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[Dragontologist]

Felegro heads out of the Council Chambers and into Proper.

[Dr. Steed]

Steed materializes near Felegro.

"Quite the confab back there," he says conversationally. "I would have departed much before you did, were I in your place."

He switches over from politician to scientist. "I'm not as certain as you that there's a direct correlation between the propagation of Ghostrock and MOGWIPs. I admit that it *is* plausible, but I would need to see more data on the matter before I can agree with your position. However, as you've already pointed out the necessity of discerning this ratio, I agree with you in principle pending further examination.

"Insofar as your Domain, I believe that this should be a point of primary action on our part. It is, for lack of a better term, the Patient Zero of most of our woes. I recommend long-range sensor analysis, followed by an away-team if an *only* if necessary, given the dangers involved..."

After this, Steed lapses into a silence as he walks beside Felegro.

"We have quite the Gordian knot in front of us - many of the problems presented are intertwined with each other, and I have identified several misconceptions with, at the least, how I do what it is I do. I would find it helpful if you could summarize the individual dangers we face. I must admit I found that discussion... convoluted, at best."

[Dragontologist]

"Quite the confab back there," he says conversationally. "I would have departed much before you did, were I in your place."

Felegro sighs.  He has slowed considerably, walking off much of his previous anger.  "I couldn't leave early; it was as much about inspiring them as solving the problem.  I'm not the best at it, but no one else wants the job."

He switches over from politician to scientist. "I'm not as certain as you that there's a direct correlation between the propagation of Ghostrock and MOGWIPs. I admit that it *is* plausible, but I would need to see more data on the matter before I can agree with your position. However, as you've already pointed out the necessity of discerning this ratio, I agree with you in principle pending further examination.
"Insofar as your Domain, I believe that this should be a point of primary action on our part. It is, for lack of a better term, the Patient Zero of most of our woes. I recommend long-range sensor analysis, followed by an away-team if an *only* if necessary, given the dangers involved..."

Felegro nods, but says nothing.  He walks companionably with Steed for a few long moments. 

I would find it helpful if you could summarize the individual dangers we face. I must admit I found that discussion... convoluted, at best."

Felegro opens a notebook.  "I'm not sure where to start," he says, his voice uncertain.  "There are too many unknowns.  But I can list what I need researched, or at least spied upon regularly."

[Dr. Steed]

Felegro opens a notebook.  "I'm not sure where to start," he says, his voice uncertain.  "There are too many unknowns.  But I can list what I need researched, or at least spied upon regularly."

Steed nods. "All right - we can begin there; work the problem backwards."

[AndromacheNY]

Andromache storms out of the Council Chamber. Had she been a toon, smoke would likely have been pouring from her ears. "You insufferable bombastic drama queen! You arrogant sociopathic bully! You're incapable of inspiring anyone because you don't really care what anyone else thinks. You've had cycles to plot and plan and build your stink bombs and you flash-bang grenades in the privacy of your own little world and when you set everything off in the middle of everything, you get pissy and belligerent because some of us need a moment to get our bearings."

"No one else is effective enough in your drama to play any of the parts, so you have to be the villain, the victim, the hero, the writer, the set designer, and the director! If you aren't happy with the chorus you throw a fit, and Gaia forgive me for asking to see the fucking script! You're completely toxic to any hope of a functioning team, and just because you play musical chairs with the part in which you cast yourself doesn't mean all of us can switch our roles as easily."

"You said you want someone else to lead. And you said my jumbled ideas come to nothing without deciding and acting on them. But I don't lead by acting upon jumbled ideas. I don't ask anyone to follow me when I don't know what I'm doing. And I can't possibly know what I'm doing without the information you insist on withholding. You've had cycles to talk to your friends and allies about what you were doing. If I'm stumbling in the dark it's because you wanted me there. I'm sick and tired of being handed a poorly written half baked ritual and a handful of MOGWIPS and told to lead the charge and make it work. It's bullshit. I do things carefully. I consider my actions. I measure twice and cut once. I don't tolerate being bullied. And if you want a leader people will follow, don't dress them down and storm out in front of a room full of people. It's rude, it's demoralizing, and it's counter-productive." She adds bitterly. "And I fucking well deserve better."

[Dragontologist]

Felegro's anger comes swarming back in a rush.  His branches expand in the open air, making him look even taller than normal.  "You've had the ability to write this story all along; if you don't take up the pen don't blame me for your lack!"  The air feels oppressive, like the pressure just dropped and a storm is about to roll in.  "You don't act at all; you just wait for more information.  Information IS the world, but you CREATE the world of tomorrow through ACTION!  Consider your actions, then act!  How is this difficult? I mean, you can't even create a ritual?  A half baked ritual is all you need; if you have that, you can tweak it to completion.  How long could that POSSIBLY take to do?  An hour for the exact ratio, an hour to write a ritual, and another if you insist on double-checking with the PTB that it'll work the way you think.  Then just freaking DO it.  What more do you need?"

Felegro forces himself a bit calmer, and the air becomes chilly and still.  "I'm not a good leader; I know it - but I don't accept mob rule as an acceptable alternative.  And yeah, I don't care what others think of me.  I'm not out for the short term, and I'm not out to be polite and well-liked.  If you want better, earn better.  If you can't lead through charisma, prove you have it in you to lead by example."

"No," he says, abruptly, cutting off anything Andi might say.  ""Do, or do not.  I'm not arguing any more.  Go back to your mob and argue with them."  He walks off yet again, not waiting to see if anyone follows.

[Jon Stone]

When Fel turns to leave he'll see Jon Stone sitting in a folding chair a healthy distance away.  He's leaning back with the chair tilted on just its back legs and his feet up on his mech servant, a fairly nondiscript floating cube.  Once noticed he'll wave and yell over, "Ahoy sailors!"  He'll glance at his watch, "I was just waiting for the Midnight Train, you guys need a ride, we're going anywhere but South Detroit?"

[Dr. Steed]

"No," he says, abruptly, cutting off anything Andi might say.  ""Do, or do not.  I'm not arguing any more.  Go back to your mob and argue with them."  He walks off yet again, not waiting to see if anyone follows.

Steed turns to Andromache. "There's a project you need to complete. You see to that. I'll see to the tree." With that, Steed catches up with Felegro.

"All right. You can't handle the front-line, and you don't want to. Leave that to me - I already have certain things in place. In the meantime, brief me on what's going wrong."

[AndromacheNY]

Andromache lets them leave with disgust. "You can have him." She mutters something else under her breath in Greek. It's not polite.

She doesn't call back to Dr. Stone. She's not in the mood for his irreverent mad scientist nonsense right now.

She turns and stalks back into the council chambers.

[Jon Stone]

OCC: Just to clarify Jon is in no way approaching anyone.  He's like 30 yards away just sitting wearing his little self amused smile he gets when he's waiting to watch the world burn down around them.

[Dragontologist]

“What’s wrong is that they’re all not DOING anything,” Felegro responds, still frustrated.  “I mean, you’d think that by the time it gets this big people would start acting, but…” He sighs, knowing that wishing won’t change anything, and pulls out his notebook yet again.  “Okay.  We have a few major tasks, so far as I can see: prevent the Army from getting out, and in the meantime, also dealing with the Ghostrock in case they DO get out.  We also need to get into the domain and deal with the army.”  He looks up to see that Steed is still following, then continues.

“Here’s the breakdown.  First, we need to know how they’re organized and what’s going on.  From what I’ve been told, it’s too chaotic to determine yet, which sounds like a quantum state.  Not really sure how that works, but it would be nice to stabilize.  This may cause the domain wall to collapse, so we should be as organized as possible if we’re doing something to force stability."
"For the ritual, we need to determine the exact ratio of Ghostrock to Mogwip – the energy ratio should be 50/50, but I’m not sure how to measure the energy per mass, since it’s variable and processed weirdly.  On top of that, some Mogwips have been used, and some Ghostrock has been used, so we have to make sure it’s very exact.  We need to organize the Avatars to prepare for a ritual (as usual, the more the better)."
"Thirdly, we need a plan to defend against the army coming out into the Nexus, because there was a lot of difficulty taking out the ones from the last Lugosicon, and there are 100 to 150 of them in the domain which are even stronger – even some Ancients.  I don’t have a lot of ideas on that yet.   It’s possible that a ritual combined with some very good strategy would be a good place to start."
"Finally, If they don’t come out, we need to have a plan to bust into the domain.  I’m working on a neutralizer to do that, but won’t use it until we have people organized."

"So, like I said, everything comes down to building things, coming up with a plan, and organizing the Avatars.  But we’re at a point where we just need people to follow directions, and I’m discovering that that’s something you can’t force."

[Dr. Steed]

“Here’s the breakdown.  First, we need to know how they’re organized and what’s going on.  From what I’ve been told, it’s too chaotic to determine yet, which sounds like a quantum state.  Not really sure how that works, but it would be nice to stabilize.  This may cause the domain wall to collapse, so we should be as organized as possible if we’re doing something to force stability."
"For the ritual, we need to determine the exact ratio of Ghostrock to Mogwip – the energy ratio should be 50/50, but I’m not sure how to measure the energy per mass, since it’s variable and processed weirdly.  On top of that, some Mogwips have been used, and some Ghostrock has been used, so we have to make sure it’s very exact.  We need to organize the Avatars to prepare for a ritual (as usual, the more the better)."
"Thirdly, we need a plan to defend against the army coming out into the Nexus, because there was a lot of difficulty taking out the ones from the last Lugosicon, and there are 100 to 150 of them in the domain which are even stronger – even some Ancients.  I don’t have a lot of ideas on that yet.   It’s possible that a ritual combined with some very good strategy would be a good place to start."
"Finally, If they don’t come out, we need to have a plan to bust into the domain.  I’m working on a neutralizer to do that, but won’t use it until we have people organized."

"So, like I said, everything comes down to building things, coming up with a plan, and organizing the Avatars.  But we’re at a point where we just need people to follow directions, and I’m discovering that that’s something you can’t force."

"All right - good. Breaking down to a list. I like lists. Thank you. OK.

"First, we need intelligence. I recommend locating and bringing in a high-level Fleming to help us eavesdrop on the action inside the Domain. We can also task the combined resources available through NEWS to attempt a duck blind. Failing that, we may have to send an away team in.

"Second, I suggest we don't worry so much about the ratios. I think it would be better to develop a MOGWIP/Ghostrock annihilation reactor - something akin to my matter/antimatter reactor technology. We can feed it equal bits of each material over time. Patch that into the Standing Circuit to regulate the power flow, and we could solve a number of problems at once.

"Third and fourth, and coming back to first, we could attempt to collapse the Domain in its entirety. There are several precedents in Nexal history. I've seen it first-hand - it can be done."

[Dragontologist]

((I'm really sorry for the long delay, guys))

“Hmm,” replies Felegro, as Steed finishes his own list.  “Okay.  The Fleming… I don’t trust them, but any source of intel sounds good to me.  If you have contacts, reach out to them. But remember that there are Fleming inside the domain as well, so this isn’t exactly a walk-in-the-park mission.”
“The reactor idea sounds VERY interesting, but it requires that we have access to the Ghostrock to feed it at all.  A ritual lets us do it without releasing the material into the Nexus.  On the other hand, if it’s released, I’ll fully support letting technology take over.   
"Now, as for the domain…  while territories can certainly be destroyed and collapsed without any damage to their owners, a domain is different.  Domains work by being a part of the Avatar who owns them – they are a part of the psyche.   Reintegrating it with myself, like your precedents probably state, would be fine, but destroying it will destroy my mind."

[Dr. Steed]

“Hmm,” replies Felegro, as Steed finishes his own list.  “Okay.  The Fleming… I don’t trust them, but any source of intel sounds good to me.  If you have contacts, reach out to them. But remember that there are Fleming inside the domain as well, so this isn’t exactly a walk-in-the-park mission.”
“The reactor idea sounds VERY interesting, but it requires that we have access to the Ghostrock to feed it at all.  A ritual lets us do it without releasing the material into the Nexus.  On the other hand, if it’s released, I’ll fully support letting technology take over.   
"Now, as for the domain…  while territories can certainly be destroyed and collapsed without any damage to their owners, a domain is different.  Domains work by being a part of the Avatar who owns them – they are a part of the psyche.   Reintegrating it with myself, like your precedents probably state, would be fine, but destroying it will destroy my mind."

"I have a contact in Fleming," Steed begins. "A contact I trust implicitly. If we need anything from Fleming, I'm confident my source can help us.

"As for the reactor, I'll need some help designing it. Specifically Tech Avatars who have experience with Ghostrock *and* MOGWIPs. My first stop on this project is Yuri.

"As for the Domain... I recommend that you look into the Territory Annihilation Cubes, colloquially known as 'Territory Ice-Cubes'. There were only a few in existence, and my records show that the could crash a Territory with no harm to the Regent. If properly adapted, perhaps via Harmonics, we might be able to crash the Domain without harming you."

[Dragontologist]

"I don't trust Yuri either," replies Felegro, not unpredictably, "but you're right - there's no one better qualified."

Felegro's mouth twists as Steed describes the Ice cubes.  "Figures," he says, "I just finished making a recipe from scratch, never even knowing such a thing existed.  But. . . " he sighs. 

"Let me go over the difference between domains and territories again in a more. . . science-y way.  The Nexus is infinite space.  The part of it we perceive, Proper, is the result of the frame of reference of all the Avatars who inhabit it, including those we see, those who hide, even those who have discorporated (or who have yet to corporate, if that's the word).  Even the history of 'what-has-always-been' influences that overarching Frame of Reference to which all Avatars subscribe."

"However, individually, the Frame of Reference varies from Avatar to Avatar.  A territory is, in essence, a small piece of the Nexus (known as Nexium) which has been processed to erase the overarching Frame of Reference (or at least, most of it), and replaced with an individual's Frame of Reference.  Basically, birthing a territory involves injecting it with your personal expectations of what it should be."

"A domain, however, is different.  It's not a separate piece of the Nexus, with your Frame of Reference laid on top of it.  It IS your Frame of Reference - a small piece of yourself, connected on a non-physical level, made physically real by force of will alone.  That's why Avatars who are not fully realized can't create one - they don't have that forceful Frame of Reference to move the infinite space of the Nexus to make way for their own space."

"Now, given all that, if a Territory is destroyed, there's no major effect.  The Nexus moves back in, and the Nexium either turns back into a piece of the Nexus or dissipates into Energy or is canceled out by a negative energy force or. . .  whatever, depending on the method.  The Frame of Reference was ALREADY part of the Nexus, and does not change.  A Domain being destroyed, on the other hand, causes the Frame of Reference that created it to. . . .well, okay, this is theory, but either the Domain's Frame and the mind's frame are destroyed simultaneously, or the Domain's frame snaps back to its owner - much like a rubbered band - which would cause massive damage."

"The closest I can come to a Nexus example would be when Kai went into the Astral to go into NE1, leaving his body behind - and someone poked too hard at his body, causing snap-back which was violent enough to kill him.  At least, temporarily.  Imagine what would happen if someone snapped the thread - that's what I imagine losing one's Frame of Reference would be like."