FROM: @WEHFRIED || TO: @ALL (backdated like hell, aka before spiderland)

[gerechtigkeit]

Before Gallipoli, it was discussed that we should come up with aliases to call each other, and have backstories to speak of while there was downtime in the war. At the time, we knew the Regency was there, but they wouldn't be so visible. It was enough to not be asked too much by the natives of the time, and allowed us the conditions we needed to blend in as a unit of reinforcements that was beached at the wrong location.

The situation may be different here, but I'd suggest we come up with different aliases from before, considering we'll be facing the Regency out in the open. Using your actual name isn't suggested- it could cause problems and endanger the rest of this cell if you do so. Try to pick something you'll remember easily enough.

Feel free to suggest names and ideas for yourselves, or help others. The BCE has a list of them you can pick from. The sooner we can compile a list, the easier it will make it for all of us to recall while in the middle of the mission.

[Boy, talking like this is a reminder of speaking with soldiers before battles. That was a long time ago, and he's getting back into the hang of it. Also, guess who's bad at suggesting names? THIS GUY. Thankfully, the BCE has a posh name generator that can be found here.]

Comments

@BOARING | text

[lonelywar]

[This might actually be perceived as a "late response" to this thread, as it takes Ashitaka some time to decide whether or not he wished to share it. In the end, he decides he should do so.]

When I was a captive of the Regency, and when I was speaking to Kebuchet myself, I noticed that they seemed to know everything about me. Not only my name. Not only the circumstances of my life, but the events in the world that it tied into.
They knew everything.

In a moment of despair, I asked if this meant that our fighting was pointless, and I recalled what happened to Xici. Perhaps it was a mistake to do such a thing, but I was not thinking clearly at the time.
Kebechet said that the erasure of a single person from history was a violation of an accord the Regency had made. They did not seem to believe what I told them.

I am not so foolish to believe that Kebechet was telling me the truth. So do not enlighten me of this; I know.
But this is a different war to be fought than the one in Gallipoli and France. If I do not need to take on another name to blend in, I do not see the purpose in taking any other name but my own.
If it is only the Regency we worry about, they would see through it regardless.

I am unsure if their knowledge extends to everyone. I would be unable to speak to the wisdom of concealing your identity in the future. I only speak for myself, and for what I was told.

[He's never been very good for pretending anyway.]

@PANTSONFIRE

[jailbirds]

the fact that you say you don't know if their knowledge "extends to everyone" is reason enough for fake names
if we don't know shit then just do it anyway
it's not like it's fuckin hard to do & it can't hurt

besides some of these idiots need to learn how to play a character & believe me, a name helps

[lonelywar]

This is why I said I speak only for myself. I am sure others might notice that I do not use one, so this is my explanation.
It is also information I have had for a while, and keeping it to myself started to feel deceitful.

For some it might. I have tried different masks to blend in with the past few missions, and it is always difficult; I feel usually it only makes me more noticeable, as none of it seems natural.
What I mean to say is that what we are called to do often demands a great amount of a specific skill of duplicity that many do not have, and that it is not easy to learn.

[mylawn]

That's what has me worried more than anything else. We never figured out how they got that information, did we?

[lonelywar]

For myself, I have not been as consistent with my false names in the past as I should have been. It is possible the Regency could have learned my identity through that.
But others... from what I have heard, they knew who all of us were, and some were recent recruits who would not have had the opportunity to make such a mistake.
So I am not sure, either how they learned of this or if it applies to some or many or all.

[mylawn]

They were able to use our network and disrupt BCEs. Who's to say they haven't infiltrated other systems?

[lonelywar]

[If he's heard about Kebuchet speaking to COST through their BCE network, it was only in passing (and then there's his patchwork understanding of how it works at all).

But yes. That was a very good point.]

It seemed to me that the technologies and powers at their disposal were much stronger than what we have. We manage to just keep ahead of them, but I worry how well we will be able to keep information from them in the future.

[They were running as fast as they could, but sometimes it felt like the trap was set to spring upon them any moment.]

It is very worrying.

[To say the least.]

[mylawn]

COST is very much the underdog, that's for sure. It just makes me wonder how much danger we're really in because of it.

[lonelywar]

I believe it is probably safer to assume it is a great deal of danger.

Our interference in their plans so far is certainly not something they will treat lightly.

[mylawn]

If they can hack into our network, then yes. We need to be fixing that.

[lonelywar]

[So Ashitaka 1) thinks computers are barely distinguishable from magic and 2) wasn't here for Kebechet's intrusion into the COST network, so...]

They can do what?

[mylawn]

Read our messages over the BCEs.

[lonelywar]

Oh. I see.

Has this been stopped, or do we suspect they still have access to them?

[prizeneck]

was there any way they could've gotten that information from you and you don't remember

[lonelywar]

In Paris, I was not as attentive with using a false identity as I should have been. It was only a few occasions, but it is enough to think this is how they might have discovered my identity.
But this is only for myself. I am not the only one whom they seemed to know so much about, as others here have mentioned.

[prizeneck]

hrm
not very conclusive
still to have you through some torturing process and not killing you straight away seems kinda counterintuitive if they had that much information about you
what did they want

[lonelywar]

They did not want information. They had everything I could have possibly told them about myself. I would wager that they had far more than that, even.

I believe they wanted me to doubt. They undermined my perception of COST, attempted to make me doubt what I had been told.
I believe they might think us to be valuable resources to them in the future, and this is why we have been safeguarded up to this point.

[ryuji]

[Ignoring all the important parts...]

We're gonna get those bastards back for what they did to you

[lonelywar]

[It's a sentiment Ashitaka struggles to reconcile, as there's the smallest shred of him which feels the same way, even though logically he knows it's very much against what he believes and what he understands from what he has seen. But did they even have the ability to be so discerning now? This war with the Regency was not the confined conflict he faced back home.

Regardless of how conflicted he might feel on it, he is grateful to have a friend defensive of him.]

Thank you, Ryuji.
I am hoping that things do not descend to that during this mission, however. Our situation seems precarious enough without openly fighting with the Regency there.

[ryuji]

[That's fine. Let Ashitaka rue and toss/turn over the morality of hatred and whether or not it's conducive to... well, anything good. Ryuji will take the helm of retribution. He cares for Ashitaka at a level that he would like any one of his other close friends. Is there a fist fight? He'll make, and take, the first blow if he has to.]

You don't gotta thank me

No one's ever gonna get their hands on you again, you hear me?

This mission or next, it doesn't matter. They're gonna eat their own words like rotten milk.

[lonelywar]

[It is certainly within Ryuji's right...

...though it will never be so simple or easy for Ashitaka to accept that so readily.]

I do. I will have to be more cautious in the future. We all will.

[Says the guy not bothering to use a pseudonym in this next mission, but, like he said, they know literally everything about him, as far as he can tell, so it's all a pretty moot point in that regard.]

Please let me know if you decide to act upon this. I will want to at least be at your side.

[Because he's definitely not going to let Ryuji spearhead this alone.]

@CRUELLA

[reillumination]

[ all his prior questions seem to have touched on, which shows in a moment, but: ]

So, you have no other suspicions on how they gained that information on you besides what you've said here. No further theories at all.

[ he's keeping track on the others, but there's no harm in asking for more. paranoia and distrust keeps him in check everywhere else as it already stands. ]

[lonelywar]

The Regency has all of history at their fingertips.
As soon as they knew who I was, they found everything they needed to know without the need to ask. From what I was shown, they can go to any point in time and witness for themselves first-hand whatever they need to.
This is how I believe they learned so much. I saw it myself.

[gerechtigkeit]

[To Ashitaka's credit, Siegfried's response takes time too, figuring out what to say.]

...So I've heard. I'm suggesting this out of concern; mostly because I feel that if we didn't take any fake names at all, it would be far more dangerous. Even if the Regency already knows who we all are, it's better to be safe on everyone else's behalf.

[lonelywar]

[Sorry, Sieg.]

Like any precaution, there is no harm in assuming it regardless.
It is only for myself that I feel it is a lost cause, at this point.