#Synergy of Informational Processes

[thewertsearch]

GG: Sometimes your sense of humor seems more impenetrably advanced than your robotics. I'll never understand this tapestry of irony you weave. GG: Maybe I'm just stuck in the dark ages of pranksterism with my funny mustaches corny old joke book. […] TT: We come from different traditions. Someone needs to keep that racist southern asshole's legacy alive. TT: There's dignity in taking up the work of our familial predecessors, even if what they did was insanely fucking stupid. GG: Is that a note of bitterness directed at your superstar brother I am detecting?

Lest we forget, Dave managed to turn Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff into a movie, this time around.

...hey, wait a second. In the original timeline, Dave Prime was inspired to make SBaHJ after a conversation with Terezi - one that can't possibly have happened on this iteration of Earth. Is Guardian Dave's knowledge of the comic another example of inter-self memory bleed?

TT: I've also told you he isn't my real bro even though I call him that. We're related through an esoteric process of genetic reamalgamation.

Lil' Bro knows about the Veil, a piece of Sburb lore that even Jake - who truly believes Jade is his grandmother - isn't privy to. I suspect he's getting some of his intel from Roxy, who has access to a copious amount of lore via her Seer mother.

The Sufferer, as far as I can tell, was capable of directly accessing the memories of his pre-Scratch self. If Guardian Rose's Seer abilities are analogous to his, then she theoretically has access to all the information that our protagonists do, via Rose Prime's perspective.

...come to think of it, there's no reason why she wouldn't be able to read the memories of an older Rose Prime, from later sections of the comic. Guardian Rose might just be one of the most clued-in characters in the entire setting.

GG: I dunno. Call me a simpleton, but I just like funny jokes. TT: Can't fool me. You take your shit as serious as I do. TT: And if I wasn't serious about it, I wouldn't have made you that rabbit. Then where the hell would you be? GG: Well, aside from thousands of dollars in corpse-repair richer, I can't say. TT: Has he been sleeping in the old man hollow again? Shit, that's adorable. GG: I can think of cuter places for him to sleep, frankly! TT: Yeah, bullshit. TT: He's just being instinctive. In the wild, he would gut a carcass and sleep inside for warmth, as well as to secure tactical advantage for ambushing would-be scavengers. GG: Oh, please.

I actually really like the dynamic between these two; they play off each other excellently, and it's the most comfortable conversation we've seen between any of the B2 kids thus far.

Their relationship has a lot in common with the John/Rose friendship - but Bro's noticeably less serious than Rose, and Jane's just a little bit spikier than John. There's synergy here.

GG: Anyway, property damage and desecration to cherished elders aside, Mr. Bear has been a lovely addition to the family. TT: You haven't renamed him yet? […] TT: You've got to fucking rename him. Or change him to a girl if you want. That was important.

That's extremely important. Take it from me.

[theresattrpgforthat]

A magical girl or superhero game with mechanics around working together/combo moves in combat

THEME: Magical Girl / Superhero Collaboration!

Hello there, I'm not sure if what I found exactly hits the mark of what you're looking for, but I hope that somewhere in my library there's a game that gets what you're looking for! There will be a nice long list of former recommendations at the bottom of this post.

Henshin, by Cave of Monsters Games

Henshin! A Sentai RPG is a storytelling tabletop game about young heroes with transformative powers who battle both monsters and personal problems. It borrows from a Japanese superhero culture of color-coded masked teams, giant robots, and over-the-top special effects. Anyone can tell fun, collaborative stories in Henshin!, regardless of familiarity with the tropes, and the game showcases a diversity of settings and characters for every player.

In Henshin, each playbook comes with a Special Turn, which allows you to manipulate a resource called tokens, provided you do something that involves the other members of the group. Henshin also has a special set of moves called Squad Turns, which allow you to work together to unleash your Ultimate Attack, or to turn your mechs into their Ultimate Form.

I think that this game would be a pretty easy game to hack into a magical girl game if you're not quite bought into the Sentai genre.

By Our Powers Combined, by ManOKentGames.

By Out Powers Combined is a chanceless, measureless, open perfect information, small models count miniatures skirmish game of synergistic superhero combat. Play is based on relative positions, teams become more powerful the more of their allies they can draw line of sight to and ultimately win by combining all of their powers. The game is designed to represent a team like Voltron or the Planeteers struggling to combine into the powers of their final form.

In this game, your team becomes more powerful if you can line up enough allies in the right position, and create the perfect synergy to unleash a combination attack. From what I can tell, this game does expect two players to control multiple superheroes, with each side creating synergy with their own allies. If you want a game where a group of players are all working together to defeat a single goal, you might need to look somewhere else.

Crisis Angels, by arisia.

Crisis Angels is a pen-and-paper RPG about transforming heroines battling cosmic horrors and inner turmoil. Players take on the roles of combatants in a long, hidden war against fearsome entities bent on humanity’s destruction. Each character has it in her to become a heroine capable of triumphing over these horrors — but only if she doesn’t lose herself in the process.

Crisis Angels uses a mechanic called Bonds to encourage teamwork. You can use your Bonds to calm your teammates when they get too close to hitting a Crisis, make a request of a teammate in situations where you might need them to do something they normally wouldn't do, or add to a teammate's roll. Interestingly enough, Bonds don't have to be used purely for teamwork - you can also use your bonds to heighten the conflict, by attempting to push a teammate into a difficult position, or taking away from a result when they roll.

Prism: Together As One Once More, by byfrancita.

Now, and in the name of love, justice, and friendship, go save the world from the forces of evil!

Prism is a tabletop RPG where you play as magical protectors in the style of Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Cardcaptor Sakura, and other Magical Girl examples in media.

You and your group are a facet, a part of the soul of a Goddess that was shattered a long time ago, and now is reincarnated in you all, so you can accomplish an important mission, and find strength in the power of love, justice and friendship!

In Prism, you can all work together to do something called a Group Check, which asks your group to each roll individually, and then compare your results. If you all pass, you accomplish your goal with style. If less people fail than succeed, you succeed with a complication. If more people fail than succeed, there's a failure with a silver lining, and if everyone fails, you reach disaster. Out of all the games I've listed, I think Prism might be the closest to what you're looking for.

Masks, by Magpie Games, and Ribbons by Eva Terra.

A giant robot is smashing down Main Street. Your best friend tried to kiss you. Your mom thinks your grades need work. Your mentor thinks your team is bringing you down. Oh, and your costume is ripped.

Just another day in Halcyon City…

Monsters from the moon are wrecking havoc downtown. Your rival's face is on the billboards selling toys. You're running out of estrogen. Your parents think you should quit and inherit the store. Your friend wants you to do vandalism. You didn't even have breakfast yet and you have fifteen minutes till class.

If you want to emphasize Teamwork, MASKS has a resource called a Team pool that can be spent to add +1 to your roll. Adjacent to the teamwork mechanics, there's also Influence, which can be used to complicate your team's relationship among the different members.

If you want to play as Magical Girls, Ribbons is a hack that provides an alternate setting, as well as some advice on how to convert some of the playbooks into Magical Girl characters.

For Further Reading...

Superheroes, Kids-Only Recommendation Post

Superheroes Part 1

Superheroes Part 2

Superheroes Part 3

Magical Girls Recommendation Post

Short-List of Magical Girl Recommendations

Fun, Fantastic Youths Recommendation Post

If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can check out my Ko-Fi!

[prismaticpichu]

The Zack & Sephiroth Friendship Timeline, According to Pichu

Just a random self-indulgent post based on my everlasting headcanons of these goobers <3

~~~

Timeline

• As a young tadpole in Gongaga, Zack discovers Sephiroth via the local newspaper, having caught sight of a glorified picture at the kitchen table. The spark to be a hero is born.

• At age 13, Zack leaves for SOLDIER; he is eventually adopted by Angeal, who keeps Zack’s awe alight by sharing stories and anecdotes about his time working with the famed silver warrior.

• Sephiroth, concurrently, is fed little tidbits of information about Angeal’s new student, is painted pictures of Zack’s jubilant spirit and puppyish nature. He immediately believes Zack to be childish and naive—even if a little curious. This “pup,” he thinks, is never going to make it in this big dog-eat-dog world.

• Angeal tells Sephiroth to take care of Zack, should anything happen to him. Sephirotn scoffs it off.

• Come Wutai, and Angeal is gone. So is Genesis. Sephiroth is left all alone, torn asunder over the the double betrayal. This is when he finally meets Zack, saving the distracted pup from Ifrit’s Hellfire, cleaving those furious flames in two as Sephiroth smites the summon himself. However, the marvel is short—and the gratitude even shorter. Tensions are high; Sephiroth’s on edge. And he takes his anger out on Zack, snapping at him to know where Angeal is. Zack is equally quick to raise his voice at the… the cold-hearted warrior, incredulous that he would accuse his so-called friend of betraying them—and affirming Sephiroth’s perception of him as a naive, moronic child. Things are off to a rocky start.

• Weeks pass without Angeal’s return. Zack’s hope begins to wane, but he refuses to let it fade entirely. He’s also promoted to First Class at this time; Sephiroth is the only one who joins Zack in Lazard’s office.

• Genesis clones attack the base thereafter. Zack & Sephiroth are ordered to work together, and the younger First is surprised at just how much… synergy the two of the seem to have. Not once do they trip over each other while fighting; they instinctively cover each other’s blind spots; they fight side by side, like a team, despite the wisps of vitriol that still linger in the air between them. Sephiroth senses the same, if not impressed with the Firsts’s combat prowess.

• On the same day, en route to Hollander’s lab, Sephiroth feels something inside of him splinter; a wounded part of him that needs to be heard, that craves for an ear that would understand. And he can’t articulate why, but he just begins to speak, to open his heart as he leans over the railing, to vent about the training room incident and all that had sparked from his selfish, idiotic, arrogance…

• And it’s there, listening attentively to Sephiroth tear himself up, that Zack’s venom turns to understanding

• Zack and Sephiroth hang out more and more during this time, their friendship truly beginning to blossom. Zack begins shortening Sephiroth’s name; Sephiroth begins inviting Zack into his home. And for the first time in a long while, things feel stable. Safe. Comforting…

• Modeoheim hits; Angeal’s funeral is brief. It would have been longer, maybe, if either one of them bothered to stay longer than ten minutes. Seeing Sephiroth storm out after such a short amount of time, Zack follows suit… Only to push Sephiroth against the corridor wall, seething, mako-blue eyes ablaze with fury as he GLARED into the worthless, weak, cowardly…. pathetic warrior’s soul, burning tears beginning to streak down his cheeks in the process. He’s furious that Sephiroth didn’t come to Modeoheim with him; he’s furious that he refused the mission; he’s furious that all he does is hide, avoid… He’s furious that he ever, EVER considered him to be a worthy friend, let alone anything resembling even the faintest ghost of a hero—

• Sephiroth slaps him, right on his still-healing scar, and sends the young SOLDIER tumbling to the ground.

• Zack calls him a monster; he rushes away

~

• Weeks later, Zack is sobbing in his lonely First Class apartment, broken and beaten from all that had imploded in the company. His dreams feel crushes; he doesn’t know if they were ever attainable; he doesn’t know what to do anymore, where to go, how he could still wield the worm and torn Buster Sword…!—

• Sephiroth walks in, needing to deliver a paper to Zack, having taken over Lazard’s place after the man’s desertion. He’d fallen into absolute tatters since their incident after the funeral, and seeing Zack’s state seemed to break the last piece of resistance he had left. He remembers Angeal’s promise; he remembers being told, with words so distant and sincere now, to take care of the young pup should anything happen to him… And now, staring at the young First curled up on the couch—a small, vulnerable teenager…—he wants nothing more than to make Zack’s pain go away.

• He pulls Zack into his arms, holding the sobbing First close; Zack burrows into him, apologizing profusely, apologizing wholeheartedly. Sephiroth apologizes too

• And promises to always keep him safe.

~

• Their friendship burgeons and blossoms from here on out, stronger than it had ever been. Zack spends more nights at Sephiroth’s than he ever has; Sephiroth cooks Zack his favorite meals almost every night; Zack begins to smile again, talking about Aerith and Cloud and all his other buddies, beginning to enjoy life again…; Sephiroth, meanwhile, begins to eat again. His sleep schedule is mended, thanks to Zack’s gentle nudging—and, of course, their countless sleepovers. Zack is promoted to Seph’s second-in-command, spending every day in the office with him, working side-by-side—on and off missions. They do everything together… and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

• It’s time to leave for Nibelheim.

~

• They go to the Reactor; Genesis spews what he spews, destroying Sephiroth’s soul, feeding poison into his brain. His cells are activated; Jenova begins worming into his mind, twisting his thoughts. She’s the reason that Sephiroth has a sudden act or aggression, when the calm, concerned hand comes down on his shoulder, when the kind, worried “Hey, Sephiroth..!” comes shouting from behind. Jenova doesn’t want Zack to get close; he doesn’t want him to break his despair, to shatter her spell. She wants Sephirotn to flee—to run, to learn, to change……..

• Sephiroth rushes out of the Reactor

• Zack finds him in the library, just hours later; he never took a minute to stop looking for him

~

• There, Zack is able to soothe his best friend’s aches—if only momentarily. He assures him that he’s not a monster; he assures him that he’s the kindest, smartest, most wonderful person that he has ever met. He squeezes his arm, tries to wring the poisonous thoughts out. He won’t bear to lose another friend to the same toxic mindset that had crippled Angeal. He won’t…!

• And Sephiroth hears him.

• He really, really hears him.

• He believes him…

…

• …But he still wants to remain in the library to read, to learn about what he may never able to learn about again. And it’s then that he makes a promise to Zack: the moment he feels overwhelmed, stressed, scared… he will come right back to inn. Immediately.

• Zack is hesitant, but ultimately agrees.

• After all, he trusts his friend with his life

~

• Seeing her puppet beginning to slip away, Jenova brutally seizes control the moment Zack is gone

• Sephiroth tries to fight, but is too weak to resist alone, to fend her off.

.

.

.

• He succumbs, and out into the town he goes

🔥🔥🔥

• Back at the Reactor, enter Zack. He’s mortified; he’s enraged; he’s confused… He tries to bring his blade to the other’s neck, as he’s standing before the Thing’s tank, but can’t bring himself to do it. His arm his numb. He can’t even manage a single word, a single breath.

• Sephiroth takes the opportunity to attack him. Brutally…

…

• And it’s thereafter, when Sephiroth is monologuing about all this nonsense, about this drivel about being the Chosen One, that Zack realizes it—laying on the catwalk of the chamber, his arms gashed and bloodied, his eyes wide and hazed with tears:

• This isn’t Sephiroth.

.

.

.

• They continue to fight, Zack forced to defend to himself now. Blood is shed; screams are made; clothes and skin are torn—albeit only on Zack’s side, with Sephiroth’s face marred only with crimson that had already been spewed….

…

• And yet, Zack still refuses to fight.

• He continues calling out to his friend, trying to get him to hear his voice.

• He pleads.

• He cries.

• Sephiroth laughs.

• Sephiroth scoffs.

• Sephiroth smirks.

• Sephiroth impales him.

.

.

.

• And Zack gets up, having been thrown to the ground like a discarded toy.

• And he limps toward the possessed man.

• And he opens his arms,

• and throws himself into Sephiroth’s chest, whispering:

…

• “I love you, Sephiroth…”

.

.

.

.

.

And in this world, in this crazy universe you have taken the time to read through… those words are enough <3

[pokemon-heroverse]

General Overview

Heroverse is my main Pokemon AU! It gets its name from both the first arc’s central protagonist (Hero Watanabe), and the Hero Form phenomenon that exists as a result of legendary pokemon. It’s generally pretty similar to the world as it’s portrayed in the games, with the main difference being that human beings have types- just like their monster companions. As you can imagine, this alters the experience and role of humans in the pokemon world.

Beneath the readmore is some more in-depth information.

As mentioned above, humans in Heroverse possess types! Although they express differently than they do in pokemon. This is building off of the lore that humans and pokemon were once one in the same- it’s a lingering effect from that long-forgotten time. Humans are not as powerful and resilient as pokemon, but the trade-off is that they are not bound to a single type. Instead it’s something that can change, morph, and fluctuate over the course of one’s life! This is because they’re essentially aura sponges that easily absorb and transfer energy. Because of this, humans with single types are significantly less common than dual-typed ones, but far from unheard of! The expression of the types in humans also varies from individual to individual. It depends on several factors: if it’s a Temp Type or Sticky Type, what caused the type to manifest, how strongly pronounced the type energy is, the ordering of a dual typing, and even a person’s specific characteristics. Of course there’s expressions that are more and less common, but in general it’s all very flexible!

Type Change Basics:

A true type change is a phenomenon that describes when one type replaces another and leaves no trace of the type characteristics there previously. An example would be if someone goes from poison to fairy type and completely loses their poison resistance. This is a more common phenomenon in Temp Types.

A type shift on the other hand is when a type “turns into” another. One example would be someone going from ice to water type. They may keep the ice characteristic of temperature regulation and still gravitate towards cold places. This is more common with Sticky Types.

A Temp Type refers to when a type is not fully integrated into the person. It affects resistances the person may have, but does not impact them physically and can very easily be changed or shifted. A good way to think of it is like a metaphorical jacket someone can put on! Temp Types are by far more common in babies and small children, as most people have gotten at least one Sticky Type by the time they are 8 years old. It is possible for a Temp Type to “take root” and become a Sticky Type.

A Sticky Type refers to when a type is fully integrated into the person. It affects their physical characteristics, what pokemon they have special synergy with, and is generally more prominent in every way. It can only be lost or changed by extraordinary circumstances, and even type shifts are fairly rare.

What causes a change or shift in type can vary wildly. The most common cause is environmental- either in terms of the surroundings or those they are close to. If someone is bonded to a specific Pokemon, it’s entirely possible they’ll assimilate to one or both of their types! Less common causes are a psychological change in the person or as a defensive/protective response to some sort of danger or injury. Most uncommonly, some sort of impactful life event will cause a change in type! (Generally if this is the case, that person will have some sort of rare or high level type skill). Genetics are also a factor, as sometimes a specific type energy runs strong throughout a family (like with the case of the many dragon type families or the Cerulean City mermaids.)

The shifting or changing of a type is generally an uncomfortable process- especially if it’s a Sticky Type. Someone becoming a fire type may feel like they are experiencing a ceaseless hot flash as their body temperature increases, or if someone is becoming a poison type they may feel malaise or nausea while they build up immunity to their own new toxins/venom. Generally type shifts/changes are infrequent enough that this is considered as one of those unpleasant but natural parts of life. The process generally lasts a few days to a week and the length and severity of it will depend on what the type in question is, what it’s changing/shifting from, and how strong it is.

Type Effects (Defensive): Just like pokemon, humans have certain weaknesses and resistances based off of their type(s). This protection also extends to their environment. An electric type person would be significantly less harmed by contact with lightning or a live wire. A fire type person would not only be guarded against the heat, but are far less likely to develop sickness due to their high internal body temperatures. A poison type person may be all but immune to toxins- so on and so forth. It should be noted that these natural defenses are more common in Sticky Types. To use the fire type example again, someone with fire as a Temp Type may resist fire but lack the higher internal body temperature.

Type Effects (Offensive): Humans lack a lot of the battle capabilities that pokemon have. It takes someone with an unusually strong type expression to perform even extremely weak moves, and it takes a lot of aura to do so. There are a few exceptions to this rule: like if someone is in the right environment (think an ice type person out in a heavy snowstorm). Some types just happen to grant traits that are more conducive to offense: the sparks from an electric type person, the strength of a fighting type person, the toxins or venom of a poison type person, et cetera. There is also, of course, the case of Hero Forms. However, humans using moves remains a phenomenon far too unreliable for the effort it takes. The abilities of humans in Heroverse are far more conducive to partnering up with a pokemon for battle.

Type Skills: People with various types / type combos can develop type skills, which are similar to pokemon's abilities. (But not fully analogous- people can and often do have multiple type skills.)

I will go further into depth about them at a later time but the important thing to know now is that they vary wildly in rarity, and some are considered higher "level" than others. They each have different names too! Some quick examples:

Might of a Dragon - A dragon type skill where someone has elevated physical strength.

Wintry Touch - An ice type skill where someone is able to cool or in some cases freeze something they come into contact with.

Sand Diver - A ground / water type skill where someone is able to control how they interact with loose and/or water-saturated soil. They could either walk over it as if it were hard as concrete, or swim through it like a pool. This is considered a high level skill.

Again, I'll probably go more into depth in the topic of Type Skills because there's a lot to it. I just wanted to touch on it here.

Pokemon / Human Teamwork: As mentioned before, humans are very powerful conduits of aura. They can store, process, and transfer a lot of it before they start to experience detrimental effects. This not the case for pokemon, which can be greatly impacted by aura’s various forms and even driven mad by too much exposure to it. (See: rampaging dynamax pokemon or the frenzied nobles of Hisui). Because of this fact, there are some things pokemon can typically only achieve alongside a trainer, which is why many of them seek out human companionship.

One of the most common ways this partnership manifests is through the idea of type synergy. If a trainer and pokemon share a type, then the pokemon gets both an offensive and defensive boost in battle, and that type becomes more pronounced in the human over time. Pokemon and humans of the same type tend to be naturally drawn to one another, as well. This is why so many trainers are type experts!

Additionally, trainers will give STAB (Same-Type Attack Bonus) to pokemon that are using a move that matches their type…even if the pokemon does not. An example would be if a water type trainer had a pikachu that knew Surf, then the pikachu would be able to use the move with the same power and proficiency as a water type pokemon.

The presence of a trainer impacts how “battle phenomena” are used as well (things like Z-Moves, Dynamax, Terastallization, and Mega Evolution). Typically the aura flux is so great that these phenomena can have negative effects on the pokemon that are experiencing them. But the presence of a trainer to process that excess energy means that a pokemon can use them safely and often to greater proficiency than in the wild! (Note: in a lot of cases, an item or special location is often required to perform these special actions. But in specifically Mega Evolution’s case, it can occur without a Mega Stone or Key Stone…but it’s very rare and it usually leaves the trainer and/or pokemon with some sort of injury. That’s why Mega Evolution is considered the most dangerous documented battle phenomenon to-date.)

Additionally, humans are able to perform “cheers” which can boost their pokemon’s stats or even heal them in the heat of battle!

All of this works best when the trainer and pokemon share a strong bond and/or are perfectly united in a goal. Friendship literally makes a trainer and pokemon stronger, sometimes allowing for impossible things to happen (i.e. a pokemon withstanding a super effective hit that would have usually knocked it out). There are even some pokemon that will evolve after having become friends with their human companion! (As a side note, in addition to normal friendship evolutions, a human’s type can trigger what would normally be a stone evolution. So if, say, an ice type person had an eevee and evolved it through friendship, there would be a chance that they would become a glaceon.

Hero Forms:

The Hero Form phenomenon is a change that humans undergo as the result of one or more legendary pokemon granting them a share of their power. (Note for the AU: under the legendary pokemon umbrella I’m including all mythical pokemon, the paradox counterparts of legendary pokemon [i.e. iron crown and walking wake], and the ultra beast guzzlord). Hero Forms are the only battle phenomena that a human undergoes. It’s somewhere between a magical girl transformation and Mega Evolution.

Due to one of its requirements being the willing participation of at least one legendary pokemon, the occurrence of hero forms is considered quite rare. They tend to be forged during some sort of crisis, as generally that’s when such a being would seek out the assistance of a human trainer. A person who has been granted a Hero Form is generally left with that ability permanently, even if they are never in close proximity with that pokemon again.

Each Hero Form is completely unique, but there are a few physical traits they almost universally share. The first is a costume which is determined (in order) by: the powers of the Hero Form, the legendary pokemon that the Form’s power stems from, the human’s personal idea of what a “hero” looks like, the setting/circumstances in which the Hero Form first emerged, and the personal aesthetic tastes of the human. The hair also tends to grow longer and/or change styles, though how dramatic of a change this is varies from person to person. Lastly, a Hero Form usually brings with it a temporary type change. Due to the supernatural nature of this change, the human in question does not experience the typical side effects. If the type of the person does not change, then its power gets boosted dramatically. Additionally, some people experience other temporary physical changes (i.e. a person who suddenly gains the dragon type in their Hero Form may grow fangs.)

The abilities of a Hero Form come in two main categories, with the first being passive effects. Essentially, when they are acting as a trainer their presence affects ally pokemon and/or alters the field. Some examples include Chelidon Moon protecting her pokemon from all status conditions and Ether Emerald’s presence nullifying weather effects. Some Hero Forms are designed to compliment one another- like with Sword Hero maxing out ally pokemon’s attack stats and Shield Hero maxing out their defense stats. Powerful enough on their own, but together they form a veritable wall. Humans are also able to battle when they are in a Hero Form! Their physical durability is greatly increased, they can use powerful attacks, and most come equipped with a specialized weapon they can summon at will.

A Hero Form is certainly a force to be reckoned with- maybe even a little overpowered, but they come with a pretty big caveat that generally prevents their casual use. They are generally sustained with aura, and slowly drain the life energy of their user. Passive effects require much less aura to sustain than actively battling, but Hero Forms can generally only be sustained for a few minutes to a few hours. A fail-safe exists to prevent the aura drain from becoming life-threatening… if someone maintains a Hero Form for too long or uses too much aura with an attack, they will immediately revert to their ordinary self and enter a forced sleep state until they recover. Said sleep state can last for a few hours to a few days, so it’s best to avoid it. Even if a person doesn’t reach their limits, the use of a Hero Form generally leaves the person in question feeling completely exhausted afterwards. A person’s tolerance for sustaining a Hero Form depends on a few factors: how powerful their aura is, how many pokemon are influencing the Hero Form (generally more pokemon = more drain), and how close of bond they have with the pokemon that gave them their power.

Hero Forms are known about by virtually everyone in the world, and anyone who is known to possess one is generally revered as important. This, coupled with the reclusive nature of most legendary pokemon, means that every Hero Form is under a “spell” of sorts where they are unrecognizable to others. The “spell” can be broken if someone directly witnesses the transformation occur or if the person with a Hero Form does something to make themselves recognizable (i.e. Leon didn’t recognize Sword Hero as Hop until he addressed him as “Lee”)

One final tidbit: the Hero Form phenomenon has some cultural connections with palafin’s Zero to Hero ability! The ability was named with the phenomenon in mind due to the parallels. (Although, it should be noted that if you called someone a “Zero Form Human” they would probably get kind of offended.)

[m4y4vi]

I stan this idea very much

Warming. Contains info hazardous bias.

--

The beast of instinct.

It is a class of design concepts in my delusion magic system, in the bronze age world. There have been a lot of these beasts in this time period, that's just an excuse to slowly introduce the concept and therefore slowly brainwash readers to like my ideas, the magic of Mystique...

tl;dr of the Delusion magic system is that all ideas in your head, that have no contradiction in your entire neural circuitry... Are made manifest. The only limit of abilities is that no one here can violate the conservation of information.

The beast of instinct serves as an equal to its opposite concept in the magic system, to the various demons of reason.

--

When an intelligent creature is rid of delusion. It's inefficient neural pathways that sustain its own narrative is burned away... in order to perfect its sensory input to the motor reaction output loop...

That is the beast of instinct. A creature of pure emergent function of their respective chain of chemical reactions that sustain them. Just biology. Nothing 'alive' in it...

The beast of instinct is actually an evolution line from the 'artsy' type of poke- ahem... characters... Because all their senses converge into one level of Gestalt like act of observation...

They have reduced their craft to mere hardwired instinct. Art without interpretation. Art is in the interpretation, they cannot hold higher thought. There is no interpretation. Distilled objective sensory observation.

This act of observation and reaction loop causes neural synergy. Their movement becomes choreographed, a dance set on the rhythm of information continuity... a markov chain stitching its path only in eternal now

Think of it like your body moving in a deep flow state... You don't need to justify any action, there is no action, you just are... imagine how flight or flight works.

--

Their nervous system become more hardwired, the input signal moves to the Permutations of nerve cells that lead to motor output. No lag, no higher processing that can take them out of their contradiction free observation of reality.

--

What do they do!!!???

Well, I have some examples...

--

There was a wild 'notorious' tiger that had perfected its art, the hunt.

THE SHADOW.

Its targets could never track it while simultaneously recognising the contours of its shape, 'camouflaged'. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle flavoured.

Basically if you see it still? then it has already left the field of your active vision... And if it is tried to track? Its patterns become 'blurrier'

Scary camouflaged danger cat be real sneaky!

--

Another is, hehe boi, this shit is why I do all these

THE DEAD MAN WALKING

A malevolent bag of matter and energy performing emergent behaviour.

It's a he... I am sorry... it is an unorthodox villain character so it's fine. He 'bad boy' hot!! ... Atleast ...

This being has burned away everything. All neural pathways that are deemed inefficient.

In transcendental rage... (revenge subplot but the spicier version, powerless human on a quest for revenge, and in his hit list are some protagonists... and he's Machiavellian but unga bunga version. Bronze age min maxed sweaty ape ass.) His body has burned everything away inside it that could stop itself anymore... it began with the symptoms of never stopping, even though he's clearly spent... and the ones on his hit list are sometimes delusion magic wielders... and his condition is kinda okay but still bad... even chemically resource starved sometimes...

Think of this man moving like a Fourier transform of the music this man runs on

Or better think of it like the collapsing wave function. Its curvature flowing, being dictated as observed by objective reality.

An animated squiggly line. Extrapolate that squiggly line to 3 dimensions and you can see my boi animate in every frame of the causal reality he observe... Its slow... It's only biological ofcourse... Give it some time... Speed up the animation frame rate to our scale bruh!

++

Retrograde amnesia, Anterograde amnesia, aphantasia, there is simply nothing left in this man that can hold higher thought. Not even recognition of its own geodesical individuality. There is no separation of 'me' from the larger universe in him left.

It has all been burned away.

A martial indifference walking in perfected malevolent instinct.

++

Much like Clive Wearing, a real dude! Look him up!

Music allowed Clive to stitch his distorted continuity for a suprising good length... Otherwise, he couldn't recall his memories and cannot make new memories... long term and short term memory loss.

That is because of the 'Musicality' of our systems, a very well oiled part of circuitry in your cranium, the thing that creates meaning from pattern-ed sequence of sound... is so connected with out voluntary motor functions that we can't help but vibe. Fact! the taping of your feet!? That vibe? Craving for Chris Christodoulo synthwave? it's hardcoded!!

And Clive was a brilliant musician!! so the music part of his neural circuitry was still going good!!

Continuity in motor function? Better sense continuity of reality! All because Music moves us... quite literally.

++

Copy that shit one to one shamelessly, exaggerate, and slap it to the Dead Man Walking. Add some more too.

Aphantasia so he can't voluntarily simulate shapes in his prefrontal cortex.

Synesthesia because his reduced neural circuitry sustains the seamless sensory information convergence into a Musicality led rhythm. We all have it, it's just not required and therefore it's unique neural paths are not strengthened (unless you do have Synesthesia, in its numerous variations, my boi here has the complete one... Brain less fibry dense as normal? Remaining fibers circuitry are taken as new normal, strengthened and are then is more 'hardwired')

Since normal symbolic context driven language is not possible for its mind... Think of the music as a language his circuitry runs on... that labels all levels of raw sensory information in one neat, low mental level, yet surprisingly rational, compressed packet...

And this Musicality stitched rhythm is what keeps it in this continuity of the eternal now. A malevolent algorithm, an else-if ladder.

++

Its shitty 'machete on a good stick' glaive is a sight to behold. Not for it's crude, flavorless... Yet surprisingly ergonomic?!... Makeshift design... That is... Only if your body has a similarly chiseled epigenetic expression to his...

Its path never meets resistance. Eviceration itself left behind its tail wind. Not because its blade end is impossibly sharp, or is a 1024 times folded katana... but because its path is never allowed to meet a material that could resist its cleave... (Maybe the blade end is a 'foraged' Damascus made, short fat, Ramdao... It is in fact from the harappa side of things)

Only after he has completely 'understands' what it is fighting... is. and 'is' as in objective reality... think of it like him starting from the 0 of understanding of hiss opponent's unique induviduality... all potential behaviour and bias in shape and permutation of material... It takes time... Maybe less every other opponent that makes him reach the weapon's full 100% smooth path...

The crude weapon's sheer girth is used to balance his borderline animated smooth wonky posture... Imagine he pushes the waxy stick blade first forward while in air... It's mass and acceleration pulling his surprisingly light body, for a surprising amount of centimetes in that direction... Oh and he's also is on a very strict... very Surprisingly varied, forager diet... Only take enough resources that are recognised to 'continue efficient function' type diet... Unga bunga variant.

Shit like this happens with many different weapon flavours since he gets bland fast...

His fighting style is anything that works as long as he is the one who survives in the end. Getting better and better to the point if there is even a fraction of a chance a human of his build and calibre can win... He wins and his opponent mostly dies... Getting more efficient with each iteration of causal action, that is the speed cap of his limit.

++

The events that lead this man to this pokevolution are truly some edgy sad offscreen dark souls lore... and anime ass hell fights!

His art is the art of malevolent survival. Sad artist stuff I know...

He actually is made to go even lower from this state of being a beast of instinct... That's a secret for now!

--

Wait a minute!

If a beast of instinct runs on a sense of self expression put in continuity of motion, in reaction to obervation of objective reality... Basically doing Art without interpretation...

Does that mean art is a true emergent behaviour of the universe? Not just something one does in their cranium... Not just in their subjective simulated reality in their prefrontal cortex...

Since the nature of the beast is reduced to mere biology functioning... And biology is already a true emergent property... Duh

So is art... Real?

I mean this in terms of functioning, labeled as art... And functioning is real...

That matters more to my narrative in retrospective... because I have a concept of 'true lies' somewhere in the story...

[beautyisararething]

Scents and Sensibility

From Details Magazine, July 1992, by Brian Eno

I started thinking about smell in 1965. At art college, a friend and I made a little collection of evocative aromas, housed in about fifty small bottles. There was rubber, naptha, motorcycle dope, cuir de russe (used to make leather smell like leather rather than dead animals), gasoline, ammonia, juniper wood. In 1978, in a neglected and unlikely part of London, I discovered an old pharmacy that was crammed with oils and absolutes.

Their beautiful names - styrax, patchouli, franipani, amber, myrrh, geraniol, opoponax, heliotrope - and their familiar/strange aromas attracted my curiosity, and I bought over a hundred bottles. Soon I found myself actively collecting the primary materials of perfumery - in Madrid I found a crumbling apothecary's with dozens of mysteriously labeled phials; in San Francisco I discovered the strage olfactory world of Chinatown, of five spices and jasmine and ginseng; a woman I met in Ibiza gave me a minute bottle containing just one drop of an utterly heavenly material called nardo (I later came to think that this was probably spikenard oil, extracted from a shrub growing at between six and eight thousand feet on the Himalayas and used by wealthy Indian ladies as a prelude to lovemaking).

I started mixing things together. I was fascinated by the synergies of combinations, how two quite familiar smells carefully combined could create new and unrecognizable sensation. Perfumery has a lot to do with this process of courting the edges of unrecognizability, of evoking sensations that don't have names, or of mixing up sensations that don't belong together. Some materials are in themselves schizophrenic (or is it oxymoronic?) in that they have two rather contradictory natures. Methyl octane carbonate, for example, evokes the smell of violets and motorcycles; Dior's Farenheit uses a lot of it. Orris butter, a complex derivative of the roots of iris, is vaguely floral in small amounts but almost obscenely fleshy (like the smell beneath a breast or between buttocks) in quantity. Civet, from the anal gland of the civet cat, is intensely disagreeable as soon as it is recognizable, but amazingly sexy in subliminal doses (it features in Guerlain's Jicky, probably the oldest extant perfume, and one whose market has changed over the hundred years of its existence - it now has a following among gay men). Courmarin, the primary ingredient in Cacharel's Lou Lou, has the characteristic smell of late summer, from whose flowers and grassses it is derived, but then it carries strange overtones of powder, boudoirs, bedrooms...

You don't have to dabble for very long to begin to realize that the world of smell has no reliable maps, no single language, no comprehensible metaphorical structure within which we might comprehend it and navigate our way around it. It seems to compare poorly, for example, with the world of sight. If we want to think about color, we can use words like hue and brightess and saturation. We can visualize a particular sightly milky green, imagine where it falls on a spectrum chart, look at its neighbours and complemetaries, and the finally say that it is, say, "eau de nil" or "pale turquoise" or "jade." These are relatively precise numerically, in angstroms, for example, or (if you want to paint your house in it) as "British Standard paintshade number something-or-other." Similarly with shape: We use measurement and geometry and, of course, drawings, to communicate that type of information.

But the best we seem to be able to do with smells is to evoke comparisons. We can say that karanal is "like striking a flint," that the aldehyde C14 is "like latex." As far as I know there is not even the beginning of a usable system of realting these to one another. Where does karanal stand in relation to tuberose? Or sandalwood to sage? Don't ask me.

Like others who've played with perfumes, I found this somewhat unsatisfactory. I wanted a system, a map. I briefly thought I might be able to make one myself, but this plan foundered as I jotted down the resemblance between strawberries and egg yolk, between breweries and certain types of horsehair bedding. I just knew I didn't have enough stamina to collect, let alone collate, all those sensations. I'd also noticed to my confusion that the substances "coriander" and "vetiver" were never quite the same twice. The vetiver I bought in the Walworth Road in London was distinctly different from what I got from the labs of Quest International in Paris, and the French coriander I found in 1988 was different from the French coriander I bought a year later. Even the names, it turned out, didn't describe anything stable. So, still lost, I abandoned the classification project (what a relief!) and decided to continue pleasurably stumbling around in the gloaming, rubbing bits of thei and that on anyone kind enough to loan me a patch of their skin, then sniffing to test the effects (it turned out to be a great way of getting to know people...).

It took me a long time to begin to realize that this was the way things were likely to continue. Just like with everything else, there was probably never going to be a time when I "knew what I was doing," when I had in mind some final, logical picture of the whole world of smell. The Linnaeus of smell was not to be, or not to be me.

It's strange how you arrive at ideas, how thoughts consolidate themselves out of the most disparate and unlikely beginnings, and how often those beginnings are realizations from experience that something isn't possible (or alternately is possible but not interesting). This is one such roundabout story.

During my dabbling with perfumes, I'd also been dabbling with other things, including music. Whenever I talked about sound, I stressed the inadequacy of the classical languages that composers had used to describe it. I said that the evolution of the electronic instruments and recording processes had created a situation where the whole question of timbre - the physical quality of sound - had been opened up wide and had become a major focus of compositional attention. Modern composers and producers working in recording studios were experimenting with sound itself and were quite content to use largely traditional "received" forms (such as "the blues") upon which to hang their experiments. It struck me that this had been completely missed by classically trained musicologists, who were always looking for innovation in places where it wasn't happening. They were expecting that any music that deserved the title "new" would be making breakthroughs in harmony, in melody, in compositional structure; but here they were faced with a music that, in those respects, had barely made it past the turn of the century.

When they failed to notice, or at least attach any importance to, was that their language, the language of classical written composition, simply didn't have any terms to describe Jimi Hendrix's guitar sound on "Voodoo Chile" or Phil Spector's production of "Da Doo Ron Ron" - arguably the most interesting features of those works. Rock music, I kept saying, was a music of timbre and texture, of the physical experience of sound, in a way that no other music had ever been or could have ever been. It dealt with a potentially infinite sonic pallette, a palette whose gradations and combinations would never adequately be described, and where the attempt at description must always lag behind the infinites of permutation.

So while I was happy to accept and exploit this wonderfully fluid situation in music, I was worried about finding myself in the same place vis-à-vis perfume. The inconsistency of these positions finally filtered through to me while I was delivering a talk to a group of businessmen in Brussels. My talk was called "The Future of Culture in Europe," and in it I tried to sketch out the breakdown of the classical view of Culture and art history in favor of a more contemporary one. Until quite recently, I said, Culture had been viewed as a field of hurman behaviors and artifacts that could be organized in some ideal way, the assumption being that, if only we sat down and talked about it for long enough, we would all agree that, say, Dante, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Goethe, Wagner, and a few other big names were the real kingpins of Culture, and that, say, chocolate-box designers, popular balladeers, walking-stick carvers, hairdressers, clothes designers, and Little Richard were all relatively marginal. The history of the history of art is really the story of people trying to make a claim form one orthodoxy in favor of any other, asserting that the particular line that they drew through the field of all the events we refer to as Culture had some special validity and the proximity to that line was a measure of originality, profundity, longevity: in short, of value.

For many reasons this idea of intrinsic, given value becomes less and less tenable. We don't expect to write books now called "The History of Painting" (as if there were only one), and only a dwindling band of fundamentalists (about 5.9 billion at the last count) still believe in "the True Nature" of anything. We become more and more comfortable with the idea that there are all sorts of ways of describing and organizing phenomena, that there are descriptive languages that don't translate into one another, that there is no absolute basis upon which to decide between one language and the other, and that anyway, "the same set of phenomena" is a shifting field of energies that we choose to give the same name to until it gets so confusing that we have to find another.

So, just as we might come to accept that "coriander" is a name for a fuzzy, not very clearly defined space in the whole of our smell experience, we also start to think about other words in the same way. Big Ideas (Freedom, Truth, Beauty, Love, Reality, Art, God, America, Socialism) start to lose their capital letters, cease being so absolute and reliable, and become names for spaces in our psyches. We find ourselves having to frequently reassess or even reconstruct them completely. We are, in short, increasingly uncentered, unmoored, lost, living day to day, engaged in and ongoing attempt to cobble together a credible, at least workable, set of values, ready to shed it and work out another when the situation demands.

And I love it: I love watching us all become dilettante perfume blenders, poking inquisitive fingers through a great library of ingredients and seeing which combinations make sense for us, gathering experience - the possibility of better guesses - without certainty.

Perhaps our sense of this, the sense of belonging to a world held together by networks of ephemeral confidences (such as philosophies and stock markets) rather than permanent certainties, predisposes us to embrace the pleasures of our most primitive and unlangued sense. Being mystified doesn't frighten us as much as it used to. And the point for me is not to expect perfumery to take its place in some nice, reliable, rational world order, but to expect everything else to become like perfume.

[frank-olivier]

Bayesian Active Exploration: A New Frontier in Artificial Intelligence

The field of artificial intelligence has seen tremendous growth and advancements in recent years, with various techniques and paradigms emerging to tackle complex problems in the field of machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Two of these concepts that have attracted a lot of attention are active inference and Bayesian mechanics. Although both techniques have been researched separately, their synergy has the potential to revolutionize AI by creating more efficient, accurate, and effective systems.

Traditional machine learning algorithms rely on a passive approach, where the system receives data and updates its parameters without actively influencing the data collection process. However, this approach can have limitations, especially in complex and dynamic environments. Active interference, on the other hand, allows AI systems to take an active role in selecting the most informative data points or actions to collect more relevant information. In this way, active inference allows systems to adapt to changing environments, reducing the need for labeled data and improving the efficiency of learning and decision-making.

One of the first milestones in active inference was the development of the "query by committee" algorithm by Freund et al. in 1997. This algorithm used a committee of models to determine the most meaningful data points to capture, laying the foundation for future active learning techniques. Another important milestone was the introduction of "uncertainty sampling" by Lewis and Gale in 1994, which selected data points with the highest uncertainty or ambiguity to capture more information.

Bayesian mechanics, on the other hand, provides a probabilistic framework for reasoning and decision-making under uncertainty. By modeling complex systems using probability distributions, Bayesian mechanics enables AI systems to quantify uncertainty and ambiguity, thereby making more informed decisions when faced with incomplete or noisy data. Bayesian inference, the process of updating the prior distribution using new data, is a powerful tool for learning and decision-making.

One of the first milestones in Bayesian mechanics was the development of Bayes' theorem by Thomas Bayes in 1763. This theorem provided a mathematical framework for updating the probability of a hypothesis based on new evidence. Another important milestone was the introduction of Bayesian networks by Pearl in 1988, which provided a structured approach to modeling complex systems using probability distributions.

While active inference and Bayesian mechanics each have their strengths, combining them has the potential to create a new generation of AI systems that can actively collect informative data and update their probabilistic models to make more informed decisions. The combination of active inference and Bayesian mechanics has numerous applications in AI, including robotics, computer vision, and natural language processing. In robotics, for example, active inference can be used to actively explore the environment, collect more informative data, and improve navigation and decision-making. In computer vision, active inference can be used to actively select the most informative images or viewpoints, improving object recognition or scene understanding.

Timeline:

1763: Bayes' theorem

1988: Bayesian networks

1994: Uncertainty Sampling

1997: Query by Committee algorithm

2017: Deep Bayesian Active Learning

2019: Bayesian Active Exploration

2020: Active Bayesian Inference for Deep Learning

2020: Bayesian Active Learning for Computer Vision

The synergy of active inference and Bayesian mechanics is expected to play a crucial role in shaping the next generation of AI systems. Some possible future developments in this area include:

- Combining active inference and Bayesian mechanics with other AI techniques, such as reinforcement learning and transfer learning, to create more powerful and flexible AI systems.

- Applying the synergy of active inference and Bayesian mechanics to new areas, such as healthcare, finance, and education, to improve decision-making and outcomes.

- Developing new algorithms and techniques that integrate active inference and Bayesian mechanics, such as Bayesian active learning for deep learning and Bayesian active exploration for robotics.

Dr. Sanjeev Namjosh: The Hidden Math Behind All Living Systems - On Active Inference, the Free Energy Principle, and Bayesian Mechanics (Machine Learning Street Talk, October 2024)

Saturday, October 26, 2024

[archivio-disattivato]

"Women Resist War" by Justine Masika Bihamba of Synergie des Femmes.

This book is my story. It is also the story of a women in Kivu who were, at one point in time, victims of atrocities, but who decided to stand strong, while the world turned a blind eye to their tragedy, the most devastating since the Second World War, with at least 6 million deaths. As I speak to you, a few kilometers from here, fighting is still raging. I know that women will once again be targeted by armed groups. This has been our reality for the past 30 years. 20 years ago, we created a women’s collective. Only Congolese women. Women in the field. For 20 years, this group has been helping victims on a medical, sometimes surgical, psychological, family, legal, and professional level. With few resources, we have saved 18,000 women. For 20 years, we have also been carrying the voices of women in our region. We document abuse. We inform international bodies. We reject the systematic impunity of rape perpetrators. We are working for the implementation of a United Nations resolution that puts women at the heart of the peace processes. Where they should be, to invent something else, since everything has failed so far. I’ve testified before the United Nations Security Council in New York, and before so many other bodies in so many countries around the globe, that our collective is now recognized as an expert on these issues. The big deal is that it’s like we are not being heard. I, like other activists, know the price of our commitment. The acts of violence targeting us, or worse, our families, our children, have not stopped us. And it will not stop us until peace is achieved. Another will soon take my place at the head of this collective, that’s for sure. That’s what this book is all about. That and the great geopolitics, the manna and damnation that are the minerals that abound in our subsoils, minerals that you have in your phones. The crazy international mechanics, and the story of my sisters, like those around me. My story too, as one of them. I’d like to thank you for giving me your attention, as I’d like to thank the associations that support us from all over and will help promote this book.

[atmosphericradar]

Analyzing the Timeline of the Tenno Schools

-- SPOILERS AHEAD! --

There isn't a lot of concrete information that Digital Extremes has released about the Tenno Schools (or "Ways") in Warframe. Here is what I know so far (as best I can w/ help from the Warframe Wiki):

Tenno Schools are martial arts disciplines. A School instructs a Tenno in a specific style of fighting, focused on harnessing Tenno Void powers in unique ways.

There is no mechanical restriction of Warframes or weapons for any School; a disciple of any Way may use any tools at their disposal.

The five Focus Schools are: Madurai, Vazarin, Naramon, Unairu, and Zenurik. Training in these Ways unlocks new Void abilities for the Tenno, as well as improvements to pre-existing Void powers. This training also unlocks various synergies between the Tenno and their Warframe, allowing each to improve the other.

The Rough Timeline of Events Preceding the Beginning of Warframe (pre-Vor's Prize quest)

Albrecht Entradi creates the Reliquary Drive, enabling spacecraft to make faster-than-light Void Jumps to arbitrary locations in space. The player reveals this history by reaching max rank with the Necraloid Syndicate. The creation of the Reliquary Drive inspires the Orokin Empire to embark on a project to colonize the nearby Tau solar system.

The Orokin Empire send terraforming robots to the Tau System, ahead of their primary human-carrying ark: the Zariman Ten Zero.

The terraforming robots defected while terraforming the Tau System, becoming the Sentients.

The Orokin Empire develop the Warframes using the Infestation. Ballas explains in his Vitruvian records during The Sacrifice quest that he created the Warframes to fight the Sentients, because the Sentients could control the combat robots the Orokin Empire would have otherwise used to fight the Sentient invasion.

The Zariman Ten Zero fails its Void Jump catastrophically. During The War Within quest, the Grineer Queen and the player's Tenno narrate the events of the Zariman Ten Zero incident: the adults were driven violently insane, and the children killed them to survive, ultimately leaving only the children alive on the Zariman. These children, who had been changed by their exposure to the Void, are now known as the Tenno.

Margulis prevents the Orokin Empire from killing the Tenno. In The Apostasy Prologue quest, the Lotus says that Margulis worked with and studied the Tenno (likely healing their trauma from the Zariman Ten Zero incident).

Margulis was killed by Ballas. Her work with the Tenno and their void-based abilities was used to develop the Transference process.

Ballas used the Tenno and Transference to control the Warframes.

The Sentients invade the Origin System. The Tenno, Warframes, and the Lotus fought the Sentient invasion known now as the Old War.

During The Prelude To War quest we see a memory of the Old War, where the Lotus confronts Erra on Lua with six Tenno by her side. At this time, the Tenno can be seen producing Void Beams without Amps. This void attack appears to be the same Void Beam as from Transcendence (the Operator's primary attack pre-The War Within quest).

According to the Shadow Stalker's Codex entry, after the Old War had concluded and the Sentients were defeated, the Orokin Empire held a system-wide victory ceremony in honor of the Tenno. During this ceremony, the Tenno simultaneously assassinated the Orokin leadership across the Origin System, toppling the Empire.

Note that the above timeline intentionally avoids talking about the order of events surrounding the Lotus. I don't believe straightening out her complicated timeline is critically necessary for talking about the Tenno Schools.

Evidence for pre-Old War Tenno Schools

I could not find any clear textual evidence of Tenno Schools existing simultaneously with the Orokin Empire, as of 2023.

It is possible that the five Focus Schools somehow evolved from pre-existing fighting styles which pre-date the existence of the Tenno. The Dax may have a martial tradition involving five methods of combat which was passed down to the Tenno, though there is no evidence to support this. It is also possible that an Orokin-era civilization or society had a spiritual or martial tradition which centered five methods of being, although that is purely speculation.

Evidence for post-Old War Tenno Schools

This is where all of the knowledge of the Tenno Schools in Warframe comes from, as of 2023.

The Tenno Schools become available after The Second Dream quest is completed. This quest reveals that the Tenno are children with Void abilities, Operators of the Warframes and not the Warframes themselves. This revelation opens up the Tenno Schools immediately. It is unclear if the Tenno know the Ways of these Schools innately. There is no direct evidence to suggest the Tenno learn of these Schools through some off-screen method.

A player can switch between the Ways of each School at will. When a Tenno changes Ways, they lose all of the abilities granted to them from their previous Way. The only exception to this is when you "unbind" certain abilities from the School, allowing your Tenno to keep the unbound power regardless of which Way they are currently practicing.

This implies that the Schools are like martial arts schools: only a master of one style of fighting can benefit from trying to mix-and-match with other styles on the fly. That said, there is nothing stopping anyone from practicing many disciplines; just fight with discipline at a time for maximum effectiveness. Note that there is no hard evidence in the game to suggest that Tenno exclusively have Void powers from only one Focus School. It would seem that any Tenno can have powers from any School, so long as they train in the proper Ways.

Tenno Clan Dojos have many tools for combat training, and even a specific room for sparring. It is unknown if the Tenno Dojos act as a major training ground or place of learning for the Tenno Schools in-universe.

I have found no evidence for Tenno-aligned humans without Void powers practicing the Ways of the Focus Schools.

I have found no evidence to suggest that The Man In The Wall has any influence over the existence or Ways of the Tenno Schools, or any influence over the specifics of how Void powers manifest.

Conclusion

Based on the evidence I have gathered, it seems as though the Tenno Schools are a post-Orokin-Empire creation. It is unlikely that the Tenno Schools were adopted from a separate pre-existing culture. Two options for the genesis of the five Focus Schools are supported by the text:

One or several of the earliest Tenno to awaken from cryosleep were the ones responsible for creating the five Focus Schools. The Void powers, abilities, and synergies are split between the Schools because of differences in combat philosophy first and foremost. Secondarily, it may be difficult for an adolescent to manifest or control all of the Void abilities from all of the Schools at once, and separating them into smaller practices keeps things manageable.

Something inherent to the nature of the Void separates the powers and abilities of the Tenno into five groups. The philosophies and combat styles of the schools follow from how the powers cluster, or perhaps the headspace a Tenno needs to be in to access that cluster of abilities.

Nothing about the Tenno Schools prevents their use by Tenno who do not have the ability to perform Transference unassisted. In addition, a Tenno School does not require the use of an Amp. Because of these two factors, Tenno Schools could have been active during the Orokin Empire era. It's possible that the Tenno Schools originate from techniques (therapeutic or supernatural) developed by Margulis during her time working with the children of the Zariman, though there is no evidence to support this theory.

Additional thoughts under the cut!

Non-Focus Tenno Schools

While I posited that such a thing could exist, there isn't a lot of evidence for non-Focus Tenno Schools. Below is a list of things which could be or could have been Tenno Schools separate from a Focus, depending on your interpretation:

"The Old Ways": A mysterious and nondescript collection of Tenno fighting techniques which seem to date back to the time of the Orokin Empire. Teshin is fond of speaking of "the Old Ways" when training Tenno, and is likely trying to impart lost knowledge of those "Ways" onto the Tenno. The flavor text in the Nikana mentions the Old Ways. The flavor text of the Glaive also mentions "dating back to the first Tenno", connecting to the Nightwave mission "The Old Ways".

The Stalker and his Acolytes: Neither the players nor the Stalker himself is sure if the Stalker and/or his Acolytes are Tenno. The Stalker is described in his Codex entry as holding the rank of "Guardian" during the Orokin Empire, and is never identified as a Tenno or even as a Warframe. Although neither the Stalker nor his Acolytes use any void powers, if they are Tenno their general immunity to Warframe abilities and unusual powers could be indicative of a Tenno School unique to them.

Non-School Tenno Organizations

Tenno Schools are fighting disciplines. They characterize what techniques a Tenno uses to fight, but not why they fight or what causes they fight for. A Tenno Clan, for example, is not a Tenno School. The Clan is made up of many Tenno, whom may all individually practice combat styles from one or several Schools. Below is a list of things which very likely aren't Tenno Schools:

The Six Faction Syndicates: Steel Meridian, Arbiters of Hexis, Cephalon Suda, The Perrin Sequence, Red Veil, and New Loka. They may be major political or philosophical groups within modern Tenno society, and they even have their own weapons, but they do not teach combat methodology.

The "exclusive order of Tenno assassins" mentioned in the flavor text of the Karyst.

[pinkcupboardwitch]

genuine question, where would you recommend someone start with improving media literacy and critical thinking skills? :o

I love this question! Thank you - it really pushed me to figure out how to distill my own process, so it was very helpful for me too.

“Media literacy” is such a big topic that it can very easily get overwhelming, so I would recommend finding a specific type of media you want to practice these skills in first. This is handy because 1) it breaks the learning process up into a much more manageable goal 2) a lot of the mindsets you acquire here will be helpful once you start branching out into different media types, even if the specifics of that genre might be different.

For example, I’m a historian; I’m trained to read both historical documents and texts produced by other professional historians with an eye for particular characteristics. My personal specialty is the study of historical gender and medicine, which means that even when I’m reading texts from periods outside my own, or even modern media, I can pick up synergies of gender and/or medicine more intuitively than others. A really fun example of this is when I watched Blue Eye Samurai with a friend who is also a historian of the same period as I am, but with a focus on religion. A very obvious flag to me that Mizu is queer in some way is that they only realized they were attracted to [censored for spoilers] when they witnessed two men kissing. When I brought that up to my friend, he said he had completely missed that thread. He is, however, continually able to bring in sociological arguments that I miss, because he’s trained to see those patterns and I’m not.

A less intimidating way to approach these skills then, which are often very vaguely defined and have a reflexive anxiety about them because they feature so often in grading rubrics without being clearly defined, is pattern matching. Are you able to identify the patterns the authors are drawing on? And are you able to draw new connections between these texts that are unique to you?

Examples of specific specialties you might be interested as a way to get started could include political journalism, scientific reports, historical texts, or romance novels, to give you an example of the balance between specificity and generalization I usually find helpful. Once you have your set, start reading as many examples of that as you can. It’s more helpful to consume this material consistently, rather than amass a huge source base in a very short period of time. The goal here is to start picking up on patterns between the various examples you’re reading. Patterns of shared values, of similar ways of constructing an argument or a message, of different conversations going in between the authors of this shared space.

“Active reading” tends to get a bad rap because I think a lot of us have bad memories of being told simply to do it without ever being explained what it actually is or how to tell if we’re doing it. But it is a very useful tool. Instead of simply taking in information (that is, “passive” reading), we engage in a conversation with the information as we read. I find that the following is a handy checklist for me when I read material that’s new to me:

- What is the author’s message? How can I tell?

- Why are they presenting this message? Do their stated goals match their implicit goals, or is there a mismatch? How can I tell?

- Who is the message for? How can I tell?

- Do I agree with this message completely? With some parts of this message but not others? Not at all? Why? And how can I tell?

- If I don’t agree in part or entirely, what is my stance on the issue? (“I need more information to know my stance” is a perfectly good one to have)

(Note: this is biased towards my training as a historian. Someone trained in a different field, or even in a different method of doing history than I am, would likely have a different answer. But I find that this set is flexible enough to be used in many different contexts, not just academic ones.)

That “how can I tell” is, for me, the crux of the matter. Being able to answer that question pushes us to really pick apart the different strands of a text and helps us see the overall meaning of that text as something that is constructed, not inherent.

At first, you might need to consciously have this list next to you as a reminder whenever you’re reading your text of choice. You might even need to read a particular text multiple times, each time focusing on a single question from the list instead of juggling all five parts at the same time because it’s so hard to find those answers. That is totally fine! More than fine, it’s normal.

Eventually, as you get more and more comfortable with practicing this kind of thinking and reading, you’ll be able to do it in a way that’s less conscious and more like muscle memory. This also means that over time, it will get less tiring. Which is to say - at the start of this practice, it will be tiring, mentally and physically so. That doesn’t mean you’re lazy or stupid. It just means this is a part of your brain that’s starting a new exercise routine and is slowly building up endurance. “Learning things” is a skill in itself, and something that we can also practice and get better at. I know some very smart people who are terrible at learning new things and being beginners, because they’re so used to excelling at a very narrow sphere of activities.

This is such a long response already, but I hope it is helpful and makes sense! Just two more points for now, and please also feel free to jump back into my inbox or DMs if you have more questions about this.

Firstly, a very useful strategy I have found for getting more literate in genres and ways of thinking I am not familiar with is to ask an expert in that field to “check your work”. For me, this is scientific articles and @dr-dendritic-trees. Again, I’m a historian, I wasn’t trained to read science reports in any field, but I still want to parse the interesting science that comes my way. In the early stages of getting familiar with science writing, “checking my work” usually looked like me sending an article her way, asking her to translate it into layman’s terms, and then, armed with that prior explanation, reading the article myself to see if I could understand how she’d gotten there. As I got more familiar with the particular kinds of thinking that scientists are trained to do, I started reading the articles first, reaching a tentative conclusion, and then asking her if she agreed (example: “Their conclusion feels fishy to me but I can’t fully say why. Would you say that’s right?”). The goal here is not simply to acquire new scientific information. The goal is to practice thinking like a scientist.

(Incidentally, this approach is also why I encourage my students to use SparkNotes or Wikipedia if they’re really struggling with a particular text so they can get a summary of what’s happening. Once you know what’s happening, you can focus on the much more interesting and critical aspect: how the argument is constructed and how you can tell).

Secondly, Toulmin’s Method is another handy checklist for breaking down arguments that you can use as an alternative to or in conjunction with the checklist I provided above. I’ve taught it in my own classes and a particularly handy exercise I like to do with them is to practice going, “I agree with your X because ABC, and I disagree with your Y because DEF.” [example: “I agree with your claim because my own experience backs that up, but I disagree with your warrant because you’re falsely connecting these two elements.”]

This is so long! Thank you for asking the question and for reading all this! It’s probably pretty obvious that I care deeply about this topic*. This is a hard skill to pick up, especially if you haven’t consciously worked these mental muscles out in a while, but it’s also a profoundly valuable one, and one that greatly enriches our lives as people in a shared and communal world. I wish you the best of luck on your journey of practice!!

*for extra credit: how can you tell? ;)

EDIT: I said I only had two points left, posted this, and then immediately thought of two other exercises that are very helpful for practicing these skills! One, learn to write a précis, which is a very formal, four-sentence summary that is extremely helpful for organizing your thoughts. Two, learn to identify logical fallacies. A really central part of critical thinking is being able to recognize when others are not thinking critically and explain why.

[rise2research]

The Automation Revolution: How Embedded Analytics is Leading the Way

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The Role of Embedded Analytics in Automation

Embedded analytics refers to the integration of analytical capabilities directly into business applications, eliminating the need for separate business intelligence (BI) tools. This integration enhances automation by:

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Increasing User Accessibility: Non-technical users can easily access and interpret data within familiar applications, enabling data-driven culture across organizations.

Industry-Wide Impact of Embedded Analytics

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4. Finance: Fraud Detection & Risk Management

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Conclusion

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To know more: data collection and insights

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[teamarcstechnologies]

How Questionnaires and Technology Are Revolutionizing Fraud Prevention

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The Role of Questionnaires in Fraud Detection

Questionnaires serve as an essential tool in gathering crucial information from individuals, be it customers, employees, or vendors. Structured questionnaires can help organizations assess risks, verify identities, and detect inconsistencies in responses. By incorporating behavioral and psychological cues, they can reveal red flags indicating potential fraudulent intent.

Technology Enhancing Questionnaires for Accuracy

Modern technology amplifies the effectiveness of questionnaires in fraud prevention. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) analyze response patterns, detect anomalies, and flag inconsistencies in real-time. Natural Language Processing (NLP) helps identify deceptive answers, while automated data cross-referencing ensures accuracy. Additionally, biometric verification and blockchain technology enhance security by confirming identities and preventing document forgery.

Real-World Applications

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The Future of Fraud Prevention

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Book a free demo: online panel management platform

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[hanmi-xo]

CHAPTER 7: "Information & Trust?"

| We Who Remain | Chapter List |

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---------

The sound of rain echoed the corridors. Training had to come to a halt due to weather circumstances. It was cold, and the heavy clouds had no intentions on leaving.

"So, there's no training?" I repeat his words.

Hansol nodded his head.

He came to my doorway to inform me of the sudden forecast that one of the scout teams relayed.

"One of the teams came back last night and informed us of gray clouds forming." He says. "Usually, their information is correct. I'm sorry we couldn't inform you sooner. I received the message from Soonyoung an hour ago, and he's been spreading the word to other Messengers."

I hummed in response before looking over at my window that the rain kept impacting. It was heavy. It seemed it would be storming all day.

"So, training continues tomorrow? What am I supposed to do?" I turn back around to ask him.

Hansol shrugged his shoulders with an unsure expression. "Usually when this happens, Soonyoung gives us a day off and encourages us to do card games with our colleagues. He says it helps build synergy in a team if want to build trust through friendship."

"Card games?" I repeat after him.

Hansol nodded his head. "Yeah, it's something he thought of a few months back. But I don't think he'll be hosting one today. He said he had a meeting with Seungcheol later this afternoon, and he said he has a feeling he will have to go on an urgent mission tonight."

"Tonight? But it's probably going to rain until tomorrow afternoon from the way the weather is looking," I tell him.

He would skip training today but is willing to go on a mission tonignt? How urgent did it have to be?

"He didn't give me the details, but I want to believe it's a rescue mission," his voice became weary.

I narrowed my brows upon hearing his words.

Rescue mission? Who were they rescuing? And where would they be heading?

Will it be the same direction as they previously planned to go northward?

Or will they go the direction of Dowon?

"What happened? If I may ask." My focus was on him.

Hansol looked around with hesitation. His eyes soon met mine, but his eyes showed fear. He knew something was up, but he wasn't sure if he should tell me.

He leaned in towards me and brought his hand up to whisper.

"I can't say exactly, but things outside the wall have been getting a bit out of hand." His voice was soft yet deep. "Even though one of the mutants snuck in the other day, apparently they've been more active outside the walls. Nobody really knows why, but whenever a team comes back from a mission, the Messenger of the team usually informs other Messengers of the dangers that lurk around."

He was explaining to me carefully before pulling away from my ear.

My eyes remained on him as I processed everything he was telling me.

"My job is hard," he admits, "But someone has to carry the information and inform the leaders of the teams. Not everyone can handle traumatic information- nobody likes bad news, but that information can save lives if we prepare for the worst for the future."

"But that makes you a target if someone wants information," I tell him.

He knows what's going on inside and outside this safe haven, but chooses whether or not to speak on the matters?

For Hansol to take up a heavy job that can be mentally draining makes me wonder how well he works under pressure.

I hardly know this guy, but he seems very attentive even if he won't say too much.

"Yeah, I know," he admits. "But we all die at some point, don't we? And besides, they won't get any information even if they try to kill me."

I wanted to admire him for his bravery, but I was more intrigued by his words.

He had no fear of death.

"So, you're not scared of dying?" I say my thoughts aloud.

He smirked and shook his head.

"I lost my family in the beginning of the plague, and if anything, I'd be more surprised if I make it out of this if I can be honest with you." His words were heavy, but his tone was light. "I never thought I'd make it this far, but here I am- just going with the motion of everything."

I wasn't sure what to tell him, or rather, I wasn't sure to even say to someone like him.

Was I supposed to say something encouraging or leave him be? I hardly know him, but it's clear he doesn't really care too much about his own well being.

"Well, I have to go," he tells me after looking at his watch. "I'll see you around, Jaewon."

Before I could say anything, he turned around and made his way down the hallway.

Even though he talked about a very heavy topic, he was walking around as if he were okay.

I wasn't sure what to think of him.

Should I pity him or agree with him that there isn't much life during this lifetime?

Would I end up like him if Dowon ends up like the rest of the fallen world?

I'm not sure.

But if I did, I wouldn't be surprised.

~

"Noodles or rice?" Minghao asks me, showing the two options of food he has.

He sat across from me while Joshua leaned against the counter towards the end of the table.

We were in an old meeting room, and we were having a late breakfast. I met with them at the cafeteria after my enounter with Hansol.

I needed more information about this alliance they want to form with me, and I have questions I hope they have answers to.

Though I was alone with these men since we were away from everyone else, the meeting room isn't that bad. Every building had one for social gatherings, but this one was abandoned since it was further away from the dorms.

Although it hasn't been used by the public, the space wasn't that terrible.

It didn't reek of mold nor dust. I want to believe Joshua and Minghao may use this room quite often for their meetings.

We were on the second floor, and the windows were slightly cracked open for air, but not wide enough for anything dangerous to come in.

The sound of rain can easily be heard, and the raindrops left trails all around the window frame.

"Noodles," I answer Minghao.

He snickered at my answer. "Welp, I guess rice is for you, Joshua."

He turned to his colleague and raised the wrapped meal to him with one hand, and in response, Joshua took it without much of a reaction.

Minghao scoffed. "Oh come on, at least be annoyed you didn't get noodles. I know they're your favorite."

Joshua ignored him and placed the meal on the counter next to his hip.

"So is she going to work with us or not?" he abruptly asks him.

I narrowed my brows from Joshua's words. It wasn't surprising to hear him get straight to the point, but then again, I would think he would be a bit nicer to his colleague.

But it was clear. He had no interest in Minghao's antics.

I kept in mind Joshua's directness. He didn't use his fake persona like he did with the others. He didn't smile nor show any interest in lightening the mood.

Minghao rolled his eyes at Joshua before looking back at me.

"Ask her yourself. She's right here," he said, slightly annoyed.

He began to unwrap his meal that seemed to be a kimbap and took a bite out of it since it wasn't cut up.

Joshua's eyes met with mine. Those doe eyes were sharp.

"So, what's your answer?" He says with a hint of impatience. He crossed his arms at me. "Yes or no?"

I scoffed at his directness.

My eyes went to the meal in my hands before I began to tap my thumbs on it. I needed time to think.

"As much as I want to say yes," I begin. "I need you guys to answer a few questions before I make my decision."

I felt the atmosphere grow stiff. I felt both their eyes on me. They didn't speak, and I could tell their attention was focused on me.

"First thing is, if I were to help with whatever plans you two may have," I start. "I asked Minghao this last night, but, will you both be completely honest with me?"

Joshua and Minghao remained quiet. I looked at Minghao who sat across from me, but his eyes went to Joshua. I followed his gaze and saw the brunette in deep thought.

His brows were narrowed before looking over at me.

"I can't guarantee your request," he tells me.

"Why's that?" I dare question him.

He took a deep breath before sighing. His hands made their way into his pockets, changing his composure.

"I don't believe you'll fully follow through with my plans," he tells me. "But, I know you're capable of doing them if you choose to follow through."

His words were careful but held truth.

"Things are not getting easier inside these walls," he explains.

"Yeah, but things aren't getting easier outside the walls," I proclaim.

Joshua's eyes fought with mine after hearing my words. He seemed taken back and a bit annoyed.

"So, you know the mutants are growing ever more rampant?" He tells me. "Did Hansol tell you?"

I glared at him. He had a hint of displeasure after saying Hansol's name. It was as if I wasn't supposed to know anything that was occurring outside this safe haven.

"So, what? Am I not supposed to know this?" I dare say.

I was getting annoyed by his secretive attitude.

It was his turn to scoff.

"Gain information however you want, but know that if you want to get out of here and get the help you need will only happen with Minghao and I," he tells me.

There was tension in the air, but I didn't give a damn.

I wanted answers.

"So, I'm just supposed to blindly help you and hope for the best?" My tone came out aggrivated. "Why is it only you that get's to make decisions in any of this? You haven't told me anything that shed light in this whole ordeal."

I can feel Minghao's eyes bounce back and forth between Joshua and I, but he remained quiet and finished his food.

"I hardly know you," I tell Joshua. "And all you've been doing is speaking in code. I hate to break it to you, but I'm no genius, but I'm not an idiot either. So tell me what you know, then I'd gladly help you."

I took a breath to calm myself down. My attention was on this man who seemed as riled up as me.

He made a face almost as if he wanted to say something but immediately changed his mind.

"You don't want to know what I know. Trust me," he says with a firm voice.

It was like he was trying to warn me about something. But I don't know what.

"What's so bad that you won't tell me?" I question him. "The world is in hell already. What else could make it worst?"

Joshua closed his eyes with annoyance.

"Because, there's a rat and I don't know who it is," he snaps at me.

My eyes widened at his words. He wasn't mad at me. He was mad at not knowing who to trust.

He has been on edge from the very beginning and tried his best to not lose his cool. Yet, here he was, struggling to find answers just like me.

He sighed heavy.

"Listen," he tells me. His voice changed with slight worry. "You don't have to trust me, but know that Minghao and I have witness hell more times than anyone else in this place has."

His words were sharp, and his voice grew with emotion.

"We need you to help us because there's not many people to trust. There, are you happy?" He finally says with a huff.

I stared at him for a moment before looking over at Minghao who was still spectating Joshua and I. He nodded his head with his eyes staring off into the table.

He was here mentally, but he had no words to say.

"Alright," I say.

I wanted to believe Joshua's words, but I had one more thing to ask them.

"Before I agree to this alliance," I carefully say.

Minghao and Joshua's eyes turned to me.

"Did one of you guys try to enter my room last night?" I finally ask.

I watched as the two narrowed their brows before looking at each other. It was as if this was news to them.

I sat there confused seeing their reactions, and a hint of fear overcame me.

"Why would we go to your room?" Joshua said with bewilderness. He seemed utterly confused as I was.

"I agree with Joshua." Minghao says. "Why the hell would I go straight to your room? I was tired after that talk with you."

I looked away from the two and thought back about the strange things that's been happening since I came here.

"I don't get it," I say. "I don't get it at all."

Joshua and Minghao were perplexed from my words.

"What do you mean?" Joshua says. His tone careful once again yet curious.

I let my eyes wander as I thought about the dangers that hid in this safe haven. How Jihoon and other researchers were scared for their lives.

How a researcher's work has gone missing after her passing.

And why would anyone even attempt to enter my room in the middle of the night.

"The rat," I begin.

The two men listened to me as I slowly spoke to process everything.

I closed my eyes to get a clear picture. "I've been putting a few pieces together, but I don't have a clear idea on who it could be. It has to be someone that has been attentive to the researchers, and have some sort of connections to be able to walk around freely here without anyone suspicious of their doing."

I tried to explain my thinking to them.

"For an evolved to show up out of nowhere and attack a researcher is one thing, but for it to show up and ignore everyone else and target one specific person is totally different. It's like it had a mind of its own and it knew what its doing. And just recently after that, I had a feeling someone has been watching me. They even tried coming to my room last night after my walk with you, Minghao."

Minghao's composure stiffened, and his eyes widened. He sighed in disbelief.

"If they came to you after our walk, then that means they have also been watching me." He says.

Paranoia ran through his voice, but there was a shade of anger.

He scoffed. "To be on someone's watch list is something they'll regret."

Joshua got off the counter, and his attention went elsewhere.

Minghao and I looked at him. His gaze was at the doorway, and before either of us could say anything, Joshua lifted a finger for us to stay quiet.

Minghao nodded his head at him before slowly getting up with his hand on his gun holster. I watched as Joshua did the same before I too followed their actions, but instead of a gun, I had my knife on me.

Joshua slowly closed the window without making a noise, and Minghao and I kept our guard up.

Joshua heard something Minghao and I didn't hear, but what exactly was it?

Thud.

There. A faint noise outside the doorway.

But nobody's supposed to be at this part of the building since it's sectioned off.

I looked over at Minghao, and he pointed his gun up at the door.

I felt a rush of nervousness hit me.

Thud.

Something was making noise.

But what exactly?

Then there it was-

A snarl...

• • •

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[dessiredestinny]

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In a world where uncertainty is the only constant, holistic solutions provide the stability and clarity needed to thrive. Whether you’re looking to understand your birth chart, improve your home’s energy, or gain insights into your future, Desire Destiny is your gateway to a brighter, balanced tomorrow.

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Why AI Needs Us More Than We Need AI

In the modern era, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force, reshaping industries, enhancing efficiencies, and creating groundbreaking opportunities. However, amidst the excitement, it's essential to recognize that AI is not a standalone solution. Its existence and success hinge on human ingenuity, creativity, and ethical oversight.

The Human Role in AI Development

AI systems, no matter how advanced, are the products of human effort. From initial conceptualization to algorithm development, humans are the architects of AI. These systems rely on human-curated data to learn and evolve. Without accurate, diverse, and unbiased data provided by humans, AI models risk being ineffective or perpetuating societal biases.

Furthermore, human expertise is critical in defining the objectives and boundaries of AI applications. For instance, an AI used in healthcare must be tailored to specific medical scenarios, a process that requires domain knowledge from professionals in the field. This collaboration between AI and human experts ensures that the technology addresses real-world challenges effectively.

Ethical Oversight and Accountability

One of the most vital aspects where humans play a pivotal role is in ethical decision-making. AI lacks the moral compass to discern right from wrong. Decisions involving fairness, privacy, and societal impact must be guided by human values. Without this oversight, AI could exacerbate inequalities or infringe on individual rights.

Regulatory frameworks and ethical guidelines developed by humans act as guardrails for AI deployment. These frameworks ensure that AI is used responsibly and aligns with societal norms. For example, determining the boundaries of facial recognition technology in public spaces is a human-driven decision, balancing security needs with privacy concerns.

Innovation Through Collaboration

While AI can process vast amounts of information faster than humans, it cannot replicate human creativity and emotional intelligence. Many innovations stem from human intuition, curiosity, and the ability to think abstractly. By working alongside AI, humans can leverage the technology’s strengths while providing the imaginative spark that drives true innovation.

Fields like art, design, and storytelling highlight this synergy. AI can generate ideas or assist in tasks, but the essence of creativity remains uniquely human. This collaborative dynamic fosters groundbreaking advancements that neither humans nor AI could achieve alone.

Why AI Depends on Us

At its core, AI is a tool. It requires human input to function and evolve. The algorithms, hardware, and infrastructure that power AI are all designed and maintained by humans. Moreover, the continuous improvement of AI systems depends on ongoing research and experimentation—activities driven by human intellect.

AI also lacks the capacity for independent thought, emotional understanding, and context awareness. These are fundamental human traits that guide nuanced decision-making and problem-solving. Without these qualities, AI would be limited to executing predefined tasks, incapable of adapting to complex, dynamic environments.

The Human-AI Partnership

Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for human effort, it should be seen as a partner that amplifies our abilities. This partnership can unlock unparalleled opportunities, but it’s humans who will steer the course. By setting goals, providing context, and ensuring ethical practices, we remain the driving force behind AI’s impact on society.

Conclusion

While AI holds immense potential, it ultimately depends on human expertise, creativity, and values to realize its promise. As we integrate AI into more aspects of our lives, it’s crucial to remember that this technology needs us more than we need it. By embracing our role as its creators and stewards, we can ensure that AI serves humanity responsibly and effectively.

Explore more about the symbiotic relationship between humans and AI at Why AI Needs Us More Than We Need AI.

[ask-obt]

so, given that eggs are made with aura, how do genetics work? obviously, traits are passed down, but is there study as to how this works? are there ways to compare genetics between family members like a parentage test? how does that factor in when a Mystery Dungeon gets involved in the creation of a child? what genes does an environment pass down?

Malachi: Like with any sort of genetics a lot of it has to do with random chance, but the aura contains a sort of "imprint" for a pokemon that influences how the rest of the body will look. It's sort of like how a strand of hair still contains a lot of genetic information for a pokemon. Often, traits that get passed down depend on the biological synergy between the pokemon involved in the exchange process. So for example, Inigo's traits prioritized a pouch since it's something shared with the line even though only Nidoqueens develop pouches, not Nidorans or Nidorinas. Likewise, Eilwyn doesn't have the shape of a Lumineon, but instead has the glowing patches since it works out better for the shape of their body.

When two (or more) pokemon create an egg together, the aura is the first thing that's developed. It's just a tiny amount, but it's the basis for everything that follows. You might've heard that carrying an egg around is the best way to get it to hatch- but the reason for this is so it can passively absorb aura from its surroundings to help it grow. Usually the aura absorbed from the surrounding environment just mimics the aura already developing inside the egg as it gets incorporated, but sometimes it can end up influencing the egg, which is how you get regional variants! And if you take an egg into a mystery dungeon, it'll help the egg develop even faster due to all the ley lines in the dungeon.

There are a few different types of genetic tests that can be done. Some can be done with aura readers who look at the shape and wavelength of aura between pokemon, but it requires a lot of practice and precision to get definitive results. You could also take something like spit samples and break down some of the information from that... but I don't really... know how that one works, hehe.