Return to Unfiction unforum
 a.r.g.b.b 
FAQ FAQ   Search Search 
 
Welcome!
New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.
Website Restoration Project
This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.
Announcements
This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.
This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.
  

The time now is Mon Nov 11, 2024 11:22 pm
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)		 View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum
Calendar
 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » Old News & Rumors
[TRAILHEAD] Augmentation Network
View previous topicView next topic
Page 2 of 11 [153 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 9, 10, 11  Next
Author Message
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165
wastedtime wrote:
That was an incredible solve Renna, woah! How'd you translate that?


http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/cryptogram-solver.php Very Happy

Any ideas on how to respond to Anthill's PM? Should we tell him about your message? I guess I should press him on his warning as well, but I'm not really good with getting info out of people...

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:49 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
astrofig
Decorated

Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Posts: 165

 		Wow, EXCELLENT work Renna! I just got the pm about Daniel too. I was thinking since she mentions him being a crazy end-times type I was going to say something about avoiding him---my augmentation is glowy wings, after all, and that might set him off and make him try something bad.

I also thought about asking what he did to Leonard and whether Anthill's gone to Augcorp about what he knows--is he the only one who knows this or are there others? Does that sound good?

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 9:36 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165
astrofig wrote:
Wow, EXCELLENT work Renna! I just got the pm about Daniel too. I was thinking since she mentions him being a crazy end-times type I was going to say something about avoiding him---my augmentation is glowy wings, after all, and that might set him off and make him try something bad.

I also thought about asking what he did to Leonard and whether Anthill's gone to Augcorp about what he knows--is he the only one who knows this or are there others? Does that sound good?


sure! Let me know...i'm not quite sure what to ask him, but maybe i'll get ideas from you. (I'd really like to ask why he is making Cyborgs, based on Dom Francon's message)

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 11:50 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
astrofig
Decorated

Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Posts: 165

 		Here's the reply I just sent:

Oh wow.....thanks for the warning! I'll try to avoid him; my augmentation is glowy wings so if he's all end-times nutty he might see that as a sign and get violent. What happened to Leonard, is he okay? And is there anyone else who might be dangerous? Also, have you mentioned to Dr. Gutierrez about this? It seems like the kind of thing he and the Augcorp higher-ups need to know....

I'll update when I get a response.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 11:54 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
wastedtime
Veteran


Joined: 07 Apr 2013
Posts: 88
Location: Derby, UK

 		After thanking him for coming to me and asking more about this girl, I got two replies from Dominic: one's translated perfectly by rumkin, and comes out to
Quote:
I'm glad you were able to read it. I had to encode it because I think they may be listening. That's alright, but I can't use this account much longer. I need to go back to my old account because to use this one requires a proxy, and using a proxy gives me a headache. I wish I could say more about Mach Girl, but I don't actually know very much about it. It really bugs me that Dr. Gutierrez didn't even try to help her.

The other one doesn't totally translate, but I'll work on it. One of the translations that made the most sense was "ZR I NOTICED THAT YOU DIDN T GET THE WHOLE THING DECODED THAT R ALMIGHT I B RUME YOU CAN GET THE MERT ROON". The original message was "ZI, R xyorjlk oqgo eyn krkx'o plo oql bqyvl oqrxp kljyklk. Oqgo'i gvcrpqo. R'w incl eyn jgx plo oql clio iyyx." for anyone who wants to have a crack at a better translation too.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:17 pm
 View user's profile Yahoo Messenger
 Back to top 
Billy Brown
Decorated

Joined: 18 Dec 2004
Posts: 196

 		This looks great, I think I'll be joining in on this one.

wastedtime: Your second message decodes as:

Quote:
PS, I noticed that you didn't get the whole thing decoded. That's alright. I'm sure you can get the rest soon.


With that in mind, just in case there's anything important missing from Renna's excellent work earlier on I decoded the whole thing:

Quote:
Everybody knows the benefits of Augmentation Zero, but most people don't know how it's performed. Supposedly, this is because Augcorp wants to prevent people from hurting themselves by trying to do it themselves, but in reality, they simply want a monopoly on performing it. In theory, only people who actually perform the augmentations for Augcorp should know about how it's done, but I found out the hard way.

I did something really strange. I took a specially-compounded antidote to the sedative and anesthetic before I went into the procedure. This means that yes, I was awake for the entirety of the procedure, and I felt most of it. It was incredibly painful, but worth it. I also heard a lot of details, because the augmenter who was doing the procedure on me had students with him, and he was teaching them to perform the procedure.

I have a sort of disease that causes me to do things like this. Some people would just call it devotion, though. I'm totally okay with having it. It makes me feel great most of the time, but sometimes it requires a little bit of pain.

First, you're forcibly intubated. Right after they lead you into the clean room, the orderlies grab you and throw you on the table. Then, they force a tube down your throat to help you breath. After that, they start an IV to give you the anesthetic, sedative, and paralytic.

Then, it starts with the face, and from the face into the brain. The eyes are completely removed. That was painful. I knew that augmentees often had their eyes removed, especially parahumans. Plenty of people have cat eyes, or get iris implants to change the color. I just didn't think that it was going to happen to me during Zero. I knew, of course, that my sight wasn't going to be gone forever, but when the nerves were cut, I wanted to scream. I couldn't, of course, because I had been given Nuromax to stop me from moving.

It was very dark after that, but I could hear them talking. Through the sockets the augmenter enters to insert a quantum interface, designed to completely emulate the function of natural neurons. This device is deceptively small, about the size of a tube of lipstick. Once inside it expands slowly, like a tree growing roots, until it has invaded every part of the brain. It literally gets into everything: the language centers, the limbic system, everything, with fibers much smaller than a human hair. It reaches into the areas that deal with the formation of memories, which is why augmentees can upload their experiences to the internet and share them with others.

These tendrils are coated in nanobots programmed to eat and grow. They start out small, but over the course of a few years, they begin to completely replace whole areas of the brain. Within four years, the entire brain is replaced. This is part of the reason full augmentees are predicted to live upwards of a hundred years – once all their organs are replaced, including the brain, there's very little that can go wrong with the body. We have suspicions about the higher augmentations as well, but it will be a while before we can confirm them.

Finally, the eyes are replaced with camera-like devices that roughly mimic the appearance of the normal eyes, and function much better. This is why Zero augmentees can take pictures of the world around them just by blinking a couple of times. It should be obvious how it works.

I suspect I'm going to have PTSD from this experience, and there's nothing I can do about it. It was very like "The Jaunt." I was completely paralyzed and reliant on a tube to breath. There were other tubes snaking in and out of my body, some into my arm, and others into my neck and even a few in my legs. I'm not sure what all the tubes were supposed to do. The augmenter didn't mention it to his understudy. And, I could never in a million years describe the pain. It was like I was burning to death. I knew deep down that no true harm would come to me, but a primal part of my mind emerged and I felt nothing but pain and pure terror. It felt like an eternity in there, but they worked very quickly and were done within forty-five minutes. All in all, six people were augmented with me, all by the same person. Who was it? His name is Anthony Kore, and he goes by "Anthill" on this site. I must hand it to him. It could have been a lot worse. I'm very glad he doesn't spend much time at Altjeringa, because I'll never be able to look him in the eye again. In fact, I'm terrified of him. I know he's no real danger and didn't mean to hurt me, but I associate his face and voice with terror and pain so strongly. I don't think I can face him again. Which is a pity, because he's a good guy. He's smart, and a little sheltered, but pretty nice.

I just don't like the way things are going. Sure, the augmentations are great, but I just know they're hiding stuff from us. I mean, you would think they would have told us that it replaces your entire brain. That's an important thing, isn't it? Scary. Who knows what the other ones do. And it bothers me that nobody cares about Mach Girl and what happened to her. It's amazing and horrible. Hell, Dr. Gutierrez doesn't even care at this point. It's bizarre. We WILL figure out what happened to her, one way or another.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:29 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165

 		so awesome! thank you for cleaning that up for me!
what do you all think about this to Anthill's pm?
Yikes........didn't know that about Daniel before I friended him. He hasn't made any contact with me, so I guess that's a relief! Did he used to work for Augcorp? Sounds like a bitter man....I can't imagine why anyone would think your operation would be involved with something so evil? The whole point of Augmentation is to better yourself, right?
As for Goldwasser, don't know him, but from what I've seen him posting here, he seems ok. I peeked at his profile and he mentions The Gilded Family. What's that? I would ask myself, but we aren't friends....
Poor Leonard....I don't know what he's trying to say, but he does sound disturbed. What did he want done? Zero, or something else? How sad...
Do we get tested prior to the process to see if it's ok to go through with it? I haven't made up my mind yet, so I would appreciate some candid advice.
Thanks for friending me and I hope you are enjoying your employment at Augcorp Smile
@Renna

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:56 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165

 		update on the website:

DDoS – Sorry, Everybody!

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Admins


Hi guys! Wow, this site seems to have really taken off! That's great, and we're really happy to see so many new faces around these parts. There are several matters that need explaining, though.

First off, this site is being DDoSed by what appears to be a Chinese botnet. We're blocking them as quickly as we can, but it's a real chore to keep up with it! Unfortunately, we have shared hosting, which means that if the problem does not improve, our site may go down. If that happens, don't you fret! We'll be back soon enough. We have no idea why someone would want to DDoS this site, but we've been in contact with Dr. Gutierrez, and he says that Augcorp's site is being DDoSed from China as well! Strange, isn't it? Well, we'll keep you posted.

There are a lot of new people, and I'm afraid we're not getting a chance to vet every single one! We try to take a look at each request to join and make an informed decision, but we've got so many people joining that it's difficult to do that. We're concerned that some of these people might actually be spammers. If you receive spam or anything unusual from a member, please report it to us via private message, and we'll take a look into it and hopefully take care of the problem!

Now, here's your Patrick Scire quote of the day! This part comes from a speech he gave in front of Congress. It was incredibly influential. Up until the day of the speech, most congressmen and women were saying that they would definitely vote against all the bills allowing human enhancement and freedom to experiment. Everyone was almost 100% against him! Then, he gave this speech, and things did a complete one-eighty. Almost the entire Congress voted in his favor. There were a couple holdouts, but most everyone quickly changed their minds after hearing him speak. This particular line got thunderous applause.


"The melding of human and machine represents next glorious stage in human evolution, and ushers in a time free of pain and full of delight. I think we can agree: anything that makes people happy should be legal. Enhancement will make people happy. Therefore, make it legal." – Patrick Scire, Address to the Congressional Committee on Human Enhancement, 1979

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:38 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165

 		new character: beth..........IG?

Beth Sent 28 minutes ago


Do you know what is going on here



Kare Kare Sent 25 minutes ago


i'm just taking an interest in this company….I'd love to better myself for all the bells and whistles this company promises! I have to admit, sounds too good to be true



Beth Beth Sent 21 minutes ago


There's so many conflicting stories, it's hard to tell fact from fiction sometimes with the way people stretch the truth



Kare Kare Sent 20 minutes ago


and I heard a rumor or two………..I don't trust anyone



Kare Kare Sent 20 minutes ago


can I trust you?



Beth Beth Sent 18 minutes ago


I don't pretend to know everything, I'm merely speaking from experience. But yes, you can trust me



Kare Kare Sent 2 minutes ago


have you been augmentened?

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:15 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
astrofig
Decorated

Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Posts: 165

 		Hmmm, I saw her join a few days ago. I'm gonna friend her and see if she'll reach out.

EDIT: Aaand she'd aslready friend-requested me. Also, Anthill got back to me!

Leonard hasn't been okay for a good eight or so years right now. He's had all the augmentations up to ten, and used to work for Augcorp, but then he got a bee in his bonnet about Augcorp (as people are known to do) and quit his job. After that he started writing all these hateful things about us on the Internet. He had a huge site about it. Then he started adding words in other languages to his posts, more and more each time he posted. I guess he was downloading a lot of language packs in an attempt to be clever. A few months after that started, he took down his entire site and just started writing angry emails, none of which made sense. I guess he thinks that speaking in a million different languages will make people more likely to pay attention to him. I think that's what he wants most: attention. All these anti-Augcorp people want attention, which is why they do what they do.

Dr. Gutierrez is well-aware of Daniel Duquesne's little vendetta. In fact, we all are. Augcorp is actually thinking about taking him to court because there are unsubstantiated rumors of him setting up some kind of chop shop on his farm and trying to perform Zero and some of the other augmentations on people all by himself. That's part of the reason we're so guarded with the details of our procedures. If people try this by themselves, they could die. I haven't heard of Duquesne killing anyone while trying to do Zero, but if he's really trying to do it, it's only a matter of time.

I have no idea what all this Antichrist business is about, but he often talks about it. I get the impression that he doesn't mean the Christian Antichrist, but rather, something else.

Zero.....that's probably what that coded message Renna got referred to---augmentation with no anesthetics? And anyhow, now we know for a fact that Anthill is working for Augcorp. Remains to be seen if we can really trust him or not. Any idea what to reply?

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:41 pm
Last edited by astrofig on Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165
astrofig wrote:
Hmmm, I saw her join a few days ago. I'm gonna friend her and see if she'll reach out.
'K" here we go:


Yes, Daniel most definitely used to work for Augcorp. He was on his tenth augmentation. He augmented other people through the corporation, which is why he knows how to do the procedures. Ultimately, he was fired from his position on account of his general bad attitude and unsocial nature. He is VERY bitter and more interested in tearing other people down than making himself a better, stronger person.

Marcus Goldwasser used to work for Augcorp, too, and he too was on his tenth augmentation. He was fired, as well, for much the same reason. He has a sadistic streak, unfortunately. After leaving he devoted himself completely to self-augmentation, and started his own family. Self-augmentees tend to group together so that they can learn from each other and help each other. These groups are called families. He calls his "The Gilded Family," because his name is Goldwasser. This always struck me as strange, because he doesn't have a very meaningful name, unlike a certain girl I know on here.

Leonard also was augmented up to Ten, but he didn't get fired – he quit. He kept saying that we were "corrupt," but never really supported that claim with evidence. I, too, have no idea what he may be trying to say.

Physiological tests are done prior to each augmentation to make sure that a person is physically fit enough to undergo it. If they aren't, Augcorp will usually work with them to reach that goal. We don't have the resources to genetically screen every single augmentee for mental illness, though it is possible to screen them. If a person requests it, we will screen them for a fee. Problem is, Leonard and Daniel were both screened for everything, and came up clean. So, they're not technically mentally ill, but something is really wrong with them.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:42 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
astrofig
Decorated

Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Posts: 165

 		Anyone else thinking of maybe playing Devil's Advocate and contacting Daniel to see what his take on the whole thing is? Remember, we're getting all this info right now from ShillFace McMegacorp drone. I wonder what the ousted insider might have to say.....

I also wonder who the girl is with the meaningful name. That seems an odd detail to allude to.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:48 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Renna
Decorated

Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 165
astrofig wrote:
Anyone else thinking of maybe playing Devil's Advocate and contacting Daniel to see what his take on the whole thing is? Remember, we're getting all this info right now from ShillFace McMegacorp drone. I wonder what the ousted insider might have to say.....

I also wonder who the girl is with the meaningful name. That seems an odd detail to allude to.
yep......let me just fill in a bit of info

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:50 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
astrofig
Decorated

Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Posts: 165

 		Sweet! Let us know what he says! I decided to go the route of playing the naive girl with Anthill:

Oh.....could it have been his augmentations that hurt him? I was asleep for my procedure, but I imagine if something went wrong it could be horrificly painful, mind-warpingly so, even. I bet it was him who posted the thing about speaking Greek! The name on it was Sullivan, though, not Leonard---and anyhow it wasn't him speaking Greek but some nameless female 'subject'. It was really weird!
Zero? What's that? Is that a new kind of augmentation? It sounds dangerous if it's possible to kill someone by doing it!
Not the Christian Antichrist? ......do you know of any other kind? Unless he means like, Skynet or something! xD

Beth just messaged me asking if I trust Augcorp. I told her I used to, but lately I'd heard rumors that gave me doubts. She says so has she and they're like any corporation, destroying lives for profit. I'm tempted to ask her about Frances Tennov---Frances apparently works for the guy called Exsupero--according to a message he posted she 'left blood all over his clean room'. Vivisection, maybe? An augmentation gone wrong?


Poking around some more, Dr. Gutierrez linked this info-site about Augcorp: http://augmentationcorporation.com/

BRB, gonna dig some more.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:56 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Elethamei
Unfettered


Joined: 31 Aug 2012
Posts: 448
Location: Finland
astrofig wrote:
I'm tempted to ask her about Frances Tennov---Frances apparently works for the guy called Exsupero--according to a message he posted she 'left blood all over his clean room'. Vivisection, maybe? An augmentation gone wrong?.


Frances and Exsupero are friends and she tried to self-augment herself. Frances really tries to convince everyone that 'Expy' didn't do anything wrong, but it sounds weird to me that he would let her do the procedure herself and then doesn't even help her to get to the hospital. He only cared about the room getting messy.

Frances wrote:
I just want to let everyone know what really happened the other night between me and Expy. Basically, I wanted to try self-augmenting, and I found a procedure in a book by Scire that I wanted to try. Expy and I are pretty good friends, so I asked him if I could use his clean room and tools to do it. He said yes, and after I was done with my Zero Augmentation, I went to his apartment and he let me into his clean room to do the procedure.
He said he had some work to do, so he left me alone with the scalpels and everything. I was supposed to implant a small device in my shoulder. I sprayed on the anesthetic (even though Expy usually doesn't use any when he does stuff to himself) and got to work.
Unfortunately I didn't really read the book closely enough, and pretty soon I was bleeding pretty bad. I was really light-headed from the blood loss, so I got confused, and then I slipped and hit my head.
Expy heard it and came into the room to see what was going on, and then he got really mad because I'd made a mess. He told me to call for an ambulance, and I did. He had to stay at the apartment while I went to the hospital because he still had some work to do. At the hospital they gave me a transfusion and some fluids, and the next morning, they let me go home.
I just want everyone to know that Expy totally didn't do anything wrong! He just let me use his clean room! It isn't his fault I couldn't actually do the procedure correctly, and he was right to be angry. I made a mess! Right now, I'm going over there to clean it up.

_________________
@elethamei

PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:28 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Display posts from previous:   Sort by:   
Page 2 of 11 [153 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 9, 10, 11  Next
View previous topicView next topic
 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » Old News & Rumors
Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group