Involuntary RPG

This past week has been hard for all of us. We've suffered deaths, maimings, depowerings casualties because of two groups that thought they knew the best for us. The Vol Underground was created because we reject that. We did things for ourselves and no matter what else, no one can take that away from any of you.

You're a great group of smart, resourceful, lovely people. I'm honored and humbled that you worked with us to not only expand your powers but solidify us IVI Vols as a community. The VR attack would have been an even greater disaster without it.

Arrow, Valkyrie, Howler, Skip, Anonymous, Violet, Playboy, Mulder, Enely, Lidia, Lydie, Matty: We're going to miss you greatly. You all touched our lives in so many ways. Thank you so much.

Enjoy your trips. Be safe.

P.S.: We're going to be destroying the server in a few hours. Hopefully we won't ever need something like this again.

[Rabbit (Cati), [...], Orion (Hunter), Valentine (Daisy), Lighthouse (Edwin), Linden (Damien), Kincaid (Sonia), Spartacus (Vic) Gryphon (Rose)]

That was fun, eh?

Edwin mentioned making a chatboard for OUTback, and I think it might be a good idea to do something like that for the Vol Underground? The only difference is I think it should be open to all IVI Vols this time. And then more kids as we go along. Thoughts?

[LOCKED TO SHEPHERD/RABBIT/VALENTINE/GRYPHON/VAUDEVILLE.]

What do you guys want to do with the server? Ceremonially burn it tomorrow or something?

Okay so...bear with me, because there's a lot of shit happening and you all need to pay attention.

First off: Rabbit, Shepherd, and I sat down and made the choice to give chips to the remaining people who were in solitary after the attack on the lab. They're on IVI's most wanted list, and given that we're getting to the point where IVI is cracking down to an extreme degree, they deserve to be aware of our plans and participate if possible. There's a reason we use codenames here, and it's not 100% to protect us from IVI. If you don't want your identity known to any particular members, the codenames will keep you more or less anonymous if you don't give yourself away, so if you're not 100% comfortable with this decision, you aren't being exposed. However, the point of this thing is that we're all working together to protect ourselves from IVI. Don't forget we're all on the same side, here.

Second: Spartacus, Duke, and Ace are all in solitary right now, so we're short our offensive leaders and one of our defensive leaders. I'm suggesting that Rabbit and Wallaby take over as offensive leaders and Linden take over as defensive leader with Shepherd. We're going to break the groups up into very small meetings, no larger than five for each group, so only one of the two leaders needs to be present at each one. Talk to your leaders and organize appropriately. Don't show up unplanned to a meeting. Make sure someone else who is not going knows for sure if you are going to a meeting.

To that extent, know that Dorothy, Valentine, and Playboy have swept our deadzones. We found two more bugs, but that's it. We're taking those areas off the map and we'll keep sweeping them regularly. For now, you can keep using them to talk and practice if need be, but for the love of god, don't keep going to the same fucking spot every time. Go as far away from campus as you can. If you CAN practice without a deadzone, do. Talk to Bacardi for soundproofing as a third option.

These people volunteered to teach non-powered self-defense: Dorothy, Echelon, Clíodhna, Molson, Smith, Zorro, Halftime, Spinner, Playboy. If you want to train with them, get in contact with them. If you want to volunteer to have your name added to that list, let me know. Don't meet in groups larger than 2-3. Text or email reasons to meet if you can come up with something legit.

If you haven't yet talked to Dorothy or Rabbit or Linden about participating in surveillance shit, please do. We need all the info we can get right now.

Last but not least: don't break any rules. Stay in training. The last thing we need to do right now is lose more members to solitary. We need to be careful right now. For the love of god, keep your heads as much as possible and if you're scared or angry, find someone to help you. Don't melt down. Don't attack staff. Don't hide in your rooms. It sucks, but that's what we have to do to get through this.

Thanks for your cooperation. Thanks for reading this far. Sorry to everyone who has friends in solitary right now. Talk to us if you need anything.

OPEN UNDERNET POST

bad news: the cluster of trees where ace's defense meeting was today is bugged. Otterpop, Playboy and I just checked it out. it wasn't before so it's pretty clear that they're onto us meeting in all these places they can't see.

but DON'T PANIC. yes this sucks, yes a bunch of people are in solitary but hopefully they'll be out in 48 hours. instead we need to figure out what to do. here are my ideas:
・smaller groups for everything.
・people with passive powers could even work together in places that ARE bugged so long as we're super careful. hiding in plain sight can actually be really effective
・we COULD try and get rid of the bugs. they'd notice, obviously, that one is gone but it would give us time. some of us have powers that could probably let us destroy them without being caught doing it

thoughts?

also anyone who said they were interested in surveillance strategies groups rabbit was talking about and just wants to do one-on-one sessions for now i'm down with that. let me know

UNDERNET POST TO CODA

I know I told them all not to panic but I'm panicking.

Valentine knows, by the way. And Orion and Spartacus and Ace on top of who I already told you about.

At 7PM TONIGHT, a group of VU members assembled by the cluster of trees near the far side of the lake that one Carter Gray loves so well. Led by Carter, the group practiced a number of defensive moves with a focus on using their powers. Since this was no longer the primary focus or intent of the VU, the group itself was rarely mentioned (if at all), but Carter likely made numerous references to how these powers could be used against IVF guards and staff if push came to shove (especially since he's armed with the knowledge that it very likely will, thanks so much, Kim).

He would have started with a demonstration with Javier, with whom he feels most comfortable (Zoe, let me know if that's cool!). How vocal were your characters about how they would use their powers against the guards? What sort of power usage did they demonstrate?

The spot was chosen because it was known to be bug-free, but after approximately half an hour, the area was raided by several armed IVI guards. All students were taken to solitary, where they'll remain until the 7th. With the exceptions of 2 visitors on Wednesday at lunch, they will have no contact with anyone. Their roommates will be informed of this development within the hour.

Alright. No bullshit this time. I have something serious I need to inform you of. We have just received information from a member of the Vol Underground that the IVF has passed some resolutions that put our health, safety, even our lives in danger. The information has already been disseminated to our team leaders with some of them going so far as to praise their passing. He passed along the following:

1) They confirmed something that those Vols that have just been let out of extended solitary stays have in fact been experimented on.

2) More insidious is the implementation of a death penalty for those with dangerous powers coupled with dangerous personalities. From what we know no one has been murdered killed yet, but it is something that has passed and is coming.

I recommend you Do your best not to go to solitary again. Go to training, comply with your team leaders, no more hunger strike, try your best to act like everything's normal.

We're going to protect ourselves from the IVF. Myself and a few of the other leaders are going to have a sessions during the week where we will come up with varied offensive and defensive powers strategies in case of emergency. If you're interested in something like this and are comfortable using your powers in this way, please leave your names here.

Given the severity and the sensitivity of the above, we ask that you keep this information within the Underground. It could be disastrous for not only our source--and others with similar information gathering abilities--but for every Vol here. However, if there's anyone who you think should be included on the Undernet, whether or not they're part of group meetings, we'll give them a chip and get them access.

Thank you.

Here is the schedule for this week's group training:

Mason - Tuesday @ 5 pm
Cati - Monday @ 4:30 pm, Friday @ 8:30 pm
Vic - Tuesday @ 8:30 pm, Saturday @ 8 pm
Edwin - Wednesday @ 8:30 pm, Sunday @ 7 pm
Kim - Monday @ 9 pm, Thursday @ 4 pm
Carter - Thursday @ 9 pm, Sunday @ 5 pm
Daisy - Thursday @ 8:30 pm, Saturday @ 10 am
Sonia - Wednesday @ 5 pm, Sunday @ 2 pm
Damien - Wednesday @ 7:30 pm

Feel free to discuss in comments what your character is up to at training, swap ideas, set up logs, ask questions, etc! Don't forget to comment below with power information via Hunter if your character is new to the VU. There are a couple additions to teams and will probably continue to be a few more throughout the week. Leaders can claim floats in the comments (Hunter/Orion, Don/Otterpop, Wilford/Bacardi, Anthony/Arrow, Raphael/Jupiter, and Caleb/Wombat).

There's going to be some movement on the defensive tactics and spy games front, so please keep an eye out for that! These IC/OOC posts are linked to in the info doc, so if you wait to comment until later and want a quick link to it, it's there on the timeline or easy to find under the Vol Underground tag.

Don't know if this has been done before, or how worthwhile it is since they have limited pull, but Jace Jacobs from Toucan had a recent post speculating about his team leader and how Trask seems at a bit of a loss/doesn't really know what to do/is perhaps conflicted about stuff that likely concerns us but we'll only find out about an instant after it happens and whathaveyou. So I was wondering if it was worthwhile to maybe pool our takes on the team leaders in terms of general disposition, how sincere they seem, whether they seem to be looking out for us a little bit or not at all, and so forth. Especially since there's a few people whose powers give them a boost in that area (I'm not saying to use them; just whether you've inadvertedly gained some insight.)

I don't know how worthwhile it would be to do this, but any scrap of information is potentially valuable, I suppose?

TO: Julieta
FROM: Javier

Are you okay, loca?

UNDERNET: POSTED BY SKIP

Hello. Is anybody out Am I doing this right? I am new to your group. I am also a member of Vol Squad. I don't know if anyone has told you yet, but we were just informed a little while ago that on Tuesday, we are being flown to London for a comem comemer memorial event for the Olympic Bombing and the London Underground attack.

Wolfe and Li both more or less told us that if we should keep our mouth shut and "toe the line" if we wish to stay part of the Squad. Of course. We are not surprised at this point, eh?

Anyway I thought you all might want to know that.

Alex (Meursault), Daisy (Valentine), Damien (Linden), Fin (Kite), Hunter (Orion), Jodi (Calamity), Nolan (Mulder), Savannah (Samedi)

What does anyone think about further self-sustainability/independence, beyond just powers training? As a long term goal, or developing emergency preparation plans? I know when you first think about it, it sounds ridiculous, but could it be possible?

I think this is the right place Hi.

I know this group is for powers training and to take back our independence from IVI and stuff, but are we doing anything about solitary? My roommate has been in there since Sunday, and sure a lot of people don't like Cora her, but I haven't heard anything more about this "investigation" and Devon and Sol were thrown into permanent because IVI said they killed guards, what if they say all the others killed guards too? I got to visit her on Tuesday, but it's Saturday now and I still have no more information that that email, despite going up to the Dean's office all the time.

I don't know if we CAN do anything about solitary, but what if a bunch of us went to the Dean's office and asked the same questions and didn't leave until we saw someone? I tried asking my team leader but she couldn't give me any information. But I think she wanted to And then there's the fact that people can do to solitary for being late to training or not advancing powers enough, and I know there's the hunger strike but that's something I can't do, is there anything more we could do? I don't want to go back to solitary, so I'll keep going to training and participating, but I guess that's exactly what they want eh?

If you guys have already talked about this I'm sorry, just let me know what the end result was.

I'm guessing everyone knows by now, but they've added new members to the Squad roster. One of them's a seventeen year old girl from my team.

Not to badmouth Enely, but she wouldn't be my first pick to send into a combat situation, especially given her age. Which means they're either desperate for members, or maybe they want someone from each team on the squad? Show off the benefits of following their orders and all that bullshit. Thoughts?

[Filtered to Training Team Leaders]

Didn't want to ask this 'publicly', but do we have anyone in the Underground now with electricity-based powers? Or who could replicate the tazer charge the guards use? I wouldn't mind working opposite someone like that to find a metal that could resist a blast. Just in case it comes to it, with how things are going.

Not going to lie: this explains a lot.

Other than that, hi everyone. Thanks for letting me join the revolution. Or well, the active/passive underground resistance force.

Ummm I was going to filter to my friends people I know but I don't know anyone's codenames?

But how is anyone supposed to know if I know them if they don't know who I am? This is really complicated.

Okay! Here are the new Vol Underground training groups (new members in italics - new recruits should have received an email about induction, let us know if you did not!):

Mason - Don (Otterpop)*, Kiara (Ouverture), [Wilford (Bacardi)], Sadie (Fire Ferret), Asha, Toby, Odd Bjarne
Cati - Val (Diamond), Valya (Monk), Conner (Vaudeville), Nelly (Replay), Doria, Stephen (Morpheus), Amber
Vic - Kier (Smith), [Harlow (Haniel)], Mimir (Rhodes), [Cati (Rabbit)], Raphael (Jupiter)*, Omar, Mike (Playboy), Santiago, Rashida
Kim - Elise (Astrea), Nolan (Mulder),  Alex (Meursault), [Mike (Playboy)], Jana, Seth
Edwin - Audra (Isis), Jace (Wraith), Harlow (Haniel), Moa (Echelon), Savannah (Samedi)
Carter - Rianne (Arachne), Fin (Kite), Benjie (Sinatra),  Davi (Atticus), Shannon (Clíodhna), Kelly (Coda)
Daisy - Rose (Gryphon), Noah (Puck), Saraswati (Serenity), Jade
Sonia - Wilford (Bacardi)*, Eli, Taki, Callum, Immy
Damien - Jack (Elephant), Lorelei, Hailey, Kody

*These members are "floats", along with Hunter, Anthony, and Caleb, meaning that if any of the leaders want them in their group, they can be like "yo come here and heal shit and/or tell me about powers and/or project some stuff for us". Leaders can claim floats in the comments below!

The [] brackets denote members who are in those groups provisionally (ie, this is not their main group but they may be asked to train with them occasionally b/c their powers call for it).

Also bear in mind that the training groups are meant to be fluid - if anyone NOT in a group together wants to test their powers against each other, please do! Similarly, if any leaders want to borrow another member for a day, that's cool too.

Without further ado, the training groups are meeting at the following times this week (meeting times are different from week to week to avoid suspicion!):

Mason - Friday at 4:30 pm
Cati - Wednesday at 4:30 pm, Saturday at 5:00 pm
Vic - Friday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2:00 pm
Edwin - Thursday at 9:30 pm
Kim - Friday at 5:30 pm
Carter - Thursday at 7:45 pm
Daisy - Wednesday at 8:00 pm, Sunday at 10:00 am
Sonia - Saturday at 2:00 pm 
Damien - Thursday at 4:45 pm

Feel free to discuss in comments what your character is up to at training, swap ideas, set up logs, ask questions, etc!

So Nate pulled me aside today to talk to me about Hailey. This is me nominating her. I know we've already talked about her a bit, but she's apparently very much in the right headspace for this kind of group and is looking for an outlet.

There's a couple others I'll put forward, too. Jana's on my team and she could definitely use the extra help with her power. Anthony, especially given some of the training we're trying to do here -- he's on Vol Squad, yeah, but I trust him and he's close with plenty of people in the group so far, so he'll get the stakes here. And Lorelei is pretty open-minded, politically, and from what I've seen of her conversations on the journals and online before everything went down, she's cynical about this place and interested in subversive ideas.

So: Hailey, Jana, Anthony, Lorelei. Any major resistance to those names? Any other nominations, while we're at it?

I know it's gonna seem like a really bad idea, given that we recently had a security breach, but I want to reassure you all that the only people who could do that are him and Lilja, who isn't a threat. I'm putting forth the idea of giving undernet access to the few people who know about the group but weren't interested in participating in the training, if they want it -- it seems like now more than ever, it's valuable for us to communicate away from Big Brother. We'll keep them out of training group filters so they won't know when or where any particular groups are meeting, but I think they should have access, at the very least.

Thoughts?

Well that was a fun couple days...

It was decided that we will not be wiping Taki's memory of the undernet and the Vol Underground at this time. I personally think that decision is rather serious and it's not something that we should consider if there are other options presented to us. Like actually letting the guy in.

He seems rather harmless, and from what I've been told of his personality he legitimately wants to help. I don't know him as well as some of you others though so I ask you what you think we should do with him with respect to our group.

[posted shortly after this, and of course this]

hello

[ORION & GRYPHON - accompanied by emergency pings to each of their phones]

Someone's account has been compromised, I'm trying to figure out whose right now, come to my room right now.

[TO ALL UNDERNET USERS]

Everyone check right now if you have your phone and that the chip is still inside.

[UPDATE] [Added after events in Taki's post take place]

Alright. I'm sorry for the alarm.

Puck's roommate managed to break into Puck's phone while Puck was in the shower. Clíodhna & Monk, can y'all please come over so that we can [...] talk to him? But if you could be like, subtle about it, that would be good. I don't want IVI to think it's weird that a bunch of us are suddenly hurrying over to Puck's room for like, no apparent reason. It looks like the IVF still has no idea, but we'll make sure either way.

[locked to Otterpop (Don), Kincaid (Sonia), Ouverture (Kiara), Bacardi (Wilford), Fire Ferret (Sadie), Orion (Hunter)]

Alright folks. So we're going to have our first group session together. Show up wearing work out attire, if anyone asks I'm going to be giving you all a private yoga session outside at 5p.m. on Friday. That should give you enough time to cool down and grab a snack after practice. I'll give you the location tomorrow in person during lunch.

For our first practice we're going to go ahead and get acquainted with each other and our powers. We're a strong group so we can get these baby steps out of the way rather quickly before we get to the good stuff. As a long-term goal I want to work on power mix-ups and see how our powers support and interact together. We're going to push each other and make sure that we each reach our potential. With support from Otterpop and Orion we will go even further.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.