[1] overview
[2] new players and characters
[3] plotline // network // closed circle // red team
[4] plotline // network // closed circle // blue team
[5] plotline // other
[6] closing words



[1] overview

This is your primary gamemaster checking in.

It's been a month since our last newsletter, which is Pretty Damn Okay ^TM given the circumstances. Mark this day in your calendar: pinkgothic wasn't tripping over herself apologising for the newsletter this time.



[2] new players and characters

Short list this time: Morgrim has created Lucian "Lucy" Taren a/k/a Kaliya and Serice has created Christopher/Corinthian's friend Jeremy Relgard. Former is still chiefly in its design phase, whereas latter has already been introduced.

That's it for this month!



[3] plotline // network // closed circle // red team

After several days of factually knowing 'his' Elizabeth to be a replacement, Frederick finally both fully accepts it for himself and tells her as much, at first prompting some protest [interlude: Simulacrum], then morphing into a casual acceptance based on that he seems to currently prefer it that way, at least by what he's communicated.

Meanwhile, advocating a little more of his social-darwinian principles, Dread, deciding that the end of Mer could have been significantly less catastrophic for the group as a whole if it hadn't been for a few loose cannons heads into Corinthian's head to figure out what his big deal is. He's not amused by his disconnected thoughts and near-incoherence and outright kills him [#355]. He's stopped short of killing Mandalore in the same fashion by the fact that he's already dead offline - the Folsham's reaction to the knowledge of the end of Mer trickling through to them having been a catastrophic hard disconnect of their children at the end of September [interlude: Warning Shot].

The death of Corinthian has people puzzled - for a moment, it's cause for them to presume it Patches' doing, which would plead for him being a replacement rather than the real thing, but no evidence of that can be found. The information is siphoned over to the Blue Team.

While the whole thing cooks, Lord Giles returns to the mansion to bring two trays to the group, along with an assortment of figurines (sans Corinthian's) which are to be placed on the trays according to people's guesses of who is 'real' and who is merely a replacement. It's not said which tray denotes which, and they're left to their own devices [interlude: The Master Returns].

When news comes in through Dread that unmistakably places Corinthian into their team (and thus means he's legitimately dead), the group discuss their figurines, and it turns out that the replacements in part can kick up quite a fuss about their supposed status, the vehemence of which results in a rather distraught Jess [#357]. Following this, Frederick, not wanting an episode of sabotage, claims the figurines, seals them in a tupperware box, and sleeps with them under his pillow.

The Team predictions continue to trickle in, eventually encompassing all living, human Citizens.

Confused, replacement Joukahainen approaches Frederick to find out precisely how they're getting their information. When he fully comprehends that they're getting help from an outside source, it clicks. Unfortunately, the malevolence of Dread doesn't properly occur to him, which prompts more confusion as he tries to convince Frederick into a more active role, since the raptorian refuses to do anything of the sort [#360]. Similarly, taking the issue to Liska (once he's found out that she, too, can speak to Dread), simply results in her brick-walling, if in a different fashion [#361], which is enough to finally make him realise what kind of a monster they're dealing with. He drops the subject.

Frederick meanwhile finds the behaviour of the replacements jarringly inconsistent, since from his observations, none of them care for their own lives even hypothetically, while nonetheless continually trying to sabotage the game with their red herrings [#363]. At least their attempts aren't very effective, and with Frederick in possession of the figurines, the accused replacements can only try to undermine his credibility, which doesn't work since it ends up backed by Liska and later Hakumele.



[4] plotline // network // closed circle // blue team

It is Dread that informs the Blue Team - or rather, Elizabeth - of Corinthian's death in the Red Team. Once she inquires about the cause, she's eventually informed that it was his doing. The circumstance leaves her keeping any further questions to a minimum.

It's of course enough to mark the Blue Team Corinthian as the replacement. As he's told about this, following the respective visit from Lord Giles to the team [interlude: The Master Returns], the Puppet flips out to the point of stealing his figurine to sabotage the game. Due to his size he doesn't get very far at all, Patches heroically adorably trying to catch him, though it ends up hardly being necessary [#356].

The fairly constant stream of information through Elizabeth, along with another one of her Dread dreams [#358], prompts Sethiss to seek Elizabeth out. They come rather close to resolving the loose ends between each other - how Sethiss 'doomed' Elizabeth to Dread and how Elizabeth 'doomed' Sethiss to deal with it, what motivations had driven it and what had come of the result - but while progress is made, it ultimately falls short of completion at Sethiss' dishevelled mental state [#359].

Either way, though, they stay well-synced up with the Red Team's predictions, and the group as a whole eventually is left guessing only the autonomous Puppets (that aren't Adrethyrian) and the Ghosts, which are simulacra of dead Citizens (that aren't Sirena, i.e. Miridia, Mandalore and Patches).

However, see this newsletter's closing words.



[5] plotline // other

A rather backdated session set in mid-September deals with Rebecca's long-term quasi-boyfriend, Geoff, stumbling across Dread as he checks up on her. Given Dread, it's remarkably civil. Geoff doesn't think so [#362]. It prompts a bit of a debate between Dread and (the generally non-confrontational, thus hesitant) Rebecca at a later date, where some of the fundamentals of Arcan philosophy are revealed to him, above which he explains the difference between 'a demonstration' (as he applied to Geoff) and 'actual harm'. They agree that when in doubt, he can ask Rebecca, and that he should doubt a bit more.

Roughly a month later, Dread meets with Project Bitscorch, prompted in large parts to seek them out by his troves of knowledge due to Closed Circle, and them rather interested in him because of Tui Aru'ak's supposed source. Rather than reacting with alarm or confusion, Bitscorch, represented by Justin, seem rather on board with the idea of a psychic (probably because they didn't doubt Tui Aru'ak).

While they're waiting for Justin to deal with a Bitscorch related conversation online, Rebecca and Rayen Heffernan hang out with Dread in a café, and the subject of potential Arcan citizenship comes up. Dread is perturbed and ultimately tries to stop the whole train of thought by revealing that he can neither read and write nor does he care to change it. This prompts a rather cranky Rayen to insist he learn, though Rebecca mediates, pointing out he hasn't needed it so far. Regardless, Dread agrees to learn it, chiefly because as far as supposed necessity goes, the two women indeed gang up on him, and he does respect both [#365].

Roughly ten days later, with all living, human Citizens stuck in Closed Circle placed into their right category, Dread opts to head down to the Cetacean Communication Project, following a strong hunch (that is almost certainty) that Hakumele really is a dolphin. As he arrives, the CCP let him in and humour him, mostly because they are nearing wit's end in regards to Hakumele [#364]. Once her name and comatose status are confirmed, Dread tries to interface with her, which works quite well, but leaves him with a bit of a migraine to deal with. Nonetheless, it finally lets him place Hakumele into the Red Team with certainty, and he advises her to back Frederick up in anything he relays [#365].

Not much later, he finally checks up on Jeremy as he'd promised Christopher to do. The student is rather sceptical that Dread isn't just a figment of his imagination in a lucid dream, but is ultimately told to do a websearch for Project Bitscorch and left with that [#367].



[6] closing words

Note: You can see a reasonably current status of Closed Circle guesses on the talk page of Closed Circle's encyclopaedia entry. For all intents and purposes, though, Closed Circle is over.

We have a session pending publishing that will be set immediately before a sim switch involving replacement Joukahainen, in his quest to end his and the other replacements' 'second-class citizen' life (well, well, doesn't this sound familiar?), cooperating with Frederick to complete the quest.

The start of the next sim will be soon (possibly even today), as soon as a few final preparations are done.

If you want to get in a last session or two in this world, now is the time to do it.