I, Cog - Jarric Goes to the World Championships

[Jarric]

Query: How did I come to be here, far from others of my race?> 

> 

>> 

Answer: We were performing our work as directed, as normal, when an error was made. I watched the gears fall, shattering the others in our unit, before they faded from vision.> 

> 

I lay in the rubble, beneath cogs and walls and stone, for countless time. I had no orders to act, and so I did not act. I lay there, and I awaited instruction.> 

> 

I could sense that I had been severed from the collective, but I could not comprehend it. The collective was all that existed, so to not be part of the collective was impossible, and I therefore did not conceive of it.> 

> 

After time, a great deal of time, I saw figures approaching. As they came in to view I felt confusion, a feeling I had never conceived to feel, for these were not modrons. I would learn later that two of these creatures were humans, and that the third was a dwarf.> 

> 

One of the humans asked me for a name. I responded that we did not understand the question. She asked me to identify myself, and I confirmed that we were monodrones of Mechanus. She asked me how I identified myself from other monodrones, and I did not understand the question.> 

> 

She named me Cog.> 

> 

I have found that it is difficult for humanoids to understand the importance of that moment. Before I was given my name, I had no sense of self. We were monodrones, there was no individual consciousness. But when I was given a name, we were no longer monodrones. I was Cog.> 

> 

That shift broke something inside me, it was information that I was incapable of processing.> 

> 

The human, Lilia, instructed me to come with her. I followed her home, to her temple. There she cared for me, as best she was able, and I was instructed in the way of The Gentle Flame, Goddess of home and community. It was in this time that I began to learn of my individuality, to understand the concept of being an individual and not just part of a collective. At the same time I took comfort in the community of the temple, of its structure and rules and laws, like and yet unlike my previous home.> 

> 

Over the course of the subsequent years, the acolytes of The Gentle Flame taught me new things. They taught me of order, but they taught me that laws should be used to help people, to protect individuals and protect communities from pain and unrest. And so I became a priest of The Gentle Flame in my own right, an individual in a community of individuals, working together efficiently and compassionately.> 

> 

I understand now that Lilia named me Cog as she felt I was a piece of a machine, a piece which she had removed. But I feel now that I am a Cog in a greater machine, individual and yet part of a whole.> 

> 

---- 

 

So, as some of you might know if you've looked at other Ranger challenges already, I have the privilege of being involved in a dungeons and dragons play-by-post campaign with the wonderful @SheriffWolfpool, @Raxie and @Starpuck, DM'd by the illustrious @DarK_RaideR. I will be playing Cog, a modron, and the little story above is an intro to his character. For those o you who want a better visualisation of modrons, here's the cute versions:

 

And the less cute version:

 

Anyway, this challenge I will be learning to play a construct/robot/cyborg (and learning to play a cleric too!), and I'll post some of our PbP narrative when I get the chance. To learn to play this character I'll need to channel lots of other robot-type characters that I've heard of, which is where my goals come in!

Cog - 10XP

Cog is a modron, and specifically a monodrone. They're single minded, simple creatures, that can only focus on one task at a time. My exercise goal will be to do one thing every day. Most days that will be either crossfit or running, and recovery days (more on this later) will likely be yoga. I will also track my total running mileage for the challenge, because I like large numbers  .

Seven of Nine - 15XP

Seven of Nine (Star Trek Voyager) is ripped from the Borg collective, very much like Cog has been pulled from the collective consciousness on Mechanus. She has a lot of recovering to do as she heals from the Borg implants which were part of her body. In honour of this healing goal I will do my rehab exercises every day. This is slowly working to improve my hip issues, but I can definitely do better. There's 12 exercises in total (2 added since last challenge), so each day gets a score out of 12.

Bender - 10XP

Bender (Futurama) eats and drinks excessively and often. I need to be less like bender, and only eat real food. This goal is the same as last time - eat real food with two variances per week. Drinking beer at home (unless we have people over) counts as a variance. I had some success with this last challenge and lost 5# without losing any strength, even if I didn't stick to it 100%, so it's here to stay.

Lt. Com. Data - 5XP

Data (Star Trek TNG) is analytical and calculated. I'm bringing back an old goal here, a £50 weekly budget for all spending money, as part of my ongoing goal to save funds towards one day owning my own home.

Kryton - 5XP

Kryton (Red Dwarf) is a cyborg butler and loves to clean things. I've just bought a new electric toothbrush and I want to get into the habit of using it daily before bed.

Other Stuff

This challenge exciting things are happening, chief of which is the OCR World Championships, which I qualified for last challenge. That takes place at the end of week 4, and is my main drive for the above. I'll be taking a break from Crossfit in the week leading up to it to make sure I'm in the best shape possible. Other things:

• I'm volunteering at and then running a Tough Mudder at the end of week 1
• I'm hosting a D&D game for @Charlie_Quinn, @jonfirestar and @Rhovaniel at the end of week 2
• I'm going to NYC at the end of week 5, and will be there fore week 0 of next challenge

 

Finally, I should say that I'm on my lunch break and ran out of time to add gifs to my goals. So please, send me you robot, cyborg, android and construct gifs!

[Yasha92]

First!

 

 

I like your robot theme

[Wild Wolf]

 

Following of course! 

 

 

Wolf

[DarK_RaideR]

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

That's some solid writing on that intro mate.

Following:

[JuiceeTarget]

Very nice! When you mentioned using other fictional robots as motivation, I was really hoping you would work Bender into it... yay!

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on qualifying for the OCR world championship!

[h3r0]

[Terra]

So excited to see the 7 of 9 in the new star trek!!!  

 

Much fun to be had here in your challenge!!!  

[Jarric]

23 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

First!

 

 

I like your robot theme

 

Aww, it's so cute! Thank you!

 

23 hours ago, SheriffWolfpool said:

 

Following of course! 

 

 

Wolf

 

How have I not seen these memes before? That's great.

 

22 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

 

idon'tunderstandthatreference.gif

 

Cute though.

 

22 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That's some solid writing on that intro mate.

Following:

 

Thank you dude!

 

19 hours ago, GoodDoug said:

Very nice! When you mentioned using other fictional robots as motivation, I was really hoping you would work Bender into it... yay!

 

Yeah, Cog really like Bender in any way, but I couldn't do a robot challenge without him.

 

18 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Congrats on qualifying for the OCR world championship!

 

Thank you!

 

18 hours ago, h3r0 said:

 

Welcome. Don't mind if I do.

 

16 hours ago, Terra said:

So excited to see the 7 of 9 in the new star trek!!!  

 

Much fun to be had here in your challenge!!!  

 

wasalkjsakusdbawbKN! I did not know that that was a thing! I love Seven so much, I need to watch this!

[Jarric]

0.143

Cog: Crossfit

Seven of Nine: 10/12 exercises

Bender: no variances

Kryton: Teeth brushed

Data: £47.26 remaining

 

0.286

Cog: Crossfit

Seven of Nine: 12/12 exercises

Bender: no variances

Kryton: Teeth brushed

Data: £47.26 remaining

 

So far so goodish. Monday I felt pretty rough all day; still recovering from the combination of an OCR and a lot of beers on Saturday I think. Had a work networking thing and got back late so wasn't mega productive, but got in most of my rehab exercises and got to watch some of the new Critical Role. My new toothbrush hadn't actually arrived by I did brush my teeth in the evening so I'm taking the point.

 

Yesterday was a day. I was pretty tired and pretty stressed by the end of it, but managed to get some boring stuff done at home before dinner, and all my exercises after dinner. Also got to watch the rest of Crit Role, so much fun stuff happening right now!!

 

The one thing I keep forgetting is to boil some eggs for breakfasts, which means I have had a lack of proper food the past couple of days. My first variance ended up being this morning and it was a muesli bar of all things, just because I hadn't prepared something better. What a waste of a variance. I did get in a run this morning, only 5 miles rather than the 6 I planned but still pleased to have done the thing.

 

Tonight is snooker, and likely my second variance at Hopalong's house . Tomorrow I'm out on a course all day and I haven't been given timings for it, so no idea what I'll be doing. I'm irrationally grumpy today, but it does annoy me not being given a plan for a day and just being expected to turn up and it to last until whenever.

[Wild Wolf]

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

How have I not seen these memes before? That's great.

 

 

 

 

 

Wolf

[Wild Wolf]

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

The one thing I keep forgetting is to boil some eggs for breakfasts, which means I have had a lack of proper food the past couple of days.

 

I boil ALL my eggs for the week so I have them ready to go whenever I need them. You could also make a big scramble with whatever fixings you'd like and store that in the fridge. Leave the eggs just slightly undercooked because you'll finish cooking them in the microwave when you heat them up  

 

Wolf

[Jarric]

15 hours ago, SheriffWolfpool said:

 

 

 

 

 

Wolf

 

thank you for those dude!

 

Thought I think you'll find it's pronounced Data, not Data.

 

15 hours ago, SheriffWolfpool said:

 

I boil ALL my eggs for the week so I have them ready to go whenever I need them. You could also make a big scramble with whatever fixings you'd like and store that in the fridge. Leave the eggs just slightly undercooked because you'll finish cooking them in the microwave when you heat them up  

 

Wolf

 

That's what I do usually; boil 15-18 eggs on a Sunday evening and put them in tubs to eat throughout the week. This week I was knackered on Sunday and stupidity didn't bother, and then I've been forgetting ever since!

 

I'd not thought of part-cooking scrambled eggs. Not sure what people at work would think of the re-heated egg smell though (I don't have a microwave at home).

[Jarric]

0.429

Cog: Run 5.30 miles

Seven of Nine: 0/12 exercises

Bender: 2 variances

Kryton: Teeth brushed

Data: £34.01 remaining

 

Yesterday was a day. Nothing bad, work was just busy and I was tired. I also have to write a whitepaper which I didn't sign up to write and I have no idea how I'll find time to do that, so that's stressing me out.

 

Went straight to Hopalong's house and he'd made pizza for dinner, for my second variance of the day. We went and played snooker (badly), which was quite nice.

 

Slightly personal stuff:

Spoiler

I also realised, quite late in the day when my mum text me, that it would have been my sister's birthday yesterday. She passed away 10 years ago last February. I feel bad for forgetting about it for most of the day, and I'd planned to reach out to my family which I didn't do. I wonder though if part of how stressed I'm feeling is because this was in the back of my mind somewhere.

 

When I got home I meant to do my exercises, but I couldn't bring myself to, I was just feeling tired and blah. I read some stuff online and went to bed.

 

Today I am on a course in London - currently on a train up there now. No idea what the plan is for the day because they're woefully bad at giving us useful information (I may still just be grumpy equally).

 

I did get in a 13 minute yoga video for Cog, which was basically guided pushups but at least it was something, and I boiled some eggs while I did it so I could actually have breakfast!

[DarK_RaideR]

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

idon'tunderstandthatreference.gif

 

Cute though

Me neither, it's just a robot with a cat. Figured it's fitting, since modrons are so darn cute!

 

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

Monday I felt pretty rough all day; still recovering from the combination of an OCR and a lot of beers on Saturday I think.

I'm willing to assume this is mostly physical, not a mental case of post-race blues, since you're still sticking to your goals. Admirable indeed.

[WhiteGhost]

Following along 

[Wild Wolf]

5 hours ago, Jarric said:

I'd not thought of part-cooking scrambled eggs. Not sure what people at work would think of the re-heated egg smell though (I don't have a microwave at home).

 

I tend to be "courteous" to my fellow co-workers...until it comes to food. If they have an issue with it, oh well. You need to get in your calories- if they bitch about it then that's on them tbh.

 

 

6 hours ago, Jarric said:

thank you for those dude!

 

Thought I think you'll find it's pronounced Data, not Data.

 

LOL, no prob, dude! 

 

 

Wolf 

[Terra]

On 9/11/2019 at 5:48 AM, Jarric said:

wasalkjsakusdbawbKN! I did not know that that was a thing! I love Seven so much, I need to watch this!

Here is the US info on this new show!  https://www.cbs.com/shows/star-trek-picard/  I honestly can't wait.  Jean Luc Picard was my favorite trek captain of all times!!!  (I grew up with a trekie for a mom!) 

 

 

 

[Raxie]

I am SO HERE FOR THIS!!!!

 

I am honestly living for Penemue and Cog's interactions so far.  Cog not getting Penemue's sarcasm is going to be one of her main sources of joy on this long journey ahead of us XD

[Yasha92]

It’s just a robot with a cat.

I think I recognise it from the Netflix series “love, death, and robots”, a bunch of single episodes in a bunch of different art styles. I didn’t like the first episode, but I really liked the rest of them.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jarric]

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 10:23 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

Me neither, it's just a robot with a cat. Figured it's fitting, since modrons are so darn cute!

 

I'm willing to assume this is mostly physical, not a mental case of post-race blues, since you're still sticking to your goals. Admirable indeed.

 

Yeah, hopefully. Feeling much better today, despite a heavy night last night

 

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 12:22 PM, WhiteGhost said:

Following along 

 

Aww, it's so cute! Good to have you.

 

23 hours ago, SheriffWolfpool said:

 

I tend to be "courteous" to my fellow co-workers...until it comes to food. If they have an issue with it, oh well. You need to get in your calories- if they bitch about it then that's on them tbh.

 

 

 

LOL, no prob, dude! 

 

 

Wolf 

 

Yeah, I don't tend to worry about it too much. I try and avoid fish though and anything that smells really bad, given that I eat at my desk in an open plan office.

 

18 hours ago, Terra said:

Here is the US info on this new show!  https://www.cbs.com/shows/star-trek-picard/  I honestly can't wait.  Jean Luc Picard was my favorite trek captain of all times!!!  (I grew up with a trekie for a mom!) 

 

 

 

 

Picard is the best captain! "Early 2020" is so long to wait though  

 

18 hours ago, Raxie said:

I am SO HERE FOR THIS!!!!

 

I am honestly living for Penemue and Cog's interactions so far.  Cog not getting Penemue's sarcasm is going to be one of her main sources of joy on this long journey ahead of us XD

 

Oh that's going to be so much fun!  

 

14 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

 

 

I think I recognise it from the Netflix series “love, death, and robots”, a bunch of single episodes in a bunch of different art styles. I didn’t like the first episode, but I really liked the rest of them.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Ah, cool. I'll see if I can find them somewhere on the interwebs if they're good.

[starpuck]

Yaaay finally tagged in here!   Wouldn't miss it for the world.

Just watched the first episode of netflix's Cannon Busters.   Looks fun!   And they have adorable little robots.

 

My feelings, about this challenge.

[DarK_RaideR]

6 hours ago, Jarric said:

"Early 2020" is so long to wait though  

Tell me about it... I am so ready for Total Extreme Wrestling 2020.

[Jarric]

14 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Yaaay finally tagged in here!   Wouldn't miss it for the world.

Just watched the first episode of netflix's Cannon Busters.   Looks fun!   And they have adorable little robots.

 

My feelings, about this challenge.

 

Glad to have you! Based on that picture I'm not sure I'd use the word "adorable" though; looks a bit creepy!

 

14 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Tell me about it... I am so ready for Total Extreme Wrestling 2020.

 

Does that mean we can expect wrestling narratives to come back early next year?