Log from #Classroom on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 9PM EDT: “Advanced Defensive Structures and Strategies”, hosted by Miri:
[21:07] <@miri> It is my sincere hope that everyone here knows how to shield already. I will only cover them in a cursory fashion, and shields are basic defensive structures, no matter how complex a particular shield is. I will be assuming that everyone is, at least in theory, familiar with basic shields.
[21:07] <@miri> By this I mean bubble, mirror, marshmallow, stone wall, woven, chaos, advanced chaos, and similarly formed shields. Specific mechanics vary but these are all 3-dimensional energetic structures that are present astrally and to a lesser degree physically, around the protected person.
[21:07] <@miri> These are pretty simple constructs, with only a few layers of programming. As such they have serious weaknesses. The programming can be stripped. Being limited in spatial presence, they can be bypassed using either the conceptual mechanism of ?frequency? to do so directly *or* by using abstract geometrical visualization/understanding to walk around them.
[21:08] <@miri> Even reactive shields, which are superior to static or unintelligently dynamic shields, face these hard limits to the paradigmatic restrictions of shields. Shields have a place, they are useful in some applications, but they are next to meaningless in trying to stop an advanced energy worker.
[21:08] <@miri> I have tried to address this problem before in a class format (Log at https://sites.google.com/site/miripsion/seminarlogs/advancedshieldsseminar). Are there any questions so far?
[21:10] <@miri> Okay, I guess folks are comfortable with these basics.
[21:10] <@miri> I will only be suggesting two specific defensive structures, tonight. More important will be the definition and reasoning behind advanced structures. To that end: An advanced defensive structure is one that, in some way, defies denial, disregard and deformation. Denial refers to rejection by means of Will of a defense’s existence/effect.
[21:11] <@miri> Disregard refers to simply overcoming a defense, by overwhelming or walking right through it (this is an issue if a defense has a limited/weak effect or was poorly designed). Deformation includes the stripping of programming, destruction, or otherwise compromising a defense. Most shields (nearly all shields) defy none of these means of bypassing a defense. An advanced defense
[21:13] <@miri> The two advanced defensive structures I will be detailing are wards and compound astral warps. Wards here are not merely telepathic suggestion machines. Rather they are near-physical constructs that operate by influencing reality using a broad array of means. Astral warps are semi-permanent changes to the illusory space element of the astral.
[21:13] <@miri> These direct attention, energy and intention away from the protected target in a directly undetectable fashion. This is fairly similar to how a shield is intended to operate, but its relative immateriality and subtlety render it far less vulnerable.
[21:13] <@miri> Creating a ward is uncannily simple. Gather energy at the lowest possible ?frequency? you can. This process (for me, at least) produces significant abdominal strain/sensation. The texture and coloring etc. is subjective, but to me appears thick, dark, heavy. Look for characteristics that indicate physicality to you.
[21:13] <@miri> Program this energy to, in every way you/it can imagine, prevent a particular event/trigger. Event manipulation, PK, energy manipulation, telepathy, empathy, etc. should be available for use. Place this construct in a physical shell that is relevant to its purpose. A ward against getting pulled over by a cop may be embedded in the entire body of the affected car, for example.
[21:14] <@miri> Periodically reinforce this ward: add more of this low-frequency energy, notice and more deeply engrained he programming, and recognize consciously and subconsciously its effectiveness/reality. At first you ought to do this often, perhaps daily.
[21:14] <@miri> After a few weeks the ward will start to transition from being merely a construct, vulnerable to deconstruction, into being a semi-permanent trait of the bonded physical object. At that point reduce reinforcement to once a week, then once a month, then a few times a year. The more deeply ingrained, the less maintenance is required.
[21:14] <@miri> From an energetic perspective, the ward is, at this point, essentially immune to tampering, and difficult to recognize in the first place. Are there questions about this defensive structure?
[21:17] <@miri> There seem to still be no questions, so I’ll continue
[21:17] <@miri> Astral warps are quicker, but less permanent defensive solutions. The effectiveness of an astral warp is based on the concept of dominating/owning a particular area in the astral. Those who are experienced in real energetic/astral combat are familiar with the home field advantage effect, already.
[21:17] <@miri> Conceptual areas that are established as ?yours? are easier to manipulate and control than neutral areas, and neutral areas easier than those ?controlled? by another. As such, establishing and maintaining an astral warp is generally predicated on the control of the area/space you wish to defend.
[21:17] <@miri> That simple assumption explained, the concept of an astral warp is somewhat complex. The desire is to redirect, omnidirectionally, all astrally based mechanisms/energy/etc. around your domain. Simple enough a desire, the execution gets complicated.
[21:17] <@miri> I’ll leave the details to you, but you need to address the spatial dimensions of your domain to either be 0-dimensional relative to external reality, or to pan-dimensionally be omitted by means of tesseracts. Either solution is viable.
[21:17] <@miri> Are there any questions this time? 😛
[21:18] <@DragonAtma> It should be able to make an area both “yours” and “someone else’s”.
[21:19] <@miri> Pardon, Atma?
[21:19] <@DragonAtma> miri: that way, it’d be easier for both you and others to manipulate
[21:19] <@miri> The point is to avoid that.
[21:20] <@miri> The idea is to create a defense with minimum possibility of corruption by outside forces.
[21:20] <@DragonAtma> well, in that case we’d have psions fighting over who gets NYC as theirs and such XD
[21:20] <@miri> Astral space does not correlate with physical space directly, DragonAtma.
[21:20] <+Rowan> At least, most of it.
[21:21] <@miri> Fair Rowan.
[21:21] <@DragonAtma> I know, but still…
[21:21] <@miri> Some places are special that way, most are not.
[21:21] <@miri> If the space is made inaccessible from the outside it doesn’t become an issue.
[21:21] <+Rowan> There’s a great deal more space in the various amounts of Elsewhere than there is in physical space. On the other hand, DragonAtma does have a point that many psions may go first and foremost for the closest near-plane to wherever they happen to be.
[21:22] * @DragonAtma nods
[21:22] <@miri> Even then, it’s difficult to lay claim in this way to a space that isn’t actually yours. If it’s near physical a physical claim may be necessary.
[21:22] <+Rowan> Right.
[21:22] <+Rowan> I can control the near physical astral Elsewhere that corresponds to my house, for instance.
[21:22] <@miri> So unless you have siblings squabbling, which is inevitable in the first place, I see little issue.
[21:23] <@DragonAtma> or, if you have two psions in the same apartment building, there may be some overlap.
[21:24] <+Rowan> DragonAtma: Or three in the same house. But things happen and work out when that happens.
[21:24] <@miri> DragonAtma: Then they’d each have easy control of their own apartment and perhaps fight for the other floors.
[21:24] * +Rowan lived in the same house as two/three other psions for a while. It worked out.
[21:24] <@DragonAtma> true
[21:25] <@DragonAtma> still, if two psion-roomies trust each other, I can see them having all — or nearly all — of the claimed space benefit for their whole house/apartment/.whatever.
[21:25] <@miri> DragonAtma: of course
[21:25] <+Rowan> As far as that goes, our own rooms were more individual territory and everyone in the house was able to deal with the space of common areas with relative ease. This also depends of course on skill of the people there.
[21:25] <+ThundraFire> usually if psions are in the same house they must be friends on some level
[21:25] <@DragonAtma> thundra: true
[21:26] <@DragonAtma> but I’m probably getting a bit tangential here.
[21:22] <+bucketmaster> what’s to stop someone from making a construct that automatically makes these constructs to claim space for someone?

(I missed this question at the time. I will answer it now. Astral warps, as structures, do not ?claim territory? at all. Rather, these are predicated upon already having a claim. Without the claim these are untenable assertions on the collective nature of astral reality. Trying to ?claim territory? is, in this case, a matter that cannot be reasonably automated, especially not in this fashion.)
[21:26] <@miri> Okay, moving forward, then
[21:27] <@miri> Now, we will move on to some advanced strategies. Rather than structures, which are permanent or semi-permanent, and therefore need to be able to resist sustained efforts without your direct influence in their favor, strategic actions need only be effective for the brie moment of their realization. Distinguishing between advanced and simple strategies, then, requires a different definition.
[21:27] <@miri> Strategies based on physical logic will be considered simple, strategies based on logic fundamentally parallel to physical logic will be considered advanced. This is fairly in line with the definitions structures go with, as well. Consider that a shield’s logic is essentially physical (it is based on assumptions of physics).
[21:27] <@miri> The first strategy we will be discussing is using the illusory nature of ?objective space? in astral to one’s advantage. The phenomenon is broadly observed, space is a non-constant in astral context, it can be manipulated in a variety of ways. The simplest, quickest such change is, generally speaking, the compression/expansion of space.
[21:27] <@miri> When dealing with someone not very well versed in astral ?physics? there is a reliable action/strategy that will make you seem quite untouchable. Expand ?space? in all direction out from you. Simple as that. This isn’t useful in a real fight, but against a novice this is very effective.
[21:27] <@miri> The more practical version of this would be to change one’s ?location? extremely rapidly with a chaotically dynamic expansion/compression of space that doesn’t conform to a 3-dimensional paradigm’s conception of the possible. This generally leads to subconscious assumptions disregarding parts of the motion and incorrectly compensating.
[21:27] <@miri> Are there any questions about this? Comments?
[21:29] <+Rowan> Collapsing space is also a rather useful tactic.
[21:29] <@miri> Rowan: Yes, that’s the momentary version of the 0-dimensional astral warp mentioned previously
[21:30] <@miri> Also, collapsing and expanding space so “you can’t get there from here, creating a layer of null space around an enlarged speck.
[21:30] <+Frank_the_Bunny> I don’t really understand why wanting to control a place based on relativity and mutability is useful. Couldn’t you just go around or through it without disturbing it anyway?
[21:31] <@miri> Frank: sure you could, however, that is often less effective. Such maneuvers are much more predictable as they make logical sense.
[21:31] <@miri> Moving makes sense intuitively, to a mind
[21:31] <@miri> Collapsing/expanding space confuses the everliving fuck out of most observers.
[21:32] <@miri> At least the detail-oriented ones, who are also the most dangerous, by nature
[21:32] <@DragonAtma> true, but having the astral space around you not matching the physical space may be confusing to you as well.
[21:32] <@miri> DragonAtma: at first it can be, thus practice.
[21:33] <@miri> Once you can compensate for the strangeness it is admirably effective.
[21:35] <+Frank_the_Bunny> How do you prevent someone from taking over your area if they are more powerful and smarter than you?
[21:36] <@miri> Familiarity. There are few advantages one can press against a stronger smarter opponent, familiarity is key to maintaining advantage in such a situation. That is why you use space you have a natural claim to.
[21:36] <+Frank_the_Bunny> And if you don’t have time to build said familiarity?
[21:37] <@miri> Then you have not been alive.
[21:37] <@miri> If you do not have a home, you have bigger issues than energetic pursuers.
[21:37] <+Frank_the_Bunny> I mean, say, if you’re moving into a new place.
[21:38] <+Frank_the_Bunny> And that place is contended area.
[21:38] <@miri> Then until you establish a claim, you maintain use of your old home turf.
[21:40] <@miri> I suppose in a theoretical situation like this, the next defensive strategy would be optimal.
[21:40] <@miri> Excellent lead in, Frank, thank you
[21:40] <+Frank_the_Bunny> yay for pivot points
[21:40] <@miri> There is a fairly classic dirty little secret. You can shrug off even the most ferocious assaults by ignoring them and doing something else. Go eat a snack, take a nap, go work out, all while completely ignoring any energetic offenders. Be a purely physical being, a true materialist for a few hours.
[21:40] <@miri> By remaining unimpressed and uninterested you defend yourself at the most basic level: you cease to be a participant in a paradigm in which energy could potentially cause a change or harm in your life. I have heard this defensive maneuver affectionately called ?Going out to lunch.?
[21:40] <@miri> It’s upsettingly effective for all but the most sensitive energy workers. Questions or comments?
[21:41] <+Frank_the_Bunny> Only that I’d like to add in that adding a feeling of smug superiority pollutes the area with it and tends to make attackers even more annoyed.
[21:42] <+Frank_the_Bunny> Annoyed people make stupid mistakes.
[21:42] <@DragonAtma> true
[21:42] <@miri> So do smug people.
[21:42] <+Frank_the_Bunny> Ah, but if you’re ignoring the paradigm, then it’s irrelevant to you at the moment.
[21:42] <+Frank_the_Bunny> “Man, this lunch is sooooo good.”
[21:42] <@miri> Very true
[21:42] <@DragonAtma> of course, it’s possible to seem smug without actually being smug.
[21:43] <@miri> DragonAtma: more effective to do what he says by being smug
[21:43] <@miri> burns moar.
[21:43] <+bucketmaster> so are you basically saying that unless someone is paying attention to an energetic attack, it has no effect?
[21:44] <@miri> bucketmaster: not quite that dramatic.
[21:44] <@miri> It’s like attacking a non with energy, though, lots of effort for little to no effect.
[21:44] <@miri> The more attention paid to an attack, the more effective.
[21:44] <@miri> It’s part of the reason more vocal newbies in spars tend to “do better”
[21:45] <+bucketmaster> interesting
[21:47] * +Eniri understands now why there’s so much screaming in DBZ
[21:46] <+ThundraFire> I guess I am an oddball I see them do better when people are quiet.
[21:47] <+ThundraFire> the more that is said about a match it seems that less is done.
[21:47] <@miri> *nods* often true
[21:47] <+ThundraFire> the not knowing seems to bring out bigger guns so to speak then if someone mentions whats going on
[21:47] <@miri> Much of such spars are placebo, in the opposite direction of this defense’s placebo
[21:48] <@miri> This defense uses placebo to cancel out effects, boasting tends to cause placebo in favor.
[21:48] <@miri> It’s a fairly simple mechanism.
[21:50] <@miri> Now let’s try something practical. I have between 1 and 10 wards made as described within 100 feet of me. Can anyone detect and describe one of them? I figure folks can figure how to create/accomplish anything I’ve talked about tonight, so I’d rather see you folks try testing the concepts enacted, rather than reenact them directly.
[21:52] <+ThundraFire> ? would but currently all I can see is white. storming here
[21:56] <@miri> Only getting minimal feedback on the practical prompt there, one responder. No interest?
[21:57] <+ThundraFire> I trying but all I see is white. *growls at storm*
[21:57] <+bucketmaster> interested, just a noob and not good at scanning
[22:01] <+Rowan> miri: Oh, I was mostly waiting to let other people go first. 😛
[22:02] <+Rowan> Re the practical.
[22:02] * @DragonAtma is not good at scanning, plus other people may need practice more than atma…
[22:03] <@Forge> best time to get better, DragonAtma
[22:03] <+Rowan> ^ what Forge said.
[22:03] <+Rowan> miri: Think I found three of them.
[22:03] <@DragonAtma> forge: true
[22:03] <@miri> Rowan: okay, details in PM
[22:04] <+ThundraFire> Miri: I am trying to look but my storm sparking is getting worse instead of better.
[22:05] <@miri> Take your time, ThundraFire
[22:05] <@DragonAtma> Hmm…
[22:11] <+Rowan> That’s about as much as I can get at that level of looking.
[22:16] <@miri> Really, that’s all?
[22:16] <+Rowan> miri: I break things, not look at them. :<
[22:17] <+Frank_the_Bunny> :V
[22:17] <+Rowan> There’s a fourth one that I don’t think is one of your normal wards.
[22:18] <@miri> There were actually several dozen in the area. In total people picked up 3 wards and couldn’t really get significant details (details significant enough to act on).
[22:19] <+ThundraFire> sorry wall of white cut it
[22:20] <@miri> No worries, you?re the only one with that excuse. The point was that this style of energy work is very challenging to affect/perceive normally.
[22:22] * @DragonAtma either found six of them or found one that looked like a six-pointed star (in the sense that a plus is a four-pointed star)
[22:22] <+ThundraFire> can I try at a later time when not sparking so much?
[22:23] <@miri> ThundraFire: please do
[22:24] <@miri> DragonAtma: hard to say if that’s related or not; the best perceptions were from Eniri. You need to provide some details for confirmation.
[22:25] <@DragonAtma> sphere created next to mirti with lines to either the six-pointed star or the tethers holding the six wards.
[22:27] <@miri> I can?t relate that
[22:24] <@miri> the best perceptions were from Eniri.
[22:27] <@DragonAtma> ‘k
[22:28] <@DragonAtma> So, what’s next?
[22:28] <@miri> So now Rowan’s chance at redemption
[22:28] <+Rowan> Can I break them?
[22:28] * +Rowan grins.
[22:28] <+bucketmaster> lol
[22:28] <@miri> Try to break one, I’ll highlight which.
[22:28] <@miri> It was made just for this purpose
[22:29] <+Rowan> Oh you mean I can’t break your normal wards?
[22:29] <@miri> it wards destruction, nothing else. Enjoy.
[22:29] <@miri> And *highlighted*
[22:29] <+Rowan> Found it.
[22:29] <@DragonAtma> when everyone else’s done, let me know; I can try my hand at any remaining ward(s).
[22:30] <@miri> Only one on the table for destruction, Atma, I didn’t feel the need to provide more than one for the class. For a reason.
[22:30] <@DragonAtma> ‘k
[22:31] <+Eniri> if there was something near that ward it slowed down… I think
[22:32] * +Rowan dusts off hands.
[22:32] <+Rowan> miri: I destroyed Tetra’s self-duplicating awful horrible toy thing about 500 levels in, so. 🙂
[22:32] <@DragonAtma> back
[22:33] <@miri> It’s still there Rowan, just… slimmer.
[22:33] <+Rowan> Feh. Okay. I see it. *grumps.*
[22:33] * +Rowan continues at it.
[22:35] <@miri> Like it’s a model in swim suit season
[22:35] <+Eniri> Does that mean Rowan is whittling away at it?
[22:36] <+Rowan> Watch and see.
[22:37] <@miri> I think the “higher frequency” aspects are succumbing, but the foundation is essentially resistant.
[22:37] <+Rowan> That just means I’m going to change tactics.
[22:37] <+Rowan> I know how miri builds things, I should have known better.
[22:37] <+Eniri> Could I try something? It probably won’t work but I’d like to try anyway
[22:38] <+Rowan> Ah nuh-uh. I’m not done yet.
[22:39] <@miri> Ain’t no such thing as “over building” Rowan. Made that one in almost ten whole seconds, every other ward around here has months of reinforcement, or years.
[22:40] <@miri> The point I’m trying to make is that the method is solid, reliable.
[22:40] <+Rowan> Yep. There. Hm. Almost.
[22:40] <@miri> This is less about skill and more about leverage.
[22:40] <+Rowan> It’s a matter of finding the point.
[22:40] <@miri> Let Eniri try
[22:40] <+Rowan> Okay. 🙂
[22:41] <+Eniri> I’m pretty sure I’m looking at the right thing
[22:44] <+Eniri> Hmm my idea didn’t work. It might just not work at all or because I’m not strong enough
[22:45] <+Eniri> If Rowan wants to try again he can
[22:46] <@miri> What was your idea, Eniri?
[22:46] <+Rowan> Life is calling me again. One second.
[22:46] <+Eniri> You said it only wards destruction
[22:46] <+Eniri> I tried to change its definition of destruction
[22:47] <@miri> 🙂 Excellent idea
[22:47] <+Eniri> I also tried to add an extra parameter, being that it only wards destruction from a certain person
[22:47] <+Eniri> but will open up to other people
[22:48] <+Eniri> It doesn’t look like either worked
[22:48] <@miri> You’d need to overcome my Will directly, which is a challenge.
[22:49] <+Eniri> It seems when you thought of destruction there’s a thought of shattering or explosions in there. I tried a couple things to redefine it
[22:49] <+Eniri> First that the explosion isn’t destruction but a firework, so bright light
[22:49] <@miri> Eniri: I based the definition on Hagalaz
[22:50] <+Eniri> I also tried to ground out the energy but it wouldn’t move
[22:48] <+ThundraFire> I would try and see if since, it wards destruction, if healing it would cause it to break
[22:50] <@miri> ThundraFire, that can work if you’re clever about it, maybe.
[22:51] <+ThundraFire> most defenses are trying to keep harm out but it could go either way I think with most healers healing it.
[22:52] <+ThundraFire> or to bypass the destruction through the healing. like a disguise or something like that
[22:52] <+ThundraFire> idk in head out mouth/hands
[22:54] <@miri> The healer guise works really well to quell subconscious minds’ defenses, however this has no “mind”
[22:54] <@miri> Still, it won’t ward off an effort to “fix it”, you can probably sneak in something incompatible in that way, cause it to fall apart. It would take a long time, though.
[22:55] <@DragonAtma> true
[22:56] <+ThundraFire> Like I said just ideas that popped in my head. might could do a virus sneak in. may not take as long
[22:56] <@miri> It is very non-reactive, a virus would likely fail to thrive.
[22:57] <@miri> Your best bet would be to slowly increase its “frequency” raising it out of it’s near-physical range, then it would be vulnerable.
[22:57] <@miri> Even so, it would take a while, for this 10 second quickie, at least five minutes to really pull up from the roots, that way.
[22:58] <@miri> The ones with months for reinforcement would take substantially longer, tens of hours.
[22:59] <@miri> Anyhow, do as you will with this example ward. I need to get to bed pretty soon here, so I’m going to draw this to a close now. Any last questions/thoughts?
[23:00] <+ThundraFire> With ones trying to protect around someone might could try to do phase through and let it rip. trying to think of how it would fail at combat.
[23:01] <+ThundraFire> thanks and I hope you rest well when you get the chance

Posted By: Miri

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