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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
Scotty

STORY: Monday, May 16, 2016

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4 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Yes you can. Live is not fair. If you are lucky - for example, you attract attention of correct immortal - you can get into much better situation than otherwise. Based on current evidence I wouldn't rule out the possibility of some really human-looking aberrations, and there certainly isn't any rule that all aberrations need to look as bad as Sirleck - as proven by both vampires, actually.

The REAL negatives of being aberration is the parasitic existence (and they are ok with this), complete lack of empathy (they likely didn't have much to start with), weakness against magical weapons and being favourite target of everyone and their dog - I mean, immortals and the people they marked. The monster form ... I think that the sort of people who became aberrations don't really take looking as monsters as being negative.

That of course doesn't invalidate the possibility that some of them really look that bad as a sort of payback. Or, maybe they look like monster because when they were still human, they knew what sort of monster they will became, and subconsciously wanted it to show on their look.

Once we see a vampire that looks like Ryan Reynolds, I'll certainly agree with that, but as it is we've seen 3 aberrations and while the France vampire is probably the most human looking of the three, there are still features that set him apart. Until we see a vampire that can easily blend in with a crowd without drawing attention  (bodysnatchers not included because you can't see them anyway, at least in Sirleck's case) the idea that their form is a consequence of their desire to use magic for malevolent purposes still stands.

The opposite can certainly be true though, if someone desires to do good with their magic, they would likely be granted with a form suited to them as well, Nanase's Guardian form could be seen as an example of this, I'm not entirely sure I'd go so far to say there could be a permanent form for those that do good as while I can see an aberrations form being a type of "you've chosen this path so this is how you'll live it" consequence, I don't think magic would force someone good to basically cease being able to live a relatively normal life by changing their form permanently, can you imagine how Nanase would feel if she was stuck being in her guardian form forever? Nah, magic would grant the good people the ability to control when they can use their forms.

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41 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Once we see a vampire that looks like Ryan Reynolds

To stay within the same movie, would Wesley Trent Snipes be enough? :)

41 minutes ago, Scotty said:

the idea that their form is a consequence of their desire to use magic for malevolent purposes still stands.

Sure. Magic has flair for drama, it is possible that it is also judging what is malevolent purpose. But we can't take as confirmed either.

And, to repeat, I don't think Sirleck is looking the worst of those three because he was most malevolent.

41 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I don't think magic would force someone good to basically cease being able to live a relatively normal life by changing their form permanently, can you imagine how Nanase would feel if she was stuck being in her guardian form forever?

Magic sure won't do that to NANASE. But I can easily imagine some Mother Teresa type who would be mostly ok with being stuck as angel forever AND as a result it happening.

I actually think that the surest way to get permanent monster form is to use a non-permanent one a lot: that matches everything we know about how getting spell works. Becoming aberration, even if the hypothesis of consequences of feeding on humans would be true, can only be the second surest way.

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18 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

To stay within the same movie, would Wesley Trent Snipes be enough? :)

Blade's different in that he was born half vampire (mother was bitten while pregnant), but he uses his strengths to hunt vampires. I'd think a similar situation in the EGS universe would be someone who may not have been born with vampire hunter talent believing that they could "fight fire with fire" by intentionally becoming a monster to hunt a monster. I can imagine that would be a dangerous path to walk on though.

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1 hour ago, Vorlonagent said:

Sirleck at least has the minor excuse that he comes from a culture where women were less respected and he is paying his secretary to dance to Caribbean music at lunch.  Probably a lot if she's not bringing a sexual harassment lawsuit. 

I don't remember it ever being mentioned where Sirleck came from.

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36 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Blade's different in that he was born half vampire (mother was bitten while pregnant), but he uses his strengths to hunt vampires. I'd think a similar situation in the EGS universe would be someone who may not have been born with vampire hunter talent believing that they could "fight fire with fire" by intentionally becoming a monster to hunt a monster. I can imagine that would be a dangerous path to walk on though.

While Hannibal King, the character Ryan Reynolds plays, was normally bitten and then cured. Which we know is impossible in EGS.

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20 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

While Hannibal King, the character Ryan Reynolds plays, was normally bitten and then cured. Which we know is impossible in EGS.

Ok, I never saw Trinity, so did not know Ryan Reynolds was in it, lol. I just randomly used him as an example of someone famous that people consider good looking.

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27 minutes ago, Scotty said:
52 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

While Hannibal King, the character Ryan Reynolds plays, was normally bitten and then cured. Which we know is impossible in EGS.

Ok, I never saw Trinity, so did not know Ryan Reynolds was in it, lol. I just randomly used him as an example of someone famous that people consider good looking.

I saw Blade:Trinity, but I must admit that I only know Ryan Reynolds plays in it because I searched it on wiki. He is not one of the short list of actors I'm able to recognize and remember, so I needed to look him up when you mentioned him.

Apparently, world is small. Or at least Hollywood is.

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23 hours ago, hkmaly said:

The REAL negatives of being aberration is the parasitic existence (and they are ok with this), complete lack of empathy (they likely didn't have much to start with), weakness against magical weapons and being favourite target of everyone and their dog - I mean, immortals and the people they marked.

And wizards.

21 hours ago, hkmaly said:

While Hannibal King, the character Ryan Reynolds plays, was normally bitten and then cured. Which we know is impossible in EGS.

Theoretically, no we don't. We are more or less assuming that if the magic that makes the person an aberration were to be broken, the person would revert to his real age - which, in a lot of cases, is old enough that he'd be dead.

However, potentially, if a person were to become an aberration and then regret it SOON after - soon enough that he'd probably still be alive even without being an aberration - and cooperate with attempts to break the magic, MAYBE it would be possible for him to survive.

Of course, not many people corrupt enough to become aberrations are going to regret it that soon and be willing to turn themselves in on the hope that professional aberration-killers will find a way to break the magic without killing them.

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2 hours ago, Don Edwards said:
23 hours ago, hkmaly said:

While Hannibal King, the character Ryan Reynolds plays, was normally bitten and then cured. Which we know is impossible in EGS.

Theoretically, no we don't. We are more or less assuming that if the magic that makes the person an aberration were to be broken, the person would revert to his real age - which, in a lot of cases, is old enough that he'd be dead.

Well, there is definitely no known way to return to being a regular human for them.

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16 minutes ago, DarthCheesecake said:

I swear I leave for a few months and he springs Sister 3 on us.

That's not confirmed yet, but I concede it is very likely.

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On 5/21/2016 at 6:54 PM, partner555 said:

I don't remember it ever being mentioned where Sirleck came from.

It hasn't been stated anywhere I know of either.  I am assuming that Sirleck gradually evolved into what he is now

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On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 7:44 PM, Scotty said:

Once we see a vampire that looks like Ryan Reynolds, I'll certainly agree with that, but as it is we've seen 3 aberrations and while the France vampire is probably the most human looking of the three, there are still features that set him apart. Until we see a vampire that can easily blend in with a crowd without drawing attention  (bodysnatchers not included because you can't see them anyway, at least in Sirleck's case) the idea that their form is a consequence of their desire to use magic for malevolent purposes still stands.

The opposite can certainly be true though, if someone desires to do good with their magic, they would likely be granted with a form suited to them as well, Nanase's Guardian form could be seen as an example of this, I'm not entirely sure I'd go so far to say there could be a permanent form for those that do good as while I can see an aberrations form being a type of "you've chosen this path so this is how you'll live it" consequence, I don't think magic would force someone good to basically cease being able to live a relatively normal life by changing their form permanently, can you imagine how Nanase would feel if she was stuck being in her guardian form forever? Nah, magic would grant the good people the ability to control when they can use their forms.

I think the problem with the idea of the aberrations' monstrous forms being a punishment is that the idea is assigning morality to Magic, an eldritch, unfathomably vast mentality that could be singular, plural, neither, or all of the above simultaneously. From what we know, Magic has a flair for the dramatic, a desire to be special( or at least to not be mainstream), and allows access to power regardless of the morality of the person seeking that power. When Magic grants power to an individual, that power is inline with the person's personality, deep desires, or bloodline affinity (Assuming Magic doesn't get confused, like in Elliot's case), though not necessarily the aspects that the person wants Magic to draw from, like when Nanase kept getting sneaking spells when she was afraid of getting outed as a lesbian. Also, in Squirrel prophet, when Magic acted to give the good guys a hint to prevent a system change, it decided to do so in an admittedly half-hearted manner, intentionally giving our heroes poor odds of success.

To me, it seems the Magic doesn't care if the heroes succeed or not, just that the events are dramatic and interesting (kinda like Pandora, but broader and with a better appreciation of natural pacing). That said, the monstrous forms of aberrations/vampires could be a consequence of that. Not as a punishment, but as a reflection of the magic users and a tool to ratchet up the drama. The monsters being monstrous makes for more interesting and dramatic events. We also have official confirmation that some aberrations only have monsterous forms when using their powers, which would allow for a degree of tension building when the action is slower and sneakier.

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5 hours ago, Drasvin said:

To me, it seems the Magic doesn't care if the heroes succeed or not, just that the events are dramatic and interesting (kinda like Pandora, but broader and with a better appreciation of natural pacing). That said, the monstrous forms of aberrations/vampires could be a consequence of that. Not as a punishment, but as a reflection of the magic users and a tool to ratchet up the drama. The monsters being monstrous makes for more interesting and dramatic events.

That's what I wanted to say. Although you said it better and supported it with flair for drama ...

5 hours ago, Drasvin said:

unfathomably vast mentality that could be singular, plural, neither, or all of the above simultaneously.

... I think it was the "mind" which was mentioned as possibly not being applicable. Being both plural and singular sounds impossible. On the other hand, Magic might really be that weird and hard-to-describe.

5 hours ago, Drasvin said:

like when Nanase kept getting sneaking spells when she was afraid of getting outed as a lesbian

Nanase was hiding much more than just being lesbian. For example, she was hiding what clothes she likes to wear. When she changed outfit, she DID get less sneaky spells ...

4 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:

What he said...

Did you noticed the "Like this" button?

 

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2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

... I think it was the "mind" which was mentioned as possibly not being applicable. Being both plural and singular sounds impossible. On the other hand, Magic might really be that weird and hard-to-describe

True, but it's Magic.It can warp they very fabric of reality. If it wants to be both singular and plural at the same time, I'm sure it can.

"All are one and one is all."

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3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

... I think it was the "mind" which was mentioned as possibly not being applicable. Being both plural and singular sounds impossible. On the other hand, Magic might really be that weird and hard-to-describe.

Just because something sounds impossible on the surface doesn't mean that it's actually impossible.

Imagine, if you would, a being with several conscious minds and one unconscious mind. Is it one or many? I'd say both.

A team is a group that, ideally, acts together as one.

This post brought to you by someone who is working on a setting that includes a machine intelligence that creates and absorbs personalities without apparent rhyme or reason.

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Is a modular server a single, complex machine, or many simpler machines interconnected? yes.

both are true depending on your perspective. so why not apply the same logic here?

how about a single entity thats aware of and interconnected with it selves across all realities? it is technically many entities with many minds, yet from a certain perspective they are all one entity with a single mind.

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9 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

Is a modular server a single, complex machine, or many simpler machines interconnected? yes.

And how about if that modular server is hosting several virtual servers?

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18 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

Is a modular server a single, complex machine, or many simpler machines interconnected? yes.

While true, not relevant. Plural or singular does not depend on hardware. Single AI would be still singular even if the hardware computing it would be in several distinct data centers.

The Borg collective might be better example. They use "we", but there is some singular there as well.

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On 22.5.2016 at 0:19 PM, InfiniteRemnant said:

and then as a twist (almost) nobody sees coming, Sister 3 turns out to be about Grace and Vladia.

That would be awesome. We haven't seen Grace's siblings in a very long time and I've always wanted to see more of them. Still, maybe it's best to get the "Susan meets Diane" subplot out of the way first, not to mention all the other subplots we were introduced to in this storyline.

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On 5/23/2016 at 0:14 PM, Vorlonagent said:

It hasn't been stated anywhere I know of either.  I am assuming that Sirleck gradually evolved into what he is now

The only non-EGS-related reference I could find to the name is Andrea Sirleck, a freelancer of some sort in Germany.

(The search also returned links to a couple pages that I couldn't find WHY they were included.)

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I believe Dan clarified in a commentary that Sirleck was coined as an anagram of "lickers", as in "stone licker" (lampetra - lamprey), suggesting a parasite in reference to parasitic lampreys.

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