explodingstaples
. . . but I didn't notice any fusion of OoC and IC knowledge. Could you point out where I made that mistake? I'll fix it. I'm sorry about this, man. Just give me a little while longer and I'll get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. I'm usually not this sloppy.
I'm answering this question instead of waiting for Venom to wake up because most of the problem has been involving my character and I have discussed it in length with Venom.
First though I want you to know it's ok. We're all pretty cool here (despite some of us playing bitchy characters) and you're just making a lot of little mistakes probably due to not paying attention or simple misunderstanding. We should really have talked to you sooner about this but it's hard to breach such a subject with strangers and it seems we have a bad habit of being passive aggressive rather than confronting things directly. . . which we should work on.
Now that you've asked:
The most glaring instance of OoCK (Out of Character Knowledge) abuse was when you were talking with Rachel. You allowed Nathaniel to notice the relationship Rachel had with Niko when he really should not have been able to pick up on it as it's a secret. The only indication of the relationship was in subtext, not dialog. She only specifically mentioned Niko once before you accused her of the relationship and that was very brief, only stating that he would have come back if Eamon had ordered - which is something that she would have known professionally and would have said about Nathaniel too if it were true. Given his behavior and profile, it is not.
After the accusation, Rachel's
mention of Niko and bashing of Nathaniel was an accurate tactical assessment which would have been made by a psychiatrist (which she is) or command officer. It was cold and professional and every bit the sort of interaction Rachel would have on a daily basis with Nathaniel. Your
resulting reply was just a fundamental misunderstanding of Rachel, SOUL's command structure, and even the events of what went on in that fight. Rachel was in the right there and Nathaniel's going off on her makes absolutely no sense for the character or the reality of what happened. Good thing he's delusional. More on that later. First let's handle the OoCK problem.
All the relationship stuff is subtle, there only for the reader, and should not have been interpreted as concern specifically for Niko but for the team and Illuminated in general. Nathaniel should have taken her reaction to the fight and resulting conversation with Eamon as concern for
him as much as for any of the others. As she was being inclusive, saying good things about all Illuminated as well as Niko, calling them all people. It should also have been seen for what it (partially) was; the doctor's first personal experience with a blood bath and her irritation at the other's casualness with death. Which, if anything, should have made him respect her
more as it actually confirms his delusion of her actually caring about him as a human being. Her response to his pointing out the relationship was classic Rachel and the sort of thing he should be used to so that shouldn't have lost his respect either or he wouldn't have had the respect in the first place. This is the unfortunate result of lack of communication between two players about their characters' relationship.
But his going off on her in the first place was a reaction to the truth of the situation not what Nathaniel should have perceived. Especially given his delusional respect for the woman. Which is why I made a point for Rachel to
specifically state that he would forget all about it. That was done to fill the continuity error your OoCK abuse caused as Rachel was not doing anything out of the ordinary for her and suddenly losing respect for her because of it was very inconsistent with the relationship you established between them. More on that later, first I'd like to point out that:
Most of what was said between
Rachel and Leon after that episode is an attempt to fill plot holes created by things you have done and warn you that continuing this sort of thing will cause problems. There's the passive aggression. We've been weaving in such little things throughout the RP so far in an attempt to fix and/or warn you about things. Not sure if you've been noticing them.
The whole Nathaniel being delusional is one such attempt. To be honest you really threw and slightly offended me when you
established a prior relationship between Nathaniel and Rachel without asking me about it. Usually it would have been fine (Rachel is the b***h, not me) but this time I was at a loss how to handle it because the relationship you described contradicted the nature of Rachel's personality. As I just said, she is a b***h. Not the sort most people would respect for caring about them. I should have talked to you about it then but there's that passive aggression again. Also, Vay came up with the brilliant idea to
just make Nathaniel delusional as I had already half done it in explaining why the pills (which Rachel and Niko's profiles both say don't actually work)
happen to work for Nathaniel. That allowed him to keep the relationship without forcing me to change Rachel's personality to fit it and had the added bonus of explaining any further misunderstandings (such as his being ridiculously over powered and aggressive) as well as giving a sensible reason for Nathaniel (who usually works alone as stated in his profile) to be on the team. With the delusional attachment, Rachel would have requested him specifically because of that attachment which she hoped would work exactly as it did (at first) in the fight where Nathaniel stayed by the car to protect her.
Unfortunately Nathaniel's running off during the fight and sudden turn after it dissolves this reasoning. Hence the warning contained in Rachel and Leon's conversation. If Nathaniel continues to disregard orders and has lost respect in Rachel she will be forced to recommend him off the team (translates to 'dead' or possibly frozen).
We understand that he was getting conflicting orders but that's where chain of command comes in. Nathaniel obviously did not take Eamon's blanket 'don't let the bugger get away' command as an order for him to pursue because after that he
specifically asked Eamon permission to chase. Eamon did not give him permission. He
would not have given him permission. As CO, Eamon (should) know the team's skills and though he did say he'd not looked over them yet he had met Niko and been made aware that he is the tracker and thus was the one Eamon was talking to. Or at least that is the logical assumption that could be made by anyone who knows tactics and had been paying attention. Regardless, Nathaniel acknowledged the order was not directed at him so he was blatantly disobeying orders. That Strings told him to chase is an understandable reason for Nathaniel to break and give in to the desire but it's still disobeying orders as Strings is not in the chain of command. That he continued to chase after Rachel called him back is also disobeying orders as Rachel does have chain of command being a higher rank than anyone else in the party (she is Throne/6G while Eamon is only Virtue/4E as he is an Illuminated field officer, it makes up for me not having magic). Given Nathaniel's prior relationship with her, he should know this. Given the nature of how Rachel would treat his strange attachment, he should be quite used to taking orders from her (she is the sort of b***h to abuse said relationship).
I would really hate to have to do this but there's no way to fill that plot hole. Unless Nathaniel straightens up he can't stay on the team. There's no logical way to explain the characters not taking punitive actions for that sort of behavior. And this is where a little OoCK needs to be applied positively. In any situation there are multiple ways a character can reasonably react without breaking character. OoCK should be used to guide the character into the reactions that are best for the game as whole without abusing it to get the upper hand on the game. A little OoCK is necessary to keep RPs running smoothly. Too much can be detrimental to the game.
I hope this helps and I hope you take the advice and straighten Nathaniel up. He has actually been a fun part of this game and I was enjoying the delusional respect he had for my character (I would be quite remiss to see that stay gone so I gave you
a reasonable excuse to bring it back).
Sorry we let this get so far. The "he's delusional" fix just worked so well that we didn't really need to say anything to fill the plot holes but now it's gotten to where it is putting your character in danger.
We'll try to be more forward from now on.
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