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Meets and Greets

PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:01 pm
by Aldus Marius
Marius and friends strode uphill on the Via Tecta on the last leg of their journey. As they came within sight of the insula, Marius noticed the same thing Iohannes did; but the presence of the toughs didn't seem to faze him any. All became clear when a burly, placid-looking man, peering into the darkness as if to make sure, recognised his landlord and straightened up. "Legio expedita!!" he roared; and the rest of them stood to attention, or as close to it as some of them could still muster. "Laxate, laxate," Marius responded casually, and the men stood at ease. "I know," Marius said in an aside to his amici, "you'd think they'd have had enough of all that; but after being out for a while they miss it. They find it comforting, and for the ones like Silvanus here it's the only part of their lives that still makes any sense."

The placid man approached: "Tesseram habes?"

"Of course I've got my passkey," Marius replied, not seeming too put-out by being asked for one. He reached under his tunic and produced the Wolf-pendant. The other man pulled his own out, making sure both pendants matched. "Intrate," he said, for the first time including Marius' companions in the transaction. The Wanderer eyed them and smirked, "I suggest we do what he says; quid censitis, amici bon'? And he winked.

Re: New RP Thread!

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:00 pm
by Valerius Claudius Iohanes
OOC: So you, too, sensed the approaching doom of the RP, eh, Paule? :roll:

I think the only way that the RP will get going again is to allow at least some "moving" of others' characters; that way we can write an extended bit without hesitating and hesitating and hesitating again.

However, I do call 'foul' on this Terminator gambit !!! 8) Rescind, Paule, rescind the untimely death of the alternate Paulus!

OOC: Hei, no fair!!

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:51 pm
by Aldus Marius
Mi Paule, now what'd you wanna do that for...?? Now my crew won't have anybody to rescue!! C'mon, be a pal and return to the Land of the Living, willya? >({|8`(

(Dulcissime te patior!)

This Thread is Not Dead! Or dying. I won't let it. I'll do it solo if I have to!

*goes into major pout*

un-Terminated

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:55 pm
by Aldus Marius
* sics his superhero cybernaut, The Webmaster, on that damned Terminator *

[Humor cont'd] Hannibal in an Endless Loup

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:17 am
by Aldus Marius
Not to be outdone in feats of extreme carnivory, the Goddess Roma appears in Her Goddess-Wolf form and devours both Hannibal and the Terminator. She discovers that She can't digest cold steel, so She hands the killer robot over to Vulcanus to be melted down. Afters, She adds a little milk and honey to him and has him for tea.

Re: New RP Thread!

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:29 am
by Valerius Claudius Iohanes
ANNOUNCER:

"And now we return you to our regularly scheduled Role-Play."

"... At least, I hope so.... "

OOC: Forward to the Past

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:45 am
by Aldus Marius
Ita, I'll be posting a description of Marius' insula from the outside soon; meantime, Mari is on his way up the stairs to his actual quarters, with Iohannes and Formosus hopefully still behind him. >({|:-)

The Wolf's Den

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 3:10 am
by Valerius Claudius Iohanes
IC:

Marius led the way up to his cella, and Claudius Iohannes and Formosus Viriustus followed. Iohannes found himself dazed for a moment and involuntarily shook his head in order to clear it. It was strange - for a moment or two, he had been blinded by a sudden miasma of bizarre and unsought images! He wondered if either of his companions had seen it.... But they walked on, apparently undisturbed.

And before Iohannes could ask about the strange images, Marius announced the arrival at his cella. He could see Marius beam and, indeed, his was a splendid room: A footlocker and the Wolfish one's armor and gear over on one side, a scriptorium where the morning light would favor it, with stylus, tablets and volumes neatly arranged thereon, and over on the other side of the room the Eques's enviable collection of volumina and even some codices, neatlly filed away in a large wooden chest, polished and gleaming; and the whole was enclosed in bright, clean, dry walls. Here was a soldier on parade, thought Iohannes.

"Marii," he began, "your home is excellent, and feels most comfortable. Thank you for allowing us this hospitality. But after our walk, I wonder if Formosus and I could recline -- and perhaps trouble you for some of that - what do you call it? 'Cream soda'?"

In the Insula Munita

PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:22 pm
by Valerius Claudius Iohanes
Claudius Iohannes was awakened by a gently rasping canine tongue. As he pulled his groggy body up onto one arm, the canine in question trotted off to sample the salt and oil of Formosus's face.

Iohannes got half up, and stared around Marius's cella. Half-awake, he oriented himself by silently recounting the prior evening: the verbose Formosus, with endless tales of his times working and watching on the Wall protecting his Eburonian home in far Belgia, with any number of historical and philosophical sallies, and with some strident and picaresque accounts of domestic life to boot, had enlivened everything that evening. The grimmer Marius had listenened and made hospitality for them, adding some anecdotes and one cautionary tale from his years legionary and years peregrine; Iohannes himself had enjoyed the sweet, somewhat-mead-like distillation that Marius called 'cream soda' while still observing as much moderation as he could, and had felt compelled to intervene at one point when Formosus's good humor seemed to have sorely chafed Marius and set the Wolf to growling. But all had gone well. A rather better meal in regard to talk, exchange, companionship, drink, than had been the prius prandium, that was certain.

Again came the dog. This was Curli-Su, as Iohannes recalled: she reminded him of the little old cur who had nursed his lonely spirit when he was a boy in Britannia, not so much in her features, but in her size and pleasant disposition. "I'm sorry, creatura, but I'll have to let you have my ankles instead of my face."

As Iohannes arose, Marius came in from the novel balcony, that projection or stage that allowed the occupant a chance to sample the air and the view of the surroundings. Rome's noises were much in evidence, and smells were drifting in of cooking, of meal and garum and meat.

"Salve," said Iohannes. "You were kind to let Formosus and me sleep in a little! I'm sure your early-rising habits will be with you till the end, mi Marii."

"But now," Iohannes continued, "let's to the Trans-Tiberim, and our quarry - Marcus Lupinius Paulus!"

Brainless Wonders?

PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:50 am
by Marcus Lupinius Paulus
Though his body ached, exhaustion eventually triumphed, and Paulus fell asleep.
--------------------------------
"Doctor!", the pretty female intern called out excitedly, "number 5 has fallen asleep!"
"Verified Doctor", confirmed a nerdy looking male with thick glasses, who was reading the instruments at his work station", we have verification that 5 is asleep, and 4 appears to be heading that way also."

Doctor Sebastian was not impressed. "Of course they sleep! What, do you think that just because they are disembodied brains they do not sleep anymore? No....they still rest, and take nourishment". Sebastian peered down to check the rate of flow of the fluid which fed the brains housed in the glass dome in from of them. Five human brains, with all their regions connected with wires leading to the central interface unit, which acted as the liason between them and Roma, the massive supercomputer.

"I wonder what they experience?" said the female intern.
Dr. Sebastian shook his head. "We have no way of knowing. Neural activity can tell us if they are having high rates of stress or fear or enjoyment, but the data cannot tell us exactly what they are thinking and doing in their world. All we can know for the present is that the Roma computer, which took ten years to build and program, can produce a world teeming with cities, inhabited by millions of historical and fictitious persons that they can interact with. We see five brains tied into a machine. The see Rome, and it's inhabitants of two thousand years ago. And with the Hippocampian Stimulator, they can probably create memories of their own past.

"But we will be able to experience it ourselves eventually, won't we?" asked the nerdy intern.
"Hopefully, phase two will be ready within a few years. Right now it is too dangerous. But the development of the Neural Helmet is progressing, and we may risk human testing in a year's time."

Dr Sebastian excitedly strode over to the master console and picked up a model of the Neural Helmet. "Can you imagine this? Picture youself being able to put this on your head, and entering a virtual world seemingly as real as this one you inhabit now. You would be able to meet these people that now you only see as brains under a glass. You would see them, talk to them, interact with them just as you interact with each other now. A virtual Roman Empire, and that is just the beginning. Eventually, everybody will be able to take their dream vacations in the civilization of their choice. Want to spend a week in ancient Egypt? Colonial America? Renaissance Italy? We will have them all and more. You could even enter into your favorite books as characters if you wanted to."

Dr Sebastian pointed to one of the brains. "This one was a female in Germany. She had a gladitor reenacting group. But during a public demonstration, they unwisely tried to spar with sharpend swords, and her sparring partner accidentally chopped her head off. We were able to get her brain to the program before irreversible decay set in."
He pointed to another brain. "This was a Latin scholar, who foolishly was glancing down at a book while driving instead of keeping his eyes on the road. He was decapitated as his car ran into the tractor in front of him. All of these brains here are people who have been decapitated accidentally, and who had signed living wills as organ donors."

"Too bad they didn't know their brains are also organs!", the nerd interjected. And they all laughed.

Re: Even Newer RP Thread!

PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:52 pm
by Valerius Claudius Iohanes
Chleggfogle's dominant eye peered down at the creatures in the environment simulator, even as his two other eyes independently took the status of the instrumentations and answered some brain-mail. His gills feathered a little in satisfaction.

The life-forms had in the space of a few Kellian weeks come to sentience, developed micro-technologies, run through a long history and finally come to this, a degree of sophistication which hinted at something on a par with the Kellian's own civilization. It was remarkable. They were even performing strange experiments on their peers at this point.

Narmchogle scampered in on her twelve tentacles and approached Chleggfogle. "Are they still alive?" she intoned through her vibraducts and the plasmic medium between them.

"Definitely", Chleggfogle responded. "And I wouldn't have it any other way. We're learning a great deal from this little experiment."

Narmchogle's dominant eye popped a bit in surprise: "But didn't you say you were going to have to throw that lot out next week and begin on the double-brained species?"

"Yes, certainly. But I will miss the micro-apes; they have given us quite a little show. Ah, well," he continued, "the universe is infinite - why should anyone bother to actually 'keep' anything aside from self-developing technology? Mmmmh," he shivered in delight, "cha-a-a-ange! Delicious!"

For a moment the two Kellians trembled in ecstatic sympathy, and then Chleggfogle turned off the monitor and they scampered out of the room.


The Brainscape 3

PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:10 pm
by Aldus Marius
One of the brains was considerably smaller than all the rest, not domed so high, and more elongated from front to back. The head from which it had been taken had looked human enough; a Gulf War veteran locked in mortal combat with a vampire, who proved to be the only being in regio Teiana faster on the draw with a spatha than the man himself. So why had he had a dog's brain--or, on further genetic analysis, that of a Wolf?

All things considered, Marius thought, his brain wasn't the worst thing he could have left to Science. Of course he'd done it on purpose! He grinned inwardly, the only way a disembodied brain *can* grin, and looked forward to Confuzzling someone else for a change...

Re: New RP Thread!

PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:20 pm
by Valerius Claudius Iohanes
[OOC: Has everyone enjoyed their vacation from the RP? 8)

Should we re-wind it to some point? Or take it forward from Iohannes and Formosus waking up in Marius's abode? For my part, I would still like to see our heroes team up. The reason I did that wake-up scene at Marius's was to allow the RP Marius and his veterans to gear up and to get us over en masse to the RP Paulus in Transtiberim.

Cleo (the real auctrix) is marking time. Paulus (l'homme actuel) is bored (but having some fun, anyway). Formosus (the Man) is - turned off? Formose, chime in.

I'm marking time, too, but maybe I'll just 'move' a couple of pieces a bit and see what happens.... Unless, of course, somebody else moves first. :wink: ]