Per 
Let it begin.
13:53 <CadaverCommander> what about the idea of magic as an infestation/infection. the discovered thing is a locus of power that spreads like radiation or a contagion, and it has wildly mutating and enhancing effects on the things it infects. gives people powers, changes machines and substances to give them superphysical properties, allows people to shape the world with their whims. maybe also has a chance to change them for the worse, or twist them into something evil
13:53 a kind of thaumaturgic symbiote or parasite that operates on both physical and metaphysical levels
13:55 doesn't have a mind or will of its own as far as anyone can tell
13:55 /or does it/
13:56 magical mutagen seems sufficiently powerful/exploitable/dangerous
13:58 <~weryllium> huh
13:58 that does sound interesting
14:02 This thing ends breaking and changing every established rule. Much like the discovery of atoms/nuclei and relativity shit rendered newtonian inadequate
14:04 <CadaverCommander> yeah. ushers in an entirely new paradigm, forces everyone to reevaluate the structure of the world as we know it. people would start scrambling to cure, contain, or utilize it depending on their mentality/philosophy
14:04 the Eon Parasite (as i just decided to call it) it just /power/ in an entirely raw and barely-controllable form, and it's up to the world powers to figure out what to do about it
14:05 <~weryllium> also as much as i enjoy the goc thaumaturgy lectures I absolutely hate how they seem to have become basically the defacto only version of magic
14:09 If It's a parasite… what exactly is it taking from people
14:09 <CadaverCommander> that's for the world powers to find out
14:10 on the surface? nothing. apparently it's taking nothing
14:10 or at least nothing that we can readily detect or acknowledge
14:11 but realistically, the best parasite is one that /improves/ its host. makes its host better, more likely to survive, so it can continue to feed unhindered
14:12 i'd imagine at first it just seems like a purely beneficial symbiote with no obvious downside to being infected
14:12 … at first.
14:46 weryllium → ~lightsaberyllium
15:05 <fieldstone> If we have magic coming into the world because a parasite is putting it there or something that was holding it back is gone, you could still end up with a foundation-vs-everyone else scenario
15:07 <CadaverCommander> we could do whatever we wanted with the scenario, really. however we think the Foundationverse would react most entertainingly to the Parasite's existence
15:07 if we elect to go that route
15:07 i imagine it's a thing that people would very definitely fight over
15:09 <fieldstone> "SCP-X is the collective designation for all human beings not employed by the Foundation "
15:23 Like if there's going to be some major change to how reality works i can only imagine the foundation kicking and screaming to stop it
15:25 <CadaverCommander> i think it would depend on how obstinate you want the foundation to be. my foundation is a little more willing to roll with the punches and not fight a battle they obviously have no hope of winning
15:25 but it depends on the specifics
15:31 <fieldstone> Well there's a line where going with the punches for the sake of pragmatism becomes giving up on your core mission
15:31 I think we'd have to show them hitting that line
15:32 But we have to figure out a concrete threat if it's not going to be the foundation itself
15:33 Without some kind of imminent destruction resulting directly from it, a force that just makes everything magic isn't really a doomsday scenario
15:35 But i love the idea of the foundation becoming that threat because they can't change what they are
15:36 <CadaverCommander> i imagined the parasite as having a goal and purpose that no one else is privy to. it leads to a /kind/ of doomsday scenario without actually causing one
15:38 <Modern_Erasmus> We should still try and think of alternate stuff too, and list it on the sandbox. There’s almost a month before posting so we don’t need to rush into any idea. We should take our time and examine all the options
15:41 <CadaverCommander> i'm fairly enamored with this idea. with both of the ideas i've posited so far, really.
15:41 standing by for other suggestions
15:55 <Modern_Erasmus> My only worry with a big metaphysical parasite is that we come too close to 3125 and qntm’s storyline
15:57 <CadaverCommander> this thing would absolutely not really work on a conceptual level. more zerg hivemind infestation than semi-physical abomination. it infects you, you mutate, in ways that are usually spectacular, but ultimately physical and observable. it just leaks muta-juice everywhere and it spreads via any vector possible, infecting its surroundings with raw magical power
16:00 it just shows up and starts enhancing things and people with its influence. on the surface it doesn't appear to bear any ill will toward anyone or anything and doesn't have an agenda, or even really /sentience/ as far as anyone can tell
16:00 <fieldstone> I dig the idea, but in execution how would we differentiate it from just monsters appearing and taking over the world?
16:00 We have to make sure it's a scenario that's original
16:01 <CadaverCommander> because like i just said, it's not really taking over anything. it's just a source of /enormous power/. to be used, abused, and fought over by others, inevitably. it's not hostile, just a very strange force of nature
16:02 like wery said, the equivalent of man discovering the power of nuclear energy, but magic instead of physics. causes a global paradigm shift
16:04 <fieldstone> I like the idea of it being a neutral thing and the real doomsday scenario being humanity's/the foundations reaction to it
16:04 That fits perfectly with the stuff I've been driving at the whole time
16:05 We have to keep our eyes on how this scenario threatens to end the world, though, and how to make the specific mechanics of world ending unique
16:07 <CadaverCommander> i have further ideas about how this would develop and expand, but there should be more pathways in front of us before we decide to take first steps
16:08 <fieldstone> Have you read the comic lucifer? The neil gaiman one?
16:09 <CadaverCommander> nope. heard of it, though
16:09 <fieldstone> The first arc of it was about an ancient powerful force awakening and granting wishes by essentially making everyone a reality bender
16:10 How that softens reality
16:11 And heaven hires lucifer to stop it
16:11 I'm bringing it up more as a reading suggestion than a concern that it exists, it's an awesome comic
16:12 I don't think it means that we can't do something similar, just that everyone getting magic can't be the /whole thing/
16:12 <CadaverCommander> i read the first two volumes of sandman and enjoyed them a lot, so i'm already kind of sold on anything neil gaiman
16:12 <fieldstone> Yeah American gods is one of my favorite novels
16:12 <CadaverCommander> nono, the focus here would be on the inevitable shitstorm of infighting and chaos that would ensue once the parasite shows up, rather than on the parasite itself
16:12 <fieldstone> His short story collections are great too
16:13 Right on, I'm 100% with that
16:13 I'm open to other ideas still but i feel like this direction has everything i've wanted so far
16:14 <CadaverCommander> different gois using the parasite to make themselves more badass or more subversive, individual people doing excellent or nefarious things with their infections, and the foundation and other organizations scrambling around trying to figure out how to stop the human race from collapsing in upon itself
16:14 or becoming something different entirely
16:14 <fieldstone> Perfect
16:15 I still want to have the foundation end up the villain
16:15 But if we can't get there believably I'll have to let it go
16:15 That's my endgame though
16:15 <CadaverCommander> see, i write the foundation as being a complete superhero mary sue. always the good guy, always fighting evil, always more or less infallible
16:16 so the villainous foundation route is very much outside my personal canon and previous experience
16:16 <fieldstone> That's really interesting
16:16 I see them as having taken on a tremendous responsibility as fallible humans
16:17 And when you put yourself in that position you're going to end up making bad choices
16:17 <CadaverCommander> i just interpret the foundation as being the pinnacle of human achievement. the absolute epitome of human innovation and morality, the last bastion standing between the species and total annihilation
16:18 but i'm a child and i like childishly simple stories
16:18 <fieldstone> I mean they are all of that
16:18 My headcanon is just that life is such a bitch even that's not enough
16:18 <Modern_Erasmus> I’m kind of in between you two
16:19 A necessary evil that is ultimately a force for good
16:19 <CadaverCommander> well, i mean as a result of that i make them the /hero/ of all my articles, more or less. i've never really written the foundation doing anything morally complex or even terribly ambiguous. they're a lawful good organization that does good, full stop
16:19 <Modern_Erasmus> But very much via utilitarianism
16:19 <fieldstone> Yeah i very much see the foundation as lawful neutral
16:20 <Modern_Erasmus> Exactly
16:20 <fieldstone> I mean they have good people involved all through
16:20 But the organization itself is just a tool that could be used any which way
16:21 <CadaverCommander> i like my superhero goodguy ubermensch foundation, but it's really just my personal canon and i don't seriously expect anyone to adopt, acknowledge, or even respect it
16:22 <fieldstone> I think if theyre heroes it makes it all the more powerful to force them to choose between "contain" or "protect" the entire rest of humanity
16:22 <Modern_Erasmus> I really like the idea of the foundation ultimately being responsible here, at least in some manner
16:22 All the big doomsday skips before now have been reacting to an outside force
16:23 <fieldstone> The ideal for me would be to show two factions that have incompatible good ideas
16:23 <Modern_Erasmus> Kal’s 001, Shaggy’s 001, 3002, 2003, etc
16:23 <fieldstone> And they escalate the situation out of control out of simple disagreement/ego/ overzealousness
16:24 Like i don't want to show them just swerving into villainy, that would be out of character
16:24 But they could set themselves up to be forced into the position
16:25 I think that's where the goi format comes in, showing an outside perspective
16:25 <Modern_Erasmus> Yeah
16:26 <fieldstone> If you could pull off a wham moment where the reader has been agreeing with the foundation then has the rug pulled out, that would be perfec
16:26 Lile it may be a dumb comparison but there's a really good episode of community
16:26 Where there's a group of Germans who are trying to take over their study lounge
16:27 So the gang pulls out all the stops and cleverly wins control of the lounge back for themselves
16:28 Only to have the rest of the students protest that the main characters are in there / every week/ and have pushed everyone out and just crushed the underdogs that were standing up to them
16:28 "We were the nazis the whole time"
16:29 <CadaverCommander> i have an ace up my sleeve, and i'll throw it out there until someone tells me to stop spitballing this idea i'm clinging to
16:29 <fieldstone> Not saying we should try that specific device, but it's an example of a sudden change of gears
16:29 Right on let's hear it
16:31 <CadaverCommander> eventually it's uncovered that the magic parasite showed up because its purpose is to uplift, test, and empower sentient life. it gives sentient species its power and watches what happens. if the dominant species of the planet can use the parasite well without exterminating themselves, that's right in line with the parasite's "plan"
16:31 because the parasite is gearing up for the arrival of something much bigger and much more powerful than it, and it wants sentient life to make it
16:32 so if the foundation takes the hardline position of being anti-parasite, that ultimately ends up being a very bad thing, as it's technically making humanity less fit and less able to survive the oncoming storm
16:33 you could have the foundation start off appearing as reasonable and judicious, containing the parasite infection for the safety of mankind
16:34 <Modern_Erasmus> So essentially it’s a herald of a benevolent god, and the foundation causes doomsday by opposing the entities?
16:34 <CadaverCommander> but then it turns out that we actually /really really should consider/ keeping the parasite because shit's about to get real, real bad real, real soon
16:34 <Modern_Erasmus> I can dig that, since there’s good reasons to both support and oppose that
16:34 <CadaverCommander> and yeah, the foundation's been fucking up this entire time by limiting the parasite's influence
16:35 <fieldstone> This is kind of similar to the giant viruses skip that just came out
16:35 <Modern_Erasmus> Which one is that fieldstone ?
16:35 <fieldstone> I love this direction, but you should check out the article and see what i mean
16:35 <Modern_Erasmus> CadaverCommander: I think whatever is coming shouldn’t be inherently a threat though, as otherwise this is just silver surfer and Galactus
16:36 <CadaverCommander> yeah you're right. the Thing/s on their way don't have to be necessarily /evil/ or hungry or omnicidal or anything. just another powerful force that for whatever reason the Parasite is opposed to
16:36 keeping both sides of this conflict ambiguous is the smart bet, i think
16:37 we can't tell whether the parasite is /helping/ us by making us better and more powerful, or just tricking us and using us as pawns in a war that by rights we have no stake in
16:37 <fieldstone> Hold on brb
16:40 I like the ambiguous idea
16:41 Like the idea that the thing is genuinely benevolent and the Foundation has to oppose it anyway works for me
16:41 <CadaverCommander> realistically there's no way that humanity would really have any goddamn idea what's actually happening here, unless the parasite starts talking in a way they can understand
16:41 <fieldstone> But i think it's better if the thing is never proven right or wrong, and it's just this sapient force's idea of what's better, which may he right or wrong, just like the foundations
16:42 Hmm true
16:42 But they could tell if people are suddenly magic
16:42 Birth mortality suddenly drops to zero all over the place
16:42 <CadaverCommander> and even if it did, the parasite is biased toward whatever its aims ultimately are, so it's not a reliable source of information
16:42 if it comes to that
16:42 <fieldstone> Money is flooding the economy that can't be tracked to a real source
16:43 <CadaverCommander> ooh, that's an idea. the parasite, if you think about it, might usher in a fucking /utopia/
16:43 <fieldstone> Maybe some people are having dreams about it where it puts ideas in their heads to make them its prophet
16:43 <CadaverCommander> if it does nothing but elevate humanity and make them biologically perfect and exceptional… how the fuck would humanity handle that
16:43 <fieldstone> Not like brainwashing, just it had a conversation with them and convinced them it was right
16:44 Right?
16:44 Humanity couldnt handle it which is why the foundatiom has to lock up every last one ;P
16:45 <CadaverCommander> which paints the foundation as being a good guy. /sort of/. the moral ambiguity in this scenario would become almost Brave New World style, i imagine
16:45 super rich in moral complexity
16:47 <fieldstone> So how do we get to doomsday? The foundation sets off thaumonuclear bombs to erase everyone's souls when "containment" has failed?
16:50 <CadaverCommander> that's an option. doomsday could end up being humanity's /ascension/ into a form that is no longer human at all, if no solution or cure for the parasite is found. or humanity's use as a source of raw materials, grist for the parasite's mill. or something dreadful happens as humanity is caught in the middle of a struggle between these incomprehensible powers. or the infighting escalates out of control and we fail the parasite's test
16:50 destroying ourselves scrabbling to deal with a power that we're not prepared to have
16:51 <fieldstone> Yeah maybe its only doomsday from the scpf's outdated perspective
16:52 <CadaverCommander> if we go with the foundation as "crusty old man that hates change and accepts nothing other than status quo", then an ascension scenario would be synonymous with the end of the world as far as they're concerned
16:52 but for everyone else it would just be the end of the world /as we know it/
16:52 <fieldstone> Or humanity being totally different is ambiguous anyway, some readers would be mutants if they thought it would mane their life better and sombre never would
16:52 <CadaverCommander> and we change into something else
16:56 there's lots of ways we could go. but whatever way it ends up being, it's gotta be unique and hard-hitting
17:08 you'll notice by my portfolio that my skills support neither of these things
17:08 but if you need a cute, character-driven puff piece anywhere in the mix then goddammit i'm your man
- Current Plan
- 1 SCP, about the Magic Parasite
- 1 GOI-format, detailing either another GOI's response to the situation, or a look at the Foundation's struggle (or both, one each)
- 1 Tale, about the Foundation's reaction on a single person's level
- 1 Tale, about the outside world after the AMP Scenario.
Since each team's top 5 submissions will count, we might as well do at least a 5th one. I'm still into the climax being the Foundation attempting to contain the entire rest of humanity and make them all stop magicking before the universe falls apart - whether they're correct about that happening should be ambiguous, but they're convinced of it enough to move forward with designating the majority of the human race as an SCP. I like the plan outlined above, but I think instead of/in addition to the tale about what it's like on an individual level, we should have an SCP article that shows the Foundation's plan to contain everyone, and then have a GOI format or tale showing the outcome, ending with our tale about the world after the AMP finishes it's work (although I think to preserve the ambiguity we shouldn't show definitively that it's going to be all good or all bad forever).
Personally I like the idea of an initial skip for the symbiote/parasite/whatever, then a tale about the Foundation's internal reactions, a goi format about outside reactions to the thing and to the foundation, a second skip about humanity, and a final tale serving as a conclusion. We definitely need two of the 5 to be skips to be competitive.
Not a big fan of AMP as the scenario name. What about TK class "Thaumatergic Corruption Scenario" or something like that. Assisted Magical Proliferation just doesn't sound threatening or ominous enough tbh, especially since it brings to mind assisted living.
We also need to narrow down terminology. The thing we're discussing isn't really a parasite anymore, and symbiote brings to mind Venom and Carnage from Spiderman. This is really only important for the language of the article itself, here and in chat we can call it whatever we want.
JOB LISTINGS
CADAVER: i wanna do the primary parasite SCP, unless someone fights me for it. i'm also down for doing a tale of pretty much anything that we feel like needs highlighting, but my first impulse is to do something about how the parasite affects the common man, at the street level. how the world was changed and all that.
i've done this so far: http://scpsandbox2.wikidot.com/cadavercommander
FIELDSTONE: Working on the internment camps. The Foundation calls them Provisional Containment Areas because "PCA" sounds much nicer than "concentration camps." What I've got so far is here:
http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/fieldstone
WERYLLIUM: Working on the tale, describing the Foundation higher ups' reactions as the tide starts turning against them, as well as the first O5 casualty.
http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/weryllium
Erasmus:
http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/collab:modern-erascollab hub is done. Working on finishing the goi format tale now.
http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/collab:erascontest collab page for field's skip
We should make a page for the final collab vignette tale as well.
http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/collab:apotheosis-vignettes page for the final collab vignette tale
