video & voice; Story-time for All

[abracafcku]

[The video opens on a bare wall and to the sound of very, very corny fanfare. Then Taako's voice cuts in with the sound of applause.]

Yes, yes, welcome one and all to the greatest day of your lives. Today we have a real treat for you folks, so pull up a chair, take a load off and enjoy this banned text we've managed to procure.

[He clears his throat and a puppet appears on the screen - a non-descript looking human priest wearing dark robes and a blue sash around his neck. The voices that read the following lines are similar, but not the same and anyone who knows both Lup and Taako can probably tell it's the twins taking turns to read the passages. People who don't, however, might have a hard time telling them apart.]

"I used to have a lady love,
she journeyed through the sea,"

[A new puppet appears - a beautiful female mermaid with hair that falls just past her breasts. She slides up from the bottom of the screen and the priest turns to her, fawning all over her.]

"Her fins were as the mourning dove,
a mated pair were we.
Our bodies tangled, hand in glove,
a queen and devotee,"

[As the poem progresses, the priest does some...very not PG-13 things to the mermaid puppet. Eventually, the mermaid pushes the priest away, looking tired.]

"But she was called to rise above,
our bond not meant to be."

[Here the mermaid "puppet" flips a double middle finger at the priest and backflips into the sea, leaving him drenched in water.]

"Though I endure, bereft, belove,
I have her guarantee,
I'll be the one she's thinking of,
a little dove told me."

[The priest pines and waits by the water, pantomiming the lament of a forlorn lover as a bird lands next to him, rolling its eyes. The puppet show ends with a curtain drawing across the screen and then the video shuts off. Taako's voice cuts back in once the video is gone.]

Yeah, so the people here? Raunchy as hell. I love it. But then some people were, y'know, boring and said things like--

[Lup's voice takes over smoothly like they're still the same person talking.]

"If any other colonies can hear this message, please respond. This is Havenwell. We're still alive. The city is safe. We will come get you, no matter how far you are. This is not an automated message. Please respond." That there's a radio transmission from "Colony #56'07'4TM", which, obviously, is home sweet home. Not the most interesting, but I won't deny that the archive visits have been… informative.

Anyone else get something fun?

[OOC: It's a joint post! Replies here can be from Taako, Lup, or both of them. If you have a preference, just let us know in the title of your comment or it'll be a roulette of which twin you'll get.

Feel free to use this post to stir up discussion amongst yourselves regarding the lore contributions!]

Comments

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[astralera]

I was able to decipher one of the transcripts of radio transmission from other city-states. It was as follows:


Transmission Received
Date: ACN7199
Origin Point: Colony #90'13'7KV


This morning dew reminds me
Of the night when we first met
When still our hands could touch each other
And breath was in our breast.
Now how I miss those aches and pains
That once I did protest
When your gentle hand laid upon mine
And brought me comfort and sweet rest.
Through many years we toiled
Under sensation lost, bereft
Still always we were happy
Without the looming fear of death.
Each day we greeted fondly
Each night we called our best
Until this morning when I found
Your soul had gone and left.
Now hear my final plea, oh Gods
Though little you may care
Please, Rawna, take it away from me
This empty hollow, I can't bear.
~In Memory of [NAME REDACTED]

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[abracafcku]

Man, these guys reeeeeeally love their poetry, huh?

[And it looks like their 'eternal' bodies weren't so eternal after all.]

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[astralera]

I cannot blame them. Creative endeavours are likely all that remains of their humanity.

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[abracafcku]

We've chosen to call it 'robanity' since we don't know if they're human or not, FYI.

But you're probably right. I guess sappy and raunchy poetry is a constant, no matter the universe.

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[astralera]

You are free to call it whatever you wish. In the world from which I hail they would have been 'human'.

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[abracafcku]

Gotta keep up with the lingo, homie. Humans aren't the dominate species on all worlds - some worlds don't even have humans. Here, we don't know - so you need to be, y'know, flexible with your vocab.

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[astralera]

My world does not have 'humans'. 'Humanity' is a concept used with mortal races — what you might call species — who have sapience and traditionally 'humanoid' shapes.

'Human' is also not unlike a taxonomical classification, such a how lizards and their ilk are classed as 'Scalekin', mammilian fauna are 'Beastkin', or living flora are 'Seedkin'. Thus, Human can essentially be seen as a taxonomy class that umbrellas over a very broad range of species.

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[abracafcku]

Now that's interesting. You don't have humans, but you still use their words to define yourselves.

That's a new one.

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[astralera]

You will find a great deal of overlapping concepts across various universes. Though we do not use 'their' words to define ourselves — in my world they originated from us and are ours. You could call it convergent evolution.

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[abracafcku]

You could call it that, yeah. If you want to use nerd words. :P

[Sorry, Era. He's a real turd sometimes.]

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[astralera]

I see no reason to dumb down my words, unless the one I'm speaking to cannot understand them.

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[abracafcku]

Got me there, kemosabe. I'm dumb as hell.

[Or he prefers people to think of him like that.]

All this smart person shit is confusing to a dummy like me unless you explain it real simply. I just wanted to laugh about fish porn.

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[astralera]

Then I will leave you to laugh over your porn.

[necromanswers]

Least they didn't lose their sense of artistry.

[She can appreciate that much, even if poetry isn't really her thing.]

So what happened to the gods resurrecting the dead? I thought they had a whole system here, but that last bit makes it sound like somebody was perma-doomed.

[astralera]

I imagine that art is one of very few things left that allows them to feel anything, if it does.

Perhaps this couple was clever enough to know that trusting in a god to revive them is a foolish endeavour. Even if their love was revived I doubt the soul would be the same.

Distrust aside, they seemed to miss the intimacy their mortal form afforded, and were their love of the same mind I would not be surprised if they chose to remain dead, that their souls could be reunited.

[necromanswers]

Guess YMMV on that one. Where I come from gods are the most reliable way to revive somebody from the great beyond.

It's cute, though. Very poetic and soulmate-y. I can appreciate that much, and it lends some proof that the people here might've been legit.

[astralera]

I do not know 'YMMV', however in my world there is no reliable way to revive those that are dead. Breath can be returned to the body, but the body is not what makes someone truly alive.

And considering the gods here were unable to steal us away properly, I would not have any faith that they could revive us wholly, either.


It would be interesting to just know how long it has been since the last of them was turned.

[necromanswers]

What do you mean, steal us away properly? Didn't go as planned?

And I'd love a timeline, too. They're acting like this is ancient history, but they also talk about having flesh bodies once upon a time, so shouldn't they remember this shit happening?

[astralera]

When they tore me away from where I was it caused me to suffer what one might call a spiritual wound, and I am not the only one to suffer some manner of 'loss'.

Perhaps they have only a limited amount of space for their memories in their metal bodies. I cannot imagine a machine capable of containing the entirety of one's being in addition to what may possibly be countless years of additional memories.

[necromanswers]

Huh. Guess pobody's nerfect.

[It was intended as a joke, but nerf is awfully appropriate in this case. And she's not surprised to hear there are others.]

Some say that brains are big computers themselves, and I may not be a techie, but I know enough about souls to recognize that you accumulate a lot of life experience over hundreds of years. Even without knowing how long they've been like this, it's fair to assume they've filled those memory banks a few times over.

[astralera]

It is also possible they regretted the change so deeply that they purposefully forgot what life was before. Who is to say? All I know for certain is that I trust naught about this city, nor its deities, nor the automatons that dwell within it.

[necromanswers]

shit man that's a good theory too

some people are def under the belief that forgetting would be better than living with the consequences

and if they forget we can't really ask them about it either, who knows if they're lying or not

[astralera]

I cannot imagine willfully forgetting such things no matter how painful they may be, but I also cannot truly blame them if that were the case.

What I can blame them for is the horrid documentation of their history.

They bring us here supposedly to help, and yet they limit what information we have. We are of different universes than their own, with different knowledge and experiences that may be of some help to restoring the environment. Instead they desire only our bodies, not our minds, and spoon-feed us information as though we are imbeciles.

[necromanswers]

Hard same on my part, yeah. But I can understand why some might think the alternative's better.

And hey, don't forget how they lay the blame on the gods for dragging us here, not their own power. They're just doing their best to help us acclimate and follow the will of their oh-so charitable deities!

It's all pretty convenient for them.

[astralera]

It is interesting that it seems a great many of them have missed their mortal flesh, have the ability to transfer their consciousnesses, and now suddenly have an influx of non-robotic bodies in their midst.