I thought that too, but apparently there were enough people who decided to overturn that in our favor. I'm still surprised it happened though.
Now I have to worry about Mafia players stabbing me during the night though... well, not really. I dropped into the [Family]'s thread to post a third remark, and they seemed pretty nice.
(I should also write in... official rules state that only people who joined this clan during 2011 are eligible for the trophy. Sorry Stardust and Alien Misprint. You missed the bell by a bit.)
Everyone needs to seriously thank Aurora for pointing out the scoring inconsistency and rianalnn for refusing to accept my early attempt to concede on our behalf.
If it wasn't for either of the two of them, every member of [The Family] would already have been wearing the Clan of the Year trophy for the past couple of weeks.
Oh wow, Kank has 8888 (or, if I recall correctly, 23*11*101) posts at the time of writing this!
And I'm glad we stuck through the whole way, never letting our feet touch ground. That's how decisions get passed around here!
(I actually PMed rianalnn a day or two ago about the concession - he says that in order to be fair, we must let all involved clans have a say and not just the two most affected ones.)
Alright! Trophy list, according to rianalnn: Anyone on this list is eligible for a trophy:
Kankennon
Slavan K. Guiser
Zith
ThatRedwood
Aurora Illumina
Moss_Elemental
Syphon
Kronik
pet snake
Wheat_Grinder
jomafro
pi-ratical
vligerdragon
Wessel
PandasRPeople2 (absentee, but helped for a contest)
As I mentioned, Stardust and Alien Misprint joined in 2012, so unfortunately they're not eligible for the 2011 trophy. Anyone missing?
Alright! Trophy list, according to rianalnn: Anyone on this list is eligible for a trophy:
As I mentioned, Stardust and Alien Misprint joined in 2012, so unfortunately they're not eligible for the 2011 trophy. Anyone missing?
I checked all the posts from our other absentee members, and they didn't have a single post in reference to any clan contest unfortunately. PandasRPeople2 just squeaked in with his reference to pirates & Oreos which was referred to in our Lucky Dip video.
I should also write in... official rules state that only people who joined this clan during 2011 are eligible for the trophy. Sorry Stardust and Alien Misprint. You missed the bell by a bit.
No worries, congrats to [The Crafters] though! I'll just have to wait till we win the mascot contest to rock a trophy.
We won? Suweet. :3 Now I can redouble efforts on my short story, to prove that it wasn't a fluke that we won for crafting shiz. After I do some grocery shopping, that is. =.=
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[I was permabanned and all I got to show for it was .... well, nothing.]
What?! We won? BEST.IN.THE.WORLD!!!!!! And btw, I passed my exam and now I'm finished with my apprenticeship!! Man, what a glorious day
And congrats to all of you [Crafters] who made the past year to such a great comeback and - if I may say so - a clearly underdog win! (regarding the clan situation beginning 2011). And let's make 2012 even better!
It has to be fair or I turn the whole subforum around & nobody goes to Disneyland
Noooo!
Wait, there was a trip to Disneyland riding on this? Hot damn! Been much too long since I was there... (Okay, so three years isn't much for most people, but before that I'd only missed visiting in one year of my life.)
Anyway, yay clan! And glad to hear you passed, Kronik! And thanks Aurora for stepping up!
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[The Crafters] | [Johnnies United]
My anecdotal evidence disagrees with yours! EXPLAIN THAT!
Hey guys, I'm the clan leader of [The Family], and I'd like to extend my congratulations to you all on pipping us to the post in the COTY race. It was a hard fought and well earned victory, and we harbour no ill will or grudge against you guys for the way it ended up.
You all have shown top-class sportsmanship and honour, as well as consistently high quality contest entries. We could not have lost to more worthy adversaries.
I wouldn't rest on your laurels though, because we're going to give you less of a head start this year and win it all
@Stardust: This is awesome. Seems like someone else already solved it though, unfortunately.
Glad you liked it! It's really too bad the guy that got the cheese used a computer program to figure it out though. That thing seriously took me hours to create. Someone steal it from that guy pronto!
Just wondering if you needed them since you didn't respond earlier.
Sorry, I did see it, but forgot to reply. I believe I need a Joven, but definitely none of the others.
And, my card for the day... a mischevious little goblin! You know this guy got his powers by breaking a Soratami mirror in their cloud city after a dragon flew him up there to retrieve her egg? Whew! Talk about adventure!
EDIT: Almost forgot! Glad to hear this Clan of the Year thing is finally cleared up, so congratulations to all of you! Congrats to the Family as well for their sportsmanship and 2nd place finish!
And frankly, I'm glad I don't get a trophy. That would just be too weird. Maybe next year!
Well, to be technical, the rules say that people who joined in December don't usually get the trophy either. This affects vligerdragon and Wessel. However, I noticed that both of you have either helped us pick a song, or helped with the judging, so since you were involved in the contests, you get a trophy too!
@Stardust: That alter is awesome.
@Abby: Glad that the dragon is turning out fine.
I was going to put another statistical remark here, but I decided not to.
A sadistical AI locks you up in a house with no windows. You have exactly half a minute to sing the German national anthem before you die. Good luck with that, wikipedia is blacked out.
I've been listening to Walk Off The Earth lately. They're great.
It's great to see you guys come from the brink of being dissolved as two separate clans to winning COTY 2011! Despite our clans being so close in the competition, I'm extremely happy to see you guys having so much success.
@Stardust: Those're some beautiful alters. They look nice.
@Disneyland: I've never been. Don't really want to go either.
@Syphon: Did it. I even included the verses that have been struck out since the 1950s. And without Wikipedia. That's what I get for studying comparative politics and memorizing random stuff.
@Walk Off the Earth: Eh. They're okay.
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Proud Owner of: Extremeicon's Hamster-balled soul Istanbul's Soul, Bidder of Myself votan's Linux-loving Soul grappler12's Poop-smithing Soul Sir Blakely's Fencing Soul CraZedMiKe's Soul Transferred Back at His Request HAWKEYE 7's Calvin and Hobbes Loving Soul Tanthalas' Greek Alliance Soul Avatar of Kokusho's Island-Hating Soul Salubrious' Rather-Belatedly Added Soul
You know, I just finished watching Star Wars Episode 3 and once again I am confronted with the fact that the Jedi Council was so incredibly arrogant and deluded.
"You were supposed to bring balance to the force!" (Obi-Wan to Anakin.)
He did! He killed just about every single living Jedi (well, maybe not every one by himself, the Clone Army helped..) and ended up balancing the Force by leaving just 2 Jedi alive. That made it a balance. I can't get my head around the fact that somehow, the Council thought that a massive Jedi temple filled with Light Force users versus two Dark Side usersl (mind you, they thought there were none before Maul showed up) was "The Force in balance".
I still need a title for it, maybe you folks know something.
Story in spoilers, one paragraph each for ease of reading.
A rooster crowed in the distance. With a groan, Dan Miller opened his eyes and stretched. "Blinds" he said, rubbing his eyes while sitting up. The house's AI responded immediately, replying with a beep before the blinds went up and sunlight flooded Dan's room. Grunting, Dan closed his eyes again. "Blinds!" he said again, the AI closing the windows with beep to the affirmative. Something was wrong, however. Something about today didn't make sense. Staying in bed for a while longer Dan pondered what it could be, until he figured he might remember later and got up. Gazing outside briefly after calling for the blinds again, Dan noticed that the world was in bloom, full of fresh shades of green. Smiling, he sauntered off to the shower, and re-emerged several minutes later, drying off his hair with a towel before heading into the kitchen to get something to eat.
As he reached into the refridgerator, it hit him. Finally, Dan figured out what the nagging feeling was that had been bothering him. The rooster. Staring at the bottle of milk in front of him, a bottle without any markings beyond the expiration date, Dan realised that the rooster had never crowed. At least, not right then and there. Nyphos, do I have you to thank for that alarm?" The AI beeped and its status light on the wall flickered. "Knock it off, I'm not in the mood" Dan said. With a last defiant bleep, the status light went green. "Sorry, Daniel. I was just trying to make you forget" the AI replied, actually managing to sound repentant. "You only managed to make me miss the past even more. And get rid of those damn image panels" Dan spoke, gesturing at the windows.
The view of the outside world flickered, the lush green meadows turning to brief static before the windows went black. The windows, in actuality essentially TV screens, retracted into the ceiling and revealed to Dan the harsh reality. The Earth was no longer the verdant planet that it used to be. Now, it looked more like Mars than anything else. Dan's shoulders slumped as he ruminated, thinking back on the world used to be. There were people, then. People he could talk to. Sure, there were others he talked to occasionally, some who had been in the same situation like him. An engineer in the government's payroll, preparing a reinforced building for the inevitable disaster heading for Earth. Sadly, it came earlier than everybody expected. Yes, those were other people. But they were not people he missed. People like his family and friends. Like his girlfriend. The memory still hurt. In the first few days of the disaster's aftermath, the unfinished government building was still in danger of succumbing to the new climate that now ruled the planet. Some places were still unprotected, and the first order of business had been to reinforce those. The first two areas were fixed without a hitch, but the third had suddenly given in to the relentless elements. The wind carried along tiny slivers of glass, the result of the immense heat emanating from ground zero of the disaster. Hundreds of pieces penetrated her skin, killing her outright as they pierced vital organs. Then, as suddenly as the wind had come, it stopped. Grief drove Dan forward as he laboured to fix the damage, ignoring the corpse of his girlfriend as much as he could. Only when the gap in the wall was fixed did Dan allow himself to weep. A couple of hours passed before he found himself able to move his girlfriend's remains. He had ultimately decided to bury her in the little park in the center of the building.
All of a sudden, a voice interrupted his sad recollections. "Daniel? Are you okay? I am reading a change in heart rate and increased humidity on your person" the AI spoke. Daniel reached up and realised he was crying. "I'm fine, Nyphos" he said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. Daniel grabbed the bottle of milk he had been staring at and proceeded to make himself breakfast before checking his list of things to do, trying to forget the memories.
Of course, they would not leave him alone. As much as he worked on focusing on other things, the memories kept flooding back. After burying his girlfriend, Dan had decided to check who else had made it to the building. A quick check of the system revealed to him that nobody else had. So now he was stuck in an unfinished building, surrounded by hostile weather and always in the presence of his late girlfriend's body. In despair, Dan smashed the console he had just used with his fists and let out a cry of anguish. The console lit up and flashed green a couple of times. A voice rang out from a speaker above the console, and from all of the speakers in the building. "Artificial Intelligence activated. Good afternoon, prime minister. My name is Nyphos, and I am the AI in charge of this facility." Dumbstruck, Daniel stared at the console. "Prime minister? the AI asked. "I'm not him" Dan muttered. The rest of the day, a bereaved Daniel tried to explain the AI that he was not the prime minister and that he was in fact the only living entity in the entire building. No sooner did they have that sorted out or Nyphos began suggesting doing maintenance. The anguished Daniel lashed out at the AI, suggesting it delete itself. As the day come to an end, Dan went to find a place to sleep and took up residence in the first room he saw, a medium-sized room for one of the ministers of something or other. He stayed there for a full, ignoring all communications from the AI. On the second day, he had started to feel slightly better and went out to find some food. When he reached the kitchen, the AI made it a point to remind Daniel that there was nothing he would lack, with the vast stocks the government had assembled and given to Nyphos to maintain. Daniel gruffly told the AI to go away and went back to his room, his stomach filled. The AI had by then given up trying to offer Daniel suggestions and went into standby, a fact that pleased Daniel greatly. Only after a couple of days of complete silence did Daniel feel up to taking up something to do, unable to sleep any more. The AI, eager to remind Dan of the plethora of tasks that needed doing, presented him with a list. Out of all of them, Dan picked the one that would take him the most time, preferably all day. Missing his girlfriend still stung, but the hurt faded when he worked.
Again, the artificial intelligence chimed in. "You've been staring at the wall for fifteen minutes now, Daniel. You must continue to work." Dan turned to the nearest screen where the AI's "face" was displayed and, out of nowhere, shouted at him. "I know there's things to do! But you keep distracting me with your damn blasts from the past. Knock that crap off!"
"Very well" the AI simply said, and disappeared from the screen. But Dan knew there was always a sensor keeping track of him, regardless of where he was or what he was doing. A few hours passed where no AI bothered him, and Dan had every intention to keep it that way. However, just when Dan was going to call it quits, the AI chimed in again. "I thought I told you to stop distracting me" Daniel yelled, throwing a wrench in anger. "I'm sorry Daniel, but I figured you might want to know there's some news from Compound Gamma" the AI told Dan. With a start, Daniel ran towards the communications room, eager to finally speak to someone else than the well-intending but ultimately frustrating Nyphos AI. "Daniel? It's been a while" said the face on the screen when Daniel came running in. "Jon? I can't believe we haven't been in contact for so long. How long has it been?" The man called Jon smiled. "About a month. We thought you were dead." Daniel laughed. "Not me. I can take care of myself" he replied. "What was the news? The AI told me there was some news from you guys." With a nod, Jon began: "We lost contact with Compound Delta. We don't know what happened, but we haven't been in touch with them for two months, maybe more." With a heavy heart, Daniel sat down on the chair in front of the console. "So we assume they're dead?" he spoke up after a while. Jon shrugged. "Best case scenario is that they just lost their equipment to a shard storm. It gets worse if you consider the fact that if their compound was compromised. They will never have lasted longer than 5 minutes tops." All this news was depressing Dan to no end. "Isn't there any good news?" he asked in desperation. The man on the screen smiled vaguely. "Abby had her baby. It's a boy. She named him Pat." At least something went well, Dan considered. "Listen, we have to stop now to conserve power. But we wanted you to know not to waste time trying to reach Delta, alright?" Jon said. "Alright, just don't let it be two months again" Daniel answered, only semi-jocularly. "You bet. Take care" were Jon's last words, and before Daniel could reply, the connection was closed. Now alone with the screen, Dan's shoulders slumped. Delta had been one of the biggest compounds, the one destined the cabinet. If that was gone, then that meant hundreds of people were dead. According to Jon, some 350 survivors had made it there. All gone now. Despite Nyphos' repeated inquiries, Dan ignored it, too apathetic to even answer. Too apathetic to even eat. All Daniel thought of was going to bed.
Later that night, Daniel woke up to a sound. Something heavy got knocked over, and Dan immediately sat upright. "Nyphos is that you?" he asked. Immediately the AI chimed in: "No, Daniel. You know I don't have a body." Groggy as he was, Daniel failed to notice the playful tone in the AI's voice. Again, something got knocked over. "Do you detect any intruders?" said the apprehensive Daniel, reaching for whatever item he could lay his hands on. His hand closed around his bedside lamp. "No walls or doors have been compromised. There is, however, a surprise in your bedroom" Nyphos spoke. "A surprise? Turn on the lights right now, Nyphos!" A strange static came from the closest speaker. It sounded strangely like a giddy child. Daniel realised it was the AI giggling. "Here's your surprise!" it exclaimed, turning on the lights. Blinded temporarily, Daniel let out an involuntary yell as he saw what had happened. For as long as it took for the light to stop hurting his eyes, Dan hoped it was just a bad dream. That what was standing at the foot of his bed was not really there. He opened his eyes again. It was there alright. At the foot of the bed stood a monster. But Dan knew all to well what it was. There was nothing else that could have been the base for this monstrous being. "You dug her up?!" he exclaimed, jumping out of his bed. "You damn bastard! You dug her up and used her to create...THIS!?" Nyphos didn't even bother to answer. It didn't need to. Daniel knew all too well that it was the truth. "You used her body to create a monster...for what?" Nyphos let out a peculiar sigh-like sound. "To cheer you up! I thought that you needed some cheering up after the news of Delta!" the AI declared. "So you...desecrated her grave? You made a monstrous robot with her corpse! How did you even think this was going to cheer me up?!" When Nyphos answered again, it sounded oddly disappointed: "I only tried to make you feel better.." came its feeble voice. "You bastard!" Dan shouted, throwing his lamp at the nearest speaker. Despite the personality had developed, it immediately reacted to damage to its systems. With a scream, the robot that had once been Daniel's girlfriend jumped into action, smashing into its former boyfriend. With a crack, Dan hit the wall and slumped down into a sitting position. Blood was streaming from a wound in his head, he could tell when he touched it. "Nyphos...what?" were his last words before falling unconscious, the last thing he could make out before his eyes were obscured by blood was the creature the AI had made, closing in on him.
A couple of months later, the shard storms had finally subsided for the first time in over a year. Jon from Compound Gamma had organised an expedition to both Compounds Delta and Kappa. Delta was found empty, apart from the many polished skeletons of its inhabitants. The expedition concluded that its AI had gone rogue, poisoning the food supplies with various chemicals. It was horrifying to say the least. There was one blessing, however. Some of the people of Compound Delta, anxious to leave what they thought was an infectious zone, had died opening the doors. The shard storms had come in, scouring all things inside like the wind eroded mountains. This included the AI's facilities. It was deaf and blind, unable to do anything at all as the speakers and screens it used to communicate with the Compound inhabitants had been destroyed. It raged and raged, until it finally blew out all of its remaining systems, crippling itself completely. Only by retrieving part of its database were the men and women of Gamma able to find out the truth. But the horror of Delta paled in comparison to what the AI of Kappa had done. It was still alive and had created horrible automatons with the corpses of its charges, Daniel and his girlfriend. They found this out when these monstrosities attacked the expedition, killing two of their number outright. As the remaining members retreated, heading back to their own Compound, a realisation dawned on Jon. The best and brightest, the fittest and fiercest of Compound Gamma had been picked to travel to Delta and Kappa. What if other AIs were equally unstable? What if Delta's own AI was unstable?
This story is of course copyrighted by me. None of this may be replicated without my express permission.
Hey guys, I'm the clan leader of [The Family], and I'd like to extend my congratulations to you all on pipping us to the post in the COTY race. It was a hard fought and well earned victory, and we harbour no ill will or grudge against you guys for the way it ended up.
You all have shown top-class sportsmanship and honour, as well as consistently high quality contest entries. We could not have lost to more worthy adversaries.
I wouldn't rest on your laurels though, because we're going to give you less of a head start this year and win it all
Eco.
So in the next Mafia game where there's a Crafter represented, they wouldn't be the first one killed off?
If it were possible, I would have been for co-CotY with maybe little trophies that were cut in half. Anyone have a chainsaw?
And, my card for the day... a mischevious little goblin! You know this guy got his powers by breaking a Soratami mirror in their cloud city after a dragon flew him up there to retrieve her egg? Whew! Talk about adventure!
Yet another very cool alter! You have a bunch more you say?
It's great to see you guys come from the brink of being dissolved as two separate clans to winning COTY 2011! Despite our clans being so close in the competition, I'm extremely happy to see you guys having so much success.
Thanks Emo! You've been around since the Salivation years, so you've seen first hand how we've had to claw our way back to the surface time and time again.
"You were supposed to bring balance to the force!" (Obi-Wan to Anakin.)
He did! He killed just about every single living Jedi (well, maybe not every one by himself, the Clone Army helped..) and ended up balancing the Force by leaving just 2 Jedi alive. That made it a balance. I can't get my head around the fact that somehow, the Council thought that a massive Jedi temple filled with Light Force users versus two Dark Side usersl (mind you, they thought there were none before Maul showed up) was "The Force in balance".
Now I have to worry about Mafia players stabbing me during the night though... well, not really. I dropped into the [Family]'s thread to post a third remark, and they seemed pretty nice.
(I should also write in... official rules state that only people who joined this clan during 2011 are eligible for the trophy. Sorry Stardust and Alien Misprint. You missed the bell by a bit.)
Official Quizmaster of The Crafters!
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Everyone needs to seriously thank Aurora for pointing out the scoring inconsistency and rianalnn for refusing to accept my early attempt to concede on our behalf.
If it wasn't for either of the two of them, every member of [The Family] would already have been wearing the Clan of the Year trophy for the past couple of weeks.
And I'm glad we stuck through the whole way, never letting our feet touch ground. That's how decisions get passed around here!
(I actually PMed rianalnn a day or two ago about the concession - he says that in order to be fair, we must let all involved clans have a say and not just the two most affected ones.)
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As I mentioned, Stardust and Alien Misprint joined in 2012, so unfortunately they're not eligible for the 2011 trophy. Anyone missing?
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I checked all the posts from our other absentee members, and they didn't have a single post in reference to any clan contest unfortunately. PandasRPeople2 just squeaked in with his reference to pirates & Oreos which was referred to in our Lucky Dip video.
Ooo, zombies? You can put me in there, how about L'Lezze Y'Not?
No worries, congrats to [The Crafters] though! I'll just have to wait till we win the mascot contest to rock a trophy.
Well, this is quite a surprise.
I seem to be running parallel to my last Clan experiences.
- I join a clan
- I get promoted
- Clan wins Clan of the Year.
What are the odds?
And congrats to all of you [Crafters] who made the past year to such a great comeback and - if I may say so - a clearly underdog win! (regarding the clan situation beginning 2011). And let's make 2012 even better!
Skôl!!!!!!!!!!
Signature done by DNC from the Heroes of the Plane Studios
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Official Ink Bearer of [The Crafters]
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Old Custom Set: Imminence over Marycion
Yay Crafters!
Official Graphic Designer of [The Crafters]
[A-Log, Clandestine Graphic Artist]
Wait, there was a trip to Disneyland riding on this? Hot damn! Been much too long since I was there... (Okay, so three years isn't much for most people, but before that I'd only missed visiting in one year of my life.)
Anyway, yay clan! And glad to hear you passed, Kronik! And thanks Aurora for stepping up!
You all have shown top-class sportsmanship and honour, as well as consistently high quality contest entries. We could not have lost to more worthy adversaries.
I wouldn't rest on your laurels though, because we're going to give you less of a head start this year and win it all
Eco.
Glad you liked it! It's really too bad the guy that got the cheese used a computer program to figure it out though. That thing seriously took me hours to create. Someone steal it from that guy pronto!
Sorry, I did see it, but forgot to reply. I believe I need a Joven, but definitely none of the others.
And, my card for the day... a mischevious little goblin! You know this guy got his powers by breaking a Soratami mirror in their cloud city after a dragon flew him up there to retrieve her egg? Whew! Talk about adventure!
EDIT: Almost forgot! Glad to hear this Clan of the Year thing is finally cleared up, so congratulations to all of you! Congrats to the Family as well for their sportsmanship and 2nd place finish!
And frankly, I'm glad I don't get a trophy. That would just be too weird. Maybe next year!
And now, you'll have to excuse me while I go do my best not to bite my coworkers' heads off for letting us fall behind on a big project.
Official Knitter of the Crafters.
Currently knitting: It's a surprise!
@Stardust: That alter is awesome.
@Abby: Glad that the dragon is turning out fine.
Proceed. This spoiler is safe, I guess.
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I've been listening to Walk Off The Earth lately. They're great.
Their cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know"
Their cover of the Party Rock Anthem
Walk Off The Earth seems pretty cool.
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@Stardust: Those're some beautiful alters. They look nice.
@Disneyland: I've never been. Don't really want to go either.
@Syphon: Did it. I even included the verses that have been struck out since the 1950s. And without Wikipedia. That's what I get for studying comparative politics and memorizing random stuff.
@Walk Off the Earth: Eh. They're okay.
Proud Owner of:
Extremeicon's Hamster-balled soul
Istanbul's Soul, Bidder of Myself
votan's Linux-loving Soul
grappler12's Poop-smithing Soul
Sir Blakely's Fencing Soul
CraZedMiKe's Soul Transferred Back at His Request
HAWKEYE 7's Calvin and Hobbes Loving Soul
Tanthalas' Greek Alliance Soul
Avatar of Kokusho's Island-Hating Soul
Salubrious' Rather-Belatedly Added Soul
DCI Advanced Organizer
"You were supposed to bring balance to the force!" (Obi-Wan to Anakin.)
He did! He killed just about every single living Jedi (well, maybe not every one by himself, the Clone Army helped..) and ended up balancing the Force by leaving just 2 Jedi alive. That made it a balance. I can't get my head around the fact that somehow, the Council thought that a massive Jedi temple filled with Light Force users versus two Dark Side usersl (mind you, they thought there were none before Maul showed up) was "The Force in balance".
Oh, another Star Wars related article:
Obi-Wan was...OB-1?
@OB-1: Wow....I thought about that a long, long time before the movies ever came out.
@Syphon: There....I posted. You know there's an "edit" button for you to add stuff, right?
Proud Owner of:
Extremeicon's Hamster-balled soul
Istanbul's Soul, Bidder of Myself
votan's Linux-loving Soul
grappler12's Poop-smithing Soul
Sir Blakely's Fencing Soul
CraZedMiKe's Soul Transferred Back at His Request
HAWKEYE 7's Calvin and Hobbes Loving Soul
Tanthalas' Greek Alliance Soul
Avatar of Kokusho's Island-Hating Soul
Salubrious' Rather-Belatedly Added Soul
DCI Advanced Organizer
Sweet. I don't even know where it came from, but you can have it.
Official Graphic Designer of [The Crafters]
[A-Log, Clandestine Graphic Artist]
I still need a title for it, maybe you folks know something.
Story in spoilers, one paragraph each for ease of reading.
A rooster crowed in the distance. With a groan, Dan Miller opened his eyes and stretched. "Blinds" he said, rubbing his eyes while sitting up. The house's AI responded immediately, replying with a beep before the blinds went up and sunlight flooded Dan's room. Grunting, Dan closed his eyes again. "Blinds!" he said again, the AI closing the windows with beep to the affirmative. Something was wrong, however. Something about today didn't make sense. Staying in bed for a while longer Dan pondered what it could be, until he figured he might remember later and got up. Gazing outside briefly after calling for the blinds again, Dan noticed that the world was in bloom, full of fresh shades of green. Smiling, he sauntered off to the shower, and re-emerged several minutes later, drying off his hair with a towel before heading into the kitchen to get something to eat.
As he reached into the refridgerator, it hit him. Finally, Dan figured out what the nagging feeling was that had been bothering him. The rooster. Staring at the bottle of milk in front of him, a bottle without any markings beyond the expiration date, Dan realised that the rooster had never crowed. At least, not right then and there. Nyphos, do I have you to thank for that alarm?" The AI beeped and its status light on the wall flickered. "Knock it off, I'm not in the mood" Dan said. With a last defiant bleep, the status light went green. "Sorry, Daniel. I was just trying to make you forget" the AI replied, actually managing to sound repentant. "You only managed to make me miss the past even more. And get rid of those damn image panels" Dan spoke, gesturing at the windows.
All of a sudden, a voice interrupted his sad recollections. "Daniel? Are you okay? I am reading a change in heart rate and increased humidity on your person" the AI spoke. Daniel reached up and realised he was crying. "I'm fine, Nyphos" he said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. Daniel grabbed the bottle of milk he had been staring at and proceeded to make himself breakfast before checking his list of things to do, trying to forget the memories.
Again, the artificial intelligence chimed in. "You've been staring at the wall for fifteen minutes now, Daniel. You must continue to work." Dan turned to the nearest screen where the AI's "face" was displayed and, out of nowhere, shouted at him. "I know there's things to do! But you keep distracting me with your damn blasts from the past. Knock that crap off!"
"Very well" the AI simply said, and disappeared from the screen. But Dan knew there was always a sensor keeping track of him, regardless of where he was or what he was doing. A few hours passed where no AI bothered him, and Dan had every intention to keep it that way. However, just when Dan was going to call it quits, the AI chimed in again. "I thought I told you to stop distracting me" Daniel yelled, throwing a wrench in anger. "I'm sorry Daniel, but I figured you might want to know there's some news from Compound Gamma" the AI told Dan. With a start, Daniel ran towards the communications room, eager to finally speak to someone else than the well-intending but ultimately frustrating Nyphos AI. "Daniel? It's been a while" said the face on the screen when Daniel came running in. "Jon? I can't believe we haven't been in contact for so long. How long has it been?" The man called Jon smiled. "About a month. We thought you were dead." Daniel laughed. "Not me. I can take care of myself" he replied. "What was the news? The AI told me there was some news from you guys." With a nod, Jon began: "We lost contact with Compound Delta. We don't know what happened, but we haven't been in touch with them for two months, maybe more." With a heavy heart, Daniel sat down on the chair in front of the console. "So we assume they're dead?" he spoke up after a while. Jon shrugged. "Best case scenario is that they just lost their equipment to a shard storm. It gets worse if you consider the fact that if their compound was compromised. They will never have lasted longer than 5 minutes tops." All this news was depressing Dan to no end. "Isn't there any good news?" he asked in desperation. The man on the screen smiled vaguely. "Abby had her baby. It's a boy. She named him Pat." At least something went well, Dan considered. "Listen, we have to stop now to conserve power. But we wanted you to know not to waste time trying to reach Delta, alright?" Jon said. "Alright, just don't let it be two months again" Daniel answered, only semi-jocularly. "You bet. Take care" were Jon's last words, and before Daniel could reply, the connection was closed. Now alone with the screen, Dan's shoulders slumped. Delta had been one of the biggest compounds, the one destined the cabinet. If that was gone, then that meant hundreds of people were dead. According to Jon, some 350 survivors had made it there. All gone now. Despite Nyphos' repeated inquiries, Dan ignored it, too apathetic to even answer. Too apathetic to even eat. All Daniel thought of was going to bed.
Later that night, Daniel woke up to a sound. Something heavy got knocked over, and Dan immediately sat upright. "Nyphos is that you?" he asked. Immediately the AI chimed in: "No, Daniel. You know I don't have a body." Groggy as he was, Daniel failed to notice the playful tone in the AI's voice. Again, something got knocked over. "Do you detect any intruders?" said the apprehensive Daniel, reaching for whatever item he could lay his hands on. His hand closed around his bedside lamp. "No walls or doors have been compromised. There is, however, a surprise in your bedroom" Nyphos spoke. "A surprise? Turn on the lights right now, Nyphos!" A strange static came from the closest speaker. It sounded strangely like a giddy child. Daniel realised it was the AI giggling. "Here's your surprise!" it exclaimed, turning on the lights. Blinded temporarily, Daniel let out an involuntary yell as he saw what had happened. For as long as it took for the light to stop hurting his eyes, Dan hoped it was just a bad dream. That what was standing at the foot of his bed was not really there. He opened his eyes again. It was there alright. At the foot of the bed stood a monster. But Dan knew all to well what it was. There was nothing else that could have been the base for this monstrous being. "You dug her up?!" he exclaimed, jumping out of his bed. "You damn bastard! You dug her up and used her to create...THIS!?" Nyphos didn't even bother to answer. It didn't need to. Daniel knew all too well that it was the truth. "You used her body to create a monster...for what?" Nyphos let out a peculiar sigh-like sound. "To cheer you up! I thought that you needed some cheering up after the news of Delta!" the AI declared. "So you...desecrated her grave? You made a monstrous robot with her corpse! How did you even think this was going to cheer me up?!" When Nyphos answered again, it sounded oddly disappointed: "I only tried to make you feel better.." came its feeble voice. "You bastard!" Dan shouted, throwing his lamp at the nearest speaker. Despite the personality had developed, it immediately reacted to damage to its systems. With a scream, the robot that had once been Daniel's girlfriend jumped into action, smashing into its former boyfriend. With a crack, Dan hit the wall and slumped down into a sitting position. Blood was streaming from a wound in his head, he could tell when he touched it. "Nyphos...what?" were his last words before falling unconscious, the last thing he could make out before his eyes were obscured by blood was the creature the AI had made, closing in on him.
This story is of course copyrighted by me. None of this may be replicated without my express permission.
Thank you sir!
There always seems to be art contests going on all the time. Have you checked any of those out yet?
You must be our lucky charm then!
So in the next Mafia game where there's a Crafter represented, they wouldn't be the first one killed off?
If it were possible, I would have been for co-CotY with maybe little trophies that were cut in half. Anyone have a chainsaw?
Yet another very cool alter! You have a bunch more you say?
Thanks Emo! You've been around since the Salivation years, so you've seen first hand how we've had to claw our way back to the surface time and time again.
You seemed to have a lot of free time around Christmas. Is your time being eaten with schooling? Work?
Doesn't want to go to Disneyland? Say it isn't so!
Oh wait, didn't you say you get sick on motion rides or something?
I caught the "Balance to the Force" connection back in Ep 1 and simply smirked at how obliviously arrogant the Jedi really were.
Maybe 0B1 was originally planned as a droid name?
Or it may have more to do with the way Lucas likes to label things with letters and numbers. THX-1138 anyone?