1        Soul Bound

1.3      Making a Splash

1.3.1    An Obligated Noble

1.3.1.25 Blessing lost

Bulgaria: “What now?”

Alderney: “Something exciting, I hope. Most of today’s recordings are of boring meetings, blah, blah, blah. Nothing getting squished! No blood and guts.”

Bungo waved a weapon in the air, like a drunken pirate brandishing a cutlass.

Bungo: “Let’s rouse all the sailors in the Arsenal, lead them to the Segreta and burn it to the ground!”

The Segreta was rumoured to be a Xanadu of Sin, to which the Arsenal’s drug dealing gang, the Hubbard’s Boys, invited only the most debauched of hedonists. But the wombles had discovered that was just a front to conceal the assassins guild. No doubt it would be dramatic but…

Tomsk plucked the sleeve of Bungo’s silk shirt.

Tomsk: “You’re not wearing armour and your shield won’t protect you from being stealthily stabbed in the back. Are you sure your skills will protect you from a level 60 assassin who also has magic to match your own?”

Wellington: {I want to know what Kafana wants us doing in arlife. She has to log out soon. We should spend the time planning.}

They were all just standing around, unsure of priorities, waiting for a decision to be made, like an orchestra whose conductor hadn’t turned up to the rehearsal. She could make a decision, and nearly anything would be an improvement, but what she really wanted was to set things up so decision making just happened smoothly, like when they’d worked together casting magic.

Kafana: {Let’s make our way back to sanctum while we decide. Wellington, we can safely talk about arlife things in group chat, right?}

She started walking, and the others followed her.

Wellington: {Yes. We’re all using custom tiaras that detect when we’re trying to communicate with each other and divert the signal to a secure system instead of using the one provided by Soul Bound. Just don’t rely upon it during a raid, when we’ve invited non-wombles into the chat.}

Kafana: {Good. Then we’ll discuss what to do next in a moment, but I’d like to start off by sharing something I learned from Claudio about organisations, that I think will make planning easier.}

Bulgaria: {I’m all ears.}

Kafana: {This morning I mentioned that, by the end of the year, there’ll be one hundred million human heads wearing the new generation of tiaras that can alter the brain as well as read it. I said I’d like to see all one hundred million of those tiaras be ones worthy of being trusted with that power and listed some practical steps we could take as a group, to contribute towards making that vision happen. You discussed it and accepted the mission, but what we didn’t have time to do before logging in, was decide who’d do what.}

She paused to look around, and saw them waiting for her to drop the other shoe. They made a good audience. In Kafana’s experience, some people crumbled under pressure but all the best performers were the sort who rose to an occasion. When she’d first started performing as a teenager, her mother had given her encouragement: “Don’t worry if you feel like a lump of coal before going on stage, dirty and worthless. There’s a purity in standing before an audience that strips away the irrelevant to reveal a diamond that can shine. It sets you free.”. She’d sang well, and stage fright had never been a problem for her again.

Kafana: {Each of the things we need to do is a large task, that is going to take time and skills from several of us, and whoever we can recruit to help. But according to Claudio, if the information to make decisions is going to end up in the right hands then, for each task, people need to know who the right hands are. Not necessarily the person who does most of the work, but the person who wears the hat and has the headaches - the person with ultimate authority over decisions on that task because they are the one willing to take on responsibility for progress, and for doing the less fun but still necessary bits if nobody else wants to do them.}

Tomsk: {Which hat have you chosen for me to wear?}

Kafana: {I’ve something special in mind for Bulgaria, which I’ve already discussed with him. But for everyone else, I’d like to just list the top level tasks, and see who volunteers.}

Tomsk: {Ok, let’s hear ‘em.}

Kafana: {First up is ensuring that the tiaras produced really are worthy of trust. Verifiably so, in a way that no attack or individual betrayal can subvert. It’s a task that touches on software design, hardware design, testing, the agreements and processes used when producing them, the gratitude economy, and anything else the trust depends upon.}

Wellington: {Mine.}

Alderney: {No arguments there. I’ll happily help, but you’re welcome to the hat and the headaches that go with it.}

Kafana: {Next task: win the media war. We need to make the value proposition supporting trustworthy tiaras as strong as possible, to reach all one hundred million heads. Sell them on why trustworthiness matters, and on any other benefit we can pack in, such as gaining access to support from mythoi and copias. But we’re not going to be making the case unopposed. We have to anticipate organised resistance from the powers that be. It will be wild, but I need someone media-savvy to ride that tiger.}

Alderney: {So mythoi, media and the fun parts of tiara design that trustworthiness doesn’t depend upon? Sign me up.}

Kafana: {Thank you. Ok, next task: assume that despite all Alderney can do, there is a backlash. Assume our real life identities are discovered, and that we all end up on the run from groups wanting to kill, capture or discredit us. Do the advanced planning, run scenarios and train us on them. Find or create escape routes. Pre-position resources. Make sure that we’re all alive and free a year from now. Us, and any other people vital to our plans. I need someone who can make this their main focus, not splitting their attention between two hats.}

Tomsk: {And Bulgaria, Wellington and Alderney all have other tasks. You want this hot potato, Bungo?}

Bungo: {Not on your life. That’s too serious to fool around with. It would give me nightmares.}

Tomsk: {Then I shall volunteer, but I hope you don’t regret picking me. I know what it is like to be shot at, and I shall take this very seriously indeed - even when it means insisting upon precautions that seem annoying. Agreed?}

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

A shiver went down Kafana’s spine, as a note of iron entered Tomsk’s voice that had nothing to do with magic command auras produced by games. In most things Tomsk was easy going, but never when it came to duty or honour.

Kafana: {Agreed. I know how much I’m asking of you. Of all of you. The next task is a varied one, that may require spending a lot of time in the game and contacting other gamers. We’ve taken on a couple big projects related to Soul Bound - the redevelopment of the Basso district and the creation of an Adventurers Guild. We want them to succeed because they’ll increase our popularity and drive people to use The Burrow, because they’ll set an example that people can copy in arlife and because it may give us a chance to get closer to XperiSense and find out their secrets. For the same reason, we want to keep gaining in levels and doing interesting quests. I need someone who can take all that on, and The Burrow too.}

Bungo giggled.

Bungo: {Kafana, you’re tailoring the description of these tasks to appeal to particular people, aren’t you?}

Bulgaria: {Nothing wrong with that. She’s the leader. If nobody volunteers for a task, she ends up doing it.}

Bungo: {Kafana running The Burrow? She barely posts there! Ok, ok, I’ll volunteer. But I’m going to need a lot of help.}

Bulgaria: {You’ll have it. Just let us know what you need.}

Kafana: {Which brings me to you, my old friend. You have broad shoulders, Bulgaria, and there are two tasks I want you to take on. The first is recruitment. It isn’t just Bungo who needs extra help. Everyone needs people dedicated to helping with specific parts of their task, a few experts they’d trust to evaluate the competence of potential volunteers and a second-in-command they’d trust to make decisions in their absence. It’s not an easy task. If their identities are revealed and it shows a pattern such as an unusually large number with connections to London and UCL, that will give our identities away. You’ll need to come up with a way to find people committed to our aims and values, and evaluate their competence, without revealing their identities to the others on the same team.}

Bulgaria: {I’ll discuss the security aspects with Wellington. My first step will probably be to write up a manifesto they can sign onto, based upon the rough dependency tree you presented this morning. We can use the existing abilities of The Burrow to check their agreement is genuine. What’s the final task?}

Kafana: {I’m not online much of the time, and even if I didn’t need to carry on my arlife activities for financial reasons and for my own sanity, making too big a change might draw notice. I too need a second-in-command, to act as backup on the day to day things I ought to be doing. Defining organisational structure and procedures. Noticing who needs help, and getting them it. Setting priorities and negotiating the distribution of scarce resources between tasks. Soothing disputes. Comforting people after they’ve had a hard day. Polishing the kitchen sink.}

Bungo: {Kitchen sink?}

Kafana: {Yes. The one kept in any well stocked handbag. It means anything and everything. The duties too small and numerous to mention, or so rare and unlikely that nobody anticipates them. If it doesn’t fall within someone else’s defined task, then it falls to me. Or hopefully Bulgaria first, if he accepts the role.}

Bulgaria: {“Official Sink Polisher”. It has a certain ring to it. Yes, I’ll volunteer.}

Wellington: {I may be able to help. A while back, Kafana asked me to look at how communication between our expert systems could best be arranged. It’s more complex than it sounds, because to get reliable information you need systems with dual loyalties, and if you want to respect privacy while allowing information to be passed on when a role moves to a new role holder, then you have to…}

They reached the sanctum just as the bells started to chime, marking the end of Kafana’s normal six hour login duration.

Bulgaria gently interrupted Wellington: {I believe you about it being complex. You better tell me the full details later, once Kafana has left. But before she goes, I think my original question still stands. “What now?”. What should our vessels be working on while we’re logged out, and what are the in-game plans for tomorrow? You said what you’d learned from Claudio would help?}

Kafana carefully controlled her voice, to give not a hint of triumph.

Kafana: {Don’t ask me. That’s now Bungo’s task. He just volunteered to be responsible for making sure decisions get made in a timely fashion about quests, character progression and doing popular stuff while not getting killed doing it.}

Bungo: {But, but…}

Kafana: {Bungo, you’ll do fine. Listen to everybody’s needs and suggestions, work out what’s important or urgent, then see if Wellington can spare time or expert systems to help you come up with an optimised plan. You don’t need to do everything, or even decide everything - just take responsibility for checking the decisions haven’t ignored stuff.}

Bulgaria: {Over the next week or so, I’ll try to find you separate human experts for the different parts of your task: town planning, running in-game guilds, managing online forums to build a loyal user base, certainly; but others too. Have a think and, when you’re ready, I’ll have a chat with you about what sort of team you’d like.}

Bungo started to look a bit more confident as Wellington, Tomsk and Alderney joined in with their requests, suggestions and offers of aid.

Kafana felt a warm glow inside as she realised something. She could lead, she really could. And do it well. Maybe not perfectly, but looking at the way the others were now supporting Bungo she felt true confidence. He didn’t need to do it all by himself, and neither did she.

[Blessing expiry condition met: Imprimatur of the Deities]

Expiry? Oh, yes, that’s right; the Imprimatur had only been intended to last until she gained sufficient confidence to not attempt hiding her status as Guardian out of embarrassment. She checked herself quickly, using Truesight. Yes, the glow surrounding her was gone, as was the mana shell creating it. The boost to reputation gains had been nice, but she wouldn’t miss it. The glow had been as much a hindrance as a help, especially when trying to creep unnoticed through the backstreets of the Arsenal.

Not that she intended to hide that she had the approval of more than just Cov. If nothing else, the Imprimatur had forced her to get used to everyone knowing. Perhaps that had been the point of it? Though come to think of it, the timing of its disappearance was pretty suspicious, happening directly after a blessing had been placed upon Landi’s statues that meant the deities no longer really needed her to act as their tool…

She cut her suspicious meanderings short and turned to leave, but then added a parting request of her own.

Kafana: {Oh, by the way, Claudio gave me a warning. He said if we don’t retain plausible deniability over our involvement in the raid upon the Segreta, Lord Ruffo is likely to make sure we get sued for everything we own, down to the last bronze osella. Could you review the recording before you decide how we should do the quest?}

Bungo gave a rueful nod and abandoned his last hope of leading a glorious battle from the front, with a hand gesture that mimed waving a sword then tossing it away. Good. She left him to his new job and focused her gaze upon the fish-eye portal always hanging at the edges of her field of vision.

As usual, the portal showed a view of arlife, as seen by the tiara resting upon her actual head as she lay motionless in her arlife bedroom while immersed in the virtual reality of the game - psychologists claimed it helped prevent the players getting confused over what was real. If she looked at the portal steadily, for more than a few seconds, it would move to the center of her vision and start expanding, triggering the tiara to bring her out of the game. That’s how most players did it, but Kafana had recently learned the hard way that the method wasn’t entirely reliable (certain in-game debuffs could make it hard to maintain a focus), and she’d had Wellington teach her an alternative that used the underlying command line. She didn’t bother with the command line now though - it wasn’t needed and just looking at the portal was easier, if slower.

The last thing she heard, before returning to arlife to start cooking lunch for her customers, was Bulgaria exchanging words with Alderney.

Bulgaria: “Well, she certainly learned something from Claudio.”

Alderney: “Did it make planning easier?”

Bulgaria said, with some satisfaction: “It did for her.”

*flip*