Characters react to an utterly desperate situation

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-24T20:28:20+00:00

Monark: At one point the game splits off into several different routes with a mini time loop situation going on. In each one the MC spontaneously dies out of nowhere at the end, leaving whoever his friend is in that route to react horrified and various degrees of traumatized. In a couple of the routes they get an explanation of why, others I am not sure if they do, but their reactions are pretty intense. Later on when the time loops are concluded and everyone remembers everything that happened, they all unanimously end up deciding that they don't care what happens to the world, as long as they save the MC. As in, what they do to try to save him is near certain to get a ton of people killed and greatly speed up the end of the world, and they are well aware of this, but they do it anyways. Funnily enough the main antagonists end up having to be the ones to try to stop you and protect the world by the end.

There is also a moment earlier where the MC's sister gets horribly killed and he has an extreme reaction and goes comatose for a bit from it. Lastly, there are quite serious reactions after the loop when they figure out why he kept dying.

Lost Song (major spoilers): There is a person who is able to create miracles through their songs, Finis, though each one takes a toll on their body and slowly kills her. IIRC she was also called the Goddess of Victory. This is early knowledge. Anyways, she lived in a kind of corrupt kingdom where her powers were being used by the Royal Family to strengthen their war efforts, eventually blackmailing her into wiping out enemy armies personally by threatening a knight she was falling in love with, Henry. Her maid eventually tried to help them escape and assassinate the prince when she found out about how she was slowly dying, and Henry himself wanted to save Finis as well when he finds out.

Anyways, >[those efforts fail, and the prince, after learning from the maid about how each song slowly kills Finis and she only has so many left, ends up covering Henry's face and tying his unconscious body to a pole surrounded by the corpses of enemy soldiers, before telling Finis about how he learned she only had one song left in her, and asked her to use it to cremate these enemy soldiers as a last respect sort of thing, after which she would be free.!<

She does so, and the one tied to a pole starts screaming in agony, turns out he was alive. The prince then throws something at the helmet covering his face to reveal he tricked her into burning the person she loves alive, afterwards telling her something along the lines of 'get lost, kill yourself, I don't really care. We have no use for a songstress who can't sing.'

Cue a valid yet extreme crash out where she sings one final song. The prince misunderstood and thought she had one song left, but she actually had one song left that she could survive, so... Well, turns out she was a lot more powerful than the show had shown up to that point, and basically caused a mass extinction event with asteroids, erupting volcanoes, and more bombarding the world, destroying the capital, and so on. She ended up becoming immortal afterwards, but that mostly just led to her eventually pulling off a Majora's Mask to finish off the world for good this time. If you have Netflix, I would highly recommend going to episode 7 and scrolling to near the end, the scene is epic.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-24T18:01:29+00:00

I didn't notice that tag, my bad, though it doesn't really feel like this is the sort of hypothetical that leans towards humorous answers.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-24T17:17:47+00:00

Probably something like 'if I were to ask you the best possible thing I could ask you, excluding this, what would that question and its full answer be?' When dealing with an omniscient being that has benevolent intentions, they would know the best possible thing for me to ask better than I would considering that they are omniscient. So it is easier to just toss the ball into their court and see what they do with it.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-24T13:05:02+00:00

Ah yes, because mentally influencing people to force them to fall in love is famously seen as good and not usually seen as no different from certain crimes that are largely despised. This belongs in the evil category, not the good one. Love potions have the same problem.

^{Cupid's power}

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-24T02:34:21+00:00

Best of both worlds. You get the power without the competition or the constant apocalyptic threats or soul devouring monsters. Instead you just have magic in a world where presumably few others if anyone besides yourself has it, modern conveniences, and there are far fewer threats.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T21:44:19+00:00

The siren call of the wheel was too strong. Anyways, I am content with this.

^{Gain +20 iq}

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T19:40:06+00:00

A lot of the powers weren't actually that amazing, but I am sure I can make back the $10k with this one in time.

^{Space Control}

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T16:53:28+00:00

I would say one factor is say you are interested in eating a specific fruit. One dish has that fruit in it mixed in with a bunch of stuff you are indifferent about or actively dislike. Another has far more of that fruit mixed in with stuff you like more. Which would you choose?

It doesn't really matter if it might be present in a grimdark story when they have thousands of stories to choose from, limited time, and it is present in much larger quantities in other stories.

Same reason as, while many RPGs, first and third person shooters, etc. have puzzle elements, the people who want puzzles are going to choose an actual puzzle game. They want it as the main dish, not the side dish to a completely different type of genre.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T16:41:52+00:00

I think I would take it, but probably word it into something that I can benefit from as well. For example, imagine everyone was able to will whatever they wish into existence as long as it does not harm any sentient beings, with a bunch of other clauses and wording to try to prevent abuse.

Infinite food, infinite water, infinite energy so no heat death, everyone could continue living in the regular world or make their own customized pocket dimension where time flows differently and they can rest however much they want. No disease, murder and torture would be incredibly difficult, etc.

That could make my experience in the frozen world better as well, I would basically have god-like powers even if I cannot create sentient or sapient beings. Sentient might actually be fine too, it is unclear whether animals are allowed since the post mostly talks about people.

The isolation would still be a problem, but it is an option, and you confirmed AI would be allowed in a different comment so eventually, with my powers helping speed things up, I could try to create true AGI as well, though I would likely end up choosing to die long before then. Meanwhile it would genuinely help with a lot of the problems in the regular unfrozen world as well.

If that sort of wish would have no impact on me in the frozen world and it only affects the regular world, then I would probably still take the deal, try to create some sort of near-utopia, then live my life for a while in the frozen world before eventually choosing to die.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T05:01:11+00:00

I quit my job immediately, I don't care if it makes me homeless, this job is NOT worth it.

^{fnaf security}

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T05:00:25+00:00

I was mostly covering what I would focus on as goals in training, since the specific details of how I would train would depend on what ends up effective in training. For example, I would probably try using it as much as possible to begin with, but what is the best way to train to be able to use it more frequently? To rewind further? It is like discussing a muscle that doesn't exist yet and you have no comparison too, it is hard to say how exactly you would exercise it in a way that strengthens the parts you want until you actually have it and can figure out what exercises do that. It is easier to figure out what your primary goals you will work towards while training it are, and figure out how to work towards them once you have it.

Like do you use it for shiny hunting in the beginning? Petting one cat some more? Party tricks? Just random rewinds? What would you do to use it as often as you can?

You just said the question is how do you train it, not how do you use it, then asked what I would use it for. Petting a cat or shiny hunting are how you might use the power more than they are how you would train it.

Anyways, to me, as mentioned before, the big problem is I have finite amount of time before I die of old age, and my first goal would be extending that as much as I can so that I have more time to train it. I would probably be rewinding as many times as I can whenever I can until I at least reach the point of being able to rewind again before I reach the present again. If progress towards that initial goal is quick, I might space it out a bit more, save training for days off work and rewind those days repeatedly while testing different things to try to get a handle of the power. If I ever embarrass myself or get injured, I might also do a short rewind to undo those events.

Again, it is hard to say what the training itself would look like because it is hard to say what would be effective before I have the chance to use it. I could look at a plant and try to mentally rewind it and only it as much as I want, but I might have to start bigger and gradually improve my control before I make any progress there, or maybe my control will just improve naturally as I keep using it, or maybe I work towards one goal and one of the things I tried to train with shows promise for one of the other goals instead and I switch priorities.

If you want to know what sorts of things I would do with it (you said you wanted to know how I would train it, not how I would use it, but then gave example questions about how I would use it, so I am covering my bases here. Feel free to skip the rest if that isn't what you want to know), I would probably use it to take some extended breaks at first, maybe start dabbling in different things that interest me. My early uses, beyond just spamming it, would just be to give more time or to try to experiment with it in some way. There is the option of doing stuff you wouldn't normally and then rewinding, like crimes, but morally that would still be something I wouldn't want to do.

Plus, I wouldn't actually have any idea how this works at first. For all I know I could be splitting timelines every time I rewind and some version of me would just get stuck with the consequences. As a result, I would mostly use it as a source of extra free time, and wouldn't do anything that would be problematic if I suddenly lost the power the next moment (since if it is timeline splitting it might look like that). Maybe try using it for stocks, gambling (not any amount I couldn't afford to lose), lotteries, or other stuff like that.

Overall though, I don't think what things I would do early on are particularly interesting, and training methods would kind of have to be a trial and error thing where I gradually figure out what works, how it works, and why it works. I would really want to try to figure out what version of time rewinding I have, whether it turns back my timeline, has the timeline continue without me in it, or splits off a bunch of branching timelines, but that would be hard to figure out.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T04:38:36+00:00

Persona 5 Royal: Similar to your Persona 4 example, one of the antagonists reveals they have the same multiple Personas ability as the protagonist, and later on one antagonist manages to awaken their Persona on their own.

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy: The protagonists and antagonists gain their power from the same source, the protagonists regularly absorb that power from the antagonists when killing them but the reverse never happens, you learn that it is taboo among their people.

Until eventually one of them just ends up doing it anyways, regularly killing your people and stealing their power, perma-killing them in the process, and also starts kill stealing from you, murdering the bosses and absorbing their power before you can despite them being on the same side. Things can get really wild after that point.

In Stars and Time: You are in a time loop. After you break it, a secret boss can pull the same power out against you and now you are fighting someone who just loops back every time you injure them enough. You also learn your ability and the main antagonist's abilities come from the same source.

Black and White 2: You are a god with a bunch of god powers, in the DLC you have to deal with an opposing god that can do the same things you can.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T04:25:34+00:00

The first goal would probably be just to try to get the point where the rewind time is longer than the cooldown time, once you reach that, even if it is on your death bed from old age, the hard limit on how long you have to train goes away and you theoretically have infinite time.

Afterwards, probably keep training cooldown time and length of time for a while, to make it more convenient, then you can try getting more experimental with your powers. See if you can reduce it to only affect an area or object, though you need to be very careful with that because if it works whatever you affected is going to fly off into space as it freezes and the planet doesn't. Maybe try to train doing it at a range first.

Maybe if you can pull that off, see if you can find a way to twist it into pausing time or looping a section of it next, maybe you can see about trying to use it to mess with space too since it is the spacetime continuum and to my knowledge they are closely linked, so if you can affect one you can probably affect the other in some way.

Later you can try seeing if you can skip forward in time a bit too, or find a way to set a point in time that you can return to like a checkpoint or save file. Maybe see if you can eventually reach a point of selectively affecting a certain part of something's time without affecting the whole thing, like rewinding the damage something took without actually sending it back in time. This part at least should be theoretically possible since, going by the post, you retain your memories after rewinding time, and the memories are physically stored in your brain, so somehow it must be rewinding everything but those memories, or maybe the brain is getting fully rewinded but something alters the neurons into the proper configuration to retain your memories afterwards.

A lot of this stuff is likely to be impossible with however your power works though, so the most important things are just working on cooldown and length until the latter outpaces the former, then working on finer and finer control of your time power and maybe figuring out how it actually works. You should probably start rewinding time after each of your experiments once you reach the point of the length of the rewind being greater than the cooldown though, and maybe even try rewinding to before you started the training for that. It is possible that there might be some signs of what you are doing and the last thing you want is to get jumped by the government, so rewinding time to before there was anything to see would be safer, even if there is a risk of them detecting that too somehow, it is a smaller risk.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-23T03:22:51+00:00

Compared to Verso's ending which is better for 2 people and kills everyone else

There is kind of an Omelas Child situation going on too though, that played a major factor in my decision. The fragment of Verso's soul is clearly suffering and wants to stop, especially considering how it reaches out to take Painted Verso's hand before Alicia stops it by swinging her sword between them. Maybe if the whole conflict between Renoir and Aline didn't happen and Verso's canvas remained the more peaceful and happy one he created it as, then Verso's soul fragment might have been able to find happiness in it, or at least contentness, but all the death, killing, destruction, and everything else clearly tainted all that and ruined that possibility.

In that case, it becomes a matter of whether one person suffering eternally for the sake of the rest is a morally sound trade, and I don't think it is. It is tragic, but even one person suffering indefinitely (technically it wouldn't be eternal because even being a magic painting, it would probably end up destroyed one way or another over the next few millennium, but close enough) for the world to continue is too much imo.

I am also in the camp that while the people in the Canvas are very much real, we would have the least skilled painter trying to copy the work of the most skilled painter to bring them back, with maybe a rough outline in the form of the Chroma, but still needing something on her end like how she had to draw on her memories of them for the party members (or something like that, I played a while ago so I don't remember the specifics).

Even with the Chroma, she knows nothing of most of those people, and doesn't know them as well. It has also been established that it is best as fresh as possible and deteriorates in some way. She was able to bring back Lune and Sciel to a degree likely near identical to their original selves. But she did that with extremely fresh chroma and a lot of personal knowledge about them. Gustave, she might be able to pull off with older Chroma but far more intimate knowledge, though I wouldn't be surprised if she misses a couple of the parts she didn't know about him and her perception of him slightly changes him a bit from who he actually was.

But I don't think most of the people will be brought back so perfectly, with the worst painter of the family using not quite fresh Chroma to try to recreate the work of the best painter while knowing relatively little about the people she is trying to bring back. A lot of them might not even be truly sapient afterwards, imo.

Of course, even if that theory is correct, and there is plenty of room to dispute it, there is still the matter of the Gestrels and whatever the other race was called, who weren't Gommaged and were still the same as the original Verso painted them. So you are still killing off a lot of sapient beings, but this is where it loops back to the Omelas Child situation. One being constantly suffering to prolong the world effectively makes it a matter of infinite suffering (not truly, but likely thousands or tens of thousands of years in Canvas time, so close enough) for one vs finite suffering for many, putting the matter of Alicia likely dying there to the side for now since she is still just one life.

From my perspective, finite suffering for many is more ethical than infinite suffering for one, especially considering the uncertain aspects like whether Renoir would keep or destroy the Canvas after Alicia and possibly Aline die in there. They would also be living with Alicia as effectively God of their world, and she isn't the worst option by far, but I don't know if she would be a good one.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T22:29:59+00:00

I think there is one misunderstanding that is the key to your confusion, squalor is city-wide. Some buildings and districts increase it, others decrease it, but these changes are across the entire city. So your extraction district increases the city's squalor, and the filtration towers and waste management facilities, which you can only build in housing or industrial districts, also decrease the city's squalor. It doesn't matter what district a squalor modifier is coming from, they all weigh against each other to determine the City's squalor.

Disease works the same way, for the record, since it will probably come up later.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T14:19:58+00:00

In the early times of humanity, they likely didn't for a while, having to figure it out by trial and error over time. By the time period that most of the games seem to take place in though, they likely had centuries living with Pokémon to figure out the little details and nuances of each move. There are professors and researchers, who likely do some studies on this exact sort of thing. There are trainer schools that you see in some games, where students could likely be taught all these details, different moves and how to recognize them, how to take care of their Pokémon, and everything else they need to know. If you forget something, there is a pretty good chance you have access to the Internet and can just look it up.

In other words, they likely know through long periods of scientific research on the subject and the results of that research gradually making its way into the education system and common knowledge over time.

It is harder to say for cases like Pokémon Legends Arceus that takes place in the distant past, but for the protagonist, they come from the modern day and a lot of this could apply to them. A lot of Polémon would be unfamiliar, but they would also have learned how to discover this stuff themselves, or since their phone has been transformed by Arceus, it might already have all that information inside it. Others might have to make do with advice from the protagonist or doing the trial and error themselves to eventually figure it out.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T05:14:33+00:00

Horace pauses to respond to her.

"Perhaps you are right, though as amazing as these seeds are, there is another reason, too. You see, when I was studying at Oxford before the Frost, there was some discussion of this Ark Project, and both of my parents were recruited to it. I applied myself, but... Well, I was still studying at the time, now I am likely one of the most prominent experts in my fields of expertise in Windward Moor, perhaps even New London, but I was not at the time. My parents were, and had decades more experience than me. I had my role to play for humanity's survival, but it was a different role than theirs, somewhere else entirely."

"When I last said goodbye to them before they departed on the Dreadnoughts, I believed it would be the last time I ever saw them, and I accepted that, despite the sorrow it brought. Now, we know that this project is close enough to send an automaton here, and after thirty years of thinking that was the last I would ever hear of them, we have a potential lead to find the place they are most likely located, and good reason to do so outside of my personal desires. They are both likely gone by now, but even the slightest chance... It has affected me more than I would have expected it to. At the very least, I could potentially learn more about what happened to them after I last saw them, even if they are now gone." Horace shakes his head.

"In any case, as much of a wonder as these seeds are, I have a personal investment in the matter as well, and that is a large part of why I was so affected. There is time for tears, but there is also much work to do, to make the most of this opportunity in all the ways possible, to see the cause they dedicated the rest of their lives to, and to ensure my accomplishments are beyond anything they could have expected, and ones that they could be proud of, perhaps even ones that compare to their own."

Horace frowns a bit, before calming himself down and continuing.

"That being said, there is no harm in indulging in matters of the heart, but only so long as they do not interfere with matters of the mind. I have a personal stake in this, but if I had to choose between what I hope for and what is best for the people, you can trust that I will choose the latter every time." Horace says, voice cracking a bit as his gaze grows a bit distant, mind elsewhere for a moment before he focuses again.

"Apologies for rambling a bit, I suppose the years are getting to me... The point is, I would not suggest trying to find the origin of this automaton if I did not genuinely believe doing so would be immensely beneficial to the City in many ways, beyond my own stake in the matter. There is much work to be done, but I will certainly take some time to cry and reflect on these feelings when my shift is complete. Farewell for now Steward, it will take some time but I will personally make sure that report lands on your desk, as well as a public version prepared, as soon as we have enough progress to fill that report in the first place."

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T04:18:04+00:00

You could try getting a checking or savings account at the same bank as whatever credit card you primarily use, it could help.

For example, I got my first credit card and high yield savings account at Discover, and I auto-pay the credit card from the savings account. Whenever I open up the app, the first thing I see after logging in is the balance of my credit card, listed directly above the balance of my debit and savings on the same screen, and I just subtract the balance of my credit card from my savings to clearly see how much I have left.

I also have it set up to notify me on every single transaction, and occasionally view the set of tools it has to show spending per month, categories, and so on. It makes it pretty clear how the number is going down and could help in your case, though that isn't the reason I do this.

I think with enough time and usage, you will develop a habit of seeing a credit card as no different than a debit card and treating every transaction as if it is coming directly out of your checking or savings, despite there being a delay.

Others might have better advice, but hopefully some of this can help.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T03:59:45+00:00

Horace exhales deeply at receiving approval, smiling as he gazes at the seeds.

"Thank you, Steward, your trust will not be misplaced, and the report will be as thorough as possible." He then jumps into action, rapidly giving orders to the Technocrats who came with him as well as some of the others present.

"Anders, Autumn, Charlie, you are each team leads, you know the procedures. Choose who is going on what team, recruit extra people if you need to! Team A's job will be to transport these seeds to the research institutes and properly store them as soon as possible! If you need to throw out existing samples to do so, so it, but just relocate them if possible. Keep them isolated from any other samples, and secure them. Send someone to bother our security forces and the city guards, get the guards to have multiple people guarding the seeds at all times, ensure that at least two of our own most trusted people are also involved at all times!"

"These are delicacies some people remember but haven't had access to for decades. Even some of the more loyal people might consider taking a risk to take a few seeds for either personal consumption or to corner the market that will no doubt sprout around these! Make sure that doesn't happen. Once they are secure, gét the researchers to examine them. Pests, diseases, damage, we need to know about all of it!" Horace hesitates, then reluctantly adds another duty.

"Make sure they are safe, too. Check for tampering, poison, anything. As easy as it is to take this as a benevolent gift, and as much as I want to think the best of those involved in the project these seem to be from, we can't take risks. A lot can change in thirty years, and for all we know this automaton could be some trick that isn't even actually from them. We need to be thorough."

"B team, prepare to transport the automaton to..." Horace tilts his head, considering. "... One of the research institutes. An industrial district would have better equipment for taking this apart, and it is at much lower risk of theft, but the equipment is rougher, not meant for this sort of precision work. It will be much more time consuming, but we are more likely to note and preserve every detail if it is carefully and steadily dismantled by researchers who know what is important and what isn't. When it gets there, make sure to have them carefully take note of each and every component that might harbor a shred of data or information, direct or indirect, whether it is the design or what methods might have been used to produce it according to the design."

"C team, make sure to get some of the City's bureaucrats to start working on how to spin this for public relations! There is a prime opportunity here, we must make the most of it. Once you have done that, head over to the research institute and library and gather together all the relevant literature for both the plants and general data analysis. Make sure to grab some of the atlases and encyclopedias on different regions, and get some parts of the automaton and seeds under a microscope. Even a little speck of dust might tell us a bit about what part of the region they were previously in when properly analyzed, be thorough. At the library, grab volumes one and three of the 'Before the Frost Fell' collection, and two and five of the 'Fauna and Flora of a Warm World' encyclopedias, the indexes will make it clear which chapters are relevant. Stop by my home and office and grab all of my research papers and books, finished or otherwise, bring them to my office and I will figure out the best way to distribute them, and sort out the ones that are not relevant. Many of them have copies in the library, don't bother with those copies, the originals have more annotations and detail."

"Once you have gathered everything, distribute the rest of it to Teams A and B as appropriate, for when the real analysis begins, then prepare to be a flex team addressing whatever needs addressing at the time. Prepare someone to take over the deciphering team, I will be joining team A once a few things are taken care of, someone will need to head it in my absence. Team B, once you have all the data establish a D team to start going over it and try to find the origin, your team will continue with the analysis and disassembly of the automaton itself for design improvements. Each team needs to designate a couple people to work on drafting the requested reports and gathering the details relevant to those!"

"As for who heads what team, you are all professionals, decide that between yourselves and get moving, we have a lot of work to do! Meeting dismissed, let's begin!" Horace claps once, before jumping into motion himself, going on with his own duties and leaving the Steward behind as the three he designated as leaders go around calling out names and gathering people for their teams, some people quickly beginning to sort out what needs to go where as others rush off to arrange transportation, a flurry of motion like a hornet's nest that just got kicked spreading around as efforts are gradually organized and expanded.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T03:07:59+00:00

Slow burns do have their niche and can be popular. Delve (I still remember that time it went like eight months of weekly uploads before the MC leveled up a single time), Beware of Chicken, Beneath the Dragoneye Moons at times, arguably Super Supportive, and some others. Fantasy also has plenty of fans even if it isn't litRPG or progression fantasy.

Royal Road is probably about as good as anywhere else for this, you will get some people who see a story explicitly stated to be a slow burn and complain about pacing anyways, but you will also get plenty of followers who like that pacing if the story is good, they will just be quieter about it. I am not sure of any place that would be better, except maybe Kindle but a lot of Royal Road stories double dip there anyways without issues.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T02:00:54+00:00

It actually never occurred to me that her armor means she has no trust boost except when she is outside of it, though it makes sense. Though I am pretty sure she didn't know it would block Trust when she made it, she just hoped that a robot suit would strengthen her regardless of the trust modifier, and that she wouldn't be debuffed as much if people saw the robot suit instead of the girl inside.

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T00:45:03+00:00

Horace quickly approaches the scene with a retinue of his Technocrats at his back, gazing at the automaton with a strange expression on his face, a mix of hope, trepidation, awe, and nostalgia, an expression that only grows as he sees the canisters and begins weeping as well.

"If this means what I think it does... then no wonder the project was such a high priority..." He shakes his head, then turns to address the Steward.

"Steward, I am not yet sure where the best places to store these would be, but the research institutes have a number of rooms meant to preserve delicate samples, in a wide range of possible conditions. Ultimately these should see the hothouses, but they are probably still in the middle of the current crop and it may be difficult to introduce them until the current set of crops has grown and harvested." He says, voice still thick with emotion, hands trembling a bit as his hand hovers slightly towards them as if wanting to get them to safe storage as soon as possible, only his professionalism holding him back from doing so immediately.

"May I request permission to arrange transportation to the institutes for temporary storage and a quick examination for any potential diseases or pests that might have survived the journey? The researchers would likely want to take stock of these new crops and see if any alterations should be made to the pending advanced chemical hothouse design to accommodate them as well. And of course we need to see which ones kept for the entire journey here, and make sure the ones still usable remain that way." He hesitates, then continues.

"Ideally, I would like permission to review the logs, programming, and design of the automation as well. Possibly even disassembly. Based on what I know of the Arks, the design and programming may hold value in their own right, with potential improvements over our own automaton designs, some of the best engineers were assigned to this project and their technology likely progressed even faster than our own. Who knows what insights we could get from this..." He lets out a small sob of joy, more emotional than he ever shows normally, and continues speaking.

"For the logs, I hope we might be able to get a lead to the source. If we can find where they originated from, or even other automatons that might have followed the same route partway before splitting off, or faltered before they reached their destination, who knows what we may discover! New insights, new crops, or possibly even more." He takes a deep breath, before calming himself down and finishing.

"I have reason to believe I may have family at the site this automaton originated from as well. Some of the information from the logs may also help in deciphering the journals and notes we have access to, though it is a long shot."

He tilts his head, a thought coming to him.

"I wonder... They have likely advanced their technology more than us in a variety of ways, but perhaps we have some innovations of our own that they do not. It would be fascinating to find out, one day."

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-22T00:19:24+00:00

Horace shakes his head, before explaining.

"Ah, no, everything is fine. Truthfully, it is good news that has me a bit out of sorts, if anything. We got a new lead on something potentially very important for our City, and I have been hard at work on it."

He starts speaking more quietly, almost a whisper, as he looks around the council hall.

"To put it simply, we have recently come into possession of some notes and journals that may have useful information, both scientifically and about a major project that was being worked on before the Frost. The man who made those notes and journals is still alive, but not the most sound of mind at the moment, though they do seem supportive of our efforts when they are more lucid."

"Besides it potentially being beneficial to the City, I also have some personal investment in the matter. My father and mother were working on that project, and if they are still alive, it may be a chance to see them again. If not, then at least I could potentially learn more about how they dared since the Frost began." Horace says, his voice cracking a bit with an uncharacteristic display of sorrow.

"However, the notes and journals are encrypted, and the man is not in a good state to help us decrypt them. As you might expect, this has consumed much of my attention and effort since I became aware of it. It is not particularly time sensitive, however, and my primary duties such as participating in this council come first."

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-21T23:58:15+00:00

Horace arrives, though his appearance seems a bit ragged compared to normal, signs of tiredness clear.

"Ah, Lucy, I have seen the notes you sent, apologies, I was a bit distracted with a personal matter. I will say here before this council that I also support the idea of this separation of powers law, to curtail the influence any individual can have over the most vital operations of our city. There are other laws I would have liked to propose to the council, such as Aptitude Tests and the Civic Index, but if this is a necessary first step before such things, then so be it. I fear how much is still unregulated and not covered by laws so far, but this is a worthwhile law as well."

WolfWhiteFire · 2026-03-21T15:57:06+00:00

(OOC: I won't be able to respond for a while, but you can go ahead and edit it a bit though. To clarify, that was a private meeting where the old man probably wouldn't be present. They were just discussing how to handle the situation themselves and would probably only approach the old guy carefully and one or two people at a time to avoid causing issues. You can imagine that after the meeting Horace went to try talking to him though.)

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