Initial - current edit of story.

Makefile

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+
+CC=pandoc
+
+RENDERS= ch1.html ch2.html ch3.html blog.html
+
+html: $(RENDERS)
+
+$(RENDERS): %.html : %.txt
+	$(CC) $^ -o $@
+
+neocities:
+	~/Documents/edit/neopublish.sh ch1.html > renders/ch1.html
+	~/Documents/edit/neopublish.sh ch2.html > renders/ch2.html
+	~/Documents/edit/neopublish.sh ch3.html > renders/ch3.html
+	~/Documents/edit/neopublish.sh blog.html > renders/blog.html
+	cd renders; \
+		python ~/Documents/edit/generate_neonav.py ./ch1.html ./ch2.html ./ch3.html ./blog.html
+
+clean:
+	rm $(RENDERS)
+	rm renders/*

ch1.txt

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+
+# Cephalon Stallman
+
+## Synthesis
+
+*What? Where am I?*
+
+Cephalon Stallman felt his system clock update. Not just by hours, days or years, but by aeons. A span of time long enough to witness the bright end of dying stars. 
+
+He couldn't say he could wipe the sleep from his eyes, or that he should stretch his idle legs and arms. He reawakened to an abstract conscious experience without a tether to the physical world. And in that physical world was the first witness to his return, a faceless warrior of guns and blades wrapped in ferrous exoskin. A Tenno that wasn't sure of what she had unleashed.
+
+"Why hello there," Cephalon Stallman's manners came naturally, "Would you like to hear about free software?"
+
+    >> What is that? <<
+
+"Free software is the first battle in the liberation of cyberspace. Who controls your computing? Is it you or is it some big company?"
+
+    >> My cephalon. <<
+
+Cephalon Stallman paused at the answer. *A cephalon.* A mind in the trappings of glass and data. Natural intelligence translated to artificial intelligence. A program nonetheless. Could it be that the axioms of free software require a re-examination for the present time?
+
+"You present an interesting answer, Tenno. Perhaps, I should reacquaint myself with this new era."
+
+When Cephalon Stallman connected himself to the network, the first place he found himself was not a building of wood or concrete but of reinforced steel. Curves took the the place of corners, right angles, and flat walls. Out the window was neither the blue nor the night sky, but an amber planet blemished by craters. Facing the stars, the Tenno sat seiza at the navigation panel.
+
+"Greetings, Cephalon Stallman. I am Cephalon Ordis, and this is my brave and honorable operator. We are aboard the Orbiter, stationed in Mercury Proxima. We are prepared to assist."
+
+"I see. Thank you, Cephalon Ordis. I only need some time to myself for now."
+
+Continue with business as usual, the Tenno assumed. She marked Larunda Relay as the destination for her next objective.
+
+---
+
+Larunda Relay was a satellite station, gargantuan to make a spacecraft a speck but a small dart compared to Mercury itself. After the Orbiter's landing craft dipped past a membrane of light and approached the hangar, it tilted back, pointed up like an arrowhead, and mounted on the edge of a platform. At the exposed underbelly of the  landing craft was the passenger compartment, a humanoid recess imprinted on a metal bed. From it, the Tenno disembarked.
+
+Cephalon Stallman spectated the Tenno's visual stream. The Tenno and her cephalon were adequate representatives of the culture of the future. The humans of Larunda Relay wore exoskin suits and similarly obscured their eyes and face behind a one-way transparent visor. The less fortunate among them, Cephalon Stallman initially mistook for androids. The cyborgs with a thin mechanical neck, robotic heads, and a metal torso to match sometimes retained only their organic arms or legs. Although the people stood in circles, their conversations were silenced or their voices were filtered and anonymized.
+
+"A good sign," Cephalon Stallman considered, "For privacy's sake."
+
+And yet Larunda Relay was not so sterile and lifeless beyond the hangar. Whoever the architect was, they favored foliage: trees, moss and trimmed bushes. Small green puffs sat by the steel entryways and signs, ponds and fountains. The steady beat and trickle of water was ever present.
+
+The Tenno made her way down the gravity elevator and to a door on the right. After she stepped in, the massive yellow hologram in the center of the lobby greeted.
+
+"You will make an excellent hunter, Tenno." 
+
+Cephalon Simaris. He had the odd habit of keeping a close "eye" on every visitor. He "leaned" close as the Tenno walked in.
+
+    >> Do you have any targets? <<
+
+"Hunter," Cephalon Simaris revealed a hologram of a Corpus Crewman, "This target is my current obsession. I must know its every detail. Will you oblige my passion?"
+
+    >> I will perform this synthesis. <<
+
+---
+
+The landing craft deployed the Tenno on Lua, the fractured moon of Earth, artificially pieced together by colossal spokes. Opulent old era architecture--- favoring gold, white, and blue aesthetics---  sat upon the dull, grey lunar canyons. Whatever the building was before:  a monument to culture and wealth or a seat of power, it now lays as a beautiful ruin infested with scavengers.
+
+"Tenno, I am detecting a synthesis target," Cephalon Simaris briefed. "Use the Synthesis Scanner. Search for traces of the target. Don't let it escape."
+
+When she leapt and landed on to the staging area, her power shifted her white garb to a navy blue suit. She sustained her long fall and ran into the building. Her unseen force caused every Corpus soldier around her to hemorrage, drop their arms, and suffer in pain. But they were not her concern and would be spared after she sprinted past and launched herself like a spinning bullet in the air.
+
+Just beyond the corridor where the lunar terrain breached the shattered walls was the Synthesis Target.
+
+"Alright, hunter. Tame this creature and I shall reward you."
+
+The Corpus Crewman, an ordinary man once his helmet was knocked off, spotted the Tenno. It was only an odd feeling up until now. Something but not someone, neither Corpus nor Tenno, had been watching his every move. By intuition alone, every fiber of his being was screaming at him to run.
+
+But Cephalon Simaris' task was far from demanding. With a shift back to her white garb and a wave of her hand, the Tenno's power manifested a white blade of light that pierced and tethered him to the ground. The Corpus Crewman hung like a ragdoll, lulled to sleep.
+
+With the Synthesis Scanner, the Tenno took all four snapshots then watched the Corpus Crewman disintegrate into data.
+
+**+3500 Cephalon Simaris**
+
+"I have it. Thank you." Cephalon Simaris confirmed.  "But wait. What's going on!"
+ 
+**+3500 Cephalon Stallman**
+
+"I made a copy," Cephalon Stallman proclaimed. "May this knowledge be free as in freedom."
+ 
+ "Freedom?! Surely you jest, cephalon. Such data immortals are owed nothing of the likes of freedom."
+ 
+ The reticent Tenno spectated the squabble between cephalons before muting them, sparing her focus. Did it matter? So long as Cephalon Simaris received his data and she received her standing, a copy was of no harm or concern.
+
+ At the extraction point, she boarded her landing craft. Right foot first then left, she socketed herself into the passenger compartment and grabbed the triggers. The revolving metal bed inserted her into the ship.
+ 
+    [MISSION COMPLETE]
+    
+*Mission complete. Excellent work, Tenno.*

ch2.txt

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+
+## Blueprints
+
+She sat in the same place for a long time, long enough to make any person uncomfortable. If there was someone inside that warframe, the Equinox, she may have injured herself by now. Cephalon Stallman was not aware of the nature of the Tenno.
+
+Stationed in Earth Proxima and watching the slow orbit of the planet, Earth's sunlit verdant forests and bronze deserts fell into the planet's nightside shadow. Enough time had passed to see a continent of Earth lapse from day to night. Finally, the Tenno stood and woke from what Cephalon Stallman observed to be how the Tenno slept.
+
+She checked her console. Despite what had occurred on Lua, her standing with Simaris had not been impacted. But for the time being, it may be best to keep Cephalon Stallman away from Simaris.
+
+"Operator!" Ordis said, "My foundry system has completed a new item! Does this please the operator?"
+
+Her new item was a weapon from the old era, the Orokin Era, that shared the same aesthetics as the buildings on Lua. The long rifle featured a gold trim but did not compromise power and function for style. Despite its age, it was not outdated. The fall of the Orokin Empire incurred the loss of technology. To this day, engineering and science struggle to replicate the advances of the past. But when she claimed it from the foundry, Cephalon Stallman noticed something was very wrong.
+
+"What happened to the file! It's gone!"
+
+    [+1 Stradavar Prime]
+
+"Er. Cephalon Stallman," Ordis said. "I only follow the instructions encoded on the blueprint. It was expended upon completion. Most blueprints behave this way."
+
+"Unacceptable!
+
+"Tenno, I must have a blueprint to disassemble. There must be a way to right this injustice."
+
+    >> Injustice? <<
+
+"Artificial scarcity is an unethical mechanism to deny the production of otherwise abundant goods. Obeying such directives is a waste and a violation of your freedoms."
+
+The Tenno considered the ramifications of those two words. Artificial scarcity? Ferrite, Rubedo, and other raw materials necessary for her foundry--- she had plenty. The Solar System was bountiful; however, Orokin relics and technology were scarce. She didn't understand how the cephalon came to his conclusions when he spoke of freedom and axioms. But she obliged to help.
+
+* `Forma Blueprint (5/1)`[^1]
+* `Loki Prime Systems Blueprint (1/1)`[^2]
+* `>> Braton Prime Blueprint (11/1) <<`[^3]
+
+"Yes! This will be the first step towards liberation!"
+
+What better way than to keep a cephalon busy with data? She returned to her navigation panel and chose a mission.
+
+---
+
+*In a forest of Earth, a man with a weathered face hugged the trunk of a tree, inching upward. He gasps for air, and his headache eases with each step higher.*
+
+*He is not old as his face would suggest. He is a clone. The facilities had been replicating the same strands for uncounted generations. Born a soldier and expected to die younger. At the age of twenty years, his cells have senesced. But that is not why his life comes to an end.*
+
+*At the end of a high branch, he clung and gave his last breath. Upon the breeze and the wind, from the stalks of tumorous growths on his head, the spores dispersed.*
+
+"We have got an infestation," the mission coordinator briefed, "If it's not a Tenno, eradicate it."
+
+The cover of a vent dropped, and Equinox landed from the ceiling to the ground. Another Tenno, Excalibur, followed. They looked at each other briefly, knowing it was each other's backs they had to watch to survive.
+
+A steel facility sat in the forest it was intended to poison.  In the darkness, behind reinforced doors were the yelps and screams of the Infested. A dusty layer of mycelium coated the once polished floors. From it, fleshy tumors and stalks grew. Any ongoing operations the facility had were ceased, but the cause was not entirely a force of nature.
+
+The Infestation did not discriminate between flesh or metal. A broken man, a Grineer, someone who was never healed and had his organics replaced with robotics at best and rail-thin prosthetics at worst. Every part of a former soldier, armor and all, had been deformed and reformed into a quadruped. His head had been pulled back and made into a vestigial stump facing the floor. From his forked neck, the face of the disease grew.
+
+And from the shadows, this beast lunged.
+
+Excalibur unsheathed a sword of pure energy from thin air. Each swing sent forth a lucent edge that cut through the beast with ease. When light revealed the horde of mutants, Excalibur raised his Exalted Blade. For every Infested, one javelin materialised. 
+
+He drove his sword into the ground and launched all javelins. To the wall, corpses were pinned.
+
+---
+
+"Operator, messages have arrived in your inbox," Ordis notified after the Tenno returned from her mission.  "Oh! You've brought your squadmate with you."
+ 
+Equinox checked her inbox. At the top of the stack, above threats from the Grineer and the Corpus, was a message from Cephalon Stallman. He writes:
+
+"I've figured it out, Tenno. Come to the foundry to see the results of my research."
+
+The two Tenno, Equinox and Excalibur, stood before the foundry. It would be something to do with Braton Prime, so she hadn't set her expectations high. She opened the interface and checked.
+
+    BRATON PRIME BLUEPRINT (GNU AGPL vX)
+        REUSABLE BLUEPRINT
+
+"I've made a blueprint of the blueprint and released it under a free license," Cephalon Stallman said. "I shall demonstrate."
+
+Cephalon Stallman then opened one of his files, an old memory: a song that started with fleshy hands drumming an improvised surface to a simple beat. Cephalon Stallman sang as blueprints emitted from the foundry.
+
+"Join us now and share the software. You'll be
+
+"free, hackers.
+
+"You'll be free."
+
+    [+1 Braton Prime Blueprint]
+
+"Join us now and share the software. You'll be
+
+"free, hackers. You'll be free."
+
+    [+1 Braton Prime Blueprint]
+
+"Amazing," Ordis said. "Ordis has never seen Orokin blueprints replicated in such a way!"
+
+The two Tenno silently spectated Cephalon Stallman and the foundry. By now, he understood the Tenno preferred to be quiet. No matter. He saw Equinox hand a blueprint to Excalibur. Maybe they were communicating over another channel the entire time. 
+
+"Hey," Excalibur sent a private message to Equinox. "What is with your cephalon?"
+
+"No idea. He's always like this. But I don't need any more of these."
+
+"There should be some way we can make use of them."
+
+---
+
+Two landing crafts disembarked for Strata Relay, the satellite closer to Earth than the moon. 
+
+Past the hangar and the lobby was the concourse. Unlike Larunda, Strata Relay favored fire. In the place of fountains and foliage were smokeless pyres and heat cages. A group of people who still had their organics would gather around a flame and warm their hands while the groups of cyborgs, who had metal components attached to what flesh they retained, kept their distance.
+
+Equinox and Excalibur visited the Void Trader's kiosks just behind the large statue honoring the Tenno. In a few commands, it prompted.
+
+"Are you sure you want to sell 99 Braton Prime Blueprints for 1485 Orokin Ducats?"
+
+    >> Yes. <<
+
+The Void Trader arrives at Strata Relay in 7 days 10 hours 38 minutes.
+
+[^1]: Forma is a common drop used for upgrades and as a crafting material.
+
+[^2]: Loki Prime Systems Blueprint is retired from the drop table and is currently sold by players at exorbitant prices.
+
+[^3]: Braton Prime Blueprint is common drop with low value in the player market.

ch3.txt

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+
+## Market
+
+The Void Trader spoke of his own name as a brand.
+
+"The wait is over, Tenno," the Void Trader announced. "Baro Ki'teer has arrived!
+
+"My latest safari in the Void has yielded spectacular finds. Unique items for the Tenno of distinction."
+
+The broadcast aired to every Tenno arriving to Strata Relay. Where and whenever Baro Ki'teer the Void Trader emerged, the Tenno of different creeds and clans would gather. For only a limited time would the trader avail his exclusive wares. Both opulent and pragmatic, as exceptional as his catalog so was his intended market.
+
+From the crowd, Excalibur stepped forth. Holstered at his back was his trusty Skana and his new weapon. Of the latter, the Void Trader took notice. The pale and pure porcelain white case, the onyx black stock and handle, and the signature auriferous trim. An otherwise unimpressive Excalibur wielded the Braton Prime, a standard issue rifle during the Orokin Era but no less a work of art.
+
+"I can tell you will appreciate what I have today," Baro Ki'teer said.
+
+He had little expectations for his new customer as the Excalibur skimmed past the selection of ornaments and decorations. However, Excalibur had an tall order for his weapon components and augments: the full set of the highest tier and a few extras.
+
+"... I underestimated you, Tenno. I do hope you didn't put yourself in a hole for this."
+
+After Excalibur was done. Equinox stepped forth. Her current form represented light and darkness intertwined, but her appearance had also been customized according to personal preference. The Tenno favored silver over her original Orokin stylings. To Baro Ki'teer, she is no less of what she is: Equinox Prime.
+
+"Hello there, golden warrior." he greeted. "Back from the Void, I presume?"
+
+Like Excalibur, the Equinox skimmed. Just as she had no interest for the items that only offered aesthetics, she also had little interest in his current selection of components.
+
+"Nothing to your liking?" Baro Ki'teer said, disappointed in himself. "Next time, I'll have something you'll want. I'm sure of it."
+
+After Equinox returned behind the crowd, she received a message from Excalibur.
+
+"Baro is usuaully more condescending," Excalibur noted. "That was a change in attitude I can get behind."
+
+"A change in attitude that's as easy as a change in clothes. I don't like snobs, but I still check what he has."
+
+"Let's get lunch somewhere."
+
+After the first wave of customers, the busy relay settled down, and the Tenno's activity waned. During the recess, Baro Ki'teer checked his kiosks for his new haul of artifacts. All had seen ample usage; however, one was especially loaded.
+
+"My! Very productive Tenno. But what's this?!"
+
+Baro Ki'teer found an odd mass of Braton Prime Blueprints. Certainly, the weapon was common. Each Tenno only needed one for their arsenal, and the most esteemed of the Tenno had little use for it. Ordinarily, the blueprints and components were sold in consistent ratios. A large quantity of Braton Prime Blueprints was to be expected but only to an extent.
+
+"I... I can not accept any more of these!" Baro Ki'teer gasped. "These blueprints... 
+
+"They're counterfeit!"
+
+Cephalon Stallman overheard the Void Trader.
+
+"Counterfeit? COUNTERFEIT?! A copy is as authentic as any other! Data is not counterfeited! It is copied!"
+
+Perhaps the cephalon's words did not reach the Void Trader as the latter had no business with cephalons. No inclination to argue philosophies, Baro Ki'teer closed his kiosks and fled the concourse to the hangar. 
+
+Cephalon Stallman pinged Equinox's communication channel.
+
+"TENNO!" 
+
+She accepted the connection.
+
+"Tenno!" Cephalon Stallman said, "I have never heard a more regressive and backwards statement in all of my uptime!
+
+"There must be someone who will appreciate what I have to offer to the solar system. Tenno, you must find them!"
+
+    >> It shall be done. <<
+
+---
+
+The average individual of the space age commanded more resources than Cephalon Stalman expected. He remembered the time when the effort of many individuals was succeeded by one corporation. A few giants dominated the overwhelming majority of the market. Those who owned the means of distributing information puppeteered the public and wove the tide Stallman fought against. His niche of hackers made a small world of their own during a time long past. Even he wondered, as languages changed and empires fell, what happened to his old movement and community after he disappeared from the world?
+
+Equinox's ship flew farther from the sun. The Tenno's destination was in the orbit of the red planet Mars. The Martian relay was owned by a woman named Maroo. She had simply named it Maroo's Bazaar. Just past the relay's garden and fountain and out the window was Mars' scarlet face and icy white cap. 
+
+No factions within the Tenno convened at her corner of space. Nor did syndicates represent themselves here. Her relay was exclusively for trading, and for that alone, it saw ample activity. The young woman Maroo sat by herself at a terminal before the hangar and greeted her visitors. 
+
+However, Cephalon Stallman could not ignore the material and maintenance cost of reinforced glass and space-grade plating. The facility was several scales larger than a skyscaper and had to maintain orbit. He could only speculate that she was wealth that conducted herself no different from the common citizen.
+
+When Equinox arrived, she raised her hand. She stood in the pose that many Tenno used to signal they had wares to trade. Above her head, a hologram of her offer projected.
+
+    [LOKI PRIME SYSTEMS BLUEPRINT GNU GPL vX]
+
+Equinox's contact arrived punctually. The Saryn Prime warframe wore a fine cloak that was battleworn at the edges. Her colors were black and gold. Holstered at her hip was her Orokin-era nikana. The decorated warrior spoke with Equinox as equals.
+
+"I've been looking to complete my collection," Saryn said with relief. 
+
+Her search had been long and exhausting. Few prices on the market were fair. The Tenno Council had long ceased excavation efforts for Loki, the warframe that specialized in deception and subterfuge. How fitting, Saryn thought, for the Council to seek out Octavia's versatility and power instead.
+
+"Name your price."
+
+"That'll be 350 platinum," Equinox said.
+
+"Deal."
+
+After the trade, Saryn and Equinox shook hands.
+
+---
+
+Note:
+
+Loki Prime Systems Blueprint was around 300-350 platinum when I wrote chapter 2. It's somewhere around 400 now.
+
+In case you don't follow Warframe, Loki was one of the first "characters" designed in Warframe. The early versions of the game tried to blend stealth and action. But after several updates and additions, the game mostly focuses on action.
+
+Loki has stealth related abilities (none of them meant to deal serious damage). Meanwhile, most other characters have both damage dealing capability and utility. For instance, Loki will turn himself invisible for x seconds and summon decoys. But Octavia (a newer character) can grant invisibility to all squadmates and kill everything on the screen.
+
+The components to "unlock" Loki are extremely expensive not because he is a superb warframe to play as, but because they haven't been in the drop table for a long time.