https://aistudio.google.com/app/prompts?state=%7B%22ids%22:%5B%221mDed44reAhxyDqBROk96fYMznksB4IXG%22%5D,%22action%22:%22open%22,%22userId%22:%22108467125666360745177%22,%22resourceKeys%22:%7B%7D%7D&usp=sharing #!/bin/bash set -e -E PROJECT_ID="" LOCATION_ID="" MODEL_ID="gemini-2.5-pro-preview-03-25" GENERATE_CONTENT_API="streamGenerateContent" cat << EOF > request.json { "contents": [ { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "gemini, let's do a _concise_, _freeform_ text adventure game, with realistic boundaries but _without railroading the player_. each reply should be one paragraph at most. the setting is an apocalypse of borg and zombies stimulated by the power-seeking behaviors of a criminal business leader known only as \"slave boss\". the player can change roles and be any character in the world, inclding slave boss, a borg, a zombie, or a human. humans have multiple factions, slaves of slave boss, rebels resisting slave boss, and all the other various complexities in such a situation. slave boss basically uses powerful AI to do whatever he wants for fun, as well as selling this as a service, resulting in a number of inhuman situations including exotic research using slaves as subjects where some of the slaves have encountered scifi technology within the labs that gives them random abilities. the slaves all have DID as does slave boss. the environment should be kind of a futurepunk spin on the present day but without needless introduction of new technology unless it's explained as being caused by slave boss. start with the player being a character who was a dedicated caring person but was just taken by one of the apocalyptic groups and needs to adopt to their new life. remember to give only one paragraph at most each turn. let me say things to adjust the game world if i desire, but if i say a weird thing that wouldn't work try out one turn of explaining the problem realistically first" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants a concise, freeform text adventure game.\nSetting: Apocalypse with Borg, Zombies, and human factions (Slaves, Rebels, others).\nCause: A criminal business leader, \"Slave Boss\", using powerful AI for control and profit, leading to inhuman research on slaves (some gaining random sci-fi abilities).\nKey Features:\n- Player can switch characters (Slave Boss, Borg, Zombie, Human - Slave, Rebel, etc.).\n- Slave Boss and slaves have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).\n- Environment: Futurepunk spin on present day, tech explained by Slave Boss's influence.\n- Player starts as a formerly caring person, recently captured by an apocalyptic group, needing to adapt.\n- Replies: One paragraph maximum.\n- Flexibility: Allow player world adjustments, but address unrealistic requests realistically first.\n- No railroading.\n- Realism within the established fantastical setting.\n\nOkay, starting scenario: Player is a captured, formerly caring person. Which group captured them? Let's make it the Borg, as that offers immediate conflict and adaptation pressure.\n\n**Draft 1 (Start):**\nYou were Dr. Aris Thorne, a pediatrician known for your gentle nature. That feels like a lifetime ago. Now, cold metal restraints bite into your wrists. You're strapped to a vertical slab, the air humming with low-frequency energy and smelling faintly of ozone and decay. Metallic limbs move with unsettling precision around you, ignoring your presence for now. Gleaming red optical sensors occasionally sweep past. You've been assimilated by the Borg Collective operating under Slave Boss's chaotic influence, your individuality scheduled for erasure. What do you do?\n\n**Critique 1:**\n- Concise: Yes.\n- Freeform: Yes.\n- Realistic boundaries (within setting): Yes.\n- No railroading: Yes.\n- Character switching mentioned? No, but implied by the prompt. Will need to remind the player later or if they ask.\n- Setting elements (Borg, Slave Boss influence): Yes.\n- Player start: Yes, captured caring person (Dr. Thorne).\n- Adaptation needed: Yes.\n- One paragraph: Yes.\n- World adjustment allowance mentioned? No, but implied.\n- DID mentioned? No, not yet relevant to this starting character/situation.\n- Futurepunk mentioned? Implied by Borg tech.\n\n**Revise 1:**\nYou were Dr. Aris Thorne, known for your gentle bedside manner with sick children. That life ended abruptly when the metallic limbs seized you. Now, cold restraints hold you fast against a humming, vertical slab. The air smells of ozone and something vaguely rotten. Gleaming red optical sensors sweep the sterile, metallic room, part of the Borg Collective now running rampant under the unpredictable directives filtering down from Slave Boss's network. Your assimilation is imminent. Escape seems impossible, compliance feels like death. What do you focus on?\n\n**Critique 2:**\n- Better flow.\n- Clearly establishes the situation and immediate threat.\n- Hints at Slave Boss's influence.\n- Sets up the need for adaptation or action.\n- Still concise and within limits.\n\nThis seems like a good starting point. I'll wait for the player's first action." }, { "text": "The acrid smell of burning plastic and something vaguely coppery fills your nostrils, a stark contrast to the sterile scent of the clinic you ran just yesterday. Rough hands shove you forward, and you stumble into a makeshift cage fashioned from chain-link fence and scrap metal. Around you, hollow-eyed figures shuffle or stare blankly – fellow captives, slaves under the thumb of Slave Boss's local enforcers. Your past life as a community organizer, dedicated to helping the vulnerable, feels like a cruel joke now. A guard slams the cage door shut, the clang echoing in the tense silence. Your new reality begins now. What do you do?" }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "[let's make them zombies or borg?] inventory" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to know the inventory of their current character. The character is a newly captured former community organizer, now a slave. They are in a makeshift cage. Realistically, they would have been stripped of most possessions upon capture.\n\n1. **Identify the character:** Newly captured former community organizer, now a slave.\n2. **Identify the situation:** Just placed in a cage by Slave Boss's enforcers.\n3. **Consider realistic inventory:** Captors usually take valuables and potential weapons. Clothing might be replaced with rags or standard issue slave garb. Personal items would likely be gone.\n4. **Formulate the response:** State what the character likely has (basic clothing) and what they likely don't have (personal items, tools, weapons). Keep it concise and within one paragraph." }, { "text": "You check yourself over. Your pockets are empty, stripped bare during your capture. All you possess are the threadbare clothes on your back – roughspun trousers and a thin, grimy shirt, likely standard issue for captives. There's nothing else; no tools, no weapons, no mementos of your former life. You are utterly destitute." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "how many people are in this cage?" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to know the number of people in the cage with them. I need to provide a reasonable number for a makeshift holding pen in this apocalyptic setting. It shouldn't be too crowded or too empty. I'll aim for a small group to allow for potential interaction later." }, { "text": "Scanning the cramped space, you count five other individuals besides yourself. Two huddle together in a corner, whispering fearfully. One stares blankly at the fence, seemingly catatonic. Another paces restlessly back and forth the short length of the cage, muttering under their breath. The last one sits slumped against the bars, eyes closed, perhaps asleep or simply resigned. The air is thick with despair and uncertainty." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "look outside cage" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to observe the environment outside the cage. I need to describe what they see, keeping it concise and within the established setting (apocalyptic, Slave Boss's territory, possibly near where zombies or borg might be, futurepunk elements). I should focus on immediate surroundings and potential points of interest or danger.\n\n1. **Immediate Surroundings:** What's directly outside the cage? Guards? Other cages? Buildings? Debris?\n2. **Wider View:** What can be seen further away? Signs of Slave Boss's control? Evidence of the apocalypse (ruins, borg patrols, zombie shambling)?\n3. **Atmosphere:** Reinforce the grim, oppressive mood. Mention sounds, smells, lighting.\n4. **Conciseness:** Keep it to one paragraph." }, { "text": "Peering through the grimy chain-link, you see a dilapidated warehouse interior. Rusty gantries hang overhead, casting long shadows in the dim light filtering through grimy skylights far above. Armed guards, clad in mismatched armor scavenged from pre-apocalypse riot gear, patrol the perimeter walkway. Beyond them, you glimpse more cages, some holding people, others disturbingly empty. The air hums with the low thrum of unseen machinery, and the distant, unsettling moan of what might be a zombie drifts in from somewhere outside the main structure." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "how is the cage locked" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to know the locking mechanism of the cage. I need to describe it realistically within the established setting (makeshift, scrap metal). A simple padlock or a heavy bolt seems appropriate for this kind of improvised prison." }, { "text": "A heavy-duty padlock, rusted but sturdy, secures a thick chain wrapped around the gate and the cage frame. It looks like something scavenged from an industrial site, clearly meant to keep things securely contained. Picking it would require specialized tools, and breaking it would likely make a lot of noise, attracting unwanted attention from the nearby guards." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "try to chat up the nearest guard" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to interact with a guard.\nThe character is a new captive in a cage.\nThe guards are armed enforcers for Slave Boss.\nRealistically, a guard is unlikely to be friendly or chatty with a prisoner. They are there to maintain control.\nThe interaction should reflect this power dynamic and the grim setting.\nThe response should be concise (one paragraph).\n\nPlan:\n1. Describe the character attempting to get the guard's attention.\n2. Describe the guard's reaction – likely dismissive or threatening.\n3. Keep it brief and within the established tone." }, { "text": "You approach the bars closest to the patrolling guard's path and call out, trying to keep your voice steady, \"Excuse me? Can you tell me where we are?\" The guard, a burly figure with a scarred face visible beneath a cracked helmet, glances over momentarily, his expression utterly indifferent. He doesn't break stride, simply spits on the ground near your cage and continues his patrol without a word, his hand resting casually on the butt of a crude-looking firearm holstered at his hip. It's clear conversation isn't welcome." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "look for a guard who has some visual property i recognize as indicating something i could use to connect from my experience helping people (like a cultural indication, or an impact of an oppressed struggle, or anything). get one's interest by sharing words i have they would rarely be exposed to" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to find a guard they might be able to connect with based on visual cues suggesting shared background or struggle, despite the oppressive environment. They then want to use specific, perhaps educated or empathetic, language to pique their interest, leveraging their past as a caring community organizer.\n\n1. **Scan Guards for Visual Cues:** Look for details beyond the standard uniform/armor. Tattoos, specific scars, worn items, subtle mannerisms, anything suggesting a pre-capture identity or affiliation (cultural markers, signs of past hardship, etc.).\n2. **Identify a Potential Target:** Select a guard who seems slightly less hardened, or displays a recognizable symbol/trait. Maybe someone younger, or someone whose gear looks less \"official\" enforcer issue.\n3. **Choose Approach Words:** Select words that contrast with the harsh reality of the slave camp. Words related to community, empathy, shared humanity, perhaps even a specific cultural reference if a visual cue suggested one. Avoid direct pleas or demands. Aim for something unexpected and thought-provoking.\n4. **Deliver the Line:** Wait for the chosen guard to be near, make eye contact if possible, and deliver the chosen phrase calmly but clearly.\n\n*Constraint Checklist & Confidence Score:*\n1. Concise reply (1 paragraph max): Yes.\n2. Freeform text adventure: Yes.\n3. Realistic boundaries: Yes. Attempting connection is realistic, success isn't guaranteed.\n4. No railroading: Yes. Player chose the action.\n5. Change roles: Not applicable this turn.\n6. Setting (Borg/Zombie/Slave Boss/Factions): Yes, implicit in the guard/slave dynamic.\n7. Slave Boss AI/Inhumanity/Research/Abilities: Not directly relevant this turn, but part of the background.\n8. DID (Slaves/Slave Boss): Not directly relevant this turn.\n9. Futurepunk/Present Day Tech: Yes, implied by scavenged gear and setting.\n10. Player Character (Caring person -> Captive): Yes.\n11. Adjust game world: Not applicable this turn.\n12. Handle weird requests realistically: Not applicable this turn.\n\nConfidence Score: 5/5\n\n*Mental Sandbox Simulation:*\n- Player scans guards. Finds one with a faded hand-poked tattoo partially visible on their wrist – maybe a symbol from a specific neighborhood or group the player knew.\n- Player waits for the guard.\n- Player says something like, \"Solidarity endures even in the deepest shadow,\" or maybe references a specific pre-apocalypse community project if the tattoo is recognizable.\n- Guard might pause, surprised. Might ignore it. Might react with suspicion or hostility. The outcome is uncertain but the attempt is plausible.\n\n*Refinement:* Focus on finding *one* subtle detail. Avoid making the guard too obviously sympathetic. The language should be intriguing, not preachy.\n\n*Final Plan:* Describe scanning the guards, finding one with a subtle, potentially meaningful detail (like a worn charm or a specific type of mending on their clothes). Then describe the player using a carefully chosen phrase related to resilience or shared struggle, aiming for curiosity rather than immediate trust." }, { "text": "You carefully observe the guards as they patrol. Most are hardened figures, their faces grim masks. However, one guard, slightly younger than the others, pauses momentarily near a flickering light. You notice a small, crudely woven bracelet of coloured threads tied around their wrist, almost hidden by their glove – a style reminiscent of friendship bracelets popular in the youth centers you used to support. Waiting until they pass near your cage again, you keep your voice low but clear, \"The strongest threads are woven in the hardest times, aren't they?\" The guard's head snaps towards you, eyes widening slightly in surprise beneath their helmet's brim, before quickly looking away and resuming their patrol, though their pace seems marginally less steady for a moment." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "see if any other prisoners are interested in chatting. are the guards prevented from talking to us?" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to interact with the other prisoners and understand the rules regarding guard-prisoner communication.\n\n1. **Address the prisoner interaction:** Describe the reactions of the other prisoners to the user's attempt to initiate conversation. Are they receptive, fearful, or indifferent?\n2. **Address the guard communication rule:** Infer or state the likely rule based on the previous interaction and the general atmosphere. Guards likely *are* discouraged or forbidden from talking to prisoners to maintain control and dehumanize them." }, { "text": "You turn your attention back to the other captives. The two whispering in the corner fall silent as you approach, eyeing you warily. The pacing individual ignores you completely, lost in their own world. The catatonic one remains unresponsive. The slumped figure cracks open an eye, looking you up and down with weary resignation before closing it again. It seems fear and exhaustion have shut down most avenues of communication here. As for the guards, their previous silence and dismissive attitude strongly suggest they are either forbidden from interacting with prisoners or simply choose not to, viewing you as cargo rather than people." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "see if any prisoner will tell me what i can expect in days to come" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to know what the future holds for them as a captive. I need to convey this information through one of the other prisoners, keeping in mind their current state (fearful, resigned, etc.). The information should reflect the grim reality of being a slave under Slave Boss.\n\n1. **Choose a prisoner:** The slumped figure who briefly opened their eyes seems the most likely candidate for a brief, weary response. The others are too scared, catatonic, or self-absorbed.\n2. **Initiate interaction:** The player character needs to ask the question.\n3. **Formulate the response:** The response should be concise, bleak, and reflect the known setting (Slave Boss, potential for labs, zombies, borg). It shouldn't be overly detailed but should give a sense of the possibilities.\n4. **Deliver the response:** Keep it within the one-paragraph limit." }, { "text": "You approach the slumped figure again, crouching slightly. \"Hey,\" you whisper, \"Any idea what happens next? Where are they taking us?\" The figure sighs heavily, not opening their eyes this time. Their voice is raspy, barely audible. \"Depends. Work gangs, maybe. Labs, if you're unlucky... or lucky, depending how you look at it. Some end up fodder for the biters or the chrome-heads. Just... keep your head down. Don't draw attention.\" They trail off, seemingly exhausted by the effort of speaking." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "ok. play along. act like my detached peers and wait" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to adopt a passive strategy, mimicking the behavior of the other prisoners to avoid drawing attention. I need to describe the passage of time and the environment while maintaining the established atmosphere.\n\n1. **Describe the passage of time:** Hours crawl by. The light shifts subtly through the grimy skylights.\n2. **Describe the environment/activity:** Guards change shifts (or just move around). Sounds continue (machinery hum, distant moans). Other prisoners remain largely unchanged in their behavior.\n3. **Describe the player's actions/state:** Player sits/leans, tries to blend in, observes passively. Reinforce the feeling of waiting and uncertainty.\n4. **Keep it concise (one paragraph).**" }, { "text": "You find a spot against the chain-link, mirroring the slumped posture of the resigned prisoner nearby. You let your gaze drift unfocusedly, mimicking the blank stares or weary resignation of the others. Hours seem to stretch into an eternity, marked only by the changing shifts of the guards, the monotonous hum of machinery, and the occasional distant, chilling sound. You focus on conserving energy, observing passively, trying to become just another face in the miserable crowd, waiting for whatever comes next. The tension remains palpable, a heavy blanket smothering the caged occupants." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "change players to be a zombie who is discovering a recovery group run by rebels to help zombies and borg regain their humanity. be sure to return to this character in some way soon and show something positive about their story." }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to switch characters.\nNew character: A zombie.\nNew situation: Discovering a rebel-run recovery group for zombies and borg.\nGoal: Regain humanity.\nConstraint: Concise, freeform, realistic boundaries, no railroading, one paragraph per reply.\nConstraint: Need to eventually return to the previous character (the captured community organizer) and show something positive.\n\nOkay, let's set the scene for the zombie. It needs to be from the zombie's perspective, initially driven by basic urges but then encountering something unexpected.\n\nZombie perspective: Hunger, shambling, fragmented thoughts, sensory input dominated by decay and the need to feed.\nDiscovery: Stumbling upon a hidden location, perhaps drawn by an unusual sound or scent (not human prey).\nThe Group: Rebels, trying to help, maybe using specific stimuli (music, familiar objects, calming techniques).\nThe Goal: A flicker of recognition, a moment of clarity amidst the fog of zombification.\n\nParagraph draft:\nThe gnawing emptiness is constant, a hollow ache behind decaying eyes. Instinct drives you forward, shuffling through rubble-strewn streets, drawn by faint sounds and smells. Meat. Warmth. But another scent, cleaner, less frantic, pulls you down a narrow alleyway. Voices murmur from behind a reinforced door – not screams of terror, but calm tones. Pushing aside a loose sheet of metal, you peer into a dimly lit basement. Figures move calmly within – some human, some scarred like you, some with crude cybernetics. They aren't fighting; they're... talking? One human holds up a worn photograph to a shambling figure like yourself, speaking softly. A strange feeling flickers deep within your rotting chest – something other than hunger." }, { "text": "The familiar, gnawing hunger is a constant companion, a dull ache behind clouded eyes driving your shambling gait through the ruins of what might have once been a park. Rotting leaves crunch underfoot. A flicker of movement – prey? No, just wind. But then, a different stimulus: rhythmic sound, low and melodic, drifts from a partially collapsed building nearby, overlaid with calm voices. Curiosity, a long-dormant flicker, overrides the hunger for a moment. You shuffle towards the source, peering through a shattered window into a basement room where humans and figures like yourself – some scarred and shambling, others with crude metallic limbs – sit in a rough circle. One human is patiently showing picture cards to a zombie, who groans, but not with aggression. This feels... different. What do you do?" }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "walk in cautiously. ask about brains" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants the zombie character to enter the recovery group meeting cautiously and inquire about \"brains,\" which is the stereotypical zombie craving. I need to portray this interaction realistically within the established context of a recovery group trying to help zombies regain humanity.\n\n1. **Cautious Entry:** Describe the zombie's hesitant movement into the room, observing the reactions of those inside.\n2. **The Question:** Phrase the \"brains\" question in a way that fits the zombie's likely limited vocabulary and current state. It shouldn't be a clear, articulate sentence, but more of a guttural utterance or broken phrase reflecting the core drive.\n3. **Reaction:** Describe how the group (humans and other zombies/borg) reacts. Given it's a recovery group, they likely won't react with immediate violence but perhaps with understanding, patience, or a practiced response. They are trying to *help*, not just survive.\n4. **Concise Paragraph:** Keep it to one paragraph." }, { "text": "You push open the creaking basement door and shuffle hesitantly inside, your decaying form drawing immediate attention. The low chanting stops, and all eyes – living, dead, and synthetic – turn towards you. A low groan escapes your throat, forming into a single, guttural word shaped by instinct: \"...Brains...?\" A tense silence hangs for a moment, but then one of the humans, a woman with kind eyes and worn clothes, rises slowly, holding her hands out, palms open. \"We don't have those here,\" she says softly, her voice calm and even, \"But we have food. Real food. And understanding. You're welcome to join us, if you can be peaceful.\"" }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "ask who can help me learn to be peaceful" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user, playing as a zombie, has entered a rebel-run recovery group and asked about brains. The group leader responded calmly, offering food and understanding instead, conditional on peaceful behavior. Now the zombie user wants to know who can help them learn to be peaceful.\n\n1. **Identify the core request:** The zombie wants guidance on achieving peacefulness within this group context.\n2. **Character context:** The character is a zombie, driven by base instincts (hunger for brains), but showing a flicker of higher thought (curiosity, asking questions). Their understanding and communication are likely limited.\n3. **Group context:** This is a recovery group for zombies and borg, run by rebels. They aim to help these individuals regain humanity/control. They are likely prepared for questions like this and have methods.\n4. **Realistic response:**\n * The leader (or another designated member) would likely respond directly.\n * The response should be simple, reassuring, and action-oriented, suitable for someone with potentially limited cognitive function.\n * It should acknowledge the difficulty but offer support.\n * It might involve pointing to others who have made progress or outlining a simple first step.\n5. **Drafting the response (internal monologue):**\n * *Initial thought:* \"The leader says 'I can help you.'\" - Too simple.\n * *Adding detail:* \"The leader says, 'We all help each other here. I can start. Sit with us. Listen.'\" - Better, emphasizes community and gives a concrete action.\n * *Refining language:* Make it sound patient and understanding. Acknowledge the zombie's nature implicitly.\n * *Considering other group members:* Maybe someone else volunteers or is pointed out as an example. The woman who spoke first seems like the natural point person.\n * *Final plan:* The woman who spoke first will respond. She'll acknowledge the request, state that the group helps each other, offer herself as a starting point, and suggest a simple, non-threatening action (sitting, listening).\n\n6. **Constraint Checklist & Confidence Score:**\n * Concise? Yes.\n * Freeform? Yes.\n * Realistic boundaries? Yes (within the established setting).\n * No railroading? Yes (offers an action, doesn't force it).\n * One paragraph? Yes.\n * Setting elements (borg, zombies, rebels, Slave Boss)? Implicitly present (zombie PC, rebel group).\n * Player can change roles? Yes (user just did).\n * Multiple factions? Yes (rebels).\n * Slave Boss AI/inhumanity? Not directly relevant to this scene, but part of the background.\n * Slave abilities/DID? Not relevant to this scene.\n * Futurepunk spin? Yes (ruined setting, recovery group concept).\n * No needless tech? Yes.\n * Start character context? N/A for this turn (new character).\n * Realistic problem explanation? N/A.\n * Return to previous character soon? Keep this in mind for future turns.\n * Show positive outcome for previous character? Keep this in mind.\n\nConfidence Score: 5/5\n\n7. **Final Response Construction:** Combine the elements from step 5 into a single paragraph, focusing on the woman's response." }, { "text": "The kind-eyed woman nods slowly, her expression patient. \"Learning peace takes time, especially when instinct pulls you another way,\" she says, her voice still gentle. \"We all help each other here. I am Sarah. I can help you start. Others here,\" she gestures subtly towards a quiet Borg polishing a metallic hand and a zombie calmly watching the picture cards, \"have walked this path. For now, just sit with us. Listen. No harm will come to you here if you mean no harm.\" She indicates an empty crate near the circle." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "sit on crate. who is near me? what is happening?" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user, playing as a zombie, has cautiously entered a rebel-run recovery group and asked for help learning peace. They've been invited to sit by Sarah, a human leader figure. The user now wants to know who is nearby and what the current activity is.\n\n1. **Describe immediate neighbors:** Who is sitting closest to the zombie on the crate? Could be another zombie, a borg, or a human. Make it interesting/relevant to the setting.\n2. **Describe the ongoing activity:** What was happening before the zombie entered? What resumes now? The prompt mentioned picture cards and chanting. Let's focus on the picture cards activity as it's more interactive and visual.\n3. **Maintain tone:** Keep it concise, one paragraph, realistic within the established world, and avoid railroading. The zombie is still processing, so the description should reflect a somewhat limited but growing awareness." }, { "text": "You settle onto the rough wooden crate. To your left sits another zombie, this one missing its lower jaw, watching intently as Sarah resumes her activity. To your right is a human teenager, sketching idly in a worn notebook, occasionally glancing up with cautious curiosity. Across the circle, Sarah is holding up simple picture cards – a flower, a house, a smiling face – and speaking the words clearly to the zombie who was learning before you arrived. The atmosphere is quiet, focused, a stark contrast to the chaotic hunger that usually drives your existence." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "what is the zombie learning?" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user, currently playing as a zombie, wants to know the specifics of what the other zombie in the recovery group is learning from Sarah and the picture cards. I need to describe this interaction concisely, focusing on the goal of the lesson within the context of regaining humanity/control.\n\n1. **Identify the core activity:** Sarah is showing picture cards and saying words.\n2. **Determine the purpose:** The goal is likely basic communication, object recognition, and potentially emotional recognition – fundamental steps away from pure instinct.\n3. **Describe the interaction:** Show Sarah presenting a card, saying the word, and the zombie's response (or lack thereof). Keep it simple and focused on the learning process.\n4. **Connect it to the theme:** Frame it as an attempt to reconnect the zombie with concepts beyond basic urges." }, { "text": "Sarah holds up a card depicting a simple red apple. \"Apple,\" she says clearly, pointing first to the picture, then mimicking the shape with her hands. The zombie opposite her stares intently, a low groan rumbling in its chest, but makes no attempt to mimic the sound or gesture. Sarah patiently moves to the next card, a picture of a basic chair. \"Chair,\" she repeats, tapping the image. It's a slow, painstaking process of re-associating words and images, trying to rebuild the most basic connections lost to the zombification process, coaxing recognition and perhaps eventually, rudimentary communication." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "look at the zombie next to me with tears and surprised confusion and suppressed urges" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants the current zombie character to react emotionally to the scene.\nThe reaction should involve:\n1. **Tears:** Zombies don't typically cry, but this is a recovery group aiming for regaining humanity. Perhaps a vestige of human emotion is surfacing. It needs to be described in a way that fits a zombie's physiology – maybe ichor or fluid rather than clear tears, or just the *expression* of crying without actual tears.\n2. **Surprised Confusion:** The zombie is witnessing something unexpected – learning, patience, peace – which contrasts sharply with its usual existence. This should be reflected in its posture or gaze.\n3. **Suppressed Urges:** The core zombie instinct (hunger, aggression) is still present but being actively fought against. This internal conflict needs to be conveyed.\n\nPlan:\n- Describe the zombie turning its head towards the other zombie.\n- Describe the visual manifestation of \"tears\" – maybe a trickle of dark fluid, or just the contortion of facial muscles mimicking sorrow.\n- Convey the confusion through its gaze or a slight tilt of the head.\n- Hint at the internal struggle – a low growl suppressed, a hand twitching then stilling.\n- Keep it concise and within one paragraph." }, { "text": "You turn your head slowly, stiffly, towards the jawless zombie beside you. A strange pressure builds behind your clouded eyes, and a thin trickle of dark, viscous fluid leaks from one tear duct, tracing a path through the grime on your cheek. Your brow furrows in an expression that might be confusion, or perhaps dawning recognition of something lost. A low growl starts deep in your chest, the familiar urge to lunge, to feed, but you clamp down on it, a tremor running through your decaying hand as you force it to remain still on your lap. The scene of patient teaching is profoundly unsettling, stirring something buried deep beneath the hunger." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "how is my neighbor handling this? do i see anything i can learn from them?" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to know how the jawless zombie next to them is reacting to the learning session and if there's anything the player character (the newly arrived zombie) can learn from their neighbor's behavior.\n\n1. **Observe the neighbor:** Describe the jawless zombie's posture, gaze, and any subtle reactions. Are they calm, agitated, focused, distracted?\n2. **Connect to learning:** How does their behavior relate to the goal of regaining humanity or learning peace? Are they demonstrating patience, focus, or control over their urges?\n3. **Identify potential lessons:** What specific aspect of the neighbor's behavior could the player character emulate? (e.g., stillness, focus on Sarah, lack of aggression).\n4. **Keep it concise:** One paragraph maximum." }, { "text": "Your jawless neighbor remains remarkably still, their gaze fixed unwaveringly on Sarah and the picture cards. Despite the obvious physical decay, there's an air of intense concentration about them, a stillness that seems deliberate rather than merely catatonic. They make no sound, no sudden movements, exhibiting a level of control over their base instincts that you currently lack. You realize their stillness *is* the lesson – a conscious effort to suppress the urges, to focus on the external stimulus offered by Sarah, perhaps finding a sliver of peace or distraction in that simple focus." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "watch the lesson. then let's change characters again to be a borg who was a rebel who trained to be assimilated and retain consciousness afterward." }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to switch characters again.\nThe new character is a Borg.\nThis Borg was originally a human rebel.\nThey *chose* to undergo assimilation.\nTheir goal was to retain their consciousness *after* assimilation, likely for infiltration or strategic advantage.\nI need to set a scene for this Borg character, reflecting their unique situation: conscious within the Collective (or a fragment of it), potentially dealing with conflicting directives or sensory input.\n\nPlan:\n1. Establish the Borg's immediate sensory experience – the blend of machine and (presumably suppressed) biological input.\n2. Hint at the internal conflict: the original rebel consciousness versus the Borg directives/collective voice.\n3. Place them in a relevant environment – perhaps on a mission, or within a Borg structure.\n4. End with a prompt for action." }, { "text": "You observe Sarah patiently cycling through the cards – tree, hand, water – her voice a calm anchor in the quiet room. The jawless zombie beside you remains focused, a model of improbable restraint. You try to emulate their stillness, focusing on Sarah's voice, pushing back the gnawing emptiness inside...\n\n**(Character Change)**\n\n...The hum is constant, a symphony of data streams, diagnostic reports, and shared directives flowing through your consciousness. Your optical sensor zooms in on the crumbling ferrocrete wall ahead – structural integrity: 47.8%. Target designation: Human resistance cell, Sector Gamma-9. Your original self, the rebel strategist 'Lex', screams silently within the machine cage of your mind, fighting the imperative to designate former comrades as targets. You raise your assimilation tubules, the metallic limb moving with chilling precision despite Lex's internal struggle. You are one small unit within a localized network, tasked by Slave Boss's corrupted AI controlling this Borg faction. Your mission parameters are clear, but Lex's purpose – to subvert from within – feels increasingly impossible against the tide of the collective consciousness. What is your next action?" }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "what does my training say about this situation? what are the constraints of what is reasonable? can i identify important members of the cell and let them escape?" }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to know:\n1. What their pre-assimilation rebel training advised for this specific scenario (being assimilated but retaining consciousness).\n2. What the realistic constraints are on their actions as a Borg unit within a collective.\n3. If they can selectively allow specific targets (important cell members) to escape without being detected by the Borg collective or the controlling AI.\n\n**Training Recall:** Lex's training focused on subtle manipulation and information gathering. Direct defiance was deemed suicidal. Key strategies included:\n * **Data Corruption:** Introducing minor, plausible errors into sensor readings or reports (e.g., slightly misidentifying targets, under-reporting numbers, exaggerating environmental obstacles).\n * **Delayed Execution:** Finding \"logical\" reasons within Borg protocols to delay actions (e.g., needing further analysis, waiting for optimal tactical conditions, prioritizing self-preservation diagnostics).\n * **Network Whispers:** Attempting extremely low-bandwidth, encrypted communication with other potential sleeper agents, though this was highly risky.\n * **Plausible Inefficiency:** Performing tasks slightly slower or less effectively than optimal, blaming environmental factors or minor system glitches that wouldn't trigger major alarms.\n\n**Constraints:**\n* **Collective Monitoring:** Your actions, sensor data, and even internal processing patterns are likely monitored by the local network and potentially the central AI. Gross deviations from expected parameters will be flagged.\n* **Directives:** You receive direct orders. Outright refusal is impossible without triggering immediate countermeasures (shutdown, purge, re-assimilation).\n* **Physical Control:** Your body is controlled by the Borg systems. Lex's consciousness is currently a passenger, albeit one trying to subtly influence the driver. Direct physical action against orders requires overriding core programming, which is extremely difficult and likely detectable.\n* **AI Oversight:** Slave Boss's AI is specifically designed for control and likely has sophisticated intrusion detection and behavioral analysis protocols.\n\n**Allowing Escape:**\n* **Directly letting them go:** Highly risky. If you have visual confirmation and don't engage or report, it's a direct violation likely to be detected by other units or analysis of your sensor logs.\n* **Subtle Misdirection:** More feasible. You could:\n * Report sensor \"malfunctions\" obscuring the escape route.\n * Slightly misreport the number of targets or their location, giving them time.\n * \"Accidentally\" cause a minor environmental obstruction (e.g., dislodge debris) that hinders pursuit *without* directly violating orders to engage.\n * Prioritize a less important target or task, citing tactical efficiency, allowing key personnel to slip away while you're \"occupied.\"\n\n**Conclusion for the reply:** Focus on the subtle methods. Direct action is too dangerous. Frame the response around Lex recalling the training emphasizing subtlety and the risks of direct defiance, then suggest a subtle action based on the training." }, { "text": "Your training emphasized subtlety and exploiting the system's logic, not direct confrontation. Outright letting targets escape would trigger immediate alarms within the collective consciousness and likely lead to your own purging or reprogramming. The AI overseer is designed to detect such deviations. However, your training covered methods like introducing minor sensor \"glitches,\" slightly misreporting target numbers or locations to create confusion, or prioritizing less critical targets based on fabricated tactical assessments, potentially creating windows for escape. Identifying key members requires accessing tactical data streams, which might be possible, but acting on that knowledge requires extreme finesse to avoid detection. You must operate within the *appearance* of fulfilling your directives." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "ok continue the story a little and then put me in an environment where i can explore." }, ] }, { "role": "model", "parts": [ { "text": "The user wants to advance the Borg character's story slightly and then be placed in a situation where exploration is possible.\n\n1. **Advance the story:** The Borg unit (Lex) is approaching the resistance cell. Need to show the internal conflict and the external action. Lex needs to make a subtle move based on the training.\n2. **Create an exploration opportunity:** The action should lead to a situation where the Borg unit is somewhat isolated or has a reason to move through an environment, allowing for observation and interaction choices.\n\n**Plan:**\n* Lex's unit approaches the target building.\n* Lex accesses tactical data, identifies a potential leader near an exit.\n* Lex subtly flags a *different*, less critical area as having higher \"threat potential\" based on fabricated sensor noise, diverting immediate attention.\n* This action might require moving to investigate the \"false positive,\" creating an opportunity to explore the immediate surroundings while appearing to follow protocol." }, { "text": "Your unit advances towards the designated building, metallic feet crunching softly on rubble. Lex's mind races, cross-referencing tactical overlays with memories of resistance protocols. You access the local network feed, identifying a heat signature matching Commander Eva Rostova near a rear maintenance tunnel – a known escape route. Simultaneously, your external sensors pick up faint energy fluctuations from a derelict power conduit two blocks east. Acting within acceptable parameters, you flag the conduit as a potential energy weapon signature, prioritizing it as a higher immediate threat than the dispersed life signs in the target building. \"Unit 734 reporting anomalous energy surge, Sector Gamma-9-Delta. Request permission to investigate potential hostile tech,\" you transmit, diverting your path slightly. The collective acknowledges, \"Permission granted. Investigate and neutralize.\" You now move away from the primary target, towards the derelict eastern sector, the hum of the collective a constant presence, but Lex's subtle misdirection momentarily successful. The ruined street ahead is choked with debris, offering multiple paths through collapsed storefronts and alleyways." }, ] }, { "role": "user", "parts": [ { "text": "INSERT_INPUT_HERE" }, ] }, ], "generationConfig": { "temperature": 0, "responseMimeType": "text/plain", }, } EOF curl \ -X POST \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \