Albert Silverberg (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chikaidestroyer) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lucetilocked2012-02-20 01:21 pm
chikaidestroyer) wrote in lucetilocked2012-02-20 01:21 pm
[Locked Transmission to Residents]
[The following transmission is both typed and dictated.]
Today is February 20, year five of this Luceti Project experiment cycle. My name is Albert Silverberg, and I am a resident transmitting over a secure system taken from the Organization and modified to specifically filter transmissions to Luceti residents' journals. This is a periodic report on information gathered by residents over the years.
Previous reports can only be viewed from the journals of residents who were present at that time, unless they are referenced in another of these reports. Attempting to link these reports across the network will only alert the Organization that we have access to information they cannot see. As noted during the infiltration of a rogue facility, there are indeed rumors that we have a system the Organization cannot see. Refrain from making references to these reports and this system over the journals.
All newcomers and long-time residents should regularly review the guide to Luceti, written and maintained by Professor Raine Sage. You may find answers to your questions simply by perusing the guide. Many residents will also answer questions if you ask.
There is information in these reports that should not be spoken of over the journals; knowledge is a precious commodity in Luceti, and we may lose the advantage of allies if the Malnosso Organization becomes aware of a few things we know.
[The images in the following table are obscure, as if copied from a sheet of paper.]
Most of the information concerning the basics of Luceti and this world can be found in the guide. What follows is supplementary information.
The very nature of this world is cyclical -- if something happens once, it will happen again. If someone dies in Luceti, whether through accident, murder, or natural causes, they will be revived. If someone disappears from this world, they will return again in the future, though there appears to be no pattern to how or when people arrive or vanish.
The Malnosso Organization is operated by people who have been trapped in this world for a much longer period of time than any of us; "Jacob," a lowly security worker within the Organization, had been trapped in this world for 10 years. "John" is known to have been around for much longer, and Catherine has gone through the cycle of dying and reviving several times. We can surmise that people who have been in this world longer would hold higher positions of power.
We are contained in a barrier to be experimented upon by the Organization. The particular long-term project we are test subjects for is known as the Luceti Project. The Luceti Project studies our ability to leave this world; the village-wide experiments that we experience are the Organization scientists' attempts to use Shifting technology to trigger the returning effect.
The Third Party disapproves of this experimentation, and broke into the barrier in the past with the intent to kill us all. As we later learned, residents who die are revived outside of the barrier and have to be intercepted by the Organization to be brought back into the barrier. A mass slaughter would have allowed the Third Party to capture many of us upon revival.
Both groups may continue to hide their true objectives, making both ultimately untrustworthy; remain wary in your communications with those tied to the Organization, even if they come across as harmless. Our ignorance makes us useful and valuable to both groups; knowing too much makes us expendable.
The leadership position of the Malnosso Organization seems to be constantly fought over; in the four years of our recorded history, there have been three different leaders. As the war against the Third Party has escalated in recent years, the Commandant's faction has gained more power and influence within the Organization. Catherine has stated in the past that his focus is on furthering research on returning people to ther worlds, which is likely the reason for his loss in popularity and resulting retreat into the Luceti enclosure.
As many know, the missions provided by CJ's center allow opportunities to visit areas outside of the Luceti enclosure. If there is any information that volunteers would like to share with the village at large, or if there are any other announcements or questions, discussion may be done under this filter.
Once again, refrain from mentioning this communication system over the journals. Thank you.
[He'll just ... leave the experiment to be explained by other residents.]
(ooc: As always, anyone is free to ask questions and discuss on this post!)
Today is February 20, year five of this Luceti Project experiment cycle. My name is Albert Silverberg, and I am a resident transmitting over a secure system taken from the Organization and modified to specifically filter transmissions to Luceti residents' journals. This is a periodic report on information gathered by residents over the years.
Previous reports can only be viewed from the journals of residents who were present at that time, unless they are referenced in another of these reports. Attempting to link these reports across the network will only alert the Organization that we have access to information they cannot see. As noted during the infiltration of a rogue facility, there are indeed rumors that we have a system the Organization cannot see. Refrain from making references to these reports and this system over the journals.
All newcomers and long-time residents should regularly review the guide to Luceti, written and maintained by Professor Raine Sage. You may find answers to your questions simply by perusing the guide. Many residents will also answer questions if you ask.
There is information in these reports that should not be spoken of over the journals; knowledge is a precious commodity in Luceti, and we may lose the advantage of allies if the Malnosso Organization becomes aware of a few things we know.
Important Individuals and Groups
[The images in the following table are obscure, as if copied from a sheet of paper.]
"John" A scientist who has been trapped in this world for a very long time, and is credited for the development of the artificial shift barriers that surround our village and similar enclosures. He once worked in the Malnosso Organization, but now resides underneath the village beyond the western barrier in the tunnels. He is considered brilliant and highly revered both by the Malnosso Organization and individuals outside of the barrier, referred to by those who respect him as "the Great One." After the earthquake in August, he stayed in the village for a short time before returning to the tunnels below. He has the means to reverse the death penalties inflicted upon those who die here, and has also revived a person who was killed by the Third Party. The Organization does not know he killed a man named Tyr, that "Jacob" was the one John revived, or that he has collaborated with "Rem." |
|
"Catherine" An old man who became the head of the Malnosso Organization after overthrowing the previous head, before recently being deposed himself by the Commandant. His name is Biliruben, or Bil, but he seems to prefer the "Catherine" alias. He is eccentric but friendlier than others in the Organization who we have had contact with, and also likely shrewder than he appears. (For all of his oddness, one does not raise mutiny and succeed without a fair amount of wit.) He has said that he initially joined the Organization many years ago, when the Organization was still creating cities, saving lives, and freely sharing their technology. "A regular board of super heroes." Because of his current predicament, he resides below the Battle Dome in the village an cannot fulfill item requests as effectively as he previously was able to. Sir Catherine should not be told anything listed here at this time. Careless mentioning of "Rem" over the journals has already alerted him to her presence, likely resulting in her no longer contacting us. |
|
Molly A girl who was once an intern for the rogue facilities that opposed Catherine's ways of handling the Malnosso Organization. Her first appearance in the village during the October experiment two years ago, when she was still under the employ of the Rogue Faction, but only a few residents met her during that time. Catherine introduced her publicly April of cycle year 4. It is known that she was learning about Shifting technology as an intern, and she now works as an assistant to Catherine. She does not seem particularly pleased about any of this. She has a distinct stutter when she speaks. |
|
The Commandant Not much is known about the Commandant at this time. She is known to have fought the Third Party's General many times in the past, and she has high expectations of Luceti residents because of past victories against the Third Party army. She leads the Security Forces, the armies fighting the Third Party, and is respected enough to have ousted Catherine from the leadership position of the Malnosso Organization. Her goals differ from Catherine's in that she places fighting the war against the Third Party as a higher priority than researching how to send people back to their own worlds. She refers to the area in which Luceti exists as Region Six, and does not provide as much information or answer as many questions as Catherine has. Like Catherine, the information here should not be mentioned to the Commandant. |
|
CJ The Resident Perceptions Manager of the Malnosso Assignment and Reward Center who introduced himself to the Luceti population this past October. As the Resident Perceptions Manager, CJ uses his contacts throughout the Organization to arrange the missions that have allowed volunteers to leave the enclosure and visit other enclosures to carry out various tasks. More information on these missions can be found at the back of your journal. He is an acquaintance of Sir Catherine's and saavy enough to avoid any questions concerning "office politics," considering the nature of his job. He has made comments alluding to his lack of knowledge on the science of Shifting, which matches what we have been told by Sir Catherine and John about middle management within the Organization. As a member of the Organization with communication with both Catherine and the Commandant, the information here should not be passed on to him. |
|
ANI The Automated Neutral Intelligence system, created by a woman that some residents refer to as "Rem." ANI captures information based on the decisions of its creator and has perhaps the most complete records of this world. Unfortunately, there is an unknown amount of information that has been marked confidential. We last had contact with ANI after the earthquake in August, cycle year 3. ANI cannot be contacted over the journals and the Organization is not aware of its contact with us. "Rem" As already mentioned, the woman dubbed "Rem" is the creator of ANI and an observer of our predicament. She is not a member of the Malnosso Organization, and is more sympathetic to our plight than others we have encountered. Like ANI, she has not been seen since August, cycle year 3. Before she disappeared, she assisted individuals who have the ability to summon creatures from their world, but with a strong warning: summoning creatures runs the risk of affecting your home world, which may in turn harm you and others from your world. She cannot be contacted over the journals and should not be mentioned over the journals, especially since "Sir Catherine" has caught snatches of surveillance of residents mentioning her. |
|
"Jacob" A former low-ranking member of the Malnosso Organization who helped run surveillance of the village. He was sympathetic towards our situation and assisted us at the risk of his own personal safety. He was imprisoned by the Organization when he was found out, and then taken into the barrier by John without the Organization’s approval. He was killed by Third Party cultists in a ritual that is meant to permanently remove people from the cycle of life and death in this world, but John managed to revive him through unknown means. We do not know what has become of him since then. The Organization does not know that he was the one who John revived. |
|
Tyr Regarded as a hero and a born leader, Tyr supposedly performed many good deeds during his time in this world; John has compared "hero-types" in Luceti to Tyr following his death. He was respected within the Organization and beyond, but his last moments of life were spent in Luceti, a "Filial" with a broken mind. John killed Tyr during the second cycle year, using the same method the Third Party would later use on Jacob. The Malnosso do not know that John was the one who killed Tyr. |
|
The Rogue Faction At this time, there is no known name for this group; Catherine simply calls them rogues and kidnappers. This faction of scientists splintered away from the Malnosso Organization because of the perceived incompetence of Catherine. They maintain rogue Organization facilities that, according to Catherine, are responsible for the majority of the Luceti resident abductions since his promotion. Several residents were able to infiltrate a rogue facility last October, reporting that lower-ranked personnel seemed unaware of the fact that the facility was no longer in compliance with the Organization's rules. |
|
The Third Party Referred to as "cultists" by Catherine, we do not know what they refer to themselves. In August of cycle year 2, they infiltrated the barrier with the intention of killing us to remove us from the barrier. They may be the natural residents of this world, as they have been "the problem" for the Organization before the Organization was politically etablished 200 years ago. They possess larger wings than ourselves and very strong natural Shifting ability, the likes of which we have only seen while weakened by John's synthetic shift barriers. They have been known to shift weapons out of metal, elements represented by the Filial spirits, and even blood. The highest-ranking individual any residents have met is the General, who was slain by Buffy Summers during our initial battle with them. |
|
The General As already mentioned, the General is the highest-ranked member of the Third Party who we have encountered. He appears to command great respect from his troops and is committed to goals that he has only vaguely referred to. His power is impressive and dangerous, as he has singlehandedly killed fighters from our own barrier. He has been reported to have the ability to shift blood into a weapon. It seems he has been in his position as general for a long time, as he has many rivals throughout the world, including the Commandant. |
The Known Nature and Politics of Luceti
Most of the information concerning the basics of Luceti and this world can be found in the guide. What follows is supplementary information.
The very nature of this world is cyclical -- if something happens once, it will happen again. If someone dies in Luceti, whether through accident, murder, or natural causes, they will be revived. If someone disappears from this world, they will return again in the future, though there appears to be no pattern to how or when people arrive or vanish.
The Malnosso Organization is operated by people who have been trapped in this world for a much longer period of time than any of us; "Jacob," a lowly security worker within the Organization, had been trapped in this world for 10 years. "John" is known to have been around for much longer, and Catherine has gone through the cycle of dying and reviving several times. We can surmise that people who have been in this world longer would hold higher positions of power.
We are contained in a barrier to be experimented upon by the Organization. The particular long-term project we are test subjects for is known as the Luceti Project. The Luceti Project studies our ability to leave this world; the village-wide experiments that we experience are the Organization scientists' attempts to use Shifting technology to trigger the returning effect.
The Third Party disapproves of this experimentation, and broke into the barrier in the past with the intent to kill us all. As we later learned, residents who die are revived outside of the barrier and have to be intercepted by the Organization to be brought back into the barrier. A mass slaughter would have allowed the Third Party to capture many of us upon revival.
Both groups may continue to hide their true objectives, making both ultimately untrustworthy; remain wary in your communications with those tied to the Organization, even if they come across as harmless. Our ignorance makes us useful and valuable to both groups; knowing too much makes us expendable.
The leadership position of the Malnosso Organization seems to be constantly fought over; in the four years of our recorded history, there have been three different leaders. As the war against the Third Party has escalated in recent years, the Commandant's faction has gained more power and influence within the Organization. Catherine has stated in the past that his focus is on furthering research on returning people to ther worlds, which is likely the reason for his loss in popularity and resulting retreat into the Luceti enclosure.
As many know, the missions provided by CJ's center allow opportunities to visit areas outside of the Luceti enclosure. If there is any information that volunteers would like to share with the village at large, or if there are any other announcements or questions, discussion may be done under this filter.
Once again, refrain from mentioning this communication system over the journals. Thank you.
[He'll just ... leave the experiment to be explained by other residents.]
(ooc: As always, anyone is free to ask questions and discuss on this post!)
Mission Information
[written]
When I was not working, I was guided to a room much like those assigned before drafts. Meals were provided there and I was confined to the room for a period of time in which I was expected to sleep. Unlike drafts, I was not able to request anything besides food and toiletries while I was there; I was expected to provide my own entertainment during my downtime out there.
[written]
Last month I was on combat testing. I ran into Pao-Lin, she's from this enclosure too. It was pretty boring. They made us fight all kinds of different stuff. Giant robots, dinosaurs, ninjas, and other stuff. Pretty intense. I had to share a bunk with a smelly knight and the cafeteria food was awful.
[written]
Anyway. I was there for the second week in November, doing security. The TPs kept running raids on the place, so we had to run them off if they showed up. We kept running into an Elite who kept causing us a bunch of trouble, because no one could take him down. One of the droids that was working for the Malnosso there just fell over and stopped working when they attacked. I guess there was a Shifter out there?
I went back there last month and was just fixing stuff. I saw some raids off in the distance, but they never got anywhere close to where I was working. So it was actually a really boring week. But the food? Great! They gave us prime cuts of a recently slaughtered cow. Now that's service!
I did some asking around, though, with the people I was with. There's at least ten other domes out there like this one. Most of them are smaller than ours, it sounds like. In fact, only two of them even had electricity like ours. One guy told me how half his village was killed when they were drafted to fight the Third Party. I hate to say it, but I can see why. I mean, I'm not exactly the most powerful guy in Luceti, but the people I was fighting with weren't exactly that impressive, you know? I've definitely seen better.
[written]
Tried to see what was in the crates we were moving. The one I managed to look into had food in it -- food in cans and boxes. Disappointing.
I learned it wasn't destined for our village. One of the others, maybe. There were some crates much more heavily-guarded. Couldn't get a sniff at those.
I speculate still about that cargo. And from the draft as well -- I spent more time in the belly of that cargo beast than anyone else, and for all that I never got a peek or a hint or a promise of one. Must be somethin' valuable. I want another chance to find out what.
Think you we might one day communicate with the other settlement "domes," as Thunderaxe called them? Unite and find a use for them?
.............
Has anyone seen Catherine of late?
*************
Buffy Summers is a most impressive woman. Most impressive.
[written]
[Written]
[Written]
[Written]
[Written]
[ she totally needs cheerleaders. ]
[Written]
Turns blood into weapons, does he? Interesting.
[Translation: you are so never getting this locket back. Ever.]
[Written]
[written]
If you want me, I'll be home. Washing Hector.
[Then Jack essentially hangs up on her. He doesn't want to have this conversation in this particular forum.]
[written]
The first one lasted from November eighth through November fourteenth. I was accompanied by Helios and Giles and we underwent shift testing for the week. We were in a facility - really resembled an office/research space, big, lots of locked doors and guards about, the works. We each had our own room with an attached bathroom. Basic, but comfortable. We were allowed to order food and necessities, but nothing else. We were allowed to visit each other, but were otherwise restricted in where we could go.
The actual testing took place in what you could describe as an observation room. Big neutral space with cameras and a two-way mirror. We weren't always together so they must have had other rooms for testing too. Sometimes they'd tell us how we'd be affected, often they didn't. I don't remember most of the shifts nor how they happened, kinda like here, waking up affected. At the end of the week, we were shifted down to children, all of us as we were at age twelve, and returned to the village. This effect lasted for a week before we returned to normal. Upon arriving home, the rewards we had requested were found in our bedrooms.
The second one was from January second through January ninth. I was sent out to a mountain range with two others from different enclosures. We were tasked with scouting out the region and keeping an eye on some camps in the area. We were provided with basic survival supplies and told to report back at a predetermined location at a set time. One of the people I was with had been in his enclosure for six years. The other person had only been around for six months. Neither of them had electricity in their enclosures.
The third was more recent, from January twenty-seventh through February first. I was back in the testing facility I was in for my first mission, but testing out various combat simulations and scenarios.
I'll be leaving on another mission with others from the village. I'll report back once we've returned.
[written]
The first one was a week of combat testing but they put a shift on me where I couldn't use any magic. It wasn't unlike first year SeeD Cadet training so it wasn't so bad. I've got some minor injuries but the droid that was assigned to me patched me up fairly well. It told me not to ask too many questions of there would be consequences. Although, I'm getting a bit tired of fighting shift hunters.
The second mission I was sent on was at a research facility. They recognized that I've got skills with computers and set me to data entry. Again, a droid was with me at all time and like Albert has written above, they strongly advise against your leaving the area you're designated to work in. I think I might've seen another SeeD from back home in passing but before I could talk to them, the droid shuffled me as far away from them as quickly as possible.
CJ wasn't kidding about the reward system either. I didn't get very much but it was enough to make living inside the enclosure a little bit easier. Otherwise, nothing out of the norm really happened to me.
[written]
[Written]
First one was the spookier one - riding around in a buggy collecting bodies. Well, sort of bodies- I think the people might have been alive, but they sure were out of it, like they were in a coma or something. Three man job - me and two guys from other enclosures, riding around some plains I think might've been on the fringes of the farms in a buggy, collecting not-quite dead guys from this vague map we were given.
Collected maybe fifteen people over twelve days. [Now, who the bodies were, what they were like, he's just... well he's not certain of a few things, so he'll play that closer to the chest for now]
Other one was just loading some boxes. Worked up a lot of muscles, if you know what I mean ♥ The platform operators were jerks.
[written]
[written]
The first assignment was for mountain combat. [And here some dates are scribbled: 11-13 - 11-27] Started with a group of eight, later reduced to five. Two were lost over the course of the mission. The third disappeared after a repeated escape attempt. Was not seen again after he was apprehended.
We were apparently working in coordination with another team judging by comments I caught from the Security Officer in charge, but he refused to give specifics when pressed. Everyone I worked with were trained enough to handle the combat and environment, but some less so than others. Talking around, I gathered I had the most actual experience against the Third Party. Had a good medic however - traditional, no knowledge of filial magic.
The most recent mission [Dates again: 12-20 - 01-02] was a two week job recovering live bodies in a forest. Four-man squad including myself, plus droid handlers. No one recognized the people we recovered. largely uneventful.
Spent downtime doing a lot of talking. Two of the men expressed surprise our enclosure has electricity. Only one reported having been on a draft - implied it was an unusual thing, and that his experience ended in failure.
voice
I went on two of those missions. First was just world researching on the Edo period, a timeframe on the planet Earth in the country called Japan. Just crammed into a library, told to categorize a bunch of stuff and what not. Boring really. I didn't need to sleep a lot, but I took that time off to relax. Wish they would have let me have a book to read.
And I just got back from my second one, which entailed loading cargo, at some sea port. Nothing really special, but that hover lift I had to use was really cool!
Hm, I don't think I learned much to be honest about anything from those two things. Only that drones are apparently really tough and can take on any raids. Makes me wonder why they just don't send those machines out to fight the Third Party. Other than that I'm just collecting points to see what I can scrap out of them.
[Written]
The first one was in the mountains at Sirry Craigs [Dates are scribbled: 21/11 - 28/11]. I was in a four man cell, myself included. We were a lightning strike squad - constantly on the move, very little time to rest. Our targets were camps, convoys, and raiding parties. We were working with other squads in the area, but I don't know which ones. The two people from the other enclosures were long distance fighters... they knew what they were doing, but they weren't to the level of the people here. Both had been in this world for over three years. We ran into plenty of Shift Hunters.
The next one was at a Malnosso field hospital on the outskirts of the jungle [More dates: 29/11 - 18/12]. The place wasn't part of a garrison, it was further back from the front lines than the Malnosso main bases, so I did not glean anything of value such as troop movements. The hospital itself was prefab, very basic. I was housed in a dormitory, basic, mosquito nets over the beds and an onsite cafeteria. Not that we got much rest - though the staff were hostile to our presence, we called back to work at all hours, the waves of causalities were immense. Especially during the last five days.
In rare circumstances a Third Party member is brought in for a quick patch job before being sent off for interrogation and imprisonment, I learned. We weren't allowed near them though I saw the one they hauled in. A woman. She fought the guards the whole way, and bit out her own tongue before anyone could stop her. Died there. There were also wards we couldn't visit. Apparently delirious patients were kept there, though even when sick, the guards were closed mouthed. Except for one. Kept muttering about something called... 'Rosebud'?
There were fifteen other volunteers with me at the time. They've been in this world from a range of six months to ten years. According to them, there are roughly ten domes they know of, and all of them are smaller than Luceti, and the range of their founding is over ten years to a few months ago. Apparently we're the most technologically advanced of the lot; most don't even have electricity. Experiments apparently are rare there... one man said he doesn't think the Malnosso think they are worth the effort... and drafts usually end in failure. I heard horror stories including one village getting half its population wiped out.
More disturbing is that I heard tales of the Third Party breaking into some of these enclosures and abducting a good portion of the residents in raids. They've never been seen again. The woman I grew to know the best said she lost a third of her village that way.
When I spoke of some of what we in Luceti knew, they were amazed. These other enclosures are kept far more in the dark than us. They had no knowledge of Death Penalty reversals, or the general politics of the Organization we ourselves are aware of. Names such as Bil and Sir Catherine are unfamiliar. Some were aware of a Sarah... others a Rebecca.
It was very clear that Luceti was the favored enclosure after that and we get extra attention.
[Written]
The second mission was a surveillance mission with 5 others. We were tasked to investigate a Third Party village in a jungle area that had apparently been the site of a major battle in the past. Our instructions were to be purely recon, and no to so much as allow our presence to be noticed. Our team split into various units and planted recording devices around the area, which recorded mostly riddles and gibberish. I'm not entirely sure what any of it meant, as the Third Party seems to speak in odd ways. After 5 days we were told to return with what we had gathered.
In both cases, I was directed to a teleporter by a droid.
[written]
I didn't get to see many of the other simulations, but from what I did see, the other people weren't that good. I think most people in Luceti are better.
[written]
[written]
[voice]
Are there any missions in particular you think some residents should attempt to take? For information's sake.
[He is mostly asking because he plans to take one.... soon.]
[voice]
Provided one is willing to be social with the people they are working with, of course.
[voice]
Of course. Communication is key to get anything done, in such a situation.
[voice]
[voice]
no subject
But one thing...]
Wait, wait. What's got this barrier up? This John guy?
no subject
no subject
[Us in goes unsaid. He's not the premiere expert on barriers, but usually the "in" is a side effect of keeping out the out. and...]
no subject
no subject
So he seems the best to look into right now]
Huh. So he's in the tunnels, right?
no subject
no subject
[And now he's going to go knock on John's front door, probably to /unsure results. Or none. Or both]
no subject
[Voice]
As she finishes her reading, one thing from the very beginning still stands out in her mind. Year five ... She had been taking Luceti as a joke, for the most part, but ... anyone staying in a place like this for five years? And all this information ... things were much more serious than she thought they were.
... Maybe it's about time she did something aside from make demands and yell at people.]
I thank you for your detailed analysis of this enclosure's past. [ ... ] Have there ... been residents who have been here for as long as five years?
[Voice]
[Voice]
[She certainly isn't Captain Save ALL the People, but she doesn't want to claim she's been in Luceti for five years, that's for sure. Helping the people here means preventing that, so ...]
Very well. I will give this predicament we've all found ourselves in more apt attention. Our chances of a pleasant outcome will rise within the coming days, I assure you.
[Her tone implies that she feels Albert should be thankful for her even considering doing anything at all.]
[Written]
Patchwork, but the sheer amount of information - many of it correlating - is a good place to start...]
Thank you, Mr. Silverberg, for your work in compiling this information, and thank you to all residents who have contributed.
One hopes that eventually there might be enough correlating reports to come to some sort of conclusion about events going on outside of Luceti, though it may be some time before this is possible.
[voice]