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Old 11-24-2012, 11:24 AM   #391
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

My idea is simple. Truthsayer: do you eat meat? Yes or no? Yes or no tagged as false mean probable blazen. Not entirely clear what we're supposed to do when we find one though.
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Old 11-24-2012, 11:25 AM   #392
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

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Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
how hard is it to detect the target value as opposed to the actual blazen?


meaning what's the difference in Michael going around looking for blazen hosts, and going around looking for carnivorous shakti?
Spotting carnivorous Shakti would require Mind Reading followed by Psychology to identify the specific symbols (while similar because of cultural traits and the like, they will be subtly different per individual). Total process is probably anything from two seconds to thirty seconds per Shakt, assuming a success on both rolls.

Just spotting a Blazen requires a sufficient mental prod. It's more effort (it'll cost 1 FP per two minutes of continuous work), but a lot faster at one second per subject. It does require concentration though, so geographic progress will be slow because of needing to move slowly and dodge through the crowd.

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Originally Posted by Poonbahbah View Post
My idea is simple. Truthsayer: do you eat meat? Yes or no? Yes or no tagged as false mean probable blazen. Not entirely clear what we're supposed to do when we find one though.
Panic probably; remember how fast they are, and you'll probably be within a Step or two of them in order to ask such a question.

The catch with this idea is the sheer number; we're talking about a couple of hundred Shakti already, with more turning up for (we hope merely for) the flash mob. Plus they are moving around a lot at random. Corralling them so that you don't get any sneaking through the net is going to be tricky to arrange and awkward to make happen if any of them start to panic or mess around.

Ideally, you're aiming to track down not individuals, but a group; the Blazen need to get together in order to produce a CVE, which is their primary goal here. Preventing that build-up is your goal.
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Last edited by Totem; 11-24-2012 at 11:31 AM.
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Old 11-26-2012, 11:59 AM   #393
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

I'm still waiting for some definite ideas on how everyone is going to go about this search. Your aim is basically to go through the crowd, pick out signs of trouble, and either respond to it yourself or call in heavy support. There is, at this point, no actual need for any of you to be involved in the fight yourselves aside from sheer bad luck in being spotted.
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Old 11-26-2012, 12:10 PM   #394
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

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Spotting carnivorous Shakti would require Mind Reading followed by Psychology to identify the specific symbols (while similar because of cultural traits and the like, they will be subtly different per individual). Total process is probably anything from two seconds to thirty seconds per Shakt, assuming a success on both rolls.
Can he use expert skill (Psionics)? I wish I knew I was going to have to use psychology to interpret results of mind reading when I made the character. I thought it came with the ability to read the mind.

Also, What would be the result of going through and giving them the quirk "finds eating meat repulsive"? yes, that does require contact.
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Old 11-26-2012, 12:26 PM   #395
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

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Can he use expert skill (Psionics)? I wish I knew I was going to have to use psychology to interpret results of mind reading when I made the character. I thought it came with the ability to read the mind.

Also, What would be the result of going through and giving them the quirk "finds eating meat repulsive"? yes, that does require contact.
Yes, Expert Skill could be used in this manner, but with a cultural familiarity penalty.

The effect of giving them such a quirk would be... Negligable. Two reasons: firstly, they already have Secret/ Odious Personal Habit (Eats Meat), which you would need to clear out. Secondly, the Blazen is more or less going to be fully in control. Best case of changing their mind like that is the Blazen gets kicked out (in which case you end up with Hollows walking around). Odds are that would work about once or twice if you did it quickly, because the ones that got kicked out would be warning the others as fast as they could and they'd all go active very quickly.
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Old 11-26-2012, 04:59 PM   #396
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

What happens if a Blazen is killed while inhabiting a host? Does the Blazen get kicked out and can go warn its friends, or is it dead?
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Old 11-27-2012, 12:39 PM   #397
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What happens if a Blazen is killed while inhabiting a host? Does the Blazen get kicked out and can go warn its friends, or is it dead?
No one is entirely sure. But given the remarks that have been picked up, plus the way that Blazen can rather abruptly react to things without seeming to communicate, the current theory going around the Western Harbour is as below:

The Blazen are effectively immune to any damage that their host suffers. When the host dies the Blazen possessing (or puppeting) them is simply kicked out fully back into their own universe; they are already mostly there in any event because they cannot fully enter our reality, so the worst anyone thinks that they suffer is a bad case of shock from being forcibly ejected.

Some Blazen have been observed to be familiar with certain individuals; the current theory is that they can return after being kicked out, meaning that the individuals (not just the race) can learn from what is happening in other universes.

When one of the Blazen is kicked out the others, locally, tend to react accordingly. In some cases this can mean very little (none of the Blazen in Seiran Towis have directly reacted to those that have been kicked out thus far), however when dealing with a large crowd situation like this with multiple Blazen potentially hiding and waiting, kicking one of them out may well result in all of them going letting rip at the same time, even if you've nominally managed to keep them from knowing that you've found one of them. Because of this the theory is that at least part of their conciousness is still back in their universe and able to interact with people there.


Grand total: kick one out and the rest will know about it in short order (within a minute or two). As such your aim is to get as many of them as possible at once. Identifying a large group will do this so that they can be taken out in one go.
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Old 11-27-2012, 01:30 PM   #398
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

For something a little more subtle (and less exhausting), Michael can use the old suggestion trick for determining if a target is blazen. Its not fool proof, but he could just stand at a corner firing the suggestion "go home". He knows the independent technique at 18. Even if the blazen wise up and leave or gather at a different location, we've delayed them. If they stick around, the crowd will be a much heavier concentration of foes, but smaller, and other techniques will be more manageable.
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Old 11-28-2012, 12:21 PM   #399
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

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For something a little more subtle (and less exhausting), Michael can use the old suggestion trick for determining if a target is blazen. Its not fool proof, but he could just stand at a corner firing the suggestion "go home". He knows the independent technique at 18. Even if the blazen wise up and leave or gather at a different location, we've delayed them. If they stick around, the crowd will be a much heavier concentration of foes, but smaller, and other techniques will be more manageable.
It's doable. You're looking at sheer numbers though, plus range; a couple of hundred (and counting) Shakti on the main spaceport platform means that the furthest of them at present is at present something like 100 metres away from you. And they're spreading. Plus, as you've discovered already the Shakti have no word for "home", so you'd be at a species penalty plus an additional one for trying to say "go back to your den" when the exact 'shape' of the "den" thought isn't something that you're familiar with.

(To illustrate this, I came across a video on Youtube which features a telepath confronting a villain and trying to mess with his head. The villain just smiles and says "You forget, I think in Spanish so your tricks don't work on me. What a pity you're not bilingual.")

It's doable, but range and numbers are going to work against you (but that's true of whatever happens).
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Old 11-28-2012, 02:22 PM   #400
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Default Re: [OOC] Worlds of Fire

Going to be gone for the next couple days.
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