SLYNES - Swirly Lights Yonder, a Never Ending Story

[Lord_Iggy]

Hletho
ECONOMY: 2.5e (+1e/turn)
TECHNOLOGY: 2
STABILITY: 4
FLEETS: 4 (-2e/turn)
Rhetho - (I/C-B) - Strength: 100%
Hraef - (I/F-R) - Strength: 100%
Tharaez - (H/E-B) - Strength: 100%
Zoroth - (J/E-T) - Strength: 100%
MILITARY: 1 (-0.5e/turn)
Army 1 - (I/E-R) - Strength: 100%
ARTIFACT: 0/50e

Actions
Spend 2e to found a Colony at I/E-T (Saokhad System), naming the icy planet Jiloh.

Startraveler Zoroth will move to J/E-B (Hiukhad System) and use the vessel to found a colony. I suppose the fleet will disappear in game as it is converted to a colony, but in the fluff I’d like to say that the ship has been given the task of supplying the new colony on the Planet Vanaraej. We haven’t seen the last of the Zoroth, it will return.

Above Thaej, the construction of the Hrkan and its fleet slowly continues- interest in colonization continues to overshadow the undertaking.

The increasing presence of alien life in our worldview will hopefully begin to shift the views of some. Thaej is as developed as its ecosystem warrants, but there is a great deal to be gained from interaction in space. Whole new worlds await, and a societal transformation stands ahead of us. Just as our distant ancestors strode out of the old world into the greater realm of Thaej, we roll out of our homeworld and into the vastness of our galaxy. All of the development caused by our advancement into space has brought many of the poorer regions into economic prosperity, and great gains can surely be made by all through the expansion into this new world of possibilities.

The renewed focus on Thaej many of the less progress-oriented Hletho will lead to the discovery of several strange buried 'artifacts', like obelisks, buried under millions of years of accumulation. Dating them reveals these structures to be vastly older than known civilization on Thaej, and investigations begin into their nature.

Invest 0.5e into researching these artifacts. With some luck, this will also provide a direction to some of those who are disinterested in space travel.

Begin trading with the Lelinthians and Satellians, if they would like to do so.

Startraveler Rhetho will complete its survey and first contact in I/C-B. When this is done, move on to I/C-L.

Startraveler Hraef will move to I/F-B.

Startraveler Tharaez will move to H/E-T.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

First Impressions

Hiuvus Zoorn peered out of his thick nest of controls. A crackling visual array showed the approaching Lelinthian vessel- a quick check out the window showed that it was now within visible range.

“Mother’s Ichor, look at that.” He mused to himself. The vessel looked like some vast watercraft, suspended in the vacuum. An alert caught his attention- a shuttle from the council was coming. He quickly prepared several Zir groups to bring the incoming craft into docking elsewhere in the shipyards.

The entire orbital yard was quite an impressive construction, and one of the oldest Hlethan creations still in space. It had been gradually growing for the few thousand years of Hlethan space exploration, gradually having more and more modules added to its ungainly bulk. A variety of habitable areas on the station were connected by tunnels and scaffolding, while great metal piers stabbed out into space, allowing for the docking and construction of the thousands of smaller subluminal vessels that traveled hither and thither throughout the planets of the Haedkhad system. In total, the central station was nearly 500 meters in diameter- although it is quite hard to measure the porous, repeatedly renovated structure- and the piers can extend out at least another kilometre.

“Zoorn Hiuvus, Shipyard Director.” Came a voice on audio transmission, “Is this you?”

Hiuvus bristled momentarily at the incorrect order of his name- Jethans are unique among Hletho for speaking their given name before their clade’s name- however, he was familiar enough with the error to respond without much annoyance.

“That is me. I’ve got the representatives entering the station as we speak, do you have any other requests?”

“Yes. We believe that the Lelinthian vessel intends to dock with you- be prepared to facilitate them in doing so.”

“Tah... done. I’m ready for them.”

“Excellent. I will contact you if further instruction is required.”

Hiuvus looked out from his room. Actual windows were rather uncommon in modern space construction- the maintenance issues and potential risks typically precluded their use, and modern projection rooms created an illusion of a complete panorama of the exterior... but there was something pleasant about being able to look downwards from the control tower to see the mass of activity with his own eyes. It was something he’d noted most other Hletho did not appreciate.

He watched with interest as the alien vessel continued to approach. Idly, he compared its size to the Hrkan- the future warship was now more than a skeleton, indeed, the entire structure was now complete- but the engines and weaponry were conspicuously absent. Such complex parts were manufactured on Thaej by necessity, only the largest or most simple parts were produced in the floating factories in the lower reaches of the shipyards. The Hlethan and Lelinthian vessels were roughly the same length, but the alien construction was far more filled-out and massive in appearance. He considered how they would fare in a fight- the Hletho had been quickly developing an arsenal of weaponry over the previous several years, but it had yet to be installed on the great vessel, and most of the tools of destruction still quite undertested. He’d heard that the Lelinthians were observed using missiles in the Warkhad system, but no weapons were obviously visible on the large ship’s chassis.

The Lelinthians were now almost completely decelerated, coming to a stop relative to the station. Hiuvus deployed his Zirs and started a broadcast.

“Greetings Lelinthian vessel, this is Shipyard Director Hiuvus Zoorn. With your permission, my drones will move you into a docking position and we will extend an umbilical, allowing your crew to disembark if they so wish.”

Movement around the shipyards seemed to be coming to a halt, as observers stopped to observe the spectacle of the Lelinthian ship. Hiuvus, passing the time before a response, looked over the vessel’s surface again- the construction appeared quite solid. The boatlike structure seemed almost reminiscent of Jethan shipbuilding- the aliens had good taste.

 

[Daftpanzer]

@Bil, not expecting you to continue this, I think we discussed Vrun's situation. I just felt like some Tolkein-stylee OTT background

System IC/U 'Mar Aih', Planet 'Ahrmm', Moon 'Hmmaiaa'

For the relatively few Hmmaiaan species of that had chosen a long life-cycle, there was a great abundance of food to be had at this time. On the eve of the storms many small creatures simply dropped down dead; Satellians were not enthusiastic meat-eaters, but they did not waste this bounty. The corpses simply had to be scooped up and preserved for the times ahead, often pickled in jars of narcotic liquid. Then with the spring came many edible shoots and fruiting bodies.

A typical seasonal meal had been prepared by the Juurrnuu-Lunnunn Kinship, which was a typical semi-arid farming arrangement; around a dozen adults - some bearing the scars of traditional self-exposure to the storms - and a similar number of children, most of whom were without their biological parents, as was the norm. Neatly arranged on the main table - made of something like solid marble - were dozens of roasted Redbacks - stream-dwelling creatures resembling cat-sized shrimps, crossed with armadillos - their soft undersides were exposed, slit open and stuffed with delicious roots and fruiting bodies. Delicious to Satellians, at any rate. Portmaster Vrun seemed to be eating the meaty legs at least, to the joy of his Satellian hosts.

Drug-laced soup was also available, though Vrun had been warned that his alien physiology might be imperilled by such things, or at least would not enjoy the desired effect. He was glad of this, as it smelled rather disgusting to him. The Satellian children were encouraged to indulge in natural narcotics from an early age, as a mild dose was believed to stimulate intellectual development, though they too were rather reluctant, and now took greater courage from Vrun's polite refusal.

There was also a large stockpile of local crops from the previous year, but these were not universally edible, even among Satellians. The global inter-breeding of the last twenty millennia had the effect of diluting the special digestive enzymes and proteins that had evolved in ancient times. So there was a trend for less varied diets these days, and more reliance on 'forced' food from the underground hydroponic farms. It was often argued that this was having a detrimental effect on the average Satellian's state of mind. Indeed such was the topic of conversation at the moment, though this was just a polite detour; the hosts would rather have talked about Sneed all evening, but didn't want to over-burden their guest with questions, especially regarding the sudden new attack on planet Sneed. The youngsters had no such reservations however, and seemed to enjoy butting in with random questions; their voices were harder for Vrun's translator unit to cope with, but he found it rather pleasant. For one thing, the children were much the same size as him. And the adults talked especially slowly. He was learning the art of having other conversations going via his various communication devices at the same time.

The meal was being served topside, in a simple dome-shaped house, which had been hastily built in the last few days with a mixture of modern composite materials and traditional mud-weave. It was barely big enough to hold the Kinship itself and a few guests. On this occasion some extra visitors had to contend themselves with staring through the windows - something rather impolite that would never be done normally, but it wasn't every day that an alien visited these parts. It was the first time, in fact.

Outside, the evening air was a blizzard of floating seeds and spores of all kinds, dense enough to obscure even the giant glowing outline of big-brother planet Ahrmm. The hills of Juurrnuu-Lunnunn were still strewn with mud and debris, freshly rescuplted by the storms and ready for replanting one way or another. A couple of giant hailstones resisted melting, and were a favourite plaything of the youngsters, when they weren't focused on the alien. A few outcrops of red-brown rock still protruded through the muddy slopes. The Kinship's permanent shelter was of course found in underground caves - over countless generations these had been carved and plastered into smooth shapes, painted over with neutral colours. Things like ancient plant fossils and unusual pebbles were a favourite form of interior decoration. Electricity had been of great assistance in the last few thousand years, and encouraged the Kinship to stay active at these times instead of hibernating. Comms equipment, computers, tool maintenance gear, geothermal taps, a couple of walker transports and a big metal storm-bulkhead were some of the other Undercity-made things that had been acquired over time; millennia of continued habitation allowed a lot of time for even the simple Kinships like this to build up material assets.

Still, with the average Satellian's slow metabolism, largely self-cleaning skin, optimisation for an arid environment, and a general dislike of furniture, there wasn't much in the way of facilities to cater for the needs of Portmaster Vrun. With the meal finally over - it seemed to have taken most of the day - he was glad to be moving on. Aurumu, his thus-far mostly-reliable guide, had suggested a trip to the Nalkurr Testing Grounds to see some new VTOL's and heavy walkers being put through their paces amidst some of this world's most dramatic sculpted-mesa terrain. Vrun was relieved all this wasn't costing him anything - indeed, as he understood it, he was constantly gaining 'kudos', some kind of financial credit, just by showing up at these places, and his hosts were also gaining the same. This world was surely due for some economic redress.

Vrun's ears heard the incoming VTOL some moments before those of his Satellian companion. It appeared suddenly out of the bloom-fog and its downthrust immediately began churning up mud, sufficient to spray Vrun and Aurumu in fine warm sticky droplets. He was hoping to get a proper clean at the next destination, anyway. The craft had some graceful lines to it, though somewhat undone by the splatters of red and purple gore around the front end, evidence of a collision with one of the great swarms of spring-hatchlings, something almost guaranteed on every flight right now.

'You're a little early!' Aurumu seemed to be talking to the VTOL through a device in one of her hands. 'Hey, we didn't need such a big flier. Hmm, oh. What? I see...'

As the noisy VTOL continued to lower itself to the ground, Aurumu moved over to Vrun and awkwardly lowered herself to be nearer Vrun's translator. 'Someone else here, they want to speak to you.'

'OK' said Vrun.

 

[Daftpanzer]

System IC/D 'Urue Aih', Planet 'Ulann'

Frozen ontop of the tubular rivercraft, Nemaa Su Runn weighed up her options. Large amphibious predators were basking on both banks of the river - those ones that were basically huge jaws, with stomachs and eyes attached. Others were likely to be lurking beneath the river's floating carpet of vegetation. The only refuge was the hull of the rivercraft, but could it withstand weapons fire?

This was all assuming that the floating mechanical thing was hostile. Well, it did have a rather threatening appearance. Hanging beneath the balloon-body were cold, predatory camera-eyes, surrounded by things that looked like surgical tools, though logically they must be various recording instruments. Surely?

'Whats going on up there?' a voice came from below. 'We're filling up with bugs in here!'

Something in her inner-senses told her she was not under threat from the object. A prowling swarm of insectoid Sky-Scourges seemed to agree, as they briefly circled the strange aerial interloper before moving on. Interesting - her flying probes always seemed to get attacked and shredded thousands of dagger-like mouthparts. Perhaps the protruding wings resembled the native flying creatures too much.

'Nemaa! What?!'

Still frozen in place, she took a deep breath and then waved one or her front limbs at the camera-eyes. In Satellian body-language that was actually a pretty nonchalant gesture - in some circles it was more of a dismissal than a greeting, but the top of the rivercraft was too slippery for her to try anything else. In any case, she could have sworn that the object waved one of its - somethings - back at her.

-

The venerable Gelunn and his comrades were busy assembling some more computer hardware, already surrounded by big piles of superfluous components, when a call came in from Arbitrator Huuraa from his Shelter over on the other continent.

'At ease gentlemen. My humble computer has stumbled upon adequate de-coding. They weren't making it difficult for us. I've taken a quick look. This is something special!'

The settings were then transmitted, and within moments several Shelters on the planet were watching the recorded video message from the Startraveler Rhetho. The first image was the most startling of all. For the first moment, Gelunn's brain registered the image of the Wahano Sam as some kind of strange plant - a blossoming stalk with three tentacle roots - until the Hletho's full range of animation became clear. The view panned out to show other similar beings, presumably at the controls of their ship. Surely another alien race!? Yes... Nothing about this whole scenario seemed Lelinthian, and the Geskani were reported to be bipedal in form.

The scene quickly changed to what must have been an exterior view of the ship, most likely taken by some kind of remote drone. Gelunn was torn three ways - first and foremost it was wondrous, but the way the aliens showed off their spaceship in orbit was moderately threatening, and Gelunn was already wanting to rewind and study what could be seen of the interior of the ship, as he had been focused on the alien itself. And yes, it was talking! that must be speech. Rather rapid, and rather 'clicky', in the same way as the Snud speak was 'poppy'. And the ship! Symmetrical and artistic like the Lelinthians, but again totally different. Gelunn noted the shield section at the back, from which the drive apparatus emerged, similar to Satellian ships. Shared logic! It was rather front-heavy, though. Unless, the shield was actually at the front...

With so many conflicting thought-streams, Gelunn resigned himself to being unable to appreciate the message properly without further reviews. For now he simply let the stream of consciousness continue. There were scenes of an alien world, not too dissimilar from Hmmaiaa on a bad day - plenty of reds and yellows. Only more vibrant. And a much larger, single sea, taking up half the surface. And deep purple - hmm, perhaps the colour settings are incorrect? Too much - the final scenes of other ships and alien beings hardly registered.

In the tree-shaded confines of a former Satellian spaceship module, Gelunn and his comrades took a moment to recover and silently nod at each other in recognition of mutual astonishment. The big computers would be needed after all. They could get working on analysing the speech, and maybe pull some text from the video if they looked closer. First, they would take another look from the start...

Huuraa caused something of an argument with his next call, as he wanted to send a reply straight away - Gelunn delegated the task to one of his helpers, a young male named Ruerunn, who set about making a formal reply on behalf of his species with the aid of a short Agreement guide-document on alien interactions and few video clips of various Satellians and Satellian-inhabited places, mostly featuring Hmmaiaa and random asteroid bases. As an afterthought, Ruerunn added some of the 'standard greeting' images from the first great exploration mission, which might give some clues about Satellian written language and scientific knowledge, though it hadn't done much good in previous encounters.

Indeed, Huuraa was busy musing over the probabilities involved - of three previously contacted species, one was friendly, if not particularly enthused about the mysteries of space; one was overtly hostile, though they had shown certain honourable traits; and one was menacing in its actions, though its true intentions were frustratingly ambiguous. Going by previous events, there was a roughly 60% chance of surviving a first encounter unscathed. Not reassuring. Better get this over with, one way or another. Huraa dialled up Gelunn again, in full knowledge that he was irritating him greatly. They were going to go ahead and get a landing site set up.

While the hastily-assembled reply was sent - though admittedly, several hours had now passed - a separate signal began, a very deliberate homing beacon to the largest landing pad on the planet, which wasn't all that big. It was some way up in the central hills, on the narrow equatorial waist of the biggest continent, where thick jungle gave way to isolated clumps of even more bizarre plants. A small shuttle was also being prepared, with the extra rocket boosters needed to help it break free of heavier gravity and thicker atmosphere than was found on any other Satellian-inhabited world.

'If they don't come down, I'll go up and meet them' said Huuraa.

'Why should you get the honour!?' demanded Gelunn.

'Im eldest. Duel you for it, if it comes to that.'

'Oh, just leave me alone!'

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Descent

The crew of the Rhetho watched with interest as the returned video came to its conclusion with the display of strange monochromatic glyphs.

“Fascinating.”

“Another new alien species then... I would have never expected this just a few years ago.”

“What do you suppose that closing image was?”

“Sam, there’s an interesting signal I’m picking up.”

“Just a moment Nahla dear- what do you think of these images?”

“Look like written language, or some very strange form of visual depiction.”

“Written language... Tikatikatikatik, that’s something I hadn’t been expecting to see either. I wonder why so many isolated groups developed such an ungainly way of expressing thoughts.”

“A mystery to us all.”

“Indeed. So, what have sensors picked up Nahla?”

“A very strong signal coming from the surface, near an area that was quite active earlier.”

“A beacon?”

“...perhaps. Shall we send a response?”

Sam’s eyes flashed- a warning sign to all of the more levelheaded Hletho on the vessel.

“Definitely. Just give me a moment.”

In an instant, Sam was at his console, quickly editing and composing a new video message. Within a few moments, he was complete.

“What-”

“Could you transmit this down?”

The video was simple. An animation showed a Zir with a lander unit separating from the Rhetho, descending down onto the planet, ejecting a Hletho figure out next to one of the unknown aliens.

“You’re going down?” Lico Taesh sounded somewhat incredulous- but several years spent together in the same ship had inured the crew to the stubborn nature of the Bresians.

“Possibly. Depends on their response. I’ll be getting the howtile environment suits back out of storage.”

With that, Sam disappeared into the bowels of the craft, emerging in his suit some time later.

“We got the response a few moments ago.”

“What is it?”

“They returned the video, and added a bit of their own at the end.”

Sam watched as one of the aliens made some gestures and spoke in its deep, humming voice.

“I’d take that to be a confirmation. Mo, until I am back on the Rhetho, you are in command. Try not to get us teleported again.”

The two brothers laughed.

“I will avoid such repetitions. Be safe, brother.”

“Aren’t you always the one for caution- seems that it’s better you than me in charge.”

“I fear seeing you try to operate the Trident Module- you were made Captain to keep yourself out of trouble, Tikatik.”

“Maybe so, brother. I’ll be in contact.”

The Hletho departed from the command room, entering the zero-gravity section of the craft. Grappling his way along the walls, Sam made his way to the docking ports at the bottom of the vessel. It possessed a collection of probes, Zir drones, and their various modules. One of the modules was a small, cramped, strongly padded pod. Tapping a few controls on the wall, Sam watched as the module moved towards one of the docked Zirs, the mechanical arms of the drone locking firmly and smoothly down into grooves on the lander module. With a cautious move, he entered the tiny machine sideways, the door sealing behind him.

“Alright, I’m secured. Release my Zir.”

“Done.”

With a lurch, Wahano Sam felt his craft roll sideways out of the bottom of the Rhetho- the startraveler looked so much larger when one was on the outside. Sam tapped his computer and began to thrust the small craft towards the beacon. Slowly, the Zir began to fall through through the outermost reaches of the atmosphere. Sam carefully adjusted his orientation, flipping the craft so that its rounded, heat-shielded end was facing downwards. Its tiny onboard computer continued to display the beacon below, and the altimeter began to function. Carefully, Sam began to turn the craft around, eventually bringing the small vessel into a winding, helical descent, burning off speed. As details in the ground began to appear, a clean white parachute burst from the craft’s back, bringing about its final, slowing descent. Now was the tricky bit. Sam opened up a projection of the landing pad below him, and carefully directed his Zir with small jets from the manoeuvring system, lining him up with the center of the apparently artificial, target-like structure below. As the final few meters approached, a final thrust neatly brought the vessel to a near halt, and Sam felt landing tripod absorb the impact on the hard surface.

Outside, the craft was giving off a strong heat haze, and the bottom was covered with a thin layer of cooked, splattered insects. With a flowing motion, the parachute retracted back into the top of the landing pod, and for a moment, all was still.

 

[Daftpanzer]

@Iggy awesome, I'll have a reply soon

System IC/U 'Mar Aih', Planet 'Ahrmm', Moon 'Hmmaiaa'

With the passing of the Spring bloom-fog, the Combined Satellian Anti-Violation Kinship was holding a battle-game out on the central mesas, dangerously close to the Nalkurr Testing Grounds. An intrepid crowd of spectators had gathered on one of the mesa-tops within the designated explosion-danger zone, armed with telescopes, camera drones and plenty of narcotic refreshments. There wasn't much to see right now - some Satellians in heavy armoured suits arranged line abreast in the valley below, firing off solid bolts from their top-turret bolt-guns, kicking up clouds of dirt around neon-blue target cylinders in the distance.

They were attempting to do in years what others had done in centuries - discover the most effective way of causing harm to an enemy, then maximise the efficiency of those methods. High-power lasers and microwaves were being investigated, but it seemed that simple explosive and solid-projectile weapons were going to be the mainstay of the ground armoury. After all, it didn't take much to turn a standard industrial heavy-duty bolt-gun into a lethal weapon; such things already had centuries of development behind them; they were reliable, vacuum-proof, and could be produced in quantity.

Of course, weapons were only one aspect. There was the also troublesome issue of battle tactics, and grand strategic war planning. But here too, it turned out that Satellian civilisation was not as ill-equipped as first feared. Satellians knew all about abstract games and logic puzzles, some of them very complex and competitive; its pretty much what people did in the days before space travel. Even today, some tournaments became worldwide sensations, with vast amounts of Kudos hanging on the outcome. In theory, warfare was just another example of all this; covering the angles, envelopment, misdirection, prediction, organisation, resource management, and manoeuvring for the final knock-out blow. But, a real war would move at its own pace. Too fast, perhaps. And then there was the whole issue of psychology...

Harrumunn Rarr, representative of the Combined Technical Kinship of Ulumm-Bukk, observed things from a reinforced underground chamber. One of the wall-screens showed a heavy-armour battle-walker emerging onto the surface, and then starting to climb up a near vertical cliff face. There were some anxious expressions from the technicians as it almost slipped, causing a small avalanche of rocks and dust. It wasn't easy to tell from this viewing angle, but the thing easily towered above the armoured suits, and Rarr was quite pleased with it. Like the suits, it could carry a big weapon on its back - especially big in this case - and its legs were versatile things, allowing it to climb, stand up tall, or to lay flat if needed. One leg from each side of the vehicle could be lost without making much difference to mobility. It could be controlled remotely or from within. It wasn't especially fast, but wheels and tracks had never been all that useful on the surface of Hmmaiaa.

Yes, he was pleased, a crime which he internally chastised himself for. On his last trip back to Ulumm-Bukk, watching the first dedicated combat fleet being assembled in orbit - a mass of angular armour plates sparkling in the naked sunlight - he had the same feeling. After putting a large amount of energy into something, it was perhaps natural to start having good expectations, but Rarr could just imagine everything going to sh*t as soon as a real war began. Satellian civilization had never been faced with such a difficult challenge, without the option of leisurely experimentation and learning-by-error at their own pace. There were only a few scattered clues to go on, and the rest was guesswork. If they didn't do well enough the next time, it could all be over. It was a terrifying prospect. Or, as Rarr liked to think of it, a kind of deep unending fear that solidified itself into brave determination. Unfortunately, some within The Agreement still seemed determined to evade the whole painful issue of armed defence. It was a matter of species survival that this situation changed...

Rarr's attention turned back to one of the screens; a test of orbital laser bombardment was due to begin momentarily. Those neon blue cylinders were full of holes, but most were still standing. The courageous survivors were now going to be vaporised. This ought to be interesting, he thought to himself. The timer reached zero, and nothing happened.

One of the technicians in the room slowly turned towards Rarr. He had memory-pods and various computer bits tied to his antennae, as was the bizarre new fashion down here. They wobbled as he spoke. 'Message from orbital, power failure. Reset and retry in an hour.'

'Hmm...' replied Rarr.

 

[North King]

President Qim of the republic of Toti was utterly bored. She had most decidedly never wanted to sit through all these meetings and debriefings – indeed, she had only run for office under a great deal of pressure from her aging father. And with the reminder that she’d have an almost unlimited supply of paramours. That had been a big attraction.

So it was that she was thinking mostly of sex while the scientist, a defector from the great Republic of Betik, rambled on about the possibilities of remotely controlled fighters and their potential for cancelling much of the numerical advantage that Betik held in the first place.

“...As you can see there,” the man gestured as a set of holograms popped up in front of every individual member of the council, “The craft is smaller and more compact than any model currently in service – obviously the lack of life support and a pilot cuts down on the mass considerably – and is therefore a great deal more maneuverable than anything any of the major powers have put out.”

Idly, she wondered if the scientist ever got laid.

“The craft are instead controlled remotely from wherever we want them to be controlled – literally wherever.” In bed, she thought. “Our communication works by entangled particles – which means that it does not matter where they are; the signals will be instantaneous and completely safe from outside interference or espionage.”

“Pardon me,” she drawled, “but what exactly does all that scientific nonsense mean?” Of course, she probably could have downloaded it into her personal computer at any point, but she honestly was only asking the question to get him out the door quicker.

“The idea,” he said, and she saw with pleasure that his limb twitches were a little agitated now, “is that since every fighter is controlled remotely, you never have to put pilots in the line of fire – indeed, your best aces are effectively immortal. As it currently stands, all major navies, including ours, lose pilots along with the ships, but once you lose one ship, you can just plug the pilot into another –”

“If some pilot was idiotic enough to lose one ship, I don’t see why we’d give him another.”

“Even the best pilots make mistakes. They learn from them, as well. With this system, they can learn quickly enough that –”

“I’ve heard enough. Seems like a waste of money. All of you, get out of here.” The scientist looked startled, but the council immediately turned off their holographic projectors and jetted hastily through the water towards the chamber door. “No, not you, Nemat. The rest of you – out. Even you, professor.” The scientist twitched again in that horror-stricken way, and stiffly swam out of the room.

Nemat looked a little confused. He was the youngest of the council, overseer of the nutritional support services of the Republic. And incredibly dashing. The way those arms curved and flowed powerfully while he swam just roared “good sex” at her, and she could feel blood coursing through her body as he moved cautiously forward. “You... wanted me, President?”

“Oh yes. I want you... very badly. Come here.”

...And we shall close the curtain on that particular scene.

* * * * * * * * *​

Betiti chastised himself for the whole presentation. Something had gone wrong, clearly. Here he was, with the designs for the best fighters that could exist with modern technology, and he had been turned down not once but twice, the last time for a personal grudge, and now because his host had been completely bored. Surely he could have made it somehow more entertaining... kept her attention?

No matter. Toti was no longer an issue; he had to put it behind him and try his luck elsewhere. Not one of the smaller Independent States – clearly they had too little money, and in any case, they probably could not protect him once Betik’s agents finally started looking for him. No, he would have to look for one of the larger states – Okitim or Enutu, probably. It pained him, because he knew the designs would filter back to Thun at some point, but hopefully he could give one of the smaller powers a lead, holding both Thun and Betik’s growth back at least temporarily.

He sighed and swam out of the conference chamber, into the tunnels of the city proper, barely noticing the grand scenery around him as he mentally accessed the net and booked a ship to take him to the Okitim capital. Perhaps there he would find a warmer welcome...



OOC: Still haven't really gotten into a rhythm with this race; probably will in time, of course, but for now my stories will still be pretty crappy.

 

[Daftpanzer]

System IC/D 'Urue Aih', Planet 'Ulann'

The venerable Huuraa dialled up a traffic control screen as the misty jungle flew by beneath him. It seemed that every other VTOL on the planet was also airborne and heading for the landing pad where the alien visitor had already landed, or at least getting as close as fuel would allow. They had been caught a little unawares. They did things so fast, these aliens!

'I don't suppose you'll wait for my arrival?' Huuraa was talking to a middle-aged female named Jemaa Nu, a relative newcomer to the colony, only here for a few years of experience, but now in the prime position of being stationed at the main landing pad.

'You're still an hour away!' remarked Jemaa. 'Can't leave our guest waiting. Oh look, the parachute is being drawn back inside automatically! How neat! Wonderful!'

'Hurr... I don't have visual...' sighed Huuraa.

'Oh right, don't worry, we'll get a camera set up. Bye for now!'

'Wait... Oh... Hmm....'

Jemaa put on a shiny gold membrane to make herself presentable, which took a bit of time, as the humidity made things a little too sticky. Really need to get that air processor fixed, she noted to herself. Then she prepared to leave the main Shelter at the 'spaceport'; unlike most of the smaller Shelters across the planet, this one was an amalgamation of several old spaceship modules, pretty much identical in layout to the average small-scale space station. There was room enough for the other five occupants to line up beside the airlock and wish her well; it had been agreed that only one should go outside to begin with, so as not to alarm the visitor. If there was a visitor - the craft looked rather too small for anything much to fit inside. Maybe they were small like the Snud - hard to tell from the video - or could somehow compact themselves into small spaces. Maybe they had no bones. Maybe they transcended matter. Maybe these were the true enlightened guardian aliens that we had been searching for all this time...

'Go forward courageously!' said one of her fellows, snapping her out of her thoughts and back to the task at hand. She salute-nodded and marched forwards without further delay. The inner door closed behind her with a bit of juddering and squeaking, followed by muffled sounds of the outer door opening, and some faint howls and squawks from the wild hills beyond.

Jemaa had to keep her big-eyes closed as the mid-day sun was a little too bright for her sensitivities. A gentle cooling breeze was blowing down from the higher hilltops in the north. A metallic burning scent hung in the air, actually not too dissimilar to some of the meditative incense she was fond of. Her six small-eyes only really gave hints about what was ahead. She was relying mostly on memory now, from what she had seen on the Shelter's cameras. They were still watching and beaming pictures across the planet. They might even be covering her with electric-shock projectors. But she was out of the loop - she had declined to take a communicator or anything with her. Apart from the membrane which covered most of her body, and the electronic page she had strapped to one limb, she wanted to have a natural and disarming resonance about her person, if such a thing was possible.

There was still a faint heat-haze around the alien craft as she trundled up to it - her small-eyes were sensitive to that kind of shimmering motion. But the overwhelming sensory input was now a rather discomforting heat from the landing pad beneath her digits, which was felt even through the membrane. Perhaps we should have laid out a thermal carpet or something, she thought to herself. About ten metres away she decided to stop, as she thought that something was opening up. A semi-nervous reflex caused her three antennae to start twitching.

 

[Bil]

Awesome stories, guys! This is really getting pretty lively with the literature

I'm going to try to get something written over the weekend, but I don't know if I'll have the time. Feel free to continue any stories involving the NPCs as you see fit, and if you have any questions about reactions and whatnot, ask and I'll try to answer if I have spare time.

Keep up the great work, everyone

 

[Daftpanzer]

@Bil thanks and one more question!

50e is a lot of e, is there any benefit for doing only partial research of the special artefacts that certain people have?

 

[North King]

A few views of Metin, the homeworld of the pohm:

First we have the view that most off-worlders see -- the land/water divide.


Then we have what the pohm care about -- the continental shallows.


Then we have the current boundaries of the various pohm states.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Translation

Hiuref Rhebed was deeply focused in her work. Her arms were running over an array of computers over her, and random audio samples frequently played. Tasked with the job of developing translation systems for potential alien languages, Rhebed was faced with several significant problems. The first was a lack of immediate reference. The Hletho had been largely monolingual- albeit with a wide variety of dialects- for tens of thousands of years, since the dominance of southeastern lands during the waning years of the Sea Age. Separate languages held out in Rheth and Lhaoleb, the two most insular regions on Thaej, but that isolation presented its own set of difficulties.

Rhebed was trained as in a role vaguely similar to a historian, and was about as close as Hletho could hope to have to a linguist. A working knowledge of the modern languages of Thaej, combined with slightly less familiarity with numerous extinct modes of speech, gave her a reasonable position from which the project would be launched.

In some senses, Hletho are in an extremely good position to perform linguistics work- with their powerful memorization and pattern recognition capacities, it is not difficult for one to learn a language after a very short period of contact. However, of all the alien sentients encountered thusfar, only the Culud spoke in a way that was at all reproducible with Hlethan vocal systems. This expanded the problem from that the rather simple process of creating a two-way voice recognition system and an automated decoding/encoding program. Now, there was a need for an all new form of thinking about translation- and Rhebed was trying to create an all-encompassing system off of a nigh-near nonexistent knowledge base.

Tapping a few more buttons, she paused. Experimentally, she spoke a few words of Lhao into a microphone- it emerged a few seconds later as a roughly correct version of the common language.

It’s a start.

 

[Bil]

@Bil thanks and one more question!

50e is a lot of e, is there any benefit for doing only partial research of the special artefacts that certain people have?

Yes, it is a lot (more than I was really anticipating it being, in fact), though I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to change it, based on the nature of the artifacts and their sheer complexity. Yes, there are partial research benefits.

I'm not telling what, though

A few views of Metin, the homeworld of the pohm:

First we have the view that most off-worlders see -- the land/water divide.


Then we have what the pohm care about -- the continental shallows.


Then we have the current boundaries of the various pohm states.

Awesome! Keep up all the detailing work; it's really great that you guys are fleshing out your species so much

 

[Haseri]

So sorry I haven't been posting stories, I just don't have any ideas...

 

[Bil]

So sorry I haven't been posting stories, I just don't have any ideas...

Not a problem It's a lot easier if you have someone to interact with. Don't worry, there aren't any penalties for an early civ that doesn't write stories. Once the ball gets rolling, though, I'm sure you'll have plenty of ideas for stuff to write about

Just to remind everyone, orders are due by the end of today (Sunday), though I'll still take them tomorrow as well. I'll probably get a couple stories written up tomorrow, also, before/as I work on the update.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Speech

After a few minutes to let the landing module cool off from its descent, Wahano Sam prepared to exit. There had been a single alien specimen outside for several minutes- it was huge! The previous comparisons of these aliens to the giant herbivorous Haereth on Thaej now seemed much more appropriate.

While those in the video had been shown to be a silvery blue in colour, this one was bright gold- and great mother, it was large. Sam stood just over 1 meter tall and had a similar diameter for the circle formed by his legs. These things though, they stood a good deal taller, much longer... they were simply massive, bulky hexapods. Impressive.

With a quick hiss, the portal into the craft folded down into a ramp, which Sam, in his blue hazardous environment suit, carefully descended, slowly approaching the alien. Once he was off of the baking rock-like substance of the landing pad, he stopped, several meters away from the golden alien.

“Hello! I am Wahano Sam. I am the Captain of the Startraveler Rhetho. My species is the Hletho, and we are from the planet Thaej in the Haedkhad system. Your star is known to us as ‘Melokhad’, the Dusk Glare.”

His voice was picked up by microphones inside his suit, and amplified by speakers built into the suit on the outside.

Very slowly, the golden creature bent its legs, lowering its body and nearly touching its head to the ground. Sam watched until the movement had finished, then imitated the gesture, as well as he could- the torso of an adult Hletho is not terribly flexible. He bent over as far as he could, then placed his tentacular arms on the ground, facing towards the alien. The alien began to rise, and emanated a deep rumbling, something that Sam heard as much as he felt. Sam rose along with the golden creature, which then gestured to itself and, in its powerful, deep, humming voice, spoke.

“Hhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn hhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Jjjjjjjjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.”

Sam stood still for a moment, the sound already committed to memory. Experimentally, he adjusted his speakers and, very slowly, spoke his name while gesturing to himself. It emerged, bass greatly amplified, as a rough, mechanical imitation of the previous sound.

“Wwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo Ssssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.”

The alien paused for a moment, then gestured to itself.

“Jjjjjjjjjjjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

Aha! Sam recognized that word from its first speech. Evidently the creature’s name was Jemaa, or something similar. Pointing to the alien, Sam spoke.

“Jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

The alien seemed to be reacting positively. Slowly- as always- it pulled a screen of some sort that had been attached to its leg and held it out towards Sam, speaking several more words that the Hletho committed to memory. On the screen, first one black circles appeared on a white background, then two, then three, then five, then seven, then eleven. Interesting... the prime numbers. Sam pulled out his console and faced it towards the alien, and repeated the series of values. There was a short pause, so Sam decided to show another mathematical sequence, flashing one dot, then one, then two, then three, then five, then eight.

Sam waited for a few moments, until the alien responded in kind, with the same increasing dots. Sam wasn’t sure whether they recognized the first six digits of the Prenese Advance, or were simply responding, but it was a solid sign that communication was reasonably successful.

Jemaa suddenly extruded two stalks from further back on its head. Interesting. Sam was about to say something else in his own language when he noticed a collection of heat signatures approaching, including one making its way through the forests behind him and his lander. Being a trilaterally symmetrical being with six sets of eyes spread around his head, Sam didn’t have any particular fears to being approached from behind, but he did make note of the approaches.

“Your planet is full of animals.” said Sam. The Satellian hum-grumbled a response, suddenly- and rather quickly compared to its previous movements- turning to face one of the new arrivals who had approached from behind Jemaa, making some sort of gesture towards it. The newcomer voiced something, more quickly and quietly than Jemaa had done before. Sam was absorbing every vocalization he heard, and his mind was intently focused on dissecting and reconstructing the language in his head. The multiple voices ran over and through each other as another alien arrived- was their discussion hostile? Maybe these aliens considered surprise arrivals to be improper. Sam smiled- though to non-Hletho observers it would just look like he was arching his tongues into heart-like shapes- as he heard all of the words, adding all of them to his rapidly growing awareness of the language.

Jemaa, for one, seemed torn between some sort of discussion with a slightly smaller blue-coloured alien of the same species, and with keeping her attention on Sam, speaking several comparatively quick words to him before turning back towards its compatriots. The Hletho decided to stand back and let the group talk- he could learn far more at this point by observing rather than through interruption. After several minutes of discussion, Sam felt ready to test his knowledge of the language. Speaking in as low a pitch as he could manage into his microphone, the Satellians heard his voice, bass amplified, as tinny and mechanical as before.

“You are join by new of your kind. I am enjoyed to contact your kind too. I am to learn about you and show you about I.”

The aliens froze, looking at Sam with some sort of strange emotion- surprise, perhaps. Jemaa approached him

“How can you speak our language? Why did you not speak it sooner?”

“I need have learn it at place.”

The aliens looked at each other with the same strange expressions.

“How’s that even possible?”

“Maybe it didn’t know it was supposed to speak it until it saw us speaking amongst ourselves.”

“Yeah, see? That wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t come out.”

“I would have greatly preferred it if you had given me more time making contact with it alone.”

“Do you think it learned our language since arriving?”

“That... seems improbable- our translator’s still not working, and I still can barely even hear what it’s saying, let alone find much meaning beyond its name apparently being Aanosam or some such thing.”

“Perhaps this is one of the kind which we have been expecting to meet since far before our own first contacts.”

“Seems far too fast to be some sort of wise cosmic caretaker...”

“You never know. Jemaa, invite it along, see if we can get this chap to come along with us.”

Jemaa turned towards Sam, who looked up at her.

“Welcome to Ulann. Please, come with us.”

 

[Bil]

Not so many orders sent in. I can try to extrapolate orders from stories, but I can't guarantee it'll all be right (which is the point of the orders: accuracy). The Nhroaat SsKraed are on the verge of becoming officially NPC'd this turn, if Megaman_zx doesn't stop me.

Otherwise, everyone has been great about the stories and everything, and I'm going to start working on the update anyway, but I'd like a few more orders to make me feel better about myself. Guys.

 

[Haseri]

Just colonise the nearest star system for 2e.

Things are going to be a bit hectic for me, as I have exams this month, and a lot of my creative juices are going to be aimed at my Media and Theatre courseworks.

 

[Bil]

Just colonise the nearest star system for 2e.

Things are going to be a bit hectic for me, as I have exams this month, and a lot of my creative juices are going to be aimed at my Media and Theatre courseworks.

Not a problem. Good luck with your exams and classes!

 

[Bil]

Question for Iggy and Daft: Iggy wants to move the Rhetho on it's way for exploration, but the first contact story line at Ulann is incomplete. I'm perfectly willing to move the ship onward, if you guys are okay with the continuation of contact being sort of "in the past" in relation to the update. If either of you think that the progress of the contact story line might change what the Rhetho does, then I'll leave it be for this turn and it can pick up again next turn.