Making a plan - RPLOG
Participants
Date
27/9/2013
Log
A message had been sent out requesting a muster(assembly) as this location, map coordinates posted on boards, sent to RSX and Zephyr communication centers and across the radio, so it shouldn't be too shocking to find a table, chairs and a few umbrellas set up along with refreshments...clearly someone intended to sit down and hash this out.
Oddly arriving first, Savi shows to the meeting without her usual assortment of weapons dangling from her waist, though nothing is apparent within the multiple layers and folds of her clothing. Saluting as she had been taught, the plant presents herself as tall as she can. "Private Saviante, US Hard Corps, reporting to summons sir." After this oddly formal introduction the little plant raises one hand and waves, smiling brightly. "Hi." she adds softly.
Katalynia was quite happy to help when shi heard New Dawn was having some problems. Shi had quite a soft spot for the town and desire to give back to a town and group that had truly helped her. Shi smiles and goes to stand by Saviante. "Hey, Sav. Wonder how many folks will show for the assembly."
Tama, having fallen behind Kat, walks up somewhat tired though not enough to lose her graceful stride. "Tama...Tactics specialist of the Night Daggers... Here to help however I can." She says smiling calmly and sweetly before taking a seat.
Zemura strides in at a slow, steady pace. His attention appears to be focused on a set of documents. Not watching where he's going, he bumps into Tama, jolting him out of his stupor. "My apologies, miss." He bows his head slightly, a blush of embarrassment forming along his cheeks. Striding over to a chair, he sits down, folding one leg over the other. "Name's Zemura. I'm a doctor and a researcher. Pleased to meet you all."
Alastor slithered his way over to the umbrella-covered tables. He nodded politely to the others assembled, his heads saying "Hi" or "Hello, I'm Alastor" here and there. He stopped in front Cerris with a deeper bow of his heads. "Alastor, Zephyr Scientist, Research division. Here to help as much as I can by contributing four heads to the brainstorm." His leftmost head introduced himself and then took a seat nearby Zemura. He had to sit oddly and his coils piled up beside his chair. He looked around pensively. He had expected more people.
Cerris salutes the little plant crisply and sharply, his expression stern and no nonsense until his salute is dropped "At ease, soldier!" Then a few moments later he smiles and says "Thanks for attending Savi."
The Talakai is given a once over, the soldier remembering a time when he almost looked upon one of their kind as his future bride. Politely he gives her a nod when she walks up.
Tama is in turn given a nod, the soldier gesturing to the seats there after, adding in "Glad to have you, Tama."
Seeing Zemura seat himself, Cerris nods in turn adding in another "Thanks for showing up, doctor." Before pausing to look at a rather sturdy wrist watch to estimate his time table before circling to take hold of a chair at the nominal 'head' of the table, which is to say the spot where he'd chosen to place his mug and documentation. When the hydra arrives he nods and then takes a seat himself.
"For those that don't know, I'm Colonel Cerris Voss and having called you all here, I am grateful for your timely arrival. As the memo outlined, diesel levels are getting .ow and new stores of it are getting harder and more dangerous to find. For all of our sake and more immediately, for the sake of New Dawn...an alternative needs to be offered up...Let's see what we can do with the brains we have on hand."
Savi looks up, her secret pleasure, her job, as engineer had prepped her for such decisions. "Steam, water, and gasahol. The systems will take time to retrofit, but if shut down in shifts, maybe what we have will hold out until we are done." with this, near instant reply, the plant moves to the end of the table, taking a seat she smiles softly. "Savi has thought of this already, this was expected."
Katalynia nods a bit. "Solar power and wind farms seem like a good potential source of renewable power. I don't know how available the equipment for that would be though..."
Tama gives an accessing glance of her fellows and asks "i don't quite see the problem with developing some sort of solar panels... the materials wouldn't be that expensive if done correctly... although i hesitate to ask zephyr for such a thing... Having their hands in New Dawn would be troublesome... Ethanol is a good alternative fuel as well and wouldn't rely so heavily on Zephyr"
Cerris nods, pleased with the start, he too had been thinking on the issue, though only two of the options she'd given had even remotely approached his thoughts.
Then comes talk of wind and solar...now these he had thought on and been given some interesting replies from R&D.
"Very good Savi and your name Miss?"
Then when Tama speaks he nods, he'd heard mention of Ethanol as well.
"Some of my people warn that the nanites would keep tearing up solar panels and we'd still have to worry about weather changes....That hippy juice you mentioned was also mentioned along with the wind thing, but also with the weather issue...So far steam, water and this hippy liquor sounds good, but need explaining so I understand and therefor anyone can."
Savi nods. "Water is the hardest, and the easiest. Turbines, watermills grinding out power, not flour." motioning to the surrounding area. "Pipe water up and drop it off anything into a paddle wheel. Turbine." Savi relaxes and looks to the others, waiting to see if anyone else covers the others before she decides if she needs to go on.
The hydra seemed to converse between each of his heads, throwing out internal ideas and shooting them down without even bringing them up for discussion with the actual group. In reality he was just thinking. The midnight head raised from his huddle. "Some sselect engineers could come together to alter certain machines requiring diesel to utilize these other fuels provided let alone optimize their usage of said diesel." The leftmost spoke now, "As for hydroelectric, the river on the eastern side of the city could be a valid source given time to build a viable dam. Security would be needed to prevent ferals from hindering construction."
Zemura begins taking notes on the group's ideas, making a small sketch of the town in between statements, carefully listening in. Upon hearing Cerris' remark on the nanites damaging the solar panels, he quickly scribbles out some of his writings with a sigh. His ears perk as Savi and Alastor state their own musings, quickly writing them down. "Good ideas, now where would we get the materials to make them? I'd assume the piping might be an issue. Cerris, Alastor brings up a good point. Would you be able to call on a small squad to act as defense?"
Katalynia blushes just a bit, luckily hir furry muzzle covers it up pretty well. "Oh, mmm I'm Katalynia. Ohh...hmm...the weather shouldn't be an issue...you could store power up and even on cloudy days the panels could collect power....the nanites on the other hand would be problematic. The wind farm could be a good supplemental source if not used as a main source of power."
Cerris nods slowly as he flips through his documents, coming to a few copies of the river in question as well as a listing of local ferals and their aggression levels. "Security during construction isn't an issue if we have a viable and renewable source to present. Building a damn sounds pretty serious, but I'll leave that to engineering gear heads to fuss about. Wind comes and goes...but I wonder if it can supplement the water thing? Can someone tell me if the water wheel and wind power are compatible?"
Savi nods again. "Electricity is electricity. There would be wiring and machinery voltage regulation at first, but it will work. There is also one other option. Well kind of two." Looking at the group the plant smiles. "Wood gas and moonshine."
Tama puts one of her elbows on the table and leans her had against the back of her hand "wind coming and going isn't as much of a problem as you might think, have you ever heard of the tormugas? Dedicants can supposedly control the weather or create wind storms, im sure we could find a way to harness that, likewise there are those like the Wakiya" she says indicating herself "That are capable of generating electricity, I believe nanite sorcerers have a similar power."
Katalynia nods and smiles. "Wood power would be less than ideal...that's about up there with coal really. Although the nanites might increase the speed of tree growth. I don't know much about how the nanites effect plant growth....not terribly sure how useful electric powers would be....but the Tormungas could be quite viable with the right deal, I would think..."
Cerris hmms for a moment looking his paperwork over, already growing impatient at the amount of reading he is having to do to keep up with the assembled people, but he was determined to sit this out, if a hammer like him could be made to understand this, then anyone with a brain could.
"Moonshine...that be the hippy liquor right...Ethanol? I don't know how that works."
Turning to Tama he frowns for a moment before he says "I never heard of the folks you are naming off, but what you are suggesting...I've seen twice before...once in a cartoon called Pokemon and the other in a movie called the Matrix...considering the world we live in...I'm not willing to bank on something that wont likely have a cute cuddly ending...which leaves the other less savory possibility. As for the wood thing...lumber-jacking will require a LOT of security...that sounds like going around kicking every wasp nest we can find..."
Savi shakes her head, "Not wood power, wood GAS. If prepared in the right way, would can be forced to leech out a powerful flammable liquid. It will run anything that can run on regular gas with a slight modification, and can be used to cut diesel engine use down to around ten percent." Talking fast and excitedly Savi gestures wildly. "in this form it has no more waste than diesel or gas normally use. Moonshine can be used in the same way. We can grow food AND fuel. It may not be an end all answer, but it would give us time added to the supplies we already have. It burns, it explodes. it will run the combustion engine."
The rightmost head of Alastor leaned over to peer at Zemura's sketchings. "Nicce work on-the-spot." It commented in low voice and gave a wink. "I'd be ssketchin' too, but mouths make for poor dexter'ty let alone accidental drool." The other heads perked up at combining wind and water.
The midleft spoke, "I would think it possible to make the dam broad and flat on the roofing, building the windmills into the actual support of the structure." They all looked at Tama and nodded appreciatively. The midright head added to her statement. "Yess, there is even sStorm Dragons, but from what little I know of them they are a secretive group."
Zemura chuckles at Tama's statement. "I can imagine you being a form of battery. As for the Tormungas, where would we find a specimen?" His eyes glisten as hypotheses run through his head, tearing the map off of his notebook and passing it around with a pencil. "If you would like to mark areas to make the town's power supply, be my guest. I'm not very technologically inclined. I could tend to the wounded if any accidents happen. Savi, I must admit your wood gas idea is remarkable. We need all the time we can get." He gazes up at Alastor with a smirk. "I know the area well, it's not much of a problem to sketch the general area." He faces away, tapping his chin as he mulls over some of his less than pleasant combat experiences.
Tama brushes off what appeared to be an insult, not really in the mood for lowering herself to focusing on quipping back in the face of such a problem, she begins explaining. "Tormungas are something I encountered during my time studying The Scarlet Rose. They are storm wardens who are in tune with nature, capable fo creating powerful windstorms, they also have immunity to extremely hot and cold temperatures, seemingly in tune with the environment. Their worthiness of your attention isn't lessened by your lack of awareness of their existence." She smiles slyly at Cerris.
Cerris listens intently, wrapping his mind around what parts he can before asking new questions, treating each new idea as if it were the last rope before a cliff. "Okay...How long would it take to make this wood gas and Ethanol and what plants can be made into Ethanol?"
"When talk of combining damn and wind turbine construction is brought up, he nods, certain that might be a good follow up to the fuel thing, but at the mention of storm dragons, his humanity fades with the shift of flesh and the straining of his uniform, the man having to adjust his posture as he gains a tail. "Let's just say I'm not looking to live in a bulb nor run on a hamster wheel screaming pika chu, yeah?"
"When the lecture on the storm wardens begins, he briefly flashes back to a fight he got into on the beach once in the past... "Hmm, very well, I'll put some personal time into relations there...but all the same, that brushes on indentured servitude and possible class systems developing real fast...not a keen point for me as a black man from the US..."
Shifting subject Savi grows silent and looks at the map, softly mumbling to herself. After a few moments of silence she smiles. "It doesn't have to be that hard. It's electricity, you can make it with a chemical reaction. Nuclear power is just super efficient steam power. You can get it with a potato." Tapping the map. We can guard the damn, raise wind turbines, water turbines and put solar collectors all across the face. They will need constant upkeep, but that's more jobs and more economy." Looking at the group she smiles, beaming brightly and excited at the thought of cheap power. "we don't need powers... we just need muscle."
Alastor blinked collectively as Colonel Cerris became a Storm Dragon right in front of them. "Ah... well, s-seems the good Colonel is of their number..." He said and gave a blush of embarrassment, "N-no not sservitude. Voluntary sservice for a temporary time until construction of alternative means is completed." He said and looked a bit nervous, but tried to cover the issue.
The Hydra then decided to throw out some more 'outside the box' ideas given that more plausible solutions were being covered. The leftmost spoke up dryly, "Not to distract from these valid ideals, but I would ask of all here if there is any discovery of nanite-affected plants that might produce a fuel or energy source? I ask this only because some here seem more knowledgeable on rare or elusive mutants."
Tama smiles patiently "Not in the least, I am certain that a deal can be worked out with The Scarlet Rose, all we need is to make a wind farm and have some of them do shifts or something, I highly doubt that this new method, which can potentially create more energy than New Dawn had to begin with, can be used to power us a means of repaying them in spades for their help... A valuable service that will be well rewarded and doesn't force New Dawn to rely on Zephyr, It seems like the ideal solution. Most of the milk comes from Cow Girls in Clairmont, most of the wind energy would likewise come from Tormungas. We don't need to work hard, we need to work SMART Savi... Plus... my solution will create a bond between the Prometheans and The Scarlet Rose... Strengthening bonds between groups in such times as this is essential and we are being given the perfect opportunity to do just that... can we really turn it down in favor of something that will only hurt the Promethean faction, as many of these solutions you suggest seem to rely on Zephyr to supply materials and such... Something im hesitant to do as long as there are better options on the table."
Zemura lifts his head, a glint going through his eyes. "Discovery, you say? I could certainly put my skills to the test and do a little recon around the area." Sitting upright in his seat, he begins rapidly scribbling down theories and plans. "Who knows, we might be able to extract more than just an energy source." As soon as his musings began, they stopped, taking heed of Tama's words. "Diplomacy is always a good idea in times of crisis. I vote for her Scarlet Rose meeting. The more alliances we have, the better."
Nodding to Tama the plant blushes. "Savi wasn't suggesting we don't try. Help is needed. Savi was only saying that failure wont be a back breaker. we can do this." Looking back to the map she speaks again. "The answers to your questions are actually the same." motioning to Alastor and Cerris, her eyes close but she doesn't really seem to be using them, "All plants can make ethanol. In fact if burned correctly nearly anything can. But you have to strain it. Corn.. starch. Grapes, barley. If you can make it rot, you can make it gas..." Opening her eyes and looking around the group her expression goes colder. "That brings up the final point, its.... likely in bad taste but it must be mentioned." Sighing and looking a bit uncomfortably she goes on. "The best thing in the world to make gas out of is Fat. Rendered, processed fat. It's safer, faster, burns slower, closer to diesel. What do we do with the dead?"
Katalynia smiles at Sav quite impressed with their technical know how. "That is an excellent point, Savi. We may as well make the dead useful in some way past just rotting in the ground if we can. I am very much in favor of talks with the Scarlet Rose. It need not be like indentured servitude. I provide quite a lot of milk for Clairmont and never once felt like an indentured servant...."
Humming softly as he considers some of the things Savi adds, he only gives a token frown at the word servitude, having had little doubt that the people present were suggesting such a thing, but the prospect of such a thing forming on his watch was unthinkable.
"This entire project will be done with volunteer labor and supplies, if those with the ability to generate energy of various forms want to fill a few capacitors and batteries, I'm not going to stop them. As for the Rose, we soldiers tend to stop in the place form time to time, I've got nothing against being friendly...this is not a corporate job, this is citizens helping each other...nothing more. The military here is just facilitating and helping manage logistics as an entity with ties to the Promethean viewpoint."
The explanation of how Ethanol works had him thinking again and he decided to broach the subject "We can ask for aid from farmers if they wish, but isn't there a giant corn maze east of the river passing town? Hmm...might be a good harvest point, but will likely mean a fight if we don't talk to the ferals in the area...providing they are feeling chatty."
Then comes the subject of the dead, he takes a moment to chew on the fat as it were before he says "We bury them...but I dunno...talk to the zombies...maybe they wouldn't mind helping out...weird ass state of being anyway...I'm not touching that, but any option is worth adding to our presentation list...I'd like those sketches if possible, they will strengthen our stance and get us taken more seriously."
Alastor smiled collectively showing a bit of his fangs at Zemura, he was getting excited about the chance to do recon as well. He addressed Saviante first. "I gathered that from what you were saying earlier actually. I was more-so curious of hypothetical plants that would not need to be processed as much. There might even be new species soaking up chemicals from destroyed factories? Possibly utilizing what would be harmful materials and sustaining or purifying in an otherwise hazardous environment? Let alone the countless unknowns of the jungles. The idea is a bit out there..." The midright head added, "And of course, we would be looking for non-sentient plant life or biomatter." He then looked back to Zemura. "I would be more than willing to aid your search." He told the doctor.
Tama, without showing any discomfort if she is even feeling any quietly states "That is an unwise move... While it may be a great power source... our faction is going to take a MAJOR hit if we start relying on the bodies of the dead for power... The political value of my solution would gain us members on the other hand, I'd hesitate to rely on using dead bodies as a first resort, or second i suppose as it may be, That idea will be a poison the faction will never recover from if it survives even a week, just talking about it is risky..."
"There may be." she says nodding toward the Hydra. "I would not know of them. Savi is not a socializer." And after listening to Tama the plant looks up understandingly. "I understand how you feel. People could offer to let us use them if they die, families can give their votes. Any type of rendered fat will work, we will not have to raid tombs. Respect will be given to all. It is not a first resort." with a motion in the direction of the river. "That is our first priority, we can make fuel out of anything..." Looking serious, but kind Savi continues. "But diesel comes from life. However, Savi understands how you may feel. Savi cant stand watching people eat salad." sitting down again she says the last thing on her mind. "We can offer to pay. For the work, for fat of any kind. For wood, whatever we need. Trash. If we build a plant, a burning oven inside the damn, we can have it all. inside the dam..." Her eyes glaze, seeing the concept form in her mind. "one station to defend, multiple sources of power input, underground lines... We could start rebuilding it all..." Looking like she is in near zealous fervor the plant girl almost giggles. "We don't have to use all of them but fuel can be stored, cut, refined inside the station. We sell them power for the price of defending and building that very power. Its everyone's."
Cerris nods his head, laying a heavy clawed mitt down upon the papers he is carrying "I think we have a solid proposal here, and I shall submit it with all due haste after having a pencil pusher make it prettier. All of your names will be included and you will hear from me when this invariably grinds forward. I don't intend to do any body harvesting and that idea will have to be handled as separately as possible and any benefits from it will likely be used to enhance the situation of those shambling around the graveyard."
Rising from his seat he asks simply "Are there any questions or additional matters to add? If not, I will adjourn this community think tank and express my gratitude to you all and welcome you to call on the military should any of you or your associates need assistance."
Alastor gathers all his heads together again, many of them smiling and energized, but shaking their heads to one another at other possible suggestions. He then turned the four back to the group. The mid-right nodded with a pleased grin. "I have nothing elsse to offer. I admit I am impressed with everyone."
Zemura stands up, stretching his legs, flinching slightly as his wings get caught on his quills again, muttering to himself about seeing a certain someone to deal with that before recomposing himself. "It's been nice chatting. I've copied my notes and everyone's welcome to take a page." With that statement, he hands out a few pages of scribbled notes in somewhat shoddy yet legible handwriting out, pages folded at the top left corner to keep them together.
Katalynia hugs Savi back and Tama as well. Shi is feeling very good at being able to have helped with the ideas even if just a little bit. "It was my pleasure to help even in a small part, Cerris. And certainly a pleasure to meet you. Be well Savi. Tama always nice to see you around sweetie!"
Alastor stands up quickly, his coils unwinding and he moved to get closer to Cerris, nabbing a page of Zemura's notes with a "Thank you, how thoughtful!" to the tusky. "There was one thing I forgot. Before becoming a scientist, I was a designer. I am apt at technical drawings and have skills in architecture. I would love to be involved in designing the dam if you would allow. I am not as good with machinery as I would like, but functional and reinforced structures let alone what materials could be involved are things I am capable of dealing with." He said quickly with his leftmost head. He realized he might be overstepping his bounds though. "Of course... if you would have me, I am sure you might have others more qualified." He said humbly.
Tama gets up slowly contemplating if there is anything else she has left to say, by the time she is up she decides there is nothing "Yes, it was rather fascinating, I will endeavor to attend these future meetings if I am able, its been a pleasure working with you all." She says, being careful to remember her manners, refusing to abandon politeness.even in such strange times.
Cerris is bemused, he had hoped to gain a few ideas to help the sunhats...he had no idea that he'd assemble a team to create a means to actually start making some real progress toward rebuilding. "I welcome any assistance and when this gets a site mapped out and heads are needed for design, construction fore-manning and so forth, I'll be looking each of your ways...Me, I'm just a hammer and everything looks a little like a nail to me, so I'll just manage the defense and area reclamation"
Alastor nodded his heads, literally chuckling with small rasps in his long throats. "Wonderful! You have no idea how exccited I am to be involved with such a monumental project!" His heads said in merry unison. He bowed out, "Good to meet you Colonel Cerris, and you surprissed me sSavi. I'd only worked with you the oncce. Did not know what a big brain you had." His mid-right said with a laugh. He turned back to the table and went up to Zemura. "I -uh... I never met you before today, b-but if you would have me, I would love to chat with a RSX doctor. My only function is to collect infection vials... filling a quota each week. So otherwise I do as I please."
Katalynia nods eagerly. "I can't wait Colonel. I look forward to helping in any way that I can with this project." Shi seems rather giddy at the progress made.
