[LP CYOA] Epic

[Zwist]

A.
"You know, you knew all the parts, but were to fucking blind to see the greater picture. Dumbass"

 

[treave]

I believe I'm in need of a tie-breaker.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I fear the certitude of the Esquilaxian faction, yet I shall not be the one of my Brothers to yield. Stand firm!

 

[Kipeci]

A

 

[treave]

Field

The stairway, though constructed of light, appears solid to the touch. I set one foot on it, testing my weight. It is stable. Minding my step and the lack of handrails, I begin my climb, counting the steps as I go. As always, the guide NPC is just behind me, matching my pace without a word of complaint. I leave the lich and its lonely hall behind. The ceiling opens up like a flower as I draw near, its surface splitting into petal-like extensions that curl inwards with a loud, drawn-out creak. The stairway continues upwards, into total darkness. Only the light of the stairs can be seen, forming the path I have to travel.

10,214 steps later, I stop counting. I don’t get tired in the virtual world, but the monotony of the climb in the dark grates on my nerves.

“How much longer do we have to go?” I ask.

The guide NPC, her face unchanging, replies without even a blink. “There are only 13,341 more steps to go.”

With a slight grumble, I continue to climb.

Soon, I begin to see something green in the distance. I quicken my steps. Pinpricks of light begin to appear in the depths, far from the stairs I am climbing. The lights gather into familiar shapes – galaxies and nebulae, rotating slowly around me with the stairs as its axis.

“Almost there, sir.” I hear the guide say.

Then, with one more step, the scenery changes. A vast expanse of emerald sky stretches itself over my head as the darkness fades out, washed away by a flood of azure under my feet. It takes me a while for me to understand what I am looking at. The sky above me is a field of grass, and I am, somehow, standing with utter disregard for gravity.

“What is this place?”

“It is another level of World 0, sir. The program should simulate part of your knowledge with this vista,” replies the guide patiently. “Please wait and watch.”

The activity begins in a few seconds. A small hole appears on the surface of the grassy field, and an ant climbs out of it. It is soon followed by its comrades. They begin spreading over the field and – surprisingly – begin building and digging. In a matter of minutes a large part of the field has been shaped into something that looked very much like a map of the world.

The ants begin to exhibit different colours on their shells. Those with the same colours would band together in marked territories on the map.

Then, a certain group of ants in the region around Sumer begin building a high tower, reaching out towards me.

“I believe the ants desire to communicate, sir.”

I reach a finger out and place it against the tiny spire of the tower. The awe and worshipful feelings of the ants instantly flood my head. Though their minds are tiny, when they are gathered together in one single purpose they have power.

Despite that power, however, they are lost. They want direction and purpose, and they seek it from me. I begin to ponder how this simulation is supposed to tell me what I already know. Judging from the events, it is probably a crude recreation of history. Obviously I am nowhere near old enough to be some ancient god that men of old sought guidance from; Shulgi would probably fit the bill better. Then again, these events aren’t fully accurate, and I should refrain from taking everything at face value.

I wait for a while longer, but nothing happens – the ant world remains in stasis, as if waiting for me to act.

For now, it seems as if I can only progress by dealing with the ants. Three choices float before my eyes – these seem to be the directions I can give them, within the confines of the simulation. Before I can choose, there is a sudden burst of static, and a fourth choice is added to the mix. How strange.

***

A. Peace and prosperity is the only way for ant-kind to thrive. I direct the ants to seek out a life of co-existence and harmony. Ant-kind will never grow into an upstanding, moral civilization if they are bogged down in constant conflict.

B. There can be no progress without strife; there can be no greater purpose in life than progress. The ants are to turn themselves into tools of war and drive their foes honourably and mercilessly before them.

C. Ant-kind is free to do as they wish. Free will is the right of any ant, and only by pursuing their dreams on their own will they be able to experience true joy. I instruct the ants to abandon all hesitation and indulge in their desires.

D. This world is fake, and I reveal as much to these digital creations.I tell the ants that this world they inhabit is false – a manufactured world of dreams. If they desire to awaken, they must experience a fear so startling that they are jolted from their slumber. I wonder what they will do?

 

[Storyfag]

B That is the way of the Sith

 

[TOME]

A for now.

 

[Tigranes]

So we can be Ean Alter-Ego Morpheus with D?

 

[Jester]

Not easy choice A sound good but i doubt that in long term they survive, many not ant predators so sphere diplomacy wont work. D is cool but it would annoy me to answer metaphor like that unless for lol. C or B huh. C sound like hedonism or second USS and we really don't need that.

So i vote B. Kill, consume and evolve or conquer others and go with casts like Tau.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Snip

Tower of Babel...

Choose carefully Codex Remember this is the path we remember.

 

[Esquilax]

I reach a finger out and place it against the tiny spire of the tower. The awe and worshipful feelings of the ants instantly flood my head. Though their minds are tiny, when they are gathered together in one single purpose they have power.
...
For now, it seems as if I can only progress by dealing with the ants. Three choices float before my eyes – these seem to be the directions I can give them, within the confines of the simulation. Before I can choose, there is a sudden burst of static, and a fourth choice is added to the mix. How strange.

Okay, well, it appears that the ants only grow powerful when there's unity and common purpose, which rules C out. It sounds like a recipe for hedonism and general overall societal decline without the benefits of either enlightenment in A or competition in B.

D however, is a bit of a wild card - where did this burst of static come from? I'm under the impression that this is some sort of a glitch or fuck-up in the program that wasn't intended in the program, but I'm curious as to what this would entail. Could it possibly involve some kind of mass suicide or something? After all, if only fear can awaken them, then the obvious answer would involve the fear of death. I'm not entirely sure yet.

 

[Kipeci]

D

Blood for the blood... uh, queen?

 

[Storyfag]

D however, is a bit of a wild card - where did this burst of static come from? I'm under the impression that this is some sort of a glitch or fuck-up in the program that wasn't intended in the program, but I'm curious as to what this would entail. Could it possibly involve some kind of mass suicide or something?

Like the mass suicides arranged by Cyber Jack, eh?

 

[Azira]

My thought exactly. Cyber Jack's a hacker. Who else would be planting that option?

 

[Storyfag]

Theory: the additional options are presented to us by Cyber Jack. They will significantly hasten our escape from this virtual reality (thus robbing us of precious, precious lore. Boo!), but potentially at great cost.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

B - We don't want to wake yet. We got ourselves in here to learn from Shulgi, so let's make the most of it.

 

[Esquilax]

Theory: the additional options are presented to us by Cyber Jack. They will significantly hasten our escape from this virtual reality (thus robbing us of precious, precious lore. Boo!), but potentially at great cost.

I agree. Fuck that guy. I wanna actually learn what's going on.

I turn to the Kyrie NPC. There is a slightly perplexed expression on that face which smoothens out when she notices me looking at her. As an AI it is clunky, still far below what Yua is capable of, but it is quite improved from the usual fare I encounter. I wonder if it is itself customized. “It appears that the creator has made some modifications to the demarcation line between fiction and reality. There remains a limit on what the user can be presented, as it appears the system still does not allow fully fabricated events to occur.”

“I see. By the way, you said that the brain would attempt to awaken if it rejects the virtual reality. Does that mean that there is a chance it would fail to awaken?”

“There is a 5% probability of failure with standard hardware. I have no information about your method of access at the moment and as such am unable to give you an exact figure.”

“What happens in the event of a failure?”

“The user would still awaken, but their mind begins to reject the real world. Rapid mental breakdown follows subsequently, with total psychosis setting in no more than one week after awakening.” There seemed to be a movie made about this disease a while back; I never got around to watching it. Still, my curiosity is satisfied for now. I better get back to the lich.

I think it's important to keep the above quote in mind when it comes to our decisions here. If we reject the reality presented to us here and pick D, I see the worst-case scenario being an inability to distinguish reality from fantasy. So, it would be pretty bad.

As for the choice here, I'm going to assume that this is somewhat similar to a game of Civilization, but I rather like the idea of guiding our ants toward an enlightened future, as faggy as that sounds. I am aware that we're surrounded by other tribes of ants that are possibly warlike and aggressive (i.e. similar to B) but perhaps we could out-tech them? B is still a pretty good choice though.

Flop to B

 

[aleam iacis]

I would have liked to pursue the earlier alternate route of the boy, but as long as we are here, let's go for a culture or research victory! A!

 

[ScubaV]

Since we're remembering what we've already known (i.e in my interpretation, Codex controlling Senya) and not what we've forgotten (pre-hospital) and we've generally played him as a good-guy/hero I'll take A.

 

[Esquilax]

I believe that this is all a set-up for Shulgi lore-dumping a lot of stuff regarding Masters, Gieloth, etc should we prove successful:

"Well, there's no harm in letting you know. It's simple. There are many other test worlds in your reality. As your technology grows, you will encounter them, sooner or later, and there will be a clash of civilizations. The eventual victor, out of the countless test worlds, will be admitted to the Gate, and there we will ask them what they have learnt from their experience." After a pause, he adds, "Of course, there will be a reward: we will grant one wish of the victor. Any wish, as long as it is within our reach, and as you well know, our reach is long indeed

This is a microcosm of the overall purpose of the immortals. We lead our particular anthill to victory over all others, and Shulgi grants us some knowledge to help us understand what we already know.

 

[Smashing Axe]

B shulg would approve

 

[Zwist]

A, I want to be an Ean.
We are probably going to see why this option will fail. As we would with some others.
Most importantly, this is about perspective. And consequence.
If Jack is watching, D could just be planted there to test us, taking it raising his view on us.

 

[Rex Feral]

A.

 

[Esquilax]

Hmm, I just realized that Shulgi throughout this entire time has been pushing humanity to progress and excel itself - it seems safe to believe that his overriding goal has always been the progress of mankind. This whole thing was an effort to make humanity strong through strife. Based on that, we should be voting B, which I just flopped to.

I'd like to vote A in an effort to challenge Shulgi and keep Senya the way he is, but I think the whole point here is to win the challenges that Shulgi has set up for us, no?

 

[treave]

And so we encounter another tie.

The choices we make here will influence the nature of the lore given, and it will be a pretty important dump that will be coming up in a few updates. To that end there aren't really any wrong answers, just answers that reflect what Senya wants to know, deep down inside.