agogelogs | WILL YOU WALK INTO MY PARLOR

WILL YOU WALK INTO MY PARLOR—

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? BASE training, between investigating the fish.
WHEN? Still outside time and space, in the aether between dimensions.
ANYTHING ELSE? Please warn for anything besides physical violence and move to a personal journal if it's beyond PG-13.

I want to wring out your evil thoughts;

I want to eat out your bitter heart

READ THE JHASHCH INFOPAGE.

OVERVIEW

A couple weeks into exploration, recruits receive a bulletin on their BCEs.

@SCOUT | @ALL

report to the foyer at 0600 hours tomorrow for a briefing; it'll be a couple weeks yet, but you're headed to jhashch, circa 382.92

you'll receive a datapack that goes over the location in detail, but we're still acquiring location-appropriate clothing. you'll receive your equipment in full before departure. until then, you've more than a little training to accomplish.

the commander will lay out your regime tomorrow. don't make her wait.

Anyone who arrives early will catch the end of an argument between Grothia, Chiron, and Young. Or, more accurately, Grothia and Young.

If you listen carefully to Grothia's raised voice and Young's collective jeer over Chiron's calm, placating tones, you'll learn Grothia and Young are required to attend this summit, in a show of good faith. And it's a matter Grothia has only addressed with your scout now. She storms from the room in a flurry of white feathers and the crows sulk for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, she is furious. She is not a fan of spiders.

THE MAIN FOYER

The foyer has been overhauled. The walls are dark and impersonal; while not terribly different from their usual steel, they're slick and clean in a way BASE is not, so polished you can see your distorted reflection. And this sterile surface is only a backdrop to architecture reminiscent of the height of the Baroque period: decadent, dark, and sometimes pointlessly opulent.

Many of the rooms are only gently lit, leaving long shadows, and sometimes you might spot movement out of the corner of your eye. It's dark and cool, almost like a cellar, but by no means even a fraction as musty. It's as well ventilated as BASE can ever be. And, while some rooms simply acclimate you to your upcoming surroundings, others serve clear purpose.

Much of the furniture is odd in shape, casting swooping silhouettes and made for creatures much larger and rounder than humans. But what is meant for human use is just as opulent, decked in rich fabrics and carved wood.

A few rooms along the foyer's rim are bright, with large "windows" (high definition screens, much like the ones in your rooms) that display the rusty landscape of Jhashch. It's possible to see various lifeforms wandering the jagged terrain, hyper realistic, though the images will loop if you watch long enough. Sometimes, you might even spot an undisguised Aranean.

Welcome to your training grounds.

TRAINING

All recruits must train extensively in each of the following categories. This is emphasized and revisited again and again, until it is drilled into memory. But this time, it isn't like the shooting and running of the Great War. This is a little more...refined.

However, it's not as easy to tell when you've messed up, so COST has repurposed some Dactly droids. Each recruit will have one droid assigned to follow them; when a mistake is made, it will hurl a glitter bomb at the person and cheerfully inform them, "You have been consumed." 🎊 The glitter is just as difficult to remove as you'd expect.

ETIQUETTE

Etiquette is split into several key elements. Recruits are repeatedly reminded: if your etiquette is poor enough, an Aranean may eat you, diplomacy and goodwill be damned. They take poor form deadly serious.

» POSTURE

Araneans see power in perfect posture, whether sitting or standing. You are always expected to be at your tallest and most intimidating, with shoulders straight back and hands placed in your lap or on your glass or cutlery. It's poor form to turn your face down or away when someone is talking to you; Araneans favor eye contact. It is advised to look at the largest, middle two eyes of an Aranean.

» CONVERSATION

Be interesting; this is no place for wallflowers. Speak with authority on topics you know or, at least, can fake. What matters is confidence, aggression, and dominating the conversation. Recruits will compile three topics that they can speak of confidently at length.

» ENTERTAINMENT

Characters should choose a skill to hone into something presentable in the Court. This can be anything, whether art, music, shooting, sword fighting, etc. Something they can show off and demonstrate, that they're sure they'll dominate in. And note: While dominance and cruelty are powerful in their own right, there's something to be said for anyone who can distract and charm another to their doom.

However, don't go in swinging your hardest. Always keep an ace up your sleeve, just in case.

» DANCE

Like most warrior cultures of the past, Araneans are obsessed with dancing as much as appearance. Their whole purpose is an intricate display of steps and motions and memorization of positions. For people with fewer than eight legs, it is mercifully a little easier.

A little. You still have to learn at least three common dances to satisfy your Dactyl droid.

» DINING

Meals are taken very seriously by Araneans, with a set order and customs that are observed almost obsessively.

SKULGA: All meals start with a glass of alcoholic drink, chosen carefully by the hosting family. This is to ensure no drink or glass has been poisoned. As such, all meals begin with every guest skulling a glass.

CURATH-MIR: The first person to eat is always highest in rank. To eat at the same time is to challenge them and attempt to take their place...or that of the food on their plate.

LAMBRAT: A napkin of sorts, but one you bring to match your outfit. It is tied to the left wrist and used during the meal like a typical napkin. They are usually of very expensive and boldly colored material, which you can use to motion servants without looking at them. You don't want to break eye contact with your conversation partner.

COLPATHA: A dish that is the first course of every banquet. It is raw meat of a choice cut and presented in a bowl over open flame on hot coals, with appropriate utensils. You have to cook the meat yourself. It is also expected to be something of a spectacle, by doing tricks with how you cook.

CUTLERY: There are no forks here; only a series of intricate, specially curved knives. And no, you can't use your hands.

» BOWING

Spiders are prone to display. For an Aranean, bowing involves extending all limbs of their upper body and bending at the main knee of their legs, all whilst keeping the upper body stiff and face forward; after all, eye contact is still key. It's somewhat reminiscent of this little spider, though with the raised limbs spread wider, like a ballerina.

For humans, it's more difficult to execute; we have fewer limbs, after all. Instead, both men and women step forward, extend the dominant leg back, lift both arms and bend at the knees. It is, quite possibly, the most precarious balancing act you've done in a while. For men, only one arm is lifted and the other tucked behind the back. For women, well...

» DIPLOMACY

Recruits are encouraged to help each other grasp the art of backstabbing; COST understands it is a nebulous art and carefully honed with time. Better to allow the experts to educate, than to muddle along without that spark.

That said, if you encounter diplomats from other groups, you're expected to conduct yourself as you would around an Aranean...which, unfortunately, includes the Regency.

GROOMING

Araneans are obsessed with appearance, grooming, and presentation, if the etiquette wasn't enough, so it's time for COST to take a ~spa day~. At least here you won't get lice.

Another series of repurposed droids are now your hairdressers, manicurists, and personal groomers. It's nothing truly dramatic and mostly intended to get everyone up to standard, with optional courses in makeup and hair-styling for full banquets and other occasions. Hair can be styled to taste, as long as it's neat and isn't too labor intensive; recruits are expected to maintain it and the rest of their appearance afterwards.

From here on out, no one comes to breakfast or dinner without a shower, their hair done, or nails cleaned. Presenting yourself as a mess is disrespectful and will be similarly as punished.

Also, COST is far too broke to get you actual maidservants, so it's important to remember what is realistic for a single person to accomplish.

LANGUAGE

When conversing with humans, Araneans will speak in a language the BCE can translate, but names will remain as they are. Aranean custom doesn't attribute meanings to names, since so many children are born in a single clutch of eggs. But it's impossible for humans to make the sounds necessary for their language, so Araneans will tolerate screw-ups—to an extent.

There are recordings of Aranean names, pronounced by an Aranean speaker (it sounds like a series of hisses and clicks) and then the nearest approximation by a human, which is middling at best and involves a pale imitations of those sounds.

Here are some examples of what human-spoken Aranean sounds like, to give you a vague idea: Jhashch, Thsh, Chch, Shai, Aythy, Shch.

Also, you should always use a spider's title. Whether a noble lady or lord to the High Queen herself, failing to use a title is a sign of wanton disrespect...or a challenge. Either option is inadvisable when COST is trying to garner respect and curry favor with the royal court.

COMBAT

For general combat training, the gym and armory are open and available. A large mechanical spider sits in the former; Chiron has activated it for the recruits' use. Roughly the size of a male Aranean, its armor is reminiscent of Aranean plate and possesses similar weak points. The most striking of these is the abdomen and their comparatively fragile joints. The robot is unintelligent, but moves as an Aranean does, with agile leaps and viciously quick strikes.

It also fires lasers, which is less than accurate, but pay that no mind.

» DUELING

The rapiers recruits receive serve a purpose. It's time to learn renaissance-style fencing, as they are the standard dueling weapon for the Aranean people. Unlike the stamina building exercises of Gallipoli, everyone will train for agility and precision. This will cover everything from sprints, lunges, when and how to strike human and Aranean opponents, and—most useful of all—how to maintain your balance. Training lasts for three hours every morning after breakfast. It's heavy on leg and shoulder work.

It becomes very apparent why some people spend their whole lives devoted to the sword: This isn't a skill you pick up overnight. Characters who know a different style of swordwork will be better off than those who have never trained before. A poor man's weapon this is not.

Then there are the duelist courtesies and rules:

To issue a challenge: strike your opponent lightly with an open palm across the cheek.
To accept the duel: strike your challenger back in a similar fashion.
To refuse the duel: bow and step backwards.

When a duel begins, the duelists will meet at an agreed time and place. After meeting in the center of the room, they will hold their weapons up with two hands, so their opponent can see no one has tampered with the weapons; after the inspection, they take three steps back while still facing each other, before turning back to their starting position.

Matches last until the first serious injury, rather than first blood. The ideal is to in some way incapacitate your opponent. The droids will be the judge of that in training; they'll shower you in glitter should you lose and cheerfully intone, "You have been grievously wounded."

At the end of a duel, both sides will bow (if able) and then be led—or carried—off the floor, holding their weapons in front of them.

» RITE OF SUCCESSION

There's also the bare-handed brawl, which is the peak of Aranean dueling. However, bare-handed brawls are matches to the death and an absolute way to settle a dispute without killing a whole family. As such, it's the usual method of succession amongst family members.

» GAMING

There are lectures on video games as fine art, famous Aranean gamers and game designers, and pioneers of different genres. But besides thorough education on common terminology, game training mostly consists of, well, playing video games. There is an entire room dedicated to the art, with multiple screens connected to consoles of all types.

The ultimate goal, in the briefest of terms, is to learn not to suck.

For veteran gamers, practice is encouraged and experience with genres you ignore in favor of your favorite titles is all but demanded. Spiders have it all, from shooters to rhythm games to role-playing to virtual reality. As long as it's got that extra bit of violent spice and has a clear winner or loser, it's all good.

So don't be a scrub and play the damn games.

FIRST AID

First aid features a crash course in toxins popular in the High Court. These are primarily neurotoxins; the most popular variety is imported from the people of the Fafnirian System and known as Drip Venom. It is almost always fatal to Araneans, but requires a higher dosage to meet the same effectiveness on humans; if you find yourself poisoned by it, you may very well survive if you administer an antidote quickly enough.

Necrotoxins are primarily used when the goal isn't to kill, but to maim. They're intended to destroy the receiver's beauty and social standing.

Characters will learn how to use the antitoxin injectors in their inventory by practicing with an empty shell and simulating injections in their thighs. The nanites contained within the injectors are powerful and will neutralize most varieties of toxins. They will at least help counter male spider bites (females can inject much higher quantities of venom, which may make a single injector relatively useless) and extremely mild Ymir poisoning.

HIERARCHY

All recruits have their place in the Aranean hierarchy and will learn to weaponize it to the best of their ability. However, since COST is lacking in Aranean senses, this training relies on the identity recruits claim for themselves (though, if needed, you can assume Grothia told them to train in a specific category; she won't have anyone jeopardize the mission).

It is also stressed that there is no guarantee that anything you do or say on Jhashch goes unobserved, whether by Araneans, their servants, or their spies. To an Aranean, everything is about power and displays of power. To be complacent is to be weak and, consequently, prey.

Using the Araneans as a guide, now might be a good time to adopt a false hierarchy you can fall into when "alone" with other COST members. In this framework, female characters of artificial origins rank at the top and male characters of magical origins sit at the bottom, but there are likely more than a few gray areas for members of COST.

But better safe than sorry. In the High Court, there is no such thing as being too paranoid, because these are apex predators who always hunt the weakest first.

READ THE JHASHCH INFOPAGE.

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Something like that.

[ Originally it was Miles who did the theory legwork in the beginning. And then Cobb joined in with his engineering practicalities, helping to push the technology into reality. Their first efforts had been short intervals; 5 seconds, 10 seconds, slowly growing as the chemical compound was refined. It hadn't been for the military, but that's who paid the most for it. They're still keeping hold on their somewhat proprietary device, but their grip loosens year by year as the underground market expands. ]

Twice. Once to show someone how it works. The other time to check that it worked at all. Didn't trust COST's acquisitions when they gave it to me.

And the person you used it on still trusts you? [ It's an actual question, not an assumption - because even with his own knowledge, he's not sure he trusts technology like that in general. He's never been a stickler for tradition no more than any other Downworlder, although Vampires tend to cling to their own ways more - Meliorn's a fan of edm and attends raves occasionally, but that's a different time of technology.

This is something else. He visibly shudders just thinking of it. ]

It was my dream, my projections. The military funded a lot of the research, but building non-extraction dreams is still completely possible.

[ Not everything has to be about extraction. Or inception, for that matter. Yusuf's dream den was concrete proof of the matter.

(And so was whatever the Cobbs dreamed, whatever had taken Mal away). ]

We took a stroll on the beach and I built some Penrose stairs. No harm.

[ Of course it's the military. It always is - it's military, and Americans, and MEliorn is very much allowed to harp on that because he's not technically american and the Seelie army is far more superior.

In his humble (and very right) opinion. ]

One wonders if a beach has any special meaning to you, or if it's just easy to construct.

Not really. I built it from a memory, mostly because I could. It's a fairly stock build, something I use for introducing basics, if necessary.

[ It was one of his first constructs, but he's refined it over time. Technically it isn't good to build from memory, but it's more of a conglomeration of memories and information from over the years. Then again, he'd also built it before. Well. Before Mal.

Before building from memory was warned against to the highest degree. He hasn't done it since. ]

[ It's all interesting, even if he doesn't approve--and he doesn't, but it's not like Arthur would stop just because someone thinks it's dangerous. If anything, Arthur might just do more of it out of spite.

He'd make a great Shadowhunter. Maybe not the most diplomatic, but he's only met a handful of those. ]

Perhaps one day, should you be able and willing, you could show me.

Seriously?

[ He's honestly a little surprised. Ok maybe more than a little. Because everything Meliorn had been saying earlier made him think he disapproved. Like some old person stuck in his ways and resistant to change.

The fact that he wants to try it is boggling. ]

I mean, as long as we're on base, it's doable.

[ So basically in five minutes if he wanted to. ]

I don't like it and I think you're meddling in things beyond your understanding. [ It's right said right away, short and clipped as he glances over, jaw jutted out slightly as he continues. ]

However, to purposely choose not understand how something as powerful as that works would be a disservice.

[ He's not commenting on whether or not he wants to dream now. That will take time. ]

It gets less mysterious as we discover new things.

[ You know, by doing it. Often. Dreamshare has taken practice just as much as any skill. Probably even moreso since there hadn't been any precedent. Just one day there was a magic box of techcnology that you could build lucid dreams with. And share them with a group. Thinking of it in that sense makes it feel so foreign and straight out of science fiction.

Then again, his life is pretty science fictiony. ]

Whenever you're up for it, let me know. Think about what you'd like to see, if you want.

Can you control your regular dreams, now that you know how?

[ He purposely doesn't answer. He appreciates the invitation, yes, but it's still a mixed thing. He wants to know and learn, but it has to be when he's properly ready for it, and he has a feeling they both know that. Arthur offering out loud gives him room for pause.

So he does what he's always done: redirect. A perfect defense mechanism. ]

Don't dream much. Even less after getting into dreamshare.

[ And even less in the last year or so, running with Cobb. But that's probably something to do with the lack of sleep than any ill side effect of Somnacin.

Probably. ]

The rare times I do though, no, they're just as weird and nonsequitor as most natural dreams. Only advantage is I know I'm dreaming, but that's about it.

One has to wonder if your lack of dreaming is punishment for crossing the line. [ Strangely enough, he no longer sounds pissy about it. Judgemental, absolutely, but it's not as hostile. ]

Do you think you'll ever come across those who weave dreams and look over that realm?

I'd say it's probably more the lack of sleep than any sort of punishment.

[ Even without hanging onto Cobb and making sure he didn't self destruct, dreamshare was a risky business. Arthur slept lightly, with a gun nearby, just in case. He'd made the mistake early of trusting his tracks were covered— never again. ]

Maybe, who knows? Might be hard to tell if they're a figment of the dream or not.

[ Meliorn laughs at that, and he can't help himself. ] If there is someone there, to make sure the world of dreams is well, and if they had a problem with you, you will know.

[ He likes Arthur enough to not want him hurt, and he can't imagine a scenario where they don't wake up some sort of God. ]

I almost wish I could be there.

[ Is he... teasing Arthur? ]

Alright, that's good to know at least.

[ So if some dream god got all pissed off with their trespassing, he'd know. Hopefully early enough to do something about it. It would be a dream, so all bets were off. He'd want to cause enough chaos to get his team out before shit really hit the fan. ]

Want to watch someone put me in my place? You'll have to get in line.

Haughty words. [ Ones that can be backed up, he knows, and so Meliorn leaves it at that. ]

Has someone actually succeeded, yet?

No, just experience.

[ The devil is in the details and he's all about those. Even the smallest of things has gotten him out of scrapes before. Or allowed him to avoid them entirely. ]

In my earlier days, yes. I don't make the same mistake twice.

[ Arthur shrugs; it's just where he's at in life now. ]

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WILL YOU WALK INTO MY PARLOR—

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