing on the way back up, mortally wounding her.

Before she dies, she makes Frederick promise to do everything he can to stop the military...  finally giving in to his destructive impulses, Frederick chants “Dragon Install” for the first time.

With this power, Frederick is now on equal terms with the Bear.  Witnessing the uncanny fight before him, Sarge grows fearful and runs to the escape ship to get to the surface.

8. Asuka witnesses the battle from within the escape ship, and is now certain Frederick won’t die.  

Sarge confronts Asuka, stating he tried to pull a fast one and turned Frederick in to a Gear, but Asuka doesn’t give a straight answer.  Knowing he still needs the military’s resources to save Aria, Asuka convinces Sarge by speaking to Frederick via a com unit, telling him he wants him “to please die”.

Frederick hears the words from Asuka via the intercom but isn’t convinced, despite having killed the Bear he was just fighting.

Just prior to the ship’s launch phase and escape, Frederick manages to grab on to the edge of the ship’s platform... 

Sarge tries to shoot Frederick but misses, but then Asuka takes Sarge’s gun and points it at Frederick coldly.

Unable to believe what’s happening, Frederick pleads with Asuka to stop.

Asuka, with no other choice to maintain his façade, shoots Frederick squarely in the head.

Frederick falls from the escaping ship and tumbles down the shaft to the bottom, screaming Asuka’s name and demanding why...

The facility explodes and the rubble falls on top of Frederick, burying him alive.

Afterwards, Frederick climbs his way out of the collapsed underground tunnel, swearing revenge on his former best friend.  He escapes the area before rescue sirens come to the area.

Sometime later, Frederick is seen building his Limiter in a run-down shack.

As for Robbie, I can’t confirm if he has any connection with Vince Macdonell or not.  I’d have to look further in to it.  But thanks for pointing this out, nonetheless.

Suffice to say, the CIA and the rest of the American Government froze the project for a time... that is, until the 2040s when they became desperate for a fresh Military Program.

[gear-project]

(3) That Man didn't tell the truth to Sol or that he created Jack-O' to bring back Aria (which could've a great chance in Sol's first ending in Midnight Carnival or going to canon route, in Overture after defeating Valentine) because he's terrified of losing his connection to Sol, preferring to be hated instead? Which I found that he could've spared a lot of trouble if he just told Sol the truth instead of being hated. (4) I got confused that he removed the Flame of Corruption instead of doing

Aria Hale was frozen in Cryostasis from 2016 to 2073 or so… though the exact details of her Medical Condition or state are not entirely made clear until her full-body Gear conversion (which later became the basis for Justice).

Only Asuka was aware of this (though Sarge was also aware of Aria's Cryo-Tube he didn't know who Aria was, though that was the condition Asuka insisted on for collaborating with Sarge in exchange for the Gear Cell Research Data)…

But this too was a ruse from Asuka because he had already planted the data with Frederick who inadvertently forwarded it to the C.I.A. (it was originally meant to be sent to Vince MacDonell their Project Supervisor).

Part of the reason Asuka was unable to reveal the truth to Frederick (now Sol Badguy) all these years was because of the very nature of the Crusades itself…

Justice (via the Universal Will) was the main cause of the disasters that took place throughout that 100 years war… so even telling Sol that it was Aria's fault that the war started would only confuse and anger him further.

Not to mention, to say that Sol inadvertently killed the only woman he ever loved would devastate him.

Even mentioning Valentine's connection with Aria and the Universal Will would also be even more confusing to explain… Asuka just wasn't ready to reveal everything at that time.

Above all else, the threat of the Universal Will was too great, so Asuka had to keep his secret plans for Jack-O' tightly guarded.

Had he leaked that information to Sol too early, it's probably likely that the Conclave and Pope Ariels would have intercepted the information and created a countermeasure for Jack-O'.

Even just the idea that Asuka was still in contact with I-No and The "Original Sage" (who was really Happy Chaos posing as his former self at this time) meant that both were potential "leaks" of Asuka's information, and a great risk.

As for what happened to the Flame of Corruption seed that Asuka removed from Frederick... that is still unknown.

[gear-project]

Just to confirm.

There is no “Robby” or “Robbie” character in GG Begin, not sure where that one came from, but @nincopyjasb helped confirm it.  No such character in the novel.

Only the following:

Frederick Bulsara Asuka R. Kreutz Aria Hale Vince MacDonell Viidia Sarge Dustin Barrie

[gear-project]

Did Sol know anything about Asuka's connection to the Sage prior to his conversion into a Gear?

As of Guilty Gear Begin’s novel, Frederick was actually excluded from much of the research that took place.  When talking to Viidia about it, Frederick refers to himself as an “outside contractor” employee.

And while he did know a few of the staff besides Asuka and Aria (like Vince MacDonell who was the head of research, above Asuka), Vince himself was more like Asuka’s observing superior, as he had no immediate connections with the Original Sage/Chronus like Asuka did.

It also seems that Dustin Barrie (a visiting scientist) came to see the results of Asuka’s research and knew a bit more about it, but ended up getting caught in the incident along with the others... rather, he seems to take a suspicious interest in Frederick’s body, after it’s discovered Frederick can heal from near-fatal wounds (Frederick was already a Gear by that point, but nobody knew this).

Sigh, don’t remind me that I need to finish Chapter 3... I’ll get to it eventually.

[gear-project]

Sub Characters of GG (that could appear in Strive)

*Takes a deep breath, prepares to sing* There's:

Izuna, Paradigm (Dr.), Original Valentine, then Johnny (sans crew) Ariels, Delilah, Bernard (the Butler), Marina, Solaria too! Then Bridget, his brother, Dizzy (the mother), best friend April and then, Testamant, Kum Haehyun, Whitefang's Sister, Leap (the cook), and Kliff Undersn (R.I.P.), Janis, Febby (of course), King Salteria Calroni, March, and (yes) Bedman! And don't forget Geena, Tyr, or Mizuha, Gabriel, Judgement, and Gig!

Leopaldon, then Zakos (from Boost Mode Isuka), perhaps Robo-Ky rebuilt! Mark II (Substance), Robotemkin perhaps, and maybe even Robo-Jam still! The monsters from Isene, the Tribes from Overture, Servants, and Minions, indeed! Anji Mito, Baiken, Answer, June, July, Augus, and Sephy! Then I-No, Viidia, Sarge, Dustin, Aria, and Frederick from GG Begin! Raven, and "That Man", Elphelt, The Original (Sage), Zappa, and (of course) Sin!

There's Chronus, and Axus, and Bardias, not to mention Libraria! Venom's Assassin Group, 2Cave, Venom (himself too!), and then that Fanboy of Millia's! A.B.A., Paracelsus (actually Flament Nagel), and Crow Kuruwaba, Leon Mining, the rest of the Bureau, Marco, Byon, and then Alissa, Alexis, Ellsworth, Anders, Trey, Randy, blink and you'll miss them!

There's Slayer and Sharon, Octy and Novel, then Dizzy's old friend Josephine! Mogul Sheevus, that Alien in Faust's space, Panonika, Axl's girl Megumi! The Knights of Illyria, Zepp's Empire of Airships, Babylon and Japan's populace are gone! Order Sol (in his timespace), Happy Chaos (a secret in her case), moving on!

There's Former President Erica Bartholomew, and current President Colin Vernon! Of course there's Roger, Fanny, Tsuyoshi, Chimaki, Neo, Ian, and Belpha! There's Raou, the Triplets, Razorblade, Doggie, Volf, Tsuyoshi all deceased! Kate Walther, Jeremiah Antonio, Kadooki, Venus, Hapinus, and Vince (MacDonell)! Gottfried "The Whirlwind", Lucifero, S-Ko (Sadako), Unchou, Jam Kuradoberi, THAT'S IT!

*passes out*

[gear-project]

Assuming that Asuka R Kreutz isn't just another of his alias and if we take the mixture of German and Japanese in his name into account, could that indicate that That Man might actually be part-Japanese?

It’s still very vague, to be honest.

Asuka was a Scientist working under Vince MacDonell in America who was overseeing the Ecosystem Evolution Project, though the origin of that project itself stems from the Seeds that Asuka inherited from his master and predecessor the Original Sage, or just “The Original” as some refer to him.

“That Man” and “The Original Man”... extremely vague and extremely mysterious, so I can’t really tell you much beyond those.

Based on what has been revealed though, Frederick was working with Asuka and Aria all over the United States and possibly other regions in their research in various fields trying to ascertain the “Science” behind Magic.

Frederick’s focus was Magic Particle Physics.

Aria’s focus was researching Artificial Intelligence (in relation to what the Universal Will actually was, an artificial Backyard life-form).

And Asuka’s research focus was Genetic Bioinformatics... which is an interdisciplinary field for creating hardware/software tools for studying biological data.

You also had Chronus (Asuka’s rival) who went on to lead the Conclave/Postwar Administration Bureau who was also a follower of the Original Sage, but in his case, rather than research Magic, he regulated and limited Humanity’s knowledge of it, along with the other Conclave members.

Regardless, Asuka seems to have been travelling to many places around the world prior to the beginning of his research with Gear Cells, if Frederick’s past matches his own.

It’s possible Asuka’s Japanese, but most likely he was an American resident or citizen when things happened in 2074.  I wouldn’t assume anything yet, however.

[gear-project]

Guilty Gear Begin Prologue

GUILTY GEAR BEGIN: DAISUKE ISHIWATARI KAZUYA NEGISHI

Original Planning/Supervision/Illustration  by Daisuke Ishiwatari (ARC System Works)

Author: Kazuya Negishi

Translation: Gear-Project ("Mimeblade"/"Blade Galewind" of Dustloop Forums) Raws: TooManyMetaphors/Gear-Project/TheAdviceTroll

CONTENTS:

PROLOGUE CHAPTER 1: "INCIDENT" CHAPTER 2: "ENCOUNTER" CHAPTER 3: "HOPE" CHAPTER 4: "SUSPICION" CHAPTER 5: "AWAKENING" CHAPTER 6: "BEWARE" EPILOGUE AFTERWARD

------------------- PROLOGUE -------------------

Frederick Bulsara was lying down.

Black puffs of hair sticking every which way, no consideration for whether it was sticky or dirty, leaning back on the turf in amusement of the blue sky, watching the clouds flow by overhead.

One of the world's leading countries in the modern era: An American-made next-generation medical research institute built on the outskirts of unique suburbia, where one could see such beautiful sky...

Instead of working out of a basement Laboratory, Frederick is here, working on his sunburn.

Paradoxically, some of the staff certainly might be able to continue working in an underground basement research lab, but for health-minded scientists like Frederick, sometimes it is necessary to take a break.

["Ah, it's midday right now.  You can't tell when you're in the lab."] A voice said abruptly, Frederick raised his chin while lying down, looking skyward towards the voice.

Aria Hale: He pathologically knows the top of her slender head, a colleague working for this laboratory.  But beyond that, an irreplaceable lover to Frederick.

This Aria looks in Frederick's face with her hair in a short bowl cut.

["Did something boil over again?"]

["It's more productive to take in fresh air outside than groan in front of a desk?  We're Humans, not Mosquitos, Humans need Sunshine to function!”]

["And I'm obediently taking my prescribed 'breaths'."]

Aria's deliberate smile withered as she sits down next to Frederick.  It seemed she had gotten a little thinner.

["So, did anything bright and flashy happen?"]

["I just came back to the lab!"]

Frederick raised his upper body, sitting on the grass alongside Aria.

He seemed... exhausted.  Even though he was usually morbid, his face looked worse than usual.

Frederick asked, ["...Is everything all right over there?"]

["Yep. Asuka seems to be handing all the difficult experiments."]

["That's not what I wanna hear. I'm worried about your---"]

He knew about her body.

Frederick stopped resting and started to get up.

TP infection.  Aria was infected by an incurable illness that left her with scarcely any time left.

He had proposed putting her in cryogenic sleep until a treatment method could be found, but Aria rejected it.

"Ecological System Reinforcement Project", one of the main plans being advanced at this Next-Generation Medical Research Institute.

Knowingly, if research on the "GEAR cells" which is the basis of the "GEAR Project" is up to commercial distribution for the Human body, this meant a future for Aria...

To that extent, Frederick's feelings still burned for Hope.

However, that story had already been settled.  (Gear Cells) are not something that can die.

By respecting her decision and intent to spend her remaining time left with him, his feelings were smoldering.

["Don't look so desperate. I know exactly what you meant.  For now, it's alright."] As if reading the tension in the air, Aria's smile appeared once more.

["Is that so?  Then...”]

["Oh, but there is something that ISN'T just a big deal..."] As she kicked away the heavy air with her light tone of voice, Aria lowered her head to Frederick's lap.

The so-called 'Lap Pillow'.

Aria looked up at Frederick's face and stretched her hand to his shoulder, ["...Time spent with YOUR Lover!"]

To that faint, fragile smile, Frederick slowly closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

["...I see.  By playing around so much, you'll most certainly recover."]

["Aw, I'll do it soon.  Don't you want to be healed by your Lover?"]

["No, there's nothing wrong with that, but..."] Frederick caressed Aria's head and stroked it three times, but did not immerse himself in the air of his Lover, instead looking away.

["Your boss... That 'Modern American Dream' fellow is walking towards us, you know?"]

A staff member wearing non-civilian researcher clothes heads towards Frederick, along with a strange face with hair that hid his eyes.

Asuka R. Kreutz.

Although technically with a different research team, he had been studying Gear Cells together with Frederick for quite some time, and was known above and beyond the most distinguished researchers in the United States for his achievements.

But at the same time, this man also came for Frederick's precious lover, Aria.

["Aria, did you perhaps skip out on your work?"]

["How rude! I worked my shift PRO-PER-LY~!"] Aria sharpened her tone with dissatisfaction.

However, she was still in the same research team, and raised her head begrudgingly from her 'Knee Pillow' with a sigh, as if that was all she used Frederick for.

["Oh, sorry! Was I intruding?"] He looked at the situation, regretting having come.

Like Aria and Frederick, he also looked a bit haggard.

["If you think so, can't you wait a little more?"]

["Unfortunately I can't do that, as it's been quite some time since the three of us gathered together."]

When it came time to establish a research division on Gear Cells, these three students were chosen for the study, under the supervision and guidance of Professor Vince MacDonell.  As such, opportunities for them to live and work separately proved difficult.

While Aria and Asuka worked together, Frederick had actually transferred to another team, so it felt nostalgic even just to meet again for the first time in such a short time.

["Asuka, aren't you also skipping work?"]

["If that was the case, it'd be comforting a little, but... I wanted to get Frederick's opinion on something, but because he was not at his lab station, I thought I'd find him out here."]

Frederick and Aria who just then had a similar exchange with each other looked back at one another and smiled bitterly.  Asuka tilted his head curiously.

["...Did I say something?"]

["No, never mind that.  So, what did you need?"] Frederick responded and asked.

Research results were always reported to the Laboratory's Server.

Really, there was no reason for the Project Chief of the entire "Gear Project" to be asking about things directly.

["I wanted your opinion about the branched alteration of 'Varga Hectasin'."]

One ingredient contained in Gear Cells, a self-replicating essential amino acid "Varga Hectasin".

It is part of the research assigned to Frederick to handle and observe degeneration and branches in order to process cell informatics.  However, since it had all boiled down, Frederick was relaxing.

["The latest report said that the stagnation of alteration had been confirmed under certain conditions, but the description of that particular condition was pretty ambiguous."]

["I see, but I am struggling with tissue growth rejection when reproducing that specific condition.  Well, I know 60 percent of the reason, but..."]

["I want to hear the content of that 60 percent."]

["It's Human Error."]

[".......Frederick."]

["So I'm self-reliant and didn't give you a prompt answer..."]

Asuka and Aria looked together in shock, but, Frederick suddenly rang out: ["...Just kidding.  Anyway, it's still in the process of reproduction.  It's nothing more than a report, thanks to personal research while we wait for the experimental results."]

["But if the stagnation of the altered branch of 'Varga Hectasin' is arduous, if it was an element that could be reproduced, for example, a suppression effect....."]

It meant that there was potential for an accident to happen within the Gear Cell itself.

Frederick knew all too well the grave importance of this research.

["At the present moment, the condition confirmation of stagnated alteration has become considerably complicated... I cannot reproduce it easily."]  Frederick raised his arms, yawned and slowly rose, looking at the tired faces of his peers... who looked distracted while stirring.

["Like we haven't done enough research on that?"]

["Separately, that is..."]

Asuka in frustration puts his hand on his forehead, ["No, well... That's not a good situation."]

Frederick had been separated from the team, and didn't know their current frustrations.  However it was certain that his incoming answer would be vague and unclear as usual.

["While there's only so much we can do while staying confidential... Don't push yourself too hard.  It's okay if you want to come by any time for advice though."]

["Thank you, Frederick... I'll do that later."]

["That's right... If it's Frederick..."] Aria had a somewhat inconsolable expression on her face.

That look on her face as she stared at the ground, remained one of Frederick's worst memories.

[gear-project]

So, is this Guilty Gear Begins novel actually going to become a series? And is that Slayer in front of the rabid headband-less Sol or is that Frederick? BTW, it is good to see Sol in his partial Gear state without his headband again(like GG1 and the manga). I always preferred that look.

People keep thinking that’s Slayer, but it‘s Frederick…. yare yare.

Just to throw this out there, these events take place in 2016 during the “accident“ that caused Frederick to escape the lab all those years ago.

It’s obvious that Frederick eventually “becomes“ Sol Badguy, but those events haven‘t been told in exacting detail yet, or the reason “why“ he escaped.

Knowing Frederick as I think I do, he would have little reason to leave when Aria was involved with the Gear Cells, and I think if he’d had time to hear Asuka‘s explanation for why he turned Aria and Frederick in to Gears… all the more reason not to get separated.

Nope…I believe SOMETHING HAPPENED that caused things to go horribly wrong, which explains why Frederick is wielding an Axe that you’d typically only use during an Emergency Fire drill.

Remember the conversation Frederick had with Asuka?  About what would happen if the Government tried to steal Asuka’s research and apply it to Military use?  I think something BIG went down!  Frederick just got caught in the thick of it.

It would certainly explain why all of Asuka’s research information disappeared or was heavily classified for many years.

Anyway, the primary setting for this is in America in 2016, so there’s a lot going on here that we don‘t know much about.

The Gear Project was restarted years later in the 2040s, so keep that in mind.

Maybe we’ll learn more about a certain Vince MacDonell as well!

We might even get to learn more about the Gear Cell Inhibitor Sol built as well!

[gear-project]

Speaking of Vince Macdonell, is there a chance that he also may have survived the years using magic to extend his lifespan?

Who knows?  About all I can say is that there was a "Schism" between members of the Conclave (Chronus) and the Scientific Groups of the Sanctus Populi (Asuka and Co) over what to do about the Universal Will after 1999.

At the time, various governments and organisations were champing at the bit to obtain concrete "Magic Technology" they could safely implement and profit from.  That's why the Gear Project was financially backed by the U.S. Government.  There was lots of money and discoveries to be had, and hardly anyone thought about the potential consequences.

It was primarily the Conclave's Philosophers who owned a tight Monopoly on Magic that caused that Research "Gold-Rush".

Frederick later said that he himself was partly to blame for that research, as he wanted a piece for himself (though his research in Particle Physics became the perfected OutRage and Saint Oratorio projects, potentially as destructive as any Gear).

The crux of this all stems with the "Original Man", the Philosopher who discovered the Backyard, created the Merciless Apocalypse, and founded the research in to both the Conclave's and Asuka's works.

Vince was just one Scientist of many who were blinded by the benefits over the risks of their research.  Aria is just as guilty of this as well.

[gear-project]

Was Asuka's Library Mode information updated in Rev 2? I still haven't updated my copy and was just curious.

To an extent, but there's not much added that we don't already know.

Interesting to note that "Asuka R. Kreutz" was the name he introduced himself to Frederick and Aria as when meeting them back in University.

The GG World Codex "implies" that this name TOO could very well be an alias, though that could just be yet another red herring.

Still, his Ecosystem Evolution Project would not be what it is today without Director/Instruct Vince MacDonell, who supervised the Gear Project and helped prove his Theory, not to mention Frederick and Aria's contributions to the Project.

For further reading:

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/tagged/That-Man

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/tagged/Asuka-R.-Kreutz

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/tagged/Ecosystem-Evolution-Project

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/tagged/Mass-Information-Seed

[gear-project]

Can you tell me more about Aria ? . I know that you once said she didnt have a family before . What could it mean ? Now Jack-O is gone , what kind of role do you think the new Aria will play in Rev 2 ?

In context, here is what I wrote of her personality and background:

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/post/118885904044/what-kind-of-character-is-aria-like-personality

Like Frederick and Asuka, Aria was a survivor of the 1999 Dawn of Revival:

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/post/116310861014/do-you-think-that-sols-stark-realist-perception

A lot of people lost their families in the aftermath of the Merciless Apocalypse (Universal Will).

It took a lot of grand efforts to rebuild society after so many unnatural disasters hit, in addition to the loss of technology.

It was as if Nature itself became Mankind’s enemy, and betrayed them.

Like Frederick, Aria wanted to save people’s lives and make a stand against this unknown enemy.

Delving in to Scientific research and Artificial Intelligence was Aria'a way of trying to understand what happened.

It was men like Asuka R. Kreutz and Vince MacDonell who gave Aria an opportunity to make a difference.

But, as Aria was faced with her own Mortality, she found her priorities were changing, and she found herself very lonely outside her relationship with Frederick.

She didn’t want to feel that loneliness, but she also didn’t want Frederick to be alone… a paradoxical emotion.

Her unreasonable stubborn streak certainly might be the root of the problem, but was it really?

Like everyone else she worked with, she too had selfish desires and dreams.

And yet Mankind was being punished for having such Dreams, over and over, and over again.

Those selfish dreams have once again reached out towards Godhood, a role that Aria “chose” if only to be with her ‘god’ called “Frederick”.

Will Aria be able to carry the burden of being yet another “Guilty” Gear like Sol Badguy?  Will she embrace the sins her selfish desires called “Justice” wrought?

And what of the Scales of Juno?  Aria chose to embrace a very lonely Fate if it meant she could “Meet” Frederick “Again”.  What sort of Fate is 'Eve’ bound to see?  And is she a 'god’ in her own right?

But even gods have enemies and Greedy Humans who continually pursue them, like the Gears before them.

Will these 'gods’ be faced with a 'twilight’ called Ragnarok (war)?

Only the SECOND REVELATOR can tell us!