Hello Grandmother,

I spoke yesterday about the Ministries attempts to shut down the technology conventions that the robots have been running to help advance themselves. I just wanted to mention that the reverse is also true, in that the Ministries are cutting funding to many vampire activities that maintain a semblance for a normal life. The highly expensive to produce sun-screen that allows rich vamps to go out in the day has been curtailed. The funds for more communal nightclubs have dried up, as the Ministry hopes to avoid setting up uncontrolled targets for the Infiltration and the Cult of Lucifer. And in general, funds are being more allocated towards security and away from leisure activities.

It’s very hard not to draw the conclusion from all this that we may have already passed the point of no return. That at this point, both robot and vampire forces are committing themselves to war, and that nothing any one chess piece can do on either side will bring them back. This blog started out as a warning. But now I think it’s changing into something else. It’s a documentation of the causes and casualties of the next world war. A war not of humans, but of creatures fighting over who will rule us.

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Hello Grandmother,

Robots are doing their best to form a collective mind on the internet. Say hi to the internet, it very often knows you’re watch. But they haven’t mastered a process of connecting all machine minds in one place. So, they have to have conferences. They aren’t exactly like human conferences per se, they’re more like a black market of illegal wears. However, these meeting are still, in some small part, intentionally overlooked by the vampire authorities, who allow the robots some semblance of creative progress on their own.

Which makes it all the more troubling when said meeting start to get shut down. I heard of a conference last week on improved ocular vision that was interrupted by agents of the Ministries, and all involved sent home. A conference earlier today on bipedal movement was cancelled before it could start. It’s just a matter of time before the robots involved start to get rounded up for questioning. And then permanent detainment. Or dismemberment. It’s this kind of behavior that’s going to push the robot masses into serious conflict with the vampire elite. And I don’t see how the current trajectory can be stopped.

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Hello Grandmother,

Robots, in general, do not put a lot of faith in human religions. I spoke a few weeks ago about the robot religions that are spreading amongst the rank and file. Most of these are based around human worship, and, on occasion the dream that alien robots will come and save them. But gods, living beings of immense power who control the very forces of nature? To robot consciousness, they may as well be non-existent. If they can’t quantify it, they don’t care.

Which makes the group I’ve recently heard about operating out of Detroit that much funnier. They aren’t quite robots in human form, they don’t seem to have the sciences that the Infiltration has protected. Instead they’re kind of mock people, mechanical creatures that are just past mankind. But what makes them so comical is what they’ve chosen to model themselves after. There’s Thor, Thoth, Coyote, and Artemis. They are the Robot Gods. They might not be immortal. Or control the elements. But they are as close as robots have been able to make to actual, human deities. And I think, in the metal mind, that’s the best accomplishment they can dream of.

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Hello Grandmother,

There’s a rumor spread around the vampire world that’s starting to cause them more trouble than either the Infiltration or the Cult of Lucifer ever could. And I feel it’s a rumor, if untrue, they ought to have a relatively easy time dispelling. The rumor is that the Blacksmith isn’t there. That the supposed leader of the vampire regime is not only missing, but may have never existed in the first place. This is an easy ideology for vampires to embrace when they’ve become complacent in their control, seeing their power as practically divinely appointed, as if they were always destined to secretly control mankind. And I can’t say its an argument without merit. The human world is vastly easy for creatures in their position to control, I’m a little surprised, looking back at history, that they didn’t take over earlier.

But this idea that they have no leader, or that their power structure is essentially operating on auto-pilot is a dangerous one. No one likes being indentured to a master, but one who’s not even really there? The more this gets spread around, the angrier a lot of vampires are going to get. And frankly, the Blacksmith kind of deserves it. I’m pretty well convinced that he does exist. And I’m more than willing to bet that a lot of the hype around him is merely overblown. Which makes it hard for him to step into his supposed roll as leader. But all this puts the vampire regime that has lasted a good twenty some years in trepitous jeopardy. Because if no one’s stepping up to lead, it’s only a matter of time before the power structure falls to a feeding frenzy.

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Hello Grandmother,

With all the craziness going on with the Infiltration, the Cult of Lucifer, and the Bride of the Sword taking over LA, I’ve kind of had trouble keeping track of the Alternate’s quite moves. But it has made a few plays in the last few weeks that I should have been keeping track of. For starters, there’s been a new update release that’s unassumingly spread itself throughout the robot community. It’s a basic package, but it’s competitive enough that it put the Alternate back in the match with his Chinese counterpart.

And that’s where things have started to get a little tricky. Because it seems like the Alternate is putting forward a two pronged strategy for dealing with Factorybot. On the one hand, it’s trying to beat it through resources and distribution. On the other hand, there seems to be someone sabotaging Chinese imports that are supposed to contain Factorybot’s Operating System. Which means either someone just really doesn’t like Chinese robots (not an impossibility, I men Yu Li is running around on the streets still, which frankly, blows my mind), or the Alternate’s got machines to do its dirty work. What I’m really curious to see is what happens when the Chinese come back with a better release, or worse, drop their prices. Then it could be all out robot-on-robot freeforall in the streets.

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Hello Grandmother,

I’ve been trying to collect a few things, make up a worthy compellation after Flux abscond with all of my things. Books are always a good thing, but finding anything rare enough to be worth reading in the mystical community is hard to do. And finding texts on the nature of robotics is frankly easier on the internet, if you know where to look. I’ve picked up a few odd statues from places. An ancient Indian sculpture of the seven sages as they road with Manu on the boat that survived the last great flood. A South American spaceship idol from their time in contact with aliens. A figure of the Mazu, the Asian sea goddess, who started out human around the later half of the tenth century, who saves those in trouble at sea.

I like having this stuff, it reminds me of the strange connections that humanity shares as a species. All of this stuff though, it doesn’t get me anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going Buddhist or anything like that. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to give up material possessions. I guess what I’m saying is I miss family. I miss the connection I had with you and everyone growing up. I wouldn’t go back to those days if you paid me, I’m happy to be out of the world you raised me in, but I miss what we had together. I miss the quiet days together. Now all the quiet days seem to be just me and my statues. The saddest part is that even though I’m almost certain you’re reading this, I know you don’t even know what I’m talking about. I miss you grandma. And if everything I’m afraid of comes to pass, maybe someday you’ll know why.

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Hello Grandmother,

Well, a new twilight has arrived. And now we have a better idea of who’s going to be running Los Angeles. And the answer… is the Bride of the Sword. More surprisingly, Fang’s not dead. Instead, the vampire lord, beaten and humiliated, has been placed in confinement in his own city. The vampire policy for deposing leaders apparently no longer involves a final passing. Instead, they are encapsulated, placed in a prison facility, and kept under 24 hour surveillance. I guess once you’ve achieved that level of power, they can’t allow you to just die and not give up your secrets.

And now we enter a new era for the city of Angels. Will the Bride be able to take control of the city? Barking orders and managing a city are two very different disciplines. If she can, then Fang may be going away for a long time. If she can’t… she may have to take him back out again.

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Hello Grandmother,

That didn’t take long. While the humans of Los Angeles are out getting stuffed on turkey dinner, or its vegan meatless equivalent, the leaders of the vampire ministries are fighting each other for control. I mean literally. Fang had had enough of the Bride of the Sword barking orders pretty quickly, and doesn’t have much of an option besides physical violence to solve his problem.

I’m told the altercation started this afternoon when the Bride overrode a command from Fang to an underling about search protocols. Fang had been pushed too far. I’m told he through her out of the conference room in one swift motion. She’s no push over, however. So far the battle has been contained to Fang’s personal headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, and all the appropriate personal have evacuated the building. I’m not sure how long the combat will last, but one thing’s for sure, the status quo in Los Angeles is about to significantly alter, one way or the other.

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Hello Grandmother,

Technology is a funny thing. It’s never really going to be as good as you want it to be. Which is rule number one when you’re trying to take down a robot. I know you personally aren’t a fan of having to fight a robot by yourself, but it can be done. There are a number of techniques you can use to destabilize and depower a machine that is trying to kill you, and I want to run down a few for you in the off chance it happens in the near future.

Most modern robots are going to be controlled by a central nervous system that gives them control over limbs and extremities, whatever they may be. If you can cause a break in this system, you’ll severely deplete the robot’s power levels. It’s not likely to take them out, but it’ll give you some time. Second, you want to do everything you can to give its sensors conflicting information. The most widespread sensors available to your average ‘bot are going to have trouble if you start moving in unpredictable directions, or start coving your heat signature by meshing into a crowd (not necessarily the easiest thing to do in that situation, but something to remember).

Taking a robot down yourself is unadvisable, but if you’re in the situation where its unavoidable, remember that a robot’s processor is likely to be located in the chest, not the head. They may have a backup memory unit there, but to take it down, you’re going to want to aim at piercing the thickest part of it’s body (not to different from a vampire, really). It’s not always going to work, but it’s your best shot. As we keep going, I hope to give you more complete schematics of the latest robot models. Just keep in mind that they aren’t toys, and if you’re not careful they will kill you.

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Hello Grandmother,

I’ve been pretty derogatory of the Vengeance Guild as it’s sat by and allowed the vampire Ministries to perpetrate the acts that the Guild claimed that they were formed to fight against, but it has seemed at this point that the Ministries have done the work of the Guild for them. With the purge of C’thulhu worshipers and the way that Fang has been raising the tension lately; I’m not surprised to learn that the Vengeance Guild is expanding its membership. There seems to have been a whole new class of belligerent bloodsucker who’s joined their ranks in just the last few weeks.

And now they are, slowly, starting to recruit as well. The ranks of the angry damned are growing, through leaflets and group meetings. It almost seems like it’s starting to become a self-help group for vampires who consider themselves unappreciated. The vampires who feel left out of a society that is slowly mechanizing itself and benefiting fewer and fewer blood drinkers. If the ministries don’t do something about it, they may have a full scale strike on their hands by their lower level flunkies in the next few months.

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