text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

When I arrived here, I assumed the barrier had been meant to keep us in and that the Emperor controlled it. By now, I think it's obvious that that's not the case. The barrier is meant to keep things out. When Tu Vishan dove underwater, the barrier stayed up and held back the jingashi. But they broke through and, judging by the kedans' reactions, that had never happened before. In fact, I asked around. It hasn't ever happened before, not until lately.

Point two: a satellite falls out of the sky, breaks through the barrier, and lands on Tu Vishan. First of all, this suggest that there is-- or was-- some kind of long-distance communication technology. It also suggests that the barrier is weakening even more. Before, it took the stress of thousands of jingashi to weaken the barrier. Now all it takes is debris. Big debris, sure, but decidedly less stress than the jingashi.

As for the Emperor, it's possible she's contributing power to maintain the barrier, but it doesn't originate from her. Tu Vishan is the one maintaining it.

I know everyone's concerned about what's coming, but we can't let that distract us completely from the big picture. My point is that we need to slow down and rethink what we think we know. Since the barrier is our first line of defense against any outside invasion, let's start there. What do we know, what do we think we know, and how can that help us?


[The text has been helpfully translated into French, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, German, and Japanese.]

Comments

text | anon | additional translations whee

[cowled]

[Appended is the message repeated in a variety of other languages, feel free to pretend yours is here if it hasn't already been mentioned as long as it's Earth or DC-based and Batman has a reasonable purpose for knowing it.

He's not being helpful, he's just being efficient.]

text;

[iguanasolution]

I am new here but I can help testing out how high and low the barrier gets, and to try to find any holes on the barrier or something like that. Would that help?

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

Definitely. I don't think anyone has done intensive testing on the entire barrier. How are you going to do it?

video;

[kelpful]

[Percy has been squinting at this, but it's just too many words for him to bother with]

Dude, what's it say?

text; Supercrypted; Anonymous location

[andaway]

[Mamasupes is so proud of you sonny, so proud.]

You raise a valid point but investigating the barrier isn't going to be an easy thing. We aren't even sure of its power source, only have vague idea of it.

Maybe we should focus on trying to find out more about that?

text; Supercrypted; Anonymous location

[hackingyoursensors]

Great idea. So far the explanation as been "magic from the turtle."

Any ideas of where to start?

[He has a few, but Clark's input is always more than welcome.]

audio

[sophos]

[Texting. Ain't nobody got time for that.] If the turtle's increasingly getting sick - possibly even dying - it's not really surprising that the barrier is getting worse alongside it.

It probably won't get better unless Tu Vishan does, too.

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

Possibly. But the barrier failed before Tu Vishan was outwardly ill.

text

[bindsthedead]

Do you think it's connected to Tu Vishan's illness? Or something else?

text

[hackingyoursensors]

I assumed it was connected to Tu Vishan's illness. But I also assumed the Emperor created the barrier to trap us. I think there's something else. I'd say it's an external force, but I don't want to rule anything out just yet.

text | anon | as private as she can make it

[una_persson]

I think the barrier may be a defence against a particular entity. And I'm pretty sure that we're not the first to have faced it.

If the barrier is weakening because of Tu Vishan's illness, it's worth figuring out if the illness is caused by something else—or by this entity.

If the latter, we should be very worried indeed.

text | anon | 100% encrypted

[hackingyoursensors]

That's what I was thinking. The Emperor gathering fighters might've attracted its attention. I know if I were it, I'd want to take out the threat before they can organize into a real threat. Maybe it's been pushing against the barrier this whole time and we never knew it. Of course, that's all theory, and not very comforting.

What makes you think there were others?

Voice - As private as he can manage

[excessivehubris]

This is a very pertinent and concern point you raise. May I ask what other supporting evidence you are using for this conclusion?

[There is no challenge in his tone, he is merely trying to come up to speed as quickly as possible in a short amount of time.]

text; anonymous; 100% encrypted

[hackingyoursensors]

Observation, primarily. I also spoke to Tu Vishan-- Asti. He confirmed that the barrier was to protect us.

text;

[fatedchaos]

Communication with who, exactly?

text; anonymous

[hackingyoursensors]

Good question. We've stopped off at a few places. It could be a defunct satellite for turtle-mainland communication.

But I wonder who or what wanted to protect it so badly. It could also have been some kind of military satellite.

I'm just thinking aloud, to be honest.

text, English

[alpha_squad_leader]

Are we so sure it's one or the other and not both? It would be reasonable to assume that whatever would want to keep us in the barrier would also want to keep other things out for a few reasons.

And even if the Emperor isn't maintaining the barrier, she could be altering it.

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

It obviously does both. I'm just wondering if one is a side-effect of another. The barrier also lets us pass through when we dock somewhere, and we can go back and forth as much as we want.

It's possible. But altering it to do what?

anon text

[sophos]

[ANONYMOUSLY POSTED FROM RANDOM CAFE AW YES. But she might as well drop it somewhere, even if she's already replied as herself about an hour earlier. Text is hard but she pushes!!]

ARSHEPHELIOS was a system of orbital defense platforms. The name is portmanteau of something, unknown - though given the meaning of 'Helios,' it's possible to infer something from that. It was designed as weaponry above communication, the development of technology for the sake of it.

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

[Ah, now he's getting somewhere.]

Helios was the Greek god of the sun-- doesn't myth say that he could see everything? If the name is derived from 'Helios,' that means whoever built it knows mythology from our world.

Any idea about the specifics of these weapons or what they were meant to fight?

voice.

[traitre]

[ not a little drily-- ]

Given the considerate effort to translate this into various and extremely foreign languages, I imagine this must be important-- whatever it says.

anonymous; audio; Batcryption 100%

[hackingyoursensors]

[Sigh. He'd tried to account for every language he could.

There's nothing to do but speak over the network, though he tries to disguise his voice. Gives himself a light Southern accent and drops his voice an octave.]

I'll read it to you, then:


When I arrived here, I assumed the barrier had been meant to keep us in and that the Emperor controlled it. By now, I think it's obvious that that's not the case. The barrier is meant to keep things out. When Tu Vishan dove underwater, the barrier stayed up and held back the jingashi. But they broke through and, judging by the kedans' reactions, that had never happened before. In fact, I asked around. It hasn't ever happened before, not until lately.

Point two: a satellite falls out of the sky, breaks through the barrier, and lands on Tu Vishan. First of all, this suggest that there is-- or was-- some kind of long-distance communication technology. It also suggests that the barrier is weakening even more. Before, it took the stress of thousands of jingashi to weaken the barrier. Now all it takes is debris. Big debris, sure, but decidedly less stress than the jingashi.

As for the Emperor, it's possible she's contributing power to maintain the barrier, but it doesn't originate from her. Tu Vishan is the one maintaining it.

I know everyone's concerned about what's coming, but we can't let that distract us completely from the big picture. My point is that we need to slow down and rethink what we think we know. Since the barrier is our first line of defense against any outside invasion, let's start there. What do we know, what do we think we know, and how can that help us?


Does that help?

[video]

[backinakidflash]

What's a jingashi?

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

A cross between vampires and zombies that invaded Tu Vishan back in January while it was diving for food.

[Video] Because he can't be bothered typing.

[tactile_telekinesis]

Uh, no DUH it's coming from the turtle. That makes way more sense than having the Emperor do it.

Let me just correct you on something. You said that it's to keep things out, right? So why do we black out and lose our powers when we get close to the actual barrier? Why haven't we been able to cross over it? If it's to keep things out, surely things in should be able to get out. It's not much protection if we don't want to be in this place and are held like prisoners.

Also, this stuff has been happening since we arrived.

text; anonymous; English; excuse you Kon

[hackingyoursensors]

During landfall you can, though you lose your powers the farther away from the turtle you get.

It is meant to protect us from outside threats. When the turtle dove, it protected us from drowning and attempted to hold back the jiganshi. Not saying we're not essentially prisoners here, because I definitely didn't sign up for this, but the nature of the barrier is two-fold.

Yes, that's true. But is it happening because of us or were we called here when Tu Vishan was already in danger?

text; anon

[candystriped]

Slow down? Has there been some frantic rush for progress the rest of us aren't aware of?

text; anonymous

[hackingyoursensors]

[Wow, everyone's moody today.]

I meant slow down and focus on what we've been overlooking.

audio // encrypted 60%

[lostundercover]

I don't know who you are and I don't know what you're lookin' for, but if you need help fixing it, you let me know.

perma-text; anonymous; Batcryption 100%

[hackingyoursensors]

Thanks, Mr. ?

I'm just tossing ideas out there and trying to get new perspectives and information right now. Hard to make a plan without enough information.

video »

[necromania]

If your theory about the barrier is correct and it's only getting weaker, why should we slow down? Shouldn't we be more worried about preparing our second line of defense?

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

You can think and act at the same time. The barrier weakening is a problem from a tactical standpoint, but it might also tell us more about what exactly is going on.

What would you suggest our second line of defense be?

text;

[urbanmagic]

Honestly going in blind here as a newbie, so I'm pretty sure the conclusions I'm making are things you've already guessed for.

If the barrier's weakened that much, [Or at least, from what she's gathering there.] figuring out the source of the sickness might be priority. That satellite that broke through might have been deliberately brought here to test the barrier. Wouldn't be the first case of sabotage in the book.

text; anonymous; English

[hackingyoursensors]

Good point. With a side-effect of causing panic. Maybe even gauging the foreigners' skills and Tu Vishan's readiness, assuming whoever or whatever it is could see what was actually going on.

text | french

[chiot]

ey i think you're right!!!!!!
we should ask all of the peoples that have superpowers
and they will make a super barrier

anonymous; text; French

[hackingyoursensors]

I don't know if that'll work, but we can keep it in mind. It'd probably be better in the long run to help Tu Vishan.