malnosso | [Locked to Luceti Residents]

[In the afternoon, the enclosure receives a message from none other than Mr. Catherine himself. He hasn't been heard from by the village since his death last June. Remarkably not only does he sound chipper and full of life, but the old raspiness that identified him as an old man is gone. In fact, he sounds quite full of life, like a young man high on life.]

Goodness gracious, how long has it been? Nearly a year, I should think, since we truly ever talked. Not counting that nasty business where I died. Best forgotten, that.

Now then, I suppose you've been beside yourselves with concern about my whereabouts. Well fret not, I've been hard at work! I'm not quite the CEO of the Malnosso, but I have made remarkable progress. You all have been quite helpful to that as well. We are quite a team, the lot of us! Wit and might mixed together for a remarkable combination of change. I suspect we could do most anything if we worked together!

In any case, to business. As you might guess, you will be undergoing an experiment soon. No doubt your more experienced 'old feathers' have enlightened most of you on what to expect. I realize this is all terribly frustrating. The heart strings are quite the delicate things, but it is very important. I won't be involved in running the experiment, but I've been assured that this will provide some absolutely astounding data in the future of Shift research. Your participation, willing or not, it is greatly appreciated.

Ahh- what else? Oh yes. I suppose you wonder what I'm up to? Well, it's quite exciting. I'm at Sirry Crags! The mountains, oh yes. The skies are perfectly clear. Blue skies abound! Not a single cultist dots the skies. Indeed, they haven't been spotted here in months. Mark that one for a victory. After hundreds of years, this mountain range is finally free from those nasty cultists. Exciting, isn't it?

[Locked to Rem]

Oh ho, I hear it's nearly over. You must absolutely tell me how the experiment went!

[Locked to Molly]

Well well, my dear. I do hope you have some news for me. Please, please, do not spare the details. This channel is absolutely secure.

[Locked to The Great One]

A-ah, I hate to intrude upon your important work, Great One, but might I trouble you for a moment of your time? I sincerely promise you this won't be like last time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ho ho, think nothing of it. After all, you did request it so long ago. It seemed unfair we should have to keep it caged when you were in want of company.

But indeed yes, the mountains had been a dreadful place. Some parts worse than others. I do believe tourism will improve now that people will no longer fear for their lives, aha.

[He still remembers the request to keep an eye out for surviving tourists while they there out there on a draft. To think the attempts at tourism had continued until that point.]

I'm sure it comes as a decent morale boost. Though there has been no word on losses in the same amount of time.

Losses for ourselves of the cultists? We always have losses, I'm afraid. But they've been losing a bit more than we have as of late.

There are always losses, yes. The turnaround is different. Whatever has changed seems to have had a more lasting effect than previous endeavors.

[He would not presume that it was something that they had personally done. The scope of the Organization's work was obviously much broader than what they had to work with years ago.]

Yes, yes. Quite so. They're turning on one another. They've a taste of the same inner conflict that's plagued the organization for so long. Ironic, isn't it?

Quite so. Has there been any insight into what has changed in their ranks? A reason for the discontent?

Perhaps, perhaps. But I'm afraid it's best to not say anything on that until I'm more certain.

Speculation at this point, then. Something of that nature, something that can cause unrest in what seemed like a comparably stable social situation, seems quite ... alarming. [Especially something that could change things at a noticeable clip within a short number of years, in comparison to the hundreds that the Malnosso and Third Party had been fighting over.]

Indeed. It may be a boon for us, but I am greatly concerned about what will happen when someone wins control of the cultists.

Understandable. Then the hope would be that the unrest continues while the Organization continues with their gains. [But with the state of unrest versus the size of gains made would likely mean the cultists would sort themselves out before the Organization gained any significant ground.]

Is this something widely known to the other enclosures?

Oh no, not at all. I suppose it would be best you didn't tell them. They mustn't worry about things like this.

By the time the cultists' infighting is quelled, it may be past the point of simply worrying.

There'd be nothing they could do.

What a familiar notion.

Ah, but I am telling you, aren't I?

You are. [He has to acknowledge that much.] I have to wonder why. Luceti seems to flux between remaining a scientific experiment and being another enclosure of draftees for the larger battles.

That's how it always is, I suppose. Nothing stays the same forever. There'd be nothing learned if Luceti remained the way it was when this experiment began. But just as it begins, it must also reach a middle and, eventually, an end.

Eventually. When the results culminate into something, and the remnants of Luceti shuffle into your ranks. [He frowns to himself as he thinks of such an "end."]

That is, perhaps, one end. Yes. There's always the possibility that we might succeed.

That would be the favorable end. One that I would like to see.

As would I! Conflict hampers progress, but it is not yet a lost cause. Every day we come closer to finding the ultimate solution.

Searching for the ultimate solution... In which case, do you know the ultimate cause for this? Does anyone?

There are many theories. I suppose, perhaps, there are a few who might know. Certainly the Great One does. But the cause predates the organization and myself. Even then, much of the organization's early days has been lost for lack of record keeping. Truly a shame, as those times were certainly the things of legend. Oh, what I might have done had I only arrived in this world a few centuries sooner!

Edited 2013-03-13 05:48 (UTC)

The Great One. I see. [So, once again, the scientist was proving to be the most knowledgeable of their situation and what was to come next.]

Did something occur in the past that led to records being kept? [The emphatic need for records usually occurred after something significant had happened.]

I suppose you might say stable civilization happened. The organization may have existed for a great long while, but it wasn't always skyscrapers and cities on the Moon.

[voice]

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