The Base of the Ponzi Pyramid

[Janick Beauchamp]

After this chain of combat sorties, one of which caused her to re-think her involvement on Dagobah, it was good to be back at the Castle, where she met with Ageha for the first time since the Saijo sortie. She wasted no time in advertising private and semi-private lessons touting accelerated learning in the local parenting magazines, so it was of no surprise that nights at the Castle would feature desperate parents and their respective children by now. But thus far she has had no Force-using clients willing to go to the Magic Circle for that accelerated learning. Even though Memory Rub is a dark-sided technique, and is the fastest known method for learning, for some reason dark-siders tended to shy away from infusion, despite the biggest disadvantage being precisely its reliance on the dark side. There may be other counter-indications that I never encountered for what I know. I get that Force-users come in highly variable intellectual ability levels, but most attempts at cold-calling Force-users don't seem to end well. I'm not expecting a whole lot out of this, but here goes nothing, she thought, while visions of one of those potential Force-users came to her as she was writing an umpteenth holomessage to a potential Force-using client. But, as far as she knew it, commercial operations of Memory Rub-powered tutoring were next to nonexistent, so she may as well have a first-mover advantage in that market. And yet, the biggest bottleneck in growing that business is finding Force-using people who are willing to learn Memory Rub (and also Drain Knowledge).

-----------------------------

ATTN: [member="Ashara Evanaris"]

The Utai Magic Circle is, for the first time, offering to the public of Wild Space a method of accelerated learning that was previously reserved to a closed circle of dark-sided Force-users. With the witches at the Utai Magic Circle, you can learn a year's worth of material in a matter of minutes!

P.S.: If you are a dark-sided Force-user yourself, you can also download the knowledge of the witches of the coven and also learn a year's worth of material in a matter of minutes. Please let us know what knowledge you wish to either have infused or download and we shall get back to you to see if the request can be accommodated.

Janick Beauchamp
Utai Magic Circle

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[Sick Cycle Carousel]

Once Ashara’s was given the access code, she was cleared to land on landing bay 5. Using the console she keyed in the access code 5A619.Ashara navagigated her ship to its precise location. Any other time she would have had her pilot droid with her, but she felt the need to fly herself, she didn't want any mistakes,


This was unusual for her being this far out in space, she didn't venture far from her famiilure surroundings. She had been devotedly reaserching the ability to force drain, unfortunately it had taken more time and energy than she had anticipated. Although she had heard through the grapevine, the magic circle on occasion made this possible through drain knowledge. Ashara had to protect herself she knew the price would be hefty, she had to be prepared.. Be fore she decided to contract Janick she had to mentally prepare and fortify her mind.


Through past experiences, she wasnt about to have her vibro sword, hanging off her hips, giving cause to alarm, she decided to conceal two vibroshivs attached to her leggings which would appear to be apart of the loops laced through several hooks around her thigh. Of course she left home without her light saber.


Once she set foot on to the docking bay, a protocal droid came to me her.


“Ashara Evanaris we have been expecting you, I hope your had safe travels, follow me”


“As well as could be expected,I am hoping it was worth the flight” Ashara responded.


Ashara followed the droid through the castle, she was amazed at the structure, she new from its design it was old,she sensed its inhabitants were force users and some sort of web was interwoven, she felt they were heavy guarded secr8 that were concealed Asserting herself that this may be worth her while feeding her desire for knowledge.


“Ashara Evanaris, please make yourself at home,Janick we be here shortly.”


“Of course”


She didn't particularly like droids but they had their uses,her attention was more focused on the details of the castle, pillars extending 25 feet in the air, constructed perfectly leaving a wide open ceiling with framed in oval skylights. Ashara has learned to trust her instincts, and they were heeding caution. Her mind kept focusing on secrets, and she wanted to know what they were


“Could this person be trusted”She thought to herself
[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

In the meantime, it was becoming clear that commercially exploiting a niche use of the Force has its limits. But the protocol droid? It was Ageha's idea: neither Alyssa nor Tamana wanted it. When [member="Ashara Evanaris"] arrived, Janick could feel another dark-sided signature coming, landing through the Castle's pad that was usable by the clients. It doesn't happen every day, but here's a dark-sider that seems interested in manipulating knowledge. That said, I hope her mind is fast and has a lot of stamina, because it is the key to make the most out of both Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge, she thought, while assuming that today's client would want to both have knowledge infused and to download extras from her. Yet, before she could even proceed with any infusion of knowledge, she would need to have a feel for the client's brain so as to ensure that it would, in fact, be painless. Understandably she acknowledged that some clients would rather not tell what they are after but that typically meant they were after knowledge that were sensitive from their point of view. Especially as she could actually get face-to-face with the dark-sider that she presumed was Ashara:

"I'm Janick. I understand your request may well be sensitive, so I don't blame you if you didn't say what you want until you arrive. But now that you are here, you can tell me what is it that you want, and whether I can infuse it in you, or download it from me"

 

[Sick Cycle Carousel]

Ashara remained silent for a moment or so, her focus had been on Janick, her curiosity got the better of her. She would honestly have to say this would be the first time some actually asked to infuse, with the opportunity to drain knowledge. The old ways as it was where you just take it. In most cases the procedure was excruciating to say the least. He first experience in learning drain knowledge, her master forced her mind to diluge that kind of information.


Keen as her sense were, she soon learned, her newly found acquaintance had a delightful mind, she could sense the flow of synapses in her mind interwoven in knowledge. Ashara had come to the right place, her obediance to the force had paid off. She had been through far worse in her own mind, through rigorous training she was able to fortify her own mind.Now was the real test to see how fast she would be able to download.She confident she would not disappoint.


“Forgive me I had to see for myself, my intelligence was accurate, I must say he did not deceive me. To answer your question it is delicate. I desire to learn force drain, and of course mind rub. As wel as l to vastly decrease the download time for drain knowledge. As I am aware nothing in life is free, what would you require from me.”Ashata wasnt one to show emotion unless she felt the need to. She did not want to give away too much of her character.
[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

In my mind she was perhaps being too broad in her use of the Force when she last tried to download knowledge from someone. As for Force-drain I never used it myself, because it carries significant risks, but it carries some similarities to Drain Knowledge, only you're draining life force, which by itself would make such an operation much more painful to the target than downloading knowledge, Janick thought, while listening to [member="Ashara Evanaris"] detailing what would fit in an infusion. In the meantime, she was also seemingly fixated on her client-of-the-day's brain in the Force, she was on a similar intellectual level to other people she infused the knowledge of Memory Rub into in the past. Yet she knew that the user's intellectual capabilities were not the end of the story when it came to Memory Rub or Drain Knowledge. Plus the sort of premium tutoring service the Utai Magic Circle provided was so expensive that installment payments were a thing for even one session, even though installment payments were typically used for longer-term services.

"It's a request that I can accommodate. As for payment, if that's amenable to you, you'll pay in installments so that, should you be unable to pay for it all at once, you can still pay later"

But, once she had a good feel for Ashara's fast, well-trained brain, Janick would start infusing the knowledge of Memory Rub into the client. Then the both of them would have visions flashing in their brains, of first infusing the knowledge, that is, simply uploading a mental datafile in someone, of how altering or removing memories in someone (or editing/deleting mental datafiles), using Memory Rub, worked differently from infusing memories. And also of various considerations related to both Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge: the Fundamental Inequality, which is about how fast one can infuse or download knowledge into people without causing pain, the quality of the target's memory, which would mean that infusion is more effective on someone with a better memory (and also downloading was more effective from someone with a better memory, too) but the reverse was true of other types of alterations, and the risk of side effects was higher in people with worse memories. She also suspected the presence of some mental blocks that may have caused bottlenecks in Ashara when she wanted to download from other people in the past, possibly from before Ashara's fortifications.

 

[Sick Cycle Carousel]

Ashara was quick to desern a great and many things, For one; certain parts of her training were missing. Ashara at one point time had her assumptions, but today Janick unkownly confirmed her memory of those training sessions have been wiped from her subconscious. Leaving her quite pretuebed why she had not figured it out till now.


Casting the thought aside for the time being, she had to learn more of this technique from Janick. Ashara struggked at the momemt, would she be willing to let her guard down and release her firtificarion. Knowing full well she would be open to her suggestion. Outweighing the possibilities, she came to the conclusion it was worth the risk.


Taking a few steps, pointing her finger as though a phantom was talking to her, she gave into her need for knowledge. She prepared her mind to release the fortification leading her to open her mind to Janick. Also she wants entirely sure how or if Janick would be able to handle her memories, her mind is full of pain and suffering. Most people would cringe or even turn away kn disgust if they could truly know what she has done. Some could not even bare to understand the pain and torture she went through. Also Janick probably wouldn't be able to do the things she says if she didn't. Ashara was more interested to see if she could handle it, more so what would it do to herself.


“Rest assured, you will be paid in full, when do we start,”


[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"The infusion will start immediately"

Although some of [member="Ashara Evanaris"]' mental blocks may have been rooted in pain, Janick had no desire to dig deeper into those blocks because she knew it would be causing unnecessary pain for the infusion that is to follow. Now that she had a clear idea of how fast she can infuse Memory Rub along with the Drain Knowledge supplements without inducing pain, then the infusion proper could truly begin. And, as the data packet flows from Janick's brain to Ashara's, the visions would then flash of both uploading and downloading mental data packets, as well as to how to edit/delete mental datafiles in someone, and all the considerations as to the side effects and effectiveness. Of course, she took advantage of this opportunity to restore the knowledge whose loss may have led to those mental blocks that made her client's previous attempts at downloading knowledge from other people slow and painful. In addition, several clients described being subjected to an infusion of knowledge as suddenly having learned several years of knowledge, in a few minutes or even seconds for the fastest, so it was entirely possible such could be happening in Ashara.

"Tell me how it feels to have knowledge infused into you"

 

[Sick Cycle Carousel]

Ashara relaxed her mind, opening the window allowing Janick to infuse her mind. At first she only allowed herself to allow a thought to infuse at a time. Once she was able to download, her mind kept accepting, opening a vast amount of data, she felt memories, knowledge downloading at remarkable speeds. Short and long term memories, memories forgotten or erased from her. She felt her mind was seen as a tapestry woven in a matter of seconds to pure perfection.


She could remember her early childhood, how her father even at birth simply forgot about her. She was not allowed to have birthdays, participate in family functions, she was completely outdated from her own family.It wasnt news to her she was outcasted, but before the infusion should could not remember before she was ten. She could only remember how she sought his approval.


Following the tapestry inn her mind, downloading the last bit of information about who really killed her family. Image's, she felt passion flow through her. The very truth which was rubbed from all thought, every passion she seen in all its clarity. It was her, this would have been her first force rage, Ashara brutally killed her whole family, which creates a small paradox. She completely fell to the dark side believing some one had killed her brother whom she loved. She now understood it was her own self which drove her down the dark path. She just didnt understand why her master would, but she had her own theories.


Ashara was beyond words as she downloaded her last memory, she stood for a moment before she proceeded to answer her question.


“I felt every emotion tied to every bit of Information, images at first, then it was as though full memories down loaded, uploaded in a blink of an eye. Years of information instantly”


She did not tell her some of her own memories were restored, really no need to bring it up since Janick already knew.She wanted to keep the feelings she had at the moment private.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

From the looks of it, I cured some sort of amnesia, too. That the amnesia is cured is more important to me than what memories resurfaced when the cure was working its way through her brain. Speaking of which, I can tell her brain makes her very pleasant to have around me, Janick thought, sensing that [member="Ashara Evanaris"] was uncomfortable about some memories that resurfaced after the infusion ended. It seemed to be a side effect she never really encountered, but that one Beth Cadera, presumably a relative of Cassiopeia, sought to explicitly emulate with a mixture of Neural Storm and Force-healing, hearing about it from Griet shortly after the Terminus campaign. Yes, she knew that infusing knowledge, on a neurological level, amounted to creating new neuronal connections, and altering/deleting the memories required her to re-route or destroy them respectively. Just that Janick feels very happy that the client's mental functionality returned to full capacity. She knew it would take a lot for someone - or more likely, multiple people doing it simultaneously - to cause her pain by downloading from her. With that consideration in mind...

"As agreed upon, here's your chance to download Force-drain from me. Don't be shy, don't worry about possible side effects of Drain Knowledge on me, download as fast as you can"

 

[Sick Cycle Carousel]

Ashara experienced something completely out of the ordinary, it was unheard of for her to meet someone willing to extract knowledge from someone else. This would be the first time for her where she would not have to worry about causing any pain.


The process was exhilarating, opening pathways to her brain, before lay dormant, opening new pathways to other certain parts of her mind. Viualizing a force tree in her mind, realizing the possibilities became endless. A hand book opened her mind, with in seconds she flipped the book, downloading the knowledge to herself. The practices of force drain, the origins, the consequences of prolonged use.Side effects, all of what is known of force drain, she now had this knowledge.


Ashara felt a whirlwind of emotions knew to her, and it was happening all in one given moment.’Appreciation’ Most often than not she had to take it for own self, which made her feel uneasy and uncomfortable.


“Thank you” she said respectfully.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

As [member="Ashara Evanaris"] downloaded what Janick knew about Force-drain, visions of Force-drain flooded into both minds: how it was similar to Drain Knowledge, how it was different, why Janick never used it. Speaking of side effects of Force-drain, it's because it also caused one's flesh to age faster and cause corruption via tissue necrosis. And also, in the long run, it becomes an addictive process since the user's body hungered for more. It was also said that using Force-drain for healing, well, only provided a dark-sided band-aid to the recipient and didn't heal very well. She had to grant it to the client, Ashara's brain was very fast. Because those visions were almost blinding to Janick, and yet didn't seem to cause her any pain. Yet the speed of this download caused her own brain to work very hard while it was underway. Just that she could sense an internal maelstrom happening once the download is complete. Sure, there were people who were grateful for an opportunity to download things from others, and others who would kill for the ability to do so.

"You're welcome. However, I may be wondering: did I infuse pleasure into your brain on top of infusing knowledge? Or were you otherwise led to believe that my brain is producing pleasure for you to get?"