The Discovery of Beaches and the Concept of Death

[Fetian]

God I fell over in a river and dropped several packages and had to fucking chase them downstream to get them back

[knightofcups]

this is deeply enjoying to read. more pz

[Fetian]

Guillermo Del Toro and his character are a fucking Delight, though, I love him

(Del Toro, Jesse Corti, Justin Leeper (video games are wild))

This is because they scanned Del Toro's face for the character, while Corti did the voice acting and Leeper did the mocap. Wild!

[Fetian]

Okay last night I stopped playing because I got overwhelmed by BTs while trying to schlep my way through the rain to what could possibly have been cover but probably wasn't, let's see if I do any better today

[Fetian]

The plot so far:

I am Norman Reedus Sam Porter (or Sam Porter Bridges), a delivery man in postapocalyptic America. The apocalypse happened via Science That Went Bad, which I don't yet have clarity on but involves the creation of "timefall" (rain that makes you old) and "BTs" (invisible zombies that make you old). There's more to that, obviously, both in terms of explaining "timefall" and "BTs" and in that more happened than just the timefall and the BTs.

Also probably related to the Science That Went Bad: Chiralium and chiral matter, which builds up in you when BTs touch you (possibly also when you get rained on (possibly this is the core of what makes you old)). Dying when you have too much chiral buildup will cause an explosion that wipes out entire areas, when you "necrotize" about 48 hours after death, and turn into a BT. (This is possibly all dead bodies, not just ones with chiral buildup)

DOOMS have not been explained except in that some people have them (it?) and some people don't. There are different levels to having them, and it seems to depend on your birthday (hence previous joke about pisces being able to see the invisible zombies). Being a high DOOMS level lets you see the zombies, but from lower levels you also have allergic reactions to chirals, usually involving involuntary crying -- our man Sam Porter also gets rashes when there's a BT nearby, and scars where BTs touch him (he is covered in ghostly handprints, it's pretty cool)

Sam Porter cannot die, and Die-Hardman, who also cannot die, has implied this has something to do with both of them having been members of Bridges I.

During the apocalypse events, people became disconnected and isolated from surrounding communities. Bridges is a group trying to reconnect people and recreate America as a country (as opposed to a scattering of small cities across the landmass). This is headed by The Last President of the United States -- hold on I've looked this up because I forgot this woman's first name and I swear her surname was Bridges but apparently it's Strand? There must be something going on with titles in this game or something, anyway -- Last President of the United States, Bridget Strand, who also turns out to be Sam's mother (so Sam Porter Strand? Possibly?). She is dying and as kind of a last wish, begs Sam to continue the work of connecting cities across America to make the country great again I refuse to make that joke.

She dies, Sam is given a mission to dispose of the body, by the time he gets back Bridges has put Bridget's daughter and Sam's sister into power as the next Last President of the United States (it is actually the president of the united cities of america, now). This is Amelie, who is not actually at Bridges headquarters, because she is "still on the Beach", a thing that has not been clarified as yet. Symbolically this seems to be some kind of death. Anyway, she talks with Sam via "chiralgram" (hologram), and continues begging him to work with Bridges to reconnect the country.

There is a lot of "We're the good guys, we promise! Sure we're spying on you at all times in incredibly invasive ways, including keeping track of the chiral levels in your poop, and also we really really wanted you to kill a baby" from Bridges for a bit, until Sam relents and agrees to take on the mission. This mission involves taking a Q-pid from city to city while crossing the country, which will hook said cities up to the wifi and create an unbroken strand from one end of the country to the other. On the way Sam will also continue delivering packages (which conveniently will help get him on the good side of said cities, making it easier to convince them to join in the cause), and do other grunt work in typical video game fashion.

Meanwhile there is a baby attached to Sam's chest and fluids, which serves as a warning system for BT activity, and enables Sam to see the BTs to a certain extent. Deadman and Bridges wanted to dispose of the baby because it failed to properly alert its previous ... owner? To BTs, which lead to that man's death -- ergo the baby is defective, ergo it needs to be disposed of. Sam refused, and used the baby to get out of a different dangerous BT situation, and I guess having hooked himself up to the baby he's now bonded with it and Bridges are okay with him keeping it. The baby has regular flashbacks (I'm assuming) to Mads Mikkelsen as its dad, having just delivered it while its mother died in childbirth (making a fair number of assumptions in that assessment, as well, but it's what I'm gathering). I'm thinking there's a like, prototype BB that is Mads' child, which is able to sense BTs, and there are copies of that BB that have the original BB's memories.

I think that about covers things for now! I am currently delivering packages on my way across the country.

[Fetian]

I donated some material to a distribution center and a political poster of my mom popped up with a "Thank you for your contribution! Reconnecting America " message

[Fetian]

My BB is sick and Deadman (he's the medical guy, for the record) has informed me that it will get better if I return it to its mother's womb

"Mother?"
"In the ICU. Braindead, of course.'
"Oh, you mean stillmother."
"Correct. A stillmother's womb facilitates a connection between the world of the dead and the BB."

So uh! That's happening!

[Fetian]

The pods we carry the babies around in are a simulacrum of their mothers' wombs, but after a while the baby realises that it is not in fact still in a womb and stops working properly, so you have to update the pod with environmental data from the stillmother's womb via the chiral network so you can continue tricking the baby

We're updating my bb now

[Fetian]

"You should remember that BBs are just equipment. Try not to get attached"

Yeah that'll happen

[Fetian]

Listen I don't really like babies but like, it's a baby! People will get attached!