Life2.0 - a Broken Shackles Narrative

[CBR JGWRR]

Naomi and Appia's relationship is hilarious at times...

It's nice that Naomi can get those genetic edits that she wanted. What will Appia think of that?

Appia doesn't get a choice in the matter.

Let's hope that this new arrangement works out. Is there any organized resistance to Appia yet?

Fortunately for Appia, the actively hostile to reform people got dealt with by Gnaea and so she has an easier time of it, and she has the shock of losing to Life2.0 on her side.

Woah, it's impressive how far we've come since this story started. A full transformation for Naomi is an epic turning point.

Yes, it's a lot of fun to finally get to write the scenes I've been foreshadowing for more than fifty pages.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Laboratory"
7th Hoggagha, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

Consciousness slips back as my eyes open again.

Does it still count as waking in a virtual world, knowing the real me is a somewhat disembodied brain in a vat?

Nevermind. I don't want to think about that. Ground myself.

I am in a room, laid on a hospital bed. White walls, white floor, very clean. I look down. Still early fourties Human woman. Buri is next to me, both of us wearing white gowns.

Well... I am. His has ripped because it really doesn't fit. I get up.

Do we eat or drink in a virtual world?

I decide to go exploring. Our hospital bay for two opens up into a corridor. Most of the doors don't open with the handle, but I find two that are open. One is an operating theatre, the other is a consultation room with snacks and drinks.

Hmm.

Yep, still tastes of food. Even has that metallic feel hospital food has.

"Naomi, come here."

I smile, then walk out to the hospital bed. Oh.

Try the theatre.

There he is. I lean at the door as he gets up.

He sees me.

He rips what remains of his gown off. I stare. "Buri, that's... Intriguing."

"I'm here for upgrades."

I can't help but blush. I walk over, and whisper in his ear. "It's a little bit too much of an upgrade."

He lies back down, and the changes revert to something... Merely proportionate. He gets up. "You just lie down and imagine the changes you want to make."

I lay down. I close my eyes, imagine myself covered in black fur.

I open an eye. Then both.

I look at my husband. "What do you think?"

"Imagine a brown-black fur. You don't look right in a blue-black fur."

I lie back down. Close my eyes. I call to mind the wolf-like me from my dream. Buri whistles. Well, he tries.

I laugh as I open my eyes. "What do you think?"

He grabs my hips. "Your artwork didn't do it justice." His claws rove my new body, running through my braided fur.

Hmm. That much braiding would take days to do. Oh well. "You like it?"

He runs his tongue along my sabre teeth. "This feels like you."

I lick him. Then I stand.

And fall over backwards immediately. Buri picks me up, places me on the bed. "What happened?"

Hmm. I think it through. Look at my clawed feet, and I realise the issue. "I'm not used to digitigrade feet."

"Here."

He walks slowly for me. I watch my husband's toes, the way he places his weight. I leap off. He holds my hand, claw to claw, guiding me. I shift my balance forward, lift my toe claws clear of the ground...

"You'll find you can move much quicker than your old-flatfooted nature."

He begins to dance with me. We move out the theatre, back in the corridor, and he waltzes me up and down, twirling me around. It's quite good fun, but also limited.

I curl on a chair in the consultation room. "Where do you think we can go?"

"Maybe we're stuck with just the medical lab?"

Hmm. "I have an idea."

I stand in front of a door.

I open it the Xenayan way.

Of course, a Xenayan would keep their balance... But I'm through, into a different room. It has a circular stone arch around a stood upright in the middle of the room. Buri starts reading options. "This portal allows us to change locations."

I join him, wrapping my now much longer arms around him. "Oh?"

"Space opera, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, laboratory... What are these?"

"Genera of media and setting."

"Which do you fancy?"

"We're living in a dream world. Fantasy?"

He nuzzles me. "Fantasy it is then."

We place our claws on the dial together. A blue whirlpool fills the arch. I lick his ear. "Race you."

We leap.​

 

[Macavity116]

This is so trippy. Kinda reminds me of the final chapter of The Last Battle by CS Lewis.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Fantasy RPG"
7th Hoggagha, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

The gentle rumble of a horse and cart travelling a cobblestone path beneath the trees and birdsong fills my senses. New scents I've never picked up as a Human too.

"Hey you, you're finally awake."

A Human, dressed in blue dyed fur on chainmail and leather armour talks to us. I'm not sure what to say...

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

The thief scowls. "Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn’t been looking for you, I could’ve stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there. You and me — we should be here. It’s these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We’re all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief."

The driver of the cart yells. "Shut up back there!"

It doesn't stop them. Horse thief keeps talking. "And what’s wrong with him?

"Watch your tongue! You’re speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King."

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You’re the leader of the rebellion. But if they captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

Chainmailed guy takes a resigned tone. "I don’t know where we’re going, but Sovngarde awaits."

Thief panics. "No, this can’t be happening. This isn’t happening."

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?"

"Why do you care?"

"A Nord’s last thoughts should be of home."

Hmm.. Well, my home isn't here. Thief continues. "Rorikstead. I’m…I’m from Rorikstead."

A soldier calls out as we pass through a gate. "General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"

The general calls out loud enough for us to hear. "Good. Let’s get this over with."

Thief starts praying. "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me."

"Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this. This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny…when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

Everyone on the cart falls silent. I listen to some of the villagers talking instead. A boy catches my attention. "Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?"

His father strokes his head. "You need to go inside, little cub."

"Why? I want to watch the soldiers."

The father gets firmer. "Inside the house. Now."

The cart follows the path round.

They start unloading us. Hmm. Leather armour, steel swords... They tick the others off the list. Leaving me, and no Buri yet. Where is he?

One of the soldiers addresses me. "Who are you?"

I'm yanked out of my body as my perspective shifts to the third person. Hmm... I don't want to make any alterations without Buri. Get yanked back into my body as they push us into a line.

That's a big axe.

What's the angle here. Why am I at an execution scene? Am I supposed to tear these flimsy bonds and escape? and who's the roaring?

Priest is rambling. One of the prisoners gets upset.

His body glitches out as he gets beheaded. They might want to fix that...

Why me?

They drag me over. Do I resist? I don't know what I'm supposed to do. The headsman looks at me. Lifts.

A black monster lands on the building behind him, and roars as Buri leaps from his back and uses the headsman to land. I smile as he sweeps me up and barges through a gate as the dragon and the soldiers start fighting.

I have the best husband.

He sprints for some time, bounding through the snow until we come to a forest at the bottom of a cliff. He lays me down, and unbinds me.

Tears my prisoner's rags off, tears my muzzle off. "Thank you husband."

"You're welcome, wife. Where are we anyway?"

I frown. "Don't know. I'm not so keen on this world." He walks away. I follow. "Got an idea for where to go?"

He pauses. "The Neumann said we could test ourselves out."

"Learning our new capabilities."

He looks at me. "We've not really tried them, have we?"

I smile.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

This is so trippy. Kinda reminds me of the final chapter of The Last Battle by CS Lewis.

Oh, this could get so trippy. Trippier than a trippy thing.

 

[Macavity116]

Holy Jericho. I've never played Skyrim, but that series of dialogues is pretty much burned into my memory. It's omnipresent on the internet.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I know. It's one of the most memed sections of dialogue, I just had to include it. I did consider starting with Ralof's line and going somewhere completely different just to exploit that, but the mental image of Buri riding Alduin to rescue Naomi was simply too good to miss.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Professionalism, Part 4"
15th Hoggagha, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

I enter Leonardo's office block; he has the first working concepts ready for my consideration.

Gillian greets me, the long dress she wears to cover her missing legs joined by a golden cape around her shoulders.

"That's quite stylish Gillian."

She smiles. "Leo will explain. I'll guide you to the display room, and find him afterwards, let you look around."

She drives into a display hall, where... ooh, easily into the hundreds of mannequins representing all the species on Unity are displaying concepts for uniforms. Lots of capes, vambraces, chest plates, harnesses and other items that are more easily shared across species are present. There's an entire cabinet filled with medals. He must have gotten through rolls upon rolls of labelling tape, as he's done a really comprehensive job; he's got the hallway divided into ranks, with different uniforms for officers, enlisted crewmen, scientific staff, medical staff, logistics staff, and there's even options for civilian militia.

I scan a few pieces and find he's even thought of putting UV marker pen on the detailing, with infrared tags.

And then I see he's even included dress uniforms for discharged combat veterans. Gillian is wearing one of the cape options. I feel the weight just to see if it's real gold or just golden painted steel like everything else that's gold on the other uniforms, and judging from the weight he's used real gold.

I especially love the fact command staff wear blood red; Mum would definitely approve of that.

Eventually, I finish walking around. Gillian returns, and Leonardo follows her. His Tungsten armour has been polished to a mirror-like finish, and with the blood red cape he looks imposing. Well, for a Human that is.

He smiles. "Salvē, domina."

I smile. He is getting better at not showing his fear. "Excuse me, but I was told I was here to see the first working concepts, but well, I can't seem to find them." I wave to the mannequins. "They can't be these, because what I'm seeing is really far too impressive for working concepts."

Gillian's smile goes as wide as her face.

Leonardo bows his head. "Well, I wouldn't presume to put them into service without your approval."

"How soon can you get them up and running?"

"I'd aim to have it phased in over the rest of the year, starting with command and combat forces as the priority."

"Perfect. So, we'll have to run the ideas past the others in leadership, but you've done a job that would surpass anything I'd have come up with."

 

[HistoryDude]

I also noticed the Skyrim line immediately. I'm amused that it's survived so long. How much Earth media survived the rise and fall of the PDRTC?

It looks like the uniforms are going to be ready soon, which is good.

Also, domina? When did that address start being used? For that matter, it's Latin... so wouldn't it be associated with MSI?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I also noticed the Skyrim line immediately. I'm amused that it's survived so long. How much Earth media survived the rise and fall of the PDRTC?

It looks like the uniforms are going to be ready soon, which is good.

Also, domina? When did that address start being used? For that matter, it's Latin... so wouldn't it be associated with MSI?

Physical assets are a bit destroyed, but digital media that could be shared within the PDRTC, or between the PDRTC and Life2.0, or distributed for export outside are much more likely to survive.

Leonardo Veres has been using it to address Rivkah since he first spoke to her back on page 52. The PDRTC relies on Synthesisers very much less than Life2.0 does, and although I have been sticking with English as a translation convention, that very association is something that contributes to the decision to use Latin; it's a language that's likely to be understood, even if Life2.0's representative might not necessarily be able to reply in Latin because of their biological differences.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Dreamsculpting"
15th Hoggagha, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

My husband lazily runs his claws through my fur as we lay together on the endless marble that defines this empty virtual world. Then he takes my hips, and rolls me to face him, pulling me close by entangling our horns and our claws as his mind enters mine. I love you, Naomi.

I smile. I love you, Buri.

I'm so glad we mated in the forest.

Me too. I love having you in my mind, I don't feel alone anymore. I laugh. In hindsight, it was obvious that making love would be what activated the mind link.

He smiles. And now we'll always be inside each other.

I lick his sabres. You can be inside me any time.

He laughs. Naughty Naomi.

We nuzzle. I run my claws along his arms gently. We both have got one last memory we couldn't face before to walk through together.

Gaius for you, my first wife's death for me.

Who goes first?

I will.

I nuzzle him. I'm proud of you Buri. I'm forever grateful to be your wife.

He untangles our horns, and nods. He stands, and as I join him the marble is replaced by his memory. I entwine our claws. My husband is in a cage, his wife and children lined up. I feel my husband's fear. I nuzzle him. I'm with you.

His heart calms.

Then the B'Turnas come. I run my claws through my husband's fur as his rage fills our mental space. Breathe my love, breathe.

I'm trying.

You're doing so well.

They grab his daughter, Piri. The biggest B'Turna carries a metal chain with studs; her cries rend the air, until they don't. My husband screams rage and grief. My claws hold his. I love you Buri. I love you.

They grab Buri's first son Ruki next; he tries to resist, but they pin him to the ground with four people on his arms and legs, and then a fifth splits him from groin to sternum.

They tie Buri's twins with the same rope, and hang them.

Then Curi...

They make Buri's first wife kneel to him in the cage.

Buri and Curi share one last nuzzle.

They lift her head and cut her throat; her blood spurts out all over his face. It's the last thing my husband sees, as they throw a hide sheet over the cage.

My Buri weeps. I dry his tears with my fur, I tell him that I love him verbally and mentally, lay his head in my lap and cradle him in my arms.

Hours pass as he works through the rage and grief, knowing this time he isn't alone in it.

Eventually, we are ready to face Gaius.

Buri feels surprisingly uncomfortable as we watch a much younger me remove her clothes after returning to her bedroom. You look... Young.

Not quite sixteen years old.

He goes very quiet. Then he sees the man I put down open the door. Rage builds in Buri as he watches the way Gaius leers at me, then touches me. He looks at me when Gaius strips. Closes his eyes when Gaius... Takes me.

I feel Buri within me as I watch the reason I cut Gaius down the way I did. The way I had to pretend to enjoy the agony he put me through. Buri pulls me close when he sees the pain in my eyes even as I act like I'm enjoying it.

Eventually he's done breaking my body, and we watch the younger me rub her soreness, alone.

How often did he do this to you?

I didn't exactly keep track, but I wouldn't be far off if I said a thousand times until he did that for the last time. He was one of my most frequent regulars... If it wasn't every day, it wasn't far off.

Did it feel good when you executed him?

Temporarily yes.
Buri draws me into his arms. He watches me look at the balcony. Slip a dress on and look over the edge. What's happening?

Yeah... I realised that this was my life... To be endlessly raped until I get old enough that no one wants me and then be recycled. This is me thinking about ending it all. Right now I'm calculating if it's a big enough drop.

Buri watches me climb the railing. Watches me close my eyes. Watches me let go. Watches me bounce on the forcefield and slide back into the brothel. He holds me as I break down and cry. Both in and out of the memory...

 

[Macavity116]

I see he's even included dress uniforms for discharged combat veterans. Gillian is wearing one of the cape options. I feel the weight just to see if it's real gold or just golden painted steel like everything else that's gold on the other uniforms, and judging from the weight he's used real gold.

I especially love the fact command staff wear blood red; Mum would definitely approve of that.

After reading the above description, my internal soldier is just screaming about the uphill battle lower enlisted ranks will face once uniform inspections become a regular thing. It'll take months for Life 2.0's lower ranks to build up the discipline to wear the new uniforms and make them look snappy. I got my first dress uniform as a PFC and I shudder to imagine how 20-year-old me would upkeep and maintain a cape. The blue jacket and beret was already a nightmare. XD

Also, I would love to see Rivkah inspecting the troops at a military Pass in Review ceremony. Perfect opportunity for the new uniforms to be revealed to the world.

 

[HistoryDude]

That's... certainly one way to deepen a bond. It's a bit extreme.

How interactive is it? Do the simulated people react as though they're both there? Couldn't that change their reactions?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

That's... certainly one way to deepen a bond. It's a bit extreme.

How interactive is it? Do the simulated people react as though they're both there? Couldn't that change their reactions?

It's more interactive than real life as various parts are tweakable, but the objective is to prepare the resident for real life in their new body, and therefore it's designed to feel real. An obvious possibility is disassociative disorders, which is why they're under medical observation.

And to clarify, the simulation is of the environment, and not people inside it. The occupants are very much real, although it is somewhat brain in a jar like while the body is undergoing reconstitution.

After reading the above description, my internal soldier is just screaming about the uphill battle lower enlisted ranks will face once uniform inspections become a regular thing. It'll take months for Life 2.0's lower ranks to build up the discipline to wear the new uniforms and make them look snappy. I got my first dress uniform as a PFC and I shudder to imagine how 20-year-old me would upkeep and maintain a cape. The blue jacket and beret was already a nightmare. XD

Also, I would love to see Rivkah inspecting the troops at a military Pass in Review ceremony. Perfect opportunity for the new uniforms to be revealed to the world.

Well, the bright side is the uniform is designed on the assumption of being decorative and informative, rather than fully covering, so a uniform inspection wouldn't consider species-specific personal wear like a jacket or beret the way a Human uniform inspection would.

One of Leonardo's complications is that he's designing a uniform for a society in which it's entirely possible that you could have two people, one of them wearing normal civilian clothes because they are in an air-conditioned office all day, and another in full battle gear, armour and driving a light tank (main battle tanks are mildly frowned upon, but only because of the damage the excessive weight does to the roads) and it's the first who is actually in the military, while the second just is worried about MSI. Duxanek had a post considering this back on page 21.

It'll be after Naomi and Buri return that the uniforms are introduced.

Also edited the previous narrative post; going to spread the other areas it discusses over additional posts.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Mental Tweaking"
16th Hoggagha, 10 (2189)
Buri Of Unity​

I watch her working on the holo-displays for a little while.

She has models of us, I can see that.

I nibble her ear. "What are you doing?"

She fiddles with a dial. "Where's your favourite place to touch me?"

"Mating?"

"I had in mind in general."

I bend her to nuzzle her from behind. "Like this."

She smiles, then fiddles her display. I look at the models of us, and see she's edited our noses. She turns to me, and nuzzles with me. "It works for me."

"My nose feels more sensitive."

She licks my sabre. "I edited our noses to respond with more pleasure nerve stimulation."

"What else can you do?"

"I've been thinking it would be nice if we found each other calling our names arousing."

We nuzzle. "I thought we did?"

She kneels. As arousing as this.

"Oh."

She stands. "What do you think?"

I embrace her. "Go for it."

She makes a few more tweaks, then climbs me to whisper in my ear. "Buri. Buri. Oh Buri."

I can't help but enjoy her. I turn on her, lick her ear. "Naomi. Naomi. Oh Naomi."

She's enjoying it. "This really works for me."

We nuzzle. "So are you only altering our sexual enjoyment?"

She smiles. "No, while it is fun, all of this is mere proof of concept. Ruki has got to develop the ability to do what I can do here in himself; but from here I can refine the functionality of our minds before we actually get our physical new bodies." She takes my hand. "Walk with me."

I hold her hip with my other hand. We waltz slowly as she rearranges the models. "This one is Tipheret's datum mental toposophic state as originally calibrated for her clone, this one is my Mum's actual state from before she was taken by MSI. This is my baseline state, and my new state."

I look at the biggest change. "Big gains in sensory processing."

"That's to make me match you, Rivkah and Ruki, as we can see by looking at these two, your baseline and your new state."

"So what are you working on here?"

She nuzzles me. "We can become more together. Buri, I want to be your perfect wife. I want to be the best version of myself. I love you, and I want you to help me become all I can be."

"The bit I don't quite understand is how the compubones work."

She leads me to my two states. "The compubones augment us by offering integrated computers. Unlike Ruki, we can't actually modify brain structures, so enhancements of our biological brains really depend on tweaking inputs to the brain rather than the brain itself. The compubones are our expansions of capability."

"What can they do?"

She brings up some mathematics questions. They start simple enough, but quickly move into symbols and operations that no Xenaya uses. "Have a go at these."

By question ten, I'm wishing I had some paper to write on. By thirteen... "I give up. I don't even know what this means."

She looks. "Square root sign." I still look at her wishing to understand. She nods. "Squaring a number means multiplying by itself, so the square root is the opposite."

"So, it's 3 then?"

She nuzzles me. "Yes. What I'm now going to do is activate your compubones, as they don't activate automatically to avoid overloading you with information." There's a wait as she fiddles with my new state. "Try the next question."

I look at it. "4."

"Next?"

"10."

"Next?"

"10.5. How am I doing this? I'm just looking at the question and the answer pops into my head."

"Yes, that's the most intuitive implementation, I've set the way your brain interfaces with your compubones to automatically pass the calculation on and just give you the result."

"So I just look at it and it does it for me?"

"Yes. Try question 20."

I have no idea what this is. Oh. "x = 0, x = 1.”

"So this was solving a quadratic equation for value of x when y equals 0."

”How are yours set up?"

Her claws slide around my waist as she joins me. "Same way as yours is, but instead because I do understand the question and how to work out the answer, I just can't be bothered with doing it myself."

I nuzzle her. "Do you think less of me for not being able to do these?"

"No. Most Humans would give up and get a calculator by these questions, it's part of why compubones were developed." She kneels. It's about knowing what the numbers mean more than just the numbers themselves. Try the rest of them while I do my best to distract you.

I... Try to focus. "x=+/-2, y=+/-2."

Good. Try 30.

I'm looking at a stream of numbers and letters. And they aren't all x and y now. I run my claws through her braids. "Ri is 0.76 AU, Ro is 1.1 AU."

I'm on question 50 by the time she stands. "Definitely works."

"Yes. I don't think I could manage question 1 with you doing that."

She smiles. "Neither could I if we swapped places, but that's not the point. This is just the beginning of what compubones can do." She nuzzles me. "Genius is the beginning for us."

 

[Macavity116]

So, are Naomi and Buri past the threshold of being called Cyborgs yet? Compubones is a substantial leap in that direction.

 

[HistoryDude]

Compubones will likely prove very helpful later.

Is it bad that I'm worried about the potential for abuse of the simulation? Can't a person control other people's reactions (including emotions) by editing the simulation? What happens if one of Life 2.0's (or even just Naomi's) enemies seize control over the simulation while Naomi's (or any citizen of Life 2.0 who is inside the simulation, really) inside? Isn't that a massive risk?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Compubones will likely prove very helpful later.

Is it bad that I'm worried about the potential for abuse of the simulation? Can't a person control other people's reactions (including emotions) by editing the simulation? What happens if one of Life 2.0's (or even just Naomi's) enemies seize control over the simulation while Naomi's (or any citizen of Life 2.0 who is inside the simulation, really) inside? Isn't that a massive risk?

Those are reasonable concerns.

There are security measures; while the pods can be connected to other pods, the only external connection outside the facility goes down to the Holocron's main computational node, meaning the only feasible external access is by someone physically breaching the fortress-like defence perimeter to get to the pods; given the technology is one the Holocron considers extremely important to protect as these engenerators are used to give Neumanns biological bodies as well as the use of Life2.0 citizens, that's not an easy task. But, if you had sufficient military capability, you could.

The pods are designed on the assumption that until the process is complete, the only interventions are for emergency purposes; in the event of such access, the person within the pod has their position reset to the medical lab we saw in the beginning of the arc, and is told to expect someone to appear to brief them on the nature of the emergency immediately. If no one does, the Holocron will step in.

This leaves the main concerns being A) abusive relationships, for which the Holocron maintains screening procedures before you get in the pod which Buri and Naomi didn't go through as rigorously as would normally be applied because the Holcron trusts them personally, and B) the capability to really screw yourself/your spouse up - the honest expectation is most people will screw up if they are given access to the editor and debugging tools directly, so, the capability to make these kinds of changes isn't available by default, and the intended personal development loop is you play through the sandbox environments and so learn/guide your learning.

Naomi however, understands what she's doing and has unlocked developer access to herself and Buri.

So, are Naomi and Buri past the threshold of being called Cyborgs yet? Compubones is a substantial leap in that direction.

Depends. Right now, in the pods, yes; they are effectively brains in a jar while in the pods at this stage.

Once they are out of the pods though, it's more complicated as all of the hardware upgrades are products of genetic engineering and are grown with the body rather than constructed and implanted, like Ruki. Albeit "birthed" as fully grown adults instead.

Ruki will still be beyond them when he grows up though, as his brain structure is designed to support and integrate his enhanced capabilities in a way Naomi and Buri can't do without being destructively uploaded and then downloaded. For Ruki, it's a completely natural integration between the mental substrates with an inherently distributed intellect and he'll be able to sleep his main brain while still awake and functioning mentally at a level of a baseline Human thanks to the hundreds of little brains spread throughout his body. Naomi and Buri will always be a central intellect that directs the compubones in a way that is analogous to us using a computer.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

So, no narrative post today as I've been refining ideas for Naomi's appearance, and I finally have some results I'm near happy with...

I must confess, I see why Brad Wardell of Stardock in a comment related to the AI artwork implementation supporting AlienGPT said he's hired more artists to deal with the upside and downside of AI. AI can generate a vast amount of images very quickly, but, you can reject 90% of them straight away.

With generating the wolf-like Naomi, the basic prompt was "A humanoid athletic mammalian. She has sabre teeth, horns on her head, and thick black braided fur, standing on two legs." When I came to trying to get the armour as well, I added "Her armour is obsidian black, with a crimson cape flying from her shoulders." generates more than half of the images with a Human woman. Those are necessarily, instant rejects. Which is frustrating, because on balance those got closer to what I have in mind for her armour, as the Humans usually got fully covering armour; the beast-women don't.

Most of the rest are quadrupedal wolf-like beings, which are also rejects.

Some of the remainder come out looking like Rivkah once she's grown up.

Eventually, you get a group that capture the characteristics you want.

In the end, out of the several hundred images I've generated trying to get Naomi's new form, I've narrowed it down to three. In terms of her biological appearance, This one comes first.

Armour is obviously a state of readiness only Buri would see her in as it covers extremely little, but at the same time, it captures the agility-focused results of Naomi's training.

This one exemplifies my earlier ramble about how often you get 95% right images. Obviously no braided hair, and the finger-claws are practically missing compared to the first one. But, cape in right place and right proportions, with a decent pass at her fur, mouth, ears, horns and eyes.

This one has much better armour, but obviously the feet are missing toe claws, ears are missing, the cape is in the wrong place, and no teeth or braids, and the hands are wonky where I tried to remove the AI's attempts to draw swords. Despite that, it manages to convey a higher Naomi-ness feeling than the previous image.

 

[Macavity116]

I must confess, I see why Brad Wardell of Stardock in a comment related to the AI artwork implementation supporting AlienGPT said he's hired more artists to deal with the upside and downside of AI. AI can generate a vast amount of images very quickly, but, you can reject 90% of them straight away.

I had that same experience when I experimented with AI art while writing Year of Hell. Gave me so much trouble I've stopped deathing with it altogether.

Kudos to you for pushing through to better results.

I know AI struggles to do hands and feet. Was not expecting to hear that other details like ears and teeth and braids could be an issue so consistently.