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(→BGI's fiasco: new paragraph about alternate chronology) |
(→The after-Oni: very meh, because I'm tired, but at least it's done now. enjoy) |
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==The after-Oni== | ==The after-Oni== | ||
Mai's actions decimate the population of WCG megapolises and aggravate the pollution in the short and middle term, except in the few cities (if any) whose ACCs were spared. Intact cities (if any) must now deal with an enormous inflow of refiugees, as well as Striker attacks. Strikers no longer have the means to terrorize the WCG or bargain with it (the Daodan's secret has seemingly disappeared with Hasegawa and his acolytes - or at least it's not available to Strikers). So instead the Strikers are trying - more or less successfully - to take over cities, hi-jack air cleaning facilities, intercept humanitarian convoys, etc. | |||
BGi acknowledges its own failure in dealing with the Daodan problem and averting the ecological disaster, and refocus on humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Heavy industry and high tech are atapded to the new world, and optimized to suit the needs of the surviving population. | |||
The more cunning/competent Strikers change sides and join the WCG-BGI, and this new conglomerate will eventually evolve into the [[META]] utopia. META is controlles by ex-members of the WCG-BGi elite and by Hasegawa's "technocrats" (let - or not - by Hasegawa himself or by one of his acolytes). This utopian society - starting with its leaders and masterminds - is "Daodan-enhanced", so its long-term goal is to achieve a "hyperevolution" of society, gradually replacing all the "weak links" with something fluid and totipotent, somewhat "alien"/unearthly, but which somehow will still be "an expression of mankind's true nature" - a process echoing what the Daodan does to an individual, but transposed on the scale of a whole civilization. | |||
(EDIT: In other words, the aftermath of STURMANDERUNG is very different both from the pre-Oni status quo and from the "counter-sabotaged" outcome planned by Hasegawa/Mukade. All the factions (including "Hasegawa&Co") must adapt to this dramatic turn of events, and find new ways out of the crisis - which is perhaps even worse than what Muro's STURMANDERUNG was supposed to accomplish.) | |||
As for Mai, she doesn't easily find her place in the immediate after-Oni. She gradually realizes the dramatic impact of her actions (primarily the decision to blow up the Atmospheric Processors, which spreads toxic waste - byproducts of air cleaning - in and around most of WCG's megapolises, sealing the fate of millions if not billions of human beings). Initially she believes that the Chrysalis will provide an answer to the crisis, i.e. that mankind with find one way or another to overcome the catastrophe (either by actually using the Daodan on a "general availability" scale, or through some kind of metaphrorical evolution: "we have been taken out of our comfort zone, and whatever happens next can only be for the better"). But, one after another, her hopes turn into disillusionment. No other Chrysalis will be implanted in the immediate aftermath (Hasegawa has disappeared with the inception/implantation secret, and what's left of the WCG would have deemed the Chrysalises dangerous/impossible to mass-produce and monitor anyway). Also, Mai is quickly designated (rightfully) as the sole responsible for the Cataclysm, and finds that she isn't welcome anywhere. | |||
(EDIT: Before the world leaders decide to lay the whole blame on Mai, there may be a short period - a few months? - where the government "lets her be" and even grants her some privileges, like visiting Muro (or Muro's remains) in a high-security prison (or grave). C.f. "Wasteland Flowers" and derivatives thereof.) | |||
Wandering at the edge of civilization, she tries to serve a good cause, by fending off some Striker attacks on life-support convoys, but even there she is face with misunderstanding and violence (as soon as people realize who she is). She is also struggling harder and harder against the "second nature" imposed by the nearly-fully-integrated Chrysalis. Eventually she goes into exile, haunted by Shinatama's ghost and general guilt about the Cataclysm that she brought about. Comes a moment when she encounters the Old Man (true Mukade?) and his "Fight Club", or speaks to some other characters (ghosts or physical) who "help" her realize how absurd her situation is, and how her decision to "blow everything up" was (probably) just a jolt of her Daodan alter-ego - in other words, she sealed the fate of mankind on a whim. | |||
Suicidal insanity ensues, but the Chrysalis makes suicide impossible, so instead it all ends in stupor and a "hard reset" of both the body and the spirit: a coma followed by amnesia and nearly full "latency" (i.e. Konoko's body is fully transformed, but the Daodan - aura - practically vanishes from it, remaining in "deep standby"). | |||