[OOC] Closed - Failure to Thrive

[Blue Demon]

Sorry I haven't finished my CS. Memorial day/weekend and all that.

[BurningDaisies]

I uh... kinda spazzed out. I acquired a new router, and wasted my weekend flashing it with custom firmware and doing other fun networking stuff with it.

.-.'

Also! Currently working on a CS as we speak.

[Lukas Kelly]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. When I get the chance, I'll update everything to better fit what you're looking for.

[Naril]

Ooh, what kind? I spent a couple of days moving my personal network from an Aruba controller doing edge duties to a Juniper SRX. Really good way to learn JUNOS, that. [laughs]

[Naril]

Good morning, everyone! What a lovely long weekend. I hope yours were just as pleasant. :3

[BurningDaisies]

Ooh, what kind? I spent a couple of days moving my personal network from an Aruba controller doing edge duties to a Juniper SRX. Really good way to learn JUNOS, that. [laughs]

@Naril

JUNOS? Isn't that data center level stuff? *looks at wallet forlornly*
No monies for those kind of toys. .-.'

Nah.. I was just fine-tuning my dd-wrt setup. Adjusting QoS, setting up my ssh daemon, and a few other tweaks.

[Naril]

Well, sort of. :3 JUNOS runs on everything (new-ish) that Juniper makes, including some devices that are really very affordable, especially if you haunt eBay for testing or home-lab equipment. The command structure is very (and fundamentally) different from Cisco IOS (and the thousand derivatives - Aruba, Arista, etc.), but I find that I rather like it better. :3

I get to play with a lot of slightly exotic equipment at work, thanks to the nature of my company. There's a couple sides to that - mostly I do things that aren't network engineering, but I find that you can never know too much - and all of that makes me better at what I "normally" do (In addition to those times I am called on to do engineering and architecture work). JUNOS has been on my "list of things to get familiar with" for a while, and now I am! Enough to get myself into trouble, anyway. [laughs]

Now onto some more esoterica. I really need to do some more experiments with the F5 virtual machine I have sitting around...:3

[BurningDaisies]

Nifty.

Oh! Have you had a chance to play with IBM's AIX? I've been wanting to use it since I learned Power7 was a thing.

Edit; Also, Power8 looks beautiful, I'm hoping they make good on their announcement to produce consumer-level Power8 servers.

[Naril]

AIX is probably the expensive UNIX variant I dislike the least. You don't really see any UNIXes (HPUX, AIX, Solaris, or any of the more-esoteric derivatives) outside of very niche situations - HPC, scientific computing, some law-enforcement applications, high-frequency-trading, and the inevitable custom-built applications designed by some programmer who left the company 35 years ago and took the source code, debugging information, and troubleshooting guides with him. [laughs]

The same goes for POWER-series devices - virtually every serious, commodity enterprise application runs on x86-64, whether you're talking about databases, SAN, IdP/SP, load balancers, VDI/VSI/VNI, financial systems, health care systems, or anything else. That said, I have worked, and do still work with them - the last system I had my hands on was AIX running on a POWER7 machine, providing a sensitive and mission-critical database. Running a pen-test (Although that job was so long-term it almost became a red-team exercise) against that system - and everyone who maintained it - was a lot of fun.

[BurningDaisies]

That does sound like a lot of fun. o-o

Red-team exercises, in general, are fun though, even outside IT settings.

[BurningDaisies]

I reread a few things in the OP--primarily the blurb about Satran and Argos Ltd.

A question came to mind: When referring to "corporate zones" are you talking about extraterritorial regions, which are under the full administrative and legal control of the local corp with responsibilties up to and including law enforcement/policing? Or does "corporate zones" apply more generally, "areas where corporations have deep-seated government influence" for example?
If the former, .... *sweatdrop*. If the latter, I wouldn't mind some clarification. =o

[Naril]

@BurningDaisies

The corporate zones in the City are primarily the heavily-redeveloped urban core, several "warehouse districts" where space is at less of a premium, the railway, and the railway's immediate environs. :3

As I mentioned in the OP (I know there's a lot in there), law and order under local, State, and Federal government nominally still exist, and no area in the City is technically under the entire administration of a Corporation. In other words, crimes are still brought before judges, police still patrol the area, and taxes are still paid. That said, depending on the area, and the Corporation involved, and the activity in question, some Corps have disproportionate influence on what, exactly, gets counted as a "crime," how quickly police might respond, or what taxes get paid to whom. "The System" is corrupt, but it still exists, and may not necessarily be beyond repair.

In some parts of the City, Corporations have begun to assume some (not all) responsibilities that are, now, typically managed by city or local governments - the biggest example being the (ccasional) administration of a district's police force. There's no need to assume that because Argos has taken over a police district that automatically that district will become a gang of violent, heavily-armed thugs above the law - things in this world have not progressed to that point. Egregious, obvious abuse will result in at the very least publicity, and should the government in question find enough lawyers, suspension of the contract. That said, that kind of power (Police activity) accruing into the hands of an organization that may not see itself bound by the rules of government (A corporation), is something else that is an easy path to corruption and serving only the highest bidder - and you can absolutely assume that sort of thing happens in a thousand small ways, every day.

Areas outside of the City (Or any other "City") are typically sparsely-populated, with limited infrastructure and few of the services offered by governments or Corporations. The Interstate system is crumbling, and driving on that cracked and decaying network is getting more and more dangerous. Not "Mad Max" dangerous - though bandit groups do exist - but the roads are bad and service stations very rare. Interstate, and inter-City travel is handled by large, very fast, armored, and entirely-privately-owned heavy maglev railway systems, on which passage is fairly expensive. Air travel is also a huge luxury item, and typically available only to the Corporate elite - many people will never leave the City they were born in.

Hope that helps!

[Naril]

Good morning, everyone! I had a lovely evening yesterday, although I suppose I really should have gone to bed earlier. [laughs] Oh well. There is, as they say, a price for everything.

I'm not going to be hugely available tonight, but if anyone has any other questions this morning and afternoon, I expect I can answer them. :3

[Blue Demon]

Well, with the rate of business, I haven't been able to touch anything on this site. Don't hold your breath for my character. (I'll try ti finish him if this isn't up by the time I have time... haha. But if not, that's ok too)

[Dragonbud]

Your writing style really hooked me, I'm going to reread the op and then start working on a sheet :D

[Naril]

Yay! I'm looking forward to it, I'm sure. :3

[Naril]

Hi everyone!

I'd really like to start seeing some character sheets soon. I have another thread I may start if this one doesn't take off, though.

[Zombiedude101]

I've got one in mind, soon enough.

[Naril]

Excellent! :3 I'm looking forward to seeing a character.

[Naril]

Hello again, everyone! How are those characters coming? :3