Stern Algorithm

You Can Become a Hero!

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Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall to Testing Chamber(?)

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Touko's declaration that his quirk was 'freaky' stung Gendou slightly, but there didn't seem to be maliciousness in her words. In fact, her follow up question seemed to indicate actual interest. Of course, Gendou was carefully gauging how everyone around him would react to his quirk, so he had noticed the subtle change in Kokone's expression. Was that nausea? No, clearly it was disgust, the natural reaction to someone popping out his eyeballs. Gendou mentally lamented that even at a hero school, he would have peers who found his quirk disgusting. But at least...at least it didn't seem as if they intended to harm or bully him for it. Being surrounded by this group of people, he had expected bullying at every point, but it never came. Was it okay to finally let down his guard? Or were there simply too many others around for them to initiate the abuse? Or maybe it was time he started seeing his fellow students as hero hopefuls like himself, good people with good hearts, who just wanted to help others.

Before he could answer Touko's question, the speech began, and like Touko indicated, he would have to elaborate later. As someone who took comfort with figures of authority, Gendou was enraptured by the principal's welcoming speech. However, a quick glance to his sides revealed an uncomfortable truth; only girls were sitting on this side of the hall. It struck Gendou that Ishin was a rather conservative school, and that he had sat down mindlessly. He locked eyes with one of the faculty, whose face immediately took on an expression of sternness as they realized that Gendou was violating propriety, and though the teacher took a half-step forward with the intent of moving Gendou to the other half of the hall, they ultimately decided against it to not cause a scene in the middle of the speech. And though Gendou looked away, he could embarrassingly feel the teacher's gaze drilling into him for the remainder of the ceremony, almost as if the teacher was the one with laser vision.

When the speech concluded, Gendou wondered if he should go and apologize to the teacher, but the teacher had their responsibilities, and Gendou had to follow Kinzokuma-sensei, so they parted ways leaving this little misunderstanding unresolved.

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As he followed his new teacher through the campus grounds, another intrusive thought wormed its way into his head, spurred on by the principal's warnings. He knew that his acceptance was due in part as a favor to his deceased mother, an alumnus of the school. So the principal's emphasis on personal ability made Gendou start to question if he had made it in on his own merit, or how his classmates might treat him if they found out. Gendou wasn't even sure which faculty member it was that had made true on this favor, but shuddered to think what would happen if this faculty member approached him out of the blue and become chummy with him. It would be painting a target on his back. As they arrived at their destination, Gendou handed his luggage over to the upperclassman and was almost immediately given an impossible task by the teacher: don't be nervous.

You Can Become a Hero!

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Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall
Interacting with — @Feyblue @TGM @Yankee

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A smile managed to drift onto Gendou's face, as he took successfully complimenting Yoshiba's quirk as a small victory. If escape wasn't possible, perhaps getting on her good side was. Kokone and Touko both stated where in Tokyo they were from, and Touko actually formally introduced herself. Perhaps he was overthinking it and these were just normal hero school students doing normal hero school student things. However, getting called without an honorific reminded Gendou of the 'artificial closeness' tactic that so many bullies employed, and it got under his skin. But what was really bothering him was Yoshiba's question about his quirk. Did she know? Was she going to snatch up an eyeball and proceed to torture him to moment he popped one out? Of course, common sense dictated that it was extremely unlikely for her to know his quirk in advance, given that they had never met. He was in a hero school; this was no place to hide his quirk. Gendou resolved to be a bit braver than he had been since arriving, besides, if they did bully him, surely the teachers here wouldn't turn a blind eye, unfortunate pun not intended.

"W-well my quirk is shooting laser beams from my eyes," Gendou began, listing only the safest aspect for now. The thought occurred to him to at least demonstrate it, but he obviously wasn't going to fire a laser at school property; he didn't want to be expelled for vandalism, obviously. But before he could stop himself, the question of, "what surface can I shoot my lasers at?" elicited an unfortunate habitual response. Gendou brought his left wrist in front of his face before realizing what he was doing. A coldness ran over him as his 'tendency' reared its ugly head. Gendou was thankful that their current uniforms had long sleeves. He awkwardly turned the motion of his arm into one of brushing his hair as he chuckled nervously, "H-heh heh, I wanted to show you my beams, but then I realized that I shouldn't to burn anything in here." A moment of silence stretched into eternity in Gendou's mind as he contemplated his next step. Would he reveal what else his quirk could do? It would at least make up for his inability to show his lasers right now. "B-but I c-can also, umm, 'spawn' more eyeballs from my head which can float around independently."

Gendou leaned his head forward, cupping his face with his hands. When he lifted his head back up again, each hand held one eyeball, while two new eyes had already taken their places in his sockets. The eyes in his palms rotated, looking around, before floating up, though their gazes continued to dart here and there. Gendou was practicing controlled breathing, and it might have appeared that he was having difficulty maintaining the floating eyes, but the actual reason for his intentional deep breaths was to keep himself from panicking from the anticipation that someone would grab one of the eyes or swat them out of the air. "They can shoot lasers too, even when outside, and I can see what they see," Gendou explained, though he left out the fact that he could also feel what the eyes felt. Still, Gendou's nervousness quickly caught up to him so he popped the eyes back inside his head. He looked around to gauge their reaction. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to demonstrate his quirk after all. Girls tended to be more squeamish about this sort of thing, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea to pop his eyes out in front of the three them.

You Can Become a Hero!

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Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall
Interacting with — @Feyblue @TGM @Yankee

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Given that Tokyo is a major population center of Japan, it was not statistically unlikely that multiple students in their class would be from Tokyo. In fact, it would be improbable if none of the students were from Tokyo. Of course, it would make more sense to have applied for UA, but Gendou hadn't even considered any other school; Ishin was his mother's alma mater, and she was his goal and inspiration.

Gendou focused on these pointless thoughts in order to distract himself from what was clearly happening around him. Being surrounded by three girls, his heart raced, but not for the reason one might assume of a teenage boy. This was, unfortunately, a tactic he had seen all too often. A group of mean-spirited friends singles out someone to pick on. They approach, one at a time, pretending not to know each other, taking their time to size up their victim; see if he's an easy target. Eventually, they will surround their victim, preventing escape, and make their intentions known, spoken in hushed tones so no one outside the circle catches on. They were going to make him their slave for the rest of the school year, if not longer.

Yoshiba asked if he was nervous, which was clearly a way of letting him know that she smelled his fear. Touko's overly friendly, "My people", was a way to force closeness and blackmail using arbitrary 'connection'. Talking about other people being annoying or problematic was supposed to create a false security, a poor effort to convince Gendou that these three were the only ones he could trust. And Kokone answering Yoshiba's 'nervousness' question robbed Gendou of any agency in the matter. In just a few simple steps, they had established complete control, and he had let himself fall into the same trap again.

Gendou wanted to vomit.

He didn't know what to do. If tried to run now, they'll know they got to him, and how easy it is for him to break. He'd give them what they wanted, information that he was easy to bully. But what if he played along? He knew his acquiescent nature would come through, and the result would be the same. They'd know that whatever he was doing would be an attempt to appease the situation. of course, calling for help or simply sitting there stunned would all mean the same thing. He could try to fight his way out, but that could result in failure, or get him kicked out of Ishin altogether. What kind of hero-aspirant attacks his classmates before the opening ceremony?

"I'm from Meguro Ward," Gendou's delayed conversation brain causes him to blurt out the thoughts that he was trying to distract himself with. Given that several of them are from Tokyo, it only made sense to get a little more specific. Gendou covers his mouth with his hands, afraid that he'd draw the girls' ire for speaking out of turn. "S-sorry," Gendou was quick to apologize. Though the smart thing to do would have been just to keep quiet and gauge their reaction, Gendou suddenly felt that he had to do something, anything to take back an iota of control. "I-I g-guess I am pretty nervous. This was my mother's school, and I just want to make her proud, you know?"

Gendou was spiraling and beginning to divulge too much information. Now they knew he was a momma's boy. But as long as he didn't reveal his quirk and give them the opportunity to judge how disgusting it was and get the idea of harming him through his eyeballs, he'd be fine, right? But right now, all he could think of was his quirk and how they'd react if they saw it, so he glanced at them, trying to ascertain what their quirks were. For Kokone and Touko, it wasn't so obvious, but for Yoshiba, he had a guess.

"D-do you have prehensile hair?" Gendou asked, trying to divert attention away from himself, "That's pretty cool."

Gendou chided himself; what a dumb way to compliment someone's quirk.

You Can Become a Hero!

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Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall
Interacting with — @Feyblue

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Gendou raised his head as the eye he had just popped back in twists and swivels as it seats itself back into place, however it is at this moment that he notices Kokone is standing there, staring at him. Gendou's hands shot up to cover his eye, knowing that people in general found independently moving eyes darting all over the place unsettling. There was a moment of silence as he tried to ascertain whether she had seen his eye moving wildly in its socket and how she would react. But all he caught was an imperceptible wince. Was that hidden pain? Or perhaps veiled annoyance? What did she want from him? He wondered if he had offended her in some way, or if she had simply and arbitrarily decided that she wanted his seat and that he needed to get out of 'her' spot even though the row was practically empty.

So when Kokone asked if she could sit next to him, his first reaction was to get up before finally realizing what she had actually said. To cover his faux pas, Gendou bowed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Y-yes...I mean...no, I don't mind, p-please help yourself," Gendou blurted out before awkwardly sitting back down. Gendou leaned quite heavily away from Kokone, retreating so that they wouldn't fight over the single armrest that was shared by both seats. Because of the prior altercation that he had just heard and witnessed, the threat of bullies was on his mind, although to be honest, the threat of bullies was always on his mind. So he couldn't help but wonder if there was some sinister motive behind Kokone's sudden approach. But then he remembered part of why he was even here in the first place. People came here because they wanted to be heroes; surely the majority of people here must have good intentions. It didn't make sense for him to walk onto a hero school campus and immediately start suspecting his fellow classmates of being bullies. No, here, things would be different.

Gendou turned back to face Kokone, though his eyes were downcast. "It's n-nice to meet you. My name is Akisuji Gendou. I'm from Tokyo," Gendou introduced himself. He wanted to start this new stage of his life on the right foot.

M E K H A N A U T S - A Far-Future Mecha RP Inspired by Dune, UnderRail, and BattleTech

<Snipped quote by Stern Algorithm>

Keepers in the majority of Azvanrist sects are more kept as spiritual figures than they are in active roles - it's something that's dependent on local cultures and the exact nature of their upbringing. And though it wouldn't really be too out of it for a mekh operator to turn over a new leaf as a keeper as a religious experience, there's usually a stiff layer of economic and social calcification that keep a lot of people from doing so. Likewise depending on how long they were on that exact path, forsaking being a keeper could range from anything to a young devotee deciding (or getting persuaded) that they're not cut out for this whole monasticism thing to basically outright apostasy/excommunication. Owing to the nature of the "space feudalist" structure that the Empire has had there's only really a lot of social mobility on a local scale - anything that involves multiple planets is very much sealed-in.

In general, though, Keepers do maintain a similar role as there would be to, say, clergy in most militaries: That is, an important part of the maintenance of morale and as supportive roles, but not anywhere near the direct up-and-front fighting. This being said, it wouldn't be entirely out of the picture for a keeper to pilot a juggernaut...though it would be considered highly unusual, like how if the army base's Chaplin decided he was going to be a helicopter pilot for a day.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the goals of adherence and that of role as a keeper aren't mutually exclusive: "Keeper" as the term itself refers to a specific societal role that's in many ways part caste, part profession, and part lifelong journey. Think of it more as a dedicated monk.

Though, it's not to say that you must be a keeper in order to maintain or display that show of faith in androgyny. People throughout the Empire can and do present themselves in androgynous forms as to communicate their devotion to Azvanrism all the time, and i'd even go as far as to say it wouldn't be out of the question to say it's even a cultural norm on some planets' local societies.

There's still a good number of religious minorities all around the Empire and there's just not enough infrastructure or frankly care to clamp down on them all: Persecutions in the Sirian Empire were usually political and the religious aspect of trying to defend or push the faith typically came later. Really big influences - like the aforementioned Avrakhans - were usually the prime suspects because they put the stability of the Empire into question with clashing values and different collectives in things like churches, banks, common houses, soup kitchens, and so forth that they powers that be saw as potentially dangerous breeding grounds for insurrection. But if you're just some guy in his house praying to some obscure God in private then nobody will probably care. It's when you start Secret Society-ing that where the Empire does not fuck around.

<Snipped quote by Stern Algorithm>

I had a few of them written down, yeah. In general if someone has an idea for something - be it a part, weapon, subsystem, etc - then i'll allow it and draft something up for them.

@Yam I Am

Ok based on this, I think it makes sense for my character to not be a keeper, which is totally fine. I'm going to assume that based on the sheer size of the galaxy, that it would be impossible for Azvanrism to me monolithic? So I could have my character practice a form of Azvanrism with its own 'flavor'?

I'm thinking of having a mech that specializes in electronic warfare, such as jamming communications/radar, disabling enemy mechs, and scouting/disorienting engagements (with funnels/drones).

M E K H A N A U T S - A Far-Future Mecha RP Inspired by Dune, UnderRail, and BattleTech

I am curious to know more about keepers and Azvanrism in general. Like can a keeper become a juggernaut pilot or vice versa? I like playing religious characters, so I'm thinking of a character who is androgynous and very much in touch with their juggernaut's spectre. One of their specialties would be theology and interfaith dialogue, which might make diplomacy with the Avrakhans more of an option.

Also, are funnel-type weapons (remote-controlled drones) going to be allowed?

You Can Become a Hero!

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Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall
Potential interactions — @Lemons @TGM @Feyblue

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Sitting towards the front, but off to the side, Gendou tried to recenter himself. As much of an achievement as it was just to get accepted to Ishin, Gendou was already beginning to doubt himself. He knew he was in here not because he was eager to hear whatever it was the principal had to say, but because he was cowardly fleeing the crowd outside. What kind of hero was afraid of crowds? He had come here with the hope of being allowed to be his authentic self, to have people see him and his quirk and to think, 'cool' or 'awesome' instead of, 'eww' or 'gross'. Gendou leaned back in his chair and turned his face upward towards the hall lights and let out a defeated sigh. To him, every person was a potential bully, another mean-spirited individual who'd try to catch one of his eyes and try to pop it. If such a thing were to happen again, would he still just take it? The alternative seemed much worse. The use of lasers to retaliate would, after all, certainly be considered excessive force. He didn't want to be hurt anymore, but he didn't want to hurt anyone either. And the worst part of it all was that he knew that if he ever tried to fight back, if he ever snapped and let loose, he'd probably enjoy it.

But these dark thoughts were quickly interrupted by some noise coming from behind. It sounded like two girls had bumped into each other, and they sounded...mean. Instinctively, Gendou had to know what was going on and who they were. If they were classmates who might end up bullying him, he needed to know so he could either try to avoid them early or ingratiate himself to them as soon as possible to mitigate harm to himself. But it would be rude to turn and look (and he'd probably draw unwanted attention to himself), so Gendou leaned forward, cupped one of his eye sockets, and ejected an eye into his palm. Keeping the eye enclosed in his palm so that a disgusting exposed eyeball wouldn't gross anyone out, Gendou rotated his fist so that the small peephole he left in his fingers allowed him to see the altercation between Kirika and Yoshiba.

Gendou gulped thickly. Kirika had an intimidating aura, like she wasn't afraid of anyone, he imagined her bossing him around and forcing him to run errands for her, like buying her juice. She looked like the kind of person who would grind his eyeballs under her heels; an unpleasant thought.

Yoshiba, on the other hand, didn't look as intimidating, but Gendou had met his fair share of bullies that were small in stature. It almost seemed as if shorter height lent itself to greater aggression, what some might call a Napoleon complex. And was her hair made of tentacles? Gendou could imagine her snatching his eyes out of the air with her tentacles and squeezing them until they popped; another unpleasant thought.

Subconsciously, Gendou shrunk into his seat, trying to hide himself from the pair, and pushing the external eyeball back into his head. He tried to focus all his attention forward as if not focusing on Kirika and Yoshiba would make it so that they didn't focus on him.

What a telepath hears

Gendou's brain is in constant telepathic communication with his eyes; with the brain sending movement and location instructions and receiving vision and touch senses from the eyes. When they are in his head, they are 'docked' to his optic nerve, so long-range telepathic chatter is minimal, though at all times, there is constant three-way communication between his brain and two 'docked' eyes. To Kokone, the 'thought' sphere around Gendou would probably seem like a sort of white noise or television static, his intelligible, verbal thoughts mixing wildly with what can only be classified as untranslatable, 'sonified' touch, vision, location, and movement data. However, by ejecting one eyeball out of his head, his brain would start to send out and received amplified ranged signals, increasing the intensity of the incomprehensible data traveling between the eye and the brain, only to be quieted once more when he returned that eye to his head.

M E K H A N A U T S - A Far-Future Mecha RP Inspired by Dune, UnderRail, and BattleTech

I am here for this.

One Piece: The Sea Reaver Pirates Reborn

Handel

Handel perked up at the news. She may not have seen their captain fighting in such a manner, but she had picked up on enough marine intelligence to know a fraction of what she was capable of. If this wasn't a sign to reconvene, then nothing was. Handel lightly kicked the large case that was leaning against the wall behind her seat, causing it to open up and reveal the large, weaponized double bass in side. She began shoving the den den mushi into various snail shaped slots in the foam of the case. "Let's go, we've been summoned," Handel said to the reavers, trying to remain somewhat cryptic, getting up swiftly from her seat as she wheeled the large case behind her.

She didn't get very far before they were confronted by a meathead and a suspicious posse. She smiled and pulled out a marine's cap from within her jacket, placing it on her head slowly to seem more official. "Don't worry, they're with me. Special unit, not your typical marines. Anyways, we'll deal with this threat, whatever it is," Handel lied, an act that was second nature to her after years of Cipher Pol training. Though she did not doubt any among the remaining crew's ability to command, as someone who had specialized in subterfuge and intelligence, she felt it only made sense to lead the way temporarily until they met their captain and their ranks could be more officially assigned. For now, her former rank as a marine commander would be the authority she would be relying on.

One Piece: The Sea Reaver Pirates Reborn

Handel

Handel sat at the table, nursing her drink with a tired scowl. As a 'disguise', she had donned her old marine commander's jacket, though this had the unfortunate effect that any reveler that passed by would offer their congratulations on the success of the raid. Handel would offer them a weak smile and wave them off, saying that she had lost a lot of good comrades and would prefer to mourn, which was enough to give her and what remained of the Sea Reavers some much-needed space. Meanwhile she had laid out an array of den den mushi in front of her, asking them to send out messages to any other Sea Reaver numbers that she knew, though all were silent.

The greeting drew her attention up to Zerry, but she just gave him a tired nod, though she welcomed him to join herself and Poppy at the table. Sophie and her mechanical monstrosity soon entered the bar.

"I don't know if the captain had a personal den den mushi or not," Handel said in response to Poppy's question, "but I haven't received a call from her yet." Handel rubbed her temples in frustration, unsure how long to linger in this limbo of waiting for survivors. "Hope we're not the only ones," Handel added, addressing Sophie's greeting.

Handel had not been a prominent member of the Sea Reavers; when she joined, she had made it clear that she was a former member of Cipher Pol, but her honesty was, understandably, met with suspicion and distrust. She had been assigned as an engineer to one of the side ships of one of the lower-ranking members, however during the Garrison Star Raid, when the chatter from her den den mushi assigned to intercept messages alerted her to the existence of marine reinforcements and to their specific tactics, her warning was not properly relayed up the chain of command. She knew what was coming, but nobody had listened. 'Stupid fucking pirates,' Handel thought to herself, though she knew that her rage merely masked her sense of loss and regret.

Handel looked around the bar, at a loss for what to do and how to proceed. They needed to rally. but what would be a safe way to do so without drawing unwanted attention?