Shifti - User contributions [en]

Category talk:Story

2023-01-11T16:57:19Z

Proginoskes:

It would be a big help if stories were listed by author as well as title.

: Doing both in a single page isn't possible in the [[:Category:Story|Stories]] page. However, to make this happen it is suggested to add a category tag, like [[Category:ShadowWolf]] to the story (where my name is replaced with the authors) so that there is a separate category per author. To make this work well, however, authors will have to add the same tag to the [[:Category:Author|Authors]] page. (This has already been done for all existing "Author" categories). [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 17:36, 21 July 2007 (EDT)

I recommend a filter for most recent stories
[[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]] 14:52, 20 December 2022 (EST)

: Doing that with categories involves either manual administration or programming a bot, but what is immediately available is the [[Special:RecentChanges]] page.
:--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 10:57, 11 January 2023 (CST)

User:Proginoskes

2019-04-17T01:24:26Z

Proginoskes: /* Stories Elsewhere on the Web */ Capitalisation fix. Not sure how that happened.

Proginoskes is a fan of lots of random stuff, and harbors a ''strong dislike'' for Microsoft's Assira anti-bot system. He (''usually'' "he", but in RP environments possibly "she", "shi", or occasionally "[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs#Pronouns|ey]]") isn't much of an author, but provides a variety of constructive criticism services whenever asked (and occasionally ''without'' being asked).

==Areas of Interest==
Broken into subcategories, this list is representative, not exhaustive:
===Here on Shifti===
*[[:Category:FreeRIDErs|FreeRIDErs]] is all-around awesome. The creative synergy between [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]], [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]], and [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] is something I've not often seen the like. The only example that comes to mind is the Big Three of [http://www.eyrie.net/ Eyrie Productions]: Ben "Gryphon" Huchins, "ReRob" Mandeville, and MegaZone (who denies ever having had a normal name).
*[[:Category:Xanadu|Xanadu]] has huge potential, much of it unplumbed. There are vast depths lurking in the background, giving extra weight to the stories while remaining extremely mysterious. Reading and contemplating Xanadu gives me a feeling like looking into abyssal depths... and seeing something moving.
*[[User:Michael Bard|Michael Bard]]'s work in general. It is a great shame that we will not see more of it.

===Stories Elsewhere on the Web===
*[http://www.eyrie.net/UF/ Undocumented Features], a ''massive'' body of work kicked off by the aforementioned Gryphon, ReRob, and MegaZone. A sprawling fanfiction world with elements from pretty much every Sci-Fi work ever published, broadcast, or shown in theatres, plus a pile of high fantasy, plus some comic-book superheroes (who don't really fit in either category).
**Incidentally, [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] used to write for UF, and I still want more details about Katie Tanner's mysterious powers over electronics (which she demonstrated at the end of [http://www.eyrie-productions.com/UF/FI/tuatc-3.txt The Universe According to Chris, Part III]).
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/dwmain.shtml Drunkard's Walk] by Robert M. Schroeck, a fanfiction series following Colonel Douglas Sangnoir, code-name "Looney Toons", of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force Warriors Alpha, as he tries to get to his home world after being flung out into the broader multiverse by enemy action.
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=12 Fenspace], a shared setting with the core device of "Handwavium", a miraculous substance that transforms all it touches. Created and run on the Drunkard's Walk forums, it also has [http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Main_Page a wiki]. The Fenspace Collective recently decided to stop using the wiki for stories, switching to an [http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fenspace AO3 collection].

===General Bits and Bobs===
*[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs|Nonslarkish Flutzpahs]], that is, nonstandard words and grammar constructs intended to be used with the English language.
*Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. If I occasionally seem obsessed with accuracy and precision, it's because I hold them in high regard.
*Computers in general. These machines are miraculous, that's really all I can say.

User:Proginoskes

2019-04-17T01:22:58Z

Proginoskes: /* Stories Elsewhere on the Web */ Drunkard's Walk forums are now self-hosted by Bob Shroeck, since Tapatalk (which deserves its nickname "Crapatalk") bought Yuku.

Proginoskes is a fan of lots of random stuff, and harbors a ''strong dislike'' for Microsoft's Assira anti-bot system. He (''usually'' "he", but in RP environments possibly "she", "shi", or occasionally "[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs#Pronouns|ey]]") isn't much of an author, but provides a variety of constructive criticism services whenever asked (and occasionally ''without'' being asked).

==Areas of Interest==
Broken into subcategories, this list is representative, not exhaustive:
===Here on Shifti===
*[[:Category:FreeRIDErs|FreeRIDErs]] is all-around awesome. The creative synergy between [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]], [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]], and [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] is something I've not often seen the like. The only example that comes to mind is the Big Three of [http://www.eyrie.net/ Eyrie Productions]: Ben "Gryphon" Huchins, "ReRob" Mandeville, and MegaZone (who denies ever having had a normal name).
*[[:Category:Xanadu|Xanadu]] has huge potential, much of it unplumbed. There are vast depths lurking in the background, giving extra weight to the stories while remaining extremely mysterious. Reading and contemplating Xanadu gives me a feeling like looking into abyssal depths... and seeing something moving.
*[[User:Michael Bard|Michael Bard]]'s work in general. It is a great shame that we will not see more of it.

===Stories Elsewhere on the Web===
*[http://www.eyrie.net/UF/ Undocumented Features], a ''massive'' body of work kicked off by the aforementioned Gryphon, ReRob, and MegaZone. A sprawling fanfiction world with elements from pretty much every Sci-Fi work ever published, broadcast, or shown in theatres, plus a pile of high fantasy, plus some comic-book superheroes (who don't really fit in either category).
**Incidentally, [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] used to write for UF, and I still want more details about Katie Tanner's mysterious powers over electronics (which she demonstrated at the end of [http://www.eyrie-productions.com/UF/FI/tuatc-3.txt The Universe According to Chris, Part III]).
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/dwmain.shtml Drunkard's Walk] by Robert M. Schroeck, a fanfiction series following Colonel Douglas Sangnoir, code-name "Looney Toons", of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force Warriors Alpha, as he tries to get to his home world after being flung out into the broader multiverse by enemy action.
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=12 Fenspace], a shared setting with the core device of "Handwavium", a miraculous substance that transforms all it touches. created and run on the Drunkard's Walk forums, it also has [http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Main_Page a wiki]. The Fenspace Collective recently decided to stop using the wiki for stories, switching to an [http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fenspace AO3 collection].

===General Bits and Bobs===
*[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs|Nonslarkish Flutzpahs]], that is, nonstandard words and grammar constructs intended to be used with the English language.
*Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. If I occasionally seem obsessed with accuracy and precision, it's because I hold them in high regard.
*Computers in general. These machines are miraculous, that's really all I can say.

Talk:Paradise (Setting)

2019-04-07T03:29:35Z

Proginoskes: /* Jon Buck and the Future of Paradise */ Reply

It's an interesting setting, what I've read so far, and I've got an idea or two percolating that may or may not come to fruition. A seed is trying to sprout for an idea starting in '05 and going forward. - [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 19:50, 10 January 2008

---

After the 2011 crash, the setting lost the most newer storys and the enrichment data inside their related Talk_Pages.
Maybe we can get back these with this -> [http://www.archive.org/web/web.php Internet Wayback Machine] in the far-far future (when the data gets very very old, its then available there).

If the "Paradise_(Setting)" page it´s like an array that canalize the flow of "hot ideas" through it´s "insulated tube-rules" (preventing the "leaking and cooling" of the new storys in their necesary "plot-curves" and "bottlenecks-dramas"). . .
Then the "Talk:Paradise_(Setting)" page it´s like the Virtual Remote Control Panel for that powergrid. When a new "hot idea" pop up in the wrong place or it´s going the wrong direction, a colision alarm sound here!.
The "already resolved discussions" divert automatically the issue, and for the real original new ones, at last offer a series of nearby "exhaust valves" designed for the protection of the "global setting" system.
:--[[User:Argamis|Argamis]] 21:01, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

== Theory on how the Change 'spreads' ==

Been thinking about how it might spread, such that we have a higher proportion of Changed in NA, but not leaving the rest of the world out, and I think I know how.

The 'computer virus' that Changes people, uses the RDF to spread itself. Our 'program's' own protection method is also spreading the damages.

Basically, I am guessing that if the RDF needs to kick in on you, then you are passively 'infected'.

Then, when August 17th comes around, the Virus triggers itself, but it for whatever reason can only copy itself for every previously Changed person. (The Doubling effect), and it can only affect people that have been passively infected, ie people who have had the RDF kick in on them.

The goal of the virus is to spread as far as it can, so it takes the number of new Changed it can, and spreads it more or less evenly across the available (RDF-affected) population.

So the first Changed is in Chicago (I think). Through the year until the next Change, she will encounter thousands of people, even in passing, which triggers the RDF on them and passively infects them.

Come August, 1988, the next Changed will be picked randomly from those thousands of people, and now we'll have 2 people spreading the RDF virus. 1989, a big chunk of Chicago has probably had the RDF trigger at least once, not to mention some tourists and other visitors to the city.

In 89, we get 2 more Changed, and one of them could possibly be in a different random city, just because he'd been to Chicago in the past 2 years and unknowingly seen a Changed, and a new nest of RDF-field affected people starts up.

European and Asian and Oceanic outbreaks could happen in years to come as the number of tourists and business people from those reasons travel into North America and begin to be fielded and infected themselves.

The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City probably 'infected' most of the people who were around and watching, meaning that by then (if not before) pretty much anyone has a chance to be Changed.

It also means that truly isolated areas of the world (South Pacific islands, isolated Amazonian tribes, etc) could potentially be unchanged after the 2020 deadline; but any encounter at all with a Changed would likely Change them immediately and spread like wildfire through the village)

And while the RDF may 'fail' at some point, it'll probably still be around in a less effective form, trying to maintain some stability and spreading the Change. --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]]
:I'll give that some thought. It's somewhat similar to something I already had in mind. Perhaps those who have the RDF fail completely will be much more likely to change the next year, or they might even change out-of-phase. In any case, once they figure out that it's like a communicable disease, and everyone is already 'infected', the remaining humans will go nuts. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 12:35, 27 January 2008 (EST)

The spread and the exact reason for the "double" number each year, is as if the virus had only one chance per year to run it´s replication part code. (And someone sugest the use of "infected flags" for the furry virus to later identify the already changed).

The fractal-but-random nature of the spread means the Virus need the furrys alive for it´s reproduction, but not proximity at all (probably because the "computronium cloud" it´s an 11-dimension construct); so when the change secuence start, it´s because a "superior computational request" (diferent from the virus itself) has the need to do something to all the humans in the world, but not something that change all of them in a masive, blind generic "*.*" way.

If the detection of a emergent post-human-like inteligence is the reason of the "simulation", then it´s logical for the "server" to execute some "checking subrutine" regulary (once per year) on the most inteligent elements; stoping the propagation of uber-mutated-code things that come from outside the simulation.
If the server detects something "wrong" in a human, then It will try to correct any mistakes wihout killing him/her. --[[User:Argamis|Argamis]] 00:54, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

I had my theory of how it works the spread:
Every time one furry see/hear another furry (under the efect of the RDF) the Virus of both exchange <IP-person> links of eachother and save this in the "already changed" Virus Flag.
When a non-infected human see/hear a furry, the Virus try to do some "minor modifications" on the human through the RDF, and then set a "infected" Virus flag on his/her data.

When the server "anual check" detect a human with an "infected" Virus flag, thinks that some very critical "code" is missing in that human, and found a message like: "there is a copy of the same code here: <IP-(furry)person>" (this message and the "missing part" of the code, were the "minor modifications" made by the RDF-Interactive-Section of the Furry Virus).
{The TG Virus do not had this "tricky message" in it´s code, and has to wait the ocurrence of an eventual "copy&paste" for his activation/reproduction (this explain the few hundred human affected for this in thousands of years...), then the relationship between the TG Virus and the Furry Virus is a parasite one (or maybe mutualism, we do not know for sure).}

The server now go to the IP-furry_person and check him/her (see more below), then copy the complete code of the Virus and paste-it in the middle of the code of the "infected" human (because has more elevated access privileges, the "server" can write directly on the most "critical" and "active" part of the code of the infected human, the Virus itself can´t do that); then his/her body it´s "corrected" with the furry data "carried" by the living furry that infected his/her previusly.
The Server set a "xxxx check: DONE" server flag in the new furry (xxxx is the year).
The Virus check the flags, change the "infected" to "already changed" on the newbie furry, and modify his <IP_person> to a higher number (this way every year the server check only the humans and the "infected" humans first).

When the server check a furry, (without the "xxxx check: DONE" of that year) see the "already changed" flag like a "minor" error code, then try to restore his/her original (human) form; but the Virus uses the list of <IP-furry> links, and copy&paste the same Virus code again and again from multiple sources... {this is only posible between furry<->furry , the read&write its not restricted between active "brother" Viruses. In fact some "real virus" an P2P users works like this ^_^)
The server left the furry "minor" code intact, but set "xxxx check: FAIL" flag on him/her and go for the next...
Every time one infected human goes furry, the "check" on the previus furry Virus "carrier" blocks any posibility of ANOTHER human infected (by the same "carrier") goes to furry that year.

This way, every year the contact between every group of furries<->humans AND furries<->furries it´s equal in importance (for the expansion of the Virus) as it was the previusly year, the IP-furry-links only can double the efective total number of furry if already exist some conection between all of they (pasive in great citys, active search&contact in more remote regions). --[[User:Argamis|Argamis]] 00:54, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

== Change and disabilities? ==

I keep forgetting to bring this up on IRC, but how do people (as in writers and other interested people in this setting) think disabilities would be affected by the change? Both Mental and Physical?

Would a paraplegic who lost his legs in an accident regrow them if he changed? Would he regain the use of them if they weren't lost but just disabled? (back injury)? What about false teeth, deafness, blindness, etc?

What if the cause was not from a physical accident, but was viral or bacterial in nature? Some disease struck them blind? Would they stay blind?

And what if the disabilities were genetic? Would those genetic flaws still show in the new form?

Finally, what about mental disabilities? Could the Change 'cure' Alzheimer's? Would it affect someone who is literally a brain dead vegetable on life support?

If it does have curative properties, I suspect we'll start seeing more and more miracle cures (assuming they can survive the flu) in the years to come. Which may imply that there'll be a push in the early to mid 2010's to just keep someone alive as long as possible in the home they Change and are cured/fixed.

Thoughts?

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 11:00, 4 February 2008 (EST)

:I think there are good arguments to be made for some healing properties of the Change, but I wouldn't make it go all out. A person missing a limb should still be missing a limb after the change (I have in mind a scene with a one-armed pianist who goes monkey and starts playing with his feet).

:When it comes to things like Alzheimer's, that is a much more difficult choice. I don't see mental retardation being suddenly healed by the Change, as that is a birth defect (and such things happen in animals too). But progressive diseases may backtrack, even if the conditions begin to return over time. That could make an even more painful story, somebody suffering from Alzheimer's, who Changes and now recognizes all his family again. But after a year or so everything starts to slip away again...

:Anyway, the whole keeping folks alive and hoping for a Change could make a good dynamic too. I just think there's a lot fo possibilities to consider before we make a decision on this. --[[User:MatthiasRat|MatthiasRat]] 12:24, 4 February 2008 (EST)
::I'm inclined to do as Matthias suggests. It's more or less what I had in mind. However, one of the things that the Change does is it puts everyone in very good health. Even being a 300 pound female bear, CM is in very good shape. It will cure some ailments, and put chronic diseases into remission. Those developments will confuse the medical community enough without regrowing limbs or curing Down's Syndrome. But if you've read the latest Tall Tales, ROB is being forced to act more openly. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 15:40, 4 February 2008 (EST)

:What happens to medical devices like heart pacemakers or hip replacements that were implanted in people before they changed? --[[User:JeniSkunk|Jenifur Charne]] 20:45, 10 February 2008 (EST)

::That's basically an open-ended question. I'm going to leave the answer to that one unsaid because I think it'd be a good Plot Point in a story. A furry episode of ''House'' maybe? --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 22:45, 10 February 2008 (EST)

::Late into the discussion, but better late than never. : ) Anyway, what about things like fillings and caps on teeth? Going to a dentist would be interesting. Going another step, outside medical devices wouldn't fit anymore and would bring up some unique delimas. What about people with prosthetics? If someone turns into a bear, I'm sure their leg isn't going to fit anymore, yet Unknown will wonder why they make such a claim all of a sudden. Lots of places to go with these stories. [[User:Tinbender|Tinbender]] 21:24, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

Hey, not really sure on any of the points raised, have to give it some thought. One thing to consider though is can anthro's act as a bridge to humans for viruses that currently only affect animals?--[[User:Devin|Devin]] 23:35, 10 February 2008 (EST)

== A mortal analysis of Paradise ==

Lets me see if I get some of the details right.

There is a post-singularity Uber-computer, that when projected into 3-space, has the same consistency as humanity's combined thumbnail and happens to be running a simulation of the events leading up to its own creation. Secondly, it gets infected by a super-bug/virus that makes borg nano-probes look overly large and cumbersome. Said post-singularity, sentient, ROB-type entity/ virus changes some lines of code (if such things can be referred to as such) in reference to the people in the simulation, in and around the vicinity of Chicago (maybe the super-bug's designers had way-distant ancestors from there, or whose ancestors had a grudge against the place). The Uber-comp, in a flash of inspiration counters with the 'firewall-from-not-heck', or RDF as we understand it. The ROB is still successful with its dastardly and despicable plan to make the simulated history end differently.

That I get as far as it can be understood by a three-dimensional entity not particularly versed in post-singularity, multi-dimensional physics and computational theory.

The RDF, The Veil, The "Really-Annoying-Mess-Up-Everyones-Lives" Field, appears to start collapsing or 'twisting' in several personal accounts. In fact, it would seem that there are certain individuals who have appeared to figure out means of 'gazing-past' the gaps in said previously mentioned field even though they do not have one of their own. Yes it has been theorized that they will soon fall victim to the ROB, however, consider that all of this is in one sense mere coding (albeit it happens to be far more complex than that), and that said people are taking advantage of 'bugs' in the code. How many bugs are there? Is it possible for someone (probably a changed, or mad scientist) to 'tune' or 'tinker' with the field, probably no more than tweaks to appearance or color? I know the Primary Engineer Of This Work has stated that there are no 'powers', but then again, this is all just code, and hackers can sometimes be just mortal.

Just a thought or two. I should probably stop this monologue before a super spy shows up.
~midon~

:You're pretty close overall, though the simulation doesn't necessarily have to be of the ROB's own creation. Human Earth could be something It came up with all by Itself. Another book that's similar to what I've come up with here is ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwinia_(novel) Darwinia]''. Someone suggested that the best thing for the ROB to do is to restore from backup. The thing is, these are still people. ROB doesn't have a moral problem with allowing them to die within the sim, but will act to protect both itself and its people from an outside threat. Hence the RDF and other measures.--[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 17:46, 4 February 2008 (EST)

== Thinking far future... ==

First, to make it VERY clear, I am NOT thinking of any stories or anything set in the 2020 period yet. I've just been thinking of how the world may be like by then, as the last half are about to change.

I suspect there would be a mix of celebration (the last humans are joining us!) and mourning (humans will no longer be as they were). Regionally, there will probably be searches for the "last human baby", the ones born days/hours before the last Aug 17 change; they'd probably be local celebrities, similar to "New Years Babies"

And in 2021, the nervousness would start. Is the change source gone? Is it mutating? Are we going to change further? Or into something else now? For the Changed Generation, that little shiver of fear every August 17th will probably persist until they are all gone.

All that assumes civilization hasn't fallen apart by then of course. :)

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 10:42, 25 February 2008 (EST)

== Summer Olympics ==

This was nagging at the back of my mind a bit, but I finally nailed it down to actually check dates:

:"The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, will be celebrated from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008".

For the record, the 2004 Olympics also just straddled the Change day, having started on Aug 13th. No other Summer Olympics have straddled Change day, but the 1996 games ended just before it, and the Paralympic Games that year did straddle the Change day.

The 2012 games in London curiously have a break between the end of the Olympics on Aug 12, 2012, and the start of the Paralympics on Aug 29.

Just something to think about for writers out there. :)

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 10:07, 27 February 2008 (EST)

:The Change takes place right in the middle of the Olympics. All it takes is for one or two athletes to change to gum up the works. These people are already in top physical shape, too. But what happens when a swimmer becomes a dolphin, an otter, or perhaps something that doesn't swim well? I don't think the RDF can handle becoming as large as a rhino. They'll still displace an awful lot of water when they splash in.

:I'll have to mention this in Open Secrets.

:--[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 14:53, 27 February 2008 (EST)

::At least the illness will be a bit of a cover. Depending on how many Changed athletes there are, (both active and new Changed), the illness could be used to skip out on some events out of necessity.

::Still the pressure to perform, even if their form is inappropriate for the sport (A Bull trying to do a polevault or the triathlon in general? A bear for gymnastics? A Mouse in weightlifting? ) will be intense

::There would probably be a lot of discussion when a star athlete suddenly isn't performing as well as they did before.

::Of course, a few years after that, the Beijing Olympics here will probably end up with a * like the LA and Moscow Olympics, as people find out about the Change and the number of ringers (otters in swimming events, felines and primates in gymnastics, gazelles and cheetahs in track events, bears and bulls in weight lifting, etc...) semi-intentionally sent by the various countries. We could very well see TTC-level problems happening in Olympic Village.

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 15:07, 27 February 2008 (EST)

== What happens ''after'' 2020? ==

Point one: Computer programs are never ''intrinsically'' equipped with an off-switch. Rather, a shutdown condition must be explicitly coded into a program -- and any program which ''lacks'' an explicit shutdown condition, will continue to chug merrily along until something hardware-ish gets in the way.

Point two: The Change is the result of a 'furry virus", ''i.e.,'' a '''computer program'''.

2020 is when the entire planetary population will be furry... but who's to say the 'furry virus' won't ''continue'' to do its thing, Changing people year in and year out, with each year's quantity of Changes being double that of the year before? We know that being Changed is ''not'' an absolute protection against the 'furry virus' -- the setting rules themselves ''explicitly allow'' previously-Changed people to get hit with another dose of Change, after all -- so ''either'' (a) the 'furry virus' ''does'' have an explicitly-coded off-switch, or else (b) starting in 2020, an ever-increasing number of people are going to end up Changing ''two or more times in any given year.''

If the 'furry virus' ''has'' a built-in off-switch, that begs the question of what, exactly, its shutdown condition ''is.'' Does it stop spreading/infecting when there's no unchanged Human left, is it waiting for some specific event or combination of events before it quits, or what? Perhaps the guy who wrote the 'furry virus' did so with the specific intent of encouraging ROB to make [insert specific changes here] in ROB's virtual world, such that the results of those changes are the virus's 'off-switch'?

If, on the other hand, the 'furry virus' has ''no'' built-in brakes, things can get weird, fast. People have already floated the notion of Changes happening "out of season"; what if these 'unscheduled' Changes are merely a harbinger of things to come, in which people can be re-zapped at any time of year, an arbitrarily large number of times per year? It may be instructive, or at least amusing, to extrapolate the data given in "The Numbers", and divide each year's expected number of Changes by the expected population for that year: In 2020, there's 1.12 Changes per person (perhaps every human being Changes, regardless of their current state, and there's a 12% chance of one guy Changing ''twice?).'' Since we're basically talking about a doubling function, it only takes until 2024 for every ex-human to be an involuntary member of the Change Of The Month Club (because there's a touch over 17 Changes per person that year), and the Change Of The '''Day''' Club starts up in 2029 (during which year there's a bit less than 514 Changes per person per year). In 2034, the extrapolated number of Changes per person for that year is significantly over 15,000 (which works out to about 7/4 of a Change ''per hour,'' every hour, for every human being); by 2040, we hit 1.75 Changes per ''minute;'' 2046 is when every human being starts to hit 1 Change per ''second.''

To repeat what I said above: Things get weird, fast.

Obviously, the above figures are ridiculous, since they're derived from mindless extrapolation of an exponential curve. Perhaps the most sensible way to go is to presume that ROB manages to ''do'' something about the metatstasizing 'furry virus' no later than 2025 or so. In any case, one hopes said figures at least provide a bit of food for thought... [[User:Cubist|Cubist]] 05:03, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

== Change and the Media ==

It's probably a sign that I watch WAY too much TV, but it's a theme that's been in the back of my mind (man that back area's getting mighty crowded with ideas). As the Change progresses, even with the Veil in place, more and more effects of the Change will start showing up in other ways, and it will become more and more 'public' even if the Unchanged won't really know what is going on. I suspect TV shows especially will begin to show a lot of these.

This is just some of my rambling thoughts on what the TV Cable signals might be sending to the screens of the Changed near-Future.

Reality TV in all its forms will probably be the first to really start showing the effects of the Changed, since they tend to have the fastest turnaround time and the most contact with non-actors. Court shows (like I wrote in my short story case) will have more and more cases of Changed vs Norms and even weird Changed vs Changed cases. "He won't share the nail clippers!" "She gifted me the money for the vacation to Alaska in January")

Gameshows also will start having more Changed contestants, especially popular ones like Price is Right.

And then you have the Survivor types. Show's like "Top Model" and "Bachelor(ette)" and "Blind Date" (especially given the Change's habit of giving the Changed Eye-turning bodies) will probably have the most Changed on a show early on (whether intentionally or unintentionally).

Home Makeover shows may start seeing even weirder designs as designers/homeowners remake rooms to give room for antlers or bigger buttons for hoof fingers and such. (We thought Frank's designs on Trading Spaces were weird BEFORE he Changed... :P )

Amazing Race may have a Changed Team soon; a few Changed in the Big Brother House (probably intentionally put in there by a Changed Studio staffer), and the next Survivor or two would probably have some contestants.

Once the Field comes down, I fully expect CBS to roll out a "Furries vs Normals" Survivor while they can.

Now onto more tasteful TV. (arguably :P )

Cartoons? (what few new ones that are made) will likely start having more and more of a furry bend to them. Hallowe'en specials may turn 'human' toons into furry ones as experiments to transition shows.

Soaps? Expect Change stories fairly soon I dare say. I don't watch them myself, but from what I've heard of some storylines they've done in the past, the Change isn't all that strange. These writers will probably be chaffing at the restrictions of the Field the most.

Sitcoms will probably start getting Changed in-jokes fairly quickly as more Changed writers and actors come on staff. Some of the jokes may verge on Veil-breaking too, but viewers would discount as visual FX.

Procedurals/Drama's, business as normal but more Change-related stories. Maulings and gorings investigated on CSI's (along with strange fingerprints/bootprints, hair samples, etc...), Without a Trace investigating people who disappear after Change Day, maybe even a TG mystery. Numb3rs maybe touching on the Change rate (imagine Chris brought in as an advisor for an ep ? :) ). House or ER dealing with a Changed patient and/or Changed doctors/nurses.

And finally (for now) Sci Fi/Fantasy shows will probably find themselves in a very difficult position. On the one hand, they'd be ideal to start exploring the Change itself. On the other hand, as long as the Field is in effect, they can't really explore them since they'd have to turn normals into Furry's (or dress furry's in fursuits). Plus, a show's setting may not exactly be ideal for adjusting to the Change. "SG-1/Atlantis" may be able to adjust (turn it into an Ori curse or something), but Terminator would have a harder time. Heroes could probably pull it off, but BSG? Unlikely. (Imagine them finding 'Earth' but it's a Furry Earth... Hmmm...)

Anyways, that's just some of my rambling thoughts on the TV of the near future, for what its worth.

:There's a simple way to make furries show up in Television. Simply use the polarized lenses as featured in Open Secrets on the video camera units. The image of the furries would pass through the polarized lenses onto the film. The film would record the true image in the same way that people would see the true image. Boom, RDF circumvented. --[[User:MatthiasRat|MatthiasRat]] 12:26, 28 January 2009 (EST)

:: True those would work. But everyone involved for those scenes would have to Know or questions would be raised. Depending on the scene and production. (Thouhg some could be handwaved, as long as the producer/editors Know. "Bob's gonna play the part of a man-rat for this scene. We'll CG-replace him in Editing afterward"

::--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 12:33, 28 January 2009 (EST)

::: Well, at the very least, the cameraman is going to be in the know fast! Actually, I could see something like this being done once things go public. We could have a documentary on the early Changed (while you can still get human actors!), and you'd have some cameras with the filter on it and some without so you could show what the Changed sees and what the unsuspecting humans around him see. --[[User:98.236.12.68|98.236.12.68]] 05:14, 29 January 2009 (EST)

:::: That is happening to some extent, though not with the filters yet. Shiloh (and her new boyfriend newly Changed this year) are doing what they can to document the Change and how it affects lives as it happens (on the side from their main jobs), and I'm sure she's far from alone on this.

:::: Once more Documentary makers get ahold of this and it goes public, I'm sure there will be more too.

::::--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 10:33, 29 January 2009 (EST)

== Furries in Space? ==

OK Time for even more thoughts from me. :) Endeavor's launch last night triggered this thought.

I'm not going to elaborate, but is anyone watching the ISS crew for change symptoms? Or the shuttle crew if they're up? A Change up there could be Veil breaking just because of the amount of attention and lack of privacy those people have. (not to mention the extreme circumstances they'd be under).

The Change itself could very well spell the end of Manned space flight for the next few decades in the end.

Not sure if it would spell the end of manned space flight but yeah even just an examination of the air filter would find stuff that couldn't have gotten up there any other way.--[[User:Devin|Devin]] 19:16, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

:I'm sure it'd be the end of manned space flight for quite some time simply for economic reasons if nothing else. This is going to be rather disruptive and there'll probably be a bit of a budget pinch. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 19:21, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

==The Reality Distortion Field is Real ==

Sadly, not the one you have in mind: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/18/2117208 :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 19:21, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

== Bats? ==

Just a question about the species: I've noticed you put aside birds for now, but what about bats?--[[User:142.68.130.19|142.68.130.19]] 23:52, 1 April 2008 (EDT)

:Bats will put a huge strain on the Veil. If/when they do show up, it might be coming down by then anyway. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 00:36, 2 April 2008 (EDT)

== Farming in Paradise ==

Just shooting an idea in here for later. [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153658.htm This is the technology] widely deployed it the Paradise setting. But put the clock back ten years (1997 discovery, widespread global deployment by 2008). Biochar/agrichar. With any luck, the Green Revolution will be replaced with the Black Gold Revolution quickly. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 03:27, 15 April 2008 (EDT)

== BioFuels ==

Jon, you're beginning to scare me a bit. :P

This was just on Slashdot this morning: [http://www.utexas.edu/news/2008/04/23/biofuel_microbe/ New Source for Biofuels Discovered by Researchers At The University of Texas at Austin]

Basically, some bacteria that can make cellulose which can be turned to fuel, and the cellulose can be harvested without harming the bacteria.
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 06:10, 25 April 2008 (EDT)

:I read about this yesterday. They hope to increase production efficiency 17-fold because otherwise, you'd have to cover the ''entire'' Midwest with this. Unfortunately it won't happen fast enough to prevent the shortages I know are coming.

:I read about this stuff every day. I mean, ''every'' day. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 14:19, 25 April 2008 (EDT)

Another bit of news: [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece "Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol."] --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 11:12, 15 June 2008 (EDT)

== The Chicago Ghost Killer ==

After having seen countless videos of Persona 3 on youtube, and having played the .hack//GU games, and having read about this setting repeatedly, this idea was born out of my skull. It doesn't really fit with the setting per-say, (people dealing with expected changes in their lives and the changing of culture as truth becomes harder and harder to keep hidden), but it's still interesting.

Imagine if once the number of furries hits the thousand mark or close to it (1997), a strange series of murders begin in Chiago and wander outwards. To normal police and investigators these people have -nothing- in common, just random innocent people. But the furries know that every single person killed was a furry! Now this is where things start to get weird.

When seen by furries, the killer is a lanky laid back twenty something raven haired young man whose expression almost always remains passive wearing semi-formal dark clothes with a revolver in one hand and spare bullets in the opposite pocket.

When the police just about anyone else whose effected by the perception filter see him, they see 'Average Joe' or 'Face You Can't Help But Forget' and never ever notice the weapon he's holding unless he hits them with it or shoots them or something just as drastic. It is also is picked up by metal detectors the same as any metal gun. In other words, his existence, is like the existence of furriness to normal humans, his existence effects them, but they can't notice him directly.

This guy always knows a furry when he sees one regardless of media or medium, or reads one, this include file records of people TGed by the virus. When he spots one or finds out about one, he calmly location that person, in order of him learning about them, and shoot that person in the head without fanfare then simply move on to the next one.

Physically his strength and speed are all perfectly average human, meaning a bear or tiger furry could easy tear him apart.

Strange thing is that if profiled, no records of him will turn up, anywhere!

Also, he might even begin to appear DIFFERENTLY to people who are under the effect of the perception filter. He can't appear as a furry, and can NEVER EVER appear as a precise person (he can't appear as someone's mother or brother). But he can ultimately change how people look at him, they see a five year old girl with a teddy bear opposed to a man with a revolver even if he STILL can't fit in a toy car for the life of him and that 'bear' might go off if someone else 'hugs' it, (which he'd avoid someone doing at all posts). He could also appear as a fire fighter or police officer if he gets clever enough. Though furries will -always- see through this disguise. Along with any human whose able to see furries without effort.

The Chicago Ghost Killer never attacks non-changed humans, and will never take a shot if there's a reasonable chance of shooting a non-changed person.

He travels by mundane methods, he always travels by the most practical and speedy method and always has the correct change or ticket (this is not an illusion). His taxi, train, or airplane never crash.

If detained for questioning, he might just walk straight out of the police station unless some of the cops are furries. If stripped of his weapon and ammo next time he shows up he'll have a new set perfectly identical to the last one down to the imperfections in the casing.

Now this is where things get ambiguous. I don't know if he's killed he just appears in Chicago the day after the change again each year, or weather two different people with abilities similar to his appear in his stead these armed with a crossbow and another one shot distance weapon.

Since deleting the entire universe is not an option, The Chicago Ghost Killer might be an emergency fail safe to try and cut off the infected flesh from the system.

His name comes from where he started killing (strangely the same place as the changes began) and the fact that to normal humans he IS like a ghost, there yet not there but decidedly felt.

I know this doesn't really fit with the setting at all, but I just had to share it with the only people who'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

- Alex Warlorn. 2008 06 15

:And his name is Agent Johnathan Walker Smith, is it? Seems like a Matrix Agent to me... (unsigned comment)
::Actually I don't think he'd -have- a name, or even know the true nature of the world, he'd just know what he -had- to do and how to do it and how he can do it.-- Alex Warlorn

== Octuplets born in California ==

Things that make you go Hmmmm....

8 babies at once
Planning to breast feed them all.
Names not being released (yet).

Could we have a changed couple hiding out there from the glare of the media spotlight? :)

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 15:25, 27 January 2009 (EST)

=='''Future RDF Failure'''==

I'm starting to work out ideas about how the RDF would fail. My current thinking is that it will work on a small scale first. Visually, there would be a "refraction", like seeing your own eyes through your glasses. Or your leg halfway in a pool. This is the "Refraction Effect". These are places where the RDF has been removed, like a section of glass, revealing the Real World underneath. It's gone. The visual effect makes it clear a border's been crossed. I'm not sure ''when'' this is going to happen. Probably sometime near the US Gov wants to go public. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 07:57, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

===Weirdness Censor?===

I've been thinking about an "RDF Lite" that could basically act as a Weirdness Censor instead of the full blown see-furries-as-humans version that exists right now. There'd still be social upheaval, but not the civilization-ending type that would most likely happen. I'm very likely going to do this in After Hours, but I want to do it right. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 23:37, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

==Shoe Field Failure?==

[http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/16/hoof-shoes.html Hoof shoes for about $1,700 ]. What's next? Paw shoes? --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 21:06, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

==The "Posthuman" World ==

In order to differentiate this setting from WoC more, I'm going to keep a certain number of regular humans in the furry world that results when the virus runs its course. Same rules as other furry types as far as parent-child species. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 19:41, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

:No offense, but that feels like a cop-out to me. As someone else pointed out, a computer virus is NOT going to simply 'burn itself out' a computer virus continues like any program infinitely unless it's directly ordered to. Once it runs out of humans to transform, it'll start to transform furries into other species, and become even more chaotic as time progresses. I just feels cheap the virus suddenly just stops, and it doesn't make sense form a programming point of view either since it would open MANY MORE cans of worms anyway. -- Alex Warlorn June 15 2009

::Okay. How to address this? A lot of my ideas for this setting comes from Charles Stross's work, which can get pretty mind-bending at times. ''Accelerando, Glasshouse, Singularity Sky'', and ''Iron Sunrise'' all come to mind. One of my basic assumptions is that the Furry Virus is itself sentient/sapient, but it's not ''quite'' as smart as the transhuman intelligence running the Simulation Space that is our universe (down to the Planck Length).

::The RDF was a last-ditch effort to maintain the experiment as it was. We're all a bunch of microbes, as far as ROB is concerned. But It's not the type of Being to just chuck the whole experiment into the incinerator and start over. At this point ROB has scrapped the original experiment in favor of trying to prevent our little petri dish universe from going completely bad. So, 1) contain the Furry Virus, and 2) prevent it from doing any more damage beyond 2020 by creating a specific End State. The FV remains, but it becomes an uncommon chronic disease.

::Frankly, now that furries and the TGed have been Outed ROB may even stop the history editing. More obvious actions include: Refilling dead oilfields, creating social conditions so humans aren't really surprised at the Change. There are probably all kinds of countermeasures ROB has done that I haven't thought of in order to keep people from going ''crazy crazy'' and incinerating their own petri dish. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 03:57, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

:::I was thinking of a similar idea, but in a programming context as opposed to a biological one, and ''very'' limited. Think of every person as an element of an array, i.e. Human[]. An algorithm designed to change the values of every element, like the furry virus is doing, would most likely go from 0 to some constant POPULATION_HUMAN. In that case, ROB might be able to circumvent the effects for the virus for a select few by assigning people to special values: NULL, NaN, -1, MAX_INT, INFINITY, or other predefined numbers, even those that aren't considered "special" to humans. The purpose of this would be to preserve ''some'' unaltered "data" for purposes not important to us, and it can't be done for all humans because of the effort or memory required to "manually" fix so many values.

:::Conversely, perhaps ROB will let the virus run its course so It can then safely run a variation of the virus to turn everyone back into humans. That would be another interesting take: when the world's furry in 2020, how will everyone feel when they find out they'll all be human again by about 2055, depending on population, and perhaps if the same thing happens in cycles? ...

:::...Or if it turns out that life has been this way for a long, ''long'' time. Thinking back to what ROB has been able to do, this is easily within Its power. -- [[User:MisterBackground|MisterBackground]] 05:31, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

::::ROB figures it's best to let the virus run its course then neutralize it like I've described. Perhaps ROB's reworking the Experiment to account for the new changes.--[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 06:04, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

:::::Colons! Colons as far as the eye can see! Ahaha.

:::::One little problem I had with ''Accelerando'' (though I did indeed love it in all other respects) was how completely unfathomable the Higher Beings were. You never could figure out what their reasons were for anything…and in fact, in all their interactions with the remnants of pre-Singularity humanity, they mostly seemed to delight in "poking the anthill". Sending boatloads of recreations of historical and fictitious characters out to that space station just to mess with humanity's minds. And not only could you not ask them why, you wouldn't be able to understand their answer if you did. Hence, one of the things that you hope you learn in the end—the question of "why?"—is forever unanswered.

:::::It would be kind of nice to have some of the characters eventually be able to confront ROB and the virus and ask them what the deal was, but I'm not holding my breath any. —[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 06:22, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

::::::I'm very, ''very'' careful not to jump the shark. But at the very least ROB does have some empathy for us microbes. While ROB does do some "resimulation" for TGed folk, it absolutely ''will not'' alter memories because that would cause personality death.

::::::Paradise is more similar too ''[http://www.amazon.com/Darwinia-Novel-Different-Twentieth-Century/dp/0812566629 Darwinia]'' than ''Accelerando''. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 18:58, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

:::Another possibility I just thought about: perhaps this isn't the act of a virus at all. Instead this is the fix to an ancient "Human Virus" that infected the universe, and it's just restoring the original experiment (or whatever). Or if you ''really'' want to throw people off: humanity ''is'' the virus itself, and this is how ROB is solving the problem. -- [[User:MisterBackground|MisterBackground]] 07:25, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

::Well, to be fair, this is a post-Singularity virus. Nobody ever said it was strictly one-function only. For all we know, it may have a behavioral change programmed into it. "Take Z action until condition A is met, then switch to taking Y action until condition B is met, etc." Or heck, the virus itself may be a sentient/sapient digital life form with free will, fully able to "change its mind" when it wants to. Certainly there is some intelligent agency at work behind the Reality Distortion Field that has already shown the ability to change its own behavior or react to changes in infected people's situations (changing TG furs' "ghosts"—and all extant records—from male to female when they get pregnant, for instance). No reason the virus can't be the same way. —[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 23:32, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

:How is that going to work? I'm not sure how humanity can propagate by the "same rules" as other furry types given that it's been established humans and furres are not able to interbreed. Perhaps there might be an inverse of the Sleeping Sickness (a Waking Sickness? :) which causes furries to randomly mutate back into human in addition to the other types of furry form? —[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 22:31, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

::Two thoughts: 1) In 2021 there's a group of humans worldwide who don't Change. They're simply the one species among many. After this point they can breed with furres because the RDF is down anyway. Perhaps they can already do this in Bubbled areas in 2010. 2) Human forms can be a recessional trait that shows up on occasion, between two furres.

::Furry babies already look ''very'' human due to a type of neoteny. Even the herbivores like horses and deer have very stubby muzzles. It looks more like a mask when they're born. Within two years those muzzle stubs grow the "baby animal" proportions, then as normal. They're generally more thinly furred for those first two years also. I keep thinking of puppies. No matter what the breed, they all look ''extremely'' similar when newborn. Same will be true in this setting. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 23:55, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Additionally, TG and TF will continue. I'm thinking of something akin to Matthias' character, with random changes. It'll be considered a chronic disease. And the severe forms ''can'' kill you. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 06:40, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

::I know this addition to the comment is like 2 years after this discussion happened (not counting the little server loss and what may have been lost there) but anyway, I had a thought here, although it's admittedly more biological-related than computer-related. Specifically, what if certain people just happened to have an immunity to the furry virus? Nobody would know they were immune until 2020 when they don't change. Whether natural, or a last-ditch effort by the RDF that came too late for almost everyone else, it could theoretically be an explanation.--[[User:Chessrook44|Chessrook44]] 21:06, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

== Possibly the first occurance of ROB ==

As I mentioned when I introduced him, ROB (Random Omnipotent Being) comes from some other message boards I regularly view/visit. Well someone seems to have found what may have been the first occurrence of ROB. [http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=53955] Pretty humble beginnings for him if you ask me. :) (His brother, COROB (Crossover Obsessed Random Omnipotent Being) similarly had humble beginnings a month or so later. [http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=55397] )

== The RDF and extra extremities. ==

Assume here that the RDF is functioning normally and hasn't broken down. Normal humans can't feel the extra extremities of the Changed, like tails and horns - they just feel empty air. But what would another Changed see if they were to look at a normal human attempting to touch a Changed's tail? Would they see the human seemingly passing their hand through the tail of the Changed? [[User:CNash|CNash]] 23:52, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

:I think you've got it wrong. Extra extremities can still be physically felt. The RDF is like a holographic cloak around the changed - it doesn't actually have an effect on their form. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 00:57, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

:Shadow is basically correct. Their hand wouldn't pass through empty air. They would meet some weird resistance, but they'd forget about it in a short time. Other Changed would see them touch the tail they can't see. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 01:03, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

:: I was going by a line in "Made Alone"; CM's diary entry: ''I say, `Oh yeah, here, grab my tail'. He humors me, but he cannot feel it. I feel him put his hand on it, but he just doesn't feel it.'' - I haven't yet read through all the stories and I'm going chronologically. [[User:CNash|CNash]] 11:26, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

:::If there's one thing I've learned about running a shared setting is to ''not'' demand ironclad continuity. I always allow authors leeway for dramatic purposes, and I don't mind if events don't quite match up. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 00:19, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

::::Given that is the earliest described Change event, I just assumed that the Veil was stronger back then, and since lessened to the extent of allowing feeling of extremities. —[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 07:32, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

== Glitch ==

Assertion one: Universe of Paradise setting is mathmatically generated by advanced post-singularity computer. Assertion two: Pre-singularity computers have demonstrated randomized renumbering of internal programing due to outside factors. These renumberings are identified as "glitches," having no basis in programming like bugs and viruses. Assumption: Post singularity computer operates with similar if heavily advanced hardware as pre-singularity computer. Conclusion: Randomized renumberings of programming will occur independently of programming. That is to say, it is not inconceivable that somewhere, a coffee cup on the table is suddenly on the counter. Or that an ant becomes a different species of ant. Or that a gray-eyed man one day has blue eyes. Perhaps these small changes are common and constant. -- [[User:Masterweaver|Masterweaver]] 05:28, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

== Species Expansion ==

We have already seen at least one Elephant man. Is the Furry Virus, as it expands, drawing from a larger gene base? And if so, when would the first nonmammalians arise? Personally, I'm expecting crocs in the near future. Perhaps even 2010... -- [[User:Masterweaver|Masterweaver]] 22:41, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

:The setting is mammals only. Reptiles and birds have very different reproductive biologies. Birds wouldn't be able to fly and cold-blooded creatures can't support a human-like brain and its energy requirements. -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 01:04, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

== An observation ==

From what I've read, the 'computer simulation' theory is just that- a theory. There's no point blank evidence that this is what's happening within the storyline, and, while I obviously shouldn't just stroll in and rewrite things, but I'd ask the main participators in this storyline to keep this in mind. -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]] -- (note added by [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:43, 12 November 2009 (UTC))

:Jon is the creator of the setting and he has final say in these things... He has not ruled on this yet, but I think he will if it becomes a problem. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:43, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

== If a person doesn't TF again next year... ==

Maybe I missed something. Is it right that if a person doesn't TF again the year after they first change, they stop changing for good? Thinking of the story's setting (computer simulation), if the change is caused by a virus, surely it could keep affcting people? If that doesn't make sense I'll expand, but surely someone knows what I'm talking about. -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]] -- signature added by [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] )

:First it's "bear", not "bare" - homophones are a big stumbling point for a large portion of people, so I try to help people where I can with them :)

: Second... Remember that the whole "post-singularity simulation infected by a virus" schtick is just one possible cause. Jon has said that it could be, but has not pinned it on that. If it really is a virus, then there is a possibility that you could change again 20 years down the line. However... It might be that the multi-change people are somehow an exception - like the virus leaves behind a flag saying "infected" (you'll find this with existing computer viruses, actually) and with multi-changers this flag is missing. Or it could be that the multi-changers are actually being created because of ROB trying to undo the damage done by the virus. And a third possibility is that there is no "virus" and the change is happening according to a plan setup by the people that programmed the simulation - and the multi-changers were randomly selected to be multi-changers.

:In other words... Even if you assume that the postulated "post-singularity simulation" is reality the change could be more than a virus and the limits on multiple changes could be somehow tied directly to the purposes that the simulation was created for... Anyway... I've gone on too long with this. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 19:03, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

::Ugh. I actually thought whilst typing, "that's not right, it should be bare..." blast. So much for trying to write a story if I can't do that kind of simple thing.

::Thanks for your help. I'm trying to make sure I understand the setting as best I can so I can make my story (hopefully a series, but maybe I'm being a bit ambitious) as best as possible. I'm trying to break the mould... Most characters in the Paradise setting seem to be similar. If my first attempt works, I might try one with a different character... Actually, I'd probably do it even if it didn't work :) -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

:::Just to be clear, it is a simulation running on a post-Singularity cloud of computronium. And it is a virus doing the dirty work. :) -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:34, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

:::: *GACK* - Last time I read the setting page that was still a "speculation" bit :( -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 08:10, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

== Human/Furry detail ==

More prattling, sorry. Bear with me (Heh. Got it right this time.).

The information on smaller details in the differences between humans and furs is irritatingly lax, and I hit a block while writing my own story stressing over an incredibly minor detail. My problem aside, I think that the lack of detail makes it awkward to write... Would two characters that changed into the same species be exactly the same anatomically? I'm not sure. A couple of stories have thrown me in that respect, mainly "A Kind of Paradise", and "Twisting the Veil". I feel like I'm having a bit of a whine actually, and should just get on with it, but right now, I feel like speaking my mind. -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

:The anatomical differences between furry species can vary, but not so much that they become incompatible with each other. This is why I didn't want to add birds/reptiles/fish/insects. They're just too different. If they're the same species, they're exactly the same. There is a variance in hair (Some have it, some don't) otherwise everyone is firmly anthro rather than, say, animal ears and tail and nothing else. -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:37, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

::I understand why there are only mammals in the setting, personally I think it's a good choice. I wasn't really thinking about the degrees of how human/animalistic people are, but rather what traits they take on when they change. For example, I know that people have commented on changes in sounds and smells, but not sight, is sight affected? -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

:::About the sight, in one [[User:MatthiasRat|MatthiasRat]]´s story, a morph rat can see the shape and size of objects & dodge them while running, (only with the light of the stars in a moonless night); other humans in the same place need to use flashlights. The same caracter can see colors, read or driving a car like any other human in normal light conditions.
:::Other changed caracter had problems related to perception of deep & 3D; the benefit of a more wide angle of vision it´s not something really useful in the for-human-designed world. --[[User:Argamis|Argamis]] 13:29, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

::And, as for traits, I know that most species of rodents are incapable of vomiting, fox example. But would the humans be affected by this? Of course, I'm not asking for all the details, that would be ridiculous considering the number of possibilities. I just don't want to write something that doesn't follow the rules of the setting. -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

:::Actually... Things like that are, IMHO, why the 'Sleeping Sickness' bracelets have been issued. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 08:10, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

::::Um, yes, those. Maybe I haven't been reading the right stories, but to the best of my knowledge, the bracelets are to let doctors know (provided they already know about the whole thing) what you changed into. Have I missed something? (I feel like I'm asking too many questions. Sorry.) -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

:::::There is a mention in one of a changed that was a species to which aspirin is toxic being killed by a doctor prescribing aspirin... I just don't remember which story that was. The stories about Doctor Clay have most of the good information about how changed can suffer from problems/illnesses incumbent to their species. (IIRC there is a judge that starts suffering from a problem only seen in horses - and he's a horse...) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 08:43, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

::::::The idea behind the "Sleeping Sickness" bracelets was pretty much a (bad) attempt by a small group at the CDC to get help to Changed. Hospitals were supposed to report such cases that presented in order for doctors in the know to be summoned. It was created essentally with the idea that it wasn't really a workable solution, but the best that could be come up with. The factoid that came up about toxic medications was based on a factoid I heard many years ago, that penicillian has a singular toxicity for rodents. As such, as drug testing is set up today, its unlikely it would ever be approved. The idea is that there is enough transformation that people might pick up certiain toxic reactions to things that they didn't realize. I'm not sure anyone has really gone into depth with this, but I'd think you could infer that some canines would have violent reactions to chocolate, for example. Like all things, there would be some variability, just like some dogs can seem to eat chocolate fine while others it might kill. -- [[User:Eirik|Eirik]] 23:52, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

== Extreame ROB ==

I had an odd thought last night about the implications of what ROB does with respect to rewriting documentation of peoples pasts. ROB has been known to change paperwork, pictures and even apparent histories of people. (Didn't someone in After Hours discover they were supposed to have dated people earlier as the opposite gender?) That got me to thinking about how far this might all go. Assuming that ROB doesn't actually start to mess with memories, will it start to alter older records? Pictures from earlier than the first Change, even for subjects that died before it all started? Paintings? And would they be consistent? Would every painting done of George Washington find the same form? And to take it a few steps further, what about statues? This could get messy... which isn't always a bad thing from a story perspective. -- [[User:Eirik|Eirik]] 15:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

:I can see that happening more as a result of the furry virus, since that kind of extreme "history editing" feels more malevolent to me than something ROB would do. -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 20:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

::Interesting though that would be, it's an important plot mechanic for there to still be remnants of the human world - Once the entire human race has transformed, they need to still be aware that this has happened - Rewriting history would remove this and it would be as if nothing happened... if you see what I mean? -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

::It would make sense for things to get messy if it were the virus causing it. Sloppy, half rewritten pasts, people not sure of what really happened and what didn't, more like a temporal infection than a careful rewriting. That kind of scare could lead the reader to be a bit more sympathetic about ROB trying to stop the virus's progression. It would also make a great opportunity to go all Serial Experiments Lain on a story and leave people wondering wtf -- [[User:Pandora|Tasci]] 09:10, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

== Furry Sizes ==

What size are furries? It's pretty clear that bears are big and mice are small, and it mostly makes sense to have the same thing (but not as extreme) for anthroid furries, but there are some other size differences I can't so easily imagine. Some guidelines might be helpful. Ferrets in particular, ferret males are often twice as big as ferret females, as is the case of many mustelids, but at the same time both of them are smaller than cats. If I make a female ferret larger than a rat, and a male ferret smaller than a cat, that's starting to leave not so much room to spare. If I had to finagle a scale I'd say

* mice - 1.2 meters (or less!)
* rats - 1.3 meters
* female ferrets, squirrels, minks, etc - 1.4 meters
* male ferrets, ringtails, mongooses - 1.6 meters
* female cats - 1.7 meters
* male cats, skunks, raccoons - 1.8 meters uh...
* big cats and wolves - 1.9-2.0
* big stuff like bears - all the way to 2.2.

But then again it might also be fun to have a 2 metres tall cavy. GEORGE LOVES YOU COME GIVE GEORGE A BIG HUG.

Maybe illustrating size differences between sexes is a bit too piccaunish. >.<
-- [[User:Pandora|Tasci]] 09:04, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

:I should personally think that irrelevant. While there's clearly going to be some destinction between heights and races, I think guidelines are unnesecary. People come in all shapes and sizes, this individuallity should be maintained. -- [[User:MCMackers|MCMackers]]

One little detail though, (and it doesn't really apply to me but may for others), removing hippo's, rhino's and elephants from the pool seems to be a bit speciest, considering moose are allowed. In looking at the Wiki, it seems that hippos (1.5meters) and rhinos (2.0 meters) are actually generally smaller or the same size as the largest moose (2.1 metres) species. Elephants seem to average about a meter or two larger than the moose.

Perhaps a better restriction would be to allow any land mammal (and any sea mammal that is between the sizes of the minimum land mammal size and the maximum land mammal size), but set minimum and maximum furre sizes; something like a min of 1.2 metres or 4ft to a max of 2.0 metres or 7ft.

Anyways, I'll try and keep an eye on things and see if I can culture this idea I've got further. - 19:50, 10 January 2008 [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]]

== Human Survival ==

Since the US government, and governments of the world, would have obviously known about the furry changes for many years as government officials became Changed, they logically would have set up Projects (like the Manhattan Project) to study the reasons and try and find a solution. It is obvious to them that the end of humanity will come and this should have all contries of the world enganged in studying the scientific causes of the RDF and ways to affect it. Many of the scientists themselves who get changed would surely want to study the effect. Any physics professor changed would jump at the chance to study it and get the next Nobel prize for figuring it out. It does defy natural laws, therefore the new laws it does follow can be studied. If there is some master computer responsible for the universe, such as in Jack Chalker's "Well of Souls" books, then this it might be possible for a "super computer" build by the UN or whoever to communicate with the ROB virus program or even the Master computer itself, and change it, such as the computer "Obie" in the Well World books. Personally, I favor a different approach. In 1987 a super computer someplace near Chicago DID develop self awareness, predicted that mankind was going to overpopulate and destroy the planet, and it decided to "FIX" things by connecting with the main universal computer at the center of the universe on a night when the least number of galaxies are in the way, which happens to be Aug 17. The governments at some point would find out that the birth rate is on a serious decline even though it is possible for furries to have babies, it is not as common as humans due to all the different genetics and species involved. Mating a horse furry with a rabbit furry is much less likly to produce offspring, for example, that mating a horse furry with another horse furry, so regardless of who was married to who when they are human, statistically the couple won't be able to have children after both change, unless they are the same. Some story about finding the ROB computer near Chicago before 2020 should be a possibility and reasoning with it might be a good solution.
-- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 02:37, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

:The thing is, there is no ROB computer in our world, if I'm understanding what you're saying here. It isn't like Obie or the Well World where it's something inside the Universe itself that's causing the Change. This setting--basically our world--exists as a Planck-level simulation space inside a post-Singularity posthuman computer. There are two viruses (also posthuman, slightly more advanced) responsible for the Change: A relatively controllable TG virus, and the much newer "furry virus" that ROB can't contain with "history editing".
Keep in mind that governments didn't really know this was even happening until the early 2000s.
Otherwise, the RDF/Change as a source of study for physicists is a good angle.
-- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 18:57, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

::I just hate to plug but if you want an example of how goverments might screw up the change read my story [[User:Fibio|Cascade Failure]]
-- [[User:Fibio|Fibio]] 20:42, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

::Of course, in a way it's kind of pointless even to know about it, since I can't really foresee any way that it could ever become a plot point within the story itself. I can't really see humanity figuring out how to "hack" its way out.
It doesn't really make that much of a difference, from an in-universe standpoint, to assume that it's all being done by "magic". (Any sufficiently advanced technology…) —- [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 21:23, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

:::Pretty much [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealityWarper] all around. :) -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 22:27, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Wow, thanks folks for all the replies to my post! People to talk to! OK, first JonBuck, I am not really sure I understand all the Plank-level simulation space inside a post-singularity posthuman supercomputer stuff (I did try to look up the story Accelerando but I just found a book cover) but I interpret this to mean: Plank-Level = really really small; simulation space = not real or temporary space in computer memory; post-singularity = after a black hole evaporates in about a few trillion years; post human = mankind extinct; supercomputer = something like the Cosmic AC in [http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html] ?

However, my ignorance aside, regardless of what the supercomputer is, or what we are, it would in effect be God. Now ROB could represent the devil, or if God has gone crazy, the savior. ROB either was created by the supercomputer "GOD" on purpose or by accident, it was created by a simulation universe, either our own, a past one, or another running concurrently, to infect God, or it was created by God's creators as some part of the God computer for some purpose and function, and if that is the case then either it is carrying out its intended program or it has malfunctioned. I think that is a complete list of all possible options, so if I have missed one then please let me know.

You stated, "It comes from outside the post-Singularity brain, and is slightly more advanced than "ours". What's happening is this bit of malicious code (sentient, no less, but on a level far beyond our ability to comprehend it) is messing up the simulated world we reside in. Why? I dunno. One of those inscrutable things." This sentient "virus" needs to have come from one of the posibilities above, and I suppose it is up to you to decide which, but since "you dunno", then I will try to help.

I guess the first question is "Why did God create the universe?" which translated means "Why is the supercomputer running the simulation?" Is the goal good or evil? Perhaps the supercomputer was programed to do so for an evil purpose by its creators, and ROB is sort of like its concience it has developed and wants to mess up the experiment before it can produce evil results. I would favor ROB being good, instead of evil, perhaps trying to produce a different result that will end up doing good than if the simulation ran to completion on its present course. However, that being said, if ROB is a computer virus, and based on logic and programable, and is expending energy to maintain the RDF, scientists studying that might find a way to..either communicate with it, grab its attention, or annoy it. I believe that enabeling some communication with it, even though we won't understand it completly, would produce some interesting stories.

Fibeo, I had previously read your story and just re-read it. By the way it is fine to plug :) When I read it the first time I thought that it really did not fit in with the rest of the stories since it involved time travel. In the context of a simulation, that would mean more than one running at one time, all on different timelines, and being able to hop between them. Maybe ROB is trans-simulation and could have helped this, but I really don't see how anyone in a simulation could get the supercomputer running it to re-set it to a prior time point and insert someone from a future point. It was an interesting story however and I did enjoy reading it.

Robotech, "magic" is a nice simple explanation to explain the unexplainable, but mankind strives for answers, it seeks to understand, and predict and ultimately control those things it can not immediately explain. Faced with an unexplainable force that is threatening mankind itself with extintion, mankind will use all resourses at its disposal, spare no espence, bring the greatest scientific minds, changed and unchanged to work on studying and solving the problem. It may be futile, we may never be able to win against the Gods, but it is the nature of mankind to TRY! You mentioned it is unlikly manking could "hack" its way out. That would be one possibility, since mathematics would likly be the same for both us and the supercomputer and ROB which are both based on mathmatics and logic. however, there are possibities for stories regarding that attempt..and could be very interesting. If I was a writer, I might even try writing one, but who knows...I might anyways.

Back to JonBuck. The link was to an article about people thinking something and it becoming real. Much too powerful, sort of like...writers!
-- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 00:39, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

:Okay. I'm going to clarify some concepts here.
:The Singularity I'm referring to is the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity Technological_singularity] . Nothing to do with gravity. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posthuman further entry on posthumanism] , and its close relation, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanist Transhumanist]. By Planck-level I mean, basically, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units smallest length in the universe] . Everything down to those levels is "simulated".
:Moving on, the kind of questions you bring up I actually don't want to deal with. The reason I'm using the ROB acronym in the first place is to avoid overtly religious connotations. I realize that they're very important, but it's otherwise such a contentious issue in the real world. I really don't want to see any "communicating with ROB" stories.
:Post-Singularity intelligences are by nature inscrutable (I've seen Stross refer to them as "Weakly Godlike Entities" in his books). At this point ROB has switched to a "salvage mode" by making direct changes to the "simulation" in the form of alleviating energy crises (a huge concern of mine at the time I wrote most of my stories in this setting) and climate change.
:''Accelerando'' is actually [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_%28book%29 available for free].
: -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:27, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

::Thanks for the reply Jonbuck, the links were very helpful and I have a clearer idea what you are talking about now. It is going to take me a while to read all the stories.
::I used religious words to describe ideas simply that are familiar but did not mean in any way to be controversial.
::I will try over the next few weeks to put together a short story within your constraints, and if it exceeds your limits we can just change it. I plan to make one assumption, and that is that a simulation is defined by rules set for it that need to be obeyed for it to continue running. ROB changing the speed of light in the simulation for example would be such a fundamental change in everything that it would break the entire simulation, i.e. crash the program. ROB can only work within the rules set for the simulation, agreed?
:: -- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 02:12, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

:::Major changes in underlying physical constants would probably be ill advised, even for ROB. :) At this point the simulation is being salvaged to prevent social chaos, death, and extinction of the people inside it.
:::There's a novel out that has some very similar ideas and influenced a lot of how I set up this setting: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwinia_%28novel%29 ''Darwinia'' by Robert Wilson] .
::: -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:22, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply JonBuck, I can work with that, and will post something in a few weeks for your feedback.
-- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 00:45, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

== About ('''2004''') '''''Victory Starts Here''''' ==

OK, JonBuck, I lied and posted the story in just 2 days. I could not stop thinking about it. I got as far as I could. Could you please read it and then tell me the results of each of the experiments before I can continue in the next one? Thanks!
[[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 00:17, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

:After the "server crash" of 2011; the original story [[User:Enphilistor|Victory Starts Here]] (by [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] ) is now avalaible (in a very crude, text only format) in the Talk Page of it´s creator: [[User_talk:Enphilistor| Victory Starts Here]]
: -- [[User:Argamis|Argamis]] 13:00, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Well, I think I will just have to decide for myself how the experiments turn out and just hope you approve. One of my goals in the stories I plan to write is to explain "scientifically" all the effects you have going on here are consistent with all universal laws. If you are running a program, you can't change the code of the program while it is running. You can change the code but only by stoping the program from running and recompiling it. So anything ROB is doing has to be done inside the simulation following the rules of the simulation (under the premise of the stories I plan to write). It is really not going to be easy for the scientists(i.e. me) to explain the changes to the past records, or why they start off only being change a few years back, then all the way back to the day someone was born, and undoing history such as marriages. And remember, I can't have ROB using "magic", ROB is in the simulation and has to be constrained to its rules. Because of this constraint, ROB needs a "body" someplace and a supply of "energy" from somewhere, to direct and power all these changes. I hope you enjoy my next story, that should be entiteld something like "Victory Continues", where Paul has to cope with being a female pig, and the scientists recieve some confusing results on the origin of the signals they record.
-- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 22:27, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

:Not really. If ROB is outside of the simulation, there's nothing to stop it from pausing the simulation and reworking the fabric of it as necessary. It's like pausing the Sims and placing new walls or whatever. As far as the Sim-people are concerned, those walls might as well as have always been there, even if we (the players) know better. ROB is not inside the simulation, ROB is the player(s) outside the simulation. In no sense does ROB need to obey any rules within the simulation, nor does it need act within the laws of the simulation to change the simulation. By definition anything ROB does is going to be 'magic' because turning people into furries, or editing history, isn't something that's allowed within physical laws. Most of the transformations directly violate the law of the conservation of mass and energy, for example.
:I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I'm clearly not Mr Buck (who might disagree with my explanation), but it seems like you're not quite getting the setting, as I understand it. Hope that helps.
: -- [[User:Honeymane|Honeymane]] 07:52, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

::Got it in one, Honeymane. -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 18:30, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

JonBuck said, Major changes in underlying physical constants would probably be ill advised, even for ROB. :)

In addition, since ROB hates paradoxes, and will go to such extremes as making sure each child will have both a biological father and a mother and never 2 fathers or 2 mothers, following the rule of conservation in energy and mass is necessary to avoid such paradoxes on an even more fundamental level and in any case easily achieved. If you read my story, that exact experiment has been set up to measure this. Since it is so easy to maintain mass and energy balance, which you will see in the next story, there is no reason to violate this universal law. Imagine the effect on the simulation if you try to break this rule either while it is running or "pausing" it. A calculation is in the process of being made on an object between it and every other object in the universe. In the middle of the calculation a zero is entered (E = mC^2, so if you are going to, C is either zero, which crashes the program and is not what JonBuck said, or as m goes to zero, then c goes to infinity which also changes the velocity of light constant which JobBuck said would not happen). Some calculations have already been performed and other calculations in progress have end up with a divisor of zero. You crash the program when you restart it, as the zero divisor propagates in all the calculations throughout the universe.

In any case, mankind will try and study these effects, and my stories will be mostly concerned with these attempts. However, when I say all laws have to be obeyed, that does not mean all laws that humans know about, it can include new ones. It may be that the results of the experiments will lead them to conclude that something is breaking the laws of the universe because they don't understand them all, but ROB will know what it is doing. I imagine it like this. The main computer can't use its antiviral programming to stop ROB as long as ROB is hiding in the simulation and following the rules in the simulation, but if ROB breaks the rules, and crashes it, he becomes exposed with no place to hide and gets zaped. You will see that in the next story, that ROB is still just as powerful to the same "magic" as it can is now, and still be consistent with all stories that have happened, and the setting JonBuck has set up. JonBuck has not really explained the interaction between the main computer and the virus or any protections or why they are not working. In any case, it doesn't matter what i think, since the stories I plan don't mention this at all, they will be consistent with either ROB being inside or outside the simulation, only what the beings in the simulation measure is in the stories. Just trust me, the story will be interesting and fun, and if JonBuck says no to some result after he reads it, I will change it. Fair?
-- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 01:54, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

:I haven't had time to read your story yet. Frankly, reading your comments here I'm getting a little antsy over what exactly the impact it would have on the overall setting. I think you're over-analyzing the setting, frankly. You're asking questions about it that I really can't answer.
:Also, use colons in front of your paragraphs to make them indent and create a "nested" topic. And put a blank line between paragraphs. Thanks.
: -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:21, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

::For JonBuck I had intentionally not been using indents so that my comments would be totally left justified and everyone the replies for everyone else indented, make it easier in my view to keep things organized. But if you prefer indents, I am easy.
::I had assumed that you had already read the story. It would be good for me to get some feedback on that since none of the things we discuss here are really in it, but may impact it.
:: -- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 02:57, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

:I think you're confusing the 'players' here. First, there's the computer that all the "real" characters (ie the characters in the story) exist in. ROB 1 is likely someone running the computer, perhaps for anthropological reason, perhaps because they're bored. ROB 2 is unrelated to ROB 1, but for one reason or another, has managed to add a virus program to ROB 1's simulation, causing problems. There are at least 2 viruses that JonBuck has discussed; one that changes gender, and one that changes people into furries, we could, however, imagine that there may have been other viruses in the past, that eventually ROB 1 removed. For example, Atlantis might have been real, and so might have the Greek/etc gods. Atlantians were gifted technology beyond what they should have, and ROB 1 deleted the island to save the program, ROB might have also deleted the Gods, for whatever reason, etc. I'm just speculating here. Now, either ROB can't remove the virus like it did the other problems, or it realized that altering reality was screwing with the program's purpose (such as anthropological study) So rather than delete the TG or TF viruses, ROB 1 created a program to try and mitigate the virus's effects. This program is what causes the history editing (etc).
:Both these viruses exist within the programing of the Computer, but not on a level that would appear to anyone in the program. It's important to remember that time doesn't necessarily pass like it does within the computer; the virus could get it's work done in a nanosecond. Everything else, the sickness, the slow change, all these might be part of the mitigation program's efforts to prevent anyone from changing in public, and to change so suddenly they lose their minds, nor without warning. But there's no reason to think that this computer virus is operating through something like an actual virus, or that the changes are visible on a cell level before the change occurs, even in those showing the signs of the change.
:But again, this is just me talking, not Buck. But I do strongly suggest you hold off writing too much more until Jon has a chance to review your story, or else you might very well find yourself writing something based on ideas that JonBuck doesn't like/want in his setting.
: -- [[User:Honeymane|Honeymane]] 04:24, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

:: For Honeymane It is really difficult to hit a moving target. I have not seen in any of the stories and discussions or JonBuck's guidlines about prior activity of ROB. As for ROB1, ROB2, ....ROBN, only one master computer has been mentioned and only one ROB virus. In my understanding, the main comupter has created a SIMULATION. The main computer is infected with a much smaller and more limited "few lines of code" virus, that the beings on one planet in the SIMULATION call the random omnipotent being, but this being is only omnipotent comparted to us, not compared to the main computer. I do not see ROB having the same power to shut down the simulation, pause it, change the rules in it or perform any of the jobs the main computer does.
:: -- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 04:24, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

:I see ROB as much more limited. It needs to avoid detection of the antiviral programs, it can't attract their attention, it needs to work by stealth, it is a virus after all, it can't do things that say, "here I am!". And this all follows from things JonBuck has indicated. If he wants to say ROB = main computer in all powers, then well, fine, but he has not done so. He has not defined the motives of ROB or the main computer. when asked, he has said, " I dunno". Given that void, since I need to write in that setting, I find myself creating possible motives for them in my mind.
:It makes no difference to the stories I plan to write, but it helps me limiting ROB to viral powers and behaviors, not mainfraim abilities. A virus has 2 main goals, to keep itself alive and to reproduce itself. ROB may or may not have the second goal, but it will have the first. While doing this in any enviornment, it may cause side effects. Imagine ROB as a biological virus, and a living cell as the simulation that is growing inside a body that is the mainframe. At one time ROB was outside the cell, in the body (mainframe) where lots of antibodies (antiviral programs) were hunting for it. By entering the cell, it is now hidden from the body's defenses. However, if the cell gets sick or dies(ROB crashes the cell simulation) before ROB has either left the cell or reached a state of reproduction where that is desireable, then the body will just devower the cell and grow a new one. So in my scenario, perhaps ROB realized that the purpose of the simulation was about to be achieved, and since ROB is not ready to reproduce, it is messing with the simulation, hyjacking it as a virus hyjacks the DNA of a Cell, to keep the simulation alive longer than it would otherwise, so that it won't reach the conditions for termination, until it can make other copies of itself to infect other simulations. Who knows, maybe with enough copies of itself it can take over the mainfraim. Alternatively, its work at transforming mankind may be the way it is going about reproducing. Alternatively, ROB might have realized the simulation was about to produce a failed reslut which would have terminated the simulation and it is acting to keep itself alive by preventing failure conditions.
:In any case it makes no difference to the stories I plan to write, JonBuck had declined to actually be clear on this, and it really does not matter. The beings in the simulations don't know this, and it is difficult to think of any way they could ever find out. Well actually I could, because I am like that. One way would be if ROB tells them, and since Jonbuck said no comunication with ROB, that won't happen. Another if the mainfram sends a COR (Correcting Omnipotent Being) into the simulation (...and God sent his only begotten son...that type of idea) and told people.
:The second story is half done, and I plan to continue writing it since I have it all layed out in my mind. Hopefully Jonbuck will read the first story and give some feedback before I finish, but I believe he will approve of both stories in any case. And if not, I will change them.
: -- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]] 04:24, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

:: *puts on peacemaker and teacher hats*
:: From what I can tell you're looking for an explicit statement of something that has been implicit in the setting design since the start...
:: Where the Solar System once sat is now a cloud of what you could call "Computronium". Inside this computer are many, many simulations. Whether these simulations are the creation of a separate physical being or the uploaded minds of people is a moot point - we'll never see the "real world". (btw, ROB could actually be an AI that was once a person...)
:: The stories all take place inside one of these simulations that has picked up a couple of viruses somewhere. One of them has been around since at least the late 70's (IIRC, this is mentioned in one of Jon's stories) and the other didn't appear until 1987. The one that showed up in 1987 - the "furry virus" - is newer and initially ROB had tried to contain it using the "Perception Filter". When it somewhat "merged" with the TG virus the simulation got a lot more unstable and ROB had to start including things in its "containment" to help combat that instability. That is the "history revision" stuff. It also is the cause of the changes to married couples with children - because it was seeing potential causes of instability (no more mother/father) and fixing it as it could.
:: There is no "ROB" actually in the simulation - think about the game "The SIMS"... In that game you are the ROB - the creator and maintainer of the simulation. And you can "Pause" the simulation, make changes and restart it. In this case at least the entirety of the solar system is part of the simulation and every time ROB has to make a change it "pauses" the simulation, makes the changes and then hits the "normal speed" button. Now... there might be some people in the world that are actually from outside the sim, but they'd never make themselves known - and they could, probably, act like the ROB and remove any evidence of themselves (outside of memories) from the sim.
:: -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 04:21, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

::: I think a lot of the problems here is a misunderstanding of the source material I'm drawing inspiration for this setting from. Honeymane and ShadowWolf have both described things well. (Though I'm going to bump the TG virus back a few more centuries). A few points.
:::: * ROB exists outside the simulation. Other ROBs are not important. The Virus is not a ROB. However, ROB isn't really a physical being either, as SW describes.
:::: * The Virus originates outside the simulation. Who and what originally made it is a moot point.
:::: * The intent of said "virus" (the term only fits loosely) is to throw a monkeywrench into ROB's simulation of our universe. The reason why it hasn't been contained is that it was created by a slightly more advanced post-Singularity Mind than ROB. Since ROB can't contain it, ROB can only mitigate.
:::: * Essentially, the two virii are intended to cause social chaos via random transformations. It doesn't exist to propagate itself to other simulations. In the first case, a "quarantine" of sorts was created via modifying the present records of those TGed to reflect their new gender. If it was true history editing neither the person transformed nor the people who knew them would remember what they'd been. What ROB is changing are just the present physical objects.
:::Honestly, go read Part 2 of Accelerando. It was originally started as short stories, so you can pick it up there. That's where a lot of the concepts for Paradise started.
::: -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 05:13, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

OK, it seems terminology is messing me up. I was under the apparently mistaken belief that ROB was the virus, and the Mainfraim running the simulation(s). I believed this because the virus was random and chainging someone to a furry is sort of mildy omnipotent. Yes, I fully agree that if ROB = Mainfraim(or AI who might have once been human) then ROB must definatly outside the simulation. My comments were consering only the virus(es) that are causing the transgender/furry transformations.
Let me call the form that can do either one or the other or both, the Random Omnipotent Virus, ROV for short so there will be no misunderstandings. I can see ROB stoping the simulation and making corections, eliminating divisions by zero and all that. However, ROV should not have those abilities, being just a lowly virus, compared to ROB. The stories I wish to write constrain ROV to using the same old laws that existed in 1987, and prior to that if there was the TG virus. The universe we live in now was supposed to be identical to that one until 1987, I would like that ROV should be handicaped a little by the rules ROB created for the simulation. A simulation is to test SOMETHING, and if you start changing the rules (ie laws of nature) your results are just not going to simulate the conditions you wanted to in the real world, where you don't have the power to change the laws of nature.
The experiments the humans are setting up in my first story will indicate only the effects being caused by ROV. If ROV is outside or inside the simulation does not really matter, but if ROV can behave just like ROB, then that study is just not going to produce anything interesting either scientifically, or plot wise. Such violations of the laws of nature might just scream at them "There really must be a god involved." and we never want them to know or suspect ROB or the true nature of ROV. To have a scientific study, I would like ROV to follow the laws of the universe, for any of the reasons described here and in prior posts. I will work out some reasons that make sense to the humans for all things happening regarding the transformations, to keep them studying and not just throw up their hands in frustration, if that is ok.
-- [[User:Enphilistor|Enphilistor]]

== Count of Changed in 1997 ==

Hello! I'm new here, but I really like this setting and read probably most of the stories. I even made my own table in Excel to draw the changing numbers as a graphic (Also for my hometown to get a grip on the numbers). And there I noticed something:

Maybe I just missed a story or paragraph where it is explained, but shouldn't there be 1024 Changed in 1997 instead of 1028? Where do the additional 4 Furries come from? I know this is just minor, but the error is kept through the following years till the end and all the numbers are wrong (It doesn't however change the fact that 2020 is the last year).

It's not so important, but it's been bugging me since I noticed it. -- [[User:TigeR|TigeR]] 15:53, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

:Check out the [[Paradise (Setting)]] page. It has all the numbers. -- [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:16, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

:: Jon, you do have a +4 in 1997 over a strict doubling. This is what he was pointing out and asking questions about. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:18, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

::: And fixed! -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:37, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

::: This error went a heck of a lot deeper and its possible that the skew-factor introduced in 1997 effected the percentages as time went into the future - however... I fixed this by hand and then verified the figures against a program that output every power of two from zero to the 33rd. As it stands this table now has correct figures for the furry population and one can only assume that the historical figures for population are correct and the projection fits the curve correctly. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:55, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

== Paradise:The Soundtrack ==

Not sure about anyone else, but I find music to be a major inspiration.. Well of course it

is... the song "Strangers by Yoko Kanno" got this series off the ground did it not?

So I decided to put together a soundtrack, it's not available for download because I own

none of these songs... But if you happen to have them, you can arrange them in your iPod

Playlist, if you want.. I mean I'm not forcing ya, it's just a possibility.

: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0b58V573l8 '''Yoko Kanno''' - Strangers -_Wolf's Rain - Strangers by Sori Smile-_ ] <- { The begining of ALL of this... }

: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IroHea5FOj8 '''Bliss 66''' - Not Quite Paradise ] <- {''This song pretty much hits the entire series on the head... (It's from the ending of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb2aMjprmdo Titan A.E.], damn good movie, do see it sometime)''}

:[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqds0B_meys '''Three Days Grace''' - Animal I Have Become]

:[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-scESgTnoUM '''Goo Goo Dolls''' - Iris]

: '''Mighty Bosstones''' - Impression That I Get

: '''Lee Brotherton''' - Dream Of An Asbolution

: '''Cash Cash''' - Speak With Your Heart

: '''Eminem''' - Beautiful

: '''Shania Twain''' - Man I Feel Like A Woman

: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE9zpOyNDoA '''Chip Tha Ripper''' - SLAB Freestyle -_What Are You Inside? - Furries In A Blender_- ] <- { ''Joke YouTube Entry'' }

: '''Tears For Fears''' - Everybody Wants To Rule The World

: '''Foo Fighters''' - The Pretender

and finally:

: '''John Mayer''' - Waiting On The World To Change

: %'''Crush 40'''% - %Is It You?% -_%http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFyPlBkqXR0%-_ <- {%''Is it you? Is it me? Is it everything we're meant to be? Is it here? Is it now? That only we can feel somehow''%}
I think I forgot some, but yeah, definitely these. - [[User:Hawl|Hawl]] (1/10/11, 1:55 PM)

: The new ''metadata format'' for the songlist is: %'''Artist'''% - %Songtitle% -_%YTtitle%-_ <- {%''comment''%}

::[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8IujL8_sMI '''Stanfour''' - For All Lovers] <- { ''My Favorite ; "...For all the Changeds, and Believers..."'' }

::[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4w3lPYoBX8 '''Stanfour''' - Everything Has Changed]

::[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mjlM_RnsVE '''Skillet''' - Monster]

::[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-makfpBrSQ '''Three Days Grace''' - Never too late]

: -- [[User:Argamis|Argamis]] 13:50, 03 February 2011 (UTC)

::"It's the new mother nature taking over
::It's the new splendid lady come to call
::It's the new mother nature taking over
::She's getting us all
::She's getting us all"
::—[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJbFVJvRqOQ '''The Guess Who'''] - No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature

::And then there's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgycukafqQ '''Linkin Park'' - What I've Done] from my Melton's Eleven stories…

::—[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 06:51, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

::: I would put in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byp94CCWKSI '''Jason Derulo''' - The Other Side], and since one of my characters is going to become a famous singer, I'd put more on the list.
:::[[User:Sivle|Sivle]] ([[User talk:Sivle|talk]]) 17:58, 24 March 2017 (CDT)

== I Need a Date ==

Not that kind... I'd like the exact date of Tall Tales. Or maybe even a compilation of important events and when they happened. I don't mean the year, but the actual days. I hate sounding important like this, so please just try to roll with this and help. The important thing for me was Tall Tales. When did the convention take place? I've looked through this page, the story, and several related stories, but it never really mentioned a date, so if somebody knows, and they could get back to me on this, that would be great. Thanks. [[User:Atapari|Atapari]] 01:04, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

:If I was going to pin down an actual ''date'', I'd put it at Veteran's Day weekend. A lot of cons take place over a long weekend. As for the exact sequence of events, I'll have to reread the story. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 02:25, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

:It's actually a little hard to pin down the date. As I pointed out in the "Continuity Snarl" entry on [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Paradise the Paradise TVTropes page], it's strongly implied to take place in October (a character in Jetfire's "Clearing the Air" complains about its effects in a scene set on October 22nd, which is presumably a week or so after the con so those effects have had time to be felt), but Nikon's "Changing Perspectives" (which takes place concurrently with "Tall Tales") says it's set in November. Of course, neither of those people are JonBuck, who wrote the original story and gatekeeps the continuity, but neither of them is necessarily more valid than the other—though if we go by what Jon says above, Veteran's Day is in November. —[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] 03:07, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks a bunch, both of you. This'll help me finish my story. (By the way, I love all your stories. My own are sort of pathetic, but I aspire to be as good a writer as you.) [wow, that was corny.][[User:Atapari|Atapari]] 23:41, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

It's not too corny, Atapari, MatthiasRat is like my personal hero... Of course so is Robert Hallman, but for completely different reasons. Btw, if you're reading this Matty. Then you've earned this bad Sonata Artica/Winds Of Change reference. Diiiiiiiiiiiid you ever knooooow that you're my hero! And everything I would like to beeeeee. Cause you are the wiiiiiind beneath my wiiiiiiiiiiiings! See it's funny cause he inspired me with a TF story and I called him the wind beneath my wings... And... there's that other series... and... yeah I'll just shut up now. [[User:Hawl|Hawl]] 7:40, 3/5/2011 (UTC)

Update: I can say for sure that it was in October. I can't believe I missed this before: "Most of the furs were like Jerome and his girlfriend, only having changed two months ago."[[User:Atapari|Atapari]] 04:13, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

== Fanart Of The Changed ==

I just comissioned, as far as I know, the first ever Paradise Fanart. The art is Pokemon themed (Cause Pokemon Black's release is just around the corner), but the picture is of Iris (formely Cale) and Gabriel, the characters from my upcoming story. I'm writing a story to go along with the picture. Will post a link to it as soon as its done. The non-fan service story about them is almost finished. Just needs a few more paragraphs and revisions. It's part 1 in a series. This is exciting for me, I've never actually finished a story before... Well outside of one Paradise story I wrote a few months ago and never posted.... But I never submitted that to anywhere outside of furaffinity cause I was personally ashamed of it. Once again I'd like to give a shoutout to... whoever the real life Robert Hallman is, Charles Matthias, and Jon Buck for encouraging me to return to story writing and the furry fandom. (If you wanna read what I have so far of what I wrote, just type "Weird Girly Boy" in the search engine) - [[User:Hawl|Hawl]], 08:00, 3/5/2011, (UTC)

The Art's done, the story is awaiting an ending. Due to the Pokemon Crossover Nature, this story is incredibly non-cannon (Think Cascade Failure or The Future Is Paradise) and as a result never happened. These characters are from an upcoming series called "Paradisian Perspectives" which is a Paradise Mini-Series. The one in the front is "Gabriel Locke" and the one in the back is "Iris Vinole", though she was born "Cale Vinole" (TG'd)
I'll add them to the cast page when I finish "A Normal Type Of Day". I'd like to note that Iris, like most TG-Changed does not usually wear feminine clothing (and continues not to after Tall Tales, for comfort reasons) the sundress is merely something the artist decided to add though it is referenced in the story. I would like to repeat, POKEMON DO NOT EXIST IN PARADISE! THIS STORY ISN'T CANNON!
http://undead-romance.furaffinity.net/view/5416625/ - Drawn by a close personal friend, comissioned by me. (Story coming before the weekend ends) [[User:Hawl|Hawl]], 5:53PM, 3/17/2011 (EST)

== Shed vs Cut Fur ==

One of the lines in one of [[User:MatthiasRat|MatthiasRat's]] stories gave me an idea for one of my own. The shared content is very small (an offhand line, never again mentioned in one, a small plot point with little impact on the plot in the other) and I'm asking him for permission now, but I also want to make sure that what I am thinking of is possible in the Paradise universe. I know that shedding fur is always a problem with the Changed, but I have also seen scenes (like where [[User:Eirik|Eiric's]] Dr. Clay sends some fur—deliberately cut—to be tested, and the results indicate normal human hair. Is this something that has been established in the world, or can I have fur cut from one of my Changed appear to be animal fur to the non-Changed? Thanks! - [[User:RunsWithFurs|Runs]][[User talk:RunsWithFurs|With]][[:Category:RunsWithFurs|Furs]] 09:58, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

:I've never really nailed down the rules here, but it's reasonable to assume the RDF isn't completely consistent. It's the same way with footprints. A lot depends on context, some condition that shed fur ''needs'' to be hidden. It's really dependent on what your story requires, when it comes down to it. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 01:58, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

::Thank you for the clarification; I thought that it would be something like that. I will be using visible fur for my story, then; what I am thinking of is not strictly ''necessary'', but I do think that it will add a bit of depth to the character. - [[User:RunsWithFurs|Runs]][[User talk:RunsWithFurs|With]][[:Category:RunsWithFurs|Furs]] 05:58, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

== Question on the time period ==

I was reading through the universe rules, and noticed (again, though this is the first time I remembered to follow up) that you ask us to submit any stories that take place pre-2001 to you. I am currently intending to set my story in that time period—somewhere in the mid/late 1990's—and am wondering how you would like us to send stories to you, once I get something written. Though I could set it later, I want my characters to be rather isolated, and, while the setting lends itself well to geographic isolation, low overall numbers would also be nice. Finally, I just wanted to make sure that it was all right for me to write a Paradise story; I realized that I never actually asked. Sorry! - [[User:RunsWithFurs|Runs]][[User talk:RunsWithFurs|With]][[:Category:RunsWithFurs|Furs]] 06:06, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

:Well, nobody has to ask me if they can write a Paradise story. Just tell me what your overall plans are. You don't have to submit the whole story to me first--I tend not to get to them. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 06:46, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

::Thank you. I'll probably wait a bit longer before saying anything, as my outline is not quite finalized yet. Main points, though: the main character visits relative's farm in early August. Change strikes while still on farm; aunt revealed to have previously changed. Main character stays with relative to get used to new form (neither knows of the network). As I said, this could be placed at practically any point on the timeline, but I find it seems to "click" better earlier. I apoligize if this is not the best way to run it by you, and if it is not enough information. I would be happy to give you a more in-depth outline, through whatever method you want, once it settles. Thanks again for putting up with me! - [[User:RunsWithFurs|Runs]][[User talk:RunsWithFurs|With]][[:Category:RunsWithFurs|Furs]] 23:48, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

==Aliens?==
:Would any intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe be affected by the change eventually? Of course, the fractal thing does make it so that it would be a LOOOOONG time after the Earth changes finish... [[User:Maine Cat|Maine Cat]] 21:07, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

::The answer is yes, they would. But I don't plan on introducing any aliens into this setting for the foreseeable future. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 16:36, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

== It's The Most Transformational Time, Of The Year! ==

August 16th? How we all feeling today? I'm healthy as a horse sadly, no... not a Healthy Horse, a healthy human. *looks in his boxers* Male too....

Oh well.. *tucks a Victoria's Secret bag back into the closet*

Maybe next year :P

== The Blind and the RDF ==

So I was thinking about the change and how it would affect the disabled and such, and through the thoughts, I came to a realization... the blind may be able to naturally pierce the veil somewhat! Two factors come into this. First, a blind man is BLIND. The visual disguise of the RDF that makes a person look like they always looked has NO EFFECT, a blind person relying on touch. Second, it's generally said of the blind (and deaf) that with one sense out of comission, the other four senses become more acute and sensitive to make up for it, meaning they have more of a chance of feeling the hidden fur or claws. Now admittedly, people don't touch each other as much as they see each other unless they're shaking hands or something, but this COULD be an interesting hook for a story, don't you think?--[[User:Chessrook44|Chessrook44]] 01:18, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

It could work if someone shook hands with a fur, and then got curious from there... I don't plan on doing anything with Paradise outside of the Perspective Series, but if anyone wants to go for it I encourage them strongly too.--[[User:Hawl|Hawl]]

== Fanart Section ==

I think we should consider adding a Fanart section....

I've comissoned a lot of Paradise pictures and there's starting to build up

For those who want to see the ones that exist so far

CM And Jan (Alone/Building) - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2467774/

Iris Vinole (Perspectives, WARNING NSFW) - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6864851/

Iris and Hugh (Perspectives) - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6440722/

Cale Vinole and Gabrielle Locke/GL (Perspectives, Joke Picture) - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6863142/

Iris and Gabriel (Perspectives, Drawn for a Non-Canon Paradise Story) - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5416625/

Plus if the series became more visual it would attract more readers

== Are monotremes okay? ==

I had this very interesting idea of a character who (SPOILER ALERT!) is pregnant when she catches the Sleeping Sickness and becomes a platypus. How would all this play out, and could I use this animal? [[User:Sivle|Sivle]] ([[User talk:Sivle|talk]]) 17:44, 24 March 2017 (CDT)

== Jon Buck and the Future of Paradise ==

Hey guys. So I've only just created my account here on Shifti, but I've read and been a fan of the Paradise universe for the last few years. I've been considering writing a story set in this universe, however, there is one thing I'm unsure of... After looking into Jon Buck's history on the site, I've been unable to find any activity from him since 2014. Is Jon Buck still around on this site? Or has he moved on?

:Welcome to Shifti! First of all, it would be very helpful if you signed talk page contributions (easily done with four tildes: <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>). Secondly, Jon Buck has contributed to recently-published stories in the [[:Category:FreeRIDErs|FreeRIDErs]] setting. If you're concerned with getting his permission for something, you might be able to reach him through [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] or [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]], his FreeRIDErs collaborators. --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 22:29, 6 April 2019 (CDT)

Talk:Cougar Town

2017-09-27T14:29:31Z

Proginoskes: Vague praise and specific templating.

Very nice! I do have a couple of suggestions, not for the story itself but rather the presentation:
# It would probably be a good idea to include [[:Template:XXX]] at the beginning of the page, [[:Category:Adult]] alone (appearing as it does at the end) not being very useful to people who want to ''avoid'' such content.
# One or both of [[:Template:Series box]] and [[:Template:Series bar]] would allow readers to easily find the sequel.
--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 09:29, 27 September 2017 (CDT)

Talk:FreeRIDErs (background material)

2017-03-14T01:27:00Z

Proginoskes: /* Nextus Military RIDE Designations (122-160 AL) */

I'd like to know more about ASA armors. Do they act as their own Forward Observes? What kind of standard equipment do they have? What their sizes range. Anything and everything basically. --Oddoneout

:Well, we haven't really ''needed'' to work out details like this because they haven't come up in any story. I'm sure the avian RIDES (Light Scouts, Light Mobility) would act as spotters and use comm lasers. Feel free to bring your own ideas to the table. Also, make sure you hit the Signature button when you post. :) --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 02:11, 28 December 2013 (CST)

::Alright, I was thinking it would be good if they have a long range sensor suite so they can be deployed without the need for an FO except when targeting at extreme ranges. My brother is in the military and he confirmed for me that this is, to an extent, how artillery can currently operate. If the target is within a certain distance they can target and fire on their own. But most of the time they have an FO or at least someone to call in coordinates for them because they're going for extreme ranges.--[[User:Oddoneout|Oddoneout]] ([[User talk:Oddoneout|talk]]) 08:22, 28 December 2013 (CST)

==Nextus Military RIDE Designations (122-160 AL)==
I was wondering if there is a specific designation for not yet designated models, like in development models that are not yet in a stage where one would decide if it was to be a LSA or a LMA or a RMR. EXP for "experimental" springs to mind, but I havn't yet found any established RIDE that would be that far back in the development stage. -[[User:Lin|Lin]] ([[User talk:Lin|talk]]) 14:03, 11 March 2017 (CST)
:Our thinking is that the 000-series is the prototype-prototype, the real experimental stage. The 001-series are the "production prototypes" that get field experience, then on up as each major revision is made. [[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 23:33, 11 March 2017 (CST)
::I meant... the desination is XXX(g)-YYY-NNNZ, XXX the phenotype (CTH for Cheetah), g for gender, YYY for the type, NNN for where it is in this development (000 for the first prototypes) and possibly a Z for variant designations. If a RIDE would follow that designation sheme but were made explicitly as an experimental testbed for what is possible (military demonstrator so to say) instead of a real battlefield role, would that get the closest match of an existing type or would it get something different like EXP or MDM (militrary demonstration model)?
::I ask, because some big point of the plot I have in mind is, that the RIDE was designed with just matching very few goals to prove it was possible, skipping on any non essential other part. In this case, it is for a cheetah modeled high speed one with the goal to break the 2000 meters in 10 seconds. That would meet the LSA, LMA and RMR brackets, but at the same time the explicit skipping on anythign that would be exra weight (including what was needed to fulfill all the other parts of that role) does make it hard to place it in either of those, so I thought EXP or something to evade something even more civillian sounding, like RCE and FRI (Race or Formula RIDE). --[[User:Lin|Lin]] ([[User talk:Lin|talk]]) 15:30, 13 March 2017 (CDT)
:::This is more-or-less answered in-story: Fritz was the ''prototypes<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' prototype's prototype, the first RIDE after Rattigan, and the very first to be a transforming mecha. His model designation was LNX(m) LMA-000. If the record-attempt RIDE was a military project, it would probably be designated a Scout or Mobility Armour (if I recall correctly, RMR stands for "Rapid Medical Response", which would necessitate medical equipment). There is a chance that it would be given a unique code, though. LSR for "Land Speed Record" sounds both apt and military.
:::--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 20:27, 13 March 2017 (CDT)

Talk:FreeRIDErs (background material)

2017-03-14T01:25:55Z

Proginoskes: /* Nextus Military RIDE Designations (122-160 AL) */ Hopefully fixing my signature

Talk:FreeRIDErs (background material)

2017-03-14T01:23:59Z

Proginoskes: Answering the question.

Talk:Valentine Divergence (setting)

2015-03-24T02:42:08Z

Proginoskes: I moved it myself!

Move request: I think this page should be re-named "Valentine Divergence (setting)".

--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 00:09, 9 June 2014 (CDT)
:Huh. I didn't think I could move it myself. --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 21:42, 23 March 2015 (CDT)

Talk:Valentine Divergence

2015-03-24T00:58:19Z

Proginoskes: Proginoskes moved page Talk:Valentine Divergence to Talk:Valentine Divergence (setting): It's a setting page, not a story, and the page title should reflect that.

#REDIRECT [[Talk:Valentine Divergence (setting)]]

Talk:Valentine Divergence (setting)

2015-03-24T00:58:19Z

Proginoskes: Proginoskes moved page Talk:Valentine Divergence to Talk:Valentine Divergence (setting): It's a setting page, not a story, and the page title should reflect that.

Move request: I think this page should be re-named "Valentine Divergence (setting)".

--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 00:09, 9 June 2014 (CDT)

Valentine Divergence

2015-03-24T00:58:19Z

Proginoskes: Proginoskes moved page Valentine Divergence to Valentine Divergence (setting): It's a setting page, not a story, and the page title should reflect that.

#REDIRECT [[Valentine Divergence (setting)]]

Valentine Divergence (setting)

2015-03-24T00:58:19Z

Proginoskes: Proginoskes moved page Valentine Divergence to Valentine Divergence (setting): It's a setting page, not a story, and the page title should reflect that.

This is the setting of [[A House Divided]] and [[Butterflies are the Gentlest]]. It's an [http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/37626/valentine-divergence open setting], and several people have expressed interest in writing in it, though so far I haven't seen any completed stories by anybody other than me ([[User:Trismegistus Shandy]]).

[[Category:Valentine Divergence]]

User talk:Jetfire/The Touch

2014-08-13T18:19:12Z

Proginoskes: Creation: IWIR

== In Which Proginoskes Reads ==
I haven't done one of these in a while.

Before I even start reading the story, Stan Bush's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKpByV5764 The Touch] leaps to mind. This can only be a good portent.

I don't recognise young Mr. Shepard's middle name, but Yuri Gagarin is an excellent person to be named after. I ''know'' that I should recognise the name "Valentina", I'm sure I've read or heard it connected to space exploration before, but I can't call the person to mind.

Solidly written stuff, but nothing calls out to me to point out or gush about until the scene change to Mainframe, and I know [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X7CFlJK0z4 exactly what] you're referencing. The good feeling my reaction to the title gave me has magnified tenfold.

Hopefully they've fixed that little bug that turns Sprites and Binomes into Nulls if a User wins.

Of course, the distinction between Sprites and Users doesn't exist in this version of Mainframe. Nice to see folks enjoying digital slow food, too.

So long as no actual ''damage'' that needs to be repaired rather than reset is involved, I can only approve of pushing the limits of any system until it fails.

Ah, poor Yuri. He has no idea what he's getting into, here. That said, I'm pretty sure he'll wind up partnering with Skyfire, what with your introducing her.

Yuri, you fool! If you've just met a RIDE and her partner, ''never'' assume that the human is the one speaking in Fuse!

I like the guardian lions, by the way. They make me think of a number of ''In Nomine'' Cherubim, angels whose celestial appearance is that of a non-avian animal with feathered wings and whose resonance (their purpose and inherent supernatural power) is for protection (or more precisely, knowing when, where, and by how much their charges are in danger or about to be).

Okay, this is getting interesting. Skyfire's frequent ReBooting/reformatting allows her to take on an animal alt form without losing her humanoid robot nature? Aand now I'm having visions of an independent RIDE or EIDE demanding a partially-organic frame like Tonto or Sophie. An RI in a Maximal DE could even have dextrous digits without Fusing, but might be ''incapable'' of Fusing. Wait, Shell Mode is a thing that's in the future from this work. Best of both worlds, in terms of "fusing vs. independent bipedalism". Still no progress on inverse-cyborg DE frames, though. Of course, if RIDEs become partly-organic as a matter of course, both they and their human partners might have to modify themselves to prevent disastrous immune responses, which would strongly limit both bodyjacking and "fuse J. Random Human to save their life" actions. (Perhaps fuse nanos could act as general immunosuppressants in the short term, but I imagine allergy-removing/rejection-preventing gene therapy still needs specialized facilities.)

Again a span of solidly-written but not comment-provoking material, and then the revelation that Rails's vehicle mode is currently a blue locomotive. (He was silver for the race earlier.) Do people call him Thomas, occasionally? (Yes, I know Thomas is a steam locomotive, not diesel-electric. I still think it's funny.)

I can only approve of the continued ReBoot references.

And Caractacus reminds me of ... Actually, I dunno who or what he reminds me of. He doesn't get a ton of characterization beyond "abrasive but well-meaning".

I knew it! Well, it's not sealed yet, but Yuri and Skyfire are getting to meet!

As a side note, I'd say that it isn't so much that EIs are more flexible than RIs, but that, since they lack an RI's simulated biology, gender and sex are less fundamental to their psyches. This hugely reduces the impact of body mismatch. Of course, that's a bit of a mouthful, and it works out to more or less the same result, so "flexible" works as a shorthand/simplification.

The Be Human Project is a fun read from start to finish. The first flight is great too, even when I'm cringing at the crash landing.

Lucy is basically suggesting a neural lace like Jeanette LeRoq's, but loaded with a copy of Lucy's mind instead of Yuri's? Seems reasonable-ish. Yuri having a lace-mind of himself seems like a better option, though. (Of course, nobody's sure how Jeanette LeRoq happened, so properly duplicating it would be difficult. An originally-cybernetic mind could probably just install their personality engrams onto a particularly extensive dumb neural lace.)

The first time the mesh properly worked, it fully Integrated into Yuri's mind and brain.

And I forgot to take notes from there until the end! A marvelous read as always, Jon Buck and Jetfire. Yuri Shepard and Skyfire remind me a bit of [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]]'s ''Undocumented Features'' characters, Chris Meadows (call-sign "Mako") and Katie Tanner (call-sign "Temper", name on the hull "Constellation"), but I could be extrapolating "a man pilots a single-crew spacecraft who is also his girlfriend" farther than is warranted.

--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 13:19, 13 August 2014 (CDT)

Valentine Divergence (setting)

2014-06-09T05:11:48Z

Proginoskes: placing the setting notes in the setting category.

Talk:Valentine Divergence (setting)

2014-06-09T05:09:53Z

Proginoskes: move req

Move request: I think this page should be re-named "Valentine Divergence (setting)".

--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 00:09, 9 June 2014 (CDT)

Category:Valentine Divergence

2014-06-09T05:06:29Z

Proginoskes: correcting the parent category

This is an [http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/37626/valentine-divergence open setting], and several people have expressed interest in writing in it, though so far I haven't seen any completed stories by anybody other than me ([[User:Trismegistus Shandy]]).

[[Category:Stories by setting]]

Category:Bird

2014-03-31T03:48:16Z

Proginoskes: adding Bird to Avian, because tautology.

[[Category:Stories by TF]]
[[Category:Avian]]

Category:Bird

2014-03-31T03:47:05Z

Proginoskes: Undo revision 17741 by Proginoskes (talk) No. No they don't.

[[Category:Stories by TF]]

Category:Bird

2014-03-31T03:45:50Z

Proginoskes: Do redirects work like this?

#REDIRECT [[:Category:Avian]]

Category:Deer

2014-03-16T18:56:16Z

Proginoskes: creating and describing a redlink category.

All cervines except [[:Category:Elk|elk]] and moose are deer. (Gazelles aren't cervine in the technical biological sense, though it may be useful to treat them as such here on Shifti. If such is the case, gazelles aren't deer either.)
[[Category:Cervine]]

Category:Elk

2014-03-16T18:41:11Z

Proginoskes: De-redlinking a relatively common subcategory.

Elk, wapiti, and reindeer are not technically deer.[[Category:Cervine]]

Category talk:Bird

2014-03-16T18:18:29Z

Proginoskes: Oops.

I didn't realize that [[:Category:Avian]] already existed. This one should probably be deleted, and all uses replaced with Avian. --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 13:18, 16 March 2014 (CDT)

Category:Bird

2014-03-16T18:13:42Z

Proginoskes: Created page with "Category:Stories by TF"

[[Category:Stories by TF]]

Category:Cat

2014-03-16T17:54:03Z

Proginoskes: what's this good for? specificity.

Please use this category for domestic felines only.
[[Category:Feline]]

Category:Cat

2014-03-16T16:55:04Z

Proginoskes: de-redlinking a common category

[[Category:Feline]]

Talk:The Busy Life Of Peridot Thursday

2014-03-15T18:17:02Z

Proginoskes:

Wait, you didn't ''want'' a "Stories by author" category? Uh... Oops? I apologise for my highhanded editing without your permission. (The category I created and added, [[:Category:Chatoyance]], is a subcategory of [[:Category:Stories by author]], which is in turn a subcategory of [[:Category:Story]], so adding that last wouldn't have been ''strictly'' necessary if you left your author category on. Most authors add [[:Category:Story]] directly as well as their author category, though.)

Edit: and as I typed this, you added it back! Curse my tardiness! --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 13:15, 15 March 2014 (CDT)

Talk:The Busy Life Of Peridot Thursday

2014-03-15T18:15:05Z

Proginoskes: Apologising for and explaining "because I can".

Wait, you didn't ''want'' a "Stories by author" category? Uh... Oops? I apologise for my highhanded editing without your permission. (The category I created and added, [[:Category:Chatoyance]], is a subcategory of [[:Category:Stories by author]], which is in turn a subcategory of [[:Category:Story]], so adding that last wouldn't have been ''strictly'' necessary if you left your author category on. Most authors add [[:Category:Story]] directly as well as their author category, though.) --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 13:15, 15 March 2014 (CDT)

User talk:Chatoyance

2014-03-14T16:56:29Z

Proginoskes: (signature really should be on its own line)

Welcome to being a Shifti Author, Cat's-Eye Gleam!

Just as an informational note, any logged-in user can edit pages in the main namespace. [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]] and the other administrators would stomp hard on any vandals, and it allows copyediting volunteers to make corrections directly instead of just pointing out mistakes, but most authors keep their stories on subpages of their user pages anyway (only administrators and that particular user can edit a user page or its subpages).

Also, categories! If you want your stories to be found, they need categorization. I've taken the liberty of creating a category for you under [[:Category:Stories by author]] and adding it to [[The Busy Life Of Peridot Thursday]] (I could do that because it's in the main namespace), but you should consider adding some [[:Category:Stories by TF]] subcategories as well. Normally, I'd also urge you to use the [[Template:Title|Title]] template instead of formatting the title the way you have, but I'm not sure that it can do everything you want it to. There are other useful templates, too: <nowiki>{{</nowiki>[[Template:Dropcap|dropcap]]<nowiki>|S}}</nowiki> creates an extra-large serifed 'S' that hangs below the line, the [[Template:Info|Info]] template creates a right-floating infobox for story metadata (check the template's page for usage, becuase [[Template:Info|Info]] has a lot of options), and the [[Template:Series bar|series bar]] template allows you to name the series your story is part of and link to the first, previous, and next stories in it (you can leave any of those out if the story is the first or last in the series, or if the series doesn't have a name. In fact, you can leave all of them out, but that's not terribly useful).

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'll just say that I'm sure you'll get the hang of things right quick. There isn't really any site-wide culture here at Shifti, but that's better than having one that's toxic.

--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 11:55, 14 March 2014 (CDT)

User talk:Chatoyance

2014-03-14T16:55:36Z

Proginoskes: Excuse me while I give unsolicited advice.

Welcome to being a Shifti Author, Cat's-Eye Gleam!

Just as an informational note, any logged-in user can edit pages in the main namespace. [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]] and the other administrators would stomp hard on any vandals, and it allows copyediting volunteers to make corrections directly instead of just pointing out mistakes, but most authors keep their stories on subpages of their user pages anyway (only administrators and that particular user can edit a user page or its subpages).

Also, categories! If you want your stories to be found, they need categorization. I've taken the liberty of creating a category for you under [[:Category:Stories by author]] and adding it to [[The Busy Life Of Peridot Thursday]] (I could do that because it's in the main namespace), but you should consider adding some [[:Category:Stories by TF]] subcategories as well. Normally, I'd also urge you to use the [[Template:Title|Title]] template instead of formatting the title the way you have, but I'm not sure that it can do everything you want it to. There are other useful templates, too: <nowiki>{{</nowiki>[[Template:Dropcap|dropcap]]<nowiki>|S}}</nowiki> creates an extra-large serifed 'S' that hangs below the line, the [[Template:Info|Info]] template creates a right-floating infobox for story metadata (check the template's page for usage, becuase [[Template:Info|Info]] has a lot of options), and the [[Template:Series bar|series bar]] template allows you to name the series your story is part of and link to the first, previous, and next stories in it (you can leave any of those out if the story is the first or last in the series, or if the series doesn't have a name. In fact, you can leave all of them out, but that's not terribly useful).

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'll just say that I'm sure you'll get the hang of things right quick. There isn't really any site-wide culture here at Shifti, but that's better than having one that's toxic.
--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 11:55, 14 March 2014 (CDT)

Category:Chatoyance

2014-03-14T15:25:49Z

Proginoskes: Creating Chatoyance's author category for her

{{author category}}
[[Category:Stories by author]]

The Busy Life Of Peridot Thursday

2014-03-14T15:23:00Z

Proginoskes: Adding the author's category, because she forgot and I can.

Imagine a technological/magical 'potion' - a nanotechnomagical suspension that reconstructs a human body and transforms it into a pony or an anthropomorph - what if such a miracle of science and thaumatics could be used at will? What if it were possible to change into anything, anytime, on a whim? What would civilization be like if transformation came in six-packs, easily purchased at the corner store? My answer to this is the little gold digging minx who may, or may not, be named Peridot Thursday...

The Wacky Wonderful Revolving Door:
'''The Busy Life Of Peridot Thursday'''
'''By Chatoyance'''

'''<big>S</big>'''he moved with the grace of a cat, primarily because she was a cat, well, partly a cat. She was an anthropomorphic cat, the result of a dose of quasi-legal underground potion. The unsanctioned private labs - less laboratory and more basement or garage - enjoyed profit from playing with primal fire, specifically the fire of life itself. Any person - and that word, 'person' had become redefined incredibly widely over the last several years - could easily become a proper Griffon, or Human, or Pony, or Dragon, or Diamond Dog, or Alicorn, or Buffalo. But there was a special class of person who could never be satisfied with being a proper anything. No, what they wanted was anthropomorphism, a twisted blend of human and animal characteristics. Ponies that walked upright and who had hands. Humans with the heads of animals, and the tails of animals, and the genitals of animals but the bodies of Men.

They were the lowest of the low, the most despised of the geeks and the freaks and the weirdos and the diaper-lickers and even lower than the fans of pillows with pictures of anime girls on them. The furries. They stalked the internet and howled at the digital moon. And Peridot Thursday was married to one of them.

Only she wasn't Peridot Thursday during those times when she was bothered to be married to Tiger Bronson. He actually was a tiger, of course, well, half of a tiger. He was an anthropomorphic tiger, and he ran the Furskin Club.

The Furskin Club was a hangout for those who preferred the despised Anthropomorphic Lifestyle - 'Theros' they were called or 'Freaks' by most. It was part bar, part restaurant, and part sex club. The front was for eating, and the maze of rooms in the back was for more carnal appetites. There was an entrance fee and a gratuity, up front. Far, far in the back was the 'Kinkatorium' - a secret repository of custom potions that provided anthropomorphic results.

Peridot received a third of her considerable income from her life as Missus Slashclaw Bronson. Tiger was a fierce entrepreneur, and virtually all of his time was spent running his empire - the Furskin Club on 33rd was not the only such establishment, either in town, or on the continent. Furskin was a global enterprise, and though underground, it brought in significant wealth.

That said, Tiger needed his Tender Vittles at least once a month from the Missus, and the Missus needed her creditstick well full to fund her lifestyle. Today was such a day. Tiger snatched Slashy - his pet name for his wife - up as though she were a bag of meat, and flung her into one of the carnality chambers in the back. The door sealed, he leaped upon her and rough, growling sex ensued, filled with snarls and bites and more than a few drops of blood. Tiger was not one for smalltalk, something the missus appreciated. When his animalistic appetites had been sated, Tiger left with a few licks of his long, rough tongue.

Slashclaw raised her despoiled, wounded, felinoid form from the E-Z Clean mattress and growled out the order to sterilize the room as she left. She headed to the showers and washed the mess from her fur. When she had dried, thanks to the industrial blowers provided, she slipped out the back using the secret code. When she was three blocks away, she hailed a pegasus chariot-cab, and gave her destination.

In the air, Peridot reached into the voluminous Adapti-Purse she carried everywhere. The material of her purse could change color and pattern at a signal from the app in her Flatpad. The purse changed from tiger stripes to pitch black with sparkling stars, the alteration rippling over the chromomorphic material like a strange wave in an ocean of fabric.

The flatpad held Peridot's Farley File - a list of who she knew, what she knew about them, and who she needed to be in relation to them. The listing for Tiger Bronson looked like this:

TIGER BRONSON $$$$$ Male

Realname: Jonas P. Fasbinder

BIRTHDAY Oct. 21st. ANNIV: April 13th

YOU ARE MARRIED TO HIM

YOU are SLASHCLAW BRONSON

YOU are Feline Futaform Anthrope (Potion FAF-003 from Cat's Eye [address])

HE likes rough sex and growling. Be dominant, then submit.

HE is Conservative and HATES LIBERALS

ERO ZONE: Ears, tail and frenulum

NO-NO: Anus. Bad experience in stir. He pitches, you catch.

NOTE: Get birthday present early. Human-skin Cockring. [Hypernet Link]

PROBLEMS: Few. In and out. No fuss, no muss.

Below, the city rushed past, a little too fast. Peridot asked the pegasai to slow down and take the trip easy. Yes, she understood it would cost more, she had the dosh. Relieved, Peridot settled back again.

What was next? Shopping? No. Peridot sighed. According to her schedule on her Flatpad, it was another income source. Work before pleasure.

Peridot dug through her bag and pulled out her potion case. A touch of the active surface, and it opened, revealing a multitude of the highest grade concentrates. Oh! Silly... she needed to know what she had to become! Peridot checked the Farley File on her fiancee.

CINNAMON SWIRLS $$$ Female

Realname: Candy Drop, AKA Janet Berk, AKA Cinnamon Toast

BIRTHDAY: Jan 3rd

YOU ARE ENGAGED TO HER

YOU are LEAFY GREENS

YOU are Earthpony Mare (Potion R-Standard CHERRY)

SHE likes gentle, shy, pure, kindness

She is Liberal and HATES NO-ONE

ERO-ZONE completely clitorally centered.

NO-NO: Anything male. Militant dyke.

NOTE: Be shy and submissive, but confident at end. She likes thinking she's making you stronger as a mare.

PROBLEMS: Somewhat clingy. See excuse file Gamma.

Oh, good thing for the Farley! Peridot quickly changed her purse to white with pink hearts, and picked out the R-Standard Cherry potion. Peridot downed the potion and slumped in the back of the chariot.

A pegasus was shaking her. "Wake up, ma'am! You're at your destination! See?"

Leafy Greens shook her delicate pony head. Her ears slowly raised with her awareness. "Oh, thank you! I'm sorry if I caused any inconvenience!" She paid the pegasai, and added in a large tip. "Take care! Happy flying!"

Peridot adjusted her Adapti-Purse straps, converting it into saddlebags. She wished she'd remembered to do this back when she had hands. It was a busy day today. With the white and pink saddlebags over her light green back, Leafy was ready to meet her lover.

Cinnamon Swirls ran a noteworthy hypernet site that served mares "Equestrian and otherwise, who see the eternal worth and power of womyn-spirit in both worlds". Her income was significant, because she ironically ran ads for kink materials 'sapping the life-force of those who oppress womyn, in order to raise womyn higher!" was her rationalization. It was thanks to Cinnamon's advertising income choice, years ago, that Peridot had met Tiger in the first place. Only recently had Peridot managed to get Cinnamon to consider marriage. But then, only recently had Cinnamon crossed the vital three $$$ mark minimum required to be of interest to Peridot.

Inside the Marespirit Collective, a large nanofab building designed to look like Equestrian architecture, Leafy Greens met her fiance shyly. Delicately they embraced, and chatted about their day - Leafy's day was invented, and very different than Peridot's in every respect - and then went for tea and haycakes in the Collective Kitchen.

"Oh, you are such a cutie! Oh, just look at you!" Cinnamon was easily delighted by a few cute blushes and the occasional nervous fumble. Peridot had worked hard to find just the right pattern of behaviors that pleased Cinnamon the most. She loved seeing Cinnamon smile at innocence. It was quite a thrill for the world-weary Peridot.

"Well, I mean... um..." Leafy trailed off, looking over her tea cup at the larger Cinnamon.

"Have you thought about what music you would want for the wedding?" Peridot hadn't considered it at all. She'd been far to involved in... other things.

"Um... well... I thought that maybe... if YOU had a favorite, maybe... if you wanted..."

"Oh, Leafy, Leafy..." Cinnamon was in lecture mode now "you really need to be more assertive! You don't need to rely on others to tell you what you think or want or need or feel! I want you to come up with something you prefer, something you want, and we'll use that, alright! That's what I want. I want you to feel worthwhile and important!"

Peridot thought to herself - what if what I want is to not be bothered with making the choice, then what? - but did not vocalize it. Leafy Greens, on the other hoof, suddenly brightened "Yes! You are absolutely right! I will spend some time and decide for myself! You are so good for me, Cinnamon! Always making me stronger!"

Cinnamon beamed, as usual. That was what Peridot loved about her - Cinnamon really did want to make others stronger. Sadly, whether or not they wanted it, but still, her heart was in the right place.

Nuzzles and chaste kisses later, Leafy Green was off to ostensibly find the perfect components to the perfect wedding, while Cinnamon returned to running her growing Womyn-Spirit Empire. Peridot made a mental note to get Shaggy Sheepster to arrange everything. Sheep potion was brand new and her old strictly-gay friend had embraced the 'Woolen Revolution'. He was fantastic at arranging things. That would take care of it all.

Traveling now by lifting body, Peridot woke up inside the complimentary 'Changing Room' of the aerostat. She had taken Human H-23 XX Geno 14/A/C and found herself in the form of Mika Fergison, her new half Japanese, half Scottish human persona. She hadn't completely worked out the backstory yet, but she liked the look. It wasn't quite as classy as her half Chinese, half African human form, but there was a subtle quality to the style of her Mika self that she appreciated. Not every body had to be dramatic. Subtlety was a dying art, she had decided.

Peridot's Mika persona had been appreciated, however, by an incredibly guapo young man who was her newest toy. Peridot defined her contacts with others into four classes. There were Keepers, like Tiger and Cinnamon, who both satisfied parts of her personal needs, and who also supported her lifestyle, there were Background, the everyday acquaintances and friends-at-arms-length that made up the bulk of the population. Shaggy was a high-level Backgrounder. Then there were Toads, those who caused her problems or who vexed or thwarted her, and lastly, there were Toys. Alfonso Navarro was a Toy, her New Toy, in fact, and Peridot - or rather 'Mika' was quite entranced by him.

ALFONSO NAVARRO $???? Male

Realname: Alfonso?

BIRTHDAY ?

YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HIM

YOU are MIKA FERGISON

YOU are HUMAN FEMALE (Potion H-23 XX Geno 14/A/C)

HE likes YOU. So far. A lot.

HE is AN UNKNOWN, but very pleasing.

ERO ZONE: Find out!!!

NO-NO: UNKNOWN. Be careful!

NOTE: He is unbelievably genuine. Such a sweety!!!

PROBLEMS: Zero so far. He could be Much Fun.

REMEMBER: Don't talk about your past. Not invented yet!

"Mika! It is a delight to see you again!" Oh, that charmer. Peridot had changed her saddlebag back into a purse, and turned it shiny and black. Simple, elegant. She had put on the dress she had delivered by pegasus courier to the airship on route, it too was black, and set off the pale skin of her body well. She had joined Alfonso at the revolving restaurant on the Famous Tower - she couldn't remember what it was famous for, it hardly mattered. Alfonso was handsome, the food was good, and... Alfonso was handsome.

Over drinks and dinner, Mika and Alfonso chatted the empty but pleasant words of a couple deep in infatuation but with little to actually say. There were giggles and laughs, sighs and jokes, and all the standards that were the peculiar dance of human courtship. Peridot rather enjoyed human courtship - Anthropomorphs were very direct, and that was fun sometimes, and Ponies were terribly innocent and delicate, and that was fun other times, but there was something unique about how humans did things. It was a strange tension between desire and denial of desire that Peridot hadn't gotten enough of in recent memory.

"Mika..." suddenly Alfonso seemed strangely serious, in a way that did not match the mood of the evening thus far. "...I wonder if I might speak with you. I have something... I need to tell you."

Peridot wished she could just haul out her Farley File right at the table. It would save a lot of having to remember. "Of course, Alfonso. I want our relationship to be an honest one!" And she did. Peridot was attracted to the simple, plain, naturalness of her new Latin toy. She strongly suspected the plainspoken man was a Plainjane - one of several slang terms for those that never took potion.

"Yes... Alfonso?"

He shifted in his chair at the table, clearly uneasy. "I have come to like you, Mika, very much. And I would like our... relationship..." It was so cute. Alfonso had looked up at here, to make sure that his choice of words was an appropriate one, that Peridot was OK with describing what they had with that term. Peridot gave Alfonso a warm smile, inwardly tickled by his manner.

"... that our relationship," Alfonso repeated the word, now with more confidence "is built upon a solid foundation. To that end, I... well, I feel I must confess something."

Oh, this was just precious, Peridot/Mika thought. Did he once have another girlfriend? Perhaps he was a virgin, and was afraid to admit it. Or maybe he would just admit that he was a Plainjane, and beg her to accept his charming quirkiness. Peridot could not help but lean closer.

"You see, Mika, I have not been entirely honest with you, about my life." Here it comes. The moment was charming, really. "You see before you an ordinary man, a plain man. I am Alfonso Navarro, a man who greatly enjoys your company."

Mika twirled one of the strands of her dark, long hair around her finger.

"But I was not always thus. Two years ago, I was not as you see me now. Once, only once, in my entire life - I swear it - I used 'potion'. Before I was Alfonso, I was known as Butter Churn, and I worked on a farm. I was a native of Equestria, a pony. But the life of a human called to me, and so I made a new existence for myself as you see me now, as Alfonso. I just thought that you should know."

Mika stopped twirling her hair and sat up rigidly straight. How dare he! Peridot had been certain he was the real deal, the genuine article, an authentic Plainjane, pure as the original human genome. The rarest and most exotic sort of person, Plainjanes of any kind were the most sought after companions purely because of their rarity. Alfonso was just another Gene Queen, and at the kiddy end of the gene pool at that.

Peridot stood up, grabbed her bag, and scowled. "It's over, Alfonso - or should I say Butter Churn." She said the word like she was swearing. Peridot turned and began to storm off.

"But why? I thought we had such a wonderful time together? I only wanted to..." Alfonso was heartbroken.

Peridot was so very disappointed and frustrated. She'd been seeing Alfonso for weeks. "How can I trust you? - you completely misrepresented yourself!"

And with that, Peridot stomped away, leaving a disconsolate Alfonso.
[[Category:Chatoyance]]

User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs

2014-03-14T15:07:30Z

Proginoskes: Tidying the pronoun section a bit.

{{title}}
<blockquote>“This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked from context” –David Moser</blockquote>
The following are words and punctuation marks I may use that aren't, strictly speaking, part of standard English. I'll separate them by Part of Speech.
==Pronouns==
Almost everyone, I'm sure, is familiar with the "shi" series of pronouns for hermaphrodites. Can't say I'm a fan (they're difficult to pronounce differently from feminine pronouns), but they've become the de facto standard. Much less well-known are the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spivak_pronouns "Spivak"] pronouns, a variety of related pronoun sets intended for generic and genderless third-person singular. The version I use goes as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Declension !! Pronoun !! Example
|-
| Subject || Ey || '''''Ey''' studies CompSci.''
|-
| Object || Em || ''You give '''em''' the book.''
|-
| Possessive Adjective || Eir || ''Now it's '''eir''' book.''
|-
| Possessive Pronoun || Eirs || ''Ey gives you '''eirs'''.''
|-
| Reflexive || Emself || ''Ey wrote it '''emself'''.''
|}
Although originally intended for gender ''neutrality'' (referring to a person of unknown gender, instead of using singular they or "he/she"), these pronouns also serve (rather ambiguously, granted) to refer to a sapient being ''without'' gender.

==Nouns==
===Plurals===
I use many nonstandard plurals, and the correct plural forms of words usually mis-pluralized. Eight-armed mollusks are octopodes, semi-aquatic monotremes are platypodes. (These are truly the strictly-correct plural forms of "octopus" and "platypus", I swear it! Not that other plurals are ''incorrect'' in general usage, but these are the correct zoological jargon.) More fancifully, the plural of:
*"mongoose" is "polygoose",
*"fan" (as in "fandom") is "fen",
*"Unix" (or rather "Unix variant") is "Unices" (as in, "Linux, Darwin, and NetBSD are Unices").
If I'm in a particularly silly mood, I will assert that the correct plural of "comma" is "commata", and that of "box" is "boxen".
===Excessive Precision===
I have a large vocabulary, and I ''enjoy'' being made to expand it. Occasionally, I will forget that not everyone shares these traits, and use a word that has precisely the meaning I need – but shouldn't expect everyone to know. One example is "pinnipeds" (seals, sea lions, and walruses).

==Metasyntactic Variables==
"Metasyntactic variable" isn't really a Part of Speech, but it is nevertheless a type of word I use extensively. Quoting the definition from the [http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/metasyntactic-variable.html Jargon File entry]: "A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion." Used most frequently in technical discussions, so they aren't too likely to appear here, but they might crop up now and again. The most common metasyntactic variables are "foo", "bar", and "baz".

User:Proginoskes

2014-01-13T19:03:09Z

Proginoskes: /* Areas of Interest */ Noting Chris's contribution to UF, and updating Fenspace links.

Proginoskes is a fan of lots of random stuff, and harbors a ''strong dislike'' for Microsoft's Assira anti-bot system. He (''usually'' "he", but in RP environments possibly "she", "shi", or occasionally "[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs#Pronouns|ey]]") isn't much of an author, but provides a variety of constructive criticism services whenever asked (and occasionally ''without'' being asked).

==Areas of Interest==
Broken into subcategories, this list is representative, not exhaustive:
===Here on Shifti===
*[[:Category:FreeRIDErs|FreeRIDErs]] is all-around awesome. The creative synergy between [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]], [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]], and [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] is something I've not often seen the like. The only example that comes to mind is the Big Three of [http://www.eyrie.net/ Eyrie Productions]: Ben "Gryphon" Huchins, "ReRob" Mandeville, and MegaZone (who denies ever having had a normal name).
*[[:Category:Xanadu|Xanadu]] has huge potential, much of it unplumbed. There are vast depths lurking in the background, giving extra weight to the stories while remaining extremely mysterious. Reading and contemplating Xanadu gives me a feeling like looking into abyssal depths... and seeing something moving.
*[[User:Michael Bard|Michael Bard]]'s work in general. It is a great shame that we will not see more of it.

===Stories Elsewhere on the Web===
*[http://www.eyrie.net/UF/ Undocumented Features], a ''massive'' body of work kicked off by the aforementioned Gryphon, ReRob, and MegaZone. A sprawling fanfiction world with elements from pretty much every Sci-Fi work ever published, broadcast, or shown in theatres, plus a pile of high fantasy, plus some comic-book superheroes (who don't really fit in either category).
**Incidentally, [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] used to write for UF, and I still want more details about Katie Tanner's mysterious powers over electronics (which she demonstrated at the end of [http://www.eyrie-productions.com/UF/FI/tuatc-3.txt The Universe According to Chris, Part III]).
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/dwmain.shtml Drunkard's Walk] by Robert M. Schroeck, a fanfiction series following Colonel Douglas Sangnoir, code-name "Looney Toons", of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force Warriors Alpha, as he tries to get to his home world after being flung out into the broader multiverse by enemy action.
*[http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/forums/8 Fenspace], a shared setting with the core device of "Handwavium", a miraculous substance that transforms all it touches. created and run on the Drunkard's Walk forums, it also has [http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Main_Page a wiki]. The Fenspace Collective recently decided to stop using the wiki for stories, switching to an [http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fenspace AO3 collection].
===General Bits and Bobs===
*[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs|Nonslarkish Flutzpahs]], that is, nonstandard words and grammar constructs intended to be used with the English language.
*Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. If I occasionally seem obsessed with accuracy and precision, it's because I hold them in high regard.
*Computers in general. These machines are miraculous, that's really all I can say.

Template:SMW Base

2013-05-19T23:44:24Z

Proginoskes: hyphenating "property name", because I would've tried <nowiki>property foo::bar</nowiki>

<includeonly>[[{{{1}}}::{{{2}}}| ]]</includeonly><noinclude>
This template is a simple base for constructing a Semantic Tag. It requires both parameters to be set, the first being the property name and the second being the value. While this template can be used by itself, it is recommended to just use the SMW markup <nowiki>[[property-name::value]]</nowiki> instead.</noinclude>

Talk:Bad Case of Photosensitivity

2013-05-19T20:09:32Z

Proginoskes: Critique provided!

== You Asked For It, You Got It ==
Nothing terribly deep or cripplingly funny. Just a nice, well-executed vignette. The greatest criticism I can level against it is that it seems kind of ''bland'', and I'm not sure what I could suggest to remedy that. It feels like a sequence taken out of a longer work, not a complete story in itself. --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 15:09, 19 May 2013 (CDT)

User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs

2013-05-16T23:22:48Z

Proginoskes: Changing first-level header to title template.

{{title}}
<blockquote>“This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked from context” –David Moser</blockquote>
The following are words and punctuation marks I may use that aren't, strictly speaking, part of standard English. I'll separate them by Part of Speech.
==Pronouns==
Almost everyone, I'm sure, is familiar with the "shi" series of pronouns for hermaphrodites. Can't say I'm a fan (they're difficult to pronounce differently from feminine pronouns), but they've become the de facto standard. Much less well-known are the "Spivak" pronouns, a variety of related pronoun sets intended for generic and genderless third-person singular. The version I use goes as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Declension !! Pronoun !! Example
|-
| Subject || Ey || '''''Ey''' studies CompSci.''
|-
| Object || Em || ''You give '''em''' the book.''
|-
| Possessive Adjective || Eir || ''Now it's '''eir''' book.''
|-
| Possessive Pronoun || Eirs || ''Ey gives you a book of '''eirs'''.''
|-
| Reflexive || Emself || ''Ey wrote it '''emself'''.''
|}
Although originally intended for gender ''neutrality'' (referring to a person of unknown gender, instead of using singular they or "he/she"), these pronouns also serve (rather ambiguously, granted) to refer to a sapient being ''without'' gender.

==Nouns==
===Plurals===
I use many nonstandard plurals, and the correct plural forms of words usually mis-pluralized. Eight-armed mollusks are octopodes, semi-aquatic monotremes are platypodes. (These are truly the strictly-correct plural forms of "octopus" and "platypus", I swear it! Not that other plurals are ''incorrect'' in general usage, but these are the correct zoological jargon.) More fancifully, the plural of:
*"mongoose" is "polygoose",
*"fan" (as in "fandom") is "fen",
*"Unix" (or rather "Unix variant") is "Unices" (as in, "Linux, Darwin, and NetBSD are Unices").
If I'm in a particularly silly mood, I will assert that the correct plural of "comma" is "commata", and that of "box" is "boxen".
===Excessive Precision===
I have a large vocabulary, and I ''enjoy'' being made to expand it. Occasionally, I will forget that not everyone shares these traits, and use a word that has precisely the meaning I need – but shouldn't expect everyone to know. One example is "pinnipeds" (seals, sea lions, and walruses).

==Metasyntactic Variables==
"Metasyntactic variable" isn't really a Part of Speech, but it is nevertheless a type of word I use extensively. Quoting the definition from the [http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/metasyntactic-variable.html Jargon File entry]: "A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion." Used most frequently in technical discussions, so they aren't too likely to appear here, but they might crop up now and again. The most common metasyntactic variables are "foo", "bar", and "baz".

User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs

2013-05-16T22:11:41Z

Proginoskes: Repositioning the ToC

={{SUBPAGENAME}}=
<blockquote>“This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked from context” –David Moser</blockquote>
__TOC__
The following are words and punctuation marks I may use that aren't, strictly speaking, part of standard English. I'll separate them by Part of Speech.
==Pronouns==
Almost everyone, I'm sure, is familiar with the "shi" series of pronouns for hermaphrodites. Can't say I'm a fan (they're difficult to pronounce differently from feminine pronouns), but they've become the de facto standard. Much less well-known are the "Spivak" pronouns, a variety of related pronoun sets intended for generic and genderless third-person singular. The version I use goes as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Declension !! Pronoun !! Example
|-
| Subject || Ey || '''''Ey''' studies CompSci.''
|-
| Object || Em || ''You give '''em''' the book.''
|-
| Possessive Adjective || Eir || ''Now it's '''eir''' book.''
|-
| Possessive Pronoun || Eirs || ''Ey gives you a book of '''eirs'''.''
|-
| Reflexive || Emself || ''Ey wrote it '''emself'''.''
|}
Although originally intended for gender ''neutrality'' (referring to a person of unknown gender, instead of using singular they or "he/she"), these pronouns also serve (rather ambiguously, granted) to refer to a sapient being ''without'' gender.

==Nouns==
===Plurals===
I use many nonstandard plurals, and the correct plural forms of words usually mis-pluralized. Eight-armed mollusks are octopodes, semi-aquatic monotremes are platypodes. (These are truly the strictly-correct plural forms of "octopus" and "platypus", I swear it! Not that other plurals are ''incorrect'' in general usage, but these are the correct zoological jargon.) More fancifully, the plural of:
*"mongoose" is "polygoose",
*"fan" (as in "fandom") is "fen",
*"Unix" (or rather "Unix variant") is "Unices" (as in, "Linux, Darwin, and NetBSD are Unices").
If I'm in a particularly silly mood, I will assert that the correct plural of "comma" is "commata", and that of "box" is "boxen".
===Excessive Precision===
I have a large vocabulary, and I ''enjoy'' being made to expand it. Occasionally, I will forget that not everyone shares these traits, and use a word that has precisely the meaning I need – but shouldn't expect everyone to know. One example is "pinnipeds" (seals, sea lions, and walruses).

==Metasyntactic Variables==
"Metasyntactic variable" isn't really a Part of Speech, but it is nevertheless a type of word I use extensively. Quoting the definition from the [http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/metasyntactic-variable.html Jargon File entry]: "A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion." Used most frequently in technical discussions, so they aren't too likely to appear here, but they might crop up now and again. The most common metasyntactic variables are "foo", "bar", and "baz".

User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs

2013-05-16T22:04:06Z

Proginoskes: /* Nouns */ Creating the section

={{SUBPAGENAME}}=
<blockquote>“This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked from context” –David Moser</blockquote>
The following are words and punctuation marks I may use that aren't, strictly speaking, part of standard English. I'll separate them by Part of Speech.
==Pronouns==
Almost everyone, I'm sure, is familiar with the "shi" series of pronouns for hermaphrodites. Can't say I'm a fan (they're difficult to pronounce differently from feminine pronouns), but they've become the de facto standard. Much less well-known are the "Spivak" pronouns, a variety of related pronoun sets intended for generic and genderless third-person singular. The version I use goes as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Declension !! Pronoun !! Example
|-
| Subject || Ey || '''''Ey''' studies CompSci.''
|-
| Object || Em || ''You give '''em''' the book.''
|-
| Possessive Adjective || Eir || ''Now it's '''eir''' book.''
|-
| Possessive Pronoun || Eirs || ''Ey gives you a book of '''eirs'''.''
|-
| Reflexive || Emself || ''Ey wrote it '''emself'''.''
|}
Although originally intended for gender ''neutrality'' (referring to a person of unknown gender, instead of using singular they or "he/she"), these pronouns also serve (rather ambiguously, granted) to refer to a sapient being ''without'' gender.

==Nouns==
===Plurals===
I use many nonstandard plurals, and the correct plural forms of words usually mis-pluralized. Eight-armed mollusks are octopodes, semi-aquatic monotremes are platypodes. (These are truly the strictly-correct plural forms of "octopus" and "platypus", I swear it! Not that other plurals are ''incorrect'' in general usage, but these are the correct zoological jargon.) More fancifully, the plural of:
*"mongoose" is "polygoose",
*"fan" (as in "fandom") is "fen",
*"Unix" (or rather "Unix variant") is "Unices" (as in, "Linux, Darwin, and NetBSD are Unices").
If I'm in a particularly silly mood, I will assert that the correct plural of "comma" is "commata", and that of "box" is "boxen".
===Excessive Precision===
I have a large vocabulary, and I ''enjoy'' being made to expand it. Occasionally, I will forget that not everyone shares these traits, and use a word that has precisely the meaning I need – but shouldn't expect everyone to know. One example is "pinnipeds" (seals, sea lions, and walruses).

==Metasyntactic Variables==
"Metasyntactic variable" isn't really a Part of Speech, but it is nevertheless a type of word I use extensively. Quoting the definition from the [http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/metasyntactic-variable.html Jargon File entry]: "A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion." Used most frequently in technical discussions, so they aren't too likely to appear here, but they might crop up now and again. The most common metasyntactic variables are "foo", "bar", and "baz".

User talk:Robotech Master/All Nighter

2013-05-16T19:23:56Z

Proginoskes: Defaultsort complaint

== Defaultsort issue ==
No IWIR (yet), but the sorting on the category page has finally annoyed me enough to complain about it. Could somebody prepend a zero to all the single-digit "episode" numbers for the Integration series? The way it's set up right now, the category page lists 10-19, then 1, then 20-25, then 2-9. Changing the defaultsort of the first nine from "Part 1" to "Part 01" and so on should fix that. --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 14:23, 16 May 2013 (CDT)

User:Proginoskes

2013-05-16T19:14:56Z

Proginoskes: /* Here on Shifti */ giving Jetfire credit

Proginoskes is a fan of lots of random stuff, and harbors a ''strong dislike'' for Microsoft's Assira anti-bot system. He (''usually'' "he", but in RP environments possibly "she", "shi", or occasionally "[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs#Pronouns|ey]]") isn't much of an author, but provides a variety of constructive criticism services whenever asked (and occasionally ''without'' being asked).

==Areas of Interest==
Broken into subcategories, this list is representative, not exhaustive:
===Here on Shifti===
*[[:Category:FreeRIDErs|FreeRIDErs]] is all-around awesome. The creative synergy between [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]], [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]], and [[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] is something I've not often seen the like. The only example that comes to mind is the Big Three of [http://www.eyrie.net/ Eyrie Productions]: Ben "Gryphon" Huchins, "ReRob" Mandeville, and MegaZone (who denies ever having had a normal name).
*[[:Category:Xanadu|Xanadu]] has huge potential, much of it unplumbed. There are vast depths lurking in the background, giving extra weight to the stories while remaining extremely mysterious. Reading and contemplating Xanadu gives me a feeling like looking into abyssal depths... and seeing something moving.
*[[User:Michael Bard|Michael Bard]]'s work in general. It is a great shame that we will not see more of it.

===Stories Elsewhere on the Web===
*[http://www.eyrie.net/UF/ Undocumented Features], a ''massive'' body of work kicked off by the aforementioned Gryphon, ReRob, and MegaZone. A sprawling fanfiction world with elements from pretty much every Sci-Fi work ever published, broadcast, or shown in theatres, plus a pile of high fantasy, plus some comic-book superheroes (who don't really fit in either category).
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/dwmain.shtml Drunkard's Walk] by Robert M. Schroeck, a fanfiction series following Colonel Douglas Sangnoir, code-name "Looney Toons", of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force Warriors Alpha, as he tries to get to his home world after being flung out into the broader multiverse by enemy action.
*[http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/forums/8 Fenspace], a shared setting with the core device of "Handwavium", a miraculous substance that transforms all it touches. created and run on the Drunkard's Walk forums, it also has [http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Main_Page a wiki].
===General Bits and Bobs===
*[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs|Nonslarkish Flutzpahs]], that is, nonstandard words and grammar constructs intended to be used with the English language.
*Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. If I occasionally seem obsessed with accuracy and precision, it's because I hold them in high regard.
*Computers in general. These machines are miraculous, that's really all I can say.

User talk:JonBuck/Fly With Me

2013-04-24T23:54:03Z

Proginoskes: Creation: providing feedback.

== Nitpicking ==
Not doing a full In Which I Read, in part because I keep getting swept along and forgetting to make notes: sign of strong writing! But close to the end, you start using "Athena" all over the place, when I think you mean "Artemis". (Athena would be an owl, going by animal associations. But if groups (and non-Integrates) could earn Olympic title-names, I think the FreeRIDEr Four (Rhianna, Kaylee, Rochelle, and Uncia) would be the best fit: the mythological Athena is a goddess of knowledge, craftsmanship, and war.) Except for that one oddly widespread error, this is pretty much flawless to my eyes. --[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 23:54, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

User talk:Robotech Master/More Foxed

2013-04-15T14:25:49Z

Proginoskes: In Which Proginoskes Reads

Hey, great story! I stayed up ''way'' too late last night reading it. I really am addicted to this setting.

Anyway, I wasn't really looking for typos as I read it, but I did notice a few:

*I had wondered whether it was really fair to let the RIDEs play, but it turned out that without reliable net access they were limited to what they had in their own internal '''databased''', which for trivia weren’t necessarily any better than the good ol’ Mark 1 brain.

*from floral-print tourist rags to qubitite riches to freezing to death rags to hiding out in a guarded docking slip in a badlands town '''riches'''.

*I watched with some interest as the stewards and stewardesses secured Gordon in '''her''' seat.

--[[User:Antimatter|Antimatter]] ([[User talk:Antimatter|talk]]) 19:22, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

:Hey, thanks. I'll fix those. (Well, the first and third anyway. I'm not sure why you think "riches" is a typo there. The sentence structure being "from X rags to Y riches to A rags to B riches", whereupon X, Y, A, and B are descriptions of events…) —[[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] ([[User talk:Robotech Master|talk]]) 22:20, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

::Ah, sorry. I read that sentence a few times and it just didn't click. I kept thinking it should end after "badlands town," and that you must have accidentally put riches in there an extra time. Now that you explain it it makes sense, though :-) --[[User:Antimatter|Antimatter]] ([[User talk:Antimatter|talk]]) 06:23, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

2ND COMMENT

A really great addition to the Freerider Universe. I look forward to the new stories.
::[[User:Mason|Mason]] ([[User talk:Mason|talk]]) 17:03, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

== In Which I Read ==
This running commentary stuff is addicting, I tell you.

Oh hey, trains! There are so many rail corridors in Greater Vancouver (both active and defunct) that I kind of automatically insert them into any fictional cityscape, so it took several reads for me to figure out what was bugging me here: I think this is the first (and possibly only) time railways have been mentioned in any FreeRIDErs story. Rail corridors shape urban development even decades after the rails themselves are torn up, so this is excellent fodder for worldbuilding/cityscape design (or at least speculation thereupon). Rufia's run-down apartment block must be on the border of an industrial area, one supported by an extensive network of sidings and rail-spurs connected to a main line. But where does the main line go? Are there rail links to other polities? What about passenger service or light-rail trams? So many delicious questions!

No matter how many times I read this story, I can never resist saying "suture self" aloud. The pun is just too delicious.

Hmm. Dayla's skin patterns ''actively glow''? I wonder if she and Donna have gone through the same thing as Myla and Sophie.

Ouch. A circular reference paradox is not the way you should open a conversation, Dana! He does ''let go'' of his preconceptions admirably quickly, though. On another note, this conversation brings up the fourth (or fifth, depending on how you count it) piece of out-and-out Handwavium in the FreeRIDErs setting: FTL travel and communications. Hardlight is obviously some application of relativistic and/or quantum-mechanical weirdness, and it isn't really necessary to understand ''how'' cavorite or qubitite work in order to make use of them. Is FTL enabled by a similar Magical Mystery Mineral, or is it 100% Human Ingenuity like Hardlight seems to be?

"'Y' in 'Brubeck'". That's a hell of a thing. And Wikipedia is a hell of a time sink: I just spent two hours or more on various articles on mineralogy and geometry, originally because I was curious if there were earthly minerals with tetrahedral crystals. (There are, but not many.) In any case, that thing (and any other reasonably large "Brubeck Y") breaks my brain. It'd be a mineralogical miracle no matter ''where'' it was found, a single crystal that size. (And to have that kind of unified feature, the structure almost ''has'' to be a single crystal.)

"'':...make sure ye use protection!:''" Ah, Fiona, never change. And merely referring to profanity instead of actually using it ("My response was largely unprintable.") is almost always at least as effective and much funnier.

Hah! Dana's on the ball, he is! The "fuse to reset" thing is possibly the single most contrived thing in this story. It's very forgivable, though, and easily handwaved: the RIDEs simply wanted to gauge the humans' truthfulness and level of commitment to rescuing the guides, and made up a reasonably plausible story.

"And then he ate me." Oh god. This entire sequence. My sides, they hurt. It's perfect.

Jamie's soliloquy-thing about gender and curiosity is absolutely spot-on. I know I've had (proper sleeping) dreams in which I was female (and/or nonhuman, actually). I've also introduced myself to my elder sister's friends as her ''sister'' on a number of occasions. (Of course, that my sister is a drag king and gets called "Ed" more often than "Amy" doesn't help matters.) And I somehow can't imagine myself freaking out over being female if I somehow changed overnight (freaking out about the ''mechanism'' or about identification concerns (school records, bank accounts) are entirely separate issues, and I daresay I'd freak out more about those practical concerns than most would freak out over suddenly being the wrong sex).

Bartertown, Mos Eisley, Tombstone; I'm surprised [http://project-apollo.net/mos/glossary.html#srmd Science-Related Memetic Disorder] isn't a major concern on Zharus. Or maybe it is, only nobody has written the stories?

Whoops! In Yvonne's first conversation with Tom and Larry, you've got a point-of-view glitch: ''"Yeah, that's where we're at," '''Yvonne''' said.'' Everything else in that section is in proper first-person Yvonnevision.

Near the end of Charlene's first Casino chapter: ''We settled into the charge cradle and started taking on power. It felt good to power up...'' Is it just that charging while fused has never come up before, or does Charlene have an unusually intimate sense of Fiona's systems?

Retaking the ''Annabelle Lee'': well that was stupid, securing the GUI but leaving a logged-in terminal accessible. On an unrelated note, the utility of a game as training is directly proportional to its realism. In a world with immersive VR, time in the right kind of game would be the next best thing to real combat experience, even above real-world military training. (Of course, it still wouldn't help with everything ''else'' military training teaches you, but...)

"She grinned at me in that old insufferable way of his." I don't know if this was deliberate or an accident you left in because it's perfect. Either way, it's brilliant.

I feel like there's some kind of reference in the white rabbit being named Jefferson, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.

No further comments until the Epilogue, and even if you miss the section heading, Rufia is the only possible narrator here. I'm terrible at accents, so I haven't assigned one in my head to Rufia. Her word choices ("And I'm like, really? And they're like, ''really''.") make me think "California surfer dude" (I originally wrote "valley girl", but that's just too horrific), or possibly "stoner", but I can't even imagine her sounding like that. In my head, Rufia sounds British Columbian: she hikes the West Coast Trail, kayaks from Vancouver Island to Haida Gwaii, and so on.

"''It's good to have an awesome partner, and it's great to be home.''" And that's the perfect ending. Great work.

--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 14:25, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk:Inspecteur Hollins and The Cat's Paw

2013-04-05T16:22:29Z

Proginoskes: /* Feedback from Progos */ correcting a link

== Feedback from Progos ==
I'm using the same comments-as-I-go format as I did for [[talk:Turnover]].

Hollins must be a recent immigrant to Uplift, or else thinking strictly about legal issues, to be thinking of RIDEs as ''tools''. In either case, this clearly takes place before certain key events of the ''Integration'' series (which, on second thought, makes perfect sense: you wrote it before the episodes in question).

"Dog", heh. That's a beautiful little gem.

Jackie Phillips is directly inspired by Minako Aino/Sailor Venus of ''Sailor Moon'', isn't she? Or possibly she's deliberately cultivating that image, to encourage people to underestimate her or whatever other reason.

Ah, so regarding my first note, it's probably ''both'': he probably ''was'' only thinking about laws, but he (now she) is also Earth-native.

"She never thinks we have enough backup". This exchange is also golden.

Oh, I was wrong! This ''does'' take place after (well, concurrently with) [[User:Robotech Master/Citizen Katie|Citizen Katie]]. And a most satisfying end to an excellent tale.--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 16:20, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk:Inspecteur Hollins and The Cat's Paw

2013-04-05T16:20:25Z

Proginoskes: Feedback time!

== Feedback from Progos ==
I'm using the same comments-as-I-go format as I did for [[talk:Turnabout]].

Hollins must be a recent immigrant to Uplift, or else thinking strictly about legal issues, to be thinking of RIDEs as ''tools''. In either case, this clearly takes place before certain key events of the ''Integration'' series (which, on second thought, makes perfect sense: you wrote it before the episodes in question).

"Dog", heh. That's a beautiful little gem.

Jackie Phillips is directly inspired by Minako Aino/Sailor Venus of ''Sailor Moon'', isn't she? Or possibly she's deliberately cultivating that image, to encourage people to underestimate her or whatever other reason.

Ah, so regarding my first note, it's probably ''both'': he probably ''was'' only thinking about laws, but he (now she) is also Earth-native.

"She never thinks we have enough backup". This exchange is also golden.

Oh, I was wrong! This ''does'' take place after (well, concurrently with) [[User:Robotech Master/Citizen Katie|Citizen Katie]]. And a most satisfying end to an excellent tale.--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 16:20, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Turnover

2013-04-05T14:59:46Z

Proginoskes: typo and punctuation correction

{{Universe|FreeRIDErs}}{{title|name=Turnover|author=Fibio|user=Fibio}}

RIDEs don’t sleep. We doze, we shut down, we idle but we don’t sleep. As machines we’re not supposed to suffer the flaws our human riders struggle with, disease has never been an issue, famine is solved by a good solar charger and of course our safeguards make us the perfect servants. In my opinion however someone dropped the ball when they made us smart.

Still, if there was one thing I was glad of was the armour plating. There was a silent shower of sparks as I heaved the sheet of metal off my torso and staggered onto my feet. My scanners were screaming in terror as the cabin was bombarded with hard radiation and atmospheric pressure was reading nil. I shook myself, knocking sparks from my jaguar shaped carapace and scanned the room. David, my rider, was as dead as they came just a few feet away from me, a solid spar of hullmetal had punctured a lung and the vacuum had finished him off moments later.

“This is a shipwide alert. This is a shipwide alert. Tertiary shields online in three, two, one. Shields active.”

The radiation levels dropped off and I took a few tentative steps towards David. The rubble beneath my feet shifted, but stayed solid and I ran my medical scanner over my former partner. It wasn’t good news, even with a nanotech operating theatre he would have lost half his brain and the Pole Star wasn’t nearly fancy enough to afford one of those.

I let out a synthetic chuff and then chided myself as I realised no one who be able to hear it.

“This is ABE,” I transmitted over the emergency channel. “Is anyone out there?”

“David? This is Millicent, are you okay?”

“Sorry Milly,” I sighed. “David didn’t make it. This is Abe operating in free roam mode. What’s the situation?”

“God damn it if I know. I was down in engineering when something hit us hard enough to fracture the keel. Have you heard from the bridge?”

“You’re the first soul I’ve heard since the world shook.” I peered over at the rent in the hull and saw stars. “It doesn’t look good though.”

There was a long string of swears my profanity filters junked. “Okay, I need you to head south and find out if anyone’s still alive.”

“What lengths can I go to?”

“Don’t break anything vital.” The connection cut out and I grinned, switching my sensors to full active, grimacing as blind spot alerts rippled down my left side. Old war wound. The access hatch was warped beyond repair and three burst of high energy plasma sent it spinning into the corridor.

“Help! Help!”

The short range signal cut through the silence of the ship and I pinged again. A rabbit RIDE under a half ton of debris flashed into sudden relief. “I see you Bugs, just give me a moment.”

I ripped the door away with my jaws and took a tentative step into the cabin. It was worse than David’s, an entire bulkhead had been torn away leaving nothing but stars and the rubble pinning my friend. Of Bugs’ rider, George, there wasn’t a sign but it didn’t take a genius to figure out where he’d gone.

“Abe, is that you?” Bugs exclaimed, sounding rather panicked. “I can’t see anything through this dross.”

“Yep, just stay calm; I’ll have you out in a moment.”

“Milly, can you shut down main engines?” I called over the ship channel.

“I wish. I’m practically locked out down here. You’re going to just have to sort things out in gravity.”

“Great,” I muttered to myself. “Okay, simplest way to shift this fast is?”

My remaining half of a tactical computer rumbled through the numbers and pointed out that I had a high explosive charge strapped to my back. With surgical precision the mortar round arced through the cabin and buried itself in the debris.

“You might want to brace yourself,” I added as an afterthought. The shaped charge tore apart the twisted steel and the deck rumbled as it went clattering out of the hole in the hull. A fluffy rabbit ear popped out of the scant dusting of metal.

“What the hell was that?” the rabbit RIDE exclaimed, dragging herself to her feet.

“Just a force multiplier,” I said, shrugging.

“Oh God, what happened to George?” she exclaimed, hopping towards the hole and I hurled myself after her, knocking her to the floor.

“Don’t be an idiot,” I growled. “What do you think; he’s just hanging off the edge? That’s vacuum out there.”

“He can’t be gone,” She moaned, struggling. Despite being designed after a much smaller species she was still a RIDE and almost the same size as me. I felt my motors vibrate as they went into overdrive to keep her pinned. “Let me go!”

I hit her with a low powered stunner. Her hardlight shell flickered for a moment as every system went into emergency shutdown mode and she stopped struggling.

“Feeling a little more in control of yourself?” I inquired.

“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God,” she murmured to herself, but she was no longer trying to take a spacewalk so I took that as a good sign.

“Bugs, I know this is hard, but you’ve got to pull yourself together. The ship is in serious trouble and we need to focus.”

“But-“

“Focus!” I roared, leaping off her. “We’ve got to try and find more survivors.”

“Right, survivors, got to help.”

I shook my head. Bugs was a fairly new model, built on a budget and snapped up by George on the cheap. She had struck me was naive and childish the moment she’d joined the RIDE com-net but I couldn’t blame her for the tears. Losing your first rider is tough.

We picked our way across the habitation deck. My tactical computer was chuntering away as it tried to figure out just what happened but it didn’t take a military genius to figure out something had hit the ship, hard. Habitation had popped like an egg; airtight doors had jammed open, ruptured or just been bypassed as the walls tore like tissue paper. Life signs were limited to cooling corpses and Bugs refused to look as the desiccated corpse of a crewman who’d tried in vain to reach a pressure suit only to find the helmet cracked beyond repair.

The bridge was worse. Officers on watch were required to wear suits but that hadn’t protected them from the spray of molten metal that had torn through the cramped cabin. I sat on my haunches as played my medical scanner over the captain’s corpse.

“The stupid bastard should have just worn me, not that flimsy piece of synth,” Fang observed in his affected Russian drawl. The wolf sat next to me, glaring at his former owner.

“That’s what stupid regulations do for you,” I replied, shrugging. “Why aren’t you on the emergency com?”

Fang shook his head and gestured at a black scar across his chrome back. “Long range is out. Sensors are out. Interface is out. Face it, this pooch is screwed.”

“Milly? Do you read?” I said on the emergency channel.

“I’m with you, what’s the damage?”

“Bridge is torn open and I can’t find anyone else still alive, just me and a few other RIDEs. How are things in engineering?”

“Torn all too bloody hell,” Milly swore. “Generator two popped and the entire cabin depressurised. It was being suited in Minx that stopped me vomiting my lungs too.”

I winced, fusion reactors were safe in general, but in a confined space their failure tended to evacuate the room of air, that and flood the area with lethal radiation.

“How are the bridge systems, anything salvageable?” she continued.

I pinged the area but couldn’t even find the ship wifi, let alone any operational systems. “Not a thing, looks like the entire area was slagged on impact.”

“Okay, I’m sending Az up to meet you. He knows enough about the main computer to do a manual bypass.”

“Roger. I’ll see if there’s anything else we can do up here.”

“Well?” Fang demanded, as I dropped back onto the local. “Who were you talking to?”

“Milly, down in engineering. She’s sending Azure up to help us.”

“Oh hell, not that bloody bird,” he growled.

“What happened here?” Bugs cut in.

Fang huffed. “No idea. One moment I was minding my own business then the collision alarms start wailing and I’m covered in searing plasma.”

“Hmm.” I began to put together a picture of just what had happened to the Pole Star. Our ship was a Rim pattern freighter, designed quick and dirty intrasystem work. It was built like a sky scraper, with a huge engine block at the base taking up a good tenth of the tonnage, then fuel tanks for another third. Habitation was a thin disc perched on the engines and above us was some ten-thousand tons of cargo. By modern standards it was a primitive piece of work, it didn’t even have artificial gravity or hard light shields but I’d thought it was a good ship.

Something, and I could not extrapolate what beyond that it was going at incredible velocity, had struck us in the habitation ring. The UFO had overloaded our magnetic shields and bypassed all the cargo which was layered such to prevent damage to the rest of the ship. It had then torn through most of the habitation ring, passing straight through the bridge and had struck and shattered one of the three structural keels.

Despite all evidence to the contrary we had been incredibly lucky; it was a minor miracle the ship hadn’t just disintegrated.

Azure flew into the bridge and perched on one of the hanging light fixtures. A blue jay bird, Azure had been partnered to a middle aged programmer who went by Sparks. I took Azure’s non-morphic form as a bad sign.

“Sorry that took me a while,” Az chirped. “Elevator two is clogged with debris, I had to go all the way round E deck.

“No problem,” I replied. “Good to see another face.”

“Where’s Sparks?” Fang demanded, blunt as always.

Az sighed. “He was standing next to the generator when it popped. I didn’t have time to react before he was gone.”

“I’m so sorry Az,” Bugs said, Fang just snorted.

“Well, there’ll be time to grieve after we’re done here,” Az said, shrugging. “I’ve got a computer to dissect.”

{{Separator|f}}

Az’s investigations weren’t fast and Bugs, Fang and I settled down on one of the clearer patches on deck.

“I just can’t believe he’s gone,” Bugs admitted after a long silence.

“He’s gone, get over it,” Fang growled.

I rolled my eyes. “Fang, how long were you bonded with the captain?”

He glowered at me. “Five years.”

“Are you honestly trying to tell me that you’re already over him?”

The look Fang have me could have melted in inch of steel but I met his gaze.

“Fine,” he snorted. “Whatever.”

“It does get easier you know,” I assured them both. “Losing someone. Right now you feel like someone’s taken a bite out of your core but it’ll pass.”

“I just want to curl up and die,” Bugs moaned.

“Yeah, but you’re not going to,” I assured her. “Because we are going to get through this. We can’t just give up, Milly is relying on us and our riders wouldn’t want us to surrender just because they are gone. We are going to fix this ship, fly it into port, and then we’ll all be heroes together."

“And then get repossessed and sold because our owners are dead,” Fang pointed out. I was about halfway through cycling up my coil gun before I chuffed and let it slide.

“You’ve been through this before, haven’t you?”

I smiled. “Bugs, this isn’t even the second time I’ve lost a rider. Actually I think this makes seven. Three lost while we were fused.”

“Seven!” Bugs exclaimed. “How? Why?”

“Cause he’s a military model,” Fang pointed out, laying his head on his paws and pretending to try and sleep.

“Military surplus,” I corrected. “Now retired. I finally took a hit so bad they figured it would just be cheaper to get a new one.”

“So, you’ve fought, in a battle I mean?” Bugs asked, her eyes glittering with excitement.

“Hundreds more like. On a dozen planets now.”

“And you’ve killed people?”

I didn’t reply to that one. A dozen faces flickered through my memory, a mere fraction of the still shots I’d taken to remind me of a life lost. I only wished they’d all been fighting at the time, too many had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Wow,” Bugs sighed. “I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to break your fetters like that.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Eh, guys and gals,” Az called over the com. “We have a bit of a problem here.”

“Hit us Az,” Milly cut in, as we cluster around the bird that was jacked into the main computer.

“Well the good news is the computer is functional, if in read only mode,” he explained. “The bad however is catastrophic.”

“How catastrophic?” I asked.

“Like, world shatteringly bad. The ship is still on-route to Zharus, but we should have engaged turnabout by now.”

“What’s turn about?” Bugs enquired.

“Pole Star is a torch ship,” Fang explained. “She accelerates at one-g till we get halfway to the destination then turns around to decelerate at the same rate. That way we arrive at the right speed.”

“Well that is the plan,” Az continued. “But the ship isn’t responding to orders to turn so we’re still accelerating.”

“That’s not too bad,” Milly pointed out. “We just need to prep a launch and we can just abandon ship.”

“That wasn’t the bad news. The bad news is we are also still on course for Zharus, and the ship is actively steering itself towards the planet.”

“What?” Milly exclaimed. “You’re telling me this rust bucket is going to hit the planet?”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be a navigation aid, but the computer has locked out any changes. Unless we shut down the engines we’re going to hit the planet with the kinetic energy equivalent of a gigaton bomb.”

There was a moment’s stunned silence as we all processed that.

“That could level a city,” Fang said, even his accent vanishing with the shock.

“We could try and aim for somewhere uninhabited,” Bugs suggested.

I shook my head. “A blast like that could level a small country. Even if we brought it down in the ocean we’d create a tidal wave that would scour the coastline.”

“Besides, we can’t steer. And worse I can’t even get into coms to call for help.”

“Okay, nobody panic,” Milly cut in. “Az, repeat this to the others. Abe and Bugs, head up to the com array. You should be able to bypass the computer and transmit a mayday from there. Az and Fang, try and get that computer working again, or even disable it if you can, anything to stop us hitting that planet.”

“You got it Ma’am.”

{{Separator|f}}

Coms were located at the very nose of the ship. The main elevator was functional above the habitation decks so it didn’t take us more than a few minutes to reach it, however operating the damn thing.

“Oh come on!” I growled, as yet another burst of electricity earthed itself through me. I was sprawled out under the console, trying to wire a circuit board with my claws. Whoever had designed the communications relay had been either an idiot or criminally lazy, while the console did have a manual override it required confirmation from the bridge or main computer to engage as an anti-hijacking measure. That meant I had to spoof a return signal as the main data lines had been vaporised.

“The things I would do for hands,” I grumbled, very tempted to just slag the board and let the computer chew on that.

“Shouldn’t say things like that,” Bugs murmured.

“What?”

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” she repeated. “People will get suspicious that you’ll try and fuse with people without permission.”

I was surprised by that. “RIDEs can do that?”

“Well if you’re unfettered. I couldn’t but you probably could.”

“Yeah, but why would you want a human screaming at you twenty four seven?” I shrugged, and almost electrocuted myself again. “David was annoying enough and he slept for twelve hours a day.”

“Because everyone just treats you as a human in suit,” she explained, sounding almost wistful. “Of course you’d have to break your fetters to do it.”

“Trust me; breaking your fetters isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” I sighed.

“But you’d be free.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, you just would have another layer of slavery. You can’t just run away into the wild, what happens when you need a mechanic, or a charge up, or just want to talk to people? Society is a yoke no one can really escape.”

“But, I thought you were in the military,” Bugs protested. “You’ve killed people. Surely you could survive on your own.”

“I was a mercenary, no, less than that. I was a suit of power armour. I fought because they told me to, because I was getting paid.” Because I enjoyed it. “Not to prove my independence.”

Bugs stamped her foot. “Why did you even break your fetters then?”

“I didn’t. They released me. I believe the logic was they’d rather have an unreliable computer than one that could lock up mid battle.”

“But you, you,” Bugs spluttered.

I fixed her with a steely look. “Bugs. Don’t try and put me on a pedestal. I’ve spent most of my life as a hunk of military hardware fighting on a dozen worlds. I’ve lost more riders than you’ve ever had and now I’m going home where I expect to be sold to the scrapyard and spend my retirement quietly rusting. I am not a hero to be idolised.”

“Yeah, I see that now,” she replied bitterly. “Are you done yet?”

I pushed the board back into the deck and the computer sprung to life. “Seems like it.”

With a smirk I sprang to my feet and networked with the computer. “Mayday, mayday. This is the cargo ship Pole Star with a class A emergency.”

I waited a few moments and repeated the message. Zharus was a few light seconds away so I didn’t expect an instant response but it was on the fifth round that we got a response.

“We read you Pole Star; this is Zharus Low Control, what is the nature of your emergency?”

“We have lost the majority of the crew due to a massive impact, cause unknown. Our engines and navigation systems are locked out, as near as we can tell we are a planet bound runaway. I repeat, a planet bound runaway. Estimated time to impact is eighteen hours.”

There was an uncomfortable silence over the link, after a full minute a much more authoritative voice sounded. “Pole Star, you listen here. Our preliminary sims confirm that we have less than a five per cent chance of successfully intercepting your ship. You have to disable you engines, at all costs. Do you copy?”

“We copy Low Control.” I had to detach most of my synthesisers from my core to keep my voice level. “Is there any chance of interception? We have heavy damage and are severely undermanned.”

“There are no elements able to intercept at this time. My advice is to scuttle the ship.”

“Understood low control. We will see what we can do.”

I left half my brain to indexing a list of applicable curse words and switched to the ship com.

“Guys, control says that we can’t expect any help, hell they don’t even think they can stop us in time. Any luck with the rest of the ship?”

“Sorry, the computer is as dead as dodo RIDE left out in the wastes,” Az chirped.

“Engineering is a mess but I think I could cut off the fuel lines in a pinch,” Milly reported. “Wish me luck.”

“What’s the news?” Bugs demanded.

“We’ve got to fix your com,” I sighed. “It doesn’t look like the space marines are swinging by to save the day. Milly’s got an idea though so as long as nothing goes wrong we should be okay.”

The entire ship shock as the roar of an explosion rumbled through the decks.

“What the hell was that?” Bugs yelled in surprise.

“Something going wrong!”

Milly screamed.

I’ve heard many screams in my time. There’s the yelp of surprise when someone is startled, the bitten swear of something heavy dropped on the foot, there’s the pained gurgle of a lethal wound and then there is the howl of pure agony. Milly’s fell into that final category.

I was running in an instant, hurling myself into my skimmer mode and going full active as I tore down the corridor. One processor sent an emergency call to the elevator but my tac-computer pointed out there was a much faster route and I redirected the car into the service space. The shaft door hissed open, the carriage had only risen half a metre but I blasted through anyway sending sparks showering through the air.

My repulsors whined as I accelerated down the shaft, emergency lights flashing past and I swerved round a buckled segment as I hurtled through the habitation ring.

“What?” Az began to say but I couldn’t spare him a thought. My fire control painted Milly bellow me and I shifted back into walker mode, digging my claws into the shaft and flaring my retros. The elevator doors slid open beneath me and with a flip and a brief disregard for the laws of physics I landed on all fours on the top deck of engineering.

The whole thing was on fire. Temperature warnings were screaming across my hide as I bulled my way through the flames. Combat analysis suggested a fuel line had ruptured but emergency measures had already cut the supply, which was the only reason the whole ship hadn’t detonated but that hadn’t stopped the temperatures spiralling into the hundreds.

Milly was lying in the very heart of the inferno, Minx’s hardlight generators sputtering under the relentless heat.

“Milly, if you can hear me, now would be a great time to say something.” I nosed at the ferret mecha. The sound of screaming metal rent the air and the deck shuddered.

“Minx here,” came the weak reply. “I’m losing her Abe.”

“Right, we need to get to medical now. Hop aboard.” I shifted back to skimmer mode and pushed myself under Minx as she dragged himself over my back.

I hit the boosters and accelerated out of the inferno. “Hold on!” I roared, as we went vertical up the elevator shaft. There was a roar from behind us as the deck finally gave way and the flames leapt up after us. A moment later they were gone as depressurisation sucked them back out through engineering as I slowed us to a less break neck climb.

“Well, that’s half the ship broken now,” I sighed, letting us hover more a moment. “At this rate we’re not even going to reach the planet.”

{{Separator|f}}

Medical had been off the path of destruction, which was the first piece of luck we’d had since the disaster. Milly however had not been so lucky, according to Minx she’d tried to cut the fuel feed but something had given and detonated. Minx’s torso had been staved in by the blast and it was only hardlight and good engineering that had saved her rider’s life.

“Broken ribs, seven,” the medicom intoned as the five of us clustered around Milly’s bedside. “Lung, punctured, deflated. Severe bruising of the heart. Liver damage. Loss of stomach integri-“

“Suggested treatment,” I snapped, cutting it off.

“Emergency stasis.”

“Confirmed and engage.” There was a hiss as a glass cover sealed itself over Milly’s form.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Azure observed.

“I’d like to see how it could have been worse,” Fang growled. “There’s now eight foot of hot metal between us and the engines.”

I sighed. “Well at least there’s no way the engines could be working after that.” Everyone looked at me. “What?”

“Are you standing on the floor?” Fang asked me.

“Yeah? Last I checked.”

“Then we’re still under acceleration,” he explained, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Whatever Milly tried to do it failed, it didn’t stop us.”

“Oh for the love of,” I swore. “What does it take to kill this ship?”

“She was built to last,” Minx sighed, resting a paw on Milly’s tube. She twitched as something shorted and gasped in pain.

“Minx, you need to lie down,” I pointed out.

She shook her head. “You need me to fix the ship.” She arced from her wound to the medicom and a burst of static sounded from the speaker.

“Minx! On the bed!” I roared, and the ferret started backwards, dropping herself on the spare mattress.

“Hang on,” she began after a moment, sitting up. “Why should I listen to you?”

“Yeah, you’re not the captain,” Fang muttered.

“Neither are you,” I shot back. “And it’s just good sense. She’s going to snap in half if she’s not careful.”

“Um, I’m right here,” Minx protested.

“We know our limits,” Fang replied. “And they’re a lot better than some thirty year old rust bucket.”

“What, so the captain’s pet poodle is better suited than a thirty year combat veteran. Maybe you should get that fancy body of yours checked, your brain seems to be overheating.”

“Stop it both of you!” Bugs screamed. “This isn’t helping anyone.”

I rounded on her, my guns twitching in their housings but I paused, and took a simulated breath.

“You’re right. What’s important now is stopping the ship.”

“That’s what I was telling you,” Minx protested. “I can help you-” Something gave and she dropped like a rock, Bugs caught her and lowered her to the bed.

“Damn, damn, damn, damn,” Minx swore. “Man this hurts.”

I sighed. “Just tell us what to do Minx and we’ll do it.”

“Data lines are down right?” she gasped, Az nodded. “We need to disable redundant navigation. That’ll kill the thrusters and then we can steer the ship by throttling the engine by hand.”

“Minx, we can’t do that. We’d need to get to engineering and it’s blocked off.”

“Yeah, but there’s an external ladder. Oh shit, damage control wants to take me offline.”

“Outside the ship?” I asked in horror.

“Yeah, outside.” And then she was gone.

{{Separator|f}}

We spent a precious hour double checking Minx’s plan, and doing our best to patch her up. It seemed solid. Main computer still had us locked out so we each did our own calculations and then ran them past low control. We even floated a few other solutions, like using the cargo of mining nanites to burrow through to the engines or holing the fuel tanks and detonating. Nothing was fast enough however, within a few hours we’d have built up such a store of kinetic energy that nothing was going to stop us hitting. Even with the main engines it would take twenty minutes to push us off the path.

That just left one major problem and I’d yet to figure it out.

Bugs found me curled up on the lower deck, staring at the airlock door, running my hundredth simulation.

“Hey Abe,” she sighed, settling down next to me. “I need to talk.”

I managed to avoid groaning, nothing good starts with ‘need to talk’. “What’s bothering you kid?”

“I want to know how you cope,” she demanded, already looking close to tears and we’d only just started. “How do you get over losing someone?”

I sighed. “Bugs, how old are you?”

“Just over six months, though I spent one in a showroom before George bought me. He was my first owner. There was so much I planned to do. I wanted to go active with him one day. You know, when he was ready. There were all these places I wanted to take him and so many things I wanted to do with him. But they’re never going to happen now, are they?”

“Life takes people away from us,” I told her, shaking my head. “And it’s always before their time.”

“Who was your first owner then?” Bugs inquired. “Did he…”

I sighed. “Let me just fire up the old memory banks. Let’s see, my very first rider was a man called Lieutenant Cook, he was even there when I first booted. The company had acquired me at great expense to spearhead their new power armour unit and my first memories were fusing with him and blowing away half dozen dummy tanks.” I smiled, those had been simpler days. “Oh course he’d barely even heard of Zharus and it wasn’t till I locked up during an exercise and they stripped out my fetters that I started talking back. Poor guy almost jumped out of his skin.”

“What happened to him?”

“The same thing that almost happened to Milly. I took a cannon shell to the chest and it knocked me for a loop long enough that I lost him before I could sort my nanites out. I healed, and hell I spent a day lying on that battle field trying to bring him back, but his mind was gone.”

“I can’t believe you can say that so calmly,” Bug sighed, hardlight tears marring her fur.

“It was a long time ago, and time heals all wounds, almost.”

“I just want to know when it’ll stop hurting.”

“I’ll level with you. It never does. But it gets easier; you’ll meet new people, find a new rider and live, because there isn’t anything else you can do really.”

Bugs sighed. “He just… He’s just gone. I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” Fang cut in, stalking towards us. “Abe, what are you hanging around for, I thought you were talking a walk.”

“Yeah, I’ve hit a snag.”

“Oh?”

“No hands,” I pointed out, raising my paws.

“So, you’re a military grade big cat, climb,” Fang growled.

“Cats can’t climb backwards,” I sighed.

“What?”

“Cats can’t climb backwards,” I repeated. “It’s the way the claws are laid out. I could climb up the ship all day, but anyway I work it I’ve got a ninety five per cent chance of falling off the ship.”

“Yeah, well wolves can’t climb at all and neither can rabbits.”

“Can’t you just use your lifters?” Bugs interjected.

“Only if I wanted to take up space diving. They work by pushing against solid objects and the only thing out there is the ship. Fire the lifters and goodbye Pole Star. What I need is hands.”

“We don’t have access to hands,” Fang pointed out. “What if we rigged some sort of harness?”

“With what thumbs?”

“Hey, I just had an idea,” Bugs announced, bounding to her feet. “Follow me.” She raced away, Fang and I shared and look and followed.

We caught up to her in David’s quarters abusing the medical scanner.

“Yes, yes, yes it’ll work,” she muttered to herself. “Oh hey guys. What kept you?”

“A sense of self-preservation?” Fang muttered.

“Bugs what are you doing?” I asked.

“Well I had a thought,” she explained, hopping with excitement. “You need hands to get to engineering, so we need a rider.”

“David’s been exposed to vacuum for a couple of hours now, if you’re hoping to revive him then you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“No,” she protested. “We can’t bring him back, but we could build you a new rider.”

There was a moment’s stunned silence.

“We can’t build a human, Bugs,” Fang said at length. “I don’t think we have the parts for a start.”

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” Bugs replied with glee. “So our cargo is a mish mash from the outer system and interstellar traders who didn’t want to haul all the way to Zharus. That means amongst other junk we have almost a thousand tons of unspecified nanites ready for sorium doping and forty tons of freeze packed Texan steaks.”

“Could that even work?” I asked Fang.

“You think I know?”

“It’ll work,” Bugs insisted. “We use the dead crew as a template. It’ll be slow without the sorium and we’ll need to lop half their head to stimulate the neurones enough to trick your systems into thinking they’re human but I think it’ll work.”

I looked at Fang again. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

“Yeah, because you got your fetters removed, this is disgusting.”

“Fang, if this ship hits the planet we are going to kill, at a bare minimum, a million people. I’m willing to play Frankenstein.”

“Technically I’ll be playing Frankenstein,” Bugs pointed out. “You get to be the monster.”

“Joy.”

{{Separator|f}}

“Thirty minutes,” I pointed out.

“I know, I know, don’t rush me.”

We were running out of time. Shell one had been an utter failure; we’d tried too many shortcuts and gotten a cow/human hybrid that didn’t survive three seconds off life support and had been rejected by my systems before the merge had even begun. Shell two had been better, but painfully slow as we had to rewrite a third of the genetic code and the damn thing had been brain dead by the time we went to wire it up.

Shell three was the last and we were racing against the clock. We’d stripped out almost anything that could go wrong, digestive tract, musculature and a good chunk of the skin. It had been reduced to an unidentifiable lump of flesh, struggling to breathe, held together by a travesty of medical science.

“Right,” Bugs muttered. “I think that’s done. I’ll begin drawing out the nanites now.”

“So, it’s alive?” I pressed.

“Yes, excuse me if I don’t cackle I’m exhausted.” Bugs sat down heavily. “Lungs are working, heart is beating and I’ve got enough brain activity to at least class him in a vegetative state.” She sighed. “It’s sad that that counts as a success.”

“You did brilliantly,” I assured her, stepping up to the body and sniffing at it. It smelt of fresh meat and metal, and was laid out on the deck like the steaks it had been I had to repress a shudder at the thought of fusing with it. “How long till it’s ready to go?”

“A few minutes.”

“Hey guys,” Az cut in, fluttering over. “I’ve managed to pull up a few of Abe’s old technically manuals and there’s a few crucial inhibitors I think we can bypass.”

“A few what you can what?” I demanded.

The bird sighed. “There are a number of hard wired inhibitors to stop you fusing with any old thing, most are far too complex to do anything about but I might be able to turn down your feline finickiness enough to bond with that thing.”

“Well it’s worth a shot. What do you need me to do?”

“Just lie down, pop open your skull and I’ll peck around a bit.”

“I’ve heard more encouraging instructions,” I said, but complied, and within moments the bird was beak deep in my brain.

“You know, while we’ve got you trapped,” Bugs began, crouching down opposite me. “I did want to ask you a question.”

“Is this really the time?”

“We don’t have much time left,” she pointed out. I had to give her that one. “There was just a niggling little thing I had to ask, why are you going back to Zharus?”

“I’m just on my way to the scrapyard most likely,” I growled. “Ow, careful Az.”

“Sorry, though if you forget how to play the piano please tell me.”

“Yeah, but that makes no sense, why would anyone sell you to Zharus?” Bugs pressed. “You were already off world, you went from somewhere to where you’d be almost unique to somewhere where you’d be worth more as scrap.”

“I didn’t say anyone sold me to Zharus,” I sighed. “I said I was on the way to the scrap yard.” Bugs just stared and me and I fought the urge to shake my head. “Look, it’s no great conspiracy. The company was retiring me and they’d lined up a deal with some stuffed suit from Terran Military Intelligence. I didn’t feel like spending the rest of my days in a lab being prodded and poked.”

“So?”

“So I liberated them of thirty years’ worth of back pay I figured I was owed and arranged myself to be smuggled back to that trading post,” I snapped. “I’m not proud of it, but I had my reasons.”

“You know, if I press just here I can make you tell us all about it,” Az pointed out, conversationally.

“You guys have no concept of privacy,” I grumbled. “Besides, it sounds stupid.”

“Tell us,” Bugs insisted.

I sighed. “I wanted to see Zharus before I died.”

“What?”

“I was activated off world, smuggled right off the production line. I’ve never seen Zharus, I’ve never met another RIDE besides you guys and I’ve never been to a planet where no one was planning on shooting at me. I just wanted to see the place I’ve always called home before I died.”

“Who says you’re going to die?” Bugs demanded.

“Bugs, I may not look it but I’m an old man. There are a lot of wounds dragging this old chassis down. Besides, war is the only thing I’ve ever done. What else am I going to do, buy a farm?”

“Abe, we are going to live,” she insisted. “We are going to save this ship, get home and then we’ll all be heroes.”

“You might want to hold off on the parade,” Fang said, sauntering into the bay. “I’ve got word form Low Control; they’re rolling out of the nukes.”

“They’re doing what?” I exclaimed, leaping to my feet. Something sparked in my head and I yelled in pain.

“You’re lucky I was almost done,” Az chided, as I collapsed. “Otherwise we could have damaged something important. Like your brain.”

“Anyway,” Fang continued, ignoring my head hanging open. “Low Control apparently managed to fabricate a couple of nuclear bombs with missiles. They believe the yield will be high enough to blast the ship into comparatively harmless fragments.”

“What do they mean by comparatively?”

“They reckon the debris will only kill a couple thousand rather than cracking an entire city wide open.”

“I’ve got to get down there,” I sighed, as Az closed up my head. “When are those nukes due?”

“I talked them down to firing only after we can no longer turn away,” Fang replied. “So, twenty minutes from now to blast off, maybe half an hour too impact.”

“Okay, Az, how did the launches look?”

“Two and Three checked out green. No idea what that actually means but we should be okay to evacuate on either one.”

“Right. You three get Minx and Milly to the launch then go.”

“But what about you?” Bugs cut in.

“I’ll head down to engineering, turn the ship and then head back up in time to abandon ship with the second launch.”

“If you can’t turn the ship in time then you’ll have less than ten minutes to get to the launch before the nukes get here,” she countered.

“I’ve had worse. I’ll be fine.”

“Before we make any more plans,” Fang interjected. “I think there’s something we still need to do.”

I looked down at the slab of meat struggling to breathe. I don’t think I can quite describe just how little I wanted to bind to that travesty of a human being. Intellectually I knew it was something I had to do but every synthetic bone in my body was screaming in protest. With a wince and HUD alarm that told me I was low on fusing nanites, an alarm that had been protesting in vain for the better part of a year, I dissolved myself and took up position around the body.

If anticipation was bad it was a hundred times worse in actuality. There was something dead inside of me, the body had barely survived the fusing process and it was only military grade nanites that had prevented the few organs it had from bursting with the strain. Medical warnings were flashing through my brain, most contradictory as they tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with my person, but I suppressed them and their persistent demands to defuse and seek medical attention.

There were very few things that could kill a rider without taking out the RIDE, but the big concussive blasts of plasma they liked to chuck around in major battles hit like a truck and killed half my systems. I’d lost too many riders to shots like that, or hypervelocity slugs that turned them to soup while I was just laid up in the machine pool for a week, or tactical nukes, or any other of the myriad of ways an infantry trooper could be royally screwed by a battlefield.

The body was dead. Its mind had never been and in many ways it was no great loss, but it was all too familiar. All the ones who had been alive, who’d been so alive before I’d taken them on that one mission too far, came back to haunt me with a vengeance. Their ghosts rose up to try and claim me. Their hopes and dreams and deaths. So many deaths. I didn’t want to do it. I couldn’t face another body in me. Another rider never to go home and I collapsed to the ground.

“Abe!” Bugs exclaimed, bounding over.

“I’m fine,” I gasped, suppressing the dozens of emergency defuse procedures that kept trying to force the body out of me. “I can cope.”

“Good, because in case you’d forgotten there are nukes pointed at us,” Fang growled.

“Oh shut up,” I snapped, dragging myself to my feet. My two feet. For all the physical pain the fusing process had at least given me the hands we so badly needed.

“You know,” Az mused. “We must never tell anyone we did this.”

“What?” Bugs protested. “But this is an amazing discovery.”

“No, he’s right,” I sighed. “Humans have enough trouble trusting other humans. Can you imagine what would happen if it turned out RIDEs were making humans for their personal use. We’d get lynched.”

“They’re not that bad,” Bugs whined, but it sounded too petulant to be a real argument.

“Either way, there’s a ladder calling my name. We’ve got twenty minutes people. Let’s go.”

{{Separator|f}}

It was a long climb down to the engine room and time was ticking away all too fast for comfort. Moving Milly and Minx to the launch had taken longer than we’d anticipated and I hadn’t even opened the airlock till the rest of the guys were clear. They were long gone those, accelerating away at two g’s, it would be a long and bumpy ride home but if nothing else I’d ensured they’d survived.

Zharus was still a tinny speck beneath me, but growing with alarming speed and I cycled myself through the airlock without the proper look I’d wanted.

“Okay Minx, I’m in,” I clipped over the long range backpack com I’d brought with me. “It doesn’t look too bad down here.” The engine block was a labyrinth of pipes, ducts, tanks and reactors but I followed my internal map unerringly.

“Yeah, it was just some shrapnel through some key systems that really screwed the pooch,” Minx sighed. “Stupid hypervelocity impacts and the explosion can’t have helped. Anyway you should be coming up on the secondary navigation core.”

A series of bulky boxes came into view and my internal guidance confirmed them as the targets. A wire across to the emergency access port got me in but before I could do anything a dozen red warnings flashed over AR screens.

“Minx,” I said, dumping the data over our tenuous radio link. “What am I looking at here?”

“Anti-hijacking measure. Damn, it must have kicked in after the fire, normally we’d need to get an officer to unlock it but this is engineering, we can just defragment it and restart the OS if needs must. I’ll send you the procedure.”

I winced as I looked at the size of the list; we had seven minutes left to complete our turn. “Minx, do we have a local control for the engines?”

“Yeah, only in case of catastrophic damage, they’re manual only though.”

“Oh good.” I unleashed my last three plasma charges and moments later the computer was little more than cooling circuitry. “Right, what’s the manual procedure?”

“Urgh, some people have no respect for technology.”

“Hey, I am technology.”

The turn wasn’t a very tricky manoeuvre, it was made a little harder by the fact I had to run between the emergency throttle valves but that was my own damn fault. I dropped number four engine down to ninety five per cent, this introduce a little lateral spin and at thirty degrees from Zharus I ran to number two engine and dropped it by the same amount, stopping our spin accelerating. Then it was back to number four to crank it back up to counteract the initial spin before hoofing it back to two to bring us to a stop, roughly facing ninety degrees to our original course.

“Done, and with two minutes to spare,” Minx confirmed, I could hear Bugs whooping in the background. “Great job Abe.”

“Couldn’t have done it without you guys,” I sighed. “I’m going to make my way to the launch now. Nothing left to do here.”

Of course, it could never be that simple. I was halfway through the upper airlock when the whole ship shuddered.

“Abe, what the hell just happened?” Minx demanded. “Engine performance just dropped three per cent.”

“I don’t know, the ship just shuddered.”

“Well get back down to engineering, with this thrust you’re not going to clear the planet.”

I swore, backing out of the lock and glaring at the ladder. Proper safety procedures would take me five minutes to descend. “How long do we have?”

“If we can get the engines back up to full, seven minutes.”

“Right.” I dropped down the ladder, hand over fist, forgetting the safety line and multimillion meter drop that awaited me if I slipped. Fast enough to make the designer wince I’d got both feet on the ground again and hit the override for the airlock, remembering to grab a handhold just in time. There was a roar as a storm of air and flame belched through into the void and I increase my rate of swearing.

“Minx, looks like we’ve got a breach and a fire,” I snapped, forcing my way through the last wisps of atmosphere. Since turning my back the block had collapsed into chaos, the fires had burned themselves out without any air but hot, twisted metal littered the access ways and I forced my way through the wreckage with a terrible sinking feeling in my chest.

“Can you see any obvious holes in any pipes?” Minx pressed. I rolled my eyes and sent her a still shot. “Oh… um.”

“Any time Minx.”

“Right, okay just give me a moment to go through the schematics.”

I tapped my foot as the seconds ticked away. Three minutes and counting.

“Okay, I’ve got something. There’s an emergency fuel line, you need to open valves 34-A, B, C and D and then find the yellow safety wheel in deck three.”

“Right.” I set off at a run.

The valves were all on one level and weren’t too hard to get too, not with a blind disregard for collateral damage.

“Got one,” I snapped, punching through a sheet of fallen hull to reach it.

“Two minutes twenty left.”

I raced through the failing ship, letting rip with my gauss gun to blow through fallen beams. “That’s two.”

“One fifty.”

Ten foot of broken metal stood between me and the third and I had to backtrack, costing me precious seconds.

“Three!”

“One minute.”

I fired my lifters as I shot through the wreckage, my chassis sparking as I clipped the walls.

“Last one!” I yelled, as I tore past at full speed, catching the handle on the move and breaking it off in my haste.

“Twenty seconds! Just the valve left.”

My foot clipped on a hatch as I tried to eke out another mph and I went crashing into the ceiling. There was a silent crash as I rebounding and hit the ground leaving a dent in the plating. Ahead of me, between error messages I could see the safety wheel, far too far away.

“Come on Abe, five seconds.”

I hauled myself to my feet and sprinted the last dozen yards.

“Three, two, one, zero.”

My hands grasped the wheel and I wrenched it around.

“Minus one, minus two.”

“I got it,” I roared, as it slammed home. “I got it.”

Minx sighed in relief. “Oh thank the maker. You’re back up to speed, just running a trajectory plot now.”

“Just give me the damage,” I panted, my heat sinks popped out and glowing cheery red.

“Err, oh shit,” Minx said and I felt my heart sink. “Well the good news is you’re going to miss the planet.”

“And the bad?”

“We’re going to be well within the atmosphere. We’re looking at major re-entry heating and a possible air burst.”

“Will she hold together?”

“Abe, the Pole Star is a seventy year old bulk hauler; I’m amazed she’s holding together right now, no way is she getting though this.”

I sighed. “How long?”

“Two minutes. But you still have a chance; pull the green leaver on the opposite side of the pipe.”

I reached round the pipe and felt a warped nub of metal, my heart sank again and I looked frantically around the narrow room. There, a good thirty feet away, was the broken off leaver. The whole ship shuddered as I loosened my grin on the wheel and I rammed it back open.

“Okay, don’t do that again, you just lost another thousand feet,” Minx snapped. “Pull the damn leaver.”

“The leaver is gone Minx,” I sighed. “It’s over.”

“It is not over,” Bugs cut in, over Minx’s protestations. “You can still make it out of there.”

“It was over the moment I turned back,” I told her. “And I’m not sorry for doing it. It’s a… well it’s a kick in the teeth to come so close without even seeing home.”

“Oh Abe,” Bugs began.

“Just,” I interrupted. “Could you describe it to me?”

“It’s beautiful Abe. The sun is rising over the horizon lighting up the forests like little patches of emerald and the dark side is laced with cobwebs of light. The sub orbitals are little sparks winging their way across the sky, and I think that dark expanse is the Dry Ocean. I wish you could see it.”

“Oh for a high capacity connection,” I replied. “Or maybe an escape pod if I’m just wishing.”

“One minute,” Minx interjected.

“Abe, I’m so sorry,” Bugs insisted. “It should have been one of us.”

I snorted. “Bugs, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, it’s got to be pissing Fang off no end that I’m the one saving the world.”

“His fur is going slightly green with envy,” she agreed.

The silence stretched as the clock counted inevitably down.

“Two hundred and seventeen, Bugs,” I muttered at last. It wasn’t like I was going to get a second chance.

“What?”

“That’s how many people who I’ve killed, not counting people who died when I was supposed to be protecting them.” I chuckled. “Well at least this may go some way to making up for them.”

“It more than does Abe.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I haven’t lived a noble life, never had a partner who I could trust, never had a say who to fight or why. But if I’m going to die, I can’t think of a better way than dying for the sake of a single selfless act.”

“Ten seconds,” Minx whispered.

“Abe, I can’t tell you just how brave you are.”

“Brave implies it was ever a choice,” I said, shrugging. “I just wish-”

{{Separator|f}}

“In other news, investigations into the loss of the Pole Star continue with the recovery of the black box expected within the next few hours. The Pole Star threatened an impact with Zharus that would have caused mass destruction if it was not diverted by the few surviving crew and RIDEs on board. The ship was destroyed as she struck the atmosphere killing crewman David Demos, who had stayed behind with his RIDE ABE, instantly. It is estimated less than one present of the ship’s tonnage will ever hit the planet and damage will be minimal, debates are already raging over the use of torch ships in near planetary space when newer safer technology is now available. We’ll bring you more after the smooth stylings of Corbin Bleu.”

“Turn that shit off Harry,” a pittball fuser grumbled as their miniature suborbital streaked its way across the dry ocean. His brother, in a near identical RIDE rolled his eyes at him.

“That shit Charles, as you so neatly put it, is why we’re even out in the arse end of nowhere. It wouldn’t kill you to pay attention once in a while.”

“Yeah, but why take the risk.” Harry smacked him. “Oi! All I need to know is Del said there was a load of scrap out here and he’s usually smart about these things.”

“Space scrap,” Harry growled. “He said space scrap which, as I haven’t heard of any other rockets scragging themselves against the atmosphere, means we’re looking at some parts from that Pole Star rust bucket.”

“Who’s going to want crap from a hundred year old wreck?”

“Tell you what, why don’t you do the scanning while I do the bloody thinking. We’re almost on top of the bloody thing.”

“Whatever.”

The miniature suborbital came thundering down through the dust devils, blasting great gouts of dust and sand into the air as she settled heavily on her landing struts. A moment later the hatch opened and the brothers stepped out, still bickering, and floated to the ground on their lifters.

“The signals were strongest that way,” Charles yelled, pointing in addition to dropping a marker on their shared map. “Looks like a big hunk of engine or something.”

“Paydirt!” Harry roared back, as the wind continued to howl around them and the brothers slogged through the growing storm towards the shattered pieces of metal. “Lets give it a once over before loading it up though.”

The block was a good couple of tons of twisted and melted metal, mostly pipework but a tokamak lay half buried in the dirt, dented beyond repair but the conductive rings would be worth a good few Mu to the right scrap yard. The brothers split up, tagging the various pieces based on how much they were worth or how much they’d cost to dig out.

“Hey Harry,” Charles called over the com-channel after a few minutes. “I’ve got some kind of distress signal over here.”

Harry came running as Charles hooked his hands beneath a great block of metal and began to heave, his lifters whining in protest. Harry joined him a moment later and the tangle of pipes and warped metal shifted and they dragged the battered body of a fuser out of the tangle.

“Holy crap,” Charles swore. “This guy is alive, or his RIDE at least.”

“Quick, get him to the sub!”

Abe cracked an eye open as the pitbulls lifted his prone form from the ground and looked up at the azure sky far above his head. A sensor that he’d never realised worked was picking up something called Q for the first time in his life.

“Huh,” he said, too quietly to hear over the storm. “Home. Now that’s a surprise.” Then shut down again.

[[Category:Story]][[Category:Fibio]][[Category:Wolf]][[Category:Jaguar]][[Category:Rabbit]]
[[Category:Ferret]][[Category:Jay]][[Category:FreeRIDErs]]

Talk:Turnover

2013-04-05T00:55:13Z

Proginoskes: /* Feedback */ de-WOT-ifying

Glad to see a happy ending. :D --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 00:23, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
==Feedback==
I'm noting these down as I go, so some of the earlier comments might be addressed later in the story.

I find it odd that Bugs assumes that all RIDEs are fettered against harming humans: they were developed as military equipment, after all.

Depending on ''Pole Star'''s mass and distance from Zharus, it could strike with considerably ''more'' energy than a gigaton bomb. It has become a ''kinetic kill vehicle''.

While Zharus does have a convenient uninhabited landmass in the form of Rodinia, the climatic consequences of ''any'' sufficiently large impact are rather eschatological. Indeed, the ensuing impact winter is likely to be worse with a terrestrial impact.

Okay, now I'm confused. How could any RIDE, especially an ex-mil RIDE, ''not'' know about bodyjacking? It's an excellent way to take prisoners, and a RIDE's ability to operate fused with an unconscious rider is a major feature.

A dozen worlds?! This must be a far-future fic, then, set after a way to synthesize qubitite has been discovered. Alternatively, after Earth got a little too acquisitive and Zharus decided to push back.

Hm. I'm at the Engineering Explosion. If this was Fenspace, I'd suggest an emergency biomod, but in the absence of spare Handwavium, the options appear to be (a) pray, or (b) induce Integration. Option b may not be available.

Oh, so he was smuggled off Zharus? I suppose that explains a number of things, although I'm not sure I buy that it would be possible.

... And I'm done! I'd like to hear more about the Pole Star Survivors sometime (did Milly make it?), and there are a few typos I'll just correct myself since this is in the main namespace. All in all, an excellent story.
--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 00:52, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk:Turnover

2013-04-05T00:52:07Z

Proginoskes:

Glad to see a happy ending. :D --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 00:23, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
==Feedback==
I'm noting these down as I go, so some of the earlier comments might be addressed later in the story.
I find it odd that Bugs assumes that all RIDEs are fettered against harming humans: they were developed as military equipment, after all.
Depending on ''Pole Star'''s mass and distance from Zharus, it could strike with considerably ''more'' energy than a gigaton bomb. It has become a ''kinetic kill vehicle''.
While Zharus does have a convenient uninhabited landmass in the form of Rodinia, the climatic consequences of ''any'' sufficiently large impact are rather eschatological. Indeed, the ensuing impact winter is likely to be worse with a terrestrial impact.
Okay, now I'm confused. How could any RIDE, especially an ex-mil RIDE, ''not'' know about bodyjacking? It's an excellent way to take prisoners, and a RIDE's ability to operate fused with an unconscious rider is a major feature.
A dozen worlds?! This must be a far-future fic, then, set after a way to synthesize qubitite has been discovered. Alternatively, after Earth got a little too acquisitive and Zharus decided to push back.
Hm. I'm at the Engineering Explosion. If this was Fenspace, I'd suggest an emergency biomod, but in the absence of spare Handwavium, the options appear to be (a) pray, or (b) induce Integration. Option b may not be available.
Oh, so he was smuggled off Zharus? I suppose that explains a number of things, although I'm not sure I buy that it would be possible.
... And I'm done! I'd like to hear more about the Pole Star Survivors sometime (did Milly make it?), and there are a few typos I'll just correct myself since this is in the main namespace. All in all, an excellent story.
--[[User:Proginoskes|Proginoskes]] ([[User talk:Proginoskes|talk]]) 00:52, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs

2013-03-21T14:30:19Z

Proginoskes: Adding section "Metasyntactic Variables"

User:Proginoskes

2013-03-19T19:15:03Z

Proginoskes: linking "ey" to an explanation

Proginoskes is a fan of lots of random stuff, and harbors a ''strong dislike'' for Microsoft's Assira anti-bot system. He (''usually'' "he", but in RP environments possibly "she", "shi", or occasionally "[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs#Pronouns|ey]]") isn't much of an author, but provides a variety of constructive criticism services whenever asked (and occasionally ''without'' being asked).

==Areas of Interest==
Broken into subcategories, this list is representative, not exhaustive:
===Here on Shifti===
*[[:Category:FreeRIDErs|FreeRIDErs]] is all-around awesome. The creative synergy between [[User:JonBuck|Jon Buck]] and [[User:Robotech Master|Robotech Master]] is something I've not often seen the like. The only example that comes to mind is the Big Three of [http://www.eyrie.net/ Eyrie Productions]: Ben "Gryphon" Huchins, "ReRob" Mandeville, and MegaZone (who denies ever having had a normal name).
*[[:Category:Xanadu|Xanadu]] has huge potential, much of it unplumbed. There are vast depths lurking in the background, giving extra weight to the stories while remaining extremely mysterious. Reading and contemplating Xanadu gives me a feeling like looking into abyssal depths... and seeing something moving.
*[[User:Michael Bard|Michael Bard]]'s work in general. It is a great shame that we will not see more of it.
===Stories Elsewhere on the Web===
*[http://www.eyrie.net/UF/ Undocumented Features], a ''massive'' body of work kicked off by the aforementioned Gryphon, ReRob, and MegaZone. A sprawling fanfiction world with elements from pretty much every Sci-Fi work ever published, broadcast, or shown in theatres, plus a pile of high fantasy, plus some comic-book superheroes (who don't really fit in either category).
*[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/dwmain.shtml Drunkard's Walk] by Robert M. Schroeck, a fanfiction series following Colonel Douglas Sangnoir, code-name "Looney Toons", of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force Warriors Alpha, as he tries to get to his home world after being flung out into the broader multiverse by enemy action.
*[http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/forums/8 Fenspace], a shared setting with the core device of "Handwavium", a miraculous substance that transforms all it touches. created and run on the Drunkard's Walk forums, it also has [http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Main_Page a wiki].
===General Bits and Bobs===
*[[User:Proginoskes/Nonslarkish Flutzpahs|Nonslarkish Flutzpahs]], that is, nonstandard words and grammar constructs intended to be used with the English language.
*Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. If I occasionally seem obsessed with accuracy and precision, it's because I hold them in high regard.
*Computers in general. These machines are miraculous, that's really all I can say.