Subject: Re: IC: Wolves Glen Pub From: Jeff Huo Organization: Denizens of the Wolverine White Coat Ghetto Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.storyteller In article <20010717191026.08433.00001078@nso-fw.aol.com>, malada2@aol.com says... > Jeff Huo writes: > > "Nice story," Pearl says. "And your singing voice is > excellent. Actually, I was wondering about that badge > on your breast that you presently have a death grip on." "Oh!" Alex jumps, sheepish. "Of course... it's just something so ordinary to me that I forget about it." "Which is probably as Chancellor Mara intended." "I earlier had mentioned that the Concordat was the result of several lucky accidents, the Chancellor's arrival-- and her subsequent decision not to enslave us all-- were one." "The Inci," wagging the badge, "were another." "In fact, many would argue that the Inci were as instrumental to the Concordat as the Magna Carta and Mara herself...for the Magna Carta was and is just words on a parchment and Mara cannot be everywhere at once...the Inci are the true foundation of the Concordat..." "Where to begin..." "What brings down empires?" Alex asks, rhetorically. "What is it that ends dynasties? What destroys governments? Usually? Corruption first, incompetence covered by politics second...all the great evils of goverment: nepotism, cover-ups, embezzlement..." "But what would happen if you had a government where it was impossible to lie? Or, more accurately, imposible to get away with lying? How would it be possible to have corruption when to decieve is not possible?" " *That's* what the Inci make possible." "Inci--latin for 'Anvil'. After Rhodi Mawr of Wales and Alfred of England together crushed the Danes at Edington and Alfred took King Mawr's daughter as his Queen, after the Magna Carta was signed uniting their two nations into the United Kingdom, predecessor to the Concordat, Mara presented the gathered High Lords of both kingdoms with these..." " 'Inci--Anvils. Anvils these are. Upon these, with the hammers of Truth and the flames of Valor, you and your children will shape Knowledge into swords to defend and plowshares to nurture; with these tools, you will forge the future.' " "Thus were her words more than eleven-hundred years ago...and they were prophetic. Unsurprising, of course, for the Chancellor..." "What do they do? Well, several things. Most critically, by means noone but Mara understands, when they are held by a citizen of the Concordat, they will glow if the holder says something they know not to be true." "In short, they glow when the holder lies." "See, like this: my name is..." She pauses, letting Pearl notice the Inci does not glow. "...Pearl." The Inci flares a bright cold-blue light, obvious and visible even in the light of the Pub. As Alex remains silent, the glow slowly fades out over a few minutes. "It goes further than that --it doesn't merely glow brightly or not at all. It glows in relation to the degree of confidence one has in the statement one is giving. I *know* two and two make four, so the Inci stays cold. But suppose you ask me to relate the Lorenz transformation? I kinda-sorta know it, probably know it. If I say somethign along the lines of 'I think it's X', the Inci stays cold. But if I assert I know it completely, then the Inci will sorta-glow-- because I probabably *do* know it but I'm not quite as sure as I claim to." "There are dozens of variations on that; people have been trying to come up with ways around the Inci for centuries, even though its use is totally voluntary. None have succeeded, yet." "Severely mentally ill people apparently can't use the Inci --they glow almost perpetually, even when the deranged person is convinced they are telling the truth; the best guess is that the abberant mental processes confuse the Inci. Same holds for those on drugs, under anesthesia, or even mildly drunk. The Inci glow perpetually for non-citizens as well-- only those sworn to uphold the Magna Carta, and thus are citizens of the Concordat, can make the Inci work for them. I'm not sure what magick would do, since we don't have any..." "Yes, its use is voluntary... but after eleven-hundred years, it has become a mark of pride for the citizenry of the Concordat. If you *are* telling the truth, then what would you have to hide that you would *not* use an Inci? In fact, to use an Inci is a privelege --accorded to citizens when they naturalize or reach the age of majority; loss of its use is one of the more severe punishments our people have." "It's impact on society can't be understated --how can you have corruption in a society where you cannot lie? True, the art of the selective truth has blossomed, but then that doesn't last long if the other person asks the right questions --and our society has trained us to ask, and keep asking; to question *everything*." "The phrase 'As honest as a Briton' has worked its way into virtually every language on our Earth," Alex notes with quiet pride. "And that's only about *half* of what an Inci does..." She unclips the badge from her breast pocket and shows it to Pearl in closer detail. It is a black polished octagonal stone slab, about the thickness of a finger. Around the edge is etched "ALEXANDRA CONSTANCE TALIBAH" . "Every Inci has the name of its wearer etched on it...which lets you do this." She takes a wax pencil out from a inside suit pocket, and writes on the surface of the Inci. Instantly, the surface of the Inci comes to life, showing a desk, and two pairs of hands working at it --you guess you're seeing a desk from the perspective of the owner of the hands. Alex sets the Inci down on the Pub bar-top, standing it up on the fold-out stand that was part of the clip that held it to her breast, so that the picture faces her and Pearl. She claps three times. You watch as one of the hands working at the desk comes up to the image; the image shakes, and then the perspective swings around to show the owner of the hands -- an Arabic woman. "Hey Alex!" she exclaims in happy surprise. "What's up?" "Oh, nothing girl," Alex replies, "just showing a friend of mine from out of town how the Inci work. Talk to ya later?" "Sure thing," the Arabic woman replies. "Catch ya!" Alex smiles and then wipes the wax name off of the Inci. Instantly, the image cuts off. "The Inci allow communication, instant, face-to-face communication, with any other Inci, over any distance. Being Inci, of course, if I tell a lie then the entire image on the other side will flare blue." "Every Inci has the name of its owner etched on it; in rare cases where there are multiple people with exactly the same full name, those folks usually have to get a new Inci with a new fourth or fifth name..." "The Inci crumble within days of the death of the owner, so names can be recycled." "Inci are also private; it is only possible for one Inci to talk to one other Inci at a time. And never quietly --as soon as the connection is made, the image shows up on both sides. So you couldn't use the Inci to easedrop unless the person on the other end had no sense of observation..." "Finally, Inci can make other Inci, without Mara's intervention...we think. One merely carves a slab out of basalt or obsidian, etches the appropriate name, sets a currently operational Inci on top of the new one, and about a minute later there's a glow that converts the two." "It also seems to change the very material the Inci is made of --the Inci are tough. Attack them with picks, shoot them with guns and lasers, toss it into a vat of molten steel; they even found Inci in the crater the nuclear bomb at Dresden left, the only works of man to survive the holocaust of flame." "We think the Inci will keep working even if Mara disappears...we hope." Alex looks pensive. "Questions?" > >- Alex > > -Pearl -Alex -- Jeff Huo | jeff@spundreams.net.nospam (remove nospam) U. Michigan Med | http://www.spundreams.net/~jeff New to the group? Welcome! Please visit http://www.pepin.demon.co.uk/wolves/ IC Character sheets at http://www.spundreams.net/~jeff/wgpatum.html