RPC Authority

CRIT THREAD: http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/forum/t-15544028/memetics-analysis#post-5954147

AUTHOR: BUTTER

THANKS TO: ALMA- SOVEREIGN - JOKZ - DEXO - TARBOLIN - HELLSVERG

SPECIAL THANKS: ALMA AND DEXO - WRITING THE MEMETICS SANDBOX THAT THE PRIMER/PAYLOAD AND INTRO EXCERPT IS DERIVED FROM

There's generally a shitton of chaff snuck inbetween chunks of interesting content, which contributes to this article feeling massively dense when it really does not need to. For instance:

"Antimemetipath" is a currently unofficial diagnosis of an individual whose resistance has reached such a degree that they are generally incapable of imitating human behavior and struggle to gain new information- Antimemetipaths are most recognizable due to the "lack of an accent." Without proper training, this condition can become pathological. However, it is immensely beneficial to researchers and MSTs who are often exposed to dangerous memes.

Other than that, I feel this falls on the less favorable side of the AM/FM dichotomy. That is, "Actual Machines" vs "Fucking Magic". The Authority's utilization of these mechanics just work a certain way with little wrinkles or clunkyness that would necessarily come about when using real science that's so poorly understood. I feel there should be a lot more holes and a lot less certainty all around, not just for the purposes of realism but also to lessen the grip of such a dense document upon future canon.

I'd like for Dexo and I to be credited for writing substantial portions of this.

Obviously this is right up my alley and I'm a bit biased, but I think this is outstanding. It's so smartly written and the amount of care and attention to detail is gobsmacking. There are more allusions and references in here than an Easter basket; I appreciate the thoughtful onomatology in places like the primers, payloads, and unique classifications. I had to really bust out my search engine. My only quip is the line "like the one I described are indescribably rare", which sort of fumbles with word repetition, but even then, I can see this being intentional and OK.

My favorite part is how grounded most of this is; it doesn't feel like you have overextended the lore to make a bunch of stuff out of nothing, but that these are all available and straightforward considerations given the source material. The medical assessment templates are a nice, creative place to take this and inject some real unsettling tones, as is the utilization of these by the Authority on its own personnel. The mechanical ingenuity in the Authority's artificial augmentation of memes is another highlight, such as the Implantor.

If I understand the classification, something like RPC-001-2 would be a Rasa Class meme that doesn't quite ever make that last leap of self-redaction. ("Self-redaction" is a great way to put it, by the way.)

I also agree with Almarduk's comment about the sheer density of the lore being somewhat suffocating rather than fortifying. But, to me it's amazing you got this posted and it's doing well; any other site and you'd have to decorate it with a protagonist, a hackneyed narrative, lots of political ideology, and merri-go-round of classic article cameos in order to have a chance at keeping it afloat.

This is the kind of hard science fiction that thrives on this site.