voidtreckerooc | Event: In Pursuit of Knowledge OOC

Event: In Pursuit of Knowledge OOC

EVENT: In Pursuit of Knowledge

Our next event is here! The voidtreckers have been taken to a voidbase to learn a little more about their SCAs and their situation, as well as using the Ministry's equipment to piece together the fragments of memories they collected on Jema'grethy.

Information about the base itself is here, and voidtreckers will be allowed to do whatever they wish during their time there: be that relaxing, or helping out with research.

They will be at the voidbase between day 22 and day 29 of the month of Rabbit. (12th-26th June)

TL;DR: There will be tests for the Voidtreckers (health, tether, and combat related, and tests involving particular circumstances- being dead back home, etc), and there will be a test run on the train and with the Voidtreckers' help, to piece back together the train's memories. There is also an archive room for deeper research, such as finding out more on the World Eaters/shapes in the sky.

The voidbase will have training areas, recreational areas (shows, music, videogames, e-books), and sleeping quarters.

The train will be accessible at all times.

VOIDBASE INFO ~ EVENT LOG ~ BASE NETWORK
SCA EXPERIMENTS ~ COMBAT TRAINING ~ REACHING OUT ~ ARCHIVE RESEARCH

SCA EXPERIMENTS

There are a few experiments that the void scientists want to try. They will ask for volunteers, and will explain things as best as they can; voidtreckers can volunteer to help around the labs if they prove themselves responsible.

GENERAL HEALTH: They will be collecting blood samples and doing some basic scans of any voidtreckers who wish to be tested. They are most interested in brain scans, and will also ask for volunteers to wear a machine whilst sleeping to monitor brain patterns.

TETHER SCANNING: They have a machine that can scan the tether itself. It involves going into a narrow standing tube, which hums loudly - sounding very like the humming of the void and flashes bright colors. They will be warned that it is a disconcerting experience, and will offer ear defenders to help combat the side effects, which involve a headache and vivid dreams for the next few nights.

POWER TESTS: For those voidtreckers with magic or other powers, there are a series of tests that they can take part in. They will be taken to small glass isolation chambers and asked to demonstrate their powers in various ways.

COMBAT TRAINING: While not related to tests, there is space for training to happen and ministry workers who will happily spar or train with voidtreckers. They are all trained in using a powered baton- a collapsible staff which is roughly fifty centimetres fully extended. It carries an energy pulse, which means that those without a lot of strength can hit hard enough to push enemies back away from themselves. It also can deliver a non-lethal energy attack. They will happily teach any voidtrecker who wishes to learn. If your character is going to train with these, please reply to the training comment below.

STRANGE CASES: They are very interested in testing those who are not in normal circumstances back on their worlds- that is those who are dead, those who are gods or other beings that don't necessarily have a physical body or those with any other reasons that would make it strange that they are tethered to the train. These experiments include medical tests, various tasks whilst hooked up to machines and controlled testing of removing the SCA.

FURTHER MYSTERIES

REACHING OUT: Knowing that the voidtreckers who have vanished over the last year and a half are still in a way connected to the Voidtrecker Express the ministry are keen to help the Voidtreckers find their friends.

They have a lab at the top of the base with a glass domed roof. Here a couple of scientists will attempt to talk them through connected to their voidcraft through their SCA's and through that- to the strands of tethers that are lost in the void. This is exhausting work and they won't be able to try for more than an hour or so at a time.

MEMORIES: The train has been docked in one of their docking stations. The ministry have brought down the equipment needed to attempt to put together the train memories. As promised the train will open the engine door.

It looks much like any train cab. Though it seems the train has shut down all but the most vital of processes before it allowed anyone into this space.

Those who saw a snippet of memories will have to enter the engine room, hook up to the machine and focus on the memory they received. The process isn't painful, but they may need to take a rest afterwards.

NOTE: We are assuming all those who found a snippet will take part in this, but if your character will refuse for whatever reason please let us know!

RESEARCH: The ministry workers in the archives are trying to find any information about the strange world eating shapes or vanished systems. They will take all the help they can get. There is no central system of information, but a number of different ones from different systems. They will have to monitor various news feeds and information sources.

This will involve reading historical articles about strange void happenings, following leads about missing worlds and trawling through conspiracy websites about what Really Happened™ to system #78961112094711.

OTHER

Please feel free to ask questions below. If you have any particular questions about what is available on the voidbase, please ask them here so others can see the answers!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Let us know here which of the experiments your character is taking part in. You can also tell us anything pertinent that you think we should know!

Rezo will be participating in the general health, tether scanning, and power tests.

Rezo also qualifies as a strange case, both because he is dead and because he believes there's a possibility of Shabranigdu still being attached to his soul in some way. He will do his best to explain how that situation works (though he doesn't understand all the details himself tbqh), partly because he's afraid of how the tests might affect that and he'll want the ministry to be forewarned, although he'll ask that they keep this information confidential.

(I am not sure if the ministry will be able to determine that Shabranigdu isn't there anymore, even if the seal is still in place, but as a reminder that's Rezo's situation.)

Health-wise, by the way, Rezo's eyes themselves are physically in perfect shape- although the seal will probably complicate any attempts to examine them- but doing brain scans will show that his visual cortex is impaired and that his brain has clearly done a lot of rewiring over the course of his life to compensate. This probably isn't very useful information for the ministry but it sure is Neat(TM)

In terms of power testing, Rezo should be a fairly straightforward case of "overpowered wizard/cleric" (his healing powers are strong enough that he can do things like regrow people's limbs.) More potentially complicated is that he may also, if the ministry allows it, attempt to demonstrate black magic summoning and call upon a low-ranking mazoku. I'm just not sure if summoning would work on a voidbase.

'Sup, one of those weird situations here since, uh, she's kind of dead in her world and an alternate-ish version of her exists on the reset world. But she's more than happy to figure out more of what's going on with these tethers and how to strengthen them as, quite frankly, she would like to stay around one way or another.

The only thing she'll be a little weird about will be health screenings but can be talked into them with a bit of coaxing. Otherwise she'll also be into the power tests since Stands are weird (and she only had hers for a few months in canon oops), tether scanning, and combat training (keeps her skills up and she's curious what those batons can do to her/Stone Free).

To carry on the clarification of the above, please highlight-

At the end of Stone Ocean, Jolyne dies, but time is reset. In the first reset, Pucci denies her soul's rightful place in reality, so she isn't reborn. After Pucci dies, this is undone; so Jolyne's soul, as in the one Jolyne had before she died is allowed back in the timeline.

However, because of the fact that she experienced death during Pucci's machinations, she doesn't remember anything of her original life- and is thus known as Irene, an 'alternate Jolyne'.

tl;dr, that's still Jolyne, but she only has memories of a new, 'immediately created' timeline. This timeline would actually be in effect now, and what's more, the progression of events in Stone Ocean means that despite her original body being destroyed, Joylne technically has a body again.

(There's some room to play around here, with the idea of 'what happens when a body keeps going without its actual mind' and etc etc, but yeah. Weird stuff.)

Now then, onto Emporio, whose situation is much simpler. Please highlight!

Emporio of course, survived through the entire incident of Stone Ocean. He was taken as time began to reset for the final time- so he's been uncertain if a planet exists or not. Naturally, the answer is it does!

More than likely poor Emporio's comatose sleepy body was found by the 'reborn' Ermes (And oddly enough, possibly 'Irene'), and uh....hospitalized. But it's nice to confirm these things right Emporio?

In any case, Emporio is open to everything available, but it should be noted that the power test- because this is the best spot for me to finally have him unleash it without real consequence- will be where his Diagad Power is finally released after uh. A long time. Stockpiling.

He didn't know it was still there after Diagad! He'll be far more responsible about regularly releasing the energy bursts from now on he promises.

(I'll also of course be commenting with him on combat training because yes of course teach him sensei)

Anyway enjoy your bizarre case, Void Scientists.

Ryou will be doing the tether scanning and general health tests.

He's also a weird case in that he was getting sent to another dimension when the train grabbed him, and he's not sure if he's got a tether or not. In the original canon movie, Ryou ultimately comes back just fine, but after some thought I've decided that his body being left comatose in the other dimension wouldn't go well and would likely leave him dead. Sorry Ryou.

Beyond that, he's pretty healthy, though he has some odd scars here and there. (His left hand has scarring from being impaled, there's a scar from being stabbed in his upper left arm, and there's a set of five small round scars on his chest. If asked he'll explain that the Ring Spirit caused all of those, but he doesn't have the Ring anymore so it's fine.)

Usagi's going in for general health and power tests.

General health would probably showcase that she's a healthy sixteen year old girl (if not just a tad overweight from sweets).

Power-wise, there would be a lot to be explored since she's a magical girl with incredible power - the ability to manifest an outfit out of nowhere, the incredible healing power of the Silver Crystal, the remaining crystals containing the powers of Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and Pluto (Earth, Water, Destruction, Time), so she'll be there for awhile.

Vexen will be participating in tether scanning, power tests, and strange cases testing.

Powers-wise, he's a remarkably powerful mage with an incredibly strong affinity for ice. His dubiously extant nature also makes it all but impossible to injure him without magic.

As for strange cases...his body is literally made of the raw essence of Nothingness, and only exists because his will is imposing form and substance on it. Without his soul present, his body back home would have dissolved into loose magic and disappeared.

Thanatos will be participating in the experiments. For both the tether scanning and power test, Thanatos will refuse to participate unless Zagreus is there. He can be on the other side of the glass, but Thanatos is less likely to panic from being enclosed in the small space with him there ~~to break him out and FITE the researchers if need be~~.

General Health: Drawing "blood" will reveal that he has godly golden ichor. Similarly, tissue samples will be more akin to darkness given solid form than normal human bodies. He... also doesn't sleep on the regular, so he's not going to give helpful data there. He also has a cooler body temperature, ashen complexion, slow breathing, and slow heartbeat. Otherwise, he's physically... well, he's built like a Greek god.

Tether Scanning: Thanatos is going to feel horrible after this given the noise and bright lights, even with additional protection. Thankfully since he doesn't sleep, he won't have to deal with the vivid dreams, but he'll have the headache from hell. Just... let him collapse to cuddle with Zag for a bit. It's tough being a chthonic god.

Power Test: As long as Zag is there on the other side, he will demonstrate... as best he can. He can't really end someone's life (Zag, shut up. You're not allowed to volunteer to be my target.), so they'll just have to trust him on that. He will not demonstrate any of his life powers because he assumes that it has changed to affect Chthonic Companions only and thus has no (knowing) way to show it. Thanatos forgets he has that untapped power most of the time.

Strange Cases: Thanatos is Death Incarnate, a god. He's tied to the ability for things to die on his world. He cuts the fated threads to end lives and feels their pull on him when it's time for a mortal to die. He's also connected to Zagreus in a similar, stronger way.

Little One will be volunteering cautiously for tether testing. She is pretty normal all things considered- her only 'magic' comes from Diagad and she will demonstrate that if the wish her to.

She does have high levels of power, or magical energy, inside her.

Tidus will take part in the blood tests and tethering scanning, but won't bother with combat testing. He'll also explain his own strange case, and be willing to take off his SCA for the experiments, and be honest about his situation.

Oh, boy! Nozomi'll be participating in general health, tether scanning and power tests.

Nozomi is also a Strange Case because of her history. To recap: Nozomi isn't the real Nozomi, but a computer program created by Mayfield based off of the true Nozomi Yumehara thanks to multiversal scanning shenanigans. She probably would have faded once the computers that make up Mayfield and Betterplace ran out of power, but getting dragged to Equestria, where that wonderful phrase and the power of "friendship is magic" exists, she has a physical body. It's probably magical, too, so there's probably a lot of magic in her that she doesn't realize.

Health-wise, she's a healthy young woman and nothing would really seem out of the ordinary, really.

Power-wise, Nozomi herself is probably normal as all-out, but she has all of her transformation gear, so there's gonna be plenty of power to go around with that. Also, her magical body.

Madoka and Inigo will do the health and tether scanning! They'll skip on the power scanning since Inigo doesn't have any special powers, and Madoka doesn't have any that are active, and generally doesn't fully know about the huge magical energy within her. But they'll be very helpful about the two kinds of tests they do take.

Romeo will take part in health checks, tether scanning and power tests. He's a strange case since he's a shinki and he will do his best to explain that as well as he can.

Taiki will take part in some tests though he will not consent to blood tests. He will let his tether be scanned and demonstrate powers if they need him to.

Wangji is more than happy to give the scientists some data.
GENERAL HEALTH: Blood samples and doing some basic scans will reveal that Wangji functions very similarly to a base line nearly thirty human but with an added internal organ- his golden core. This provides him his spiritual energy and is attached to his meridians (or acupressure points). His brain scans are similar, with potentially some unusual areas that light up when using the spiritual energy. Sensitive equipment can and will glitch if left near him too long from the energy he radiates thanks to gaining immortality through cultivation.

TETHER SCANNING: Wangji will take the test stoically, as per usual, but he will ask politely for a bucket when he comes out. He won't be sick but he looks a little green. He does not rest easy for the next few nights.

POWER TESTS: These are as easy as breathing for Wangji, he will demonstrate his talismans and sword play. Then the more interesting tests he will ask for a stringed instrument - preferably a guqin - and play his clans spiritual songs. These will be for calming the dead, sealing and communication with spirits. His final trick will be riding his sword and demonstrating how it works in mid-air.

STRANGE CASES: Uncertain if this applies but Wangji is the only (to his knowledge) immortal on his world. He will not die from old age, as his aging ceased at roughly 27 or from most illnesses. He can die from a mortal injury if his golden core is overwhelmed or exhausted. He has also gained the power of regeneration since getting on board the train thanks to that one mission, much like wolverine he can now regrow limbs etc. He would love to learn more about this ability while in a controlled enviroment.

Sebek will participate in the general health, tether scanning, and power testing. He isn't a strange case (at least for this definition of one), so no need for that.

General Health: Sebek is a healthy 16-year-old who is still growing despite his already tall height. He's half-nocturnal fae, half-human. His pupils are vertical slits, and he more pointed teeth than a human does. Judging by how much he eats, he likely has a very high metabolism only partially attributed to how physically active he is.

Power Test: Sebek will show off his magic skills and his strength, which is a lot more than what a human his age can lift.

Alice is a bit of an oddball here, since she won't volunteer for the experiments, but she will approach Ministry workers to tell them about her case - namely the fact that she assumes that her physical body back home has been killed while the rest of her was tethered to the train. She will provide pretty much any details about it, including her system number, but will seem very reluctant towards the idea of going along with any experiments unless the workers insist it's the only way to find any solution for it.

Trunks is helping with recording data for the SCAs, as well as participating in the health-checks, combat training, and power-measuring experiments. It's highly likely he might break the latter (he'll try not to, and will be apologetic). He takes direction well, and it's a good chance to study half-human/half-saiyan physiology.

Sera will be doing general health tests, the tether scanning, and the power testing!

The general health tests will find that she's a healthy eighteen year old, though she will disclose that she's trans and on HRT in case it's relevant or affects health testing.

On the power side of things, she'll be volunteering to let the scientists test her Diagad power. It's a calming power that lets her calm others, but it only works if she's calm. She'll disclose that she got the power at the fake Diagad, in case it's relevant.

Jingyi will participate in all but the combat training and the strange case tests, since he's not a strange case. So General Health, Tether Scanning, Power Tests. He's divine-like energies, if that reads differently for purposes of the tests, and his blood would reflect he's not wholly human, and has a second code of DNA that expresses depending on which form he's in -- basically, human form hides dragon form DNA, dragon form hides human form DNA.

Wei Wuxian will take part in everything, since he's dead back home (whoops), and because the baton combat training is of interest to him. I'll try to get something along those lines threaded this month.

Both of mine in one comment because it's that kind of week

Ryo
He'll allow general scans, and he'll wear the sleep machine, but he won't allow a blood draw. He'll also participate in tether scanning and power tests as best he can, though he's probably going to have to explain his healing and his death-related Diagad power instead of giving any demonstrations. He'll also only remember to explain his Sense after the fact, because it's so natural to him that he keeps forgetting it counts as a power.

Wash
Wash is here for pretty much every test (in which he mostly reads as Normal Human) with the notable exception of the brain scan, and he'll point out that magic isn't possible on or native to his world and he learned it in a completely different dimension - he's not sure if it's actually relevant, but it is information. That probably doesn't file him under Strange Cases, but if they ask for further testing, he'll likely be up for it, as long as they stay out of his head.

Thomas is willing to volunteer for general health, tether scanning, and power tests.

Thomas's strange case (beyond using magic to slow his aging) was that he was (in canon) already someone who was flung from one world to another. He's hoping to find some hint about his world of origin, even if he's convinced himself that the Void Ministry doesn't have the means to physically transport him home. (Even sending or receiving messages would be useful.)

What Thomas doesn't know is that the extradimensional entity that had flung him from his original world (and took steps to keep others out of the bottle universe it had commandeered) was recently killed (as it happens, by Thomas's own granddaughter). Most of the difficulty of getting anything out of the universe/dimension/etc. is still there, but it's something.

(Also Thomas's wife has taken up dimensional travel to find him, and has her own methods to stop her aging, as well as developing a reputation as a bounty hunter. Given that there hasn't been much intersection between the game world and other world-crossing magics/techs, it probably won't come up.)

Seto will be having his tether tested (and discover that he still has a body), and submit to a general health screening.

Esteban will willingly and happily participate into any and every experiment that is offered. (The tether scan stresses him out and makes him extremely uncomfortable, but the other tests should go well enough). He is not a special case as far as he knows, though he'd go through those test if they want his results, as his genetics are just a little weird (child of two immortals, but he is mortal himself).

Mostly though, Esteban will stick around the lab to ask the scientists some questions:

- What are the plans for the Osigans that have been only Soul-Craft tethered without their bodies?
- Is there a way to take data from a soul to create a body to house the soul?
- What sort of knowledge, effort or resource would they need to make this kind of idea work?
- Would this kind of technique potentially work on a quirky situation, such as someone who is already dead, or a dream? (He'll be more discreet when asking this, because he does not want to put his friends in trouble)

- Also, he's heard that the train automatically brings back people from the brink of death. Does the ministry know what sort of impact this would that have on their souls? Short term and long term?

They're his main areas of concern. Esteban will also share some of his wilder theories with the scientists, such as the train being a collective of all the void treckers' minds, or being a soul that developped a spirit. He does absolutely believe it to be a Being and not a Thing. (He struggles with 'it' and 'they' pronouns for the train, never certain of which ones to use).

~ All the Osigan's are in that boat. The ministry are currently housing everyone in the void and they have a way to have them tethered at the base as their main tether and then tether them to a void craft from there if they want to travel. Otherwise their plans are mostly just helping them adjust in the void.

~ So far no attempts at making viable bodies to house a soul have been successful.
~ They aren't sure but it's one of the things people are looking into and if he has any ideas to share they will hear them.
~ Again that is something they don't know but are willing to look into re people being dead or a dream

~ Bringing people back from death in the void is something that happens on all craft. It doesn't have a huge impact on their souls though they are as usual slightly concerned because the voidtreckers tethers are so unstable.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event: In Pursuit of Knowledge OOC

SCA Experiments

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: SCA Experiments

no subject

SCA Experiments: Thanatos

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: SCA Experiments

no subject

Re: SCA Experiments

SCA Experiments: Sebek

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: SCA Experiments

Re: SCA Experiments

Still on hiatus, but I couldn't leave Esteban entirely out of this event

Re: Still on hiatus, but I couldn't leave Esteban entirely out of this event