Story Related OOC

D:

it's so dead here right now....

Sorry Allie! The beginning of the semester is always nuts. And mine doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. But I've finally posted the beginning of the Santa Anna thread! It's called "Something Blue." I don't think it's necessarily the greatest thing ever, but I did work hard to try to capture the gist of what I was going for in the original post that my crappy internet lost, and to make sure it was still written reasonably well. And Mr. Pearse, I've taken your suggestion to heart, and wrote this post almost entirely in another program. Hooray for learning from your mistakes!

Hopefully, I will get a chance to finally respond on the thread you've started, Allie.

Hey, it's fine! I understand. No pressure. Well... maybe just a small tiny bit. like a pound or so. Maybe less.

And plus, I still have to put up a character sheet for Jeremiah. And then when that happens, I'll post in your thread. haha

Well, well...good to see things have started moving again. I'll get cracking on a new Kircher post ASAP. Jessamine, don't be surprised if I PM you about something regarding Santa Anna.

btw, great job on the two new threads...I'm finally excited about this story again.

Here's something I thought of today that might get this discussion moving away from the 'promise I'll post' department.

Obviously this area has got some pretty odd things happening to it. There are people who are getting mechanical and magical affinities or powers, you could say. My question lies within something I was thinking about for Allie. She is developing mechanical abilities and (spoiler alert!) I plan to have her create metallic, robotic kinds of animals. The question that I asked myself revolved around a power source for any of the future robotic anythings that our characters will make. The steampunk tint to this story wants them to be steam powered and turned by millions of gears, which means no programming electric things and running wires. They would have to be mostly (if not all the way) made with simple machines. Things sounded fairly uncomplicated for me up until this point when I thought of what use the robotic animals and other things would have. If a robotic horse were ridden into battle, it would need constant attention from something telling it to behave like a horse. Any robots would need something telling them to walk on their own without their creator hovering over some hidden wind-up key. A kind of artificial intelligence would be needed.

Now it just so happens that I read a book involving metal dragons (I'm a nerd. It's why I'm here.) that were flown into war. The book was interesting enough and if anyone wants to check it out, it's called Havemercy. It was unique. But the point is that they used magic water from a well to give them their intelligence. They even almost had personalities. My idea was that in order for our mechanical creations to make the gears turn on their own, we'd need some sort of otherworldly something to act as their 'brains'. Maybe a decently fast-growing crystal brought from wherever the cannon came from that has a small glow and what we'd call some magical abilities. Maybe it gives the machinery a 'life' of its own, even if it would be hollow. Maybe the crystal is just a bit like coral reef. A bunch of bacteria that grow and produce the crystal and its just their home. They would have a collective conscious like (excuse my nerdiness again) the borg from star trek. If that were true, a small chip of crystal could grow into a comfortable colony, and the robot's intelligence would grow as it (or the colony inside of its head) aged.

If I took the reins and ran with the second idea, I'd say that maybe they could have limited telepathic abilities. Able to speak with the mind of one or more characters once they recognized the patterns of their brains. But since our characters are human and have no telepathic abilities, they would have to speak to the robots to get the point across. so it'd be like a one-way limited telepathic street. Such an ability would certainly make it interesting for those whose magic affinities allow them to reach into others' brains. If Pearse tried to control the mind of one of the robots, would or wouldn't he be able to? Is a hive-mind covered in his mind-control power handbook? Would he have to be very strong to do it? Could Jessamine communicate fully with them whenever she wanted since she will be able to learn the thoughts of others?

Or, am I trying to take simple mechanical creations a step further than necessary by giving them simple, limited intelligence just because I think it'd be cool? Maybe that book has influenced me far too much.

However, I'm positively bursting with excitement at the idea and want feedback and discussion. I would not be hurt or offended in the least if it was decided that that was not the direction to take things.

So I had a few conversations with folks about this, but I just realized I never wrote anything back, so this place is looking duller than dirt.

I like the idea that more powerful technological devices (say, our hypothetical mechanical horse) need to be imbued with that "spark of life" in order to function. This falls outside the realm of technological proficiency; not even the cannon's mysterious detonation is going to give anyone an advanced degree in robotics.

Instead, I suggest that imbuing a technological device with "life" can only be done by someone with magical affinity. This would require a permanent investment of energy. Furthermore, such energy could only be recovered in the event that the life-given vessel was destroyed. In such an instance, said energy would be absorbed by everyone in a certain radius, manifesting (or supplementing) a new wave of magical and technological affinities in all those affected.

This system also has some pretty awesome implications for events that have already transpired. If everyone in the Territory got zapped with energy at once, where did it come from originally? And if it came from one source, is that source still around?

More immediately, we need to keep our posts going. Ethan, you're up on my thread. Allie, you're up to respond to Jessamine in both threads. Kircher, curious about that post you've been alluding to. And Claude, please drop an awesome post in our thread whenever you're able.

I like what you've said better than what I have. I don't know about you others that are going to work with technology, but I personally can't wait to start building things. I get so excited when I think about it.

And also only one more post until I'm caught up. Tell me, Pearse, what you thought of my character sheet for Jeremiah when you get a chance to read it. And everyone else too, of course.

My profound apologies for my tardiness in the story. I'm gonna do some researching of all these new characters that have sprung up, and how they'll relate to the ol' lawman of Little Bethlehem. It might take me a bit, and don't be surprised if I ask any one of you guys for clarification of certain story matters, but by hook or by crook, I'll get a new post up.

I'm caught up so far in nanoland, so I'll be wanting to post on the other thread that I'm due to post in really soon. I apologize to everyone for the wait.

No problem. We're all obviously a little slow around here right now. Semesters/jobs can be harsh mistresses.

Though I would love to read your post soon. Just as I'd love to read the next edition of Ramey & Pearse. And also to win the lottery.

I've not disappeared nor forgotten, although I think an explanation is in order.

Good news: I was recently promoted. This is obviously great for my financial life, but not so much for my social. I'm working an average of 55 hours a week, and I'm rarely home outside of that. When I am, I'm dead tired.

However, there's some good news on that front as well. Going into the holidays, our business is going to slow down drastically. This means that I'll go from working 55 to an average of 32 hours a week, with more free time than I know what to do with.

Well, I know one thing I could do with it. And that is, of course, to post here. Look for my next story post ASAP, and hopefully they'll become more consistent soon!

Well, it's been shamefully long since I last posted. But when I got on tonight with the grandest of intentions, I saw that I'm not needed yet on either thread! I'm currently working on a vignette...a somewhat lighter-hearted one than my last. But until Allie posts on either thread, I don't see there's much for me to do around here. Except possibly work on the site layout, but I still haven't found anything promising as far as fixing the background troubles or moving the ads.

The only thread I haven't posted on is the one just between us. But I can post again on the other one if I need to. And I can also get in gear and post on the coyote's den one.

Take your time, quality over quantity I always say. I just read Kircher's last post where he started a conversation with Jeremiah and I figured I'd give you a change to respond to that before I started anything else in that thread.

ah alright then. I'll try to get both up soon then. Right now I should have plenty of time.

This double-post is to let everyone know that I'm conferring with Jessamine atm. And that I realize it's been a while since anyone's posted.

It has been awhile, hasn't it?

I'd decided to give the site a pretty long break before checking for a new Allie or Ramey post. I see now that my break wasn't necessary, as things look exactly as they did before.

After Christmas - and when term is finally over - I'll be following up with people to determine whether they are still sufficiently interested in keeping the Badlands alive. If we decide to let this one go, that will be it: I'm not going to try to coordinate any more RP's with this group.

Keep your Irish on, Pearse. Allie and I are currently working on coordinating for a post. We have ideas, we're just having trouble working out the finer points to get it written. I can't speak for anyone else, but that's my two cents.

Maybe I've been watching too many westerns lately...