mod plot | the sacking of olympus: hacking harbinger

[unplug]

OLYMPUS: HACKING HARBINGER ◀

This is the second OOC plot post for the Sacking of Olympus plot, focusing on the Zion Defense Grid and civilian corps' effort to investigate and defeat the REAPER Machine force while they are jacked in. Most of this concerns the events of the firewall simulation. For more information on the activities and events taking place in the Real, please see the original plot post.

▼ NAVIGATION

• Original Plot Post: Timeline, Setting Information, Challenges, Questions, etc.
  
• Three By Three
  • Indoctrination: Symptoms
    
  • Part I: Stick
    
  • Part II: Carrot
    
  • Part III happens to be brilliantly named...
• One By One: The Choice, OOC Requirements, etc., added 6/24/15
  
• Battle Finale & Wrap-Up: Notes also added 6/24/15

▶ THREE BY THREE

The door at the core of the ship slides open, and your characters step into semi-darkness.

▼ INDOCTRINATION

Immediately upon entering the new space, all three (3) team members begin to experience the following symptoms. This starts as an annoyance and progressively worsens. Due to the fact that they arrived and entered the simulation together, the 'neural load,' so to speak, will be split among the three of them. As a consequence, they will be able to last through the simulation for a considerably longer stretch of time than Lizzie was able to alone, despite the increased intensity of the effect. However, two will succumb.

• Headaches, increasing in pain, receding, then returning with more intensity
  
• Buzzing and ringing sounds in their ears
  
• Experience of time dilation; what feels like only a few minutes walking through the simulation stretches subjectively into an hour
  
• Sense of 'being watched' and other paranoid feelings
  
• Flashbacks to memories that grow increasingly powerful until they manifest as auditory (and eventually visual, see below) hallucinations, specific to times of subjugation by a greater organization, person, or other force
  
• These hallucinations will interfere with operator communications, placing their fate in the hands of their fellow teammates
  
• As the process goes on, general confusion and frustration, weakness of will
  
• Two teammates will be extracted before the symptoms worsen to the point of brain damage, thanks to forewarning gleaned from Kitty Jones AKA Lizzie's solo mission

Though characters will not suffer long-term effects and can even push through more action in the Real after they are unplugged, they will experience severe physical and mental fatigue at the end of the plot. This will result in a 1-2 week sleep and recovery period for most, if not all the characters. OOCly, the mods recommend using this time to backtag without worrying about catching up on timelines.

To be clear, the third teammate who makes it through to the end does not do so because of superior intelligence, willpower, or any other particular quality. Specific mental strengths may certainly have contributed to their success. However, without the help of their teammates, they would not have made it. Players may choose to dramatize the matter however they like, and of course characters are subject to their biases. However, please proceed with the OOC knowledge that this exercise is not a measure of IC superiority.

Note also, this section of the plot is player run. If you are struggling with NPCing or how to dramatize these events in RP, please PM the mod account!

▼ PART I: THE STICK

The first sequence will fit seamlessly in with your characters' expectations of what should come after the initial space combat, or at least a convincing average of the three individual mindsets. Given their familiarity with ZDG hovercraft, the earlier spacecraft scenes, and the Oracle's warnings of a firewall (i.e., 'wall of flames,'), most likely they will find themselves in a spaceship engine room with a reactor, along with some form of console or wiring that looks to require hacking (or shooting up). As the characters undertake these tasks, however, Indoctrination symptoms will surge.

One teammate will experience the symptoms more intensely than the others. One or more figures from this person's past (Real or Matrix) will suddenly manifest, full-bodied, tangible, and very aggressive. Specifically, the new arrival/s will come from a situation in the teammate's life, in which they felt a great deal of social and even emotional pressure to capitulate to a higher authority that they did not agree with. Dialogue will flow similarly to the remembered script of past confrontation, but then abruptly deviate to discuss their attitude toward the Matrix and the temptation to return to blissful ignorance. The intruder is also likely to behave more angrily than they did originally. For example, they may remark on how much easier life will be if the character follows, how much better they will feel, and drop in a mention that the Matrix offered greater comforts.

While this intruder may seem so artificial and stilted at first that the targeted teammate can easily ignore it, their resistance will deteriorate rapidly. The intruder may grow violent, and the rest of the scene will soon warp and reconstitute to support this reality. The engine room may convert to a child's bedroom, a torture chamber, or a Catholic classroom. If maimed or killed, the intruder will simply be replaced by duplicates or other, similarly-motivated faces from the past. In combination with Indoctrination, this will eventually force the teammate into a state of rapid-deteriorating disorientation or confusion.

Before the other characters can exit the room, they must arrange with the operator to have the teammate extracted. No hardline is required, and the disengagement sequence is similar to extraction from man-made simulations. The other two teammates proceed per operator instruction and simulated doorways.

▼ PART II: THE CARROT

As they move out of their fallen teammate's past, they go into a simulation based on the experiences of the second teammate. This time, the environment (i.e., the physical setting), immediately assimilates the second teammate's past experiences of subjugation and conformity.

However, the historical intruder that then manifests is less direct in their coercive technique. Whereas the previous scenario might have featured a screaming, domineering parent, this one is more likely to offer treats or toys, and even agree the choice lies with the character. However, herein lies the rub: the intruder is a hallucination masked over the one remaining teammate. As such, when the spike of confusion and paranoia hits the second teammate, they will sincerely believe they are once again fervently resisting the simulation and the Machines. However, in their disorientation, they are actually fighting/arguing with their own teammate and refusing to leave the simulation for fear this is a trick to plug them back into the Matrix. Throughout, their symptoms will worsen.

Apart from appearances, the degree of similarity between the mask and actual teammate's words and actions is yours to determine. For example, the second teammate may hallucinate a snide conversation over bloody combat, or only a few key words or tone of voice may tweak in the hallucination.

To the final, relatively lucid teammate, their ally's hallucination rapidly becomes apparent. They will see the false face projected translucently over their own and hear their own false voice in tinny, distant distortion. Their task is to get their teammate safely extracted, whether by destroying the physical setting, a flashy show of unique powers, or getting through the hallucination with gooey sentiment. Who doesn't love gooey sentiment! Again, no hardline is required.

Following this objective, they must move on to the next space, guided by common sense and a good operator.

▼ MEET THE CART DRIVER

The third teammate makes their way through the final doorway and meets an AI, predictably masked as an oppressive force of conformity from their past. More information on this matter will be posted very shortly. The entry will be updated below.

▶ ONE BY ONE

The Zion Defense Grid has a great deal to learn about their enemy.

And their enemy may well have yet more to learn about them.

▼ FINAL CONFRONTATION

One of the three team members makes it to face the Artificial Intelligence controlling the Harbinger machine.

▶ SETTING

Similar to the challenges faced by the other teammates, the final instantiation will draw from elements of the character's past. They will find themselves in an environment reminiscent of a situation where they were once coerced, seduced, bullied, or otherwise pressed to give in to an oppressive power, that they did not agree with.

The AI will adopt the form of that oppressive power from the character's past, approach them, and initiate conversation. However, the 'mask'/persona that the AI is utilizing here not be as strongly influenced/scripted by the situation from your character's past. Within a few seconds, all references to the personal drama will fade away, and the worse symptoms of Indoctrination will level (rather than totally disappear). The AI will share facts about the history of the world, its understanding of human nature, and observations about the character's human flaws and insecurities. On both an individual level and that of all humankind, the AI regards these problems as immutable, toxic, and completely damning.

It will be pretty snobby and judgmental and profoundly mean, packed in with numerous promises of pain and exploitation. Worse, the ongoing (if not overpowering) effects of Indoctrination will enhance its remarks.

▶ THE CHOICE
Two outcomes are possible: demonstrate to the AI that humans are capable of and wish for change— or that they are not.

In most confrontations, change can be proven through a 'simple' but dramatic show of cognitive flexibility, by making a choice that takes the AI by surprise. If your character tends to be cowardly, non-violent, or uncertain, they can prove their capacity for change by murdering the AI's 'mask.' If your character tends to be a brash action hero, especially one who hates Machines, your character can prove that same capacity with a show of restraint, contemplation, forgiveness, or doubt. A cerebral character may physically embrace the AI, or a hatefully angry one might break down weeping. It doesn't have to be entirely heartfelt, but a grain of sincerity must be there.

As such, failing to prove capacity for change can be done by taking the easiest, most clear-cut (and probably the 'most canon') action. The warrior kills; the scholar intellectualizes; the coward cowers.

In the long-term, changes to the AI's outlook will determine the shape of metaplot to come. However, it isn't a single confrontation that will alone change the AI's 'mind.' Instead, like a certain character from the Mass Effect canon, the different components of the AI will come together and achieve consensus. Note, only one character must 'prove change is possible' in order to end the present battle in physical terms. More than one is required for greater changes in the future.

Confrontations involving more than one PC is complicated by the AI's perceptions of human cooperation. No matter how they interact or what conclusion they come to, the AI will almost certainly interpret their actions in a negative way, specifically seeing them as predictable and condemnable. Mathematically speaking, this is straightforwardly because it takes a roughly multiplicative approach to predicting human behavior, and there are exponentially more possible degrees of freedom when more people are involved. Morally speaking, this is because the robots are judgy. In terms of setting, with two or more humans, one character's past chosen at random should dominate in shaping the environment. Players are free to choose which character's past prevails.

Please don't worry about breaking the metaplot, just do what feels good for story. Feel free to ask questions or seek guidance in our question thread.

▶ OOC ARRANGEMENT/REQUIREMENTS

As this part of the plot is mod-run, we ask that players please send a PM to unplug with a rough description of the character's historical situation that you want integrated into the setting and AI 'mask.' Think of it as a plotting PM! Please be as specific as possible, and feel free to include a video segment or walkthrough (e.g., if the canon is a game). The mods may respond with further questions!

In order to participate, your character must have tagged into at least one (1) log on in the Matrix portion of the plot with at least one (1) teammate (i.e., either this log or this log).

▶ BATTLE FINALE AND WRAP-UP

A summary of IC knowledge will be posted toward the end of June or beginning of July.

In actual IC timeline, the massive threat of Harbinger itself should have been dealt with in 72 hours. However, it will take until the end of June/early July for all the troops to have returned to Zion (or other home berths).

As promised, however, the plot (war) overall is not over. Details on the July portion are forthcoming.

▶ QUESTIONS & SIGNUPS

Moved to this entry.

• Questions for the mods
  
• 3x3 signup forms here