NiNES: A Broken Galaxy

[erez87]

Yeah but some of us may have a reason to not let the matter die

 

[Symphony D.]

I second the sentiment. Chest thumping, especially on an internet gaming forum, is not going to make you feel better or help you prove yourself to anyone else.

Decloak: I'm going to make one last comment, and that is if you earnestly I believe I'm doing this just to brag and flaunt my knowledge and oh how I'm so great and awesome, you are sadly mistaken.

I am not arguing this for the sake of arguing it, I am arguing it to set the damn record straight, since some people seem to have warped views of history, and since I am the only one who actually happens to know why such things happened the way they did when they did, excepting maybe Niklas, and I would prefer that actual story be known rather than let people go on in their blissful ignorance. If there is one thing I sincerely hate, it is argumentum ad ignorantiam. That is not chest thumping, thank you, and I resent your accusations of as much.

 

[Niklas]

Alright, that marks the end of the OOC discussion.

I've sent out 8/12 PMs, I'll see if I can get the others out in a short while, otherwise you'll have them tomorrow.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

To: USC
From: Huris

Huris does not believe this statement. These people were struggling to survive, they were not sending long-range communications, and even if they could send them, they would have been received by the nearby nation, Huris, not by the USC.

This still does not answer why you did not inform Huris so we could have brought the aid.

 

[erez87]

To: USC
From: Huris

Huris does not believe this statement. These people were struggling to survive, they were not sending long-range communications, and even if they could send them, they would have been received by the nearby nation, Huris, not by the USC.

This still does not answer why you did not inform Huris so we could have brought the aid.

You mean before we them sent aid? I'll have to read some of the older storage information. I promise you that I'll find anything that shows the USC was using diplomacy more aggressively than we should have we will find a way to repay you.

But the fact remains that they asked to join us. In order for us to give those people system to you will have to be with them agreeing with it, don't you agree?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

To: USC
From: DAH

Diplomacy was not used aggressively, it was outright infringement of sovereignty. We just wish to know why no information was sent to Huris, so it could solve the crisis on its own.

 

[Nylan]

We stand by Huris in this confrontation. The government of Huris should have been notified when it was made apparent that aid was needed. The people of Lacaille have been "had", if you will.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

The Emergents wish to strongly protest the Capellan settlement of Acrux, which is an insult to the the previous negotiations of territoriality in which the Capellans conceded that the Emergents had sovereignty over Mira.

 

[Niklas]

All PMs have been sent out, except a rather large mail that's going to go to erez. However, as you may or may not have noticed, I've given up on listing techs that aren't direct followups (for instance the various drone warrior techs from the AI techs). If there's something you aren't sure about, look at the tech tree on the first page (which I will update as soon as I can), or ask me. Also, those who have special research or projects going on will get a second PM with what information you need to know. Yes, I'm moving slow, but at least I'm moving eh?

 

[TerrisH]

To All nations
It has been 12 years since we started down this path, and began to recover from the Disaster that Struck us all. since then, we have all grown and prospered. we posses large and Stable economic bases, and now, it is time to solve the great mystery that all our histories share. it is time to figure out what exactly the The Scourge was, and how to prevent such a event from crippling us again.

To that, we are establishing an international program, The Scourge Research project, to determine it's nature, it's origin, if it posses any threat toward us, and what we can do to prevent such an event from happening again. We are basing around the Research ship Excelsior, and when it finishes, it will distribute the results to all nations, no matter what.
to fund it, we ask for donations from all nations, of any amount you wish to donate. We ourselves shall be donating 10PP ourselves, and will do so every year until the mystery is solved.

 

[Nylan]

Kalia commends this effort, and will consider aiding the research, although in what form is yet to be determined. We would of course like our people to be involved at least to some degree, as to maximize the usefulness gleaned from any and all donations made to the project.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Huris expresses its cautious support for the Nekomi's idea, though it will wait for further information before properly considering funding.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

OOC: Story time, at last! But first I'd like to quote an old post:

To: USC, Nekomi
CC: Wideband
From: Confederation of Kalia

We find your petty squabbling immature and irrational on both parts. If lasting peace is to be achieved since the end of the Shuurai-Nekomi war, both of you must put effort into it. Continuing to repeatedly insult each other, directly and indirectly, accomplishes little and casts you both in an unfavorable light.

We have no stance on the particular issues involved, but rather ask that you be civil in your discussions...for the sake of galactic peace.

Has there been any serious progress here?

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

Halding Hospital, named after Stephen Halding, called by everyone Holding Hospital. One of the buildings to make it through the Scourge relatively intact. Carola felt a chill run down her spine as she crossed the threshhold. For all the advances humanity had made in psychotherapy, there were still a number of mental "keys" that could be pressed in most humans.

Grave of the living dead.

She shook the thought away. Above her, the plaque above the entrance read:

This hospital is grateful for its support by private funds.
In Memoriam​

The lobby was small and polite, as with hospital lobbies everywhere. There was a high-quality netfeed, which Carola did not avail herself of. She made straight for the entry door at the back, signaling with a thought transmitted through the neurochip in her spine to the hospital network that she was familiar with the rules and regulations, did not want a worker to accompany her, did want an injector. She raised an arm to the injector rack and a robot shaped roughly like a stylized flat flame jumped to her wrist, skittering around and insinuating itself onto her skin. If she did anything directly harmful to a patient, it would give her a mild numbing agent that sapped her dexterity and reflexes. It was perhaps paranoid - according to hospital records, the injectors had been used twice in the past six years - but on the other hand, perhaps their presence was necessary, as there had been twelve deaths from visitor-inflicted violence among the patients in one year before that. If you could call them deaths when there was no mind present. Bodies having their necks snapped as they were shaken too roughly, that sort of thing. Maybe the injectors were placebos? Carola considered these things and more as she began to walk among the beds containing Scourge victims.
"Wake up." she said clearly. "Wake up!"
No response. None was expected. Only about one person a day awoke during these times. She came here not hoping to do good for anyone else, but as a sort of pilgrimage for her own conscience.
You are here to look at death to remind you to love life. Yes. Yes I am.
She subvocalized a command and brought up information on the nearest person. Gender, skin and hair color, height, weight, expected normal weight, apparent age, accurate to within three years. Major families that had
some DNA matches and might be relatives. Patients with a strong DNA match that were probably relatives. Two certain, a sibling and a cousin. Level of brain activity. Chance of awakening during one-year period. Less than a thousandth of a percentage. But there were millions of people here.
Carola knelt.
Dear God - if you're there, if you were ever there - be with me now. Amen.
No answer. From anyone.
"I hope you all wake up soon," Carola said, "because our civilization has recovered and you are sorely missed." She spoke at length, occasionally passing another visitor. Finally, she grew overwhelmed. Row after row, room after room, floor after floor, uncounted... 'bodies' lay silent. She felt accused; the classical guilt of the survivor; perhaps she could have been taken instead. But such a thing was not really worth considering, and she couldn't wake the patients by any effort of her own.

As she left, depositing the injector, there was a message for her. Noticing that she had paid three times to visit the hospital, she was asked if she wanted to purchase a supporter's subscription, which allowed her to visit any time she wanted. The money would go towards continued therapy development and hospital maintenance.
"No." Carola vocalized. If she did that, she knew she wouldn't return here again. She'd sit at home and justify that she was supporting the hospital, and the real reason for not returning would be that she didn't want to see it again.

If I stop going, I'll lose my respect for life.

She knew it to be the truth as soon as she thought it. While it was all very practicalist to do something else, she really ought to care more for uncounted people hanging between life and death...
"Get me a figure for how many comatose patients are in Halding Hospital." she said to the nearest robot.

 

[erez87]

to Nekomi:
We do not think it's wise to meddle with the scourge before we are sure we can stop it if it starts again. We will help only after we are sure the scourge will not start again because of your research.

OOC: Niklas is evil!

 

[Nylan]

He's also the mother of my child, apparently -_-

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Militarily, this year became a milestone in post-scourge space ship construction. Emergent developers had long had their eyes set on finding efficient means to once again build the greatest of all ships, the dreadnoughts. This year funding was finally in, and research has already reached the prototype phase. But regardless of Emergent ambitions, they will not be the first. Putting might before efficiency, the small but dangerous Furian faction could wait no longer, they just had to have the first dreadnought. Pouring massive mounts of money and resources into this prestige project, the ship is now launched as the pride of the Furian navy. And yet they failed, for they were not the first either. Using their superior industrial capacity and knowledge, the U.S.C. military, relying on good old Shuurai HI, managed to get not only one but two dreadnoughts in orbit well before the Furian launch. Diplomatic tensions may be lessening throughout the galaxy, but military buildup is clearly at an all-time high.

--Emergent Governancy Press Release--
[[Transcript of video]]​

Retiring President John Bellmere: "Good day. I've been asked to hold this final briefing with the esteemed Tyranthe Ail, who was recently sworn in, before I leave office."
Assuming President Tyranthe Ail: "Thank you for coming, Bellmere."
John Bellmere: "Let's reconvene. The Governancy openly announced the development of a Dreadnought prototype ten standard months ago. Shortly after, the United Systems Commonwealth announced that they had had two Dreadnoughts constructed by Shuurai Heavy Industries, and the Furians announced a constructed of a third Dreadnought. The Governancy Head of Science were then flooded with inquiries."
Head of Science Nik Atol: "It was general knowledge that we were years ahead of the USC and the Furians in this area."
John Bellmere: "I then took the authority to issue an Order of Secrecy. It is still in effect, but we expect to answer many of the most common questions now. First, we are still ahead of the Commonwealth and the Furians. Our prototype is being fully activated now. It has the same or better military capability as any of their ships, and cost only a fraction due to the year-long building time and several corners which were not cut. We are also building more Dreadnoughts this year to supplement our fleet, one of which will monitor the situation on Acrux, where we feel that the Capellans have trespassed on our interests. Over to you on that, Ail."
Tyranthe Ail: "A year back, we compensated the Capellans for their expenditures in erroneously settling Mira, as was the consensus at that time. Since then, much of the Capellan settlement has moved to Acrux, claiming parts of the system for various reasons. Diplomatic negotiations have failed or met with no response, and we are under the impression that the Capellans are employing squatter tactics."
[Visual: Starmap showing the ring Errai-Benalia-Chara-Acrux-Mira-Alnair-Electra-Alcyone-Capella-Errai.]
[A line from Errai through the space between Mira and Alnair.]
Tyranthe Ail: "Given the way that the Capellans have cheated both the Cybrans and Guangdong, I have decided that we must be willing to use military force if they continue to prove uncooperative. The situation is similar to a man walking into a house and starting to occupy space and consume resources, and if the Capellans accuse us of militarism, we will answer the same way as that house's inhabitants would if they were accused of violent threats when they ordered the man out: by disregarding the accusation."
Governancy Representative Lily Torrance: "Will you be normalizing trade relations with Norsk Automated Mining?"
Tyranthe Ail: "Yes."
John Bellmere: "Mistakes were made in some decisions regarding Norsk Automated Mining on my watch, and I must take responsibility for that."
Tyranthe Ail: "On the other hand, we will consider an embargo on the Magistracy of Capella. This is not something to be taken lightly, as we calculate that perhaps 60% of their trade is with we Emergents. But in no way will we allow them to push us around because we are unwilling to use the means at our disposal."
Lily Torrance: "You said you would answer many of the common questions from the order of secrecy. Where do you intend to station the Dreadnoughts?"
Head of Fleet Elroy von Zinkle: "That is now public knowledge. For this year, they will be sent to Acrux, Benalia, Alpha Centauri and Cygni. I am sure you will understand the spacing."
Lily Torrance: "The Church of Christ the White continues to criticize the Capellan policy of keeping slaves and accused Bellmere of turning a blind eye to this for business reasons. Do you intend to remedy the situation?"
Tyranthe Ail: "Yes and no. Our policy is not dictated by the Church, but I am to represent the Emergent people, of which a plurality are members of the Church. For now, let me say that we are in diplomatic talks with the Capellans."

 

[Massive Attack]

The people want to know, are we any close to a timetable for orders, primarily.

 

[Niklas]

I'd say we are close to having a timetable posted, yes. That means that by weekend I hope to have done everything I should for the update that has just been, and can then set a deadline for orders some time next week.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

That sounds good.

 

[Niklas]

I have updated the tech tree on the first page to include all techs that anyone knows up to this point. It's simply easier for me to handle it that way. I'm thinking of adding in the indirect dependencies as well, but I hesitate because of the character limit. I'll see about that.

At any rate, this is one step closer to me setting a deadline. Soon, very soon now...