Daodan: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 03:17, 10 April 2023

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worked material from Chapter 6's summary into the "Spikes" section and renamed it to "Power surges" since that's the actual term used to describe them in the dialogue

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 Going by [[Quotes/Consoles#Superhuman|this console]], the Daodan not only amplifies physical performance but also affects one's personality: one becomes more headstrong, and easily aggressive.
-===Spikes===
+===Power surges===
 [[Image:TXMPKONtransform.png|right]]
-Starting with her second encounter with Barabas, Konoko experiences a dramatic surge of power after every boss fight (with the notable exception of Mukade).
+Over the course of the game, Konoko experiences three major power surges that leave her glowing with energy. The surge takes the form of a violent spasm during which Konoko raises her arms in the air. A blue glow appears all over her body, accompanied by a soft whistling sound like a breeze. The fly-in panel of her face shows glowing eyes. The corresponding voiceover sounds ecstatic or even orgasmic (also compare to [[wp:Ecstasy of Saint Teresa|the ecstasy of Saint Teresa]]).
-Looked at another way, the major spikes only happen in three places: after beating Barabas a second time, after beating the room of bad guys at the end of [[Chapter 7]], and after beating her brother at the end of the game. Three times is hardly a large enough sample from which to assume that it's only major fights that do this to her, especially since a Fury and a couple of Strikers are hardly a boss fight, and the real boss fight with Mukade triggers no such reaction. This leaves some uncertainty as to what specifically causes the major spikes.
+The first surge occurs after Konoko's second fight with Barabas and is not noticed by the TCTF since they are under attack at the time, but the second one is described as "consistent with the waveforms of a Daodan spike, but far more powerful". The final surge takes place after Konoko beats Muro in {{C|14}}, and this time it is powerful enough to knock back bystanders or even kill them.
-The experience takes the form of a violent spasm, during which Konoko raises her arms in the air. A blue glow appears all over her body, accompanied by a soft whistling sound like a breeze. The fly-in panel of her face shows glowing eyes. The corresponding voiceover sounds ecstatic or even orgasmic. Compare to [[wp:Ecstasy_of_Saint_Teresa|the ecstasy of Saint Teresa]].
+Notably, the term "Daodan spike" is <u>not</u> used to describe this event. After the second surge, a TCTF scientist [[Quotes/Speech#Out of control|says]], "Sir, I'm picking up a power surge from Processor 31-B. It's consistent with the waveforms of a Daodan spike, but <u>far more powerful</u>." Probably a regular Daodan spike is like an adrenal spike, but "far more powerful" already. The game resources refer to the surges using the words "powerup" and "transform". The fact that the final surge is the strongest indicates that Konoko's power is growing and she may be nearing a total transformation (the [[#Imago|Imago]] stage).
-The term "Daodan spike" is not used to describe this spasm. Rather, these surges [[Quotes/Speech#Out_of_control|are described as]] "consistent with the waveforms of a Daodan spike, but <u>far more powerful</u>." Probably a regular Daodan spike is like an adrenal spike, but "far more powerful" already.
+It is unclear what triggers the surges exactly, but it seems to be some sort of feedback between Konoko's emotions and the Chrysalis inside her. If it was an adrenaline peak, you would expect it to happen ''during'' the fight or before it, with effects similar to the [[wp:Fight-or-flight response|fight-or-flight response]] or a [[wp:Second wind|second wind]]. What makes the most sense ''afterwards'' is a sort of triumphant relief, most similar to a [[wp:Neurobiological effects of physical exercise#Euphoria|runner's high]] or an orgasm (it sounds a lot like the latter, too). It may even be a sadistic thrill from dominating her opponent.
+In trying to understand the cause of the surges we might look for a simple way to describe the pattern of their occurrences, but this is not easy. One could say that Konoko experiences a dramatic surge of power after every boss fight, but this has the notable exception of the Mukade fight, and it requires us to count a room with one Fury and two Strikers as a boss fight. Another way of looking at the surges is given in [[Oni2:Slaves_of_War/Polylectiloquy#What_exactly_causes_those_Daodan_super-surges.3F_What_do_they_tell_us_about_Konoko.3F|this fan material]].
+Regardless of the exact trigger, one possibility is that the Chrysalis is using the immediate aftermath of an intense fight as an opportunity to "come forward" and "grow" significantly, responding to physical damage ''and'' taking advantage of momentary psychological weakness.
 ===Latency===
-The subject of latency is repeatedly mentioned by Shinatama, Kerr and the rest of [[Griffin|Griffin's]] scientific crew from [[Chapter 1]] on. While not very informative for the player at that stage, the unfamiliar term suggests something more exotic than regular biometric data.
+The subject of latency is repeatedly mentioned by Shinatama, Kerr and the rest of [[Griffin]]'s scientific crew from [[Chapter 1]] on. While not very informative for the player at that stage, the unfamiliar term suggests something more exotic than regular biometric data.
 According to the game's dialogue, high Daodan latency is bad and low latency is good: dialogue in the first chapters suggests that a reading of [[Quotes/Speech#Intro|27.1]] is normal and [[Quotes/Speech#Outro_2|29]] is a bit alarming (also mentioned are "bioplasmic waveforms", which are expected to be "stable"). However it gets a bit more complicated than that, as consoles at TCTF Science Prison ([[Quotes/Consoles#Superhuman|this one]] and [[Quotes/Consoles#Shinatama.2FKonoko_Relationship|this other one]]) both present <u>lowered</u> latency as the danger, not heightened latency.