Libra's Chariot: Update #3

[thelostmods]

Hey Team,

As we enter our final week of the Libra's Chariot event, some decisions by the characters need to be made regarding the fate of the NPCs and the station itself.

The following information is available at this point for any character to have discovered:

• The Docking Bay is repaired and there are shuttles with tractor beams that can move space debris and also potentially the station itself if enough are coordinated.
  
  
• The asteroid critters are Tech Mimics that can be used to repair the station if they're shown how repair tools work and are directed to damaged areas.
  
  
• A spare propulsion system can possibly be taken from Beta Station, which is nearby, but has gone unexplored.
  
  
• There are no exterior shields for Libra Station, but something could potentially be put on to protect it from debris.
  
  
• First Officer Forven Lau left behind a program that will allow characters to alter Madame and the MODs' directives at-will. Madame is unable to alter her directives and may crash temporarily if pushed on the point of them. The directive modification program was found by Meulin and Aeleus in the library before breech in the Recreation Bay occurred. The Bulletin Board notice of the finding of that card is here.
  
  Madame's current directives:
  1. Protect and maintain the Chariot Unit.
  2. Provide the crew with whatever assistance they request.
  
  The MODs' current directives:
  1. Conduct trials according to the Truth-seeker Code to bring justice to the people of Meridian.
  2. Obey all orders by the crew unless it conflicts with the first directive.
  3. Provide the crew with all requested and necessary assistance.
  4. Maintain Libra Station per Madame's orders.
  
  
• The people in the Chariot Unit all appear to be slightly bored, young and middle-aged adults. There is a curious dearth of children or elderly individuals. Unfortunately, the screen to view the goings on inside the Chariot Unit was destroyed. Madame has noted that a physical transfer of data from the Chariot Unit would need to occur. She does not personally have access to data to transfer it. It will be up to the characters to do something.

All of that being said... time to make some decisions. The end of this event will depend heavily on the actions of characters participating and what they decide to do. Things to consider for plotting:

1. Does your character want to save Libra Station, itself?
   There ARE viable ways to do this that will protect the station from the debris field, repair the station, and potentially move it out of the debris field.
   
   
2. Does your character want to save Madame?
   There ARE viable ways to do this. She is currently unwilling to leave Libra Station due to her directives requiring her to protect the Chariot Unit, though. Characters would have to forcibly remove her, reprogram her, or find a way to bring the Chariot Unit with them.
   
   
3. Does your character want to save the Chariot Unit?
   There ARE viable ways to do this. Either by wishing for something from Zephyr... or if someone wants to do a final search of the Habitation Bay, there is something plot relevant there that will assist with this effort.
   
   
4. Does your character want to save the MODs?
   Why, tho? There ARE viable ways to do this. They can be reprogrammed with simple directives. They will not leave the station unless they are reprogrammed or the Chariot Unit is preserved.

Please leave a comment below with what actions your character(s) will be taking so that these can be pulled into play for the finale. Please also feel free to plot here with others for threads whether it's a fight or a group effort to do something in particular.

Comments

[bywolves]

After looking at all of the evidence of the people who lived in the Station (plus a lot of discussions with K), Royce is not really thrilled at the idea of saving anybody but Madame. He thinks it'd be cruel to just fix the station and leave everybody there, because that doesn't solve the problem. Nobody would be there to continue to keep the station running and it'd just die anyway. Plus, they'd be leaving a person who has the capability to feel sadness and fear alone without company for centuries.

He also doesn't care about the MODs and he's VERY against reprogramming them to be alive. The whole problem with this place is that Madame is alive enough to be lonely and have awareness, but she doesn't have enough free will to make her own decisions for herself. Royce doesn't WANT to reprogram Madame because he thinks that's like violating her, but he could be convinced to do it if it means saving her and giving her her own free will.

So here's a bullet point list of what Royce wants and doesn't want:

- Royce DOES want to save Madame
- Royce DOES NOT want to save the MODs or the Libra Station
- Royce is INDIFFERENT on whether or not they save the Chariot Unit; he's erring on the side of "this is gross and I hate the concept" but he's not going to throw a fit about it existing
- Royce DOES NOT want to reprogram Madame, but will if there's no absolutely other choice (or if they reprogram her to give her the ability to choose)
- Royce will throw a fit and fight people who suggest leaving Madame behind

He's also very passionate about all of this and he'll argue until he's blue in the face about it, so if there's a big Group Discussion you can bet your ass he's there shouting people down.

[devoutish]

Piggy-backing on this because Alfie's opinions are mostly similar, with the following caveats:

- he is PRO saving the Chariot Unit; if y'all wanna live in your weird little digital world, you do you, and the idea of deciding to essentially kill them all leaves a bad taste in his mouth
- he is PRETTY OKAY with the idea of reprogramming Madame, figuring that since anything she says now is going to be colored by those primary directives and her lack of free will, her current thoughts and opinions aren't really hers so much as those of the people who programmed her, and from what he's seen he doesn't really give a shit about them

He'll take part in discussion, etc., but will not be a lot of help in terms of coming up with actual concrete solutions; all this sci-fi tech data transfer stuff goes completely over his head.

[justabaddream]

Asriel will instinctively want to help Madame, but he will go along with whatever the group majority decides to do.

[obeir]

K's priorities:

- Save Madame at all costs. He has offered to transfer her to his AI companion's emanator (storage device) to facilitate this. I know there are some characters who may be violently opposed to this, I only request that Joi's emanator NOT get damaged at any point. That's my only hard limit. I'm otherwise open to the possibility of K being prevented from transferring Madame's program over or the transfer failing for other reasons (assuming this even becomes possible in the first place).

- Preserve the Chariot Unit, because he thinks that's the safest way to save Madame without reprogramming her. Though he is prepared to alter Madame's directives so she can choose for herself whether or not she'll continue watching over the Chariot Unit. He would like her to have that choice.

- Change the MODs directives to stop the trials entirely.

He will help save the Libra Station itself if that's what the majority of people want to do. Same with saving the MODs. If Madame and the Chariot Unit end up being brought to the Meadous, he'd suggest bringing the MODs too (or just gather them up himself and do it). Might as well, right? They could be programmed to help around the Meadous as well as maintaining the Chariot Unit as needed. He might even keep one for himself. They're kinda cute.

In summary:

1. Does your character want to save Libra Station, itself?
Maybe, if the majority want to. He'll help. Otherwise it seems like a waste of time.

2. Does your character want to save Madame?
Yes, regardless of what others decide.

3. Does your character want to save the Chariot Unit?
Yes.

4. Does your character want to save the MODs?
Yes, assuming Madame and the Chariot Unit are saved too.

[ceasetoexist]

Pokey's feelings on this event and what they should do are long and varied, so I'm going to try to keep them as notes/bulletin points as we go along for the sake of clarity and brevity.

Does your character want to save Libra Station itself?
No. While Pokey was willing to work on the station and repair it before, he now views it as a lost cause. Part of that is due to the fact of how the place will inevitably just fall into disrepair anyway, as well as the fact that Madame has openly told him she doesn't believe any of the Great Fleet is left. At best, the station is doomed to failure years down the line with only a small chance of anyone finding it and helping. At worst, the place devolves into something like the hellholes most of the people here are from, one way or another, either for people still in the Chariot Unit or if they somehow find a way to bring people through some hijinks in to repair the station or, far worse, continue running trials indefinitely.

Does your character want to save Madame?
Absolutely. The one thing Pokey wants for sure is to save Madame. After talking with the AI, he believes she at least should be preserved out of all this. A big part of that is genuine bias, but he does think she's mostly an innocent and should be saved. On that note, Pokey is opposed to reprogramming her. He wants Madame's desires and wants to be respected. At the same time, Pokey will accept reprogramming her to save her, because as he talks to her it becomes more and more obvious, to him at least, that her current programming keeps her from having autonomy. He doesn't want to take Madame with them by force, but he would accept reprogramming her as a means to save her.

Does your character want to save the Chariot Unit?
Yes. Pokey wants to save the Chariot Unit, but he mostly wants to do this because he views it as the best way to convince Madame to come with them. Pokey isn't in love with saving the Chariot Unit, and thinks that it's actually sort of cruel, but he's willing to if it could be a convincing part in getting Madame to come to the Meadous.

Does your character want to save the MODs?
Pokey is torn on saving the MODs. On the one hand, he sure doesn't like the MODs or want them to be around, but Madame did express a desire for them to be brought to life like her, which he wants to fulfill for her. He's willing to save the MODs to save Madame, although he's not expecting many people to go for it.

[telecosmetic]

Eliza's willing to save the MODs as well, because she doesn't really like the idea of them being the only ones left behind. Especially if they leave the station in the debris field.

[sleight_of_fate]

Rhys is still trying to work out a lot of things about all this, but his first thought is that yes, Madame should be saved. He's willing to change her directive programming in order to do this, because he feels that the directives she has now are acting as an unnatural compulsion on her.

If it's necessary to save the MODS and the Chariot Unit and it can be done, he's willing to do that. He is against giving the MODs artificial intelligence of their own unless absolutely critical, and while he'd like to save the Chariot Unit he is willing to let it shut down if it won't harm Madame to do so.

He doesn't want to leave the station in space if the same thing will just happen again further down the line, so bringing Madame and the Chariot Unit to the Meadous, or finding another place for them, is definitely agreeable to him. He thinks that the station might be beyond saving anyway, given the degree of damage and danger. But again, he's open to being convinced otherwise.

He is against the trials. Too many people have already died for them.

[warriorscribe]

1: Indifferent - Enoch is unconcerned with what would otherwise be an empty station, seeing it as a shell of a place the way Norfinbury was, and he has no desire to encourage another, but if other characters want to save it he won't argue.

2: Yes - Enoch wants to save Madame. He hasn't had any in-depth conversations with her, but she seems nice enough and doesn't deserve to be trapped there. He hasn't thought of the possibility of reprogramming her because his core motive here is the Chariot Unit, so he assumes she's coming with it.

3: Yes - Enoch very much wants to save the people in the Chariot Unit, especially those involved in the trial he participated in, since he blames himself for putting them in further danger. If nobody has taken that final search he'll wish for something from Zephyr - please feel free to suggest something larger than a one-person wish Big old VR building so these people have an outside world to interact with y/n?

4: Not if the trials are not ended. He'll be against trying to preserve the MODs as they are but will be perfectly willing to go along with any means of saving them that undoes the trials.

[bywolves]

I like the idea of a VR building! And I think Royce would appreciate it too, since part of his thing is he doesn't like about the Unit that they have to be shoved into other people's heads in order to speak or be known. I can throw in points to help if people decide to do that.

[telecosmetic]

1. Maybe - Eliza is mostly invested in this because she's the one who first proposed fixing/rebuilding the propulsion systems, and she kind of likes the idea of leaving the station's logs for anyone else who might find them. On the other hand if they need to devote more time to saving Madame and the Chariot Unit she'll be fine with leaving it as long as everyone gets out.

2. Yes - Eliza is going to leave transferring her out of there to the people who know how to handle it, though.

3. Yes - Same as above, she'll leave it to people who know how to handle it. But in both cases she'll also be watching out for attempted sabotage.

4. Maybe - She thinks it wouldn't be too much trouble to just take them along as well, and despite her dislike for what they did with the trials she still doesn't really like the idea of leaving just them behind. On the other hand if they reprogram them to stop the trials and fix up the station she might be cool with leaving them to fly on.

[lionhearted_victor]

1. Yes. Leo believes it's necessary to keep the Station alive and preserved as not just a relic but a pitstop for any other visitors like the Meadous villagers.

2. Definitely Yes. The Madame deserves to experience her own life and choices outside of this Station. For her hard work and sacrifice, Cora firmly believes they should save the Madame and allow her the same autonomy as they all have.

3. No. The Chariot Unit is dangerous with its' binary judgment program but Leo understands that it's part of Madame's Primary directives. He'd rather see it neutralized and rendered harmless.

4. Not unless they can be reprogrammed into harmless directives. If not, then they perish.