Official HFQ Snippet #25

[quote="n7axw"]I think that you don't want to head for the basement of the Temple with anything high tech at all. Instead, you take one of the inner circle out to Nimue's cave, thoroughly train that person in the use of computers and send that person to the basement with a low tech camera and let him see what he can see and shoot as many pictures as possible.


ok, good call.

tootall wrote:

n7axw wrote:I think that you don't want to head for the basement of the Temple with anything high tech at all. Instead, you take one of the inner circle out to Nimue's cave, thoroughly train that person in the use of computers and send that person to the basement with a low tech camera and let him see what he can see and shoot as many pictures as possible.


ok, good call.

How "low tech" are we talking about here? Because any camera that can currently be built by Charis is going to be... pretty hard to conceal.

tootall wrote:

n7axw wrote:I think that you don't want to head for the basement of the Temple with anything high tech at all. Instead, you take one of the inner circle out to Nimue's cave, thoroughly train that person in the use of computers and send that person to the basement with a low tech camera and let him see what he can see and shoot as many pictures as possible.

ok, good call.

evilauthor wrote:How "low tech" are we talking about here? Because any camera that can currently be built by Charis is going to be... pretty hard to conceal.

Owl can design and build a camera that uses old fashioned film that can be hidden in a cassock without problem. Do a recon run in the temple, develop the film and plan from that.

You could even build audio recorders that are totally passive using various methods and with Owl's help they can become very small. For example, the earliest films that had audio actually used a strip of the film to record the audio as light intensity. Another method to record audio is to take a page from Edison albeit with better materials.

Joat42 wrote:

tootall wrote:
How "low tech" are we talking about here? Because any camera that can currently be built by Charis is going to be... pretty hard to conceal.

Owl can design and build a camera that uses old fashioned film that can be hidden in a cassock without problem. Do a recon run in the temple, develop the film and plan from that.

You could even build audio recorders that are totally passive using various methods and with Owl's help they can become very small. For example, the earliest films that had audio actually used a strip of the film to record the audio as light intensity. Another method to record audio is to take a page from Edison albeit with better materials.

Recording audio on film does not require electricity, playback is hard without it. A clockwork Super 8 movie camera would certainly possible (if a little , audio would require a mirror and a light source (possibly ambient light via another lens). If you want still images, a small Minox type camera or a slightly larger 110 cartridge based system would be an option - that would fit inside a janitors broom, and janitors go everywhere, even the Manhattan Project lost information via the janitors in a similar way.
Converting light back from film to audio without electricity would be an interesting mechanical challenge, pneumatic amplification may be an option but high frequency response is a little doubtful.

Interesting idea about using a camera. There isn't an issue about needing electricity to power the playback. In all likelihood, it would be taken to the cave for that. Do you think the Sisters of St. Khody already have agents in the temple proper?

I was thinking of an old fashioned 35 mm, but some of you guys have come up with better options...

Don

ETathome wrote:Interesting idea about using a camera. There isn't an issue about needing electricity to power the playback. In all likelihood, it would be taken to the cave for that. Do you think the Sisters of St. Khody already have agents in the temple proper?

Probably not the sisters, but we know that Nynian has at least one sourse who warned her when Clyntan was about the strike at the Wylsyn circle.

I think, though, that the person who goes to the basement needs to be a fully briefed member of the inner circle.

Don

Perhaps we do know where one of those hidden depots is at (or perhaps was). It has always bothered me that the mine Bishop Cahnyr and Fraidmyn Tohmys used to escape the Inquisition (AMF p. 390) was unknown. "It was very old ... and had been following a thick bed of coal". The creation was clearly a major effort, but nobody seemed to know about it--even in a "good old days" story. This mine went through the entire mountain. Such mines do exist though the higher the tech level the easier they are to create.

Or maybe it was part of one of those nice underground complexes that are being hinted at...

alancpptod wrote:Perhaps we do know where one of those hidden depots is at (or perhaps was). It has always bothered me that the mine Bishop Cahnyr and Fraidmyn Tohmys used to escape the Inquisition (AMF p. 390) was unknown. "It was very old ... and had been following a thick bed of coal". The creation was clearly a major effort, but nobody seemed to know about it--even in a "good old days" story. This mine went through the entire mountain. Such mines do exist though the higher the tech level the easier they are to create.

Or maybe it was part of one of those nice underground complexes that are being hinted at...

Hi Alancpptod,

Welcome to the forums. You are invited to the virtual bar so enjoy the virttual drink of your choice on the house... We hope you enjoy the rough and tumble up here.

As for your point, the impression I get from the text is that Cahnyr's mineshaft is only one of many in mountainous Glacierheart after hundreds of years of coal mining. Similar complexes can be found in the mountains of Montana or West Vitginia to this day in our own timeline.

And who's to say there are no stories? It could be that we've just not been told about them...

Don

*sticks his nose out from under the covers*
Spoiler warning, I'm assuming that's necessary even on a snippet thread.



A lot of conversation has happened on the possibility of Hamilcar's survival. While that would make the Inner Circle's lives much easier after the Return and the Reveal, it's not strictly necessary for what Chihiro needed after the OBS Mk. II was constructed. It may well be intact, but there's still no textev for it. What we can reasonably deduce is that Hamilcar's industrial modules survived, and possibly part or all of the 'sacred sickbay' as well. Without being *certain* that there are no more Fallen -- perhaps in cryo -- Chihiro cannot afford to give up his ability to create and arm seijins, or to make more 'magic' to enforce the rule of Heaven's champions.

The most logical place for this tech stash to be, IMHO, is under the Temple -- we know industrial modules needed to be there anyway to build the thing. That's more important than any modules the Fallen left behind, because the modules under the Temple are indisputably holy. Placed there by the Archangels themselves.