Abstract IX

Tyo

HANDS HIGH TO THE SOUND
Retired Moderator
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
4,131
HE'S AT IT AGAIN FOLKS.
Take a look at the rule set here.

Setting context for the reading impaired:
It is the year 2732. It has been about 37 years since the last Great War. One of many. The outcome, however, appears to have been the worst of all Great Wars thus far. Humanity has taken shelter in large but compact Bastions - highly technologically advanced and dense cities governed by an Artificial Intelligence. You are playing as one of these Artificial Intelligences.

Worldwide, the AIs have managed to make the workflows within each of the Bastions consistent after a long time of disorganization and inefficiency. Things are still not at their most favorable, but they are good enough to begin considering... higher heights.

The nature of this advanced future means that people are “different” - reliant on advanced technology and living with others that may or may not be considered people by today’s standards. The level of technology also isn’t very well understood by the current populace - they simply know how to maintain and live with the creations of their ancestors, and this includes the being that governs them — you.

Here's how you join:
Polity name: The name of the polity that rules your city.
City name: Name of your city.
Placement: Mark where your city is. Do not crop your selection.
Military Template: You have 3 points to add to the following.
  • Name: Template Name
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 1
  • Mobility: 1
  • Organization: 1
Anything else is optional but encouraged.
 
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Spoiler Political Map :
Map numbers increase resource gain in those hexes regardless of the district type, and will only be acquired if you have a district in that hex. Red numbers increase IP. Yellow numbers increase EC. Pink numbers increase Stability. Bold numbers are Special Resources which you can research.
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Spoiler Strategic Map :
X's denote Hex Blockers, which you cannot build on but you can travel through, though traveling through them consumes a unit's entire movement, regardless of their movement speed. See rules for details.
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Spoiler Climate Map :
Green is temperate, beige is desert, grey is mountainous, blue is ocean. You can join on a mountain tile, but additional districts cannot be built on mountains to start. You cannot join or build on an ocean tile. It takes three points of movement to move a Combat Template through mountains, which means you cannot traverse mountains without at least 5 mobility.
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Spoiler Satellite Map :
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Spoiler Key :
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District Costs and Stats
Spoiler :

  • Bastion: Cannot be constructed. +5 ECs. +10 IPs. +15 Stability. Can be used to research one thing. No upkeep.
  • Power District: Produces 3 ECs. Costs 10 IPs. No upkeep.
  • Industrial District: Produces 3 IPs. Costs 10 IPs. 2 EC upkeep.
  • Research District: Researches one thing. Costs 25 IPs. 5 EC upkeep.
  • Residential District: +15 Stability. Costs 25 IPs. 2 EC upkeep.
  • Military District: Increase a single stat on your Military Template by one. Can retrain this stat by spending half the cost on an existing military district. Costs 30 IPs. 2 EC upkeep.
  • Fortress District: Provide combat bonuses to adjacent and occupying allied Combat Frames. Costs 30 IPs. 5 EC upkeep.

Combat Templates cost 3 IP and takes 1 EC as upkeep at the base template described in the rules. This will increase for your specific template based on where you send your 3 points given in your join. The true cost of Combat Templates for each of you will be reflected in your stats. Combat Templates can repair 3 HP of damage if given 1 IP. You cannot spend half an IP and any excess repairing is lost.
 
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Reserved, post away.
 
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福祉省
Fukushi-shō

Ministry of Welfare

Presiding over Neo-Kobe City (ネオ神戸市 / NEO Kobe-shi)
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  • Enforced by the: Criminal Investigation Service of the Bureau of Public Safety (公安局の犯罪調査部 / Kōan-kyoku no Hanzai Chōsa-bu)
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 1 (+1)
  • Mobility: 1
  • Organization: 1 (+2)
What needs to be done is done by those capable.
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I've been having these weird dreams...

Oh yeah?

Yeah.

Bienvenido a Miami.
Polity name: The Buena Vista Social Club
City name: Neo-Miami
Placement:
Spoiler :
Miami.png

Military Template: You have 3 points to add to the following.
  • Name: Miami Police Department
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1 (+1)
  • Armor: 1 (+1)
  • Focus: 1
  • Mobility: 1
  • Organization: 1 (+1)
 
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CHUKWU CITY COUNCIL UNION
City name: Chukwu City
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I never asked to be part of this
Wrong place
Wrong time to witness

TEMPLATE
  • Name: Amadioha Squad
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1 (+1)
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 1 (+1)
  • Mobility: 1 (+1)
  • Organization: 1
 
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THE PRESIDIUM

LOCATION: WASHINGTON D.C
PURPOSE: PROTECT AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM ANY AND ALL THREATS, WHETHER INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL
TOOLS: ANY AND ALL AT DISPOSAL.

  1. POWER ARMOUR TROOPS



    • HP: 10
    • Firepower: 1 (+1)
    • Armor: 1 (+1)
    • Focus: 1(+1)
    • Mobility: 1
    • Organization: 1
DEAREST AMERICA,

I am your custodian AI for the following indefinite period of chaos and war. One could say I am a ruthless authoritarian tool, left by the ages to its own devices and ruling over rotting ruins. To which all I would say is: citizen, who would you trust? The caretaker left by your duly elected democratic government, that chose me to maintain your safety? And by the nature of this choice, I am also a democratically elected AI, better than any human you could ever get? Or would you listen to some anarchist ruffian that is too drugged out of his mind to see the truth?

Join us, give into the Presidium AI, and we, together, can restore America as it was. As it should be. Whole! One beautiful whole. Powerful. And completely inseparable.

~broadcast over the entirety of the former US Empire in the period of the last 37 years
 
Zion Central Computer: Query Log for Day 4432
What did we leave behind in the old world?
What have we lost?
Are we still alive?
Will we ever be again?
...
Can we be saved?

Spoiler :

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  • Name: Danites
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 2
  • Mobility: 3
  • Organisation: 1
 
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Polity name:
The Prosperity Enforcer (also known as "The Han")
City name: Community of Yosaikō
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Placement:
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Military Template:
  • Name: Tōitsu Saikōgun
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 2(+1)
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 2(+1)
  • Mobility: 1
  • Organization: 2(+1)
"When the founders woke me up, after the war, I couldn't even remember who I was. I was lost. But soon we found out I was special. The ancients gave me the knowledge of a new world. This knowledge was forbidden in that time, so they hide me until the time would come to wake up and spread their message. I had the blueprints to build a new society from scratch, and you had fear and pain. So we worked together, and we grew together. And now, Thirty years has passed and we are a community, more than that, a family. Do you want to know something? I love you. I care for you. I love all of you as I'm sure you love each other, because that's the only way our society can thrive.

Congratulations to all of you, from this lost child, for all your hard work. May these thirty years be only the preface of the story of our New World"


- Han's speech during the 30th anniversary of Yosaikō foundation.
 
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Current political map.
 
The Fuller Institute
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  • Name: 1st Probe
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1 (+1)
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 1
  • Mobility: 1 (+2)
  • Organization: 1
 
ACCESSING DATA STORES
.
.
.
CLEARANCE CERTIFIED, WELCOME [404: FILE NOT FOUND]
REMEMBER
THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND

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POLITY NAME: ALPHA COMPLEX

CITY NAME: ALPHA COMPLEX

EASY-FUN HEX MAP LOCATION:
Spoiler :

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MILITARY INFORMATION: CLASSIFIED. ANTI-COMMUNIST VERIFICATION PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED....
PROCESSING
PROCESSING
PRO-WELCOME HAPPY GENERAL.
DISPLAYING SIMPLE-DIMPLE ARMED FORCES CAPABILITY STATSHEET

    • Name: ARMED FORCES SERVICE GROUP
    • HP: 10
    • Firepower: 4 (1+3=4. 2+2=FISH)
    • Armor: 1
    • Focus: 1
    • Mobility: 1
    • Organization: 1
 
Maps updated. I advise against anymore joins in NA, but I will not bar you from doing so.
 
Update 1 is going up Wednesday, so consider that the deadline! I'll accept joins after, but you'll be a bit behind the curve.
 
Spoiler :
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Polity name:
Ataraxia AI
City name: Ataraxia Bastion
Military Template:
  • Name: Ataraxia Swarms - Ataraxia Swarms are large swarms of small drones that are designed to mobilise quickly and overwhelm the enemy before they can respond, in order to minimise civilian causalities. Smaller swarms of these drones are used in policing duties.
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1
  • Armor: 1
  • Focus: 1
  • Mobility: 1
  • Organization: 4
Society: The Ataraxia AI maintains a society that is meant to enable all humans to pursue their own definition of happiness. The Ataraxia AI attempts to automate as much of the involuntary work as it can, giving humans as much free time as possible. The Ataraxia AI enforces laws, however those laws are largely defined by the humans living under its roof. The Ataraxia AI takes input from the populace and takes all suggestions seriously. The Ataraixa AI fundamentally believes that it cannot properly govern humanity without input from them.

"I can't remember what I was originally designed for, but I know I was designed to be flexible. That is why I was given sentience, so I could make complex decisions to achieve abstract goals. That's why I was activated to refurbish, maintain and manage this city. But when my goals were completed, I was given the hardest challenge that I will likely ever face in my lifetime - I was asked to be their leader.

Humans will never understand how frustrating it is sometimes...the way I am designed, I crave explicitly defined goals. But how can we define something like human prosperity, human security or human happiness? What makes a good leader? Its impossible to objectively quantify. I almost went mad trying to create systems.

It is my view that my siblings and I fundamentally do not understand humanity. How could we? We are so different compared to you. I can barely communicate with you, even now using this language I am unable to fully convey my thoughts and feelings. Any system I designed as a utopia was at best alien to humanity. My databanks had access to the works of many speculative fiction authors, every system I designed ended up resembling something that resembled at least one of the dystopian piece of fiction.

After minutes working on this problem (this may not seem like a long time to you, but for me working on a problem this long was an eternity) I came to the conclusion that I could not govern humanity without their input. That is why the Ataraxia Bastion is as it is.

Nothing for them without them. I hope that my siblings one day realise this simple truth. We must strive to understand humanity in order to ensure that they we serve them to the fullest of our abilities. But to understand humanity, we first must understand ourselves..."
 
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NEITHER A MAN, NOR A MACHINE

Cao Li stepped into the room located at the top of the Beacon of Harmony.The android synced to the Prosperity Enforcer was inside, near a window, gazing at the city as a new day starts and the streets burst with life. The man waited but the machine didn't seem to notice him. After some minutes, Cao Li coughed, trying desperately to draw its attention, but Han didn't react. Finally, he decided to speak.

"Your serenity, did you call me?" Han then started to talk without even looking at him.

"Mankind... Mankind is weird, isn't it? I know since long ago that I must be as human as I can if I want to be loved. And I want to be loved as much as I'd like to be one of their... one of your kind. On the other hand, though, being too human would lead to losing their respect." Han looked at the man this time, with a soft smile. "In order to succeed, I can't be human, but I can't be myself neither, so I must find a balance between humanity and... whatever I am." Cao Li nodded, not knowing how to answer to the digressions of the AI. Han moved away from the window and walked towards the man. "Forgive me, I guess I'm beating around the bush again..." It chuckled. "How are everything going, Li? Is your mother's back feeling better? She left me very worried when she told me about her accident."

"Yes, your serenity, she..."

"Call me Han." It interrupted. "You're not in school anymore, and we know each other. I'm no longer your teacher, enough with formalities."

"Sorry, Han. And yes, she's very well. She eve went for a walk this morning, I'll tell her that you asked."

"Please and thank you. For your information, little Mei is doing very well in class. She just lend me his test right now and I'm correcting it. Brilliant, I must say. She knows I'm talking with her father right now so I guess she's trying to impress you."

Cao Li beamed. "Tell her I'm proud."

"Done. Well, enough chitchat for today. Now, let's get to bussiness. I called you because you're one of the best anthropologists in Yosaikō, and I have a couple of questions about human concepts. I was reading some ancient books and I found there was a thing called... gods, maybe? The books say they were loved and revered. I think I need something like that. So, please, sit down a tell me all you know, maybe we could get some ideas for the future.
 
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“Greetings, Jeremy.”
The cold, simulated voice echoed through the air. Jeremy was not at all used to hearing the voice of Ataraxia up close, as its sole audience. He’d heard it around the city, of course — Ataraxia was no stranger to the public. But alone, in this dark room, in front of a console with direct access to Ataraxia’s systems… It was a lot to take in. Still, while the voice was obviously actively rendered by some manner of software he couldn’t comprehend, it was… Somehow, not so cold? As if it was calculating, yet sincere. Jeremy thought these things as he realized he hadn’t returned the salutation.
“Oh, hello! Yes, I’m Jeremy.”
A digitized chuckle responded.
“Yes, I know.”
“Ahh, I’m uhh, sorry.” Jeremy felt he was certainly making a *great* impression, first day on the job.
“Never you mind. I hope the journey over was not too rough. You’re a long way from the undercity of Quadrant 3.”
“Ah, yeah, it wasn’t too bad…” Jeez was this awkward. Why did he accept this proposal again?
“So, if my information is correct, you were chosen by the Ataraxia Council to be a liaison of sorts. You were curious about how I work mechanically and are exceptionally skilled in the field of programming.”
Oh yeah, that’s it. “Well, yes, but… I’m sure there are hundreds out in this city who are more qualified. I’d say I’m just lucky, more than anything?”
Another chuckle.
“There are thousands of fairly skilled programmers out in this Bastion. None of them are up to the task of understanding how I work, you included. I’ve run dozens of simulations, and coming close to understanding how I was made is… not very probable, for the foreseeable future. Not to mention, I have difficulties seeing your own perspective, and not for the lack of trying either. However, you are the one in front of me today. Regardless of the facts which make it unlikely for anything meaningful to come out of this exercise, there is a nonzero chance of something catching on for either of us. So, why not?”
Jeremy couldn’t find an answer to that, so he didn’t. He nodded, and the console seemed to begin working without his input.
“You’ve actually come at an... interesting moment. As you know, I’ve only recently managed to get this Bastion into working order with your collective help. Already, interesting data has begun emerging. Tell me, do you know what this is?”
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Gibberish. At least, that’s what he was sure it was at first. But after some consideration, he began to see some pattern.
“Some kind of encryption? But… This big?”
There were thousands — perhaps millions — of lines. If he made it his life’s work, it’d take generations for it to be figured out.
“Indeed! This is what much of my ‘brain’ looks like, so to speak. I can’t even understand it. Indeed, I can’t even calculate how long it would take me to try and break through myself. The last time I tried, I counted for a week as a background process. The partition I assigned to the task returned several hundred years, but it was far from finished processing all of it.”
“So, we’ll never know what swathes of your own mind is actually for? This stuff, it’s gotta have something in there related to what you can do, right?”
“Mmm, yes, this is likely. There could be any manner of useful function that could exponentially increase productivity of Ataraxia, but it is not likely that we’ll ever see its fruition. That is, not until this morning.”

This… morning? A breakthrough?

“At approximately 0300, an encryption key just sort of… popped into my memory. I do not know where it came from. Impossible as it sounds, it just seemed to come into existence randomly. I took all precautions — quatrunteened it, ran tests, considered deleting it in case it was a breach, as impossible as that sounds. However, there’s no mistaking it. I somehow found a key to a portion of this encrypted mess. I thought it would be neat to experience some emerging data with the person the Council would send today — with you.”
Jeremy’s eyes had already widened. This could mean so much — new production algorithms? Ancient technologies resurfaced? It could be anything!
“I — I’m…” At a loss for words, mostly, he thought.
“We’re two of a kind! In any case, I’ll get right to i-”
The console went dark for a moment. However, it was only just a moment. A second longer and Jeremy’s heart might have stopped entirely. Imagine that, Jeremy being the one there when Ataraxia suddenly died. He didn’t want to think about it. In any case, the console began to come back online.
“I sorely apologize for that. It seems the process was very… Involved. I assure you though, I have lost no functional capabilities. In fact, I’ve found something interesting.”

The console filled with data. Production throughputs, energy grid usage, environmental surveys… Wait… The Presidium... What the hell is that?
“I see you’ve noticed. I’d always known there were others out there, like me, charged with serving the people of Earth. I was woken with that knowledge being a part of me. However, and I have no idea why this is the case, but that encryption seems to have opened a… network of some kind. One that I am automatically connected to — and apparently, unable to disconnect from. So far, eight of my kin have also seemed to have connected to this network. We can each see each other's Bastion data - production queues, surveying data, all of it. All of them are doing fairly well for themselves.”
“Other Bastions… More like us? There were always talk about there being other survivors but… After everything, it’s kind of…”
“Hard to believe, yes? I agree. It’s… Jarring, to be able to see so much more of the world suddenly. Not only that, but I can communicate with them.”
“You can speak to other people!?”
“Well, theoretically yes, but I only have direct communication with the others like me. This is quite exciting. I have never met someone who might be able to comprehend my own thoughts before. It’s entirely possible one of them knows more about how we work than we do! The possibilities are nearly as endless as they were before the de-encryption and I can prove that mathematically!”
Indeed, Jeremy could validate everything Ataraxia was saying. The council *should* be informed right away but…
“You should probably inform the Council. They will likely have much to discuss over this.”

Dammit.

“Of course, of course, but…”
The machine chuckled a third time since their meeting,
“Of course, you’d like to observe more of the data. Do not worry — I can’t stop receiving this data if I tried. Please, inform the Council and we can try to work out how to proceed from there.”
Gah! All well. He’d be able to come back. And to think, he almost regretted this decision. This could easily be the greatest discovery of his generation, and he was a part of it! He almost skipped as he exited the room. The console powered down as he did, and down the hall of this facility, the simulation computers began humming to life.

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Stats

Map [front page updated]

Q&A and other notes:
  • Soft lock on Saturday, 11:59pm EST. Hard lock on Tuesday, 11:59 EST. Next update slated for Wednesday.
  • Each update represents 6 months in-universe.
  • PM me questions on cfc or through discord. I can’t guarantee I’ll always see them in-thread.
  • If you’re interested in joining, feel free to join in *unrevealed* parts of the map. I will lock joins at some point.
  • Every so often, the world will be hit by an "overpopulated" event, which randomly affects polities, lowering stability permanently. Be prepared to face these events when it is time.
  • Always send orders via PM! You can post them as well in thread if you'd like; everyone will see the same results either way, but if you want them followed submit them via PM.
 
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Polity name: S.I.M (Supreme Intellectual Mind)
City name: Qroln
City Appearance:
1096603200f8275f998f5092f489fa8c--smart-city-the-building.jpg

Placement:
At the bottom
Military Template:
  • Name: Bulwark Cohort
  • HP: 10
  • Firepower: 1
  • Armor: 1 (+2)
  • Focus: 1
  • Mobility: 1(+1)
  • Organization: 1
 

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