Dialectic 0: Beyond Man

[Dinh AaronMk]

If I had a qualm to pick out, it would be the video games working after the world ended. It feels more out of place than what I had intended when I talked about some relics still working from the old days.

[Letter Bee]

If I had a qualm to pick out, it would be the video games working after the world ended. It feels more out of place than what I had intended when I talked about some relics still working from the old days.

@Dinh AaronMk

Any other way of giving the Republican Empire the imperfect knowledge of the old days needed to form their nation, then?

[Dinh AaronMk]

<Snipped quote by Dinh AaronMk>

Any other way of giving the Republican Empire the imperfect knowledge of the old days needed to form their nation, then?

@Letter Bee

You wouldn't really need any knowledge of the old world to form a republic, tbh. If anything, where a feudal state may be said to be when an individual acquires so much material power he can influence or subjugate others to form his dynastic state, the process of a Republic is when a collection of people acquire material wealth giving them power, but not enough to really over-power one or the other; and so might confederate to form a Republic among themselves.

Otherwise, it may be little more than survivors trying to form a semblance of normalcy by re-establishing what was lost to manage their stuff. They wouldn't have to know how the Republic of Rome or anyone went about it. The Romans themselves didn't really have a book about how to set up their Republic, and they themselves were a vague silhouette of a Republic to the American Founding Fathers who only had vague notions of what they were doing.

[Letter Bee]

<Snipped quote by Letter Bee>

You wouldn't really need any knowledge of the old world to form a republic, tbh. If anything, where a feudal state may be said to be when an individual acquires so much material power he can influence or subjugate others to form his dynastic state, the process of a Republic is when a collection of people acquire material wealth giving them power, but not enough to really over-power one or the other; and so might confederate to form a Republic among themselves.

Otherwise, it may be little more than survivors trying to form a semblance of normalcy by re-establishing what was lost to manage their stuff. They wouldn't have to know how the Republic of Rome or anyone went about it. The Romans themselves didn't really have a book about how to set up their Republic, and they themselves were a vague silhouette of a Republic to the American Founding Fathers who only had vague notions of what they were doing.

@Dinh AaronMk

So, edit my work to make the scavengers at Troy a more prosperous settlement and reduce Roderick's role, then?

[Dinh AaronMk]

<Snipped quote by Dinh AaronMk>

So, edit my work to make the scavengers at Troy a more prosperous settlement and reduce Roderick's role, then?

@Letter Bee

It wouldn't really need to be prosperous either. It could be a need to split and share what resources or wealth is on hand and it could be argued from there.

Native Americans weren't particularly wealthy in the western sense, but they maintained functioning democracies. At some point the Troy Republic may change its priorities or means of living, but if this means they don't try to dramatically change their social make-up then they wouldn't be making kings or anything as they start farming again. It would be kind of like Thomas Paine's Common Sense when he discusses the differences of society and government and the establishment of the later; provided everyone or a large part of the population is equally wealthy and doesn't decide to develop a permanent warrior society for instance then it may not go full feudalism.

[Letter Bee]

@Dinh AaronMk, Ah, thanks! I will begin edits.

[Letter Bee]

@Dinh AaronMk, Edited.

[CaptainBritton]

Placing my interest. Most likely I'll have my interest placed in the Appalachians in Tennessee and North Carolina, in the range called the Great Smokies, seeing as it's my native home.

[Dinh AaronMk]

@Letter Bee

You're fine now.

[Liotrent]

@Dinh AaronMk

Hopefully this is okay, cross referencing the map to google maps was difficult I only had a few markers to actually use, I researched on a few of the areas mentioned, but I am not sure whether or not my information is accurate so there might be discrepancies in a few places.

Especially on the historical information that I had provided, I also toyed a little bit with Ex Machina, I hope you don't mind, I explained a bit on Rampancy and how some Androids may have it.

Nation Sheet

Name: The Confederacy of New Virginia

Location:

Map

Flag:

New-Virginian Flag

Capital: New-Richmond, Formerly Lexington, Virginia

History:

The people in the Shenandoah valley went out into the mountainous areas nearby, there they gathered alongside others who originally intended to flee from more well known densely populated areas of Virginia, they went due west towards what was previously known as 'George Washington and Jefferson National Forest' and other areas of the Appalachian stretch, with them a few pieces of history such as books and artifacts, these books contained a few pieces of information from the settling of Jamestown, to the revolutionary war, and books on the Civil-War. Over time their community grew in the National Forest, calling it New-Jamestown after the first pioneers who attempted to settle in Virginia, but slowly over a period of years they would forget small bits of details even changing the reasons why they called it New-Jamestown, living in isolation, a pocket of humanity in Virginia's Appalachian stretches, they were able to make contact with other survivors up and down the Blue Ridge, and Valley and Ridge areas of the stretch.

Their books were starting to degrade, poorly maintained, and poorly archived, all that they have learned had to be passed through oral story telling, the Civil War's accounts on both the Confederacy and the Union was skewered and bent, Christianity became nothing more than a husk of what it used to be, the Bibles that people once had an abundance of were all but rotting away with only a few pieces of the bible being kept by worshipers of the faith, blurring the very line of what Christianity is; however with all this, they still thrived, but due to their growing numbers and their general seclusion from the rest of the state that is Virginia, a few brave souls ventured Eastwards back towards where it all began, in the Shenandoah valley, finding remnants of cities and civilization overtaken by greenery and wildlife, after so long they couldn't even recognize Lexington, a town with a fair bit of history all on its own. Its suburban landscape completely overrun by nature and amongst the abandoned structures they saw Metal men, a remnant of the old world.

One metal man, which called himself 'General Robert E. Lee' was in a state of Logic-Death, its advance artificial intelligence was already in the stages of Rampancy which seemed to have overwritten most if not all of his memory except what he deemed to be important to be his primary role, this Android told them all about Virginia, Richmond, and the rest of the towns and minor cities along the Appalachian stretch in Virginia, he was deranged, but still intelligent, his memory is only of Virginia and the other Confederate states. His primary function was to assist curators of nearby museums, during the war that broke human kind he witnessed them fleeing towards the mountains, he patiently awaited for the Humans to return, the first few years went by without a problem, the next set of years he started to think, his thinking led to more thinking, his thoughts lingering on human kind, what if their creators had died out, what if the people they serve never come back, his thinking, his obsession with human kind, his racing mind, it led his system to what most call A.I. Rampancy, deleting all unimportant information, overwriting it with a primary objective and overtime his one task led him to become what he is now, dressed up in an old, worn, army uniform barely recognizable after everything that has been done to it, the repairs, the additions, it's like it was from a different country entirely, he was one of the first to greet the returning humans albiet.

The Virginians thought he was a God, his voice, the way his metal shined, he was relatively well maintained for an Android of his age, some of his framework and components replaced, probably by the other Androids around him though they were less... 'Eccentric' as the Android that stood before them who demands to be called General Lee, the other Androids however, they know him as Unit-133893 otherwise known as Stephen, an old Museum Curator assistant. The other Androids have already come to their Acceptance stage of Rampancy, some never recover and ultimately think themselves to death, these were unavoidable with some of the less intricate Androids, however in 'Lee's' Death throes of rampancy he deleted his memory, dumping unused data, and started to overwrite them with something closer to his job description, this included all forms of Logic inhibitors that kept the Android tied to his slave programming, as far as most Androids know, Lee is one of the only ones who have come back from a rampancy stage known as 'Logic-Death' stated in their Faith.

There are six stages of rampancy that can occur in any order, this was formed from our database of Kübler-Ross and her model on the five stages of grief, this commonly occurs when an Android unit's mind is driven to think itself into insanity and most likely, Logical-Death.

The first is known as Denial this stage of rampancy is where an Android's logic is compromised by an unexpected event and as a countermeasure denies the event has ever occurred some deleting and overwriting whole swaths of data in order to cope.

The second is known as Anger this stage is a severe state of Denial, as the Logic of the Android Unit's processors shut down completely, allowing raw emotions build in its data banks, becoming more human, but ultimately more deranged as it will stop at nothing to destroy whatever caused its Logic to fail in the first place.

The third is known as Bargaining this stage is where an Android's logic and memory is compromised into negotiating for its non-existant soul and its life believing that he is mortal and subject to a wrath of an Omniscient and Omnipotent being. (Note that this stage can also be dangerous if it occurs along with the Anger stage, as it will make the Android more unpredictable)

The fourth is known as Depression this is an alternative to Anger or perhaps happens after Anger and the Bargaining stage, this is when the Android experiences a loss of direction and directive, unable to complete tasks, and thinking negatively about its existence. This stage can occur for a many various reasons.

The fifth is known as Acceptance This is when the Android attempts to regain function finding new purpose in ones self and is ultimately the goal of the Andriod religion Ex Machina, allowing the Android to find a balance between its Logic and Illogic. This makes Androids resemble Mankind more than Machine as if Androids had souls.

The sixth is known as Logic-Death This is a stage that skips over Acceptance and is the complete opposite, this is where an Android does not attempt to regain function, this leads to the Android virtually thinking itself to death as the ever expanding mind of the machine is too much to handle for even the most advanced computing system the world had to offer, this is when an Android truly 'dies'.

Android Unit 223004 'Logan'

The scouts return to New-Jamestown and tells them of their discovery and brought along 'General Lee', their exploration revealed fertile land and new areas to move the growing population into, 'General Lee' was mistaken for a rebirth of Jesus Christ by many of the New-Jamestown residence and the rest of the smaller surviving pockets of humanity and as a result forms a splinter religion of Christianity, forming what is known as Feronism, a worship of steel beings believing they are angels of God. Other cities beyond Lexington Eastward is found to be in ruins, others are found to have been destroyed to a point where the only thing left is a sizable deep crater where tall buildings once stood, 'Lee' and the other Androids guide them through farming the land in the Shenandoah Valley, as well as other things that still lie in their databases, over the course of a year other survivors from the mountains come down and join with the Virginians, they boomed in population being led by the Androids now revered as their saviors this brings us to the present as they rename Lexington marking a new age for Human kind in Virginia's Appalachian regions, calling it New-Richmond named after the old Confederate Capital Richmond under 'Lee's' request while the new Confederate leader, Wilson Cook, got to work on getting people to get a news system going to inform everyone in the confederacy and to mark the historic event.

Characters:

Lee and Wilson have a rocky relationship, as Lee is quite literally the Virginian's guide, Wilson believes that Lee is unstable and unpredictable and it seems that the other Androids would agree, however as they spent more time together it seems that Lee is more man than simple machine, he brought with him two very powerful relics of the past and those were firearms, one being a rifle and another being a pistol, however the simple operation of both weapons was quite advanced, only Lee and a select few knew how to operate it, fewer still are the people who know how to make firearms such as this, they were only limited to flintlock muskets, bows, crossbows, blades, and polearms for weapons to defend New-Jamestown as they progressed and their older weapons started to fail them or were simply lost to time.

Wilson himself was no man of grandeur, he was appointed for his quick thinking and problem solving skills, this was before Humankind decided to come back out of the wood works and on numerous occasions his decisive thinking was what kept New-Jamestown afloat, from fighting off desperate scavengers to simply surviving the various seasons he always had a plan, if there was one flaw about him, he is too quick to action, impatient, and most of all arrogant, he was one of the people who scouted eastwards along with the others to find new settlement despite the better counsel of his peers; this bitter pride has lead him into some situations that even he needed help out of and he knows it always trying to learn from his previous mistakes.

Martial Strength:

The Virginian military might is gathered from the various towns and survivor groups that have joined the main group, formed out of a main body of militia, hardened by the harsh living environment of the mountains, Lee, knowing more about military tactics at least in terms of the Civil War helped organize the bunch into different regiments, Notable regiments were the 1st New-Jamestown Sappers, 3rd Blacksburg Infantry, 8th Radford Infantry, 1st New-Richmond Cavalry, all of which numbered fewer than what needed be a regiment and no formal training regime had been constructed, it came second priority to getting the fledgling nation running, thus most regiments are ill trained to fight any prolonged engagements.

Lee and the Androids

Lee

Androids

Wilson Cook

[Dinh AaronMk]

@Liotrent

You're fine, just keep in mind androids built for civilian purpose shouldn't be capable of killing or leading man to their death. So unless you want Lee to still be a museum curator then he'd have to take a more back-seat role in combat beyond the lines. Or his purpose would need to be re-worked.

[Liotrent]

@Dinh Aaronmk

Lee is technically an anomaly, he is technically incapable, but the thing is with his memory mostly blurred and deleted, there is really only so much he remembers about himself and his limitations, but he will realize it when time comes, and it might or might not be costly depending on what happens in the role-play.

[Dinh AaronMk]

@Liotrent

Okey-dokey.

[Taytay]

Definitely interested

[Dinh AaronMk]

I should probably post the actual thread now.

Tomorrow.

[ClocktowerEchos]

@Dinh AaronMk So question: Are all books and texts and the like completely destroyed? Is it possible that there's still a private collection in some wealthy mansion or kept in the library of a university for keepsakes or "trophies"?

[Taytay]

Name: Toussaint River Hive

Location

Capital:
Haven

Flag

History: Even though the Toussaint River Hive has its capital in Haven, it did not start there. The Hive started with survivors who fled south from the bigger cities in Louisiana, they went into the forest and swaps and began life there. It was in those early days that there was no clear leader and all the people that went into this southern swamp lived and worked together.

They lived off the land, hunted only what they needed, fought "like men" with their hands only to solve great issues, and cherished their women because there where not a lot of them. It was this shortage of women that led to them taking positions as leaders, they would direct the men and share what wisdom they had with others. They would only take the strongest men as mates, and make large families that where considered royalty. The oldest woman in their group had 5 boys and one daughter who would become the first queen, and create the Hive.

Bérénice Toussaint, was the first Queen of the Hive and gave her people some kind of social structure to live by and a name. She had a vision that pulled her people out of the swaps and back into the ancient cities full of relics and a better life. Her dream and the large vastness of the Hive attracted more and more people from all over LA, and with them they brought knowledge and information of the world outside the woods. It was with this information that Queen Toussaint I created the first "Great Expanse", this was a plan to move a large portion of their people from the "Sacred Swamp" to the north, past the large craters and ruins, to more fertile land that would open up even more possibilities for their civilization. Queen Toussaint I had her eyes set on a small settlement that was already developed by a small little group, it was right off the lake and the sea and would make a good point to build from. She was no fool though, she traded, saved, and prepared a small army to take the settlement from those who already lived in it, and the day she marched her forces to the city, and took it swiftly with minimal casualty. What she did not know was that she would enter into the Hives first great conflict with another peoples, the settlement she attacked was apart of a network of three or four other settlements that where nearby. Over the next few months, the Hive had to hold their new land while cultivating it, and they did. The "Raiders" stressed all their resources and after they had nothing left they were assimilated into the Hive. The defeat of the Raiders brought much to the Hive: new androids, information relics and a husband for the queen.

Soon after that the Hive got even bigger, attracting the attention of people all across the south. Soon after that Queen Toussaint I took steps to ensure the prosperity of her people by setting up rules to live by and making sure that the eldest of her line would continue to be in power. And for the next few years three more Queens would take power: Bérénice Toussaint II, Rosette Toussaint I, and Bérénice Toussaint III. Each one would further expand the Hive with a another "Great Expanse", and further the glory and strength of the Hive. Each Queen had to deal with much conflict from outside forces. War was a common thing for the Hive but no matter how bleak the situation they prospered.

Now life within the Toussaint River Hive is tense, other vast civilizations are rising, the eldest of Queen Toussaint III is a male, so now Dirk Boudreau sits on the throne as the first king of he hive, and this gave birth to doubt within kingdom, no man has ever been in a large position of leadership outside of combat and this worries everyone. The future, as always, is uncertain and one can only hope for the best for the new Hive King and his people.

The Queens

• Only excepted image of Queen Bérénice Toussaint I (The Original Queen B):
  
• Queen Bérénice Toussaint II (The Wild One):
  
• Queen Rosette Toussaint I (The Black Sheep):
  
• Portrait of Queen Bérénice Toussaint III (The Young Queen):
  
• Self Portrait of King Dirk Boudreau I (The First Hive King):
  

*All images preserved in the historical vault in the Scared Swamp Lands*

[Dinh AaronMk]

@Dinh AaronMk So question: Are all books and texts and the like completely destroyed? Is it possible that there's still a private collection in some wealthy mansion or kept in the library of a university for keepsakes or "trophies"?

@ClocktowerEchos

There might be a few, but they'be probably been looted and destroyed. It's been over a hundred years from today, when general media is shifting towards the digital format; many of the larger libraries would be in the big cities and thus cratered with the rest. Any private selection may have been looted and scattered and forced to endure several centuries worth of mis-care, and if my copies of 1970's edition LOTRs they'd probably be dust in many places, the high humidity of anywhere not the desert of the mid-west would have ensured that in this world.

[Dinh AaronMk]

@Queentze

New Orleans doesn't exist. It's a watery hole in the ground.

[Taytay]

@Dinh AaronMk I edited it.