video ( @INGENIUM & @ciri ).

[vrm]

[ WITH THE FURY OF A THOUSAND PASSIONATE SUNS, IT'S IIDA ( "who's iida", some of you might ask. well, this is iida. ): ]

OPHELIA, MAY WE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION! Thank you in advance! Ciri and I have been working together to gather information that our group may find pertinent to our work here in Drakstaden. She has been fantastic to work with, and we hope you are able to make something of our hard work and findings. Pst. It's all you -- !

Ah, please. The compliments aren’t needed — [ She clears her throat a bit awkwardly, trying to hide the tone of her flustered words. ] Loose lips speaking distaste of the current government have most certainly caused problems for this world, however… We have found a bit more information. Some names which may prove useful if we intend to find a successor. One that could do well to ensure the voices of the lower, middle, and upper class are all heard equally and with as much weight.

[ If he had a paper to wave, he'd be waiving it. Instead, y'all get Robot Hand Gestures (TM). ] We've managed to gather a list of names, all of them imprisoned dissenters: Oskar Bjorkson, Elsi Simonsdottir, Valdor Fritsson, Gabriel Ymirson, Lilla Sagasdottir, Camilla Noelsdottir.

We don't know much more than that, but we wanted to bring our findings before you all and see what you thought. I know we discussed several options on the entry from our guildmates "lokiofasgard" and "beloved" and that many of you already have pursued your own paths. To that end! If you had any ideas or current work that might benefit from this information, it is yours. Personally, we had the idea that these people might be useful in upholding part of Ophelia's mission: protecting the lower class from complete eradication.

Honestly, all of these people could very much be as horrible for the job as they are great — do we feel it’s worth the risk to… “liberate” them somehow and possibly include them in Rost’s plans?

[ TL;DR: So, Iida and Ciri rustled up the names of some of the imprisoned dissenters. What Ophelia wants to ( or does not want to do ) with this information is up for debate. This is backdated to before the Electric Sheep event went live, for the reasons you'd expect?? ]

Comments

video | @keith

[secondnature]

How'd you come across this information? Is this all we have?

[If it's only those people, it might be enough, but Keith isn't sure. It depends on what they were jailed for.]

un: urahara

[predomination]

If we manage to get them out of prison, we can see how well they stack up, but it does feel like any one of them could be a potential candidate if they frightened the government enough to arrest them.

video ( @INGENIUM )

[vrm]

We spoke to as many people as were willing to talk in the lower levels about dissenters who had been jailed -- they weren't comfortable enough with us to offer much more than this. Perhaps... we could investigate public records to find out more about them.

[ does this place even HAVE public records ]

They did their best, considering how fearful they must be.

[secondnature]

Are these people only from the lower levels? I've been thinking we need someone in the higher levels of this city to care. And reaching out to their families could do the trick.

[vrm]

That is what we were hoping to discover. But, we have only names, not their activities or what they stand for.

[vrm]

I will admit the investigation was biased towards information from the lower level, but I'm not aware if any of these people are, themselves, from the lower levels. I believe more investigation into them is warranted, to that end.

[ he's totally writing down all of these suggestions thanks ]

Provided we're able to locate and question their families without incriminating them, of course. Establishing more compassionate leadership among the upper echelon would benefit this society greatly.

[secondnature]

I'm not even sure they need leadership—let's just begin with them caring in the first place about anyone else.

video; un: cyclops

[evenslimmer]

And you're definitely sure they're alive?

[ BECAUSE HOT SHIT DOES HE HAVE IDEAS. ]

video ( @ciri )

[persists]

It took some convincing, but people were able to provide us with a few names they've seen purposefully seized from the lower wards. My inkling suspicion is they either have the means to revolt, the ideas to inspire a rebellion, or better leadership than some of those in power. All deadly in their own right.

[persists]

This relies on luck, unless we can find more testimonials to support a favorable notion. These could simply be those who threaten the upper level's way of life or pose a just-as-greedy mindset.

[ She sighs. ]

Have you heard of any of these individuals since arriving?

[secondnature]

Only if they aren't from the lower levels. I don't see how anyone down there could be seen as a real threat. Maybe I'm wrong, but ... stuff seems pretty tough there. That's why I've been trying to focus on helping them.

video; @eraserhead

[eyedrop]

Just a name doesn't give us much to go on. We need to find out the extent of their disobedience.

[ There's a big gulf between distributing politically subversive flyers, for instance, and, perhaps, murder. ]

But it's a good start. You and your friend did well, Iida.

video; @shouto

[somelikeitcold]

Have you asked Rost about any of those names? They might be able to tell you more about who they are and why the government saw them as a threat.

video: @andy

[killtime]

[ Wryly: ] If they're useless, we can always put them back.

video; @keith

[secondnature]

And get them killed? Because that's what would happen.

["Wryly" is a tone that Keith is not good at picking up on most of the time. Almost all of the time.]

[predomination]

All the more reason to give them a thorough interview! I'm sure you can do that, Iida-san. You seem to be an excellent judge of character.

[predomination]

Unfortunately, luck is the most effective currency we have so far. We got dropped in with only a dossier and none of the experience that comes with living here for a long time. Maybe then, those names would mean something to me.

[vrm]

Proper leadership should definitely do more than simply "lead". Someone who demonstrates compassion, concern and consideration for others could easily become a peer and leader that others aspire to emulate.

Do you believe we should find someone kind, then?

[vrm]

I cannot speak to the state of internal affairs within the prison! But, I hope so.

[ oh no why would you say this ]

I have to believe this society has not fallen so far as to execute those who've spoken against it.

[secondnature]

That's not what I meant.

[Explaining this is harder than he'd like. But here he goes:]

We can't just break a lot of people out while trying to figure out who can be the next leader. We have to solve one problem at a time. We can't pick a leader before we know what system they're leading, or if they can take over, or if they have experience.

All we have are names. They're people who wanted to enact change. Let's focus on that for now.

[vrm]

Precisely, sir. Because we could only find names, we thought to come to Ophelia as a whole to determine our next steps.

[ he's pleased, but focuses on the more important matters, ok! ]

Ciri has been excellent to work with. She understands the complexity of leadership and government in a way I could not. That being said, we haven't been paying attention to the guild's other doings.

[vrm]

We didn't wish to immediately move on the Rost, until we had brought the discussion to Ophelia as a whole. For security reasons, of course. Should any of these names get out as subjects of interest, we may forfeit the opportunity to do anything with them.

[ also, he's been avoiding the rost to be fair. oops. ]

[evenslimmer]

[ Because he's a pessimist and it definitely occurred to him, as someone obsessed with control and prone to anxiety and paranoia, that executing dissidents might enter the picture at some point.

But maybe he shouldn't say that, because he'd like to believe they haven't fallen that far either. IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR OPTIMISM, IIDA (but with considerably more reserve): ]

Okay. This is good. This is a good place to start, if you're definitely certain they made it to prison and there's a chance they're not dead yet. Did you get a timeline of who was active when? What they got labeled as dissidents for?

video; un: cyclops

[evenslimmer]

[ Andy goddamn it no. ]

We're not going to do that.

[vrm]

[ omg ] If they're ill-suited for the work, we won't ask for their help in the first place. It would be irresponsible of us to senselessly endanger someone.