@abel.navigator

[adsero]

Hello everyone,

Unless I’ve missed something in the past hour or so, it seems like our network hasn’t been compromised by whatever has caused this massive security failure. I have at least five messages in my inbox that I’m certain aren’t for me, but everything seems clean here.

I think, as the group of people with the (apparently) only properly functioning network (and various talents, in a manner of speaking), we’re obligated to use it to organize ourselves and assist. The entire city is facing more problems as a result of this breach than I’ve ever seen before from one event. If you’re not particularly interested in helping those that could be trapped in cars or victims of accidents right now, consider that the external temperature has been rising. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m personally certain that once it gets around 55C I’m going to start dying.

The network has apparently been used before to coordinate teams of Displaced, let everyone know what’s needed and who to meet with, and I suggest we do it again. I’ll keep an eye on this and provide hotlinks to pertinent discussions, so anyone with particular skills or interests can volunteer themselves.

Stay safe everyone. Don’t spend too much time in the heat without decent protection, you can only help so much if you pass out in the middle of it.

Comments

[girlcorrupted]

Yes, by this cipher's logic, the message should read:

WHO OFFERED HIM THE CROWN

However who or what this is referring to, I don't currently have an answer. Perhaps we should look into the history of those currently in power?

@daisy.johnson

[evite]

came here to say the same, ten points to your house of choice for cracking it

[ god bless all these smart nerds ]

last i checked, gill-jade wasn't rocking a crown, but nerd code isn't usually literal.
if this emp really is a callback to the old wars, was there one guy pulling the metaphorical kill switch back in the day? someone who got "handed" the power to kill off the ai that now want revenge?

@octavia.blake

[ex_dictator317]

"Who offered him the crown?" is a line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Marcus Antonius offers Caesar a coronet three times, and Caesar refuses it every time.

Some people assume it was a plot on Antonius's part to expose Caesar as greedy and worthy of assassination, giving Rome's senators more evidence to think of Caesar as corrupt and ambitious. They already had reason to believe he was becoming a dictator.

Others believe Caesar staged it because he wanted Rome's people to approve of him as a king. With their support, he could take full control of Rome and leave the senators powerless. The crown, if it had been accepted, would have given Caesar absolute, corrupt power.

Whatever Antonius intended, it ended up leading to Caesar's downfall. He was assassinated by conspirators in the Senate.

It could all be a coincidence, but I doubt it. If it's not a reference to a known tyrant in the history of their wars, it could be a reference to an assassination plot. Past or present.

@james.holden

[hoss]

Not a coincidence if they put it in this message.

How much do we know about the politicians here? The people running the show?

[ex_dictator317]

Only what they want us to know.
I'm not the right person to ask, but others have been here longer.

I'd look at whichever politician has the most admirers.
Then again, the Displaced have shrines dedicated to them and the people's admiration.
Their version of Caesar could be anyone.

[hoss]

I don't know if the message holds if it's about us. Unless this message is an invitation, but we won't know that until we can track down the sender.

@margaret.carter

[revlon]

[ She's been in and out of this conversation with the nightmare unfolding with her job in government, but she's pleased to come back to this. ]

Well, if this DAWN was truly looking to be poetic, they missed the chance to use a Caesar's cipher, didn't they?

[ But on to the matter at hand. ]

This is excellent work. If we're working off the pattern of things coming in threes, in conjunction with the message being addressed to us in particular, I wonder if the intent is less political and more a question or challenge being posed to us.

Three catastrophic events have happened since the first transport of Displaced arrived in New Amsterdam: the monster in June, the blizzard née monster in New Tokyo (and the shift in reality due to the "dreams") in October, and now this. Caesar declined the crown thrice but the Displaced helped in these disasters each time. Does DAWN feel we haven't done enough?

@goro.akechi

[impede]

What if they didn't use a Caesar's cipher for a reason?

@vee.blake

[verselet]

An easy cipher so that we may all read it, you mean.

[ex_dictator317]

You think this is their way of putting us through a trial to prove our worth?

It could be more. It could be a concentrated attack against the Displaced now that we're being toted as divine.
Just like Caesar was considered divine. Just like the monarchy thought they inherited the right to rule through God or Gods.

Maybe they think we're the ones trying to wear the crown, but if that's the case, I can't see why we're considered a greater enemy than the government and its anti-AI propaganda.

[revlon]

Elaborate field tests with us as the subjects of an equally elaborate experiment has been a theory bandied about a handful of times, yes. But it's just as possible this is an attack or some sort of punishment aimed at us with the entire city as collateral.

So we look to the rest of the message, not just the cipher, for clues as to why or how to make it right. If the answer is even contained in it at all. The quote was deliberate; we have to proceed as though everything else is, too.

@cassian.andor

[evasives]

Three chances to prove ourselves?

Perhaps all three were machinations meant as a test for us. Offering us a crown, seeing how we react, what we do. The impression I get of this story was that it was a demonstration.

Maybe it is asking if we know who is testing us.

[revlon]

Except in all three instances, including this one, our first instinct has been to help this world rather than turn away from it. Yet the message claims we're only "playing hero."

Who is testing us is certainly one question. So is what do they want, if what we've done thus far hasn't sufficed?

@clarke.griffin

[strove]

Thanks for this, Octavia.

So, the question is: what would someone posing as an AI—if they're not one themselves—want to do with this? What would they be saying?

There might be some inherent directive involved. That's how it was with ALIE.

@angel.fortran

[girlcorrupted]

If...this is someone posing as an AI, I would like to be part of the efforts to make contact with them.

I would like to make efforts regardless, but I have a specific history with the former.

[strove]

The real question is figuring out how we get to them. It's not like we can send a message. They made sure that it would be difficult.

@simon.jarrett

[theseuschip]

If it is, do you think you'd be able to get through to them?

@simon.jarrett

[theseuschip]

Sure, if it's an A.I. it must have been made to do something, but it's not making much sense.
You can at least tell what ALIE was going for. And the WAU, even if they weren't carrying out their directives the way they were made to.

[strove]

On the other post, El mentioned that DAWN was made for space exploration. I don't know how that ties into directions, though. Typically? It shouldn't. North as a cardinal direction mostly lies with us.

After all this time, is it possible the directive changed?

@gaby.teller

[myownwoman]

Caesar was already dictator when Antony offered him the crown and he was loved by the Roman people and Antony. It may not be a tyrant we should be looking into, but a figure beloved by the people and hated by the government.

[evite]

'hated' might be a bit of a stretch, but i don't think the una or the government are particularly thrilled about the whole glowcube movement
the new world order people with the shrines seem to love us, though.

[ a gal gets her face on a shrine and gets nearly killed by the una... ]

@angel.fortran

[girlcorrupted]

If we are Cesar in this scenario, should we be looking to our backs?

@cassian.andor

[evasives]

I find it hard to believe in a benevolent dictator.

But beloved by the people, hated by the government - could it be angling to reference us? The Displaced? With all the shrines popping up as Daisy has mentioned, and how the UNA do not seem to be our biggest fans - and we have powers, though admittedly not politically.

Perhaps this question of offering a crown is something we should be asking in relation to ourselves, since the message came to us specifically as well.

[myownwoman]

There is no doubt our powers could be leveraged politically if given enough time, any power can. Though I think it would be more likely that they would be leveraged politically against us.

Who offered US the crown then?

[ex_dictator317]

Debatable, but we aren't here to debate different historical interpretations of Antony's allegiances or when the Senate finally realized it was losing its power to a beloved tyrant.

The AI don't seem so fond of the government, either. That's what their shutdown tells me.
Making an enemy of their enemy, if it is the Displaced they're targeting, doesn't feel like a wise strategy.