Channelknight Fadran Posted January 14, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 "We do. The fact that we have as much as we have is the product of years. The fact remains is that the Clan is incredibly thorough with everything." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 14, 2022 Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 "It is completely unthinkable that an Empire of that magnitude could or would have prevented you from obtaining any information about itself. That would be not only impractical, but also impossible. Not only would it be of limited utility to conceal the magnitude of one's forces- fear is a useful tool, after all - it would also be vulnerable to even a single slip of information. I mean, you could just walk up and look at what their forces are, surely?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#1 Taln Fan Posted January 14, 2022 Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 “If said reconnaissance involves maybe stealing some food, I like this plan.” Saph said, staring sadly at his empty bowl of spaghetti. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 14, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 5 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said: "It is completely unthinkable that an Empire of that magnitude could or would have prevented you from obtaining any information about itself. That would be not only impractical, but also impossible. Not only would it be of limited utility to conceal the magnitude of one's forces- fear is a useful tool, after all - it would also be vulnerable to even a single slip of information. I mean, you could just walk up and look at what their forces are, surely?" "The Clan is not conventional by any means. They understand better than anyone that putting all of anything in one place is the easiest way to get it all ruined. Armies are spread thin throughout the universes, which in a pinch means that resistances like ours have a chance, but even if we completely succeed on one planet, we've barely made a dent in anything at all. Not to mention that important information, resources, and the like are all locked behind their own doors, both metaphorically and literally. Full-scale incursions are almost always required just to acquire a fraction of something larger." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 1 minute ago, Channelknight Fadran said: "The Clan is not conventional by any means. They understand better than anyone that putting all of anything in one place is the easiest way to get it all ruined. Armies are spread thin throughout the universes, which in a pinch means that resistances like ours have a chance, but even if we completely succeed on one planet, we've barely made a dent in anything at all. Not to mention that important information, resources, and the like are all locked behind their own doors, both metaphorically and literally. Full-scale incursions are almost always required just to acquire a fraction of something larger." "Information cannot be contained," stated Three simply. "It simply... cannot. It is against its nature." "Yeah!" said Four. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Nothing's perfect. Again, we do have some of it. There's no such thing as foolproof, no matter how many redundancies you have. It's just..." Fadran sucked in a breath. "It's just that the Clan has a lot of redundancies. For everything. Fallback plans upon fallback plans, secrets upon secrets... there's a reason they managed to amass literal millions of universes." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "The amount of information of information you lack is beyond imperfect- it is baffling. How do you not know the nature of the forces that exist right next to you? Can't you watch them in action?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "It's easier than you might think to simply hide everything behind an edited newspaper or a trail of bribes. People know that the Clan wages wars, conquers worlds, punishes innocents; but how, when, where, and why is all kept hidden. The vast majority of the 'citizens' within the empire are trapped in a small portion of a planet for the entirety of their lives. Travelers are monitored, upper-class people are given stakes in it all, and in the case that someone becomes truly dangerous, they're simply executed." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 Just now, Channelknight Fadran said: "It's easier than you might think to simply hide everything behind an edited newspaper or a trail of bribes. People know that the Clan wages wars, conquers worlds, punishes innocents; but how, when, where, and why is all kept hidden. The vast majority of the 'citizens' within the empire are trapped in a small portion of a planet for the entirety of their lives. Travelers are monitored, upper-class people are given stakes in it all, and in the case that someone becomes truly dangerous, they're simply executed." "You can't hide something behind an edited newspaper!" piped up Echo Four. "It's a physical copy, so you can just find the old edition!" "Compared to the infinity of Universes, the Clan is nothing," pointed out Echo Three. "There must exist information about the Empire outside of the Empire that the Empire is not able to control. And given that the majority of what is now the Empire was once not the Empire, that information should contain several pertinent details." 13 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said: How do you not know the nature of the forces that exist right next to you? Can't you watch them in action? Quote I feel this question remains pertinent. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "There's no such thing as an original copy of a newspaper. There aren't any independent news sources, except those who remain in a Clan-controlled bubble of Clan-controlled news. As for what other universes know, the answer is very little. Macrocosmic travel is extremely limited in most situations. In fact, pretty much every universe within the Clan's control isn't anywhere near developing such abilities--several are physically incapable of doing so--which means that while there's undoubtedly several universes who have information that we don't, going out and finding them, talking to them, getting them to join our side... all that's going to be ridiculously unfeasible." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "You... you can't even travel between universes?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "I can. A lot of people can. It's just very far from everyone." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "My assessment of the situation is that you have approximately a zero percent chance of taking down the Empire with the information you now have. Know your enemy is one of the first rules of war, after all." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "I absolutely agree. And that is why we are starting off small." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "I thought you said you had been doing this for years?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Not me personally. The locals who've managed to sneak by security and build this base." Fadran gestured at the caverns. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 3 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said: "I absolutely agree. And that is why we are starting off small." "I thought the plan was to attack the world that their entire empire depends on. That's hardly small." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "There isn't any singular world that they depend on. Again, redundancies." Fadran thumbed behind him. "We're starting by cutting off some control here in the colonies. Cause general chaos and whatnot. From there we can work our way a bit deeper into the heart of the Clan and start dealing some real damage, but for now, simply giving the people here some hope and a fighting chance just for themselves is enough." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Well, you can't do anything without information. Not effectively." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Here we have at least a rough idea of their forces and where stuff is. They've established a presence, which means we have targets to attack." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 Just now, Channelknight Fadran said: "Here we have at least a rough idea of their forces and where stuff is. They've established a presence, which means we have targets to attack." "The world is here? Also, you said that you didn't know the nature of the forces here." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Not here. This is important to an extent, but not essential." Fadran seemed to be getting a bit more miffed. "We don't. Not for a surety. But guesswork has taken us farther than you might think." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Well, stop underselling yourself then," declared Three. "What is the nature of the forces here, to the best of your knowledge?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channelknight Fadran Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "Mostly recruited soldiers. Local scabs, conscripted criminals, bullies... that sort of thing. With enough provocation they'd call in an actual military to do the job, but most strut their own power around enough to have become somewhat desensitized to insurrection; hence why this resistance is still up and running." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xinoehp512 Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "What magic systems do they have access to?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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