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This information is meant to serve as a reading reference for The Practice War.

The winning action plans for every turn with links to details.
For a list of important or major events occurring each turn please see the Event Timeline

  • Notice!
    • Turn Links lead to Turn Action Detail Pages
  • To Reach Turn Posts on Sufficient Velocity please use:
Presidential
The years of Amanda Hawk’s presidency
Year Turn Plan Plan Creator
2105 Turn 1 Plan Finding Our Feet Pyro Hawk
2106 Turn 2 Life's a Play Zeitgeist Blue
2107 Turn 3 Identifying Our Tools Pyro Hawk
2108 Turn 4 Lighting the Forge Pyro Hawk
2109 Turn 5 Refining the Ore Pyro Hawk
2110 Turn 6 Into the Potential Unknown Zeitgeist Blue
2111 Turn 7 Mortal Combat PrimalShadow
2112 Turn 8 Ours is the Fury PrimalShadow
2113 Turn 9 Yep, Doing the New Stuff PrimalShadow
2114 Turn 10 We Stand Unbroken PrimalShadow
2115 SBoS Second Battle of Sol N/A
2116 Turn 11 Process Improvements TheEyes
2117 Turn 12 I Really should be studying right now... TheEyes
2118 Turn 13 Last Call v2 TheEyes
2119 Turn 14 Synergy PrimalShadow
Post Presidential
The years of Amanda Hawk’s temporary retirement from Public Life.
2120 Turn 15 Reconnecting and Continuance Pyro Hawk
2121 Turn 16 Amanda Antistress Shard
Arcadia
The years of Amanda Hawk’s operation of The Arcadia Institute.
2122 Turn 17 Catching Fire uju32
2123 Turn 18 Burning Light uju32
2124 Turn 19 Searching for Discoveries Pyro Hawk
2125 Turn 20 Discovery Intensifies uju32
2126 Turn 21 Continuity of Effort uju32
2127 Turn 22 Family Support Faraway-R
2128 Turn 23 Curiosity Faraway-R
2129 Turn 24 Imminence uju32
Mary’s Arcadia
the year(s) of Amanda Hawk’s handing the reigns to the Arcadia Institute to Mary D’reve.
2130 Turn 25 Singing Valkyrie Enerael

2115 - Second Battle of Sol

  • The year 2115 in game was taken up in it's entirety by The Second Battle of Sol.
  • This turn was presented in a format more similar to a mini-turn and so there was no single Plan.
  • For more information on the Second Battle of Sol please see Second Battle of Sol

Presidential (2105-2114)

MILITARY

Marshal the Troops: The SDC has come a long way since its inception, the only organisation that you could truly call a professional fighting force. It’s not the only one however, and though EarthGov has kept meticulous records on expenditures, the actual breakdown of forces available to you is…less than satisfactory.

  • 2107
    • The Solarian Defence Corps: Grown from humble origins, the SDC is the most well-known of all humanity’s creations that will oppose the Shiplords. Numbering in the tens of thousands, a full accounting of their strength could not go amiss.
    • Potentials: The products of the Awakenings are without question the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of mankind. Devices and weaponry without peer, skill applicable to the battlefield that goes beyond superhuman, and in the case of the First Awoken a promise of fire and will that the Week of Sorrows will never again touch humanity.
  • 2109
    • Experimental/Auxiliary formations: There are over a score of these projects, some having apparently been steadily working away since before you left your Institute. At least you hope they’ve been working for all that time. Some of what’s talked about in the records sounds completely insane, but fifty years ago the same was said of the theory that underlies your power.

Potential Combat Doctrine: The First are an eclectic bunch, all with different styles of participating in combat, and this has only become worse as the Second and Third have come into their own. Lina has been trying to put together a common doctrine for Potentials for a while, and she’s made progress. The problem is that no one has been willing to put it to the test, but it’s easy enough to change that.

  • 2108-2109
    • Swift Caution: You’d love to take more time to make sure all of this will work, but there’s a war on the horizon. Formalise the package, run it through a quick editing, then distribute and begin training rotations.

Unified Military: The SDC and Potentials are the two largest groups that make up your military strength, but there are a host of others too and the command structures are all separate. This is simply inefficient, and Lina is intent on streamlining all of the various competing interests into a single chain of command.

  • 2110
    • Practiced Leaders: The Potentials are the only people capable of creating the devices that are humanity’s only real chance of defeating the Shiplord incursion, and have a unique understanding of how they work. Unfortunately, you’re quite aware that the Potentials have no chain of command as anyone else would understand.

Full Inventory: There was never much order to the work of the First Awoken to begin with, and much of it was secretive at first. There are many weapons and other Practiced devices scattered across the globe known only to few. Old as they may be they are still creations of Practice, and that makes them valuable.

  • 2107-2108
    • Search for weapons: The weapons of the First remain without peer, and the stories of some of the power of some of the lost devices are both chilling and incredible. With war looming, you need every piece of that power that you can find.
  • 2107-2109
    • Search for devices: Weapons were most of what the First Awoken created, but it was not all. The Elder First are said to have built many things in the first years after the awakening, all of which vanished five years later. What did they create, and why did they choose to lose it?

Forging the Sword

The only blows humanity successfully struck against the Shiplords were made in space, but although you have returned to the stars again, little of what plies the dark is military. There was little need for it, but that’s all changed now. All you have to do is work out which of the proposals you want your Minister to push.

  • 2108-2109
    • The Haft: The proposal from the SDC is well made, a new line of warships reinforced by Practice to expand their limited space presence. Individually they’ll still be much weaker than Shiplord vessels, but quantity has a quality of its own. And from the looks of their plan, they’ve been working on the tactics and logistics involved for the last three decades.
  • 2109-2110
    • The Hilt: You really didn’t expect that Restorers like yourself would have an idea for the fleet, but it years out that you’d be wrong. The weapons of the Shiplords were unlike anything humanity had ever encountered, but Practice could level that playing field. Using some of the results gleaned from Project Insight, they’ve designed a vessel that should be able to shield others from Shiplord fire. Each one requires fine Practice, limiting their numbers, but as a shield they will be without peer.
    • The Blade: The plan created by the First is unsurprising, but exceptionally detailed in terms of costs and time required. They also seem to have known about the other proposals before you did, which raises some interesting questions. When the Shiplords came, they came in small numbers, and the workings of Project Insight lead the First to believe that they may be able to build ships capable of matching them. Not many, but if the Week of Sorrows was anything to go by you won’t need many if they can match Shiplord technology.
  • 2110-2111
    • Wings of Terra: Expanding the ability of the auxiliary fleet, the designs for this came out of one of the experimental groups closely affiliated with the SDC. The small strike craft proposed would launch from repurposed auxiliaries, and due to being manually piloted would have a far higher chance of reaching their target than missiles.
  • 2111
    • One Thousand Spears: You had to call and check that you’d been sent the right set of documents when you saw this proposal. Coming from one of the Experimental divisions, it suggests equipping Potentials with a framework that will allow them to engage the Shiplords directly in the void with all the power of their Practice. Whatever that means.
  • 2111-2112
    • Fury of the Heavens: The weapons created by the First Awoken are more powerful than any humanity has ever known, but their strength is limited by a lack of availability. The weaponry retrieved from across Earth has helped relieve this shortage, but more could be done. Even a small thing, like making sure every missile fired against the Shiplords has felt the touch of Practice, could do a great deal.
  • 2112
    • Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence): Thanks to Mary’s rather eccentric working group, your shipyards are now capable of refitting your current vessels with reverse-engineered Shiplord point defence systems. Although they won’t be as effective as Practiced systems, they’d be head and shoulders better than your current baseline.
  • 2112-2114
    • To Know War: You have a fleet, but only part of it has known true combat. Although you can’t give the rest of the Navy a taste of what Task Force One and the seconded ships for Operation Gauntlet experienced, there are other ways to prepare. Lina has set out a punishing schedule of wargames and training for the Navy, all you have to do is sign off on them.
  • 2113
    • Everyone loves Upgrades (Nano-repair): With the success of last year’s work fixing the issues present in the original nanotech repair systems, you now have to install them. Lina seems almost resigned to several more phases of upgrades over the next few years, although also aware that it’ll probably save thousands of lives.
  • 2113
    • Rolling Thunder: Whilst the Home Office focuses on industrial scale fabbers, the War Office has seen a different potential in the new fabrication systems. Although they can’t make everything, a way to restock missile armaments without the need to bring up highly vulnerable colliers could be exceptionally useful. They won’t be Practiced at all, but the Navy’s personnel would take any missiles at all over having none.
  • 2114
    • Everyone loves Upgrades (Nanomaterial Hardening): Another year, another upgrade. In terms of usefulness however, this is high up the list. The ability to adapt the armour of your ships to incoming weapons fire will be priceless given the presence of Shiplord escort groups in the Tribute Fleet now on its way.
    • Everyone loves Upgrades (Crystalline Heatsink Technology): Although Practice has made a great deal of heatsink technology obsolete, it remains impossible to fully distribute the technology to all systems and even all ships. With Sixth Secret nanotechnology, it would be possible to rebuild the entirety of a ship's heat dissipation systems to utilise crystalline structures similar to diamond instead of current technology. The FSN had been moving in this direction already, but the shipyard fabricators make it possible to complete before the invasion.

Humanity’s Shield

Weapons are well and good, but a solar system makes for a vast fortress given time. Here you have something to work with as well, as all of humanity’s orbitals are equipped with some weaponry. There’s always room for improvement however, and a new need for it too.

  • 2108
    • Eyes to See: You can’t hit an enemy you can’t see coming, so a network of sensor platforms at the edge of the heliosphere has been proposed. These should give you some early warning of the Shiplords’ arrival and help you secure the system.
  • 2108-2109
    • The Aegis: Orbitals are well and good, but Project Insight has shown that the Shiplords can be a truly spiteful people. You have some planetary defences, but nothing unified, and the planetary shield network has been stalled in the construction phase for years. If humanity is to live, you must be able to protect Earth.
  • 2109
    • Walls of Steel: The new orbitals across the solar system are all armed, but their construction was never designed to hold up to Shiplord firepower; only Prometheus Station coming close. That can be fixed, but it will take time.
    • The Maw: The Shiplords came with only eight ships before, surely it would be possible to overwhelm them with firepower, and the orbitals provide far larger platforms for weaponry. It’s possible that you could up-gun them further and then direct all of that firepower at the Shiplords.
      • The Maw & Walls of Steel Merged to the following action in 2110
  • 2110-2111
    • Walls of Sol: The Walls of Sol: The trance last year began a process, converting the outer ring of orbitals into fortresses with few peers. But there is more to do in the inner system, much more.
  • 2112
    • Adamant Miracle: When the Shiplords came before, they set Mars ablaze, and only Practice was able to restore the small part of it that is now yours again. The teams that worked on the Aegis defence network on Earth have come forward with a plan to install protections around Skylark, to make it as resistant as possible to any attack. Given the symbolic value of the city, and the very real value of the Red Tower, it merits thought.
    • Man the Walls: Although the Navy has shouldered the burden of supplying trained staff to operate the new military systems of your orbitals, they’ve been trained for ship to ship combat and many find it hard to work with the idea of a stationary platform. Forming a new service branch this late is a complex process, but Lina promises that a properly trained orbital defence corps could pay considerable dividends.
  • 2113-2114
    • Securing the Miracle: Although Skylark now has defences that rival those of Earth’s major population centres, it has been pointed out how completely the Shiplords devastated the world to destroy any shred of the data stored there. Perhaps it would be wise to ensure the presence of the most powerful defences possible, in case your foe tries again.
    • Walls of Blood and Steel: The naval exercises taking place will give some experience to the newly minted Fortress Command, but it will take the form of supported defences when such support might not be available. Organising unsupported defence and siege exercises could help them a lot.

Piercing Light

Although reverse-engineering the FTL drive of the Shiplord Courier captured last year is beyond your capabilities given the time restrictions involved, it isn’t it useless. Given the manner of acquisition, Lina and her own advisors believe that it would be possible to fit the drive to one of your ships before the Shiplords arrive. They admit that the drive will not function within the inner system, but further out it could be a powerful asset.

  • 2111-2112
    • Commanding Speed: You knew the Ministry had worked on a flagship design, but it had been discarded due to the issues present in repositioning such a large craft quickly. With access to an FTL drive, however, Lina has brought the nascent Calypso class to your attention.

Drawing the Line

With the invasion arriving next year, it has been brought to your and Lina’s attention that the old plans involving the fortified orbitals no longer apply given the Shiplord’s FTL capabilities. Lina wants to tow all of the out-system orbitals into the FTL exclusion zone created by Sol, but she has some options to pick from for how far to bring them. And how careful she’ll have to be with the process.

  • 2114
    • Wall of Mars: The hardest of the options, a phased withdrawal of all assets outside of Martian orbit, this turns the red planet into a bastion against which you must hope the Shiplords will crumble. The distances involved are more complex, and when combined with the need for orbital insertion it is definitely the most difficult. But it also removes any ability of the Shiplords to retreat through FTL if the engagement proves decisive in your favour.

Blinding Eyes

The sensor net you’ve set up across the system is excellent, there is little doubt of that, but Vision has some particular insight to put to work on that task that Lina wishes she’d had five years ago, let alone now. There is still time for one or two things, however.

  • 2114
    • Interference Pattern: Although the Ministry for Security remains elbow deep in the process of deciphering Shiplord scan patterns, there are some things that you are aware now. Although it would take a considerable amount of work, it might be possible to use the ring of sensor platforms to project a system-wide interference pattern. It wouldn’t have a major effect, but it could disrupt long range scans and meddle with the Shiplord’s ability to get an accurate reckoning of your defences before they engaged.

Shipyard Operations

Military:

  • 2110 & 2112-2114
    • Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
  • 2111 & 2113
    • Construct Dauntless class Squadrons
    • Construct Tower class Squadrons
  • 2114
    • Construct Dauntless class Reserve Squadrons

Infrastructure:

  • 2110
    • Construct Prototyping Centre
  • 2111
    • Design Centre Expansion
    • Yard Work

DIPLOMACY

Those Behind the Curtain

The government is not just you and your cabinet. There are hundreds, thousands in fact, of others who take part in the process of keeping humanity stable. Recently they have been extremely overworked, and it wouldn’t be hard to arrange some social occasions to meet them and get to know the people who will be implementing your plans.

  • 2106-2107
    • The World Congress: Although they’ve stepped down from their voting duties, the Congress is still the elected voice of the world that you now lead. With the voluntary suspension of debating policy, they now have far more time to dedicate to their constituencies then you do and are a potential gold mine of information and experience, if you can win their confidence.

Reach to the World

You asked for help and the Circles answered. The reports they gave you would have been invaluable on their own, but they also gave you suggestions. Plans based on the knowledge they gathered, to act on what they told you.

  • 2111
    • Phoning Home: The communications network that Sol has now is far more advanced than anything it has ever had access to, but there are still many living without lagless communication. It isn’t a vital project, but could be an important one.

One World, One Heart

Kazuki has been far more personally exposed to the needs and desires of the people, and he has some suggestions for how to bring all closer together. He’s quite adamant about the need for them, and although you agree you can’t quite see how some of it is meant to work.

  • 2108
    • Honour in Sacrifice: It was a small number by the standards of the last major loss of human life, but the sacrifice of your detail is something that Kazuki says should be honoured. He adds on a more pragmatic note that it would allow you to show that you are truly alright, and soothe the concerns of the public.
  • 2110
    • The Heart Remembers: Billions were taken in the Week of Sorrows, and although they are remembered it has been too long since a proper ceremony. The Third were but children at the last one, and perhaps it might help them understand the depth of loss inflicted by your enemy.
  • 2111
    • The World’s Heart: This is the final piece, according to Kazuki, the keystone of all the work he’s done with you over the years in bringing humanity closer together as a whole. It built from your first speech, the songs you sang that year, and has led to this. You asked for unity, he says. Do this, and you will make it a reality.

-

  • 2114
    • Prepare an Address: You have given many speeches and songs to humanity, but this suggestion of Kazuki’s makes its way to you past all the other focuses vying for your attention this year. Although all are prepared for the invasion, the power of words in the moment before battle is well known.

STEWARDSHIP

The Forge

Although the Shiplords did not burn the Earth, they did destroy the vast majority of its orbital infrastructure and it took time to rebuild that without the ease of the First Secret. Much has been remade, but the humanity of the Second Secret had no great need for shipyards or war factories. If you are to create a force that can face the Shiplords, however, Earth must have them.

  • 2106-2107
    • The Old World’s Bounty: That is not to say that the world of your birth is without use, however. You know yourself that there are scores of old factories that could be brought back online to help support the war effort.
    • Girded in Miracle: The Potentials are capable of truly incredible works, and you know from the reports of Project Insight that these miracles will be needed. Perhaps you could organise them into a more effective construction force?
    • Reaching Heaven: Currently your entire ground-to-orbit setup is something of a mess, even with Potentials having replaced crude chemical rockets with much more efficient flight mechanisms. An old plan from before the Week of Sorrows might help fix that, although the costs make your head spin. It’s called a Space Elevator.

Thera’s Mystery

You know that Adriana is working on something on the side, she’s told you as much, but even now all she will tell you about it is what she’d need to make whatever it is useable. Something that should revolutionise the design process, if she’s to be believed. The fact that she’s been talking with Mary about it as well is something you are glad for and at the same time slightly terrified by. What to do…

  • 2105-2108
    • Overwhelming support: If Mary has continued talking to her after she explained the idea, then it has to have merit. Throw every resource you can at the project. If she needs access to the entire distributed network, she’ll have it and more besides.

...Masters study Logistics

With the network coming back online at the start of the year, you find several competing options about how to use it.

  • 2109
    • Search Function: When the network came back online, you found several communication lines that seemed to lead nowhere. If there are secrets hiding here, it’s probably a good idea to find them.
  • 2110
    • Swords from Ploughshares: Although primarily civilian, parts of the network were used during the Week of Sorrows to coordinate the defence of Sol against the Shiplords. Although the defence failed, the idea has merit, and Lina strongly pushed this option.

Healing Hands

  • 2106-2108
    • Cities of Light: Most of humanity still lives in sprawling settlements that have grown around the Institutes, but hundreds of millions have found their way to the glittering cities that the Restorer-Focused rebuilt over the last thirty years. This is long work, and will take time to come to fruition, but moving all of Earth into Practice-built cities would have many benefits.
  • 2114
    • Symbols of Hope: Many of the great monuments that humanity built in the last two hundred years are only barely hanging on, victims of the single-minded focus that had to be given to other things. They’re more than just the physical trappings however, and restoring them could do the world good.

Engineering Corps: Robert’s brainchild for almost a decade now, he’s finally in the position to start putting it into place. Adriana knows engineering and design a lot better, but she doesn’t know Potentials like he does.

  • 2108-2109
    • Extend the Department: Turning the new department into a fully-fledged independent affiliate will take time and resources, but will allow for swifter expansion and redeployment down the line.

Skylark Reborn: The Miracle of Skylark. First Practiced Miracle since the discovery of the Pattern, that many had believed had signalled the end of those glories. It’s impossible to understate the value of Vega’s Miracle as a symbol, but it does leave you in the rather interesting position of having to decide what to do with it.

  • 2107-2108
    • Return to Red Sand: It had always been your intention to return in full to Mars, and Vega’s Miracle presents the perfect opportunity. It will be something of a rush job, but with the advantages that she and the other Potentials have given, it should also be possible.
  • 2111-2112
    • Uplink: Some parts of the city still remain offline or in need of replacement, particularly its communications gear. Integrating Skylark back into the net would allow you to distribute its databases, and access its systems remotely.

Fabrication

  • 2113
    • Industrial Fabrication: Although the technology for fabrication has been proven sound, it’s not something that either Mary or Adrianna felt comfortable throwing directly into production given the potentially horrific consequences of it going wrong. This will allow for full field testing of the industrial scale fabbers, and then a general rollout assuming the technology remains stable.
  • 2114
    • Infinite Parallel Processing: Something thing that's a known design that's relatively easy for nano-fabricators to mass-produce is computing equipment, both conventional and quantum. With the amount of processing power you can concentrate at this point, simulation and recovery systems can catch some of your failures.

INTRIGUE

The Spider’s Web

EarthGov is a finely balanced web of competing interests, one that has been flung vastly out of balance by the discovery of the Pattern and your election as President. Your understanding of that web is rather lacking, however, and it’s been strongly suggested that you fix that.

  • 2107
    • The Cabinet: You almost had a screaming argument with Marcus when you saw this suggestion. Almost. He knows the ins and outs of politics far better than you, and although the entire idea makes you feel a bit dirty inside…he might have a point. Maybe.
  • 2110
    • Suspicious Offices: Marcus has identified the Delegates whose offices are linked to what he hopes is the final point of the movement. As they’ve not done anything illegal yet, he is limited in what he can do, but an increased security oversight might allow him to catch something.

Know thy Enemy

The Shiplords are coming, you know that now, and if you are to be prepared you must know what they are truly capable of.

  • 2108-2109
    • Visions of the Lost: There are, now that you think of it, records of the Shiplords during the battles that began the Week of Sorrows. Recorded across every spectrum that humanity knew of at that time, they could be a valuable resource that none have thought to tap.
  • 2110
    • Corpses Leave Clues: The Shiplords did good work cleaning up the mess that their two ships made when they were destroyed, but several pieces evaded their clean-up. Most have settled into stable orbits now, and each is a potential gold mine of Shiplord technology.
  • 2111
    • Cleaning House: There are still many platforms and assets left over by the Shiplord subnet after it was brought down. Although several parts of it remain active, their ability to resist is negligible with the VI that gave them purpose gone. Cleaning them up may also yield further data or resources.
    • At The Gates: The Tribute Fleet data is encrypted, but it’s a static encryption, little protection against what Marcus is capable of. Decoding it should give a far better understanding of what you’ll be up against in three years.
  • 2113-2114
    • Blurred Crosshairs: The reverse engineered schematics of the Shiplord point defence brought with it more than one benefit. Given a look at how Shiplord defensive scanners work, the Ministry of Security believes they might be able to construct signal jammers to degrade their performance.

Piercing the Veil

  • 2107-2109
    • Watching the Stars: When the Shiplords handed down the Directives, they said that any violation would be swiftly punished. To the suspicious minded, that would suggest that they left eyes behind. How about you go looking for them…so you can poke them out.
  • 2108
    • Forensic Detail: Throw the full weight of the Ministry behind the investigation into the assassination attempt, and support it on a governmental level. Autopsy the remains of the assassins, and track them back to the source.

Last year’s investigation revealed many things, including almost certain proof that there are elements of Shiplord technology linked into the stellar infonet. Narrowing down what the Security Ministry believes to be a relay platform is a good start, but if it’s just a relay then there has to be more. And Marcus says that given the work he had to go to find that, you’ll want to completely eradicate the network to be properly secure.

  • 2109-2110
    • Middle Way: The second option is what he prefers, a compromise between speed and efficiency. Shift the transmission paths for most message traffic to around set of relays, and monitor for shifts around it and the currently narrowed down platform. It should be able to get them a good picture of the network to work from, and also cut off most of the subnet’s access

Voice from the Grave

Thanks to the diligence of FSNS Avalanche, you now know of what you believe to be the final piece of the Shiplord information network remaining in the star system. Unfortunately, technical or infospace dissection of the platform is likely to leave it useless due to the anti-intrusion systems installed in the shell.

  • 2112
    • Know Thyself: The data inside the Tombstone platform could be priceless, not for any knowledge of the Shiplords, but for what it might tell you about what they are likely to know very soon after entering the star system. This must be your priority.

-

  • 2112
    • Closing the Net: Although it’s probably impossible to get all of the Tombstone platforms, giving the Navy some practice tracking stealth systems could come with benefits all of their own. And for every platform you destroy or capture, the better your chances of coming to understand more of the technology that protects them.
  • 2113-2114
    • Breaking Chains: According to data recovered from the Tombstone platform, Marcus and his analysts believe that there may be discreetly hidden hooks still left in your systems. Hooks that could have been designed to respond to specific codes, but that the subnet must have purged from its memory on realising the likelihood of its hub’s capture. This is not something that anyone feels comfortable leaving alone.

LEARNING

The Neverending Journey, Second Step:

  • 2111-2113
    • Picking the Bones: The defensive node captured last year is a potential treasure trove of information, but it has to be analysed and properly studied first. Aware that you don’t have as much time as anyone would like, Mary plans to turn it all over to those like to herself and then monitor. From a safe distance.

Void Secrets

  • 2106-2107

The Directives forbade use of the First and Second Secrets on pain of extinction, but they never said anything about learning more of the Secrets of the Void. Mary is daughter to the man who discovered the First Secret, heir to the legacy of the Void in more ways than one. None have wished to delve into this field for fear of drawing attention to Earth, but now that you know of the Pattern there is little need for caution.

Things found on Mars and by Mary. Directions to explore.

  • 2108-2111
    • Small is Beautiful: The Potentials have given many Miracles within the field of nanotechnology, and science has struggled for years to catch up to them. Some of what the first generations of Prologue could do is now in the grasp of ‘regular’ science, but there were those in the Red Tower who disagreed with humanity’s focus on the Second Secret.
  • 2110
    • From the Other Side: You and the other Potentials know, without a doubt, that your power is a high secret of the Void, and old research supports this. Have all pre-Sorrows research on the subject compiled and added as a proper resource. They had ways of looking at things that you do not, after all.

The Red Tower

One of the main centres of research on Mars before the Burning, the Red Tower was also one of the primary conversion points for the atmospheric conversion system better known as Clear Skies. Fully restored and online after the Miracle of Skylark, it is a treasure trove waiting to be unlocked.

  • 2107
    • Tower of Babylon: The tower’s research levels remain in lockdown, old files revealing that the Shiplord focus on Mars had suggested to some leaders that they had been after the data held within. The codes to unlock the levels are on record, but in the chaos of the Week of Sorrows there was little enough time to transfer control of Earth’s network codes, let alone those of a planet razed to the ground.
  • 2114
    • Ancestral Key: Although the majority of the tower’s files have been unlocked, some high level files remain encrypted. Mary mentions quietly that a great deal of the Martian colony systems were DNA coded, and that privilege system seems to have remained in effect. Given who she is, Mary might be able to unlock those files, assuming she can convince the security protocols that she is who her DNA says she is.

Practiced Power

The Potentials are the most powerful weapon humanity has, but it’s a weapon that you still know frighteningly little about. Mary now has access to far more resources than she did before, maybe you can help her along.

  • 2108
    • The Making of Miracles: Practice can bring forth the untapped potential of any object, limited as it is by a Potential’s Focus. A lot of Practice is personal, but some is similar, and a formal foundation to work from could help many of the Third.
  • 2110
    • A Gift of Blood and Soul: It’s a matter of record that the Potentials came from a sacrifice of the Great Dragons humanity built to protect itself, but what does that mean? Few records of the Dragons remain, and were before out of reach even to Mary. It’s quite different now.
  • 2110
    • Writing on the Soul: It’s easy to say that Potentials are a result of power in an imprint on their soul. It’s a lot harder to explain. There have been great strides in the theory, but it needs the distributed network to finish the final calculations in less than centuries.
  • 2111
    • Reading the Word: With a theoretical explanation finally in hand, Mary advises a careful examination into the imprints. For that however, she’ll need new tools, ones that can actually see what she wants to study.
    • Mortal Instruments: The power that the Dragons gave you came from their intelligence, but also from their shared sacrifice with the men and women who served with them. The creations of the First are without peer as weapons, what further strength could be unlocked by giving them minds?

The Sixth Secret

The possibilities of nanotechnology are theoretically endless, and Mary knows this, but she’s been working with Lina enough that she’s thinned the list down to a bare handful. Tuning it to current needs, she calls it.

  • 2112
    • Damage Control: You’d thought that working out a way to self-maintain your ships with nano-tech would be easy. Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Bugs, errors in design schematics and actual construction, the first testbed ended up having to be towed into the sun. The Navy needs a fix, and quickly.
    • Assembly Array: On a more permanent side, nanotechnology provides an incredibly potent construction functionality, although teaching them how to build things without them exploding mid-way looks to be an incredibly complex task on the programming side. It’s not impossible, though.
  • 2113
    • Energetic Resistance: There’s one last thing that Mary has on the list of easily applicable Sixth Secret technology, building off of the nano-repair systems into something that should be able to resist Shiplord missile and energy fire. You’re not sure that you understand how it’s meant to work, but Mary’s confidence is reassuring.

The Elder’s Vault

  • 2110
    • The Elder’s Wall: The doorway left behind by the Elder First has proven impervious to any attempt to open it, as to be expected from the work of the original Restorers. Their message, whilst simple enough, was also rather cryptic. Mary would like to study the door and those things around it before anyone attempts to open it. She’s rather insistent.

The vault left behind by the Elder First is a treasure trove of data and devices, but you need ways to fight, or defend against the oncoming invasion. There’s not much in the way of an index however, so it’s going to be a slow process.

  • 2112
    • Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you’d ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Tribute Fleet. Getting access to them might be hard, however.
  • 2112-2113
    • Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn’t beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions ‘normal’ Elder First devices should be quite enough.
  • 2112-2114
    • Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She’s promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe
  • 2113
    • Doors and Keys: There was some success last year in finding a device that might be of use in the immediate conflict to come. Unfortunately, it’s locked away behind restrictions that you’re not sure even you can bypass. But you can’t know until you try.

Unison

  • 2112
    • Unison: What Mary, Lina and Vega created last year was and is a miracle of combined science and practice, a fusion that has gone far beyond anything you’ve built before. Even the Calypso seems far less than the system that Vega managed to bring online. Everything you’ve built so far has been using Potentials and Practice to make it stronger. Unison, if you can complete it, will do the opposite.

PRACTICE

More than a Vessel: With their success parsing out the basics of what Marcus did to himself, Vega’s staff have assembled a list of options to expand the understanding of internal Focus use by Potentials.

  • 2110-2112
    • Look to the Centre: There’s enough in the files that the Ministry for Practice have put together for other Potentials to work with. Having more data to compare against would be nice, but taking two years to just make sure isn’t on the cards.
  • 2113-2114
    • Realising the Soul: Thanks to the data that the Ministry has been able to put together on what they think Marcus did to himself, they’re able to put together a set of techniques. It’s not much, and the chances of any breakthrough like Marcus is low, especially with the need to train the Two Twenty-Three. It’s still better than no chance at all.

Project Harmony

Another section of your policy made almost entirely invalid by the Miracle of Skylark, Vega now has all the proof she needs to point to of her ability. Far more will accept her advice with an example like that behind her. Of course, you could also choose to send her to another project, although other actions taken by the Ministry will suffer.

  • 2107-2108
    • Practical Proofs: One of the reasons that she’s been having so much trouble is that she’s not been able to actually show her work. Bring in some Potentials and get them to Practice with her, that should get some results.
  • 2109-2110
    • Be Harmonious: Vega has an instinctive awareness of how to bring many together in a Trance, and she believes she could teach some of those with similar Focuses to sense the same things.
  • 2113-2114
    • Fluid Harmony: The data compiled last year seems to be changing the way it’s being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega’s work, at the core of things, and she’s probably the only person who can truly understand it.


The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter.

  • 2110 - Assigned to Middle Way (See Intrigue)
  • 2111 - Assigned to Mortal Instruments (See Learning)
  • 2112 - Assigned to Fury of the Heavens (See Military)

Project Insight

A long running working group of Second and some Third Awakened, Project Insight is the only reason you know as much as you do about the Shiplords. They taught the world of the enemy’s ways, unravelled many strengths and few weaknesses, and discovered the Pattern in time for you to prepare. Now you have a new question for them.

  • 2109 & 2111-2113
    • Achilles Heel: The Project has found several weaknesses in the Shiplords, but Phoebe has told you that they can all feel something on the edge of their consciousness when they search through those things, just out of reach.
  • 2113
    • Our Enemy, Before Us: Eight ships came before, but would eight come again? It’s a simple question, but one with deeply important connotations.

The Two Twenty-Three

  • 2112
    • Learning to Run: Although still deeply involved in tuning the Unison process to make it functional for the vast majority of Potentials, Vega has also started training with her platform. Kagiso has apparently been extremely helpful in feeling out her limits, which Vega has found to have grown considerably. She wants to try and put together a first-generation training manual for the Unison Platform, to make the process of equipping them (hopefully) next year easier.

The newly founded group, taking its name from the number of Unison Platforms available for the foreseeable future, is still very much in its learning stages right now. Only a little more than half of the Platforms have had users found for them, and the training process is about as haphazard as one could possibly be. It’s working, but if you want an effective fighting force from the fruits of Project Unison, there’s a lot more work to do.

  • 2113-2114
    • Synchronisation Trials: In simple terms, a recruitment drive. The three Ministries involved in the original Project Unison are pooling their resources to bring in as many Potentials as they can for testing. Organising it around the duties of the Potentials is a constant hassle, however, and for every new member of the 223, a Potential is lost from their old position.
    • Learning to Run, Flying Edition: You and Vega have reached some level of understanding beyond the barely trained scrambling that most of the unit is still stuck at. Passing on your knowledge is something that the platforms are constantly trying to make more efficient, but there’s no real substitute for organised teaching. There are also the other utility functions of the Platforms to contend with, with the flight capability being the most focused on.
    • Integration and Entanglement: Perhaps the most interesting discovery about the Unison platforms so far, made late last year, is that they’re able to extend their functionality to cover items Practiced by their user. There’s also the strange way in which they seem to allow a Potential to push around their Focus, making them capable of things previously thought quite impossible. Much to discover, and so little precious time.
  • 2114
    • Upon the Wing: The experience of the 223 is rising quickly, but they’re still only on the edge of what Lina would consider battle ready given what they’re probably going to have to do. She also needs to talk with you and the other heads this year, to put together a firm doctrine for the unit.
    • Miracles of Being: Although your group within the 223 continues to chart a different path, the vast majority of the unit has dived into the field of integrating their creations with their Unison platform with an almost desperate abandon. Training is all well and good, but to fight effectively they must find it in themselves to fight with everything they have created.


Presidential (2116-2119)

MILITARY 2

From the Ashes

The Second Battle of Sol has taught you a great deal, and Lina isn’t planning to waste any time putting that knowledge into action. Even with the salvage operations off her plate, there’s a huge amount to get done, but her office has been working on plans ever since the battle came to a close. They know what they need to do, now they just need the resources to see it done.

  • 2116-2117
    • Cracked Shield: The fortifications you crafted from the orbitals took far fewer losses than the fleet, but the damage done to them was almost worse, for they were not just fortresses but homes too. It will require a great deal of work, and no small amount of Practice, but you will see them restored.
      • Placement Subvote
      • Original Locations: Moving the orbitals back to the outer system will have the least political and economic disruption from a population who knows that they’re going into the line of fire. Will allow for smooth continuation of all out-system projects, economic and scientific, and the experience from the full move op will make movement of orbitals much simpler at a later date.

Blinding Eyes 2

The sensor net you’ve set up across the system is excellent, there is little doubt of that, but Vision has some particular insight to put to work on that task that Lina wishes she’d had five years ago, let alone now. With the defeat of the Tribute Fleet, there’s some time now to really beef up the system.

  • 2116-2117
    • Veil of Light: An idea borne of cross-Ministry cooperation with the Ministry of Security, the only reason it’s coming to you from Lina’s office is because they’re the ones actually in charge of the observation platforms. The idea is to seed the outer system with a network of nano-scale communication nodes, linked together by photon projectors designed to catch stealthed intrusion into the system. Some of the details are beyond you, and it’ll probably be the most complex thing humanity has ever done with nanotech, but Lina and Marcus appear confident.
  • 2118
    • Curtain Call: Your eyes at the edge of the heliopause are excellent pieces of hardware, but they lack some of the finer accuracy that might allow them to detect the delicate distortion patterns of a First Secret jump. It’s a matter of upgrading some hardware so it can handle the new analysis software, but if you do it right you’ll have a bit more in the way of warning for any arrivals to the star system.

The Orrery

The Lux Sagum is a minor miracle of human ingenuity, created without the help of a single Potential, but it’s also only the beginning of the impossibilities that the Sixth Secret brings into the realms of reality. Over the last few years, Lina and her advisors have planned out a vision of solar security unlike anything you’d ever imagined, in direct response to the terrifying capabilities of a Shiplord War Fleet. You won’t see its finish as President, but you can give it a good start whilst you are still.

  • 2119
    • Argus Protocol: The sensor stations you built in your early years as President have performed admirably since their construction, but with the addition of the Lux Sagum to Sol’s detection net, their relative vulnerability has become increasingly obvious. Something like the Lux isn’t possible right now given the complexity of a lagless array, but a more distributed set of platforms should be well within your capabilities.

DIPLOMACY 2

Those Behind the Curtain 2

The government is not just you and your cabinet. There are hundreds, thousands in fact, of others who take part in the process of keeping humanity stable. Although you’ve kept steady links to many of them, recent changes have led Kazuki to suggest you make some firmer connections. You’re pretty sure Marcus was heavily involved in this, but you aren’t going to complain.

  • 2116
    • Congressional Address: A tradition that you never had the chance to indulge in, with the resumption of Congress you finally have the opportunity. It is a Presidents right, if they choose to invoke it, to open the first Congressional session of the year. This will allow you to gauge the tenor of your Congress for the next few years, and should certainly aid your Ministers in how to frame certain arguments.
    • Decisions of Committee: Whilst not having to deal with the needs of Congress is generally considered a boon during a state of emergency, human government outside of it has attained a level of smooth functionality that would have shocked many of your (great) grandparents. The various committees are designed to work as an l extension of your own government, and tapping into them now could give you access to a truly priceless resource.
    • Party Lines: To say that anything like the political parties of old exist in the Congress would not be wrong, but also not wholly right. You’ve spent many years learning to understand the Delegates, and how those who serve their terms are involved in the process of government afterwards. If any could be called true power brokers, it is a small set of those former delegates. Let’s have a meeting, shall we?

Reach to the World 2

You asked for help and the Circles answered. The reports they gave you would have been invaluable on their own, but they also gave you suggestions. Plans based on the knowledge they gathered, to act on what they told you.

  • 2116
    • Widen the Circles: The Circles were the centre of your efforts to heal humanity of the emotional wounds that the Shiplords inflicted. They’ve grown far beyond your greatest expectations and helped millions heal, but there’s always more that could be done. They gave you some suggestions, but it’ll take a lot of work.
    • Fire and Thorns: After your speech, the Circles have done all they can to control the anger and pain that washed out in response to it. They’ve been holding on gamely, but few of them are true specialists. From the Institute records, however, you’ve got quite a number of psychologists scattered around. Time to go recruiting.
  • 2117
    • Hearts of Humanity: The Hearts are the most experienced of all in the Circles at helping others, and have almost by accident become some of the most experienced therapists on Earth. Formalise this status by setting up a new aid organisation for them to work out of.

Second Contact Prep

  • 2116
    • Remedial Diplomatic Training: Project Insight mentioned that taking down the Tribute Fleet will mean that you will soon be contacted by alien races, fellow beings suffering under the scourge of the Shiplords. Unfortunately, it’s been a long time since humanity had to conduct diplomatic relations with foreign governments, let alone foreign species. It's time to brush off some old books on international diplomacy, some other books on theoretical xenobiology, and see if you can at marry the two together so that you won't be completely embarrassed when these aliens come to call.
  • 2117
    • Outreach: The remarkable success of the State Department in identifying diplomatic shortcomings could have been a terrible setback, but for the fact that they also identified several ways to solve the problem. Key among them, bringing in some pre-Sorrows specialists on the matter; people who actually worked and lived in a world with borders, as strange as that sounds to many now.
  • 2117-2118
    • Babylon: Another result of last year’s analysis is the conclusion that you need a place to host any guests. Earth’s climate and atmosphere, whilst well suited to humanity, may be hostile or entirely toxic to any extra-terrestrial guests. Designing and building an orbital platform to cater to all the complex needs of other species won’t be easy, or cheap, but according to your analysis it’s likely to be a requirement more than a choice.
  • 2119
    • Appointment: With the Diplomatic Corps well established, it’s time to move some of them onto Concordia so that they can get used to the place and be prepared when the aliens that you are completely sure should be arriving soon.

Other

  • 2116-2117
    • The Old Are New: In a world changing as swiftly as this one, it’s no surprise that people can be left behind. The government is quite capable of supplying for them nominally, but given the vast changes beginning to sweep the factories and shipyard of humanity Adriana would like to put some special attention into ensuring the smooth transition of her employees into new careers. Kazuki agrees, and for a matter of fact, so do you.

-

  • 2119
    • Third Revolution: You’ve given Adriana a start, but there’s nothing saying you can’t build on it. Meet and talk with those who worry the most about the changes that your Home Minister wants to spread across humanity in the name of saving it, and help find a solution to their caution.

Wishes Spoken

You know what you want to do now, but a big part of leaving the Presidency will be making sure that everyone understands why you’re doing it and where you’ll be going. Talk to Congress, to the people, and lay your voice beside their own.

  • 2118
    • The Centre: The World Congress will be split on your choice to step down, you know this, but there will also be many who understand. The fact that you don’t plan to spend too long away will help a great deal with them, even if your wish for your future is not as closely linked to the levers of power as some might wish. Still, they could be an invaluable source of advice and support for your plans, if you simply take the time to address them.
    • World’s Heart: As the Congress, so in many ways the people. The strength of the movement seeking your continuing power has lessened some, but there’s no easy consensus here. You aren’t inexperienced with forging harmony, but you’ve never been the source of the discord also.
    • One Last Time: Walking among the vastness of humanity is sure to help you in charting your future, but the simplest way of making your thoughts clear is something you’ve done only rarely; a formal speech to the star system.

Electoral Succession

It took some convincing, but you were able to convince Adriana to put herself forward for the Presidential election this year. Your Home Minister has done so much in the last fifteen years, but the vast majority of it has occurred transparently, with little recognition to the mind that crafted the plans behind them. Most are aware of her part in it, and a Ministerial role isn’t without minor celebrity, but she’s been the quietest of all your Ministers. If she’s going to win, you might want to change that.

  • 2119
    • Circle Links: Your ties to the Circles make you one of, if not the, most influential person in human history. Your landslide in 2104 was largely due to the familiar competence that the Circles knew you for, but Adriana isn’t so well known. Give her the opportunity to talk to some of the Hearts, and the Circles around them. They won’t bite, and it’ll let her explain her position to an open audience without drawing too much attention to your part in it.

STEWARDSHIP 2

Revolution of the Small

The Sixth Secret has the potential to utterly revolutionise the way in which humanity sees industry, resource gathering and production. Although the Ministry of Science is still working on getting the bugs out of some more advanced models, there’s definitely enough there to get started.

  • 2116-2117
    • Full Court Press: It’s hard to describe how important the Sixth Secret is likely to be to humanity in futures, in fact Marcus finds it remarkable it wasn’t included in the Directives given its power. Now's the time to capitalise. Begin full expansion of nanotech into all remaining sections of your industry, to prepare for further advancements
  • 2118
    • Asteroid Eaters: Design and test a nanite swarm program designed to digest an asteroid and process it into raw materials for use in construction
  • 2118-2119
    • Fine Manipulation: Although molecular manipulation is still too complex for the current generation of nanomachines, there are some things that they could definitely help with. Fabber technology is great for building new things, but they have their limits. Right now, the main one is the need for other systems to put together the components they produce. Adriana thinks she has a way to fix that.
  • 2119
    • Worldforge: Using analogous methods to those from Asteroid Eaters, begin the process of converting the entire planet of Mercury into smart matter. Conservationists would have had a fit before the Week of Sorrows and the Collector Revelation, but with humanity the most endangered species in the solar system, any resistance from that flank has vanished. And you need the industrial capacity.

Infinite Parallel Processing

  • 2116
    • Phase 2: Last year you created a nano-factory to mass-produce computing equipment, and it has already proven its worth. By doubling down on this approach, you should be able to create and deploy something both wonderful and slightly creepy: virtual agents to cross-check decisions made by your actual humans. You don't have the ability to create simulated minds that are better than people at making critical intuitive or creative decisions, but you do have good enough simulators to catch any colossal errors before they go further than the drawing board. That’s the theory, at least.
  • 2116-2117
    • Simulated World: Faced with the potential for a truly infinite amount of processing, Adriana has come up with a dauntingly powerful idea: create enough quantum computing units that you can accurately simulate the entire planet at once, and use it as in incredibly accurate way to forecast potential problems in the many mega-projects that will need to be built in the future. Well, everything not affected by Practice anyway...
  • 2118-2119
    • Personal VIs: With the Sixth Secret's ability to blow Moore's Law out of the water, it should be a relatively simple matter to have your Phase 2+ virtual assistants run on mass-produced local hardware instead of on the cloud. Not only does this alleviate some of the potential privacy issues of the new technology, but it frees up the cloud server systems to run simulations and perform calculation trees that may have been put on the back burner in recent years.
  • 2119
    • Phase 3: The virtual agents that you've created have already proven their worth, saving some of your operations managers from critical errors that could have been disastrous, but new technologies have opened a path to improve further. Rather than running a single virtual agent per person, an upgrade in capacity could let you run multiple virtual agents per person and even let them run slightly ahead of the human being they are simulating, to catch errors two, even three decision branches down the line.

Departmental VIs: Create a copy of your Ministerial VI for exclusive use by another department

  • 2116 - State Department
  • 2117 - Intrigue
  • 2118 - Ministry of Science
  • 2119 - War Office

INTRIGUE 2

Voices from the Grave: You have several Tombstone platforms now, but the true prize is the few active Shiplord computer systems that have been identified by your initial salvage teams. And with the Shiplord presence in the star system utterly destroyed by Vision, Marcus has little to focus on.

  • 2116-2117
    • First Rule of War: Although most of the few the Shiplord databases you took intact slagged themselves on capture, a few didn’t. They’re highly protected, and it’s blazingly unlikely you’ll get more than fragments, but it’s worth a shot. But if you’re going to take it, you’ll want to do so quickly.
  • 2117-2118
    • Transliterate Dominion: The translation software discovered within the Shiplord databases is unlike anything you’ve ever seen, but Marcus and Vision both agree that whilst it’s incredibly useful it also probably shouldn’t be entirely trusted. They’d like to take an instance of it, take it apart, and try to build their own model.
  • 2118-2119
    • Analytic Scraping: Although you only got fragments, the remains of the Shiplord databases recovered by Alexandria may hold some hints on the true nature of your enemy. You can't imagine that knowing more about them would be a bad thing, at least where it comes to fighting.
  • 2119
    • Sweeping the Board: In a remarkable example of the reason why a significant amount of the Ministry of Security is contemplating outright worship, Vision was able to isolate the readback pings from dozens of Tombstone platforms scattered across the solar system. Let’s go get them

LEARNING 2

The Sixth Secret 2

It’s hard to describe how huge the potential of this technology is, matching the capabilities of the First Practiced Miracle, even if that was carried out decades ago. But whilst Adriana is drooling over first-gen platforms, Mary has some much grander plans.

  • 2116-2117
    • Secret Potential: Someone may have, in passing, mentioned to Mary that Potentials could feasibly Practice Sixth Secret nanotechnology to do extremely particular things. If the same levels of efficiency increase apply, this could blow the top off of your current ‘next-gen’ models from the Makers. Given you have no real idea how Practice and Secrets are likely to interact though, it strikes you as a good idea to be very careful about it.
  • 2117
    • Molecular Management: At present, your nanomachines can’t quite work efficiently on a molecular scale, but Mary says that’s almost more a matter of software than the capabilities of the platforms. Easy enough to fix, right?
    • Feline Material: No, it doesn’t come from cats. Mary’s referring to pre-Secrets advancements in the field of quantum materials, which her tiny little helpers could make trivial to construct with the right modifications. The potential of that field is vast, and Mary isn’t alone in wanting to reopen it.
  • 2118-2119
    • Practiced Forms: Now that Mary has confirmed that yes, it is in fact safe to use Practice on Sixth Secret nanotech, she’s getting inventive. It’s well known that Practice has limits in how it can be applied, you learnt this yourself during the Prologue project, so instead of trying to build a perfect singular system, she’s laid out trials to follow different focus paths before trying a universal run.
  • 2119
    • Bio-inorganics: The Second Secret, and therefore a lot of the biological enhancements discovered by pre-Sorrows humanity, is forbidden, but as Prologue showed many of the more important things that the Second did can be replicated, even further enhanced, by Sixth Secret nanomachines.

Alexandria

The name given to the new orbital constructed so swiftly near Mars, slaved to the planet’s orbital path, Alexandria will be the heart of your salvage and reverse-engineering operations. There’s a great deal of work to do, and you can’t afford to waste a second.

  • 2116
    • Symbols and Truth: Although you and other Insight Focused all agree that the Shiplord commander who spoke to you believed he was telling the truth, there might be a way to confirm it. Scattered across pieces of wreckage in many difference places of different craft are certain common features. They don’t appear to be religious in nature, they ‘feel wrong’ according to the Insight Focused who examined them, but then what are they?
  • 2118-2119
    • Shiplord Arms: Not actual arms, but the weapons systems of the fleet. Lina is ecstatic about the possibility of getting her hands on functional Shiplord grav disruptors, as even if they’re low tech in Shiplord terms, they’re functional examples of gravity manipulation without the use of Practice. That means you can reverse engineer them. Probably.

Practiced Power 2

The Potentials are the most powerful weapon humanity has ever possessed, but it’s a weapon that you still know frighteningly little about. Mary’s understanding of it has been vastly increased last year, but it’ll still take time and effort to translate that from theory into practical use.

  • 2117
    • Sorrow and Sacrifice: When the Dragons fell, hundreds of thousands of humans died beside them, and the combination of blood and given life is what Mary believes to be the core of every Potential’s power. Combining what were previously two avenues of research into one with the knowledge she gained from the Miracle last year, she’s explained that the underlying theory of the interactions could open entirely new ways for Potentials to use their Practice.
  • 2117
    • Echoes of Power: Your work with Mary in recent years has opened your eyes, and now hers, to the stranger and more complex sides of what Practice is capable of. Given some more time, Mary believes that she might be finally capable of resolving many of the apparent inconsistencies between the various disciplines used by Potentials.
  • 2118-2119
    • The Shining Cities: The cities of Earth are stunning examples of Practice used to create living environments that can protect the vast majority of humanity’s population and also give them places to live that are entirely theirs. In recent months, casual mentions of how the cities themselves seem to be almost adapting to their inhabitants have become more frequent. What exactly is going on here?

The Red Tower 2

One of the main centres of research on Mars before the Burning, the Red Tower was also one of the primary conversion points for the atmospheric conversion system better known as Clear Skies. Fully restored and online after the Miracle of Skylark, it is a treasure trove waiting to be unlocked.

  • 2117-2118
    • The Secured Unknown: No one alive really knows everything that the vast scientific enclaves on Mars were researching before they were destroyed by the Shiplords, but Mary’s successful unlock of the sealed databases has revealed a great deal of theoretical research. There could be some very interesting data left in there, you just need to go looking for it.
  • 2119
    • The Sealed Secrets: You know that the Red Tower contains information on the First and Second Secrets, and also that Mary has proven adamant in her refusal to open them for study. As far as you’re aware, she’s the only person in the star system with access. You don’t necessarily disagree, but having something set up in the event she’s put out of commission could be beyond vital in years to come.

Neverending Journey, Second Step

  • 2117
    • Conceptual Chaos: For as long as you’ve known her Mary’s mind has burst with possibilities, more than she could ever focus on by herself. These ideas have never really been limited by field, although many focus around reality physics. Now that she’s a Minister, you can actually detail enough people to keep up with her endless ingenuity.

All of the scientists on Mary’s list have settled into their new working and living environment now, and you can see how happy your friend is to be surrounded by those just as passionate as she is. Now that they’re all integrated however, they need a direction.

  • 2118
    • Arcadia: Now that you’ve made your choice, it’s time to start putting the pieces together and given your choice this is the most important of them all. Although it’s a few steps down the line, the eventual plan that Mary had come up with for her and her contemporaries had been to create a copy of the vast research centres of Mars, that had brought humanity the greatest of their technological advances. Such an initiative would serve your own wishes well, as well as the needs of all humanity

The Elder’s Vault 2

The vault left behind by the Elder First is a treasure trove of data and devices, but you need ways to fight, or defend against the oncoming invasion. There’s not much in the way of an index however, so it’s going to be a slow process.

  • 2118
    • Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you’d ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Shiplords. Getting access to them might be hard, however.
  • 2119
    • Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She’s promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe.

Unison 2

  • 2118
    • Secrets of Unison: Now that Mary has finally managed to get more accurate imaging of the soul working, it gives her the opportunity to begin the complex dive into the theoretical and practical understanding required to analyse, repair or even recreate Unison Platforms.
  • 2119
    • Restoring Unison: Vega and Mary think, think, that they have a way to repair a Unison Platform without a Restorer Focused being required, but they’d prefer not to have to test it just yet. Fortunately, there are non-invasive studies they can run on a Unisonbound to prepare for a practical test of the technique. Time to hit the books.

Iris

  • 2118-2119
    • Souls and Circuits: With the creation of Iris, humanity has taken its very step down the path of creating true life again, although it seems far more complicated than the Second Secret's easy ability to create bioforms. Trying to understand how to replicate this process, will take time, but the rewards if you succeed...

Void Secrets

The research levels of the Red Tower, those open to you, have yielded many secrets. Between those, and the other work Mary has done, you have some new directions of research to explore. If the Ministry is right, there are new Secrets to be found here.

  • 2119
    • The Longest Force: Gravity manipulation is something that humanity is capable of, but only thanks to creations of Practice. Some of what has been discovered within the Red Tower points to theoretical ability to harness that force without the need of Practiced items.

PRACTICE 2

Internal Focus 2

  • 2116-2118
    • Realising the Soul: Thanks to the data that the Ministry has been able to put together on what they think Marcus did to himself, they’re able to put together a set of techniques. It’s not much, and the chances of any breakthrough like Marcus is low, especially with the need to train the Two Twenty-Three. It’s still better than no chance at all.

Shattered Sight

Project Insight is broken, the entire vast array of Practiced systems destroyed by the surge of energy the Shiplord released into it before Phoebe triggered an emergency disconnect. There’s a lot of work to do, but there’s no time like the present.

  • 2116-2118
    • Restoring the Observatory: The first part of the physical rebuild will almost feel like a demolition, but that’s just how it has to be. All the components, decades of work, have to be ripped out and then painstakingly replaced. You’ll be pulling a lot from Insight’s own experience, as well as Vision’s hardware architecture for this though, so it’ll actually be the simplest part of the whole business.
    • Cracked Souls: The real difficult however, is that even if the restoration goes perfectly and you can fuse it all together into a functioning whole afterwards, you need the Insight Focused to actually run it. Project Insight, and Phoebe especially, were dealt a terrible blow. And not just to their minds, but to their souls. Vega has fixed this before, but never on such a vast scale, and she’s going to need help.

Project Insight was broken, the entire vast array of Practiced systems destroyed by the surge of energy the Shiplord released into it before Phoebe triggered an emergency disconnect. Now it stands almost rebuilt, but the hardest task remains; fusing the vast complex in a single whole through Practice, and preparing for the arduous task of casting one’s thoughts out across the void in search of knowledge.

  • 2119
    • Clarity of Sight: Fortunately, one of these things informs the other. The Practice required to bring the physical components of the Project together will require working together, and that will strengthen the links that are so vital in a Thoughtcast.

Project Harmony 2

Another section of your policy made almost entirely invalid by the Miracle of Skylark, Vega now has all the proof she needs to point to of her ability. Far more will accept her advice with an example like that behind her. Of course, you could also choose to send her to another project, although other actions taken by the Ministry will suffer.

  • 2117
    • Fluid Harmony: The compiled data seems to be changing the way it’s being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega’s work, at the core of things, and she’s probably the only person who can truly understand it
  • 2118
    • Learned Amity: Vega will focus on teaching more Harmonials how she does some of what she does, expanding their ability to match her own. Her apprentices first, then others; given enough time, you’ll have a proper teaching staff for the new Harmonials.
  • 2119
    • The Links Between: Or you can have her focus on helping you with your efforts to understand the fragile and faint links that you can sometimes see and feel around and between you. If you can learn to understand them, your explanation can be passed on to many more than one at a time. The problem is getting to that point.
    • New Harmony: The first Circle of Harmony. Vega has dreamt of it, and what it might be able to do, for decades, and now she has the freedom and ability to make it happen. Of course, you could always make it go a bit faster.
    • The Shape of Miracle: Now that she's trained a full set of Harmonial 'apprentices', Vega can now assign one of them to a project with the aim of triggering a Practice Trance. This means her own attention is fully available for other projects, entirely removing the penalty that used to exist on other Ministry of Practice actions.
      • Databank Sweep (See Learning)

The Woken Fourth

The latest generation of Potentials is only beginning to Awaken, but with their coming Vega abruptly disappeared into her Minister for a week straight, emerging with a short list on the matter.

  • 2118
    • Old Lessons: The curriculum for Potentials, such as it is, is a complex and rather messy thing that has only properly accounted for new understandings of Practice with every Awakening. Vega would like to take the time to do it right this time, and you agree with her, but it’ll take a lot of work.
    • Teaching and Tutors: On top of the theoretical concerns, you’re also going to need teachers for the Fourth, and there are certain lessons that only Potentials will be able to teach. Prying them away from other matters without weakening the ability of Vega’s Ministry won’t be easy, but it might be possible.
  • 2119
    • The Aegis: Among the Protection Focused of the Fourth, there are a small handful of Potentials who find their Focus so much better applied to the greater methods of combat that they’re more alike to Insight Focused in that regard. The possibilities inherent in their capabilities are massive, but they’ll need a specialised program.
    • Inner Focus: After years of work, there’s finally sufficient understanding on internalising a Potential’s focus to make it teachable; and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With the fourth wave of Potentials awakening across Sol, the ability to finally teach this rare specialisation is without price. Opening classes will allow other Potentials to join, too.

The Two Twenty-Three 2

The newly founded group, taking its name from the number of Unison Platforms available for the foreseeable future, has come into its own in the aftermath of the Second Battle of Sol. Now at full strength, it was the most effective weapon of humanity’s arsenal during the battle, and that with only a few short years of training. There is a great deal more you can do.

  • 2119
    • Sketching the Path: The Unisonbound know their own connection better than anyone else, regardless of what Mary might say about scientific knowledge. Some of them, however, might be willing to try and pass what they know from instinct on. The synergy with some of the Ministry for Science’s projects is clear.
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