compnetwork | [text] attention everyone shut the hell up

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[text] attention everyone shut the hell up

I assume you have all educated yourselves on what Philemon's intentions and goals are for this city in his latest charade, or you would not be wasting your time humoring that ludicrous and insipid excuse for literature.

Now, what about Nyarlathotep? Have any of you figured out anything about his plans for this city, or are you more concerned with petty child's play?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Someone's gonna have to fill the new guy on what the hell's going on, exactly.

The names certainly sound familiar, but unless I've found my way into a book I'm not sure what they mean in this context.

It's possible you've heard them before: Philemon is a figure from the New Testament of the Christian Bible, who was on the receiving end of one of Paul's Epistles. He's also mentioned as a figure from Carl Jung's writing, as an old spirit guide.

Nyarlathotep is another name for the Crawling Chaos, an outer god from the work of H.P. Lovecraft, who is described as a nightmare and able to take on any form.

Here, they are beings who claim to be born of humanity: Philemon our desire to create and succeed, Nyarlathotep our desire to die and destroy. It was Philemon you met upon entering this city, utilizing us as his latest pawns in his bet with Nyarlathotep.

[ It's too bad the version of these two characters in Ben's world were cagey as fuck, otherwise this bet would sound all too familiar. And he'd know that he had experience being used as a pawn to prove one or the other's point. ]

Sounds like you have experience with these two. So wouldn't it be smarter to share your thoughts on what Nyarlathotep's plans are rather than asking that of people who have no clue who he is or what he's capable of?

[Honestly, they're some pretty cagey bastards, themselves. SO it's the thought that counts at least!]

I dealt with them directly in my own universe.
But the Crawling Chaos is exactly that; an entity of Chaos.
My friends and I weren't able to discern the true critical points of his plan until it was too late.
But as I've just arrived here, I have no idea where he's been lurking. Perhaps it was a pipe dream to think that someone else was paying attention.

It's hard to pay attention to something you don't know is there.

Did you expect this kind of power to be granted without something to oppose?

You mean other than the monsters who try to kill you? My persona wasn't enough to take on one of those monsters. What about it would make me think I was powerful enough to take on the Crawling Chaos himself?

Monsters like that have never amounted to more than an arbitrary distraction.
I'm not asking anyone to rush headlong into wherever he's hiding himself-- there's more to fighting these battles than brute force. Simply trying to figure out what he's doing is a good start.

And it would help if people who have experience with him would provide a starting point.

Unless you don't have any ideas, yourself.

[Damn. He's got him there.]

...In my universe, he manifested as the leader of a cult. He used his abilities to grant wishes in order to gain more followers.
He posed himself as a messiah and sought to lead them along the path of evolution, and nearly destroyed the city doing so.

I see. So you think he might try this again, here? But it seems unlikely he'd do the same thing twice, not if he's worth his salt as a bad guy. Unless he was counting on you not being here.

[ His brain's just not going to think about how he's talking about the potential strategy of a H.P. Lovecraft character. ]

No, you're right. Even if he anticipated us being here, I don't think he'd do the same thing again.
Unfortunately, that means most of the information I have to offer is outdated. Perhaps he may try something similar, but he's smarter than that.

Well, just because the info's outdated doesn't mean it's not useful. Examining someone's past actions is a good way to predict what they might do next. Motives. Patterns. These things don't change regardless how smart a person is.

Or how smart a Lovecraftian abomination is, in this case.

No, but perhaps being a Lovecraftian abomination would give him an edge with the way of predictability.

[Congratulations, you got him to lighten up!]

Then I can at least warn you he utilized the power of rumors in order to embolden his plans. By turning something into a veritable urban legend, he was able to make it come true.

[ That's a feat, because the only time Ben's been able to get someone to lighten up was when he was dead. ]

Did he have the power to make those rumors come true?

But if it's a power anyone can use, why not use it against him?

[Probably not a gig you want to bring to kid's parties.]

At this point, I'm not sure if it's his doing or Philemon's doing.
But I suspect it's the same power that's letting them come true here.
We tried, but public opinion is a dangerous thing to play with.
We only made the barest attempts to prevent anything from going wrong.

[ Assuming those parties aren't in his afterlife, yes. At the very least, it would be smelly. ]

I think you have a bit of a tactical advantage here, considering you're dealing with a large group of people who know who Philemon and Nyarlathotep are. Or who can learn by accessing this network. It isn't quite like trying to sway the opinions of innocent bystanders.

[I'm sure they have Febreeze for that.]

Persona being common knowledge is helpful-- but I have no idea how much normal people know about the entire conflict. To be able to successfully change something with rumors, you'd have to get a majority of the city to belief.
Belief is a dangerous thing to play with, no matter the circumstances.

Oh, I know all about that.

[ yay having experience with benevolent, i-believe-in-you-humanity god figures who don't like directly interfering in human affairs! ]

Still, it couldn't hurt to try with the people like us. As long as it doesn't interfere with the lives of the natives... Surely there must be enough...visitors here to get a proper rumor started?

[Yeah, you'll fit in juuuust fine, Ben.]

Are the visitors a significant portion of the populace for it to perpetuate?
I suppose it's possible that a rumor could be supported and come true within a small community, but-- would it affect the entire city even if thye don't know about it?

I don't know. I assume there's more natives than there are of us, but then there's enough of us to fill two apartment complexes. Enough to spread a small rumor, right?

But I'm just guessing here. You're the expert on rumors. So what do you say?

Trust me, I'm no expert.
But if our complexes are enough to make something like a small community, I don't see why a rumor wouldn't be able to at least affect that much.
It's worth a shot.

[He's just...a little hesitant to actually carry through with that.]

It's something to consider, at least. First we need to get everyone on board. As you said, that's a little hard to do when everyone's focusing on something else.

Have you ever considered writing a guide about these two? Something to keep on the network so other people can reference it when they need to. I imagine it must get tiring explaining who they are to everyone who asks.

Right. Perhaps once this next craze has passed? I'm sure there'll be some sort of lull.

[Though he's got such a low opinion of everyone right now that he may just go ahead and trick everyone into it instead of actually telling everyone to believe really hard.]

I haven't before, but it's starting to seem like it's a necessity now.
I'll have to see if there's any information I'm missing, but-- perhaps it'll actually give everyone something to look for?

It's a possibility.

I'd offer my assistance, but I'm pretty ignorant on the subjects, as you know.

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