Mind Game 001 [Text]

[thexenocide]

[Ender is ragged, eyes still red and throat still sore, and stomach still tight as if he might be sick at any moment. Which are among many reasons why he opts for text] 

I have read the letter issued to me upon arrival. I am not trained for this type of mission. But if I have been selected then I have questions

[The use of the bracelet has proven to be extremely basic. Even the beginner levels at Ground School had more complex devices to train with than these. Back then they had had things that did more than record and emit messages. These bracelets were phones, essentially. Antiquated phones.]

Gods and Giants --- are these your army names? [He's taking mental notes as he asks. Houses had been mentioned. This could be some more fantastical form of Salamander, Dragon, and Leopard Armies, but as of yet he hasn't seen any uniforms or anything he can recognize as proper training or battle facilities.]

Or are the individual God houses your divisions? How are battles arranged?

[This place seems more like the game on his desktop interface than the battleschool, with things named after giants and gods, and castle structures.

He rubs at his forehead against the start of an ache at his temple before typing another]

Where can I find a commander?

Comments

text;

[muto]

Hello.

I'm afraid I don't believe there are battle arrangements, nor armies per se. The Gods are just...well, there, and each of them is supposed to be housing us, therefore we use their names. I can only imagine how bizarre it might be to suddenly hear of supernatural and divine beings existing.

As for a commander, I wouldn't know, either.

Re: text;

[thexenocide]

How do you train your soldiers for battle without commanders or battle simulations?

[The matter of Gods he'll wait on for the moment]

text;

[muto]

I do believe a good amount of improvisation is in order, mostly coming from ourselves.

Re: text;

[thexenocide]

Improvisation would cost many lives in an attack if there is no training to support it.

text;

[muto]

I am well aware of that, but such is the way it is. Arthur Pendragon was already mentioned, but as I said, it's an effort that came from a Traveler like us.

It's not the optimal, considering many of us aren't even fit for battle, but there is little else we can do about it.

[Text]

[comeonthensexy]

Not army names. Actual gods and giants.

Arranging battles is pretty difficult since people come and go, but if you want something organised there's Arthur Pendragons guard, and that's as close to a commander as you'll get.

Re: [Text]

[thexenocide]

Gods and Giants are mythical. Perhaps you are mistaking foreign species for things from lore.

[He takes a moment to write down the name 'Arthur Pendragon']

Where can I find him?

[Text]

[comeonthensexy]

What you know as mythical are often actually foreign beings to start with. Information travels easily across space and manifests as myths and legends and folklore, you know.

Could try the Citadel, or just call him on the bracelet.

Re: [Text]

[thexenocide]

Humans making their own sense of species they do not understand. I wonder if they have myths about us.

[He never got the chance to ask]

Is Arthur Pendragon a good commander?

[voice]

[needsnoheadsman]

[Robb's feeling just as bad, though for very different reasons. As it turns out, staying out in the rain for an extended period of time tends to give you a cold, if not worse.

Said cold doesn't stop him from using voice, so he sounds somewhat ragged when he responds. Excuse him, Ender, he's a bit sick.]

No, they aren't--the gods are those who have pulled us here to help them fight their war against the giants. [It's clear he doesn't think much of this. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword, after all.] You might say we're their army, though a disorganized one, tasked with fighting their enemies'.

As for a commander, ask for Arthur Pendragon. He commands the guard here, which is mayhaps the closest thing we have to a city watch. You'll want to talk to him.

[text]

[thexenocide]

[Ender remains in text. He's still in too vulnerable a position to use voice or video.

The 'Gods and Giants' he's coming to suspect may be other forms of alien life. Akin to the formics...He is not yet ready to give that a god of thunder and lightning or fire and wind from legends might exist in a tangible enough form to have this power over him.]

If they expect us to fight battles for them how do they expect us to do so without training facilities and armies?

[voice]

[needsnoheadsman]

[He thinks he might actually get the gist of what Ender is talking about. Training facilities = training yards, right?]

There's the Citadel. It has a training yard, and mayhaps if you ask around someone might be willing to teach you. I'm afraid there isn't much else, though.

Re: [voice]

[thexenocide]

I do not need a teacher.

[He doesn't want anything to do with teachers right now. Teachers have proven to be liars.]

I want to understand the situation I am in

[text]

[zen_en_vert]

Have you just arrived? I think you're grossly overestimating how militarized this place is. We're mostly a civilian population, we respond when attacked, but as far as I know there aren't offensives being struck out, and battles are rare, initiated primarily by the enemy attacking.

Because of the presence of magic, even the fighting that does occur is going to be very different for most people.

Re: [text]

[thexenocide]

So there's nothing planned? No retaliation or training? Only...fool's luck?

I don't understand your use of the word magic in this context.

[text]

[zen_en_vert]

There may be something in the works, but I'm not sure how discrete this network is. You may wish to discuss it with the more militaristic types in person.

Magic in this context refers to just that- magic, in the traditional, imaginary sense of the word, made manifest. It's how you were brought here, it's how the city runs to some degree.

Re: [text]

[thexenocide]

[This is a fair point. The security of these systems could not be verified. Then again his investment in whether or not they are secure has yet to be determined]

What controls this magic?

[audio]

[dicey]

Appaaaarently we're fighting with our emotions or something. Ridiculous, right?

Re: [audio]

[thexenocide]

With our emotions? Against Giants? How is that supposed to work

[audio]

[dicey]

I don't know! I'm not even talking about that. I mean the thing they told us when we first got here. "Bring life to the world, stop everything from going gray, blah blah blah". It all sounds pretty shady to me!

Re: [audio]

[thexenocide]

It sounds like nonsense.

text;

[bossily]

Always good to see someone taking the war effort so seriously. Pretty sure the Gods and Giants are real, actual gods and giants. Literal ones. Like something from a storybook, really.

Also, don't think too many of us here are trained for this sort of thing. I know I'm not. Figure we just got to hang in there and make the best out of it all.

Re: text;

[thexenocide]

They may be foreign species mistaken for mythological creatures

Is no one worried about the vulnerability of so many untrained civilians in one place?

text;

[bossily]

Course I'm worried. Sure others are too. But being worried isn't going to chance the fact we're here and expected to take part, is it?

Re: text;

[thexenocide]

How long have you been here?