Death and its effects…

[NosnevetsParticipant]

I noticed a conversation happening between @kasch and @blondiecamps in a status update and I wanted to address it in a place where I could get feedback on what we all think.

Possible In Game/Out of Game/ Ascension 1.0/ ReAscension Spoilers: *SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS*

Death. It happens. It sucks. But what does it mean in game? @shinobi seems to have seen Sadie die. The next day I saw her alive and well…well until I think I fucked that up… But the point is some of us see characters die within our _path that may not be dead for others. I think that this continuity issue that we are having is not one of pure timeline and set occurrences, but one of canon and emotional attachment. I’m trying to argue that although we are experiencing ascension currently, none of it becomes canon until it is all over. When it becomes canon I’m not so sure names are always as important as we are making them. That is hard for me to say because at my second ascenson I learned names are very important, but to go on I think that the list of people that have died may just become “Participant” rather than “Brit, Leisel, etc.”

Sadie died. In my _path though she hadn’t yet, after she died the day before for Dan. After Nov. 13th though I fear she will be dead for good. The other side of it though is that maybe she isn’t dead, maybe it’s “during ascension’s run many handlers died” but they chose Sadie for Dan himself because they knew he was emotionally invested and it wouldn’t mean what it should mean if it was anyone else for him. I could go further and theorize that perhaps when it is canon it may instead of being many weeks of this happening it is all one big Ascension ceremony that capped the end of their culling of all of us. That I think may be a bit far, particularly when the Overseer has mentioned there being many, but you know… pursue every thought right?

Is Ellis dead Blondie? Or was he chosen for you because he represents something incredibly important to you? When it is written will it become “A sentinel has died”? Even deeper, I read here on this forum that we have found a new Oracle in Tryn. I met Tryn when leaving my Ascension. Just another participant waiting in a parking lot. As if she wasn’t an incredibly important person already. As if she was in a cycle as the only successful one that continues to go through until tickets are no longer on sale. Fixed point in time, if you’re a time travel/Doctor Who afficionato.

[DanParticipant]

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A very good question to ponder.

Additionally, while it was certainly “my” Sadie who died in a grand display, there was a point in the night before her death where I asked Addison to point to and name all of the handlers. She seemed very confused and with each person she pointed to she said, “That’s Sadie. And that’s Sadie…” And so forth.

[NosnevetsParticipant]

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That is actually really interesting, I’ve heard from a few people that there have been similar name glitches. Addison seems to have trouble differentiating Sadie from others, asking a handler to inform Benny about meeting up to run lines and things like that. The handler having no idea what she’s talking about.

[BryanParticipant]

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Not really spoiling anything here, but better safe than sorry!

This seems like yet another example of the programming from the Hood of Clarity not taking. Addison Barrow is still in there. And the personality of the Overseer — whether it’s some transferred version of GK4, or a new personality altogether — seems like it’s clearly been used to brainwash her, and perhaps is even “refreshed” when its dominance starts to fade.

During my second visit through, The Overseer said that she knew what they’d done to her — the brainwashing, the murder; all of it. But yet she didn’t remember writing parts of the diary we’ve all gone over. The Overseer I met that night was somebody in conflict. She was fighting for her “vision” of The OOA — one that needed everyone from pro-OOA forces to BoS members to support her — and she seemed almost desperate in that fight. That is NOT The Overseer we saw in the most recent Periscope video. (Nor, it sounds like, the one that @shinobi encountered.)

As for the deaths… we’ve heard many times that The Tension Experience is an ‘immersive theater production’ designed as a front for the OOA. Why should we believe that the deaths we witness are anything but yet another misdirection, designed to push our buttons in the name of the larger goal of those that are behind this experiment?

[RustyParticipant]

I like your interpretation @bcbishop of seeing The Overseer as “someone in conflict.” My most recent encounter with her, I saw the effect the Helmet had… it was one of those “reset” moments several people have described witnessing. BUT, there was also a moment where she did sense she had encountered me before. Her declaration (in the office) that she is aware of what has been done in the past is something I think is important… she seems to be hanging in there for a greater good, in my opinion. (What that is to her… I am not sure. However, she seems determined that there is something good that can come from all of this confusion for all of us – in my opinion, anyway.)

[BlondieParticipant]

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Oh yes, there is definitely a massive confusion for Addison/Overseer when it comes to the handlers. She called Susan Sadie and continued to do so even after being corrected…

I believe within the walls of the OOA building, events are stuck on a loop, reset after each failed Ascension. The actions and relationships and connections of the people involved in a specific loop affect the events within it. The people that die reappear once the loop begins again.

So while Ellis was my Sentinel, he wasn’t for example Kim’s Sentinel. My personal connection with Ellis/Andrew meant that as soon as I walked through the door, that path was triggered. Although he died to save me, when I left the compound after another failed Ascension, he could come back as another version of Ellis – maybe more like the one many others have encountered. So I grieve for my Ellis, not the Ellis.

It is a complicated theory and I’m not sure I am doing it justice here… Think of something akin to Stonetape Theory, where a highly emotional event is recorded within the surroundings and replayed over and over as a paranormal event. A person may interact with it, but the result will always be the same, maybe until the correct sequence of events occurs and frees the people stuck within this perpetual misery…

[TaylorParticipant]

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This is all so insanely interesting. When I went through, Addison introduced herself to me. After a few minutes, one of the handlers arrived and said “Addison, it’s been five minutes” and Addison dismissed her. The handler persisted, but Addison ignored her. Then Addison went blank, seemed to have reset, and then looked up and me bright eyed and smiling saying “Hi, I’m Addison, what’s your name”, despite repeating those same lines nearly 5 minutes prior. The handlers looked shocked and quickly escorted her away, asking me not to speak of this to the Elders.

I love the idea of different timelines, or a singular experience all happening at a single point in time–all at once. I greatly look forward to my second experience so I can peek behind the veil and learn more of the inner workings of the OOA. The more I learn, the more I want to ask Addison and the others the thousands of questions rattling in my head. Friday cannot come soon enough.

[LawrenceParticipant]

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This question has vexed me as well. It’s all jumbled in my head but I feel like there was a brunette girl who killed herself the first time I was there, but was there again the second time — but this time standing behind the Oracle on the left.

Another thing that made no sense — on my second visit, a girl named Victoria (petite brunette) was in the corner of the videotape room. She told me she was an actress, had been on this “job” for 2 weeks, they let her go anytime she wanted, was being paid, the checks cleared and said that all the other “actresses” were “really taking it seriously, they were really Method-y”. She seemed very concerned, and asked me twice, if I’d heard anyone call Addison by her real name. That nobody did seemed to worry her a lot.

Then she was the unfortunate Oracle candidate. Which begs the question — why her? I had earlier helped the Overseer select a candidate, although I told her that it was a weak candidate. Why choose Victoria, who claimed to be an actress, and could never have truly ascended…

Thus leading me to conclude that there has not been any actual ascension…

And therefore leading us to ask “why”?

Mysteries cry out for human inquiry in order to uncover the truth.
Secrets strangle the truth, and mock human inquiry.

There are more secrets here than mysteries…and that’s what worries me.

But to further complicate matters (!), Let me add something from SLEEP NO MORE, the show that influenced the creative team. If you have not been to that show, I will caution that what I’m about to say is a “MILD SPOILER” of that show, but related entirely to the structure we are discussing for TENSION. There’s no real surprise here, as it’s pretty widely known information.

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The action each night at SLEEP NO MORE runs on three loops per night, with everything resetting each hour. I believe that the characters within the McKittrick Hotel are in a kind of purgatory, reliving these events over and over, and we (the audience in identical masks) bear witness to all of this, almost as spirits. [Very reminiscent of GENESIS’ song “HOME BY THE SEA”]. There are rumors that a certain quest exists within the structure that will break the loop and I’ve seen evidence of it but never confirmed it.

Thus, form follows function. Perhaps that is also what we are witnessing.

[DanParticipant]

I agree. There clearly has never been an ascension in spite of some claims. Smoke and mirrors. Wealth and power cults have to maintain an illusion for the faithful in order to maintain their position. Hence Samson and whoever his boss is at OSDM. It’s corrupt and evil business disguised as religion. To the extreme.

[Hazel CloudParticipant]

I have the inclination to agree with your assessment, Dan. With the information I’ve gathered and witnessed about Addison and those who handle her, I’ve been able to deduce (however successfully) that she is lost within herself.

Have you seen the show Humans? It is a show about AI and robots that are made to look and feel (to the touch) like us. The narrative revolves around a group of these robots who were able to actually FEEL (emotion), like we do. Ultimately, this unnerved the creators, so they decided to reprogram them- updating them with software that overrode any personality.

Keeping it simple, one of these beings ended up at a suburban residence. From time to time, they noticed something different about their robot. It would glitch and, just for a moment, the original personality shown through. I’ll allow you to watch the series or read about it on your own time, if you’re interested. Don’t want to give too much away and stray too far from the point.

That being, I feel as though the helmet has rendered Addison a mutable vessel. From time to time, we see slivers of the REAL Addison poke through. This is why they must re-adminster the helmet- as they’ve been wont to show participants.

FOR ME, this signifies a lack of control. Where there is such, much allusion and illusion follow. Smoke and mirrors… yes. I find myself agreeing.

[Hazel CloudParticipant]

INSTEAD of a loop, I suggest we’ve find ourselves in a paradox.

[PuppetGirlParticipant]

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I’ve heard that there was a successful Ascension but I’m skeptical. I think it’s safe to assume each new show is a reset in the Ascension world and after it closes then we will find out what happened as far as overall story is concerned.

[BethParticipant]

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It’s really hard to know for certain without knowing precisely what has happened at everyone else’s show, but I know during our ceremony specifically the Handlers made a reference to how many failures there had already been and how many lives they have taken. Have they been saying that at every Ascension? Obviously, I don’t know! And I suppose we can assume that there are attempts to find Oracles that are happening when we aren’t looking. If a tree falls, etc.

I do think there are some things that reset. We have “actresses” acknowledging that there are false things taking place. But could they have really found an Oracle during a ceremony before this and nobody knew? No one? No one in that crowd was so moved that they sought out these forums?

I think it’s possible that the Oracle might not be real, certainly. But I do believe we are meant to know she exists and are meant to take her as real, without a reset. They knew who would be present. They knew the story would make its way here. Even if it is false, it is deliberate.

And as for that inspirational hotel in New York City @lmsmedley: I’ve stayed there many, many times myself and I can tell you that what happens at Ascension is far more ambitious and complex. I don’t think you can look to the three loop structure for any answers and if the quest you’re speaking of is the one I think it is, it does not allow for anywhere near the level of variance that can be found here and has not existed in that building for nearly four years. That hotel is about the helplessness of a middle state while Ascension is about what becomes of humans when they attempt to seize or surrender full control. One is stagnate while the other still seems to be growing.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Beth.

[LawrenceParticipant]

No question there. TENSION is infinitely more complex and emotional.

[BethParticipant]

I actually spent Halloween at that very hotel and spent (probably excessively) large portions of my night raving to every single regular attendee I know about what is happening out there in LA. I think a few of them understood, but it’s honestly hard to comprehend until you’re inside it.

I’ve checked into the hotel often enough that when people ask for a number I usually say “too many” and leave it at that. But what happened at Ascension was so fully and completely new that I honestly don’t have the words for it.

[LawrenceParticipant]

I’ve been three times to the McKittrick, each time more rewarding. It is a different experience, which I compare to walking into a fully-imagined David Lynch film.
Is it true that there is a central quest to be had? I’ve had a couple of memorable one-on-ones. Yet you are ultimately a passive participant.

I’ve stated in my reviews that I believe Tension is, and will be in time be known as, a seminal moment in American theater.

[BethParticipant]

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Interestingly, there’s a lady in a red dress at both locations. The one at the McKittrick can send you off on little errands and assignments that result in new discoveries. For a short time, there was a quest that feels central to the mythology of the Hotel. A search for something. People still speak about it with reverence, because only a select few managed to complete it (you can count them on one hand), but as far as anyone knows, though she still makes the demand, the item in question has been absent from the hotel for years. I would agree that the experience there is largely passive, for the residents as well as visitors.

Even the parts of Tension that demand obedience are so active. You are choosing to submit to the course of events. It never quite feels passive, even when you are allowing events to proceed as they will.

[SadakoParticipant]

“You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

[Hazel CloudParticipant]

Because faith has led many astray in times gone by.
Still, if there is one to stay, hope makes me say, ’tis I.

[Author]

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