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♦ Topic: Cape Overthrows CUI

In: Boards ► News

Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)

Posted On Feb 10th 2011:

For anyone who hasn't turned on a television lately, a mysterious cape by the name of Scientia, believed to be based in the United States, appears to have overthrown the Chinese Union Imperial after fending off what she claims was a CUI kidnapping attempt.

Information is moving quickly on this, so expect this post to be updated frequently. If you have firsthand knowledge of any of these events that can shed light on things please don't hesitate to contact me. There is a secure email address in my profile with instructions for how you can send me an encrypted message.

This post is a collaborative effort that owes thanks to the work of a number of other citizen journalists for reporting and help locating sources in places outside my beat. In particular I would like to recognize the efforts of @C0nstant, @BMX, and @Straightened.

As a final note, be aware that much of the evidence (video, primarily) for these events is known to be or may be from Scientia herself.

Here's the working timeline of events so far:

10:57am EST (Eastern Standard Time) - Narwhal abruptly flies out of a PR event in Toronto, citing an emergency.

~11:00am EST - Sources in Brockton Bay report a Dragon combat suit landed in the road, followed by a demand for surrender, very loud noises, and a vessel that resembles the one seen fighting the Dragonslayers in Toronto appearing out of thin air to pick up one or more people from inside the van before once again disappearing. We have one cell phone video here.

~11:15am EST - Seven full-size Dragon suits in various configurations are seen headed west from Vancouver B.C. out over the ocean. A source on a fishing vessel reports hearing multiple sonic booms approximately twenty miles off shore. The suits are seen landing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, two to six hours after they left Vancouver.

~11:30am EST - Tinker cape Dragon of The Guild reports six dead Yàngbǎn operatives in a van in Brockton Bay, New Hampshire to the United States State Department, FBI, and PRT. She claims that they were killed in self defense during an attempted kidnapping of a U.S. citizen, but refuses to identify the victim, citing privacy laws.

12:32am CST (China Standard Time) - Server logs indicate that Chinese government and military networks and telecommunications systems stop responding to pings.

11:43 EST - A lone figure in white armor consistent with that worn by Scientia during the killing of the Slaughterhouse Nine assaults the CUI Embassy in Washington D.C., apparently to deliver a document to the ambassador. Apparent security camera footage uploaded here, with no audio. The poster claims the document was a written declaration of war. There are comments here and here with best guesses of the Ambassador's words by posters who claim to be lip readers.

~12:50am CST - The CTBTO - the international organization that maintains the monitoring stations that listen for nuclear detonations in violation of the test ban treaty - detects a suspected strategic scale nuclear detonation in mainland China from several seismic and infrasound sensor stations. Our current best guess is that this was the destruction of the central Yàngbǎn bunker complex by a large, exotic explosive device of some sort. CTBTO monitoring stations have not detected an upswing in radioactive fallout.

~12:50am CST - Assaults by what are believed to be flying drones using some sort of active camouflage stealth technology begin on numerous CUI military and government targets. The known targets include sites associated with CUI national police, suspected internment camps, and CUI military bases and command posts. The drones demand surrender, and those who resist are mostly struck with containment foam. Some fatalities occur. Reports suggest that at least some of those killed attempted to use heavy weapons against the drones.

A police source in India reports that an attack by drones on an apartment building in Mumbai occurred around this time. Indian authorities arrested five foamed parahumans believed to be Yàngbǎn and found one dead after apparently attempting escape.

~12:55am CST - The Imperial Palace is stormed by a lone armored figure that was evidently Scientia in person, backed up by more drones. Drone video shows her cutting through the South gate with the same melee weapon used against the Slaughterhouse Nine and ignoring hails of gunfire from members of the Imperial Household Guard, who are quickly foamed by her drone support.

~1:10am CST - A drone assault liberates the first of a series of prison camps, believed to be occupied primarily by CUI political prisoners and oppressed minorities. According to one account two guards are beaten to death before the drones stop further violence by foaming a number of former prisoners.

1:25am CST - The CUI firewall that drastically limited internet traffic between the CUI and the rest of the world goes down.

1:26am CST - Every connected phone, television, and computer in the CUI plays the Emperor's surrender and Scientia's accompanying speech. The video is livestreamed internationally on every major video site, along with video captured from the perspective of Scientia's drones showing a selection of assaults, camp liberations, and the destruction of what appears to be a fortified bunker (suspected to be the Yàngbǎn central command/barracks) by a missile that causes a large mushroom cloud. The last is believed to be the source of the explosion detected by the CTBTO stations at 12:50am CST.

Reports by independent computer analysts don't yet have a consensus on how Scientia achieved what appears to be total control of CUI networks and connected devices in such a short time. No traces of foreign software have been detected on affected devices in the days since, suggesting whatever was used erases all traces of itself afterward.

1:29am CST - An NOAA weather satellite shows a brief thermal bloom consistent with an ICBM launch in Southeastern China, according to a poster here who claims to be a retired analyst. The bloom disappears suddenly while the possible missile is in the early ascent stage.

~12:35pm EST - Reports from several active duty US service members indicate that every US military base and ship locked down and went into high alert. I have one report that an order was issued to set DEFCON 2 for at least some forces, specifically including Air Force Global Strike Command and the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Locals near multiple major airbases report observing a constant stream of military aircraft taking off. Sailors report receiving emergency recalls to warships abruptly making ready to leave port.

~12:35pm to ~2:00pm EST - Reports from service members in a variety of other countries of their militaries entering similar high alert status.

~12:40pm EST - Marine One seen landing at the White House and taking off shortly after, headed in the direction of Andrews Air Force Base.

1:42am CST - The first foreign news agency rebroadcasts the surrender video on Western television and some of the livestreamed drone video.

~12:50pm EST - An alert is sent out to off-duty Protectorate members to be ready to assemble on fifteen minutes' notice.

~2:00am CST onward - Some locals report that their phones asked them if they would be willing to assist with tasks, mostly escorting captured CUI military and security services personnel to jails or liberated prison camps or providing medical and humanitarian aid to liberated prisoners. They report that the phones sounded male and were fully capable of responding to questions and carrying on conversations in their native languages. No evidence of unusual software has been found on any of the affected devices so far.

~2:10am CST - CUI state media goes dark. Seventeen minutes later live anchors return with the tenor of coverage changed from denial to openly speculative.

~4:00am CST - Several volunteers with medical credentials report responding to a lab on a military base in Hubei province where they provided medical aid to several parahumans and a larger number of non-parahuman prisoners who appear to have been the unwilling subjects of human experimentation. Drones had foamed the guards and staff at the facility and directed volunteers to take them to a nearby prison. The volunteers reported a large morgue at the site with autopsy tables, a crematorium, and room for several hundred bodies in refrigerated storage bays.

~8:00pm GMT onward - Several sources in European domestic law enforcement organizations report that they began to make arrests of suspected CUI agents after they were tipped off to their identities and whereabouts.

~8:20pm GMT - A source in Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service reports that the CUI ambassador to the United Kingdom makes a formal request for political asylum to the UK government for himself and his staff.

~6:00am CST - Residents of the (former) CUI begin receiving phone updates, evidently from Scientia. Residents of former countries invaded by the CUI are told that votes on whether or not they would like to be independent of the new Chinese state will be held electronically in a week's time. Everyone is told that elections for delegates to a constitutional convention will be held electronically in two weeks' time, and instructions are given for a nomination process. They are also informed that votes on immediately important local or national policy questions may be held sooner, but with at least 24 hours of warning.

Most government workers are told they can continue going to work if they like, and will be paid as normal. Some are told to stay home and reassured that they will receive pay. The largest group of these appear to be the CUI's censors.

~6:00pm EST onward - At least some world governments appear to begin gradually standing down their alert levels.

6:35pm EST - The White House Press Secretary makes a prepared statement that the U.S. government is carefully monitoring the situation but does not believe there is an immanent threat to the United States.

~9:30am CST - A street riot is reported in Wuhan, the cause of which is unclear but may have been attempted looting of storefronts by a large group. The regular police disperse the riot with tear gas and an unusual amount of restraint. No fatalities are reported, pictures of the aftermath show property damage to vehicles and storefronts. Several other riots are reported in other cities over the course of the day, including in Bangkok, Busan, and Chongqing, with apparently similar results.

~10:00pm CST - Drone attacks appear to have ceased by this point, with an unknown but substantial number of CUI government officials, security service personnel, and military personnel in custody. Some military bases and vessels in port are ordered completely emptied by drones. Expert opinion is that these locations have a high probability of being sites with CUI WMDs.

~10:00pm CST onward - Several reports from legal experts inside and outside former CUI territory being asked by their phones if they would be willing to serve as defense counsel, prosecutors, or judges in potential crimes against humanity trials. A source inside the International Criminal Court says the Court was approached by Scientia for assistance, but that the sheer number of potential defendants is beyond their ability to address alone with their existing staff and funding.

Showing Digest

►PinkFrostedCake

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

Scientia just roflstomped the biggest tyrannical government on the planet as hard as she stomped the Slaughterhouse Nine.

I find myself hopeful and scared at the same time. Anybody else?

►DangerDanger

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

Gods. First it was those scientific papers she started publishing, then it was the Nine, and now the freaking CUI?

Is there anything she can't fix?

►Leftover Girl (Unverified Cape)

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

@DangerDanger, she can't bring back the dead. For personal reasons I called the number she gave for capes who need help and asked. I didn't really expect the answer to be yes, but...well. She really does send money to people who just want to stay out of the cape game, though. I could have joined the Protectorate but they would have wanted me to fight and hurt people and...I don't want that. And I don't want to want it, either, if that makes sense. Thanks to her I can afford to take some time now. She even helped me find a therapist who I can talk to about things without having to worry.

Given what we're hearing about people getting directions from their phones in China, maybe the person I talked to wasn't even the real Scientia, but I don't really care. Whoever I talked to was nice, and she helped me. I must have spent half the time on the phone crying and she didn't get impatient once. She even told me it was okay to call back if I ever had trouble, or just needed someone to talk to.

Some people are worried that she's some kind of supervillain, but I just can't see it.

►Artificial Cat

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

I don't know if anybody else has done the math yet, but going from Vancouver to Okinawa in two hours means the fastest Dragon suit averaged around Mach 4 across the whole Pacific. Even for Dragon that's hauling serious ass. And they left before the attack on the CUI started, which means Dragon knew or suspected what was about to happen.

A vehicle believed to be associated with Scientia was seen in Toronto fighting the Dragonslayers (and lighting the sky on fire) before U.S. fighters and Dragon herself arrived.

Add to that the fact that Dragon was the first to respond when the CUI apparently attempted to kidnap Scientia, and it really paints a picture.

I'm thinking Dragon and Scientia are working together, or at least Scientia is keeping Dragon informed of what she's doing. It would make sense; they might be the two most powerful tinkers alive. (Or non-tinker, if Scientia's claim to not be a parahuman is credible. I have my doubts.)

►ManWithAPlan

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

@OnlySaneMan, what about Scientia's travel time? If she went from Washington D.C. to Beijing in about twelve minutes?

►OnlySaneMan

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

@ManWithAPlan, that would be an average travel time of over mach 45. I can't imagine how a craft could do that in atmosphere without it being really, really obvious. Air explodes when you hit it that hard. Any craft at that speed would look like a falling meteor. Even a suborbital hop doesn't seem realistic, it'd take longer than that to get in and out of the atmosphere at either end at any reasonable speed.

I think it's safe for us to conclude that Scientia has access to some means of teleportation for her and all of her hardware. Whether it's a parahuman or technology, I couldn't tell you. I suppose she could have hired Strider, he'll work for anyone who pays his rates and isn't an outright villain. But there are tinkers who've demonstrated matter transmission like something out of Star Trek, so if Scientia is some kind of super tinker it stands to reason she can do it too.

►PenIsMightier

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

Are we all going to just ignore the fact that a lot of the Yangban were kidnapped and forced to work for the CUI? We don't know if they were mastered or what, but the fact that they were kidnapped means they probably didn't want to be there.

And Scientia just killed them all! Did she even give them a chance to surrender first? A lot of these people were slaves, and she murdered them!

►ParrotPal

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

@PenIsMightier, I want to share some personal history with you. It's heavy stuff I prefer not to think about, much less talk about, but...it's important.

I worked for three years as a mercenary in Africa. Mercenaries get a bad rap in movies, but we did good work there. Mostly guarding aid convoys and refugee camps. There are a lot of absolute fuckers there with their own petty little armies - oversized gangs with too many guns, really - who always want to steal supplies meant for refugees so they can keep their own power going. They don't care how many people suffer or die as long as they're kings of their own little dungheaps.

Those pieces of shit, one of their favorite things to do is find desperate, impressionable kids who don't know better. Usually orphans. They'll take anyone old enough to carry a gun and stick an AK in their hands, then point them at us and tell them we've got all the food they could want but we won't give them any, so they'll have to take it.

Those kids, fuck, some of them looked as young as maybe eight. And they'd try to kill us. Me and my mates weren't bulletproof. When someone shot at us we could die or stop them by shooting back.

So I've killed kids. I'm never going to forget their faces. Especially not in my nightmares. But the thing I want you to understand is that the world failed those poor kids long before I ever got there, and it was beyond my power to do anything to save them. The world is a shit place, and I did the best I could.

It's easy for you to say that Scientia should have saved anyone in the Yangban who didn't want to be there. But how many Yangban were there? More than a hundred at least, right?

If most of them were in one place, that's...really terrible odds for anyone, @PenIsMightier. Over a hundred parahumans, all coordinated, maybe mastered to work together? Every one of them with gods know how many powers?

Fuck. That.

Christ, I think even the Triumvirate would think twice about picking that fight.

If she had demanded they surrender first they probably would have attacked her, or just teleported away and scattered to cause mayhem, and either of those options could have been a disaster.

Like I said, the world is a shit place. If you're a good person you save the people you can save. If you're a wise person you recognize your limits. If you get yourself killed trying to be a hero you can't save anyone ever again.

I don't know Scientia, but from what we've seen of her she's trying to do her best. She has a whole lot of information that we don't about what she can and can't do. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that she did the best she could for as many people as she could.

And I'm damn thankful she's not like one of those fucking warlords who cared only about using whatever they had to make themselves petty tyrants.

►Oldtimer

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

For those who don't know, Air Force Global Strike Command is what used to be called Strategic Air Command back in the day. Those are the guys with strategic bombers and ICBMs.

And the Pacific Fleet has ballistic missile subs.

It doesn't take an analyst to figure out that when the report of a possible nuclear detonation came in, followed by an ICBM launch, somebody at the top - the President or Secretary of Defense - ordered the remaining U.S. nuclear deterrent forces into high alert until they could figure out what was happening and if it would spread.

►Goose Sandwich

Replied On Feb 11th 2011:

She says she's not going to make herself Empress, but even if we take her at her word, the prospect of her interference will loom over the former CUI and the rest of the world, now. Even if she does nothing, the threat that she might do something will be something that people in power weigh carefully. 'If I do this, will a swarm of drones be blowing off my doors an hour later?'

That's power and influence whether she wants it or not.

I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I hope, if she interferes any more, it'll be in ways that only discourage stuff that deserves to be discouraged. I don't envy Scientia the scrutiny she's going to have on her now.

​End of Digest. 0, 1, 2 ... 1419, 1420, 1421

Daily Intelligence Update

Creator Eyes Only

February 12, 2011

​Items for your attention, Miss;

Present Force Summary

​537 combat dronesCreator protection detail: 24Danny Hebert protection detail: 12Lisa Wilbourne protection/monitoring: 6QRF One: 120QRF Two: 120Former CUI territory assignments: 25524 foam removal dronesQRF One: 4QRF Two: 4Former CUI territory assignments: 6Reserve: 102412 camera dronesQRFs: 400Creator security operations: 843Intelligence operations: 1,169719 manipulator and construction dronesTW Hydrae construction: 499Hope's Promise construction: 212QRF One: 4QRF Two: 4412 zero gravity ore harvesting drones4 FTL capable drone carriersQRF One Transport: 1QRF Two Transport: 1Intelligence operations camera drone transport: 1CUI operations drone transport: 14 FTL capable zero gravity harvesting and mining vesselsTW Hydrae: 4FTL capable personnel carrier SparkCreator transport detailFTL capable heavy weapons vessel Gunboat DiplomacyCreator protection detail, heavy support reserveFTL capable planetary scout vessel SeekerScouting Hope cluster

Items of Global Significance​

A number of governments are in the very early stages of increased investment in military drone and anti-drone technology, camouflage and anti-camouflage systems, autonomous weapon control, and railgun and coilgun weaponry. (Estimate at least five years before any of the programs produce field operational equipment. - Hephaestus) Lisa believes that crash program efforts will be hampered by unproductive attempts to shortcut development with tinker assistance.

Surveillance confirms that these programs are aimed at finding counters to your demonstrated capabilities, or mimicking the demonstrated effectiveness of stealthed combat drone warfare.

(Like the introduction of the horseman, or gunpowder, or the aircraft carrier, you've changed the paradigm of future warfare by confronting a titan of the old way and humiliating them with something new. Earth's governments will scramble, but they have a long way to go before they can compete. Advanced autonomous VI, synthetic matter armor plate, chameleon metamaterials, negative mass exotic matter flight systems; making drones like yours is much harder than it looks. Countering your drones is less challenging than reproducing them, but we can adapt too, and faster than they can. I don't foresee a loss of our military superiority for a long time, even if you continue an uplift program. - Ares)

Worldwide public reaction to the overthrow of the CUI is universal shock, some optimism, and some fear. A significant portion of the global population is on a path to idolizing Scientia as a source of real hope. Others are more reserved, and some are spreading conspiracy theories that you are a conqueror in disguise, a villain with aspirations of world conquest and adoring masses of 'sheeple.'

Lisa's analysis is that a decisive defeat of the Simurgh would swing many in the reserved category into the openly supportive and hopeful category.

Non-Chinese inhabitants of the territories the CUI conquered are largely jubilant. Ethnically Chinese inhabitants (shifted in large numbers into these territories in a colonialist policy of the Imperial administration) are concerned. In the medium to long term there is a significant likelihood of racial tensions and even open armed conflict without your intervention. There is also a substantial likelihood of various forms of unofficial or official persecution by new national governments of ethnically Chinese inhabitants.

The Three Blasphemies (combat androids with a history of targeted attacks evidently aimed at destabilizing political systems - Hephaestus) slaughtered 84% of the employees of the International Criminal Court in a coordinated eight minute assault on the Court's offices in the Hague yesterday before escaping. There is a high likelihood that this is related to your request to the Court for assistance in conducting crimes against humanity tribunals of former CUI officials. The Blasphemies (suspected VI, but AI possible - Hephaestus) may have been motivated to prevent the positive effect to international tensions or to your reputation that would have resulted from international involvement in tribunals.

Drone Carrier Two arrived as the Blasphemies were exfiltrating ahead of local law enforcement and heroic response. Combat and camera drones are tracking the three targets and awaiting orders.

(I recommend launching an attack when the three are en route between cities in order to minimize potential collateral damage. As the targets have a history of splitting up, an attack should be made as soon as possible. Based on video of previous engagements demonstrating extreme durability, heavy weaponry is likely to be necessary to destroy the targets. Antimatter warhead or Gunboat Diplomacy main gun deployment may be required, and are available at your discretion. - Ares)

The participants in two further nascent coup plots by former CUI military personnel have been detained. Surveillance measures on military and government personnel continue.

(The military is running critically short on senior officers, and would not presently function effectively in combat without your intervention. Drastic downsizing of the excessively large force to match the size of the remaining officer corp would be the fastest course for a successor government to return it to useability as a defensive force, if required. - Ares)

Deployment of the remuneration program for non-villain parahumans is expanding. A significant subset, particularly those who have been helped with deeply personal situations or who want to use their powers for something other than combat, appear ripe for recruitment if given the opportunity. There also exist parahumans in the former CUI who successfully avoided government notice and conscription, but projections suggest a high likelihood of fearful responses to overtures at this time due to ingrained fear of authority.

With Eidolon reporting pacification of Behemoth and Leviathan, Simurgh behavior is unpredictable. Attempts by Lisa to gather information from live camera feeds were unproductive. Given the focus of the Simurgh's efforts over the last month, an attack on you may be likely.

(The longer we wait to strike the harder we can hit, but the higher the likelihood that she attempts an attack first. As you are already aware, we cannot use any weapons with the remotest chance of destroying her in Earth's atmosphere without likely unacceptable amounts of environmental and collateral damage. Simulations do suggest several possible approaches to fend off an Earth attack scenario, but with the full extent of her abilities unknown simulations cannot be relied upon. - Ares)Brockton Bay​

Kaiser has called a meeting of local parahumans at the bar Somer's Rock tomorrow at 10:00pm. With the news reports of the attempted kidnapping by the CUI being in Brockton Bay, it is now public knowledge that you live in the city. The proposed topic of discussion is how the city's villains should react to your presence and possible actions.

(An opportunity. - Ares)

Research and Development Project Status​

Dragon, Lisa, and Hephaestus are working on deciphering a usable shard communications protocol using the brain tissue taken from Jack Slash. It remains to be determined whether commands can be given artificially from the host wetware to the shard.

Mannequin's brain remains alive and is available for research into the viability of neural deprogramming of Simurgh victims at your convenience.

Six camera drones fitted with specialist sensor packages are ready for experimental measurement of parahuman powers with pronounced dimensional interactions. You wished to be reminded to try them with Doormaker portals when you had time.

Saturday Evening, February 12th, 2011

Hope's Promise, Hope System

Hebert Residence​

Status, I thought.

Neural repairs complete. Neural lace maturity 100%, expanded storage, full military augments.

User Advisory: Combat augment mode available.

User Advisory: Simulative user interface possible.

User Advisory: Primary data transfer mode available.

Engage primary data transfer mode?

I took a deep breath. Yes, I thought.

User Warning: Insufficient external storage for download.

How much do I need? I thought.

I got a number. A number beyond all reason. Some quick math put it at something like a planetary mass's worth of the densest memory I knew how to fabricate.

I could only think of one thing which could possibly be that large.

It was the origin civilization. All of it. Every last one of them, human and AI, stored as mindstates.

They were still alive, and waiting for me to rescue them.

User Warning: Secondary data transfer initiated remotely.

I had just enough time to feel surprise before I found myself somewhere else.