Knowledge Vending Machine... or Knowledge Vampire?

[Janick Beauchamp]

After creating Sithspawn on Odacer-Faustin, and later, this mission about hunting Sithspawn on Manas, it felt good to return to Utapau, to the Alchemy Castle. Sure, as a commodore, running the starfighter forces in this sector was a complex duty to perform, but that's what staff and subordinates are for. For the time being, Darth Elra went back from whence she came so until such time has come that it would be safe for her to come back to Utapau, she decided to cold-call another unaligned dark-sider, whom she saw in visions as someone else that had enough intellect to be of use to her. To make good use of the Force-powers she has accrued fame for, and likely would be one for the ages. Poor girl, she has gone through so much; I'm sure I'll do my best to accommodate her needs; I hope I can give the girl's brain a fresh infusion of knowledge. However I have to be mindful of her memory's ability to absorb new knowledge, or otherwise she will have to, if she decides to learn by draining, she thought, while composing a holomail message to that girl that appeared to her in Force-visions. Plus the NIMB was apparently... disbanded, due to a change in factional priorities after the GA was destroyed.

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ATTN: [member="Dianah Vrorae"]

Given that mental data transfer practitioners are a rarity nowadays, I'm offering you a rare opportunity: learning how to infuse, alter or download memories from someone else. With Memory Rub you can infuse knowledge into other people, as well as perform memory alterations, while Drain Knowledge will help you learn faster.

We can meet inside the Utapau Alchemy Castle or somewhere else entirely. Please let me know what works for you.

Janick Beauchamp

------------------------------------

 

[Darth Miseria]

'Message for you, Mistress.'

The console screen screeched loudly, as if the blaring lights and the verbal reminder weren't enough already. She placidly waved a hand from where she was sitting, indicating for her pilot to open it. It popped up on a screen in front of her and Dianah took the time to read it through carefully. The squeak of a not-so-well oiled leather chair echoed against the hallow shell of the ship. It was a really interesting proposal. There had never been any mention of such a powerful use of the force, from either her Father or her Master. To top it off, it would come in handy for her mission. It was an opportunity she could not risk losing.

There was a furious tapping against glass as Dianah hurried to record her response:

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Ms Baeuchamp.

I would be more than delighted to learn of Memory Rub and it's counterpart Drain Knowledge.

I will meet you at the Castle as soon as possible.

Dianah Vrorae

------------------------------------

'Well. I guess we have our next destination. Utapau. Quick as you like.'

It wasn't much of a journey, considering she got to spend most of it watching over her pilots shoulder as he flew. She swore one day she would get someone to teach her how to work one of these things. Imagine the freedom that would come with a thing like that. Nobody watching over your shoulder or making sure you were alright. Her thoughts were temporarily set aside as they began the decent to the surface. Even though it couldn't have taken them more than a day or so to reach the planet Dianah still desperately hoped she wasn't too late.

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

No, it wasn't too late for [member="Dianah Vrorae"]. I know I have to be cautious about how fast I'm infusing knowledge into her, but I know few people can download stuff from me so fast that they can cause me pain. I can withstand high download speeds without trouble, she thought, while realizing that Griet was gone from the Circle in the meantime; Griet was well-appreciated of Janick. All that Griet left for Janick was the coordinates of the accounting firm she ran, on Akarui. But then she will have to get a replacement witch for the Circle's alchemical roster or else pick up the slack pertaining to the drill bits. Not that she already didn't alchemize electronics, but she hoped that there would not be any AFDAs under the new regime, even though unearned revenues were an acceptable liability. And then she could feel a dark-sided signature not belonging to Alyssa, nor did it belong to any dark-sider she met in her lifetime; it could likely be Dianah since she couldn't readily recognize it. Once that person arrived at the door of the castle, she sees who's there, someone waifish, with white hair, and also bearing a dark-sided Force-signature:

"Welcome to the Utapau Alchemy Castle, Dianah. I trust you came to learn how to infuse knowledge and to download it from someone..."

 

[Darth Miseria]

Her boots made a soft clink against the metal ramp of the ship.

Utapau was a temperate planet but it was filled with arid desert plains. Despite naturally dark complexion she could feel the warmth. Dianah had never before heard of the mysterious and powerful piece of force she had now set her mind on too learn. But all the same she could feel the familiar bubble of excitement rising in her chest. From what little information she had available Dianah knew that it would be a long and gruelling process. Even so she adamant to show up with the strength and determination that was expected of her.

At the end of the ramp and standing plainly in front of her was the Alchemy Castle she had been told about in the message. There was also a woman, who seemed to know exactly who she was and what she had come for.

'That's exactly right, I'm hoping you'd be willing to teach me. You must be... Janick? If it's okay to call you that.'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Yes. Come inside"

[member="Dianah Vrorae"] was then brought upstairs, and inside the bedroom that used to be Griet's for this portion of the session. If she wants to download alchemy from me, then I can bring her downstairs, in the basement, for practice. For now anyway, Dianah's brain will be fed a fresh infusion of new knowledge, she thought, while realizing that what used to be Griet's bedroom was now empty; however, the tulip-themed wallpaper wasn't removed at all. It was time for Janick to get a feel for Dianah's brain, how fast her brain can process new info, such as knowledge of a Force-power, because she knew it was key to a painless infusion of knowledge. Sure Dianah might be intellectually different from Raith, or Griet even, but she knew better than to underestimate anyone that wished to learn mental data transfer: typically a person capable of engaging in mental data transfer would still have a rather nicely-developed brain. The data packet in question was used so often for infusion that it became her benchmark against which to test for who's the bottleneck when infusing knowledge.

"If you do not object, I will first infuse you the knowledge of Memory Rub into you, as well as the caveats you have to take into account. This is what I use to teach new knowledge faster, and you will likely find as much. But please tell me now if you don't want to; however, both Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge will be subjected to the same caveats"

 

[Darth Miseria]

At the woman's words Dianah took her final step of the ship and turned to give the pilot a friendly wave. She enjoyed his company. In the smattering of people she met, he was the only constant. But she couldn't for the life of her remember his name.

She was lead up a worn set of steps toward the room in which she hoped they would begin. Her curious eyes drank every detail in with a hungry fever. The room was simple and plain beside the garish tulip paper that hung on the walls. It seemed perfect for what they had planned. Dianah could only hope she met the high expectations her new teacher set from the off.

'I don't object in the slightest. Both will be of great use to me.'

Unsure of where to stand or what was going to happen next, Dianah simply stood in the middle of the room.

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Memory Rub will be infused to you, and then by the end of it, you will be able to carry out your own memory infusions or alterations"

Now that she knew how fast [member="Dianah Vrorae"]'s brain was, she could adjust the infusion speed accordingly, so as to minimize the pain she would inflict by performing this mental data transfer. And then the infusion began: flashing in both people's minds were visions of the process of infusing knowledge, and also how the infusion process would change if she instead wanted to alter or erase memory files in someone. In addition, the caveats were being infused, in that the person should not infuse, erase or alter memories faster than the slower of the target's mental bandwidth or the user's, or else the excess throughput would cause pain. As the memories were being transferred from Janick's brain to Dianah's, Dianah would also realize that knowledge infusion is much easier to perform on people with better memories, but that altering a person's memory files will be harder, and that, in people with poor memories, performing memory alterations can also cause someone to accidentally forget something else that was not intended to be forgotten. Yet that risk was minimal in people with better memories.

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah nodded her head. Before she knew what had hit her memories that didn't belong to her began to flash behind her eyes. The complicated process of the infusion process trickled into her mind step by step. The incredible power filled her with an excitement that knew no bounds. Her memory had served her well over the past years of her life. It was the one thing, save her telekinesis, that she was absolutely, totally confident in. Thus, this made the transfer a relatively painless process.

There was still a small amount of pain, mind you. It flashed and burned her retinas and seared her mind with a warm heat.

But her mind was young and pliable. Beyond the dull burning sensation there was nothing but hunger for more.

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Oh well, sensory overload was a thing when knowledge was infused into the recipient through its retinas. But Janick could also sense, beyond the girl's retinas being overloaded, that [member="Dianah Vrorae"] hungered for more knowledge. What will it be this time? The earlier students wanted to learn alchemy from me, but later on other people learned other things via Drain Knowledge: psychometry, Memory Walk, Force-lightning, in chronological order, and I actually learned Neural Storm by downloading it from Griet, she thought, while memories of her being used Drain Knowledge on for pedagogical purposes are resurfacing. Then again, she knew that people could download virtually anything she knew without her incurring any pain or without her forgetting it either. So she had no reason to expect Dianah to cause her pain by downloading knowledge from her. Plus she knew she knew a lot about the Force so there was a number of Force-powers that could be of interest and/or use to the student of the day. Just that Janick found it a little disconcerting that mental data transfer never got that much traction.

"The next power on today's agenda is Drain Knowledge, where the aim is to instead download knowledge from someone else. However, for some reason, most people overlook or otherwise discount Drain Knowledge as a learning aid. For this reason, the drill is to have you download from me the knowledge of any one Force-power that you don't already know: you will see how useful it is for this purpose once the download is made. Just that the caveats of Memory Rub also apply to Drain Knowledge"

 

[Darth Miseria]

There was only a mild discomfort when the memory rub came to an end. Her mind felt full with a new found knowledge so the task of trying it out seemed more than pleasing. She had the energy and determination to continue practising something long after it became clear as day. This reason alone was why her memory and her telekinesis were so powerful.

'I think that sounds acceptable.'

With the promise of more knowledge to be shared, she was eager to give it a go herself. For concentration she let her deep amber eyes flutter closed. There was a few moments of disappointment when nothing seemed to be happening. Dianah remembered the age old wisdom someone had once taught her. Feel, don't think. All of a sudden she could do just that. It was a strange sensation, walking around in someone else's mind. But Dianah had no doubt that Janick was only showing her what she wanted her to see. The force powers she displayed were epic and most seemed beyond recognition to Dianah herself. Though she found one that pleased her something awful. A little bit of nifty magic called force fear.

Once her mind had settled on something to download the rest came easy. In her mind, it felt akin to letting a sponge soak up a large puddle. It flooded her with a wealth of new knowledge. Mainly on how to correctly use it. There were complicated finger movements that brought it to life and an intricate dance you played in your victims minds. It felt like the perfect thing for Dianah to learn, thus it came easily to her.

What had felt like hours was over in seconds. Her eyes flicked back open and she donned a grateful smile.

'How was that?'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

As [member="Dianah Vrorae"] was playing around in Janick's mind, she must have realized that some of those powers that the acolyte thought of as "epic beyond recognition" were, in fact, very dangerous to learn without using mental data transfer. Especially Neural Storm and Memory Walk, and mechu-deru to a lesser extent. Safer but still epic and/or exotic were psychometry, Force-cloak and alchemy. True, most anybody that used mental data transfer to learn stuff realized that they could learn, or teach in seconds what would take hours otherwise. But Dianah must have realized that her intelligence was what made the download over in seconds. Plus Dianah must have realized that there were, in fact, two methods to cast the spell called Force-fear. The first involved projecting the caster's fears onto the target(s), best used when the targets themselves had few or no inner fears. The second method, which is about triggering fears inside the target, is more practicable if there are more inner fears inside the target. It's not a pick one choice per se, it's more of a pick one in context.

"Lady Elra is a lady at a similar intellectual level to you. She, too, is made to feel that there are few dark-siders that actually embrace finesse, or that realize their brains are their most important Force-instruments"

 

[Darth Miseria]

The smack of mental drain hit her suddenly and she felt the need to take a seat on the carpeted floor. It was an exhaustion that seemed to creep up on you. Especially for someone that didn't have a solid grasp on how to use Mental Data Transfers and all the caveats that came with it. But she was okay and the smile of a sated curiosity remained on her lips.

Dianah looked up with a raised eyebrow. She had no idea Janick knew anything about Darth Elra. Of course, Dianah herself had only ever met Elra once so far. That day when she had first joined the Jen'ari Empire and received her first task. Elra was indeed very intelligent as she had given her a task perfectly suited to her. It played on her strong points while also providing a modicum of challenge and a chance for Dianah to prove herself.

'I hadn't realised you knew Lady Elra.'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Mental data transfers are a rather special experience for the people who perform them for the first time. With that said, it's not often that you have a chance to express how the target's mind feels to you, so how does my mind feel to you? Do you feel my mind is providing you with any kind of pleasure whatsoever while you're in it?"

I do realize mental data transfers can and often do take up significant amounts of energy. But that's as far as I can talk about Darth Elra: I can talk about her as a person but not about her background, nor can I talk about how I met her and why. Even assuming my estimate of me intellectually being one in a million was correct - and it may well prove incorrect - there would be millions like me in the galaxy, with each of them having a different knowledge base, Janick thought, while realizing [member="Dianah Vrorae"] was, in fact, sitting on the carpeted floor to recuperate because of the energy costs that may have been a bit much for an acolyte. But she knew there was more of a chance for somebody to engage in mental data transfers if that person feels like it is at least somewhat pleasant beyond it simply being a means to learn and/or teach faster. And also that each person's mind is unique to an extent to someone engaging in mental data transfers, no matter how brilliant (or not) they are, what or how much they know. Then again, perhaps it is time for Dianah to eat.

"Perhaps you are hungry and/or thirsty"

 

[Darth Miseria]

Pleasure was a funny word to use for diving into somebodies mind. Dianah didn't quite know how to answer first so she sat in silent thought on the carpet, nursing the wounds of her mind and the exhaustion in her body. It took her a good few moments to come up with something articulate in response.

'I felt a lot of things. It's strange, of course. But there was a small amount of pleasure from knowing I'm learning. And your mind is wondrous, it's a definitely a pleasure to explore and an honour to be allowed to.'

She stretched her aching muscles up to the ceiling with a gentle groan. It was nice to pull the muscles and feel them spring back looser than before. The notion of food was pleasing. She wasn't starving but having something to line her stomach would be nice. It might give her the boost of energy she needed to carry on.

'Food and drink would be lovely, thank you.'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Come to the dining room; I hope you like strong alcohol. Pure azeotropic goodness: I drink it by the tablespoon"

For the purposes of food and drink, [member="Dianah Vrorae"] is thus brought to the castle's dining room, large enough for eight, where Alyssa was there, falling asleep, probably because Alyssa's brain may have been working a little too hard in the kitchen. Much like Dianah being exposed to high volumes of knowledge in a short amount of time caused her to be a little exhausted mentally. Janick had to be mindful of the pain the acolyte has sustained which, hopefully, would be relieved by a tablespoon of Asobi 95% tihaar, that which she referred to as azeotropic goodness. In fact, she poured that tihaar in three small glasses, small enough to contain just one tablespoon each. And, of course, a pizza sliced six ways, with two slices for each of the three present in the dining room; she had to grant Alyssa that she has some talent for cooking. That, even though she seemed to have low mental endurance; often a strenuous mental effort will make her feel tired easily. Hopefully Dianah will actually like the pizza being eaten before she is back for another training session in Drain Knowledge.

"Time to eat"

 

[Darth Miseria]

Alcohol was something she could definitely get behind. So with that promise she nodded her head and lifted herself gingerly from the carpet to follow Janick out of the sparsely decorated room.

The dinning room looked as it was expected to look. A smattering of chairs for people to sit at clustered around a large table, placed in the very centre of the room. In the corner of her eye she noticed the young woman fast asleep, her head against the hard wood. Dianah wondered if it was because she was going through the same process she was. If so, would she be like that in after a few hours of training? Either way the woman was dead to the world.

Dianah lowered herself into the nearest chair with a content grin. The drink that was placed before here smelt and looked like nothing she had ever imbibed in. But, as a Mandalorian, she wasn't one to shy away from a free drink. It slipped easily down her throat but the after burn was something to be reckoned with. She followed it quickly with a slice of pizza, hoping it would ease the sting.

'Mmmm...' She moaned in approval. It was good pizza and an even better drink. That one little tipple set her finger tips buzzing. 'That's some really good stuff...' Her attention turned to the woman sleeping on the table. 'And is she going to be okay?'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"She'll be OK, she just needs a few good hours of sleep"

Sure, Alyssa doesn't have [member="Dianah Vrorae"]'s mental endurance, but it was hard for Janick not to think of Griet and all these moments she spent with her when she drank so much as a tablespoon of Asobi 95% tihaar, starting with the initial drilling of the first alcohol well on Asop. And then a stream of memories of began to flow in her mind, flashing back in chronological order: the drilling of the Asobi 95% wells, then the release of that product on the market, where she attended a ceremony where Janick drank a whopping 25 tablespoons of that stuff, and then the hangover over Asop, where the Verdict was stationed and where she made an attempt to learn about how to motivate the hangar crew of a capital ship with hangars. And, of course, the various engagements she fought after that stretch of hangover over Asop: that daring dive-bombing attack on the Pellaeon, over Dagobah, which took years to repair and the repairs were completed only with First Order intervention, and, of course, vomiting in the cockpit on Utapau. Just that there were so many memories related to Griet conjured by the azeotropic goodness.

"Want to download something else?"

 

[Darth Miseria]

The food went down quickly and settled her stomach. Dianah realised just how hungry she had been. There was barely time to make anything to eat on her own ship what with travelling back and forth constantly for both the Confederacy and the Jen'ari.

She was pleased to hear the woman would be alright after a few hours of sleep. It meant if the same thing happened to Dianah she would be okay too. She sank back into the plushy chair with a happy smile on her face. If there was more she was happy to go again. She felt ready now.

'What did you have in mind?'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

So [member="Dianah Vrorae"] returned to the living room and sank into a plush, red chair after eating. The 500-square-meter castle feels a little too big for just two permanent occupants and, even when Griet was still there, it was a bit much, but it was the price she paid to settle in Wild Space on the cheap. Now, was investing in a house that offered a poodoo-load of space for a very low cost-per-square meter a good idea, only time would tell. And now, she knew that Dianah's mind would be more used to the demands of Drain Knowledge, plus she could tell today's guest is still after some extras. Then again Janick feels that it's much more worthwhile to have her download more exotic knowledge than stuff that can be readily obtained from more common sources within the Jen'ari. So she didn't hesitate to list the more exotic stuff she knew, in descending order of danger, but while Force-cloak is more common, psychometry and Instinctive Astrogation were typically considered exotic, and the latter doesn't teach very well. Precognition was much more readily trainable in its very short-term variety, though. She was confident that, if Dianah wanted to download pyrokinesis, she would also be able to download cryokinesis in one go, and use both for cooking, but choosing pyro/cryo was not at all a given.

"I think that it's more worthwhile for you to come here and download, from me, the stuff that is epic beyond recognition than to download what can readily be trained under different people. Some of the remaining stuff is, in fact, safer to learn by mental data transfer than with conventional training methods, so download one from the following: Neural Storm, Memory Walk, alchemy, psychometry, Instinctive Astrogation, heat manipulation. If you instead download heat manipulation, you would then be downloading both pyrokinesis and cryokinesis simultaneously"

 

[Darth Miseria]

Once again they set off for a different part of the castle. Dianah couldn't help but wonder how two people lived so comfortably in the massive house. Sinner's Well was just as grand but even with her extremely large family the place still felt half dead sometimes. Still, the whole place was marvellous to behold and it oozed class and elegance.

Her weight settled comfortably back into the chair again as she considered all that Janick was saying. There was very few she knew much about for the most part, so it made it rather difficult to chose. But still, the one that stood out for her the most was Memory Walk. She had heard stories of how it could be used and she was more than intrigued on the logistics of it. At the same time there was the pekineses and cytokineses Janick had pointed out specifically, but for now Dianah couldn't see what used they would be to her.

'Memory walk sounds like something I'd be interested to learn more about.'

[member=Janick Beauchamp]