SLYNES - Swirly Lights Yonder, a Never Ending Story

[Bil]

Hmmaiaa

Vrun woke up sore again, his habitability apparatus having dug into his back while he was sleeping in the make-shift bowl-shaped pile of padding he called a bed. Had trade continued, and had his people been more willing to tough through space-sickness to travel, he might have had some fairly decent accommodations, but he was having to make do with what the Satellians had available.

He took a survey of the room he was in, the guest quarters in the home of a Satellian named Murrnhruue Harraa, who had been hosting him for several weeks now. Sensing his elevated respiration and pulse, the computer system attached just below his mouth beeped and extended its screen, coming into view of his lower-forward eyes. He had spent the last year of his vacation trying to quantify the "kudos" system of his hosts, with little success, but he was still trying to keep track with the preliminary models he had drafted. Apparently, according to his calculations, he had gained another fourteen just by sleeping here again, which was actually a few points more than the previous night. None of it really made sense to him.

Seeking breakfast, Vrun entered the main living chamber, spacious yet cozy, and currently inhabited by Murrnhruue Harraa and a few close associates. They ceased talking when he entered, their attention focusing now on the little Snud that graced them with his presence. His counter went up a few points. The group mimicked the nearly flatulent sound of a Snud greeting, jerking their heads back slightly to mimic the jumping motion a Snud would have used to accompany the action. Vrun returned the greeting in the full Snuddian fashion, hopping in place several times and making a pbbbt-pbbbtt sound with his lips. More points.

"Hello, friend," Harraa greeted, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," Vrun lied, his translator machine droning out a much more refined version of Satellian than it was capable of a year ago, "The bed was comfortable. I slept for many hours. Not to be rude, but I am hungry. Is there food?"

Harraa made a pleased expression, "Of course."

The group ate a small variety of food that had been determined to be digestible by a Snud, the Satellians seeming to enjoy the meal almost as much as Vrun did. He had acquired a taste for Satellian food, strange though it was. Briefly, he considered opening a restaurant back on Sneed that served Satellian cuisine, though the conversations of the meal table took priority in his mind.

"Were you a part of the Great Sleep?" one Satellian asked, a question he had answered several times before to others, and though he had gotten used to repeated inquiry from most of those he met, it was slowly becoming tiring.

"Indeed," he answered, "Though I was one of the first to wake up, when your people arrived."

The curious Satellian seemed pleased for the time being, and the others maintained silence for now. His computer marked another increase in kudos. Though it had been over a year, and Vrun was easily used to the slow pace of conversation and action while living on Hmmaiaa, he yearned for the fast-paced excitement of living on Sneed again. He considered his options for returning home prematurely, but noted that he had already missed the boat with the combat expedition several months ago. Travel between Sneed and Hmmaiaa wouldn't likely resume for at least another year, presuming the battle even went well. Lacking the communication technology that the Snud had was unfortunate for the Satellians, for he wished he knew how the battle went, and how Ulls was doing.

"Is there any news of the war?" Vrun asked, the haste of his words seeming to surprise a few of the guests, though Harraa and a few of the others seemed familiar with Snuddian quickness.

"None," was the answered he got. Unfortunate, but he was not surprised by this. It might take several more months to find out anything at all. His kudos meter beeped. He turned the sound off and set the program to run in the background, tapping at the controls with his middle leg. He checked the local information networks while indulging his appetite, looking for weather reports and various news tidbits. He considered a trip out to the hot springs again, though remembering the injuries he sustained last time scrapped that plan.

The Satellian guests watched with interest as the Snud multi-tasked effortlessly, dividing his attentions without concern. Likely, they thought it strange that he would be in such a hurry as to do two things at once, but they expected behavior like this from such a quick creature, and most of the shock had worn off.

"May I attempt to fly a VTOL again today?" Vrun asked his host, who slowly seemed to develop concern for the request.

Harraa took a few minutes to answer, eventually asking, "You recall your last attempt?"

"Naturally. I will perform better this time," he promised, though his basic understanding of Satellian expressions failed to notice that his host recalled this same conversation occurring several weeks ago, unbelieving that this statement was true, but also unwilling to dishonor his guest.

"Of course," Harraa resigned, "We will visit the air fields after we finish eating."

Vrun made a ppppt-ppbbbttt sound of excitement, hopping in place and making a small mess of food bits on the table. "My apologies," he said after, embarrassed, "I shall clean it." Without his knowing it, his kudos meter went up again.

 

[Daftpanzer]

@Bil very cool! I hate to be picky, but I imagined the Kudos concept as something more abstract than that, though. Like, even Satellians can't quite agree on it EDIT: well on second thoughts I can imagine a computer program tracking behaviours and attempting to model it like that, even if it doesn't correlate exactly to Satellian ideas, I imagine it would be comforting for Vrun. Anyway:

Ordinations sentinated!

You guys are just great

Orders are due tomorrow, unless I only get a few, in which case I'll delay.

@Iggy: I didn't realize this until just now, but I don't think I wrote the full rules for trade routes anywhere. The way it worked for the Satellian-Snud trade route was that each side invested 1e after contact was made, and the following turn the route would because producing income for both sides (so, it basically pays for itself immediately). Also, sorry it took me so long to post this reply to your orders.

That's a spanner in the works. Yes I forgot about that It does makes sense though, IMO.

@Iggy I assume you can't spare 1e this turn? Next turn then, hopefully.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Well, it's kinda tricky. I've already written about how the Hrkan is finished, so I'm kind of dedicated to the idea now... but then again, I've only said that a single ship is finished, not the fleet. Thus, I'll open up a trade route this turn and complete the Hrkan's fleet next turn.

 

[Daftpanzer]

@Bil, I give you permission to settle this trade tangle as you see fit

I really need more defences but I can afford to open up one trade route. That can be Hletho or possibly the Snud. The Snud would make more sense in context, IMO, but I don't know what they are doing this turn. If I can get one trade route going with somebody I'll be happy.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I've edited my orders to have a conditional trade route in them.

Regarding the Kudos, I think the point is that a Snuddian is trying to apply monetary concepts to a non-monetary economy-and apparently failing in an amusing manner.

 

[Haseri]

There were people surrounding the building housing the massive machines that made up Erfhe. Most of the machines were redundant or even superfluous, but the AI had kept them for the 'look of the thing'. He'd also designed an avatar from himself, so he could walk around communities, enquiring into the lives his subjects led. His currant avatar was the second version, a sleek, almost organic design, with various useless lights adorning the body. The first version had been subject to the 'uncanny valley' affect, which even is a problem in creatures lacking sight.

He was standing at the door in his avatar, along with senior members of Parliament. There was a protest at the bottom of the steps, it's participants covered from head to foot, holding up a crude models of the mythological horror, the Black Rhesc. They were chanting dark prophecies.

Tell me about the history of this cult. Erfhe knew, he just wanted to see what the Raer knew.

"They are from before the old empire. The poor would group together at times of great need, to sow discord amongst the populace. The last time any appeared publicly in great number before now was over 500 years ago, after a large movement against the crowning of the first emperor," answered one Member of Parliament.

What happened to those? Why do they appear now, and what to they warning against this time?

The member answered again. "The emperor had them all killed, if I remember my history. Something about making him uneasy."

Another one answered the second and third questions. "I think they have come again because there is no one to put them down, thanks to the freedom you have offered. But, ironically, they are largely protesting against you, Erfhe. They see you as incapable of seeing the plight of the, mm, living. And they believe that our colonisation of the stars will mean us finding things far stronger than Wedas, or you, as some of the more, mm, realistic sect members attest to. Only in the Black Rhesc can we survive, they say."

The avatar was motionless for a while. Deep in the building behind them, electrons were passing between electronic synapses. Erfhe was thinking.

I will monitor them. We will downplay their 'prophecies' as jokes and superstition, but the police need not get involved. The avatar turned away. Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment with the governor of Yalir. He asked for me to appear as an avatar, and this is the closest one.

****​

I'm not sure how a species that communicate entiely in clicks can say 'mm'. I'm guessing it's just translation convention.

****​

Spoiler Orders :

ECONOMY: 4.5e (+3e/turn)
TECHNOLOGY: 1
STABILITY: 8
FLEETS: 1 (-0.5e/turn)
MILITARY: 1 (-0.5e/turn)
1e for Army and Military Upkeep)
2e to increase Technology
1e for however many fleets that gives me
0.5e for however many armies that gives me (do you thing you could put clear prices at the bottom of the paragraphs in the rules?)
Movements:
Explore D/I-A

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Alien Minds

Throughout the conversation, Wahano Sam had been attempting to discern what the Jahahunoun had meant by ‘boredom’ and ‘entertainment’. Apparently, it was some sort of thing that happened when dissecting animals, or possibly didn’t. The terminology used around it made it seem like they were not physical concepts. It seemed, perhaps, to possibly relate to annoyance and its inverse- but one required expectations to be upset in order to become annoyed, and as an explorer in an unknown situation, he reasonably enough had no expectations.

However, that was a triviality. The stuff of interest had been Gelunn’s conjecture on the advancement of alien species. It was a mind-stretching argument- the Jahahunoun apparently made use of a very ‘leapy’ system of logic, employing comparative reason with the weight typically accorded to direct observation- it was interesting to learn that a species with such thought patterns could develop into a spacefaring civilization.

Nonetheless, the great creature made a rational point. Sam had been willing to accept that all civilizations were at a technological ceiling. However, there was some value to Gelunn’s words. If a species such as the Hletho was given more time to develop, and thus expand expand, one would... possibly... expect to see them existing in a proportionally-sized region of space. Perhaps they were- Hletho exploration was very, very far from complete, it had barely even started.

Also, perhaps discrepancies in technological development could develop between interstellar nations. The natives of Bres, while ultimately descended from the same stock as the Jethans who ultimately colonized them, were vastly inferior technologically. Perhaps the galaxy was similar, with the Jahahunoun, Satellians and Hletho all just like a bunch of undeveloped Lhao, isolated from a vastly more aware and advanced civilization.... but the Hletho reasoner was literally incapable of conceiving of such a thing without hearing second hand details or observing it himself. Again, the Jahahunoun argument stretched the mind- the mental exercise felt almost humorous, and Sam laughed quietly at the thoughts- I should note, the laughter being directed at the logical gymnastics rather than the ideas themselves.

While Gelunn spoke on about the age of civilizations, Sam directed some of his attentions towards the interior of the large chamber- it was a rounded, practical design. It looked almost like a structure he would expect to see on Thaej, but something fundamental was wrong. The building lacked... purpose. Its apparent intentions and uses did not match, and had not been reconciled. Interesting.

But the Jahahunoun’s ideas. If his previous ones had been obscure, then the suggestion of the universe as a ‘self-guiding game’, with some deliberate force of purpose responsible for life, intelligence and planetary formation... was just utterly bizarre. The usually quick-witted Sam paused for several long moments, trying to distort his brain around the postulation. It was quite uncomfortable, and Sam gave up, flicking a tongue out of his mouth in mild frustration at himself for failing to comprehend the alien’s reasoning.

“Your ideas are difficult for developing a response. I believe that I am misunderstanding. I do not know where to begin to investigate your thoughts on this matter.”

Gelunn made a deep, non-verbal grunt before responding.

“Well, I’m trying to suggest that our universe is akin to a great game, as if... as if it were a child’s activity, but on a cosmic scale. Like how youth tend to create simple patterns, then change them...”

“Again you use the similes. Is that your preferred mode of thought?”

“It helps to establish greater concepts through our understanding of simpler concepts... I suppose we find it to be a useful tool for increasing understanding.”

“It seems to me to be a different and more complex and confusing form of saying something.”

“Well, it’s making use of imagination more than reason. It allows for someone with a simple understanding of something to gain a simple understanding of something else, without actually understanding all of the underlying mechanisms beneath it.”

“I believe that I understand. However, what is imagination? Is it an alternate mode of thought, like synthesis?”

Gelunn now took a turn to pause. The honourable Aihannue Saam was asking him to explain imagination, as if the alien’s species didn’t possess it? What on earth would their children do, perform warp bubble calculations all day?

“Hmm... you know, forget that I brought up the game idea.”

“I can not do that.”

“Alright then... maybe we should just talk about this again, sometime later. Would you be interested in talking about the respective histories of our species?”

“Certainly!”

Sam felt a pleasant relief as he shunted the confusing Jahahunoun thoughts back into the nether regions of his brain- attempting to unwind them was a mentally exhausting exercise. He would return to focus more energies on their unwraveling in the future.

 

[TaylorFlame]

Liberty, Freedom, and Snud

Zuro’s room had been destroyed. Furniture was splayed around, everything that could be damaged had been, severely, and the only thing that remained untouched was a small radio transmitter sitting in the centre of the room. It was still transmitting.

“Sneed has been lost. The fleets have been destroyed in orbit by the vile alien aggressor. The armies have been wiped out. The war goes on. Two will be giving a spee-“ Zuro swore as he threw the radio across the room, destroying it. Many of his comrades had been killed in orbit by the very aliens he and his companions wished to make peace with, and had even been working with on Ges itself to topple the power mongering Singularity. This shouldn’t have happened. Too many lives were being lost.

After shaking for a long period of time, Zuro eventually recovered. Regaining his composure, he removed debris from his body, opened the door of his house, and leaped out to traverse the city. He moved fast, to avoid being followed, taking a winding route, but he was still steadily making his way down into the lower depths of the city. He passed through a tunnel, the narcotics dealers shrinking into the shadows at the sight of him, and pushed onwards. Eventually, he found himself in the hazy lower zones of the city, were heavier pollution settled, making the zones almost uninhabitable. He found a small, partially damaged hole in the ground and sped into it. Once he was underground he activated a small red light, holding it out in front of him. After a few more minutes of hasty travel, he saw another red light in the distance, and slowed, moving cautiously towards it. He made his way softly around the old vehicles that had been resting in the subterranean network for decades. He reached the other light, and found a young Geskani holding it. Without a word being exchanged, they moved off together.

Zuro was taken to a large room that was almost invisible when viewed from the tunnels. Great care had been taken to make it look like the underground structure (presumably a refuelling point when it was still operating) did not exist. Inside the room there were a number of computers, Geskani, Sneedkani and even a few Satellians. On the walls were maps showing locations on Ges and her colonies, a number of starcharts, and even a good number of firearms. The lighting was merely enough to see by with slight difficulty, and was a dull red. The room was a buzz of activity, though the aliens looked constantly on edge. It was understandable though. They had been taken to Ges as prisoners, and had been freed to assist in the revolution, as well as to correct the foreign affairs mistakes made by the Singularity.

Vuru was wandering from group to group, talking to whoever seemed to be in charge of each area. He was tailed by a small Sneedkani and a large Satellian. Zuro had become acquainted with them as of late. The Satellian was Uhmmunniaa, leader of the Free Satellians on Ges, who were extremely few in number, but still had a role to play. The Sneedkani was known as Virr. Leader of the Free Sneedkani on Ges, he appeared to be naive and sociable, though those who had gotten to know him more realised that he was a cunning and intelligent being. The room they were in was the command post of the Libertarian Resistance, the Geskani that were trying to topple the resistance and their alien allies.

Vuru quickly noticed Zuro’s arrival, and made his way over to him. Vuru was noticeably tired. Leading the Libertarians was taking its toll on him. None-the-less, Zuro’s old friend clasped claws with him as firmly as he always had.

“I heard about Sneed. The loss of life is terrible. I am glad you were not there, however. If you had been, it is entirely likely that the Satellian attack may have failed, and our plans to befriend them may have been placed in jeopardy. I just wish that they did not attack. But it is what we would have done in the same situation, probably with much more ferocity.” Vuru, as he always had, was able to see all the different aspects of any situation, both positive and negative.

Uhmmunniaa, usually a silent observer around alien races, spoke up. The translator had a built in delay, meaning the deep rumblings of the Satellian language went on for some time before they were translated and broadcast in Singular Geskani, an extremely fast and upbeat language. “This situation is regrettable. The concept of such large scale conflict is one we Satellians have trouble understanding. However, you yourself led the attack on Sneed. Loss of life follows the Geskani throughout the stars. I help you solely to correct this. When your race matures, maybe it will be capable of peaceful relations.” Uhmmunniaa was not known for his politeness.

Zuro said nothing. He simply helped where he could, and thought.

*****

“We intercepted the message sent by a Satellian probe that arrived in our system not long ago.” Zuro said, facing an audience of high ranking Libertarians, as well as a few aliens. “Naturally, the Singularity had it destroyed. But we received the message. They want peace.” Zuro paused. What he was about to say was something he was sure his audience would not take well. “The microbe that breaks down the drug is slowly making its way into the blood supply, I have made sure of this. However, the Singularity is onto us. My contacts say it is going to attempt to wipe us out in a number of days.” The aliens in his audience seemed somewhat shocked. Some of the Geskani, however, did show a small amount of excitement. “As you all know I have been working on freeing the Fleets. I can tell you now that all of the Fleets in orbit are now loyal to me. I plan to use them to escape. Only for one cycle, as when we return, the armies will have been infected, but we cannot stay here, and we cannot allow the Singularity ownership of the Fleets any longer.” Zuro was right. The plan did not go well.

They were, however, on board various ships in the various Fleets in a very short time.

“To all ships in all Fleets, this is Admiral Zuro. Power down all weapons. Navigate to the predetermined system. Maintain a defensive formation. We are not moving to attack. We are moving to make peace, and to save our race. An exchange of weaponsfire is not what we need. Gesspeed to all of you.” Zuro looked around his bridge. There were a number of aliens wandering around, mostly Satellians, but there were also some Snud. They had been brought to the bridge to show friendliness to the people he hoped would be the new hosts of the armada that was now escaping Ges.

And then they ripped.

 

[Daftpanzer]

@Haseri, all fleets and armies cost 1e each, and upkeep is automatically deducted from your income each turn so you don't need to worry about that

I've edited my orders to have a conditional trade route in them.

Regarding the Kudos, I think the point is that a Snuddian is trying to apply monetary concepts to a non-monetary economy-and apparently failing in an amusing manner.

Yes, I wasn't in a great state of mind for reading things last night. I still need to catch up on some sleep, lol. I really liked your latest story, BTW I feel quite ashamed to realise that I've made the Satellian psyche more or less human, minus the pursuit of social status for its own sake. I like what you are doing with the Hletho!

 

[Daftpanzer]

@TaylorFlame I just read your story, I enjoyed reading it as usual, but I'm still not entirely convinced about this rebel movement I suspect it is a cover for your true intentions to enslave all other races

I imagine my 'government' is pretty bad at keeping statistics and keeping track of people, so I can imagine a load of Satellians getting caught like that. Maybe they went there to immerse themselves in the Snuddian culture, or they were wannabe space vigilanties, or something. If captured I think they would take quite some time to calm down, though. Bipeds = EVIL.

 

[TaylorFlame]

Oh, the enslavement will come in time, don't you worry And I assumed that there would be some Satellians on Sneed, and the Singularity would want them imprisoned on Ges as soon as possible. The ones written about would have been freed by the resistance, so, despite their misgivings, they should have something to be grateful for!

 

[Anonymoose]

The Hivemind can't be enslaved. I look forward to the eventual conflict between the malicious races and the Hive.

 

[At the edge]

Since I don't know how to pm move fleet to sector c,j/ explore.
Hope the orders are sufficient i have to be away for a week or so.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

You just have to left-click on someone's name and click 'Send a Private Message to ____'.

 

[Bil]

@Bil very cool! I hate to be picky, but I imagined the Kudos concept as something more abstract than that, though. Like, even Satellians can't quite agree on it EDIT: well on second thoughts I can imagine a computer program tracking behaviours and attempting to model it like that, even if it doesn't correlate exactly to Satellian ideas, I imagine it would be comforting for Vrun.

Regarding the Kudos, I think the point is that a Snuddian is trying to apply monetary concepts to a non-monetary economy-and apparently failing in an amusing manner.

Yes, it's basically an extreme capitalist trying to make sense out of a meritocracy in the only way he knows how. Vrun guesses that he might be wrong (and I know, of course, that he is very, very wrong), but assumes that he is close enough.

ECONOMY: 4.5e (+3e/turn)
TECHNOLOGY: 1
STABILITY: 8
FLEETS: 1 (-0.5e/turn)
MILITARY: 1 (-0.5e/turn)
1e for Army and Military Upkeep)
2e to increase Technology
1e for however many fleets that gives me
0.5e for however many armies that gives me (do you thing you could put clear prices at the bottom of the paragraphs in the rules?)
Movements:
Explore D/I-A

As Daft said, upkeep is already deducted from your income, I just make note of it for you so that you can be reminded of what your fleets/armies are costing you to maintain. Fleets and armies cost 1e each to build, or 1.5e to build and use immediately. Seems I am very unclear on this in my rules posts, so I'll make little notes as you suggest. Any other questions or suggestions, please let me know

 

[TaylorFlame]

The Hivemind can't be enslaved. I look forward to the eventual conflict between the malicious races and the Hive.

The Bug Wars will be amazing.

 

[Haseri]

Ok, 1e for 1 army and bank the remaining .5.

 

[Bil]

Awaiting Orders:

Aiweh (Seon)
Amoebas (Vertinari118)
Bako Tellians (Thedreadedlock)
Capricocials (Thlayli)
Distopterans (Anonymoose)
Geskani (TaylorFlame)
Hletho (Lord Iggy)
Iokolu (tuxedohamm)
Ivkings (bestshot9) [exempt]
Kant (Shadowbound)
Pohm (North King)
Raer (Haseri)
Satellians (Daftpanzer)
Ulmans Kungs (At the edge)

Only missing two!

If I missed your orders, point them out to me in some fashion. Otherwise, I'll be accepting new orders and order revisions for the rest of the day.

I would like to have the update done by tonight, but it's unlikely, so tomorrow evening (EST) is my goal!

 

[Shadowbound]

Razzer drifted, in the nothingness between dimensions. She was borne along ahead of an Invader command ship, her motionless body propelled through hyperspace in the four-dimensional wake of the crippled carrier. Her suit gave off no power, she had no pulse. She was just another piece of metal and flesh that had accompanied the carrier when it jumped away from Sanctum.

There were other corpses, Invader and Kant. The Invaders, tiny bodies in their relatively massive ships, were mostly wreckage and debris. Those that had made it inside the carrier’s jump-bubble alive were inside, while those that hadn’t had been butchered by the inhabitants of the world they had tried to destroy. Some Kant had been within the radius when the carrier left, but point-defense had picked them off one-by-one. It was a war to the knife, after all, between two species that didn’t even realize the potential for peaceful contact existed.

But Razzer, unlike all the other Kant, wasn’t dead. Her metabolism had been slowed to nothing, past the point where it could naturally recover. Her suit’s interior had been specially modified to run a backup life-support on chemical reactions, without the need for her to power it. Not enough power to recover, just an invisible trickle that couldn’t be picked up by Invader sensors to stop her from completely dying. Her suit had been modified on the exterior, as well, capable of absorbing energy from its exterior. Capable of absorbing a lot of energy, in fact, enough to revive her. And power an interdimensional flash, a one-time white-hot flare fired off through the stars to mark her position.

When the Rhuuuss left hyperspace on the outskirts of Hurglsh, sensor technicians aboard it found that the power bleed off from the exit into the Einsteinian universe was being absorbed by some of the wreckage that had followed the ship. Its defenses, unpowered, weren’t able to respond before Razzer’s suit had revitalized her, and boosted her away from it. Pursuit from the newer ships in-system was organized, but by the time they had arrived she had disappeared into the Oort Cloud.

Back in Kant space, the waiting fleets heard the signal. They had a target, a refuge for their enemy that they could destroy. They had what the leadership of the Kant army, the coordinators of the racial effort to stem back the xenocide, wanted: the opportunity to burn the homes of their enemy, as the Invader had tried to do unto them.

"Fortunately for us," mused Sarth as he watched the departing fleets, "the retribution will be disproportionate."

Spoiler :

Red Fleet of Semi-Rational Retribution will remain in orbit above the Invader colony. Fire on it whenever possible, but keep enough energy to flee the system when Invader fleets arrive. It will lead them on a short hop to a nearby system, away from the Invader homeworld. Red Fleet's primary goal is to serve as a distraction, and it should avoid completely outrunning any pursuers.

The Blue Fleet of Singular Purpose and Green Fleet of Biased Judgement will pursue the Invader fleet that attacked Sanctum. Hopefully, some fleets above the Invader homeworld would have left to engage Red Fleet, weakening the defenses.

The Yellow Fleet of Uncertain Salvation will join Blue and Green Fleets in converging on the Invader Homeworld. Their arrivals should be timed to be in close proximity to each other. The three fleets will assault space defenses, and then fire on the surface. This is the Hail Mary pass of the war; victory means we can cripple the enemy’s economy and military. Defeat means we don’t have a military.

0.5e banked.

 

[Bil]

@Shadowbound: Awesome story!

@Everyone: I'm actually almost done the update. I'm going to take a break, as I've been working on it for almost 6 hours straight. In twenty minutes or so, I'm going to get back to work on it and, at that point (7pm EST), those two players who haven't submitted orders are out of luck for this turn.