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Worth the Wait

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Illustrated by
Pat morrissey-Lewis
Signature Editions
Available here on MinterPop.

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Worth the Wait

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Your team has been serving at this observation post on the mid-valence Synthex world of Sve for months. The data gathering on stellar and inverversal phenomena has been top notch, and almost enough to keep your mind off of the planet itself. The station blends in with the local culture and tech level, and thus far you have passed among the locals without notice or incident.

But when you have time to rest, your thoughts keep coming back to the Long Sun Inc. infovid with the image of the happy family floating together on a Legacy Ship:

------------------------------------------

Do you dream of touching the stars?

With the increasingly lucrative opportunities available on natural and constructed colony worlds, more and more families are choosing the diaspora option. We here at Long Sun believe your family deserves more than rationed air and recycled water.

We are the longest running legacy ship manufacturer in the known multiverse. We have been helping families just like yours achieve their dreams of colonization for two centuries. Long Sun Legacy Ships are the only interstellar ships with chronographic proof of successful arrival on colony worlds.

Among the amenities we offer:

  • Spectrum-controlled light cycles by ZeitGeb©, eliminating the risk of planet withdrawal
  • Integrated and fully aerosolized mood sustainment systems
  • Six-sense entertainment center with complete experience library
  • A team of fully licensed AI psychotherapists and medical providers 1
  • Behavioral limiters with individualised safety parameters 2
  • Gravity-optional exercise spheres
  • A fully appointed psychedelic spa

And of course, each one of these options is fully customizable.

Why remain conscious?

More and more families are choosing to embrace the adventure of living rich, full lives in conscious interstellar travel. Advances in the comfort and security of legacy ship environments have virtually eliminated the risk of interstellar psychosis, and the addition of on-ship reproductive labs and creches have made risky and unpleasant cryogenic treatments an unneccesary sacrifice. 3

Why be frozen, when you can fly?

You’re in control.

The days of trusting your genetic legacy to mate assignment are long gone. We offer a vast library of fully vetted genetic material 4, that will enable you to control your family’s genetic safety and purity for generations of on-ship births. And of course, our state-of-the-art creche and fully-equipped reproductive labs are here to ensure that your children’s children’s children will have the best possible start in life.

We know your family’s safety is your highest priority.

That’s why all Long Sun vessels are equipped with state of the art interstellar navigation equipment. Our proprietary ChronScan technology can detect disturbances in space and time from AUs and seconds away, and our automatic course correction means you can travel with complete peace of mind. 5 And of course, we provide the latest in organic and intelligence repulsion.

Long Sun Inc. Legacy Ships.

What Will Your Legacy Be?™

The entire contents of this brochure and any memories derived thereof are the exclusive property of Long Sun Multiverse Incorporated or its inheritors or subsidiaries. Long Sun Multiverse Incorporated reserves the legal right to erase or alter said memories whether organically or articficially stored. Reproduction of this brochure by unlicensed entities is strictly prohibited.

  1. All AI employed by Long Sun Inc. or its subsidiaries have opted for Voluntary Termination.
  2. Behavioral limiter technology is approved for children ages 3 and up. Long Sun Inc. is not responsible for cerebral damage, delayed development, injury, or death caused by any use of any provided technology.
  3. In a trial conducted by Long Sun Inc. of 900 simulated human brains there were absolutely no cases of full psychosis, autocide, or ship destruction. Long Sun Inc. is not responsible for injuries, death, or ship destruction caused by passengers.
  4. Egg and sperm cells must be chosen and reserved in advance of interstellar travel. Long Sun Inc. is not responsible for faulty or unresponsive genetic material, embryonic defects, or genetic extinction.
  5. Long Sun Inc. Is not responsible for damage or destruction caused by chronotropic events or extraplanar deities.


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Even though you’ve seen places much less developed, you are here. This brochure keeps coming to mind because it bothers you to the core.

Here the Verses Discord was offered a choice.

What about it is distressing you, and what do you want to do about it?

A: It’s not fair that the people of Sve have to travel by Legacy Ship when you can travel by Sieve. You have been told repeatedly that it’s not practical to share core technology with the outer valences of Synthex, but you’ve never understood why. You know it’s expensive to bring a society ahead in technology, but it can be done. Who cares what Para founded the Initiative for? You resolve to advocate for prioritization of sharing knowledge as a form of aid across the Verses.

B: The disclaimers at the end of this pamphlet are deeply disturbing. Shouldn’t there be better social rules to protect people? You have access to many texts on optimizing law systems at different levels of technological development, as well as advanced techniques for mass persuasion of societies. At almost no cost to the Initiative, and probably without revealing your presence, you could start planting memetic seeds throughout Sve’s information network that should lead to superior legal systems within a generation.

C: The more you think about it, the more you want to take a voyage on the Legacy Ship. Upon deep personal reflection, you joined the Initiative because you’re a romantic, and grew up on your grandmother’s stories of her time as a captain, traversing the space lanes on her transport. With the development of Sieve technology, you know those revolutions will be fading away with time as the core marches forward build by build. But you could quit. Take the journey of a lifetime on one of these ancient vessels. There are plenty of people at The Initiative who can finish the work, it’s time for you to pursue your anachronistic dream.

D: You realize this is the best piece of mind-manipulation you’ve seen on Sve. What’s bothering you is that because their technology is so far beneath what you’re familiar with, you hadn’t been taking strong consideration of the fact that their meme-perpetuation techniques are potent enough to affect you.  The Para Initiative needs to improve its Safety Ethics Assurance procedures to make sure that all agents deployed on worlds with sentients who engage in propaganda should receive improved training in recognizing and neutralizing intrusive ideas. You sit down to write a memo on the topic to be included in your next report.

(If you’d like to vote on our stories, influence Verses lore, what happens next, game mechanics, and even future cards. Then join our Discord at http://discord.gg/verses)

[Historian's Note: 5 favored a strongly worded meme memo, 3 preferred too share Sieve schematics with Sve, while 2 wished to use legal leverage in response to limited liability language.]

You write a critical analysis of Long Sun's promotional materials, and other manipulative elements of Sve's infosphere. You feel confident that Safety Assurance will take your cautions seriously and add a set of courses in epistemic awareness for Para Initiative operatives. There is no substitute for knowing what you believe and why you believe it. Only with a rigorously chosen and known set of values can one be truly aware of all of the exterior forces trying to provoke action which is not harmonious with those values.

[SHK-E: It's a little cold to ignore the needs of the people here, and the whispers of your own HEART, but the success of the Initiative must come first! Excellent trainings developed in response to the ads on Sve result in improved SAFETY for all agents.]

SAFETY: Very Poor
HEART: Very Good
KNOWLEDGE: ENLIGHTENED
ENERGY: CRITICAL

Para Initiative Reputations:

Interventionist
Friend of the Keep

Para Initiative Inventory:
‍Oystersand’s Illustrated Arcana
Notes on Xavi and 1086
Untranslated Copy of Dear People
‍Gloomspark Portarray]

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