Rebel Earth No?

[Matt]

No one is officially writing for a computer person but you probably wouldn't get much outside action if you were a sole compie. Probs as a spy you could also be a hacker though which could be very useful. That might also explain how Denny discovers a surviving american if you go down that course.

[Mynt]

A hacker spy person. Gotcha. I can do this.

[Quaddy]

Shlomi was a spy. He was crawling through the air ducts to spy on Laras and Mia at Laras' request, if I recall.

If you are excited about a spy, Mynt, by all means...excitement is what we want for this. (Matt has created more characters for this than I have, as you might have noticed.) Actually, excitement is what makes it so awesome. People have an idea, toss it out, and we make it work. Unless it's ridiculous (like if someone suggest that we make it all a dream and reveal who shot JR at the end, I might turn that down), most everything gets worked in.

COLLABORATIVE GREATNESS!

[Mynt]

So my character should be an American hacker/spy that got out before the shit hit the fan (the rest of her faction not being so lucky). She ends up in a small Canadian group but I don't think she would feel safe in the North American continent for long. She could be covertly snooping and sending out encrypted comms to try and find another place and she is discovered by Denny. Yes? Or something along those lines?

Am I going to get her to Ireland too? Or does she stay in North America until she can be recovered?

I am much more excited about this character than I was for Eli! @_@ I couldn't get a grasp on that one for the life of me, so it's way okay that he is deaded. I think it'll be way fun to be a spy character and get to sneak around and be covert. Having to rely on skill rather than having the fortune to be able to look like another person.

I imagine she is a good actress and can be another person easily... just not any currently existing ones. Lol.

[Quaddy]

I am glad you're excited! Excitement is wonderful.

If you feel comfortable writing a story that involves your character mostly being away from the main group, connected only by computers to Ireland, you can do that. I mean, if this were a novel, I'd definitely go that route. A few main characters in other parts of the world are absolutely necessary. But as this is a campfire, bringing the characters together often makes it easier to write. So if you wanted to have her end up in Ireland, that's cool, too.

I can actually kind of see her turning up one day while everyone's trying to figure out what to do about the rebellion (since it's going badly) and being all like, "why not take back America"? Everyone will think she's nuts, but if she has a bunch of information she'd stolen as she went, maybe it'll be a little like attacking the Death Star.

Something like that.

[Matt]

Yeah well, I like characters and you and I had that chat about how we needed to involve the rest of the world and so I wrote the additions that first introduced my Irish faction (who talked about the Lapontes) and then the one with Jerri sending out signals for the war beginning and how that spread through Germany, France, Russia, Ireland, America etc. Only when I did that I had in mind a tonne of characters. So I shared them all (sort of) now.

I'm excited about your spy girl too. You know it could also be funny if everyone assumes she's a guy because they only know her via computer and then one day she actually turns up and is a girl. Can Denny discover her?

America as the Death Star could work - it is essentially their main stronghold right? You know, in novelisations I always think of America as like Gryffindors at their most foolhardy and reckless (I mean as a half-insult half-compliment... I am a Slytherin after all (oh ho pottermore)) but hmmm... America would probably be RE.3 though? Actually what could be quite interesting would be if America was a plan that they start hatching now, putting pieces in place etc but that something happens and they think 'No we should attack Megatron NOW' and go for that instead, foregoing the other plan on the basis that hitting Megatron and winning would be like a giant step rather than a morale boosting smaller step.

I also think we need to get more Above Ground attention into this story - I've got ideas for my Yeatsians - but we need to include the press and public sentiment (ie. Zeph's new characters - who are great btw). Kind of like in V for Vendetta when you go through all the people watching V's first broadcast and you see them sitting, being convinced or horrorstruck by the proceedings. We should try and think about what people might write - maybe we have some brave reporters who slide articles into print and then flee underground or maybe we have renegade radios or dissident tabloids - something that reflects the perceptions of the outside world you know? We have touched on it and obviously when Quaddy and I rewrite RE we'll likely add more to it there but if we could start thinking about those things, if anyone's comfortable adding an extra few hundred words on characters that show up from time to time. Perhaps we could begin to show the civilian rebellion as it starts rolling as well as the proper warmongers that are characters are.

[Quaddy]

Americans can definitely be Gryffindor-y, sometimes. With a healthy bit of anti-Mudblood fervor.

I was thinking something happens to the supplies. America is *the* heart of the worldwide black market. That's another reason why Omega went for it first. Cut off the food and the supplies and you can actually starve your enemy into submission. I think taking Optimus Prime and Megatron would initially be endgame for the rebellion, but with Mynt's spy possessing certain information (OMG, she's R2-D2!!!!) about Optimus Prime and the rebellion's need to reestablish the black market force them to go in early.

Now, I was thinking something like Omega Station North only much larger and a little more stealth. They want to get in, assassinate a few key targets and replace them with dissemblers, effectively taking over Optimus Prime without alerting anyone to the change. So Mia would be part of the infiltration team, Tada could go along as a field leader, Charon and Mynt's character would stay behind, Laras would be off pouting in Russia somewhere, Phelps would WANT to go but not be allowed by virtue of his health.

Thaaaats kinda what I had rolling there for plot. Overall plot, of course. As far as getting Above Ground stuff, I agree. We need all sorts of broad, worldwide focus. More stuff like Zeph's, only broader. So we need stuff worldwide rebellion-wise, civilian-wise, and Omega-wise.

YAY!

[Mynt]

I'd like to name my character Riley Cross. I like the idea of them thinking she's a dude until she pops up. I think it helps if she has a sort of manly name.

My character must have been doing a lot of information gathering in her faction. She's got the lowdown on Optimus Prime. I feel all special and stuff. Is there a smiley wearing sunglasses? I'm definitely smiley wearing sunglasses mood.

[Quaddy]

Well, I'm not sure she's got all the lowdown. I think she maybe managed to steal something as she went on the run, but it's not the whole story. Especially as she would have had to do it without being caught. As a spy, she might have built up tiny little tidbits of information over the years, of course...but I doubt "lowdown" is quite the term.

Also...we really need names. Optimus Prime and Megatron won't really work...

[Lonewolf]

What about using signs of the Zodiac? Capricorn,Gemini, or Aquarius?

[Mynt]

Hm, I guess it depends on how you define lowdown. I take it to mean she knows enough to know what's up but not everything there is to know. Unless she does cause it was a pet project of her's to get all that she could. I mean who knows how long she's been prying into their business. I'm not saying she knows everything but she would know enough to be useful and I kind of think then she has the lowdown. Plus she doesn't need a lot of information to have the lowdown, just one really good piece of actual factual information.

[Quaddy]

You know, Lone, that's quite a good idea. Thank you very much! I like Capricorn as a name. Got a good sound. Capricorn and Gemini sound great, in fact.

If that's how you see it, I agree. She doesn't necessarily know everything, she just knows enough that they might be able to get in. Unfortunately, there's just enough of a glaring error in the information that Omega can take them all out.

[Matt]

... Why would aliens call their bases human horoscope names?

[Mynt]

I'd say "aren't they constellations too?" but those would be our names for them too. Maybe the words Capricorn and Gemini mean something else in their language. Something... fierce.

[Matt]

Would they call things by the same name though? Would they even have the same constellations? If you think about it, the way we see the sky isn't how they would see the sky from a different planet. Also why would they choose horoscope ones when horoscopes are associated with mysticism, the arcane etc. Plus very few of those constellations are visible all year round. Doesn't really fit with their scientific, no nonsense, totalitarianism.

[Mynt]

Hm, hm. So animal names? Black Widow, Wolf, Dragon, Cobra. Or something that conveys power/awe? Lightning, Tsunami, Hurricane. Maybe go with calling the bases something German. Or who are their biggest supporters on earth? If it's Americans that might explain why they used horoscopes. Or possibly they have a bad translator.

[Matt]

I feel like they're more likely to name them after famous loyalists or generals than animals or constellations. Or scientific terms. Or war terms. Things like Blitzkreig.

[Mynt]

Then maybe you should just say that, man.

[Matt]

ha ha I'm still not sure about that either though. They're trivial suggestions.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

But wait, they descend from humans. It makes sense still to use constellations or blitzkrieg or whatever lol. They may have different interpretations of them given their long offworld colonization but I doubt those things would disappear.

Besides, why German? The Germans -though a hub of military might in their time- lost both the world wars they started.

BUT we can nit-pick all we want really. Anything could be shot down. Why not go with something that fits their criteria without digging too unnecessarily deep because symbolism can easily be made ambiguous.

Simple, powerful, intentionally clear-cut.

Sword types and names perhaps? Or just legendary weapons (legendary weapon makers in the case of Japan) in general?

Muramasa, Excalibur, Gungnir, Mjolnir, Vajra, Gae Bulg, Masamune. Stuff like that. Just a thought.

[Mynt]

German because it is very guttural and harsh sounding.

Also, I've played way too many video games for me to not come up with a very different reference and idea regarding those names you suggested, Zeph.

[Matt]

Well... I whacked down blitzkrieg cos it was the only one I could think of... I'm rusty on my war history terms. Most of them are now about the irish civil war.

I kinda like the sword idea.

[Quaddy]

As Zeph said, the Empire is ultimately the Gaian Empire. They all have their origins in humanity and the whole purpose of the empire is to spread the glory of humanity. Humanity has their origins on Earth and, thus, all names would find their way back to Earth eventually. The major Omega stations around the Universe are going to have names that harken back to Earth. The heart of Omega on Deklahn is quite likely named Omega Station Prime, or something equally practical, but the rest of them need to be something tied to Earth in some way. And there needs to be a group of them, so all the Omega stations around the Galaxy can be similarly named.

Keeping in mind, of course, that not all planets warrant a Station. Earth is special, so it gets two. Some planet systems share Stations, with only substations and regional offices for each planet. Earth gets two because we're all sorts of wicked and insist on rebelling all the time.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Lol Mynt, Final Fantasy has all of those in just about every game but their mythology is interesting in general.

[Mynt]

Of course it is! But I encountered video games first so it's the first thing that comes to mind.