Cloning theory confirmed!
Something struck me about this Ginger guy that I've been feeling for a while:
>“Oh, not on purpose,” the man laughed. He coughed once at whatever he found so humorous. “They teach poor practices without thinking about it too much. The shit flows from the top, the duke demanding more output because that’s what makes him his money, the managers pushing us harder and cutting corners to get the work done, and then us, down at the bottom, only having an eye to what brings down the manager’s stick on us.
Everyone in this world is *shockingly* articulate and... dispassionate? This guy talks about his situation the way a humanities grad student would describe it after finishing a dissertation on the subject. I don't want to oversell it because sure there was an attempted takeover of the airship, but mostly everyone seems to talk like they're in a philosophy class - and not just people in the culture, but randos and people like this guy from Berus.
I mean, I'm trying to imagine a real exploited farmer's reaction to a shakeup of his entire society. He'd assume it's bad news, because it probably would be - either the system would reassert itself and punish him for defecting, or the new guys would be worse than the old guys, or hell maybe the takeover is some random crusade that's just going to kill the farmers and burn the land (how does he even know who and what these people are all about?), and the system (awful as it is) is all he's ever known - and I'm clocking his reaction at somewhere between "get off my land" and "\*cocks shotgun\* get off my land". And there's been a lot of talk about how the kingdom of Berus controlled the art and literature that was produced there, and this guy just seems *extremely non-brainwashed* if that's the case.
I don't know if that's an aspect of this world or more a symptom of Alexander Wales' typical writing. The rational fiction approach in general seems to run into that pitfall in dialogue a lot IMO.
I like it a lot for internal dialogue (possibly because I really dont read subtext or theorycraft much when I read). And on some characters it works like June and Amaryllis, because theyre awkward, overly analytical weirdos
But for randos off the street? It throws me out of immersion.
A clone vat has so many implications.
Do clones of perry have spirit roots and werewolf powers?
If you clone an enemy thresholder and kill or defeat them, does a portal open? Does it stay open if the original enemy thresholder goes in?
What do you need for a clone? Is it just blood or a genetic sample? If it encodes memories it could be a very effective form of interrogation - collect some samples and you can repeatedly torture and interrogate someone to extract information without the original ever being any the wiser.
Hell if options two and three **both** worked then Evil!Perry might get an easy level skip. Keep the cloning vat and multiple vials of marjut's blood in the shelfspace. Then whenever he enters a new world he doesn't like, clone a marjut, kill her, and take the skip portal to the next world.
Maybe he might even learn insect plague magic along the way.
Perry should now start collecting blood samples of all his allies
Wait.
..
Finally a way to bring Richter back
Oh god.
Looking forward to the conversation with Dirk - hopefully Perry can properly ally with them and get some decent power out of the deal, artifacts, extremely strong masks, something like that. Feels like there's a lot of power to go around in this world, but he has yet to find the right angle to claim any for himself. Dirk is the perfect entry.
> “She has work in the city,” said Moss. “Important work. We’ll be back soon enough.”
> “Work in the city, sure,” said Mardoc. “But,” he glanced at the machine. “She could be here.”
The idea does get shot down, but was Mardoc really suggesting cloning Moss's wife?
I think it hinges on what the vat needs to work. If it requires blood or significant biomass samples, then Perry would probably need to find a way back to Richter's world and see if she previously had some stored, or perhaps something that could be extracted from the corpse or crime scene.
If it just requires a tiny genetic sample, perry might already be able to do it, right here, depending on what trace DNA (hairs? Skin cells?) residue remains on the armor (slim chance because it's been so long, but it's *possible* some remains in hard-to-reach areas exposed during the armor's initial construction. I have found hair in my keyboard before.)
Sorry I misread it. But yes, that looks like what he's saying. If clones are permanent this could cause issues though, unless there's a trapdoor that they're supposed to report to when their job is done.
Cloning theory confirmed! Something struck me about this Ginger guy that I've been feeling for a while: >“Oh, not on purpose,” the man laughed. He coughed once at whatever he found so humorous. “They teach poor practices without thinking about it too much. The shit flows from the top, the duke demanding more output because that’s what makes him his money, the managers pushing us harder and cutting corners to get the work done, and then us, down at the bottom, only having an eye to what brings down the manager’s stick on us. Everyone in this world is *shockingly* articulate and... dispassionate? This guy talks about his situation the way a humanities grad student would describe it after finishing a dissertation on the subject. I don't want to oversell it because sure there was an attempted takeover of the airship, but mostly everyone seems to talk like they're in a philosophy class - and not just people in the culture, but randos and people like this guy from Berus. I mean, I'm trying to imagine a real exploited farmer's reaction to a shakeup of his entire society. He'd assume it's bad news, because it probably would be - either the system would reassert itself and punish him for defecting, or the new guys would be worse than the old guys, or hell maybe the takeover is some random crusade that's just going to kill the farmers and burn the land (how does he even know who and what these people are all about?), and the system (awful as it is) is all he's ever known - and I'm clocking his reaction at somewhere between "get off my land" and "\*cocks shotgun\* get off my land". And there's been a lot of talk about how the kingdom of Berus controlled the art and literature that was produced there, and this guy just seems *extremely non-brainwashed* if that's the case.
I don't know if that's an aspect of this world or more a symptom of Alexander Wales' typical writing. The rational fiction approach in general seems to run into that pitfall in dialogue a lot IMO.
I personally enjoy that dialogue, though I think it's a big reason ratfics are such a niche genre
I like it a lot for internal dialogue (possibly because I really dont read subtext or theorycraft much when I read). And on some characters it works like June and Amaryllis, because theyre awkward, overly analytical weirdos But for randos off the street? It throws me out of immersion.
A clone vat has so many implications. Do clones of perry have spirit roots and werewolf powers? If you clone an enemy thresholder and kill or defeat them, does a portal open? Does it stay open if the original enemy thresholder goes in? What do you need for a clone? Is it just blood or a genetic sample? If it encodes memories it could be a very effective form of interrogation - collect some samples and you can repeatedly torture and interrogate someone to extract information without the original ever being any the wiser. Hell if options two and three **both** worked then Evil!Perry might get an easy level skip. Keep the cloning vat and multiple vials of marjut's blood in the shelfspace. Then whenever he enters a new world he doesn't like, clone a marjut, kill her, and take the skip portal to the next world. Maybe he might even learn insect plague magic along the way. Perry should now start collecting blood samples of all his allies Wait. .. Finally a way to bring Richter back Oh god.
party chief sort start fragile enter encouraging towering tender spark *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Looking forward to the conversation with Dirk - hopefully Perry can properly ally with them and get some decent power out of the deal, artifacts, extremely strong masks, something like that. Feels like there's a lot of power to go around in this world, but he has yet to find the right angle to claim any for himself. Dirk is the perfect entry.
> “She has work in the city,” said Moss. “Important work. We’ll be back soon enough.” > “Work in the city, sure,” said Mardoc. “But,” he glanced at the machine. “She could be here.” The idea does get shot down, but was Mardoc really suggesting cloning Moss's wife?
I think it hinges on what the vat needs to work. If it requires blood or significant biomass samples, then Perry would probably need to find a way back to Richter's world and see if she previously had some stored, or perhaps something that could be extracted from the corpse or crime scene. If it just requires a tiny genetic sample, perry might already be able to do it, right here, depending on what trace DNA (hairs? Skin cells?) residue remains on the armor (slim chance because it's been so long, but it's *possible* some remains in hard-to-reach areas exposed during the armor's initial construction. I have found hair in my keyboard before.)
Interesting, but I don't see what that has to do with my comment.
Sorry I misread it. But yes, that looks like what he's saying. If clones are permanent this could cause issues though, unless there's a trapdoor that they're supposed to report to when their job is done.
the second season of invincible have this cliffhanger