1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.2 An Awakening Epiphany
1.2.2.21 Compartmentalisation
Kafana: “While we’re talking about the game, what were the results of your experiment with mind magic and information we discuss outside the game? Can you tell me here, what you found out from the quest ‘Learn Flavio’s story’ ?”
Wellington: “If a player is in-game, and talks to another player about ‘humans’, the other player will hear and remember the word, modulo the automatic language translation.”
Wellington: “If a player is in-game, and talks to a normal NPC about ‘humans’, the NPC will forget or have it translated to ‘covadan’, depending on circumstances.”
Wellington: “If a player is in-game, and talks to a Vessel, that seems to be an exception to the normal NPC rule - they hear the word and their memories are not censored.”
Kafana: “How does that work in the case of song lyrics that mention arlife places such as Ireland? Nicolo was able to learn that song and sing it back. What about the songs and images about human wars I sent to the devils in the Inferno?”
Wellington: “XperiSense has set this world up so the NPCs don’t realise that they are NPCs in a game. That lets them react naturally without needing lots of restrictive programming shaping their behaviour. The main purpose behind the taboo is to make it easier for XperiSense to preserve the NPCs' ignorance on that point. A lyric mentioning a place name wouldn’t be a problem. The NPCs already know we are not from their world. A lyric saying ‘Torello is just a location in a game run on very fast calculating machines that emulate an imaginary reality’ probably couldn’t have been learned by Nicolo. As to creatures like devils, I have insufficient data to say what rules govern their learning of concepts.”
Kafana: “So what happens if, instead of me saying the word ‘humans’, I use mind magic to send the word directly to an NPC’s mind, or the NPC uses mind magic to lift an image of a tiara and the game login sequence from my mind?”
Wellington: “The game treats it the same as speech, though you probably won’t receive a reputation penalty if it is the NPC invading your mind. Concepts that XperiSense don’t want the NPCs to have, they will be prevented from gaining or remembering.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Kafana: “So since Flavio’s story won’t contain concepts XperiSense doesn’t want other NPCs knowing about, it doesn’t matter if you tell me here or in game. Either way, if a mind mage reads my mind, they’ll be able to get the story from me?”
Wellington: “Yes. And it isn’t just to do with mind magic. There’s a curse involved. Once you’ve made your attempt to remove the curse on Vittoria, I can tell you the story. In fact, I’m probably going to have to if we want to help him. But there’s a cost.”
Kafana: “A cost not a price?”
Wellington: “Yes. The cost is that, for Flavio’s own good, you then won’t be able to approach him, or remove your purple gem, or allow anybody into your mind, until Flavio’s curse has been lifted.”
Kafana: “What about Vessel-Kafana? Even for Flavio, I won’t agree to keep stuff from her.”
Wellington: “She also has access to the purple gem. The same rules apply to her - she’ll have to agree to not approach Flavio and to use the gem to stop anyone entering her mind except for you and myself.”
Kafana gave Wellington a wry look: “Are you sure the devs didn’t invent this quest just to teach about compartmentalisation of information flows and ‘need to know’ ?”
Wellington: “It’s a headache for me too. I’m going to have to set up an expert system for Alderney, just so she can filter stuff about this out of your livestream, without being exposed to it herself.”
Kafana: “You’re spending far more than 6 hours a day on this. I know you’re richer than any of the rest of us, but this has to be impacting your normal activities. Right now I’m having doubts about how far to trust Bulgaria and how worthwhile this all is. What do you know about this that I don’t, that’s driving you to put so much effort into this?”
Wellington paused for a long moment, reverting to the near total stillness that she remembered from their UCL days. When he finally spoke, his words were very ordered, like he’d considered each one individually.
Wellington: /Burrow override id Richard Tang one time pass phrase “Ulysses and Zathras at El-Adrel” current room incognito mode/
Wellington: “Nadine, if you repeat what I am about to tell you, it will likely get me killed in arlife, and possibly many others. Do you agree to keep it confidential?”
What? She hadn’t expected that. She should probably tell him not to tell her, that she didn’t need to know that badly. She felt like she was at the edge of a rabbit hole, and once she started falling there would be no way back. But damn it, she was curious and she was sick of being the ignorant pawn pushed around by others.
Kafana: “Yes, Richard. I will keep what you say here confidential. I don’t want you to die. I will be careful.”