Official V3 Lore Feedback/Questions [Feel free to post here]

[Robert]

Hello,

This is just a thread to give feedback to V3 lore since I realized someone accidentally posted on the V3 Announcements itself (oopsie)
So made this thread for you all instead.

If you have any questions or comments, then please post below!

This post relates to the following thread:

V3 Lore Announcements/Changelog

Willard V3 Lore Announcements and Changelog This thread exists to keep you up to date with changes being made to V3 Lore and even its World map. It is also where I will post relevant V3 announcements regarding the direction the lore and story are taking and where we will go from here. If you...

willard.network

 

[HalfLife2CitizenMale09]

Okay nice, repeating my question, has KROT’s weird connection to the OTA been removed or reworked? It was something I thought was kinda unnecessary and downplayed the combine’s technology so I’m curious if it’s gone, or if it’s still there if it’s atleast been downplayed in terms of its importance.

 

[Donavin Jones]

I'm gonna ask this first before anyone else.
Since its going back in time back to V3, could we remake chars back in that time that were not dead?

 

[Robert]

KROT’s weird connection to the OTA been removed or reworked?

That has been reworked to change from being an "Oh the Combine made the OTA from KROT's designs" to something more or less along the lines of "The CPRD found plans and schematics relating to KROT's soldier program which provided them some more improvements and additions to the ascension program."

That is like a baby explanation of it and horribly described, but should show the point that yes, the Combine now made the OTA out of their own design and not from KROT's ideas. Only using said plans to improve upon some minor aspects of the OTA

 

[Robert]

Since its going back in time back to V3, could we remake chars back in that time that were not dead?

Yes, this has been stated in the Community Meeting, the forums and even on Discord that all Characters whether from V2 or V1 can be remade including those who have died. The year that we may be rewinding to sits currently around the years of 2016 going into 2017, aka the original start of V1 into V2.

So yes, all characters can be remade including the dead ones.

For example, Sector Admin Dr Albert Meyers is coming back as 1 example of a dead character being revived.

 

[HalfLife2CitizenMale09]

That has been reworked to change from being an "Oh the Combine made the OTA from KROT's designs" to something more or less along the lines of "The CPRD found plans and schematics relating to KROT's soldier program which provided them some more improvements and additions to the ascension program."

That is like a baby explanation of it and horribly described, but should show the point that yes, the Combine now made the OTA out of their own design and not from KROT's ideas. Only using said plans to improve upon some minor aspects of the OTA

This is all you had to do to make it work IMO, props on finding a way to meld the concept while still giving the combine their agency in doing it

 

[Madpro187]

So what about characters during V4? Will those be remade If they've technically been living in C-24 For a while? Apologies - I had only just woken up as of recently, so I'm a bit tired.

 

[Robert]

So what about characters during V4? Will those be remade If they've technically been living in C-24 For a while?

I assume you mean City 24 V4?

 

[Donavin Jones]

Yes, this has been stated in the Community Meeting, the forums and even on Discord that all Characters whether from V2 or V1 can be remade including those who have died. The year that we may be rewinding to sits currently around the years of 2016 going into 2017, aka the original start of V1 into V2.

So yes, all characters can be remade including the dead ones.

For example, Sector Admin Dr Albert Meyers is coming back as 1 example of a dead character being revived.

 

[RedHotGinger]

"The CPRD found plans and schematics relating to KROT's soldier program which provided them some more improvements and additions to the ascension program."

This is still too much honestly. Bio-mechanical melding and manipulation is the like the Combines bread and butter - any tech they can feasibly make from such a means they seem to. Them requiring anything from KROT or CPRD in this field is indulgent at best and downright silly at worst.

 

[Robert]

This is still too much honestly. Bio-mechanical melding and manipulation is the like the Combines bread and butter - any tech they can feasibly make from such a means they seem to. Them requiring anything from KROT or CPRD is indulgent at best and downright silly at worst.

I can see how they may seem so but keep in mind the CPRD only uses KROT to a minor extent, also I just asked to confirm before I responded, but the Ascension program, aka the program which created and makes OTA is run by and maintained by the CPRD. Which in short in Willard lore means that yes, the Combine has the tech and all, the CPRD was given said tech with the supervision of the Advisory and instructed to make the first OTA soldiers ever to exist.

Pretty much: CPRD made OTA with the Combine Advisory ensuring they had both the knowledge, tech and resource to do so.

Of course, do note CPRD is going through a rewrite of its own down the line. Just wanted to ensure that was known because of the statement was a bit wrong in the sense of how much the CPRD was involved with OTA's creation. At least in current V2 lore

 

[RedHotGinger]

Pretty much: CPRD made OTA with the Combine Advisory ensuring they had both the knowledge, tech and resource to do so.

The idea that OTA are derived from human hands is unimaginably mid. All of the talk of being absorbed into the Combines war machine, having your humanity excised and replaced with the whims of a far distant and completely removed alien entity essentially flies out the window. Cause it isn't even alien with this logic. Its just humans fucking over other humans with aliens just allowing them to do it with mild curiosity. Really takes the wind out of Kleiners words in Episode One.

"We have all seen friends and family crushed by the Combine. Some of our neighbors have allowed themselves to be co-opted, and purged of their humanity, by the military machine."

Now, I don't disagree with the notion of humans having a maintaining hand in the program and some degree of insight into how such creatures are preserved, but hardline creation should never be permitted towards any single human entity. Especially since even if it were, CPRD would not even be the one to be involved. Given OTA are primarily organic and medically altered, it would actually be the IMS who would take the lions share of the role. Though again, even they should only be handlers and agents of efficiency, not designers or creators.

All in all, let the Combine be the Combine in V3. Let them be the main antagonists for the love of all. The first step to doing this is allowing the Combine to wipe its own ass without needing to call upon its human 'allies.'

In V3 CPRD needs to be heavily downplayed in general while we are on the subject. They are very much 'that admin faction' for the Combine. Similar to how Clover magically claimed to be the most powerful rebel group in all of S10, CPRD similarly manages to have done almost everything important for the Combine ever, and always has a reason to show up. Not to mention the maddeningly indulgent secrecy that is deployed both ICly and OOCly.

This should not be the case in V3 and some basic restraint needs to inundate the faction early on to prevent a repeat of what is has become in V2.

 

[HalfLife2CitizenMale09]

The idea that OTA are derived from human hands is unimaginably mid. All of the talk of being absorbed into the Combines war machine, having your humanity excised and replaced with the whims of a far distant and completely removed alien entity essentially flies out the window. Cause it isn't even alien with this logic. Its just humans fucking over other humans with aliens just allowing them to do it with mild curiosity. Really takes the wind out of Kleiners words in Episode One.

"We have all seen friends and family crushed by the Combine. Some of our neighbors have allowed themselves to be co-opted, and purged of their humanity, by the military machine."

Now, I don't disagree with the notion of humans having a maintaining hand in the program and some degree of insight into how such creatures are preserved, but hardline creation should never be permitted towards any single human entity. Especially since even if it were, CPRD would not even be the one to be involved. Given OTA are primarily organic and medically altered, it would actually be the IMS who would take the lions share of the role. Though again, even they should only be handlers and agents of efficiency, not designers or creators.

All in all, let the Combine be the Combine in V3. Let them be the main antagonists for the love of all. The first step to doing this is allowing the Combine to wipe its own ass without needing to call upon its human 'allies.'

In V3 CPRD needs to be heavily downplayed in general while we are on the subject. They are very much 'that admin faction' for the Combine. Similar to how Clover magically claimed to be the most powerful rebel group in all of S10, CPRD similarly manages to have done almost everything important for the Combine ever, and always has a reason to show up. Not to mention the maddeningly indulgent secrecy that is deployed both ICly and OOCly.

This should not be the case in V3 and some basic restraint needs to inundate the faction early on to prevent a repeat of what is has become in V2.

I kinda agree, which is why I was so against the KROT OTA origin thing, I’m willing to let that aspect slide in a severely downplayed form like they seem to be doing, I am kinda less hardcore on the combine taking some human help, Mossman did help them with the teleporter after all.

 

[RedHotGinger]

I am kinda less hardcore on the combine taking some human help, Mossman did help them with the teleporter after all.

Teleportation has been mentioned as the one explicit thing the Combine outright rely on humans for. Something that absolutely need humans to replicate for them. Thats one thing though, one thing that isn't within the realm of bio-mechanical augmentation which they are naturally far better at than we.

The only instance or implication of the Transhumans being products outside of the Combine is Breens address, where he says,

"I have done my best to convince Our Benefactors that you are the finest the species has to offer. So far they have accepted my argument, but without concrete evidence to back it up, my words sound increasingly hollow even to me."

I do not think this means humans made the OTA though. Nor Stalkers or any other malign corruption of the human form. I think that just means that Breen specifically is trying to sell mankind as a permanent physical asset to the Combine aside from just being useful for scientific advancement. Which makes sense as this ensures mankind persists in some form, no matter how hollow it may be compared to the original.

"I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the alternative, if you can call it that, is total extinction – in union with all the other unworthy branches of the species."

 

[Imperator RAD-X]

They are very much 'that admin faction' for the Combine.

Hey Red, I need to point this out but they were not what you're stating them to be. We ran In-Character recruitment with various players in the community that are actively part of a multitude of projects maintained IC without OOC intrigue. We were also infiltrated multiple times In-Character and lost our scientists by being in constant jeopardy as normal characters.

We're fine with being downplayed but please don't make the faction and its players out to be the admin tools. It's made mistakes like any other faction, so it's an unfair label.

 

[Robert]

Going to bed now but will respond tomorrow to any remaining conversations or questions to pop up.

As for the OTA point and Combine being its sole creator, I can understand that and would head in the direction of IMS/CPRD being able to upgrade and modify the OTA to further improve them from a personal perspective. Taking a deep look at HL:A and some parts of HL2 story, it does seem that humanity is somewhat involved within the Combine's tech and designs as time progresses. Even having a scientist or administrator arguing and down-talking an Advisor shows that, yes, Humanity does seem to be somewhat integrated with the Combine on Earth. You also have the fact that Advisory relies on Breen quite a lot for keeping Humanity under wraps and in control and Mossman for their teleportation tech and other similar projects.

I think it is a bit of a bore to say CPRD should be dumbed down or rather downplayed since they do add a lot more interest to the Combine, I think rather than just being purely "Combine can make this easy, so here". Just my honest opinion on how that would feel as I am not sure how far you would want to take the whole "Just let Combine be Combine" ordeal.

I would have more to say in a more structured manner but would probably do that Tomorrow when awake.

 

[HalfLife2CitizenMale09]

Going to bed now but will respond tomorrow to any remaining conversations or questions to pop up.

As for the OTA point and Combine being its sole creator, I can understand that and would head in the direction of IMS/CPRD being able to upgrade and modify the OTA to further improve them from a personal perspective. Taking a deep look at HL:A and some parts of HL2 story, it does seem that humanity is somewhat involved within the Combine's tech and designs as time progresses. Even having a scientist or administrator arguing and down-talking an Advisor shows that, yes, Humanity does seem to be somewhat integrated with the Combine on Earth. You also have the fact that Advisory relies on Breen quite a lot for keeping Humanity under wraps and in control and Mossman for their teleportation tech and other similar projects.

I think it is a bit of a bore to say CPRD should be dumbed down or rather downplayed since they do add a lot more interest to the Combine, I think rather than just being purely "Combine can make this easy, so here". Just my honest opinion on how that would feel as I am not sure how far you would want to take the whole "Just let Combine be Combine" ordeal.

I would have more to say in a more structured manner but would probably do that Tomorrow when awake.

I’m fine with having some human involvement, even in regards to the OTA, I just want it to be mostly done by Combine Affiliated humans, if humans are going to be involved which seems to be the direction your going with anyway, so it all works out for me personally.

 

[RedHotGinger]

We're fine with being downplayed but please don't make the faction and its players out to be the admin tools.

Its more IC these days but for a longer period of the past it was exclusively either lore based involvement or involvement derived from a highly advantaged starting position. Regardless, server activity is beyond the topic. The issue with Clover was never that they had access to the Q menu, it was that such access emboldened them to believe they were the most prevalent group out there. Similar to the CPRD, though in a less mechanical sense. Take CPRD history as a whole and it was certainly an exclusive faction, regardless of how it is now. Which is why for V3 its best nipped in the bud before the same can be said of it then.

 

[SnakeSupreme]

i’ve whined and complained about the lore as much as it is. it needs to be overhauled and all of the lore on the world map and the forums needs to be redone entirely to a certain extent.

RAD-X should start being more harsh on letting lore submissions make the cut considering most of the stuff that has been accepted by him in the past is kinda ass not gonna lie.

the lore announcement/changelog clears up a majority of my issues, i just hope RAD-X and CT are more harsher and restrictive when it comes to lore submissions

 

[toby]

Will V3 Finally Give Me A CWU Whitelist?