1 Soul Bound
1.3 Making a Splash
1.3.2 An Allotropic Realignment
1.3.2.23 Freedom
They were passing through another courtyard, unexpectedly large but still dominated by the spreading wine-flowered branches of an ancient myrtle tree, when Kafana spotted Planchet lurking among the glib book-waving agents and wary pinch-pursed quartermasters that swirled in practiced dances of negotiating, beneath the shady shelter of its boughs. Only by watching carefully did she notice how skilfully he engineered a brief exchange of words with Bulgaria as they passed, without either revealing sign to hidden observers, in pause of stride or glance of eye, that anything had taken place worth mentioning or remembering. Even the hawk that perched upon a branch seemed more interested in the rat it held imprisoned in one taloned foot; considering it with all the pretension of a glass sniffing wine expert before selecting where its hooked beak would make its first incision.
She found it fascinating the way the bird, proud and obviously still wild not tamed, lived so fearlessly in close proximity to the people of the city - they’d found a balance that allowed each party to tolerate the other rather than struggle to control or destroy them. She felt her Tamer skill urging her to step closer and spend more time observing and deepening her understanding, but a gentle tug from Tomsk’s hand on her arm reminded her to stay within the safety of the party. Alderney’s scout skill would offer a measure of protection against spies and assassins when operating solo, even when she wasn’t under the guest protection of the foundry. But Kafana couldn’t duck attention, and people out there knew she carried artifacts; bards might survive without escorts but she’d never seen a noble without one. It was part of the price she would have to pay in order to follow the course she’d chosen, and she realised she should make her peace with it, instead of wasting time in a futile struggle. Whinging wasn’t attractive in adults, and she’d better battles to spend her time upon than that one.
She felt, momentarily, like she were leaving a fragment of her own self behind, in that courtyard with the enclosed tree and the hawk that could have flown free but chose instead a different path. A fragment of her liberty, that she wouldn’t realise the value of until she’d surrendered it. Would discarding it change her identity? Lessen her? Summoning all her determination, she ruthlessly quashed her doubts, visualising casting them from her mind like guests who’ve overstayed their welcome. She slammed a mental door closed behind them, and felt a wave of satisfaction as she clapped metaphorical dust off her hands. Good riddance!
[Skill “Enhanced willpower” has reached level 10.]
She caught up with the others. What did she think about The Greatest Game? Was a struggle against overwhelming forces always futile? What about Gandhi? He’d won freedom from the British Raj by bypassing the British officials living in India, and appealing directly to public opinion back in Britain.
Kafana: {If you’re talking specifically about Soul Bound, rather than about our arlife being a sim run by mysteriously motivated far future expert systems, then is the sandbox really isolated? The residents send a message into the beyond every time they talk to a player who publishes their sense recordings. Couldn’t they struggle for external support, by living a life that demonstrates they think and feel as we think and feel, and then appealing to our morality, that they deserve equal treatment? What impact would it have if someone like Etaoin wrote a book equivalent to “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”?}
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Wellington: {The first nail to stick up risks getting hammered. If an NPC wants to survive causing PR problems for XperiSense, they’ll need to provide XperiSense with an alternative solution to having the NPC die from some random in-game danger; a solution that’s easier, cheaper and more likely to solve the problem. Planning that would require the sort of knowledge about arlife and XperiSense that NPCs are explicitly blocked from acquiring. In the past, on the Morob server, XperiSense have been known to release patches that reset whole regions, when knowledge about an exploit spread widely enough to trash the game’s balance.}
Kafana: {You’re saying they could have Mor send a tidal wave that flooded everything within 100 kilometers of Torello, to a depth that covers even the mountain peaks? Wouldn’t that ruin the game?}
Bungo: {The NPCs wouldn’t question it - the game’s backstory is full of cities being tragically destroyed. And most players are fine with massive plot events, providing they can fight an awesome boss monster during it and don’t lose their items or levels if they die. XperiSense would just need to have the priests pass on a revelation about a great battle against Bel, and then offer players a choice of where to re-spawn. They’re good at this sort of stuff, and they’ve years of data about their customers and what will work. Wellington’s right - if there’s a true Greatest Game, it isn’t some struggle to break through an external firewall against opposition from forces beyond it that control the physical laws your world operates under.}
Tomsk: {Maybe the Greatest Game is the multi-player one we all participate in? There’s no board larger, or ruleset more mysterious yet inflexible. You get but one life to use as stakes, and during play you pick your objectives without knowledge of any scoring system beyond guess, rumour and insubstantial intuition. It might be cooperative or competitive; it might have great purpose, with decisions taken having effects outside the game so vast that almost any sacrifice and severity seem justified; it might have little effect beyond later permitting proud brags and fond reminiscence when in congenial company; it might be happenstance and as quickly forgotten as stones skimmed upon a lake, with no effect at all except what we and others experience as we participate.}
She’d gained level in a skill. Was Tomsk trying to do the same? He usually hid his flair for words but now and then he’d let it slip out, surprising anyone foolish enough to judge him only by his size and easy ways. She should find time to learn what skills the others had, rather than leaving it all to Bungo and Wellington. Another item for her ever increasing list of chores.
Bungo: {Um, maybe? But I don’t think that fits the clues Etaoin listed as matching his vision. The highest stake game that people have a realistic chance of learning about and agreeing upon. A game they feel they can affect if they choose to actively participate in the struggle. A game in which skill matters because it permits rational decisions between alternative actions. A game they feel they understand well enough to make predictions more reliable than coin tosses - predictions about whether some action is more likely to aid in completing the objectives of their side in the struggle, rather than hampering them or aiding opponents more.}
Wellington: {A game you can apply the mathematics of game theory to.}
Damn, did even Bungo know more about this than she did? Well, he did enjoy gambling and games in general. It made sense he’d research it a little. Still, she felt woefully ignorant.
Kafana: {Then what do you think it is, Bungo? What would you have told him, if free to do so?}