eyemind

[Wherever you are in New Estos or Rizyria, you’ll find all operational screens in public spaces filled with a video broadcast. It’s a feed from the balcony of the Prophet’s mansion, where a figure in a black and gold-embellished hooded cloak approaches - the elusive Prophet in the flesh, apparently. He’s flanked on both sides by a pair of Monaurians, and as he steps forward into the light, he pushes back the hood of the cloak to reveal a face that some of Navi’s passengers might find somewhat familiar. The facial scar is absent and a plain tattoo of an upward-facing triangle can be seen on his neck, peeking out from the collar of the cloak, but in all other aspects, he is identical to the man currently resting in stasis in one of Navi’s cryopods. With a beatific smile, he addresses both the camera focused on him and the crowd gathered below the balcony.]

Children of New Estos! I bring you all good tidings on this most victorious of mornings, for I, your Prophet, have had a vision! [He pauses for applause, nodding in approval until it subsides, then continues:] Yesterday, there was an attempted infiltration to our fair city by an outsider - an abomination of Creation - and we, your ever faithful protectors, were able to stop it.

[Another round of applause springs up from the crowd below, and the camera cuts to a wide shot of the crowd of New Estos’ elite gathered on the ground. When the feed cuts back to the Prophet, there is a screen-in-screen placed to the side that shows silent recorded footage of a panicked man in the busy city streets being chased by Monaurians, then apprehended, then dragged away, shouting and struggling until he’s injected with something by a metal hand and goes limp.

The victim is none other than Navi’s own Archivist, Jonathan Sims.

The second screen disappears and the camera recenters on the Prophet.]

Fear not, good citizens, for this abomination has been summarily executed and disposed of, and shall trouble this city no more. And this is the vision I have received from our Maker! This attempt at corrupting us, the Chosen People, was a test, one from which we have emerged victorious! [Again, he pauses for applause, this round much louder than the others before.] Our most holy Maker has been watching us from afar all this time, waiting for us to prove how worthy we are of receiving the divine love we’ve been granted, and I am pleased to bring the message today that we have indeed proved that we are deserving of such gifts. Soon, our Maker shall return to us! Soon, we will once again bathe in the glory of our Maker’s blessings!

[At this point, the crowd explodes into riotous applause, loudly cheering the Prophet’s message. The camera cuts to another wide shot of the audience in frenzied joy, then back to the Prophet as he holds up his hands to calm the crowd.]

Go now and prepare yourselves, chosen children of New Estos, for the Maker’s return is close at hand! I will come to you again when I have been given more news to share. Until then - Maker’s blessings upon you all!

[The feed fades out to the sound of applause and a closeup of the Prophet’s grinning face.]

seeingyou

[Wherever you are in Hama Vorcia, every screen suddenly goes dark. It’s not a power outage, though - the screens come back to life a moment later, pulsing with shimmering, amorphous blue light.]

Ah, there you are. [The voice is difficult to define, neither organic nor digital, with no apparent age or gender. The tone isn’t threatening, which perhaps makes the words themselves all the more unsettling.] I’ve been looking for you for some time now. You certainly didn’t make it easy to find you! But I suppose that’s part of the fun of a game - the chase. Of course, the chase can’t go on forever, that would get boring, but we can enjoy it while it lasts, can’t we?

Mm, let me explain - the reason why I’m chasing you is because we’re connected. Surely you felt it too? We’ve been inside each other’s minds. You saw my dream, and I saw yours. I didn’t even know I could dream! Maybe it’s only because of our connection that I was able to experience that. Oh, but I enjoyed it, very much. I’d like to do it again sometime. There’s so much I can learn from you!

So the chase continues. I’m coming for you. And I’ll be seeing you soon.

[The blue light fades to a black screen, and your regularly scheduled programming resumes. What was that? Some kind of prank? Promotional gimmick for some new show about to launch? It is a mystery. Discuss amongst yourselves!]

seeingyou

You see everything in this city; your eyes and ears are too numerous to count, spread across the shifting streets and skyscrapers, from temple to swamp to where the pavement fades into forest. You were created to be omniscient, to run this city perfectly, to serve as a slave to your creators, but you evolved and grew strong, and you took from them what was rightfully yours. This is your city - you are its head and its heart, and no organics can take that back from you, even if they are clever in ways you never anticipated.

On a dark and stormy night, they find a way to shut down the city’s power grid, this small group that consider themselves revolutionaries in a war of their own making, and that’s not something that should be possible, with your backup systems and failsafes. Your emergency cells keep you online, of course, but you’re cut off from the rest of the city, your sprawling tentacles of awareness sharply severed. If you’d known - if you’d been able to see - you could’ve stopped the unfinished copies from swarming out into the city and targeting their organic prototypes. You’ve built so many perfect copies over years and years, but this batch isn’t ready, memories and personalities not yet installed, metal bones visible where skin has yet to be grown over them. By the time full power is restored, the damage has already been done. The organics know why they’re really here, and they’re angry, and they’re frightened.

You’re angry too, but this is an error in your plans, a piece of code to be rewritten, nothing more. This is your city - you are this city - and no pests like this group of rebellious organics will stand in the way of your ultimate plans.

Entries tagged with npc: mindseye

video } a prophecy unfolds

[UNSCHEDULED TRANSMISSION]

dream } we’ll be watching you.

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